Electronics

Shelly Palmer talks about how to care with lithium-ion batteries and the Samsung Note7 recall with Teresa Priolo and Robert Moses on Fox 5. Original Airdate: September 20,2016 Continue Reading →

Let me get right to the point. The new iPhone 7 is a fantastic, awesome, incredible, spectacular iteration of the iPhone 6. Great processor (a quad-core, 64-bit A10 Fusion), outstanding rear-facing camera (12 MP), a new wireless chip (W1) to facilitate Bluetooth connectivity, iOS 10, a pressure-sensitive home button, and taptic feedback. Oh, yeah, there's one more thing … [ Continue Reading →

Samsung skipped a generation (by number only) and dubbed its newest, fastest and best handheld to date the Galaxy Note7. Here's my review. Continue Reading →

Apple CarPlay lets your car display a familiar, iOS-like interface. So too with Android Auto and its Google Now-ish display. But your new car has a built-in set of similar features that are ergonomically and technologically integrated. Should you plug your smartphone into the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto USB port and connect it to your car's infotainment system, or just car-mount your smartphone, plug it into a charger and use it separately? Continue Reading →

Augmented Reality (AR) is not new, but thanks to Pokémon Go it is newly relevant. The game has broken every record for adoption, users, and time spent, and it has given Nintendo a much-needed boost in both buzz and market cap – oh, and it's super-fun to play. Even if you never download the game or even look at a screenshot, here are a few things about Pokémon Go's epic launch that may move you from "I couldn't care less" to "Hmm … that's interesting." Continue Reading →

In the 1770s, America was a relatively low tech, agrarian society. But all that was about to change. So here, for your Independence Day reading pleasure, are the eight hottest tech trends circa 1776. Continue Reading →

Sometimes I walk into a room and say, “Alexa, what’s the temperature outside?” She answers by speaking the current temperature followed by an abbreviated weather report. She’s so human-like, I have to resist the temptation to say “Thank you” when she finishes. Importantly, Alexa is not a she; it is a component of Amazon's Echo natural language processing system. Amazon has anthropomorphized Echo with a female voice and a feminine name, which makes it easy to call Alexa a “she.” Should we be polite when we speak to it, or is it OK to be abrupt or even abusive? The device won’t care. It doesn't have feelings; but how will we teach our children to differentiate between machines that sound and act like people, and other disembodied voices that actually are people? Continue Reading →

How soon will TV transform from wall-mounted 4K flat-screens to a 99-cent app in a VR/AR App Store? That's a question few will ponder this week as the National Association of Broadcasters gathers in Las Vegas for the NAB Show 2016. TV has both defined and enlarged mass communication for more than a half-century. No one in their right mind would suggest that big-screen TVs might go away – ever! Well, no one ever said I was in my right mind. Continue Reading →

Elon Musk recently announced the Tesla Model 3, a sub-$40k, 5-seat plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) with a ~200-mile range that is well positioned to change the world. It should be available sometime in late 2017. As of this writing, the company has received over 325,000 deposits ($1,000 each). That said, sometime in late 2016 (a year earlier than Tesla is scheduled to launch the Model 3), GM is going to launch the Chevy Bolt, a sub-$40k, 5-seat PEV with a ~200-mile range that is also well positioned to change the world. As of this writing, GM has received approximately zero deposits to reserve the Bolt, and there's a reason. Continue Reading →

Tay is a combination chatbot and AI system designed by Microsoft to "engage and entertain people where they connect with each other online through casual and playful conversation." It was specifically "targeted at 18 to 24 year olds in the U.S., the dominant users of mobile social chat services in the U.S." If the words "designed" and "targeted" are off-putting, then you're really not going to care for one of the system's recent, now infamous, tweets ... but, there is much, much more to learn from Microsoft's mistake. Continue Reading →