Attention all BennyBuzz users! IMPORTANT

On the 16th of March, BennyBuzz will be replaced by my new site, TheTechKnow.net. You’ll still receive all of the great posts. Make sure you “Follow” TheTechKnow.net by clicking at the bottom of the screen the “Follow” button. Thank you for your cooperation. I look forward to continue to keep you posted. There will also be more content, such as videos, and even a new mobile app!

 

New “Hot” Technology

Dacor’s new ninth generation ovens are here… with a Android based machine! (Android is the Operating System found in smartphones like Droids and Samsungs.) This new oven features lots of new features such as cooking guides and recipes with apps, preprogrammed dishes to cook with ease, and you can even cook food remotely from any Android device. Of course, cooking is breeze with a spacious 7 inch touch screen. And when your food is ready to serve, you’ll be notified if you have an Android or soon to come iOS device (Apple’s Operating System) you can receive texts when your food is ready to eat.

CYBER MONDAY TIPS!

 

 

First off, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It’s hard to believe it’s almost December. A fairly new shopping event called Cyber Monday is a shopping event where people buy discounted items from many websites that run deals. If you missed Black Friday, or don’t feel like waiting on lines, then Cyber Monday is for you. Regardless, if your in the market for something, you can definitely find a decent deal on whatever you are planning to purchase. A couple of tips I use when I go shopping is to do a few things before buying. Check out coupon sites such as CouponCabin.com or RetailMeNot.com. These sites have coupons and promotions for many sites online. All items, especially technology you should take a look at some reviews. Of course, if you have any questions, you can email me at benny@bennybuzz.com. One more thing I do is I find a good product I like online, and search on other good sites such as Amazon.com, eBay, (for tech:) TigerDirect, and NewEgg.com. You might also want to take a look at PriceGrabber.com which compares, reviews, and lists deals right on the site. Good Luck & Happy Shopping!

The fire just started

Many people were expecting a smartphone, but I must say Amazon did a great job this year with the Kindle Fire. The new Kindle Fire HD, which is an update from the Kindle Fire, and the Kindle Fire 8.9″ HD one model with 4G is now a family. These Kindles are expected to be available for purchase on November 20th for the 8.9″, and September 14 for the 7″ tablet. Let’s take a look at these new products.

Kindle Fire HD  The one thing if anything I wanted Amazon to do is to increase the memory on the product. Last year, 8GBs was standard and was the only option. The Kindle Fire HD now has 16 GB, and up can expand to 32 GB, what a big improvement. I was really excited to find that out. It also features new Dolby Sound, a 1.2 GHz, processor, an HD Camera on the device, 1280 x 800 HD screen with anti glare, and the fastest Wi-Fi speeds up to 31 MBPS that even claim to pass Apple’s iPad’s. And of course, you get all of the Amazon content to your device including Apps, Music, Movies, Books and more. The 16GB Model is $199, and the 32GB model is $249, which is actually a good price for a tablet like this. It definitely looks good to me, and I recommend it.

Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ The next step up, starting at $299 with 16 GBs and 32 GBs for $369, this is the first 8.9″ tablet to the Kindle family. With a 1920 by 1200 HD display, a 1.5 GHz processor, and this device basically has the identical specifications to the Kindle Fire HD. Like I was talking about, Amazon released another Kindle basically with the 4G capabilities and the available upgrade to 64 GB for $599, and the base price with 32 GB for $499. Definitely nice to have the extra memory. AT&T hosts the 4G service and you can find more information about plans and devices at Amazon.com. Additionally, I am very satisfied with the new release and stay tuned for some more Buzz. Thank you for reading! If you have any questions, please contact me at benny@bennybuzz.com.

New Kindles

Amazon, today released 4 new Kindle today during the press conference. Kindle Paperwhite, available for pre order today is a new Kindle that features a better screen better for your eyes and good in practically any environment. It can still as usual access Newspapers, Magazines, and millions of books. The Paperwhite starts at $119, and it’s buddy, the Paperwhite 3G (with 3G downloading capabilities) starts at $179. Other then that, there are a few new neat features on the Paperwhite. One I really liked was the Kindle shows you your reading pace which is pretty neat. And, with Whisper Sync, Amazon will store all of your books in the cloud! Additionally, Amazon will have the Kindle Paperwhite available on October 1st, but you can preorder now at Amazon.com. Remember the old kindle? Theres good news about it too. The price is now dropped to $69 and still available, overall I am happy with the new Kindle release, but stay tuned for the Kindle fire news coming your way! Happy Reading!

Your Future Money

Lately, there has been much of talk of paper money becoming obsolete. Sound crazy? Maybe not.  With over 80% of the world population using mobile phones, and the increased popularity of smartphones, more business transactions are occurring  with our phones then with credit/debit cards and cash. Just a few days ago, PayPal, once just used to be an easier way to pay online, but has now expanded to retail stores with the ability to use your PayPal account to pay at the register.   PayPal hopes  more and more consumers will  choose to pay with their PayPal account via  mobile phones by next year. Google Wallet, is also another option.   Just by scanning your phone, you can make automatic, safe/secure purchases. Not just paying, but coupons, promotions, scanning, and more you are now able to do with your mobile phone. Do you like the idea? Email me at benny@bennybuzz.com and you can be featured on the blog! Thanks for reading and stay tuned.

Sept. 6 Amazon Press Conference

We’ve been expecting this. Thursday, September 6th at 10:30 am is Amazon’s 2012 Press Conference. Any significance to you? I hope so. As you may or may not have heard, Amazon is planning to unveil a new Smartphone or Kindle, or maybe the next generation Kindle Fire. Time will tell, and I will keep you posted. Stay tuned for more BennyBuzz coming your way!

Steam Store, now more than just games

Are you a gamer? If so, you may have heard about Steam, the quick, easy, and inexpensive way to have a great gaming expirence. It’s basically the iTunes for games, you can add your friends, download games and more, but that’s not all! On September 5th, Steam is announcing an expansion to the store, adding Applications from creativity to productivity along with the ‘Steam Cloud’. This will make Steam competitors with such stores as the Mac App Store. I think this will be a smart idea for Steam and I am excited to to check it out soon. Stay tuned for the new report on Apple, coming your way. Thanks for reading.

OS X 10.8 – a.k.a Mountain Lion

 

It’s July 25th and time for Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion. Just shortly after Apple’s Q3 Earnings report, the company announced that it would release Mountain Lion, available in the Mac App Store and on recently made Apple computers. (If you purchased a Mac on or after June 11th, you qualify for a free upgrade if you haven’t yet upgraded to Mountain Lion) “Over 200 features in OS X Mountain Lion add up to one amazing Mac experience,” Apple said. After being fortunate to get to try out Mountain Lion, I must say that there isn’t a HUGE difference between Lion (previous operating system) and Mountain Lion. The things I really like: Notification Center. Really nice and simple especially with pop-ups. Safari is definitely adjusted. The ability to have all of your tabs synced to your other devices is helpful, and I also really like ‘Tab view’ which is kind of like ‘Mission Control,’ except for your tabs. iCloud, Notes, Reminders, Messages, Sharing, GameCenter, and more are some of the many great features included in Mountain Lion. You’ll also notice some small changes which are helpful too. It’s nice that Mountain Lion has a taste of some iOS (Operating system for iPhones, iPads, and some iPods) features. With that been said, should you upgrade/get Mountain Lion? For only $19.99, Mountain Lion is definitely not expensive for an Operating System (OS). If you have Lion and you would like to see a refresh of your OS with some exciting new features, then I would recommend it. If you aren’t going to use the features, then it isn’t necessary. Overall, I am pretty happy with Mountain Lion. For more information about features, buying, and more, visit http://www.apple.com/osx/ . Stay tuned for more BennyBuzz coming your way! Check out some pictures of Mountain Lion in action below!

 

A BIG Leap at Microsoft

Ever want to try out the Microsoft Phone, Play the XBOX, or check out Microsoft Software? Microsoft Fans, after over 30 years, the new International Microsoft Stores are coming.  These new stores will pop up around internationally. The first, in Canada expected to open up this fall.  There are also more reports by the next couple of years, Microsoft will open several more in the United Sates. As of now, there are about 20 locations, most of them out West in the US. In the next couple of years, Microsoft plans to spread all over the globe which gives Microsoft another advantage to grow even larger.