BLOG

Furry Friend Pet Tech

It’s down to the grind, when we’re all caught up in the hustle bustle of the holidays, checking off those gift lists, making sure no one was missed… but what about those furry friends in your life?  Do you include your beloved pet in your Christmas gift giving?  There are actually many tech products out there these days that could improve you and your pets life!  Let’s face it… it’s basically a gift to yourself and who doesn’t enjoy that?

The Furbo Dog Camera is a Webcam and treat tossing device that kills two birds with one stone and gives you a piece of mind when you’re away.  With 1080p HD video and infrared LED night vision, you can not only spy on your pets activity, but capture photo & video footage to share with family and friends.  The 2-way audio option can help prevent separation anxiety so you can talk with them and ease their worries or coax them off the bed if they’re being too lazy.  Other features include treat tossing and a bark alert.

Does your pet suffer from separation anxiety, fear during thunderstorms, excessive barking, or crate training issues?  The Pet Acoustics Bluetooth Speakers Calming Canine mobile Bluetooth speaker is loaded with music by Pet Acoustics that are clinically proven to ease your dogs anxiety.

Have a pet that requires a special diet?  Try the Petkit Fresh Smart Digital White Feeding Pet Bowl!  The digital scale shows you the weight of the food in the bowl so you have better control of their portion sizes.  It’s great for pets who have special diets for health purposes.  The Smart bowl is also Anti-Bacterial for added freshness.

If your pet is fairly reliable in the lawn but you’re worried about them wandering off on a random whim, the Whistle 3 Dog & Cat GPS Tracker & Activity Monitor could work for you.  This app based GPS tracking system sends out a whistle when they wander close to their boundaries.  In addition, it logs their daily activity and lets you know of any drastic changes. The best candidates for this, would be elderly pets so you can have a piece of mind that they are safe and sound. I don’t think I’d recommend this for highly active dogs prone to running off, though.  A full-blown containment system might be a better alternative for those personalities.

Does your cat need some new entertainment?  The PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy  is like Wack-A-Mole for cats!  The mice pop in and out of each side of the Swiss cheese block so your cat can play peek-a-boo all day long.  Endless fun for your little feline!  While you’re away, the cats can play!

Don’t make your small pet miss out on all the fun… take them with you in a Cat and Small Dog Sling!  They’ll feel safe, involved, and you don’t have to worry about their whereabouts.

The fetching pooch will never be bored with an automatic ball thrower!  The All for Paws Interactive Fetch’N Treat Dog Toy will be dog’s best friend, when they get a treat for bringing the ball back.  For active dogs, this is a great source of endless exercise and fun until they tire themselves out!

What cat or dog doesn’t go ballistic over a laser… PetSafe Bolt Cat Toy could be the light of their lives and keep them entertained both with and without you in the house.  Either hold the wand in your hand or set it on a table and let the rolling ball project random light patterns all over the room.

We all have bad habits.  If you’re having problems keeping your fur-friends out of inappropriate places (such as the toilet bowl!) providing them with their own dedicated Refilling Toilet Water Bowl could satisfy their nasty needs.  The refill tank on back provides an added benefit since you won’t have to refill their bowl as often! 

Ok, this one may only be appreciated by the most obsessive cat owners out there, but it’s worth mentioning.  If you have an Echo, you can get an app called Meow Skill that acts as a virtual cat so your kitty can have a back and forth conversation with Alexa… in meow talk.  Yes, the app will meow back to your cat each time it meows.

Happy meowing!

It’s all around you.  Chances are, your life is becoming filled with Wi-Fi devices, all of which are competing for your router’s attention.  If there’s not enough signal strength to go around, it can be a dreadfully frustrating situation and cause strain on your day to day activity.  There are so many factors that can play a part, so understanding what causes low signal strength and things you can do to improve it, might help you overcome many issues before ultimately picking up the phone for customer service.  So what can you do to test the signal strength in various locations in your home, and what is there to be done with the low signal areas, you ask?

Let’s start with verifying your issues are coming from your Wi-Fi.  Sluggish internet browsing, interrupted streaming, Wi-Fi signals cutting in and out, or just complete dead zone areas can wreak havoc on your life when you rely on these devices and services to complete your tasks.

Since Wi-Fi is like an umbrella encompassing your home, it goes without saying that the more obstacles that get in the way of that umbrella spanning out, the weaker the signal is going to be past those obstacles.  With this, you’ll have to expect that the rooms in your house that are farthest away from the router or have more walls or floors between them, are going to provide the weakest signal.  This also goes for rooms that have other Wi-Fi devices in them or standing between it and the router.  Some devices, especially some phones, don’t play well with others and suck up all the fun for the others.

So what can you do?  First and foremost, put your router in a central location that most directly covers the main areas you will be accessing the signal the most from in your home.  Remember the umbrella and stick the handle right in the center to cover the majority of your house.  You can also make it a habit to update your router’s firmware.  Some devices have an update button, while others require you to go online to the manufacturers website.  These updates can increase performance, give better features, and apply security updates.  If you have a dual-band router, you’ll see a 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz option under your wireless setup options.  If you change the frequency settings to the 5 GHz it could help improve your signal because it is not as commonly used as the 2.4 GHz.  Ultimately, you might want to just update your hardware.  You can’t expect amazing things from outdated devices, so maybe it’s time for a replacement router to ensure you’re getting optimal signal strength.  Instead of replacing the entire router, you could just replace the antenna first or get a wireless range extender.  Both will help boost and spread your signal more efficiently.  The wireless extender is great if you have thick walls or many rooms that the signal has to pass through.

Side note, if you’re curious about mapping out the Wi-Fi signal strength throughout your entire house, you may be interested to know that Roomba will soon be coming out with a new version of these little vacuums that will do just that!  While it is intended to let you know which rooms it might struggle to connect in by showing the signal strength in each room, it will, nonetheless, act as a gauge to let you know how well your Wi-Fi is doing across the board!

Now that Spring is here (as I look outside to 36″ of snow), it’s time to do a little PC cleaning. Saving space on your PC has a lot of benefits. Not only does it mean your machine files stay tidy, it also keeps it running smoothly.

Most users aren’t aware that there are hundreds – if not thousands – of unnecessary and unused files sitting on their PC, just gathering virtual dust. Some are tiny note files, others are larger installation packages, but big or small, you don’t need them and they are a useless waste of space. If you want to give your PC a good clean, follow these tips.

1. Uninstall bloatware and unused software

Bloatware are programs that are already installed on your PC when you buy it but you don’t necessarily need. These can range from free trials of anti-virus software, to DVD players – you don’t really need these at all, so you can just uninstall them.

Are there other bits of software you installed ages ago but don’t use? These could also be uninstalled to free up a lot of space.

To do this, open the Start Menu, select the Settings cog and click Apps. You will see a list of apps on your device which you can install – a word of warning, it’s probably best to keep anything marked as ‘Microsoft Corporation’.

A good way of seeing whether you use something is by looking at the date next to the app’s name; this indicates when you last used it. If it has sat idle for a while, you should consider getting rid of it.

2. Clear temporary files

Your PC stores loads of temporary files which aren’t needed. They’re small, but over time they will build up and take space.

To clear temporary files, search ‘Disk clean-up’. Tick all the options in the list and then click the “Clean up system files” button.

3. Disk defragment

Defragmenting the hard disk is a classic way of keeping your PC running efficiently. The defragment tool basically tidies up how everything is stored on a hard drive – think of it as a librarian putting books back in the right places on the shelves so they’re easy to find.

To defragment your PC, search ‘Defragment’ in the search bar at the bottom of your screen. Select the (C:) drive and click the Analyse button. To defragment the drive, click Optimize.

4. Tidy up your files

It might take a little bit of time, but tidying up your documents, photos, videos, music and more will help.

More often than not, people discover duplicate photos that are just wasting space. Get organized and gain some space.

5. Move files to Cloud

You could go one step further and move your files to a cloud service. This will not only save up a lot of space on your hard drive but will also save them from any potential loss should your PC breakdown.

Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft all offer reliable cloud services.

6. Delete old downloads automatically

Many people forget about files they download and all those little images, PDFs, and other documents can soon add up. Windows 10 has a nifty way of letting you manage this without having to do anything. You can set your PC to delete any downloads that have been untouched for 30 days automatically – however, this only applies to anything in the Downloads folder and it’s always best to check that there isn’t anything you want to keep before doing this.