Techstination

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Alexander Poltorak is a theoretical physicist who has turned his attention to neuroscience. And using light and sound he is utilizing one person’s brain stage waves to affect things like insomnia in others. He has backing from the National Science Foundation and astronaut and medical doctor Scott Parazynski has joined the advisory board at NeuroLight. To explain, Poltorak uses a music metaphor..

“Just like music can be recorded during a live performance. It could be replayed later on in another place or another time. So too, brain waves, which is essentially the music of the brain, can be recorded in one brain and replayed in another brain.”

To cure insomnia and perhaps other conditions as well. More info? Head to neurolight.co.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Making an affordable smart watch for the health and safety of older adults. That is what a company called Ping Cares is doing. It has a smart watch priced at under one hundred dollars with service …including emergencies and unlimited phone calls…starting at about fifteen dollars a month. Founder Sean Liu had his own grandparents as inspiration..

“We don’t believe in making a ton of profit, especially at an individual level. So we priced it at a very affordable rate with the hopes of helping as many lives as we can.”

There is health tracking…steps and heartrate along with blood oxygen and temperature and with a more premium plan at 25 dollars a month…the alerts and data can be shared with family members. Find more info at www.pingcares.com.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Gigafact is the name of a non-profit working with local newsrooms around the country to help filter out misinformation. It is non-partisan and is using AI in a tool called Parser to assist in fact checking. Co-founder Robyn Sundlee..says local news organizations are provided with Fact Briefs for publication..

“ They are really short fact checks. They all start with a question and then a yes or no answer. One example ....there was a rumor floating around on Reddit that was about ..is it true that the Chinese own all of North Texas toll ways? And this was a viral rumor that was circulating and our partner, Fort Worth Report, was able to publish a fact brief that actually de-bunked this rumor.”

There’s more info on the efforts at www.Gigafact.org.

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear.   I’m Fred Fishkin.     How much will we be spending online this coming holiday season?   Adobe is forecasting the tally will come to 240 point 8 billion dollars from November 1st through the end of the year.   I suspect the likes of Amazon and Walmart are having some success getting many of us to buy sooner than that.     And Adobe is saying the holiday season is expected to be the most mobile of all time with more than 128 billion dollars being spent through our phones.   The big draw, according to Adobe, will be Cyber Week…the five day period that includes Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.   The forecast is for year over year sales growth of over 6 percent.  And of course shoppers will be looking for discounts….some up to 30 percent off list prices. 

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

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. Autumn can be a great time of year for getting out on a bike….but driver distractions are making cycling more dangerous than ever. GM Systems Engineer Mike Fry…an avid cyclist….learned that all too well last year when he was struck and injured while riding. And it just so happens he is part of the team building in new cycling safety technology into the Chevy Traverse…such as a side bicyclist alert…

“And that is where you’ll get a little light in your mirrors, depending on what side a bicyclist or it could be a runner, jogger that’s coming up…and you’ll get some type of a rapid alert on the dash or the bolsters in the seat will vibrate notifying you of something there”

Fry is hopeful the warnings will be expanded into all vehicles regardless of manufacturer.

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

Harbor Baby Monitor adding Remote Night Nanny capability to help parents get more sleep. How? What sets Harbor apart? CEO and co-founder Kevin Lavelle chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin

Techstination, your destination for gadgets and gear. I’m Fred Fishkin. With lots of competition in the robotic vacuum space, Roborock is stepping up again. Quite literally. The new Qrevo Curv is designed to lift itself over uneven doorways and such automatically…and the rounded design is eye catching too. Roborock’s Michelle Newburgh says beyond that..

“It has the first dual anti-tangle system, the industry first adapt-a-lift chassis which we think of as almost the ATV for robot vacuums. The industry leading 18 thousand 500 Pascals of hyperforce. Which means it does suction a lot out of your carpets and get the finest particles. And the flexi-arm technology to get the little nooks and crannies.”

And the new Qrevo models also are using the Matter protocol to allow them to work well with other smart home gear.

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

Techstination interview: PenFed Foundation boosts veteran entrepreneurs

On the fence when it comes to electric vehicles? Ford is out with a Power Promise that includes free home chargers and installation. Details? Model e Customer Experience senior director Becca Anderson chats with Techstination's Fred Fishkin.