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Best Tech Gifts to Buy Your Dad This Father’s Day

PSafe Newsroom — Sun, 18 Jun 2017 14:00:12 +0000

Finding the perfect gift for a parent — or even a friend or relative — can be a difficult process. You want the gift to be thoughtful, but you also want it to be something that the recipient can get some use out of. If you’re not sure what to get your father this Father’s Day, consider getting him one of the following budget-friendly tech gifts to make his life easier and more enjoyable.

Google Chromecast Audio – $35

This handy device will allow your dad to play songs from his phone or any device on his speakers — regardless of how old they are. It comes with a 3.5mm stereo cable to connect to the speakers. Then, all he has to do is connect Chromecast Audio to the Wi-Fi network and he’ll be able to stream music or listen to NPR through his speakers in no time.

Amazon Echo Dot – $49.99

This device will be perfect for your dad’s growing smart home. It is a voice-controlled smart speaker that connects to the Alexa Voice Service to help him perform tasks such as making calls, playing music, checking sports scores, or choosing what to order for dinner. Your dad can also use it as a smart hub to control other smart appliances, such as lights or the thermostat, in his home. The Echo Dot also comes in a variety of colors and materials so that it will match any room — and your dad’s personal style.

MiniPresso GR Espresso Maker – $59.95

If your dad is a fan of camping trips — and espresso — then he’ll love this easy-to-use espresso maker. It makes good quality espresso for its size and price. It is hand-operated, which means that it doesn’t require batteries or electricity to function.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet – $79.99

This is one of the best tablets on the market for the price. Released on June 7, it comes with an 8-inch HD display, 16GB of internal storage, 1.5GB of RAM, 12 hours of battery life, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, Dolby audio, and the ability to hold up to 256GB of external storage — perfect for movies, books, and beyond. This tablet also comes with Alexa to assist your dad with all of his daily tasks. If your dad likes to travel, consider getting him this tablet for Father’s Day; he’ll be able to take with him as many books and movies as he desires, without the extra weight in his suitcase.

Smart Homes Experience Glitches with Amazon Crash

PSafe Newsroom — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 20:00:44 +0000

A lot of issues can occur when you rely on the Internet to make your life easier. Having your entire home operating under one service might seem like a futuristic perk, but we have yet to arrive at a perfect smart home. This was proven true in February, when many Amazon cloud customers were left without Internet, light, or knowledge of why this fault occurred. In addition to blackouts, you also need to worry about your smart devices being hacked. Click below to use Anti-Hacking on your mobile device and obtain premium protection:

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The initial problem was with Amazon Web Services, which provides services to thousands of online outlets for business, shopping, entertainment, and more. Customers began to notice that sites were running at a slower pace, which escalated into more widespread outages at a scale not often seen with Internet operations. The glitch caused many users to experience faulty operations on websites and downloading services, as well as basic electric failures such as light switches and power to neighboring devices.

Even Alexa, Amazon’s patented voice command service, had trouble remaining active during the crashes. Other applications and social network sites were unable to function in offline mode, and those with the smartphone apps noticed the slow pace with the most frequency. Instagram, Snapchat, and Groupme are just a few popular modes of communication that could not send or receive anything for a few hours during the crash.

Although few websites crashed completely, the inconvenience of slow Internet caused a ruckus in the eastern U.S. Other companies that use their Amazon cloud base around the world did not experience such delays, but the outage affected outbound actions based in certain areas of the United States. Conversations of more advanced data storage and more spread-out data locations were brought into question, but the issues only persisted for a limited duration.

The general consensus is that Amazon didn’t lose out on major clientele or inconvenience the masses, but this event is worth remembering when delegating control of appliances and services to cloud technology. Especially in homes, you should have a backup circuit breaker or manual power at the ready, in case instances like this happen again. Take heed of how smart homes and devices are operating and divulge problems to respective carriers when they occur.

How the Amazon Web Services’ Crash Affected Users

PSafe Newsroom — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 20:00:37 +0000

Many of us can’t live long without access to Amazon. With its fast delivery, ability to stream shows and movies, comprehensive storage, and so many other services, it’s hard to imagine life without Amazon. But that’s just what happened when Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Simple Storage Service started experiencing issues in 2017. To start, the storage program started experiencing “high error rates” in Northern Virginia data centers.

More Than Amazon Was Affected by the Outage

Amazon’s outage is important because AWS is such a major player on the market. AWS is the biggest cloud computing server now available, with more than 40 percent of the market and a revenue of $12 billion dollars in 2017. This might not have been such a problem if so many websites and applications that use AWS weren’t knocked out. Many websites and apps use Amazon, including popular sites like Expedia, Medium, and even the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Here’s How the Outage Affected Users

During the outage, Amazon posted the following update messages, as AWS was up and down throughout the day: “We’re continuing to work to remediate the availability issues for Amazon S3 in US-EAST-1. AWS services and customer applications depending on S3 will continue to experience high error rates as we are actively working to remediate the errors in Amazon S3.”

So how did the AWS affect users?

Most use AWS S3 storage system as a virtual hard drive. They store documents and files on the cloud to protect themselves if their computers or devices fail. Overall, the storage system had three to four trillion pieces of data stored in it, meaning that many users feared that their data was lost. Or, at the very least, users couldn’t access their files very promptly during the outage.

AWS users found the outages frustrating, to say the least, and some people called the outage a “digital snow day.” Overall, the outage lasted for around 3.5 hours, but some users had problems for even longer.

What Will happen in the Future?

Additionally, some users’ favorite apps and websites were affected by the outage. For example, some sites went down entirely while others had many broken links. Additionally, AWS-supported products, like Nest’s smart thermometer, had issues, as well. Luckily, AWS came back full force soon after the outage, but it does make one wonder: when so many sites are powered by the same cloud, what will happen if a similar outage happens again?

Amazon Audible Brings All the Audiobooks You Want to Android

PSafe Newsroom — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 14:00:11 +0000

Audible is the United States’ biggest audio book producer and seller. Amazon bought Audible in 2008 for $300 million. Now, Amazon is trying to offer additional perks to Prime members, by offering free access to Audible Channels and audiobooks. If you don’t have Prime, however, you can still access this feature for about $5 per month.

Amazon Prime and Audible

If you have an Amazon Prime membership, then you’ll have access to over 700,000 audiobooks from the Audible library. Amazon Prime members have unlimited access to these audiobooks. In addition, there are over 70 radio channels associated with Audible that are accessible to Audible and Amazon Prime customers.

The Perks of Audible

But, is Audible worth it? Are you cheating on your physical book copies? Well, sort of. Audible enables you to multitask while you listen to your book. However, if you are reading a standard novel, then you are certainly limited to the tasks you can perform while multitasking.

Moreover, Audible is compatible with your Kindle, so you can synchronize the two using the “Whispersync For Voice” feature. So, if you are out shopping and listening to an audiobook through your phone, you can pick up your Kindle later that night and pick up exactly where you left off. You can also adjust the speed that a reader speaks on Audible. So if you want your Harry Potter novels to be read with a higher sense of urgency, then you can adjust the speed accordingly.

Audible will also refund any audiobook you are displeased with. While you probably can’t abuse this perk to get automatic refunds, you will certainly be able to get refunded for a few books you didn’t care for.

Listening to Your Favorite Authors

Sometimes, authors will read their own books. This can be an exciting practice if you really love a particular author, or even if you’re reading the biography of a comedian or other performer. On Writing by Stephen King, for example, is narrated by King himself. Likewise, Writing Down the Bones is narrated by author Natalie Goldberg.

Try Out Audible

Your first two audiobooks are free. If you are not sure whether you want to commit to Audible, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial that lets you listen to two complimentary books. If you do not like Audible, you can cancel your service and maintain possession of the two audiobooks you received, free of charge.

The Funniest Responses from Amazon Echo So Far

PSafe Newsroom — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 17:00:55 +0000

Amazon Echo may still be a new device, but it’s already found a new purpose in addition to answering our commands and deepest questions: it’s a comedian. Amazon Echo owners may even have more fun asking and saying outlandish things to the device than actually using the device how it’s intended to be used. Owners are discovering new, hilarious responses from Amazon Echo every day — and putting them online for us all to enjoy.

What Should You Ask Alexa?

Some of the more popular things to say to Amazon Echo are: “What are the four laws of robotics?” and “You’re a piece of crap!” Many owners find it amusing that Amazon Echo is thankful for hearing helpful feedback. Many users also love saying, “Alexa, tell me a random fact!” — consider this to be an updated approach to Google-searching, in that it allows users to learn some new information immediately.

Still, there are so many different things you can say, and so many different responses you’ll receive — you just know there’s someone who has received a pat on the back at Amazon for securing all the free advertising for Amazon’s slick AI friend.

Alexa Listens to the News

Perhaps the funniest thing that’s happened so far, however, was the mass ordering of dollhouses. It all happened when CW6 news anchor, Jim Patton, discussed a story about Alexa on the news. The news anchor was talking about a girl who ordered some things with the family’s Amazon Echo. He said, “I love the little girl saying, ‘Alexa ordered me a dollhouse.’” Patton’s comment prompted all Echo-owning viewers to have Alexa order them a dollhouse.

Alexa is Smarter Than You May Think

Someone also discovered that Alexa understands many movie references such as, “What happens if you cross the streams?” from Ghostbusters — and many more beyond that classic reference. Want to test Amazon’s Alexa? Try out a popular or obscure movie quote and see if Alexa knows it. Chances are, she will provide the proper response — so make sure to have your phone ready to catch it as it happens.

It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out, as we continue to discover more information that Alexa has been programmed to know and respond to, and of course as Amazon continues to keep their device hip and up to date. There are already plenty of discoveries that have been made — and more still to discover.

When Will Voice Recognition Finally Be Improved?

PSafe Newsroom — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 01:00:50 +0000

We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve tried to send a text with just the use of our voices. Sometimes, it results in some unintended and silly words or phrases. But more often than not, the text messages can be unclear or missing pertinent information that we wanted to send.

On our smartphones, voice recognition rarely behaves as it should. That’s why few of us use voice features with any sort of confidence, which is certainly frustrating. In a world where tech devices get more and more powerful every few months, it’d be nice to be able to utilize the voice features that have been around for years. It begs the question — why hasn’t it yet been improved?

A Problem Across Devices

Our phones are able to stream video, play games, order a pizza by texting an emoji, and communicate with people all over the world — all at the touch of a button. So it’s seemingly a mystery as to why haven’t we seen any major improvements for voice features yet. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Apple, Samsung, Google, or HTC phone — voice features consistently fail to work correctly. When they do work, they require us to speak in a manner that’s so loud and clear that we draw too much attention to ourselves. It’s to the point where it’s easier to just drop what we’re doing and send a text the old-fashioned way, or make an actual phone call.

Why Are Smartphones Behind?

It’s puzzling that voice recognition technology remains so wonky on smartphones when Amazon Echo and Google Home are so responsive and clear. Both smart hubs have intelligent assistants that can understand your commands — even in a noisy room. And this technology is affordable, too. So why have smartphones not caught up to these devices when it comes to voice recognition technology?

There are a lot of possible reasons that voice recognition fails to work properly on smartphones, which is a shame since voice-to-text is so useful. Smartphones, because of their speaker’s quality and size, have a harder time distinguishing your voice from surrounding noise.

When Will This Technology Be Updated?

Hopefully, a device manufacturer will soon step it up and deliver a device that can be truly hands-free. We live in such a fast-paced world that’s constantly connected — it’d be nice to be able to keep our hands free more often, and pay attention to the world around us.

Mobile Shopping Hits Record Highs This Black Friday

PSafe Newsroom — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 20:00:36 +0000

Black Friday is a staple of Thanksgiving week. Whether it fills you with mortal dread and you cower reclusively in your closet or you pack up your coupons and hit up the town, it’s one of the biggest shopping days of the year. This year, in fact, mobile shopping hit record numbers. The masses no longer need to come out in droves (though they still do) — they can now enjoy once-a-year deals whilst luxuriating on their sofa bed. And boy did they.

Revenue for Black Friday was projected to hit about $3 billion in online sales, but they exceeded the anticipated amount by about $300 million. Percent year-to-year growth is double what was expected. Moreover, it was mobile sales — on smartphones in particular — that stunned the market, accounting for 36% of all Black Friday online sales. Purchases made on mobile devices generated more than $1 billion, which is an increase of over 30% from the year before.

This is good news for major retailers. No matter the price cuts advertised, the advent of mobile and online shopping has really expanded their consumer base. Black Friday mobs are not for the faint-hearted, but retailers now have a viable alternative to appeal to customers with guaranteed, significant impact. For companies like Ebay and Amazon especially, who are leaders in online shopping, Thanksgiving week, and its pinnacle, Black Friday, is now one of their busiest traffic days for business.

Mobile orders on Amazon reached record highs, exceeding even Cyber Monday of last year — a day specifically dedicated to online buying! Tech products are the go-to deals for Black Friday shoppers, so as expected, Amazon is doing particularly well in sales for smart offers on the Echo Dot, for example.

Even retailers that are widely visited on site, like Walmart and Target, reported top numbers in online traffic and sales owed mainly to mobile. Similar to Amazon, Target enjoyed higher sales than it did on 2015’s Cyber Monday. Additionally, all three retailers (Amazon, Target, and Walmart) had the foresight to capitalize on the huge potential to gain a wider consumer base. They each made early announcements for special offers to mobile app users or enticed consumers with pre-sale deals. So with Black Friday type deals for electronics, tablets, and more rolling out early, potential customers were encouraged to download their mobile app before the big day. This way, by the time Black Friday rolled around, customers were ready with their app in tow and acclimated to its use. Hats off to that strategy.

Why You Should Download Amazon Prime Today

PSafe Newsroom — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 21:12:21 +0000

You have multiple items saved on your wish list, you browse Amazon every chance you get, and packages marked “Amazon” frequently land on your doorstep. You already love using online shopping giant Amazon.com, so why haven’t you taken the next step and committed to Amazon Prime?

If you’ve been on the fence about Amazon Prime, a paid service ($99 per year, plus a free 30-day trial or $10.99 per month at the time of this writing), you should know that the benefits are many. Here are a few great reasons why you should consider shelling out for an Amazon Prime account.

Free Shipping

Nobody, absolutely nobody, cheers for paying for shipping. Save some serious dough by opting for Amazon Prime. Participants gain access to free two day shipping on thousands of items. Then, whenever you are shopping on Amazon, you can look for items that offer free shipping and pay less.

Free TV Series and Movie Access

That’s right, when you pony up for Amazon Prime, you receive access to films and TV shows that you would have otherwise had to have rent. There’s even Amazon exclusives, so there’s always something new to discover. If you are an avid movie watcher and TV fan, you will easily see a quick return on this one.

Borrow Books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library

No bookworm can’t resist a few more good books to fall back on. Fortunately, Amazon Prime has you covered. When you browse through Amazon’s vast variety of Kindle books for sale, you will see plenty that offer free eBooks for Amazon Prime members to borrow.

Free Music

Even though there aren’t as many tracks available as you would find on music streaming platform Spotify, it’s still a nice perk. There are still more than a million songs available for those Amazon Prime members in the US and Puerto Rico.

Free Photo Storage

Are you backing up your images? One great way to make sure you never lose your images is to take advantage of the free unlimited cloud storage that is offered to Amazon Prime members. You also receive 5GB of storage for videos and documents in Amazon Drive.

Amazon Prime: A Bevy of Benefits!

Savvy online shoppers are already taking advantage of the benefits of Amazon Prime. From free two day shipping to free photo storage and free eBooks, what are you waiting for?