Last episode I gave you my best picks for tech gifts this year. But what about what NOT to buy! Bad tech not only makes for a disappointing Christmas, it can be deadly. So I turned to Selena Larson at CNN Money for her input on tech related gifts to avoid.

Merry Christmas, Today we want to share our top 10 technology gift picks for that someone special, or yourself, in your life.  If you like our choices, or are purchasing on Amazon, please use our affiliate links below to purchase.  This helps keep SmartTech on the air!

The world just experienced an American election like it never had before. Despite all the scientific polling, the consistent pounding of the main stream media and social media, and damning tweets from the candidate himself, Donald Trump achieved a sweeping victory of the electoral college and took the White House from the Heir Apparent Hillary Clinton. Technology played a critical role in the outcome. In this episode we look at 8 tech related areas that may have helped put Trump over the top: alternate media sources, social media, easy distribution of food for the conspiracy theorists, instant access everywhere, constant bombardment, access to details and the ability to ignore them, fear of retaliation, photos of everything-everywhere.

It seems like we are using bluetooth for everything today.  How about unlocking a padlock?  Master Lock has released the 4400 series of padlocks which know when you are near and authorized to open the lock and let you gain access without a physical key.  But what happens when the battery fails or what happens if you don't have your phone?  We answer those questions and more in this episode.

In this episode we review Stu McLaren's argument that if you give too much away for free, especially technology on the internet, you ultimately diminish  the value of the technology  and cause it to languish.