**Five Tech Items to Get Your Year Started Off Right**

As we approach 2018, it's the perfect time to get your year started off right with the latest tech items. In this article, we'll take a closer look at five must-have gadgets that will make your life easier and more enjoyable.

**1. Bitdefender Box 2 - Comprehensive Network Protection**

To kick things off, let's talk about the Bitdefender Box 2. If you're familiar with Bitdefender's antivirus software, you'll be excited to learn that they've stepped up their game by introducing a hardware solution for network protection. The Bitdefender Box 2 is designed to safeguard your entire network, including your phone, laptop, and even smart home devices.

**What Makes the Bitdefender Box 2 Special?**

One of the key features of the Bitdefender Box 2 is its ability to protect against vulnerabilities in your network. This is achieved through a simple setup process that requires connecting power, Ethernet cables (in and out), and installing the Bitdefender Central app on your iOS or Android device.

**The Power of Hardware-Level Security**

With the Bitdefender Box 2, you'll have peace of mind knowing that your devices are protected even when you're not at home. The included total security software will safeguard your Mac, Windows, and Android devices from threats while using public Wi-Fi.

**What Else Can You Do with the Bitdefender Box 2?**

This hardware-level security solution allows you to do some pretty interesting stuff! Not only does it filter out suspicious activity, but it also catches and warns you about potential dangers like entering sensitive information on unsecured websites. The Bitdefender Box 2 is designed to be a comprehensive security solution that keeps your devices protected.

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WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This video is sponsored by Bitdefender.Hey guys, this is Austin.It is almost 2018 andhere are five tech itemsto get your year started off right.To kick things off, wehave the Bitdefender Box 2.You guys have probablyheard of Bitdefender beforefor their antivirussoftware, but with the Box,they're stepping it up tothe hardware side of thingsto protect your entire network.But on top of being able tocover things like your phoneas well as your laptop, italso can help protect againstyour smart home devicesfrom being attacked.That's quite the flow chartthey've got right here.Pull this guy out of the boxand it's actually surprisingly light.So there's really not awhole lot to this guy.You essentially get powerin, you get Ethernet in,and you get Ethernet back out.So after a quick set up wehave the Box up and running.All we need is the Bitdefender Central appfor iOS or Android,and from here we can controlpretty much anything.So you can see notificationsif it decides there's any kind ofvulnerabilities in your network.You can also make sure thatall your devices are protected,if they need attention,or if they're unprotected.While the box will protect your devicewhen you're at home on your own wifi,the included total security softwarewill also protect your other devices,like Mac, Windows, Androidfrom threats when you'restaying on public wifi.Since this is hardware-level security,you can do some prettyinteresting stuff with it.So not only is it going to do it's bestto filter out any kindof suspicious activity,but on top of that,say you're on a websitethat isn't secured,and you're trying toput in your credit card,or your social security number,well Box is going to try and catch thatand give you a warning saying"hey, are you sure about that?"You're also getting some protectionagainst brute force attacksas well as ransomware,and because it detects allthe devices on your networkand gives you a full status report.Say you connect a old laptopthat hasn't been updated in awhile,you're going to get a notification saying,"hey, it's time to getan update on that guy."Windows XP is not cool anymore.So if you guys wanna check out theBitdefender Box 2 for yourself,like always, the link willbe in the description.The next item is the Google Home.Now this isn't brand new,however, I've just gottena whole set of Google Homes for my house,and I love them.Well there's a lot to like with Alexa,and I'm sure Siri on theHomePod is going to be greatif you have like 400 bucks,Google Home has reallyhit a nice sweet spotbetween sounding good,as well as having the superuseful Google Assistant.The real sweet spot for me though,is the Google Home Mini.So these guys launched at 50 dollars,which is a pretty decent pricefor what is still a nice speaker,and gives you all the functionality.However, for the next little while,these guys are 30 dollars.And at that price, I've gotlike 3 of them in my house.Now this doesn't matter at allto anyone besides me, probably,but even though the GoogleHome does sound better,I kind of prefer the Minijust because this to melooks like an air freshener.I don't know, I just don'tlike the way this thing looks.Where as this, this is cool.You can just slide this onlike a desk or something,and no one would ever really look twice.There's a lot you can do with Google Home,but the main things Ido is listen to music,do like alarms, as well as listen toa little bit of likepodcasts and some news,but for 30 bucks,you should definitely considerchecking this guy out.Continuing on the Google train,we have the Chromecast Ultra.Now the Chromecast has beenone of my favorite waysto stream video for a few years now,but the Ultra is the way to do it in 4K.If you guys caught our iPhoneX is it worth it video,this is actually how we wereable to test HDR on YouTube.So what we did was, we wouldupload the video to YouTube,wait for it to processfor like three hours,and then we would playit back on a OLED TV,using the Chromecast Ultrato actually see what it would look likeonce it was fully processed.This guy is pretty powerful consideringjust how tiny it is.It's also really stuck in there.So it is a little bit biggerthan a standard Chromecast,but really not by much.It's the same basic idea where youplug it in via HDMI to your tv.There's a micro USB lead here for power.Once you set it up on wifi,it's pretty straightforward.So you get just a bunchof generic wallpapersin the beginning,but you can stream prettymuch anything to itfrom the app or from Google Home.Hey Google, play the latest 'Austin Evans'video on Youtube.That is so cool.So what's really neat about this,is not only can youcontrol that with voice,as well as of course from your phone,but you can also havemultiple Google Homesas well as multiple Chromecastsset up in your house.All of these gadgets are great,however you're probably going to wantan actual phone to control everything,which is where the Moto E4 Plus comes in.This is a phone I actually did a video ona couple months ago,and I think it is lowkey one of myfavorite devices of the year.So what's nice is, for a phonethat costs less than $200,you're getting a metalbuild, a good screen,good camera, fingerprint sensor.There's really not a lot to hate on.One area a lot of budgetphones skimp on is the screen,and thankfully the MotoE4 Plus isn't too bad.So it is a 5.5 inch panelwith a 1280x720 resolution.Now yes, that's going to bea little bit on the low side,but thankfully it's a goodpanel with solid color.Inside, the specs mightnot look impressivewith a Snapdragon 427processor, 2 gigs of ram,and either 16 or 32 gigs of storage,but what really puts thisover the top is the battery.This guy is rocking a massive5,000mAh battery.To put that in context,that's almost double the sizeof something like the iPhone X.Now yes, it does mean that the phoneis a little bit chunkierthan it might otherwise be,but especially consideringthe fairly low end internals,this guy is going to last forever.Well that battery is really what pushes itover the edge for me.This is hands down the best battery lifeI have ever tried on a smartphone.And when you consider that that's again,less than $200,you should really give the Moto E4 a shot.But say that a smartphone isn't whatyou're looking for this year.Well that is where theAcer Asprire E15 comes in.I've actually wanted to doa video on this for awhile,for one big reason.It is one of the mosthighly selling laptopson Amazon period right now.You don't exactly get alot in the box though.So on one hand we get the laptop itselfwith some wonderful cardboardand some cardboard shavings.On paper, it looks pretty good.So you're getting a Core i3-7100U4 gigabytes of RAM,as well as a 1 Terabyte hard drive.There's some nice featuresthat separate thisfrom other budget laptops,starting with the display.So it is a 1080p panel,and well yes, while it maynot be the best looking1080p screen in the world,but it is a lot ofbetter than other laptopsin the 3 to 4 hundred dollar price range.Nice touches like havinga backlit keyboardas well as a full number pad is nice,and the port selection is interesting.On the left side we have a good selectionincluding a pair of USB 3.0 ports,an HDMI, VGA, Ethernet,as well as USB type C,but on the other side weget the headphone jack,another USB 2.0, as well as the DVD drive,because you know,laptops with USB typeC ports and DVD drivesare all over the place.(laughs)Remove three screws and popoff this bottom panel though,and not only we getaccess to the hard drive,which is actually kind of slow,and I would probably swap with an SSD,but also our memory.Four gigs is fine for now,but it would be reallysimple to upgrade this guyto 8 gigs.Acer claims that this guy hasup to 12 hours of battery life,and while the build qualitydoes leave a little bit to be desired,at $350, there is a tonto like with this laptop.I see why everyone keeps buying them.As always, links toeverything I talked about,including the Box 2, will bein the description of this video.So I'm curious, which ofthese products would you guyswant to pick up for 2018? Letme know in the comments below,and I will catch you in the next one.