Hi-tech systems that come with great customer support

While our customer experience is generally poor when it comes to many companies, I’ve encountered an area where the service and support have been outstanding. That’s the area of home connected devices, including routers, audio systems, and security cameras. Now I can’t speak for all of the companies in these categories, but my last three […]

Shopping for a TV

I’ve been shopping for a new large screen TV to replace a twelve year old Samsung, and it’s been quite an ordeal. Remember the book, Paradox of Choice? It’s about having so many choices that it’s impossible to reach a decision. That’s what I faced. I did quite a bit of research in an effort […]

Thoughts on the new iPhones

Now that Apple has introduced and shipped their new iPhone 15 series, I have some initial impressions. While I don’t own any of the models, I’ve tried an iPhone 15 Pro Max and currently own a 3-year old iPhone 12 Pro Max for comparison. They both are similar in size and in appearance. While the […]

Audio parlor tricks

Over the years, the home audio industry has attempted to come up with ways to replicate the sound we hear in concert halls, theaters, and intimate venues. Decades ago the industry promoted adding more speakers to create sound all around us. It was accomplished by adding a pair of speakers behind us and a bass […]

Shopping in China

Those that travel internationally know that bargains can be found in other countries, but rarely have I found one like this that didn’t require any travel. With the help of their website, Alibaba makes the process simple to find the manufacturer of almost any kind of product, and takes much of risk out of the […]

Apple loses the Lightning connector

Apple will be announcing their new iPhone 15 series this coming Tuesday morning, 10am California time. One of the biggest little changes will be replacing the Lightning port with a USB-C port. Both connectors are similar in size and both can be inserted in either direction. The change results from a requirement of European Union […]

Outsourcing your dream vacation

After traveling internationally for so many years, mostly on my own for business or with my wife and family on vacations, we always planned our own itinerary, hotels, and details along the way. But recently we’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps it’s time to hire some pros to do the work for us. For […]

Make your long trips go faster

If you want to make your next plane or car trip go by faster, I have a great way to do it for those interested in tech business. It’s a podcast with some of the most interesting business stories told in a fascinating and rivetting manner. It’s called Acquired. The show has been ranked the […]

When a PHEV beats an EV

While there are 48% more electric vehicles being sold this year than last, the lack of a broad nationwide charging network continues to be an impediment to EV ownership, especially non-Tesla brands. Industry analysts expected other brands to significantly cut into Tesla sales by now, but that has not happened for a couple of reasons: […]

The Streets of San Francisco blocked

Self driving car technology may be able to solve many challenging problems, but dealing with basic issues is still cause for concern. A day after San Francisco authorized self driving cars to operate for profit 24 hours/day, ten Cruise driverless taxis blocked the narrow Grant Avenue in North Beach, stopping traffic and closing roads. The […]

When a news article is just an ad

Amazon has scored a remarkable feat by getting scores of websites to run free ads for their products. They’re not just ordinary ads, but ads disguised as news, such a “news of the week’s best buys.” As an example, if you go to CNN’s home page, then scroll down a couple of pages, you’ll see […]

Organizing for a long trip

When I planned my two and a half week trip to Europe in June, I decided to put some careful thought into what kind of bags I would use, how I would pack them, and what I’d take with me. Unlike previous trips, I decided to be more organized to make it easier to unpack […]

Finally high resolution audio streaming in your living room

Thanks to recent hardware and software developments, you can now stream high-res music in your living room with little effort. A high res file of a recording contains about twenty times the data of an MP3 file, the format used by the iPod, Spotify, Sirius/XM, etc. When I co-wrote my book “To Feel the Music,” […]

Time for a new phone?

This is the time each year when the world’s two largest phone manufacturers introduce their new models and entice us to buy. This year I don’t think I’ll be buying. Samsung just introduced a pair of folding phones and Apple will be announcing their iPhone 15 series in September. I’m usually first in line for […]

Google search engine – Designed to deceive

Did you know that Google has formed an alliance with scammers to steal our money? While they won’t admit to it, it’s essentially what happens because of the design of its Google search engine and its policy of taking payments to deceive. Google has been called out for it many times over the years, but […]

Biting the hand

There’s a huge change coming to the way our tech products will be developed, compared to what’s been done over the past three decades. Check the label on many of these products and you’ll usually see Made in China or Made in China and Designed in the U.S. or designed in California, etc. These labels […]

Threads goes after Twitter

If you want an idea of how unpopular Elon Musk and his takeover of Twitter is, you need only look at how popular Mark Zuckerberg and his new Twitter clone, Threads, has become. In less than a day more than 30 million people signed up, and that number is now approaching 100 million. And this […]

Tribulations of a European vacation

For the past three weeks my wife and I traveled to Europe, visitng Greece and then met up with the rest of our family in Southern Spain. In spite of our careful planning, we hadn’t anticipated how much more grueling traveling would be due to the unpredictably of flying.  Flying from Heraklion, Crete to Athens, […]

Trying to save money with an eSIM card

Most cellphones made in the past few years allow you to add second or third SIM card, assuming the phone is unlocked. These are not physical cards, but rather software code downloaded into your phone that adds an electronic SIM card from another carrier. As I prepared for a European trip, I could pay a […]

The New Apple Headset

The recently announced Apple Vision Pro headset is as much a new platform as a new product. If it succeeds it will be the first in a line of devices for years to come, much like the iPhone. If it fails it will be beacuse it didn’t provide enough value for its cost. Either way […]