We remember when personal computers first came out. You could build them yourself if you were savvy. That's what Michael Dell did way back when. He sold them to other college students and the business went on from there.
Now there's a computer that kids can put together. The "Computer Kit Touch" is $280 from Kano.me. Designed for young children, it has a 10-inch screen. Follow a printed storybook to build a portable, touchscreen computer, and attach a keyboard. From there, kids can make apps, art, and games with simple steps. Included apps are Chromium (a Web browser similar to Chrome), YouTube, Libre Office (similar to Microsoft Office) and Google Drive; more are available in the app store, such as Hack Minecraft.
Beginning programmers start with colorful blocks of pre-written code that can be dragged into place on the screen with a finger movement -- after all, it's a touchscreen computer. At the advanced level, Javascript and Python, two programming languages, come into play.
There's also a non-touchscreen version of the Computer Kit for $200. A Harry Potter wand is coming out in a few weeks that will let you program spells inspired by the Harry Potter movies and books.
INEXPENSIVE SECURITY CAMERA
The Wyze Cam Pan is a $30 security camera with more features than the more expensive Nest Cam Indoor or the Amazon Cloud Cam, according to testers at CNET.com. The cheap Wyze has some of the same features found on $200 security cameras like the iSmartAlarm.
Like most security cameras, the Wyze has free cloud storage. Or you can store your video clips on the device itself if you add a microSD card. With a free app on your phone, you can check on live feed -- meaning whatever is happening at that moment -- or view saved clips and adjust settings. Wyze stores video clips for free for 14 days (other services require a paid subscription after 24 hours). Most importantly, it alerts you when the motion and sound detectors are triggered. You can have a separate alert set for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Its field of view is greater than Amazon's Cloud Cam or the Nest Cam Indoor. The camera has a normally fixed angle of 120-degrees but can pan 360 degrees and tilt 93 degrees.
PODCASTS
Our young relatives love podcasts, and we've become fans as well. These can come in on an Alexa or Google Home, a smartphone or a computer. These are hot right now and figure to last well into the future. They offer brief broadcasts that are on your call, and not on a network's schedule.
Our favorites are Planet Money, and Freakonomics Radio, but there are hundreds more. To start, say: "Alexa, play the TED Radio Hour," or "Hey Google, play Hidden Brain." Or go to the website. We also tried This American Life from National Public Radio and This Week in Tech.
SELLING YOUR PHONE
What's the best way to sell an old phone? According to Flipsy.com, carriers such as Verizon and AT&T pay 30 percent less than online buyback companies. What's worse is they just give you a credit line for that amount, to be used for buying some of their services.
For example, Flipsy.com will give $270 cash for an iPhone 7. At AT&T you can only get a $130 credit. Verizon is the best of the major brands; it will give you a $173 credit. We could get $338 for our Pixel 2.
We could probably earn a bit more on eBay, but Flipsy has an advantage. It doesn't require a detailed listing; nor do you have to do customer service, such as dealing with returns.
One problem: You don't want to sell your old iPhone until your new one arrives. Some of Flipsy's partners offers a 45-day price lock. Here's how it works. Type in the model of your phone. When the next page comes up, notice the four columns. Next to the type of payment they accept, such as credit card, you'll find the number of days they guarantee the price. Most have about 20 days, but a few, like BuyBackWorld.com, WeBuyMobile.com and BuymyPod.com offer 45 days of locked in pricing.
DUCKDUCKGO
Several readers have recently reminded us that DuckDuckGo.com is a good alternative to Google.com if it bothers you to have your browsing tracked. But DuckDuckGo has some other attractive features as well. Such as:
It has a built-in loan calculator. Type "Loan $50,000 at 3.5% with 25% down for 15 years" and the answer comes back: $268.08 for 15 years. Total interest paid is $10,754.57." You can get these results on Google too, with more clicks.
If you come across a shortened Web address, like Bit.ly/scicabinet, and you aren't sure you want to go there, you can type "expand Bit.ly/scicabinet" and DuckDuckGo will give you the full address.
DuckDuckGo results are different from Google's. It shows the same results to all users, but Google tailors yours to what you usually search for. However, in our tests the two results lists weren't much different, and Google's results are a lot better looking and often include photos. For instance, if you want to know the major rivers in Africa, or any country, Google's results will include scenes with those rivers.
Bob and Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at [email protected] and [email protected].
Business on 09/29/2018