Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. How much have you set aside for emergency savings. According to Experian…nearly one in four Americans have no emergency savings to cover unexpected expenses and fifty percent of consumers listed saving more as one of their goals for this year. Experian’s Senior Director of Consumer Education and Advocacy, Rod Griffin says while it often isn’t easy..

“What I always recommend is figure out how much you can set aside. Just a little bit each month can make a big difference. So twenty dollars a month, thirty dollars a month, fifty dollars a month…whatever you can put aside into a savings account. Create that habit and grow it over time. Eventually you’re going to get there.”

Experian of course, does credit ratings…but also has tools to help manage your money. Learn more at Experian.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Exposure to the odorless radioactive gas that forms naturally in the earth’s crust can be detected and steps can be taken to make your home and family are safe. Ecosense is out with the EcoQube Flex..that pairs with an app and also gives you a read out on the device that you can take from room to room. Senior Marketing Manager Ksenia Kolyeva..

“Because it’s actually a good idea to move your device room to room, so we wanted to make it easier, simpler. So you can compare, okay, what is my radon in the basement versus what is my radon in the living room.”

We found set up to be simple…just pop in long lasting batteries…turn it on and set up the app. Learn more at Ecosense.io.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. There’s a new start-up from the founders of Fitbit that is focused on family wellbeing. Luffu is an app being created by James Park and Eric Friedman as an intelligent family care system. It will use AI to watch for changes in behavior and keep track of diet, medications, doctor visits and lab testsand more to provide information to family members and caregivers. The plan is to bring hardware products to market as well. The company says it is designed to be a guardian, not surveillance with the users in control of what is shared. The name? Spelled Luffu… comes from an Old English word for love. One in four adults in the U.S…these days now is in a family caregiving position. You can sign up for the wait list at Luffu.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. YouTube is giving parents some new controls to help set limits for kids in the household. Global Head of YouTube Health, Dr. Garth Graham says ..

“We’re giving more tools for parents to set boundaries. So a parent can limit the amount of short form video that their kid is getting from the shorts feed. We are allowing parents to institute take a break time and bedtime reminders for their kids. And we have always, at YouTube, allows parents to set the age appropriate experience for their kid.”

The key is for parents to be aware of the online activities of their kids and make use of the available safety tools. There’s more info at safer.connectsafely.org.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.    

Viaim’s RecDot AI earbuds may look kind of run of the mill, but the ability to FlashRecord, summarize, transcribe and translate help to make them a versatile, smart choice.     As for sound quality, it is pretty impressive with active noise cancellation and Hi Res audio.     The company’s Aaron Wang..

“Besides the record functions,  our earbuds can give you real time transcribe and translation.  That means, like we have this meeting,  I can transcribe all the conversation and if it is necessary, we can translate English to 78 different languages.”

More info?  The site is Viaim.ai.  You can find us at Techstination.com.   I’m Fred Fishkin.  

Owl Labs is out with the Meeting Owl 5 Pro. The latest conferencing innovations? CEO Frank Weishaupt chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Using AI to help train caregivers….both home and professional. That is the latest project from CareYaya founder Neal Shah. That company has upended the field of caregiving by utilizing students who are future doctors and other medical professionals to provide exceptional care around the country. Now, he said on the What’s Next Living Longer Better Smarter podcast, YayaGuide is being developed to use AI for training..

“This builds on a project we’d been working on at Johns Hopkins. We had proposed this idea of a what we call Duo Lingo of dementia care training. Create kind of a gamified, easy to learn, upscale yourself, two minutes here, three minutes there while you’re brushing your teeth kind of thing. It creates gamification and techniques to make you want to do the training and then personalizes it to your need.”

More will be coming at CareYaya.org.

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

How can you win the battle against distracted driving? It can be a matter of life and death. New tips from State Farm VP and Actuary Sara Frankowiak in this Techstination interview.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Some hands on time with the Rubik’s WOWCube has me impressed with the fun and versatility of what really is a gaming and entertainment platform. There are 24 independent small screens in the cube…with an ever growing list of games that can take advantage of them. You can even upload your own photos to create a fun display or game. Co-founder and CEO Max Filin says you’ll find some familiar names…

“Like we have Space Invaders by Taita, we have Cut the Rope, a very old and fine game by ZeptoLab. And our main partnership with Spin Master, owner of the Rubik’s Cube brand.”

Expect more games and innovations in the months to come. Learn more at Wowcube.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin.

Now that we have Valentine’s Day out of the way, a reminder from the AARP that older adults are being increasingly targeted by scammers using romance as a come on. Amy Nofziger is AARP’s Senior Director of Fraud Victim Support which has a new study..

“We found that 11 million adults, fifty plus, had been targeted for one of these romance scams. And one in six know someone or even themselves have lost money in one of these scams. And most importantly we found out that 55 percent of victims in these scams did not report the loss.”

Nofziger was a guest on the latest What’s Next Living Longer Better Smarter podcast which I co-host with Mary Furlong. You can find us at Techstination.com. I’m Fred Fishkin