How to ALMOST get everything on your wildest techie wish list

Remember when you wanted a puppy for Christmas, only to wake up and unwrap a stuffed puppy toy? Well, that was your compromise gift – a great gift, even though it’s not exactly what you wanted.

Thankfully, for each of our most far-out wish list items, technology has delivered a compromise gift that will fill the void until reality catches up with our wild imaginations!

Here are four items on our Christmas list to Santa, and the compromise gifts we will get instead.

1. Impossible: A hoverboard (that actually hovers)    |    Possible: A “hoverboard”

Unfortunately hoverboards as they exist in movies, like Back to the Future II, are yet to hit the shelves. It is possible that you have been fooled by the headlines, but it’s time to burst your bubble, there is actually little hovering involved with these “hoverboards”. What you’ll be getting when you get a hoverboard is a two-wheel hands-free electric skateboard. That’s not to say it’s not really cool, but it’s not really what you had in mind.

2. Impossible: A teleportation machine    |    Possible: Virtual reality

Teleporting to another country in an instant is a dream we’ve all had. However human teleportation is a long, long time away. Your body may not be able to visit another place in an instant, but your mind and your eyes most certainly can thanks to the latest virtual reality technologies. While we wait patiently for the Oculus Rift to launch, we can go on hikes, experience concerts and visit places around the world with Google Cardboard.

3. Impossible: A cloning machine    |    A 3D printer

The idea of being able to clone yourself, your friends or your dog is pretty appealing, even if only for the minute of novelty. With a 3D printer in your home, you can get your clone on without getting into the living, breathing, walking territory that could get you into trouble.

4. Impossible: A robot personal trainer    |    Clothes that train you

Personal trainers are expensive and truth be told you’re going to have to waste a lot of time and money looking for one that is not too mean, too nice or too distractingly good looking to be worthwhile. This is where the robot personal trainer comes in – zero attitude with all the best results! There’s a wide range of fitness wearables out there, but only a few compare to the experience you get with a personal trainer. One that comes close is Athos: smart fitness clothing that measures electromyography in your muscles to tell you when to lift more and when you’re moving out of the safe zone.

Tech hasn’t exactly caught up with our imagination yet, but with each year it comes closer and closer. You have to admit, you’ll be faring pretty well if anyone meets you in the middle with these gift under the tree!

Contact The Computer Guyz in Cape Town or Centurion for a wide range of IT services, ranging from onsite audits and ADSL bandwidth to website hosting and graphic design.