Category Archives: Uncategorized

We’ve seen apps to hail a ride or book dinner reservation. Now there’s an app for buying insurance. A company called Sure, founded a little more than a year ago, is out to change how we purchase insurance. The company has developed an app for consumers to purchase on-demand individual accident, life, property, casualty, and warranty insurance […]

One of the most frustrating things that homeowners go through is finding a contractor to remodel the kitchen, replace the roof, or add a new room. We’ll ask our friends for recommendations, check Yelp or Angie’s list, but it’s still hit or miss. Contractors generally specialize in particular areas of expertise and size of the […]

Vivobarefoot—a UK-based leading global barefoot shoe company—launched a Kickstarter campaign yesterday to raise $100K for the production of traditional bushman SAN-dals in Namibia. These types of sandals have been used by generations of San people for persistent hunting. The campaign aims to revive the ancient craft, support the Namibian village and bring sandals to U.S. and international […]

If you’re in the market for a new portable computing device, there are more options than ever. It used to be easier, just choosing between a Windows computer or a Macintosh. But now there are Windows machines with and without touch displays, tablets, and Chromebooks from Google. What to buy begins first with what you […]

In a recent column, I covered some of the challenges entrepreneurs have in getting their products into retail. This column explores the issue in more detail. It’s based on an interview I had with James Berberian, an experienced sales executive who has sold consumer electronics products for his entire career, including nineteen years with Targus, […]

I’ve been trying out the Everki Atlas business backpack for a few weeks and have found it to be a good solution for those that need to carry a large notebook, a change of clothing, and lots of other stuff. It can hold a computer with up to a 17-inch screen, well cushioned and protected by […]

The new MobilePro Series Deluxe Folio from Fellowes allows you to carry an iPad along with a pad of paper, pen and a few business cards in one handy portfolio.  The iPad snaps into a plastic tray and can be tilted up in both landscape and portrait modes. The folio is constructed of vinyl and […]

I’ve been trying out the new Audeze Sine headphone, the newest and most affordable headphone from Audeze. Audeze has been producing headphones that have been described by most reviewers as the best headphones you can buy at any price. They sell for $1000 to about $2000 and utilize the company’s planar magnetic speaker design, using a proprietary […]

WaterField Designs is a small family owned manufacturer located in San Francisco. Today it celebrates its 18th year in business with enhancements to its signature bag—The Cargo. First designed in 1998 by former bicycle messenger and owner, Gary WaterField as a messenger-briefcase hybrid, the Cargo remains a best seller in WaterField’s lineup. The modernized new Cargo maintains the […]

Flexibits today announced a massive update for Fantastical 2 for Mac. Version 2.2 adds many new powerful features to the Apple Design Award-winning OS X calendar app and is a free update for existing users. See my previous review of 2.0 on this site. Version 2.2 gives Exchange users the full Fantastical experience. Account syncing […]

With Apple’s announcements this past week, it’s been fascinating to read analysts’ and reporters’ comments about whether Apple is still an innovator. Critics cite the modest improvements made in the recent revisions of the iPhone line as demonstrating Apple’s failure to innovate. When I did a search for “Apple innovation”, up came dozens of headlines like this from the past […]

Last week I wrote about saving money on your cellphone plan. This week I look at saving money when buying a phone. The cellphone market is dominated by the iPhone and Android phones, primarily Samsung models. They range in price from $650 to $850, a huge amount of money. For the same amount you can […]

by Dom Fried-Booth Dom works at Plan, a product strategy consultancy in London. He’s gone from research in rural Pakistan to running PM teams in California, and a lot in-between. Apple’s most significant launch in years, and it’s nothing to do with the price Here’s a puzzler: what sort of company is Apple? Is it a […]

If your cellphone bill hasn’t gone down over the past few years, it’s time to reassess your plan and carrier. The plans have changed, carriers are willing to deal, and you might just save lots of money. When I changed plans on Verizon last year, my bill for a family plan with five phones dropped […]

One of the hottest areas in technology is the use of apps for accessing and sharing resources.  There’s Airbnb for booking rooms and Uber for booking rides. And now there’s a service for booking rides for your kids. My first reaction after learning about this was, “What parent would put their child in a car […]

Like many others in the tech community, I applaud Apple’s efforts to encrypt the iPhone to protect our privacy. But there’s been noticeably little attention given to the impact of apps on that same privacy. I’ve always been surprised at how many permissions some apps requests before they can be installed. They typically request access […]

  For those of us that use Macs, it sometimes feels like Apple is abandoning us. iPhones and iPads are a much more lucrative business for them than their notebooks and desktops computers. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook even touted the iPad Pro as a notebook replacement. And it shows in other ways: some of the […]

With all of the technology advances taking place, just how good are today’s radar detectors? The devices that attach to our car’s windshield were once were commonly used to detect police hiding along the side of the road trying to catch us speeding by. It became a back and forth game with police adding more […]

I’ve always had a moderate weight problem, being 20 to 30 pounds overweight, and have tried a myriad of diets over the years. There was the protein diet, Dr. Atkins, Weight Watchers, and many fad diets.  Over the past three months I’ve been trying something new that has worked better than anything else, using technology […]

Briggs & Riley makes some of the best luggage available. I’ve used many of their products over the years traveling all over the world, and they provide some of the best designed, highest quality products in the business.  (I also love Tumi, but comparable models are often as much as twice the cost of Briggs & […]