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Tech News & Commentary
Dave had some trouble shaving while he was recovering at the hospital.
What do you think? Do you like the beard? Call 1-800-899-INTO (4686) and let us know!
Janet in Bristol, Connecticut listens online and is calling via the App asked us: “I’m looking to replace a 7 year old laptop. I’m wondering if I should replace it with another laptop or go with a tablet. I use it basically to check e-mail, surf the web and pay bills online. If you do recommend a tablet, which one would you recommend?”
Janet, For your purposes you could actually get away with a tablet!
Most people can’t fully replace a laptop with a tablet, but email and web surfing are typically good missions for a tablet.
Keep in mind that if you do get one rather than a laptop, some pages may not work the way they’re supposed to. You won’t have Flash, some pages may insist on sending you to the crippled mobile version when you’d rather see the full site, and some layouts may not translate properly.
You also have the option of looking into a Chromebook. They look like laptops, but really, they’re more like web browsers that come with a built in screen and keyboard more than they are full computers. You cannot install any programs, everything runs on the browser. The upside of that is that they’re always up to date with all security patches, and that they should work for what you need and never really require any maintenance from you.
If you know anyone that would let you borrow a full computer every now and then if you need it, a tablet may be a viable choice for you, but otherwise maybe a cheap laptop is a good alternative. You don’t need any real power to run a web browser and check email, so the cheapest laptop you can find will probably fulfill your needs just fine.
If you do get a tablet, you probably want to go for a decent one, if you’re going to have a it as your sole machine. Look into an iPad or a high end Android tablet, but try to stay away from the very cheap Android tablets, you probably won’t be satisfied with their performance.
The one thing to keep in mind about both tablets and Chromebooks is printing. To print from a laptop is a simple thing. You just select the print option from whatever program you’re running, choose a printer, and that’s it. To print from a tablet or Chromebook, it gets complicated.
With an iPad, the printer would need to support AirPrint. If you buy one that does, then it’s just as easy as printing from a computer. You touch the “Send to” icon, choose “Print,” and select the printer you want from the list that pops up.
Android tablets and Chromebooks work the same way if you have a printer supporting Google Cloud Print. If your printer does not have direct support for it, but you have a computer running Google’s Chrome browser that can print on that printer, you can activate Cloud Print support on that computer and send your printing through there.
See what we mean? It’s fiddly. Just don’t let it surprise you. Printing is the one thing people never think about with tablets or Chromebooks, but it’s an important consideration.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports Feature With James McQueen
Battery life is surely one the biggest gripes most smart phone owners have. Luckily, some companies have started creating cases and external batteries that can extend that battery life, some claiming to double it. But do they work as well as they claim? Consumer Reports decided to test a few of them. Their electronics spokesman James McQueen is here with the results.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Chris recommends: I Hate Zombies, FREE
- “Let’s face it. We all hate zombies. The app I’m highlighting this week is an addictive game called I Hate Zombies. It puts YOU in the driver’s seat as you splatter hordes of zombies in the ultimate dash for freedom. You can choose from many different vehicles and perform jumps, flips and tricks as you nitro your way across the USA, leaving the undead in your wake. Splatter the zombies as you mow them down. But control your vehicle carefully. Land the wrong way and your vehicle falls apart and it’s game over. They’re calling this a fun fuelled ride through the zombie apocalypse! I Hate Zombies is free in the Apple App Store.” — Chris
• Michael recommends: SafeTrek, FREE
- “Ever walk through a part of town where you don’t feel safe? Well of course, there’s an app for that and it’s called SafeTrek. It’s absolutely invaluable to anyone walking anywhere where they don’t feel safe. You enter your info and set a pin and then whenever you don’t feel safe, you hold down the blue button until you do. Once you release the button you have 10 seconds to enter your pin, and if you don’t the police will be notified of your location and send a distress call.”
• AppCheck recommends: iCam, $4.99
- “iCam allows you to remotely monitor multiple live video and audio webcam feeds from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad over WiFi and EDGE/3G/4G/LTE.”
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:
Jason Glassberg, Co-Founder – Casaba
John in Columbia, Missouri listening via TuneIn and calling in via the App asked us: “I’m a teacher at a STEM school and I need a camera with a really high frame rate. The kids do experiments and they need to be able to look at it frame by frame. I probably need one that does 7,000 – 10,000 frames per second. But anyone that does more than 3,000 is better than I have. Do you know of anything that’s not too expensive?”
John, We discovered that there are wide variety of cameras ranging from 60 frames per second to 2 million frames per second. Now when looking for a camera with higher frames per second, you need to consider a much higher price tag, which may not be in your price range. Those cameras will cost you about $10,000 to $20,000, or more!
If money isn’t an issue, we would suggest you consider checking out the Olympus i-Speed TR, Photron has the FASTCAM SA-X2 (Model 480k), and Motion Capture Technologies MC-2 model, these companies have more industrial cameras for high speed capturing.
Now for those consumers looking for good high speed cameras that are slightly easier on your wallet, we would recommend checking out Sony FDR-AX100/B, Arri ALEXA XT, and the Canon Digital SLR Camera EOS- 1DX. These cameras could run you between $3,500 to $7,500 dollars.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Carol in Miami, Florida listens to our FREE “Into Tomorrow” Podcasts asked us: “How do you feel about the Hisense products? I’m looking particularly at the new 3D flatscreen TV, priced under $800 for the 55 inch.”
Carol, I can tell you that I have visited their factories and offices in Quingdao, China and for the price they have some decent products, some are even loaded with features.
If you are shooting for a true cinematic experience then you will certainly want to aim for more like a Samsung or Sony, but if price is your concern, Hisense may be a brand that you should at least look at. They are cheap and really trying to get in to the US market.
But that being said, HiSense hasn’t tested very high in terms of quality and we’ve found plenty of users with complaints about the warranty as well. If the price works for you, then it may be worth the risk, but keep in mind they’re marketing themselves as budget manufacturers, expect their quality to match that.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Other World Computing (OWC): NUGUARD KX – Kinectic Energy X-Orbing Case for Samsung Galaxy S4
iolo: Copies of System Mechanic – Tune-up your PC to increase performance and reliability.
Tylt: AL?N Screen Protectors for the iPad Air
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!