Tech

Designer Tech | Eero WiFi System

We’ve had a long time struggle with our wireless connection over here. Our house isn’t huge, but there’s just something about the placement of our modem and router that makes it give us spotty coverage everywhere else. Okay, okay…our set up is in our basement (not our choice!). It was there when we moved in and so we just kept it there to keep things easy. Well, it’s not hard to imagine, but we get awful coverage on the 2nd floor. Especially in the master bedroom. This is such a damper on my nighttime youtube binging, hello! My husband even tried moving the whole set up out of the basement and still no dice. We’re guessing the old school iron tub in the upstairs is serving as a damper? Who knows…all I know is that watching the little buffer wheel go round-and-round was driving me nutty. About six months ago it got so bad that we replaced our router and modem and pretty much our whole set-up hoping for better service. Nope. Oh yeah and we tried switching services too. Yeah…double nope.

2016 Gift Guide | Modern Tech

I’m definitely a tech lover at heart. I love seeing what new things people come up with. AND I’m a huge sucker for tech that’s designed well. Luckily companies have caught on and started created beautiful and functional products for everyone. Here are some fun new products I’m enjoying this year!

1 | HIKU SHOPPING BUTTON

Makes shopping super easy. Just scan the bar code or say what you need and it adds and organizes your shopping list!

2 | AIR QUALITY MONITOR

I’d love to keep track of the air in our home, air quality is such a valid concern. AND this one looks pretty while doing its job.

3 | sense sleep system

When it comes to sleeping…I need all the help I can get. This seems like it would do wonders!

4 | MINI SELFIE STICK
Maybe I wouldn’t be so reluctant to use one, if mine were as good looking as this one!!!

5 | 3d printer

I’d love to get my hands on one of these! Oh the things I would create.

6 | USB TASSEL KEYCHAIN

I love a good tassel. It’s even better when it serves a purpose, other than looking pretty of course 😉

7 | iphone dock

Matches number 10…I mean, you might as well have it all match right? 😉

8 | MINI PROJECTOR

How cute is this little guy? Seems like a handy piece to have around.

9 | Power compact

A lit compact mirror that also serves as a power bank? Be still my heart!

10 | SMART WATCH DOCK

So chic and pretty. Perfect balance of design and function.

11 | record player

Nothing sounds like good ole’ fashioned vinyl. This player also has bluetooth. Best of both worlds.

12 | power bank

This good looking little thing will help keep you charged and ready to go. Love it.

For more holiday gift inspiration, you can check out my gift guides for women , men, kids and pets!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Copy Cat Chic!

Copy Cat Chic Gift Guide | Gifts for the Techie and a Giveaway

Day two of our Copy Cat Chic gift guides! Today is all about the tech 🙂 Man this one was hard to narrow down. There’s some really fun tech toys out there right now!

one | ZULI PLUG

You might have already seen a glimpse of this bad boy on Instagram. Love these plugs. You plug them into any three-prong outlet and then plug the usual into them. AND whatever you plug into the Zuli plug you can control by an app on your phone. Yessss, that’s right.

two | UP MOVE

Everyone seems to be wearing a health/fit tracker of some sort. I like this one because it’s not obscenely expensive and it still looks cute.

three | TRACKR

I lose my keys…or my phone probably at least twice a week. It’s so fun, just ask the Mr who is always waiting for me while I’m frantically tearing the house apart looking for them. This little button attaches to pretty much anything and helps you find it by either using a special ring or by crowd GPS. I can think of many, many uses for this. Can’t you?

four | RINGLY

How fun is this ring? Not only is it chic looking, but it serves a purpose. It can notify you of incoming emails and texts on your iphone using subtle vibration and light patterns. Pretty cool huh? Now instead of checking your iphone for new mail or messages, you can chill and drink your cup of joe with friends in peace without worrying you’ll miss an important email.

five | ahead wIRELESS HEADPHONES

These are a staple in my household. My office is in the living room. That means every night when the Mr is binge watching his latest show (it’s Doctor Who right now btw), I can put these beauts on and listen to some smooth beats without getting all caught up in the cords (total pet peeve).

six | POLAROID ZIP

I posted about this before, but I really love this fast little photo machine. It really would make the perfect gift. There are so many uses for the fast photos it spits out. The kids especially love it!

seven | SONOS PLAY

We have several of these around the house. Love ’em. They’re so versatile and the sound quality is awesome. You can control them using the Sonos app on your phone which means you can use any music service possible (spotify, itunes, pandora, sirius, etc.). Also you can group them together and use them as surround sound speakers or use them separately and have each one play a different station in each room. They’re small and unobtrusive.

Yay for another giveaway! Today’s giveaway is hosted by Zuli Smartplugs. One lucky reader will win a Presence Pack (3 smartplugs) worth $160. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below!

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See all of my gift guides here! This post may contain affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Copy Cat Chic. I received a Zuli Plug, Trackr Bravo, and Ahead Wireless Headphones to review and provide my honest opinion.

Ranch House Redo | Nesting with the Nest

So far it’s been a nice mild summer, and thankfully, we’ve only had a week or so of really hot weather 90s+. That’s hot for this pregnant Mama, especially when you have no air conditioning…Speaking of temps, this month for our Lowe’s Creative Ideas Network challenge one of the options was energy efficiency. I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for having nice comfy temps all throughout the house, especially when there’s babies involved. A comfy house sometimes means a not so comfy electric/gas bill. Especially since I work from home. We really had some whoppers last winter. Whoops.

So one of the first orders up for my “nesting for baby” stage was making sure we are all set for November when baby deux will arrive. I wanted to make sure we were smarter this year when it came to heating the house and so I insisted on getting a smarter thermostat. Enter the prettiest, smartest thermostat of them all:

I’ve always been a sucker for good design (obvious!). And when something looks good and functions even better, I’m sold. I’ve been wanting a Nest for a long, long time. Thankfully Lowe’s gave me the perfect reason to get one.

It was super easy to install, the Mr had it up on the wall in less than 10mins. from what I recall. And then it was my turn to hook it up to our wifi network and get it up and running. That took less than 10mins. as well. Not too shabby for this functional piece of eye candy wouldn’t you say? The rectangular backplate was included, which was a good thing because the wall behind the old thermostat wasn’t too pretty. That’ll be an easy fix once we get around to painting the hallway. And I’m always a sucker for a good app.

I can’t wait until the cold weather comes so I can start playing around with this puppy! I mean, how awesome is it, that you can adjust the temperature of your whole home from your iPhone? Looove it.

Want more specifics on how to install a nest? Check out Sherry & John from Young House Love’s post here, lots of good installation pics and info. And fellow LCI member Matt from The DIY Village also decided to use the Nest in his home as well this month.

Next order of business? I want yet another piece of functional, eye-candy. This beaut from Dyson. That’s a whole lotta pretty in one compact package. It heats and cools and has its own thermostat built in, so key for a baby’s room. Because, sometimes, you just don’t need the whole house just as cozy as the nursery. It’s an investment though, but it will be worth it. At least that’s what I keep telling myself!

Dyson Tower Heater Fan

^{This post was brought to you by the Lowe’s Creative Ideas Network, which I’m so happy to be a part of along with a crew of other really creative bloggers, you can check out all of our fun projects on the Lowe’s Creative Ideas Blog. As a part of the LCI Network, I’ve received compensation in the form of Lowe’s credit to help with my projects above.}