Not-So-New Tech Gear

Catching Up With Not-So-New Tech Gear

By Wayne Maruna

(Feruary. - March, 2015)

The annual Consumer Electronics Show made its usual January appearance in Las Vegas, with all the requisite 'oohs' and 'aahs'. I was not there. I’m still picking through the cool gadgets from about two years back.

People may think of me as a tech guy, which is probably true, but what I am not is a tech pioneer. At work we used to say that the pioneers were the ones with the arrows in their hats. Our strategy at the time was to be a ‘fast follower’. Well, I’m more of a slow follower, but if a technology proves to be enduring, I will eventually catch up to it and embrace it. With that in mind, for the benefit of the really slow followers, I bring you four of my most recent and heartily endorsed tech toys.

Google Chromecast

The Chromecast device looks like a fat USB flash drive ready to spawn. But instead of plugging into a USB port, it plugs into an HDMI port on the back of a TV (most modern LCD TVs have at least one HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interface - port.) The device requires power, which it can get from the TV’s USB port via a supplied cable, or, if the TV lacks a USB port, from a Google-supplied wall plug that the USB cable connects to, much like a charging cell phone.

The Chromecast is designed to work with your computer or laptop or mobile device. You use the Chromecast software to make your wireless connection, then call up an app on your PC or mobile device, and ‘cast’ the output onto your TV. I’ve been able to show photos from my cell phone onto a TV with this little device. You can carry it in your pocket if you are traveling to someone else’s location, plug it into their TV and log in with their wireless connection, and you can ‘cast’ content from a PC, laptop, tablet, or smart phone which has the freely available Chromecast software. This would be one way to add Netflix to a TV that lacks input by other means. MSRP is a cheap $35; I got mine for $25 during Staples’ Thanksgiving weekend madness. One caveat: not all routers will work with the device. Check Google’s Chromecast router compatibility list first.

Apple TV

The Apple TV isn’t actually a TV. It is a device that measures about 4 inches square and an inch high. It sits near your TV and connects to your router either via Ethernet cable if available, or otherwise wirelessly. It provides a portal to various web services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and content stored on the web by the likes of CBS, CNBC, ABC, Fox, Showtime, HBO, the NBA, and others. You can connect over your network to your iTunes app on your computer and stream any of your content to your entertainment system. You can also connect to your Apple mobile device (iPhone, iPad) and use what Apple calls Air Play to stream from the device to your TV. I’ve used it to show vacation photos, stored on the web, onto the big screen to a group of captive guests, using my iPad for navigation. The device comes with a tiny remote that is half the size of a tongue depressor stick and with just three buttons; a simpler design you will not find. The Apple TV is priced at about $99.

Charging Pads

When I acquired my Samsung Galaxy S5 smart phone, I quickly grew tired of attaching its charging cable. I admit to being a nail biter, which made opening the tiny little micro-USB port cover on the bottom of the phone difficult. Additionally, the cable connection was a real hassle for me to plug in. There’s got to be a better way, I thought, or this was going to be a long two years of contract commitment. And there was. This required a 2-part solution. The first part is a wireless charging receiver, called a Qi coil, about the size of a credit card and half as thick. This gets inserted into the back of your phone, held in place by the reattached cover. Some people feel this causes a bulge in the back of the phone, but I did not see one, and believe me, I know bulges. The second part is a charging mat or, in my case, stand. The stand is about as tall as the cell phone and plugs into a wall outlet. Now when I come home, I simply place the phone on the charging stand, and the phone beeps and displays a message that it is wirelessly charging. It all seems like magic, and I get a tiny thrill to see technology actually working like it is supposed to. The Qi coil cost all of $10. The chargers vary in price from $10 to $60.

Ubiquiti Unifi Access Point

Wireless access is almost a necessity in the modern home. Yet obtaining an adequate wireless signal in the farthest reaches of your home can be a problem. Alternatives may include powerline networking devices or wireless extenders. Well, you can add the Ubiquiti Unifi AP and AP-LR to the list of solutions. These are wireless access points on steroids, especially the LR (Long Range) model. The product itself looks like a Frisbee and does require a wired Ethernet connection for its starting point, plus the installation software can be daunting for people unfamiliar with wireless networking terms. But for someone who knows what their current SSID (network name) and password is, it can actually be pretty simple. And it will seriously cure the wireless connection problems in even the largest homes this side of LeBron James’s 35K sq. ft. house. Read more here: http://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/. These are commercial grade devices at consumer prices ($68 to $90).