Dragon Mobile Assistant by Nuance Communications Inc.
Free app for Android phones.

Android smartphone owners have a bad case of Siri envy. Ever since Apple Inc. introduced its speech-activated digital assistant to the iPhone, owners of Android phones have longed for something similar. They’ve been getting some decent substitutes too. Google Now, developed for newer Android devices is quite good. And Nuance Communications Inc. of Burlington is also pitching in, with a free app that needs work, but shows considerable promise.

Nuance is the leading maker of speech recognition software, so its Dragon Mobile Assistant is based on years of experience. It does a decent job of understanding what you’re asking. But it doesn’t always provide the most satisfactory answers. For instance, while Siri and Google Now can often answer questions aloud, Dragon Mobile Assistant just looks up its answers and displays them on screen.

On the other hand, Dragon has a cool feature that displays multiple online sources of information, and these sources change depending on the nature of the question. Ask it the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, and you’re directed to answers from Wikipedia, Google, and the statistical reference site WolframAlpha. Then again, you also get useless responses at sites like YouTube and Dictionary.com, so the app needs to be a little more selective.

Dragon Mobile Assistant also mimics one of Siri’s better features--the ability to launch other apps on the phone. Just say “start maps,” for instance, and up pops Google Maps.

None of the various speech-controlled assistants is completely satisfactory, but they keep getting better and more powerful. And with offerings like Dragon Mobile Assistant, Android phone users won’t be left behind.

OT-Adapt Bluetooth adapter by Outdoor Technology
$39.99 at amazon.com

When listening to music on your smartphone, it’s not always easy to fiddle with touchscreen controls. If you’d rather work with old-fashioned pushbuttons, check out this little gadget from a California company.

The Adapt connects to the phone through a wireless Bluetooth signal. Just sync up to the phone, and plug a headphone into the Adapt. The device also supports microphones, so you can use it for phone calls as well as passive listening. You can also plug the Adapt into a home audio system as a handy way to feed music from the phone to your stereo.

The rugged little Adapt can be clipped to a pocket or belt loop. It has a volume control and lets you click your way back and forth through your music tracks.

The Adapt isn’t exactly a necessity. For most of us, plugging our headphones directly into the phone is quite good enough. But tinkering with touchscreens is no fun when you’re jogging or cycling, The Adapt makes a handy accessory for those devoted to the strenuous life.

Qooq kitchen tablet computer
$399 at qooq.com

Leave it to a French company to develop a tablet computer especially for the kitchen. The Qooq is a costly but clever digital cookbook that can help you crank out hundreds of tasty dishes.

The Qooq features a ruggedized, water-resistant case that looks capable of surviving a moderate amount of culinary abuse. It’s also got a kickstand to keep it at the proper angle for reading. Connect it to the household W-Fi network and you can use it as a Web browser and a streaming audio player with presets for hundreds of stations worldwide.

But the essence of Qooq is its built-in database that includes about a thousand recipes, ranging from simple fare to fairly exalted cuisine. Cooking instructions are well-written and easy to follow. And there are videos to teach users a variety of kitchen skills. While preparing the Qooq’s recipe for ginger pork--it was excellent--I boned up on the correct way to slice onions and shallots.

Qooq is hampered by a video screen that’s far below the standards of other laptops. And then there’s the $400 price. Add in another $99 a year for an online subscription for downloading more recipes and videos, and you’ve got one expensive electronic cookbook. Still, amateur chefs with deep pockets will get a kick out of the Qooq.

Wanderous travel app
Free for a limited time for Apple iOS devices

Those of us with Android phones have sampled the pleasures of Field Trip, an app that guides users to points of interest as they travel through the world. Here’s a similar piece of software created with iPhone and iPad owners in mind.

Open Wanderous, and you’ll see a map of your present location. You’ll also see icons indicating nearby places that might strike your fancy, including public landmarks, museums and hotels. Touch an icon, and you can get a map to direct you there. You can also get a link to other Internet sites with related information. You might be directed to a set of photos of the place, hosted at the Flickr online photo service, or get detailed information from Wikipedia.

Wanderous is an interesting but limited app. While travelers will appreciate the guidance it provides, I wish it provided guidance to restaurants, retailers and other mundane commercial venues. Man does not live by tourism alone. Still, Wanderous is a handy tool for discovering the hidden attractions that surround us all.

Galaxy Camera by Samsung Corp.
$499.99 at AT&T.com

You’ve heard of Samsung’s popular Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Now they’ve attached the name to one of their oddest and coolest products yet, one that combines a mini-tablet computer with a sharp and sophisticated camera.

On the backside, you find a 4.8-inch screen. Fire it up. and you get the latest edition of Google Inc.’s Android software. You can connect to a nearby Wi-Fi signal for Internet access, or sign up for access to AT&T’s 4G LTE cellular data network. You can’t use the Camera to make cell phone calls. But you can scour the Internet, send and receive e-mail or even get turn-by-turn driving directions, with help from the Camer’s GPS chip.

Touch the camera icon, and out rolls a huge lens with 21X optical zoom. It takes beautiful pictures, which you can instantly share over the phone’s wireless connection. In addition, the phone software includes voice commands that let you change the zoom setting or fire the shutter with your voice instead of your finger.

I’m not sure which mad genius at Samsung dreamed up the Galaxy Camera, but he or she deserves a raise. This is one of the most original tech gadgets of the year.

Coolpix L610 camera by Nikon Inc.
$146 at Amazon.com

For dead simple, dirt-cheap photography, this handy little 16-megapixel camera from Nikon is a pretty good choice. It’s got a small body, a long lens, and an ample array of features.

Nikon managed to squeeze in a 14X optical zoom lens, to let you shoot crisp close-ups from the other side of a large room. It also supports 1080p high-definition video shooting, and has an HDMI connection so you can show the videos on your TV.

The three-inch rear video display provides good sharp previews of your shots. The controls include a host of preset options for different kinds of shooting, whether you’re photographing sunsets, sunrises, a landscape, or even a banquet. All of it is powered with a couple of AA batteries. You never have to plug in a recharger, and spare batteries are available pretty much everywhere.

Given this camera’s low price, there’s no built-in Wi-Fi or GPS, and the video screen isn’t touch-controlled. No matter; the Coolpix L610 is still a solid choice for the casual shooter.

If you want a best-selling toy, it’s no longer enough to make a talking doll or a battery-powered toy car, slap it in an eye-catching box and call it a day.

Kids want their toys to be as innovative as possible and oftentimes that reaches beyond the toy itself, said Kevin Young, a principal at Continuum. His company works as a design and innovation consultancy for companies including American Express, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as some of the top toy companies like Fisher Price and Legos.

So what makes a toy a best seller? You have to appeal to the kids and what they want on a subconscious level. So if it’s a toy that fulfills their desire to be more like their care-giving parent, the child will look for a doll or toy that they can care for. Wii, for example, allows kids to see themselves on television and imagine themselves as a star athlete. Legos let kids create something that has never been made before in a 3-dimensional way.

“As adults we sometimes underestimate the consumer knowledge that kids have,” Young said. “They’re incredibly savvy consumers. If a new toy comes out their ability to research it, read reviews— These are things that 8 and 10 year olds are doing.”

The best-selling toys, he said, are the ones that kids have never seen before but still appeal to those basic desires that are a part of growing up.

“Legos filled all the criteria,” Young said. “All those before them were stacking toys and if you go over and if you went over and hit them they would fall over.”
But to stay current, Lego and other popular toy brands have had to do a lot over the years, what Young and his team call touch points.

The touch points are additions that go along with the brand of a toy meant to draw kids in as much as possible. Monster High, for example, isn’t just dolls. Mattel also released a series of webisodes that children can watch on the computer or a mobile device. They also came out with a 4-issue magazine, an interactive iPad app with figurines that are used to play the game, and other games played through the website.

Interactive dolls have been around for awhile now. Tickle Me Elmo was one of the first, laughing when it is tickled. This year, we featured Disney Doc McStuffins Time for Your Check Up Doll as one of the hot toys of the holiday season.

The doll also comes with a stuffed lamb and medical tools. She sings a “Time for Your Check Up” song and as the child performs the check up, the lamb responds to the thermometer, stethoscope, and otoscope.

But she also has her own TV show, which is why Dr. McStuffins is so popular.

“If they can do something new in the toy industry or really are able to create a meaningful connection with the kids,” they set themselves apart and are able to sell well year after year, Young said.

Young said there is a shift coming up in the toy market, however, and companies like Leap Frog that are known for making child-friendly technology, like this year’s LeapFrog LeapPad2 Explorer Crayola Creativity Bundle, will likely need to make adjustments in their products to keep up with the times.

Rather than paying $100 for a children’s tablet, kids are becoming savvy enough to use their parents technology. Popular children’s apps like Sparklefish or for older children, Angry Birds, are making it so that any tablet can become more kid-friendly.

Fisher price even came out with a product that puts an old iPhone into a plastic, colorful “apptivity” case that protects it from drool, teething, and other abuse that is a given for children 6 months and older. There are also free recommended education apps for the children that are very popular, Young said.

“It’s just a direct hit—apps for kids,” Young said. “I think it’s only going to get more challenging” for toy-making companies.

Photo sharing service Instagram announced several changes today in a new Terms of use. Most notably, starting Jan. 16, the company will be able to sell photos and any user information submitted on the site to advertisers “without any compensation to you.”

The company wrote:

“To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions without any compensation to you.”

Instagram also wrote that those advertisements will not necessarily be identified as paid content.

“Nothing has changed about your photos’ ownership or who can see them," Instagram wrote in a list of "key update(s)" at the top of the Terms of Use preview on its website.

The changes, it wrote, were implemented to better assimilate to its parent company, Facebook, which bought Instagram in September. Instagram added that sharing more information with Facebook will prevent spam, identify problems more quickly, and “build better features for everyone.”

Nikon 1 J2 camera
$549.99 at BestBuy.com

If you’re bored with your inexpensive point-and-shoot digital camera, but aren’t quite ready for a big, bulky digital single-lens reflex camera, here’s something that falls right in the middle. The Nikon 1 features a light, compact form, along with the ability to choose from multiple lenses.

The one that I tested came with a good midrange lens, with a focal length of 10 to 30 millimeters. Just the thing for family snapshots and other casual work. But Nikon offers five other compatible lenses, from a $190 lens for tight closeups to one intended for serious video shooting and priced at $750.

The Nikon 1 delivered good, crisp images. But I was disappointed by its relative lack of fancy features I’ve found on less expensive cameras. There’s no Wi-Fi wireless networking, for instant transfer of photos to a home computer or an online service like Facebook. Also, the video screen on the back, which acts as a viewfinder, is firmly bolted to the back of the camera. Other cameras let you rotate the screen, so you can hoid the camera any which way and still compose your shots accurately.

Still, Nikon’s come up with a well-made, high-quality camera that should appeal to the amateur who’s ready for an upgrade.

JBL PowerUp Bluetooth speaker and charging station for Nokia Lumia phones
$299.99 from AT&T Inc.

I guess JBL isn’t feeling especially desperate. That’s the only way I can make sense of the hefty price tag on this product, a combination Bluetooth loudspeaker and phone recharger that’s three times the up-front price of the Lumia 920.

For that, you get a pair of so-so speakers mounted in brightly colored plastic that echoes the look of the Lumia product line. These phones can be recharged by simply dropping them onto a wireless charging station that uses a magnetic field to fire up the battery. Such a charging station is built into the top of the JBL speakers.

So you connect the phone to the speakers via Bluetooth and start cranking out your favorite tunes or the latest podcast. Then place the phone atop the PowerUp and the battery gets charged.

The system works just fine, but I’ve heard better Bluetooth speakers. And while wireless charging is cool, it’s hardly worth so much cash, especially when AT&T is throwing in a free wireless charger when you buy a Lumia 920. The PowerUp, alas, is a decent product that’s way too costly for its own good.

Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone by Nokia Corp.
$99.99 with two-year service contract from AT&T Inc.

Desperate times call for desperate bargains. That’s the only explanation for AT&T’s aggressively low price on Nokia’s flagship smartphone. This remarkable handset, which runs Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 8 software, has got to be the best $100 phone you can buy, with an excellent camera, a big, beautiful video screen, and snappy 4G LTE data downloads.

Nokia, once the leading wireless phonemaker, is getting clobbered by Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Android smartphones. And while Windows Phone software is outstanding, consumers are still reluctant to embrace it. But this phone could be good enough, and cheap enough, to change some minds.

The Lumia 920’s screen isn’t as sharp as that of the iPhone 5, but it’s a good deal bigger, for more comfortable video viewing. The eight-megapixel camera shoots good still photos, and even more impressive 1080p high-resolution movies. As for Windows Phone 8, it’s a snappy, elegant operating system full of smart features that efficiently integrate phone, e-mail and social networking services. If Microsoft had brought this software to market a couple of years sooner, they’d have 50 percent of the smartphone market by now, instead of less than five.

The Lumia 920 would be well worth buying at $199,99, the usual up-front price for high-end smartphones. At $99.99, it ought to be pretty nearly irresistable.

Google Search for Apple iOS devices
Free from the Apple iTunes App Store

It’s become fashionable to criticize Siri, the speech-controlled digital assistant found in Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad. I refuse to join the mob. I’ve often found Siri quite useful. Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement, and now Apple’s smartphone rival Google has stepped into the breach. Its new Google Search app for Apple phones has a speech-controlled search feature that frequently leaves Siri in the dust.

This shouldn’t surprise anybody. Google is all about search and gets billions of chances to practice its craft each day. As a result, Google Search is superbly responsive. Its speech recognition feature starts translating your question even before you’ve finished speaking it. While Siri often takes five or 10 seconds to find an answer, Google Search often responds in just three or four. When Siri can’t find an answer, it asks for permission to run a Google search; the Google app just does it, saving more valuable time. And Google Search responds to more questions verbally, in a voice that sounds far more human than Siri’s robotic chirp.

Of course, Siri lets you launch other apps with voice commands, something Google Search can’t do. But time and again, I found that Google Search was better at answering everyday questions than Siri. I always figured that rivals would catch up with Apple’s vaunted digital assistant. But it turns out that Google is in the passing lane, and stepping on the gas.

Wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse by Favi Entertainment
$44.50 at Amazon.com

Our smartphones and tablets have made us accustomed to jabbing at icons on a glass videoscreen. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Sometimes you want the substantial feel of a pushbutton keyboard. This handy gadget from Favi gives you exactly that.

The keyboard connects to any device with a built-in Bluetooth chip. Once it syncs up, you can use it to type messages or enter commands. Prop your phone in front of you, then use the keyboard to check e-mail and peck out responses. A mini-touchpad on the right side of the device gives you mouse control as well. In addition, there’s a built-in laser pointer.

The possibilities are endless, and aren’t limited to controlling your phone. For instance, you could use the keyboard to run a PowerPoint slideshow from a Bluetooth-enabled laptop, and the laser pointer to highlight important details on the screen.

For the typical smartphone user, a spare keyboard isn’t exactly a necessity. But e
-mail mavens and texting addicts should check out this well-designed accessory.

MA-350 earphones by Reid and Heath Acoustics Ltd.
$39.95 at Amazon.com

Like many of you, I burn through earbud-type headphones pretty fast. So several times a year, I pay $10 or $15 for a cheap-looking, cheap-sounding replacement that’ll last a couple of months. Well, here’s an idea--why not spend a little more for phones that are tougher, more comfortable, and deliver outstanding sound?

I’ve never heard of Reid and Heath before now. But this Glasgow, Scotland outfit knows how to make a very sharp set of earbuds. The tiny speakers are machined out of aluminum and feature snug rubber earpieces that seal out most external noises. The sound quality is exceptional. Yes, Apple’s done a nice job with its new-style earbuds for the iPhone 5, but I’d say these Reid and Heath phones are better. Treble tones are a bit too shrill but midrange sounds nice and mellow, and bass is better than it has a right to be. Top it off with woven fabric cables, and you’ve got phones that aren’t going to fall apart after a few weeks’ use.

I’ve seen a few premium earbuds, but none that match the MA-350’s blend of lovely sound, smart, durable design, and moderate price.

Droid Razr HD smartphone by Motorola Mobility Inc.
$149.99 at Amazon.com

These days, Samsung Corp. is the dominant maker of smartphones that run Google Inc.’s Android operating system. But it was Motorola’s original Droid that became the first serious challenger to Apple Inc.’s iPhone. And now that Google has acquired Motorola, the company keeps banging out some quite impressive products.

The Droid Razr HD follows in the footsteps of the ultra-thin Razr Motorola introduced last year. That was one of the loveliest smartphones ever, but its thinness came at the cost of lousy battery life. The Razr HD is much thicker, thanks to a battery that promises to last all day long. But Motorola has kept on sheathing the phone in Kevlar. This famously bulletproof material gives the Razr HD a wonderful feel in the hand--warm, comforting and light, yet solid as a brick.

The updated Droid carries a 4.7-inch display that uses the same kind of organic liquid crystal technology found on Samsung phones. OLED screens are famed for rich high-contrast color; this one’s also especially sharp because it supports 720p high-definition video.

In most respects, the Droid Razr HD is technically middle-of-the-road, with a decent dual-core processor and 16 gigabytes of built-in memory. The new Droid is hardly a breakthrough product, but its sharp screen and solid construction make it a worthy choice for Android fans.

IRISNotes Executive 2 pen
$149 at irislink.com

I’d rather type into a computer than scribble with a pen. That’s partly because my handwrting’s lousy, but mainly because typed text is instantly digitized and ready for e-mailing and printing. But here’s a pen that turns your scrawls into digital text.

The IRISNotes system uses a ballpoint pen with a wireless transmitter inside. You also get a little recording device that clips to the paper you’re writing on. IRISNotes captures your handwriting by detecting the motions of the pen across the paper. Next, you plug the recording device into a computer or an Apple iPad, and use software to download your writings. On the screen you see the exact image of the words you wrote on paper. The software then attempts to translate your handwriting into digital text that can be loaded into word processors or e-mail programs.

It all works surprisingly well, though I recommend it only to people with very good penmanship. The software had some trouble making out my scratchings. Still, if you’ve got decent handwriting and want an effective way to turn your words into digital text, the IRISNotes system is worth a look.

Hitcase Pro ruggedized iPhone case
$129.99 at hitcase.com

Apple Inc.’s iPhone is a surprisingly tough little gadget, but it has its limits. Even its rigid frame and robust Gorilla Glass can collapse amidst the rigors of mountain biking or snowboarding. Which is why a fan of extreme sports might want to plop down $130 for this exceedlngly tough smartphone case.

The Hitcase Pro, for the iPhone 4 and 4S, has a primal, almost brutish look to it. Unlike cheaper, simpler cases for everyday use, the Hitcase is primarily intended for heavy-duty action. It’s much too bulky to tote in a pocket, but never mind. This waterproof, shock-resistant case uses a locking system that lets you insert and remove the phone with ease. Its strong but flexible front shield still allows access to the phone’s touchscreen controls, though you’ll have to push a bit harder.

The case comes with attachments for bolting it onto a helmet, or the handlebars of a bike. Launch the iPhone’s video camera, and make a permanent record of your daring feats. The company offers a free app that connects to the iPhone’s GPS, and records your speed, altitude and G-force acceleration as you go.

In addition, the Hitcase Pro has a built-in wide-angle lens extension for the iPhone’s camera. It significantly expands the scale of your videos; just the thing for capturing the vastness of a challenging downhill ski run.

Sure, you might break a bone or two on the way down. But with the Hitcase Pro wrapped around your phone, you’ll probably still be able to call for help.

Hotel Tonight travel app
Free for Apple iOS devices and Google Android devices

Can I get you two a room? It'll only take a couple of minutes, thanks to a slick little app that's designed to get you into a nearby hotel, fast.

Just download the app, and sign up for a free account. You can use your Facebook logon to hook up. Hotel Tonight can let you search for rooms in dozens of major cities. Or you can set it to detect your location and automatically home in on the best nearby options.

The good news is that Hotel Tonight works with local lodging establishments to get you discounts on high-quality rooms. The bad news is that for now, its choices are rather limited. On a recent search, it offered a choice of just three Boston hotels. The company says that's because listed hotels must measure up to its exalted standards.

Makes sense, but Hotel Tonight would be more useful if it were a little less choosey. Still, it's a handy new way to find a place to stay.

iCade 8-Bitty smartphone game controller by ThinkGeek
$29.99 at ThinkGeek.com

How popular are those old-school "8-bit" console games, the ones with blocky graphics that we used to play in video arcades? They're so popular that a new Disney movie based on them, "Wreck-It Ralph," just opened in theaters. And they're also popular enough for ThinkGeek to invent a gadget to help you play these classic games on a smartphone.

8-Bitty is a game controller with a full suite of pushbuttons and a "D-Pad" for moving your character around the screen. It connects to a smartphone through a Bluetooth wireless chip.

Now all you need are some games. The 8-Bitty only works with a limited number of compatible games. There are dozens that claim to be; find a link to a list of them at the ThinkGeek site. But several that I installed on my iPhone just didn't work for me. After much trial and error, I finally got the controller to work with a ridiculous little time-waster called Stupid Jones, which mainly involves dodging past razor-sharp blades of death. I died a lot, but 8-Bitty was hardly to blame.

You'd have to be pretty hardcore about this kind of game to spend $30 for a controller that's as big as your cell phone. But Walt Disney thinks that there are plenty of you out there, and so does ThinkGeek.

Touchfire screen-top keyboard for iPad by Touchfire Inc.
$49.95 at Touchfire.com

It's no fun trying to touch-type on the hard glass "virtual keyboard" of Apple Inc.'s iPad. Oh, wait a second -- yes, it is fun after all. Or at least a lot better than it used to be, if you slap on this clever and effective new product.

Touchfire is a plastic sheet with raised sections that correspond to the positions of the keys on the iPad's virtual keyboard. You just place the Touchfire over the iPad screen; magnets hold it in place. The knobby projections on each plastic key and the soft, flexible plastic combine to keep your fingers correctly placed for touch typing. You don't have to stare at the virtual keyboard to make sure you're hitting the right keys; Touchfire lets you work as if you're using a real, physical keyboard.

Granted, it's not as comfortable. I wouldn't want to compose War and Peace this way. But it works remarkably well. And Touchfire folds into a handy carrying case that'll easily fit into your iPad bag.

The only downside is the price; pretty steep, considering that you can get a real keyboard for an iPad for about $100. For occasional bouts of casual typing, Touchfire is a good choice; cut the price in half and I'd rate it excellent.

Apple is live streaming its likely announcement of a mini iPad today, a change from how the tech giant unveiled high-profile devices in recent years.

The Associated Press

Microsoft’s first tablet computer, the Surface, will start at $499 when it goes on sale Oct. 26.

A California company is offering a new option for turning in your old cell phones. In a video you've got to check out, these ATM-like kiosks let you insert your phone, have it scanned for worth, then pull out some cash.

How can you really be sure the review you're reading online is legit? Watch for superlatives, overly confident reviewers, and vague descriptions. Check out these tips from experts -- including a researcher who wrote programs to detect phony reviews.

Don't have a DVR? No problem! CNet's Sharon Vaknin shows you how to record over-the-air TV onto your computer. You'll need a little equipment, including an HD PVR.