HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Holly in Illinois listens to the Podcast asked: “Trying to find something interesting to get my husband for Father’s Day. I heard Rob talking about the iRadar. Does it work well with an iPod Touch? We don’t have an iPhone, but have an iPod Touch.”
Yes, and no. Some features will work, like the radar detection – assuming your iPod touch isn’t one of the first generation without Bluetooth. It uses the bluetooth to connect the app to the actual radar detector.
Some features that you won’t get are the red light detection, speed trap notification, speed warnings and a few others. There are several features that use the GPS in the iPhone. Since the iPod Touch doesn’t have GPS capability built into it, those features simply won’t work. You basically will only have a radar detector without the bells and whistles.
Now, the good news… You did say that you and your husband are Android users. They also have an Android app that will let you use this with those phones, as well. It’s not strictly an iOS device. So, you’re in luck.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports with Carol Mangis
Retailers tout electronic buyback programs as a means to help consumers keep their technology up-to-date. For some, these enrolling in these programs may make sense, but for most consumers, they tend to be bad deals. Carol Mangis, Web Associate Editor for Consumer Reports explains why.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: WW Scancalc, FREE
“Weight Watchers has a great system for losing pounds. You keep track of something they call Points Plus as you eat food and when you hit your limit for the day, you stop eating. Looking up the Points Plus value for each food and keeping track of what you eat is something your Android smartphone can help you with. Weight Watchers has their own mobile web site for keeping track of your points and they have a Points Plus calculator app for entering food details and getting the points value, but another free app from Vonhelmut Software called WW Scancalc makes shopping a breeze. Just pull up this app, point it at the barcode on your food’s packaging, and WW Scancalc will look up the Points Plus value per serving and display it on your screen. You instantly know whether this is a food product you want to buy or not. Weight Watcher’s own apps are free and so is WW Scancalc (it displays on screen ads). There are other apps that are not free which combine the database, diary, and barcode scanning functions into one app, but I’m a big fan of doing it for free when I can. WW Scancalc is available now in the Android Market.” – Mark
For iOS:
• Chris recommends: Waxing Lite, FREE
“Love to see silky smooth skin? Then wax away that hair in CRAZY WAXING! Crazy Waxing is a quirky puzzle game for casual gamers and devoted puzzle-lovers alike. You play as a waxing salon owner filled to the brim with customers who want a beautiful tan line.
Wax away to see what’s under that unsightly patch of hair.”Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
Joshua in Nashville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: “I’m an older gentleman on a limited budget. My grandson wants an iPod touch or something to get apps on. Just wanted to know the best kind and maybe the cheapest. He’s 10 years old.”
Unfortunately you won’t find a lot of alternatives to the iPod Touch if what he’s interested in is apps.
There are plenty of devices that run third party apps from online stores, but almost all of them are phones, there have been attempts at Android based MP3 players to rival the iPod Touch, but so far not much is available.
The Archos 32 at $140 is definitely cheaper than the iPod Touch, but the apps you can get on it are limited to an Archos store that doesn’t have the same variety Apple and Android users enjoy.
The problem seems to be that while Apple has moved from “music” players to “multimedia players” to something that is far more about games and applications than any media, while the rest of the manufacturers seem to still be stuck on “multimedia players”, at least for the moment…
The cheapest iPod Touch on the market right now is the 8GB version, it sells for $229 and besides the App Store and the usual music and video features, it comes HD video recording capabilities and a front facing camera for video conferencing, for an extra $70 you can buy a version that looks the same but has four time the storage capacity, for an extra $170 you get the top of the line model with a 64GB capacity, 8 times the storage of the base model.
Since money is a concern we’d say that, if you end up getting an iPod Touch, a ten year old would probably be more than happy using the cheapest, though still not cheap, 8GB version.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
E3 Reports…
| HOUR 1 GUESTS | ||
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| David Young, Assistant Manger of Public Relations – Nintendo of America | Joe Ciano, Product Manager, Graphics Cards & Motherboards – PNY | Stu Grubbs, Resident PC Enthusiast – Asetek |
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| Rob, Dave Young and the Wii U | The Playstation booth | Reporting in style |
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| Wii U Controller | Some of the big name games at E3 | Zelda’s 25 year anniversary |
Ariel in Puerto Rico listening on WOSO 1030 asked: “I would like to know how to get a Blu-ray recorder. Are they available?”
There are some Blu-ray recorders available but they are a little pricey, for example the JVC Blu-Ray Disc Recorder DH1500US with HDMI output costs just under $2,000.
You can copy your unprotected DVDs and Blu-Rays in a simple process with a built-in application function.
USB 2.0 and iLink connectors combined with an SD/SDH memory card slot provide an interface to most SD and HD digital camcorders.
Another one to look at is the Tascam BD R2000, this Blu -Ray recorder can capture high definition video to hard disc, SD card, DVD and Blu Ray with authoring and editing features. The multiformat recorder can store video on the hard drive, perform simple edits before burning to standard DVD-video or Blu -Ray format.
It support video input from USB 2.0 DV/ HDV cameras and S-Video.
The Tascam is available for about $ 2.200.
If you are able and willing to use a computer to burn your Blu-Ray discs, you will find that Blu-Ray burners for a PC only cost around $100. In many cases, this gives you a far more economical solution to recording these high capacity DVD discs.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
iolo: Several copies of System Mechanic, one of the top award-winning PC maintenance software programs… Fix and speed up your PC with more than 51 tools, automatically
iLuv: Several iSP110 Mini Portable Stereo Speakers (in a variety of colors)
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.