News,  Podcast

PCM005 Podcast: Drones, Wearable Tech and Driverless Cars

Robots and powerful sensors are everywhere. And they are able to track your every move, measure your every action. That’s probably the biggest development we’ve seen from the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where we learned that drones — soon to be a billion dollar a year industry — as well as robotic cars and wearable tech gizmos that monitor and track your body movements are about to become hot personal technology trends.

[spp-player]

Complete shownotes for Episode 5 of the PC Mike Podcast:

Tech News and Trends

From the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, this episode walks you through the latest in cars that drive themselves and how some industry experts are predicting they will be routine within five years.

I dig into the controversy involving drones – unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft, soon to be a $1 billion-a-year business. Drones are getting more and more sophisticated and can now automatically track you or a moving object from the air, recording its every move. The Federal Aviation Authority has been trying to control drone use and they have been banned in U.S. National Parks — as I personally learned this past week.

But the rules seem to be easing and the use of drones is exploding by hobbyists and commercial interests.

Here’s a link to a CES video on drones and unmanned remote controlled devices that shows some of the new drone technology.

Watch the video below to see the drone I use:

What makes all this wearable and robotic tech possible are sensors, which have become more and more powerful. Here’s a CES report that talks about advances in sensors,

Product Review

Daly’s 1895 Sterling Silver 16 GB USB Cufflinks – $199

cufflinksDaly’s 1895 is a fourth-generation, century-old men’s luxury designer and online retailer, has a heritage of offering the most innovative and exclusive men’s fashion and accessories.

These beautiful cufflinks are hand made by Daly’s silversmiths in Texas. They are ideal for having your personal monogram engraved. Each pair of cufflinks has one cufflink that slides open with a 16 GB USB flash drive inside, ready to install in your computer. Share everything from your professional presentation on stage to your personal photo album along with your favorite music playlist. For balance and design they put a small edge around the second cufflink to match in style where the first cufflink slides apart.

Listener Feedback

Listeners Sharon and Jack write: “My husband and myself both have droid smart phones and would like to share our calendar can’t find out how to do this.”

I recommend Google Calendar

It works on all platforms and provides easy sharing and synchronication from every device.

For Mac and iPhone or iPad users, I suggest BusyCal, which syncs with many different calendar programs, including Google’s.

Giveaway

linkedinI’m giving away copies of LinkedIn for Dummies to the first five listeners those who leave me a voicemail question or a tech tip that I use on the podcast.

App of the Week

Free for Apple and Android mobile gizmos is a cool app called Cabin. This app sets up a private mobile network for families and friends that lets you assign reminders, track locations, and chat with your loved ones. It’s a closed group, available to only those you invite. You can share photos, audio, and notes; keep a running list of To-Do’s, tasks and important dates; and even pinpoint exactly where everyone is, in real time.

 I need your help

As we begin a new podcast like this, it’s very important to get a bunch of reviews to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your rating and review.

Here’s how:

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts on top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in PC Mike Techcast under the Podcasts category.
> Click on the logo image of the PC Mike Techcast on the search return page
> From there, you can:

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. I read and appreciate every review! If you haven’t left a review please do so. I will be so grateful!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at pcmike.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your question.

Thank you!

 

Mike is a veteran journalist whose video "PC Mike" reports have been distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations since 1994, making him one of the most experienced tech reporters in the country. His tech stories and videos have appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, the Today Show, The New York Times, USA Today and in numerous national newspapers and magazines. In addition to the PC Mike tech blog, he also publishes the Roadtreking.com RV Travel Blog in which he travels North America in an RV reporting about interesting people and places.