HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Ryan in Pinetop, Arizona asked: “My daughter is gonna be a sophomore in high school. On about a $300 to $500 budget, we’re considering either a mini laptop, a laptop, or an iPad (if we can even get one at that price) and I wanted to find out what would be most useful to her and why.”
Well, the answer really depends on whether or not that device will be the only computer she’ll have access to. If there are other computers in the house, she might be able to get away with just using a netbook or even an iPad, but if this is the going to be her main device you should look at a regular laptop.
You can have a look at the Sony VAIO VPCEL13FX/W Laptop, it’s got a dual core processor, 15.5-inch screen with 4GBs of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. That laptop will only set you back $479 at TigerDirect.com, so it will be within your budget.
Another notebook computer that is within your price range is the Acer Aspire AS5750G-6804. It has similar specs to the Sony, but comes with a 1GB NVIDIA GT 520M video chip in it for better graphics handling. It’s $499 at Newegg.com, so once again it fits in your budget.
If you want to go the netbook route, it can be even cheaper than that, you can get a Toshiba netbook with a 10.1-inch screen for $269, and that’s not even the cheapest one available.
As for what would be more useful to her, it’s hard to say without know what she needs it for but, generally speaking, a laptop will be able to do everything, a netbook will be able to do less, but with a longer battery life and in a smaller package, and an iPad will be the most limited.
A netbook can’t run very intensive programs, they’re designed with slower processors that use less power, and typically have less RAM memory as well, so if she’s going to be editing videos, playing games, or using any really professional, powerful software a netbook may not be enough. If she’s going to be online most of the time, it might be enough.
An iPad, in terms of software, is limited to what’s in the Apple App Store, and will not play just any content, like flash videos. An iPad would work for her if she was just going to be consuming content, but it’s not great for creating documents, websites or anything like that.
If you were to go the iPad route, you’d be over budget. Sure, the least expensive iPad 2 is $499, but you have to add sales tax and a cover for protection (will cost you about $30-$50). Since it will be used primarily for school, then we would recommend buying the keyboard dock. It’s useful for typing long emails, notetaking or creating docs with the Pages app. That adds $69. Rob doesn’t recommend going the iPad way. The iPad can be useful with productive apps, but it’s still limited and can be expensive. For instance, to print stuff from the iPad, you’d have to buy a compatible HP printer (AirPrint is only compatible with select HP printers). And, you’ll need a computer to sync, backup and update the iPad. It’s not realistic to use the iPad as a stand-alone device for school work. A laptop or netbook may be your best choices.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Carol Mangis
Despite hype over phone-based e-wallet services from PayPal, Google and others, consumers aren’t clamoring to pay with their cell phone yet. Web Associate Editor Carol Mangis tells us why consumers should be wary of these emerging payment options.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: Vlingo Virtual Assistant for Android, FREE or $1.99 to remove ads
“This app was one of my favorites on my old BlackBerry, giving me the ability to speak to the phone and have it do things like send text messages, read my email to me, dictate replies, open applications like the calendar, etc. When I switched to Android, I was sad to lose it. Android’s built in voice recognition is nowhere near as good. Well, Vlingo for Android is out. And if you don’t mind looking at ads, it’s even free. I recall playing $17 for this app on my BlackBerry, so paying $1.99 to remove the ads on my Android phone didn’t phase me in the least. Just as before, you just talk to it. You can tell it to do almost anything (within reason, of course, “bring me a beer” still won’t work, but “find me a place to buy beer” would). It has the InCar mode with a single touch where it will read incoming texts and respond to the phrase “Hey Vlingo” to wake up, not requiring you to touch your phone at all. It’s in the Android Market now, highly recommended.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: Snapseed, FREE
“Probably one of the best photo-enhancing apps on the App Store! Aside from doing the regular tweaking (cropping, straightening and auto-tuning) any you can add some really cool effects. And, like on Photoshop, you can select where you want to add the effect with the “Selective Adjust” tool. It doesn’t have to be on the entire picture like other apps do. The app has instructions that show you how to adjust and play with the tools and settings. My favorite effects are the Vintage and Grunge filters.” — Rob
Example:
Original picture
After applying Snapseed’s “Grunge” effect
• Chris recommends: FBI Child ID, FREE
“The free FBI Child ID app provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your child so that it’s literally right at hand if your child goes missing.”
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
Guest in this hour:
Bob Crane, President – C.Crane Company
Do you have trouble picking up WiFi signals? C. Crane makes highly sensitive WiFi antennas.
Dean in Nashville, Tennessee listening on 99.7 WTN asked: “I’m on Virgin Mobile on the OpenWave OS. I was wondering about a Radio App. Also, is there any way I can boost my antenna signal?”
Openwave is a mobile web browser that creates a platform for web apps, meaning that you wouldn’t download apps for your phone, but rather you would run those apps through the Openwave browser. Openwave is platform agnostic, and web apps developed for it will allegedly run on any hardware.
While there is a lot of talk about Amplicity, their platform for developing HTML5 mobile web apps, we haven’t really seen any apps yet. GetJar, an app store that bills itself as platform independent, is partnering with Openwave, but we weren’t able to find any apps at GetJar flagged as Openwave compatible. One source told us that Openwave is hardware agnostic, but not carrier agnostic, and wireless carriers are planning to tie the software to their own web app stores. So I’m afraid we’re not going to be much help for you, because we can’t seem to find any Openwave apps, either.
If any of our listeners hearing this know where Dean can turn for a good source of Openwave apps, we’d love to have you share that information with him. We’ll slip you a nice prize for participating on the show, and you’ll help a fellow listener.
As for your second question, unless you have some sort of external signal boosting device like the ones from Wi-Ex, you can’t boost antenna signal to a cell phone. All of the solutions you’ve ever seen advertised, like metallic stickers that go inside the battery compartment, are all bogus.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“Wireless Update” Weekly Feature with Chuck Hamby
Are you so much of a movie buff that you watch a compilation of trailers on your frequent movie nights? Well, some new mobile apps just might be perfect for you. Right, Chuck Hamby?
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
C.Crane: Several Super USB WiFi Antenna
Endangerbles: Several music CDs to help children learn about endangered species
VSO Software: Copies of Convert-X-to-DVD 4 – Lets you convert videos to DVD and watch on any DVD player.