Latest Tech News

<< Last Week's Show (04-30-2010) | Next Week's Show (05-14-2010) >>

Weekend of May 7th, 2010

We dedicate this show to our digital moms for Mother's Day weekend. We discussed some last-minute tech gift ideas for mom. Also, Dave and the “Into Tomorrow” team were ready to answer your calls and emails on the listener hotline.

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

 

Cat in London, England listening on the Android app asked: "My dad used to have Internet Explorer and the McAfee used to tell him which sites were safe and which weren't. It would put a check or a plus next to the URL. Now, he switched to Google Chrome and it doesn't support that. Can you suggest something similar that he can use for Chrome?"

Now, what you want to do is load the extension called "SiteAdvisor for Chrome." To do that, click your wrench icon and choose "Extensions" from the menu. If you have no extensions installed, it'll tell you that and give you a link to browse the gallery. If you do have some extensions installed, it will list them and then you need to click the link saying "Get more extensions."

Once you are in the gallery, search for SiteAdvisor and click on the link for that extension. Then, click the Install button.

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

 

 

The "Into Tomorrow" team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.

• For Android, Dave recommends: Wallpaper Aquarium
  
  
• For iPhone/iPad: Rob recommends: Dish Remote Access App
  
  
• For BlackBerry, Mark recommends: Pandora and Slacker Radio
  
  

Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details

 

Mike in Nashville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: "Recently purchased a VHS to DVD machine. I can copy videos from VHS to DVD, but I'd like to find out how I can take the DVD and work with it in my PC. Would I have to have a video program such as Adobe video or Nero? I'd like to take my DVDs and movies and put them up on YouTube."

 

The Daniusoft DVD Ripper can rip your movie pretty fast and has lots of powerful functions, so you can enjoy your DVDs on all common digital players, like iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Zune, PS3, Android Phone, Blackberry, Xbox 360, and others.

 

 

Chris in Tyler, Texas listening on KTBB AM sent us the following email and said: "It was kind of amusing listening as you all were talking about iPhones and all the apps, and that you never have anyone say they’re unhappy with the apps, or “I just use my phone for phone calls.” Let’s face it, no one buys an iPhone for just calling and texting. They buy it for the apps available. Luddites, like me, buy simple phones for that. You wouldn’t buy the biggest, baddest Swiss Army Knife or top-of-the-line yacht and say, “I just bought it to open letters,” or “I just fish off of it from the dock”. My wife has an iPhone, which she bought strictly for the medical app she needs as a pediatrician. I have an iPod Touch and use it for music, solitaire, and word search. I only have that because my brother bought it for me. Otherwise, I’d have just a smaller MP3 player."

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

 

Steve in State College, Pennsylvania listening on the radio sent us the following email and asked: "I wanted to know if you heard anything about the release date of the Archos 7 home tablet, and if there are any PMPs (Personal Media Players) that are similar in size and price."

There is no actual release date yet, but we can share with everyone that the Archos 7 home tablet went up for pre-order overseas last month, and it's now available to pre-order in the United States too on Amazon. The 7-inch tablet can be ordered for $199.00, which is one of the more inexpensive ways to get a good taste of Android without having to sign a contract.

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Terry in Bossier City, Louisiana asked: "I'd like to know the difference between a netbook computer and an iPad."

A netbook is designed to look like a regular laptop computer, but smaller. An iPad is a hand-held tablet device and a larger version of an iPod touch.

Netbooks are great for people who need a lot of portability, but they don't quite have all the features of a laptop. Many netbooks do not have a CD driver, although they do have USB ports that will allow you to connect an external CD or DVD drive. They also won't have the processor speed, memory, or RAM of regular laptop.

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

 

Luke in Tyler, Texas listening on KTBB 92.1 FM: "I heard about the Mi-Fi. Can you connect an Android phone to your computer and use Wi-Fi from your computer to your Android phone?"

If you've got a Wi-Fi network that's available to your computer, assuming you know the password, you should be able to use it on your Android phone without the need for a computer at all.

If what you want to do involves connecting the phone to the computer via Wi-Fi, it can indeed be done, and the computer can also share a "wired" network connection through it's Wi-Fi adapter.

For example, if you get your Internet through a network cable connected to your computer, you can set that computer to act as a wireless access point and share it's connection wirelessly with other devices, including your Android phone.

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

 

Micah in Porterville, California listening on 1450 KTIP AM sent us the following email and asked: "I was thinking about getting Rhapsody and I was trying to look through there service terms to find out how may devices can be under one account. My wife and I both have iPhones and each have a computer, so if anyone there might know, thanks a lot."

The amount of devices Rhapsody will let you use with your account, frankly, depends on how much you pay them a month.

Any of their subscriptions allow for unlimited computers and home audio listening devices, but they are more restrictive towards mobile devices.

For example, their $9.99/month subscription limits the number of mobile devices allowed per account to just one, so that plan's no good for you and your wife.

 

 

 

The "Into Tomorrow" team asked on Facebook and Twitter: "What are you getting for your high tech mom this weekend?"

Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.

 

Devon sent us the following email and asked: "I am a Sirius Radio subscriber. I heard your show a while back. There was a guy on your show that had a way to view web sites a different way. Would you mind telling me the site? He was on your show about a year and a half ago. If you can help me out, I would appreciate it. I think his site let's you look at the site before going to it. I may be wrong, but I think that's the way it worked."

If you're looking for a website that will help preview your website, or any website for that matter, on different browsers, try browsershots.org. You'll get to choose from different Internet browsers and operating systems. It will then show you screenshots of how that website looks on that particular browser.

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Phil in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: "Looking for a new laptop, or maybe a netbook. I'd like to get a netbook because of the size, but I just found out they don't come with a DVD drive. Is there some sort of a compromise at a fair price?"

There are many smaller-sized laptops out there that will still come with a DVD drive. The real question is what is your price range? Thanks to our friends at TigerDirect, we looked at smaller light weight laptops, and we have low priced, medium priced, and high priced options for you.

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

 

 

 

Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.

 

Marty in Novelty, Ohio listening online said: "Warning about an Denial Service attack when you marry Office 2010 with Dragon Naturally Speaking."

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

 

 

Shelley sent us the following email and said: "On the show for the week of April 30, in the 3rd hour, you were talking about the alarm that wakes you earlier to help you in the various sleep modes. It was interesting and made me think of these sleep positions and thought you'd be interested to see how you each match up.

May is "Better Sleep" month, and the position you sleep in can reveal key personality traits. Here are the top 6 positions with their traits.

6) The Starfish - (5% of people sleep in this position) - on your back with both hands around the pillow means that you make a good friend and you listen well.

5) The Freefaller - (7% of people sleep in this position) - on your stomach with your hands wrapped around the pillow and your head to one side means you can be sociable, but brash.

4) The Soldier - (8% of people sleep in this position) - on your back with both arms at your sides means you are quiet and reserved.

3) The Yearner - (13% of people sleep in this position) - on your side with both arms out in front of you means you have an open nature.

2) The Log - (15% of people sleep in this position) - on your side with both arms at your sides means you are easy-going and social.

1) The Fetus Position - (41% of people sleep in this position) - this means that you have a tough exterior, but a soft heart. Interestingly, twice as many women sleep like this than men.

I'm finally going to cave and buying an iPod (since my portable CD player has died) and am trying to figure out which iPod is best. I'm just looking for the simplest, easiest to use, dummy-proof music iPod that I can use with my iTunes on my iMac (version 10.0 x). I have 100s of songs on my iTunes and want to be able to get them on to an iPod realtively easy. What do you recommend for someone who's never used an iPod and still has CDs to add to my iTunes Library? Is it easy to upload/add songs to the iPods? I'm thinking either the Nano or the iPod classic, but wanted to get an expert opinion."

Chris actually uses both an iPod Nano and an iPod Touch. They are used for different things. One thing you need to keep in mind when shopping for one of these devices is how you're going to use them. My iPod Nano is the 8GB version and I leave it in my truck. I have an Alpine radio with an iPod interface, so I leave it in the glove box connected to my car radio and use it to listen to my music library. When I get new songs that I want on it, I just bring it in and sync it to my computer. My iPod Touch, on the other hand, is the 16 GB version and is what I use everywhere else. He's mentioned before that he also has an iPhone, but he doesn't keep a whole lot of music on there. I use it more for the apps. So the iPod Touch serves as my media player. I also have some music videos and TV shows on there.

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

 

Trevor in Alaska sent us the following Facebook message: "So I just hopped into my service truck at work, just in time to hear you bring up my computer email escapade. I almost fell out of my seat and I was laughing so hard. Good thing I had my seat belt on."

Trevor is referring to a Facebook message he sent Rob on the show for the week of April 30. He was having trouble opening a video file with Windows Media Player, even though it was in an AVI format.

 

Robert in Fairbanks, Alaska listening on KFBX 970 AM asked: "We bought a Samsung Plasma TV and have DirecTV satellite service. They show a movie in HD on one channel, and regular on another. We switch back and forth and can't notice a difference. What's going on?"

If you are able to tune to the HD channels, then we're assuming that you do, in fact, have an HD tuner from DirecTV. If that's the case and you're not seeing a difference in the picture quality, then you may want to look at your cables and connections. Make sure you are using one of the high definition connections to get the signal to your TV.

Every tuner, even the HD tuners, will have a set of standard definition connections. The ones you'll want to use to ensure you get a high definition picture are the components (that's the cable with the red, green and blue connectors), a DVI (which is less common), or an HDMI, which will not only give you the best quality, but will transmit both the HD picture and audio over a single cable. In fact, if you have a full HD, or 1080p set, and want to take advantage of that highest resolution, HDMI is really the only way to go.

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

Tech Gifts for Mom 2010

Moms have become more tech savvy than we give them credit for. For example, these days, moms are on Facebook, carrying an MP3 player, a digital camera and other cool gadgets. Here are a few other tech goodies you can add to their collection.

 

Games aren’t just for kids anymore. How about a Nintendo DSi XL? There are plenty of games that mom will enjoy. She'll feel like a big kid again! The DSi XL has a bigger screen than the other Nintendo DS players. Currently, that’s going to cost you about $189. There are other portable game players to consider like a smaller Nintendo DSi or a Sony PlayStation Player. We think Nintendo has more mom-friendly players and games.

 

If mom is looking for a new cell phone, you might want to consider something like the Palm Pixi Plus. Currently available on Verizon, it’s an entry-level smartphone with a few extra features like WiFi and a built-in 3G mobile hotspot that supports up to 5 WiFi-enabled devices. It won’t hurt your bank as it costs just under $30 with a 2-year contract. If she’s not a Verizon customer, don’t worry. There are plenty of other phones she might like on the other networks. Other notable mentions: iPhone 3G or 3GS (AT&T), HTC Incredible (Verizon), Samsung Reclaim (Sprint), or BlackBerry Bold 9700 (T-Mobile).

 

Does your mom use an e-book reader like the Amazon Kindle? It’s time to introduce her to a color screen! An iPad might make her smile. I’m sure she’ll find a good read in the iBook Store. And, if she enjoys cooking, with the iPad dock, she can set it on the kitchen counter and access her favorite recipes, while listening to some of her favorite music or play some games while the food is in the oven. A more budget-friendly option is the iPod Touch.

 

Make sure mom's computer is backed-up! An external hard drive like the Clickfree C2N is a good option. It works with both PCs & Macs. Clickfree is a plug-and-play device. Plug it in to the computer you want to back up and its BackupLink software takes care of the rest for mom. Pricing will var, depending on which flavor you get.

 

 

For the adventurous mom, a rugged digital camera would be great for her. For example, Casio’s EX-G1 camera is waterproof, shock-resistant and freeze-proof. It’s got a YouTube mode feature, which will allow mom to post video of the kids or grandkids online.

 

 

We hope this gives you a good idea as to what digital moms want these days to stay up to date with technology. We appreciate your comments and suggestions, so let us know if we missed anything. Connect with me below and share your thoughts!

-- By Rob Almanza, “Into Tomorrow” Correspondent

 

 

Get SOCIAL with Rob!

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

 

This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

Concord Keystone: Several Easy Shot Clip, Ultra Mini Digital Video Cameras

Firefold: More HDMI 1.4 cables

iosafe: Several ioSafe Solo USB External Drive - Protects against Fire, Water and Theft SIZE? VALUE?

Honestech: Copies of Audio Recorder 2.0 Deluxe -- Convert your analog music into digital formats including MP3s & audio CDs

ITTV Video

We have compiled a list for last-minute gift ideas for your digital mom! Rob Almanza shows you our top choices in our Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight this week. Also featuring: Chris Graveline with This Week in Tech History.

Download Our Show

Listen To Our Show

Amazon Links »