ZD 25.47: The Annual Gift Guide
It has been a hell of a year you deserve something nice.
What to get this holiday season. In The Distilled Spirit learn about non-aligned Americans, hyperproductivity, why you should just own stocks and more.
Distilled Gifting
It is the shopping and giving season. I spend a lot of my time looking for the best devices, here are a few things that have caught my eye that could make the right gift for the right person in your life.
Device Upgrades
Year end upgrades are a thing, here are the devices I am looking at this season.
Remarkable Pro Move
Remarkable’s e-ink tablets looked very compelling. They have a great combination of features that makes them worth the weight. I’ve always been hesitant because I need pocket-sized devices for my workflow. Remarkable has fixed that with the Remarkable Pro Move. It has all the features of the big brothers while fitting in a coat pocket.
Eversolo Play
Eversolo’s Play is the high-end music streaming amp you did not know you needed. Controllable via touch screen and app, it acts as the nexus of your home entertainment space. Option for a CD-ROM in case you still use physical media or still need to rip the collection.
[Photo] Framing the Problem
Digital photo frames have always been interestingly useful. I explored them a bit for a project recently. They are very commodity — most are now little android devices. Find one with a form factor you like running Frameo. That software will let you push photos from your device to the frame — perfect for giving grandma an always up to data digital frame, or for light digital signage use in our case. For my project, I found the $45 models beat the $60 models. Your mileage may vary.
Looking Glass Displays
Looking Glass makes amazing holographic technology. Their new line of hololuminescent displays are amazing. You will see one in a retail or trade show display soon enough. You can also be the first on the block to get one for your own use. Don’t miss the spatial photo frames while you are there. The Looking Glass Go looks great on the shelf and is very approachable price-wise for someone special.
Peripheral Improvements
Things you touch and feel matter. Here are a few of my favorites.
Razer BlackShark Pro v3
Razer makes great gear, and their flagship wireless headset is no exception. I have got great mileage out of my Razer BlackShark v2 Pro over the last five years. The new version keeps all the good things and adds a few tasteful upgrades like native Bluetooth support on top of the 2.4ghz wireless. If you want to sound good enough to get compliments from your audio guy, this headset is for you.
Ultrawide Mini Displays
Ultra-wide aspect ratio, small-scale displays designed to act as a secondary information screen and touchscreen control plane are an awesome new trend. There are a variety of devices on the market, the two I like the most are the Corsair Xenon Edge and the Asus ProArt. Corsair is cheaper and not portable, Asus is pricier but packs up nicely.
Accessories Make the Phone
Your phone is a hell of a camera, it just lacks the right grip and lens to really perform. Shiftcam makes a lot of interesting tools, all designed to turn your phone into a much more professional camera. The mobile SSDs are very smart, and the lensing system is worth it if you need that sort of thing.
Cool Clocks
Clocks can be much more than clocks. Here are two good examples.
Is It Art? Is it a Clock? It’s Kyldoclock.
If you ever thought you needed a clock with selectable, animated art in your life than this is the clock for you. Get your Kylodoclock today and start enjoying living media.
Messaging Clock
LaMetric TIME is a slick and beautiful smart clock. Numerous apps let you integrate reminders, agendas, weather and more. Also doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. Great for the right space.
Traveling Better
Travel gadgets are the best gadgets. Here are a few ideas for the traveler in your life.
Make Any Audio Bluetooth with AirFly Pro
Have you ever wanted to use your own Bluetooth headset for plane audio? With AirFly Pro that is now a reality. It plugs in anywhere you can plug a headset in and translates that audio to Bluetooth, sparing you from packing the cables or attaching to unknown audio devices.
Halfday Bags
Halfday makes bags with one killer feature — they figured out how to put a garment bag into just about anything. Keep your suit flat in any form factor. The interior pockets and layout are great, these are the kinds of bags made by people who use bags.
The Zeitgeist of Gifting?
What caught your eye this season? Let everyone know in the comments.
The Distilled Spirit
The Big Picture
🤦♂️ The Non-Ideology Problem ()
Many Americans are just not into political party platforms; most see Affordability as the #1 problem. Many voters are actually non-ideological and don’t buy the package they are being sold.
💉 Healthcare Trilemma ()
Everyone wants to fix healthcare, but nobody can come up with a better solution than Obamacare. Here is why the math is hard.
🎱 8-Ball Media Map ()
Great visual explaining the layout of the media world in late 2025. Pairs well with this post.
AI Big and Small
🫏 The Low Tech Revolution ()
Many industries were low-enough margin to make clipboards beat computers. AI changes this game and gives edge computer the eyes and ears to catch up.
🚄 HyperProductivity ()
Some superworkers are figuring out how to make AI dramatically increase their productivity. Be one of them.
🧑🎨 Creating with Gemini 3 ()
ICYMI, Gemini 3 dropped last week. Upgrades to the image generation tooling have been amazing — it really can create engaging infographics. It also integrates into Adobe’s tools to put it into your existing creative workflows.
🍾 Best AI Tools for 2026 ()
An excellent round up of the best AI tools to use in 2026. Great inspiration.
Investing
💰 Just Own Stocks ()
You can overthink investing, or you can just own good stocks. You probably come out ahead with the latter.
🔠 Why Alphabet Wins the Race ()
Alphabet invented the LLM. Last week they reintroduced themselves with Gemini 3. They might have a better mousetrap.
For Fun
🦃 The Lie Behind Thanksgiving ()
The Puritans were really puritanical and fled a largely religiously tolerant Netherlands to found a colony where they could enforce their version of the truth.
😀 Emojis Were a Joke (Ars Technica)
A physics joke in 1982 lead to the flame war that got us emojis.
🧑🚀 Interstellar Travel Will Never Work ()
Everyday space opera is based on more magic than Game of Thrones.
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That Remarkable Pro Move is amazing looking. I had no idea such a thing exists, and now I have to have one!
Have you used one, or any Remarkable product before?
Great list!