Techstination

NSPanel Pro developed by CoolKit eWeLink for Sonoff, is an affordable touch screen for smart home control. What can it do? CoolKit COO WeiHua Wang chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. What is Cheesecake salad? Well, it made the top search trends for June on Google…in advance of the 4th of July holiday. Google’s Jennifer Jones..

“Now before you turn your nose up at it, let me tell you a little bit about that. It’s red and blue fruit mixed with , the white part of that is cream cheese, sugar and whipped cream. So it sounds like a weird name, but it probably is pretty delicious.”

There was also S’mores dip on the trends list…along with the much more typical potato salad, coleslaw and baked beans. Camping and hiking were also trending….and the most searched for top song chords….were for Take Me Home, Country Roads….followed by American Pie.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Viffy is the name of a platform for creator content that bridges the gap between customer loyalty programs and influencers..helping to eliminate pay walls for consumers. CEO Sam Winslow..

“The creator exclusive supplemental content space is often gated by a pretty prohibitive pay wall. And it’s very hard for creators to convert their audiences past that pay wall to these spaces. So with Viffy, from the consumer side, it’s actually pretty simple. We remove that pay wall component.”

By giving them credits for online spending with participating retailers. One of the goals is to provide a way for retailers and credit card networks to leverage creator content. You can learn more …at viffy.io.

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

Outdoor fun and air quality were among the top search trends for June according to Google. And then there is cheesecake salad? Google's Jennifer Jones chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Tech toys that can travel. Phones and tablets are often the go to devices to keep kids occupied while traveling. But Tonie Box is a great alternative that is screen free. It is story telling cube…that is rechargeable…headphone capable…and works with toy figures that feature many kid favorites. The list is growing all of the time. One of the latest is Mirabel from Encanto. Marketing Director Drew Vernon..

“We contract with Disney and others. We have the original music from the film. And you also mentioned Laurie Berkner, she’s the popular children’s musician and this Tonie is doing very well.”

Parents and grandparents can record their own stories and songs too with Creative Tonies. With the constantly growing content…the Tonie Box is a toy that doesn’t collect much dust.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The headlines are pretty frequent…. Octopuses shown to map their visual landscape much like humans do. Or…Watch an octopus waking up from what scientists think could have been a nightmare. Want to learn more about these intelligent, amazing creatures of the sea? Alaska Pacific University marine biology professor David Scheel is out with Many Things Under a Rock: The Mysteries of Octopuses. And studying them can be challenging..

“They’re hard to find because they are excellent at camouflage. And they are somewhat finicky to capture and somewhat finicky to observe.”

You may remember Dr. Scheel from a PBS documentary. The book is fascinating and sometimes surprising. ..

“They have recall and learning. They can recognize faces.”

The book once again…is Many Things Under a Rock: the Mysteries of Octopuses.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Who do you turn to for help in planning that summer trip? Google is saying its AI tools can be more than a little useful. Google’s Bard has gotten lots of attention and company technology expert Charity Mhende says the new SGE tool or search generative experience is available too…for those that sign up for it. Beyond that..check out what Google Lens can do..

“You can use Lens, which is basically a little camera icon in the Google search bar, click and it will be able to help identify, for example, a menu. You’re in a foreign country and you want to translate the menu. Or you’re looking at a road sign, like you said, you’re on a road trip, right? Using Google Lens can help make that translation service much easier.”

That phone you carry around everywhere is getting more useful all of the time.

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

A partnership between Nomad and Peak Design will bring new functionality to iPhone cases. Plus Nomad is delivering new wireless chargers. Marketing Director Chuck Melber chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.