Techish

USA Today: Cruising into the future of travel with smart wearables, avatars, and lightening-fast WiFi

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This story originally ran in USA Today as part of Jennifer's on-going Tech+Culture column. A year ago, boarding a cruise ship at the Port Everglades dock in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was an exercise in patience as passengers waited in blocks-long lines to check in. Pens and paper in hand, anxious vacationers hunched over suitcases or used walls as a hard surface to scribble down important personal information, sometimes waiting hours just to set foot on board. Today, those lines are gone – at least in front of the Caribbean Princess. That’s the first sign that a new wearable gadget aimed at fixing common travel hassles, is working. “Look at that,” exclaims John Padgett, Carnival Corp.’s ... Read more

Apple just launched a pair of new iPads, and you’re going to love them

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Apple is well known for its flashy, scene-stealing events where it shows off all its new products and causes a major buzz in the tech world. It's rare that the company updates one of its signature product lineups without making a big deal out of it, but that's just what it did this week, revealing both a new iPad Air and iPad mini out of nowhere. Both the new iPad Air and iPad mini get huge processor upgrades which means more powerful hardware for apps, games, and everything else you do with the tablet. On top of that, the new iPad Air even gets a bigger 10.5-inch display. The iPad mini retains the same 7.9-inch display that it already had, but the extra bump in power will ... Read more

Keeping Up With The Phoneses: State of Smartphones 2019

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It’s time for mobile makers to put up, or shut up. We need to see revolutionary — not just evolutionary — upgrades. We need better battery life, and we need it yesterday. We need our most relevant must-have gadget to be drop-dead simple to use, unhackable, unbreakable and less expensive. Oh, and how about less addictive too? We need our smartphones to WOW us again. State of the Smartphone 2019   The first batch of 2019’s shiny new smartphones — Samsung’s S10 line — landed on store shelves and in people’s hands across the country today. It kicked off a new year of flagship phone launches hoping to invigorate sagging sales. Samsung felt the pinch with the Galaxy S9, which worried ... Read more

HOW TO: Keep creepers off your smart home gadgets!

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A recent spate of high-profile smart home gadget hacks has a whole lot of us wondering what we can do to keep the creepers out. Easy to guess passwords? Oh hell no. Unsecured Wi-Fi networks? Gone. These are things I've been warning you about for years, but have you actually taken steps to make you and your family as safe as possible? Likely, the answer is, "no," and that's okay. It's not easy, and that's why we're here to help! “A smart home gadget is no different from your phone or your computer,” says Kelvin Coleman, executive director for the National Cyber Security Alliance. “If it’s vulnerable to being hacked, there are basic good housekeeping practices that should become second ... Read more

TOY FAIR 2019: Anti-Gravity Cars, and More Next-Level Hot Toys This Year (As seen on KTVU)

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The International Toy Fair was filled with fun in New York City. It’s the largest toy trade show in the Western hemisphere, and it’s a chance to see what will kids of all ages will be clamoring for over this next year. 1,000 companies debuted more than 7,000 toys this year — big trends include Augmented Reality (AR), and more robotics than we’ve ever seen. Here are my favorites among toys I was able to go hands-on with before the show: 1. LeapFrog LeapBuilders ABC Smart House Tots can build, create and learn with this interactive 61-piece house-themed block set. Kids can use the easy-to-hold blocks to build a house and learn about the alphabet, objects around the house, colors, ... Read more

Boom boxes, mix tapes and instant cameras as hot new tech? Yes, it’s actually 2019

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A whole lot has changed in the gadget world since Philips launched the first consumer VCR for $900 at CES in 1970. So why then, I wondered as I trekked through the seemingly endless halls packed with every gadget imaginable at this year's CES, were there so many boom boxes straight out of the '80s everywhere? Turns out some of the most popular new tech launching this year isn’t so new at all. LENOVO SMART ALARM CLOCK Sure, the smart screen trend shows no signs of slowing down, but rather than continually going for bigger, more feature-packed displays, Lenovo looked to the past for inspiration. The Lenovo Smart Clock is a total rethink of the classic alarm clock – you know, the ... Read more

Stop Porch Pirates: 5 pro tips to make sure thieves don’t steal your stuff

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Thanks to modern technology, we can buy just about anything online and get it delivered to our doorstep in a snap. Not only has that been insanely convenient for us, but it’s also created a giant window of opportunity for so-called “porch pirates” too. According to a recent report, at least 23 million Americans have had packages stolen from their porches, mailboxes, and stoops, and with UPS delivering an estimated 750 million packages during the holiday season there's plenty of opportunity for thieves to pad their pockets. Lucky for us though, there’s a there’s a slew of new high-tech sheriffs in town to put a stop to these pesky poachers. Package Guard Package Guard (pre-order $49.99) ... Read more

Here’s what we’re buying on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

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You might think that reviewing all the latest gadgets all year would make Black Friday boring for someone like me. Sure, I get to play with all of the most awesome gadgets and tech tools throughout the year, but I don't get to keep them. That means come Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I'm leaning over my laptop the same as you, fingers twitching, crediting cards itching to score huge deals on my favorite tech. Here's what I'm holding my breath to get this week, and how much it'll cost. Facebook Portal & Portal Plus One of the most controversial new gadgets (because ... it's Facebook) is also the best video-calling machine ever invented — and a look at the way landlines should evolve ... Read more

Is your gift secretly spying? Mozilla makes a naughty list of gadget gifts that aren’t secure:

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We already know the hottest holiday gadget gifts are cool but are they secure and trustworthy too? Mozilla — yep, the folks behind internet browser Firefox — just released a new report and shopping guide called *Privacy Not Included. The idea behind it is to help people shop for gifts based on price, performance, and on how well they protect privacy and security as well. In an email, Ashley Boyd, Mozilla VP of Advocacy explained that researchers reviewed 70 of the most popular gadget gifts across six categories: Toys & Games; Smart Home; Entertainment; Wearables; Health & Exercise; and Pets. For each product, Mozilla looked at a range of questions including Can it spy on you? Can ... Read more

HOW TO: Not get ripped off on Black Friday and Cyber Monday “Deals”

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TIPS TO MAKE SURE YOU NEVER OVERPAY: 1. SPOT THE REAL DEAL What’s actually good deal this time of year versus a bunch of hype? Small appliances — like instant pots — and smart home gadgets. Also, good deals: some HDTVs, video games, and game consoles also see aggressive pricing during Black Friday, or the days before and after it. 2. BROWSING BASICS Add a browser extension to your internet search engine — Safari, Firefox, Chrome — and let them scour the web faster than any human ever could for discounts, coupons, and deals to make sure you get the best prices — for real. Browser extensions: InvisibleHand, PriceBlink, The Camelizer, Honey 3. PRICE ALERTS Some sellers ... Read more

eBay’s 8-Days of Holiday Deals Starts Now

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eBay just shared their hottest holiday deals with us. I dug into the info and see a few things I want to make sure you know about:  Overall:  expect to find some jaw-dropping deals here with savings up to 80%. Bargains to watch include hot gadgets from Sonos, Bose, JBL speakers and headphones — plus coveted fashion from Adidas and Michael Kors, and more.  To snag  hard-to-find gift on your wish list before it’s sold out: Log-on to eBay, and start browsing the Shop Deals Central page. Find your must-have’s and add the best gifts to your watchlist. You can also  ‘save’ your search — then eBay Bends you an alert each time a seller lists exactly what you want. You can use ... Read more

Everything you need to know from today’s Apple event

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It was less than two months ago that Apple revealed the latest updates to its iPhone lineup but Tim Cook took the stage in New York City at a special event today to talk about a bunch of other big product updates coming out way in just a week's time. Here's everything you need to know! iPad Pro An all-new iPad Pro is about to land, and it totally does away with the iconic home button. Like the iPhone X and others, the new iPad uses Face ID for security, locking down your device until it sees your face. With no home button, the bezels around the screen are also smaller on both the smaller and larger iPad Pro models. As always, you can expect more power and faster graphics for ... Read more

iPhone XS vs iPhone XR: Who wins, and why?

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When Apple announced that there would be not one, not two, but three all-new iPhones this year it caused quite a stir. The iPhone XS Max is the big outlier, with a massive 6.5-inch screen that makes the phone a bit too much for most people, but the iPhone XS and XR are so similar on the outside, how could you ever possibly choose? I'll help. Power Both the iPhone XS and iPhone XR are powered by Apple's all-new A12 Bionic chip, which means they're both very fast. Both have the latest Bluetooth compatibility and both phones run iOS 12 right out of the box. So, it's a draw, right? Not so fast. The iPhone XR's only shortcoming is that it comes with 3GB of RAM compared to the 4GB in the ... Read more

12 Things you may not know about Bird Scooters (and why I love them)!

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I love the Bird electric scooter rental service. There are dozens of them in and around my neighborhood in Oakland, California, and they just make getting around so much easier. The influx of scooters by companies such as Bird, Lime, and others, are causing quite a bit of controversy in major cities, especially along the coasts. Some people think they're an eyesore — as though some electric scooters lining the sidewalk is somehow worse than anything else a big city has to offer — while others think they're inherently unsafe or annoying to deal with when driving or walking. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about them, at least at first. I didn't think they were bad, but I also ... Read more

5 Ways to Make Your Old iPhone Feel Like New Again

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Apple’s newest phones are out, more expensive than ever, and selling like crazy to early buyers eager to get their hands on the latest, greatest handset. Yes, even if they had to camp out for a week or sell a kidney to do it. But what about those of us who love the phone we have and want it to keep working like new? Smartphones are famous for working great for a year, then sputtering out right about the time the latest launch. Some people think it’s a conspiracy by the phone makers, but experts say you really just have to know how to keep them running right. “There are very simple steps that you can take to make it new again,” says Matt Zieminski, lead tech engineer at Puls, a company ... Read more

This magical robot vacuum empties its own dust-bin and I freaking love it.

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The newest Roomba robot vacuum can empty its own dustbin! The iRobot Roomba i7+ robot vacuum with Automatic Dirt Disposal  ($950) can learn, adapt and remember a home’s floor plan, which lets you clean specific rooms by name. You can control it from an app on your smartphone, set it to clean at certain times, or on a specific schedule. It also works with Alexa and the Google Assistant, so you can just tell it what to do using voice commands. The little robot empties whatever it picks up into the Clean Base, which also doubles as the charging dock. The base can hold up to 30 full bins — so you can go for months without worrying about lifting a finger. I have it at home with me ... Read more