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Tech News & Commentary
Amanda in Davie, Florida listens to the podcast asked: “Will we ever have true 4G speeds?”
We technically already do, if you can access them. LTE networks are truly fast, faster than some home broadband even, and likely to get a lot faster than they are now. LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, and that’s the idea behind the standard, right now, the theoretical speeds of LTE are around 100 mbit/s, the real speeds are much lower, but you can get real world speeds of 20 mbits/s.
The standard though, calls for evolutionary changes to the service, upgrading it to 150 mbits/s, then 300 mbits/s and, theoretically, eventually topping out at what’s called LTE Advanced with speeds of 1 gbit/s for stationary users, and up to 100 mbit/s for mobile users. Now, this is way down the line, we don’t even have a full LTE network working yet. Verizon is ahead of the competition right now and still deploying in new markets, and every step of the way will take a long time, but as for you question, yes, we will have true 4G speeds, if you don’t have them around you yet, Verizon and AT&T should get there ahead of everyone else.
Now, if by “true” 4G, you are referring to the ITU-R (International Telecommunications Union-Radio communications sector) standards set in 2008, those require peak transmission speeds of 100 megabits per second for high mobility communications, like those from a moving car or train, and 1 gigabit per second for low mobility communications, like pedestrians or someone seated in a coffee shop.
We’re still a long way from seeing that. It’s a nice standard and it’s one we will probably see met and exceeded in our lifetimes, but the infrastructure on the other side of the 4G connections simply isn’t robust enough to have everyone surfing in the Starbucks using 1 gigabit of bandwidth.
However fast 4G is today, remember that it’s a “last mile” technology. It connects the user to the cloud. How fast data moves within that cloud is also very important, and that needs to be far enough ahead of the last mile technology to be able to handle all the traffic. We older folks can remember when the first high speed Internet connections started becoming available to the general consumer, back in the 1990s, and how network providers like Comcast or AT&T had to scramble to upgrade their central offices.
All that being said, 4G LTE is very, very fast. We love our 4G LTE phones here at the Advanced Media Network. Well, at least Mark and Dave do. Rob and Chris use iPhones, which only have that iPhoney “fake 4G.”
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Tim in Bellville, Michigan listens on the app asked: “I am on Sprint. When will the Samsung Galaxy Note be coming to Sprint? Or WILL it be coming to Sprint? If anyone would know, it would be you, Dave.”
We don’t officially know anything, but rumors are that Sprint will not have the Galaxy Note under that name, but that they will have it and it will be called the Galaxy Journal. Now, that is unconfirmed, and since we don’t officially know it’s happening, we also don’t officially know when, or what guts it’s going to come with, they may roll it out as a 3G phone, a WiMax phone or even an LTE phone, since Sprint wants to transition to LTE.
So, we don’t officially know anything yet, but the rumors we hear indicate that you’ll have a Galaxy Note by the name of Galaxy Journal, available on Sprint in the future. Now, whether you should want to buy a device that is basically an uncomfortably small tablet to use and an uncomfortably big phone to carry… that’s another issue.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Luis in Miami Lakes, Florida listening online asked: “I am a huge fan of music, and over the years I have amassed a huge collection (over 3000 CD’s). My wife and I started the painstaking task of uploading all of our music onto our hard drive, and archiving the collection. Do you know of any hardware/software interface that could help us in speeding this process up with out manually having to archive it ourselves. Not a big iTunes fan either, and was really looking for a way to do the transfer ‘in bulk’, with the ability to arrange it later.”
There are options available to automate the process, but you won’t want to use them. Ripstation, for example has a “cheap” consumer version that will automatically grab your CDs from a pile, put them in the drive, and rip them, but their version of “cheap” is $1400.
The rest of the automated options are about as expensive, and they even go higher than that, they’re clearly meant for professional operations. There are also services that will take your CDs and rip them for you, but the cost of shipping 3000 CDs alone will make that extremely expensive for you, and the services are not cheap either, you’re talking about more than a dollar per CD.
To be honest, your best bet might be either to pay a couple of high school kids to start putting a dent on your collection, or to just do the ones you listen to the most, and the rip the other ones as needed, at least you’ll slowly go through them and it won’t be a horribly repetitive task that will never seem to end.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Kenneth Listening via the Into Tomorrow Android app asked: I have downloaded some free apps on my new Samsung Galaxy S2. Some of them just show up right away in my applications menu, such as the BBC news. But other apps that I have downloaded, like moving wallpapers and a retro clock do not show up anywhere. They are not in my applications menu and although they are LISTED under my settings>applications, I have no option anywhere to start the app running, or add the app to anything on my phone. I have been looking online to no avail and it’s really starting to annoy me!”
Retro Clock Widget is a home screen clock and date widget for Android based on the classic mechanical flipping clock. It functions as shortcuts to Alarm and Calendar. What you need to do is Long press empty space on the home screen. Then Select Widgets, and finally Select Retro Clock or Retro Date.
Remember a widget displays an application’s most important or timely information at a glance, on a user’s Home screen. For future reference, next time when you download the app it should tell you in the description whether what you are downloading is an app or a Widget. that way you can save some time looking around your phone for something you just downloaded.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Nikki, listening on KNRC Denver, Colorado asked: “Hey guys, I’m looking to get a new DSLR camera. I was looking at a Nikon D3100 or Canon Rebel T. I don’t need it for anything professional, I just want it for personal use, something that I can take good quality pictures and some mid level photography. On Amazon the nikon is only $10 more so I want to know which one is more worth buying. A simple user interface would be a bonus.”
Both cameras are great DSLRs. You’re really not gonna find very much difference in the overall quality of the pictures. However, the Nikon D3100 has a few more features such as 2 more AF points, Full HD vs HD video with better options, one stop high ISO limit and a slightly larger LCD screen, and for $10 dollars more that just might be worth it.
It’s a good thing to keep in mind what your comfortable with. We recommend going to your local tech store (like a Best Buy) and ask to see the cameras in person. We find it helpful to try it out and take a few pictures in the store see what feels better for you. Everyone has there own personal preference and you might be well served by giving both cameras a try.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
Magnetic recording has a long history. It began early in 1925 with the invention of the electro-acoustic recording method. In 1926 the Austrian engineer Fritz Fleumer who was working in Dresden, Germany received a patent for a steel powdered paper tape, the grandfather of all tapes. As this technology wasn’t market ready, in 1929, Dr. Curt Stille built a machine with a steel tape. It was used by the BBC from 1930 on for magnetic recording of sound, but it was very complicated and not very reliable. The Internationale Funkaustellung, or IFA has been the birthplace of many recording technologies since that time.
That’s this week’s IFA Update brought to you by Messe-Berlin. Be sure to visit IFA-Berlin.com.
Mitch in Greenwich, Connecticut listens on WGCH 1490 AM asked: “Laptops: Is it okay to keep them on 24/7? I’ve kept my desktop on with no problems.”
Laptops are just smaller computers. If they’re properly ventilated and can regulate their temperature to a safe level, they should be ok to run for extended periods of time.
Desktops have fewer ventilation issues because no one really rests them on a bed or on top of a fluffily pillow. As long as you don’t do that with your laptop and you sit them on tables where they can have as much air as they need, running through their fans, it should be fine.
If you are worried about temps, you can purchase a notebook cooler. We recommend the active ones (active models have fans, passive models do not) and we suggest getting one made from metal that’s designed to dissipate the heat. Mark has used the Zalman Notebook Cooler brand for years, with great success.
Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.
Rao in Shreveport, Louisiana listening on 710 KEEL asked: “Hi Dave! As the camera in the iPhone is an app, can they make a Web App for the camera in the Cloud, and we can use it with a good lens on a any cloud computer? Also they can make it as best as possible & keep improving it? So that we may not have to wait for the next phone model to be released to get a better camera capacity?”
Unfortunately, that won’t work. You can access a camera via a web app, that part is no problem (except for needing a good internet connection at all times you want to take a picture), and the makers of the software could add some basic features over time but, unfortunately, for a camera to get better image quality it needs newer and better components.
Basically, the lens and the sensor change with every camera, and they have nothing to do with software, they are physical pieces inside the phone that need to be used to capture better images.
Your question is basically the same as asking “if iPhones on AT&T are now 4G phones, why doesn’t my phone company make my phone a 4G phone”… because iPhones are 3G phones with a 4G logo … the internal parts that are needed to connect to a real 4G network are simply not there. Your phone’s manufacturer could show you a nice “12 megapixels” setting on your 2 megapixel phone’s screen, but the hardware needed to take a 12 megapixel picture is just not there.
Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.
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This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Intuit: Copies of TurboTax Premier
ScanMyPhotos.com: Several $200.00 eGift Certificates that can be used towards your purchase of any of their online products, such as: Prepaid Photo Scanning Box, Prepaid Slide Box, or Prepaid VHS Transfer Box
ZAGG: A ZAGGkeys SOLO iPad & Tablet Keyboard – This is a high tech Bluetooth wireless tablet keyboard.