Latest Tech News

<< Last Week's Show (11-13-2009) | Next Week's Show (11-27-2009) >>

Weekend of November 20th, 2009

Dave, Chris, Rob & Mark are in-studio answering your tech calls! We answer many of your calls and emails ... translating tech to English for ya!

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

David in Rigby, Idaho listening on 1260 AM KBLI asked: "Portable GPS units seem to be advancing quite a bit. What's the latest and greatest? It's hard to buy something when there's something right around the corner that's supposed to be better!"

Brian in San Antonio, Texas listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "I have a question about my wife's laptop. She's got Vista and the updates stopped working at the end of September with several office, security updates, etc. There's updates that can't run and there's an error message that says something like: "Windows Update Error". I've tried surfing the info on Microsoft's support site, but they didn't seem to have a formal way of responding to that problem. Might be some kind of registry error. I have Norton and ran the registry fix. It fixed a few things, but I still have the same problem. What would you recommend to fix such an issue?"

We ran across a Windows Vista Forum, where a Vista user ran across the same problem. It's a bit complicated to explain on the air, but you'll find it in our show notes for this weekend's show and hope that will help you solve this issue.

As a follow-up comment/question, Brian also commented about us being pre-empted on XM Satellite Radio and their lack of customer service.

Unfortunately, XM's Channel 139, where “Into Tomorrow” is scheduled to air on Saturday nights from 9pm to midnight Eastern, has been experiencing technical difficulties for a while now. Remember that you can always listen to us via our website or download the podcast. Stay tuned ... “Into Tomorrow”!

 

Elaine in Porterville, California listening on KTIP 1450 AM sent us the following email and asked: "Dave, I was listening to the show on 11-06-09 and heard someone talk about a Trojan problem with Personal Guard 2009. I also clicked and now have a huge problem. Please tell me what to use to fight this off with. Any help is appreciated!"

Sorry to hear about the issue you're having with Personal Guard. For those who don't know, Personal Guard claims to be the best security program out on the web, but instead is a rogue anti-spyware program. It generates misleading system scan results in order to push people into buying the program. You all have to be careful with this!

For those like Elaine that have been plagued by this, there is a solution:

The most common way would be to use the "Add or Remove Programs" in the Control Panel. However, there may be hidden files, running processes and registries in your computer, so Personal Guard 2009 may recreate all other files after rebooting your computer. Kind of sounds like a tapeworm!

 

For additional help, we ran across a blog post that has step-by-step instructions to help you remove this -- CLICK HERE.

We want to take a moment and remind you to always keep your files backed up and your anti-spyware and anti-virus programs up-to-date. They should be able to keep your computer healthy.

 

Arthur in Houston, TX listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "My son keeps sending me text messages and I was about to call his school and tell them his spelling is so bad that I can't even come close to what he is talking about. Is there some kind of online or book that explains this new language?"

It's often painful to see the messages that kids are texting back-and-forth, but keep in mind, texts are meant to be short and sweet. And most kids text a lot more than they use the phone for calls. Text lingo has become a new language for teens and kids and now, some adults are picking it up too.

There are several websites that may help you decode texts from your son. For example, there's NetLingo. It has thousands of definitions, including a large collection of Internet acronyms and text messaging shorthand. They have a section dedicated to parents and teachers with helpful tips, including the "Top 50 Internet Acronyms Every Parent Should Know". For example:

1) PAW - Parents Are Watching

2) MOS - Mom Over Shoulder

3) S2R - Send To Receive (pictures)

4) KFY - Kiss For You

Another website you can look at is called FunSMS. It organizes the text lingo in alphabetical order by grouping different phrases under each letter. It also deciphers symbols and smileys.

 

Victor sent us the following email and asked: "Dave, I picked up my Droid on November 9th. I'm learning a lot, but can't use my Bluetooth to start a call. It answers calls, re-dials, and ends a call. Is there a fix in the pipeline? As a truck driver, I have to use hands free. I like the phone, but I may have to return it before 30 days. Thanks!"

That is strange. Dave has had the Droid for a couple of weeks now, and has never had a problem with making or receiving calls with Bluetooth. Well, he takes that back. The first time in his car, when he tried to make a call, it didn't work, until he realized that he forgot to pair it first. As soon as he did, it made the call perfectly.

We would certainly give your Verizon agent a call and ask them or, better yet, take it into a Verizon store, if you have one in your area. Now, if any other listener has experienced this issue with your Droid, let us know, and hopefully let us know how you solved it.

 

Joe in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin listening on Sirius Ch. 108 asked: "Why does my BlackBerry turn off randomly whenever it feels like?"

Your phone may be turning off randomly because it has a personality of its own. Or, more likely, because of the BlackBerry operating system. You didn't say what carrier you were on, but one suggestion would be to upgrade your OS, and that might do the trick. You might also want to contact your carrier and see if they've heard of this issue.

Another idea is to check to make sure that your battery is holding a full charge. It's possible that if the battery is weak or defective, that's the problem.

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Shaun in Manchester, New Hampshire listening to the Podcast on his smart phone while at work asked: "Prior to the Digital switchover, we were able to listen to the TV band over the radio. Do they have anything out there to receive the TV band so we can still listen to our shows over the air?"

No, unfortunately there's not. The TV band was one of the unfortunate casualties of the recent DTV switchover. Since all TV broadcasts must now be digital, the analog signals that you used to be able to pickup on certain radios no longer exist.

In fact, one of our sponsors, C. Crane, even had to build a whole new radio since they had a very popular AM/FM/TV band radio. It's now AM/FM/Short Wave. Because of Digital TV, it's a whole lot more complicated to get just the audio. You might as well have a full-blown TV tuner.

Your best option is probably to just pick up a portable digital TV. There are more and more of them coming to market nowadays. You can find them at many of the big box stores, like Target and Wal-mart, starting at around $80.

 

 

Rick in Mount Juliet, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: "I have a Toshiba laptop and have had it for about 2 years. My problem is that I'll be online doing something and, all of a sudden, my computer goes blank. I have Vista on it. Not sure if that is the cause or not. I'd like to know if maybe Windows 7 would be an answer for that?"

This is a question we address quite often on the show and it is always important to a lot of people, so thanks for asking. The easiest way to do this is to simply hook your computer up to your TV.

It's most likely not a Vista problem. If it were a Vista problem, it most likely would have existed since you bought the computer. According to Microsoft's troubleshooting website, the blank screen would most likely be caused by a problem with your video card.

One solution to the problem might be to try and update your computer the next time you turn it on, or to choose a system restore point that is dated before your problem began.

Another possible solution would be to replace the video card on your laptop. We were able to find many compatible video cards on Newegg.com that start at around $75 for an external card and about $125 for a new internal video card.

A.C. from San Jose, California listening on KLIV 1590 AM sent us the following email and asked: "Hi Dave, I am seriously thinking of ditching my cable, as I really only watch shows on the broadcast channels. I actually downgraded a few months ago to the basic broadcast channels so my bill is less than $20 a month. At the time, I was going to cancel my cable all together and just get a digital converter box with the $40 government coupon, but they convinced me to stay on (said no guarantee I would get all local channels with boxes). Now, I am wondering if, maybe, I should just invest in a tuner that I can use on my computer. Do you have any suggestions? I am not a computer expert, so something that is not too technical would be ideal. Please respond if you are able to. I know you are a busy guy. This is important to me as I have done some research, but still am not sure what I need and there are many options out there."

Your cable company was, somewhat, right when they mentioned that there's no guarantee that you will get all your channels over the air. However, since you are in San Jose, I don't see a problem with that. That problem is experienced more in the rural areas that are farther from the TV station's transmitters. We've talked about that on the show quite a bit. The reason not all the channels reach everyone is that while the TV stations were required, by law, to switch to digital signals, they were not required to upgrade their repeaters that allow the digital signal to travel farther. A lot of smaller markets are not upgrading these right away, as it's a very expensive job.

Now, as far as getting TV on your computer, there are several products out there. What's great about these devices is, many of them will allow you to use your computer as a DVR, and so you can record your shows without having to buy separate boxes.

 

Steve in Columbia, Maryland listening on Satellite Radio asked: "If I currently have Vista, is there a big enough advantage to change to Windows 7? He also asked us which video game console is the best of this generation? The PS3, the XBOX 360, or the Nintendo Wii?"

Yes, it appears to be doing much better than Vista. It has even beat Apple's latest OS update, Snow Leopard. Mark on our team has upgraded most of his computers to Windows 7 and shares his experience. Listen to the podcast.

It all boils down to game preference and graphics. Are you into hardcore role-playing games or first-person shooter? If so, then the PS3 and XBOX 360 would offer the best selection for you. Nintendo offers more fun and family-oriented games.

Rob is not a hardcore gamer, but occasionally enjoys playing the Nintendo Wii. Since it was announced a few years back, around the time the XBOX 360 was first released, he was looking forward to getting one. He grew up playing Nintendo and enjoy their more family-oriented and fun games. He's not into the RPG's or FPS's. Mark enjoys those kinds of games on his XBOX 360 and computer. Rob has gotten into "Guitar Hero", "Band Hero", and "Rockband" games. Having said that, he thinks Nintendo has always been in a category of its own, so they're already a winner. However, the main competition is between PS3 and the XBOX 360.

 

 

John in Eerie, Pennsylvania listening on WPSU sent us the following email and asked: "I'm visually impaired and use a screen reader called Window Eyes on a net book that runs XP. It runs real sluggishly in a few programs and I was wondering if there were any parts of the Windows software I could disable to help free up the resources of my computer so it runs a little quicker."

Unfortunately, Intel Atom is not the best choice for screen readers. It's not as powerful as other Intel processors. You might want to check out the following website recommended by Mark: Blackviper.com -- Look for the section that says "Windows Services ~ Includes complete explanations of each service and advice on which services you can safely disable."

 

Anthony in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada listening to our podcast sent us the following facebook message and sent the following report:

"The iPhone is now available on all 3 Canadian cell carriers. Rogers (the original AT&T up here) and now Bell & Telus are indeed carrying them. These two major players bring way better coverage with much more remote service compared to Rogers, that had decided to do more heavy traffic corridor upgrades and spend more money for increased coverage in the major cities. Jeez, that sounds like a radio report. Hah! Have a great weekend. Be sure and say howdy to my best pal Mark and tell him my question is how do I remove the games that came installed on my computers (they are wasting space!)?"

Thanks Anthony! Mark says "hello" back :-D

 

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

Ray in Peach Springs, Arizona listening to Podcasts asked: "My iPod Touch is now Bluetooth enabled. Can I use this to connect to my Sony VAIO laptop and download files, such as my Into Tomorrow Podcast?"

Unfortunately, no, you can't. You can pair it with your Sony VAIO, but you can only stream your music on the iPod Touch to the laptop speakers. No data can go back and forth. I tell you this from experience because Dave also has a Bluetooth-enabled VAIO and Rob paired his iPod Touch with it. The way we found out was by looking at the "Properties" menu in the Bluetooth settings.

Here's what you do:

1) Open the Bluetooth settings menu and right-click on the iPod Touch.

2) Then, select "Properties".

3) On the "Services" menu tab you'll see that it says "Audio Device" and "Wireless iAP".

4) Also, after pairing the iPod Touch, Windows Update started searching for a driver, but it was just hung up. It didn't find anything. The only way you can sync or exchange data (music, pictures, and videos) between iPods and computers is only through iTunes.

 

 

William in Tower Hill, Illinois listening on WZUS 100.9 FM asked: "I'm a cartoonist. I like to scan my work into my computer to save it. When I do, it "cuts the lines up real bad" and digitizes it. It doesn't look professional. I'm wondering if there's any product out there to prevent that."

We asked our graphics expert, Fausto because he uses scanners all the time for various projects and he said: "I Wish I could help but not sure what the problem is. Perhaps buy a better scanner? Or adjust the settings to scan at a higher resolution?" He suggests you check out scantips.com. They offer some pretty good scanning tips.

Gary from Jones, Michigan sent us the following email and said: "I listen to your show every Sunday that I can. I do not like the widescreen format of the TV's on the market today. Is there a TV coming out soon that's LCD or LED with a normal size screen? Or is this a thing of the past? Thanks!"

The old 4:3 aspect TVs is a thing of the past. All the new TVs coming out are going to be that widescreen 16:9 format, and that my friend, is the new normal. Why don't you like that? It allows you to see much more of the picture. And especially with HDTV content, the 16:9 screen ratio is far better and something that everyone clamors for.

 

Mark in Lake Zurich, Illinois listening on Satellite Radio asked: "What do you recommend for good DSL service?"

Move to a good neighborhood! Location! Location! If it were only that easy. We'd love to have Verizon's FIOS, but it's not available in our South Florida area. DSL comes from your local telephone company no matter where you are. The best advice we can offer is to shop for the best price.

 

Paul from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida listening online sent us the following email and asked: "For Christmas, I'm looking for a laptop computer under $500.00 for my 10 year-old son to surf the Internet, play his games, and watch movies. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance."

Thanks for listening and participating. There are several laptops on the market that will do what you are asking. Judging by the age of your son, you will not be playing any of the more intense games that require a high power laptop.

We were able to find several machines that will have what you are looking for through both Newegg.com and TigerDirect.com/Dave. For the price you want to pay, you should easily be able to get a machine that will have 2GB of Memory and a 250GB hard drive.

Another option you may want to think about is looking into refurbished computers. Many times, you can get more machine for your money and most of them still come with a warranty. If you want to consider that, we suggest you visit the manufacturer's website directly.

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

Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza

A lot of our listeners have asked for a simple solution to stream their music throughout their homes. The Eos Digital Wireless Speaker System may just be it.

This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

Absolute Software: Copies of LoJack for Laptops Premium Edition for Mac & Windows – A software-based theft recovery service that tracks, locates, and recovers stolen computers.

Honestech: Copies of VHS to DVD 3.0 deluxe – Easily converts your videos to DVD.

Intelius: Date Check Report Check Cards – Find out who you're letting into your life by obtaining important information collected from over 250 million public records.

ITTV Video

Want to stream your music easily throughout your house? We have a neat wireless speaker system on our Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza. Also featuring: This Week in Tech History with Chris Graveline.

Download Our Show

Listen To Our Show

Amazon Links »