Technological gifts are high on the wish list now that the holiday season is coming, but after a year of exploding phones, malfunctioning drones and stomach aches, you should think twice about it. Buy the latest technological device to give it to your family or friends.
Before filling your shopping cart, do a good search. You will not find products withdrawn from store shelves, but some resale websites continue to ignore consumer alerts and will want to convince you to buy bad technology products.
You should think about avoiding the most popular products until they have time to saturate the market; Last year, thousands of airports had to be retired in December because they could catch fire.
This is a list of products that have lately been recalled because of their defects or because they directly endanger the safety of consumers, so that you take them out of your shopping plan and know what to buy, in exchange for that.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
Samsung removed 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones, just two weeks after that model was released as the highest-quality competitor for the Apple iPhone 7. Soon after, the company stopped selling them.
The phones that caught fire represented a very hard blow to Samsung’s reputation and resulted from this year.
The company told its customers to immediately stop using the Galaxy Note 7 and change it to another device. They can not be bought in retail stores, but some people still insist on selling them through pages like Craiglist.
You must take care to buy equipment from unauthorised vendors, especially when it comes to devices that, as you know, exploit. And if you still want to spend your money on a cell phone for a loved one, buy the new Google Pixel phone.
GoPro Karma Drone
The first drone of GoPro had some problems to fly. In November, the company that produced it withdrew 2,500 drones from the market after people began reporting that they lost power in mid-flight.
The folding drone, 800 dollars, was created to accompany with aerial images the photographs of the GoPro camera, of the same company.
It is not yet known when the company will launch a more secure version of the drone, which can fly, but for now, you could buy the Parrot Bebop 2, which costs $ 550.
Samsung washing machines
As if the phones exploding were not enough, the South Korean technology giant had to withdraw 3 million high-end washers a few weeks ago.
Reports that the lids came off in the middle of the wash cycle forced sellers to take the product out of the stores and offer free home repairs or refunds to buy a new model.
LG’s front-loading washers could be a better buy. Of course, if you do not want to be hurt while washing your clothes, you could also look for an application where someone else does that work for you.
Soylent
It turns out that the main dietary supplement of Silicon Valley makes people sick. The company withdrew its new Soylent bar line last October and acknowledged that one of its ingredients could cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Food replacement malts, such as Slimfast and Ensure, are a solution for the hungry hackers on your favorite gift list, and you could also buy Ample, a Soylent rival backed by technicians. And if you like the old school you can use oranges and apples to have a very healthy Christmas stockings.
Some “smart” products for the home
Okay, you do not have to get away from all the smart home products, but you should know that some of them involve serious security risks.
Last October, hackers used some devices and appliances connected via the internet to launch a massive cyberattack that collapsed hundreds of web pages for 24 hours.
Although most of these products are not necessarily bad, many of them come pre-configured with unsafe settings and passwords like “admin”. Hackers, in fact, have taken advantage of the fact that most people do not even bother to change those settings.
As highlighted by the IPVM surveillance forum, some of the most important companies require staff to set up strong and unique passwords by default, such as Hikvision, Samsung and Panasonic.
If you plan to buy a smart home appliance, first investigate the security of the system and perhaps think of giving the person who gives it a good explanation of how to change your password.
Author Bio:
Laura Wang has over four years of experience in fashion and lifestyle. She provides thought leadership & pursues strategies for engagements with the senior executives on Innovation in fashion and lifestyle, her recent blog is http://thisgiftsformen.com,in which she is working as an author to write and edit the articles.
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