Clay FornessIT Networking and Systems Administrator & “Tech-savvy gadget lover”

Clay works in Information Technology, so he has several suggestions for those people on your list that love having the latest and greatest gadgets or electronics.• Quirky + GE Refuel allows you to monitor your propane level from your smartphone making it an ideal gift for those who love gadgets and barbe-cue for $50.• Radioshack Water Dancing Speakers are light portable speakers that allow you to listen to your music and enjoy a spectacular light show for $50.• Logitech K480 Bluetooth keyboard is designed to toggle between any three Bluetooth-enabled devices, be they Android, iOS, Windows or any-thing else. A built-in tray lets you stand most tablets and phones for $50.

Katie MorrisStaff Writer & “Environmentally conscious”

Katie believes in protecting our planet and uses organic and animal-friendly products whenever possible. She has a few suggestions for the environmentally conscious person on your list.• Badger Cheerful Mind Balm Aromatherapy, which is USDA Organic and never tested on animals. It’s a portable way to uplift your mind while softening skin for $7.99.• Aveda Green Science Lifting Serum helps skin boost its natural collagen production for a more lifted appearance. It’s formulated with bio-fermented glucosamine, organic argan oil, antioxidants and peptides to help promote surface skin-cell turnover, moisturization and visible skin firmness. The serum costs $53.• It’s a nice touch to give your gift in a reusable bag like a Stash It, which is a super convenient, lightweight, washable shopping tote that stuffs into its own attached stretchy pouch for $15.95.

Corinne NicholsonDeputy Copy Desk Chief & “Pop culture junkie”

Corinne enjoys watching movies, reading, listening to music and watching TV, so she has several ideas for those on your list that enjoy popular entertainment.• Get the movie lover in your life “The Guardians of the Galaxy” on Blu-ray or DVD. “Guardians” was the runaway hit of the summer and comes out on Dec. 9 just in time for Christmas.• Wireless headphones are the perfect gift for a music or movie lover. Use them to listen to music, watch movies without disturbing your neighbors and loved ones or give them to the kids so you can have some peace and quiet. They come in a range of brands, colors and prices.• For your bookworm, get them George R.R. Martin’s “The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold His-tory of Westeros and the Game of Thrones.” This beautifully illustrated book takes a look at the history, the battles and rivalries leading up to the events in Martin’s book “Game of Thrones” that the HBO series is based on.

Will HammockSports Editor & “Sports aficionado”Will has earned the title of sports aficionado having been the sports editor for the Gwinnett Daily Post for 10 years. He believes football fans will enjoy a visit to Atlanta’s new-est sports attraction, the College Football Hall of Fame, with its many interactive exhibits and artifacts. It’s been very popular since opening in August.

Nicole PuckettGraphics Editor & “Working mom of three”

Nicole works full-time at the Post and is a loving mom to her son Eli and her twin daughters Annabel and Harper. When possible, she enjoys small mo-ments to herself like her morning coffee. She sug-gests getting the hardworking woman in your life these little mug cozies from various shops on Etsy.com to make her morning cup of bliss more special.

Tyler EstepStaff Writer & “Craft beer lover”

Tyler believes that beer lovers on your list will love a gift certificate from Atlanta Beer Tours, allowing them to schedule a date for a tasting tour of the Atlanta area’s surpris-ing number of local breweries. Tickets range in price from around $50 to $70.

communitygwinnettdailypost.com

SECTION C • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014

Daily Post staff share gift recommendations based on their interests

Paul WatsonCopy Editor & “Nerd culture

enthusiast”Paul enjoys shopping for Geeky

items on either ThinkGeek.com or thi-siswhy-im-broke.com. His recom-menda-tions for all those nerds

in your life are a Heat Changing TARDIS Mug for $10.99 and R2-D2 USB Car Charger for $39.99.

Joni ClineSCNI multi-media account

executive & “Sister of an avid runner”

Joni’s brother is a runner, so she has one on her shop-ping list every year. Seri-ous runners don’t take the winter off, so if you have one on your shopping list this SmartWool base layer shirt will go a long way in keeping them warm during the winter months. This Men’s NTS Mid 250 Crew shirt is also good at wicking away per-spiration, and as an added bonus the company bills it as a “no stink” garment despite the sweat. $95

Holiday gift guide

2C SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 • gwinnettdailypost.com

Gift Guide: Get better at sports with smart gearATLANTA — Advances

in technology present sports enthusiasts with plenty of options to train better and smarter.

High-level gear and biometric-analysis software are no longer limited to elite professional athletes. The weekender can now use some tech-savvy approaches to get better, perhaps, at a multitude of sports. Practice makes perfect, but technolo-gy can make practice better:

• Hexoskin shirt ($400):I felt like Batman in his

form-fitting bat suit. It’s a snug, black sleeveless shirt with a brain. Two bandage-width strips containing sewn-in sensors run across the chest and abdomen areas. They were held tight against my body by adjust-able straps. A rechargeable pack about the size of a mint tin fits nicely near my waist. Once I started working out, the weirdness subsided and the hard work and perspira-tion took over.

The shirt communicated wirelessly with a phone app to give me real-time feed-back about my breathing, heart rate, running cadence and calories burned.

What did I learn? Well, I need to run more to get in better shape, lower my heart rate and smooth out my breathing. All of these things are connected in exercise. Hexoskin did an excellent job illustrating that with smart on-screen graph-ics. Once I remembered to record my sessions, it stored all data so I could measure improvements.

• Babolat Play Pure Drive tennis racket ($400):

This tennis racket logged every shot I hit, in or out, over multiple practice and competitive sessions. Sen-sors are integrated into the frame.

Through a companion phone app, the racket told me a lot, including things I’ll need to build on if I hope to get better. After nearly a half-hour against a ball machine, I hit 191 shots: 106 backhands, 67 forehands, 15 serves and three overheads that were probably out of

bounds. But those numbers mean nothing without the underlying metrics the racket also measured.

Hitting a tennis ball with topspin allows you to swing harder, but keep the ball in the court. Even though I thought I hit nearly every-thing with a fair amount

of topspin, the racket stats told me otherwise. Of those 106 backhands, only 18 registered as being hit with topspin. Thirty weighed in as slice backhands, and 58

were flat strikes.The on-screen statistics

were primarily displayed with numbers and percent-ages, though the “impact locator” gave a graphical

representation of a racket and showed the location of my off-center hits. This was helpful and gave me valu-able information for future hitting sessions.

The data from the Babolat Play Pure Drive could be useful for mid-level to ad-vanced players. The best part is that Babolat put the smarts into one of the best-selling rackets available, and not some odd outlier model that nobody uses.

• 94Fifty basketball ($250):

This smart basketball is primarily designed to help you develop better mechan-ics and fundamental hoops skills. It won’t tell you, though, whether you made the shot. Arc and rotation are the primary metrics the ball calculates.

After stretching and dribbling around, I began a pretty lengthy shoot-around session at a local court. When I launched the com-panion app, I took the option of setting my desired shoot-ing range at 15 feet. That’s how far away the free-throw line is, and anything beyond that was going to nibble away at my confidence and cause me to miss more.

During one session, I took 26 shots from that range. The ball and app told me that the arc was too low on 14 of those shots and too high on another four. I made a few adjustments to my style and got more shots in during the next session later that day.

But it’s hard to tell whether the advice from the app helped me make more shots or whether I was just getting warmed up.

Still, the technological heft of the ball is for real, and it can measure dribble power, the number of consecutive dribbles and the amount of backspin on my shots.

By Ron HaRRisThe Associated Press

This Nov. 30 photo shows the Babolat Play Pure Drive tennis racket, in Atlanta. The racket contains built-in sensors that measure the impact of the ball on the strings as well as the power and type of swing used by the player. The racket then transmits that information wirelessly to a companion app installed on a smartphone or tablet computer. (AP Photos/Ron Harris)

This Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014 photo shows the 94Fifty bas-ketball, in Atlanta. The regulation-size ball contains built-in sensors that measure the speed, arc and rotation of the ball and transmits that information wirelessly to a com-panion app installed on a smartphone or tablet computer.

This undated product image provided by Hexoskin shows the Hexoskin exercise shirt. The shirt contains built-in sensors that measure the breathing patterns, heart rate and motion cadence as it is worn. The shirt then transmits that information wirelessly to a compan-ion app installed on a smartphone or tablet computer.

226141-1

SAVE $4 OFF up to 6 tickets with code GDP online or at box office!

PREMIER EXHIBITION CENTER • ATLANTIC STATION265 18TH STREET LEVEL 2 NEAR ESCALATOR 5, ATLANTA, GA 30363

BOX OFFICE (404) 496-4274

221140-1

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2 Atlanta locations3242 Peachtree Road NE • Buckhead • 404-264-0253848 Peachtree Stree NE • Midtown • 404-870-0805

A copy of this offer must be presented to your server in order to qualify for this offer. Limit one per person per table. Valid only at Buckhead and Midtown locations. Not valid at airport locations. Will not be accepted toward the purchase of merchandise or gift cards. Cannot be used as gratuity or redeemed for cash. Not valid in conjunction with any other promotion or discount. Not valid on alcohol where prohibited. Dine-in only. This offer is valid until 1/31/15. Attn Server: Comp to MKTG$

$10 Offyour purchase of $20 or more

Bring in this coupon and receive

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 3C •gwinnettdailypost.com

Gift Guide: 3 ways to watch streaming video on TV

NEW YORK — Even ca-sual viewers of online video will appreciate the ability to watch it on a big-screen TV.

For about $100, you can get a great streaming TV device to do that. Or for about a third of that, you can get a pretty good one. Content selection varies, but all offer such basics as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. After trying out 10 stream-ing devices, I have three recommendations and an honorable mention:

Amazon Fire TV StickA “stick” is a cheaper,

lightweight version of a regular streaming device, often with poorer perfor-mance. That’s not the case with the $39 Fire TV Stick, which is why I’m recom-mending it over the $99 Fire TV. The processor isn’t as powerful, and there isn’t as much working memory. But in my tests, video streamed well on both devices.

The Stick lacks a remote control capable of voice search — you type searches into the on-screen keyboard. Voice search costs $30, or you can download a free app for your Android de-vice. A version for iPhones and iPads is coming too. The app isn’t as easy to use as a real remote, but it does the job.

The Fire TV devices stand out in having voice search that works well. My lone complaint is that you’re currently limited to content from Amazon, Vevo, Showtime, Crackle and Hulu. No surprise that Amazon content is empha-sized; its two main rivals, Apple iTunes and Google Play are missing.

Unfortunately, the Stick is out of stock until mid-

January, so your loved one will have to settle for a promise. The regular Fire TV is available immediately and is better for games.

Roku 3This device is agnostic

on content providers. There are more than 1,000 apps to download, many for ser-vices you have never heard of and will never watch.

Except for iTunes it has all the leading channels.

There are many Roku models. The $50 Roku Streaming Stick is adequate for basic video, but pain-fully slow when rewinding and forwarding. The top-end, $100 Roku 3 performs much better. Some TVs have Roku built in, though you’ll be better off picking the TV you like and getting

the Roku separately.Even with the top-end

model, Roku tends to give me the most problems with video and audio improperly syncing. In many cases, it’s subtle — something I can live with in exchange for more choices in video content. It does have the best buffer, at least for Netflix and Hulu stream-ing. That’s important when your Internet connec-tion is spotty. Video kept playing for a few minutes after I unplugged my cable modem. It lasted only 15 to

30 seconds on Amazon and Google devices and roughly a minute on Apple TV.

Apple TVApple TV, at $99,

remains a solid device and is a great choice for those who already have iPhones or iPads. Place one near the Apple TV for easy set-up. Your iTunes account trans-fers over wirelessly.

You can’t download new apps as you can with the others. Apple takes a “less is more” philosophy and curates Apple TV with 45 or

so outside services, includ-ing ABC, HBO and Show-time. Apple is able to insist on consistency that way, so keyboards and menu layouts are similar from app to app. New services are automatically added through software updates. Amazon and Google Play are missing, though you can “cast” content to the TV in-directly. Using your iPhone or iPad, load Amazon or Google Play video and send that to Apple TV using a feature called AirPlay. Qual-ity sometimes suffers with casting.

Google Nexus Player (Honorable Mention)Google’s $35 Chromecast

stick is useless on its own. Your only option is casting, and I have found the experi-ence and video quality to be poor. Google’s new $99 Nexus Player is the better choice. Its performance was comparable to the Apple TV and Fire TV devices.

The Nexus has voice search like the Fire. While the Fire limits such search-es to titles, actors, directors and genres, the Nexus of-fers more flexible search-ing — though it works only some of the time. A voice request for “movie with Tom Hanks and mermaid” correctly gave me “Splash.” On the other hand, “docu-mentary Oscar winners” gave me fictional flicks such as “Gravity.” Video search is limited to Google content and a few other services for now.

I hesitate to recommend the Nexus because it has relatively few apps. There’s no HBO, no Showtime, no ABC, no ESPN. PBS Kids is an option, but PBS isn’t. Casting is offered for some of these services, but the Nexus needs more stand-alone apps to be useful. That will come over time, but not necessarily in time for the holidays.

By Anick JesdAnunAP Technology Writer

This Sept. 29 file photo shows the Roku 3, a product for streaming popular video services, apps and games in high-definition, in Decatur. (AP Photos/Ron Harris, File)

This product image provided by Amazon shows the Ama-zon Fire TV stick. The Fire TV Stick is a small stick that con-nects to the HDMI port on your HDTV for instant access to movies, TV shows, music, photos, apps, and games.

This product image provided by Google shows the Google Nexus Media Player system.

227330-1

4C SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 • gwinnettdailypost.com

Gift Guide: How to choose a new cellphoneNEW YORK — Now is

a good time to get a smart-phone. The latest devices hit shelves in time for the holiday shopping season, and there’s likely to be a lull in new releases until next spring. So why wait?

Here are some things to consider before hitting stores. If you’re upgrad-ing from an older model, you can skip the first part aimed at first-time smart-phone buyers.

Do you need a smartphone?

Maybe you’ve been do-ing fine with just a basic cellphone, but many people who get smartphones discover things they never thought they could do. You can install a museum’s app to get a map or learn about the current exhibits, or you can catch up on e-books with a reading app. You can also check email and Facebook more easily and take great pictures and quickly share them.

But you’ll pay more — not just for the device. Monthly fees for voice, text and data tend to be higher compared with basic phone plans.

Which system should you pick?

This is the most impor-tant decision because it will influence your future smartphones. It’s not easy

to switch once you have all your apps, contacts and favorites on one system.

With Apple’s iOS, you can choose between a variety of iPhone mod-els — ranging from the giant iPhone 6 Plus to the older and smaller iPhone 5s and 5c. The iPhone 6 is a good choice in between and comes with all the bells and whistles, includ-ing a chip to make pay-ments in stores that accept Apple Pay. Phones running Google’s Android operat-ing system include even more choices from several manufacturers, including Samsung, LG, Motorola, ZTE and Sony.

Android is more flexible in the sense phone makers can customize it to their liking, and app developers

have more say in what they write for Android phones. That flexibility has led to a free-for-all environ-ment, though. Settings and features vary so much from phone to phone that it’s tough to ask a friend or look online for help. And some Android apps won’t work with all phones.

Because Android gets too fragmented many app developers work with iOS first. Apple is the only company that makes iOS phones, and it must ap-prove what goes into its app store. That helps en-sure quality, but it means trusting Apple to make those choices for you. One advantage of iOS is that iPhones work well with other Apple devices, including iPads and Mac

computers. Android can’t pull that off because the hardware and the software aren’t as tightly inte-grated.

There are several other systems vying for third place. Microsoft’s Win-dows is the most prom-ising, after BlackBerry tumbled from pioneer to also-ran. Windows is a good system, but it has fewer apps.

How should you pay for it?

You used to simply pay $200 for the best phone, and the phone company covered the remaining $450 or so, making up for it in higher service fees over the life of your two-year contract. Lately, phone companies have been trying to wean cus-tomers off subsidies by having customers bring

used phones or pay full prices in installments. With T-Mobile, that’s the only option. In return, you pay less in monthly service fees.

If you forgo subsidies, you generally come out ahead if you sign up for a larger data plan — 10 gigabytes or more with AT&T and Verizon and 20 gigabytes or more with Sprint. The monthly discounts aren’t as big with smaller data plans, so you’re giving up more in subsidies than you get in discounts. But the install-ment plans have other advantages, including the ability to trade your phone in for a newer model before the typical two-year contract is up.

You can buy phones through your wireless car-rier or go to a retailer such as Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

You can also find phones on eBay and Amazon. Check with your car-rier first to make sure it’ll work, as networks in the U.S. vary.

How much should you pay?

It might be tempting to spend a lot for the latest iPhone or Samsung Gal-axy phone, but you should ask yourself whether you need all that power. This is especially so if you are paying full price. (If you’re getting a subsidized phone with a contract, then why not make the phone company pay for the best?)

There are several phones available for $200 or less, at contract-free prices, compared with $600 to $700 for the typical high-end phone. You’re typically giving up a better camera, a better screen and a faster processor. But what you get in a bud-get phone is often good enough for such basics as email, Facebook and even video. First-time smart-phone owners will notice a huge difference over their basic phones.

Smartphone veterans might want something more, especially if the phone is their primary access to the Internet. Heavy users might even consider paying more for additional storage. Phones fill up quickly with photos and video and downloaded music.

By ANICK JESDANUNAP Technology Writer

Gift Guide: Help your selfie with some add-on gear

ATLANTA — Not all selfies are created equal. Some are blurry, are poorly framed or miss the action entirely because you might be scrubbing your thumb fishing for a virtual shutter button as the moment passes you by.

Although phone manufac-turers are trying to help by building in tools for better selfies, many of these have their limits. For better self-ies, consider some of these gadgets for yourself or your loved ones.

• Halo/Hisy ($25):This one is really simple.

The Halo is a small plastic button that serves as a wire-less shutter trigger for your phone’s camera. Its only job is to trigger your phone’s shutter when you click the button. One function, one result.

My tests with the Halo for my Android phone went smoothly. The company makes an iPhone version called Hisy. You need to install its free camera app, Shutter Panorama, as neither Halo nor Hisy works with the regular camera app that comes with the phone.

Shutter Panorama doesn’t

have too many manual settings or special features. But the device does a good job allowing me to place my phone in places other than my hand. I got some nice shots of myself and my dog by putting the phone against a rock in the front yard and sitting a few feet away. It’s more elegant than setting the camera’s timer and running to get in the shot.

• Kodak Pixpro SL25 ($300):

The Pixpro SL25 from Kodak is essentially a cam-era lens that mounts onto your phone, allowing for higher resolution than what

your phone’s camera can capture. The Pixpro com-municates with your phone over Wi-Fi and lets you compose the image on the phone’s screen. Once photos are snapped using the shut-ter button on the Pixpro, the phone serves primarily to review and share the images to social media services.

The downside is you have a second device to carry around, which defeats the purpose of taking selfies on the fly.

The upside is image qual-ity. The Pixpro shoots sharp 16 megapixel photos and full high-definition video at 1080p. This quality is com-

mon for rear cameras, but not the front ones for selfies. As a bonus, the Pixpro offers a zoom of up to 25 times, which is more helpful for regular shots than selfies. It’s a real, optical zoom, not a software magnification phones typically use.

The Pixpro has fold-out arms to attach to my phone, such that the two devices act as one. That, in itself, isn’t different from using just the phone for selfies. But I was able to hold the Pixpro and press the shutter in ways I could not with my phone. For instance, I was able to have my finger rest on a physical button on the Pixpro instead of searching on the phone’s touch screen

for a virtual one.I had a lot of success

using the Pixpro unattached to my phone as well. It has a wide-angle lens that fits plenty of action into the frame.

Some phones are coming with better front cameras. The one on HTC’s new Desire Eye is 13 megapix-els, the same as the rear camera. There’s even a front flash. You’ll still get sharper images with the Kodak at-tachment.

• Satechi Smart Selfie Extension Arm Monopod ($50):

This telescoping mono-pod from Satechi helps get more than just yourself in

the frame. Similar to the Kodak unit, this monopod has spring-loaded rubber pieces that grip the phone on its sides, holding it firmly in place. From there, you simply extend the telescop-ing device out to its full three feet and get lots of buddies or surroundings into the shot.

What really helps is that a shutter button on the grip of the pole connects to your phone via Bluetooth, allowing you to snap the selfie without reaching up to the phone. Once I paired the monopod to my phone and launched my default camera app, I was able to easily snap various selfies with a birds-eye view and other vantage points longer than my arm.

The Satechi unit worked fine with my phone’s de-fault camera, but not with other camera apps I enjoy, such as FxCamera and Candy Camera.

Samsung’s new Galaxy Note models do let you fit more people in by stitching multiple images together. You tilt the phone left and right, and the Note’s software does the magic behind the scenes. The shot won’t be as instant, though, as what the monopod can provide.

By RoN HARRISAssociated Press

In this Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, file photo, the Motorola Moto X smartphone, using Google’s Android software, is shown at a media preview in New York. The latest devic-es are out for the holiday shopping season, and there’s likely to be a lull in new releases until next spring. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

In this Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014, file photo, the iPhone 6 plus, left, and iPhone 6 are displayed, in Cupertino, Calif. The latest devices are out for the holiday shopping sea-son, and there’s likely to be a lull in new releases until next spring. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

This Nov. 18 photo shows the Kodak Pixpro SL25 in Decatur, Ga. The Pixpro is a camera that connects wire-lessly to the user’s smartphone and takes high-resolu-tion photos and video while framing the image on the phone’s screen. (AP Photos/Ron Harris)

This Nov. 18 photo shows the Satechi Smart Selfie Exten-sion Arm Monopod, in Decatur, Ga. The item is a telescop-ing pole that can extend to three feet and hold a smart-phone while operating the phone’s camera controls via Bluetooth-connected buttons on the grip of the pole.