Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Tech News and Commentary
Dave and Chris discuss Amazon’s updates for Alexa on Android, Alexa potentially competing with Google Assistant and Siri, a robotic hand that can walk on its fingertips and navigate different surfaces, and more.
“News Pick of the Week” with Ralph Bond
Today, exterior building cooling technologies include heat reflecting paints, passive ventilation, and even vegetation based solutions. This week our science and technology news reporter Ralph Bond tells us there’s a new tech inspired by the skin of elephants!
Read more here.
Mark in Jackson Lake, Georgia asked: “As an early adopter and a guy who can’t resist a shiny red button, I have a question about beta updates for both mobile and laptop operating systems. Windows has the Windows Insider program, and Apple has the option for beta updates on its platforms. Would you please discuss the pros and of course the cons to choosing to be early at the table for the beta updates?”
Mark, the pros are really only for those that need to be ready for the upcoming release.
For example, imagine you’re Ticketmaster, you will have users trying to get into concerts on the day of the release. Your apps and your website would both have to work reliably for users who have updated and those who haven’t right on release day.
The same goes for those trying to grab a little extra market share by leveraging a new feature on release day.
The cons are basically everything else, you will be using a release that is not deemed ready for production, it will almost certainly have a lot of bugs, those bugs may break basic features like email checking, texting, the way the camera works, etc. The broken features will be considered normal, since youre not using a version that is ready for production and fixes will not be rushed (and almost certainly wont be made available until the next beta release at the earliest).
If you want to install betas, its usually a good idea to not install them on primary devices unless you really, really need to.
Betas are versions that are not yet considered to be ready for primetime, so you’re almost guaranteed to have issues. As a consumer, there’s not much benefit in putting up with those issues to have access to an early, possibly broken version of something a month or two earlier.
When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.
Brondell: Pro Sanitizing Air Purifier – Removes dust, dander, pollen, smoke, and airborne viruses
Heat It: Smartphone-Powered Insect Bite Healers
Scosche: StrikeLine HH 2-in-1 USB-C/Lightning Cables to charge all your devices
Targus: Energy Harvesting EcoSmart Keyboard
All CALLERS — using the Ask Dave button on our website or calling 1-800-899-INTO(4686) – automatically qualify to win prizes.
Audio archived for at least 6 months