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HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Don in Parksville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: “I just bought an iPad 2 to read books, but my daughter confiscated it because she’s in college. Wondering if you could use MS Word on it. If so, I’ll just buy her the keyboard and let her use it.”
There’s no Microsoft Word for iPad, there are some other applications and services you can use that will let you edit Microsoft Word documents, but there’s no official Word for iPad.
Your daughter could use Microsoft’s SkyDrive, it’s free and it would let her use the latest version of Word, but she’d have to be online to be able to access it, nothing would actually reside on the iPad, it would all work by connecting to Microsoft’s servers.
The same would go for Google Docs, she could make Word-compatible documents, but she’d need to connect to Google’s servers to achieve that. If you’d prefer an app that will live on the iPad and will work whether she’s online or not, you can try Apple’s Pages. It will open Word documents, but it won’t offer every single feature Word offers. For example, Pages doesn’t allow footnotes, kind of a big deal on some college papers.
The truth is that your daughter is probably more interested in the fun aspect of the iPad than on the productivity aspect of it… for productivity, she’d still be better served by a laptop.
If you want to let her keep the iPad and all you use it for are books, you can look into a cheaper eBook reader, like the Kindle or the Nook, they’re not as full featured as iPads are, but they’re better for reading books, especially in direct sunlight, and they will cost you a lot less than replacing your iPad!
One exciting new technology you might want to investigate, if you do choose the iPad over the laptop, is OnLive Desktop. OnLive is a company who originally developed a “thin client” that allows you to play video games remotely over the Internet. Meaning that the game runs on their servers, and you play it as a client. We were skeptical that such a thing could be done, but it works very well. OnLive has now used that same remote access technology to create a desktop environment.
OnLive Desktop is an iOS app for iPad right now. iPhone and Android support will be available soon. It gives you a virtual Windows desktop and a copy of Microsoft Office to use remotely. All program features are enabled, this is not a limited use copy of Office. Your daughter would be able to create, edit, save, load, and print just as if she had Office actually ON the iPad.
And here’s the best part. It’s free. You’re limited to 2GB of cloud storage for your documents, and all you have access to is Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but the app and the service are completely free. They are planning to offer upgraded services with more storage and additional features soon, for a monthly or annual charge. You can find out more about OnLive Desktop by visiting desktop.onlive.com.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Mike Gikas
The LG Nitro HD is among the newest of AT&T’s expanding lineup of 4G LTE smartphones. But how does it stack up against competitor devices? Mike Gikas, Senior Editor for Consumer Reports shares how it did in their lab tests.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Dave recommends: Securafone, FREE
“Whether your is stuck on the side of the road somewhere, lost in a bad neighborhood or stranded in a winter storm, there’s a new app that can pinpoint your location, call 911 or notify friends and family with a simple swipe. That swipe will send your location out as an emergency beacon with exact directions on how to get to you. It’s called Securafone, a free app for iPhones and Android smartphones, is both a distracted driving app to help motorists stay focused on the road when driving and a beacon when things go badly.” — Dave
• Mark recommends: MyTaxRefund, FREE
“Have you e-filed your state or federal tax returns? Assuming you answered yes, good for you! Save some trees and speed up your refund payment! But doesn’t it feel just a wee bit like you’ve sent off an important letter with no confidence that the postal service will treat it with the same level of concern you have for it? Well, Intuit (makers of Quicken, Quickbooks, and TurboTax) have an app for you. It’s called MyTaxRefund by TurboTax, and other than saying its over-long name, it makes life simpler for the e-filer. You can find out the status of your state e-filed returns, as well as tracking the estimated deposit date for your federal refund. You can even have a deposit alert, and the app will let you know when your money should be in the bank. MyTaxRefund by TurboTax is free in the Android Market.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: Mad Lips, FREE
“Make your pictures talk. You can superimpose any video clip over a still picture. You can make your pets sing or your friends say funny stuff. It reminds me of the popular YouTube Series — Annoying Orange. It’s pretty simple to make your own creation. You first take a pic. Then, record a quick video clip. You then adjust the size and position of the lips. Hit done and then you can share the video clip online or save it to your Camera Roll. The app has some pre-loaded pictures you can use to add your mouth to. For example, you can use an Apple or Orange or a dog or a monkey or the Mona Lisa. It’s a really fun, wacky app.”
— RobChris Mad-Lipped:
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Bob Meighan, VP and CPA with TurboTax – Intuit
It’s time to file your taxes again! TurboTax can help you do it and check for errors so you don’t get audited.
Mustang Mary in North Miami, Florida listens to the podcast and asked: “Since I now have an AT&T Android Inspire 4G phone and still learning all the features, hence my email to you all … I am not “into” texting and did not get texting on my plan cause they want to charge me for it. I have heard there is an app for that (free texting). Do you know anything about it? Is it any good?! How do I find it, download it and is it really free?”
There are actually several you can use, Mary. You can try HeyWire. It will give a number and let you text for free in the US and another 45+ countries. The texts and the app are both free, and you can also use it to access Facebook Chat and Twitter.
Google has its own offering with Google Voice, the texts are free and have been free for a few years. But, that may change one day. We’ll see.
ChompSMS will also offer free texts, and it completely rips off the iPhone’s text messaging interface. So, if you like Apple’s user interface designs, you may enjoy using ChompSMS.
Pinger will also let you send free text messages and it will give you the option to send a paid text through AT&T from within the app as well, so even if you don’t have internet access you can still use it as your only text messaging app. So basically, you have a ton of options. As long as you have 4G or WiFi they’ll all be free, just have a look at them and see which on you like better.
One note of warning about Google Voice. It uses its own phone number, so your friends who want to send you texts will need to send them to a telephone number different from your cell phone’s. You can actually use Google Voice as a VoIP service connected to your cell phone, if you wish, and just have everyone call or text that one number. Google Voice will answer the voice calls also, prompt the caller for their name, and then call you, connecting the call if you accept it. It’s like having a personal assistant in your phone. If you want to port your cell phone number to Google Voice, you can, but getting control of the number again might be difficult.
But, Google Voice will give you unlimited free texting, it will let you make phone calls without using your plan minutes (it uses data instead, though, so watch those caps!), it will give you conference calling, call screening and call forwarding, one number “follow me” service that will ring you at multiple locations, and lots more, all for free!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Alex, Calling via our free app asked: “I’m interested in a wireless technology like Bluetooth so that I can play my music from my Android to my stereo.”
If you want to play music from your phone to your existing stereo, you can try something like the Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver, you can find it online for under $30, and it will remember up to 6 different Bluetooth devices.
If you’re open to new speakers and not just your existing stereo, you can have a look at the Phillips Fidelio Dock for Android, it will charge your phone and play your music through it’s built in speakers via Bluetooth, so when you don’t want to charge your phone you can keep it in your pocket and still play your music through the dock.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Main Street, Miami Lakes, the new home of “Into Tomorrow”
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Fanny Wang: Customize your own Fanny Wang noise-canceling headphones! We have a promo code for one lucky listener.
G-Technology: Several G-Drive Slim 500GB — Ultra-slim portable USB Drive
Honestech: Audio Recorder 3.0 Plus – Convert all of your music, including cassettes, LPs and 8-track tapes, into MP3s, WAV files, audio CDs and MP3 CDs, and listen to them on your portable music players.
ZAGG: ZAGGkeys FLEX Tablet Keyboard & Stand – A versatile standalone Bluetooth keyboard for smartphones and tablets. An $80 value.