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Tech News & Commentary
Michael in Minneapolis, Minnesota listens to the stream on the App asked: “I have a question about the Galaxy Note 2 or S4. I have only seen them where they’re okay, price-wise. But I just got this iPhone 4s and I absolutely hate it. I’m looking for a reasonably priced Samsung phone. Hopefully you have some ideas. That’s it, other than the fact that I do not like my iPhone. It’s a piece of garbage and it’s very limited.”
The Galaxy S4 will run you about $199 with a 2 year contract on all the major carriers.
The catch is the devices must be traded in, so you are never really buying it, it is more like a lease. Another option would be the S4 Mini. It has all the power of the Galaxy S4 in a smaller device. And it is a little easier on the wallet at $99 w/ a 2 year activation.
Now, whether the Note 2, the Note 3, the S4, the S4 Mini or a different phone is really more up to you than anything else. All of those phones are good, all of them will serve you well. Now, if you want a big screen, the Note 3 is for you, if you want a big screen and more money in your pocket, you may be able to get a deal on the Note 2. The S4 and S4 Mini are packed with features and the S4 has a very nice screen, still large, though not as big as the two Notes, and the S4 is about the size of your current 4S, so if you like that form factor it may be a great fit for you.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports Feature With Mike Gikas
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom sounds like it could be the perfect smart phone-digital camera combo. It’s one of the first smartphones to have a 10x optical zoom lens – like the kind you find on standalone cameras. But does it deliver? Consumer Reports Senior Editor Mike Gikas is here with his review.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Chris recommends: Elf Yourself, FREE
- “I think I talked about this app before, but since it’s that time of year, I need to bring up one of my favorite holiday apps, Elf Yourself, from OfficeMax. This annual holiday tradition allows you to “elf” yourself and become the star of a personalized video featuring your photos on holiday dancing elves. Simply upload up to five photos of you, your friends, family and more from your camera roll or Facebook. Select a dance theme, and the app will generate a custom ElfYourself video that you can share via email or post on Facebook. Elf Yourself is free and is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices.” — Chris
• Dave recommends: Chromecast, FREE
- “My fav App these days is Google’s Chromecast. It’s free but only works once you purchase the $35 Chromecast unit. This is the easiest way to enjoy online content – like video, music, even surfing with your browser — on your TV and control it with your existing smartphone, tablet, or laptop — Android, Windows and even Apple products. You can almost toss yout TV Remote as this will control most everything. Be sure to catch this week’s ITTV Report for a closer look at
- .” — Dave
What are your favorite Apps? Let us know at 800-899-INTO and we’ll feature them in this segment!
- Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details
Guest Segment:
Greg Liberman, CEO – Spark Networks
Jim from Idaho Falls, Idaho listening via 1260AM KBLI East Idaho News asked: “I have installed windows 8 on my HP Desktop at 32 bit and I’m having some problems. I thought I better install 64 bit. How do I save my files on my hard drive in the 32 bit format and reload them into the 64 bit?”
You shouldn’t need to do anything to your files. Any file you save will open under 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems (otherwise emailing a Word doc to someone who didn’t have just the right computer would be a huge problem).
Most 32-bit programs will also run under a 64-bit operating system, not all of them will, but the ones that won’t are almost exclusively some antivirus software and device drivers.So after the 64-bit OS is installed, you should just be able to open whatever files you have saved without any issues, just make sure you don’t delete them during the installation process… and please, back everything up before you do anything.
Hard drive formats don’t depend on whether the operating system is 32-or-64 bits. The disk format is the same. That’s also true for the files you create, like your Office document files. Those don’t change going from one OS to another. Now your applications MIGHT have to change, depending on what you’re using.
Also, 64-bit Windows isn’t magic. More bits isn’t automatically better. The advantage of a 64-bit operating system comes when you have more than 4GB of memory in your computer. The 64-bit Windows will allow you to address memory beyond that 4GB barrier as a single contiguous memory space. That is, quite simply, better.
And just because you do have a 64-bit version of Windows running, most experts will tell you that you’re still better off with 32-bit versions of your various applications, like Microsoft Office, because they’re more compatible with addons and plugins.
But the world is moving on from 32-bit operating systems, that’s for sure. Apple’s Bootcamp 5.0 does not support 32-bit versions of Windows and it’s been ages since we’ve seen a computer maker ship a machine without 64-bit Windows. However, to be fair, it’s been ages since we’ve seen a new computer with less than 4GB of memory.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Justin from Mississippi and listening via Supertalk Corinth 94.3FM WXRZ asked: “What is the best way to transfer purchased music from the iphone to convert over to Android?”
You should pretty much be able to drag your music to your Android phone and just use it… iTunes gave up on DRM a few years ago (since it was annoying and it was stopping no one from doing whatever they wanted with their music), so if you buy on iTunes, you’re buying a media file that should play on Android devices without problems.
If you purchased your songs a long time ago, you may still have DRM protected files, but you can download DRM-free version of anything that is offered without restrictions now even if your purchased the files before the restrictions were dropped.
Apple’s files come in the M4a format, which is a rebrand of the MP4 audio codec for lossy, unrestricted audio, and M4a is supported by the latest versions of Android, so if you got a new phone, it should be able to play iTunes files right out of box, and if you got your hands on an old phone, you should be able to find many media players that can open M4a files without requiring you to convert them to MP3 first.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Joanne in Harrington, Delaware asked: “What other equipment is out there for the visually impaired? Equipment like computers & radios that can be accessible for the visually impaired.”
It’s hard to say really, most of what’s out there for sighted people has some version for blind people.
There seems to be a big trend in walking GPS devices to help the blind navigate the world on their own, but most of the devices are still concepts.
There are machines to help translate the written word into either braille or spoken word, so that blind users can read or listen to, for example, a newspaper or website, rather than being limited to literature with a braille version.
There are some kitchen appliances that come without built in alarms, for example, if you’re pouring water into a jar, you can always use your finger to make sure you don’t pour too much and spill it, however, if you’re pouring boiling water, an audible alarm might be a welcome feature, and those exist.
There are obviously lots of visually impaired friendly watches, from the old style ones with a liftable watch face to touch the hands, to newer cool designs that features surfaces that make the the time obvious by touching them.
There are plenty of useful technologies for the blind, the real question is, what needs do you need met? If you can tell us that we can look for specific solutions to that, but we can’t really name every technology out there… as technology becomes more useful, it becomes more useful for everyone and much of it is being applied at helping people become less limited and more independent.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yos “A clever solution to tangled earbuds”.
C.Crane: Senta Ally Portable Bluetooth Stereo Speaker with built-in FM radio and SD & USB reader.
Yamaha: Pro 300 Hi Fidelity, over-the-ear Headphones.
Nite Ize Innovation: Connect Case and Connect Cradle for iPhone – Hard case with belt clip, vehicle mount and desk stand.
“Into Tomorrow”:Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!