Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.        There’s a lot most of us don’t know when it comes to protecting computers, TVs and more from electrical power spikes and such.   Austere, a quality accessories maker is out with a new four outlet III Series of surge protectors that are stylish and strong…in addition to the six and four outlet VII Series.  And while they are designed for long life, founder Deena Ghazarian points out all surge protectors and the joules …which indicate how much energy can be absorbed.. wear out over time …

“So our units start, no less, than 25 hundred joules and they work there way up all the way to 4 thousand joules.”

And the Austere line is built with style in mind as well.  The company also has a new partnership with Victrola providing companion accessories to the company’s innovative wireless turntables.

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

MPOWERD is a solar lighting company that been delivering help to others from day one. Now, as it unveils Luci Site Lights, it is stepping up once again to assist in Maui. Founder John Salzinger chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.        Canopy, a venture created jointly by Ford and ADT, is tackling the issue of pickup truck bed security with the new Canopy Pickup Cam.  The devices…arriving soon in September…are designed to work with any type of pickup truck..not just Ford models…and are a self install solution.   Chief Product Officer Sam Harris..

“The sensing unit is using a combination of radar, accelerometers, cameras.  When we see something that we think is suspicious, someone loitering around the truck someone reaching into the truck bed, within half a second we actually wake up the camera, take an image.”

And start the rapid verification and notification process.    There are deals now at www.canopy.security but the regular pricing will be about three hundred dollars for the system with service priced at about 15 dollars a month.

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

Love concept cars? The popular and free Ford Heritage Vault online has added the brochures and stories behind the automaker's concept vehicles going back to the start. Archive and Heritage Brand Manager Ted Ryan chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. You have lots of choices these days when it comes to trackers that let you keep tabs on your belongings typically using Bluetooth connections to your smartphone. Pebblebee is a company that offers some pretty unique features with its wallet and tag type trackers. They can work with the Apple or Google finding ecosystems and founder Danile Daoura says they are also rechargeable..

“When you talk about supply chain and carbon footprint, having a battery shipped to you and having the packaging, additional packaging and all of that waste, imagine the amount of lithium that is going into the landfills when people aren’t properly recycling.”

The charge in the trackers can last up to a year. Find more at www.pebblebee.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.    It is that time of year.     Searches for back to school supplies are up 450 percent over the last few weeks according to Google.  The company’s Christina Basilio says there are plenty of searches as well for info on specific subjects like physics and biology…with kids asking if the courses are hard.  Of course they are…but Google has tools that can help..

“What we’re seeing is that word problems aren’t just for math anymore and Google Search and Google Lens are two great ways to help them maybe try to understand those difficult concepts a little bit better.  You can either go directly to the Google Search bar or click on the scan it image item on the search bar to access Google Lens, and what you’ll end up getting is a step by step breakdown on how to solve that problem.”

Google has other tools as well for both parents and teachers.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Building robots with artificial intelligence. We aren’t just talking about the Optimus robots that Elon Musk believes will become very big business for Tesla. Google’s robotics division is making some big advances too. Kevin Roose at the New York Times got a demo recently of how those robots are learning to manipulate objects they had never seen before. He reports the secretive project is giving Google’s robots new ways to problem solve and understand. The latest is named RT-2. That seems to have a familiar ring to it. According to the report…Google has no immediate plans to sell the RT-2 robots….but is talking about how useful they may be eventually around the house, the warehouse, in hospitals and more.

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

Canopy is a joint venture from Ford and ADT that has developed the Canopy Pickup Cam for truck bed security. But it won't be limited to Ford vehicles. How does it work? Chief Product Officer Sam Harris chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. In case you haven’t noticed…deliveries from Amazon are getting faster and faster for many, if not most, customers. The online giant says it has delivered 1.8 billion items to Prime members either same day or next day so far this year. Transportation VP Udit Madan..

“At Amazon we offer over three hundred million items with tens of millions available for free, same and one day delivery. And fast speeds are great. But fast speeds on almost anything that you can imagine, whether that’s a power drill that you might need or a sun hat to beat the heat, that’s really what distinguishes Amazon.

And Amazon is saying there are plans to double same day delivery sites over the next two years…with or without those promised drones.

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