HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Tom in Durham, NC listening on WPTF 680AM asked: “Interested in knowing more about some of the new smartphones like the Evo’s for Android and the iPhone. And guess that would include the iPad on some level, but would they be susceptible for viruses like the common PC would be?”
Technically speaking, no. There is no such thing as an Android virus, per se. The definition of a computer virus is a self-replicating program that infects other systems on its own. What’s more at issue with a smartphone is malware, short for malicious software.
On a full sized computer, the purpose malware might have varies from trying to capture banking and financial information, to simply selling you some useless product.
Many malware types pretend to be computer security programs, detecting some “problem” with your system that they’ll be happy to find for free but only remove if you pay $30 or so. They use human engineering to trick you with clever pop up windows that look like real security notices. But once they are on your computer, they lock out your regular browser, taking you only to sites they want you to see, and they open the door for even more of their malware kin.
Now on a smartphone, matters are different. All someone wanting to write a rogue app needs to do is come up with a clever description for it and upload it to the marketplace. In theory, apps in these app stores and marketplaces are supposed to be checked, but there are hundreds of thousands of them now and most of the time bad ones only are noticed because of user complaints. One known case of a rogue banking app on Android had a user fall prey to a phishing attempt to gain access to their financial data.
That being said, there are antivirus apps for both iOS and Android. But we’re not sure what they’re really protecting you against. They look for “virus-like” activity, but when you’re dealing with rogue apps, what looks like a virus? The best protection is your fellow users. Don’t be the first person to download an app. Let someone adventurous give it a whirl first. Don’t download apps that lack positive reviews, and a good number of them. If something’s wrong with an app, people will start complaining about it fairly quickly.
Bottom line? No, smartphones and tablets are not vulnerable to viruses in the same way a regular computer is. But the danger of rogue apps is real, and you have to use caution and common sense — if nothing else.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“Consumer Reports” Feature with Jim Wilcox
One of the hot topics at CES this year was 3DTV, but all of the new technologies can be hard to keep up with. Jim has tips on what you need to know if you’re considering buying a 3DTV this year.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently…
- For Android:Touch Calendar – Available in both a free and paid version, really improves things. It’s very fast, highly configurable, and extremely easy to zoom in and out. Using the regular pinch zoom motions, you can easily move from an overview perspective to having a day’s agenda fill the screen. The paid version supports a series of widgets, as well as a few more options. Touch Calendar, available now in the Android Marketplace.
- For iPhone/iPad:DailyBooth V2 for iPhone — Your Life in Pictures, Free App –> Follow Into Tomorrow’s Rob Almanza on DailyBooth!Keeper — Password & Data Vault. Free App, In-App Purchase for additional services.
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
Guests in this hour:
• Bridget Carey, Technology Reporter & Social Media Columnist – The Miami Herald
Is it time for Facebook Rehab? Bridget Carey shares a few tips to ween yourself from the addiction at work.
• Bryan Field-Eliot, Chief Technology Officer – NextAlarm.com
NextAlarm.com Internet-enhanced Alarm Monitoring Services for homes and small businesses.
Chris in Raleigh, NC listening on WPTF 680AM asked: “I bought my mom a notebook for Christmas and she is struggling with not having Outlook in the regular Office 2010 pack. They now sell that in the Professional Edition. She has a Blackberry and really enjoys syncing her contact and calendar info with Outlook. Is there another email program that is free that would handle a POP3 that has a calendar or is there something online that will sync with the Blackberry?”
If she loves the Outlook user interface, then you’re not really going to find anything else that gives her the same look-and-feel. You’d be better off buying a single copy of Outlook (it is sold separately, by the way, you don’t need to get it with Office).But Mark Lautenschlager says he has a suggestion if you’d like to try something new. – Outlook is available at newegg.com for about $120.
When he was using BlackBerry, he downloaded the Google Sync app to keep his BB calendar in sync with his Google calendar “up in the cloud.” It would also synchronize his Gmail contacts with the BB contacts, so he only had to enter a contact in one place. But he wasn’t crazy about always using the Google web interface for his applications, so he downloaded the free email program Thunderbird, from Mozilla — the Firefox people.
Like Firefox, Thunderbird supports extensions, and that’s where the magic happens here. He used three add-ons. Lightning, which adds a fantastic calendar to Thunderbird, making it very much like Outlook. Provider for Google Calendar, an add-on that let Lightning use his Google calendar for its data, interactively, instead of a file on his computer. And Google Contacts, an add-on that let Thunderbird use his Gmail contacts as an address book. So, he had perfect sync with the cloud at all times. He could use Thunderbird and add an appointment or contact, that would sync to the cloud, and in a few minutes also be on the BB. Or he could add something on the BB and it would pass the other way, through the cloud back to his computer. At any time, he could use the web interface if he wasn’t at his own computer. He still uses a system like that today, only with an Android phone he doesn’t need Google Sync. Android phones automatically connect with your Google calendar and Gmail contacts that are in the cloud.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Jim in Wilmington, DE listening on WDEL called in and asked us two questions, first question: “If you wanted to drop your cable TV service, what would you be able to receive on a high quality old-style antenna – like on your chimney or in your attic?”
With a good HD antenna you would be able to receive high quality, actually the highest quality digital television. And that’s why we always recommend an antenna — even rabbit ears can work. Every cable and satellite provider compresses the HD TV signal, resulting in a loss of quality. For the most part this isn’t really noticeable, but it is most definitely there. Over the air broadcasts direct from the TV affiliate to your antenna, are uncompressed and will give you a perfect picture, assuming you have signal at all.
And, of course, that’s the rub. Signal at all. Those who live far outside of a populated area may find that they can’t get a signal. For them, satellite may be the only option. Also don’t forget, you’d be dropping back to network programming only, and foregoing all the cable and satellite network choices. You can make up a lot of that over the Internet, these days, but it’s something you should be prepared to do.
For recommendations on HD antennas, our friends at the CEA run a great site. AntennaWeb.org. Check it out for some great tips on how to best set up your antenna.
Second question: “What are the ways to absolutely protect yourself from identity theft if you are going to use your home computer to do banking related activities?”
The only way to absolutely protect yourself against identity theft is to pay for everything with cash, and probably never leave home. But the average home banking connection is using a secure link with your bank, encrypting the data from end to end. The key thing is, don’t fall prey to phishing emails. These are emails written by identity thieves who want to get your user ID and password.
Most of the time they will scream about some problem with your account and say you must log in at once to correct it. They offer a link in the email, and needless to say this doesn’t connect with your real bank. It’ll be a fake site, just to collect your user name and password, and then the thieves will quickly connect with your real bank and take all your real cash.
Defeating them is simple. Never, ever (EVER!) connect with your bank by clicking on a link in an email. Never. Did you get that? NEVER. If you do, Chris will come and beat you with a tuna fish. Seriously, though, always open your browser and connect with your bank directly. Make sure the connection is secured (you’ll see the https prefix in the address and a padlock icon on your browser status bar). Banks use all sorts of security systems to keep your connection safe.
It is far more likely that someone will steal your identity by lifting it from your credit card at a restaurant than by getting it from your online banking service. Online banking is very, very secure for the most part. Watch out for those emails, and you should be fine.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Lynette in San Jose, CA listening on KLIV 1590 AM called and asked: “I was wondering if you could tell me the best way to clean a plasma screen from fingerprints is. My fiance keeps insisting Windex, but I’m sure that’s not the right thing to do. So if you can help me, it’ll help us. Thanks!”
Plasma TV screens require some special care due to their construction because picture display screen isn’t made of glass like a conventional TV.
Use a PC cleaner in a spray (sprayed onto a rag, not directly) or ready-to-clean electronic wipes for removal of fingerprints or dust from the surface of the plasma screen. PC or laptop screens wipes are another safe options for cleaning your plasma TV screen.
Fingerprints can form on the screen because your skin produces oils. Never, ever apply any spray directly to the plasma screen itself. Always apply spray screen cleaners to a soft rag and then wipe the case and screen. Windex or any glass cleaner is not an option for cleaning this kind of TV screen.
You can also use plain distilled water on a lint-free cloth to wipe the screen. A gentle wipe with a slightly damp cloth will remove dust.
We use ScreenGuard at Into Tomorrow! However, the fiber cloth included isn’t the best. If you don’t use enough product, it will leave streaks on the screen. You can try other fiber cloths if you’re not happy with it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
• Michael Materie, Director of Product Management – Diskeeper
Diskeeper brings innovation in performance and reliability.
• 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 or on Rob’s face for details
The Motorola ATRIX 4G caught a lot of attention at the 2011 CES. Find out what features make it so special. Rob Almanza reports from Las Vegas.
Victor in Smyrna, GA listens to the podcast and asked: “Can you recommend an external hard drive and which one might be the fastest and the most reliable and convenient?”
When it comes to external hard drives, the best names are generally the same as the best names for internal hard drives. Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, BuffaloTech & so forth. There are a few exceptions, like LaCie, who make external drives exclusively, but any of the big name models should be fine.
There are really a couple different types of external drives. The first is a standard, full speed, desktop computer type hard drive mounted in an external enclosure with a separate interface to the computer and external power source. They’re bigger and often have cooling fans. If you’re using one that has an eSATA interface (remember you need that port on your computer too, if you want to connect that way), the performance will be virtually identical to an internal hard drive. Reliability will be very similar to an internal hard drive as well. Which is to say, very reliable. Hard drive failures still happen, of course, and we always recommend you make backups of your data, but hard drives in general are extremely reliable.
The other type of external drive is the ultra portable, highly compact drives that are the very small hard drives designed for notebook or netbook use, in a small enclosure that typically gets its power from the USB interface. They will almost always be USB, which isn’t going to be anywhere near as fast as eSATA, but every computer made these days has a USB port. These drives, because they’re designed for portable computers, typically have better shock resistance and protection against being banged around and carried places. That makes them extremely reliable, but again — hard drives can and do fail, so make backups. For convenience, it’s hard to beat one of these ultra portable drives.
One final option, if you’re looking for the ultimate in speed, is to roll your own. You can buy an external eSATA enclosure, with cooling fan and power supply, all ready for you to install your own hard drive. Then grab something like a Western Digital Velociraptor drive, and you’ll have put together one awesomely fast external drive. Again, remember that you’ll need an eSATA port on your computer, so check to see if you have one first, before you suffer from “plugis interruptus.”
For those who have Mac products, Hitachi’s G-Technology Series of drives are Mac-friendly. They also work with PCs, but you have to reformat them first.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
CCrane: Several CCradio EP Classic High Performance AM/FM Radios.
RCA: Several travel chargers with surge protection
Honestech: Copies of Audio Recorder 2.0 Deluxe – Software to convert your analog music into digital formats including MP3s and audio CDs. Save those great musical memories.