Interact with Alexa anywhere in your home with the Amazon Echo Dot voice-controlled device. The compact size is a perfect fit in any room, and the built-in speaker lets you set an alarm or stream music. The Amazon Echo Dot voice-controlled device plugs into your home stereo speakers or connects wirelessly through Bluetooth.
While still a bit of a novelty, the echo proves itself to be quite handy, especially when cooking. Setting timers and performing unit conversions while stirring a hot pot is extremely useful. Voice control of lights is also great, if you have any home automation gear. Hotword recognition is remarkably effective - if I talk loudly I can trigger it from almost anywhere in a 950 sq ft apartment, even in a different room. The built-in speaker is not stellar, but sounds surprisingly good for the cost and size.
Use the Netflix gift card to watch your favorite TV shows and movies on any internet-connected device instantly. Watch as much as you want, whenever you want. It's fast. It's easy. It's a better way to watch.
Chefman Precision Electric Kettle: Brew your favorite tea quickly and easily with this kettle, which includes a removable tea infuser so you can make large batches at once. Precision temperature control lets you select the optimal temperature for a variety of different tea types.
This kettle heats water quickly, and provides an audible beep when it is done, which is sufficient to be heard from another room without being overly obtrusive. When set to a particular temperature, it initially overshoots the target a bit, then stabilizes. The hour-long temperature hold (not available when targetting a full boil) is useful and works well. It would be nice to have a bit more granular control for the temperature or simply different set points. Many coffees and teas target 195 or 205 degrees, but adjustments are performed in tens, so it is only possible to do 190 or 200. This is mitigated by the aforementioned tendency to overshoot the target. Additionally, the display shows a live display of the current temperature, so it is possible to program the kettle to reach e.g. 190, then bump up the target and watch the display to stop when it reaches 195 (usually less than a minute later). A minor annoyance is that the kettle beeps five times one hour after it is turned on, even if it turned off automatically upon reaching a boil, or was manually turned off after reaching a pre-set temperature. It also beeps whenever it is lifted from or returned to its base. In addition to the removable tea infuser, there is a removable fine mesh filter which fits across the pouring spout. This has the side effect of substantially slowing down the speed at which water pours. Whether that is good or bad is a matter of opinion. As a bonus, the clear sides and blue light from the bottom look very cool as the water reaches a boil.