Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. With robots, self driving vehicles, new AI being used for virtual nurses and much more, the crowds at NVIDIA’s GTC conference were wowed….to say the least. Speaking on the Smart Driving Cars podcast, NVIDIA VP for Automotive Danny Shapiro said the company’s latest computing platform is opening a lot of doors…

“Our new generation of technology that we’re bringing out called Blackwell, that’s the new platform, we’re going to bring that into the cars as well in our next generation of SOC for autonomous. But the kind of sea change is all about generative AI and we’ve been talking about this for over a year with Chat GPT. But it’s not just text, it’s every type of data being transformed and being generated for ways to re-think how people do their jobs and be able to do it better.”

And Shapiro says NVIDIA is just getting started.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.    The innovators at Wyze are at it again.   They are out with the Wyze Cam v4…delivering super sharp 2.5K QHD resolution, a built in spotlight and AI tracking ..all for less than 36 dollars.    It is an indoor, outdoor camera…that does need to be plugged in .  A weather proof cable is included.   There is a micro SD card slot for local storage…but my suggestion is to spring for an online storage package from Wyze.  Cam Protect is 3.99 a month and gives you facial recognition and monitored alarm capability.  Wyze has had to cope with a couple of security issues, but those seem to have been resolved and may not be much of a worry especially for outdoor security usage.  The emphasis at Wyze on affordability is a big plus.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The total solar eclipse is just days away. How to view? Celestron is among the reputable makers of gear for safe viewing. Everything from EclipSmart Binoculars to kits with the necessary glasses and a guide. Astronomy product manager Lance Lucero..has travelled the world as an eclipse chaser

“When you observe any eclipse, especially even total eclipses, all the phases leading up to totality, where any part of the sun is still visible, you must have safe eye protection in order to view it properly.”

Celestron makes it affordable…with glasses costing as little as three dollars. You can get an EclipSmart solar filter for telescopes as well. Find more at www.celestron.com and click on EclipSmart. Many retailers carry the line as well.

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

Anna Barnacka was an astrophysicist working with NASA before turning her attention to using technology to improve health. She created MindMics, using earphones to listen to and monitor heart health through the ear canal. How? Dr. Barnacka chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The top search trends for the month of March…of course the college basketball tournaments….March Madness…were hot trends. And at the Academy Awards, Ryan Gosling drew lots of online attention. There was an increase in searches for personality tests.. and in the odd news category, Google Trends Expert Mia Nicholson East says there was a spike in searches for how to make new friends as an adult…

“We saw a huge spike in search for how to make new friends, it rose over 110 percent this month. And then people were also searching Bumble BFF, which is just like the dating app but for friends, and it spiked over 150 percent. So, people are just looking to make more connections. I think they could probably use some of those personality tests they’re learning about themselves to find some new friendships as well.”

Sounds encouraging for early spring.

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

All That Happiness Is is the title of an upcoming book from author and New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik. The focus is on accomplishment versus achievement. What are the differences? Gopnik chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Saving your history. Vivid-Pix is out with a scanner and software solution called Memory Station Stories. CEO Rick Voight says the top down scanner can capture photos, documents…even objects like a special dish…and allow you to attach audio narratives…and then helps to put it all together..

“The image plus the voice, so you can tell a story. And that story can be as simple as a single image where an individual is describing a time in their life. It could be a graduation or birth of a child or it can be as simple as vacation 1972."

Old photos and documents can be easily restored with the Vivid-Pix software by the way. The home edition bundle…which you can share with the whole family is priced at about 800 dollars. Find more at www.vivid-pix.com.

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

Search trends for March? Ryan Gosling, Caitlin Clark, spring break, key lime cookies and finding more friends. Google trends expert Mia Nicholson East chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The battle against online scams is never ending…but there are tools you can use to make becoming a victim less likely. At Google…Technology Expert Grace Hoyt says take advantage of two factor authentication whenever possible. And turning to a password manager can offer lots of protection too…

“We know that these bad actors, these attackers, are looking to get access to folks’ passwords and then use that to sign in to your online accounts. So that’s why we recommend that folks store and save secure passwords through a password manager. That is built into your Chrome browser automaticallyThat is a great place to store that information."

Google’s Gmail by the way…is pretty great at blocking the vast majority of scams and phishing attempts. Find more at www.safety.google.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. What to consider when buying an electric vehicle? Kia, which has the award winning EV6 and EV9 vehicles on the market, has some tips for consumers. Kia America Director of Corporate Communications James Bell…

“If you are the kind of person that saddles up every Friday night and drives five hundred miles out to the local camping spot or hooks up your boat or your trailer and drives out to grandma’s house, then guess what… an electric vehicle’s probably not for you. But if you’re like the vast majority of us, and I mean 90 plus percent, who drive on average 25 to 35 miles per day, than an electric car is probably, I’ll just go ahead and say it, is the best choice.”

And with the charging station picture improving all of the time…Kia is among those moving to the Tesla standard…the choice gets even easier.

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