CASTING ANY WEBSITE TO YOUR TV

My women’s group wanted to see a live memorial service in New Hampshire on a big screen TV in Chicago. Here’s how I cast it from the church website to my TV. First, I went to the website in the Google Chrome browser on my Windows computer. Then I clicked the three vertical dots in the upper right and chose “cast.” Up popped my TV as one of the choices. The ladies were delighted. If you’re casting from an iPhone or iPad, you may need a TV with Apple TV built in, or at least one that’s compatible with AirPlay. Once you’ve got it, follow these steps. First, start up a video on your phone or tablet. Next, look for […]

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THE RISE OF E-BIKES

The first thing I noticed on my recent trip to California was the explosion of e-bikes. They zipped past me on a boardwalk along the ocean. The number of e-bike sales are about double the number of electric car sales, despite a price in the thousands. But for $450, you can get a conversion kit, such as the “Clip,” which will turn any old bike into an e-bike. You can even remove the “e” part of your e-bike when you go inside, to prevent theft. Here’s how it works: When you engage the clip, a small roller transmits torque directly to your front tire, driving you forward without any need for complex sprockets or gears. This so-called “friction drive” is […]

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SOFT IN THE HEAD

We’ve never written about headphones before because we were never impressed before. And that’s because every time a new set came out, bingo, every writer in America was immediately notified. But “SleepPhones,” $40 from Acoustic Sheep, (see them leaping the fence?), answers something we’ve all wondered about. How do we learn Zulu in our sleep? Acoustic Sheep makes a cloth headband with tiny equipment inside. Wear them to bed; they’re as comfy as any soft headband. Though designed for listening to music, Nature sounds or audio books as you fall off to sleep, Joy likes it for yoga. To avoid waking Bob, Joy sometimes puts it on her head in the middle of the night, whenever she has excess energy. […]

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TAPING THE DOC

We often leave the doctor’s office scratching our heads. It’s not because we have lice, it’s trying to remember what he or she said. So now we put ‘em on tape. (We don’t really use tape any more, we record them on Joy’s cellphone.) One doctor we recorded baffled us even after we played him back. So we fired him and got another. But the recording helped us get on a new track, so to speak. We think his problem was a one-track mind. We started out with “Smart Recorder,” free from the Android app store. It automatically skips periods of relative silence, so if you want to use it to record talks with your spouse at night. However, that […]

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THE STANDUP DESK

The Wall Street Journal did a big story on the $3000 Stir Kinetic M1 stand-up desk, which promises to eliminate the dangers of too much sitting, a habit some say is as bad as smoking. Joy found a free alternative.

Using her desktop computer, Joy made…

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GOLF WHEREVER YOU ARE

“Optishot Golf” is a $500 simulator that fits in a briefcase and connects with a computer to analyze your swing. Videos and still shots from world-famous courses are projected onto whatever wall you happen to have handy. You can play alone or with two to four companions.

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APP HAPPY WORKOUTS

 “OneSet” is a free exercise app for Android and iPhone users for people to share workouts or find new things to do — like standing jumps onto a three-foot pile of something or other. The yoga videos were enough to scare Bob, and would gladden the heart of any orthopedic surgeon looking for business. Users can share 15 seconds of their workouts here, just enough time for one set. Videos are organized by categories like “athletes,” “calisthenics” and “core.” Users also share progress pictures and after-workout selfies.

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A NEW LINK

Joy went nuts and tried out half a dozen fitness trackers and smart watches. (One of them came with instructions only in Chinese.) She liked the cheapest one best: the $30 “Misfit Flash,” which was waterproof and could track both steps and swimming strokes. Now it’s out in a $20 version called the “Flash Link,” with most of the old functions plus an app that can control the camera on your smartphone. (Missing is the ability to count swim strokes.) The Link is the size of a watch. You clip it on clothing or buy a wrist band. You can use it without connecting it to your phone or tablet, but the phone/tablet app makes it more fun and gives […]

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ARE FITNESS BANDS RELIABLE?

The information you get from “fitness” bands may be off by as much as 40 percent, according to Gregory Welk, an Iowa State University kinesiology professor, who tested seven of them. The top two bands were off just over 15 percent and the worst one was off 40 percent. There were $1.4 billion worth of these fitness trackers sold last year and the market continues to be hot. Professor Welk admits they’re still a valuable tool to achieve fitness.

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THE APPLE WATCH COMPETITION

Apple Watch reviews have been mixed. Some functions are unnecessary, and others take too long to learn. The $349 price isn’t too appealing either, and you have to have an iPhone to go with it.  We wondered what the alternatives were, so tried out three Android watches. You have to have an Android phone. Of the three, we liked the $179 “Motorola Moto 360” best. It’s half the price of the new “LG Watch Urbane” and $20 less than the new “Asus ZenWatch.” The round-faced Urbane  gets high marks for stylishness, though, with its metal rim and a handsome band. The rectangular ZenWatch is also attractive. But for Joy, our master tester, these two lost out to the less-expensive Moto […]

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