Tech gifts you'll want to give and receive

It’s inevitable that tech will be included in your gifts this year. According to a recent survey commissioned by The Mobile Shop, we've learned that smartphones or smartphone accessories are topping many Canadian holiday wishlists with almost 25% of us planning to spend $50 or more in the categories. What else tops the list? 44% of Canadian would most like to receive Bluetooth headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. 21% of us want portable chargers, and 20% of us would love a new phone case or phone wallet. Not surprising, only 1% of Canadians surveyed would like a pop socket. 

So, with all that swirling in our minds here are some additional tech gift ideas to give and to get...

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Google to acquire Fitbit for US$2.1 billion

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Fitbit is going to be the newest brand to be taken under Google's wings. Google announced that it has "entered into a definitive agreement" to acquire Fitbit for US$2.1 billion (around CA$2.7 billion). The announcement comes days after reports are going around that Google was in talks to purchase the fitness tracker company. Fitbit will be joining Google itself, in the same way that Nest is under Google right now.

According to Rick Osterloh, Google's senior vice president for hardware, the reason they want Fitbit is to help them create wearables within the company. That they "see an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market."

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Fitbit introduces new Aria Air smart scale

Aside from launching the Versa 2, Fitbit also unveiled the Aria Air, a low-cost smart scale. It can track your weight and calculate your BMI and syncs with the Fitbit app. It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and feeds all the information there. And since the Fitbit app has all your data from your different Fitbit devices, it helps you set goals, develop weight loss or gain plans, as well as check your progress over time. Combining this with the new Fitbit Premium subscription service, you get more insight about your body's health metrics and receive recommendations on how to reach your goals faster. It's set to cost $69.95, and it comes in black or white.

Source: T3 + MobileSyrup

Fitbit Versa 2 brings Amazon Alexa into the smartwatch

After getting leaked, the Fitbit Versa 2 is now official. It still looks similar to its predecessor, but it comes with some new useful features. This smartwatch/fitness tracker gets an on-device microphone for the first time, allowing you to use Amazon's Alexa voice-activated assistant. Alexa on the Versa 2 will respond to your voice commands via text-based messages, which you'll see on the display. If you were worried about it talking back loudly to you, it wouldn't happen since this device has no speakers. You can ask Alexa to do things like set alarms and timers, check local weather, news, and control smart home devices. On Android, it can even transcribe voice responses to messages. But it can't control music, or control fitness tracker options until later this year.

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