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Tech News & Commentary
Mike in Louisville, Kentucky asked: “I want to buy an iPhone, but my wife is very frugal and cheap. Any advice on persuading her to let me buy an iPhone?”
Short of telling her it’s cheaper than buying 2 iPhones, it’s gonna be tough to find a reason why buying an iPhone is cheap.
The iPhone itself — you might be able to convince her — is a decent deal. $200 for a device that does as much as the iPhone does is not too bad a price, but the monthly plan is a tougher sell.
A frugal person is unlikely to think that a phone contract that costs around $100/month is a great deal, you might be better off going with the “honey, it costs a lot, but I want it” approach. There’s really no way to disguise this as a money-saving move.
Perhaps you can use it for business or for all the smart applications you can have on the iPhone. Also, it’s a great buy because it will keep you busy (playing Angry Birds, Words With Friends or Draw Something) and you won’t be bothering her.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Carol Mangis
One of the newest tablets to hit the market recently is the Sony Tablet P, a dual-screened, folding, Nintendo DS-inspired model. Consumer Reports Web Editor Carol Mangis tell us if it’s worth considering.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: FX Foto Editor Free, FREE
“FX Foto Editor Free is an Android photo editing app that includes every feature you can imagine for editing your photos and offers a unique touch controlled user interface that’s ideally suited to smartphones and tablets. I especially like how you can intensify or change effects just by sliding your finger around the screen. The on screen editing process makes it extremely easy to see what you’re going to get. One of my favorite effects is Time Matrix, which allows you to swipe down the screen to go back in time and make your picture look as if it were snapped in some historical setting. There is a paid version for $3.99 that allows you to work with higher resolution images and skip the banner ads that you find in the free version. If you’re evaluating Android photo editors, FX Foto is worth a look!” — Mark
For iOS:
• Chris recommends: Songify, FREE
“Songify turns speech into music, automatically! Songify’s unique songification technology was invented by Khush to turn speech into music and is not the same as Antares Auto-Tune, which does not work on speech.”
Some Recommendations from listeners:
• Robbie recommends:Stitcher. “The best way to listen to podcasts.”
• Trevor in Alaska recommends:Aurora Forecast and Aurora Live.” If you live far enough north and like photographing the northern lights, these are handy. I have them on my iPhone. Also, 3D Sun. Tells you when solar flares erupt and shoot towards the earth. Havoc for you. Awesome for us.”
• Cory recommends:Draw Something for iPhone. “It’s the 21st century version of pictionary you play with friends. Very time consuming and helps you to get less work done.”
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Jessica Dolcourt, Senior Associate Editor – CNET Reviews
Want to ditch your cell phone contract early? Jessica shares some important tips you should know before you go.
Ray in Niagara Falls, New York listening online asked: “I’m Interested in getting either a Roku box or an Apple TV, but I have DSL and my speed is only ‘2.90’ and I don’t know if that’ll be fast enough. Roku makes 3 different boxes, so I don’t know which one to go with if I do that, but I’m sort of a fanboy of the Apple products, so i was thinking about the Apple TV. Please give me some insight as to which one would work best for me at that speed or if it would even work at all.”
What do you want to do with your new box? Apple TV lets you access movies and TV shows from the iTunes library, from Netflix and from computers on the same network. It can also access videos from some other sources like YouTube, the NBA, MLB, NHL and Vimeo.
Roku boxes, on the other hand, let you watch that content — except from the iTunes library — plus Hulu Plus, and content from several different providers that you can add from their library of channels.
Roku has a lot of content. And, the Roku 2 even does games. So it’s a pretty good choice. But, if you like Apple products you might enjoy how well Apple TV plays with the rest of their products. You can stream music, movies and pictures from iPods, iPhones, iPads and iTunes, straight to your TV.
We should mention one (potentially) negative thing about the Roku box. We’ve read reports of it slowing down if users add too many channels to their libraries, so you may need to make sure you only add what you plan to watch, if you get one.
You asked about the speed of your connection. Roku or Apple TV will both demand decent broadband speeds, so odds are that won’t carry a huge weight in determining your choice. 2 or 3 Mb/s may be on the slow side for high def streaming, but you may be able to still do it.
One notable thing Roku does not have is access to YouTube videos, however. If you’re wanting to tap in to the vast library of videos on that network, Apple TV would be the one to look at right now. There are some third party hack workarounds for YouTube on Roku, but using them is against the rules and Roku shuts them down whenever it finds them. Official Roku YouTube support is in process, but it’s not here yet.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Don from Tullahoma, Tennessee asked: “My wife has a Dell Inspiron 1525. When the computer goes to sleep and you open it back up, the keyboard will not work (90 out of 100 times). Can you help me with this problem?”
this is a fairly common problem and there doesn’t seem to be a clear solution to it. You should probably check that Windows and your BIOS are updated. This may stem from an issue that was resolved at some point, so if Microsoft or Dell spotted the problem and found the solution, updating your computer might make the problem go away.
You can also go try going to Device Manager and click on your keyboard and make sure that under Power Management “Allow this device to wake the computer” is checked, this seems to solve the problem for some people, but not for everyone.
Since there’s no official solution, and no agreement by users on how to fix the problem either, we can’t give you a definite solution, but we hope those tips help.
In some Inspiron 1525 models, there can be an issue with the cable that connects the keyboard and trackpad to the main board. There is a procedure that one user documented on the Dell support forums for taking the computer apart and inserting a piece of tape behind the connector to shield it. This is heavy lifting geek stuff, and it requires some bravery and a willingness to void any remaining warranty, but if you want to give it a try the procedure is outlined here.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Victor in Buffalo, Missouri shared with us his experiences with his new iPad 3.
Thank you Victor!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Creative: Live! Cam Connect HD — Webcam that records 720p video
ScanMyPhotos.com: Several $200.00 eGift Certificates that can be used towards your purchase of any of their online products, such as: Prepaid Photo Scanning Box, Prepaid Slide Box, or Prepaid VHS Transfer Box
Scott Steinberg: Copies of his new book “The Modern Parent’s Guide to Kids and Video Games”