IOGEAR

Tax Day Tech

2013-04-12T18:54:48Z

Whether you have already filed your taxes, or plan to take care of your returns this week, April 15 is a deadline you can’t miss. Here at IOGEAR, we explored some ways technology can help during tax season and beyond.

Technology and Taxes

Here are some tips on technology that can help with taxes.

File online: According to a Pew Internet report, 70 percent of people who filed their taxes online say it saved them time (an average of 1.5 hours). You can use a myriad of online filing sites like TurboTax.com, which also has an iPad app for your convenience.
Don’t miss the deadline: April 15 comes quickly and if you’re late, the IRS charges interest until payment is received. If you haven’t filed yet, you’re among more than 20 percent of Americans who also have waited until the last week. Next year, use a reminder application to set notifications a few months in advance, so you have time to prepare, and time to file.
Take your breaks: Donations, medical expenses and mortgage interest qualify as deductions and can lower your taxable income. To manage your expenses and maximize your deductions next year, download the MileBug Mileage Log & Expense Tracker to keep track of your trips or Shoeboxed, which digitizes your receipts into formatted data.
Track your refund: The IRS generally issues your refund in less than 21 calendar days after they receive your tax return. They have provided a secure online tool, Where’s My Refund, to help track the status of your refund so you know what’s coming your way!

Smart Spending with Your Return

Now what to do with all that money saved from filing a smart return? The IRS reported 75 percent of individual tax returns in 2012 received a tax refund for an average amount of $2,803.

Maybe it’s time for a new tablet to stay updated, organized and digital. Perhaps you need to upgrade from your old mobile phone to a new smartphone to stay on top of your calendar and connected on all platforms.

If you are getting a new mobile device, you’ll need to keep it charged. IOGEAR’s GearPower 10k will keep your new tablet, phone, or camera powered while you’re on the go. The super high capacity battery charger allows simultaneous charging of two devices with its dual USB outputs for fast, convenient charging.

Whether you spend your return or save it for later, technology can make April 15 a breeze.

What is your strategy for a stress-free tax season? Visit us at our Facebook page or on Twitter and tell us.

Spring Cleaning With Your Photos

2013-03-27T18:49:16Z

These days, spring cleaning extends beyond those under-the-couch dust bunnies and into our digital devices and files – especially photos. We’re snapping and sharing more photos than ever. Flicker users uploaded 518 million photos in 2012, an average of 1.42 million per day.

Source: gizmag.com

Even more staggering, on Facebook, users upload 300 million images a day. Before you start counting your own shots in the millions, try these tips to get them organized. You’ll likely be surprised to learn how much more you can do with your photos when they’re not hidden in a camera or a cellphone.

Start by syncing to your computer to your phone or camera and edit as you go. If you have photo organizing software, such as Picasa, iPhoto or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, update the caption information while your memory is still fresh.
Unclutter your devices by storing photos on a cloud service. The online storage from Box can store up to 5 GB of files free and lets you access them anywhere from any device. Photobucket provides free, automatically photo and video uploads, and some editing tools.
Once your photos are transferred to your computer, you can use IOGEAR’s Wireless 1080p Computer to HD Display Kit to view them on your big screen TV from the comfort of your living room. Much better than viewing photos on your devices, the kit’s ability to share all of your photos and videos on your TV screen is a great addition.

If you’re planning to do some spring cleaning, don’t forget to clean your tech tools. Making your laptops, cellphones, keyboards and computer monitors tidy inside and out helps them operate more efficiently and look a lot better, too. Some sensitive electronics require special care, outlined by Samsung.

Unplug or turn off whatever you’re cleaning to avoid electric shock.
Skip the paper towels: Use a non-abrasive, non-electrostatic microfiber cloth to avoid scratching coatings on LCD screens.

Do you clean in spring? Send us your tips to our Facebook or on Twitter and let the sharing begin.

Tech That Makes Us Think

2013-03-20T22:57:19Z

Just a few weeks ago, Ted Talks 2013 gave the stage to artists, inventors, teachers and thinkers to share ideas that can change the world. We at IOGEAR love to hear about innovative technology that’s transforming lives.

For example, TED Senior Fellow Anthony Vipin Das is an eye surgeon who has been developing shoes that use vibration and GPS technology to guide the blind.

Video still from Le Chal, courtesy Anthony Vipin Das.

Ted conferences take place all over the world throughout the year, and often include visionaries using technology. In Edinburgh, Scotland June 10-14, Chris Gerdes, director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford, is scheduled to speak. He last spoke in a May 2012 Ted Talk about a vehicle his team developed that can drive 150 miles per hour and navigate dozens of hair-raising turns –with nobody at the wheel. These test cars push the limits of performance and help show researchers how to make automobiles more capable of avoiding accidents.

Body architect Lucy McRae is exploring the convergence of the body and technology. A stunning slide show in her February 2012 TED talk, illustrated some of her innovations, such as clothes the recreate the body’s insides, and a perfume pill that, when swallowed, turns your sweating skin into a scent atomizer.

IOGEAR Innovations

Pushing boundaries is one promise of technology, and something that drives many of the innovations at IOGEAR. Two new innovative products launched at CES this year pushed the industry’s wireless technology boundaries. The Wireless 5×2 HD Matrix allows home users to send full, uncompressed HD 1080p content wirelessly to up to five different devices. For example, if you keep your DVD player, cable box and Nintendo console in the family room, you can send content from those devices to TVs in two different rooms, such as the kitchen or bedroom.

Building on growing smartphone trends, the new Wireless Mobile and WiDi to HDTV streams videos, photos, music and web content from a smartphone, tablet or laptop to an HDTV up to 30 feet away. Thanks to this device, a video of a toddler walking that was captured on a smartphone can be transferred to the TV for the whole family to enjoy.

These devices may change the way people connect and enjoy content in their homes – and maybe, inspire a world-changing technology to be seen at future Ted Talks.

What technology do you think could change the world? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and let us know your thoughts.

Spring Break

2013-03-13T16:28:55Z

Every year in March or April, families and college kids set aside their responsibilities for a week and enjoy spring break. The most popular destination is Orlando, followed by Las Vegas and Cancun. It’s likely that technology is going to be in the suitcase, wherever you go. The average American household has 1.6 Apple devices and most can’t bear to be separated. Beyond phones and iPads, there are lots of gadgets that can get you ready for a week in the sun and fun.

Source: Orbitz.com

Technology to Pack

Travel & Leisure magazine looked at its top vacation gadgets, highlighting tablets, cameras, phones and the latest portable headphones. We like the Samsung MV900F Pocket Camera with a touch screen that flips around 180 degrees for self-portraits and built-in Wi-Fi to upload photos to your phone, computer or Facebook. Also, we wouldn’t travel without the noise-canceling headphones like the Polk Audio UltraFocus 8000.

Keeping all devices charged can be difficult on-the-go if you’re not prepared. The IOGEAR Ultra Capacity Mobile Power Station is compatible with most smartphone and tablet devices, handheld gaming systems, digital cameras, and mp3 players, plus carries some of the highest charging power on the market.

Keep it Charged

According to a study conducted by Panasonic, nearly half of all parents say they would spend more on technology if it would increase family time. So got a rainy morning on your vacation and the family feeling antsy? Music or movies on your laptop can fill up a hotel room and make it a richer experience with IOGEAR’s USB Theater Sound Xperience Audio Adapter. It brings sound to life by using DTS® Surround Sensation to create virtual surround sound through your two stereo speakers.

What are you doing for spring break? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and tell us your plans.

March Madness

2013-03-08T23:18:51Z

Selection Sunday on March 17 officially begins the NCAA college basketball tournament. And that means March Madness. Fans are predicting which teams will make the 68-team match-up, and which will have their hopes dashed.

March Madness celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. It began with just eight teams and a championship game audience around 15,000. Last year’s championship game in the New Orleans Super Dome held more than 717,185 fans with more than 20 million more watching on TV. Beyond sheer audience size compared to 1936, fans now watch games online, tweet during them and otherwise expand the reach of a single event. Nielsen will begin trying to capture some of those audience numbers in its industry rankings.

Source: NCCA.com

Bigger Screen for Bigger Plays

Despite tablet and smartphone obsessions, small screens aren’t always best for big drama events like sports games. A 2012 report by market research company NPD found the number of people has risen who report that the TV is their primary screen for viewing paid and free video streamed from the Web.

This fact fits alongside that Americans also are dropping cable subscriptions. Nielsen reported in 2012 that the number of homes subscribing to wired cable decreased 4.1 percent. Homes with broadcast TV only and high-speed Internet are on the rise, and this audience streams video twice as much as the general population.

If that’s you, you might stream a basketball game online then transfer it from the laptop to the big screen with IOGEAR’s PC to HDTV Connectivity Kit or Wireless 1080p Computer to HD Display Kit , 1 HD Output, 1 VGA Output. You won’t miss a play – and the bigger screen will mean you will feel the excitement.

Video Demand

Bell Labs projects that by 2020, Americans will access seven hours of video each day – as opposed to 4.8 hours today — and will increasingly consume this additional video on tablets, both at home and on the go. IOGEAR will soon have available the Wireless Mobile and WiDi to HDTV to seamlessly stream tablet content to the bigger TV screen. You will create the experience how you best enjoy it.

Are you a sports fan? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and tell us your favorite team.

Oscar Mania

2013-02-20T18:01:44Z

The Oscars are coming up on Feb. 24. More than 39 million people watched the awards ceremony last year making it one of the most watched TV events. In comparison, just 3,400 Hollywood elite can fit in the Dolby Theatre. Whether or not you’ll be one of those watching, we have some tips for enjoying the Oscars – or keeping relevant from a far.

Viewing party

If you will be watching the show, there are no shortage of tips on how to channel the glitz and glamor in your own home.

Key items:

Fabulous finger food
Ballots for guests to vote
Drinks (preferably champagne)
Great and convenient TV viewing

IOGEAR can help turn the viewing party to a multi-room experience with the Wireless HD Digital Kit that lets you stream the show to another TV in another room, so guests who grab some food won’t miss a minute away from the show.

Catching up on the Buzz

Not watching the show? It’s inevitable that whichever movie wins “Best Picture” (and “Best Director,” “Best Actor” and “Best Actress”) will be the talk around the water cooler. So make sure you know and watch the nominees. Here’s a look at the best video streaming services to access from the comfort of your couch.

Additionally, you should know a little Hollywood gossip so you can keep up with what’s trending on Twitter or filling the blogs. Here are some tips on the best ones to download.

Who do you think will win at the Oscars? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and share your plans.

Gadgets & Love

2013-02-15T00:38:34Z

Every February, hearts and declarations of love overtake American aisles and websites. With reminder functions on every smartphone and email service, there’s no excuse to forget if there is someone special in your life. If you and your sweetheart love gadgets like us at IOGEAR, there are plenty of ways to use technology to enhance the day — even if it’s last minute.

On-the-Go Planning

Apps have made almost every activity available through the touch of a finger. Order flowers, make dinner reservations and buy movie tickets all from a smartphone — or even your car. Many major auto manufacturers have enhanced the in-car dashboard with connected telematics systems, including Ford’s SYNC and Toyota’s Entune. So even if you’re in the driveway outside her house, you can still pull a date together in time.

Low-Key Evening

Maybe your sweetheart prefers an evening at home over the crowded restaurant. There are lots of ways your place can become romance central with a little planning. Start dinner cooking with by looking up a recipe on your iPad (there are tools to help keep it clean and upright). Stream a Pandora playlist from your laptop, and enhance it with IOGEAR’s USB Theater Sound Xperience to create virtual surround sound through your stereo speakers.

Pour a little wine and cuddle on the couch and cue up funny Valentine’s Day sitcom episodes from your laptop on the TV, using your IOGEAR 2.4GHz Wireless Compact Keyboard with Optical Trackball and Scroll Wheel to make typing and searching for titles faster.

Gifts

Don’t know what to get the geek in your life? Luckily editors at Wired and Business Insider each put together lists to get you started. Particularly helpful is the suggestion of the Dyson heater if your date is giving you the cold shoulder.

How will you be spending Valentine’s Day? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and share your plans.

The Bill Cometh

2013-01-28T17:48:47Z

It’s the end of January, and when many Americans head to the mailbox, they’ll find the bills of Christmas past. Americans spent an average of about $770 during the 2012 holiday season. While this is higher than the previous year and increased spending often shows confidence in the economy, wages are still stagnant and Americans carry an average of $15,950 on their credit cards.

So perhaps for some, the coming months are a time for belt tightening and smart spending. There are a variety of financial tips for getting on top of your debt this year. Some of the most common are:

Start a budget
Cut back on non-essential purchases
Tackle the bills with the highest interest rate first

Image source: Inc.com

Budgeting

When it comes to budgeting, there are lots of apps to help you stay on track. Good thing Santa brought you that iPhone 5 and IOGEAR’s Ultra Capacity Mobile Power Station to keep things powered.

Cut back

Reducing spending on restaurants, movie tickets and new gadgets might not sound like fun, but there are ways you can maximize the electronics you already have at home to keep costs down.

Watch movies at home. Services like Hulu and Neflix give you access to movies, and tools like IOGEAR’s Universal 5-Port Wi-Fi N Ethernet Hub can help create the wireless internet environment you need to stream movies. So pop some popcorn and make it a date night.
Create the coffee shop at home. The appeal of WiFi, mellow music and a latte can be had for free in the comfort of your own living room. Have an older laptop and don’t want to spend more to create the coffee shop feeling of surfing the web on a laptop? Use IOGEAR’s Wireless-N USB 2.0 Adapter to upgrade older computers to the next generation of wireless technology, fire up and brew a pot of coffee or a latte. Put that tip you would have given in a jar toward your bills.
Cook instead of dining out. Pinterest use continues to increase, with food and recipes the fastest growing category. Don’t just look and salivate, bring that tablet into the kitchen and fire up the stove.

Tackle the bills

After all the budgeting and cutting back, you’ll hopefully free up the dough to pay down the credit cards. Stay on top of it, and consider even setting some extra aside too. There are already cool new gadgets coming onto store shelves, plus IOGEAR’s new Wireless Mobile and WiDi to HDTV, one of the first devices to enable wireless streaming from either the smartphone or laptop to the TV. Plus, Christmas 2013 is only 11 months away.

What was your favorite gadget you bought in the past months? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and tell us.

2013 Tech Trends

2013-01-24T19:43:17Z

The International CES gave us a look at the future of consumer electronics, but many innovations shown in Las Vegas are still years away. What trends and innovations can we actually expect to see this year? Here are some of our thoughts.

Smart TVs

We love home entertainment at IOGEAR, and we have been watching the increasing momentum building around Internet-connected TVs. From Samsung’s simplified interface revealed at CES to Apple’s rumored plans for this year and even a possibility of Intel joining the race, there is lots to watch 2013.

Smart TVs fit consumer trends toward more and more connected devices. A recent Accenture survey highlighted by TechCrunch showed “consumers are moving away from buying ‘single-use’ devices and opting instead for those that offer the ability to do many things, with smartphones (at 41% of respondents), PCs (36%), HDTVs (33%) and tablets (23%) topping the list of items consumers are most likely to buy in 2013, as gadget spending is projected to reach $1.1 trillion.”

Source: ZDnet.com

IOGEAR has been part of connected devices movement with products that connect your PC to TV, smartphone to TV and a wireless matrix bridging up to five content sources to two projectors or TV screens.

Mobile devices and the Cloud

According to Forbes, 2013 is the year where mobile devices will pass PCs to be the most common Web access tools. A big piece of that is driven by tablets, of which U.S. ownership doubled in 2012, according to Forrester. With tablets and mobile devices comes an increasing need to sync across devices and rely on the cloud. That had implications for security and business users too. We think 2013 will be the year where more is available through the cloud, but consumers will need to understand more what that means for their privacy and data.

Smarter Everything

Beyond your TVs, tablets and phones, everyday gadgets will be getting smarter in 2013. The Nest thermostat learns owners’ schedules and can be controlled from a phone. There are home security devices accessible through an app that go beyond break-ins to notify you if your pet escapes the backyard. With so much power in your pocket, keep that phone or tablet charged with IOGEAR’s Ultra Capacity Mobile Power Station.

What are your predictions for this year? Visit us at our Facebook or on Twitter and let us know your thoughts.

Predicting the Future?

2013-01-17T23:53:29Z

Like the author Jules Verne and futurist Michio Kaku, you can take a look at current technology and technology on the cutting edge, and use that information to predict what the future may hold. You may at times think something is not possible, but as you read about innovators revolutionizing their industry, the possibilities start to open and anything is possible. As long as the laws of physics aren’t broken, according to our current understanding of physics, the impossible can become possible with a dream and the hard work of those who dare to believe.

Kitchen of the Future

So the rest of this article may not seem as epic as the first paragraph, but this is what our near future may hold.

One of the problems facing our planet today is meeting the demand for agriculture in regards to land, volume, agriculture logistics, and the affects on the planet associated with growing, transporting goods, and waste. You may have read articles about the average American family throwing away thousands of dollars every year in expired food. As a nation and planet, we will have to learn to use our resources more efficiently with less waste.

With the advent of RFID (Radio-frequency identification) chips, we may soon keep track of what’s in our refrigerator without opening it up. RFID chips can be installed in everything from shirts to your milk cartons. Product information will be stored on the chips such as expiration date, best by date, manufacturer, ingredients, and more. As we see smarter appliances, they will be able to interact with RFID chips and provide feedback to the consumer. With enhancements, it may even tell you how much of the product you have left by weight.

Hearing your kids say "There’s nothing to eat" may be a phrase of the past (wishful thinking). Even though you may not be an Iron Chef and able to throw something together from nothing in the pantry (unlike my sister-in-law) you may someday open a helpful kitchen app on your favorite mobile device. This will pull information about the food in your pantry or fridge and search a database for recipes that include the ingredients you do have. Not only that, you may request recipes that use ingredients that are close to expiring so that you are less wasteful.

You may no longer have to write a grocery list with these smart devices. Your fridge might be able to learn what you buy frequently, how quickly you go through each item, and even notify you about recalls of tainted food products and suggest alternative brands. This can build the base of your grocery list and you just have to add on those midnight delights that add those wonderful love handles. Of course, it would be all voice activated.

Healthcare of the Future

Over the past few years, healthcare has caused heated debates. Okay, longer than a few years. In regards to outcomes and cost, the United States is not on the top of the list anymore. We need to gain control of costs and become more efficient before healthcare eats this economy alive or dead.

The United States is already starting to move into the 21st century with our healthcare system and infrastructure. In 2010, the Memorial Care Network adopted an EMR (Electronic Medical Records) system. The idea is to help reduce the waste and administrative fees associated with maintaining those records as well as improving the quality of patient care. It’s estimated that 72% of office-based physicians have adopted an EMR system.

At CES (Consumer Electronics Show) this year, there were lots of peripherals to add to your Smartphone. Some were zany and some may be in everyone’s home in the coming years. Of those that peaked my creative juices, though have been out already, are those that can monitor our vitals and analyze our environment. Sounding more like a Star Trek Tricorder?

Have an emergency? No longer will you need to call 911, you will open your environment to 911. Not feeling very good and not sure if you should go to the emergency room? Start a video chat with 911. Upload your vitals and stats about your environment for possible contaminants. Perhaps it’s a carbon monoxide leak. Maybe it’s just cold or flu. Trained professionals will be able to direct you to the proper care. Diverting people from the emergency room to urgent care can help save money and relieve our overburdened emergency rooms. With the right software, a 911 operator could also provide visual assistance on how to keep someone alive until an ambulance can arrive.

Shopping in the Future

The world of manufacturing has grown in sophistication with the assembly line and robotics, to name a few. We are now seeing 3D printing or additive manufacturing. This allows manufacturers to make products stronger and more elaborate while also reducing costs by eliminating waste. This manufacturing process is still in its infancy, but we are already seeing consumer products come to market.

In the shopping mall of the future, with your internet connected device, you will no longer need to go somewhere to buy anything. If you order it online, you won’t have to wait for it to be delivered. The blueprint of your purchase will be sent to your 3D printer sitting next to your desk. Buy and print your very own GearPower Ultra Capcity Mobile Power Station by IOGEAR.

When products don’t have to be manufactured, shipped, warehoused, distributed, and sent to a retailer for profit, you may be able to buy products much cheaper. This will also reduce the costs for entrepreneurs to get their product to market allowing for greater diversity of products and brands.

Pushing this type of technology even further and combining nano-technology, we could really create what ever we wanted Gene Rodenberry may not have been too far off with his imagination of the replicator. But it also leads me to ask, how will this kind of technology affect our monetary system and the drive to work hard?

I am certainly no futurist, but I was able to connect some dots with today’s technology. What do you think the future may hold?