HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Christopher in Jefferson City, Missouri listening on KLIK 1240 AM calling via our free app asked: “Hello Dave, I listen to your show to get the latest information on new technology and need to dispose of some old laptops please help me safely and securely dispose of old laptops and old technology. Thanks.”
That’s a very good question! Many people don’t realize that it is very harmful to the environment to throw your old electronics into the garbage. In fact, in many areas, it’s illegal. There are all sorts of chemicals and other harmful things inside that can get into the ground if they’re just thrown in a landfill.
The best way to dispose of your old laptops is to recycle them. Some retailers offer recycling programs to help people with this. Best Buy has a free in-store recycling program. They take most electronic items, no matter what brand, where you bought it, or how old it is. There are some restrictions, however. On their website, you select your state from a drop down menu and they’ll tell you what they take and what they don’t. Some items, like CRT TVs, have a ten dollar fee for recycling. But what they do, at least, is offset that immediately with a ten dollar gift card that you can use in their store.
What you want to keep in mind is, if you’re recycling a computer that has the hard drive still inside – you want to wipe all the data off it before you recycle. Especially if it has personal info on it. Best Buy recommends that you at least remove the hard drive before you recycle. You can do it yourself, for free or, for a fee of course, they will have a member of their Geek Squad remove the hard drive for you.
You can read more information about Best Buy’s recycling program here.
If you don’t have a retailer near you that recycles, there are still safe ways to dispose of your old gadgets. Just about every municipality considers them hazardous waste because of all the components inside. Check with your local city, town or county. They will all have places you can take old electronics to dispose of them safely.
To help you find a program in your area, you can check the National Center for Electronics Recycling website that gives you a directory through which you can find resources local to you no matter where you live.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“Consumer
Reports” Feature with Donna Tapellini
You can get an amazingly low price on a printer these days. But, once you start cranking out text, photos and Web pages, Consumer Reports’ Donna Tapellini says the high cost of replacement ink cartridges can make you feel like you’ve been had.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: Opera Mobile , FREE
“In my never-ending search for the perfect web browser on your Android smartphone or tablet, I’ve reviewed Opera Mini, Firefox Mobile, and the Dolphin HD browser. Each of these has their good points and weak points, but none of them were consistently good enough to make me stop using the Android browser entirely. This one, Opera Mobile, just might be. It’s different from Opera Mini in that it’s not a stripped down, text only browser. It supports flash and renders desktop pages just as well as the stock Android browser does. The difference is, Opera Mobile loads pages faster than the stock Android browser, it re-formats web pages faster and more reliably, it makes it much easier to control multiple browser windows, and it has the standard Opera features of the speed dial page and Opera Link to share bookmarks with your desktop Opera browser. Opera Mobile warns you that it’s “not for slow connections,” but then goes on to say anything 2.5 G or faster should be fine. My own experience with it was that pages loaded much faster under it than under the stock browser. Give it a look in the Android Market, and remember it’s Opera MOBILE, not Opera Mini. But, just like Opera Mini, Opera Mobile is free of charge.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: Google+ for iPhone, FREE
“It just hit the App Store this week! While there may not be too many Google+ users at the moment, I think it has the potential to be big. Not as big as Facebook, but a lot better than MySpace. We all Google, most of us use Gmail, so why not use something that’s linked to what we already do on the web. I’m a fan of the +1’s. The app works very smoothly on the iPhone. I like how you can swipe through different streams — from your Circles to posts Nearby to Incoming Messages. It’s easy to post updates and post pictures and videos. If you have an iPhone and have joined Google+ — you gotta have it!” — Rob
• Chris recommends: SitOrSquat: Bathroom Finder, FREE
“This app, that is sponsored by Charmin, allows you to quickly find a nearby restroom…and a whole lot more.
You can:
* View nearby restrooms on a map or in a list sorted by distance.
* See which are open NOW.
* Read reviews, rating, and pictures of the toilets before you go!
* Learn about additional features: which have changing tables, which are handicap accessibility, or which have tampon vending machines.
They say that all of the toilet finder content is added by the users. They currently have a listing of over 65,000 toilets worldwide. SitOrSquat is free in the iTunes App Store.” — Chris
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
Guest in this hour:
Morgan Reed, Executive Director – Association for Competitive Technology
What is Google+ and why is it getting so much attention? Should you embrace it or be concerned? We’ve got the answers for you!
Facebook and Twitter Participation: What do you think of Google+ (so far)?
We shared our listeners opinions about Google+, Google’s latest attempt at entering the social networking arena.
Michael in Tyler, Texas listening on KTBB 92.1 FM asked: “Is it true that you can save a cell phone by putting it in a bowl of uncooked rice when it gets wet?
“It’s not 100% fool proof, but yes, sometimes it can work. Rice absorbs moisture easily and sometimes leaving a wet cell phone in a bowl of uncooked rice can be enough to dry it and make it work again.
Keep in mind that you will have to leave it in the rice for a long time, you can’t just put it down for half an hour and then just expect it to work, and that it’s not a fix for every cell phone that gets wet, if you take your cell phone out for a swim every morning, all the rice in India won’t save it.
Having said that, if you happened to drop your phone in water, take out the battery right away, and put it in a bowl of rice for a few days, it may have a chance!
Back in December of 2008, Rob tested this and other theories to save a drowned cell phone, and here’s the video of that experiment for your enjoyment.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Anthony in Nashville, Tennessee calling in via our Free App: “I was calling in to find out about the tablets that are on the market and are also coming out on the market. I know the iPad is one of the best out there, but I wanted to know about the other ones that are on the market. Are some of them as good as the iPad or better? What’s your take on it?”
There are plenty of tablets on the market and they range from good to… disappointing. For the most part, we think the larger Android tablets are good enough to compete. The new ones come with a proper tablet operating system, and are generally responsive and can do what you’d expect a tablet to do.
The smaller tablets are a different story, a lot of them are just big phones, they run a phone operating system, phone apps and can be a disappointment, specially to users who already have a smartphone.
If you’re interested in looking at non-Apple tablets, Android is definitely an option and the Motorola Xoom seems to be a popular choice, it’s considerably heavier than the iPad 2, it has far less apps and it’s wider, but it’s got a tablet OS, the app selection is slowly growing, it has a good, responsive multitouch screen and a dual core processor.
Recently, HP released the TouchPad, an interesting tablet running a version of webOS, it multitasks beautifully, the operating system is very nice and polished looking, but there are only a handful of apps available for it at the moment and there’s not a huge community of developers waiting to make apps for it at the moment.
We should also mention the BlackBerry Playbook, it’s out there, it’s an option mostly for people with BlackBerry phones, but it’s not really setting the world on fire…
So, you definitely have options, some of them are better than others, if you want a tablet and don’t want to go with Apple, we’d say focus on a large Android tablet… they seem to be the best non-Apple option for now.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline.
Facebook friend Ernest in Washington, DC asked: “I want to pluck your brain for a minute: Do you know of any cell phones that one can order, of which the RAM exceeds 16gig and with a refresh rate to match? I’m dumping T-Mobile and the choices out on the open market, for lack of a better work, stink.”
There are some smartphones showing up with 16GB of RAM now, but they aren’t very common. One model is the new dual core processor, QWERTY sliding keyboard DROID phone from Motorola. It has 16GB of RAM and supports up to a 32GB media card. We’re not sure what you mean by “refresh rate to match,” but the DROID ‘s dual core processor should give it plenty of oomph for running multiple apps at once, thereby taking advantage of the expanded memory.
One thing to keep in mind is that many smartphones do not distinguish in their advertising between RAM and media storage, which may or may not be on a removable card. For example, the 16GB iPhone 4 has 16B of memory, and while that’s not on a media card but rather on fixed memory in the phone, only 1GB is RAM for running programs. Given the limited and very controlled multitasking that the iPhone 4 supports, the lack of RAM isn’t really a problem, but it’s a good illustration of how you have to dig a bit to find the specific answer to your specific question.
When you say you’re looking for phones on the “open market,” we assume you mean unlocked phones that can work on a variety of wireless carriers without a contract. You should know that you will never see the latest and most powerful handsets available as unlocked phones, at least in the North American market, until the phone has been out for quite a while. Unlocked iPhone 4 models are just now being “officially” sold.
That’s because the handset manufacturers need the wireless carriers as advertising and sales partners, and those carriers aren’t willing to do that without some exclusivity on the handsets. The bottom line is, if you want the latest and most powerful smartphones, you will probably need to shop at Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint once you’re clear from T-Mobile.
Good luck, and we hope we’ve helped!
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Ken Grunski, President – Telestial
How many times have you suffered from Bill Shock, after a trip outside of the US? Telestial may be a solution to the out-of-this-world voice and data roaming rates.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT with Rob: Dragon Go!
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 Android phones do some things better than iPhones, like voice-search & texting. Now there’s a new voice-search app in town that is making the iPhone smarter and … more productive.
Features: – Exceptional voice-Search for iPhone – Easy to search for everything on the mobile Web – You can easily browse thru search results – Great for planning a date night –> Dinner reservations (OpenTable), read local reviews (Yelp!), movie tickets (Fandango), Nightclub/lounge search (Google + Yelp), Shop for an outfit or shoes near you (Milo), and even check the weather!
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HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
Laura in Spokane, Washington listening on 840 KMAX asked: “I’d like to know if there is a way to use an iPhone type device with dialup by utilizing Wi-Fi areas off-site?”
First of all, any Wi-Fi hotspots you connect to will be using a broadband connection, not dialup. I guess, in theory, it would be possible to put a wireless router on a dial-up connection, but we’ve not heard of anyone doing that. It’s just not practical.
Now, If what you mean by “utilizing Wi-Fi areas off-site” is “Will you be able to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots?” then, yes. Many places, you can connect to for free, like many coffee shops, hotels, fast food restaurants. Some others, like Airports, you have to pay for a Wi-Fi connection. Some places have free wi-fi, but only after you make a purchase. Like some fast food restaurants and coffee shops that print a wi-fi code on your receipt.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into
Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
GROUP DISCUSSION: Is Google+ better than Facebook?
Mark shares his experiences with the Google+ Beta with the team.
Ellen in San Antonio, Texas listening online asked: “My daughter in law just went back to college and is a struggling student, wife and mother of 2+.
Her birthday is coming up in August and we are trying to decided which device to get her for her birthday.
I have a Kindle which I love, my husband has a Nook which he loves. So which one is best for a student?”
That’s a good question Ellen, and one that is hard to give a definite answer for. Until just recently, we would have said that the Amazon Kindle is clearly the better device for reading books, while the Barnes & Noble Nook was the better product for color publications like magazines.
However, Barnes & Noble has recently launched an updated version of the Nook which is smaller, lighter, with an E Ink monochrome screen like the Kindle has, priced at $139, which is the same price as the third generation Kindle. That means Barnes & Noble now has both the 7″ Nook Color and the 6″ Nook.
Our colleagues at Consumer Reports recently reported in their feature on our show that they rated the new monochrome Nook slightly higher than the Amazon Kindle, for the first time ever. The difference however was extremely slight, and really means the two products are very evenly matched. Amazon has made this even more of an even race by announcing that a 7″ Kindle Color will be available shortly.
In other words, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are matching each other in quality, features, and price. It’s really the closest comparison we can think of in consumer technology. Amazon does have the leg up in 3G support. If you want a reader that can download new books without needing to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot, only the Kindle offers that. However, we don’t honestly see this as a big deal. How many books will you be downloading when you’re not near Wi-Fi, really?
Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are now offering textbook rentals, which is excellent for students. You may want to compare what textbooks are available through each and see which matches your daughter’s needs better. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble offer software versions for every computer brand and operating system, to let you access your books on a larger device, if you have one.
The Nook Color is a more traditional Android tablet, with a Nook Store that sells apps, but they do not allow you to access the general Android Market, so you’re locked pretty tightly in to Barnes & Noble. But at $249, it’s a very low cost 7″ color Android tablet.
While we will see a Kindle Color this year, we won’t see it in time for that August birthday.
We know that’s a lot of information to process, but we want to be careful that we give you what you need to make an informed decision. The bottom line is, you won’t go wrong with either product, as they are so closely matched in size, performance, features, and price. If you want to get her a color tablet, but you can’t afford that, then a Nook Color is the next best thing. It’s a good eReader, it’s an okay Android tablet, and it can at least run the apps that Barnes & Noble sells in their Nook Store. It’s web browser is certainly better than its monochrome cousin.
If you want a monochrome reader then it really is a toss-up, and we encourage you to make the decision based on investigating which one gives you better access to the textbooks she will be using in school.
Hope this has helped!
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Shelley in Jefferson City, Missouri listening on KLIK 1240 AM asked: “I was trying to download a couple of pictures that a family member emailed to me and when I couldn’t open them, I accidentally deleted my photo program (iPhoto) on my iMac. It had thousands of my pictures from my vacations, adventures and milestones that I’d love to try and recover. I have a Mac OS X version 10.1.5 with a Power PC G3 Processor and 256 MB of memory.
Is there any way to get my iPhoto back?”
You seem to have a very old iMac running OS X 10.1.5 and it doesn’t have “Time Machine Backup” on it. That was feature that was added with Leopard (OS X 10.5). If you did have it, it would make your photo recovery a lot easier. So, unless you had a separate backup of files on your computer, you may not be able to restore or find your old pictures. Once you restore iPhoto from the original installation discs, your iPhoto Library will be replaced.
I wonder if iPhoto was completely removed. Have you searched for it everywhere? We ask because you didn’t specify how it got deleted. It could’ve been the icon that was deleted, but not the entire application and library. You can search your computer for “iPhoto”.
Since you have a very old version of Mac OS 10, you don’t have “Spotlight”, a search utility that would make finding iPhoto a lot easier, but you should still have Sherlock. To search for iPhoto using Sherlock open a Finder window, click on “File” at the top of the screen, and then on “Find”, and that should open a search window, make sure to search both for “iPhoto” and for “jpg” since your pictures may still be there even if you did delete iPhoto.
If a similar problem happens to a Mac running OS X 10.3 or higher, there may be a software program you can try. It’s called “iPhoto Recovery”. It analyzes any affected media and will restore the lost, missing and deleted digital photos in a secure location. iPhoto Recovery is available online for less than $100.
Unfortunately, we can’t give you an exact answer. We’d have to in front of your computer to help you. If you have an Apple Store nearby, try seeing their Genius Bar specialists.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Bill Kirk, Co-Founder & CEO – Weather Trends International
Can we predict the weather a year in advance? Apparently, there’s an app for that.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
To bring color to the TV, new technologies had to be invented. The German Werner Flechsig in 1938 got a first patent for a stripe mask, separating red, green and blue with filters. That was the basis for color tubes, but it came too early. Nine years later in 1947, after World War 2, RCA developed a first prototype with such a shadow mask, the screen was no bigger than a postcard. In 1954, finally the market started in the United States with a round tube about 22 inches. BBC in the UK and Russian television began trials with color television. IFA was, of course, the showcase for these innovations as well.
That’s this week’s IFA Update brought to you by Messe-Berlin. Be sure to visit IFA-Berlin.com.
Tim from Decatur, Illinois listening on 100.9 FM asked: “Hi Dave, I’m looking for a Bluetooth stereo device that I can hook up to my stock radio in my car. Thanks.”
There are a few products out there that you can look at. What you really need is a Bluetooth receiver that has an FM transmitter built-into it. Our team has uncovered one that will do just what you are looking for.
The Motorokr T505 Bluetooth, makes calls hands free and allows you to listen to your tunes with features like echo/noise reductions and loudness control. The Bluetooth technology will stream your music or favorite talk show, such as into tomorrow right from your phone or MP3 player to the Motorokr T505. The digital FM transmitter let’s you make and take calls and your music will pause while you’ll take your calls.
The station finder technology searches the FM dial for you to find the best station to transmit to. Press a button and station finder will find and announce the best FM station for you to tune to. This portable solution clips to the visor, so that it can be taken from car to car.
The Motorola Motorokr T505 is available online for about $53.
Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.
Listener Willie asked: “What do you guys think about AT&T not supplying their customers with 4G on their iPhone 4 phones? Still, they say they are the best and the fastest for internet while talking at the same time!”
This one’s not really on AT&T, Apple doesn’t make an iPhone that can achieve 4G speeds… then again AT&T’s can now technically call their speed 4G, but it’s really what they used to call “enhanced 3G”…
Regardless of AT&Ts half truths though, Apple just doesn’t make an iPhone that can use 4G networks yet, so for now, neither AT&T nor anyone else will be able to offer iPhone 4 users 4G speeds simply because the hardware isn’t there.
Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info,
please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Microsoft: Copies of Street & Trips Software with GPS receiver
VSO Software: Copies of Convert-X-to-DVD 4 – Lets you convert videos to DVD and watch on any DVD player.
wEASEL: Several wEASEL Easel Smartphone Stand with Hanging Loop in Black or White