It’s amazing how back to school needs change as the kids grow up. When they’re young, like in elementary school, it’s all about getting them new clothes and school supplies. In high school, they’re doing more of their own clothes shopping, while you’re trying to make sure they have the gear they need as well as those school supplies.

Then comes college. This is when things get interesting. Now they’re at the age where they want the latest and greatest tech, because obviously it’s not enough that you’re probably paying for some or all of their tuition, right? Right!

Anyways, here’s a sampling of cool gadgets for your collegiate offspring.

Toshiba Canvio 1TB External Hard Drive and Case

Do you know what’s worse than writing a 50-page paper for a tough subject at school? Losing that paper because your laptop failed and your information wasn’t backed up. This hard drive has more than enough storage space to satisfy even the most diehard academic. Access, share, and backup the data on your PC or Mac device easily (and yes, that includes your mobile devices!). You get one Terabyte of storage, expandable to two. On top of it all, you get a case to carry it in and keep the drive safe from harm. Really, can you afford not to have this?

Bluenio Personal Item Tracker

When you’re at school, it’s easy to lose important gadgets due to forgetfulness or outright theft. Bluenio has a complete line of accessories and apps suitable for gear like tablets and smart phones. Attach a nio Tag to your laptop, iPhone or tablet, and you can keep track of its location, and never lose it. That’s an awfully convenient thing for the college student with way too many devices to keep track of!

Laser Keyboard

Now here’s something out of science fiction, and sure to make your student an alpha geek in no time, but in a good way. This is a virtual keyboard, yes, an actual virtual keyboard that takes any flat surface and turns it into a convenient interface via a laser projection. It works with Apple, Android, and other tablets and smart phones.

LG Mini Mobile Printer

This smart mobile printer from LG lets you wirelessly print photos off your smart phone. You can edit the photos, adding filters, frames, dates, and more. It’s also easy to share those photos, courtesy of the photo split function. You can even add a QR code to your pictures!

Livescribe 3 Smart Pen

Smart bombs, smart televisions, smart watches, hey, why not a smart pen? Why not, indeed! Sure, it functions as a regular pen, but it offers so much more. When paired with your smart phone or tablet, the Livescribe uses its built-in infrared camera, ARM processor, Bluetooth Smart chipset, flash memory and lithium ion battery to function with Livescribe dot paper to capture everything your draw or write. You can synch the pen with your mobile devices and elevate note-taking to a higher, and much cooler, level.

This is just a handful of the awesome gadgets that you can send your kid off to college with. There’s a lot more out there. Welcome to the future, everyone!