Ideas from Mark Stout

Google has two new phones, the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P. The chief advantage of a Nexus device is that it is first to get new operating systems. These phones come with the latest Marshmallow version of Android, announced a few months ago. When the next version of Android comes out, these phones will be first in line for them. And the upgrades come direct from Google. Other Android phones have to wait until the phone’s manufacturer releases a version of Android for the phone, and your carrier approves and transmits it out to you. Some current phones won’t get Marshmallow for months; some older phones not at all. The 5X is made by South Korea’s LG and sports a 5.2 inch display. The 6P, made by Chinese maker Huawei, sports a bigger 5.7 inch screen. Read the rest at FamilyTechOnline.com

What?  You don't want to give you $500 iPad to your 18 month old, even if they have taken to it like a duck to water, and are learning tons when they use it? This week's Family Tech column discusses some ways to tablet enable our kids.

Buying a tablet as a gift?   This week's Family Tech can help.

Using your tablet to interact with other TV viewers.   The Second Screen , this week's Family Tech column.

Microsoft has a new Windows 8, has its own tablets and has a phone OS too.  Lots of great things coming from a rebooted Microsoft.  Will it work out for them? This week's Family Tech column.

I am a little surprised that Amazon's new 8.9 inch Kindle Fire HD and updated 7 inch Kindle Fire HD still do not have Bluetooth.  Or am I missing something in the specs?  I know the original Kindle Fire did not have Bluetooth. I know they are meant as media consumption devices.  While they probably have good speakers, if you want bigger speakers or good headphones, they invariably hook up via Bluetooth. Personally, I sometimes use a Bluetooth keyboard with my Xoom tablet to write.  I don't do it often, but when I do I find the ability of value.  I couldn't get that with a Fire. I'm afraid the Nexus 7 is still the better tablet.  Even if I don't get affiliate commission as I would if you buy a Fire with one of the above links.

The last two of my annual back to school columns have posted. Software students needed was the topic on August 12th . And keeping your student's technology safe, and planning for inevitable failure was on the 19th.

Every year at this time I do one or more columns on technology for new college students.  This week's is on the hardware needs.  Our tablets yet ready to replace the laptop? This week's Family Tech . Remember, all Family Tech columns are  listed on their own page  

Tablets were meant to be media consumption device, but with the right app, they are a nifty tool for document creation and editing. This week's Family Tech Column.

Are under $300 tablets like the Amazon Fire and Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet worthwhile?  I think so, and this was the topic of this week's Family Tech column .

Amazon gave the tablet world a good shaking up this week with the announcement of their $199 Fire tablet . My cousin Dani has asked me via Facebook for my thoughts, and I wanted to share those with a wider audience. The most impressive thing of course is the price.  The only other tablet that compares with this price is Barnes and Noble's Nook at $250.  The Fire is faster and has more memory, so the comparison breaks down fast. Those who know component pricing suggest Amazon is selling this unit at very near cost; maybe even taking a slight loss on each unit   They can do so because they are banking on the razor blade theory of marketing. The Fire is setup to only buy books, apps, streaming video and music from Amazon.  And the biggest advantage is their tie in to the physical products Amazon sells.  Expect UPS business to grow too. There is a huge market out there of people who will see the value of a tablet in the  $200 neighborhood...

A year ago in a Family Tech column I concluded the iPad was not yet ready to be a student's sole machine at college.  I revisited that topic in this week's Family Tech column .

I was thinking real hard about diving into a Google Chromebook when they come out.  I like the idea of doing all I can on the web.  I'd still keep my Windows 7 PC running as long as I could, primarily for editing video.  Other than than, I could do everything I wanted on a Chromebook. Ideally, I'd like a tablet that could work well for creating documents, slide shows and spreadsheet.  The iPad is not quite there yet.  Mainly because when you are creating those type of documents, you want another document along side -- maybe a web browser with the material you are writing about, etc. Who, I thought, would be the first one to create a tablet that would be good for serious work, and combined with a keyboard and a flat work surface, meet my needs for serious work as effectively as a laptop? Who thunk it might be Microsoft? Not me, until I listened to Windows Weekly this week .  Co-host Paul Thurrott said it best about 37 minutes in when he said "Microso...

I've started what should be an interesting new chapter in my life, and I have yet to adjust my rhythm of getting things done around it.  One of those things, is updating here when a new Family Tech column comes out. March 6, I wrote about new tablets on the market .

Have to keep track of doctor appointments for a family of five?  Add to that various recitals, sports practices, meetings, etc.  Families need a good  calendaring system as much as any professional.  That's the topic of this week's Family Tech column .

James Kendrick  rants in ZDNET.com that pricing for Android tablets is unrealistic.  I couldn't agree more. I've keep waiting for a tablet to come out competitive with the low end of the iPad.  We have an iPad and am quite happy with it.  So much so, I would like one or two more.  Tablets are really a personal device.  Sharing one among three people works but we miss out on a lot of the productivity a tablet can bring. Every tablet that comes out seems to be burdened with "nice-to-have" features that drive up the price.  Videoconferencing?  I wouldn't do it very often, so you can nix the two cameras.  Cell access with a new monthly fee?  My phone has hot spot capability.  Besides, most of the  time I'd need info outside my home or another wi-fi access point, I'd use my phone to get. You would think the market would take notice of how many people are snapping up Barnes and Nobles Color N...

I mused during this summer in a column , "Was the iPad good enough for college?" Leo Laporte mentioned in aone of his podcasts, a student who is trying to use an iPad for much of school as he can, and blogging the results. I read " The Experiment Journal " with great interest.

For those of us who saw the beginnings of the Apple vs. Microsoft battle in the 1980's, what we are seeing with the nascent tablet market seems awfully familiar.  Except this time, Microsoft is played by Google.   This is the topic of this week's Family Tech column . Thanks to my brother Jim for his memories of this time.  This column started as a conversation with him at my parents home.  And thanks as usual to Mom for her grammar and punctuation suggestions!

I got to think about how much clutter I could have avoided if only today's technology had been available to me all my life.   This week's Family Tech column talks about how I wouldn't be burdened with shelves full of books, boxes of old video tapes, and how I wouldn't have needed to throw out my old college notebooks somewhere along the line.

It was 1983, and I was in gadget lust like I've never known. No matter it cost about 1/20th of my annual salary then, and I had no real need, I had to have it. It was the lightest computer around.  It weighed about 1/8th of the other hot, portable computer at the time did.  That's a better ratio than an iPad to a laptop! It had a state of the art non-CRT display, like the iPad. It had connectivity. It ran for a long time on batteries.  Unlike the iPad, the batteries were easily replaceable AA batteries.  And it could get 20 hours to a set of batteries, not the iPad's paltry-by-comparison 10 hours. It had a real keyboard, not an on-screen one. It could print.  Try that on your iPad. It had arrow keys.  You won't find those on your iPad. It had the iPad's cool factor.  I'd use it on BART and draw a crowd. Reporters loved it.  It was the first PC they could carry with them on stories.  Globe trott...