Author Archives: Phil Baker

Apple’s AirTag is a tiny $30 device about the size of a quarter that attaches to an item to help you find it, should the item be lost. An AirTag contains a Bluetooth transmitter powered by a coin cell to detect nearby Apple phones to determine its own location. Since Apple iPhones are most everywhere, […]

It’s become clear that many companies have no interest in hearing from us. The difficulties we have to go through to reach a live person at a company to help us seems worse than ever. They have no hesitation to contact us, even flood us with messages, but when we have to contact them, they […]

If there’s one element of the travel industry that has failed to realize it’s in the hospitality business, it’s the major rental car companies. We constantly hear horror stories, examples of gouging, and sometimes much worse. Still, when I read last year about Hertz having their customers arrested, I was astounded. From CNN, 47 Hertz […]

No, I’m not talking about travel insurance. I’m referring to keeping an eye on your home while traveling without giving it much thought, knowing that it’s safe and secure. It’s become remarkably simple and inexpensive to do so with some of the latest security gadgets. I once envisioned having a laser beam encircle my home […]

Technology has come to used car selling and buying. This may not be news to many of you, but it was to me when I recently accompanied my daughter on her quest to purchase a new car. Thanks to the internet, it was a lot easier, helped by the new car dealers’ websites that list […]

There have been huge improvements to travel chargers in recent years. They’re smaller, lighter and more powerful. You no longer need to carry one of those large white charging blocks for your MacBook, a huge power block for your PC notebook, or a a large multi-port charger for simultaneous charging of your computer, phone, tablet, […]

This week Apple announced their next generation of iPhones, Airpods, and watches. The new products are the annual upgrades to their current versions, which always raises the question of whether the new features are a good enough reason to upgrade. That’s because after years of evolving, the previous year’s models are hard to improve upon. […]

If you like Tumi products, you’ll love this new line from Waterfield that includes a backpack, a messenger bag, a duffel, and a small carry bag. Both Tumi and Waterfield use ballistic nylon, but the Waterfield bags are less than 1/2 the cost and are made in the U.S. Tumi bags are made in China […]

Apple has grand ambitions to move into the healthcare field. The company’s CEO Tim Cook once referred to health as the company’s “greatest contribution to mankind.” CNBC has reported that the company has built up a huge internal team staffed with doctors, health coaches, and engineers, and has developed health-focused software and hardware, and even started medical […]

When four of my family members traveled to Europe last month for seventeen days, they all traveled with their Verizon-enabled phones that are on my family plan. If they all chose to use their phones’ cellular service, even for a minute a day, the cost would have been $40/day x 17 or $560. That’s because […]

With the increasing number of power outages, many of us are looking at ways to protect ourselves when we lose power, something that seems to becoming more frequent. Loss of power means no Internet, spoiled food, no heat or air conditioning, no hot water and darkness. The conventional solution to power loss has been using […]

Rarely do huge companies suddenly collapse. Instead they peak and then begin to slowly erode. It’s not aways visible because these companies have a lot of inertia and have PR departments working with compliant analysts and press to mask their troubles and paint a rosy picture. I’ve been around the high tech industry for more […]

Taiwan may be a small island off the coast of China, but it’s a country never to be underestimated. I’ve been traveling there since 1983 and have seen it transformed from a thrid world manufacturer of cheap toys and simple electronics to the designer and builder of most of the world’s notebook computers and the […]

Ten years ago I walked into a small engineering lab in Long Beach, CA and saw a brand new Tesla in pieces – completely disassembled with each piece neatly laid out across the floor. The engineering company was hired by a major automobile manufacturer that wanted to understand this revolutionary new car that was about […]

I’ve been watching the news lately and there’s a lot not to like. But some of it is because of the confusion of reporters and writers that relate to their use of math. It’s as if they never took high school algebra. One of the most famous math errors is this exchange between Brian Williams […]

Each Friday morning I receive a notification on my phone telling me that my personal security report is available for my neighborhood. It presents a map with pins where there have been criminal incidents over the past week. It’s one of the “benefits” I get with my Ring doorbell, along with being able to review […]

It’s becoming a very nasty and dangerous world and Apple is taking one small step to protect its users with an unprecedented move to allow its phones, tablets and computers to be protected from dangerous intrusions with its new Lockdown Mode. (I am freely quoting below from Apple’s press release, since the feature is not […]

Just when I congratulated myself for avoiding Covid, it finally struck. It was due to carelessness on my part, dining out with a friend. We had asked for outside seating but when we arrived only indoors was available. The next day my friend called to say he tested positive. I tested negative for the next […]

As a photo enthusiast I’ve owned all sorts of cameras from full size Nikon and Canon film SLRs to digital Leicas and, most recently, a 24-megapixel Sony full-frame mirrorless (Alpha 7III). As I prepared for a recent trip to Paris and Bordeaux I considered taking no camera at all and just use my iPhone 12 […]

For years, technology companies have tried to come up with a product for electronic notetaking to replace paper and pen. The benefit, proponents say, is you could digitize handwritten notes and sketches, convert them to text, store them on line, and share with others. Digital note taking also allows more flexibility using different templates, pen […]