HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
David in Indianapolis, Indiana asked: “I’m interested in upgrading a computer to Windows 7. I have a RAID in place with about 1.2 TB of storage. I’m trying to buy a RAID controller that will be less than $100, still be scalable in the future, and still a maximum of 4 or 5 drives and will be fast with Windows 7. Can you do that?”
A four or five channel RAID adapter that has Windows 7 support, is fast, and costs under $100? That’s going to be quite a find. Our first question, though, is does your motherboard have an integrated RAID controller? Because that is going to be your most inexpensive route to go. Most motherboard RAID controllers use either the Intel or NVIDIA NForce chips, and Windows 7 will usually support either of those.
If you don’t have a RAID controller in your motherboard, then you’re going to have to install a card. You can get four port RAID adapters for around $100. Most of them require an available PCI Express “X4” slot (the X rating refers to performance, typically, you’ll see X4, X8, and X16). But depending on the age of your motherboard, we’re just cautioning you to make sure it has PCI-e slots with at least that rating.
Also, know that for $100 and under, you’re not likely to find RAID controllers that operate at the hardware level, meaning that the actual work is done by the RAID driver software, and the card is just a host adapter for talking to the drives. You’ll need to spend a bit more than $100 to find a controller with 4 ports and hardware RAID. Generally, hardware RAID is considered to be faster because it’s not worried about how much other stuff Windows is doing, and whether it’s bogged down writing to the paging file, and so forth.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Norman sent us the following email and asked: “I would like to find a program that will email or text me at certain time, like to change Sirius stations to head “Into Tomorrow” on Saturday night, or to call my doctor on Wednesday at 3pm. I am actually looking for a secretary to text me so I don’t forget to do things. My alarm on my phone only has room for 5 alarms. Any ideas?”
We found a website called “LetterMeLater.com” that will let you sign up for free and set up both email and text alerts to be sent to you (or anyone else) at a given date and time.
Another service called “EmailFuture.com” is also free and even easier. You don’t even have to sign up. You just go to their website and the form for the email is right in front of you.
Depending on what email program you use, you can have other options as well, for example, on the popular Outlook, you can write an email as you normally would, but when you’re done, instead of clicking send, you can go to View/Options and schedule a date and time for delivery by ticking “Do Not Deliver Before…”
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
James in Cosby, Tennessee listening on XM Ch.139 asked: “Question about Satellite Internet service for my little town that doesn’t believe in high speed Internet access. Are they good and which one should I use?”
When it comes to satellite Internet, the two best choices are either Wild Blue or HughesNet. But, satellite Internet is, generally, only good for general web surfing; forget trying to upload pictures or videos because it will simply take too long, and if you’re a gamer, not a chance.
Satellite Internet is a great alternative when compared to dial up, but be careful before you sign anything. Both Wild Blue and HughesNet require two-year contracts and come with hefty start up costs. Also depending on what plan you select with them, they can even limit the amount of data you can view in one day.
James also had a follow-up: “You talk about all these new OS’ like Windows 7, but what about Linux? Is Linux a good thing “coming into the future” and is it pretty easy to work with?”
Linux is a great system and is most commonly used as an embedded system within super computers, or as a part of servers. As far as an operating system, the Mac OS or some form of Windows are still the most common operating systems. Linux currently occupies somewhere between 1-2% of the desktop market and doesn’t seem to be focused on that area of development. Although, there has been a recent surge in the use of the Linux Operating System, as Net-books and E-books popularity has grown, and many of these utilize Linux.
Guest in this hour:
Mark Wilder, Director of Marketing – Samson Technologies
Samson provides professional audio solutions from wireless microphones to loudspeakers to mixers and microphones.
IFA2010 Update
Learn about the rich history behind one of the largest consumer electronics trade shows we report from each year in Berlin, Germany.
Norman in Chattanooga, Tennessee listening on XM Ch.139 asked: “I need a mobile antenna that will go through the wind and be safe whenever we’re traveling down the highway at 60 or 70 miles an hour and that will pick up a good area.”
It’s important to note that DTV signals and an element of Digital Television, HDTV, received through an antenna provide a higher quality picture than cable or satellite with no compression. HDTV antenna broadcasts also offer room filling, ultra realistic 5.1 channel digital surround sound, and over-the-air TV is free. And, there are a bunch of good antennas available on the market these days.
Now, as for picking up in a good area, remember that if you are outside a major city, in a fringe area, getting DTV reception could be a problem, even with the most expensive antenna.
You can get something like the MicroVision Flat Panel car TV antenna that lies flat on your roof, and you run the cable into the TV or tuner. That sells for around $20, or an amplified version for $40.
Click here for more info about car antennas
Click here for more info about HDTV antennas.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Terry in Ardmore, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM sent us the following email and asked: “I am totally blind, and use a screen reader and run a program called Goldwave (goldwave.com), that is accessible with the screen reader. I want to buy a new desktop with 2007. I have always used AMD processor and had real good luck with it, I never had one to crash, and I am wondering about the new Intel chip that is coming out. My question is I need a processor that will speed up processing the music as I clean it up. Which processor and what type do you recommend and would it help to speed up with the cleaning of old LP albums.
I have thought about a Mac. A lot of the blind community is switching over to Mac. Goldwave is not compatible for the Mac, and Rob may know if Mac is accesible with any programs that runs with their screen reader.
Thank you for any help you can give me.”
If you choose a Mac, there is an option called “Voiceover”. It’s a full featured access technology that makes it possible for those who are blind, or have low-vision, to control their computer. Voiceover is built-in to the operating system, and is a lot more than just a simple text-to-speech tool. It uses speech to describe what is happening on your computer without seeing the screen.
Voiceover not only includes new ways to browse the web, but it can read a page as soon it is loaded. Open one or more pages and use the new “Read All” command to begin reading the page from the top or from the Voiceover cursor position.
When you visit a new page that you are not familiar with, Voiceover can provides an overview of its contents automatically. For example, Voiceover can read: “Page has 12 headers, 92 links, 2 tables, 11 auto web spots, 4 visited links”. You can also tailor the summary, so you hear only the statistic you’re most interested in.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Robert in Fairbanks, Alaska listening on KFBX 970 AM asked: “We bought a Samsung Plasma TV and have DirecTV satellite service. They show a movie in HD on one channel, and regular on another. We switch back and forth, and can’t notice a difference. What’s going on?”
If you are able to tune to the HD channels, then we’re assuming that you do, in fact, have an HD tuner from DirecTV. If that’s the case and you’re not seeing a difference in the picture quality, then you may want to look at your cables and connections. Make sure you are using one of the high definition connections to ge the signal to your TV.
Every tuner, even the High Def tuners, will have a set of standard definition connections. The ones you’ll want to use to ensure you get a high definition picture is the component (that’s the cable with the red, green and blue connectors), DVI (which is less common), or HDMI, which will not only give you the best quality, but will transmit both the High Def picture and audio over a single cable. In fact, if you have a full HD, or 1080p set, and want to take advantage of that highest resolution, HDMI is really the only way to go.
If you’re using an old-style coax cable, S-video, or a composite cable (that’s the yellow one), then you’re only getting a standard definition signal to your TV.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Honestech: Fotobox – Easy to use photo slideshow software
OrigAudio: “Rock-It” Portable Vibration Speakers
RadioShack: Weather Clock Radios – with SkyWarn
SmartSwipe: Secure personal credit card readers for shopping online
YoGen: The Universal mobile-device charger