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Weekend of July 2nd, 2010

Taking a little break from the road, Dave and the team were answering your questions and reading lots of emails.

ITTV Video Update

This week we share our thoughts on iPhone 4 in our Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza. Also featuring: Chris Graveline with his tech throwback on This Week in Tech History.

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

 

Joe in Eerie, Pennsylvania listening on WPSE 1450 AM asked: "Considering buying a new TV. I have a 1989 Magnavox. It's good, but not as good as the new ones. I've been seeing LCD and LED. Which one's better? What's the difference? Which is going to last longer?"

LCD and LED are pretty much the same, except for the backlighting methods. The marketing of these LED TVs has confused a lot of people. And, add Plasma to the mix for even more confusion. LED TVs are really just LED-backlit LCD TVs using "Light Emitting Diodes." Wheras, LCDs have used some form of flourescent lighting from tubes to much more advanced flat arrays of lights.

LEDs are more energy saving and produce a very good picture quality. Viewing angles have improved with LED TVs. We have an LCD-LED HDTV from Vizio in our studio lounge.

Click here for the buyer's guide.

 

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

• For Android, Dave recommends: World Clock
  
  
• For iPhone/iPad:
  
  Rob recommends: iMovie (iPhone only)
  Chris recommends: Farmville
  
  
• For BlackBerry, Mark recommends: Player for YouTube
  
  

Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details

 

Rick in Erie, Pennsylvania listening on WPSE 1450 AM sent us the following Facebook message and asked: "I have audio CDs that I have burned music on, and I notice some of them skip while playing in the car. I have cleaned the player in the car. Do the CDs themselves have to be cleaned every so often?"

Yes, they need to be cleaned. If you're still having problems after cleaning them, you can try burning them at a slower speed. That's helped us a few times.

 

John in Bridgewater, New Jersey listening to the podcast asked: "You talked to somebody at CES about steadicam stuff for the iPhone. I'm not looking to use my iPhone for home videos, but I would like something affordable to use with my Sony HD camera that would give my home videos more of a "viewability" so people don't throw up after watching my home videos because they are "jerking around."

Another one available os from their main competitor, Glidecam. They have several models available for smaller camcorders. The HD-1000, that handles up to three pounds, sells for about $400. The HD-2000 will take 2-6 pounds and sells for $500. And the HD-400, that handles up to a ten-pound camera, sells for $600.

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

 

 

William in Montgomery, Alabama asked: "I have a terabyte HD. I'm getting ready to put a 64-bit version of Windows 7 on there. My other hard drive is a 32-bit version of Windows 7. I'm going to make the terabyte drive my main boot drive. My question is will Windows 7 64-bit be able to recognize the 32-bit hard drive?"

Your old hard drive will work fine with a 64-bit Windows 7, if you can get the right drivers for it. 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems use the same standards to write and read information to and from a disk (FAT32, NTFS, etc.). What they need help with is being able to communicate with the disk in the first place.

To find out if there are drivers available for your particular hard drive, you should visit the manufacturers website and look in their "support" or "downloads" section for 64-bit drivers.

If your hard drive is new enough, the 64-bit version of 7 might just pick it up completely on it's own, but given that you have a big hard drive to move files into, you might want to check with the manufacturer first and make sure you shouldn't be moving those files to the new hard drive to retain your information.

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

 

Rebecca in San Antonio, Texas listening online sent us the following email and asked: "We have started looking at getting a big old high-def TV. We want to stay under $600, and can fit a 42" into our TV armoire. It looks like if we got an LCD 42," we could only stay under $600 if we got one with 60Hz return rate, but we prefer the 120 Hz (which takes us up to $700 at least). I hear the plasmas are cheaper, but run hotter, do not show as well in low lighting, and have more reflection off the screen in dark scenes since the screen is glass. I have basically learned all of this in the past few days since I have never had anything more than a 27" tube TV. And we're watching just broadcast signal, nothing fancy, and want to hook up the computer so we can watch Hulu."

Most of what you heard is correct. The plasmas actually tend to be more expensive than an LCD of the same size. Some manufacturers, however, are lowering the prices of the plasmas because fewer people are buying them.

It is true that they run hotter than LCD. At home, Chris has a 50” Plasma in the spare room (which he uses as his “man room”) and a 42” LCD in his bedroom. When he stands in front of the Plasma, he can feel the heat coming off of it. That’s the biggest drawback to plasmas in his opinion. That, and they also weigh at least twice as much as the LCD. It’s also true that the Plasmas don’t handle reflection well. On the plus side of Plasmas, you tend to get a much higher contrast ratio, meaning the blacks are darker and the whites are brighter. Personally, he prefers LCD, mainly because of the reasons he mentioned earlier. They are less expensive, don’t heat up as much, and aren’t too bothered by reflections or light coming in from a window.

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

 

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Zaid in State College, Pennsylvania listening on 103.1 WRSC FM asked: "What do you think about purchasing the new iPhone vs. staying with the old one? How does the new iPhone compare to the BlackBerries on the market? Do you think iPhone is going to get a majority of the market share?"

Major difference, speed. If you think the 3GS was a major improvement to the 3G, the 4 is a lot better. Text messages go out faster (AT&T-permitting), better camera, video chatting, and better battery life.

Ross, on our staff, thinks that if you have the 3G or 3GS, purchasing the iPhone 4 is a waste of money. If you have the 3G or 3GS, stay with it.

Comparing the iPhone to the BlackBerries, one of the biggest difference is their purpose and focus. For instance, BlackBerries are more business-oriented. A lot of executives use them. The iPhone is more fun and has a lot more apps available for productivity and play. A major disavantage to the iPhone is that BlackBerries are soon to get Flash support in the second half of 2010, and the iPhone might not ever get it. Ross doesn't think the iPhone will get a majority of the market share unless it starts supporting Flash.

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

 

 

 

Alan in Santa Maria, California asked: "Interested in the iPad and also interested in the Nook from Barnes and Noble. Would like your comments."

Also, Hemanth sent us the following email and asked: "Is it a good idea to buy an iPad now or wait. I hear bad reviews about an iPad."

If you're wondering about which version of the iPad to buy, think about how much music or videos you have on your computer right now. When you sync with iTunes, you can control what stuff to transfer to it. Rob went with the 32GB version and has plenty of room on it. Dave has a pretty extensive music library. And, you have to think about how much you're willing to spend. The 3G+Wi-Fi version will cost you about $129 more than each of the Wi-Fi version only, depending on how much storage she'll need.

Rob has had his iPad since Day 1 and loves it. He has the 32 GB Wi-Fi only version that costs $600. There's also a 3G version, which requires a data plan from AT&T, but it also works on Wi-Fi. He uses it on a daily basis. It works great with email, web browsing, music & video playing, apps, and several other goodies. Please note the iPad is not a laptop replacement, but you can do a lot with it. You can stream movies using the Netflix app. And, our Into Tomorrow app works great on it.

If you have the Nook, make sure you have the new Nook 3 upgrade for the Nook's OS. The upgrade came out in the end of April, so we certainly hope that most you have already taken care of that by now.

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

 

 

 

The "Into Tomorrow" team asked the following question on Facebook: "Did any of you have trouble upgrading your iPhone 3G/3GS to iOS4? Was it worth the hassle?"

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

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

 

 

 

 

Shafe in Ashville, North Carolina listening on WWNC 570 AM asked: "Purchased an Alienware m11x and I'd like to switch my iTunes music from my iMac to the Alienware. Wondering what would be the best way to do that. Would also like to put it on my Droid using a program called doubletwist and I'm having a lot of trouble doing it."

In order to transfer an iTunes library, there are a couple of things you need to do first. On your iMac, make sure you've selected the options "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" (you'll want to set those same options on your Windows copy of iTunes, so don't forget that).

On the iMac, pull down the "File" menu, look for the "Library" command, and under that choose "Organize Library." This command will tell iTunes to copy any song files that had been added to your library but were not in the iTunes media folder and add them to that folder. Check the option that says "Consolidate Library" and then click "Ok". If you've not already upgraded to the new Media folder structure, you can also set that check box and do it at the same time.

You'll need a device large enough to store your iTunes library, whether that's a thumb drive or an external hard drive depends on how much music you have. Connect the drive to your iMac and drag your iTunes media folder to it. This copies your entire library. Disconnect the hard drive (after ejecting it) and connect it to your Windows PC.

Now, on the Windows side, after first making sure that you've selected the two options we listed above, you have a choice of several methods, but perhaps the simplest one is to pull down the "File" menu and choose "Add folder to library." Navigate to the iTunes Media folder on your external hard drive and choose "Select Folder."

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

 

 

Robert in Grove City, Pennsylvania listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "Smartphone selection, I'm a Verizon customer. I don't know what to go with. I'm thinking about the Droid, Eris, Incredible, blah blah blah. If you guys can help me out, it'd be great."

Verizon has a good variety of smartphones. The hottest ones would be their latest Android phones. For example:

Droid X vs. HTC Incredible:

- Both have Wi-Fi, GPS, FM radios, and 8 megapixel cameras. However, the Droid X has a mechanical shutter, so it takes sharper pictures.

- Droid X also has an HDMI out port, which should make it easier to share the 720p HD video captured with it.

- No physical keyboard, all virtual.

- Early reviews show the Droid X has a better battery life span than the Incredible.

- HTC Incredible is less bulky.

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

 

Rob posted the following on his Facebook page: "Hello fellow iPhonies, Rob Almanza here. Good news, Facebook has updated their iPhone App. You can now watch videos uploaded to Facebook (non-YouTube videos) on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Download the update from the App Store."

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

 

Jim sent us the following email and asked: "I've been refilling my HP cartridges at Costco Photo and some times they work, and other times the printer give an error message that it doesn't recognize the cartridge as being an HP cartridge and won't print. Do you know of a way to fool the printer into thinking that the cartridge is an HP cartridge with HP ink in it? I've tried talking to people at Costco about this problem, but they don't know how to fix it. Haven't been able to hear your show as I've been on the road for several weeks. If you have any info or know of any web sites that might address this problem, could you email it to me."

HP and some other manufacturers build the printer heads onto the cartridges, which means there is a fair deal of electronics on the cartridge itself and there are some contacts at the end of it that need to touch their counterparts on the printer. If the printer doesn't detect all the contact points, it gets confused and throws an error.

HP and some other manufacturers build the printer heads onto the cartridges, which means there is a fair deal of electronics on the cartridge itself and there are some contacts at the end of it that need to touch their counterparts on the printer. If the printer doesn't detect all the contact points, it gets confused and throws an error.

Another solution sometimes given by printer manufacturers is, in case of trouble, unplug your printer for a few minutes and try again.

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

 

 

 

Norman listening on Sirius Ch.108 sent us the following email and asked: "I heard your interview on Sirius with Melanie Pearson and was very impressed with the products. I did not hear you ask about sound recording with these products. This only came to mind because of the motorcyclist that was fined in Maryland for recording. An unmarked police car stopping him and his helmet cam was recording. When he put it on YouTube, they came and arrested him for illegally recording without informing the police man that his helmet cam was on. We have the same law in Florida."

PS: "I have a hidden camera "pen camera" and cannot figure out how to change the date/time. Do any of you have experience with one of these?"

We don't have the same law in Florida. The Florida law requires that consent be given for audio only. Also, only 1 party needs to be aware that the conversation is being recording.

Of course, consent only needs to be given when the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. This is how police departments get away with having dash cams and not needing to inform the driver of the car that they are being recorded.

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

Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza

iPhone 4: Hit or Miss?

The iPhone 4 isn't perfect, but it does have some cool features that are a great improvement from previous versions. We've narrowed it down to some of our favorites and some of our not so favorites.

1) Speed

Upgrading from an iPhone 3G, you can immediately notice the iPhone 4 is amazingly fast! It's got Apple's custom A4 chip, very similar to the one used in the iPad. Apps open very fast and text messages appear to go out faster.

2) Retina Display

I was amazed by how clearer the screen is when compared to my old iPhone 3G. It's still the same 3.5-inches as the older screens, but you can tell the difference right away. Apple is calling the LED backlit (960 x 640 IPS) screen -- the "Retina Display" -- due to its high resolution and pixel density. I'm not kidding, it's gorgeous.

 

3) Camera

My friends know me as "PapaROBzi" because I always have a camera and have been known to take pictures of everything. I'm very pleased with the new camera. It now has 5 megapixels, a faster shutter speed, LED flash on back (the only type of "flash" iPhones support), and HD video recording at 720p. Apple is slowly catching up with other smartphones. For instance, several of the new Android phones have 8 megapixels! However, we noticed the new iPhone camera adds a yellow tint on pictures when you use the flash. Not so cool! The flash does help with video-recording in low light.

4) Front Face Camera

I'm digging the front face camera a lot. The quality isn't the best for pics, but it works great with the FaceTime video-calling feature. This is what I was most excited about on the iPhone 4 when it was first announced. Before you get too excited about FaceTime, remember you need to have a wireless connection in order to make it work. AT&T's network doesn't support it. And, remember to turn that feature on under phone settings. Otherwise, you won't even see that option when calling someone. From our tests, it took a little while to get a FaceTime call going. But, you may not see the same results every time as it depends on how good your Wi-Fi connection is.

 

5) iOS4

The iPhone 4 is running the new iOS4 software update with all of its features. The #1 function is the long-awaited multitasking (works well with 3rd party apps like Pandora, where it will keep playing your tunes in the background). Folders are a cool, too. Helps you group up to 12 apps in one folder. But, with multitasking comes a drawback. You may notice the battery may run out of juice faster, depending on what apps you have open.

6) Battery Life

As I mentioned before, I upgraded from an iPhone 3G and have noticed a major difference with the battery life. So far, I haven't charged it everyday like I used to with the 3G. Battery life will vary for everyone. It all depends on how much you use your iPhone. For example, I spread my tasks among a Macbook Pro, an iPad and my iPhone, so that may be why I experienced better battery life. I also don't always keep Wi-Fi "On" and dim my screen a little bit.  

7) Design

The iPhone has gotten an industrial makeover and got a little slimmer. But, it still has a sexy appeal that iPhone owners like. However, there's a design flaw. The antenna is built-in to the stainless steel band around the phone. Some have experienced dropped calls because of the way they grip the phone, causing it to lose signal bars. Apple's solution? Steve Jobs says: "Don't hold the phone that way." And, encourage you to buy the iPhone bumper case for 29 bucks.

UPDATE: At the time of recording the video above, Apple had not really addressed this problem. They have announced they will offer a software update in a few weeks to help solve some of these problems.

8) Cool new apps

iOS4 gives you iBooks. Honestly, I'm not much of a book reader, so I don't have much to say about that. If you like reading, I think you'll enjoy the display quality because it is a very nice display.

My current favorite app is iMovie. Just under $5 on the App store. I shot and edited a video report on the iPhone 4 with iMovie. It was pretty simple to use. Remember, it's a basic version of the full-fledged iMovie software you might be used to on your Mac. You can choose a theme with or without music, add pictures and video, and export it in HD 720p. I think it was money well-spent.

Take a look at my first iMovie for iPhone project below.

Overall, the iPhone 4 is a good updated version of its predecessors. I'm very happy with it! I think the good stuff helps you forget about the things still lacking. Otherwise, why would we put up with AT&T?

If we missed anything, do let us know. Is there a specific feature you want to know more about? Send me a note below!

(Version tested: 16GB from the first batch of iPhones sold)

**All of the iPhone pictures above were taken on another iPhone 4

-- By Rob Almanza, “Into Tomorrow” Correspondent

 

 

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This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

Honestech: VHS to DVD 4.0 – Easy to use video conversion software

iMPROV Electronics: Several Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablets

RadioShack: Weather Clock Radios with SkyWarn

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