Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin.    An AI companion comes to the GrandPad.   The tablet designed for older adults, helping them stay connected with family and friends through games and video chat now has a feature called Grandie Chat.  When opened…it greets you in a friendly, customizable voice, with today’s weather.  I like that it isn’t always listening, you have to tap on a Talk to Grandie button to respond by voice.  CEO Scott Lien..

“Grandie is like that wise friend that you can just have a conversation with.  It has a safety layer built in so it’s not going to give any medical advice or anything that could be harmful.  And it just is very, very empathetic.  It cares and listens and can help people.”

GrandPad standard pricing is is 65 dollars a month paid annually…which includes the device and service. Learn more at www.grandpad.net.

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

They started tinkering as high school friends in Vermont. Now Daniel Nieh and Codrin Cobzaru are out with Sparq, a device that works with an AI app to diagnose your car. And early users can get it for free with no subscription needed! How? The founders chat with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin.     From this month’s red moon lunar eclipse to the long delayed return of two stranded astronauts from the International Space Station…to the trials and tribulations of Starship….there’s been lots of space news of late.   At NASA, Andrea Jones works with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission that launched 16 years ago..

“This is an amazing mission that is helping us really reshape our understanding of our nearest neighbor in space.  So we’re watching the moon changing before our eyes.  We’re seeing new impact craters form.  We’re monitoring water moving on the surface of the moon.  So not much …but little bits…and we can see them move throughout the lunar day.  We’re also seeing the solar wind interacting with the lunar surface.”

Water?  You heard right.   You can search for photos online from the mission…and there’s always more at NASA.gov. 

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

What should you know about Thunderbolt 5? With new gear arriving at OWC, you've come to the right place. Founder and CEO Larry O'Connor chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin.   The latest exhibit at SeaWorld in San Diego is using both the digital and physical worlds to immerse guests in the alien like worlds of jellyfish.   Jewels of the Sea: A Jellyfish Experience opened this month.   There’s a deep sea digital adventure, a ten foot tall archway of moon jellyfish and interactive habitats as well.  Manager of Education and Conservation, Mike Dunn..

“You can see all around me…it is not only filled with various species of jellies, but also LED screens that really give guests a chance to get an idea of these fascinating creatures and their lifestyle and their lifecycle.”

Some are capable of reproducing with or without a mate.  Check out the video of our full interview to learn more.    

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin.   If you like versatility and power in a laptop computer, the latest, Zenbook Duo from Asus will give you lots to cheer about.   The dual OLED screens can be used horizontally or vertically….or you can opt for a single screen with a physical or virtual keyboard.   The physical keyboard detaches.  Great for creators, gamers…and road warriors who need to share a screen with clients.  Once you get used to the extra screen real estate…it is tough to go back.   Speaking of tough…it is rugged as well.  We’re talking military grade certification.  Product manager Eric Krondak..

“I don’t think any end user of consumer would think about doing this, but we put our notebooks in freezers and freeze them. And when they’re frozen, we take them out, thaw them out and they work.”

How cool is that?  Very.  More info…head to www.asus.com. 

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

Techstination AI generated weekly wrap up with Notebook LM for March 22

Newday INFORM launched to offer personal value engagement, involvement and investment opportunities. The story behind it? Newday Impact CEO Doug Heske chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin.   With the focus on learning from the past to build a better future, Ford has created the Ford Heritage Fleet.    The automaker has collected a wide range of vehicles and concept vehicles and brought them together to be used, more or less, for reference and sometimes for display.    Ford Heritage Brand Manager Ted Ryan..

“We have a 2000 battery electric Ranger that a fan of Ford donated a couple years ago and we have a 1938 ambulance that was part of the Belmar, New Jersey safety patrol.  All of these vehicles are Ford Motor Company vehicles and they are the ones that you would expect.  The concept vehicles that were displayed at auto shows.  Ford Performance has kept the different iterations and the pre-production units of the GT.

There’s also a very popular online site for Ford history buffs…at www.FordHeritageVault.com. 

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

Time for spring cleaning. How to declutter and refresh? The latest trends from Google's Robert Ferrara in this Techstination interview.