Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.   Creating techie toys for kids that let them emulate grown ups…has been a focus at Vtech for some time.  With tablets and smart watches and more.  The latest is the KidiZoom Creator Cam.  Get ready for this..  Vtech’s Tiffany Lavery…

“If you ask kids today what they want to be …it used to be like a firefighter or super hero..things like that.  And now the number one answer is that they want to be a social media influencer or a YouTube star.”  Oh no.  “So we wanted to make sure that we offered that play pattern if you will in a kid safe way.  So the KidiZoom Creator Cam is a high definition video camera kit.  It offers everything a kid would need to be the star of their own videos.”

Don’t get to scared… there’s no uploading without parental control.  Coming this summer for about sixty dollars.

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

Nextdoor offering free tools to help local businesses: Head of Product Tatyana Mamut in Techstination interview.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  Even if they aren’t venturing out to campgrounds….lots of folks are setting up camp in their own backyards.  BioLite’s FirePit or CampStoves can make the experience more fun.  The company’s technology allows you to cook with a variety of sticks, twigs, pine cones…or pellets…and all but eliminates smoke. The Camp Stoves even generate electricity while burning.  And now the company has created online STEM information that teaches kids and parents…how the technology works.  VP Erica Rosen…

“We thought that there was a great opportunity to share a little bit about the science behind these products…but do it in a way that could potentially engage kids who are interacting with them.”

I learned some things too.  Head to blog.bioliteenergy.com for more.

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

Circle Home Plus helps families control screen time & more: VP Gwen Smith chats with Techstination.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  It’s a varied list spanning more than a dozen countries and may different types of companies.  IBM has again honored women, 35 in all,  who are pioneers in artificial intelligence.  The idea…says IBM’s Ritika Gunnar..is to help foster more gender equality in technology…

“It provides a set of role models for other female leaders to really see that they can have a fulfilling career in business or technology in artificial intelligence.  These female leaders are really conceiving, designing and leading AI projects in business and on the technology side in their organizations.”

Gunnar, by the way,  is a Vice President at IBM leading an AI and data team of more than a thousand employees.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  With so many question marks about what the next school year will bring, the Alliance for Virtual Learning…partnering with Blackboard and the University of Phoenix…has created a Virtual Teaching Academy with help for educators and parents.  The free sessions can be found through the www.phoenix.edu Web site…where Teachers College Dean Pam Roggeman says…

“It will be things like how do you give meaningful feedback to your students via distance, how do you create those connections, how do you solidify the parent partnerships, the kinds of things that you need to do.  How do you address the special needs of your students via distance?”

Schools also have to tackle issues surrounding unequal access to technology and break barriers there.  Click on the Alliance for Virtual Learning tab at www.phoenix.edu for more.

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

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.  Shiao-Chen Tsai and her husband, a former Intel engineer…have two babies.  A one year old son….and the Muro Box…a smartly designed music box that has programmable pins controlled through an app…so it can play the music you choose..

“The most challenging part is the hardware design because we need to make sure that the sound it generates is as clear as the traditional one so people can recall their precious memories.”

The Muro Box will be on Indigogo with special pricing for another week.  The Muro Box app…which is great fun on its own…is available now for free.  You can learn more ..and the whole story behind it…at www.murobox.com.

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

Samsung delivers outdoor "Terrace" screens & more for Father's Day.   Sr. Manager Product Training Scott Cohen chats with Techstination.

Mindsets makes online learning more engaging: Founder/CEO Marissa DiPasquale in Techstination interview.