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Ten top tech toys to interface with a techie’s Christmas stocking

Gifts for the geek in your life - and that means YOU

Pebble Smartwatch

Reg Hardware retro numbers

Perhaps 2014 will be the year of the smartwatch – it sure as heck isn’t going to be the year of desktop Linux... While we’re likely to see smartwatches from many manufacturers, rather a lot of them won’t really be much more than a simple accessory for your Android or iPhone, despite the hype.

Pebble

Pebble is a different. It already has quite a few apps to help you customise it, and for those with a more technical frame of mind – Reg readers, essentially - there’s a readily available SDK to help you develop your own apps and watchfaces for the device. Version 2.0 of the SDK is now in public beta, too, and it brings a heap more useful functionality for changing what the gadget can do.

And, thanks in part to the Pebble’s e-paper screen, its battery life is measured in days, rather than hours, making it more practical than much of the competition.

Price $150 (£91)
More Info Pebble

Raspberry Pi Starter Kit

Reg Hardware retro numbers

Whether it’s actually getting British kids to code at school is open to debate, but there’s no doubt that the Raspberry Pi is a fun bit of kit to play with, whether you want to pick up Python, explore electronics or interface with the Internet of Things.

We reckon this starter kit, at £75, is a pretty good deal. Featuring a case, cables, power supply, Raspberry Pi Model B, mouse and a keyboard, it has everything you’ll need, right down to an SD card with the NOOBS tools to install any of the operating systems pre-loaded on the card.

Pimoroni Raspberry Pi Starter Kit

That means that as soon as the grateful recipients unwrap it, they’ll be able to play straight away - no need to download anything, or mess around formatting cards.

It’s the perfect way to find something to do around 3pm on Christmas Day when there’s sweet FA on the telly.

Price £75
More Info Pimoroni
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