Techstination

Planning summer travel? Google travel trends expert Craig Ewer chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin about what's hot...and how AI can help.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Google is revolutionizing search and email with AI. The technology giant at its annual I/O conference kept AI front and center. What will it mean for everyday search? Google’s Charity Mhende…

“So when you search for questions like how to renew my passport, you’ll get a snapshot at the very top of your search results powered by generative AI to help you get to the bottom of that question without doing all the leg work of multiple tabs, etcetera, etcetera.”

More voice and image tools using AI are coming too both for phones and PCs. Google is also showing off something called Project Astra…an AI assistant that will respond to voice and video. One demo showed how it can be used to help you find your glasses. Stay tuned.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.        The o stands for omni…in GPT-4o from OpenAI.    It is designed to be able to understand text, audio and images…even in combination and respond quickly and more accurately than before in more human-like fashion.    And OpenAI is saying the GPT-4o features are being made available for free to all users.    The arrival of the features will be taking place over the coming weeks.  Text and image input are available now….with voice and video to come.  GPT-4o will have support for fifty languages.     This is turning out to be another big month for AI announcements.    The news from OpenAI came a day before Google held its annual I/O event.   We’ll have more on that tomorrow.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The impressive new Denali 605 Pro stainless steel grill from Monument. Lighted controls for the six burners that indicate the temperature settings, a slide out shelf for the propane tank, dual ceramic searing burners…including one on the side.. are among the marquee features. But a digital display indicating the internal temperature and dual temperature probes, a glass panel front and Bluetooth monitoring to make cooking easier are great too. And there are some smart inserts available too ..a pizza stone, a cast iron cooking plate and more. For those pizzas, it can reach 700 degrees in ten minutes. For real. The price for the flagship Denali 605 Pro from Monument Grills is about 900 dollars. Check out our full interview online…and MonumentGrills.com for more.

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

Amazon is again offering grants to boost small businesses and new education resources too. What you should know from VP of Amazon Business Worldwide Todd Heimes in this Techsstination interview.

Ready to stir up childhood memories? Big Wheel is back. And there's an upcoming event at the Strong Museum in Rochester to celebrate. And VP Bryan Katzel says there is more Big Wheel news to come. He chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Expert video chat on demand for home maintenance and repairs? Frontdoor is offering unlimited help for 25 dollars a year. How does it work? On-Demand Services Director Sarah Riley chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. May is mental health month and while there are many resources online to help, a new campaign titled Talk Away the Dark is among those you may find worthwhile. It was created by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention where VP Vic Armstrong says initiating needed conversations isn’t always easy..

“So what we try to do at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is offer resources that make it easier to normalize their conversation, to give people confidence in asking if someone is struggling, confidence in engaging in those conversations and confidence in knowing that if I can get someone to engage in this conversation, I also feel like I can connect them to help.”

There are videos to help guide conversations and more. The Web site for more info is www.afsp.org/talkawaythedark.

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

Going all electric with your home or business? What incentives are out there? Rewiring America, a non-profit, aims to help. How? Policy analyst Amanda Sachs chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Thinking of an EV? What to take under consideration? GM's director for EV ecosystems Derek Sequeira chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.