Smart Tech

There are many areas in a water crisis. How would you like a way to painlessly cut your water usage by up to 30 percent? The smart water controller Blossom claims this is possible with their device. On this episode we install a unit and do an over overview. All of this control is from your smart phone or tablet.

They have great instructions on replacing your existing water controller, easy to set up app and a high quality build.  Blossom can use weather data online to custom create a watering schedule for you.  Listen today and see if this product is right for you.  Save the Planet!!!!!

Apple Watch, people either love it or hate it.  So I went to try one on for myself and in this episode I share my first impressions of the watch and hopefully give you an idea of whether this new technology is for you.

Make sure to share your thoughts on the watch in the comments below or on our Facebook page.  Also, would you take a moment and rate us on iTunes?  It really helps us extend our reach!

Meerkat is the newest social media phenomenon sweeping the internet.  It allows you to connect a live, high quality video feed to your twitter account and broadcast to your followers an immediate live event on the fly.  Great for live events and sharing special moments with your family.  Best of all it is free.  Find out about what Meerkat can do for you in this episode.

Find out more from the Meerkat website

Read the Rules of Meerkat

Follow us on Twitter and let us know when you broadcast a Meerkat!

In today's episode of SmartTech I get to play.  I love playing with new tech toys.  The latest from Amazon is the Amazon Echo, a black cylindrical bluetooth speaker which also has a Siri-like voice activated interface that actually works very well.

You connect the Echo to a a wifi network and using a key word, they preprogram "her" with the name "Alexa," you can ask her all types of questions as well as play music from your Amazon music library with just a voice command.  You also unlock a lot of possibility if you are an Amazon Prime member in that you can stream what seems to be an almost limitless amount of songs from the Prime Music Service.  They seem to be using some Bose like technology in the cylinder to achieve decent bass response as well as crisp highs.

The price seems a bit high to me, $200, but you do get a very good bluetooth speaker for that price at minimum.  Right now, Amazon is offering $100 off for Prime members.  At a $99 price point this becomes much more attractive to me.  Is if for you?  Take a listen and then leave me your thoughts in the comment section.

You can get on the waiting list for one using this link: Amazon Echo

The recent passing of Leonard Nimoy got me thinking of how much that series and his character in particular added to the advancement of science since it's debut.  In fact, science fiction itself has spurred new generations to make what was fantasy in their childhood, reality.  In this episode we look at 10 technologies that when they were described on Star Trek seemed impossible, and now are realities.

Tim Minear and Jonathan Lawrence as Kirk and Spock late 1970's

 

If you've never been to a Star Trek Convention like the two above,

this will give you an idea of what it was like!

Many of us would like the convenience of a cloud service like Dropbox or Google Docs but we don't want to put our sensitive documents on someone else's server.  Dropbox and Google seem secure, but are they really?  Google makes no secret about mining data on their servers.  To deal with this dilemma, in this episode and the next I explain how to set up your own personal cloud storage system.

The Transporter Sync allows you to easily setup your own personal cloud storage solution using your home internet connection and a hard drive of your choosing.  It also allows you to use multiple Transporters in multiple locations to keep automatic backups of your cloud.  In this episode I show you how to actually hook up the hardware and format the drive.  In the next episode I will go through the software configuration.

If you would like more of an overview, the pro's and con's of the Transporter system, listen to the past episode Create Your own Cloud.

As of the publishing of this episode, our offer for 20gb of free cloud storage though Copy is still available. Why not sign up?

Click HERE to sign up for Copy and get an additional 5 gb or free storage for a total of 20gb FREE!

Don't forget to install the app on one of your devices after sign up and activate the app to get your extra storage space.

Watch the episode on our YouTube Channel

For more info on Transporter, watch their short information video:

Click here to get more information on all the Transporter models

Or click below to buy one right now!

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SplashData's list of frequently used passwords shows that many people continue to put themselves at risk by using weak, easily guessable passwords.

The word "password" has lost it's number 1 spot of the worlds most used WORST password.  What won this year?  Well I guess you already know if you have looked at the picture above!  On this episode we look at the 10 worst passwords used during the last calendar year.  The password is the main gate between your data and some really bad people.  If you have any passwords even close to this list, listen to the best options available to you.  Below is the entire list from SplashData this year as well as links to the 3 password managers I highly recommend.  Choose one and get busy securing your data!

1 Password - My favorite and the one I use

SpashData - A subscription service that is used by some of the top companies in the world

LastPass - Known as the most economical solution but now 1Password is giving them a run for their money!

If we would all just take a lesson from Spaceballs!

Presenting SplashData’s “Worst Passwords of 2014”:

1    123456 (Unchanged from 2013) 2    password (Unchanged) 3    12345 (Up 17) 4    12345678 (Down 1) 5    qwerty (Down 1) 6    1234567890 (Unchanged) 7    1234 (Up 9) 8    baseball (New) 9    dragon (New) 10    football (New) 11    1234567 (Down 4) 12    monkey (Up 5) 13    letmein (Up 1) 14    abc123 (Down 9) 15    111111 (Down 8) 16    mustang (New) 17    access (New) 18    shadow (Unchanged) 19    master (New) 20    michael (New) 21    superman (New) 22    696969 (New) 23    123123 (Down 12) 24    batman (New) 25    trustno1 (Down 1)

More information can be found in the following stories:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/01/prweb12456779.htm

http://recode.net/2015/01/20/many-passwords-are-so-bad-they-dont-even-need-to-be-hacked/

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/01/20/123456-2014-worst-password-of-the-year/

It's back...

Just when you think it's over, your favorite Facebook/Internet hoax makes it's way back to your news feed.  People, check things out before you repost.    Is it really too much trouble to take 1 minute and do a simple Google search when something seems fishy?  In this episode, I do a little tech rant and then give you some guidelines and suggestions so you don't become embarrassed, a gossip, or loose your cyber integrity.

Some great places to check your facts...

TruthorFiction.com is my favorite and I feel, the most reliable source of checking up on such things.

Snopes.com is the most popular place to check out hoaxes.  I have found a bit of bias here but for the most part they give you good information.

1Password  from Agile Bits.  Yes, here it is again.  If you don't have a password manager, why not?  One of the best and most reliable is 1Password. PLEASE secure your cyber life like you would your home or other personal property.

"Proverbs 20:19 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler."