Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The online summer shopping frenzy is about to begin. At least…that’s what the online retailers hope for. The question is…how to you find the best deals? Google is offering some updated tools designed to be helpful. Trends expert Charity Mhende…

“We just announced a refreshed Deals destination. So if you go on Google and you search for Shop Deals, you’ll be able to see deals across a range of categories. So sales and markdowns on things like electronics, apparel, even toys if you’re looking for that Lego set.”

And Google can show you member pricing for the different online retailers too. It can help you decide if a membership is worthwhile. A survey shows lots of folks plan to get a jump on holiday shopping. Just keep in mind that returns could be a problem in December when you buy in July.

You can find us at Techstination.com. I’m Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. More hands on with a go-anywhere rechargeable TV. One of the gadgets we’ve been spending time with this summer is the 24 inch Companion HD TV from Skyworth. It is designed to run for about three hours on a charge….and has Google TV built in. If you are in the backyard…you can use your home Internet connection….or opt for camp site WiFi or your own hotspot when travelling. It has a handy carry handle, inputs for HDMI, composite and USB. You can opt to listen via Bluetooth too. Director of Sales Michael Gleason..

“It’s great for bringing from room to room. Obviously great for camping. Anything outdoors, this is an awesome product.”

We agree. Certainly a better viewing experience than with a phone or most tablets and the price on Amazon is about 450 dollars. There’s more info at www.skyworth.com.

You can find us at Techstination.com. I’m Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.     Summer fun for kids with a little science thrown in.     If you haven’t seen kids play with Stomp Rockets before, you are missing an experience.   And now Stomp Rocket is out with The Space Collection.      It includes rugged replicas of the Saturn V Rocket, Space Shuttle Atlantis and Space Launch System.      And the energy to launch them…surprisingly high…comes from the kids who love doing the stomping.   You can find them at Target stores and specialty toy retailers.     And for night time flying fun,  kids of all ages can fling the light up flying Discs and Rings from TOSY.   They have great aerodynamics….and the built in LED lights make them even more entertaining.  The 16 million color disc is rechargeable too.    Find them on Amazon.

You can find us at Techstination.com.   I’m Fred Fishkin.

“We’ve got the satellites up there but we can’t stay pat.   We have to continue to evolve as technology evolves and develop products that can really take advantage of both the information from the satellite and the modern technology we have.”

Including AI being used to analyze the images and data.  Find more info at NOAA.gov.

You can find us at Techstination.com.   I’m Fred Fishkin.

Here come the deals. How to make the most of the big summer online shopping events? Google Trends Expert Charity Mhende chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.        AI2030 is the name of an organization promoting the responsible and ethical use of AI.   The organization has an institute to foster those goals and a series of events …conferences and symposiums as well including last week’s Chicago AI conference.   Founder Xiaochen Zhang formerly led the global innovations team at Amazon Web Services…and says the goals are based on a number of pillars for AI…

“Transparency, accountability, safety and security, fairness, privacy preservation and sustainability.  So we think each pillar, as you can see, we’re talking about very different things.”

Zhang believes the rewards from the responsible and ethical use of AI can be great.    

You can find us at Techstination.com.   I’m Fred Fishkin.

FeatherSnap Scout brings convenient features to smart bird feeder design. Such as? Director of Brand Management Abigail Knox chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Former Senator and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Bradley and AARP Executive VP Nancy LeaMond join Fred Fishkin and Mary Furlong for a look at the impact of older voters on the latest episode of What's Next Living Longer Better Smarter!

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.        Fourth of July related searches are among the top trends reported by Google.     For food…grilled pineapple slices and grilled halibut are trending.  That sounds pretty healthy.   But…says Google’s Charity Mhende…

“Interestingly enough, in the past five years, searches for hot dog eating contest have surpassed searches for baseball game during the week of fourth of July.”

No surprise that Taylor Swift  is leading the way again when it comes to music.   And on TV…on top…is Bridgerton…

“Bridgerton has come back for another season so people across the country were searching for things like does Colin forgive Penelope as well as do Eloise and Penelope make up.”

Bridgerton was followed by The Boys and House of the Dragon.    You can find more on the latest at google.com/trends.

You can find us at Techstination.com.   I’m Fred Fishkin.

Aptera, now forecasting delivery of its solar powered EVs for 2025, has a new technology customer in Polydrops, maker of solar powered RVs that can be towed by Teslas and more. Aptera co-founder Steve Fambro and Polydrops founder Kyunghyun Lew chat with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.