gadgets

Fidget Spinners – Craze or Crazy?

By Paul B. Kaiser on July 1, 2017

The craze, the fad, the mystery, the money – it’s Fidget Spinners for 2017. If you have kids you know about Fidget Spinners. Or if you act like a kid in my case. Fidget Spinners are the latest craze, so hop on the train while it’s hot. Here’s the scoop in this cool gadget.

Fidget spinners are getting a lot of bad press lately – bursting into flames, causing fights and danger to young kids. While I don’t dispute there are some concerns, like any other toy, if handled properly, it is just simple stupid fun. And that’s all it is. Believe me in 3 months the hype will be over and nobody will remember. With that said, I find them irresistible and when Im sitting in front of the computer or TV it is just mindless finger exercises.

So what exactly is the infatuation? How long have they been around? Are there any positive things to say about spinners? There are a couple. They are said to:

Be stress relievers
Relieve nervous energy and psychological stress
And supposedly used in the treatment of autism and ADHD (I doubt this one is true)

“Using a spinner-like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD,” said Mark Rapport, a clinical psychologist.

What is a Fidget Spinner?

A fidget spinner is a toy that consists of a bearing in the center of a multi-lobed flat structure made from metal or plastic designed to spin along its axis with little effort.

Fidget spinners became popular toys in 2017, although similar devices had already been invented in 1993. The toy became popular among schoolchildren. Some schools banned the spinners for being a distraction, while other schools allowed the toy to be used discreetly.

popularity map — The popularity of Fidgit Spinners in the US

Where did Fidget Spinners originate?

Catherine Hettinger, a chemical engineer by training, was initially credited by some news stories to have been the inventor of the fidget spinner, including by media outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, and the New York Post. Hettinger filed a patent application for a “spinning toy” in 1993 and a patent was issued, but Hettinger allowed the patent to lapse in 2005 after she could not find a commercial partner. A May 2017 Bloomberg News article showed that Hettinger was not the inventor of the fidget spinner, and Hettinger agreed. In an interview appearing on May 4, 2017 on NPR, Scott McCoskery described how he invented a metal spinning device in 2014 to cope with his own fidgeting in IT meetings and conference calls. And the rest is history.

Bluetooth enabled Fidget Spinners

If that wasn’t enough, now you can buy fidget spinners that are bluetooth enabled and connect to your phone and play music. A company called BlueSpin is about to launch a spinner that connects to an app on your phone that gamifies the fidget spinner experience, allowing you to complete trick challenges, share your scores, and chat with your friends about how much you love fidget spinning.

bluetooth

The spinner includes touch sensitive buttons on each side, and an accelerometer to track motion. It can track your speed and number of spins (thanks, magnets), and tell you how cool you are whenever you manage to transfer the spinner from hand to hand, or balance it on a single finger. The tiny built-in battery is replaceable, and supposed to last for an entire year on a single charge.

How many Fidget Spinners have sold?

Right now, the market is flooded with cratefuls of imitations, most from China. Some version of fidget spinners currently occupies all of Amazon’s Top 20 best-selling toys and games.

Allen Ashkenazie is executive vice president of Almar Sales in New York City, a supplier of toys to such retailers as Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us, said that by the end of May his company will have shipped out 45 million fidget spinners that retail from $5 to $25 each.

Types of Fidget Spinners [Pics]

In the news

Tricks with your Fidget Spinner

Apple’s HomePod – Is this the next big thing? A robot without legs?

By Paul B. Kaiser on June 15, 2017

As expected, Apple has announced their version of the Amazon Echo and Google Home, a voice assistant – called the HomePod (releasing in December). Announced at the WWDC 2017 show, Apple has added quite a few hardware to their ecosystem besides the Homepod, but that’s for another story. The voice assistant, HomePod, will hopefully put Apple in the game. While they missed all the excitement of this technology, the question is can they do it better? One would hope so with all the money Apple can throw behind it. However, their voice activation software “Siri,” has fallen from grace since it first debuted in 2011. I mean you could make the case that Apple had the voice activation technology in the household first, but it had no purpose. Amazon had provided more purpose, Google has provided more depth in data, and maybe Apple will combine the 2 and wrap it in a futuristic look.

So to be clear, Apple has released this technology as a great “connected speaker,” and not a voice activated command center. This rivals the Sonos type speakers that have been out for some time and connect well throughout the house. Sonos is expensive and so is Apple unfortunately – $349. Although, the smart marketer in me says this is a way to incorporate it into your home under the guise of a speaker with a purpose. And then let the concept of a sound device become a necessity for the home. I mean who can live without 7 tweeters?

At the end of the day this supports Apple iTunes which has been falling out of favor as well. But those die-hard Applers who live for Apple’s ecosystem, this will provide a new channel for the consumer to interact with the ecosystem. And of course buy stuff. I think this is a big question for Apple. Can someone use it outside the ecosystem? Or does this divide the Apple/Android market even more?

“Apple is a technology company that leads innovation with their products and software platforms, providing seamless experiences across devices, and empowering people with breakthrough services.” – Interbrand 2016

The answer is yes and no. For music, it will be tied into iTunes and the apple store. Control of your home can use third party devices but Apple will make it very attractive to use everything tied into their Home Kit. And again when you stay in the Apple ecosystem it can be a great experience. One that usually edges them over the competition from a user experience standpoint. My gut feeling is that Apple will won the race on sound and compatibility.

If Siri, doesn’t get way better, Amazon and Google will continue to dominate the information/data feedback to consumers. People love to ask questions to their robots. Even silly stupid stuff. In 2016 it was “What is Pokemon Go?” But there is so much more you can do with your robot without legs. Here is a list of commands from a previous story.

So, to all the robots without legs out there, “there’s a new sheriff in town.” Well in December anyway. The HomePod will add a rich sound in your house, provide answers to those silly questions, and lock the doors on your house. For me, this Apple utopian ecosystem and robot that controls my life – this idolizes the future as described in Ray Bradbury books. We’ll reconvene in December to ask Siri the hard questions.

HomePod as explained by Apple

HomePod Sexy Pictures

How Seniors are Taking on Tech

By Paul B. Kaiser on March 7, 2017

Why do seniors struggle with tech? The fact is in the next 5 years, there will be more seniors using smartphones, iPads, and social networks, than those under the age of 50. As innovation and tech continue to immerse us in gadgets, apps and phones, some consumers struggle to keep up. It’s not like new gadgets come out every year. They come out practically every day. New generations of phones, cameras and tablets, plus the addition of new products to the market, promise to make life easier, but can often cause more frustration for new users. When you visit your parents or grandparents how many technical questions do you get? I like to provide a Digital Intervention when I visit 🙂

“I like to explain things in easy terms and make them push the buttons too. This way they feel more comfortable with technology.”

Most seniors want to do the basics, like communicate with the family, send pictures, forward emails and read online, but even these tasks can be ominous as the task change from device to device. And more and more seniors are online and on social networks. According to the Pew Research Center,

“46 percent of seniors who are actively online use social networking sites, including Facebook, but that percentage drops off dramatically after age 80.”

seniors and tech One of the underlying tones from seniors is that they feel embarrassed and inferior that they can’t use this technology. This is understandable and I would say to any of them that you are not alone and many young people have the same issues. Here are a few tips to gaining confidence and understanding the technology.

PUSH THE BUTTONS – I find so often that people are afraid to click on something and go the extra step. Unless your putting the application in the trash I can assure you that you wont do any permanent damage. If people would just try clicking around and experiment a little they would see a pattern in the technology. All can be undone be restarting the phone, making that call to the grandkid, or just going back hitting the home button and starting over.
WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORDS – this may be the single most contention of confusion. The password is forgotten or “it just doesn’t work.” I mean were all guilty of password flubs, but there is no way around that you have to document them some how, or have a really good method in your head. Read this article for more info on passwords.
STICK WITH YOUR TECHNOLOGY – meaning that if you like Apple, but everything Apple. If you like Android do the same. You’ll find the phones and the computers all have similar methodology to emails, accessing photos or files, etc. Now you can have an Android phone and a Mac laptop. The hurdles are not that great, but it helps in diagnosing if it’s all the same operating systems.
GOOGLE IT AND LEARN – one thing I find seniors love to do is Google. They will ask Google anything for facts at dinner, or out with their friends, but asking about Tech doesn’t seem to resinate with seniors. So I suggest you ask Google how to do anything tech, or about phones, clickers, what to buy. Granted you may find to much info but your question will be answered. For example, if you want to know how to share your google photos with Facebook – Ask Google. See the answer here.

share photos — Google results for sharing Google photos to FaceBook

So, take the plunge and try out the latest tech, “Technology doesn’t have to be scary. It works for you.” Keep pushing buttons and asking questions. You’ll get the hang of it. I also recommend you check out AARP for many digital tools and “How To’s.” In the meantime, check back here for more tech updates and a future podcast you can listen to about tech and gadgets.

Factoid

The Best and Weirdest at CES 2017

By Paul B. Kaiser on January 14, 2017

At CES 2017 this year, tech, gadgets and robots ruled the floors of the Las Vegas conventions hall. It’s impossible for me to summarize all the cool tech and gadgets that were at CES, So I’ll leave it up to the experts that saw them first hand. Below are video wrap ups from the tech gurus who attended CES 2017.As every year at CES, there wee the inventions, the strange, and the up and coming. Some useful and some weird. But all of it is amazing. In an industry that dominates our everyday lives, consumer electronics must deliver more each year. It must be quicker, sleeker and smaller. The trick is making it useful to the consumer. So some things are cool and fills a void, while others need some refinement. In the end we are all entertained and smarter for the show.

Phones, computers and TVs – by Techradar

What would CES be without Robots – from AltPowerDog

Cars, washing machines and breast pumps – CNET top picks

Odd stuff from Austin Evans

Toasters, hair brushes and whistles. Connecting everything we own in the house. – B&H

See you next year at CES.

Top Android Wear Watch Faces

By Paul B. Kaiser on March 28, 2016

If you’re in the market for an Android watch, the Moto 360, The LG Urbane, Samsung Gear, or ASUS Zenwatch, then you will be heading to the Play App store to download every App and watch face imaginable. You’ll have a variety of faces to choose from, either for free or a slight fee, and there are good ones and bad ones. It’s not always evident from the picture either. The ones you think will be good are hard to read and vice versa. So let me give a rundown of the top faces and companies I like, and then you’ll have a head start. You can start downloading the free ones, but ultimately the paid ones have better functionality and versatility. With that said, we are talking about $1.05 a face on average.

The other thing you’ll expect from watch faces are “moods”. You will want a face for different clothes and atmosphere. Something sporty and something elegant. That’s the major point advantage with a digital face. It changes when you do. Another thing I’ll suggest is that you purchase a few watch bands. On the Moto 360 they make changing the bands so easy with the quick clasp.

small_Moto-360-Watch-Band-Clasp — Clasps on the bands make it easy to switch.

Always ON Mode

The other thing you want to look at is how the face looks like in ambient mode (the mode when the watch is not active). Some do a better job than others. The ambient mode or “Always On” mode is designed to keep the watch activated and help save the battery power. But the reality is that the ambient mode is what most people will see when looking at your watch from across the room. Look below at the difference between the active state and the “ambient” mode – 2 different watches.

The same watch face in ambient mode below.

Top Watch Faces – My Picks

Number 1 Pick – The Dual Watch Face by RichFace

This is my “go to” watch face. I love the design of this face. It easy to read, it’s interesting, and the color tone goes with almost everything. It feels elegant and sporty at the same time. While I do like some of the busier watch faces, my biggest criticism of watch faces is that many are hard to read. You will find watch faces that provide the weather, battery power and heart rate info, on top of the normal date and time. These functions are helpful, but there is definitely an art on how to display this info in a readable, stylish way. This face provides that. Check it out.

One other important factor you want to consider is that not every face comes with the same settings and customization options.

Number 2 Pick – The Challenger Watch Face by RichFace

I just recently downloaded this face and the reason I like is because the face is easy to read and interact with. That is because the open space on the bottom and right allow for a comfortable amount of room to fit music controllers, or the weather, steps, and other actions. See below.

It’s a very nice readable face that displays all the info and gives you the interactivity you expect from a digital watch face. This is quickly becoming my “go to watch face” and may be number 1 soon.

One other important factor you want to consider is that not every face comes with the same settings and control of the face color, interactivity and styles. Some watch faces settings are limited, but most of these mentioned above come with extensive control. For instance, you will want to change the time that the face shows lit up, so you don’t burn out your battery. The default setting is about 3-5 seconds. I find 15-25 seconds is good for me. Below is a partial snapshot of settings for Challenger face.

It is fun to match your clothes and mood for the day with your watch face. I get many compliments on the watch faces.

Number 3 Pick – The Driver Watch Face by Thema

The controls and modifications you can make to the Driver watch face may be the most extensive I have seen on any watch customization. The color modifications, interactivity, hand styles and widgets are extensive. While this can sometimes overcomplicate the watch face, it can make a good watch face even better.

While this watch face looks similar to the Challenger above, it is a little different and comes from a different developer. Sometimes the smallest changes in design make a difference in how you view what’s going on the screen. I had downloaded this one before the challenger face and was a long time favorite.

Number 4 Pick – The Futuristic Watch Face by RichFace

This is a fun face and yet a well designed, easy-to-read face. The ambient mode on this face is excellent as well. This watch face has great customization and control of the colors and interactivity. It’s a sporty look and can have a cool “techy” look as well.

Some other watch face companies are:

BoostApp
Forza One Studios
Smartwatch Bureaux
Ustwo
Zuchanden – the one at the top of the post is from this company, called the Skymaster Pilot Watch Face

I’ll leave you with a review of the Moto 360 in case you are interested now.

Moto 360 2nd Generation Review by MKBHD

The Amazon Echo Just Had Babies – Tap and Dot

By Paul B. Kaiser on March 5, 2016

UPDATE: Now get the Dot for $39 at Amazon.

Who is running the household? Your husband? The wife? The dog? No – it’s Alexa. Meet the Amazon Dot and Amazon Tap.

amazon dot and tap — On the left is the Amazon Dot and on the right is the Amazon Tap

Amazon introduced two more devices to the Echo line, that are designed to control and assist in people’s homes and lives. All through voice activated commands. The two products unveiled Thursday are babies of Amazon’s Echo, called the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot. They cost less than the $180 Echo and offer different features and functionality in an attempt to solidify Amazon’s Internet-connected microphones in your home. The line-up is now 3 strong and each has different functionality in your household.

The Amazon Echo Dot

The Dot is the mini version of the regular Echo that looks like a hockey puck. But it includes a big new feature that the first Echo model doesn’t have: support for external speakers. While the Echo offered premium sound quality for a device its size, it was unable to connect to other speakers you own via line out nor bluetooth. The Echo Dot is now able to do both.

The $89.99 price-tag of the puck-shaped Amazon Echo Dot is much easier on the wallet than the Echo proper’s admission fee of $180.
Amazon made it difficult to get the Dot however, since it can only be ordered through the Amazon Echo by members of Amazon’s Prime subscription service. (Secret’s out: Here’s the link where anyone, Alexa user or not, can order the Dot)

The Amazon Tap

The Amazon Tap extends the company’s embrace of the bluetooth capability. The Tap device is similar to that of speakers like the Beats Pill or UE Boom, but comes with Alexa support.

Unlike the Echo Dot that allows users to call out to Alexa, the Tap requires you push a button to summon Amazon’s assistant. Using Alexa will require that you connect the device to Wi-Fi as well.

Like the former two Echo devices, the Tap provides support for Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music and TuneIn, but notably lacks support for Apple Music. The speaker’s battery lasts for 9 hours on a single charge, according to Amazon. The $129.99 price tag is more expensive than the Dot, but less than the Echo.

Home away from home

The interest in smart homes appears to be rising as more people become enamored with their smartphones. A recent online survey of more than 4,600 adults in the U.S. by Forrester Research’s Technographics found 57% of them either had used or were interested in using a smart home device.

All three provide the ability to play music off of Spotify or Pandora, connect to Phillips Hue, summon Ubers and more are all available to every one of Echo users. And most recently, Amazon announced coming support for Nest and Honeywell thermostats, controlled by voice via the Echo. The competition for controlling your home is becoming very competitive.

“It’s starting to feel like ‘I Robot’ is entering the game”

What’s the HubBub

Alexa is competing against other voice-controlled services such as Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google’s search engine that are built into the operating systems of smartphones and other devices that do more than the Echo.

Amazon hopes to beat Google and Apple in their battle to build hubs in “smart” homes that are being furnished with connected appliances, electronics and other Internet of Things. Googles OnHub is essentially a router but is poised to be much more. Google states we’re streaming and sharing in new ways our old routers were never built to handle. But you can use the Google On app to troubleshoot at home or away, see who’s on your network, or enable a friend to help you remotely.

At the end of the day these are cool devices. The functionality increases day-by-day since Alexa learns and becomes intuitive by your conversations. Ironically, we buy devices to control our other devices. It’s starting to feel like I Robot is entering the game.

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