Holiday Gift Guide: Last Minute Shopping

I would like to say I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl. However, I am a planner of the worst sort, and I got most of my holiday shopping done in November.

Online of course.

But I understand there are many out there who wait until the last minute. Is this you? Never fear! I have a list of GREAT last minute Christmas gifts you
can send - all you need is your recipient's email address. No wrapping paper or trips to the mall needed - these gifts are all online!

Digital Audiobooks/Albums

Audiobooks, my savior during horrible traffic jams, are a great gift to give someone you know that has to commute. Audible.com, an Amazon company, is an audiobook rental website that allows you to buy a monthly subscription (one or two books a month) or an annual plan (12 to 24 books).

My favorite place to get audiobooks, the Pottermore Shop,  has all the Harry Potter books on audio at a discounted price that you can send to your friends or family via email. Go ahead, make someone's Christmas a little more magical.

This also works with iTunes albums. You can send out a Christmas album of your choosing, or even better, get someone that new Beyonce CD. Because lets be honest, Beyonce > Christmas music.

eGift Cards

The most obvious and easy last minute gifts, eGift Cards allow you to email  a gift card to that certain coworker you know that is always online shopping.

Some of my favorite gift cards include:
Barnes & Noble
Best Buy
Apple Store
Etsy
Amazon 

Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Amazon Prime...


For those pesky brothers/sisters that keep using your account. Or for that neighbor that is always in their pajamas every Friday night.

P.S. I'm that neighbor.



Monthly Box Subscriptions

For those people in your life that don't have time to shop, I recommend get a monthly box subscription, such as Birchbox ($10/month) for the glamazon in your life, or the Barkbox ($19-$29/month) for the lazy dog lovers on your list.

Have a friend that marches to the beat of their own drum? They would probably love Skoshbox ($12/month), a monthly delivery of Japanese candy and snacks delivered to their door. Or, for that DIY diva in your life, Lullubee ($125/month) sends a crafting kit in the mail.

The Gift of Blog

With more and more people sharing their opinions, experiences and stories these days, I would recommend you give someone the gift of a creative writing space and help them set up a blog. How? Here are a couple of ideas:

Buy them a domain name on Godaddy.com, starting at $12.99/month. GoDaddy also offers packages to help people set up their website and improve their website's search rankings.

Have a blog beginner? Help them set up a blog on Blogger or Wordpress, and then give them a gift DesignerBlogs.com, which will help them set up the look and feel of their blog.  They can either get a custom web design starting at $300, or can choose from pre-made blog templates for only $15.
certificate to

Just be careful who you give this to. The world does NOT need another gif-only site.

And if all else fails, go to the grocery store. Buy wine. Can't go wrong with that!

My Christmas Gift To You

As I was sitting at work today, a coworker sent me this gem that I don't think you can go with out this holiday season.


Please note that this is LIVE.

Click here for the best thing you will see all Christmas. Eat your heart out, claymation Christmas movies.

#GivingTuesday: Google Hangout-a-thon

Black Friday, Cyber Monday....#GivingTuesday?

Google has partnered with Mashable to create the first ever Google+ Hangout-a-thon, where from 9am - 9pm today, you can see different charities present on why they do what they do.

Hear from charities like Charity:Water, Toms, Unicef, Save the Children, Happy Hearts Fund and many more. Google then makes it easy to donate using the Google Donation Shortlist, which you can simply click and go to the donation websites.

If you're like me and have been spending money on Christmas gifts and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, it feels great to give back to someone else and put my money toward those in need.

Check it out here. I promise you, its worth it!

Jennifer Garner presenting on Save the Children 

Droning On and On...Check Out What Amazon Just Announced

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Sunday on 60 minutes that Amazon will be offering drone delivery service in the future. If you live within 10 miles of an Amazon distribution center and are an Amazon Prime member, a drone will deliver your package within 30 minutes of your order. Check it out:

What do you think about this announcement? Are droids the new delivery method of the future? 

The Places I Am Shopping on Black Friday

Happy Turkey Leftovers Day!

Hope all you TechKnows had a great Thanksgiving full of turkey, pies, family, and little kids saying funny things that they are thankful for. My little niece blurted out "CUPCAKES!!" as we were all going around naming what we were thankful for.

You and me both, sister.

Anyway, just when you thought you could have time to digest your turkey....Black Friday is upon us. Everything is also now online, since Cyber Monday apparently is not a thing anymore. Really, is it still a thing? Anyone? Bueller?

So, in order to save you some time with your family and football, I have scoured the internet and came up with a list of the best deals that I could find. I know, you're so welcome. You can thank me later... with cupcakes.

Bloglovin

Hey everyone!

Please follow my blog on Bloglovin' to get regular updates!

Check it out here:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My Visit to the Atlanta Tech Village

What cities make you think tech startups? San Francisco?

New York? Los Angeles?

....Atlanta?

Enter the Atlanta Tech Village, a business complex that was built to foster starting tech companies and create a tech community in Atlanta. Boasting of over 100 tech startups, the Atlanta Tech Village holds events, promotes outings and provides food and drinks to employees all in the name of "creating engineered serendipity". The premise behind this goal is to create opportunities for intelligent people to collaborate and come up with even better ideas, no matter what company they may be working for at the time.

In other words, by creating a roof under which a density of tech companies can live, more ventures could come from accidental idea collaboration. 

At the heart of it all is tech entrepreneur and Kevy CEO, David Cummings. After selling his successful marketing automation company, Pardot, Cummings came up with the idea for a cloud-integration software company and this tech community - seemingly simultaneously. His new company, named Kevy, is housed in the Tech Village, and its president, Ed Trimble, was my tour guide for the day. 

Me, Ed Trimble and Brooke Beach, Kevy Marketer, in front of the Kevy mascot

Startup Space

With all the buzz around this new space, many companies are asking how they can get involved.  But, as Ed pointed out, the Tech Village started filling spaces through the word of Twitter and its website.

"Atlanta Tech Village is only 10 months old," Trimble stated, "and is already the largest co-working space in the Southeast. We didn't really advertise, people found out about it through word of mouth marketing, which shows that there was a big pent up demand for a space like this."

Don't mind me, just getting a little work done

Between the fun, quirky decor, the relaxed atmosphere, the great Buckhead location and the multitude of employee benefits, it's not hard to see why people are scrambling to work here.

Want to work while exercising? Try the treadmill with desk space for your laptop.





Need to take a private call? Try one of their small meeting rooms with an Atlanta theme in each.

Need to get around Buckhead? Take one of the Razor scooters that are provided for employees to borrow.

One of the mottoes of Atlanta Tech Village is "work hard, play hard", and the Tech Village makes sure to do just that. From cardio yoga classes, rock climbing outings to fencing classes, the Tech Village makes sure that there are plenty of opportunities for companies and employees to interact and get to know each other.

Event Space

Atlanta Tech Village hosts several events each week, all focused on helping startups break ground in Atlanta. Every Friday, there is a Startup Chowdown, where ATV provides lunch and allows guests and employees to mingle. Also on the calendar is a Pitch Practice, where startups can bounce their ideas off of each other and perfect their pitching points for sales.

There is also an iOS Developer Study Group, countless award ceremonies, and a Google Developers meetup. You can visit their website for more information on what's coming up soon!

Under Construction

Currently, the Tech Village is under a lot of construction. Cumming's vision includes more space for events, meeting spaces and places businesses to settle into, and even a life-size chess board on the front lawn. This blogger is very excited to see the changes happening in the Atlanta tech community, and will look forward to seeing the building after construction. Who knows? Maybe I will be invited back to document the grand opening after all the construction is done - we'll see! *Crosses fingers hopefully*














Want to see more pictures of my behind-the-scenes tour? View the slideshow below!


What do you think about the Atlanta Tech Village?