Home Tags Posts tagged with "Gift"
Tag:

Gift

Blogging

5 Gift Ideas for the Bloggers and Vloggers in Your Life!

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Hey listen – blogging is serious business! Like literally – it is! And if you friend, family member, loved one or spouse is a blogger (or vlogger/video blogger) than you know just how serious it is to them! I began blogging in the early part of 2000, while it was still in it’s infancy. Back then, it was still taboo and most people kept their online hobby on the down low. Now here we are, a decade later, social media has taken over the internet and blogging has become a way of life for many. As we approach the holidays, birthdays or other special occasions – you are probably asking yourself – “What special gift can I give to th blogger in my life?”. I’ve put together a list of the top gift ideas for the blog fanatics!

1. Services: There are a few essential items that a blogger will need when he or she decides to take their website to the next level. Many will begin on free platforms such as Blogger (formerly known as BlogSpot), WordPress.com or Typepad, however if they want to be taken seriously – moving to a dedicated host (i.e. an independent.com) is a must. Having your very own website is a relatively simple process – you just purchase your domain name from a provider like GoDaddy.com and register for hosting service, with a company like HostGator.com. You can purchase a domain for as low as $1.99 with coupon codes, and hosting packages for as low as $4.99 – $9.99. Give the gift of a full year of hosting service paid upfront. For less than $100 – your loved one will be on their way to super blogger status!

2. Website Templates and Design: After your blogging friend upgrades to a dedicated hosting service and their own.com, they will then need to decide on a blog platform and begin to build their website. WordPress.com is the most popular CMS (content management system) available. It’s a free software that’s available in a one-click install via the HostGator.com hosting service. It’s the most versatile platform on the web, however – the “out of the box” install comes with one standard template that is pretty boring and plain. What I personally love the most about using WordPress is the ease of building a great looking website. There are literally thousands of web templates available on the net, a great number of them are free. Now, I’m not one to turn my back on “free” – but when it comes to establishing yourself as a reputable blogger and building your brand – it’s best to go with one of the Premium WordPress themes. Premium themes can cost anywhere from $25 to $150 – but it’s money well spent in my opinion. You get a streamlined, modern looking web template that you can edit to your discretion – and most packages come with support for a limited (or unlimited) amount of time. My favorite WordPress premium template sites are WooThemes and StudioPress. These are, hands down, the go-to sites for quality themes and support.

3. Services: As a blogger, I know there are a ton of tedious tasks that must be done on the back-end if you really want to be successful in your chosen blog niche. Some of these assignments include managing a Facebook Fan Page, building back links, banner or logo design and building your social network. As mundane as they are, they are crucial to the success of a website, I like to outsource many of this tasks – doing so frees up my time to do other things (such as the actual blogging!). My favorite outsourcing site is Odesk.com – I’ve been able to hire workers to do tasks for as little as $2 per hour (yes, it’s true!). If there’s something that needs to be done, and it’s able to be outsourced – Odesk.com is the best place to go to find quality pre-screened talent who are competitively priced and ready to work!

4. Organization: An organized workspace is essential for successful bloggers. Similar to your office workspace – a website owner needs a place to store important books, items, drives, and a quiet place to work. If you’re bedroom has turned into a blog headquarters – it is a good time to dedicate a portion of the house just for their online hobby. If you have an extra room – spring for a high quality desk and chair. The desk should have enough space for multiple computers and/or computer screens, as well as a printer, scanner and hard drives. If you’re pressed for space, opt for a mobile desk – like the FoldAndStow mobile desk from StacksAndStacks.com.

5. Gadgets: In taking a brief, informal survey – there was one item that every blogger selected for their holiday wish list, and that was a new laptop! We aren’t casual internet surfers, there are days when I can spend hours working on my laptop, researching, writing, editing photos or doing general maintenance on my websites. Because of this, the computer of a dedicated blogger goes through more wear and tear than average. We need computers with a ton of space, wireless capabilities, easy to tote, and multi-media friendly.

Of course you can always go for the top of the line, coveted Macbook Pro, just keep in mind that there tends to be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the Apple products. Macbook Pro will run between $1999 and $2500, but they are known for security, durability, and includes all the bells and whistles. Generally speaking, Macs last a long time, although you’ll pay more on the front end – you will save a ton over the years as well.

If a Mac is out of the question, you’ll want to look for a laptop that is portable – thin, light with a decent sized hard drive. Netbooks are affordable, sleek, effective, and strike a balance between mobility and performance. I also find the standard notebooks to be great alternatives to Macbooks. I’d recommend the Sony Vaio Laptop (notebook) above anything else.

[“Source-josic”]

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Gadgets News

Gift ideas that make life easier in the kitchen

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Kitchen gear is always fun to give and get at the holidays. Addie Broyles / American-Statesman

It may be hard to believe, but an electric kettle is my favorite new gadget.

It’s not even new anymore, but I still get a thrill every time the base of the glass vessel lights up blue as the water for my cup of tea starts to heat up. It can boil more than a liter of water in about four minutes, and then it shuts off, keeping the water hot for at least 30 minutes.

All year, I’ve been playing around with different gadgets — some handheld kitchen appliances, some no-tech tools that simply make cooking easier or better. A few weeks ago, I headed out to Faraday’s Kitchen Store in Bee Cave, which has been selling cooking gear for more than 12 years, to ask manager Sharon O’Quinn about her personal favorites and the store’s best-sellers.

I mixed some of her suggestions with some of my own to create a holiday gift guide for gadgets big and small.

Metal measuring spoons ($14). I’ve had wonky measuring spoons for the longest time — thick, bright green plastic scoops that don’t fit into spice jars. I’d always wanted to upgrade to a nicer set of metal spoons, but since Santa didn’t seem to get the memo, I bought them for myself. I almost went with rounded ones until O’Quinn pointed out that the narrow squared ones can squeeze into smaller jars.

Good thermometers ($15 and up). When my trusty digital meat thermometer malfunctioned and only displayed temperatures in Celsius, I had fun using Google Home to help me convert to Fahrenheit. But even after I had baked enough chickens to learn the safe temperature in Celsius — 73 degrees — I knew I needed to replace it. The sexiest option out there is the Thermapen, but thanks to the wise council of the Faraday’s folks, I found a less expensive thermometer that doesn’t read the temperature quite so fast but works well for my purposes. I also picked up a candy thermometer because nobody likes getting caramel splattered on their hand while they try to measure the temperature with the wrong tool.

Meat claws ($19). You can find inexpensive plastic and metal tong meat claws everywhere, but the heavy-duty offset metal ones at Faraday’s are a big seller among barbecue lovers who shop at the store. Use these to make short work of pulled pork and chicken.

Biscuit cutters ($11). After improvising for years, I finally broke down and picked up a set of nesting cutters so I can make biscuits and cookies in different sizes. It’s a low-tech tool that makes a perfect gift for the biscuit-baker in your life.

Garlic twist ($25). This garlic grinder is easily one of the top selling products at Faraday’s, O’Quinn says. I’d seen these before but didn’t realize cooks were making repeat purchases to give these as gifts after finding them indispensable in their own kitchens. O’Quinn says that people will use this tool to break down ginger, herbs or even a small portion of pesto.

Red wine stain remover and the E-cloth ($8 each). Cleaning is an indisputable part of the cooking process, and these products fly off the shelves at Faraday’s. The Chateau Spill red wine stain remover is a patented liquid that, as I saw in a demo, really will take pretty much any stain out of a tablecloth, shirt, pants or napkin. The E-cloth markets itself as a way to clean with only water, a claim I didn’t believe until the Faraday’s staffers went on and on about how these microfiber cloths have revolutionized how they clean their own homes and kitchens.

Measuring cup with a scale ($25). Weighing ingredients can be the most effective way to bake or cook, but going back and forth between tools for weighing ingredients and for measuring by volume adds to the chore. This measuring cup allows you to do both, which is handy if you’ve ever had to stop midrecipe to break out a scale and a bowl.

Instant Pot or other multicooker ($69 and up). Let’s face it: No kitchen gadget list is complete in 2017 without a multicooker. The best known brand is the Instant Pot, but Fagor and Crock-Pot and other manufacturers are selling them, too, and they all fall into this new category of cooking that involves different applications of heat in a single vessel. Their popularity is why you’re also seeing so many Instant Pot cookbooks, which help you figure out how to use all those settings so you don’t just get stuck on the more familiar slow cooker mode.

Crock-Pot WeMo ($149). Speaking of slow cookers, if you use yours a lot and find yourself wishing you could turn it off or on from work or when you’re away from home, put this Wi-Fi-enabled Crock-Pot on your Christmas list. It’s been around for a few years, but reviewers say they love the flexibility they get from knowing they can control the heat remotely.

Farberware Electric Kettle ($30). If you’ve ever, even once, decided to make tea for yourself and then let a pot of water simmer on the stove until it evaporated, you need an electric kettle. I had a whole cabinet of tea that I wasn’t drinking until I bought a kettle on sale late last year. I’ve used it to preheat water for boiling pasta or to have hot water on hand for risotto, but the real win is that I’m now drinking tea every day when the temperatures fall. Not having to drop what I’m doing to turn off a whistling teapot is such a small thing, but that’s what these gadgets are for: making it ever-so-slightly easier to take care of yourself, your meals and your cooking space.

FOOD GIFTS

Looking for a food gift that isn’t a gadget? Here are a few ideas from local food businesses.

Springdale Handmade makes some of the best-smelling soaps, salves and bath bombs in Austin, and they often use local ingredients, such as wine from Fall Creek Vineyards. You can find their products at Springdale Farm and several other local retailers. Another local company, Kuhdoo Soap Co.,specializes in making soap from local craft beers. You can often buy the soaps at the breweries themselves, including the ABGB in South Austin.

If you don’t have any kind of floor covering in your kitchen and you cook a lot, a mat from a company like the Austin-based GelPro will vastly improve those hours spent in the kitchen. They feel like you’re standing on air and make doing the dishes bearable.

The local olive oil and vinegar store Con’ Olio has several locations around Austin, including one next to Faraday’s in Bee Cave, and you can’t go wrong with one of their premium olive oil sets. The Con’ Olio location in the Arboretum is near Savory Spice Shop, which is a great place to shop for stocking stuffers and gift certificates.

La Dolda in Westlake sells more than a dozen varieties of handmade pastas that taste better than anything you’ve ever picked up at the grocery store. They also offer other specialty foods from Italy.

It’s hard to go wrong with a gift certificate for dessert. Local ice cream and gelato shops Tasty Spoon, Teo, Dolce Neve, Lick Honest Ice Creams and Amy’s Ice Creams are good options.

The upscale kitchen store Kettle and Brine, 908 W. 12th St., specializes in goods that are as beautiful to look at as they are functional in your home. Anything you buy here would be a treat to unwrap on Christmas morning.

Sips By (sipsby.com) is an Austin-based tea subscription service that will help you make the most of that new electric kettle. They sell an amazing variety of teas that they curate into a monthly box based on your preferences.

[“Source-mystatesman”]

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
error: Content is protected !!