Author Archives: Phil Baker

Uber went public last week at the low end of its predicted range, and saw the stock quickly tank. It was one of the poorest IPOs ever in terms of the first day loss in company value. And more than 3/4 of those that invested over the past few years hare also underwater.  It’s an […]

FlightAware App One of my favorite apps for air travel is Flightradar24, While not the best app for checking flight schedules and gates – for that I like FlightAware – its greatest attribute is showing the status of all planes flying in real time on a map. It lets you view all of the planes in […]

It’s not often that United beats one of the other major International airlines, but during a recent trip, my experiences on United bettered Qantas on many of the touch points. Of course, this is sample of one and not necessarily representative of anything other than one isolated trip. I traveled between LAX to Melbourne on […]

Renting cars has always been a hit or miss situation. As a 30-year Avis member I was loyal to the company, renting their cars for hundreds of business trips over this time period. But that loyalty all ended when on a trip to Kauai, they sent me a $350 cleaning bill for returning a minivan […]

Are we being attacked by blue light? It seems to be the case with phones, computer and tablet makers now offering screen modes to reduce the amount of blue in the backlight we stare at for hours at a time. They explain that blue light can keep us awake and overstimulate us. But many of […]

I’m pleased to announce To Feel the Music,  a new book I co-authored by Neil Young will be available on September 9, 2019. You can pre-order it here from Amazon. To Feel the Music Neil Young and I coauthored this story about Neil’s single most passionate pursuit: Bringing high-quality audio back to music lovers, who have […]

John Legere, T-Mobile’s outspoken CEO is lobbying hard to merge with Sprint. He argues that with this merger, T-Mobile will be a stronger company, better able to fight against AT&T and Verizon. He even believes that a stronger T-Mobile will force the two other carriers to lower their prices. Legere is outspoken, brash, and unequivocal […]

Here is a roundup of several products of interest. Each one is unique and excels in some way.  Like previous reviews, these are products I bought for my own use and like very much. In no particular order here they are. RAVPower USB-C PD Charger –  This is one of the first of a new […]

Which cellular carrier is best? It used to be very dependent on where you live. Often you might be in a pocket where only one carrier could reach you. But increasingly as the carriers fill out their coverage, the differences are less dependent on the area of the country. In a new comprehensive report, Open […]

A walk through a Best Buy store or a search on Amazon looking for a security camera can be overwhelming. They come in all sizes and shapes, some with batteries and others that plug-in.  When I decided I wanted to install a camera outside my home, the choices are a bit fewer. The camera needs […]

(Written for Techpinions) While Apple has attributed the slowdown of iPhone sales to being caused by a range of business and financial issues, not included in their list is the product design itself. Yet, I think some of the design decisions made over the past few years have impacted the iPhone’s popularity.  These design decisions came […]

Normally tech innovations are announced with a huge, well-orchestrated PR campaign, press briefings, and a large advertising budget. And often times the supposed innovation is hardly one at all.  Yet, for the first time in the history of the Internet, there’s been a sea change in music streaming, but hardly anyone is aware of it. […]

Reading We’re always looking for ways to pass the time on long flights or the waits between them. I used to grab a stack of magazines, like old New Yorkers or Atlantics before long trips, but with fewer of us getting subscriptions, we rely on our electronic gadgets for reading. So I try to download […]

I’m always on the lookout for tech gifts that are especially good buys,  Here’s a few that fit that category, with many great for travelers, as well. I’ve used them all and can recommend each one as a particularly good value. In fact, they were easy to compile by looking at my Amazon purchases over […]

With the greater use of storing our credit cards on our phones, we need to carry less in our wallets. That’s led a number of start up companies to come up with new wallet designs. They vary from simple elastic straps to aluminum plates where you sandwich cards in-between. For the last several years I’ve […]

First appeared at Techpinions I’ve been wondering whether some of the major high-tech companies among the FAANG gang, don’t know when to stop their “continuous improvement,” a term revered by the Japanese in the 90s when they continually improved their products. My observation is we are seeing “continuous degradation” instead. It seems these companies might […]

I spent nearly two hours at two Apple stores this week. My 3-yr old 12″ MacBook had a catastrophic failure and needed a repair, as it wouldn’t boot up. I pulled out of storage my older 2012 MacBookPro to use as a backup, and discovered that also had a problem – it wouldn’t take a […]

I’ve reviewed or used pretty much every major carry-on wheeled suitcase over the years, since I always avoid checking my bags, even on my many flights to Asia. I used a Tumi roller board soft-sided ballistic nylon 22-inch suitcase for many years; at the time it was one of the costliest, but best-designed products of […]

Apple’s new 12.9-inch iPad, positioned as a replacement for computers, fails to deliver on that promise. In spite of the big rollout and promises by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Early reviews say that it misses that mark by a lot. A fully equipped iPad  Pro with a 12.9-inch display, a keyboard, pencil and adequate memory, costs […]

Wallet cases have recently become more popular for phones. These are cases with a front flap that also has a few pockets to carry credit cards. It’s a result of several factors. More use earphones such as the AirPods to make calls, so the need to hold a phone to your ear is reduced. Also, […]