HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Ben in Spokane, Washington listening online asked: “Is it true that Apple is going to release another one called iPad HD?”
For now, those are just rumors about the iPad HD. Apple may be planning to launch a revised iPad with a much sharper screen. The device would feature a 9.7-inch screen (which is the same size as the current iPads), but would have a 2048 x 1536 pixel display geared toward “pro” users.
The idea is that it will be a ‘pro’ device aimed at a higher-end market — for those who work in video and photo production possibly — and could be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. According to these rumors, the iPad 2 would have a complementary version, instead of an all new iPad.
While early iPad 2 rumors suggested a “Retina” display would be featured, similar to the upgraded screen on the iPhone 4, the device instead shipped with the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the original iPad.
Also, LG which manufactures the 3.5″ 326ppi Retina display used in the iPhone 4, announced in May that it was building a 9.7″ advanced high performance in-plane switching (AH-IPS) display with up to 2 times the resolution of standard displays.
It is possible that such a display is already being mass-produced, however we don’t know for sure when and if the new iPad HD, iPad 3 or iPad Pro (or whatever they plan to call it) will be available. Rumors have said probably sometime next year.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Paul Eng
In its latest ratings of e-book readers, Consumer Reports found that the Kobo eReader Touch is the best e-book reader from the brand they’ve ever tested. Senior Web Editor Paul Eng says the device is still no match against Nooks and Kindles.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: USTREAM Android Client, FREE
“USTREAM is to YouTube what Twitter is to Facebook. It’s live, real-time, happening now. USTREAM is a service where you serve up your video stream, whether that’s a fully produced video hosted on your own servers, a webcam connected to your laptop, or a screen capture feed from some video game you’re playing. Viewers tune in to the video and drop in to a live chat screen to interact with others who are watching the particular stream. The USTREAM Android client brings this to your smartphone. You can browse feeds by category or search for a particular one you want. You can mark favorites, share things with your friends, and best of all watch the video right from your smartphone. I’ll never miss another live stream of “ubergamer does some stuff” again! It’s free, in the Android Market.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: EyeNote, FREE
“An app developed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the blind or visually impaired to increase accessibility to our paper currency. With EyeNote, you can have the denomination of a note scanned (uses the camera on the iPhone) and announces the amount back to the user. It recognizes a bill on the front and back, so it doesn’t matter what side you hold in front of your camera. It will tell you. The app also shows how many seconds it took to recognize the dollar bill. EyeNote works on the iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPhone 4, the 4th Generation iPod touch, and the iPad 2. It’s available as a free download. However, the app doesn’t authenticate a note as either real or counterfeit. That would be great if they can somehow do that in the future.” — Rob
• Chris recommends: Ripley iSword, $0.99
“It’s life or death when you play Ripley iSword! A cut-throat game that allows you to experience sword swallowing first-hand.”
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
Guest in this hour:
Laura Yecie, CEO – SugarSync
Want to access your files securely from anywhere or any device? With Back-to-School Season coming up in a few weeks, SugarSync might be something students and teachers can benefit from.
Ladd in Miami, Florida listening online asked: “I was wondering if the TV technology has advanced enough to have a cable “hub” of some sort in the garage with wired or wireless connections to all 8 of our TVs, so we can record and playback DVR programs from each set in high definition? On another note, is there a basic desktop you can recommend for my wife that will:
1. Send and receive emails,
2. Access the web, and
3. Download her pictures and videos from a digital camera, edit them, and store them for later printing.”
The best bet, and probably least expensive solution Ladd, is to get additional HD boxes from your cable company (assuming the signal coming into your home is strong enough to provide HD to 8 different locations). There are “Whole Home” solutions for getting video and audio to multiple TVs, but they’re generally very pricey.
Pretty much all the cable companies offer “Whole Home DVRs” or “Any Room” DVRs. Basically you can record something in one room and watch it in any other room.
Chris had this, for a while, with AT&T U-Verse (until he moved to an area that didn’t offer it anymore). They had one main DVR that was placed in the living room where the Cable signal came into the house. They then had smaller set top boxes in the other rooms. These smaller set-top boxes linked up with the main box in the living room and allowed up to watch whatever was recorded out there. They could also start watching something in one room and pick up where we left off, in another. Of course they were limited as to what we could record. They could record 4 standard definition or 2 high definition programs at a time. And since they also had their Internet through U-Verse, when they recorded multiple programs at once, it slowed their connection down, although it usually wasn’t enough to make much of a difference.
About the second question, you don’t necessarily need a very powerful computer to edit pictures, as long as you’re not doing very intensive editing. If you’re dealing with lots of huge RAW files and doing intensive changes then you may need more processing power, but if all she’s doing is fixing red eyes and cropping or even adjusting the colors a little then any regular computer will do.
You could look at something like: a Gateway 4850, it’s got a Core i5 processor, 6GBs of RAM, a 1TB hard drive to give her plenty of storage for her pictures, and it comes with an Intel HD Graphics 2000 graphics card, which is not exactly the most powerful card in the world, but it should be enough to edit pictures. The Gateway 4850 sells for $499.
For $699, you could buy an HP Pavillion Elite HPE-210F, a more powerful system with 8GBs of RAM, the same 1TB hard drive but with a more powerful graphics card.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“Wireless Update” Weekly Feature with Chuck Hamby
So you’ve gotten junior a brand new cellphone, and maybe even a smartphone. Was that such a good idea? Tell us, Chuck Hamby.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
C.Crane: Several Super USB WiFi Antenna
Endangerbles: Several music CDs to help children learn about endangered species
VSO Software: Copies of Convert-X-to-DVD 4 – Lets you convert videos to DVD and watch on any DVD player.