Wireless Wednesday for 11/18/15 - New Home Tech

We are starting to get into the season where we start thinking about holiday gifts and that usually starts with thinking about items for the home.

Rick steps up to the plate this week some of the newest technology for the home.
Rick and Lindsay celebrated their 8th anniversary last night

They use these gadgets around their home.

Have a listen to both parts

1.   Keurig Kold

Now discounted down to $299.99

The brand new Keurig is making cold drinks and not just any cold drinks. Actual drinks like Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Sprite and more.

Something for everyone
She likes seltzers, he wants mixers for cocktails. Want a Coke®? How about an iced tea? Or maybe a refreshing flavored water.
Get what you want, when you want it, at the push of a button.
http://www.keurig.com/content/kold-landing

See the variety of beverages available
http://www.keurig.com/kold-beverages/c/koldbeverages101

 
 

2. Epson EcoTank Printers  Super tank Printers

* They really are awesome!

No fuss, no mess, helping the environment

Epson's new EcoTank line of Supertank all-in-one printers features revolutionary ink replacement technology that offers an unbeatable combination of convenience and value, with super-high-capacity,
refillable ink tanks and ultra low-cost replacement inks. These all-in-one printers come with enough ink in the box to print for up to 2 years1, so you can print thousands of black and color pages before replacing ink.




3. PHV Mac Peephole Viewer (Makes your peephole larger and records)

Website: www.brinnousa.com

Motion is detected through the peephole and the image is captured and stored automatically whether you’re home or away.

    Traditional Peephole from the Outside
    3.0" TFT LCD Display on Inside
    1.3MP CMOS Color Image Sensor

The PHV MAC by BrinnoUSA is the peephole for your home that takes images of anyone or anything that is out front. This battery-powered device features an LCD screen on the inside of the door to display the photos, which stores still shots as well as video on a Micro SD card and includes dates and times of when the sensor was activated. The batteries inside last for 9,000 triggers, and can be powered for a little more than 6 months. The playback feature allows you to view a time-lapsed video with all images with one press of a button.
Price per Unit: $139.95
Website Link: http://www.brinnousa.com/peep-hole-viewers/brinno-motion-activated-peep-hole-viewer
 
 


4.  Epson Home Cinema 1440  - for your holiday decorating
Use for those inside or out

Immerse yourself in a winter wonderland and bring the holiday cheer to your own door this season with the Epson Home Cinema 1440 ($1,699.99) and AtmosCheerFX. Whether you’re waiting for Santa’s arrival, or want to simply enjoy the digital snow while you bundle up in front of your warm fireplace, enjoy festive and cheerful digital decorations for the entire family and neighborhood with joyful and festive holiday scenes projected onto windows, doors or walls.
 

 5. The Fizzics Beer System

Makes any beer taste better.  $169 available at Brookstone stores - creates a draft beer taste and experience from a bottle or can

Provides enhanced balance and sensational mouthfeel of aromatics, body, and texture with all of your favorite beers

Compatible with any size can or bottle, up to a 64 oz. growler

Scientifically engineered using patent-pending fluid and gas technology to enhance your beer—no separate CO2 or Nitro canisters necessary!

Simple to use: just put your beer into the unit, place the tube into the beer, close the lid, then pull the tap handle to pour and push it to create the perfect foam head
Works with just about any style of carbonated beer, including IPAs, Pilsners, Lagers, Stouts, and more.

Review: No longer are expertly poured, quality draft beer experiences exclusive to high-end craft beer bars. The Fizzics™ System is built to stimulate all 5 of your senses to deliver a sublime beer experience and sensory fusion. It provides an aromatic bouquet, accelerated fizz, enhanced flavor, better mouthfeel, and a visually appealing head for a perfectly poured pint that tastes just how brewers intended!
 



App of the Week:

TouchCare
A new app designed to keep patients in touch with their doctor through an app.

From follow-up care to medication refills and educational consults.
Tis the season to be sick! We all know being under the weather sucks, but now with an app called TouchCare you can enter your symptoms and connect with your own doctor at the click of a button from the comfort of your home. Say goodbye to waiting rooms! TouchCare is completely free to download and use with your own doctor. It’s also HIPAA-compliant, so you can rest easy knowing your medical information is safe and secure.
This telemedicine app just launched a major update to its software with several new features to make physicians’ day-to-day operations even more efficient. One of the newest features, The Practice Dashboard, allows practices to easily delegate workflow to the right staff members, including scheduling telemedicine appointments on behalf of physicians.

The update announcement comes on the heels of rapid telemedicine growth across the nation and the addition of two new impressive names to TouchCare’s Board of Directors, former U.S. Senator Joseph Robert “Bob” Kerrey and Brad Wilson, the president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
 

Wireless Wednesday for 11/11/15 - The New Lexus RX Line

Rick attended the Lexus RX Regional Media Preview in Charleston, South Carolina over the weekend.. He got a first look and a preview while test driving the new 2016 Lexus RX  vehicles including the RX 450h.

Have a listen to Rick and Mitch (both parts):

1.  Lexus is top brand in Consumer Reports' reliability survey

The best and most reliable transmissions and the best reputation in the auto industry for performance and cutting edge technology
http://www.lexus-int.com/models/RX/

2.  History of the RX line  and it's the top selling Lexus line in the country

Since the launch in 1998, the Lexus RX has proved immensely popular with those needing the flexibility of a sport-utility vehicle combined with the driving comfort of a luxury sedan, all wrapped in an attractive, elegant package. The all-new RX’s mix of sharp creases and curves represents a bold evolution in the model’s styling, sharing the same design DNA with other recently-launched models in the Lexus lineup.

This perennial best-selling luxury crossover adds advanced new redesigned hybrid and gasoline powertrains, sophisticated safety technologies, driver aids and welcome new convenience and technology features to make this the best Lexus sport-utility vehicle offering to date.


3. Exterior - Safe and Sporty

The RX with all-new sheet metal makes a powerful visual statement right from the start.

The front features a completely new fascia that’s highlighted by an emboldened spindle grille with a chrome-plated border and triple L-shaped LED headlamps. Together with the redesigned fog lamps, this gives the RX an elegant yet futuristic aura. Muscular front fender flares add to the vehicle’s sporty attitude.  The RX has a dynamic profile that minimizes drag and decreases front and rear lift. All this makes the vehicle more stable at high speed with a sharp reduction in wind noise. A truly innovative styling element is the blacked-out C-pillars, which provide the illusion of a floating roofline never before seen on a Lexus.


4. The redesigned instrument cluster offers the driver instantaneous information with a quick glance at its large and easy-to-read gauge faces.

An available color heads-up display (HUD) projects pertinent vehicle information to the driver’s windshield, while the information display area, featuring an available 12.3-in. monitor with full-screen map, is situated atop the center stack.
 
 

5.  Performance and Stability

When it comes to delivering precise, controlled handling, the new RX offers impressive dynamic capability. The entire chassis has been fortified to provide better stability and control through turns. The vehicle’s body structure has been strengthened with added stiffness, helping to drastically improve its handling response while reducing engine and road noise in the cabin. The vehicle also features innovative technology, such as Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management (VDIM), each system designed to recognize potentially dangerous situations and make automatic and often transparent adjustments to ensure the car remains in control when entering and exiting corners. Also, All-Wheel Drive improves the RX’s handling performance and stability on both dry and slick surfaces alike.

6.  Cool New Technology (For those in the back seat)

A Rear Seat Entertainment system is available that includes large 11.6-in. flat-panel LCD displays that offer exceptional high quality viewing from a range of angles, screen tilt adjustment from 0 to 50 degrees and a convenient HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) input port located on the center console rear end panel.
 

App of the Week:

TrumpMeOver.com

TrumpMeOver.com is a transformative experience from the creators of Grokker. At TrumpMeOver.com, users can upload a photo of themselves into animated Donald Trump GIFs that creates a series of custom experiences, shareable on social channels.

 

Wireless Wednesday for 11/4/15: - Tech News of the Week

With the holiday shopping season and the end of the year upon us, Rick and Mitch take a look at some of the hot topics and the tech news of the week.

Have a listen to both parts this week:

1.  Activision Blizzard Buys 'Candy Crush' Maker King for $5.9 Billion

There must be a lot of people still addicted to Candy Crush. With the mobile device revolution, the video game industry is alive and well.

Who makes more money: Hollywood or the video game industry?

The video game industry made twice as much money in 2013 than did the film industry.
Worldwide box-office revenue for the film industry in 2013 was $35.9 billion (source Theatrical Market Statistics 2013).

Worldwide revenue for the video game industry in 2013 was $70.4 billion (source: 2013 Global Games Market Report).

Video game maker Activision Blizzard has acquired Candy Crush creator King in a $5.9 billion deal.

The combined company will reach more than half a billion monthly active users in 196 countries. Activision CEO

Bobby Kotick says he has "long admired King for consistently creating incredibly fun, deeply engaging free-to-play games that capture the imaginations of players across ages and demographics."

Together, Activision Blizzard and King will have a portfolio with top-grossing mobile games (Candy Crush Saga), as well as successful console (Call of Duty) and PC (World of Warcraft) titles.
 


2.  Samsung Sells More Phones than Apple

Samsung Electronics Co. is selling more smartphones than it was this time last year. But under the hood, there are fewer reasons to celebrate.
Last week, the South Korean smartphone giant celebrated its first quarter of year-on-year mobile profit growth since 2013.

Samsung has been selling more cheaper smartphones, and fewer high-end premium devices, than it did even compared to Samsung’s rocky 2014, according to numbers from data firm Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

Samsung doesn’t separately disclose smartphone sales numbers.

Samsung shipped 84 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2015, 6.3% more than during the same stretch last year and more than the No. 2 and No. 3 players, Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co., combined, according to Counterpoint.

But while 55% of its smartphones were priced at $301 per unit or more at this time last year, that high-end segment has fallen to just 40% of Samsung’s overall smartphone sales, Counterpoint said.

Phones priced $200 or below now account for 38% of total units shipped at Samsung, versus 30% this time last year.

So while Samsung is indeed shipping more smartphones, it isn’t charging as much for them — or making as much money from them.
 

3. HP Is Now Two Companies

Hewlett-Packard. The tech giant starts trading Monday as two separate companies: HP Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Enterprises. HP Inc. (HPQ) is responsible for the PC and printer businesses, while HP Enterprises (HPE) will sell hardware like servers to businesses. Hopefully customers get better PCs, better printers and more innovation.

 


4.  NASA Study Shows Net Gains For Antarctic Ice

Apparently, now that we don't send things into space anymore, NASA has time to look at glaciers.

A widely circulated NASA study published in the Journal of Glaciology, and reported by UPI, says that Antarctic ice has measurably thickened in recent decades, a conclusion at odds with earlier findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "which in 2013 suggested gains were not keeping up with losses."
The new tallies reveal an annual net gain of 112 billion tons between 1992 and 2001.
 

5. T-Mobile is Giving Customers a Free Cell Tower

Yea, really.

The cellphone carrier announced Monday that all T-Mobile customers with a "Simple Choice" plan can now receive a free mini cell tower for their home. The 8.5-inch square gadget blasts out T-Mobile's 4G-LTE network to a 3,000-square-foot radius.

T-Mobile has done this kind of thing before. It previously gave out free Wi-Fi routers that allowed customers to make calls and texts over their home Wi-Fi networks.

What T-Mobile announced Monday is different: The mini tower (T-Mobile is calling it a CellSpot), lets customers connect to T-Mobile's cellular network -- not Wi-Fi. That means in places where they received one or no "bars" of service, they'll now get a full, speedy connection.

 
6.  Technology Making Waves in the Sport of Curling

Somewhat like Major League Baseball never allowing metal bats due to fears that advanced equipment could trump human ability, the World Curling Federation, the sport’s governing body, is now being forced to actually address similar concerns about a new broom head.

The Winter Olympic sport where players vigorously sweep brooms to guide heavy stones down the ice – may be having its aluminum bat moment.

At the center of the controversy is the swatch of fabric affixed to the outside of the curling broom. In place of a smooth fabric head that has become the norm in the past two decades, the new technology uses a fabric that feels rough to the touch. Known as “directional fabric,” curlers claim these broom heads are making curling stones do things on the ice that seem so unnatural they could sweep athleticism and other currently necessary skills right out of the game. These new broomheads are very forgiving.
 

App of the Week:

Google Maps - new feature for Android - it gives you advice

Reviews and ratings speak volumes about an establishment, but to help you make quicker decisions, Google Maps for Android now displays at-a-glance details about best times to go, atmosphere, and more.

To gather this information for our community, you might have seen questions like “Is this place family friendly”— now, they’ll appear as notifications on your Android device based on your location history.
Search for any type of business and give it a try
 

Wireless Wednesday for 10/28/15: - iOS 9 and Windows 10 Tricks

Rick is in Macon, GA all this week once again. He is the media coordinator for the Tennis Classic of Macon, a women's professional tennis tournament- think of it as the Triple-A of the tennis circuit. It's a stone's throw away from the big tennis tours. You find young players, former college All-Americans and come veteran pros working their way up the rankings. Rick is there for all 9 days of the play and the action is taking place at the tennis center at Mercer University.

We may have talked "Halloween Gadgets" last week on Wireless Wednesday, but this week we are going to talk some operating systems "tricks" that can be a "treat" for gadget users.

Have a listen:

iOS Tricks

1.  Audio App on the Home Screen

Maybe you’ve noticed a little icon on the home screen when you upgraded to iOS 9. Well it turns out that this icon is the last audio app that played after plugging in your headphones. This is a small upgrade, but actually can save you time when trying to access whatever you were last listening to. Perhaps the coolest thing about this feature is that it’s location specific. Basically, if you listen to Spotify at work  or maybe SportsRadio 92.9 The Game on TuneIn Radio, the lock screen will reflect that depending on where you are. If you want to access your last played audio, swipe up on the icon to open up the app.

2. You Can Extend Battery Life with 'Low Power Mode'

While you have a new way to view battery life, more importantly, you now have a way to extend it. By using Low Power Mode, you can get up to an additional three hours of use from your iPhone.

According to Apple, the new Low Power mode disables background features not needed for basic functionality, and in turn, provide up to 3 more hours of battery life. If that's true, it'll be a darn-impressive feat.
 

3. Ask Siri to do math for You

Siri now performs mathematical equations and unit conversions all on her own in iOS 9. Answers now show natively in a smaller results panel, without all the extra information that shows up in iOS 8.
 

- Windows 10 Tricks

1. New Web Browser "Edge"

The new Edge browser is also one of the first examples of Microsoft’s new Universal Apps Platform, an app that will work on any version of Windows 10 with a GUI — desktop, mobile, even Xbox One.

It comes with access to Cortana, Microsoft’s new voice-recognition digital assistant, but the most obvious addition is the ‘inking’ feature, which allows you to draw, highlight and annotate right on the webpage.
You can then share your ‘web notes’ with others via social networking or save them as favorites within the browser.

Apart from sharing your Web Notes, a new feature built into Windows 10 Preview Build 10158 is the ability to send them to OneNote, Microsoft’s note-taking app available in this preview.
One last surprising but welcome new feature will be Edge’s faster update schedule — Microsoft is calling it ‘regular’, which will make a nice change from previous efforts.

 


2.  Save maps for offline use

This is a tip that’s more useful on smartphones, but tablets and laptops can benefit from it as well: Windows 10 lets you save maps to your device in case you should lose a Wi-Fi or data connection while you’re trying to scout out the nearby area. Head to the Settings app then choose System and Offline maps to choose which maps to download (each region comes with an estimate of how much storage space will be taken up). You can then launch and use the Maps app whether or not you can get online.
 

3.  Sync your Windows experience to other PCs

Like Windows 8, Windows 10 lets you sync various parts of your Windows experience — such as your desktop wallpaper and online passwords – between computers, as long as you use the same Microsoft account to sign in with. From the Settings app choose Accounts and then Sync your settings: the subsequent screen lets you turn syncing on and off and choose the data that’s included. If you have multiple Windows PCs in multiple locations (eg at home and in the office) it’s one way of keeping a consistent experience across them all.

App of the Week:

1Blocker for iOS  (Free for iOS)

The ability to block certain online content is a major highlight of iOS 9. Apple is giving developers the option to build ad-blocking and tracker-blocking extensions on Safari websites. 1Blocker is designed to give you control over the content you see. In doing so, it cuts down on Web page loading time and decreases the average of total downloaded data by 50%, its website reports. 1Blocker has 7,000 pre-installed blockers for ads, tracking scripts, widgets, comments, and other online content.

After downloading, go to Settings > Safari > Content blockers to activate 1Blocker.
 

Wireless Wednesday for 10/21/15: Halloween Gadgets

Boo!

Halloween is just over a week away.

Rick and Mitch take a look at some hot Halloween Gadgets and Tech for 2015....

Have a listen:

1.  The Snake Wreath  -  Perfect for your front door

This wreath of slithering tangled snakes comes to life when visitors approach. Price: Merely $29

 
2. Professional Pumpkin Carving Set

$19.95 at www.ChefsResource.com

 Carve spooky or silly pumpkins like a professional with the carving knife, etching tool, and culinary scoop. Use the professional-quality culinary scoop with toothed-edge to remove seeds and pulp from the insides of your jack-o-lantern-to-be. The etching tool is great for carving grooves and designs into the outside of the pumpkin. The carving knife is great for detail work and edges.

 

3. Fox/Wolf Costume Mask   $50

www.geniegadgets.com

A mask so realistic, people will be amazed.

More realistic than we could possibly describe in these next four pulsating paragraphs (we’re still not entirely sure that it isn’t just a very still fox in a box), the Mr Fox Costume Mask will see you go down into fancy dress folklore should you don it to one of your infamous parties. Its outrageous appearance means that this will be one costume that your friends simply won’t be able to forget in a hurry, no matter how hard they try.

Terrifyingly entertaining, the Mr Fox Costume Mask makes the perfect fancy dress idea, and not just because of its worryingly accurate resemblance to its real-life equivalent. With its unique integrated speaker, the Mr Fox Costume Mask’s mouth even moves when you talk meaning this is one costume that delivers on both practicality and laughs.
 

4.   Misting Witch's Cauldron

Halloween traditionalists will love this smoking cauldron, and it’s a deal at $35 at retail and novelty stores. The gadget mixes plain water and LED lights to make a steaming tabletop display. Best of all, no dry ice is needed.
 

5. Download a free FLASHLIGHT app, like the iHandy Flashlight app

So your child’s device can be turned into a bight light and used for easy navigation.
The brightest, fastest, and most versatile flashlight in the world, ever! Instantly turn on the camera light, and then leisurely enjoy 60+ light effects in the pro version for .99.

 

6.  Fugoo Bluetooth Speaker

www.fugoo.com

Need a weatherproof Bluetooth speaker to play Halloween music or those scary and spooky sounds?

You don’t worry about getting your hair wet. Neither should your portable speaker. Introducing FUGOO Sport - the best waterproof Bluetooth speaker that was built for the fun, fast, and hardcore in all of us. FUGOO’s 40-hour battery life and Siri/Google Capabilities puts the ultimate in audio technology at your fingertips all day, all night, and then some.
 


App of the Week:

(Android or iOS)

See the latest weather for Halloween with Weatherlink...
* Crowdsourced weather info
View current weather data, and highs and lows for the day, month, and year with the FREE WeatherLink application for Android by Davis.

This free application for Android shows current and historical data from the WeatherLink.com website. It's a free download from Google Play. Just search for "WeatherLink" and download the free application today.

A growing new trend, and it's amazing how easy it has become for people to share their own personal weather station information and forecasts from their home stations.
 The Weatherlink network is free to the public to access so anybody can go to the map (see the link below) and see what the latest conditions in their area are. There are over 20,000 people sharing this information on http://www.weatherlink.com/map.php