HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Dan from Greenville, Pennsylvania listens via the Android App and asked: “I’m looking to put wireless speakers into my backyard. I’ve heard of a couple of different systems out there, I was wondering if you guys had any advice as to the best way, and if you can give me some idea of the cost of getting the WiFi speakers and everything into the back. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks guys, love the show.”
You can try the Outcast Wireless Speakers JR, made of high impact ABS with UV stabilizer to keep it looking good through sun exposure. The Outcast JR has a 6″ woofer, although it uses the same 360 degree array of four 3″ drivers as the Outcast for the mids and highs. The internal rechargeable battery pack should last between 4-6 hours at maximum volume or 18 hours in battery saver mode. The Outcast JR is available for $499 plus $99 for the transmitter. With it, you can listen to any MP3 player, iPod, home theater audio system or TV. This system is shipped without a transmitter, so that if you wish to add a second Outcast for Left and Right configurations which the system is capable of, you can do so.
You can also try the Rock Speakers Bundles with dual transmitter. They are designed to look just like real rocks. The casing on the speakers are weatherproof so you don’t have to worry about the weather damaging your speakers or compromising the sound quality. The Rock Speakers come with dual power transmitter and uses either AC power or battery power. The system transmitter supports all types of audio inputs including, RCA inputs for home theater receivers, MP3 players or computers. The Rock Speakers are available online for about $125.
One thing to keep in mind is that wireless speakers are susceptible to interference and can have quite a bit of static in an outdoor environment. Also, they’ll usually be battery powered with some sort of sleep mode and auto shut off, so you need to be prepared to go switch them on again if the music goes silent for a while.
I know you said “wireless,” but if you want the ultimate outdoor sound, the Bose Free Space 51, while very expensive, are also very, very rugged and they sound terrific. You’ll see them used outdoors in places like Epcot Center. They’re green and can be actually mounted IN the ground, but you do have to run speaker wire to them. They’re also $450 for a pair. But, if you want to have loud, theater quality sound appearing like magic from the hedge, these are your speakers.
A bargain option is the outdoor speaker system we have at our studio patio — it’s called the Sound Blaster Wireless Rock Outdoor Speaker from Creative. This was a hit during this past Christmas season! We had our tunes playing for our neighbors. It’s designed to look like a granite rock, has a rechargeable battery, it’s weatherproof and blends in outside your home. The speaker works with Sound Blaster wireless transmitters to provide quality sound … wirelessly. All you do is connect a transmitter to your PC or Mac, hit the connect button on both transmitter and rock, and hit “play”. The Sound Blaster Wireless Rock Outdoor Speaker and Transmitter is currently available as a bundle for $180 online from Creative’s website.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Carol Mangis
Smartphones have become the new frontier in cybercrime. Many users store lots of important personal data and carrying it around all the time leaves a smartphone to threats. Donna Tapellini, Senior Editor for Consumer Reports has some important tips for protecting your smartphone data.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Dave recommends: iBlink Radio, FREE
“Radio stations, podcasts and reading services of special interest to blind and visually impaired persons; as well as their friends, family, caregivers and those wanting to know what life is like without eyesight.
All stations under Community Radio are owned and/or operated by persons with limited or no eye sight. Genres include oldies, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, alternative, classic Rock, Old Time Radio and Podcasts are produced by blind and partially sighted individuals, and cover topics including: broadcasting, computers, radio, technology, Independant Living, Travel, and lots more. It’s FREE and also available for iOS. Tune in to Hour 3, and hear Mike Calvo from the company that produces this worthy App.” — Dave
• Mark recommends: Weight Watchers, FREE
“The NEW Weight Watchers mobile app. If you’re a subscriber to Weight Watchers online, or you purchased a eTools subscription as part of your meeting package, you can have access to this free Android app. The new version is still in beta, but I didn’t find any bugs or problems with it on my Droid 2. It makes working with Weight Watchers online as easy with your phone as it is with the full web site. You have access to the databases, the points and activity trackers, menus, recipes, shopping lists, articles of all kinds. As someone who is trying (again) to lose weight (some more) because he’s very fat (always), I’m finding this tool to be extremely useful. It’s free, in the Android Market.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: Photo Stats, $0.99
“Infographic Creator for your iPhone Pictures. If you use your iPhone camera constantly — everywhere you go — then this is a cool app for you. You’ll be able to create a cool infrographic about how, when and where you take pictures on your iPhone.” — Rob
Rob’s stats:
Rob’s World Map
Rob’s Top Cities
Rob’s Preferred Photo Orientation
Rob’s Flash Use
• Listener Shawn in Iowa recommends: Lookout, FREE
“Hey there ‘Team IT’! I wanted to let you know about my favorite android App this week. It is called Lookout- an anti malware/virus and safe browsing App. It also lets me find my phone if I lose it via satellite or by making it “scream” and it is VERY loud. No matter if it is off or on vibrate I can now locate my android phone. Free version does all this, and the paid version also backs up phone logs and pictures.” — Shawn
• Listener Laura recommends our own Into Tomorrow App (iOS | Android), FREE
“Why The Into Tomorrow App of course … to listen to Dave Graveline’s sweet sweet voice … oh … and to get the latest tech news :D” — Laura
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
Guest in this hour:
Ross Cohen, Co-Founder – BeenVerified
Do you really know the person you might be dating? Do you know your neighbors? Your co-workers? Your employees? BeenVerified.com offers Background Checks, Property Reports, Social Search and Reverse Phone Search. It aggregates the most up-to-date public record databases available through their web-based software.
Tom in Albuquerque, New Mexico listens to the Podcast asked: “I have a Velocity Micro Cruz R10 e-Reader running Android Eclair. I managed to speed it up on the processor. It says that it plays MP4 video format. But for some reason the MP4 video I converted from AVI doesn’t work. Is there a certain set of format specs I should use or does Android 2.0 hate video?”
There are a few things you should look at. First, is the firmware. The current release is dated July 24th, 2011, and we’ve heard from a number of sources that it makes the Cruz run much smoother. So if you’re not on that level of firmware yet, download it from the Velocity Micro website (we’ll have a link to that page in the show notes) and install it.
Second, is the software you use. We’ve seen numerous reports of people successfully playing MP4 videos on their Cruz R103 tablets with the Doubletwist Android app. You might want to give that one a try. Doubletwist bills itself as “iTunes for Android,” but it will play your music and video files as well. And no, Android 2.0 doesn’t hate video. It’s not a great version of Android, and sadly your Cruz R10 cannot be upgraded to Android 2.2, but it doesn’t hate video as a general rule.
Finally, does this MPEG-4 video play on your computer? I know that’s sort of a “check the plug” question, but are you sure this is a good video to begin with? We hope these suggestions are helpful. Thanks for listening!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“Wireless Update” Weekly Feature with Chuck Hamby
A lot of us hit the road in the summertime, catching flights and seeing sights. Chuck Hamby is here to talk about one important thing we should look for along the way.
Listener Chuck asked: “Is Microsoft’s Zune dead?”
There have been reports that say Microsoft is killing the Zune HD player after years of unsuccessfully trying to compete with Apple’s iPod. But, Microsoft has denied those reports.
Much to our surprise, just last week, Microsoft released nine new Zune HD apps — (Finger Paint, Calendar, Trash Throw, Slider Puzzle, ColorSpill, Splatter Bug, Vine Climb, Decoder Ring, and Tug-O-War). They also updated 5 older apps. By updating those apps, it may elude to them continue to support their current Zune players, even if they decide to discontinue them. In fact, when you visit the Zune website, their main push is their Zune software across different devices — on your Windows Phone 7, on your PC or on your Xbox. So, Zune software may stick around, but Zune players … we’ll have to see what Microsoft decides to do with them.
Question for our audience: Do any of you own a Zune HD player? What will you do with it if Microsoft discontinues it? Call us now 1-800-899-4686.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
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
Lynda.com: 1-year premium gift subscription – You’ll have access to all of Lynda.com instructional videos, on hundred of topics.