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Weekend of November 5th, 2010 - ShowStoppes Digital Holidays Highlights

Dave and Rob bring you highlights from the Digital Holidays event by ShowStoppers where they found lots of tech goodies for you. And, we answered many of your phone calls and emails.

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This week: Into Tomorrow brings you highlights from the ShowStoppers Digital Holidays press event in New York City. Featuring: ParkVu's Music WithMe, Palm Pre2, Monsoon Multimedia, Violight and Ambient Design.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Nebraska man dressed as a Breathalyzer machine was arrested for drunk driving. Read Story...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Franz in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM: "How can I get better reception on my cell phone? And, how can I get more battery life out of my cell phone?"

Another manufacturer to consider is Wilson Electronics. We've used both, and have found (at least in our offices) that they didn't work as well as the Wi-Ex units. They are similarly priced. Signal boosters from Wilson Electronics start at about $130 for a cradle for your car that boosts the signal, up to their SignalBoost DB Pro unit that you install in your home with an outdoor antenna, for about $600.

To save some battery life, try the following:

1) Get one of the signal boosters we just mentioned. When your phone has little or no signal, it becomes a big drain on your battery, because it uses a lot of power searching for more bars.

2) Lower the brightness on your screen. Make it as dim as you can, while still being able to read what's on the screen.

3) If your phone has Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and you're not using those features, turn them off. Again, if the phone is constantly looking for a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection, it can drain the battery.

4) Minimize "multi-tasking" if you have a smartphone. If you have too many self-refreshing apps open, try closing the ones you're not using or don't need opened. Email checking is a good example. You can limit the amount of auto-checking per 15 minutes, 30 minutes or hourly or turn "push" off and check manually when you need to.

5) If you have a 3G phone and don't use the data much, or don't mind a slower connection, turn off the 3G. This can sometimes almost double your battery life. But the trade off is your Internet will be slower.

Let us know if you end up getting a cell phone signal booster. Hope that helps!

 

 

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

• For Android...
  
  Dave recommends: FLASH Body Mass Calculator – the publisher has a note that this requires Flash 10. The Body Mass calculator works not only to calculate the Body Mass Index or BMI, but also your Body Fat percentage, your ideal weight and your Health Risk classification. It's FREE from the Android Marketplace.
  
  
• From the Intel AppUp Store...
  
  Mark recommends: Milipede, a classic Atari game. FREE Download
  
  
• For iPhone...
  
  Chris recommends: Nike BOOM – Professional athletes motivate and inspire you while you work out with sound clips that play periodically during your "work out" music playlist.
  
  Rob recommends: VLC for iPhone – FREE Download. You can view non-Quicktime player compatible video on iPhone.
  

 

 

Mike sent us the following Facebook Message: "Dave, can you and the Graveliners tell me what is up with the Cisco Valet? Never saw a router of any kind get so much air play on the tube. I understand it's easy to set up, but is that it?"

We actually use the Cisco Valet here at our studios and are impressed with its operation. Setup, was easy, although for the way we use it, it was setup a little differently. It's not our main router. We use it as part of our larger network, as a wireless access point. Setup for that was a breeze and didn't take much time at all.

 

 

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

Jesse in Windale, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: "Wondering about the best battery chargers. My son plays a lot of video games and I'm spending a lot of money on batteries. Lowe's, Home Depot and Walmart love me! Trying to figure out the best battery charger on the market and what you'd recommend."

Please keep in mind that some hi-tech devices require more of a punch than some rechargeable batteries can provide. If the video games become sluggish, you'll know. But, we do recommend that you try a charger and see. Here are a couple of options for you:

1) 6 Bank Universal Battery Charger – It's a device that will charge your AAA, AA, C and D batteries. It will charge both NiCad and NiMH batteries and offers short circuit protection. You can buy it online for under $80.

 

 

Greg in Manchester, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: "I need to know how to convert cassette tapes into MP3 music."

Converting cassettes to MP3 will take some dedication. Before you do anything, keep in mind that converting each song will take you a little longer than the song lasts and that the final quality will be worse than a downloaded version of the same song because cassettes have lower sound quality than MP3 files, and that's especially true about OLD cassettes.

There is paid hardware available that plugs into your computer and comes with software that will help you do this, but most of the time you don't really need it. We can tell you how to do it for free:

1) Get a cassette player with a stereo output.

2) If your cassette player takes headphones, plug a stereo jack to stereo jack cable from the headphone port to the audio input port on you computer. If your cassette player has a stereo output made up of two ports, usually a red one and a white one, get a "Y" cable with red and white audio jacks on one end and a stereo plug on the other and plug the red and white ends to the red and white ports and the stereo jack to your computer's input port.

3) Download a free program called "Audacity" from (Click here to download) -- It works with Windows, Linux and Mac.

4) Record each track by hitting record on audacity and playing the track as you would if you were trying to listen to it on your cassette player.

5) After each track is done, stop the cassette and the recording procedure and save the new audacity file to your hard drive as .wav or .mp3.

You can also use software like Audio Recorder from Honestech. The program comes with an RCA to USB capturing device and works with most audio playback devices like cassettes, LPs and 8-track players. With Audio Recorder, you can convert "analog" music into MP3s, WAV files, audio CDs or MP3 CDs. The deluxe version sells for under $80 and the standard is available under $50.

 

Guests in this hour – Interviews recorded at ShowStoppers for the Digital Holidays in New York

Kim Bratcher, Spokesperson – Spy Gear	Jim McDonald, CMO – Wildcard	Ryan Kuder, VP of Marketing – Bizzy
		Bizzy is a local business recommendation engine powered by people who like the same places you do.
Spy Video TRAKR from Spy Gear is the first programmable RC video vehicle. It's a high-tech spying toy.	Wildcard is an app that lets you buy and use your favorite gift cards using an iPhone or iPad.

 

 

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Dale in Santamaria, California asked: "Trying to setup a VPN network at home and I'm having problems looking for the right software and router. I have a Cisco WTN610n router and am looking for the easiest way to setup a VPN with encryption."

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network. In short, it creates a secure, encrypted connection between a remote computer and a corporate network (typically). The difference between a VPN and a secure browser connection is that with a VPN you aren't connecting to a specific machine or program on the other end. You're connecting with the remote NETWORK, just as if you plugged in a network cable back at the office. You can then log in to servers or printers on that network, or use any other resource of the network. So basically it's a virtual network cable strung through cyberspace, protected from everything else around it.

Dale, you didn't say whether you wanted to set up a VPN client at home, to connect with an office network remotely, or whether you wanted to create a VPN for your home network so that you could connect back home when you were traveling. There are many different VPN server solutions AND client solutions, and you can choose them independently because they are designed for standard protocols. But we're going to give you a suggestion: YouTube! If you browse to YouTube.com and search for "VPN" you will see hundreds of videos demonstrating how to set up various VPN clients. You can watch some of them and see which one strikes you as easy to set up.

Cisco makes one of the most popular VPN solutions, but you don't have to use it just because you have a Linksys by Cisco brand router. As long as the router offers VPN pass-through, any VPN software should work.

 

 

GROUP DISCUSSION: Google TV with Logitech Revue -- Our initial thoughts

- Forget about sleeping if you have this in your bedroom!

- Installation was fairly easy. We have our Logitech Revue connected to a Dish Network VIP722 receiver.

- YouTube Leanback is among our favorite features! Our HD ITTV Videos look amazing :-)

- Retails at $299 directly from Logitech

If you have any questions or would like us to look into a specific feature further, let us know right now! Call 1-800-899-4686.

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

William in Escanaba, Michigan listening on WPIQ 92.7 asked: "I just bought a distributorship of a nationwide product and am looking for invoicing computers. Something handheld and with a printer. Curious which ones had the best features and if you guys knew anything about that."

It's pretty difficult to recommend something as particular as business software without knowing an awful lot about the business. That's why consultants can earn a living :) For example, you mention invoicing. There are invoices for sales from inventory, invoices for time billing of professional services, invoices from a work order system, just to name a few. Finding which software meets your specific needs would require getting to know what those needs are and that's not practical in this situation. That being said, however, we can make a recommendation.

Quickbooks Online from Intuit is an web-based accounting program that offers invoicing and accounts receivable. They have recently added an app for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry to let you access your Quickbooks Online account using a mobile device, which is about as handheld as you get. You can sign up for a 30 day free trial and see if it meets your needs. The mobile app is available through the various app stores, depending on your mobile platform.

Brian in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: "Security for online banking: On a home PC, I know it's safe. If I was to go to a Wi-Fi Internet connection in the house, I know that's a little risky. Second question: to do banking on a cell phone, like a Blackberry, what are the negatives about doing that?"

The entire "Into Tomorrow" team has been doing banking online for many, many years and -- so far -- have had no problems. There has been quite a stir lately about the Firefox extension "Firesheep," that works by "side-jacking" your online accounts, and that has prompted a lot of concern over computer security. Any time we pay attention to security, that's a good thing. Firesheep only works under two conditions. You must be using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection and you must be connecting to a website that does not establish a secure connection through the browser. Hopefully, your home Wi-Fi network uses WEP or WPA security to encrypt the connection generally. And, of course, any bank or financial institution that does not encrypt the browser connection would be in violation of numerous federal laws and standards. So while Firesheep may make it possible for the guy sitting next to you at Starbucks to post on your Facebook page as you, your online banking is likely to be just fine.

Chet sent the following Facebook Message: "Dear Mr. Graveline, I'm at my parents house visiting with them. They have decided to get a new television. The space they have built in to the wall will only fit a 32-inch because the space is 35 1/4-inches. They found a Vizio 1080 resolution at Costco that they like. You being America's authority on the issues, WHAT TV SHOULD I PURCHASE?"

We have to tell ya that we love the Vizio televisions. We have a few of them in our studios here and have not noticed any lesser quality than some of the more expensive sets we've reviewed or watched. In fact, in some cases, the lower priced Vizios had a BETTER picture quality than a "premium" brand TV. But, like everything else, it comes down to personal preference. That's why we usually tell people to go to a local electronics retailer and check out the picture quality for yourself. And when we say a local electronics retailer, we don't mean the electronics department at Walmart or Target. It's fine to purchase the sets there -- if that's where you find the best price, but they may not necessarily have the sets that are on display, setup properly. Plus, they are in these wide open spaces with bright fluorescent lighting. And I can almost guarantee that that's not how the lighting will be in the room you'll have the TV in.

Go to a Best Buy, or some other store that sells only electronics. At least compare the quality there. Then, if you find the same set somewhere like Walmart or Costo for less money, you can go there to buy it. But you always want to be able to see the TVs in an environment that is at least somewhat similar to the environment it will be in at home.

 

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

This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

AT&T: A Pantech Ease Phone – Interactive touch screen with a convenient slide-out full QWERTY keypad and built-in pedometer.

Honestech: Copies of Claymation Studio 3.0 Deluxe with PC Camera included – stop motion video creation software

Serif: Copies of PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio – Professional digital image editing software

TrendMicro: Copies of Titanium 2011 -- Maximum Internet Security including 10 gigs of online backup.

TuneUp: Copies of TuneUp Utilities – Optimization software for PCs.

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