Posted on January 31st, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
“Smart watches” are the new, new thing. The “I’m Watch” is a smart watch that communicates with your iPhone, Android Phone, or Blackberry. It looks like a very bulky wrist watch. (Dick Tracy didn’t seem to mind wearing his.) The device alerts you when new Gmail, Facebook or Twitter messages come in. It also lets you play music, watch videos or take calls, without fumbling for your phone.
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Filed under: Android, apps, electronics, gadgets, iPhone | Comments Off on WHAT WATCH?
Posted on January 30th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
Joy’s brother told us about a tea-ceremony scam he encountered in China. Just before agreeing to have tea with a couple of friendly people he met in Shanghai, he remembered his boss warning him about the “tea scam.” Heeding the warning saved him $400 and perhaps more, because they took credit cards.
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Filed under: Android, apps, iPad, iPhone | Comments Off on A SAFE CARD TO PLAY
Posted on January 27th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
We were a little envious of car backup viewers that show what’s behind you when you go into reverse. This now comes standard now with some cars now but you can also add it to any car. We’re trying out the new Magellan “Wireless Back-Up Camera,” which shows you what you’re about to bump into just before you bump into it.
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Filed under: electronics, gadgets, GPS | Comments Off on AUTO HINDSIGHT
Posted on January 26th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
The start of the New Year might be a good time to start a new website. We’ve tried more than half a dozen ways, and these are the ones we liked best:
— Yola.com offers web hosting, site creation tools and ready-made templates. Try out the free version online and see if you like it. Joy used the free one to create a site for an educated but non-tech-savvy husband and wife. For $500, Yola will build a site for you. You should be kind of tech-inclined, however, to be able to update and expand it.
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Filed under: business, graphics, web | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 25th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
“Cut the Rope” is a free Microsoft game you can play on your computer, tablet or smartphone at CutTheRope.ie. You slice the rope to knock out stars, free a bubble and deliver candy to the candy monster. At each stage, the process gets more complex. If you play it in Internet Explorer 9, you get 25 game levels. We thought it was fun and a good teaching tool for judging spatial relations and objects in motion. There’s nothing to install, you play online.
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Filed under: apps, games, kids | Comments Off on FREE COMPUTER GAME
Posted on January 24th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
There was some new action at the Consumer Electronics Show inLas Vegas: Microsoft said their new Kinect motion-sensing game player will work with Windows and not just the Xbox 360.
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Filed under: games, health, kids, Microsoft | Comments Off on KINECT ME
Posted on January 23rd, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
A study by PopCap games found that people who cheat at social games, like Farmville and Cityville, are three times more likely to cheat at school or on their taxes, park in handicapped spaces, steal hotel towels or commit adultery. In short, they tend to cheat.
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Filed under: trends | Comments Off on CHEATERS CHEAT
Posted on January 21st, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
Microsoft Flight Simulator will be free starting this Spring. This is one of the most famous entertainment programs in computer history. In fact it was such a combination of sophisticated programming, animation and skill that it was typically kept running on autopilot, so to speak, in the show windows of Microsoft stores. Back in those days – back when there were lots of companies making Microsoft compatible computers – some with wonderful names, like “Kentucky Fried Computers,” the true test of whether or not a system was compatible was whether it could run Flight Simulator. Those early versions trained you how to land at airports like Chicago’s Meigs Field, which no longer exists (a nostalgia trip). This Spring you can […]
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Filed under: apps, games, Microsoft | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 20th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
A company called Snapkeys has come up with a very innovative idea for replacing the tiny keyboards on smartphones and other handheld devices.
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Filed under: Android, Apple, apps, iPhone, keyboards | Comments Off on SNAPKEYS
Posted on January 19th, 2012 by Joy Schwabach
Two years ago, we panned the Disney “Netpal” netbook, but have since had to swallow our words (albeit with a fine sauce and some good bread). We thought it was overly cutesy when we used it and dismissed it out of hand. What we forgot was we weren’t the audience; our tiny relatives loved it.
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Filed under: computers, kids | Comments Off on AFTERTHOUGHTS ABOUT OLD REVIEWS
