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Category: Tech How To

July 14, 2019

4 Ways to Choose the Best Portable Power Bank for your iPhone

If you’re looking to pick up extra portable charging power for your iPhone, there are several important factors to consider. Here’s what to pay attention to…

Lately, my wife has been borrowing my little Anker Astro portable power bank for her iPhone. It’s clear her aging device now needs the ongoing battery support to get through certain hi-use days.

So, I decided to pick up another portable charger for myself. No big deal… right? Especially because I thought these batteries have become so cheap you can probably find them at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.

Not true…
And to complicate matters, the countless choices out there are mind numbing…

Power Pricing Game
And I was shocked to find the price points from my favorite brands were $30-$50. But upon closer inspection, that’s due to the greater power capacities on the portable power bank market today.

You can easily get yourself 12,000-20,000mAh of portable power.

But do you need that much…?

Tip #1
Don’t Bring Along More Power Than You Require
My iPhone XS Max only needs 3,174mAh to totally recharge.

A little travel boost is really all I wanted. So, focusing on the smaller 6,700mAh category is more than enough to carry about for this particular purpose.

And I immediately identified a couple of good choices…

Same Price… Larger Capacity and Size
And after doing a little more research, I realized you can even up the capacity of the battery without really affecting the price…

Just be aware that these batteries are going to be bigger and heavier…

Tip #2
You’ll Likely Need to Provide Your Own Lighting Cable Solution
But then, I discovered a little secret in the portable power industry…
Most power banks don’t include the Lightning cable to actually power an iPhone. (That requires a separate purchase!)

So, you’ve got to spend more money for the cable!
Whoa!

For example, the 1-foot Anker Powerline II Lightning Cable is
$10.99 on Amazon Prime.

Too Good to Be True?
But I did locate one option from POWERADD that graciously packaged an included Lightning cable:

In fact, the clever design of this unit only requires the one cable… for both charging up and dispensing power.

Great, right?

And it’s got 12,000mAh!
(and 2 outputs)

All this for $26.99… Is this a dream?
So, where’s the catch?

Well… lots of Amazon reviewers have complained about the allegedly short life span for this model.

Hmmm…
My search continued…

Tip #3
Make Sure a Built-In Lighting Cable will Fit through your iPhone Case
Some manufacturers offer a design that includes an attached fold-out Lightning cable.
That’s thoughtful!

I found one choice from Jackery…

This external battery charger has a short built-in Lightning cable, which is simply awesome.

That is… unless you use a thick iPhone case like I do, which will likely prevent the Lightning plug from fitting.
(I’m happily using my Pelican case… so I’m going to pass on this option.)

Tip #4
Consider a Power Bank with a Built-In AC Plug
Then, I came upon a slightly different product category with a design that offers an integrated foldable power plug… so you don’t need to worry about having access to a separate wall charger.

Now, that’s certainly a nice bonus and an unexpected value-add.
(And yes, you’ve still got to buy your own Lightning cable.)

I found these two choices:

  • Anker PowerCore Fusion, Portable Charger 5000mAh with Dual USB Wall Charger, Foldable Plug
    $25.97 on Amazon Prime
  • RAVPower 6,700mAh Power Bank with Dual USB Wall Charger (Model RP-PB125)
    $23.99 on Amazon Prime
    (Each power port provides a full 2.4A.)

My Solution
So where does all of this leave us…?

I really liked the RAVPower 6,700mAh External Battery Pack with Dual USB Wall Charger plus integrated foldable A.C. plug. And the price was right…

Click.

So, that just left getting another Lightning cable…
And I finally came to the conclusion this additional purchase was inevitable.

If you also need to go that route, I suggest getting a short cable, which is simpler to use when you’re tethering the RAVPower battery to your iPhone while using it in the field.

AmazonBasics has a 4” Lightning to USB A Cable for $5.99.

Or you can go with the premium cable option for $2 more…
AmazonBasics Advanced Collection 4” Lightning to USB A Cable… $7.99.

I spent the extra couple of bucks.

Click.

Be Prepared
You should always carry around a little portable power to support your smartphone for ‘emergencies.’ If that unit can recharge itself without needing a separate power block and also easily supply some juice to your other devices, I’d say that’s a smart purchase!

RAVPower Power Bank Wall Charger + 4” Lightning to USB A Cable
= happy human.

Done.

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July 7, 2019

How to Fix Your Piper Computer Kit’s Corrupted Software

My son brought his new Piper to life, but its software quickly began glitching. So, it was time to help keep the learning experience on track. That means figuring out how to reflash the Raspberry Pi’s OS onto the MicroSD Card. (what?) Here’s what I did…

A few weeks back I proudly bought my nine year old a Piper Computer Kit for his birthday. I was so excited for him… He would build his very own computer, powered by a Raspberry Pi and then learn programming and other computer skills through a Piper-specific Minecraft StoryMode interface…

I felt it was the best birthday gift a dad could give his kid… ever!
(Okay, maybe I got a little too excited.)

The truth is all my boy really wanted was a big stack of Pokémon cards.

Pokémon cards!?

Come on… I was about to give the young Lester the tools to create a virtual universe if he desired… and all he wanted… were some glittery cards.
(Clearly, I don’t understand the Pokémon phenomenon.)

So, of course, we got him the cards… too. And during the next few days, our boy was fully immersed in his Pokémon world.

The Piper Computer Kit sat unopened in the corner.
(Sniff)

…Cue the tumbleweed shot.

Then…

The next Saturday morning at breakfast, he turned to me and said with a big smile,
“Let’s build my computer!”

Finally!
We were on…

The Piper’s Stormy Maiden Voyage
He opened up the massive blueprints, spread them out on the floor, and began constructing the Piper with the intensity of engineers racing to build the spaceship in the 1951 sci-fi movie, “When Worlds Collide.”

In little more than a couple of hours, we had a heartbeat.

He activated the Piper’s Minecraft ‘Story Mode’, and before I knew it, he was testing circuits faster than you can say, “Scotty, I need warp speed!”

It was just glorious.

And then suddenly, it all just… stopped. Minecraft had crashed, and we were just staring at the desktop.

My son turned and looked at me.

Frack.

I suggested he double click on the icon to get back into the teaching game.
Nothing.

Hmmm….

Then, I took the next logical step… I checked for any software updates and downloaded those.
Still nothing.

The computer itself was still seemingly working okay… but we couldn’t get back into the Piper Minecraft teaching program…

Piper, we have a problem!

Time to Reinstall the Software
My son was still feeling pretty pumped about building his Piper, but understandably a bit deflated by this glitch. He powered down his creation, and I pledged to do some research to find a fix…

The next day, I emailed Piper customer service asking for a little support…

After sharing my details, the prognosis came back that somehow the software on the Piper’s microSD card had gotten corrupted, and I needed to “reflash” the SD card.

Huh?
(Reflashing the card means reinstalling the Raspberry Pi’s operating system image back onto the card.)

Okay… So how do you do that…?

How to Reflash the SD Card
Taylor, from Piper Customer Care emailed me links to the Raspberry Pi software and instructions on how to reflash the SD card.

Beyond the obvious need to first download the image of the operating system, there were three other key steps…

  1. I also had to download Etcher, which is a graphical SD card writing app that flashes OS images onto SD cards.
  2. I needed to remove the MicroSD card from its Raspberry Pi slot, slip it into a larger SD card adapter (which I happen to have from my GoPro kit) and then insert that into my iMac’s SD card reader.
  3. When it was time to find the downloaded Raspberry Pi operating system image in the Etcher interface, I first needed to drag it from my ‘Downloads’ to my iMac’s desktop. After that, it was easy to locate.

Then, you click on ‘Flash,’ and you’re on your way!

Within five minutes, the operation was compete, and I reinserted the MicroSD card back into the Raspberry Pi.

I powered up the Piper, and BAM!

It was all working again…!

A Computer Kit May Require Some Hands-On Maintenance
So, even though the Piper was now fully functional, part of me still wondered how much of a problem it was that I had to reinstall the operating system.

Shouldn’t a new computer not crash after 20 minutes of use?

On the other hand, I had to remind myself that I was working with a $300 computer kit centered around a $40 Raspberry Pi motherboard… not a $2,000 iMac. The rules are a little different!

And isn’t the entire idea behind a build-your-own computer that sometimes you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty?

At the end of the day, reflashing the SD card was super simple, and our Piper works like new again.

If my son were a little older, I would have had him do all the reflashing work. That would have been an excellent project for him!
(I just wanted to make sure I flashed the SD card and not my iMac’s hard drive.)

Taylor from Customer Care was super responsive and even offered to mail me a replacement SD card. I’ve got to say that’s pretty good support…

Thank You, Piper!
So, what have we learned from all of this…?

There’s often a fine line between worrying that you’ve made a bad technology purchase and feeling helpless to fix the problem… and taking control to find a solution and making the repair yourself.

It just takes the right point of view…

That’s a lesson children of all ages can learn… and one that I’m really happy my Piper experience has reinforced in my own life.

Play on!

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June 30, 2019

How to Choose the Best TV for Your Aging Parent

Taking my father out to dinner on his birthday was easy. Helping him buy a new TV was considerably harder. That’s because they don’t make TVs like they used to. And that’s exactly why you’ve got to pay close attention when selecting a replacement TV for a member of the Greatest Generation. Here are my shopping tips…

My 86-year-old father needed some help replacing his old analog bedroom TV, which had finally sputtered out years past the digital revolution. So my dad picked up his iPhone and asked me for a recommendation on a replacement. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, here are the factors to consider…

Select the Right TV Size
My dad’s old TV was this tube-based hulking box with a massive body and 27” screen in the ‘classic’ 4×3 orientation. A slender 16×9 32” LED HDTV would be the likely replacement, though that feels small by today’s standards. The 40”-43” is the next jump up in size.

While that’s considered normal for a ‘small’ TV today (seriously), you’ve got to make sure it fits in the bedroom space. Plus, you’ll likely need to buy a new TV stand.

Why…?

HDTV Legs Require More Surface Space
Well, somewhere over the last few years, TV manufacturers have seemingly switched from the center-stand mount design to upside-down V-shaped legs near each screen edge. This design change effectively increases the surface area required for any HDTV to sit on….

My father’s existing TV stand is only 29” wide. That would barely cut it for a 32” HDTV, let alone anything larger…

And even if you could balance your new HDTV onto an old stand, you’d have to worry about the risk of accidentally bumping the TV, causing one of its legs to slip off the stand… and then crash!

Yep, that could easily happen, now that HDTVs weigh so much less than their analog ancestors.

So, you’re probably going to have to also consider a new furniture solution…

Don’t Need to Go with 4K Picture Quality
I centered my research on a 40”-43” screen size for my dad. All I wanted was a straightforward, non-smart, non-4K, easy-to-use model that would quickly connect to my father’s cable box.

And let me simply say… you can’t buy that TV anymore.

Most TVs out there today come with a 4K resolution. But for a smaller screen size, you really don’t need all of those pixels. 1080p ‘full HD’ is just fine. That’s already a huge jump in quality compared to my dad’s analog dinosaur.

I’m sure any number of you would say you can see the 4K difference on a 43” screen.
But do you have the eyes of an 86-year-old?
(I’m just working the right solution for my particular user!)

If Possible, Avoid Smart TVs
Most TVs today are smart TVs with Wi-Fi and on-screen apps containing all of those marvelous and now-standard streaming options. But quite honestly, I didn’t really want to introduce my dad to the streaming world. He’s quite happy with how he used his old TV.

And more importantly, I don’t think he needs the added complexity, because that will just create more calls to… you guessed it… the IT Guy!

Not that I don’t enjoy talking with my dad on the phone. But there’s only so much I can remotely do to help him with his tech.

Yes, I do try to get into New York City to visit him every week. But he’s the kind of octogenarian who needs more immediate solutions to his tech challenges.
(We’ll just say he’s a little impatient.)

Would you like me to tell you about the time when my father’s iPhone’s ringer volume was turned down all of the way? …or the day my dad’s
iPhone wouldn’t charge anymore?
(Don’t get me started.)

But get this…

I actually couldn’t find a non-smart TV made by a manufacturer I trusted.
(Spoiler alert: My dad ended up getting a smart TV after all!)

Look for Absurdly Low Prices
Okay.. so I zeroed in on the market for 40”-43” Full HD (1080) televisions, which were also inevitably ‘smart.’ And I was shocked at how inexpensive TVs have become in this ‘smaller’ size category.

Sure, you can spend $650 on Samsung’s well regarded Q60 Series 43” 4K QLED TV.
($648 on Amazon Prime)

But for what we’ve been talking about, the price point is less than half of that. Here are two great choices I found…

Breaking the $200 Barrier
Vizio D-Series 40” Class Full HD Smart LED TV (D40F-G9)

Breaking the $300 Barrier
Samsung 5 Series N5300 43” Class HDR Full HD Smart LED TV

Really.

Both Samsung and Vizio have strong reputations for TVs although Samsung often sets the gold standard. Vizio is usually seen as a lower-cost alternative with good value.

But I especially liked the 40” Vizio for its smaller size. Most manufacturers are now only putting out 43” models in this range.
(Remember, I don’t want my dad’s new TV to overwhelm his bedroom.)

So I went with the Vizio.
Click.

Keep It Simple
If you’d like, here are my consolidated shopping notes:

  • 40”-43” screen size
  • Full 1080p HD, but not 4K
  • Smart functionality is unavoidable
  • $200-$300 price point
  • Vizio or Samsung are good TV brands
  • Don’t forget you’ll need a wider TV stand to fit the LED feet

Ultimately, I think less is more when buying technology for the elderly. Keep it simple… Spending twice as much doesn’t necessarily mean a better experience.

My father loves his new television… His first words were, “It’s much brighter!”
(Mission accomplished.)

No, he hasn’t figured out there’s a ‘smart’ interface with it yet. But he will…

And yes, now there will be the inevitable training and trouble-shooting calls
in my future!
(Easy problems for #AdultChildofAgingParent)

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