Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. This is the first in a series of reports on driverless mobility. With the work that companies like Waymo and Cruise have done in places like Arizona and San Francisco, Princeton Professor Alain Kornhauser, faculty chair of autonomous vehicle engineering, argues that the capability of robotaxis to operate without human drivers has been proven. But in a new book, The Real Case for Driverless Mobility, Kornhauser and co-author Michael Sena say the real market opportunity for this new form of transportation has so far been missed….although Kornhauser points out Waymo deserves much credit..

“They are doing. They are doing…that is a whole heck of a lot different than to dos. So hats off to them."

So what is The Real Case for Driverless Mobility? We’ll have more in our next report.

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

With the 60th birthday of the Mustang coming April 17th, Ford is rolling out the 2024 version of the Mach-E. What's new? Senior Marketing Manager Garett Carr chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Thyim is the name of an app that stands for They Help You In Minutes. It is a start up designed to bring together people who need services…of all kinds…like washing a dog…or the dishes and such…with people in their neighborhoods who can do those kinds of jobs. Co-founder Stephen Buffamante…

“Our company is kind of designed to provide services ala carte. Where like cleaning companies exist, but you can’t be hiring someone just to wash your dishes. Helpers see requests within a certain range of them and are able to get to you within or around 15 minutes.”

The helpers have to go through background checks when they sign up. Thyim is initially available on the Apple app store…for customers in Michigan and parts of Georgia and Texas. There are plans to expand from there.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The innovations continue with Anker’s Eufy brand of security cameras. We’ve mentioned the latest WiFi and 4G capable model. But the real magic happens when multiple cameras are installed inside and out when AI is used for tracking movement around or through a home with cameras automatically handing off to each other. Senior Public Relations Manager Brett White..

“As you walk up my driveway, there’s camera one, my Solo Cam has detected you. It will then do a seamless handoff to my video doorbell. You’ll then walk into my house and out of the frame of the video doorbell into the frame of the indoor camera.”

And the tracking can continue with a floodlight camera in the yard, etcetera. And the system can send you a single video clip showing the movement all the way through. The AI is enabled through a connection to Eufy’s Home Base 3 which adds expandable storage.

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

If you think tungsten was just for old light bulbs and is out of date...think again. It's being relied on for AI, EVs and more. How? Almonty Industries CEO Lewis Black chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.       On the financial side of things…it looks like Tesla had a pretty rough first quarter.   But on the technology side…the picture is looking pretty bright for the company.    The real accomplishment that we’re talking about is now referred to FSD Supervised.      It is no longer being called a beta release…and adding supervised to the name is really the responsible way to go.  Drivers need to be paying full attention….they are monitored by a camera. That said, the new FSD can take a vehicle from here to there remarkably well…often with little or no intervention.   In bad weather…Tesla’s camera only reliance…can run into difficulty.   But the progress is impressive…and now Tesla is giving all buyers and owners the opportunity to be trained and test it out for free for thirty days.  A smart move…that will likely improve profitability and sales.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. MindMics is a company that is pioneering the approach of determining your heart health and more….by listening through your ear canal. Founder and CEO Anna Barnacka is an astrophysicist by training who has worked for NASA and she tells her complete story in a Techstination interview…which we encourage you to watch. As for MindMics, Dr. Banacka says the ear approach has advantages over wrist worn wearables..

“The watches, they can only see the signals very far away from the heart. So as the blood is travelling from our heart, just below the skin, it’s losing a lot of information. So you’re getting a bump, but it’s losing all of those tiny changes from heartbeat to heartbeat."

You can learn more about technology and how it works in our interview…and find more info at www.MindMics.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.        Guy Kawasaki is what you might call a tech luminary…having been Apple’s Chief Evangelist and more recently doing the same for Canva.   He is also the host of the Remarkable People podcast….and his latest book, Think Remarkable…is an offshoot from that.  It’s a terrific read, chock full of anecdotes, stories and advice.  And there’s an insrpiring foreword written by Jane Goodall..

“Who would you rather have write a foreword for a non-fiction book about making a difference than Jane Goodall?   I cannot think of a person.  I literally cannot think of a better person.”

Kawasaki himself is pretty remarkable.   He chatted on the What’s Next Living Longer Better Smarter podcast, which I co-host with Mary Furlong.   Hope you’ll give it a watch or listen.   The book again is Think Remarkable, by Guy Kawasaki.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Octopuses have a lot of heart. Three of them to be more precise. And they are among the most intelligent animals on the planet. Best selling author Sy Montgomery…has followed up her book Soul of an Octopus…with a new title…Secrets of the Octopus. It is a companion book to the National Geographic series arriving on Earth Day on Disney. For Sy, it was a labor of love and the book reveals her amazing relationships with these mysterious creatures..

“Why do these octopuses who clearly relish my company, who clearly get excited when they see me and rise to the surface of the water and stick their arms and suckers out of the water to meet mine… why do they want to have anything to do with me at all."

The book, Secrets of the Octopus, is a wonderful read for all ages.

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