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Consumer Reports Feature With Donna Tapellini
Amazon recently unveiled its next generation of Kindle tablets. How much have they improved? Consumer Reports Senior Editor Donna Tapellini is here with some details.
John in Bossier City, Louisiana listens on NewsRadio 710 KEEL called and asks us: “How do i improve my internet reception if my router is in another room?”
Depending on your current router’s model, you may be able to buy a similar one that will let you extend your network.
The setup varies a little bit depending on the particular router, but it will usually involve setting up the same network name and password and giving it the mac address of the router that’s creating the network you want to extend.
If you can run a wire to whatever room needs service, you may be able to connect an access point at the end of that wire and extend the network that way instead.
You can also use a wireless network extender, or repeater. Many wireless access points include a mode where they do this, and there are some dedicated repeaters that simply plug into an outlet like some kind of giant mutant air freshener. How they work is simple. They receive anything being broadcast on the frequencies used for wi-fi networks and rebroadcast them…for lack of a better word, “louder.” As long as you put the repeater where it can hear the existing network, it will extend it further into your house. I’ve used them in installations over the years, and they do really work.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Mark recommends: QuickOffice 6 from Google, FREE
- “I’ve reviewed Google Drive for iOS before, and explained that it’s an app to let you manage files that are stored on Google Drive and both edit and create Google Docs format files. But what about Microsoft Office files that you store in your Google Drive? What if you want to edit them without changing their format from Office to Google Docs? That’s where QuickOffice comes in. Google bought this product and has remade it to look exactly like their Google Drive app, only it edits Office documents, not Google Docs documents. It’s free and it works very well. My only comment is this. Since the two programs are virtual clones except for what documents they edit, why are these not combined in one app? I can only assume they will be. But, in the meantime, if you’re a Google Drive user and store Office documents in it, you need QuickOffice from Google. Free in the iTunes App Store.” — Mark
• Samantha recommends: iPeriod , FREE
- “It is a free app. It starts off as a tracking system for your menstrual cycle. But.. it does so much more. It allows you also to track your fertile days incase you are trying to become pregnant or not for that matter. It shows you in green your most fertile days and also provide you information for your average cycle length, predicted ovulation and much more. It even provides a chat area where you can ask questions to fellow members. In the chat area you can learn all types of acronyms like, BFP and BFN .I can tell you that the app really does work if you don’t want to spend the money on an ovulation predictor kits. How do I know.. his name is Kameron!” — Samantha
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:
Samantha Nevels, Coordinator Of Policy Communication – CEA
Major Bess Tyner of the SC National Guard listening via the Internet asked us: “My husband has a Mac that is running 10.7 i think. He bought it used because it had some software on it he wanted. Our son was messing with this, and when a message popped up asking to update the software. He clicked yes, but we don’t have the first owners password!! When the machine was turned on again, there was basically nothing. As the software was gone!!!!!! I heard my husband giving our son the “what were you thinking” along other things in Afghanistan! He has the little usb drive with the system in which we did on ebay. Is there any way to get this fixed? The software lost would cost 1500 to 2000. If you can help i will offer you all some huge hugs and eternal thanks.”
This is a tough one… there’s no reason for the software to go away, unless the software company that made it thought it was pirated and removed it or disabled it during the update. If you don’t have the password and it’s asking for it, there’s a decent chance that the old version of the software was removed to make room for the new version, and the installer is actually asking for the product key to go forward with the new installation.
Whatever the case, if it’s gone, getting it back won’t be easy, do you have a backup from before your son tried to update your computer? If you do, you may be able to roll things back to the way they were before then. Mac OS X allows you to reinstall the OS and restore from a Time Machine backup, so if you can do that your missing software may come back.
What’s on your USB drive that you got with the computer? If it’s just a recovery drive for the OS, then it may only be useful to you if you need to leave the computer in the state it was in when it shipped from the factory: brand new OS and nothing else on it, but it likely won’t bring back the expensive program that disappeared.
If it’s a backup from the time the old owner sold the computer, that’s a different story, it may bring back the program and leave everything in the state the computer was in when you bought it.
Unfortunately, bringing back the old software without a product key (if that’s the password that you’re being asked for) may not be possible in any legal way, you can always opt for the less than legal option, obviously, but on a $1500 – $2000 piece of software, risk may be high, especially if you use it for anything other than home use.
Adobe and Microsoft, for example, are both big on auditing businesses they suspect of using their software illegally.
It may be the Apple ID that’s being asked for here. It’s quite common for Apple’s software update service to require the Apple ID and password to which the software was originally licensed. There isn’t a way around this, at least not one that we’ve found.
It’s not always well understood that software purchased through the Mac App store is linked to the Apple ID used to purchase it, and any updates require the same Apple ID.
But there are no $1500 to $2000 programs in the App store that we’re aware of, so it’s probably some sort of registration system put in place by the application vendor and not Apple. This should serve as a cautionary tale about used software. If the owner continued to use the software on a new computer, chances are that he or she authorized the software on THAT computer. So when you connected for updates, the updater was aware that your copy wasn’t licensed any longer.
Unfortunately, when it comes to used software, it’s definitely “buyer beware!”
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Yvette in Newark, Delaware listening on News Talk Radio WDEL 1150 AM calling in asked us: “I’m calling about a printer I bought. The printer is an HP 3512. Now it is suppose to print wirelessly from my smartphone. My phone is an LG Lucid Android 4G LTE. When the printer arrived I tried to print from my smartphone and it is set up only to my computer. I was told that there is an app that would allow me to print what is on my phone screen but I can’t find the app. Can you tell me what app would let me do this?”
HP’s printing app for Android is called HP ePrint. You can download it for free from the Google Play store and it will let you print to a long list of HP printers, though not all HP printers.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Dennis from Tupelo, Mississippi listens to Supertalk WWMR 102.9FM calling in asked us: “I got a new samsung 4 phone. I have two new plantronics bluetooth devices. I can’t pair them with the new phone. When I got to the bluetooth devices they are not discoverable; I need help!”
Unfortunately not all Plantronics headsets are the same. The phone side of things is easy, just turn on bluetooth and get ready to look for your headset, but the headset may have to be put into a discoverable mode.
For some models, that just means you have to hold down the answer button for 5 or 10 seconds, but some models have more complex instructions.
The same goes for pairing codes, most just have simple codes like 0000 or 1234, but some have real codes.
Since we don’t know your particular headset model, this link may help you, with the model number you should be able to find out the proper procedure very quickly.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
iolo: Copies of System Mechanic- Fix and speed up your PC Automatically.
TYLT: An assortment of Smartphone charging accessories and bluetooth speakers.
Nite Ize Innovation: Connect Case and Connect Cradle for iPhone – Hard case with belt clip, vehicle mount and desk stand.