Samsung Space Monitor

WiFi HiFi Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Gifts for the Person Working From Home

We’re back with the WiFi HiFi holiday gift guides! Each week, we’ll release new themed gift guides, chocked-full of great tech gift ideas for different people on your list. This week, we’re looking at great gifts for those who find themselves working from home.

Aruba Instant On Wireless Access Points

Aruba Instant On

These access points can be set up in minutes and provide fast 802.11ac Wave 2 secure access along with easy-to-use web and mobile app management. The in-room access points are perfect for home offices, offering pre-built access control lists (ACLs) and built-in firewall to prevent malicious traffic from entering the network. Voice and video business applications are prioritized so they don’t have to worry about getting cut off from a Zoom call with a client or important meeting or presentation. This might just be the perfect gift for a small business owner to wrap up and send out to their team.

Sharp FPK50UW Plasmacluster Air Purifier

Sharp FPK50UW air purifier

Especially if you live in a province with chilly temperatures during the winter, which means leaving the windows closed, an air purifier can come in handy. Plus, if everyone in the family is home, there’s a lot more going on in the house to generate dust, dander (if you have pets), odours (from cooking), and more. An air purifier is a perfect accessory for the home office, and this one has a HEPA filter that can capture 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, from dust to dander, pollen, mould, viruses, and bacteria. There are three fans speeds and an express clean option. And the LibraryQUiet operation see sit run at just 22 decibels, so the sound won’t be distracting during your Zoom meetings. MSRP $300

Microsoft 4K Wireless Display Adapter

Microsoft 4K Display Adapter

One of the many device accessories Microsoft launched to cater to the growing working from home community, this one makes it easy to display your Windows PC screen on a larger monitor. It’s perfect if the person is fine using a laptop most of the time, but could sometimes benefit from using a larger display to do things like go over spreadsheets, coding, videos, or having large conference calls. $90

Amazon Echo Dot With Clock (4th-Gen)

Amazon Echo Dot With Clock

This smart speaker admittedly appears on a many a themed gift guide this year, but for good reason. In terms of cost to functionality ratio, you can’t beat it. And if you buy at the right time, it is constantly going on sale. For a home office, it’s perfect to use as a desk clock, displaying the current time. But you can also use it to play background music while you work, add appointments or reminders to your calendar while multitasking, call people, ask questions, like what’s on your calendar for the day, hear the news headlines, check on the traffic, and more. $80

Logitech C615 Webcam

Logitech C615 Webcam

Now that video meetings are becoming the norm, people are trying to find ways to improve how they look. And changing your Zoom background to look like a tropical beach scene just isn’t going to cut it. What they want is good lighting, better resolution, and improved sound. This webcam clips to your computer monitor or laptop and offers 1,080 resolution. It folds up nicely for storing away in a drawer when you don’t need it or bringing it to the office or local coffee shop if you need a change of scenery. It works with both PC and Mac and comes with a built-in mic that features noise reduction to further improve your Zoom calls. About $90

Phonesoap 3 UV Sanitizer

Phonesoap 3 UV Sanitizer

Keep this handy device on your desk and sanitize your phone whenever you get back home from running errands or spending a day at the remote office. It can not only sanitize smartphones of all sizes (even in the case) but other small items, like credit cards, car keys, earbuds, and more, using safe UV light. Plus, this one has a pair of charging ports for keeping your devices charging while they get cleaned. US$80

Stamina Mini Exercise Bike

Stamina Mini Exercise Bike

The idea might sound silly, but if you’re really having trouble getting enough steps in a day and exercise when you’re stuck behind a desk at home from 9-5, a device like this might help. Simply place it under the desk where your feet would go then pedal away as you work, getting some leg motions going. It employs a smooth pedal system that the manufacturer days helps reduce sliding and jerky strokes. It might seem weird at first, but over time, it could become second nature. Even if they aim to pedal for 10 minutes every hour, it’s better than nothing! Wipe down the pedals and pedal with your hands to work out the upper body. It has a dial to adjust the intensity. It measures 42.5 x 18.13 x 58.25″ (w/h/d) and it’s recommended that you have a space of at least 54.4 x 78.25″ in which to position it. About $100 on sale.

SodaStream Fizzi OneTouch Soda Maker

SodaStream Fizzi OneTouch

I recently bought this device and it’s a great way to encourage you to drink more water during the day. It’s super easy to use: fill the included bottle with flat water, pop it inside the machine, press one of three buttons depending on how carbonated you want it, and it’s done in a matter of seconds. Add flavour drops, fresh fruit, or whatever you want to give it some sweetness, then drink right out of the bottle or pour it into your own. You get the goodness of water with some flavour added without adding a ton of calories. Make some ahead, add fresh fruit, and leave it in the refrigerator overnight to infuse the fruit’s flavour. It sure beats plain ol’ water. This one is much more expensive that the regular Fizzi, but you don’t have to manually push a button and guess how long to hold for the right level of carbonation. That said, this one does require electricity whereas the cheaper model does not. $180

Ikea Navlinge LED Clamp Spotlight

Ikea Lavlinge Clamp Light

This clamp light has been a game-changer in my office, where the overall lighting is great but spotlight lighting was always a challenge. This lamp has a clamp to secure to the desk, anywhere you like, then a gooseneck arm you can move around as needed to provide the right amoung of light in just the right spot. It does need to stay plugged in but has a convenient on/off switch. It’s perfect for glare-free task lighting. And the good thing is that you can easily move it around as needed, or even take it up to your bedroom for late-night reading at the end of the workday. $17

Samsung Space Monitor

Samsung Space Monitor

I loved the idea for this monitor when I first saw it at CES a few years ago, and it’s still so clever and convenient, and perfect for the person working from home. The concept is simple: use the monitor as you would any other, but when you’re done, it pushes back, flush against the wall or the back of the desk via the clamp type stand. This help maximize desk space if you want to position your laptop there and connect it to the monitor as a secondary display, for example, or you’re using large plans or notebooks to jot down ideas during a Zoom meeting. It comes in either 27″ or 32″ sizes for $550 and $650, respectively.

Didn’t find what you were looking for? Check back as this gift guide will be updated through to the end of 2020, and check out more gift suggestions in our other Holiday Gift Guides.