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Weekend of April 9th, 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

 

Jack in Odessa, Texas listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "What mobile Internet card is the best and what network will I get the fastest speeds from?"

Having Internet access over the air, using the data network of a wireless provider like AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon is typically accomplished in one of two ways. You can get a device that plugs in to the USB port on your laptop, or you can get an external device that connects with your laptop via WiFi.

Both types of devices offer approximately the same performance. The external devices, available on Sprint and Verizon as the "MiFi," offer an advantage in allowing more than one laptop to connect with the Internet at the same time. So, which is best? If you're just talking about one laptop, and you'd never have another one to connect at the same time, or you'd never want to have WiFi for an iPod Touch or iPad (for example), then the USB device will be cheaper.

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

 

 

Chuck in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on radio asked: "I've seen on TV about something about there not being free TV anymore. I was wondering what this was about and if you could give us some clarification."

We're just saying broadcast networks are doing as well as can be expected in this economy and with so much other content available by so many means, including the Internet and the chances of over the airwaves' free TV disappearing any time soon are absolute zero.

 

Ted sent us the following email and asked: "My son and I listen to your show every Saturday morning. My son is visually impaired to the point that he can not see to read, and all of his input is auditory. He wants to expand his input through Internet radio. I am a little confused. It seems that just buying a WiFi radio is not all that is needed. We have high speed service through our cable company. The problem is that my son has limited gross and fine motor control of his limbs and he can tune in to a radio, but can not get around on a computer. It seems I need a good WiFi radio and a way to connect it to a signal. Would that be a WiFi antenna that will send the signal from the Internet router to the radio, or do I need to also buy a special router? I have looked on the Internet and can not find a source that clearly outlines how Internet radio works. It seems there are 3 different ways or systems, but I find no single product that will provide an all in one solution. I would appreciate suggested manufacture names. You are the go to guy for America when it comes to electronic gadgets."

You mention that he has limited motor control of his limbs. You will need a radio that has a simple control interface. Our friends at the C. Crane Company make the CC WiFi Radio. Frankly, it's very likely the best when it comes to changing stations and volumes with limited motor control, because it's control system is based around a single large knob that controls both choosing and selecting a station, and then increasing the volume.

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

 

Antonio in Fairbanks, Alaska listening on KFBX 970 AM asked: "I have an HP Laptop. It's about a year old. It has 4GB RAM, a 2.2GHz AMD Turion Processor, and runs windows Vista. It has never performed the way I'd expect to. The Vista experience index was only 3.7. I would expect it to run a lot better than it does. How can I get it to perform better? I run the defrag regularly. The performance is only getting progressively worse."

For our listeners who don't know what Vista Experience Index is, it is a numerical score on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the hightest) that rates how well your computer is functioning.

Now, according to Microsoft's website, with a score of 3-4, your machine will be able to run most of the basic functions, but it will struggle if you want to use multiple monitors or want to connect HDTV to it.

However, the most important thing to remember is that the base score that is displayed will be the lowest rating of the 5 areas judged, which include Memory (RAM), Processor, Graphics, Gaming Graphics, and Primary Hard disk.

Without knowing which area your computer is lagging in, its hard to give you advice on how exactly to fix your problem. But a couple of obvious solutions would be to make sure that your computer is updated, and make sure you have an anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed, and that those have not only been recently updated, but that you have also run them lately.

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

 

IN-STUDIO		HOUR 1 GUEST
Dave rocking Panasonic's 3DTV glasses	Cydle P29 - HD Radio receiver & media player	Jim Barry, Digital Answer Man – CEA

CEA's Digital Answer Man Tour: It's that time of year again ... we're checking out some of the coolest gadgets! Jim Barry from the Consumer Electronics Association brought lots of cool products to talk about during his visit. The Cydle media player above was one of the many cool gadgets he discussed with Dave. Watch the video segment below.

 

Robert in Puerto Rico listening on WOSO 1030 has advice for asking about his 50-inch Samsung TV and whether it's getting HD or not.

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Corey in Kingsport, Tennessee listening on 910 WJCW asked: "One of my friends got this "Internet online package" called cell phone spy. He showed me how he's gone around and got people's cell phone info using Bluetooth and he's used their phone numbers to call people, and I want to make sure I'm not vulnerable to stuff like that. How in the world do you protect yourself when you have somebody that gets software off the Internet to steal your cell phone identity and use it?"

Any Bluetooth device needs to be paired with another device in order to work. For example, your Bluetooth headset needs to be paired with your cell phone before you can use it to make calls. Pairing requires that at least one of the devices is discoverable, at least, while you are pairing it. Which device in the pair is discoverable and which is searching will vary, depending on the devices. The key point to remember here is once the pairing has been accomplished, you need to set the Bluetooth parameters on your devices so they are not discoverable any longer. This will protect you against the sniffing that your friend has been doing.

As long as your Bluetooth devices are not discoverable, no one can secretly pair with them and use your cell phone without your knowledge.

 

David in State College, Pennsylvania asked: "I have a PS3 with the HDMI plug and I also have a 1998 Mitsubishi big screen TV that only has like component plugs, but not HDMI plugs. Wondering if there was a converter or something so I can use my PS3 to play Blu-rays."

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.

 

Micah in Porterville, California listening on KTIP 1450 sent us the following email and asked: "I was listening to the show from 2/19, when they were talking about bolt browser for cell phone. During the show, Anna was saying Bolt Browser would work on almost any phone and it would be free. I have an iPhone 3GS. Would this work on phone and would I be able to see flash?"

The Bolt Browser is primarily for Java-based phones or Backberries, and not for iPhones, Windows Mobile, or Android Phones. Believe it or not, there are still many people out there who use the Motorola Razor, the worlds most popular phone prior to smart phones.

Opera Software submitted the Opera Mini 5 Browser to the Apple App store on March 23rd, and it should be available any day now. Also available right now in the Apple iTunes Store is VanillaSurf, an oddly named tabbed browser for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Opera Mini 5 was demonstrated at Mobile World Congress 2010, and it's a great deal faster than Safari, especially when dealing with graphically intense sites, due to Opera's proxy servers optimizing data for the smaller screen. This does mean, however, that you are not connecting directly to the site you're displaying, and that can prevent some sites from working properly. People also won't like that Opera Mini 5 does not yet support pinching in the multitouch display.

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

 

Eleanor in the Virgin Islands listening on 970 WSTX asked: "I'm computer illiterate and you've probably answered this question, but how do I download or copy videos I see on Youtube and get the audio?"

There a few websites that will let you extract the audio from Youtube videos. One website is listentoyoutube.com, which will only let you get the audio from the videos. A second website is getaudiofromvideo.com, which will let you extract the audio, but will also let you download the video as an MP4 format and 3GP for mobile devices.

You can also install the free RealPlayer SP software on your computer. Part of this media player is the ability to download virtually any web based video to your computer for offline playback. When you hover your mouse pointer over the video, a small link for the RealDownloader will appear asking if you want to save that video. It will save it in its native format, but once you've saved the file, RealPlayer SP includes a converter that will translate Flash videos, those .FLV files into either MPEG-4 (MP4), or Windows Media Video (WMV) files. It confuses you a bit by listing a bunch of mobile devices in the converter, but the file type is displayed alongside them. The software works really well, and it's completely free for personal use.

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

 

 

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Jack in Los Alamos, New Mexico listening on KTRC 1260: "I have an elderly parent who is very much of a technophobe. I'd like to get her to access e-mail. Wondering if there are any e-mail only systems out there that are easy to use and of course, inexpensive."

Rob Almanza recently interviewed two different companies that provide computer-less email for seniors at the Electronic House Expo.

We first spoke to a company called Presto, and the other was Celery. Presto is more of a modern-day fax for seniors. A user gets a unique email address that is shared with those you want to receive mail from only, so no spam will go through. Using an HP printer dubbed as the Presto Printing Mailbox connected, your elderly folks receive email as a full-color greeting card-looking letters. Pictures & PDF files are printed in color and you can use all sorts of templates to make it more personable. Emails printed look more like letters, which a lot of the older folks are very familiar with. The most convenient part is that emails are printed automatically. It fetches them for you throughout the day. Presto's service costs about $13 a month and the printer costs a one-time fee of $75.

You can also look into PawPawMail.com, a website designed for seniors and with a simple email interface. It's a straightforward interface designed for those who are new to computers. It also has large text buttons. The Main page of PawPawMail is pretty simple, as the user is never presented with too many options that may confuse someone who doesn't use a computer as often.

 

 

Ralph in Midland, Texas listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "Verizon only offers their mobile TV service on the HTC Imaggio. I would like a review on that phone and are there plans to come out with other phones that offer the Verizon mobile TV service?"

The Imaggio runs on a Windows 6.5 OS, but according to several online reviews, most people don't even know they are using a Windows-based phone. And, you may have heard Windows Mobile has not been getting a lot of praise lately. According to Verizon, the service also is offered on the Motorola Krave.

As far as the TV feature, that is a really cool add by Verizon, but depending on your market, the price of watching TV on your phone will be about 12-15 bucks per month, and remember you still can't use it when on planes, and you shouldn't use while you are driving of course!

The Imaggio also uses a pretty dated processor that run's at 528MHz, and at $200.00. (after a $100 mail-in rebate) You really are not getting a lot of phone for your money.

As far as another phone for VCast, the only other phone that has VCast, as Dave mentioned, is the Motorola Krave, and we are currently not aware of any other phones that plan to have VCast any time soon. However, there is an app for Verizon called 1 Cast, and that will allow you to watch news clips from many different news organizations from around the world.

 

Andrew in Auburn, New York listening on Shortwave asked: "With the Bluetooth technology, it is well known that it is very much hackable. Is there anything that you can prescribe that would preclude anyone from accessing that info. The president seems to have one that's not hackable. Why can't the rest of us?"

Making a Bluetooth device non-discoverable is akin to shutting off the SSID (that is the name of your WiFi network) on a wireless router. It will still work, but only with devices that are previously paired with it. Now, it is still possible to spoof a paired device, but in order to do that, the hacker would need to know exactly what device was trusted. Sure, he could snoop and spy on you physically, and see what you're using, but when he has 50 wide open Bluetooth devices all waiting to be discovered, why would he spend the time to spy on you specifically?

Unless, of course, this is someone who is spying on you. It's an evidence gathering technique in a lot of cheating spouse cases, for example. Then it's going to be really hard to protect yourself.

As for the president, he is using state of the art devices that have the latest in encrypted, trusted, and secure connections. They can't be spoofed or spammed by any of the generally available Bluetooth hacks, all of which rely on essentially open phones. It is important to note here that Bluetooth is changing, with more recent devices having protections built in to them.

But first, foremost, and really easiest, just turn off discovery.

 

Tracy in Nashville, Tenesee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: "Looking for a video camera I could put in the baby's room and hook into an input on the TV."

The picture and audio can be set to automatically switch on if the baby makes a noise or when the camera senses any movement. The camera is night vision enabled and is expandable up to four cameras, so if you have more than one child, accessory cameras can be added to the same system.

The camera has also a safety warning feature to notify you when it's out of range. It's $215.00 at VigilanceAndSecurity.com.

 

 

Brian in Houston, Texas listening on Sirius 108 Ch.108 asked: "Got an iPod from somebody that already had songs on it. My girlfriend's son tried to transfer the songs to his iTunes and ended up deleting all the songs Is there a way to get them back?

Also, what do you think about the new HP touchscreen computers?"

Unfortunately, Brian if the songs were deleted from the iPod, then you can kiss them goodbye. That's why we always remind people of the importance of backing up your data. With the newer iPods, you should be able to transfer songs back to your computer, but if they were purchased from the iTunes store and have the DRM on them, your computer has to be authorized on the account they were purchased on, in order for them to play. Once they are deleted from the iPod, there's no way to recover them.

 

Juan in Los Angeles, California listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "Thinking about buying a gaming computer this year. Do you have any good choices?"

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

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

Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza

The iPad is NOT a big iPhone like most people say. We see it as a big iPod Touch. It’s a music store, a movie theater and a library in one cool pad! Although, it is a little heavier than we expected. You won’t be holding this in your hands for too long, like you do now with your iPod (if you have one).

The iPad is not perfect. It came out not multi-tasking, no camera, no flash support, but its battery life rocks. So what attracted me to it? First, the hype got to me a little. Second, size and portability matters to me. I wanted to have a bigger screen to enjoy my videos and movies. The updated YouTube app looks great on the iPad! I wasn’t looking for a laptop replacement. And we’d like to point out the iPad is NOT a laptop replacement, so keep that in mind. I wanted something that would make my life on the road easier.

With its Apple A4 processor, it’s very responsive and fast. I haven’t experienced much lag when opening and closing apps. Also, gaming is pretty awesome. Pictures look great, too! I love the pinch to zoom. It’s a lot cooler than the iPhone. Email works like a champ and looks good.

What about some of the drawbacks? For starters, the keyboard may be a little uncomfortable. I found myself hunting and pecking for keys with one finger. I’m planning on getting the dock with the keyboard. However, if you have the wireless Apple keyboard, you can connect it to the iPad via Bluetooth.

Without WiFi, the iPad (WiFi version only) may become a brick. However, a lot of the apps don’t require an Internet connection. I find myself carrying a MiFi mobile hotspot more often.

To some, the iPad may seem like an overpriced piece of glass and aluminum. I ended up buying the 32GB WiFi-only version for $600. Their least expensive version is $499 with 16 GB. And if you want data at all times, the 3G version will be out soon, but will cost you $130 more than each of the WiFi versions. You’ll have to add $15 to $30 a month for a data plan with AT&T.

The iPad is also an e-book reader with a full color screen unlike Amazon’s Kindle. It puts the Kindle to shame! I’m not much of a book reader, but think the iBooks are cool. You can adjust the brightness right from the book and it almost feels like if you were reading an actual book when you put it in landscape mode.

Some other noteworthy apps include Netflix (streaming worked great), WeatherBug (the Web cams are cool!), and of course, the “Into Tomorrow” App! That was the first one I downloaded.

Overall, I’m happy with the iPad. There is no other product like it right now. Sure, there will be copycats later this year, but I think the iPad will do well. Bottom line: It comes down to personal preference. I encourage you to check it out at an Apple Store and talk to anyone that has one before you buy and before you judge it as impractical.

In case you missed my report on "iPad Mania" from the Apple Store, watch it here.

-- By Rob Almanza, “Into Tomorrow” Correspondent

 

 

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This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

Honestech: Copies of VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe

Intel: Copies of Unreal Tournament 3 by Epic Games & Napoleon:Total War by SEGA

ITTV Video

iPad! iPad! iPad! Everyone is talking about it this week! Rob Almanza stood in line for it and shares his thoughts about the iPad on our Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight. We're also introducing you to a new weekly feature for the kids called KidsTech. Also featuring: This Week in Tech History with Chris Graveline.

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