Tech Talk / By Martha Knight

By the time you read this, Apple will have unveiled the iPhone 6, maybe in two sizes, one larger and with features that make it a phablet. And maybe an iWatch as well. As I write this, though, what we know for sure is that there are plenty of rumors, including that Apple will partner in some new payment management system.

Right now the smartwatch that is to die for is the Moto 360. The reason you would die for it is that it costs an arm and a leg (don’t sacrifice your left arm if that’s your watch side), and the amputations could lead to fatal hemorrhages. But why risk that? If you are a Cheep, like me, you saw that our fearless leader, the Cheapskate, Rick Brioda, on CNET, had found a deal on the MetaWatch Strata, for $39.99 shipped from Best Buy.

The Strata comes in bright colors but has a monochrome face, and boasts notification of calls and texts and appointments, widgets such as weather and stock ticker, music controls. It will even give you the time of day. It used to list for $179.

Same edition of Cheapskate had a killer offer on the Amazon Kindle HD 8.9 (16GB) for $129 shipped. It’s a refurb, but with a one-year warranty.  Kindle refurbs are in like-new condition.

It’s an HD because of its high-def display, and an 8.9 because of its 8.9-inch display. It can function as a very nice reader, of course, but it is also a high functioning tablet, at a size closer to a 10-incher than a 7. Storage is 16 GB, obviously, but you can click in extra cards.

Dual-band, dual-antenna Wifi, Dolby sound and dual speakers, front-facing camera, fast dual-core processor, 1920x1200 display with polarizing filter, integrated support for Facebook, Skype, Yahoo!, Gmail, Netflix, Twitter and other addictions.

There is an on-screen keyboard you can turn on, but if you do lots of work with a computer or laptop and want a tablet that will let you work efficiently, why not get a keyboard to go with? Bluetooth keyboards that also function as cases for this Kindle (and for some other tablets) can be had for cheap at Amazon, and there are rubber-tipped styli that let users write or draw on the screen without leaving finger smudges.

We don’t know yet what will turn out to be the best spartphone of 2014, but Brioda says the new Moto G will be the best smartphone value.

Quadcore, 5-inch HD screen, serious camera, micro SD slot, solid feel—and $179 unlocked.

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The same Cheapskate email told us Cheeps that Newegg had the Samsung D3  USB 3.0 hard drive for $94.49 shipped. With your Amazon Prime privileges you might download so many free books and movies, and with your Moto G you might take so many photos, you would want somewhere to store them all. Anywhere, you can’t have too much storage, can you?

But with three terabytes you are going to have a hard time filling up this external drive.

Maybe it would be fun to stream the Apple  iPhone 6 unveiling live from San Francisco on your refurbed Kindle HD 8.9, and save this historic show on your new Samsung external drive. The Kindle has a USB port.

It will be 10 a.m. in Frisco, but 1 p.m. here. Or, rather, it was. When you read this, it will be too late for that live stream—sorry. But the video will be online and on TV and all over the place, including CNET.

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There’s a product called Cell Lock-up that is a cage for confining out-of-control cell phones. It’s a box with four barred sides that look like prison cell doors, only much smaller of course. The top and sides fit onto the base, which holds a couple of racks, one like the bunk beds and the other more vertical. You put one or several devices in there and put the top on and set the timer for up to an hour.

During that time the imprisoned phones don’t operate. If anyone tries to spring one of those phones, an alarm sounds. Imagine, a whole supper without cell-talking and texting and raucous ringtones!

Now that the Port Allegany High School cell use policy has been modified, there will still be a need for some controls, which teachers are free to impose as needed. And there will always be students who will test the limits or abuse the privileges. So how about a Cell Lock-up for every classroom? And home, too, for cell-phone time-out.

I saw this product on another site called Price Plunge. There’s a daily deal, and you can get a daily email notification if you subscribe. The Cell Lock-up was $5.99 plus shipping.

There is also cell phone LOOK-UP, you know. That’s where you search for people’s cell phone numbers, or for the names that go with numbers.

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New metallic alloys called “high-entropy alloys” are made from multiple metals with none of them dominant, and are amazingly tough, and become stronger and more ductile at very low temperatures.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy have developed these in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

One alloy is CrMnFeCoNi. It is said to crystallize as a single phase, face-centered cubic solid. It has tensile strength greater than one gigapascal and amazing damage tolerance.

Alloys have been around since the fourth millennium BC, when hard tin was added to soft copper to make bronze. But it wouldn’t be strong at 77 Kelvin, like CrMnFeCoNi.