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Weekend of February 26th, 2010

More of your calls and emails! We were all back in-studio in Miami, doing what we love most: Answering YOUR tech questions and helping you understand the latest innovations.

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

 

Jay in Carlsbad, New Mexico listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "Using Skype, is there a way to do a green screen, using Skype video?"

The green screen you are referring to is called chroma-key. It's a film & video technique that let's you replace the green (or in some cases, blue) background with anything else, like a live picture or a graphic or video, for example. There are programs out there that will allow you to use a green screen background, but those programs tend to be rather expensive, and at this point, it does not appear as if you can make a live Skype call, while replacing your green-screen background.

 

 

Clay in Smithville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: "Calling about Photoshop. I've never used it. Curious as to how it works, if it's difficult to operate or what."

Photoshop can do pretty much anything with photos. It does all the things that free photo-editing software does, plus you can cut the background out on photographs, and you can use filters, and much more. It can also be used to design graphics and web page layouts, but it might be a little difficult software to use. It'll take some practice and tutorials.

Photoshop is clearly the most powerful image editing tool on the market, but that power makes it a very complex program to operate. It has long menus, that are packed with interesting sounding tools, and with no explanation of what a particular tool or filter does. You have to select it and try it, then see if you like what it does to your image, or buy one of those books on Photoshop. Sometimes, Mark thinks Adobe designed Photoshop to require training books, so they could get licensing rights. He respects Photoshop. It's the top of the heap in its class, but he would certainly say that it's quite complicated to use.

 

Dave asked the following on his facebook: "Apple's Steve Jobs called Adobe's Flash "old technology". Do you agree? Should the various iProducts support Flash? Why, or why not?"

Tune in to Hour 1 to hear what our Facebook friends and Twitter followers had to say about that.

 

 

Bob from Minnesota sent us the following email via the "Into Tomorrow" app: "Is the ATI all-in-one wonder video card still available? Or is there something else that has TV and editing capability?"

Yes, AMD still makes the ATI All-in-Wonder HD video card. In fact, it's DTV ready. It will receive the current digital TV signals over the air, without needing a converter box, and it can then send the TV signal to an analog set. The All-in-Wonder tuner is a DTV converter box.

It's also a DVR that can record your favorite TV shows to your computer's hard drive. Video capture and video editing are another common use for the product.

Those are the good things about the card. What you need to watch out for is this. Your computer is going to have to be part of your home entertainment system, or at least close enough for you to send TV signals to it, unless you want to watch everything on your computer's screen. The video chip in the All-in-Wonder is a last-generation product from ATI, so it's not a great card for 3D gaming.

A number of customer reviews at online shopping sites claim that if you use the computer for other tasks, while attempting to have the All-in-Wonder supply HDTV signal to your TV set, it frequently freezes and requires a reset.

 

Anthony in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada sent us the following Facebook message: "Just got back from the Apple store. They were dumbfounded as to why my phone wouldn't work after I synced it last night. I had it charging all night and it wouldn't turn on this morning. It turns out, I have 12 days left on my warranty, and for $79, I bought the extended hardware coverage. Do you think it's a coincidence that this happened by just getting down to the wire, or another Steve Jobbs conspiracy? So I got sent home with a blank phone, and as I type this, "My iPhone is reloading from the backup I did last night."

This 3G problem stumped the guys at the Apple store, too. They did a "hard" reset of my phone, which was fine. As I mentioned earlier, I had just done a back up so everything was there. I went home with the same hardware, another year of coverage, and $80.00 lighter! My phone has worked great all day, and while I was inconvenienced a little, I would not trade this baby for any other device. The person invited me back within a couple of weeks to let them further diagnose any issues because after the reset, and then the data was erased, and then they suspected that whatever caused this to happen would more than likely be back in the phone after I reloaded it from iTunes. I'll let you know what issues come out of this as they occur!"

 

Carl in Lillington, North Carolina listening on 680 WPTF asked: "I'm a fan of Apple products, but not their prices. Wondering if there is any editing or photography software coming out in the future that is technology improved or mind-blowing."

Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Aaron in Albuquerque, New Mexico listening on KIVA 1550 AM asked: "I have a TV using over the air digital. Can using my computer or other devices near it interfere with the signal?"

Computers shouldn't really cause any interference with the over-the-air signal. There are other things in your home, however, that have been known to cause some sort of interference with TV signals, though. Microwave ovens, hair dryers, certain power tools, and drills have all been known, in many cases, to cause interference.

This is most common with indoor antennas. If you get this kind of interference, you might look into an outdoor antenna for your TV. Those are usually better for reception anyway, since the signal isn't trying to pass through roofs and walls to reach the antenna. Of course, there are some instances where an outdoor antenna isn't possible, maybe because you're living in an apartment or condo.

In that case, try to keep the indoor antenna near a window, and away from the kinds of items we mentioned earlier.

 

Robert in Indianapolis, Indiana listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "I have an Xbox 360. I'm a truck driver. I'm wondering if I can get Xbox Live in my truck."

You should be able to plug in a USB 3G modem to your Xbox and make it work. However, you have no way to install the modem's drivers onto your Xbox, as the Xbox doesn't come with preinstalled drivers for 3G modems, and there are no 3G modem drivers specifically made for Xbox, so this becomes a little less straightforward than just plugging a modem in. You can still do it, but it takes an extra piece of equipment, a laptop.

If you have a laptop computer, you should be able to connect the USB 3G modem to one of your laptop's USB ports, and then go through the set up and check that you can access the internet using the USB modem. After you are sure that your laptop can access the internet via the USB modem, you should be able to connect it to your Xbox via an Ethernet network cable and set your operating system to share the USB modem's connection with the "Ethernet Wired Network" (or put, more simply, your Xbox).

For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.

 

Vilas from Durham, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM and on our podcast sent us the following email and asked: "I love your show for information that is provided to listners. I have problem, and don't know how can I fix this problem related to my Dell laptop.

I have a Dell 640/E1505 Windows Media Center Edition, with 128mb ATI x1300 video card. It was working fine, until I reboot. Now, I cannot see a DVD, TV, or recorded programs through my TV tuner. I have tried different drivers downloaded from Dell support, but I get a message that says video card is missing. I opened my device manager, and I see that there is a sign in front of my VGA controller. My Windows updated until today. I don't know how can I fix this problem."

The sign you see in front of your VGA controller in the device manager is probably the exclamation point, which is Windows International Sign Language for help. It means there is a problem with the device. It can mean something as simple as you need to update your drivers, but you've already tried that, and the drivers tell you they can't find your video hardware. More than likely, that means the ATI video card in your Dell laptop has failed.

How can the video card fail but you still see things on your computer screen? The answer might lie in the way laptops have integrated graphics controllers built in to their main boards, for people who don't want the fancier discrete video cards like your ATI. Computers have no problem understanding multiple video adapters. Usually, when a discrete video controller is plugged in, the computer automatically disables the built in adapter. If the discrete adapter fails and the computer doesn't see it any more, it would again automatically switch back to the integrated controller.

For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.

 

 

Tom From Albuquerque, New Mexico listening on KIVA 1550 AM sent us the following email and asked: "I have decided to give you guys a two part question. First of all, thank you for talking about the Bolt Browser App for the BlackBerry. I will be reading about that to see if it works for me. Cue the musical segway! My first question is: are there any sites that you would recommend to find free apps for my BlackBerry Storm 9530? Now, to my tricky question. On a previous, show you were talking about the HDFury2, for someone who wanted to stream video to their television, and the PlayOn, the thing sending a wireless signal to the video game systems. I read up on the HDFury2, and I am having trouble deciding if it is what I need. What I want to do is to wirelessly send my videos on my Toshiba laptop, which has been upgraded to Windows 7, (which is connected to all my external Terabyte drives) to my HDTV on the other side of the room. Easy you say, well there is a small glitch. Both my laptop and my TV do not come with HDMI inputs. However, I have looked over the back panel of my Emerson LCD HDTV carefully, as well as my laptop to see what they have in common. Both my TV and laptop have the S-video inputs, as well as the VGA inputs, so I could plug my laptop into the TV as an external monitor, and run a separate audio cable from my laptop's headphone jack to the audio jack on the TV. I saw a device at Best Buy that does that with those connectors and you plug it into the USB ports on the computer. Do you believe that this setup would work better for me or do you have something up your techie sleeve robes instead?"

The Bolt Browser for the BlackBerry is indeed an impressive app. Mark Lautenschlager, on our staff, has tried it with his BlackBerry Tour 9630, and he says that Bolt does an outstanding job of handling web sites that are not designed for the small mobile screen. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with iPhones.

The HDFury2 converts an HDMI signal to VGA/Component output. It would be used with an older HDTV that does not support HDMI, if you wanted to connect it with a device that only had an HDMI output.

PlayOn is a software product that runs on your Windows PC. It creates a UPNP digital media server, which means that other devices connected to your home WiFi network can access media stored on the PC. The magic part of PlayOn is how it captures the Internet information and reformats it in a way that's compatible with DNLA compliant devices (DNLA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance). An example of DNLA compatible devices would be game consoles, like the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.

 

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Ryan in Washington, DC listening on Satellite Radio asked: "Your opinion, whether the iPad will be Apple's way of making devices available with Verizon. Is it seen by Apple as a gateway device to a future relationship with Verizon?"

There are rumors that Apple is working with Verizon on a version of it's iPad Tablet, despite Apple only announcing an AT&T partnership, according to Clayton Morris (from Fox News), who recently spoke with Verizon.

Morris said that his Verizon sources still think that the deal will be announced in the near future, and could come at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June, or maybe by early July.

Apple usually unveils the iPhone at the WWDC, so this could be an opportunity to announce that the iPhone and the iPad will also be available on Verizon's network.

The biggest hurdle that Apple and Verizon will have to overcome is that Verizon uses a different type of network than AT&T, so they would have to rewrite the software, so it is compatible with Verizon's network.

The only network that has the same setup as AT&T is T-Mobile, which is why jail-broken iPhones will work with that network.

 

 

Tom in Middletown, Delaware listening on WDEL 1150 AM asked: "The last month or so, every time I start the computer, a program called Scansoft paper Port 11 tries to load. And I have to go through CTRL+ALT+DEL to get it to stop. Sometimes, it gets rid of it the first time, and sometimes I have to keep trying. Tried going to MSConfig, and that did not delete it, and I get a message that tells me that's not the way to do it. Then on shutdown, I get numerous messages. One is "ccsvchst does not shut down", and again, I have to go through CTRL+ALT+DEL to get it to shut down."

Scansoft Paper Port 11 is a program that was designed to allow a user to easily file scans and PDF's. It has a lot of nice features, such as auto straighten and auto alignment, but the biggest problem is that the software is very unstable.

Paper Port has been known to freeze, and then render your scanner or printer inoperable, until you reboot your computer, and even then sometimes, you have to reinstall your drivers before they will work again. Support for the program is not any better as email help, and help over the phone is very expensive.

To get rid of the program, try going into your "Control Panel", and under your "Add/Remove" programs button, look for Scansoft Paper Port 11, and then click on the "Remove Program" button. Hopefully that will do the trick.

For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.

 

Phil listening on Sirius Ch.108 and XM Ch.139 sent us the following email and asked: "I am interested in purchasing a new digital camera, the kind that has interchangeable lenses on for different distances, and panorama, and what not. I am mostly interested in taking photos outdoors, and often in low light situations, such as, skylines of cities at night, or sunsets. I am planning on taking photos that I can blow up into poster-size pictures, but just for personal use, not for a business. Also, I want to have a camera with removable media, as I don't like to delete the photos that I take and copy over them with something else. I am not fussy about what kind of media, either DVD or SD card, just as long as the media is easy to obtain, and doesn't cost a small fortune. I am hoping to stay in the $300-$500 range for the base camera, lenses obviously costing extra. I want the highest quality pictures that I can for this price range, and would like it to be simple to use. I am tech literate, so learning curve isn't an issue. I just don't want to have to spend 15 minutes setting the camera up to get the 1 photo that I want. What would you suggest for me in this market? My last camera is a 2.1 MP point and shoot HP, so since this will be my first camera with interchangeable lenses, I am not familiar with this category all that well. Thank you for the show, and all the awesome info every week!"

The Alpha A230 is easy to use and storse the Jpeg images files in a choice of 3 compression ratio onto a Memory Stick Pro duo or SD/SDHD memory card. To facilitate sharp, well exposed images, the Sony Alpha A230 utilized a
9-point autofocus system that can be used in a single or multi shot mode.

Other features of the Sony Alpha include the 40 segment honeycomb-pattern SPC-TTL metering system, and Sony's D-Range optimizer for balanced shadow and highlight details, dust reductions, etc.

 

 

Pete in Central New Jersey listening on the Armed Forces Network and online sent us the following email and asked: "I have read that N type WiFi routers will boost speed, distance, and reliability. However, I was told that most or, all of the advantages go away if you have any devices using older technology (like Type B, G, etc) active in your WiFi network. What's the truth here? I have many always-on IP webcams and my wife uses her laptop from time to time, all are the older B and G type devices. We have some problems in the outer reaches of my old D-Link router and I would love to get the promised increased range with a reliable signal."

Does an N router slow down when a B or G device connects to the network? Sometimes. If your N router is using the 2.4 GHz frequency, then as soon as B or G connects, it has to slow down to service those devices, since they're on the same frequency. However, if your router is Dual Band, supporting both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and all your N-class devices are configured for 5 GHz, then there is no slowdown.

Does an N router offer better signal? Sometimes. It really hinges on the frequency, again. 5 GHz frequencies have less interference (almost every wireless gizmo in the world runs at 2.4 GHz). The higher frequency also penetrates walls and such better. So, again, you need to make sure you're looking at an N router that supports 5 GHz operation, and ideally, both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, so you can support multiple speeds at the same time.

Does dual band, dual circuit mean that the router will cost more? All the Time.

 

Anthony in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (from Hour 1) had the following follow-up to his Facebook messag earlier: "What is an RSS feed? How does it work? I hear from a couple of other tech shows to subscribe to the RSS feeds on their sites. Also, while I have your attention, you guys say to send an MP3 as an email. How do I make an MP3 file?

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is just creating an index of what's on a web site. Whenever something new is posted, the index is updated. Your web browser, or a dedicated RSS reader program, like Google Reader, has a subscription to the RSS feed. That just means it will check the index every so often to see if something new has been posted. If it has, you're alerted and can choose to read the new content. With RSS, you don't need to keep checking a web site to see what's new. If the web site offers an RSS feed and you subscribe to it, your computer will tell you when something is new.

Entries in an RSS feed can also have file attachments. Sometimes, this is used to send a PDF version of the article being indexed, and sometimes it's used to send an audio or video file. In the latter case, that's a podcast. Again, your web browser or RSS reader can monitor the index and tell you when new audio or video files are available. The information will be presented in text form, with a file attachment similar to an email. Programs that call themselves "podcatchers" are specialized RSS feed processors that display things in a more elegant manner, and often let you automatically download the audio or video file without you having to ask for it. They might even transfer the file to your portable media player. One of the best known of these is Apple's iTunes. They've even developed a set of extensions to the RSS standard that allow podcasters to include logos and extended descriptions, making it easy to find the material you want in the iTunes Music Store.

Recording an mp3 on your computer is fairly easy. You just need the right software and a good microphone. Some laptops have somewhat decent mics built-in, but for the purposes of recording a question to e-mail to a radio show, they are not to be trusted.

For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.

 

Thomas sent us the following email and said: "I am finally getting around to thanking you for the Sangean HDT-1 HD Radio Tuner that I won in your Summer Giveaway 2009 contest. I had to buy an amplifier and speakers for it, but me and Mom love the sound that comes out of it.

Sorry it took so long to thank you, but I am a big procrastinator. One more thing was that the same day that I got the notice that I won was my birthday as well which just made my day.

Also, I was listening to the newest show via the podcast and heard about DTVPal, and now I have to look in to checking those out as well. Maybe, I should stop listening to you, so you don't give me any ideas for new electronic items to look at in the future."

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

Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza

Are you tired of recording shaky videos on your iPhone? I don’t have the world’s steadiest hands, so I was happy when Tiffen offered me to try a Smoothee. Not the kind of “smoothie” you’re thinking about.

Tiffen also showed us a mount for the Motorola Droid phone and Flip cameras at the Consumer Electronics Show last month. One of the cool things about the Smoothee’s mounts for iPhone, Motorola Droid, and Flip cameras is that it doubles as a stand and can be attached to a tripod.

Unfortunately, Tiffen hasn’t announced any pricing info or availability. But, we were told to expect the Smoothee later this year.

Bottom line: It’s a pretty sweet “Smoothee”! We think it’s meant for those who shoot a lot of videos on their phones and Flip cameras. A lot of YouTubers would enjoy using this. Be sure to hit Tiffen.com to learn more about the Smoothee and their Steadicam technology.

We did a video interview with Hilary Araujo from Tiffen at CES 2010. You can watch that here. The Smoothee also made “Dave’s Top Ten” list at CES. Check it out here.

We want to hear from you! Send us a note and SPEAK YOUR MIND. What do you think about the Smoothee? Do you want one? Email Rob.

-- Submitted by Rob Almanza

This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

iolo: Copies of System Mechanic – PC tune-up software

PlayOn: Download keys for their PlayOn Software -- Watch Internet videos on your TV, wirelessly on your game consoles.

Virtual Mechanics: Download keys for SiteSpinner Pro -- A drag-and-drop tool for creating sophisticated sites for the web and for mobile devices.

Zinstall: Product Licenses for Zinstall HDD Edition – Upgrade to a large hard drive, keeping your entire system intact

ITTV Video

Are you tired of shaky iPhone videos? Try a SMOOTHEE! Rob Almanza has a very neat product from Tiffen, makers of the popular Steadicams, on our Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight. Also featuring: Chris Graveline with This Week in Tech History. Travel into yesterday's technological achievements and events.

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