作者彙整: Jerry Hildenbrand

Of all the gadgets and gizmos I’ve picked up during the year, buying a second Lenovo Smart Display was my best.

2019 was filled to the brim with new products from every major tech company. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google and everyone else released some super innovative stuff that people love, and a few things that people didn’t love so much. A lot of these products stepped on each others toes a bit when it came to functionality, too, just like my favorite product purchase of 2019 did.

You can buy a connected display that has a built-in virtual assistant from Amazon, Facebook, or Google and its many Android ecosystem partners. They all offer the same basics and can act as tiny televisions to watch videos, be kitchen assistants, play some music, and other things. The thing that sets the Lenovo Smart Display apart is its beautiful 10-inch display and bamboo back. Yes you can buy a 7-inch model, but unless you really need to save space, don’t.

I was a late adopter on this one. Leno… 閱讀全文 →

Keep you and your loved ones safe and secure.

So much of what we do every day, day in and day out, is either done online or has a record kept online. Things like your email or a shopping website are obvious, but your bank, mortgage holder, health insurance provider and more are also online companies even if that’s not how we interact with them. There is a pretty complete fingerprint of your life stored where plenty of other people can (and often do) look for it.

So what should we do about it? That’s easy — use a good password for everything, make sure you don’t use the same password in more than one place, and secure things with a second step anytime you can.

You can’t remember all those passwords

Don’t feel bad because nobody else can, either. A good password simply means one that someone else who is really good at figuring this stuff out isn’t likely to be able to use. That means they aren’t something you can remember, especially when there are more than a few of them. That’s… 閱讀全文 →

Big business and big government have a long history of exploitation when it comes to Africa and its people. It’s time to start making things right.

Recently Google, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and other tech companies were named in a lawsuit that claims each knew that forced child labor is being used to mine the cobalt that goes into a lithium-ion battery. The cobalt in question is being mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and if history is any indication everything in the lawsuit is likely true.

Africa is an actual and literal gold mine when it comes to many of the metals and other raw materials that are used to build the tech products we use every day. And it’s no secret that how these materials are gathered is done in a way that makes corrupt African officials rich and keeps the price down for companies who make goods from the materials in question.

I’ve worked in Africa, and several people that work at Future Labs were born in South Africa. During my time in … 閱讀全文 →

It’s a tiny but powerful computer that does a lot more than you think. Until you think of it.

There is a really cool non-profit in the UK called the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It’s a group of really smart people who decided that kids needed a way to learn to do more with a computer than just scroll through Facebook if they wanted to, and found a way to make it affordable so almost anyone can.

But the Raspberry Pi, now at version 4, is not a kids toy. It’s a full-on computer with support for things like 4K video in a tiny package that’s also super-affordable. This has also fostered a huge developer community as well as a long list of after-market accessories that will let you do almost anything with a Raspberry Pi 4 without spending a lot of money. And you’ll probably learn something on the way, too.

It’s a Desktop PC

Most people with a desktop computer aren’t using it for any really heavy lifting. We surf the web, maybe buy something online once in a while, use social media or st… 閱讀全文 →

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — especially for package thieves.

You’re not the only one excited to see a UPS truck in front of your house this time of the year. For a lot of people a brown box with barcodes and big labels on it means a chance to hit it big and get whatever it is you ordered at an awesome discount by stealing it right off of your porch.

You’ve heard the stories and probably seen the funny videos, but package theft is a very real problem. It’s also one I encountered for the very first (and hopefully last) time this past weekend. I got a text that something I was expecting had been delivered but sometime between then and the time I got home the package was gone. But it wasn’t hard to see what happened, because my Arlo Pro camera system caught every detail.

I was lucky. Not just because I had the camera setup, but because what the thief ended up stealing was an 8-pound bag of Dr. Earth Organic Cactus potting soil. Yes, the idiot stole a box of dirt. A… 閱讀全文 →

I like everything about my Pumpkin Spice Pixel 4 except for its crappy battery life. I should have gone extra-large.

It seems like everyone (well, almost everyone) hates the Pixel 4. That’s OK and hating things you never planned to buy is the secret fuel that powers the tech side of the internet. I’m not one of those people and think the Pixel 4 was a great upgrade from the 3 in almost every way. It’s just that one place where it wasn’t that’s killing me.

I’m talking, of course, about the battery life. I know, I know. You’ve heard it a million times and you want to click away or tell me to shut up we already know the small Pixel 4 has horrible battery life and that I’m just whining because I’m something or another. but I know when I bought it that it had “bad” battery life. I just didn’t know it would be this bad.

I’m not on my phone all day long, which is good because with the Pixel 4, I couldn’t be.

I’m not one who has their nose glued to their phone all day long. Normally,… 閱讀全文 →

Not everything Google touches is evil.

What you need to know

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn on the Google Maps team is working to make the app more helpful for disabled people.
Over 50,000,000 places in Google Maps now have accessibility information.
The Local Guides community plays a big role in providing Google with this data.

Sometimes, with all the fuss about the things Google does poorly, we forget that it’s filled with people who want to make the world a better place. For some, that means building balloons that can deliver internet service to places with zero infrastructure. For others, like Sasha Blair-Goldensohn of the Google Maps team, it means helping everyone get more from life.

Sasha is in a wheelchair and lives in New York City. Having visited New York City on several occasions and being in a wheelchair myself, I can only imagine the logistical nightmare that public transportation and — more importantly — public access is for him. That’s why he’s trying to make… 閱讀全文 →

Cyber Monday is a big day for laptop buying. You’ll find plenty of great deals on Windows machines, Chromebooks, and all sorts of two-in-one tablets. but the best deal you’ll find this Cyber Monday is this MacBook Air for just $650. It’s a match for a short-lived deal we saw on Black Friday and the lowest this particular machine has ever gone, so it’s not one you want to miss out on.

The smaller lighter one

MacBook Air

$650 at Amazon

Better than you think

The MacBook Air is often thought of as the little computer that isn’t great for “heavy lifting” but that’s not true. It’s a great machine and you can pick it up for a great price.

I’m very platform-agnostic when it comes to a computer. I mostly use a Chromebook when I’m away from my desk because that’s when I’m doing the work that’s best done on a fast and light machine. But before there was such a thing as a Chromebook, I used a MacBook Air. And sometimes, I still do.

Apple makes some really high-quality stuff and its la… 閱讀全文 →

The Raspberry Pi is a staff favorite when it comes to things like home automation or cool DIY projects. We know about these boards because we use these boards, and can offer all the guidance you need.

The Plus update

Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+

$56 at Amazon

Pros

Gigabit Ethernet
Power over Ethernet (PoE)
Dual-band 820.11ac Wi-Fi

Cons

A substantial price hike

The 3B+ does have a slightly faster revision of the Broadcom processor, but the real improvements are on the networking side. If you’re buying new, definitely spend the extra few dollars; but we wouldn’t rip out any model 3B board that is still working fine.

Still doing its thing

Raspberry Pi Model 3 B

$38 at Amazon

Pros

Affordable price

Cons

No Power over Ethernet (PoE)
Slower Ethernet speeds

The original Raspberry Pi 3B is still very capable. The Plus upgrade consists of a new spec for the processor that doesn’t really offer any advantage and some networking hardware changes — namely Gigabit… 閱讀全文 →

Black Friday is a great time to buy all the little essentials you need for the rest of your gadgets. Cables, phone cases, screen protectors and chargers aren’t very pricey to begin with and during the biggest shopping day of the year, you can usually save even more. And who doesn’t like saving money, right?

Keeping the juice flowing

Lecone Fast Wireless Charger

$13 at Amazon

No wires, plenty of style

Wireless charging is convenient and there’s a good chance your phone is set up to work with it. This charger from Lecone combines fast charging for Android and iOS devices, looks great, and is priced just right.

Not all wireless chargers are created equal. Yeah, you need the same sorts of parts inside of them so when you plop your phone down on top of one it makes the battery charge, but there are a lot of ways that can happen.

This little charger from Lecone has the three things I’m looking for when it comes to buying a wireless charger: It can fast charge both Android and iP… 閱讀全文 →