There are always a few family members on your Christmas list each year that are so hard to shop for. But now IBM's supercomputer is lending a helping hand as you fill up your shopping carts by revealing the latest holiday gifts that are trending right now.
IBM launched a new app called Watson Trend on Wednesday that uses the company's supercomputer technology to read reviews, expert blogs and social media conversations, and then interprets the information to determine how people really feel about these items to provide users with a list of the most buzzed-about gifts this season.
Instead of just providing a ranking of the hottest products on the shelves, the app uses Watson's machine learning capabilities to first pick out the trends, reveal why people are choosing that particular product or brand, and then predicts a forecast of whether that trend is just a fad or is here to stay.
The Watson Trend app breaks down the hottest holiday gifts into groups that are given a score from 0 to 100 based on the size of the conversation and the rate of conversation growth. These groups are further broken down into three main categories: consumer electronics, toys, and health and fitness.
Of course, the list of most buzzed about gifts may change throughout the holiday season. However, as of Nov.18, the hottest item that seems to be in everyone's wish list is the Apple Watch. The wearable has an overall Trend Score of 99, and has consistently stayed within the 90 to 100 ranking since August. Watson found that people generally are happy with the Watch's aesthetics and are pleased with the app notifications feature. While some wish there was a round design option, it was battery life that was one of the most common criticisms.
The app found that as of right now, LEGOs are the must-have toys for Christmas. IBM credits Star Wars: The Force Awakens for making LEGO the "it" toy right now, predicting that the new Millennium Falcon set will sell out quickly. The app also predicts Lego City and Friends will also sell out.
Another hot-ticket item mentioned frequently is Samsung TV, with many consumers reporting they were pleased with their purchase across the multiple size options available. Consumer reviews reveal the TV's have high-quality picture and sound, with the most buzzed-about feature being the fact the 4K models are affordable.
According to the Watson Trend app, wearables will be a hit this holiday season. While many people are talking about Minecraft, one gift in particular, its new Gameband (a USB watch that lets gamers play anywhere on any device) is a popular item to add to your cart. The Oculus Rift VR system is also a desired item, perfect for both gamers and movie lovers.
Other gifts worth looking into include cameras made by Canon, Nikon and Sony—with the Nikon D-SLR being the number one choice for amateur photographers—Beats by Dre, PlayStation 4, Nike running shoes, Skylanders Superchargers, and lots and lots more LEGO sets.
Users can stay on top of the holiday gift trends by downloading IBM's Watson Trend app for free for iOS or by checking out its official website here.
Source: IBM
