Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The robotic companion puppy from TomBot is nearing production….designed, initially to assist with Alzheimer’s. Founder Tom Stevens and his team have built a very realistic labrador retriever puppy with very lifelike responses …

“Our first puppy, Jennie, was designed specifically for seniors with dementia. She is designed to treat the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia and reduce the need for certain medications. That said, 71 percent of our pre-order and wait list customers are actually ordering her for a different use indication. So level two, level three autism. Intellectual developmental disabilities.”

And more. The technology is impressive. Learn more at Tombot.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Something a bit uplifting for this new year. Ford Philanthropy has reached an impressive milestone. It has become the first corporation to surpass 100 million dollars in global donations with Global Giving. Mike Schmidt is director of Economic Mobility and Global Community Development…

“We try to take a holistic approach to it and it’s all sorts of different kinds of work. We have community centers in Ford communities around the globe. We have mobile dental and medical offices that go out into communities that really need that support. We have education programs that are helping prepare young people for the future of work. So it’s a range of things that we do.”

Often without a lot of fanfare. There is more info at FordPhilanthropy.org.

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

How can AI help you stick to those resolutions? Just about a week into the new year, Google's Sarah Armstrong joins Techstination's Fred Fishkin to chat about how Gemini can help with everything from fitness to travel and new tools to help you breeze through that Gmail inbox.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. The smart wallet folks at Ekster are out with the Cardholder Pro for MagSafe. As the MagSafe name implies…it will snap onto phones…from either side of the wallet which holds 7 cards with add-on capability as well. The push of a button at the base pops cards up . We’ve been a fan of the technology for years. CEO Olivier Momma..

“It clocks to your iPhone. Any phone that has MagSafe technology. We also sell MagSafe stickers so you can stick it to other phones that don’t have MagSafe technology. It still has the card feature. But it now clicks. And it’s still trackable so there’s still the Find My technology in there.”

What we’re most impressed with …along with the design…is the durability. Ekster includes a lifetime warranty.

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

Roblox has become the first online gaming platform to implement facial age checks for chat. Why? How does it work? Director for Product Policy Eliza Jacobs chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. It was back in February of 2025, when we first introduced you to a Texas high school student, Tejasvi Manoj, who was inspired by her grandfather to create an app designed to protect older adults from scams using AI. She called it Shield Seniors….

“And though I realized that there were a lot of seminars that were helping with cybersecurity for seniors, there wasn’t really a real time assistant for them. So that’s why I decided to create Shield Seniors which hopefully would help with that.”

And we are happy to report that Tejasvi was named Time’s Kid of the Year for 2025. No doubt this new year will see her achieve even more as she prepares for college. Congratulations!

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

With the arrival of the Nebula X1 Pro and the newly announced Nebula P1i the latest projectors from Soundcore are capturing attention at CES 2026. Soundcore's Adam Weissman chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. It is a gadget category that is new….and growing pretty fast. AI notetakers. Soundcore Work is a remarkably small AI voice recorder, the size of a coin, that uses GPT for transcriptions and summaries. We have been impressed. It can clip onto clothing magnetically or be worn necklace style. Soundcore’s Adam Weissman…

“While you’re in a meeting, while you’re talking to important people, if you’re in school or whatever, you can take notes. There’s really two pieces to it. So there’s the actual recorder, which is this part right here. And then there’s the bottom part or the bigger part is the dock slash charger.”

That snaps right onto the back of a mag safe or similar phone making it easy to carry the Soundcore Work everywhere.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Among this year’s CES Innovation award winners is Netvue for some new innovations in its Birdfy smart bird watching line. There’s a new smart bird bath and a cleverly designed Hum Bloom smart hummingbird feeder. CMO Prima Shi..

“This provide a 3MP camera capturing every wing beat because we know hummingbirds really move fast. With this one, you can see it clear and you can see every movement with the slow motion. The AI identifies over 150 species of hummingbirds. With the design, that is a leak proof hydraulic system.”

There’s more info on the very full line up …including a smart bird house…at Birdfy.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. At the beginning of this new year, we’ve been talking about the advancements in autonomous vehicles and robotaxis…and the need to use the technology to provide mobility who really need rides. And that need is great. For instance, ITN America, was started in Maine, thirty years ago and it has spread throughout the country enabling older adults who are capable of driving…to give rides to those who aren’t. The programs have provided more than one million 750 thousand rides and counting. The founder is Katherine Freund..

“So we’ve driven a lot of miles over the years and we’ve served a lot of people. We’ve got about a hundred non-profit organizations in our national network and we just added fifty more, so up to a hundred and fifty now.”

Freund looks forward to the day when affordable driverless vehicles can help as well. Visit ITNAmerica.org.

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