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Tech News & Commentary
Keith in Shreveport, Louisiana calling in via the App asked: “I’m in the military, getting ready to go overseas. My wife is an Apple zombie and I’m an Android Acolyte. I was wanting to get a Google Nexus 7 to take with my so I can Skype with my wife on her iPad Mini. Are we going to have compatibility problems?”
No Keith, you’ll be just fine.
Skype works on both platforms and you don’t have to worry about what she’s running it on, iPad, computer, phone, even some TVs… as long as the device is compatible with Skype you won’t have any compatibility issues.
You won’t be able to FaceTime with her, but Skype should present no problems at all.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports Feature
with Matt Ferretti
Just this past week Sony announced that the Playstation 4 will arrive later this year. What can we expect from this hotly-anticipated new gaming console? Consumer Reports gaming expert Matt Ferretti is here give us a rundown of the new features.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Mark recommends: The History Channel, FREE
“The History Channel app. I’m a history fan, and I love watching the History Channel, although I’m as mystified as you are about why “Cajun Pawn Stars” is considered “history.” The History Channel app brings together shows and topics into one easy to use app that allows you to browse full episodes or clips of shows, and look through lists of historical topics. Select the one you want, and the video begins to play. It really couldn’t be any easier. It’s guaranteed to catch the interest of your kids, and anything that helps them learn about history is a GOOD thing, in my book. The History Channel app is free in the iTunes app store.” — Mark
• James recommends: MoviePass, FREE
“My app of the week is MoviePass, now I know all you HypePhone users I mean iPhone users were already able to download this app but it recently became available on Droid and I gotta tell ya, if you’re a movie buff like me this app makes sense for you. The idea is pretty simple, for anywhere between $25 to $40 bucks a month depending on where you are, you can go to a theater and watch a movie every single day. When you use your MoviePass app to select what movie you want to see and where you want to see it, MoviePass temporarily unlocks a debit card they send you that you use to purchase your tickets. I get a lot out of it because I go to the movies fairly often and down here in Miami, with popcorn and soda and the whole deal, a single trip can easily run you about $35 without breaking a sweat. So if you like going to the movies get MoviePass, if you go once in a blue moon it doesn’t make sense for you.” — James
What are your favorite Apps? Let us know at 800-899-INTO and we’ll feature them in this segment!
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details
Mobile World Congress Reports…
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| Jamie Moran – Blackberry | Kabir Kasargod – Qualcomm Life | |
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Ken in St. Joseph, Michigan listens Online asked: “Daughter’s being deployed next year. She’s looking for an external hard drive that she can load up with movies and music. Is there a better hard drive than the other? There’s a lot out there.”
Hard drives don’t differ much. “Better or worse” really mostly comes down to better or worse suited for your purposes. If you plan on using one while moving, then a heavy one that requires being plugged-in is probably “bad”. If you plan to just leave it on a desk, it isn’t and would likely be cheaper.
In your daughter’s case, she may benefit from having a rugged hard drive. They’ll hold up a little better to rough treatment and she won’t have to worry too much about being gentle with it.
Rugged hard drives will cost a little more than comparable non-rugged versions, but they’re not too expensive. You can find them for under $100. For example, the LaCie Rugged Mini starts at $95 for 500GB of storage.
Since she plans to put space hogging media on the drive, larger capacity drives will probably serve her better. Since you are concerned about reliability, you might want to investigate very large flash memory drives. Prices vary widely on these, depending on capacity and speed, with 256GB USB 3.0 models selling for hundreds of dollars. But 128GB USB 2.0 models are under $100, and two or three of those might be more useful, and more reliable, than an external hard drive.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Gilbert asked: “Hi Dave! My name is Gilbert. I am thinking of getting one of those solidoodle 3D printers.
What kind of independent reviews do they get?”
For the price, the Solidoodle isn’t bad. It doesn’t seem to be as refined as some of the competition, but it also costs a quarter as the price of the competition.
You should be able to find 3D models easily enough, and Solidoodle offers 7 days a week tech support, but still, this printer won’t be the easiest product in the world to use.
You will need to read through the manuals, because some precautions listed on the manuals won’t be observed by the software you have to use (for example, maximum operating temperatures may be less than the maximum temperature the computer software and the printer’s firmware will allow), and you may need to open it and make manual adjustments with a screwdriver, like we’ve had to.
Current Solidoodle models are kind of early drafts, they are selling, they can print models, but they’re not by any means as easy to use as, say, the Epson WorkForce we have at the office to print on paper.
Do you know what you’d like to print? do you need prototypes of your own models? if you do, then this printer may be great for you, but day to day, it may not be as useful as you’d hope.
If you do end up buying it, use the lead time to learn a little bit about it, so that you can use it correctly and not run into any trouble.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Dave in Tyrone, Pennsylvania listening on 103.1 WRSC asked: “My children have a Kindle Fire and I was wondering if you could play movies from that on a television.”
It depends on what Kindle Fire you have.
If you have the original version, you’re out of luck, the original Kindle Fire was not built with video-out capabilities.
If you have a Kindle Fire HD though, not only can you do it, but you can do it very cheaply.
The Kindle Fire HD comes with a mini-HDMI connector, all you have to do is buy a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable, which you can find only for next to nothing, plug it into your TV and you’re ready to go.
You should be able to play movies from your Kindle Fire, whether they’re from Netflix, Amazon On-Demand, downloaded movies, YouTube videos or pretty much anything else.
Keep in mind that if you want to sit on the other side of the room with your Kindle Fire and have its display output on your HDTV, you will need a longer HDMI cable. You’ll see a lot of things said about HDMI cable lengths. In our experience, anything under 15 feet rarely, if ever, presents a problem. Beyond that point, you might have trouble, depending on your cable.
There are wireless HDMI extender kits selling for around $200, but we’ve heard mixed things about those. So just give some thought to the distance this cable needs to run and plan accordingly.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — A simple solution to tangled earbuds.
Iolo: System Mechanic – Fix and speed up your PC… Automatically.
Magellan: eXplorist 610 – Premium, rugged, handheld GPS with camera, microphone and speaker to record all your actions in the outdoors.
Yamaha: PDX-11 Portable Speaker — Free your iPod and iPhone music for your active Lifestyle.