The Future is Coming …

In the 1989 movie Back to the Future, the main characters Marty McFly and Dr. Brown, travel forward in time to 2015, a time of flying cars and a woman in the Oval Office. Neither of these predictions have come to pass, but last week at CES in Las Vegas (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show), an actual date was projected for the introduction of a flying car. The Bell Nexus, is a VTOL air taxi (VTOL stands for vertical take off and landing) which the company (Bell was formerly known as Bell Helicopters) plans to have soaring over our cities by the mid-2020s.

CES is noted as the showcase for innovative technology. Many of the products featured at the show are prototypes of things to come, like the Bell Nexus, while others are products that will enter the marketplace this year. While most of the automotive related products fall into the first category, the all electric 2020 Harley-Davison LiveWire is set to debut in the fall, and can be pre-ordered now. Priced at just under $30,000, the LiveWire is a futuristically deigned motorcycle that can go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of 110 mph. 

A variety of products were introduced for the home, many of them designed to interact through voice commands through Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa. Over the past year Instant Pot introduced a line of programmable pressure cookers that have been all the rage – promising nutritious, healthy foods cooked from two to ten times faster than on the stove and using 70% less energy. The newest model of the Instant Pot Smart WiFi pressure cooker, priced at under $300, incorporates Google Assistant voice command functionality. Say “Hey Google, set the program on my cooker to rice,” and the Instant Pot will begin cooking your rice, although you do need to add the rice and water to the pot before giving the command!

Whirlpool introduced a countertop version of its Smart Oven, featuring built-in cameras that can detect the food you place in the oven and automatically set the temperature and cooking time. The oven can tell the difference between frozen and thawed items, and can be programmed to bake, broil, convection bake, convection roast, toast, reheat, proof, dehydrate, air fry, slow cook and keep warm. It features a built-in food thermometer, can be programmed with an app and send the app notifications to update you on cooking status. The newest model is compatible with both Google Assistant and Alexa devices, and can be programmed via voice commands. If you want to watch food while it cooks, you can access the internal cameras and see an image of the cooking process in real-time on the 27-inch transparent LCD display built into the front door. The display can also show recipes, and when you select one, it guides you through the step-by-step directions. Pricing and release date have yet to be announced.

Another smart device introduced for the kitchen is the Sensate Faucet with Kohler Konnect. Sensate Faucets have been around for a while, but the newest incarnation is designed for voice activation with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit. The original Sensate was introduced in 2013 and was designed to bring hands-free control to the kitchen sink with a series of integrated sensors that can turn the water on and off with the wave of a hand. The newest version is voice activated, and in addition to turning on and off, it can dispense measured amounts of water and change from stream to spray with a voice command. A sensor on the faucet monitors water usage and sends the information to an app. The new Sensate Faucet is not yet available and pricing has not been announced, but the pricing of the original Sensate Faucets started at over $500.

Past CES shows have featured a wide variety of devices for home security and this year was no exception. Most of the security devices and cameras on display did not include revolutionary features, but Alarm.com did introduce an new variation in home security cameras. The company introduced Wellcam, a wifi-connected video camera that is meant to be located in the home of a loved-one who is in need of monitoring. With a 180-field of vision camera, it captures live video for caregivers and concerned relatives. Caregivers can check in with an Alarm.com mobile app to see live video or captured video clips. The Wellcam sends out alerts when something does not seem right, can make two-way audio-calls, and can send out a help alert without a smartphone. Wellcam is available now and is priced under $350.

Over 4,400 companies exhibited at CES, and the number of products on display is mind boggling. I hope this small peek into the world of high-tech has been interesting, and maybe you or a member of your family, will be bringing one of these products into your home in the near future.

My Friend, the Virtual Assistant

My Friend, the Virtual Assistant 

The other morning my husband was reading the Wall Street Journal when he happened upon an article he thought I would find interesting. Titled Virtual Assistants Have Hit a Wall, we both thought the premise of the article would make a good basis for an OnMouseClick column.

What exactly is a virtual assistant? As defined by the website TechTarget:

A virtual assistant, also called AI assistant or digital assistant, is an application program that understands natural language voice commands and completes tasks for the user.

An early idea of AI Assistant (AI stands for artificial intelligence) was highlighted in a book and companion video back in the dark ages of 1987, when then Apple CEO John Sculley, introduced the idea of a Knowledge Navigator. I remember being fascinated watching a video that featured a university professor returning home and turning on a tablet sized computer back when mobile devices were still in the realm of science fiction. The image of a bow-tie wearing butler (or virtual assistant) appears on the computer screen and tells the professor that he received several phone calls while he was out, and did he want to hear the messages. The professor tells the computer to ignore the phone calls and to compile data for an upcoming lecture. While compiling the research data, the computer mulit-tasks and answers a phone call from another professor. The video concludes with the two professors having a video based conversation about their upcoming lecture.

The idea of a Knowledge Navigator did foretell the future in many ways. We all use a handheld mobile device in a variety of sizes, and through these devices, we receive both voice and video telephone calls. Voice dictation is widely used, especially in the field of medicine, and access to virtual assistants proliferates, even if the AI behind them is not up to the level of the Knowledge Navigator.

Amazon Alex and Google Assistant are stand-alone devices for the home that can be programmed to obey voice commands. You can program these devices to turn lights on and off, lock and unlock doors, and issue weather and traffic reports on command. Apple Siri is a virtually installed on all Apple mobile devices. By pressing a button, or saying “Hey Siri,” you can ask it to give you specific information (“When is the next St. John’s basketball game?”), make a phone call to someone in your Contacts address book (“Call Eddie” will initiate a phone call to my husband’s cell phone), and add notes and reminders to your respective apps.

In his article Mr. Pierce states that while virtual assistant can make our lives easier, they often require a great deal of programming before the required tasks can be preformed, and often are not yet ready to do all that we would like. He suggests that it doesn’t make a great deal of sense to have your devices automatically lock the doors in your house if you don’t have complete faith in the AI. After instructing AI to lock the doors, he still feels the need to walk around the house to verify that the doors are actually locked. 

I feel the same way about locking our new Honda Odyssey. When the key fob is on your person you lock the doors by touching the door handle, but the doors are also supposed to lock if you simply walk away from the car. However, I just don’t trust the system enough to be sure that it works – and I cannot test it, because if I go back to try and open the door, it automatically unlocks because the key fob is in my purse.

I have encountered a similar problem with Siri on my iPhone. iOS devices have a built in Reminders app that can be used to make lists of – reminders! You can create and name multiple lists, and I have several, including the ubiquitous Reminders list, and my most used Grocery List. In theory, all I have to do is say out loud “Hey Siri,” and my iPhone will open a screen with the words “What can I help you with?” Then I tell it what I want to  put on my Grocery List. I was originally perplexed as to why sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did not. After much trial and error, I discovered that in order for Siri to understand what to add to a list, I needed to always use the word ADD, not PUT as I was doing some of the time. If I said “Put milk on my grocery list,” Siri did not know what to do, but saying “Add milk to my grocery list” works 99% of the time. Every year more and more technology is introduced that is designed to make our lives easier, but along the way there are as many steps back as forward, and often the learning curve for us, and the AI, is steep.

As I write this column the annual CES is taking place in Las Vegas. According to the official CES website (formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show, but now known only by the acronym CES), it is where “next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace.” In next week’s column I will highlight some of the innovations that are scheduled to enter the marketplace in 2019.

Accessories to Make Life Easier

As more of us are going high-tech, we find ourselves accumulating numerous electronic devices, and sometimes it seems like there are power cords all over the house. When planning a trip, it takes time just to figure out which devices and matching charging cords need to be packed. Today’s column features suggestions that might make your life just a little bit easier.

All mobile phones and tablets come with a USB power adapter to plug into the wall, and a cable that connects to the power adapter to charge the device – a Lightening to USB cable for Apple devices, and a micro USB cable for Android devices. The problem with the standard cables that come with our devices are usually only 3’ long, which never seems to be long enough. I use my iPad at night to read books on my Kindle app in bed, and if I need to charge it at the same time, a 3’ charging cable is too short for comfortable reading. 

Purchasing 6’ Lightening cables solved that problem nicely, until we bought our Tiffin Wayfarer RV last September. The unit has twin beds that covert into a king bed, and the USB outlets are in an awkward location under the beds. When converted to a king bed even the 6’ cables were not long enough, so I ordered 10’ cables which are the perfect size to wind their way under and over the bed.

It is important to remember when purchasing new charging cables that all cable are not created equal. Inexpensive cables that can be found at every convenience store may not be manufactured with sufficient wiring and insulation, and can be prone to burning out and damaging your devices. When buying Lightening to USB cables for Apple devices be sure to buy cables with Apple MFi certification (Apple warns that if you use uncertified cables you could void your warranty). One of the best manufactures of cables, and the power adapters they plug into, is Anker. Not only does Anker offer high quality cables for both Apple and Android devices, they also sell cables with braided nylon sheaths in place of the tradition plastic coverings that are prone to breaking and exposing the inner wiring.

The power adapters that come with mobile devices are designed with one USB outlet, which can be a problem when you have multiple devices to charge in a single location. An alternative is to purchase chargers with two, three, or even four USB outlets. However, all chargers are not created equal, and before making a purchase, it is important to understand the power requirements and limitations of these power adapters. A charger must supply the correct amperage (a measure of electric current denoted by the letter A) for your devices – in layman’s terms, a mobile phone requires 1A to charge, and an iPad requires 2.1A. If you buy a power adapter with multiple USB ports for charging multiple devices at one time, the total amperage capacity of the charger must be greater than the combined amperage needed for the devices. I own power adapters with both two and three USB outlets, which I store in a small bag with the six and ten foot Lightening cables for use when we travel. The two outlet charger provides 4.8A, or 2.4 Amps per outlet, more than enough for two iPads, or an iPad and an iPhone. My three outlet charger supplies 2.4A equally to each of the three ports, with one port charging at a faster rate.

If I use these chargers when we travel, what do I use at home? I have a large,15A unit that plugs into the wall outlet by my side of the bed and sports two USB ports and three grounded outlets. I am able to plug in both my iPhone and iPad, with additional outlets for a bedside lamp and my Apple Watch power adapter. Up until Christmas, Eddie had one of these units on his side of the bed, but Santa brought him an iHome Docking Bluetooth Stereo / Clock Radio for Christmas.The speaker features a port to plug in an iPhone, a USB port for an additional Lightening cable, which he uses for his iPad, and a built in magnetic charging port for his Apple Watch. He also plays his Apple Music through his charging iPhone!

The Anker 6’ Lightening cables we use were purchased from Amazon. Anker also makes micro USB cables for Android devices. The 2 and 3 USB outlet Anker IQ power adapters were also purchased from Amazon, and they will work with all types of mobile devices. Various models of wall outlets with USB and grounded outlets are available from Amazon, as well as at stores such as Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart. Santa bought the iHome Docking Bluetooth Stereo / FM Clock Radio with Apple Watch Charging at Best Buy.

Getting from Here to There

Sometimes I wonder how we navigated prior to GPS devices in our cars. In the past, when someone gave me directions, it would result in a long, hand written list. Now all I need do is ask for an address and the GPS does the rest. We bought our first GPS at an RV show over ten years ago. The devices were designed specifically for RVing and it was outstanding. Since it was a stand-alone unit, we used it in both our cars and RV. 

When our first unit needed replacing, we purchased another stand-alone unit. The company that made our first unit had gone out of business, and until four years ago, we used a series of Garmin devices. In 2014 we bought a new Honda Odyssey with a built-in GPS. We actually liked the way the Garmin worked better, but the convenience of the large, built-in screen was a definite plus.

A downside to using in-car GPS was the inability to make routing changes while driving unless you use voice commands, which we found overly cumbersome. We do not rely solely on the built in GPS for accurate navigation – we never leave on a lengthy trip without a backup system of paper maps. We also supplement the in-car GPS with the Maps and WAZE apps on my iPhone. Apple Maps (or the alternative Google Maps) helps keep me oriented with our exact location and assist in finding an alternate routes in heavy traffic. WAZE (published by Google) is a crowd sourced app – people who use the app report current traffic conditions that are posted on the app for everyone to see. When highway traffic starts to slow down, I immediately check WAZE to see what is happening on the road ahead (construction, accident, or just heavy traffic) and how long ago it was reported. Every time we head south on I-75, we check WAZE to see what lies ahead and if we need to find an alternative route.

A GPS has become so vital that when we bought our new Tiffin Wayfarer last September, we passed on the first motor home we liked, because it did not have a built-in GPS. Then, in December, just before the holidays, we decided to trade our Odyssey for a 2019 model. Initially we wanted a built-in GPS, but instead we opted for a model with CarPlay (it also features Android Auto, a similar system for users of Android phones). The systems interfaces the mobile phone with the car’s computer system, displaying a stripped-down version of the phone screen. It enables drivers and passengers to access music, navigation, phone calls and text messages. Maps and directions can be viewed on the car display screen and controlled with voice commands or the car’s touch screen.

My biggest concern with opting for CarPlay over a built-in GPS was data usage on my phone. Eddie and I have an ATT Mobile Share Advantage plan with 6GB of monthly data for both our phones. We also have “rollover,” so that data not used one month rolls over to the next month. I was nervous that using the iPhone for navigation would use too much data, but I did some research and everything I read said that very little data is used in phone-based navigation. 

Over the holidays we travelled north to New York and Virginia and visit family in our new Odyssey, and it was a perfect opportunity to evaluate CarPlay as a built-in GPS alternative. As I write this we are still in Virginia, with one leg of our trip left to navigate. We don’t have a definite answer on whether or not we like using CarPlay better than a built-in system, but I do have some observations. 

My nervousness about using too much data was unfounded. The data usage during navigation was negligible and will not be a problem, and I definitely like being able to plan the routes on my phone before we leave the house. Sitting in the passenger seat, I can also make changes in a route without being locked out of the system while the car is in motion. The car’s display screen shows the map and directions very clearly, including which lane to use and when turns and exits are coming up. One downside to using the Apple Maps app is that it does not allow you to enter stops along a route – it only works from point A to point B. An alternative is Google Maps, which does let you add stops, but for some unknown reason, I have been having problems using it as soon as we leave a wifi environment. I will keep working on Google Maps and will report back in a later column.

As a final note, another advantage of CarPlay is that new text messages can actually be  read aloud and phone calls are broadcast through the car’s audio system. You can even answer and send a reply with your voice. These are much needed safety features in an era when many people (including senior citizens) are focusing too much attention on their small screen phones while driving. 

Happy New Year everyone!