Techstination

Kaplan offering free online SAT test prep during Covid-19.   Director of Academics Dennis Yim chats with Techstination.

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.  The smart home innovations at Lutron continue…and what I like is how one of the best known brands in quality electrical equipment for the home…has been able to identify ways…big and small…to simplify the smart home experience.  For instance..last year Lutron introduced the Aurora Smart Bulb Dimmer…providing a physical switch for Philips Hue smart bulbs…and it was designed to mount over light switches.  That prevents Hue bulbs from being inadvertently disconnected.  Now Lutron has added the Aurora Wallplate Bracket to allow it to be used over paddle switches. The new Caseta Smart Motion Sensor can control smart switches…and even Serena smart shades…and features versatile mounting options…and a ten year battery life.  The company also is out with a new Caseta Repeater…to help that gear stay connected.  You can find us at Techstination.com.  I’m Fred Fishkin.

Use time at home to train your brain with BrainHQ: Posit Science CEO Henry Mahncke in Techstination interview.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  Gupshup is the name of a messaging platform…available on Android devices…that is designed to us artificial intelligence to automatically sort that messages that arrive on your phone.  CEO Beerud Sheth…

“It can automatically classify all incoming messages.  It also reads these enterprise messages and extracts some key information.  For example if it’s about your flight than it will figure out from city, to city, the flight number, time and so on and it displays the message as a structured card.”

The company is working with some handset makers to bundle Gupshup and the company is working with enterprises to use the platform to reach consumers or customers.  Sheth by the way is one of the co-founders of UpWork.  Again the app spelled Gupshup is available for Android.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  Hands on with the Pria smart medication dispenser.  I’ve been testing out Stanley Healthcare’s futuristic Pria device for some time now…a smiley faced screen that holds medications and dispenses them into a cup at the time they are supposed to be taken….ringing a bell as a reminder.  And it can alert loved ones if a dose is missed.  It is smart, reliable…and most of all…simple to set up and use.  It has a camera to recognize you…or a pin code can be used as a backup.   Medications are stored inside a wheel…and Pria guides through the loading process.  Depending upon how many medications are needed each day…it can store up to four weeks worth.  The only drawback is Pria…for now at least…can only work for one person in a household.  Find more at www.okpria.com.

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

Brainly offers online help for students at home: CBO Eric Oldfield in Techstination interview.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  LifeFuels is a company that is trying to do for water…what Keurig did for coffee…except in a techier way.  It has created a bottle…that holds three flavor cartridges… even vitamins…that you add with the push of a button.  And through an app and Bluetooth…you can monitor your hydration throughout the day.  Founder and CEO Jonathan Perrelli…

“When you load the fuel pod you simply turn it… you’ll see it light up… because each fuel pod has an RFID tag on it that helps the bottle read and recognize what’s inside of the fuel pod.  It also writes to the fuel pod."

They dispense up to 30 servings….but more typically fewer…and sell for about twelve dollars each.  The flavors are on the sweet side…but you can control how much is used.  www.LifeFuels.com sells a starter set including the bottle for 99 dollars…with a 29 dollar a month subscription to three FuelPods of your choice.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.   The camera sensors many cars are using today for lane departure warnings and more…will also play a big role when it comes to autonomous vehicles.  But what happens when a road is snow covered…or when the lane markings are missing.  An MIT spin off called WaveSense is using ground penetrating radar…that sees ten feet below the road surface…and creates underground maps….to solve those problems.  CEO Tarik Bolat…

“What WaveSense does is unlock a key set of autonomous features that in order to perform need to have very, very good reliability because they are safety critical features.  It’s not just what’s the best route to get from here to there.  It’s where am I, where’s the vehicle to a centimeter level.”

The CEO expects to see the technology start arriving through the company’s partners as soon as next year.  Head to www.wavesense.io for more.

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