Stacey McGregor

I don’t know about you, but for me, one of the best things about the holidays is selecting gifts for my family that I know will bring a smile to their faces on Christmas morning. But being the daughter-aunt-sister-sister-in-law that always picks the perfect gifts is getting increasingly difficult as the years go by. My parents don’t need anything, and when they want something they just go and buy it. My nieces and nephews are at the age where anything “cool” on their list is likely something Auntie hasn’t heard of. And my brother and sister-in-law, well all they want is to take their four kids to Disneyland, and that’s entirely out of the question. So after a considerable amount of thought, here’s what I chose for them this year – five fantastic gifts that are sure to get anyone excited on Christmas morning.

When it comes to projectors, I’m what you would call a rookie. I like to think of myself as tech-savvy, but anytime I’m in a meeting where a projector needs to be set up for a presentation, I defer to my colleagues. When I’m at my parent’s house and my nieces and nephews ask me to put a movie on in Grandpa’s theatre room, I defer to Grandpa. So when I was asked to review the BenQ 1080p DLP Home Theatre Projector (HT1075), I was a little nervous. However, as it turns out, BenQ’s claim that with this projector, “home entertainment is only a push of a button away!” is pretty spot-on.

I’ve got some scary news folks. As of today, Christmas is officially less than a month away. That’s four weeks. Or 26 days if you prefer to think of it that way. No matter how you slice it, the holidays will be here before you know it, and if you’re anything like me and struggle every year to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list, I’m here to help. For the men in your life, here are six ideas that are sure to please.

For the past week, I’ve been rocking a new accessory on my left wrist – the Jaybird Reign Activity Tracker. Introduced earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Reign goes above and beyond what other activity trackers offer by encouraging balance and prompting those who wear it to improve their habits. It tells you when you need more sleep, when you need to take it easy, and when you are your optimal self, and I recently got a chance to take one for a test drive. Here’s my take after wearing Reign 24/7 for one week.

I have a theory. A product that has a long name is almost always better than a similar product with a short name. Take, for example, my favourite coffee indulgence: a large-triple-shot-extra-hot-no-foam-sugar-free-vanilla-soy-cappucino. Now, doesn’t that sound a million times better than plain old “coffee”? I think so. And if my exceptionally scientific theory has any merit at all, then the LG 65” 4K Ultra HD 240Hz IPS Smart TV might just be the king of the TVs. All kidding aside, this TV is packed with features that are sure to please.   In keeping with the “long names are better” theme, let’s break down name of this TV to illustrate all that it hsa to offer.

Walk into any convenience, grocery, or drug store and you’ll find no shortage of magazines whose covers feature scantily clad models and celebrities showcasing their rock-hard, oiled up abs alongside a headline that reads something like: “To get this body, all I did was drink more water and cut out sugar!” Well I’m calling on that. Being fit takes work. Hard work. And it’s not necessarily all about obtaining those elusive abs. It’s about being healthy. And that’s why, to me, there is a wide range of “fitness enthusiasts” out there. So, at the risk of offending the people in my life, I’ve created a list of “fitness enthusiast types” and what gift might be a hit for them under the Christmas tree this year.

Ping Pong, or as my dad likes to call it “gnip gnop” (pronounced “geh-nip geh-nop”), wasn’t invented in China, as many believe, but came into being in the late 1880s in England when a group of upper class Victorian gentlemen created a version of tennis they could play indoors as a way to relax after dinner. At that time, the tools used to play the game were everyday objects, such as a line of books as a net, a champagne cork as a ball, and a cigar box lid as a racket.

A few days ago I went grocery shopping, and as I was paying, the cashier asked me if I was collecting stamps. “Stamps for what?” I asked. “Stamps for new knives” she enthusiastically replied. To be honest, I’d never really given much thought to knives before. I mean, I have a set that I got when I first moved out many moons ago, but I took my stamp and went on my merry way. Later, I was flipping through the knife brochure that came with my stamp and after about page 6, I started thinking – why are there so many different types? What knife is for what? Do you really need 18 or will two do? As it turns out, you do! Here’s a breakdown of what makes one knife different from another.

LCD, LED, HDTV, 3D, 4K, IPS. OMG, right? Ok, that was pretty cheesy, but it was meant to illustrate a point – TVs these days are much more complex than they were only 10 years ago. Not only do you have to understand what all those acronyms mean, you have to understand what constitutes good value. Sure, you could spend the equivalent of one month’s salary on a 60” LED Smart TV, but why would you when you could get much more for your money with the Panasonic 60” 1080p 120Hz IPS LED Smart TV (AS630). It’s got all the acronyms you could want and performance you need, at a price point that won’t break the bank.

Let’s face it, laundry isn’t a whole lot of fun. It’s certainly not how I like to spend my evenings, I can tell you that much. I mean, there are just so many steps! You’ve got to sort your clothes, lug them to the machine, put them in, press a button, wait … take them out, put them in another machine, press another button, and then wait some more before you take them out and fold them. It’s excruciating. It’s also pretty sad that I’m not alone in my disdain for laundry, especially when you consider the fact that electric washers and dryers as we know them today, like those from consumer appliance giant Frigidaire, have only been around for about 100 years.