HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Warren in Scott City, Kansas listening to the podcast and asked: “I have several computers and trying to find good solutions for making reliable backups, obviously online backups are an excellent idea but I have 3 different computers and I would also like to do a media server. I tried the Windows Home Server, the 2006-2007 model, it was really disappointing it was an HP device and it really did not live up to it’s expectations. Does the home server 2011 promise to be any better? or, are there other alternatives that are easy enough to set up perhaps with older hardware or inexpensive hardware? I’m looking for something that’s fairly lightweight as far as power draw, that can stay on all the time and yet do the job that needs to be done. Thank you for your time and taking us all into tomorrow.”
It seems as though you’re a good candidate for a NAS device. NAS, or Network Attached Storage, is essentially a smart box that accepts disk drives and makes them available for sharing on the network using standard Windows protocols. We use one here at the studios and Mark has one on his network at home, and they work brilliantly with both PCs and Macs.
There are a lot of different brands. At the studio, we use Buffalo Technology and Mark uses Netgear. Depending on the brand, you can get things like RAID storage so multiple drives will protect themselves against hardware failure. One thing to be aware of is to make certain your backup software supports backing up to a network drive. Not all programs do. Windows Backup, for example, will only save backups to a network location if the network server is running Windows Server Edition.
What I do for my backup is make a file backup, since I’m really concerned about data more than anything else. I use the Robocopy tool from Microsoft and launch a batch file every morning at 3 AM. The batch file runs a Robocopy script that compares files in my data folders with folders on the network drive, then adds or deletes whatever it needs to in order to mirror them, that is, to make them the same. Once a month or so I use Windows Backup to make an image backup to an external USB hard drive, for disaster recovery use.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Carol Mangis
Double-A’s are the most widely sold battery type and usually in high demand during the holiday season to power up the many toys sold. Consumer Reports recently put several brands to the test and Web Editor Carol Mangis tells us which batteries last the longest.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Dave recommends: OfficeSuite Pro, $14.99
“This app lets you create, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments and view PDF files on your Android phone with a single complete feature-rich mobile office solution. It’s now also on Android Honeycomb. The software uses the most commonly used desktop document formats and also includes a File Browser and integration with Google Docs. I managed to snag it for FREE the other day from the Amazon App Store as their free app of the day. It’s usually 15 bucks, but worth it!” — Dave
• Mark recommends: PowerAMP, $4.99
“This week I’ve been enjoying the new 2.0 update to PowerAMP, my favorite music player for the Android smartphones and tablets. I reviewed PowerAMP once before, long ago, but the 2.0 version is dramatically improved. It feels like a different program. The biggest change is the UI. Now you can swipe to change tracks, albums, or artists (depending on the direction you swipe). There are additional controls, like a fast-forward and rewind function (not track skip, but old school FF and REW). Just as before, the music sounds crisp and notably better than I’ve experienced with other music players. The EQ presets let you adjust for precisely the sound you enjoy. When you lock your screen, there are special lock screen controls that let you control the program without having to unlock the phone. PowerAMP makes me have ZERO iPod envy, because my Android smartphone is a better iPod than the iPod, with PowerAMP. There is a 15 day free trial version, and the full version is $4.99. Highly recommended.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: Camera+, on sale for $0.99
“An app pretty much every Instagramer uses before posting pictures online. It has great editing options and filters. You can also add borders and funky effects to pictures. You can take pictures within the app or edit photos already in your camera roll on your iDevice.”
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Neil Wu Becker, Senior Manager for Global Research and Communications – Cisco
What do you think would matter most for recent graduates looking for a job? The size of their future paychecks maybe? Results from a recent survey might surprise you.
Paul somewhere on Earth listens online and asked: “Wants to know if the PEN takes underwater pics?!”
They are not waterproof. Olympus has underwater housings/cases for their “E-PL1” and “E-PL2” PEN Cameras. We’re giving away the E-PM1, which doesn’t have any compatible housings – at least not at the moment.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Marissa in State College, Pennsylvania listening on 103.1 WRSC asked: “I’d like to know how efficient an iPhone 4 is.”
Efficient how? The iPhone 4 has a good processor that can handle its apps. It has a pretty ok battery life for a smartphone, but what kind of efficiency are you wondering about?
If you’re worried about the battery, it’s a smartphone and that alone tells you it won’t be great. But, when compared to the newer Android devices, it’s pretty decent and you won’t have too much trouble getting through the day. There are some tips we’ve shared on our website that help you get the most out of the iPhone battery.
If you’re worried about how it performs, you will for the most part find it to be snappy to respond, it rarely lags and it’s single core processor seems to do a good job most of the time.
Both the iPhone 4 and 4S are the best versions of the iPhone yet. While the iPhone 4 didn’t have a dual-core processor, it works great and is now more affordable than when it was first released. If you’re asking about efficiency because you’re thinking about getting it, we recommend it.
Now, it’s hard to tell you exactly how efficient it is without knowing what kind of you have in mind, so … why don’t you call us back and we’ll try to answer whatever specific doubts you have. Our iDork would be happy to help you!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Boingo: Two months of FREE Boingo WiFi Service available at hundreds of thousands of hotspots worldwide
G-Technology: Several G-Drive Slim 1/2 a Terabyte (500GB) Silver Hard Drives
Philips: Fidelio Docking Speaker for Android with Bluetooth Streaming
Solar Components: Several JOOS Orange Portable Solar Chargers – Designed to charge all personal electronic devices (cell phones, smart phones, MP3 players, GPS devices, portable game devices and more)