Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Chris brought us back in IFA history with the introduction of a radio identification system
In 1988 radio stations were no longer anonymous: Radio Data System, or RDS was developed in Germany which identified every station and showed the name on the display. RDS car radios automatically searched for the best available transmitter or frequency of each station. In 1991 at the IFA or International Funkausstellung, an extension of the RDS service was introduced which enabled the reception of traffic information even if the chosen station didn’t offer one. RDS radios are still around in many cars today.
Listener Donald in Silver Point, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7FM and asked:
I have a 7-8 year old laptop that runs on Vista. It’s not as reliable as it used to be. Should I buy a new computer or get this one cleaned, fixed, whatever? If I buy a new one, what should I buy, because I don’t do much, just finance and banking, Facebook and e-mails.
7 or 8 years is a long time in the computer world, however, if you’re just doing Facebook, banking, and emails, you can probably still use it, at least for now while Microsoft is still continuing to provide security patches for Vista.
You will want to get rid of anything you don’t need, you mostly just need a web browser and antivirus software, so just clean out any programs that run in the background that you do not need and that should help the computer run better.
Your best bet would be to restore to factory settings and go from there, you laptop should be as fast as it was when it was new, though it may not be able to handle some newer software with as much ease as a new laptop would. Now, if you do decide that it’s time for an upgrade, you need a very basic computer to meet your needs, so a few hundred dollars may do the trick. If you’re doing online banking and not using a program like Quicken, you’d actually be a great candidate for a Chromebook. What you do seems to be mostly online and that is all Chromebooks do.
It may sound limited, and in away it is, but they also require next to 0 maintenance
It may sound limited, and in away it is, but they also require next to 0 maintenance, you charge them and you’re done. Google updated ChromeOS in the background without you even have to notice, you don’t need any kind of antivirus software, basically you turn it on and see a web browser, get your stuff done and close it. Chromebooks are not as flexible as Windows machines, but if all you do is online anyway, they’re a very low maintenance, easy to use, worry-free alternative that won’t break the bank.
If making the switch to ChromeOS and Chromebooks seems like too much of a leap and you want to keep your Windows options open, then might we suggest perhaps looking at an HP Stream computer.
They are essentially the same kind of “netbook” hardware that is used for Chromebooks, albeit a bit slower, no doubt because of the additional cost of the Windows license weighing things down.
But they run Windows 8.1 and in some cases Windows 10, and they come with a one year subscription to Office 365, which you will need to pay for yourself after that first year.