Happy 100th Birthday, Consumer Technology Business

Posted on 4 December 2020 by Stewart Wolpin

Celebrating the 100th birthday of the consumer technology industry with the story behind how and why our business came to be and of those responsible for creating it, in five parts:

Part 1: The Wireless Age

Part 2: A National Priority

Part 3: A Pittsburgh Radio Sensation

Part 4: The Birth of a Business

Part 5: “When The Public Is Ready For Mass Demand”

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How the Consumer Technology Industry Was Born

Posted on 1 December 2020 by Stewart Wolpin

What we now call the consumer technology industry was born November 30, 1920, when the first consumer electronics product, the two-piece RA-DA, the first commercially produced radio designed for the mass market, rolled off the Westinghouse assembly line in East Pittsburgh. After a two-year period of hectic technological, business and legislative/regulatory developments following the end of World War I, the Westinghouse RA-DA and the entire radio industry emerged, becoming the dominant consumer technology product for three decades. On the centennial of our industry, let’s take a look at the events of 1919-1920 that cleared the way for the future.

Part 1: The Day Radio Died

Part 2: How the Consumer Technology Industry Was Almost Never Born

Part 3: How President Wilson Shaped the Airways

Part 4: Happy 100th Birthday To The Consumer Technology Industry

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Can/Should the Internet Be Regulated?

Posted on 12 June 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

Trolling. Phishing. Online scams. Dark web. Identity theft. Click bait. Ransomware. Spyware. Adware. Malware. Cyber attacks. Zero day attacks. Trojan horses. User data tracking, collection and selling. Algorithm amplification and manipulation. Election hacking. Deep fakes. Anonymity.

The growing misuse and outright lawlessness of the internet makes the wild west look like an unruly kindergarten class.

But what to do?

Read the rest of this rumination here at Digital Technology Consulting’s Weekly Riff.

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Face-Off: Noise-Canceling True Wireless Earbuds

Posted on 9 June 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

What the world needs now is active noise-canceling (ANC) true wireless earbuds. ANC buds meet the needs of the moment by providing a way to boost audio quality during Zoom calls while simultaneously isolating us against intrusive environmental factors (remote-schooled kids, other work-from-home adults, etc.). And fortunately for us all, they are getting better-sounding, more feature-packed, and less expensive.

Read the rest of this review roundup here at Sound & Vision.

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11 New Features that Will Make Your Apple Devices More Useful

Posted on 8 June 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

Enhanced security and privacy, increased interoperability between Apple devices, and more intelligent apps are coming to all Apple devices this fall. Many of these new features and capabilities will work across iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey (macOS 12) when the new operating systems roll out this fall. Here are our 11 favorite new features.

Read the complete list here at Techlicious.com.

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Echo and Ring Owners Need to Opt Out of Amazon’s Invasive WiFi Sharing

Posted on 4 June 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

Starting June 8, 2021, Amazon Echo and Ring video doorbell owners will automatically begin sharing their WiFi home network with other Amazon device owners as part of a new “feature” called Amazon Sidewalk. Sidewalk, which was first announced in September 2019, apportions a small piece of all Amazon Echo or Ring device’s wireless connections and pools them together “to create a network that benefits all Sidewalk-enabled devices in a community.”

Read the rest of this report here at Techlicious.

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The 9 Best Inkjet Printers for Business in 2021

Posted on 28 April 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

Inkjet printers are ideal for businesses with less demanding printing work but have photo and other heavy color art and graphics reproduction needs. Inkjet photo-printing superiority, an aspect even the best laser printers find challenging, is handy for operations such as for real estate agencies, car dealerships, galleries, and more. 

Read the rest of this review roundup here at Investopedia.

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The 9 Best Laser Printers for Business in 2021

Posted on 28 April 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

There’s a perception that laser printers are conspicuously more expensive than their inkjet counterparts and are, therefore, unaffordable for thrifty small and mid-sized businesses. On the contrary, however, laser printers not only represent a huge price premium over inkjets, but they are also better for many businesses on a budget with heavy printing needs. Laser printers produce more professional-looking documents and are cheaper to operate long term thanks to far lower per-page costs than inkjet models.  

Read the rest of this review roundup here at Investopedia.

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9 Features to Try in iOS 14.5

Posted on 28 April 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

Usually, the significant upgrades to iOS and iPadOS roll out in the fall, like with iOS 14 and iPad OS 14. However, iOS and iPadOS 14.5 became available yesterday and include fixes to some major annoyances. Here are the top 9 features to take advantage of in iOS and iPadOS 14.5.

See this list of features here at Techlicious.com.

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Should You Upgrade to the New iMac?

Posted on 21 April 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

With a new iMac going on sale later this month, the enduring question is: is it time to upgrade? Built around the powerful new M1 chip and sporting a host of other upgrades, the new iMac is worth a long, hard look.

Read the rest of this report here at Techlicious.

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Should You Upgrade to the New iPad Pro?

Posted on 20 April 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

Apple’s latest iPad Pro models receive impressive performance and aesthetic upgrades, thanks to Apple’s own M1 processor. But that’s not where the innovation stops; these new iPad Pros are definitely worth an upgrade. Here’s why.

Read the rest of this report here at Techlicious.

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AirTags Enable Apple Lost & Found

Posted on 20 April 2021 by Stewart Wolpin

While there have been  location tags on the market for years, Apple has decided it could improve on existing products with its own AirTag. This Bluetooth locator is tied into the company’s Find My ecosystem, which Apple users already use to find misplaced iPhones, iPads, and AirPods.

Read the rest of this report here at Techlicious.https://www.techlicious.com/blog/airtags-enable-apple-lost-and-found/

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