HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Bob in El Paso, Texas listening on KROD, calling via the app asked: “With all the electronics sales especially on Black Friday weekend, how do you know when it’s time to buy a warranty for a new product? I’ve heard mixed emotions on either side, if the device of good quality you don’t need a warranty, I don’t wanna waste money, but I know some big box stores are offering a year extension, like Costco offers another year on top of the manufacturer’s warranty. What’s your opinion on buying aftermarket or extended warranties for new products, Dave? Thanks.”
That all depends on the product and how expensive the warranty is. It may or may not be worth it. The “fine print” also should be considered. Does the warranty cover repairs in full?, or just offer a discount on a repair or replacement in case something goes wrong? Many respected people — like the Consumer Reports folks say they are usually not worth it. And our friend Dave Ramsey says: I don’t believe in extended warranties at all—on cars, electronics, anything. I’ve done the research, and I’ve seen the math. The math says that—depending on the item—about 75–85% of the amount you pay for the warranty is for marketing and commissions. If you pay $1,000 for a warranty, $750 of it is going to the dealership and to the salesman who sold it to you.
If you buy something with your credit card, you can also check with the card issuer to see if the company offers purchase protections as part of your card service. If it does, you may not need an extended warranty.
Extended warranties are only as good as the companies behind them. Costco, for example, stands behind their extra year warranty with a vengeance, we’ve heard many stories of them coming through on fixing or replacing items beyond the manufacturer’s warranty period, so that becomes a good reason to buy from them, especially because they don’t charge for their extra coverage — it’s just an incentive to buy from them.
But an extended warranty that you have to purchase, for real cash, you have to ask yourself carefully about. Spending $300 to cover a laptop may seem good at the time of purchase, when that laptop is worth $1000 to you. But a year from now? When you really want that new laptop? Wouldn’t you like to have that $300 back toward the purchase of next year’s model? And you definitely don’t want to buy an extended warranty that doesn’t come from the company selling you the product.
Also consider whether the warranty covers damage from accidents, or only defects in materials and workmanship. Most electronics don’t break because they fail, most electronics break because we pour a soda on them, or drop them on the ground, or go swimming with them in our pockets, etc. extended warranties rarely cover that.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline.
John in Titusville, FL listening on WMEL 1300 AM asked: “I have an iPhone 3G. I always have problems when I go into Google Maps where it locks on me. And heaven forbid, someone calls me in the middle of this, it locks up my phone forever. What do I do? I want to upgrade and we have three phones so it’s at least $100 a piece which we’re not gonna do. I don’t want to restore because it says we lose all our media. What can I do? I love my iPhone but I really hate my iPhone right now. ”
To be honest, what’s most likely to fix the problem is restoring the phone. There are suggestions floating around about turning off features like Spotlight Search or even WiFi, but the only people that seem to have found a satisfying solution are the ones who restored.
If your music is backed up on iTunes on a computer you shouldn’t lose it, you will have to resync it after restoring the phone, but you should still get all your media back.
The trick here is to back up, before you restore make sure all your pictures, video, music, apps, contacts and everything else you can think of is backed up on your computer.
iTunes makes all of that easy, so don’t worry too much, but check that you have everything you wouldn’t want to lose before you restore, but it looks like you will have to restore the phone.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Kelly Starling, AT&T Spokesperson – AT&T
Thinking about getting a smartphone this holiday season? Kelly’s got some new mobile devices and tips to share with you.
Robert in Puerto Rico, listens Online called with a tip for another listener: “I just heard a fella named Ed who had trouble retrieving data from a DVD disc from his video machine. Here’s what I suggest: There’s a program called Free Undelete at TuCows.com. It has found things on erased floppy discs and USB sticks.”
Thank you very much Robert! We love when our listeners help other listeners.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT with Rob: “Droid Razr” Rob’s got the scoop on THE most popular namesake cell phone ever, on this week’s Product Spotlight. |
 – Kevlar-coated fiber backing and a scratch resistant Corning Gorilla screen- Sexy, razor-thin design that resembles the classic flip phone – Motorola delivers a really stable device, even if it’s running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread originally — and not Ice Cream Sandwich … yet – Its 1.2GHz dual-core processor works really well and there’s virtually no lag when multitasking between different apps. – Dave reports that the battery also works well through most of the day, and with Smart Actions, you can get the most out of it. – Smart Actions — Basically, you can set specific actions or rules that will automatically activate when it detects a specific location, a low battery, or Bluetooth, and more. Smart Actions can be created from scratch, from a pre-installed sample version, or customized from one you’ve already created. – We’re liking the file-sharing and streaming between the Droid RAZR and your computer via a program they call MotoCast. Basically, after a quick software install on your computer, you can then access pictures, music, documents, and videos and stream them to your phone. Think of it as a mini GoToMyPC for your cell phone. – Videos also play nicely on the 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display. Text, however, is not as sharp. – 1.3 megapixel front facing camera; 8-megapixel camera on the back that can record 1080p HD video – Inaccessible battery – 4G LTE speed provided by Verizon Wireless – $299 |
Chris in Highland Park, Michigan listening on CKLW AM 800 asked: “I have an Olympus FE-3010 Digital Camera and the screen looks as if it’s cracked. I can take pictures, but nothing comes out on the screen. Do I need to have it fixed?”
It’s really up to you… Are you satisfied with a digital camera that works like an old film camera? If you don’t mind not having the screen and not being able to preview the pictures then maybe it doesn’t matter.
Even if that’s the case, we’d recommend that you at least try to find out how much fixing it would cost for one simple reason: the Olympus FE-3010 doesn’t come with a viewfinder, so without the big screen on the back you’re gonna be stuck guessing whether or not the picture is framed correctly.
This may not sound like a really big deal to you, but imagine the camera being all the way in without you knowing it? That alone can ruin a few of your pictures, or it being set to black and white when you’re trying to take a picture of something you want to have in color, for example.
At least try to find a price and see what your options are, digital cameras are pretty cheap these days, so you could even think about replacing it.
If you leave it as it is, odds are that sooner or later you’re going to lose a precious shot because you didn’t know the camera wasn’t doing what you thought it was.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Boingo: Two months of FREE Boingo WiFi Service available at hundreds of thousands of hotspots worldwide
Dane-Elec: Marvel Classic Heroes 4GB USB Drives – Spiderman, Iron Man & Wolverine
Solar Components: Several JOOS Orange Portable Solar Chargers – Designed to charge all personal electronic devices (cell phones, smart phones, MP3 players, GPS devices, portable game devices and more)