Parents are always trying to figure out a good balance between watching over their kids and giving them space to grow. Many opt to get their kids a cell phone, but there are those like myself that are trying to resist that temptation. We have looked at a few options recently, like the TickTalk 3 and the Republic Wireless Relay, and now we are going to take a closer look at Verizon's option; the GizmoWatch.

TickTalk was founded in California back in 2014 with engineers from Samsung and Apple that decided to get together to use their experience in creating wearables to make a smart watch for kids. The base watch sells for $170 and additional bands are $15 each. Besides being able to make calls on the watch, you can also send and receive text messages, it has a built in calculator, it can take pictures, has GPS for tracking, and is waterproof to IP67 standards.

The team that built Relay is the team behind Republic Wireless - a wireless company launched in 2011 that now competes with the nation's largest carriers and is recognized as a top carrier by Consumer Reports. The Relay is a very simple device that is about 2.75" square and a little more than a half inch thick. It runs on 4G networks, has built-in WiFi (b/g/n), GPS location tracking, NFC for contact sharing, a headphone jack, a front facing speaker, and dual mics.

With wireless home security systems, you'll be able to come across the technologies or home automation standards known as Z-Wave and Zigbee. Just what are Z-Wave and Zigbee and how are they similar and different from one another? Both Z-Wave and Zibgee are known as mesh networks which mean that every node integrated in that system will act as a wireless source of data and as a repeater as well.

myCharge is a Michigan based manufacturer of portable charging solutions. All of their products are lithium polymer based charging devices with integrated charging cables for tablets, phones, eReaders, etc. Recently they sent over the myCharge Adventure JumpStart, which can not only handle your small electronic devices, but since it has a 6600mAH battery and jumper cables, they claim is ideal for jump starting cars, trucks, boats, and ATVs.

Wireless charging has been around for quite a while, but it hasn't had much market penetration. This is starting to change as more and more mobile devices offer it, and most support some version of the Qi standard. While there are numerous options out there for home chargers, the field for automobile chargers has been a bit more limited. Recently I received a press release for a new charger by Lynktec called the Bolt Smart Car Mount & Qi Wireless Charger.