Amazon offers deals to avoid Black Friday crunch.   Amazon's Katie Larsen in Techstination chat.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  There’s plenty of competition in the robotic vacuum category these days…but pioneer iRobot is up to the challenge.  The company’s new i3 brings some high end features at a lower price point….about four hundred dollars…as opposed to the i7’s 600 dollar price tag.  Both have plus models that can empty themselves…for about two hundred dollars more.  Meanwhile, there’s also a new software platform, iRobot calls Genius.  VP of portfolio and software product management Michelle Gattuso says it employs new intelligence..

“If you’re messy like me while I’m chopping and cooking, I can identify in front of the cabinets and iRobot can clean in five minutes rather than having to clean the entire kitchen.”

It’s part of the latest iRobot Home app….and you can control by voice…using Google or Alexa as well.

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

A Keurig type kitchen appliance for ice cream on the way: ColdSnap.   Sigma Phase founder Matthew Fonte chats with Techstination.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  The folks at GoSun have been at it again…with another successful Kickstarter campaign..this time for an on the go coffee maker with portable power.  The GoSun Brew features an integrated  French Press with a 130 watt heater.  It can plug into your car….and one of the company’s solar rechargeable battery packs…including the new GoSun Power 266 watt hour PowerBank.  Founder Patrick Sherwin…

“The way it can work so well is a nice, highly efficient 12 volt heating element built in to the cup, which is borrowed technology from our solar cooking, our hybrid solar oven.  And we run that off of a portable power.”

For outdoors…off grid…or just travel in your car…it is worth checking out.  Search for GoSun Brew on Kickstarter or head to www.gosun.co.

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

Botley 2.0 coding robot for kids from Learning Resources.   Botley "father" Michael Blaustein in Techstination interview.

Techstination Week is a compilation of this week's Techstination reports with tech journalist and host Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  Leading dash cam maker Nextbase is out with a new 4K camera for vehicles that includes great features like image stabilization, enhanced night vision and an extreme weather mode that can produce surprisingly good images in nasty weather conditions. The 622 GW has a three inch touch screen, Alexa voice control and can use what3words for geolocation.  There are flexible add ons for rear or interior cameras too.  Beyond that…Nextbase has added the ability for SOS Alerts…with the camera using your phone to summon help in an emergency.  Marketing VP Jeff Chuh…it will seek your response if sensors detect a crash…and failing a response..

“It will automatically dispatch 911 services, ambulances, to your exact location.”

Potentially lifesaving…and the service is included for the first year.  There’s more at www.nextbase.com.

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

Cool tech toys: The Toy Insider Editor in Chief Marissa DiBartolo chats with Techstination.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.    Musicians, journalists and more have known for years about the high quality portable recording gear made by Zoom.  Now the company is out with new products designed just for podcasting.  The new PodTrak P4 is very portable…with four XLR microphone inputs…and independent headphone jacks for each…and will let you add an interview guest via mobile phone.  The P4 can run off of 2 double A batteries..or a USB C power source.  Really flexible.  Product Specialist Samuel Green…

“And there’s also four soundpads where you can load in advertisements or jingles or sound effects that you use during your show..”

You can get it with a mic kit as well.  And now Zoom has added the Podtrak P8 designed with even more studio capabilities.  Both can work as computer interfaces and record onto SD cards as well.  Check out www.ZoomCorp.com for more.

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