A Fun Techie Mother’s Day Gift List

Mother’s Day is right on the horizon, and for those of you who are still looking for gifts, here are a few affordable techie ideas that your mom will appreciate.

Anker Astro 6000mAh Portable External Battery. A physically small but powerful charger I discovered at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, it might be little, but it packs a punch – it can fully charge my iPhone 5S two times with some leftover juice for my Bluetooth headphones. Unlike other chargers that are made specifically for either an Apple or an Android device, Anker’s PowerIQ technology identifies your device and takes the guesswork out of compatibility. It just knows what your device is and enables the maximum charging speed. A gentle shake reveals a lighted circle that indicates how much charge is left. You can recharge it with a standard microUSB cable, and it comes in black, yellow and bright green. And best of all, it’s only $30! Find it at ianker.com.

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Anker Astro 6000mAh Portable External Battery | Photo courtesy Anker

DiVoom Bluetune Solo Bluetooth Speaker. If your mom likes to listen to music, this speaker is a great addition to her travel bag, or to use around the house. It might be tiny for a speaker, but it features a patented PO-Bass technology that has a deep base sound and a built-in microphone that lets her talk on the phone if she needs to. The battery lasts up to eight hours, and the speaker is completely wireless. It’s only $40 and available in white, orange, red, blue and slate (divoomusa.com).

Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive. If your mom is the designated picture-taker of the family, she’ll need something to back up all those precious photos. Yet another item I discovered at this year’s CES, Seagate’s Backup Plus Slim start is the perfect addition to her home office and compact enough to take with her when she travels. The pricing starts at $70 and comes in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB capacities, and four colors: black, gray, red and blue.

In addition, this new family of drives includes the backup software Seagate Dashboard, which provides an easy one-click solution and can be scheduled as needed. This software will back up all your Facebook and Flickr albums so that even Mom’s photos and videos are safe (including the photos she was tagged in). This backup solution extends to a mobile app (iOS and Android) as well.

Mighty Purse. On the slightly higher-priced side, and if you want charge your phone in style, the Mighty Purse is a stylish leather clutch with a built-in charger. It has a nice luxury purse feel, but it’s small enough to take for an evening out, or put into your bigger purse to use as a wallet/hidden charger. Pricing starts at $90 from Amazon.com, and it comes in multiple colors – from the usual black and gray to purple, pink, green and more. The battery in this little purse is 4000mAh, so you can get almost two full charges for your smartphone from it.

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