Author: Juan Carlos Bagnell

Juan has been obsessed with consumer electronics since before computers had GUI’s. Out of college he worked on a JIT computing contract which supported DOE facilities in New Mexico. He’s been featured on numerous podcasts and radio shows lending his tech insights. You can also find him in LA directing voice over actors and producing spoken word recording.
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Monoprice 20,000mAh Power Bank with Wireless Charging – Less than a pound of power (goes a long way)

It’s a surprisingly sleek brick and it has a lot of ports to play with.

The folks at Monoprice sent their 20,000 mAh power bank for me to test and review.

Monoprice has a new trio of power banks featuring Power Delivery Quick Charge 3.0 and an LCD read out for remaining battery capacity.

Available in three configurations, a wired only 10,000 mAh battery, a wired only 20,000 mAh battery, and the version I’m reviewing, which takes the 20,000 mAh battery and adds wireless charging to the mix.

This version of the battery is capable of charging up to five devices at the same time. Continue reading “Monoprice 20,000mAh Power Bank with Wireless Charging – Less than a pound of power (goes a long way)”

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Mailbag: Are “AR” Glasses a Sham?

Got a comment from DZ

I’m kinda disgusted by the hucksters pushing these as “AR Glasses”. Anyone buying these simple video glasses expecting AR capabilities is going to be pretty angry at the company and the social media accounts pushing them. I can only assume that this company is trying to grab as much money as possible before the bottom drops out and they disappear with the cash.

Hey DZ,

It’s dicey right?

Continue reading “Mailbag: Are “AR” Glasses a Sham?”

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Beyerdynamic Blue BYRD ANC Review! Bluetooth Earbuds with a CRAZY Trick!

Beyerdynamic Blue BYRD ANC Review! Revenge of the neckband!
I love a good a Bluetooth earbud. True wireless buds are all the rage, but I still prefer a practical neckband! Pairing a great driver, with excellent battery life, the Blue BYRD are a champ! Plus, these have a trick up their sleeves that no true wireless bud can match…

Continue reading “Beyerdynamic Blue BYRD ANC Review! Bluetooth Earbuds with a CRAZY Trick!”

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#SGGQA 313: Tech and Tetris – Asus Says Goodbye to ZenFone, Sony Acquires Audeze, Google’s TERRIBLE AR Plans…

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I REALLY needed a break and wanted to play some Tetris with some pals. This is probably one of the WORST audio podcasts I’ve ever produced, but it was exactly the kind of casual show I needed. The video replay will make a LOT more sense as we play a few rounds and chat about some tech gear. 

We’ll be back next week with a proper list of links and stories!

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Happy Monday! Last Monday of the month! It’s a Pajama Podcast show!

This week we’re playing some Tetris while we chat about the news! This might be one of the poorer podcasts for audio listeners in my replay crew!

We’ll go wherever the chat wants to go, and we have a TON of topics we might cover. Asus might be killing the ZenFone line. Sony bought my favorite headphone manufacturer. Google and Samsung have a TERRIBLE plan for AR goggles.

AND CAN ANYONE BEAT ME IN TETRIS???

Let’s get our tech week started right!

Continue reading “#SGGQA 313: Tech and Tetris – Asus Says Goodbye to ZenFone, Sony Acquires Audeze, Google’s TERRIBLE AR Plans…”

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Why Buy an XREAL Beam or Rokid Station for Your AR Glasses (When You Can Just Buy a REALLY Expensive phone)???

AR glasses manufacturers are taking matters into their own hands.

I’ve spent some time using the XREAL Air and the Rokid Max glasses, and both companies have recently started shipping “brain” computers to help people use these glasses more easily.

I have separate videos on the XREAL and Rokid “brains”, and I collaborated with TK Bay to do a combo of comparison videos for the glasses and the “brains”.

I expect I’ll be talking about these glasses a lot over the next year, as we wait for the really expensive Mixed Reality headsets to arrive. Consumers might be interested in trying a more “price accessible” portable face display.

But who are these “brain” computers even for?!?!? Why not just use your phone?!?!? UGGGGGHHHH!!! Continue reading “Why Buy an XREAL Beam or Rokid Station for Your AR Glasses (When You Can Just Buy a REALLY Expensive phone)???”

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Dear Google and Samsung: Copying Apple Vision Pro is a DUMB Move…

Dear Samsung and Google,

This is a bad idea.

Trying to make a copycat Mixed Reality headset to compete against the Vision Pro is a bad idea.

Augmented reality could be so much more, but we need to cover the basics first.

Be the Anti-Apple.

Love,
Juan

Continue reading “Dear Google and Samsung: Copying Apple Vision Pro is a DUMB Move…”

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Moto ReadyFor on Android 13: The Best Desktop Mode Gets a Little Better!

A quick look at my favorite desktop mode. Now that the Edge+ is FINALLY running Android 13, I’m happy to see that ReadyFor has gotten a little attention too!

There’s still plenty of room to improve desktop modes. These little iterative improvements are welcome! Continue reading “Moto ReadyFor on Android 13: The Best Desktop Mode Gets a Little Better!”

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Pixel Tablet vs Robo and Kala: A Totally UNFAIR Fight!

We have to start this off asking a MAJOR question:

What do you want in a tablet?

Putting my bias up front, I’m not particularly impressed with tablet conversations fixated on basic use and “hand feel”. I don’t think that’s good criteria to judge the value of a premium purchase. If a tablet costs as much or more than a game console, it needs to do more than just stream some Netflix and “feel nice”.

Tablets have incredible processors, and GPUs, and RAM, and storage, and batteries. In a remarkably thin shell, we’ll find performance that often rivals similarly priced Chromebooks. These products are terrific general compute platforms, and it seems like such a waste to relegate them to the lowest level use.

Tablets are “solutions in search of problems”, but they can solve a LOT more of those problems than many people realize.

Tablets can DO stuff, and these two are great examples of “doing stuff” slates. They make for an interesting comparison because they’re so different. Continue reading “Pixel Tablet vs Robo and Kala: A Totally UNFAIR Fight!”

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