Latest Tech News

<< Last Week's Show (01-29-2010) | Next Week's Show (02-12-2010) >>

Weekend of February 5th, 2010

We answer more of your tech calls and emails! Topics discussed: HD Radios, home automation, new digital cameras, camcorders, and more.

Listeners & Guests on the show this week:

For ALL the details ... be sure to listen to the show by downloading the MP3 or clicking the RED & WHITE "Play" button on the media player, both on the right-hand side of this page.

HOUR 1:

Tech News & Commentary

 

 

Derek in Jefferson City, Missouri listening on KLIK 1240 AM asked: "I want to buy a camcorder for my wife and was wondering which camcorder I should buy, and what the big differences are in them."

1080p, 5-megapixel stills, it's good for low light performance, has HDMI output for watching directly from the camera to your HDTV, works with Mac and PC, has up to 32GB of memory (that's about 10 hours of HD Video), and it's waterproof (up to 10ft or down to 10ft). The Kodak Playsport Zx3 will be available in April for about $150.

 

Richard in Michigan listening on WSJV 94.9 FM asked: "I want to add memory to my older Gateway desktop machine running XP. It's 512, currently. I want to know how far I can go, how to go about it, what it would cost, or would I be better off to upgrade to a newer system?"

The fact that your computer only has 512MB of memory tells us that it's quite old, and that could present a problem in upgrading the memory. Like antiques, memory chips get more expensive as they become out of date and harder to find. So be prepared for some sticker shock.

The best way to find out how much memory your computer can accept and what chips are needed, is to use a tool like the Memory Finder at Newegg.com. You can find it on the left side of your screen when you select "Computer Hardware", then "Memory", or click here to go to the direct link. Tell it the make and model of your computer, and it will tell you how much memory it can hold, and what chips you need to buy.

Richard also had a follow-up: "I have a TV on a brick wall in my family room. The wall has no antenna jack, and right now, I have a cable running across the floor. I'd like to eliminate that cable and send the signal across the room wirelessly. Is that possible?"

There's a service called PlayOn, that lets you watch Internet videos on your TV, wirelessly. PlayOn works with your Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, or PlayStation 3 to watch your favorite movies, shows and videos from Hulu, CBS, Netflix, YouTube, and more, streamed right to your TV. Other compatible devices include: Moxi HD DVR, HP MediaSmart TV, Western Digital TV Live, and others. You can try PlayOn for free for 14 days. Then if you like it, you can buy it for a one-time fee of $40. You'll also need a networked computer to run the software.

 

Bob in Nenana, Alaska listening on KFBX 970 AM sent us the following email and asked: "Hi Dave, our old VHS machine has taken to 'eating' our tapes. We need to get a VHS/DVD recorder, but aren't sure what will best serve us. We understand JVC has good products and are trying to compare the JVC DR-MV150B DVD Video Recorder/Video Cassette recorder, and the HDMI (HD media interface) up conversion DV80B. Hard to do when we don't know what all that means.

Are there other models that will copy VHS to DVDs, and are programmable to record programs (burn a DVD) from our HDTV? (sounds like another language!)"

VHS in 2010? (Or as Rob would say: "That's so last millennium!") Honestly, VHS went out the door with the 90’s.There's more to just your machine "eating" your tapes. The oxide will eventually crumble and the content on your tapes won't even be accessible. So, moving that content to a digital format is really important.

For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.

 

Mitch in Greenwich, Connecticut listening on WGCH 1490 AM asked: "I've got an AM/FM radio in both cars. Is there any way of tweaking the FM or AM side of the car radios? In one car, I cannot pickup an AM radio station, but in the other car it comes in fine."

Reception issues plague many people, especially for people with an older car. There are many things that come into play when dealing with radio reception in cars. Most of the issues are with AM stations, since they transmit on a much lower frequency than FM stations. Many of the issues have to do with electrical interference. This is evident when you're driving down the street, and as you pass underneath power lines, the radio gets very "staticky".

Another source of electrical interference comes from the car itself. Your car radio typically uses a combination of the antenna and your car's body to act like a much larger antenna. Because of this, when you have electrical problems in your car. Sometimes, it can affect your radio reception. Our friends at C. Crane say that if you hear a high-pitched whining noise that changes when you step on the gas, the noise is most likely coming from the alternator, distributor, or sparkplug wires.

If the car is a few years old or has a lot of miles on it, the cheapest and most common solution is to change the sparkplug wires on your car to original equipment, or resistor-type spark plug wires. Solid wires will cause more noise problems than you had in the first place. If this does not cure the problem, check your distributor cap for excessive wear or arcing. They say that many people have eliminated reception problems by having a complete tune-up to their vehicles.

C. Crane goes into a lot more detail on their site and have many other great articles on radio reception issues for both the car and home.

 

 

Neil in Durham, North Carolina listening via radio asked: "Converter box, I have an RCA television, and my converter box stopped working, and now we have no TV. What could cause it? Have only had the converter box for a year."

We were able to find some common problems with converter boxes and ways to troubleshoot those problems.

The first, and obvious, thing to do is to make sure that all of your wires are connected properly. You’ll also want to make sure that the distance from your converter box to your TV is as minimal as possible. The longer the wire has to run, the more clarity you lose. And if you have any spliters connected to your box, you may want to remove those and see if that helps at all.

Another thing you can do is contact your local TV stations to see if they have recently switched broadcasting formats. Many local channels are still broadcasting in VHF, as opposed to the higher quality UHF. But if they recently switched formats and your converter box only picks up VHF stations, you would no longer receive a signal.

The FCC has a very helpful trouble shooting page, and even a page with a map that tells you what channels you should receive based on where you live.

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman - Watch Video Below

 

Josh in Shanendoah, Iowa listening on KMA 99.3 FM asked: "I'm getting deployed to Afghanistan soon, and I'm looking to get a netbook for its portability. I don't want a full laptop. I've been looking at the Eee PC 1201. Its got the new Atom N330 Dual processor. I was wondering if there were any other good Netbooks like this that offer high performance in a small package."

The Atom N330 and N450 are indeed higher performance versions of the most popular Netbook CPUs. They're both dual core, with the N450 including the graphics processor in the chip. A quick check at Newegg.com showed two models with N330 CPUs and 47 featuring the N450. With so many models to choose from, it would be very difficult for us to tell you specifically which one to choose. But your question was "are there any other netbooks using the N330?", and the answer to that is a big yes.

Some general buying advice on Netbooks includes checking out the keyboard for spacing issues. Some of them are smallish and hard to type on. Also, you'll want to look at the user reviews for comments about the brightness and readability of the screen. Remember, though, the bigger the screen, the more power it will draw, and this could impact battery life.

 

 

Jay in Canyon Country, California listening on Sirius Ch.108 called in with a tip for radios for blind.

iBlink Radio is a free app that is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It was specifically designed for those who are visually impaired.

Genres include oldies, 60's, 70's, 80's, Rock, Alternative, Old Time radio and narrations of newspaper, magazines, periodicals including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many more. There is even a community radio section, and all of the stations in the group are owned or operated by those who are visually impaired.

It also allows you to download podcasts that cover a wide variety of topics, and again, all of the these are produced by people who are blind or visually impaired.

Rich in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM sent us the following email and asked: "Dave, I have a 6 year old HDTV tube that won't accept VGA or HDMI cable inputs. I have tried some retail store's scan converters, which show fuzzy graphics. Can you recommend a quality device that won't break my bank for watching media from my computer, such as, Netflix, MP4, other web video streaming, etc.?"

It sounds to us like what you need is a device designed for converting DVI/HDMI signals to component video for your HDTV. One that we've read good things about is the HDFury 2. It requires a DVI or HDMI input, so if your computer doesn't have one of those, you'd need to upgrade your computer's video. This device handles both copy protected (hdcp), and standard connections. You can check out more at hdfury.com.

The product's list price is $249, but it sells for $199 directly from their web site, and we saw it at several online sources for under $150. Hopefully, that won't break your bank.

 

Kevin in McIntosh, New Mexico listening to our podcast sent us the following email and asked: "Hi Dave, a couple of years ago you had a ringtone. I was wondering if it is still around, and if so, where I can get it?"

(See Below)

 

 

Chris in Miami Beach, Florida listening to the podcast asked: "You were talking about HD radio in cars. I was an early adopter, living smack dab in the middle of Miami Beach. The most annoying aspect was the signal dropout when I'm moving. I'd like to know if there's been any progress in hanging onto the signal or buffering it since the first edition of radios."

As with most technology, HD Radio has gotten better since it first came out several years ago. A big part of the problem in the beginning wasn't so much the radios themselves, but the stations that were transmitting the signals. At least that's what we experienced here in South Florida. We found times when stations that would normally transmit an HD signal were only transmiting analog, and their HD2 and HD3 streams were down completely. For the most part, that seems to have been resolved. Also since then, the radios have gotten better. By now, the manufacturers have had time to see what it was that wasn't working so well in the beginning or needed improvement. The HD Radio recievers available today get you some really good quality audio.

That being said, determining the useful coverage area for a radio station is somewhat complicated. Local terrain, other radio signals in the area, and man-made interference can all affect how well you receive a given station. Because of these factors, each radio station has a coverage area that is broken into 3 different levels: local coverage, distant coverage and fringe coverage.

1) Local coverage is the area where the radio signal is strong and almost any radio should get good reception.

2) Distant coverage often requires a radio with a good antenna, and smaller portable radios may not receive the signal.

3) Fringe coverage is the area where reception is possible only with a good external antenna, if at all.

An HD capable radio should get reliable digital signals in the local coverage area, and may get digital signals in distant coverage areas, depending on the factors mentioned earlier. Radios, in fringe areas, usually don’t receive digital signals because unlike a traditional analog signal that fades out as you travel away from it, digital will simply disappear when the signal isn’t strong enough.

 

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

Brian in College Station, Texas listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "Just ordered a Droid. Have been using the BB Storm and was wondering if you knew if the Droid was comparable to the iPhone, and what you guys thought about the Droid."

Most of the "Into Tomorrow" team carries the iPhone, while Dave uses the Droid. One of the main features of the Droid that Dave loves is the fact that the Droid can run 6 apps at the same time, while the iPhone can only run 1 at a time. Also, Dave can change his battery if there are issues. Ask an iPhone user if they can do that.

The Droid runs on Verizon’s network and the iPhone is on AT&T’s network. The iPhone has a lot of issues with dropped calls, especially if you switch from their 3G network to edge in the middle of the call. Almost 90% of the time that will cause you to drop the call. On a plus side, the app store from Apple has a far larger selection, and in most cases, even gets the app before it’s available on the Droid.

 

 

Jim in Ann Arbor, Michigan listening on our “Into Tomorrow” App said: "Thanks for answering my question about filters and Digital SLR cameras. While the prize closet gift will be very cool, I really needed the answers you gave me. I'd spent hours on the net without finding anything about the subject. You probably have saved me from wasting hundreds of dollars. Count on hearing from me again. This is my kinda show, tech and toys!"

Jim also had a follow-up to Mark Lautenschlager's Into Gaming update: "Quick response about your comment that I may own a Prius. We test drove a Prius a couple times when gas hit $4.00 a gallon. We hated it!!! It's a gas milage device meant to impress people who hate cars. We bought a Mini Cooper Clubman Turbo. It's a pocket-rocket that gets 38mpg highway. Our other cars are a Subaru and a 1974 Triumph TR6. I laugh in your steak!"

 

Andy in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: "Looking for alternatives to Quicken software. I had some issues with it recently and heard Microsoft Money no longer existed. Don't know what other ones are out there, and if any of them are worth comparing to Quicken, or if I should just stay with Quicken. Would like your thoughts."

There are a few options for you. One Quicken alternative we ran across, is a program called AceMoney. It can manage multiple accounts like your savings & checking, and even credit cards.

It can create and manage budgets. The program has more than 100 predefined spending categories. It can track your spending habits and see where the money goes. Generate any report by categories or payors, including pie charts. In addition, AceMoney allows you to transfer your exisisting transactions from Quicken.

You can download AceMoney for $30, it will run on Windows 95 to Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit, Linux or Mac OS .

Rob has heard from friends that Mint.com works pretty well. For example, an old high school classmate recently commented on a Facebook post he had about Quicken vs. Quickbooks, and replied with: "I reccomend Mint.com. It is more user-friendly and accessible, and you can pretty quickly link your accounts, track transactions, set budgets, and send yourself alerts about bills, and more." Their service is free. There's also an iPhone app available for free as well. We do have to point out that Mint.com is owned by Intuit, the makers of Quicken.

 

Norman in Chatanooga, Tennessee listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "I saw in the Newsletter that you're gonna be talking about high definition antennas. I need a mobile antenna that will go through the wind and be safe whenever we're traveling down the highway at 60 or 70 miles an hour and that will pick up a good area."

It's important to note that DTV signals and an element of Digital Television, HDTV, received through an antenna provide a higher quality picture than cable or satellite with no compression. HDTV antenna broadcasts also offer room filling, ultra realistic 5.1 channel digital surround sound, and over-the-air TV is free. And, there are a bunch of good antennas available on the market these days.

Now, as for picking up in a good area, remember that if you are outside a major city, in a fringe area, getting DTV reception could be a problem, even with the most expensive antenna.

You can get something like the MicroVision Flat Panel car TV antenna that lies flat on your roof, and you run the cable into the TV or tuner. That sells for around $20, or an amplified version for $40.

You may have seen those boomerang-looking car antennas and cleverly enough, that's what they are called; a Boomerang Car TV Antenna. They will handle the wind and cost about $60 to $70.

Now, if you're not looking to watch TV while the car is moving, and certainly not the Driver, then another option would be to even buy an inexpensive set of rabbit ears, and then just put them on the roof when you stop.

Click here for more info about car antennas

Click here for more info about HDTV antennas.

 

 

 

Mike in Louisville, Kentucky listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "Just converted to Windows 7. No longer have Outlook Express to use with Newsgroups. What's a good news reader that doesn't cost anything?"

There are many options on the Internet, but one we recommend is Google Groups. With that, you can browse hundreds of topics and find news for just about anything. When you enter the site, you'll see links to various groups and a search bar where you can endlessly search your favorite topics.

If you have a Gmail account, you can create your own group and invite people you that know, or make it public. It even suggests the groups that you would likely be interested in by cross referencing with your emails and other google apps that you've used.

If you have any questions about any of this week's show info, please email us here.

Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza

This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

Diskeeper: Copies of Diskeeper 2010 - Prevent fragmentation before it happens

Honestech: Copies of Easy Video Editor 3.0 - Video editing software designed for beginners

SmartSwipe: Several SmartSwipe personal credit card readers for online shopping

Zinstall: Zinstall XP7 product licenses - Hassle-free move from XP (or Vista) to Windows 7, on same computer or from an old one to a new one

ITTV Video

We found some affordable noise-isolating earbuds at CES 2010. Rob Almanza has the details for you on our Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight. Also featuring: Chris Graveline with This Week in Tech History.

Download Our Show

Listen To Our Show

Amazon Links »