Shining a light on new technology
Like most of you, I am still a little confused about all the new light bulbs available.
The latest to shine in my office is the Finally Light Bulb, which has new technology called Acandescence.
That Acandescence term is new to me since I never gave much thought to lightbulbs. It's an innovative technology designed to reliably recreate the same light as an incandescent bulb without energy waste or excessive cost.
If there are any light bulb tech-heads out there, Acandescence uses a copper coil, not a tungsten filament or an electrode, to generate light.
As I write this, I'm looking up at my light with a pair of Finally bulbs screwed in; it's shining brightly, just as I would want and expect.
You still need a road map to navigate the light bulb aisles at hardware stores but now your mental light bulb should go on for the Finally section, knowing how it stands apart.
finallybulbs.com $9.95 for the 60 watt bulb, $14.99 for the 100 watt bulb
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The Phiaton BT 100 NC is a versatile headset with earbuds and Bluetooth technology all packed into one very comfortable wearing device.
You wear the headphones around your neck, just like a collar.
Earbuds are attached to thin wire cables, which pull out of the collar to go in your ears for sound, enabling the bulk of the headset to rest on your neck and shoulders as opposed to having the bulk on your head.
With all that I just described, trust me when I say they are comfortable and work great as a hands-free device for calls, music or whatever your audio choice.
You'll get about 11 hours of battery life from the headset with the noise canceling feature disabled and about seven hours with it on before a two hour USB charge is needed.
For calls, they include noise-canceling technology, and Bluetooth 4.0 technology and NFC pairing.
The battery, controls for powering, noise-canceling on/off, answering calls and pairing the wireless features are in the collar, not the earbuds. There's even a built-in 3.5 mm headphone port for a non-wireless connection.
While the noise-canceling feature uses some battery power, it's well worth it. I used it with great success in several different environments. Flying at 32,000 feet, watching movies on my iPad and talking on the phone all had crystal clear audio. Anyone I made a hands-free call to heard me just as well.
Another nice feature, the collar vibrates when a call comes in. Made of durable plastic , they are water-resistant.
phiaton.com $99
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Portable power is the second most needed technology in most everyone's portable digital lifestyle.
A new company showing off some cool items in this category is Echo Products. What I think is really cool and innovative is the dual charge Echo Connect Key.
Echo claims it is the world's first of this type.
The 2-in-1 key chain has a standard USB connection to plug into any USB charging port on one end. The other splits into both Lightning and microUSB charging connections.
It's constructed with durable, thermoplastic polyurethane and reinforced with hard plastic around the connectors. If you can fit your devices on both plugs, they can both be used simultaneously. I had it going with my iPhone 6 and Martian Bluetooth watch.
There are also a variety of small- and large-sized portable and powerful portable batteries called the PowerConnect series, which includes built-in cables for Apple Lightning and microUSB charging devices ranging in prices from $30.64 up to 44.43.
FYI, I view backing up your digital files as the most important aspect of digital life.
byecho.com $30.64 for the charging key, available in black, blue, purple and white
Gregg Ellman, gadget guru, can be reached at greggellman@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter@greggellman.
This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Shining a light on new technology ."