Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  When it comes to designing a better drone controller…who better than a physician astronaut,  with five space shuttle flights and seven space walks to his credit.  Scott Parazynski has done that, summited Mount Everest, is an avid rock climber and has written a terrific chronicle of those adventures titled The Sky Below.  About that drone controller, the FT Aviator…he built it with his start up…Fluidity Technologies…it features a joystick with one handed control of six degrees of motion…and unique tactile feedback…

“And the same technology actually one day  could actually control and power surgical robots.  This is a really powerful way to intuitively move through three dimensional space.”

Parazynski spent 17 years with NASA…and was known as an innovator there.  You can find the FT Aviator at www.Fluidity.tech.

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

 Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  The folks at a company called Technaxx have created a car charger with dual ports….that doubles as a vehicle alarm.  The TX 100 is a clever device with a built in battery that can power the portable alarm for up to six days….and when it detects motion…it lets loose with a piercing siren.  You use a remote to arm and disarm it.  CEO Pascal Pekcan…says it won’t be triggered by passing traffic or a tap on the bumper..

“A key feature is the PIR sensor on the top.  That brings the alarm only turning on, the siren, only when someone enters into your car.”

It’s a plug and play solution.  You can find the Technaxx TX-100 for under fifty dollars.

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

 Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  A company called Ekster is out with a voice connected smart wallet..with some pretty impressive features including a Chipolo tracker that has a very impressive built in solar panel for recharging.  The Ekster wallet doesn’t have much space for carrying cash…but can store a dozen or so cards…six of them in a quick access compartment that ejects cards with the push of a button.  The wallet includes RFID blocking as well.  Back to the tracking feature.  You can enable Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa to let you locate the wallet by voice.  It’s worthwhile for carrying cards…even if you may need another wallet for things like cash or a driver’s license.   Then again, you may not.  Pricing starts at about 70 dollars.  Head to Ekster.com 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.  Consumers and businesses have lots of options when it comes to face to face communications using phones, tablets and computers.  Zoom Video Communications has been able to bring all of those platforms together and has created higher end solutions for businesses as well.  Beyond that, Products Head Oded Gal says…

“You can change the background behind you to be anything you want, any image that you upload you can show behind you.  And many people do that if they meet from their personal bedroom or from the road.  Even on a mobile device they can kind of make sure it looks professional or even sometimes make it a more fun experience.”

The quality is impressive and the basic version of Zoom is free…with meetings limited to forty minutes.  For more, check out www.zoom.us. 

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

Inseego delivers first MiFi 5G hotspot for Verizon: CMO Ashish Sharma in Techstination interview.

Hasselblad commemorates NASA role with special edition camera: On The Moon Since 1969.   Hasselblad's Dan Wang chats with Techstination.

 Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.  I’m Fred Fishkin.  Google is aiming to create less consumer confusion when it comes to its smart home products by integrating  under Google Nest umbrella.  And the company caused quite a stir with the announced elimination of the Works With Nest program.  Google’s Michelle Turner says partners are being moved over to the Works With Google Assistant platform…which should make automation routines easier and more secure…

“Now through the Google Assistant I can do something like..okay, g, I’m leaving and I can then have my thermostat kick into Eco mode, I can have all my lights go off.”

And the company keeps expanding its line up of smart home products.  We’ve become fans of the Google Nest Hub…it’s integration with the Nest Hello Doorbell, thermostat and more…and the larger Hub Max is due to arrive this summer. 

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