Allie Gavan
Account Director

The Top Tech Gadgets We Can’t Live Without

June 28, 2019

Our favorite personal technology makes us wonder how we ever survived without certain devices. These products help our personal and professional lives to run more efficiently, allow us to travel smoothly and provide us with the type of joy only the latest and greatest technology can provide! We could live without some of these picks, but we sure wouldn’t want to. Here are some of the MGP team members’ “must have” personal tech items right now. 

 

Mindy:
Aside from my MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPhone X – all of which are essential for my work life – my favorite gadgets are: 

  • Sonos Play 5 speakers: My husband and I both love all kinds of music, and the Sonos Play 5 speakers allow us to link all of our speakers to pipe the same music throughout the house – or have mellow tunes playing in the office, while heart-pumping music plays in the gym.
  • Philips Hue lights: These smart lights let me set the mood in our living room, dining room and bedroom – using lights to make our home more cozy and relaxed in the evening or keeping me energized in the morning (especially during the winter months). 
  • Bose Quiet Comfort® 20 Acoustic Noise Canceling® in-ear headphones: For travel, I cannot live without my Bose noise-canceling headphones. They greatly reduce the noise in the plane (which is proven to make you more tired and cause jet lag) and also allow me to really shut out all noise and distraction when I need to work inflight. They also double as a headset for work calls and listening to music on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro – plus, the sound quality is quite good. 
  • AYO Light Therapy Glasses: My new favorite must-have for travel and a recent find – AYO’s light therapy glasses are scientifically proven to fight jet lag, boost your energy and help regulate your sleep. Wearing them in the afternoon helps boost my energy to power through the rest of the day – and wearing them on longer haul flights helps me kick jet lag to the curb. As someone who is also not the best sleeper, the scientifically proven blue light therapy also helps me regulate my circadian rhythm to fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly. The glasses also come with a hard case that doubles as a charger – and they hold a charge for multiple uses and days. These glasses are legit!

 

Natalee:
My MacBook laptop, my iPhone and my battery case. These items may seem obvious choices, but I travel a great deal and as long as I have my computer, my iPhone and plenty of battery I feel like I can manage whatever comes my way. I rarely go anywhere, even at home, without all three in my possession. They allow me to work from anywhere, and my iPhone lets me hotspot if I can’t find a reliable WiFi connection. With my battery case, I’m confident I’ll always have a charge, even if I can’t find an outlet, plus its soft-sided and I drop my phone at least 37 times a day. My MacBook is the smallest version available, lighter even than the MacBook Air, and it fits in nearly every bag I have without adding a lot of weight. Plus, it can take a beating (see my previous note about how often I drop things). My devices are all rose gold, my absolute favorite, so I feel like I get to have a little style even when I’m knee-deep in the trenches.

 

Erin:
The Dott smart pet tag. If you’ve got a 14-pound tabby cat that disappears all day, this is the gadget for you. I can track him in the evening when it’s time for him to come inside, and it’s saved me hours of time looking around the neighborhood. Also, it helps me keep him out of trouble, and, basically, I am just a happier person knowing my pets are safe. I am also in love with Amazon’s Alexa. 

 

Kayla: 
Hatch Baby Rest: There are a number of other, fancier devices I surely couldn’t live without, but instead I want to talk about this night light (or “Sound Machine, Night Light & Time-to-Rise” per the website). We use this light for our 5-year-old; before the Hatch we tried three other basic lighting options and they all sucked. The Hatch light is above and beyond what we needed. There’s a setting for bedtime (purple light and lullaby music – her choice), a comforting glow for the rest of the night, a setting for “okay to wake” (yellow light and birds chirping), a setting for leaving for school, and so many more options. All of the presets are controlled from my phone, which means even though bedtime is 7:30 pm I can surreptitiously have the bedtime setting go off at 7:10 pm (you know, when you’re just done). Yes, that’s my favorite feature: that I can send my kid to bed early with her being none the wiser. Either way, it keeps the message consistent. Anyone can tell you that kids thrive on predictable schedules, and this reliable light helps us all just a little bit every day. Also, it turns itself off, and I’m pretty sure it won’t burn the house down. 

 

Jenn:
Amazon Echo Dot: While I could live without an Echo Dot, I wouldn’t want to. As a busy mom who is always yelling around the house for my kids to do something, having an Echo Dot in each room of my home allows me to ‘drop’ into the room and talk to my kids – No more yelling up the stairs or pounding on doors. It’s brilliant! It also pairs easily with Alexa and plays me Rain Forest sounds as I drift off to sleep. It saves me from hearing my husband’s CPAP mask and machine. If you’ve never heard a CPAP machine or mask, think Darth Vader breathing sounds, and you will quickly understand why I love this little gadget.

 

Frances: 
Apple products: the ecosystem. I currently have an iPhone, Apple watch, two MacBook Pro’s, Apple TV and an iPad that allows all my devices to interact with one another. You have the ability to use iMessage and FaceTime from an iPad, allowing you to carry on your iPhone conversations on a tablet and on your laptop. Very seamless. 

 

Carla:
Believe it or not, I am not the tech person in my household and don’t own many devices myself aside from my phone and laptop. My favorite thing that he owns are the Bluetooth speakers. Working from home can be very quiet, so I have music going all day every day to keep me going. He also has an Amazon Echo Dot, along with a smart plug connected to my outdoor fairy lights at the end of the garden. The two together allow us to say ‘Alexa, turn the garden lights off’ before we head to bed without having to go outside. Very handy!

 

Olivia: 
JBL Charge 3 is something that I would not want to live without. My favorite pastime is going to the beach with family or friends, and this device allows me to listen to music at the beach because it is wireless and waterproof. Listening to music is very important to me, and this device gives me the ability to listen to my music at home or on the go with the people I love. 

 

Allie: 
We use our Amazon Echo Spot all day, every day in my household. I think I’ve actually forgotten that it’s possible to go outside and see what the weather is like – why should I when Alexa is there to tell me!? The Echo Spot serves so many purposes; we use it as the baby monitor, alarm clock, debate settler, device for playing music (our toddler requests Alexa to play “Baby Shark” no less than 10 times a day) and personal joke teller. I could go on forever! Another hit in our house is the Roomba vacuum cleaner. It’s a little creepy sliding around the room, but anything that gets me out of cleaning is a win.

Allie Gavan
Account Director

The Top Tech Gadgets We Can’t Live Without

June 28, 2019

Our favorite personal technology makes us wonder how we ever survived without certain devices. These products help our personal and professional lives to run more efficiently, allow us to travel smoothly and provide us with the type of joy only the latest and greatest technology can provide! We could live without some of these picks, but we sure wouldn’t want to. Here are some of the MGP team members’ “must have” personal tech items right now. 

 

Mindy:
Aside from my MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPhone X – all of which are essential for my work life – my favorite gadgets are: 

  • Sonos Play 5 speakers: My husband and I both love all kinds of music, and the Sonos Play 5 speakers allow us to link all of our speakers to pipe the same music throughout the house – or have mellow tunes playing in the office, while heart-pumping music plays in the gym.
  • Philips Hue lights: These smart lights let me set the mood in our living room, dining room and bedroom – using lights to make our home more cozy and relaxed in the evening or keeping me energized in the morning (especially during the winter months). 
  • Bose Quiet Comfort® 20 Acoustic Noise Canceling® in-ear headphones: For travel, I cannot live without my Bose noise-canceling headphones. They greatly reduce the noise in the plane (which is proven to make you more tired and cause jet lag) and also allow me to really shut out all noise and distraction when I need to work inflight. They also double as a headset for work calls and listening to music on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro – plus, the sound quality is quite good. 
  • AYO Light Therapy Glasses: My new favorite must-have for travel and a recent find – AYO’s light therapy glasses are scientifically proven to fight jet lag, boost your energy and help regulate your sleep. Wearing them in the afternoon helps boost my energy to power through the rest of the day – and wearing them on longer haul flights helps me kick jet lag to the curb. As someone who is also not the best sleeper, the scientifically proven blue light therapy also helps me regulate my circadian rhythm to fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly. The glasses also come with a hard case that doubles as a charger – and they hold a charge for multiple uses and days. These glasses are legit!

 

Natalee:
My MacBook laptop, my iPhone and my battery case. These items may seem obvious choices, but I travel a great deal and as long as I have my computer, my iPhone and plenty of battery I feel like I can manage whatever comes my way. I rarely go anywhere, even at home, without all three in my possession. They allow me to work from anywhere, and my iPhone lets me hotspot if I can’t find a reliable WiFi connection. With my battery case, I’m confident I’ll always have a charge, even if I can’t find an outlet, plus its soft-sided and I drop my phone at least 37 times a day. My MacBook is the smallest version available, lighter even than the MacBook Air, and it fits in nearly every bag I have without adding a lot of weight. Plus, it can take a beating (see my previous note about how often I drop things). My devices are all rose gold, my absolute favorite, so I feel like I get to have a little style even when I’m knee-deep in the trenches.

 

Erin:
The Dott smart pet tag. If you’ve got a 14-pound tabby cat that disappears all day, this is the gadget for you. I can track him in the evening when it’s time for him to come inside, and it’s saved me hours of time looking around the neighborhood. Also, it helps me keep him out of trouble, and, basically, I am just a happier person knowing my pets are safe. I am also in love with Amazon’s Alexa. 

 

Kayla: 
Hatch Baby Rest: There are a number of other, fancier devices I surely couldn’t live without, but instead I want to talk about this night light (or “Sound Machine, Night Light & Time-to-Rise” per the website). We use this light for our 5-year-old; before the Hatch we tried three other basic lighting options and they all sucked. The Hatch light is above and beyond what we needed. There’s a setting for bedtime (purple light and lullaby music – her choice), a comforting glow for the rest of the night, a setting for “okay to wake” (yellow light and birds chirping), a setting for leaving for school, and so many more options. All of the presets are controlled from my phone, which means even though bedtime is 7:30 pm I can surreptitiously have the bedtime setting go off at 7:10 pm (you know, when you’re just done). Yes, that’s my favorite feature: that I can send my kid to bed early with her being none the wiser. Either way, it keeps the message consistent. Anyone can tell you that kids thrive on predictable schedules, and this reliable light helps us all just a little bit every day. Also, it turns itself off, and I’m pretty sure it won’t burn the house down. 

 

Jenn:
Amazon Echo Dot: While I could live without an Echo Dot, I wouldn’t want to. As a busy mom who is always yelling around the house for my kids to do something, having an Echo Dot in each room of my home allows me to ‘drop’ into the room and talk to my kids – No more yelling up the stairs or pounding on doors. It’s brilliant! It also pairs easily with Alexa and plays me Rain Forest sounds as I drift off to sleep. It saves me from hearing my husband’s CPAP mask and machine. If you’ve never heard a CPAP machine or mask, think Darth Vader breathing sounds, and you will quickly understand why I love this little gadget.

 

Frances: 
Apple products: the ecosystem. I currently have an iPhone, Apple watch, two MacBook Pro’s, Apple TV and an iPad that allows all my devices to interact with one another. You have the ability to use iMessage and FaceTime from an iPad, allowing you to carry on your iPhone conversations on a tablet and on your laptop. Very seamless. 

 

Carla:
Believe it or not, I am not the tech person in my household and don’t own many devices myself aside from my phone and laptop. My favorite thing that he owns are the Bluetooth speakers. Working from home can be very quiet, so I have music going all day every day to keep me going. He also has an Amazon Echo Dot, along with a smart plug connected to my outdoor fairy lights at the end of the garden. The two together allow us to say ‘Alexa, turn the garden lights off’ before we head to bed without having to go outside. Very handy!

 

Olivia: 
JBL Charge 3 is something that I would not want to live without. My favorite pastime is going to the beach with family or friends, and this device allows me to listen to music at the beach because it is wireless and waterproof. Listening to music is very important to me, and this device gives me the ability to listen to my music at home or on the go with the people I love. 

 

Allie: 
We use our Amazon Echo Spot all day, every day in my household. I think I’ve actually forgotten that it’s possible to go outside and see what the weather is like – why should I when Alexa is there to tell me!? The Echo Spot serves so many purposes; we use it as the baby monitor, alarm clock, debate settler, device for playing music (our toddler requests Alexa to play “Baby Shark” no less than 10 times a day) and personal joke teller. I could go on forever! Another hit in our house is the Roomba vacuum cleaner. It’s a little creepy sliding around the room, but anything that gets me out of cleaning is a win.