HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Anthony in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada sent us a message about Dave’s recent health problems: “Hey Dave! Hope you’re on the fast track to recovery! I wish word hadn’t got out about the eye thing. I started the rumor that you were in fact on the ground in Pakistan as the “tech guy” for the seal team!! So much for my cred hey?! All the best, get well soon.”
Thank you Anthony! (though you blew Dave’s cover…)
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: Google Gesture Search, Free
“Search Contacts, Bookmarks, Apps, Music, and Android Settings by writing on your screen.” – Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: CamWow, Free
“I take a lot of pictures and like to mess with them before I post online. So, I’m always looking for Free Apps with camera effects. When I first got my iPad 2, I raved about the Photo Booth app. But, it’s not available on the iPhone. I was recently introduced to an app called “CamWow”, which adds photo booth effects on your pictures. You swipe across the screen to preview your live image/subject with a different effect. When you see one you like or want, tap on it, and then hit the camera button to take the pic. It will automatically save it in your photo library. Or, you can email it or post on Facebook directly from the app. CamWow automatically puts a watermark on the bottom right of the picture that says: “CamWow for the iPhone”. I think that’s annoying and I want to crop it out before I post online. But, then I remember, it’s FREE :)” – Rob
Some of the effects Rob’s brother, Bor
• Chris recommends: Onavo, Free
“This app claims it can help you get more out of your data plan – and save up to 80% on your data bill. It does this by connecting your phone to their cloud based technology that they call ‘the Incredible Shrinking Machine.’ It then compresses the data you use on your iPhone and iPad. They claim that it’s totally seamless. You install the app then go back to using your phone as usual. It only works with downloaded data right now – no media streaming or VOIP apps, like YouTube or Skype. But they say to stay tuned because they have things in the works. The app is free right now. It says for a ‘limited time’ but it doesn’t say how limited.” – Chris
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
Guest in this hour:
Jeff Fox, Technology Editor – Consumer Reports
Facebook says you must be over 13 to join their site, while millions of kids under the age of 10 are joining. Is that a problem? Jeff joins us to discuss their latest findings about this popular social networking site.
George in Lexington, Kentucky listening on WLRT 1250 AM asked: “There’s a link that keeps popping up on my Facebook News Feed that says ‘I can see who’s been viewing my profile.’ I’ve been afraid to click it because I’ve heard of a lot of viruses on Facebook. Can you really see who is viewing your profile on Facebook?”
It’s probably a good thing that you didn’t click on it. It probably IS a virus. Facebook doesn’t allow people to track who views their profiles or content. Third party applications are also unable to track anybody. Basically, it cannot be done because Facebook doesn’t allow it. Applications that claim to be able to do this don’t work because Facebook makes it technically impossible for them to do it. Of course, with tech, nothing is impossible, so one day . . .
Facebook has a statement about this issue on its Help Center page. It says: “Facebook does not provide a functionality that enables you to track who is viewing your profile, or parts of your profile, such as your photos. Third party applications also cannot provide this functionality. Applications that claim to give you this ability will be removed from Facebook for violating policy. You can report applications that provide untrustworthy experiences by clicking the “Report Application” at the bottom of the application’s About page, or by clicking “Report” at the bottom of any canvas page within the application.”
If you have been affected by a scam of this type, you should remove the app from your profile by going through “Privacy Settings” and clicking “Edit your settings” in the App and Website section. From there, you can scroll to the app in question and delete from your profile.
You should also delete any posts the rogue app has made on your Wall or your friends’ wall.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Harry in Port Huron, Michigan listening on CKLW 800 AM: “I know that Windows Phone 7 devices, iPhones and Android phones are here. But, I need instead, a cell phone/computer that will work with regular Windows 7. I want to be able to run everything I use on my laptop, but I also want to use it as a cell phone. Does something like that exist? All I know is, when I call all the companies that make computers or cell phones, all the people tell me, ‘Harry, I want one of those too.’ Someone has got to make something like this!”
“We want one of those, too!”
Unfortunately, such a thing does not exist. When you see people walking around with modern day smartphones, what you’re seeing are our baby steps toward what you’re looking for. However, it’s a long way off.
Think of the battery that powers your laptop. Next to your phone, that battery is almost certainly larger than your phone, your laptop’s processor is probably about a quarter the size of your phone, its RAM modules are probably almost half the size of your phone … we could go on for a while. But, the power needed to run those types of programs is not yet available on a device the size and price of a phone. In fact, look at netbooks. You can find some for little more than the price of a smartphone. They still can’t run everything you run on a regular laptop, let alone desktop. And, their battery life under normal use is usually under 10 hours (that’s with a big battery).
And then, there’s the user interface. The Motorola Atrix likes to pretend it’s a laptop and will let you run Firefox and a few other apps on a laptop sized screen. And, even it, in all of it’s dual-core glory, won’t be able to run Windows 7 efficiently. Motorola had to compromise and give users an expensive laptop-like dock so that users could take advantage of the phone’s functionality via a user interface that made sense. Imagine having 3 Firefox windows and an email client open, all on a screen that’s not much bigger than a credit card.
What modern day smartphones try to do is not to put a full featured PC in your pocket, nor could they do that. They put some select, very useful PC applications (such as email, web browsing, maps, basic games, simple note taking) in your pocket and customize them to be easy and pleasant to use on a small screen. You can do amazing things with today’s smartphones: you can do your taxes, do very simple video editing, read and edit documents, but they are not full featured computers. Give smartphones a chance though, you’ll be amazed at how much they can do.
By the way, Harry, if size is not a concern you can use your laptop as a phone. Just sign up for a service like Skype (where you’ll get unlimited calls to all of the US for under $10 a month), sign up to a mobile broadband service and you’re set! You just made a Windows 7 cell phone, albeit it one with a pretty lousy battery life and a size that makes it less than convenient to carry around in your pocket…
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Rosa in Santa Fe, New Mexico listens on 1260 KTRC: “I have an iPod Touch 4th gen. I’ve had it since just after they came out. I’m noticing that it’s getting really slow. It’s especially noticeable when I’m playing graphic intense games. How do I speed it up?”
You didn’t tell us whether your iPod Touch is jailbroken or not. If it is, that can be the cause. A lot of people with jailbroken iPods download tons of software that stays on the memory and eventually, as these programs add up, the iPod slows down. “Themes” apps like Winterboard are well known for slowing down iPods and iPhones.
If your iPod is not jailbroken, there’s one feature we have to ask you to check. It sounds silly, but one reason iPods sometimes appear to slow down is because their owners inadvertently turn on the “screen zoom” accessibility tool. It can be turned on by mistake, all it takes is tapping the screen with three fingers. It has been reported as a cause for sluggish behavior. To turn it off, go to your “Settings,” then “General,” and then “Accessibility,” and make sure that everything you don’t need is turned off.
We should mention that the iPod Touch works similar to a computer. Like all computers, sometimes it benefits from the oldest tech advise in the computing world: turn it off and then turn it back on. A reboot!
If all else fails, you can connect your iPod to your computer: open iTunes and restore it to factory settings. That would most likely fix the issue regardless of what’s causing it, but it comes with the inconvenience of having to re-sync all your media, contacts and apps.
But, before you restore it, make sure you sync your iPod and back it up. That way when you restore it, all of your previous settings and content will be there.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Microsoft: Copies of Street & Trips Software with GPS receiver
Powermat: Several Powermat Power! Dual 1850 & Dual 1200 Portable Battery Packs
Que Publishing: Copies of the book: “My iPad 2” (Covers iOS 4.3)