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Tech News & Commentary
Marly mentioned bracelets made out of old SLR lenses, you can see all the pictures and prices here.
Alonzo from Margate, Florida listening via the App asked: “I want to buy a Tablet; I’m leaning towards the surface tablet. I wanted to know of you recommend this purchase or recommend another tablet? Let me know, thanks”
Now is a great time to give the Surface RT a try. Microsoft just announced they are dropping the price from $500 to $350, in hopes to get it in the hands of more users. It comes pre installed with Microsoft Home and Student 2013 RT , which will satisfy those on the go who insist on using the Microsoft suite of business software.
Yet, while it’s lovely that the Surface RT comes with a special “RT” version of Office, you have to keep in mind that the Surface RT runs a mobile version of Windows. Windows RT can only run applications created specifically for it. Regular Windows applications won’t work.
So if you need Office only, the Surface RT could be a real bargain right now. But if you want to run Windows 8 apps on a tablet, that kicks you up to the more expensive Surface Pro. At that point, there is some competition to look at, such as the Samsung ATIV SmartPC Pro.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Comments from our COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway!!!
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He subscribes to our Tech Newsletter and has our app. When asked how we can improve the show, he said: I will get back to you. Reason for wanting to travel: I am a good choice to win.
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Doug from Carthage, Texas listening via 710AM KEEL asked: “I just got a hopper; it says in order for me to watch tv on my iPad and iPhone that I need a slingbox. Now I have my slingbox, but my router is in my house and 20 feet away in my office is where my slingbox is. I don’t have any probelms with the router with my iphone, ipad , and printer, but the hopper doesn’t seem to want to accept the connection. Can you help me out?”
This is a tough one, Hoppers had a known issue with WiFi adapters where some just couldn’t seem to connect to some networks that were easily accessible by other devices, there was a software update to address that, so if you haven’t updated yours, you might want to see if you can, since you may be having that problem.
If that doesn’t take care of the problem, if possible, you could run an ethernet cable to the hopper from the router and plug it in and that should take care of the problem for good.
If that’s not doable and you need to use WiFi, it may be a good idea to call tech support, older Hoppers didn’t come with WiFi built in, they used a USB adapter, for all we know that adapter may just be faulty, in which case replacing it with a new one would be an instant fix.
Unfortunately, since that software update was released a while back, we haven’t heard complaints about the Hopper’s connectivity, so we can’t really say if anything else is likely to be wrong, but the update might do the trick for you if you’re running an older version.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Casey from Upstate New York listening via Stitch Radio asked: “I absolutely love gadgets of all shapes and sizes. recently I’ve invested in a pebble watch and its in the mail as we speak. you may have already covered this topic but I’d like to know what you and your team think about this new movement. personally I like the simplicity of using a smart watch just for a communication and notification filter while I’m always busy being “hands on” at work.”
With the recent breakthrough in flexible e-ink screen technology we’re waiting to see what they come up with. We like the fact that you can see your caller ID, emails, and such on your watch, but a lot of people just not sold on the design of the Pebble. Some say that if the price dips below $100 before the new designs are released they may reconsider.
Also, considering that the big companies all seem to be working on some version it may be a good idea to wait and see what they have in mind.
An Apple watch with Facetime, for example, would be far more interesting than a Pebble watch, the same goes for Samsung, they’re coming out with a watch too, you can expect that to be very, very well integrated with their phones. It’s probably not the worst of ideas to wait and see what’s about to come into the market very soon.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Iska Hain, Global Communications and Public Affairs Senior Associate – Google
Joshua from Sparta, Tennessee listening via Supertalk 99.7 WTN asked: “I have a smartphone and tablet. A lot of websites are still using adobe flash. However, adobe has stopped making a version for smartphones and tablets. I want to know if there is some way you can go back and get it fixed, so that you can use the older versions of adobe flash to look at the content of some of these adobe flash websites. I’m really interested to see what you guys can do for me to figure that out.”
Depending on what phone and tablet you have, you may be able to, but the fix probably won’t last forever.Adobe is just not making it anymore, so you won’t find officially updated versions, but you may find an old version somewhere in the dark corners of the internet and, if Android is your OS, you may be able to sideload it.
The problem is that Adobe hasn’t been making Flash player for mobile for a while now, and as new devices and new versions of the OS come out compatibility becomes more and more of an issue, so even if you can find a version to sideload, it may not work super well with your device and it will never get patched.
Here’s the problem, other than doing that, your only option is to sit tight and wait for the internet to make the switch to HTML5… you don’t really have another way to play that content you want to play… so, if you’re running Android and that content is important to you now, you might as well search for an old version of Flash for Android, copy the APK to your phone and install it that way, if it works for you great, and if it doesn’t you’re not really worse off.
Adobe will tell you, however, that Flash was never designed to run on versions of Android after 4.0, so if you’re running 4.1 or 4.2 on your device, you’re really out there on your own. And Adobe’s decision to “unpublish” Flash from the Google Play store means that you’ll have to find someone else who has the APK file to copy it from.
In a massive burst of irony, you can still use Flash sites on an iPhone or iPad using a workaround app and service combination like Photon. It’s a native browser until you need Flash, then it establishes a streaming connection to a remote Flash-supporting browser session and just relays that to your mobile device.
Flash on iPad…but not Android? That’s irony to the ultimate degree.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Jim in Dickson, Tennessee listening via Supertalk 99.7FM WTN asked: “I am a retired mobile DJ. Looks like I’m going back to work but very part time. The laptop I used was a Toshiba Satellite but it’s about 7 years old so I don’t trust it. What make and model computer would you recommend that’s fairly inexpensive but capable of running a couple music programs including music videos. I don’t need or even want other programs on the computer since all I would use it for is work. Thank you, Jim”
Just about any computer you buy should be able to play music and video, so the real problem becomes, are your live DJing programs that much more processor intensive?
The ones we found online for live music don’t have crazy requirements, but they all seem to be little more than a music player that fades into the next song, if you know of any others that need a more powerful computer, by all means, go for something more powerful and more expensive, but for the ones we’ve seen listed online pretty much any computer will do the trick.
If you’re only going to be DJing “very part time” and you’re not planning to use the computer for anything else, then you probably don’t need to spend a lot of money. A Dell Inspriton I-13-Z series laptop has a Core i3 processor that can certainly handle a music player, especially if you clean it out of everything else, and it will only cost you $399. A $600 Acer Aspire V5 will even put a Core i5 processor in your hands if you want more power, but again, you’re barely even multitasking.
If this is not going to be a decent source of income for you, and if you don’t intend to do it for long, you can really get away with using a cheap machine for this.
You might even consider using an inexpensive Android tablet. There are two well-reviewed Live DJ apps for that platform. DJ Studio and edjing (e-DJ-ing, get it?). There’s also DJ PRO and ADJ Pro. Lots of choices, in fact. A tablet will be lighter, easier to carry, run for a long while on battery, and can be very cost efficient.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Tom in Dover, Delaware listening on News-Talk WXDE 105.9 FM and asked: “I have a small fleet of cars in my business and I was looking for a really inexpensive way to track my cars on the Internet. I know there’s a bunch of services out there that cost $100 a month or more but what device or service could I use that’s really inexpensive?”
A few months agowe reviewed a device called the Live Trac EZ, it may be a good option for you, it costs around $160 to buy, but your monthly fees are 30 or $40 depending on whether you want 10 second updates or 5 second updates, and the installation literally consists of plugging it into your car’s OBD port.
The most obvious downside of going with this system is that it can very easily “become disconnected” when, say, your driver hits a bump or decides to take a half an hour nap under a nice shady tree…
You can also look into a GPS tracking USB device, it will not track your cars in real time, so if you want to know where your drivers are right now, this is not for you. However, if you want to know where they’ve been, how long they were there for, and you are ok with retrieving that information manually later, for a few hundred dollars and no monthly fee, these kind of unit might be for you.
Depending on how small your small fleet is, this type of tracker may be a huge hassle for you, since you do have to manually plug each tracker into your computer to see their stored information, but since there’s no data plan to cover, they will be far cheaper in the long run.
For something in between, you can look at the SmartTracker, it will locate your vehicle in real time, but you will be prepaying for a set number for “locates” so, for example, you can have 15 locate request to run anytime during an one year period for $30. If you only plan to look for your cars in case of emergency, this might be the option for you, but if you want to keep an eye on your drivers this will end up being very costly.
If it should happen that you and your drivers all use iPhones, you could use Apple’s free “Find Friends” apps to track where the phones go. That doesn’t tell you where the car is, but you can assume that it’s probably with the driver. And it is entirely free.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — Now with Dave’s face on them! — A clever solution to tangled earbuds.
SoundMatters: foxl – Pocket Sized portable Bluetooth Loudspeaker.
V Moda Headphones: a variety of styles of the DJ Inspired, Hollywood Designed Headphones
Ventev: An assortment of tangle-free USB cables and battery cases for iPhones