8 useful-ish, last-minute Father's Day gifts (order today, get them tomorrow)

I should warn you that this is a gallery with items I would like. And yes, this angry gnome sits under my grill, guarding against all intruders. He's $19.99 and available via Prime.

This thing is awesome. I have three. It collapses to very tiny, but can easily hold an iPad. I use them everywhere, for almost everything. At only $9.99 via Prime, buy your dad three of them.

The folks at BESTEK were kind enough to send me this. It’s basically a goose-neck attached to a C-clamp on one side, and a tablet mounting plate on the other side. Now, here’s where it gets good. Give it to your dad and let him clamp it to his headboard or nightstand. He can watch Game of Thrones while hiding under the covers. The only thing I would suggest is you might want to put some padding on the screw-side of the clamp. Otherwise metal-on-furniture might mar a furniture finish.

There are a few things that make this interesting. First, it’s robust as heck. Second, unlike other tablet mounting clamps I’ve seen, you don’t need to attach anything permanently to the tablet. Third, at just under $30, it’s inexpensive and available on Prime.

If your dad likes to cook, or even if he just likes to know how hot things are (is his CPU overheating, how warm is the dog’s butt?), then this is a great gift. Only $16.58 on Prime.

Quite a bit more expensive than some of the other items on this list, but your dad will think you’re awesome if you buy him this. We bought our first Hue starter kit back in February of 2014 and have been adding bulbs ever since. We’re up to something like 21 by now. The three-bulb starter kit and hub is $199 via Prime.

Give your dad the gift of blessed silence. My wife bought me these when the pup was barking non-stop (he still hasn’t stopped) and they help quite a bit. It’s also nice when there’s background noise, someone is on the phone, the TV is loud, or your dad just needs some quiet to think. This won’t block all sound but it does a good job of noise reduction. Plus, it doesn’t need to be recharged. Available for about $25 via Prime.

Included in the box sent to me by BESTEK was this shower speaker. Mine came in an Army green color which I like a lot more than the orange shown in the picture. Ever since the Amazon Echo updated with the ability to play Audible books, I’ve wanted the opportunity to play them in the shower. This speaker is more than up to the task.

So far, it’s held a charge across three showers (and I take LOOOONG showers). Sound quality is quite good, which is pretty amazing given the acoustic challenge of spoken word audio in a shower. The only gotcha is that the volume buttons don’t control volume on the iPhone in Audible, they move the chapter forward and back. But for a speaker under $20 via Prime with excellent sound quality even when wet, that’s a minor inconvenience.