Author Archives: Phil Baker

When the Trump Organization unveiled their T1 smartphone, it was marketed as more than just another Android phone. It was presented as a symbol of American manufacturing—a phone supposedly built in the United States at a time when politicians across the spectrum have been calling for more domestic production. Buy this phone, consumers were told, […]

Do you ever click on a link and get to a site that won’t open it because it’s behind a paywall? Or start to read a news story only to have it fade away and not let you complete it? It might be a link from a friend or from another story or a click […]

For years, Mark Zuckerberg wanted Meta to be more than a social media company. He envied Apple with its huge hardware business and decided he wanted his own hardware. He attempted to create a phone, but that never made it to market. Then there was the Facebook Portal for the home, a device for the […]

Most travelers worry about delayed flights, lost luggage, or long security lines. Few expect to be accused of international drug smuggling because someone stole their baggage tag. Yet that is exactly what has happened to a number of airline passengers in Canada, according to a recent investigation by CTV News. The scheme is both simple […]

Many new EVs announced earlier this year are now reaching the dealers, and I’ve been trying out a number of them. I began looking at those in the $30K-$45K range, knowing my EV lease is up at the end of the year and I might be in the market for one. Compared to three years […]

Each of the many times I flew to an international destination for business—more than 100 times —I went through the exact same ritual. As soon as I stepped onto the plane, I would manually change the time on my mechanical watch, mentally placing myself in the time zone of my destination. Like so many things, […]

As one who loathes to check a bag I use an expandable 22-inch rollerboard as my main suitcase. It’s become the standard of all the luggage companies because it’s the maximum size allowed that fits most overhead bins. The challenge for me has been finding the ideal second bag, especially when travelling internationally where it’s […]

Having flown millions of miles, I thought I had experienced most everything when it comes to the airlines.  But a week before my wife and I were scheduled to fly from to South Africa for a long-planned tour/safari, Lufthansa pilots and cabin personnel went on strike. Our outbound (non-refundable but reuseable) United tickets were for code-shared […]

It’s becoming obvious at how badly disconnected the U.S. tech industry has become from the rest of us. Day after day we’re told how amazing AI is and how it will solve the world’s problems. The press parrots the PR releases from the AI companies explaining how AI is about to accelerate medical research and […]

The World of Coffee trade show is in San Diego this week hosting visitors from around the world. Here are some thoughts after touring the exhibit hall filled hundreds of companies displaying their products. San Diego is home to more than 80 independent coffee roasters, surpassing larger coffee capitals like Portland, Los Angeles, New York, […]

If you’re frustrated with all of the ads popping up while trying to read the news, check out this article about how totally out of control the situation has become. This is such a great expose, that I am showing some excerpts below. Link to the article for the entire piece on Shubham Bose’s blog. […]

There is a question that skeptics of electric vehicles love to raise every time I write a positive column about EVs. It sounds reasonable when you hear it: “Sure, your EV uses no gas — but what about the oil used to create the energy to charge it? How is that any better?” It’s a […]

One of my favorite designers and manufacturers of bags for travel and work is WaterField Designs in San Francisco, where all of ther products are designed and produced. The company just announced an update to one its best-selling products, the Air Porter Carry-On, a personal item underseat bag that pairs perfectly with a rollerboard. It’s […]

If you’ve been putting off upgrading your smartphone or laptop, you’ll want to understand the impact on pricing due to a combination of recent issues — artificial intelligence, trade policy, and memory chip shortages — issues that are raising the prices of many consumer tech products. Analysts are calling this RAMageddon, the sudden demand for […]

The electric vehicle market is currently undergoing a major recalibration. While this may be a crisis for the industry, it’s the best thing that could have happened for those in the market for an EV. The landscape for EVs today looks nothing like it did two years ago. We’ve moved past the early adopter phase […]

Ever wonder if the high cost of a premium credit card is really worthwhile? This week I discovered the answer when Chase Travel made an honest but costly mistake. My wife and I bought one-way business class tickets from LAX to South Africa for later this Spring on Turkish Airlines. (Our return trip is on […]

A friend just alerted me to a dealer selling the new Chevy Equinox, a $40K 300-mille range EV, for $25K, a huge discount off it’s list price. The car has generally received good reviews and seemed on the surface to be a terrific deal. However, doing a little digging, it does not have Apple Car […]

This week I received a survey from Lexus asking about a new feature they’re considering. The questionnaire began by asking how often I park my car on the street, in my driveway, and in a parking lot. It went on to ask how worried was I about car theft, a car break-in, or someone hitting […]

The idea of combining your phone with your wallet has led to a a phone accessory category filled with different approaches. The idea began with plastic phone cases having a compartment to hold a couple of cards, and have expanded to include cases that can hold five or ten cards. The concept makes sense if […]

Over the years, my wife and I accumulated a decent wine collection—nearly filling a 300-bottle capacity wine cabinet. What started as a modest hobby evolved into something more substantial. But with growth came chaos. Our first tracking system was very low tech: wine racks with wine organized by varietal, When the collection outgrew that approach, […]