Techish

RECODE: What’s all this fuss about “digital detox” — and does it really work?

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This article appears on Recode.net: I'm sharing it here with you because it's a topic I've researched and written extensively about - and think it's incredibly valuable to have all of these resources in one place. If you haven't visited Recode.net recently - be sign up for their newsletter - and get the most important news from all over the news world delivered directly to your inbox! Too much tech can be bad for you. Here’s what happens when people are left to fighting their own devices. By Shirin Ghaffary Jan 28, 2019 I knew I had lost control when a good friend confronted me over coffee. In the 30 minutes we had been chatting, I had checked my phone about 11 times. I wasn’t ... Read more

What’s hot at CES 2019_Jenn finds robots, a car with legs, and not-so-tearable-tights

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf4jPR3yhlQ This is the year of the Robot Revolution. I’ve already run across more robots at CES, the Consumer Electronic Show, than I’ve ever seen here before. Some will help you tackle travel, others will get you where you’re going, and one, well, one of them just wants a little love. Lovot is the anti-robot. It doesn’t dominate a daily task with superhuman strength or skills, and it’s not even really meant to be helpful. What it is, however, is a fluffy, fabric-covered mechanical companion with the smarts of a toddler and the charm to match. It scurries over to you when you call it and begs to be held. It responds to touch and loves to be cuddled, and ... Read more

You’ve got to see it to believe it: A Jetson’s-like smart home of future in Nevada

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(This story first ran in USA Today January 7th, 2019) On the eve of the world’s largest consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, construction giant KB Home unveiled the first full-scale prototype smart home of the future – and gave us the very first peek inside. The home, called Builder KB Home ProjeKt, sits at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Henderson, Nevada, a 15-minute drive south of The Strip. The 3,200-square-foot concept house is the first-of-its-kind marriage of smart home systems and Jetsons-like tech, built from the foundation-up with over 400 gadgets working (mostly) in harmony. A smart speaker that controls living room lighting or a video doorbell that streams a live feed from ... Read more

How to follow any runner during Sunday’s New York City Marathon, including me!

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The annual New York City Marathon kicks off on Sunday, November 4th, and it's expected to be yet another world-class race. Last year, over 50,000 people completed the entire marathon, taking an average of four hours and 39 minutes to do so, and this year I'm throwing my hat into the ring. After many weeks of whipping myself into shape I'm ready to tackle the streets of NYC with tens of thousands of others, and even if you're not participating in the event (or even physically here in New York) you can follow along with me or any other racer you want to keep your eye on, right from your smartphone screen. All you have to do is download the official NYC Marathon app on either iOS or ... 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

How to kick your smartphone addiction once and for all

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My 17-year old daughter is infinitely better at all things tech than I am. Even disconnecting from it. While I was on a work trip last year, she created a "no-phone zone." When she comes home from track practice, she switches her phone into "do not disturb" mode and sticks it in a drawer right by the front door. Out of sight, out of mind, for pretty much the entire school night from now on, she told me, and it’s already working wonders. She said it’s helped her concentrate on her homework more, focus on what she needs to get done every night, and best of all, reclaimed more of her precious time. Now, could I do the same thing, she challenged? I made it less than an hour. "I just ... 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

Samsung’s new tracker for your kids and pets and everything else you don’t want to lose

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Tracking your stuff is now part of the Samsung SmartThings suite of products. No extra points for the name, but the SmartThings Tracker seems pretty cool overall. It's a white square that you attach to objects like backpacks, wallets, dog collars, and it works over a much broader range than most other trackers on the market today. The tracker includes GPS with an LTE-M network so you can track items in real time via the SmartThings app for Android or iOS devices. The SmartThings Tracker will be available in the US starting September 14 for the price of $99. Since it's LTE-M - you'll have to have to pay a monthly fee too, but with caveats at launch: It comes with AT&T service ... Read more

FTC Warning: Protect your child’s personal information

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***Note: The Federal Trade Commission sent out this article to sites and blogs like ours and asked that we share it with our readers. Written By Colleen Tressler, Consumer Education Specialist, FTC Many school forms require personal and sensitive information. Here are some tips for keeping your child’s personal information safe — from pre-school through college. Safeguard your child’s Social Security number (SSN). Don’t carry your child’s Social Security card with you, and don’t share it unless you know and trust the other party. Ask why it’s necessary and how it will be protected. Ask if you can use a different identifier, or use only the last four digits. Know your ... Read more

Plugged-In Families: How to Create Healthier Tech Habits

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Today's kids are totally connected — to surfing, scrolling, snapping, gaming and ‘gramming. According to new Pew Reseach, 95% of teens have access to a smartphone and 45% say they are online 'almost constantly.’  Stats like those give way to rising concern over the addictiveness of constantly checking for social media updates, watching videos and playing games. Some studies tie extended screen time to distraction in classrooms, symptoms of ADHA, sleep deprivation and depression. But what we’ve learned as digital parenting evolves is that the challenge is less about how much screen time our kids have and more about the quality of time they spend online. Research also shows that when you ... Read more

Facebook & Instagram add tools to curb screen addiction: I tried them with my teen.

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This story originally ran in an edited version in USA Today on 8.1.18 If we’ve learned anything from our wired world of late, it’s that we’re all pretty much addicted to our screens and we’re also fairly powerless to do anything about it. Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but it’s pretty close to the truth when you consider that it’s engineered to grab your attention, keep you hooked, and make you crave more. 2.5 billion people now use at least one of Facebook’s apps. As of the latest studies, approximately two-thirds of adults in the United States are active Facebook users, and of those people, three-quarters of them check the social network every day, according to a recent report from ... Read more

Back to School Gadgets: As Seen on Good Day New York

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Here are some fun gadgets to tech kids out: 1.   Go-To Safety Gadget: Relay - For Ages 6-11: (starting at $99, plus $6.99 monthly data charge) This is a screen-less, water-resistant device that works like a walkie-talkie and puts you in direct contact with your child, but with the connection of a smartphone. You can connect to your child’s Relay whenever you want from either an app on your smartphone or from another Relay device, and they can contact you by pressing the large button in the middle of the gadget. The Relay uses 4G LTE connectivity so you can check on them, and talk with them, whenever you want – from anywhere you want. 2. Nokia “Candy Bar” 3310 3G Phone ($60) Iconic – and ... Read more

A Wearable Mosquito Repellent That Doesn’t Suck?

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I hate mosquitoes so much that I would happily bathe in DEET if it truly makes them leave me alone. Hopefully, a new wearable called Bandito can keep those little suckers at bay, without slathering yourself in toxic chemicals. Chicago-based company Guarden launched the $29 wrist-worn device on Indiegogo, where's it's raised more than 200-million dollars so far, which is some 836% of its original goal. According to the company, you just slap the Bandito on your wrist, and it uses a cocktail of  Citronella, Peppermint, and Lemongrass scents that mosquitoes hate AND emits a sonic sound that is like nails on a chalkboard to teeny-tiny-mosquito ears. (Do ... Read more

How to keep in touch with kids too young to own a smartphone

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https://vimeo.com/277168596 Let’s face it, parents, most of us lose our kids at least once or twice while they’re growing up. Sometimes they just get a little too good at hide-and-seek, as my then-four-year-old daughter did for a few heart-stopping moments inside a department store several years ago. Or maybe they just aren’t where we expect them to be — even for a minute or two — and it’s absolutely terrifying. Apps on smartphones like Life360 and even Find My Friends work great to help track down teens and older kids mature enough to manage the responsibility of owning a smartphone. But what about for younger ones? What’s the best way to keep a watchful eye — that isn’t a ... Read more

Here’s how Apple’s iOS 12 wants to make it much easier to control your family’s screen time

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Policing how much time your family spends on their digital devices is a huge part of being a parent these days. Kids love to lose themselves in their smartphone and tablet screens, and setting vague limits or trusting them to put their phones down at bedtime doesn't always work out the way we'd like it to. There are a number of different apps that help parents monitor how much time their kids are spending on their phones, but Apple just one-upped all of them by baking those features right into the next version of iOS. iOS 12 includes a couple of super handy new features including Activity Reports and App Limits. You can find both in the new Screen Time app, and they're designed to help ... Read more