Posted on March 29th, 2021 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
On a recent plane trip, I watched in dismay as the power drained from my phone. By the time I got from Chicago to New Hampshire with a stop in Philly, it was circling the drain. A portable power bank is the answer. Here are two questions: How fast can it restore a phone to full charge? Does it lose power when not in use? In the past, on the rare occasions when I’ve thought to bring a power bank with me, it turned out it wasn’t charged and I didn’t have time to mess with it. Power banks with lithium ion batteries should retain their power months after they’ve been charged. But some products that claim to have lithium […]
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Filed under: apps, batteries, books, cameras, computers, graphics, Internuts | Comments Off on NEW PORTABLE POWER BANK SAVES THE DAY
Posted on June 8th, 2020 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
We recently babysat our neighbors’ kids, ages 9 and 6, and had as much fun as they did with a camera that prints black and white photos. It’s called “My First Camera Insta 2” and is $100 on Shop.Oaxis.com. We were impressed by how quickly the girls got the hang of this thing. We only had to show the oldest how to do it once, and she taught the youngest, who got it just as quickly. Take a photo, press the gallery mode button, then the print button. If the paper jams, just give it a little tug. This only happened once in our tests. This is not a Polaroid-type camera. The prints you get come out on a roll […]
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Filed under: batteries, cameras, Internuts, kids, video | Comments Off on A CAMERA FOR KIDS
Posted on March 23rd, 2020 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
A reader sent us a link to “24 hidden Android features” from PopularScience.com. Here are a few. They apply to Android 8 and up. Get Shortcuts. When you swipe down from the top of your screen, you see icons for stuff like “Do Not Disturb,” “Bluetooth,” and “Mobile Data.” Swipe down again to expand the list. If you tap the icon for a pen in the lower left, then swipe up, you’ll see a list of other shortcuts to add. For example, “Screen Cast,” makes it easy to cast whatever you’re looking at on your phone to your TV screen. Otherwise, you’ll only be able to cast from select websites where you see the casting icon. This lets you cast […]
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Filed under: Amazon, Android, cameras, Internuts | Comments Off on CASTING CALL
Posted on January 6th, 2020 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Calling for tech support is often the beginning of a descent into gloom and doom. Here’s an example from a recent reader letter. He says: “I have recently turned eighty, my hearing is not the best. My Norton antivirus coverage expired and I needed to renew it using a new email address.” The nightmare begins. The whole process took two hours. He was told to bring up a chat screen but the “send” button wasn’t showing so he couldn’t respond. This happened over and over with different tech support people. After calling Norton, he writes, “I couldn’t understand the heavy European accent of a woman with a little girl voice. Soft voice, low volume, my deficient hearing, etc. The whole […]
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Filed under: anti-virus, browsers, cameras, environment, phones, security, tech support, web | Comments Off on THE TECH SUPPORT DUNGEONS
Posted on November 14th, 2016 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Topics: Polaroid cameras, password managers, uninterruptible power supply
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Filed under: cameras, gadgets, passwords, TV, video | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 8th, 2016 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Gone in 60 Seconds. Not the movie. Our drone. It was bouncing along the grass, struggling for liftoff, so Joy handed the controller to Bob, and said, “You try it.” Bob naturally pushed the lift lever all the way up and the drone climbed like a socialite at a garden party. Within three seconds it was out of sight. We couldn’t have been more surprised if we’d launched a pocket rocket. “There,” Joy said. “I think it came down over there.” This was all wishful thinking, of course. As we went through the grass and the nearby woods, the odds were growing that it came down in the next county. Maybe. Bob had made the most common mistake in droning, […]
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Filed under: cameras, gadgets, video | Comments Off on THE DRONES CLUB: BEWARE TINY SCREWS AND INSTANT LIFTOFF
Posted on November 23rd, 2015 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
We got one of the new $150 “Polaroid Cube+” cameras, which are billed as cheaper than the popular “Go Pro.” We haven’t tried Go Pro, but we doubt the Cube+ is going to push it out of the way.
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Filed under: apps, cameras, gadgets, mobile | Comments Off on HERE’S TO NOT LOOKING AT YOU
Posted on July 29th, 2015 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Most people take photos with their phones, not digital cameras. So Yahoo.com/Tech did an informal test of the best phone cameras, using four tech reporters, and looking at six top phones. LG’s G4 phone won easily. Next came Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 4. These were followed by Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6. HTC’s “One M9” came in last.
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Filed under: cameras, phones | Comments Off on THE BEST PHONE CAMERA
Posted on September 2nd, 2014 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
We’ve looked at a lot of security cameras, but the $129 “Baby Cam” from TRENDnet.com is the simplest we’ve seen:
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Filed under: cameras, kids, security | Comments Off on BABY CAM
Posted on February 9th, 2014 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
For photos of our selves, it would be nice to put the phone on a shelf, back up, and snap the picture. But when we’re more than an arm’s length away, we can’t reach the shutter button. (And we’re always forgetting how to use the self-timer.)
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Filed under: apps, cameras | 1 Comment »
