HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Kevin in Santa Fe, New Mexico listening to our Podcast asked: “Is there an Android App that syncs Excel Files from the computer to the Android phone automatically, so I don’t have to keep going back and forth (on the hard drive)?”
If you want to sync any type of file to an Android phone you should have a look at SK Sync, you can download the client app for free from the Android Market and for the computer half, you can download a server program that will work on Windows, Linux or Mac.
You can set SK Sync to work one way only and copy, for example, new or modified files from the computer to the phone only, or you can set it to sync the files both ways.
In case you’re interested in sycing files, for example, at home and at work you can do that, SK Sync does not tie the phone to just one computer.
One of the great things about SK Sync is that it works over a wireless network, so not only will you not have to keep going back and forth on the hard drive, but you also won’t even have to have your phone by your computer, it could be charging on the other end of your home and still be able to sync the files.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Chris in Miami Beach, Florida listening via our Android App and podcast asked: “Do you have a recommendation on a good video editing software that can remove handheld camera shake? Thanks! Love the show. ”
There are a couple ways you can go. First, if you are already using professional video editing software such as Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro, or Sony Vegas, then you’d likely want to invest in the Mercalli filter from proDAD. Depending on which flavor you want, it ranges in price from $149 to $249 dollars. Remember it’s a plug-in, so you have to already have one of the programs it is compatible with.
If, on the other hand, you’re fairly tech savvy and you’d like to give this a whirl using some free software, you could try the freeware video editing program VirtualDub and the free plug-in Deshake. Both the professional and freeware solutions will go a long way to removing the bobbing and weaving from your videos.
For our Mac users, iMovie has a video stabilization feature. Under “Clip Adjustments”, Select “Stabilization – Smooth Clip Motion”. It will take a few minutes, but the results are usually good. Lately, Rob’s been doing that with most of the videos he shoots on my iPhone 4. So far, he’s pretty happy with the results.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
John in St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands listening on 970 AM WSTX asked: “Where can someone who has an idea for an Application, but not the technical experience as far as how to write the program, get assistance with doing that?”
If you want to write the app yourself you’re gonna have to learn about Object Oriented Programming, some knowledge of logic and math would make that a lot simpler. You can find information regarding the specifics of the language you’re gonna have to learn on the platform’s developer’s website and there are many books and programming courses that can help you get started. Or … just contact our App Developer, Horacio on our staff!
If the “assistance” you need is finding someone to do it for you there are a few things you should consider: first and foremost, what are your expectations? almost every app on the several app stores makes little to no money. Most people believe if they put an app on a store they will instantly become millionaires, the truth is Angry Birds is very much the exception, not the rule.
As an example of this, there was a man in London that wanted an app that showed Michael Jackson moonwalking back and forth on an iPhone’s screen, he was convinced that he would make, at least, hundreds of thousands from the app… not shockingly when he had it made he made $0, no one was willing to pay 99¢ to watch Michael Jackson moonwalk, that’s what YouTube is for. For free.
That brings up another point to consider, if you want to make money from something that’s gonna cost almost nothing you have to sell a lot of it, if you’re going to make something that only appeals to a small niche, be ready to make it good enough to be able to charge a lot for it.
Another point is, can it be made? not everything can be made into a mobile app, platforms have limits and app stores have sets of strict rules on what can be published (especially, but not only, Apple). The last really important point is, are you willing to pay to have it made? Apps are not cheap to make, they take a lot of hours of work.
Developers will usually not be open to hearing about ideas if that’s all you bring to the table. If you bring contacts, infrastructure or anything else of value then you might make it worth the gamble, but an idea alone and a 50/50 split on potential income is usually not, people work for money.
If you still want to pursue the app you can probably skip big publishers, they’re usually not open to hearing ideas for legal reasons (if they already had the idea under development, they hear it from you, turn you down because they’re already doing it, and publish it they open themselves up to lawsuits from you saying they stole your great idea), that leaves you with smaller developers.
We’d like to hear your idea, send us an email and we’ll see if we can help you.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Joshua in Nashville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: “I’m an older gentleman on a limited budget. My grandson wants an iPod touch or something to get apps on. Just wanted to know the best kind and maybe the cheapest. He’s 10 years old.”
Unfortunately you won’t find a lot of alternatives to the iPod Touch if what he’s interested in is apps. There are plenty of devices that run third party apps from online stores, but almost all of them are phones, there have been attempts at Android based MP3 players to rival the iPod Touch, but so far not much is available.
Samsung announced the “YP-MB2” at CES. It’s basically an Android phone without the phone but unlike other Android-based players with the Android Market. Unfortunately, there’s no release date and the best guess we’ve been able to find points at it being released sometime around september, but that’s based solely on the fact that Apple’s big annual event is in september.
Other than that, the Archos 32 at $140 is definitely cheaper than the iPod Touch, but the apps you can get on it are limited to an Archos store that doesn’t have the same variety Apple and Android users enjoy.
The problem seems to be that while Apple has moved from “music” players to “multimedia players” to something that is far more about games and applications than any media, the rest of the manufacturers seem to still be stuck on “multimedia players”, at least for the moment…
The cheapest iPod Touch on the market right now is the 8GB version, it sells for $229 and besides the App Store and the usual music and video features, it comes HD video recording capabilities and a front facing camera for video conferencing, for an extra $70 you can buy a version that looks the same but has four time the storage capacity, for an extra $170 you get the top of the line model with a 64GB capacity, 8 times the storage of the base model.
Since money is a concern we’d say that, if you end up getting an iPod Touch, a 10 year old would probably be more than happy using the cheapest, though still not cheap, 8GB version.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Ed Smith, Director of Product Management – Qualcomm’s Skifta
Skifta is a free media shifting service that turns your smartphone into a global remote.
Jordan Schwartz, CFO – LOREX Technology
LOREX Technology develops video monitors and security camera systems which are designed for do-it-yourself installation.
“Into Tomorrow” Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza: Motorola ATRIX 4G & Laptop Dock — Click Here or on Rob’s face for details
Vince in Albuquerque, New Mexico listens to the podcast and asked: “I have a blackberry Bold with Verizon. Is it possible to watch movies on the Blackberry Bold? If it’s possible, how do I do it?”
You absolutely can watch movies on your Blackberry Bold, in fact it will even play video on a lot of different formats.
Basically any movie that will play on an iPhone will probably play on the Bold as well, and the Bold will also play AVI, DIVX and XVID movies, all three popular formats that Apple doesn’t support.
To get the movies on to your Bold you will have to use your computer, you can use Desktop Manager or you could transfer the file using “Mass Storage Mode” (you will be asked if you want to use “Mass Storage Mode” when you plug your BlackBerry into your computer), if you are comfortable navigating through the folders your phone created on the memory card this mode is perfectly ok, just find the media folder and drop the videos there from Windows Explorer.
If you’re not so comfortable making your way through the directories on the memory card just stick to the Desktop Manager, you’ll have an option to manage your media and you can upload your movies straight to your phone from there.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Dan in Lewisburg, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7 FM and asked: “What kind of computer would I need to be able to run HDTV? I don’t know the requirements the computer would have to have to run those types of things. Completely illiterate on it and looking into it. Appreciate any help you can give me.”
If you want to play HD content on your computer the requirements are still fairly high, for 1080p a 2.4Ghz dual core or 3.5Ghz single core processor is required if you’re using a standard codec. Using high performance codecs the requirements can drop to as little as 1.5Ghz for a dual core processor and 2.6Ghz if using a single core processor, but you’d still need a 128MB to 256MB graphics card, at least.
For 720p the requirements drop a bit, but the computer still needs to be fairly modern.
The main piece of equipment you need if you want to watch live TV is a TV tuner, if you have a desktop you can easily find one for under $100 online, cards for laptops are not as easy to find but they’re also available online and they won’t cost much more than the desktop version.
In the real world many people watch HD content on machines that do not meet the requirements and deal with occasional freezes, hiccups or temporary audio problems but have a mostly good experience overall.
If you have a computer today and don’t know if it will be able to handle HD, try it! open some HD videos on YouTube or download some free HD content, for all you know it might actually work and you may just save some money!
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Microsoft: Copies of Street & Trips Software with GPS receiver
Powermat: Several Powermat Power! Dual 1850 & Dual 1200 Portable Battery Packs
Que Publishing: Copies of the book: “My iPad 2” (Covers iOS 4.3)