One of these lights isn’t real, and that’s amazing.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the right gift for those close to me. Some folks do their holiday shopping in the last week of December, I usually start in July. I like it when the things I give to people have purpose, meaning, and most of all surprise. That last one can be a little complicated for me. One time I broke into my sister’s house while she was away to measure her living room for a new entertainment center because I didn’t want her to know about it until it was there. I say broke in, I had a key. I just couldn’t find it. But my lack of organization is the subject of another article for another time.

This year I haven’t had to do a ton of sneaking around, because I’ve had Augmented Reality shopping apps. I point my phone at something in my Grandparent’s house, and I can tell in seconds whether the thing I had in mind for them really works in that space. No measuring tape, no questions asked, I just casually pull my …

What’s the one thing they’d ban?

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From blenders to the popular Instant Pot, you won’t want to miss out.

Even though Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, the holiday shopping season is still very much in full swing. Amazon has just kicked off its ’12 Days of Deals’ promotion, which will bring along with it a variety of discounts each day in a particular product category. Whether you need to whiten your teeth or massage your back, today has deals covering all sorts of kitchen gear. From Instant Pots to pot sets, knives, vacuums, and more, there are tons of discounts to look into today.

Here’s our favorite deals from today:

Multi-functional

Instant Pot Ultra 3-Qt Pressure Cooker

This 3-quart Instant Pot Ultra can replace 10 kitchen gadgets and is down to its lowest price. This version is the 3-quart model, which is better suited for individuals and smaller families. It is usually twice today’s price.

$59.95 at Amazon

A kitchen classic

KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer and Spiralizer

This classic Kitche…

An all-in-one imaging solution from Skylum Software arrives later this month for Mac and Windows.

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Luminar 3 is an image editor, and photo library rolled into one. It’s ideally suited for amateurs and professionals photographers alike. At the heart of Luminar 3 is the new Library panel which adds the ability to organize and edit multiple images simultaneously. In other words, it’s the software’s digital asset management system. Highly customizable, the Luminar 3 library works with existing folders that reside on your hard drive, connected devices, and synced cloud storage. The panels, which look a lot like Lightroom’s preview and catalog features, are easy to use, and perhaps more importantly, quick to learn. It’s available starting December 18, but you can preorder it right now for $10 off at $59.99.

See a…

No excuse not to cook at home!

Amazon has the 3-quart Instant Pot Ultra on sale for $59.95 today, which is the lowest it’s ever sold for and $20 lower than our previous mention. This model generally sells for around $120, and any other time it has reached the $80 mark it’s sold out insanely fast. We expect we could see the same here, so if you want one, you’ll want to be quick about it.

If for some odd reason you haven’t already heard of Instant Pot, it may be just the kitchen gadget your looking for. Not only can you replace your aging slow cooker with it, but it also can make yogurt, bake cakes, cook eggs, sauté, steam, warm, and even sterilize. It combines 10 different kitchen gadgets into one small package. This version is the 3-quart model, which is better suited for individuals and smaller families.

You’ll probably want to grab yourself an Instant Pot Cookbook for some ideas, and maybe even a spare lid, steamer basket, and some egg molds to help you master cooking wit…

Best answer: If you are a fan of classic gaming, then you can’t really beat the volume of games you get for this pretty amazing price.

Amazon: Sega Genesis Classics ($30)

Sega Genesis Classics gives you a whole boatload of games at an awesome low price!

It seems as if just about every gaming company is releasing collections of their classic titles these days. Sometimes they come in their own bespoke boxes that are designed to look like the consoles that they were originally released on and sometimes they come in the form of a standalone collection. Sega Genesis Classics comes down in the latter category, but it gives you just about everything you’ll need from a nostalgia collection.

The problem I’ve experienced with many of these collections is with volume. Many companies have released collections that feel more like a cash grab than a gift to their longtime fans, with many games that might not worth be playing or that just aren’t worth the money you paid for it. Fortunately, whe…

The old grid is gone. The old grid is dead. But I’d argue there’s a new, almost as simple grid that’s taken its place and can help you whittle down to your ideal MacBook pretty quick.

Once upon a time, Steve Jobs drew quadrants on a slide and, if you wanted a new notebook rather than desktop, all you had to decide between was consumer and pro, for a brief time, between MacBook and MacBook Pro. Then he pulled a MacBook Air out of a manilla envelope and things got — and stayed — more complicated. Today, with an old Air and new, a 12-inch and several levels of Pro, it can seem downright confusing.

But it doesn’t have to be.

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The New Grid

The old grid is gone. The old grid is dead. But I’d argue there’s a new, almost as simple grid that’s taken its place and can help you whittle down to your ideal MacBook pretty quick.

If you just want a MacBook you can take pretty much anywhere and do pretty much anything with…