 Christmas is coming around and if you haven't thought about what to get for your friends or even for yourself, here's a video of not only very budget friendly items under 500 pesos but are also extremely useful, improves your health and makes you more productive. Hi, I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar, the only PC store in the Philippines with no BS warranty. And after we released a video last week about tech accessories below 200 pesos, we received a number of requests for a similar list above that budget. You asked for it and here it is. If you haven't seen our below 200 pesos tech accessories video yet, you can click the link above here or check it out in the video description. But now let's get into some pretty cool tech under 500 pesos. The first on our list is a TP-Link Tapo P100 smart Wi-Fi plug. For only 390 pesos, you can get access to one of the coolest items on this list. TP-Link is an inexpensive brand which I have grown to trust and enjoy. This smart plug essentially turns any of your electronics which are plugged into a socket to be controllable by your phone. You can even automate when the appliance will turn on or off every day. Now I'm going to confess why I desperately needed this. My ISP is converged and even though it seems to be more reliable than Sky Cable, 35 days or so the internet drops from 300 MB to maybe 50 MBPS and the solution is pretty quick. All I need to do is unplug the router which is in an entirely different room. I need to wait 5 minutes before plugging it back in but most of the time I'm impatient and just plug it in after 30 seconds. However ideally it really should be 5 minutes. Yes there is a science to this, however I'm not the best person to explain it. I think all of us can relate to doing this ritual of plugging and replugging the router whether you live in a house or a condo. It solves the problem most of the time and anyone can do it even your own plug as it seems. With a smart wifi plug I don't ever need to do this again. All I need to do was simply set the plug to turn on and off my router once a day from 6am until 6.05am. I was concerned that because there would be no internet once it turns itself off, how would it get the signal to turn back on at 6.05am? The answer is simple. It doesn't need the internet once the plug has been programmed by the application. So at 6.05am it turns back on all by itself. It's amazing and I haven't had to reset my router myself ever since I began using this. Trust me you can indeed do this yourself but I dislike finding out that I need to do it because I do a random speed test and discover it only then. And then I have to remember to do it, walk over to do it, wait 5 minutes before I turn it back on, and then wait another 5 more minutes for the internet to come back because we all know that the magic needs time to brew. All in all I easily save 30 minutes of my time each week by automating this. Another cool thing is that you don't need to get one plug for each appliance if you use the extension cord trick. Being plugged into that extension cord also turns off thus I'm able to get my network switch to take a break as well. Another use of the smart plug is to protect your phone from overcharging. It isn't a good idea to leave your phone plugged in overnight because it's bad for your battery. However, we also don't like waking up with the battery empty. One solution is to schedule your plug to turn off an hour after you begin charging your phone. So if you usually plug your phone in at 9.30pm then have the plug turn off at 10.30pm, and then have it turn on again at 6.30pm in the morning in case you usually wake up at 7am, or you can just set a timer just before you charge so that it can automatically turn off after 30 minutes or an hour. Your phone will be 100% charged while not getting overcharged. With the extension cord trick, you can actually do the same thing to all your other electronic devices with just one smart plug which costs 390 pesos. The fact that this extends the battery life of your electronics means you need to upgrade less in the future. It's a lifesaver. The next item is the TP-Link Tapo L510e smart Wi-Fi bulb. For only 375 pesos, you get the same versatility of the smart plug I mentioned with respect to automating when it turns on, but with the added fun of it being adjustable. With the TP bulb, you can turn on and off your bulb anywhere in the world. As long as the bulb is connected to Wi-Fi and your phone has either LTE or Wi-Fi itself wherever. This is vastly superior to the much more expensive Philips Hue lights I have in my room which not only requires me to first buy a bridge which costs 3,690 pesos but also requires me to be on the same Wi-Fi network when I want to program the lights. Why Philips didn't make this as simple as TP just boggles my mind especially for how much I'm paying for the Philips Hue. The reason why I bought the TP-Link smart bulb is because at night it gets really dark in the house and instead of leaving our overhead lights on which are difficult to replace when they burn out, I have the TP bulb turned on every night at exactly 5.45pm. They then turn off by themselves at a time of your choice. For me, I set it to turn off at 11pm. I know it may not sound like much but it's really nice walking out into the living room and not being met with darkness. It creates the feeling that the house is taking care of you as well as yourself. A really big bonus is that you can program it to randomly turn on and off within a specified time so as to make it seem like someone is awake. A great feature in case you'll be gone for a trip or you might be home late one day. This way, it encourages less chances of break-ins if they think someone is still awake and moving around the house. For something below 4,000 pesos, even if it's just one bulb for the living room, this creates a lot of useful security and convenience for your house. You'll never need to turn it on or off manually ever again. You can, of course, also choose to turn it off any time you wish on demand with through your phone in case you don't want to wait until the scheduled off time. The next item on our list is the same bulb but in RGB form at only 490 pesos or roughly around 100 pesos more. These are all LED bulbs and the fact that you have this much customizability over the bulb's color is amazing at this price range. I can vouch however that you have much more color options with Philips Hue. However, at this price range and again without the need of the crazy expensive hub and needing to be in the same Wi-Fi network, this is insanely great value. Note that the color of your light will also depend on the lamp shade you have. So if you have a yellowish or whitish lamp shade, you'll need to adjust the color scheme to adapt to what is reflected. These are actually the bulbs I use for the house. However, for the most part, I never use the RGB function and I'm quite happy with the normal white light. But for those who want a little spice in their lives, this is a great value bulb which is easy to install and has all the added functionalities I mentioned prior. I have bought several footrests in the past years because I hate the original one I got because there was no way to keep it permanently still. It just kept wobbling. I discovered this one which not only stays still but has the massage spikes which are so much more fun to roll my feet on during the day. What I have is the adjustable version which costs around 500 pesos. However, there is a non-adjustable version which only costs 309 pesos. I have been using mine for maybe close to three months now and this is the one I intend to keep as a regular. It has rubber feet so it doesn't scratch your floor and so that this is less likely to slip as well. I hate footrests which skid. If it skids, it makes using them pointless. It is made of a matted plastic which is thick enough to not feel cheap. Note that the purpose of a footrest is to make sure your feet are level so that you don't injure your hamstrings. It is important that you know the height you need. When in doubt, just spend a little more on the adjustable version. The roller spike is sharp enough to wake up your feet after long hours of work but definitely blunt enough that you don't need to worry about injuring yourself. This is really useful for blood circulation which your body desperately needs after long hours of being idle sitting in front of your desk. And if you don't want to use the roller, you can just have your feet rest on the bigger bumps which also somewhat massage your feet at rest. Guys, a footrest is essential to your health if your chair is way too tall for you or if your desk is too high. Don't be shy in investing in this because it will allow you to last longer at work and it will also make you more content as you work. The next one is the most important item that I discovered on Shopee this year and it's this 250 peso 100% cotton velcro strap sleep mask. This is the best sleep mask I have tried which blocks out practically 98% of all light while being comfortable and extremely affordable. Before you get upset and wonder why this is on a tech list, let me tell you that if you stare at a screen most of your day, which we all are, you will have not only eye strain but mental fatigue. At least 10 minutes a day after lunch, I always put my eye mask on and put my feet up on my desk. With the light practically blocked out, I can simulate the darkness of a cave and my body allows me to enter into a really rejuvenating power nap quickly. The fact that there is no light after being exposed to so much is very relaxing to my eyes. I have used an eye mask for the past six years and I can't sleep without one anymore. And the things which annoy me from other masks are that there is one, light bleed in most of them, meaning some light enters. And second, which is the worst of all, is that the mask has a plastic strap which hurts my ear. Avoid these kinds of masks at all costs. This one, however, is designed to curve around your face so as to block out practically all the light and the velcro strap guarantees nothing hard but weeping into your ear. Again, because our eyes are immersed in screens every day, a ten minute break of absolute darkness wherever you are. For just a cost of 220 pesos is worth your health, so that you feel refreshed and be more productive afterwards. At this price, you can buy one for home and one at the office drawer. In fact, this might be the most practical and affordable gift to give office mates. If you want to know more about the importance of sleep, I recommend that you check out Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. It's a life-changing book and he also has a quick video which I'll link up above. The sixth is the stream deck. I can't go back to not using one. I don't even use it mostly for streaming. I use it as a macro pad so that I can pull up important websites and folders at the push of a button. However, a stream deck, even the original version one above, is out of our budget. What isn't, however, is the monthly app subscription phone version which is priced at 150 pesos. A lot of people avoid getting the stream deck because they don't stream, which actually isn't the point of the stream deck. It is a convenient multi-tasking productivity tool which I think anyone who works or adults should have. While I do recommend getting the actual stream deck if you need convincing, I highly suggest you spend 150 pesos to try it out through your phone. The cool part is that you'll have a wireless stream deck since it will be your phone or tablet which will be running the software. I have it run super-duper basic things but also things which make me more productive by far. This includes allowing me to turn off my PC at the push of a button, links to all my spreadsheets which monitor my bills, budgets, and investments, turn on my Philips U lights, launch all my important news sites, and yes, manage my stream. Aren't convinced with this? Then check out this next one. For only 300 pesos, you can get the XMT K15 which reminds me of the extremely more expensive Razer Tartaros but at a steel price. Now, I have not bought the XMT K15 but there is nevertheless a specific reason why I mentioned this in our list. Before I get to that however, let me point out that you get a full RGB hand-sized keyboard for just 300 pesos and a pretty cool looking FPS or RGB-specific keyboard to go with your setup. It genuinely looks really cool in the pictures and the reviews and choppy are quite positive for what you get. I can see why people would be interested in this. It seems that most people don't like using full-sized keyboards anymore and they prefer keyboards without even the num pads. Thus, an add-on to your setup which isn't too permanent might be attractive depending on what game you are playing at the time. The company advertises that it's handy for mobile gaming as seen in their proportional picks. However, it got me thinking that you could do something much more useful and productive than using this to game. Like I said earlier, I'm a macro user who needs buttons which help me multitask. However, I need to have hardware with programmable keys like a stream deck to be able to do so. So, I found a way to convert any keyboard into a stream deck for free. I pulled out some old keyboards and downloaded the program HID Macros. Links are all in the video description. With this program, I'm able to open specific folders, programs and presumably websites and other functions with a completely different keyboard. DaVinci Resolve. So, we go to run application and then you go to where you want to go for DaVinci Resolve. DaVinci Resolve and then we go to the launcher which is this. Okay, so if we press scan, if I press A here, it will say keyboard nine A. If I press A on the secondary keyboard, it will say keyboard 11. So, it knows that my K70 is keyboard nine and this G510 is keyboard 11. Notice when I press A on the main keyboard, it will show A. However, if I press A on the secondary keyboard, it instead will open DaVinci Resolve because we macro'd it. Essentially, you've got a 300 pesos stream deck if you get the XMT to do this method or even a free stream deck if you have a spare keyboard. The drawback is that this requires more technical skill than the program which comes with the stream deck. However, I was able to learn how to program opening my favorite apps and files in under 15 minutes just watching a few YouTube videos. I'll link these really two important ones at the video description. You can also go crazy and begin printing and adding stickers to your new macro pad which people were doing way before the stream deck became popular anyway. A bonus item on our list is this four key macro pad which costs 505 pesos but with the added benefit of having a program to help you with the macroing. This is a bonus item mostly because I would really prefer that you get the 900 pesos version which has the volume adjuster knob. However, it is out of our 500 pesos budget. A volume adjuster knob is something most budget keyboards don't have and it adds so much value if you just get one. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything in our 500 pesos price range. However, I wanted to mention these two specific items here just in case you guys are interested in looking them up for yourselves. And that's all we have for today. Thank you guys for such an awesome response to our previous video on budget tech gear. Let us know in the comment section below if you have any questions or if we missed out on any tech within this budget range which we should have added to our list. Thanks for watching and maybe one of these tips is to make sure you subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on any of our upcoming videos. I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks for watching and I'll see you guys in the next video.