A gaggle of gadgets to get your 2016 groove on
Here's a little bit about a bunch of "stuff" I have piling up -- some new, some not so new.
The Bracketron JamSpot Bluetooth tablet stand does it all for tablet users. It keeps your tablet handsfree in portrait or landscape position in angles from zero to 70-degrees. On the bottom is a pair of built-in speakers to give you much better sound than the tablet itself.
There's also a rechargeable battery to power the speakers and when the stand is not in use, fold it up and stick in a drawer.
(bracketron.com $49.99)
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GOgroove's BlueSYNC RST alarm clock is a great nightstand all-in-one with a dual alarm clock, near field communication pairing, charging station, wireless (Bluetooth) speaker, FM radio and even a mic for handsfree calls.
For charging, put your device on the built-in holder and plug in your charging cable to the USB port. This lets it be Samsung, Apple or whatever friendly.
(gogroove.com $59.99)
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A line I say over and over again is "Power, power, power," to keep your portable electronics going.
The Ventev USB Charginghub 400 should be on every kitchen counter for every family. It charges four devices at once with 5.4 amps of power to divide among the four.
(mobileaccessories.ventev.com $34.06)
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InnWave wired headphones sound great but what gets me excited is the styled, branded, wavy and expandable headband that attaches to the soft padded ear cups.
(innodevice.com/innowave $99 in five cool colors)
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And while I'm talking about sound, Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen now. So just get the TaoTronics TT-SK06 Bluetooth Speaker. It rocks, looks great and doesn't take up a lot of room.
It's portable, has an internal 4000mAh rechargeable battery, good for 6 hours and a lifetime guarantee from TaoTronics. Just don't lose it, as I'm sure the guarantee is only for performance issues.
(taotronics.com $54.57).
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The Plantronics backbeat Fit Bluetooth headphones are obviously wireless, they're also comfortable, waterproof, sport earbuds that allow you to safely hear your surroundings and have an 8-hour battery.
The earbuds are attached with a flexible headband, which reverses for easy storage and have a built-in mic for calls.
(plantronics.com $97)
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The Magellan MiVue 658 HD dash camera MiVue 658 gives you incredible quality video in full 1080p HD and is easy to set up and use from the dash of your car.
It's not for filming your vacation but it does a great job filming some fun stuff and recording video in the unfortunate event of an accident.
If you have an accident, according to Magellan "the built-in G-Shock Impact Sensor automatically locks the recorded video footage, location data, and date/time information prior to the incident providing an accurate record of events."
If you need still images of the incident, take the dash cam and switch it to camera mode since it has an internal battery to keep it going outside of the car.
You can connect the dash cam to Wi-Fi to watch, save or share your videos.
Other features include a wide angle lens to record in any angle with the rotating mount. The lens is a bright anti-glare F Lens which is described as able to reduce glare and absorbs reflection. All I know is the quality of the video was incredible for a device like this.
(magellangps.com $199.99)
Gregg Ellman, gadget guru, can be reached at greggellman@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter@greggellman.
This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 2:08 PM with the headline "A gaggle of gadgets to get your 2016 groove on ."