HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Bruce in Wichita, Kansas asked: “I would like to have you all’s opinion on this browser called RockMelt, I’ve got it on my computer and use it some, it’s very good for Facebook, so appreiciate if you guys could tell me that.”
They’re calling RockMelt a “Social Browser.” That’s why it works so well with Facebook. It’s supposed to. It’s based on Chromium, so it inherits Google Chrome’s speed, looks, and basic functionality on both Mac and Windows.
After you install the RockMelt, you log in to the browser before you use it. You authorize it to connect to your Facebook account, and it is instantly customized for your social circle, showing your friends and your favorite sites in slim sidebars. You can connect and chat with your Facebook friends while you surf the web.
It does appear to be a very slim and somewhat basic web browser, so don’t expect too many bells and whistles apart from the Facebook integration. But that’s the crowd they’re going after – the social networker, not the “power user” or businessman.
Where Rockmelt really shines is for the user who wants to keep up with their Facebook and Twitter feeds, but doesn’t want to have to remain on those web pages in order to do so. You can be working with email, calendar, or browsing any other web site, and still see updates or be available for chat.
Rockmelt isn’t just “sort of” Google Chrome, it’s so much the same as Chrome that you get access to all your Chrome extensions, automatically.
So if you’re a social networking addict, or someone who needs to keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter for business or professional reasons — and there is a lot more of that happening these days, as companies invest in social media and hire people to administrate it — Rockmelt is an excellent choice.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Ryan in Pinetop, Arizona asked: “My daughter is gonna be a sophomore in high school. On about a $300 to $500 budget, we’re considering either a mini laptop, a laptop, or an iPad (if we can even get one at that price) and I wanted to find out what would be most useful to her and why.”
Well, the answer really depends on whether or not that device will be the only computer she’ll have access to. If there are other computers in the house, she might be able to get away with just using a netbook or even an iPad, but if this is the going to be her main device you should look at a regular laptop.
For many years, I have personally used Sony VAIOs. You can have a look at the Sony VAIO VPCEL13FX/W Laptop (we’ll link you from this week’s show notes so you don’t have to remember that long name), it’s got a dual core processor, 15.5-inch screen with 4GBs of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. That laptop will only set you back $479 at TigerDirect.com, so it will be within your budget.
Another notebook computer that is within your price range is the Acer Aspire AS5750G-6804. It has similar specs to the Sony, but comes with a 1GB NVIDIA GT 520M video chip in it for better graphics handling. It’s $499 at Newegg.com, so once again it fits in your budget. We’ll have a link to that system in the show notes, also.
If you want to go the netbook route, it can be even cheaper than that, you can get a Toshiba netbook with a 10.1-inch screen for $269, and that’s not even the cheapest one.
As for what would be more useful to her, it’s hard to say without know what she needs it for but, generally speaking, a laptop will be able to do everything, a netbook will be able to do less, but with a longer battery life and in a smaller package, and an iPad will be the most limited.
A netbook can’t run very intensive programs, they’re designed with slower processors that use less power, and typically have less RAM memory as well, so if she’s going to be editing videos, playing games, or using any really professional, powerful software a netbook may not be enough. If she’s going to be online most of the time, it might be enough.
An iPad, in terms of software, is limited to what’s in the Apple App Store, and will not play just any content, like flash videos. An iPad would work for her if she was just going to be consuming content, but it’s not great for creating documents, websites or anything like that.
If you were to go the iPad route, you’d be over budget. Sure, the least expensive iPad 2 is $499, but you have to add sales tax and a cover for protection (will cost you about $30-$50). Since it will be used primarily for school, then we would recommend buying the keyboard dock. It’s useful for typing long emails, notetaking or creating docs with the Pages app. That adds $69. In my experience and honest opinion, I don’t recommend going the iPad way. The iPad can be useful with productive apps, but it’s still limited and can be expensive. For instance, to print stuff from the iPad, you’d have to buy a compatible HP printer (AirPrint is only compatible with select HP printers). And, you’ll need a computer to sync, backup and update the iPad. It’s not realistic to use the iPad as a stand-alone device for school work. A laptop or netbook may be your best choices.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Jim Willcox
Consumer Reports Senior Editor Jim Willcox says it was a busy Black Friday thanks to the avalanche of retailers advertising big sales on HDTV’s. But, did you get a good deal?
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: Vlingo Virtual Assistant for Android, FREE or $1.99 to remove ads
“This app was one of my favorites on my old BlackBerry, giving me the ability to speak to the phone and have it do things like send text messages, read my email to me, dictate replies, open applications like the calendar, etc. When I switched to Android, I was sad to lose it. Android’s built in voice recognition is nowhere near as good. Well, Vlingo for Android is out. And if you don’t mind looking at ads, it’s even free. I recall playing $17 for this app on my BlackBerry, so paying $1.99 to remove the ads on my Android phone didn’t phase me in the least. Just as before, you just talk to it. You can tell it to do almost anything (within reason, of course, “bring me a beer” still won’t work, but “find me a place to buy beer” would). It has the InCar mode with a single touch where it will read incoming texts and respond to the phrase “Hey Vlingo” to wake up, not requiring you to touch your phone at all. It’s in the Android Market now, highly recommended.” — Mark
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: Snapseed, FREE
“Probably one of the best photo-enhancing apps on the App Store! Aside from doing the regular tweaking (cropping, straightening and auto-tuning) any you can add some really cool effects. And, like on Photoshop, you can select where you want to add the effect with the “Selective Adjust” tool. It doesn’t have to be on the entire picture like other apps do. The app has instructions that show you how to adjust and play with the tools and settings. My favorite effects are the Vintage and Grunge filters.”
— Rob Example:
Original picture
After applying Snapseed’s “Grunge” effect
• Chris recommends: FBI Child ID, FREE
“The free FBI Child ID app provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your child so that it’s literally right at hand if your child goes missing.” Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Angie Hicks, Founder – Angie’s List
Do you have any home improvement work to be done? Maybe you need to choose a health care provider? Well, our next guest is helping people choose and rate those and many other local services.
Patty in Guam asked: “I believe my computer has frozen up on me. I need my information because I am a librarian and I’m cataloging information in a library program. I don’t know how to get it unfrozen. I press control, something and delete, and nothing. I press escape and nothing happens. I turned it off and back on and nothing happens. I get a popup that comes in saying your monitor is working, but check your PC. I’m frustrated. Can you please tell me how to unfreeze my computer?”
You may not be able to, if restarting it is not making it come back. It’s possible that your facing a hardware issue. Depending on what hardware issue it is, you may still be able to get your information back.
Basically, if your hard drive is still working, you should still be able to access everything that was in there. The problem is that we cannot tell you if that’s the issue from here, we’d need to have access to your machine.
Unfortunately, the only way you’re gonna be able to get this machine up and running again is by having someone look at it and figure out what’s wrong in person. You can probably have someone visit you or visit a local computer repair shop or electronics store in your area.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Amanda in Miami Lakes listens online and asked: “I have a touchscreen in my car. What’s the best way to clean it?”
There are a few good ways to safely clean touchscreens. One is to simply use a microfiber cloth with some distilled water. Wring out most of the water leaving the cloth slightly damp. The reason you want to use distilled vs. tap water for this is that distilled water doesn’t contain the microscopic impurities and minerals that, over time, could damage the screen.
CHRIS: Another way is to buy a “screen cleaning kit” that includes anti-static wipes. These kits typically use the proper chemicals to safely clean without damaging your screen. One product we use here for everything from touchscreens to laptops is Zagg Wipes XL Gadget Cleaning Wipes. These are also antibacterial, so that helps kill any germs that are on your screen from people’s fingers. You can find Zagg Wipes XL online at places like Amazon.com for about ten bucks.
MARK: One thing you don’t want to do, though, on a touchscreen or even a TV, is use glass cleaner. Glass cleaner usually has ammonia or alcohol in it that can damage your screen over time.
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ROB: We’ve also used a product called “Screen Guard Foam Cleaning Spray” on our electronics with touchscreens. It’s safe for LCD & Plasma, Navigation Screens, cell phones, keyboards, and Laptops. It comes with a micro fiber towel. Screen Guard is available online for under $17.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Michael in Tyler, Texas listening on KTBB 92.1 FM asked: “Is it true that you can save a cell phone by putting it in a bowl of uncooked rice when it gets wet?
“It’s not 100% fool proof, but yes, sometimes it can work. Rice absorbs moisture easily and sometimes leaving a wet cell phone in a bowl of uncooked rice can be enough to dry it and make it work again.
Keep in mind that you will have to leave it in the rice for a long time, you can’t just put it down for half an hour and then just expect it to work, and that it’s not a fix for every cell phone that gets wet, if you take your cell phone out for a swim every morning, all the rice in India won’t save it.
Having said that, if you happened to drop your phone in water, take out the battery right away, and put it in a bowl of rice for a few days, it may have a chance!
Back in December of 2008, Rob tested this and other theories to save a drowned cell phone, and here’s the video of that experiment for your enjoyment.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Listener Art asked: “Why would Netgear come out with a DSL modem/wireless router, when DSL is slow and old technology?”
DSL isn’t necessarily slow and old, in some places (places with decent phone lines) you can get very respectable DSL speeds.
Generally speaking cable is faster and fiber optic lines even faster, but phone lines are more common than cable TV, so DSL can be very convenient for a lot of people who may not have cable, or access to cable internet.
And then there’s the obvious economic reason, it doesn’t matter if DSL is the top of the line, best way to get internet or not, what matters is that it’s popular and as long as it’s popular Netgear and it’s competitors will try make and try to sell DSL modems.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Boingo: Two months of FREE Boingo WiFi Service available at hundreds of thousands of hotspots worldwide
G-Technology: Several G-Drive Slim 1/2 a Terabyte (500GB) Silver Hard Drives
Solar Components: Several JOOS Orange Portable Solar Chargers – Designed to charge all personal electronic devices (cell phones, smart phones, MP3 players, GPS devices, portable game devices and more)
