Grad Gift Guide: Digital Devices for Dorm Rooms

We’re deep into graduation season, and if you’re struggling to find suitable gifts for the matriculating freshmen in your life, allow us to suggest these digital devices that are sure to delight in any dorm room (and make you the favored friend or family member.)

Show and Tell

Sending your child to college can be a bit like sending them to explore Mars. Yes, a brave new world and all that, but mostly because the amount of communication back to home will be limited at best.

Make it as easy as possible for your beloved (and selfless) offspring to reach out, say hello and even see your beaming face with the recently announced Amazon Echo Show.

As you might have guessed from the name, the Show is part of the Amazon Echo smart speaker line of products with one distinct difference: It comes equipped with a 7" touchscreen and 5 megapixel camera.

And it makes placing a video call as simple as speaking a few syllables—which should elevate the likelihood that you see the child you’ve poured your heart and soul into raising a few times over the next four years.

In addition to serving as a lifeline back home, the Show can help your favorite student perform hands-free online research, order a new supply of Top Ramen, call up YouTube videos by voice alone, or listen to their audio library.

The Amazon Echo Show will be released on June 28 and be available for $229.

An Invigorating Wake-Up Call

What do college-bound progeny love most of all? Copious amounts of sleep.

While this "snooze-the-day-away" aesthetic may fly when your child has responsible individuals in their life to ensure they arise to meet their many obligations, a student prone to heavy slumber runs the risk of treating university like a very expensive four-year nap.

Help ensure that your favorite freshman is up in time to make the most of their day (and make the most of their classes) with the Pavlok.

Employing aversion therapy, the watch-like wearable will vibrate to arouse the user from sleep, and if that fails, it will switch to a more invigorating action—electric stimulus.

This mild shock should be enough motivation for the wearer to greet the day with gusto—a multi-shock option is available if not—but the long-term goal, and the result, according to Pavlok, is that users are rarely, if ever, shocked as their brains are trained to exhibit the desired behavior, i.e. waking up in time to meet your educational obligations.

Pavlok can also be used to encourage other desired behavior as well, be it studying more, working out or calling your parents with some degree of regularity.

The Pavlok is available for $149 and comes in a range of colors.

Standing On Their Own

The standard dorm room desk is, in fact, woefully sub-standard.

Set your student up for success with the Jarvis Bamboo Adjustable Standing Desk from Fully.

The environmentally conscious and aesthetically friendly convertible sit-to-stand desk can support (and lift) up to 350 pounds, comes with a variety of customization options, including contour cuts for preferred arm resting position, and it will raise and lower to the desired height via arrow controls or four positioning preset buttons.

Better yet, the Jarvis will encourage healthy habits and prepare college students for the workplaces of tomorrow—modernly designed Silicon Valley startups.

The Jarvis Bamboo Adjustable Standing Desk is available from $470 to $1,184, depending on customization.

Game On

Of course, college isn’t all about studying and sacrificing sleep. There is some measure of fun to be had—or so we’ve heard.

To that end, you can set your recent graduate up to have the best dorm on the block with a purchase of the recently announced XBox One X.

Debuting at the recent E3 2017 conference, the "nextest" of the next gen video game console from Microsoft promises true 4K gaming on a system that boasts 40% more power than any console on the market.

But the XBox One X isn’t just about being the most cutting-edge console on the market. The system will also provide backwards compatibility to the original XBox console (and all iterations in-between), allowing college-bound players to engage in some nostalgia-bonding over the games of their youth.

The Xbox One X will be available Nov. for $499.