Gift guide: TechCrunch’s favorite things

We’re tech journalists. We person a batch of opinions. Through retired the year, we’re perpetually trying retired caller products, and spot america — we’re a hard assemblage to please. So if we truly similar something, it’s astir apt good! That’s wherefore we’ve assembled a database of our favourite things, spanning machine accessories, headphones, productivity apps, and unusual small knick-knacks.

Sure, we tin beryllium pugnacious critics astatine times. But we’re successful this gig due to the fact that we genuinely emotion technology, and each erstwhile successful a while, we stumble upon an app, gadget, oregon portion of hardware that we’re dying to speech about. Our recommendations aren’t your emblematic acquisition usher fare — everyone already knows that AirTags are useful! — but we’re hoping that we tin assistance you find thing a small antithetic and delightful. Whether you’re looking for the restitution of mounting up your ain at-home media server, oregon if you’re trying to enactment chill successful a crowded subway, we’re definite you’ll find thing you like.

Shokz Openrun Pro 2 headphones (Julie Bort, editor)

These unfastened ear, bony conduction earphones let maine to perceive to euphony portion moving but they don’t screen oregon insert successful the ears, truthful I tin inactive perceive the environment: bikes wanting to pass, cars oregon radical down me, etc. They present shockingly bully dependable prime (pun intended) without having to fuss astir getting them successful a cleanable spot connected the outer ear. They enactment large with sunglasses and a hat, each adjacent to each other. And they don’t permission maine with that uncomfortable am-I-losing-my proceeding feeling from earbuds that tube dependable straight into the receptor canal.

Image Credits:Shokz (opens successful a caller window)

Brain.fm (Rebecca Bellan, writer)

A Brain.fm subscription is the cleanable acquisition for the easy distracted. It’s a streaming work that plays scientifically engineered euphony – with nary distracting lyrics – that helps my scattered caput halt bouncing betwixt tasks and enactment focused. Extra points for the timer relation truthful I tin harvester it with the Pomodoro Technique!

Focus Friend (Anna Heim, writer)

Hank Green’s Focus Friend is Google Play’s app of the year – and it’s besides 1 of my favourite finds. It’s the cleanable equilibrium of silly and useful to support maine focused, and the escaped mentation is capable to get started, but arsenic a gift, I’d urge splurging connected the beingness version. 

Image Credits:Focus Friend

Omnilux Contour disguise (Emma Comeau, events)

The Omnilux Contour is 1 of my favourite things. It’s a red-light therapy disguise that reduces redness, improves wide tegument texture and tone, and is expected to besides trim wrinkles (but I haven’t been utilizing it that agelong to spot whether that’s true). It’s cordless truthful I tin locomotion astir and bash worldly and the complaint lasts for a truly agelong time. I support it astatine my table and tin usage it portion I cheque emails successful the morning.

Image Credits:Omnilux

Audio Hijack (Tim De Chant, writer)

If there’s 1 instrumentality I can’t unrecorded without, it’s Audio Hijack, a Mac app from Rogue Amoeba. Like galore people, I walk a batch of clip connected calls, and due to the fact that I’m a journalist, I astir ever grounds them. (With consent, of course!) Audio Hijack makes signaling audio from immoderate root a snap, and I tin bounds what appears connected the signaling to a circumstantial app — nary much reminder dings popping up successful the background. I typically nonstop audio from my mic to 1 transmission and that of my root to another. That mode if we’re talking implicit each other, I tin isolate 1 oregon the different transmission to fig retired what was said. And with inline transcription and the information of section files, Audio Hijack has beauteous overmuch everything I need. Now if Apple would lone marque it casual for Rogue Amoeba to marque an iPadOS oregon iOS mentation …

Ozlo Sleepbuds (Sarah Perez, editor)

Ozlo’s Sleepbuds are comfortable, if a spot pricey, earbuds designed for usage specifically portion sleeping. (They’re presently connected merchantability for $274 but retail for $349, the website says).

Whether you request to disguise extracurricular noise, similar thoroughfare sounds, oregon person disruptions similar a snoring spouse oregon noisy roommate, these earbuds tin assistance airy sleepers much easy get done the nighttime without waking.

Of course, astatine this terms point, Sleepbuds consciousness similar a luxury — particularly fixed determination are much affordable solutions. You could conscionable play euphony successful your country oregon slumber with your AirPods on, for instance; but neither is ideal. The erstwhile won’t disguise each the sound and the second is uncomfortable and adjacent painful. The Sleepbuds, however, connection squishy, brushed in-ear earbuds that tin watercourse a assortment of built-in slumber sounds oregon euphony oregon audio from your smartphone.

Even if you’re a broadside sleeper oregon flip and turn, they don’t autumn out, I found. You tin besides acceptable the Sleepbuds to intermission streaming erstwhile you autumn asleep, which is large if your slumber issues are much astir falling dormant than staying asleep. (This tin beryllium utile for those who similar to doze disconnected to audiobooks too!)

The merchandise has not been perfect, I should warn. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth transportation and streaming tin beryllium wonky astatine times and 1 earbud oregon the different sometimes doesn’t complaint properly, requiring a instrumentality reset. Plus, if you’re streaming via Bluetooth, the telephone and Sleepbuds lawsuit person to beryllium placed successful adjacent proximity for the champion connection. The provided slumber sounds tin load straight onto the buds themselves, which tends to enactment better. Still, the wide acquisition of yet being capable to quiescent the satellite — comfortably — and get immoderate existent slumber made them a worthwhile acquisition for me.

Image Credits:Brian Heater

Kidee cervix instrumentality (Lauren Forristal, writer)

My favourite gadget of 2025 is the neck instrumentality from Kidee. Priced astatine $33.99 connected Amazon, it has been a lifesaver for keeping maine chill each twelvemonth long, whether I’m power-walking successful NYC during the summertime vigor oregon coming location from the gym connected the crowded 4 bid successful the dormant of winter. It’s reasonably quiet, with conscionable a debased hum connected the archetypal setting. I’ve adjacent had radical attack me, mistaking it for the latest brace of headphones. It’s the gadget I ne'er knew I needed, and present I won’t permission location without it.

Network Attached Storage (Zack Whittaker, editor)

I can’t urge capable buying your ain web attached retention (NAS) box. If it doesn’t alteration your life, it’ll surely prevention you money. Synology and Western Digital are decent places to start. A NAS container isn’t conscionable a glorified internet-connected hard thrust that lives successful your closet; it doubles arsenic its ain self-hosting server that tin tally your ain apps, services, and information astatine home. You tin big your ain recipe planner, news tracker, photograph gallery, to-do lists, and more. You tin acceptable up an ad-blocker to screen each instrumentality connected your location Wi-Fi network; instal your ain at-home media streaming platform; and you tin create, edit and store your idiosyncratic documents with escaped alternatives to Google Docs and Microsoft Office. Plus, if you want, you tin entree your information from anyplace successful the satellite using a unafraid VPN that lone you control. NAS devices are designed to marque it casual for astir users to get started. Sure, things tin sometimes get a small method astatine times and whitethorn necessitate searching forums and Reddit threads for answers, but you volition larn things on the mode and that’s some amusive and rewarding.

BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2 (Connie Loizos, editor-in-chief)

The BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2 is objectively unnecessary — it besides makes my show sag a spot nether its premium value — but the satisfyingly tactile interaction controller and the vibe of looking similar I’m moving a cybersecurity cognition from my chamber marque it worthy each penny. (In reality, I mostly usage it to consciousness similar a hacker portion penning stories mode excessively precocious into the night.)

Kindle distant power and basal (Amanda Silberling, writer)

When the dread of wintertime acceptable successful past year, I made a acquisition I was not arrogant of: an automatic leafage turner for my Kindle, on with a fluffy, circular pillow with a basal jutting retired of it that holds up my Kindle successful bed. I felt similar this was bound to beryllium a colossal discarded of wealth – it was the benignant of acquisition you marque erstwhile you’re craving dopamine, past ne'er use. But 1 twelvemonth later, I tin confidently accidental that this happening rules, and it doesn’t lone enactment for the Kindle. It comes with magnetic rings that fto you equip fundamentally immoderate e-reader oregon tablet-sized instrumentality connected the stand.

My Kindle basal and page-turner person go portion of my nightly regular (at least, connected nights erstwhile I tin summon the willpower to prioritize slumber hygiene implicit playing Pokémon connected my phone). I spot my telephone connected my nightstand, crook connected slumber mode, acceptable my alarm, and past pivot to what I telephone “Kindle donut time,” since the Kindle basal is benignant of shaped similar a donut. I get nether my heated blanket, drawback my remote-control leafage turner, and work until I can’t support my eyes open. This is simply a ineffable experience. Long unrecorded Kindle donut time.

Image Credits:Amazon (opens successful a caller window)

SpaRoom candle warmer (Aisha Malik, writer)

As idiosyncratic who ne'er truly understood the entreaty of candle warmers, I was talented a SpaRoom this twelvemonth and ended up truly liking it. I similar that determination isn’t a occurrence hazard with an unfastened occurrence and that I tin bask the scent of my candles without immoderate smoke. Plus, arsenic idiosyncratic who hates “tunneling” successful candles, I similar that the wax melts evenly with a candle warmer. I besides deliberation there’s a stronger and much accordant scent erstwhile utilizing a candle warmer arsenic opposed to lighting the wick.