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Tech News & Commentary
Robert in Shreveport, Louisiana listening on 710 KEEL asked: “Interested in getting a new laptop or tablet. Not sure if I can find a tablet that would do what I need done like a laptop would. Basically I need to create documents on and print from. Do they make a tablet you can do that with?”
You can create document and print from tablets, but you can’t do it nearly as well or as easily as you could using a laptop.
You will generally have fewer options than you do with laptops, and even when you don’t (pretty much only in the case of using a Windows 8 tablet), the user interface won’t be very well adjusted to your hands, you will still be more comfortable using a mouse and keyboard.
You can use an iPad or an Android tablet and type up documents and spreadsheets using just the screen, you can connect them to printers too, but everything will be a little harder and a little more incomplete than if you had used a laptop to begin with.Even with all the advancements they’re experiencing, for now, tablets are still better suited to be content consumption devices than content production devices.
That being said, an awful lot depends on the type of documents being created. How complex is the layout? Will you be needing to include any graphics, or perform any other advanced formatting functions on the document? If all we’re talking about here is text on paper, changing only very basic things like typeface, or boldface and italic formatting, then a tablet can be a perfectly viable solution.
A quality keyboard is a must in such cases. One excellent choice for the iPad is the Logitech Ultrathin keyboard cover. This is a bluetooth keyboard that works as a smart cover for the iPad. It’s a superior quality keyboard and makes typing documents on the iPad as easy as any notebook computer.
Another good choice is the ZAGGkeys FLEX, a bluetooth keyboard with a sleeve that converts into a stand for your iPad. You would probably still want a smart cover for it to protect the glass, so that makes the price about the same between the two. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover sells for $99 and the ZAGGkeys FLEX sells for $79.
You’ll have excellent choices for Android tablets as well, so shop around. As for printing, if you go iPad, then it’s as easy as choosing a printer that supports Apple’s AirPrint standard. You can print anything you want from your iPad then. Printers from manufacturers such as Canon and HP will offer this.
On an Android tablet, you will either need to buy a printing app or use Google’s Cloud Print feature to send your printouts through your Google account. Cloud Print only support about 50 printer models, as opposed to the 450 that support AirPrint, so keep that in mind when you’re making your selection.
Good luck! Tell us what you end up doing.
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!!!
Laurie in Belleville, Michigan Listens: on WJR Heard about the giveaway: On the radio. Doesn’t watch our ITTV reports, doesn’t subscribe to our TechNewsLetter and she doesn’t have our free App. But … that’s OK, you can still enter, but we hope you also take advantage of some of the many things we offer — and all ofr FREE! Anyway … Reason for wanting to travel: My husband loves tech, would like to surprise him by taking him to IFA Berlin!
Shawn Lincoln, NE Listens: online via the Into Tomorrow website.
Heard about the giveaway: “On a Facebook post from Dave himself!”
Comments about the show: He said: “I love the show! Keep up the fantabulous (new word?) work, and thanks for sharing the best news on all gadgetry and products related to Tech.”
Reason for wanting to travel: “I would love to be involved in the rich tech history in the making! 10 years of your broadcasts from IFA and many more to come, but any chance to hang with Dave and the whole team would be simply amazing!
Nicole in Naples, Fl Listens: via our Itunes Podcasts. Heard about the giveaway: on our Post on Facebook. She Watches ITTV: on youtube
She says: “I really like the show, great resource for technology news!”
Reason for wanting to travel: It would be a trip of a lifetime, I love travel and adventure and I really love technology and Into Tomorrow!!
Lloyd from Durham, North Carolina Listens: on WPTF 680 AM
Heard about the giveaway: from the FREE Into Tomorrow Newsletter
Reason for wanting to travel: he says: “I have heard your reports from IFA over the years and I think it would be cool to see the new products there myself”.
You may enter ONCE a week … AND … when you call-in, using our FREE APP or 1-800-899-INTO (4696) and we can HEAR you … we will BONUS you with yet another entry!!! Good luck!!!
Thomas from Keithville, Louisiana listens to KEEL 710AM asked: “I have a comment on the motorcycle helmet. I have a garmin gps on my bike. I also have helmet speakers so I can hear what the little lady is saying on the GPS, so $2000 may not be a far cry for something like these.”
Even having all of those devices, you must still be very far away from the $2000 mark though… That’s a lot of money to put on a motorcycle — or even in a car!
Let’s say you have a good helmet and not a $50 thin layer of chinese plastic that won’t do anything to protect your head. You might have spent what? a couple of hundred on it? We found helmet speakers online for another $20, and the GPS itself probably won’t even cost you $100.
Granted there’s no cool augmented reality angle, but you can probably have a very functional setup for the low hundreds, but even if we’re wrong and you went for a top of the line $900 helmet (and we’re just going by helmetcity.com, that’s as high as they go), you could still have a nice functional setup with a great helmet for half the price.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Tom from Albuquerque, New Mexico asked: “I have a comment on the motorcycle helmet. I have a garmin gps on my bike. I also have helmet speakers so I can hear what the little lady is saying on the GPS, so $2000 may not be a far cry for something like these.”
Even having all of those devices, you must still be very far away from the $2000 mark though… That’s a lot of money to put on a motorcycle — or even in a car!
Let’s say you have a good helmet and not a $50 thin layer of chinese plastic that won’t do anything to protect your head. You might have spent what? a couple of hundred on it? We found helmet speakers online for another $20, and the GPS itself probably won’t even cost you $100.
Granted there’s no cool augmented reality angle, but you can probably have a very functional setup for the low hundreds, but even if we’re wrong and you went for a top of the line $900 helmet (and we’re just going by helmetcity.com, that’s as high as they go), you could still have a nice functional setup with a great helmet for half the price.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Ray in Bentonville, Arkansas listening to the Podcasts asked: “I’m tired of spending hours updating GPS like Garmin and Tom Tom. Can I just buy a CD-ROM from the company and update my GPS? If there’s no company out there that does that, I’m just gonna sell them all and use my cell phone.”
You can, it’s usually not a CD-ROM but an SD card, but it’s possible.
The problem is that you’d be paying for new maps, the same as if you had an Italian GPS and wanted to purchase maps of the US for an upcoming trip here. Why are updates taking you hours? if it’s a broadband issue, you might be better served asking a friend to download them for you and THEN put them on CD-ROM or a flash drive and install them from there.
As for using your phone, it may be a decent solution, you can even buy GPS software for your phone from those same companies, so you’d have access to their same maps.
Having said that, if you already have standalone GPS units, try downloading the maps from a place with faster broadband and see if that helps, it may be the easiest solution for you.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Nick Huzar, Founder and CEO – OfferUp
Alan from Limerick, Ireland sent us the following comment: “l love your show and find it most interesting ! Keep up the good work!”
Thank you, Alan.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Chuck from Baton Rouge, Louisiana listening via the iPhone App asked: “My iPhone 5 OS 6.1 speaker stopped working. Headlines still work, tried reset reboot etc, no good Phone dial sound is ok, any ideas?”
There’s not much more for you to try in terms of software fixes, so at this point your best bet is to stop by an Apple Store and see what they say.
The speaker is a replaceable part, so if it does need replacing, you may be able to get another one put in very quickly (think 20 minutes or so), and if your phone is under warranty it would be free as well.
At this point, since you’ve tried the software solutions, our best guess is that it’s a hardware issue, and with any luck you’ll be able to have it fixed quickly and painlessly.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Scott in Phoenix, Arizona listens Online sent us the following comment: “I heard a recent talk that you gave on the show about iOS 6 and Siri. One of the things I really like about Siri is that you can use it to open Apps.”
Well, in spite of my words to the contrary, there are a lot of things to like about Siri. It can open apps, yes, but it can also step you through many common tasks like setting reminders, making appointments, or sending text messages, using a conversational approach that doesn’t require you to work up the entire stream of command+message in a single burst, as you often have to do with Android.
However, Google’s Voice Assistant in Android 4.1 and later has proven, time and again, that it can do almost all of what Siri does — and a bit faster to boot. Google’s Search app, even on iOS, often does a better job conducting voice searches than Siri.
Siri isn’t bad. In fact, she’s wonderful. She makes the phone feel friendly, personal, and easy. But she does have the occasional frustrating brain lock when she just can’t seem to find things or figure out what you want.
There is still a lot of room for improvement…Into Tomorrow!
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
eton: FRX3 – Hand Turbine AM/FM/Weather Alert Radio
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — Now with Dave’s face on them! — A clever solution to tangled earbuds.
iolo: Copies of: Drive Scrubber – Erase data so it can NEVER be recovered.
SoundMatters: foxl – Pocket Sized portable Bluetooth Loudspeaker.
V Moda Headphones: a variety of styles of the DJ Inspired, Hollywood Designed Headphones