‘Tis the Season: Tech Toys for the Holidays 2022

Episode Notes

Transcript

[Music]

Intro: Welcome to The Digital Edge with Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway, your hosts, both legal technologists, authors, and lecturers, invite industry professionals to discuss a new topic related to lawyers and technology. You’re listening to Legal Talk Network.

Sharon D. Nelson: Welcome to the 177th edition of The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology. We’re glad to have you with us. I’m Sharon Nelson, president of Sensei Enterprises, an information technology, cybersecurity, and digital forensics firm in Fairfax, Virginia.

Jim Calloway: And I’m Jim Calloway, director of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program. Today, Sharon and I are doing our favorite podcast of the year, Tech Toys for the Holidays, in which we offer up some of our favorite tech toys, some serious, a few maybe not so serious.

Sharon D. Nelson: Well, let’s get this party rolling, Jim. My first tech toy is the FlexiSpot EN1 Standing Desk. John’s been using a standing desk, that’s my husband for those who may not know, for some time and he has found it remarkably useful. This particular model is $299. We’re going to have the links for all of these things on the podcast so you’ll be able to see all of this, and this desk was recommended by WIRED Magazine. It’s a motorized desk that lets you alternate between sitting and standing over the course of your workday.

So, the FlexiSpot was the favorite mid-priced model of WIRED Magazine. The EN1’s work surface can be adjusted to any height between 28 and 24 – excuse me, 48 inches. That’s better than 24. You can also save three presets for quick switching, and it doesn’t wobble like so many budget models tend to. You do have to assemble it, but since that would be my husband’s task and not mine it doesn’t deter me at all.

And then we have the World’s First Lego-compatible Mechanical Keyboard, and that is from $199. It is really very interesting. They’ve got a 26 percent savings now. It’s fully customizable, front and back, Lego-inspired design, hot-swappable, RGB lights, wireless and wired mode, with a gasket mount, and I must confirm that I don’t know quite what all of those things mean. This keyboard, which is really cool to look at online so click on the hyperlink and take a look at it, it’s not affiliated with Lego but it does seem quite ingenious, and you can configure your own keyboard to suit yourself. Very creative.

Jim Calloway: Legos, keyboards, never thought I’d see that one coming, Sharon. Well, I’m going to start out with a tech toy that everybody’s heard of by now, the Apple AirTag. This allows you to put tags on items that you can then trace. I’ve heard of people using it for their Luggage. I’ve also heard of people in a divorce situation use it to illegally track their spouse. So, there’s lots of different uses for these tools, Sharon.

Sharon D. Nelson: Yeah, we actually see it in forensics cases.

Jim Calloway: I’m sure you do, but it’s still a really neat tool and I’m going to include a link through Walmart where they’re offering the 4-pack of the AirTags for only $94.98. There may be some better Black Friday sales but that’s at least one place to stock up on your AirTags. I figure you have to have four, Sharon, or you won’t use it very much if you only have one.

Sharon D. Nelson: True enough.

Jim Calloway: The second is related. It is the Raptic Link + Lock for AirTag. This is a mere $15.90. It looks like a bicycle lock but basically it’s a little lock that you lock your AirTag into it and then you can attach to your AirTag. There’s a three-digit combination lock to a bicycle, or whatever you want to, but it keeps people from being able to locate and remove the air tag. Of course you don’t have it quite as clandestine with the tag attached but I think this lock would probably deter bicycle thieves, so a combination of AirTags and a Link and Lock for the AirTag is something somebody on your Christmas list may like.

Sharon D. Nelson: Yes, and with everybody stealing everything these days including cars and parts of cars, I think that’s a very good tip, Jim. So, my next tip is the Slide | Portabl, which is from a company by that name, Portabl, and it’s $570, not cheap certainly, but what it does is it connects to the back of your laptop to add two slide-out monitors, one on each side, and it perfectly fits laptops of any size. You can connect with a single USB-C or USB 3.0. I can see where this would be a remarkable improvement over having to carry another device or two with you when you travel and you need multiple screens to work easily, so it might well be worth it.

(00:05:02)

My next tip is Technics EAH-A800 Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones. This is $349 but right now at Target you can get it for $329. These headphones are known for their excellence and sound and support for high-res audio over Bluetooth. The battery life is excellent, 30 hours with noise-canceling on and 60 with noise-canceling off. There are touch controls on the right ear, and it lets you invite the sounds of the outside world into your oral bubble. This is a step up from the less than adequate wireless noise-canceling headphones that I’ve seen previously so, what the heck? It’s the holidays. Indulge yourself.

Jim Calloway: My next toy is a little hard to read. It’s the SanDisk 64GB iXpand Flash Drive Luxe for iPhone and USB Type C devices. The price is pretty good, $35.72, but this is a really cool little device. We’ve all seen the flash drives that flip – you know, flip into each other, you flip out to expose the drive, hopefully to keep it from getting dirty or whatever. Well, this basically has two drives, one for your iPhone and one for USB-C. So, it’s really handy if you’ve got a bunch of data on your iPhone and you want to move it somewhere, to stick this drive into your iPhone, pull your data off, and then use the USB-C to put it wherever you want it to end up. So, having tried to back up my photos with iTunes and other things, I wish I’d had this earlier, Sharon.

Sharon D. Nelson: Well, at least you have it now, or will, right?

Jim Calloway: I think I will. My next tech toy is an Anker Power Conference S330 USB Speakerphone and Conference Mic.  It’s a microphone for the home office it says, but basically it’s also handy anytime you travel with your laptop and you often need a speaker when the laptop setup may not work well. For $79.99, this has a speakerphone that is set up to be fully duplex audio. So, it says, you’ll have clear communication on both ends even if both parties are speaking simultaneously. I haven’t field-tested this, Sharon, but if it delivers on that, that would be pretty huge for an $80 conference microphone you could travel with you everywhere.

Sharon D. Nelson: It sure would. Let me know how that test goes, Jim.

Jim Calloway: Before we move on to our next segment, let’s take a quick commercial break.

Conrad Saam: Hey, Gyi. What’s up?

Gyi Tsakalakis: Just having some lunch, Conrad.

Conrad Saam: Hey, Gyi, do you see that billboard out there?

Gyi Tsakalakis: Oh, you mean that guy out there in the gray suit?

Conrad Saam: Yeah, the gray suit guy.

Gyi Tsakalakis: There’s all those beautiful, rich leather-bound books in the background?

Conrad Saam: That is exactly the one. That’s JD Magoffin at law. He’ll fight for you.

Gyi Tsakalakis: I bet you he has got so many years of experience.

Conrad Saam: Like decades and decades. And I bet, Gyi, I bet he even went to a law school.

[Music]

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Sharon D. Nelson: Welcome back to The Digital Edge on the Legal Talk Network. Today our subject is Tech Toys for the Holidays 2022 and Jim and I will continue to be your hosts at our tech party.

So, my tip now is the LED Rechargeable Book Light for Glasses, which is only $39.95 at Amazon. It is small, it is ultra light, only 0.31 ounce in weight. It clips onto any glass frame, any AirPods or headbands. You get 200 pages of reading per battery. It’s ideal as a travel book light, reading light for bed, portable light for hobby and crafts, studying, camping, and much more. You can take it anywhere and protect your eyes from strain and fatigue. And from what many of my friends tell me, it’s inventions like these that save your marriage and/or keep your partner from decamping to another bedroom.

And my next tip is the Solar Power Bank, which is at Amazon for $28.99. This is a wireless power bank with dual flash light and compass kit.

(00:10:04)

It charges up on solar power, and I know that if I were still a girl scout leader which I was for 17 years, but if I were doing that and going camping this would certainly be on my list, but if you love the outdoors and you want your technology to work while you’re outdoors along with the added bonuses of having a flashlight and compass, this toy is for you.

Jim Calloway: My next tech toy is not in the budget aisle. It’s from Williams Sonoma and it is the Ember Mug 2. The Ember Mug 2 is a sophisticated coffee mug that comes in six different colors. There’s a 14-ounce size, that we’re pricing here, only $149.95, but it stays on a heating plate that you could control with your smartphone where you can pre-program the heating plate. So, you can say, “Always keep my coffee at this temperature,” or you can say – you could even program it for different things you could have built in. So, if you’re really a coffee hound or if you know somebody in your gift-giving circle who appreciates coffee as much as life itself, this may be the gift that shows you get them.

I also searched a little bit for GoPro cameras and came up with the GoPro HERO10 Waterproof Action Camera with front LCD and rear touch screens. So, you can have a touch screen on the back and on the front to zoom in or whatever, but I just like the idea of this waterproof action camera, I think it sounds like a lot of fun. It’s got – it can be used as a webcam. It has built-in image stabilization. Lots of talk here about why it’s so good for sports, faster, smoother, better, but it is $399 even with an 11 percent price cut.

Sharon D. Nelson: Okay, you dive in the pool and I’ll take the photos. How’s that? There’s a thought, right?

Jim Calloway: There you go. I’m not going to say what kind of thought, but it’s a thought.

Sharon D. Nelson: Let’s move on to the Timbuk2, and that’s the name of the company, Closer Laptop Briefcase at $159, which isn’t too bad these days. It’s really the better version of a classic briefcase. It’s lightweight, it has a lifetime warranty, and it has a padded laptop sleeve that fits a 15-inch PC. Then it has a main compartment for chargers, pens, AirPods, et cetera, and a water bottle pocket on the side. The shoulder strap is removable if you just want to carry it, but personally I favor the cross-body look. And it’s made from recycled materials so you get bonus points for going green.

My next tip is the Pocketalk Classic Language Translator Device, the portable two-way voice interpreter, 82-language if you can believe it, smart translations in real time, from Amazon at $129, which I didn’t think was too bad for what it does. So, it’s a multi-language, two-way voice translator. So, you can travel to foreign countries and communicate authentically and accurately with someone that speaks a different language using the pocket talk translator device. It can translate up to 82 languages seamlessly, with more in development, allowing you to build a deeper connection and fully immerse yourself in any situation. It’s a great way to have a conversation between two people who don’t speak the same language. Now, you could find out where the nearest cool bar is from a local, and maybe even buy your new friend a drink.

Jim Calloway: Well, that’s certainly interesting, Sharon. I like that idea.

Okay, my next one is very seasonal. It’s the Bird Buddy. It’s a bird feeder with a solar roof that charges the bird feeder. It also has a USB-C charger. It’s a really cute-looking bird feeder. And you say, “Why does my bird feeder need power?” Well, it needs power so you can use the built-in camera to take pictures of the birds that are eating, using your smartphone app. So, if you really like birds, even though this one is a little bit high at $269 and is not shipping until early 2023, I still like the Bird Buddy as a very unique gift for someone.

Sharon D. Nelson: You’re really into pictures this time, Jim.

Jim Calloway: Well, every now and then. And we’ll just move right along in the picture theme with the UBeesize 67” Phone Tripod Stand & Selfie Stick Tripod. Yes, it is a tripod and a selfie stick built into one. Of course, as I look at the diagrams I go, “I guess any tripod could be a selfie stick if you just fold it up and hold it,” but seriously, I see a lot of people trying to take movies and other things with their cameras and if you could just use these the stands so the images were more stable, it really includes this thing. But one reason I wanted to include this one Sharon is my thrifty nature.

(00:15:00)

This one is now 65 percent off, so the price is only $8.46 cents for a tripod and a selfie stick.

Sharon D. Nelson: That’s really quite remarkable, and I know that you’re a penny-pincher.

Jim Calloway: Before we move on to our next segment, let’s take a quick commercial break.

[Music]

Sharon D. Nelson: As a lawyer, keeping up with developments and information security, cyber threats, and e-discovery is a never-ending process. Fortunately, the Digital Detectives podcast does the hard work for you. I’m Sharon Nelson and together with John Simek, we bring on industry experts to discuss the latest tech developments that help keep your data secure, only on the Digital Detectives Podcast.

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Sharon D. Nelson: Welcome back to The Digital Edge on the Legal Talk Network. Today our subject is Tech Toys for the Holidays 2022. So, let’s wrap this party up.

So, I want to talk about the TEAMOR Full-Body Shiatsu Massage Chair. It’s a retro classic recliner massager with airbag, heating, foot roller, for home and office. It is zero-gravity space capsule, I’m not sure I know what that means, and reclining, relaxing massage chair in black. Now from Amazon, it is $1,035. I urge you to look this one up. I took one look at it online and I simply said, “I want this.” Even the price did not deter me. In addition to the massage, heating, and music functions, this chair includes a retro FM radio and USB charging. The heating, massage, and music functions combined are just too good to pass up.

Jim, make sure you mention this to John because that’s, as you know, who has to give me these presents, and for something like this I need to enlist the support of an ally. You’ve got my back, right, Jim?

Jim Calloway: I’ll join the lobbying campaign.

Sharon D. Nelson: Thank you, sir. My last tech toy is the NEMO Personal Submarine. The NEMO is the newest high-tech gadget for the ultra-wealthy, which I aspire to be and have a lottery ticket which will put me in that status by morning, I have no doubt. It is a personal submarine that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and can explore the ocean for about eight hours at a time. You can read all about it at Business Insider. Designs of this lightweight submarine were unveiled in 2020, but U-Boat Worx, that’s W-O-R-X, the Dutch company that manufactures the NEMO, just started accepting orders recently. I suspect that had something to do with COVID.

According to reports, the deep-sea explorer was initially priced at $1,000,000 but since the initial announcement two years ago, its price has been cut nearly in half, so you can look at it at uboatworx.com, is the last part of that, and you can look at the production models on the website. They are very cool. And now that it has been reduced to a little over half a million, it’s perfectly within our budgets, right, Jim?

Jim Calloway: That’s right. I just need more friends who are going to buy me half-million dollar gifts for the holidays.

Sharon D. Nelson: We’ll work on that.

Jim Calloway: Okay. Okay, this next one is a bit odd. I know that Sharon’s going to like this. It’s the Unitree Go1, and the price has been reduced from $4,500 to $2700. But, Sharon, you and I are both greatly entertained by the dancing robots that we’ve seen doing various videos, so now you can have your own dancing robot for a pet basically. It has cameras built in, artificial intelligence. It has all these cameras on the bottom so it knows how to deal with rough terrain that it is walking through. It’s very light, 12 kg. It has this super sensory system. You can also train it to follow you, and it walks beside its human master just like a well-trained pet with the built-in AI and a strong and flexible power system. It’s low-noise and quiet. I think you’ll be the envy of the dog park if you take this there, Sharon.

Sharon D. Nelson: And I’ll bet at home it never pees on the rug, right?

Jim Calloway: That’s right, or chews up anything either. Okay, my last tech toy is a MoonBike, the black edition of the world’s first electric snow bike, that comes in Black.

(00:20:03)

So, it’s a snowmobile essentially but it’s super light. It looks more like a bicycle, really, with just a little motor and everything on it, but imagine the people that enjoy this, and that’s not us in Oklahoma, Sharon, but the people that enjoy using these types of things, imagine how cool it would be to ride through the snowy terrain on a silent snow bike. So, you’ll get to see a lot more animals and a lot more scenes. I think that would be pretty entertaining, if you had a spare minimum $8,900 dollars.

Sharon D. Nelson: Well, it sounds like a magical Christmas to be able to do that. So, Jim, I hope you get all the toys you wish for for Christmas. Thank you for another year of doing the podcast together, that’s a gift in itself, and we certainly want to wish our listeners very happy holidays.

Jim Calloway: Well, thank you as well, Sharon. I really enjoyed doing The Digital Edge podcast and actually enjoy the fact that this is our most listened to podcast. So, if you’re listening to it now, feel free to share it with a friend, and happy holidays.

Sharon D. Nelson: And that does it for this edition of The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology. And remember, you can subscribe to all the editions of this podcast at legaltalknetwork.com or on Apple Podcasts, and if you enjoyed our podcast please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Jim Calloway: Thanks for joining us. Goodbye, Ms. Sharon.

Sharon D. Nelson: Happy trails, cowboy.

[Music]

Outro: Thanks for listening to The Digital Edge, produced by the broadcast professionals at Legal Talk Network. Join Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway for their next podcast covering the latest topic related to lawyers and technology. Subscribe to the RSS feed on legaltalknetwork.com or on iTunes.