Author: Mario Armstrong

Everything You Need to know About Google’s Latest Announcements

by Mario Armstrong

At Google.io yesterday, the search giant made a ton of new announcements about their products in several of the hottest products, including Maps and Search, as well as some totally new products, like their Spotify and Rdio competitor, Google Play Music All Access. Here’s all the details:

Google Maps:

·      The new version of Google Maps, gets rid of any clutter in order to put the user’s individual experience front and center. Each time you click or search, the technology draws you a tailored map that highlights the information you need.

·      Real-time personalized maps

·      Google will learn the places that the consumer frequents—home, restaurants, office, stores—using the Google services like search and Maps history.  Then when you log on it will highlight places that you visit or inquire about.

·      If you go on vacation, it will recommend places for you to go based on what other people with similar tastes like in that city—like Sushi restaurants.

·      The maps now fill almost the entire screen.  Read More

What is 3D Printing? A Quick Guide

by Mario Armstrong
Photo by kakissel

What is 3D printing?

· 3D printing is the process of making 3 dimensional solid objects from digital designs.

· It is available and relatively affordable to all consumers.

· The possibilities of what you can make are virtually endless. Everything from prosthetic limbs and clothing to last weeks gun.

· The idea was conceptualized in the 1980’s—it was then called “stereolithography”.

How does 3D printing work? Read More

Track Your Travel Rewards and Book Flights With Frequent Flyer Miles with MileWise

by Mario Armstrong

So I was on vacation last week and it was awesome! A much-needed recharge and refresh for me and the fam. It’s great to be able to get away, and if you can find a way to make it happen I totally recommend it! And if you can make it more affordable using your frequent flyer miles or credit card reward points, even better! But trying to book travel with frequent flyer miles or points can be confusing, so try MileWise if you’re thinking about getting about out of town.

Basically MileWise is a search engine for flights, but instead of just showing you flight prices it also lists the cost of a flight in frequent flyer miles and reward points. You link up your frequent flyer mile accounts and credit card accounts so that you can see all your options.

There are some missing players: American Airlines isn’t there, and neither is Southwest. And rewards info is only available for four of the major credit card companies. But MileWise promises they’re adding more all the time, and even if you can’t use a particular card for price comparisons, you can still at least track all your balances in one place. That’s useful enough that it’s worth just signing up for that!

So I guess the takeaway here is that finding a way to recharge is important to your state of mind so you can stay positive and focused when you’re back at work. And it may seem tough to get away if it’s too expensive, so explore your options for using frequent flyer miles and rewards points to see if you can make it work financially, and check out MileWise to see just what you can afford.

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas that use latest tech and cost less than $100!

by Mario Armstrong

Okay, so it’s the last minute but you want to get Mom something great for Mother’s Day. Wouldn’t it be cool if that gift also included some of the latest and greatest tech and didn’t break the bank? Here are five gift ideas for Mom that you can still buy and the best part is they all cost less than $100!

Click And Grow, available at clickandgrow.com – starts at $79.00

Your mom may not have a green thumb, but that shouldn’t keep her from growing fun vegetable and herbs like tomatoes, chili peppers, and basil! The Click and Grow system uses a really cool technology takes a smart flower pot powered by batteries and features a water pump, sensors, and combines it with plant cartridges that contain not only the seeds and nutrients they need to go, but the software to power the system! In just a few weeks, Mom will be growing plants no matter how green her thumb! Read More

TENS devices help you relieve chronic pain with technology! (Dr. Oz)

by Mario Armstrong

What do a gadget guru, a nutritionist, and a chiropractor have in common? The solution to your chronic pain problems! Today there are gadgets that offer ways to relieve pain in your own home, without a prescription. By sending electrical stimulation to the muscle or are that’s experiencing the pain, devices that use TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) technology can help relieve some of that pain. A lot of chiropractors and physical therapists have been using these devices for a while to relieve pain, but now you can use them in your own home. They’re also really easy to use!

Digital Cafe: Meeting and Pitching Face-To-Face at Conferences

by Mario Armstrong

Networking online, through social media channels, email, and LinkedIn, is something everyone I know does pretty well. After all, you can take all the time you like to compose your pitches and online networking comes without the stress and anxiety that often accompanies face-to-face interaction. But by no means should online networking be the only kind you do! There are certain things that can only get done when meeting and pitching someone in person.

In this episode of the Digital Cafe, I offer my best 6 tips for pitching at events and conferences. For even more in-depth tips, you should read this post on AT&T’s Networking Exchange about Human Networking. Read More

The Best Health Gadgets At Your Drugstore (Dr. Oz)

by Mario Armstrong

As Dr. Oz says, “You don’t need to be tech savvy to get the best health gadgets!” This week I talked to Dr. Oz to show off a variety of health gadgets that you can find at your drugstore! The best part? All of these are Dr. Oz-approved, so you know they’re gonna work as advertised!

Here’s the products I showed off.

Read More

3 Best Cloud Apps for Mobile Small Business Users

by Mario Armstrong

Cloud Apps for Small Business ProductivitySmartphone Apps That Help You Get Faster and Smarter Online

Last week I discussed the best cloud apps for managing your contacts and business cards, but what about everything else you do while on the go? Can you use the cloud to be more productive in other areas? Of course you can! There are apps that leverage the cloud to do almost everything you do online, and they can help you do it smarter (and faster!). Here are a few of my favorites:

1.   Cloud file storage

No matter what line of business you’re in, there are surely dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of files you need to manage. Wouldn’t it be great to have access to them everywhere you go? Thankfully, the prices of cloud storage are falling every year, and it’s becoming simpler than ever to point an app to your documents folder and let it sync to the cloud and across your devices.

Stop carrying around flash drives and never be caught in a meeting without access to a crucial document ever again!

If you’re a small business or entrepreneur, one great solution I like is to switch your business over to Google Drive, which provides both document storage and editing of all your docs, spreadsheets, and presentations in one place. Fully compatible with other office suites but available on every device you can think of, Drive is a great way to promote team collaboration on important documents and make sure your company has all of their important docs in one place.

But larger companies that may be more resistant to switching over to Google for all their document needs, either Dropbox  or Box.net can help. You can get several gigabytes of storage on either service for free so you can try them out, and since both offer apps for every mobile device out there, you can have your documents, pictures, and more easily synced across all your devices and never be caught without a crucial file again!

Continue Reading This Post at the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog –>