Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Tech News & Commentary
Mick in Decatur, Illinois listening on WZUS 100.9 FM asked: “I bought an android tablet recently and am now having Flash issues.Did they just get rid of Flash all together and if so, what’s up with that?”
Yes, but not Android, Adobe got rid of Flash for mobile.
Flash was useful to deliver content easily, but it was also a processor hog, which is less troublesome where computer are involved, but when it comes to devices that are meant to be run on battery, not plugged in, processor intensive work is problematic.
The high processor usage also meant that it didn’t run as well on mobile devices as it did on computers, if a page had a little Flash it was usually ok, but if it was very Flash intensive it tended to be slow.
Flash was never good on mobile devices and even Adobe recognizes that, so for now all we can do is sit around and watch the number of HTML5 sites grow… that or sideload Flash.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Brian David Johnson, Futurist, Intel and author of Vintage Tomorrows
“Into
Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Les in Idaho Falls, Idaho listening on 1260 AM KBLI asked: “I’ve got a lot of iTunes gift cards and I’d like to exchange them for something useful like Amazon or something like that. Is there an online exchange I can do that with?”
There are a few sites you can use to exchange your gift card, you will always get a less valuable gift card (or cash) in the exchange, but it may be more useful to you.
PlasticJungle.com will both buy and sell giftcards, and they will accept gift cards with at least $25 on them and they will pay UP TO 92% of the card’s value. Different cards have different values based on how popular they are, so a $25 Starbucks gift card won’t necessarily get you the same amount of real dollars a $25 gym membership gift card will get you.
Cardpool.com works he same way, as does GiftCardRescue.com, which accepts gift cards between $20 and $5000.
All websites will make you an offer for your card before you have to commit to anything, so you can check them all and see who’s offering you more.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Jen in James Creek, Pennsylvania listening on 103.1 WRSC – Happy Valley’s Place to Talk asked: “I have an iPod touch for my 3 year old. the home button stopped working. Is there a way around using the home button or is my iPod unfixable. My little girl loves using her iPod.”
Depending on what version of iPod you have, there may be a way around it.
Newer version come with better accessibility features, they’re meant to help with disabilities, but they also help when you lose your home button.
To see if yours has it, go to settings, then general and under accessibility you should be able to find “AssisitiveTouch,” if that option is there, when you turn it on you’ll have access to a software, on screen home button.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Chris in Columbia, Missouri listening and calling in via the iPhone App asked: “I have a question for a soon to be graduate. She is wanting some sort of a tablet for graduation that is writable and I was wondering what your recommendation would be for someone entering medical school.”
The list of writable tablets is really pretty short, it seems like your best bet might be the $500 Galaxy Note 10.1, since it features a pen that is more than just a stylus. It interacts with your screen the same way your finger would. The Galaxy Note 10.1’s S Pen actually lets you write and draw in a size that is closer to a real pen, as opposed to say, a crayon.
Lenovo makes convertible laptops that also come with styluses, you could look at one of those, it will be a little bigger than a standalone tablet and it will be more expensive, but it will also be more powerful thanks to it’s laptop half. For $650 they also offer the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet, which comes with a pen and Windows 8, but not the laptop part.
Convertible laptop/tablets are designed to give you the portability of a tablet and the power of a laptop and they probably don’t quite deliver as good of an experience as a dedicated tablet or dedicated laptop, but they may work for her.
You should also take a very close look at the new Surface Pro. This is a very well built tablet that is a full Windows computer, running the full Windows 8 OS, including any apps that run on the desktop PCs. Microsoft has an excellent stylus designed to work with it (it even clips magnetically into the power socket on the tablet when not in use) and apps like OneNote, which is part of Office 2013, are outstanding for note taking.
The Surface Pro will be priced between $800 and $1000 depending on configuration, but it is not like the Surface RT. It is a Windows computer in a convenient tablet form, maybe the best such slate we’ve seen yet.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
Transmitting pictures is a very old dream of engineers. Already in 1883, Paul Nipkow, a German engineer, developed the basic idea of a disc with tiny holes which could break a picture into several pieces. The Nipkow disc, patented in 1884, became the basis of all future television technologies. In 1897 the German engineer Ferdinand Braun invented the cathode ray tube. He had no idea that he had created the basis of a future mass medium. Hundreds of millions of these tubes, CRT in short, became the core display of television sets for about a hundred years and was the star of IFA for decades.
Carola in Westmoreland, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 says: “I want to get a new cell phone. I have two daughters. One has an iPhone and the other has a Droid. I don’t know anything about any of them. I just have a regular old cell phone. I’ve heard a lot about the Galaxy 3. I’m really confused. I’m not that much into music. I like the computer part, the access to that. The web. I like games but other than that, some photos. I’m not sure which one would be the best for me.”
You are touching upon one of the most heated and divisive technological debates there has ever been in human history: Droid or iPhone? None of us here are going to be able to make this decision for you unfortunately, this is something you are simply going to have to determine yourself because people for the most part are split right down the middle about this.
Some people enjoy the sleek aesthetics of the iPhone operating system platform and various digital features, some people enjoy the seemingly broader capacity and user-friendly design of the Android. You might find the single master button at the bottom of the iPhone more convenient, or it could drive you absolutely CRAZY and you would instead prefer the wider command ability of multiple buttons at the bottom of the Droid. It really just comes down to your own personal taste.
What we would suggest you do is to go by your local carrier store or Best Buy and play around with the display models of both of them until you find the one that is most compatible with your personal needs and preferences.
One approach you might want to take is, which daughter is more likely to serve as your tech support with this new smartphone? Since iPhone users seem to turn their noses up at Droids, and vice-versa, you’ll want to be using the brand of phone where you’ll have the most support from your in-house technician (that is, your daughter).
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Angela in Jefferson City, Missouri listening on NewsTalk 1240 KLIK says: “I’m looking for a good video editing software, I’d like to do some online training videos but I need to edit them down, and I’m looking for good software for that.”
For our own video production needs we use Adobe Premiere, it’s professional grade, very powerful, but it comes with a price tag to match that and it may be overkill if you want to do something basic.
Depending on how involved the video you’re making is, you might be able to get away with using something as simple as Pinnacle’s $60 Pinnacle Studio or even Windows Movie Maker.
Those programs likely won’t give you a professional looking finished product, but one is free and the other costs 10% of the cost of a professional program, so they may be worth checking out, if you want to save some money.
You didn’t share what sort of computer you have, but if you have a Mac you should really just use iMovie, which comes with Mac OS X. It’s quite easy to use and produces excellent results. Final Cut Pro, of course, is Apple’s professional level program, yet it only costs $99. That’s really a stunning value if you’re looking for a top quality video editing tool. Both of these options, however, do require you to be using a Mac and OS X.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Audiofly: AF33 in-ear headphones
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.
Touchfire: iPad Keyboards – The world’s thinnest, lightest iPad keyboard.