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Tech News & Commentary
Tim in Sparta, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 and calling in via the App asked us: “I am looking for an app that will allow me to text my son from my Android phone to his iPod Touch. I don’t really want to go to an iPhone, so I’m trying to find something that’s compatible to both of us so he can text me while he’s at the house and I’m at work.”
Tim, A great free app that you should consider is TextPlus available for both Android and IOS. You can get an unlimited texting group and even also lets you set up your own phone number. It is ad-supported, but it will get the job done. TextNow is another free unlimited texting app similar to TextPlus but just with a simpler interface. [JP]
There are however hundreds of messaging apps that work on both iOS and Android that you could use, for example: Skype, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Viber, Kik, Yahoo Messenger, Nimbuzz, Line, Tango, Pinger, BBM and lots and lots more.
Basically, as soon as users figured out that you can text for free using your data and it has less of an effect over the course of a month than opening a single YouTube video does, messaging apps got popular.
They’re all basically the same, pick whichever you like best.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Facebook Participation: What wearable technology do you have and are you still using it or what wearable technology would you like to have and why?
Here are some of the responses we got:
John from Coral Springs, Florida said he had the first Galaxy Gear for a while, but wasn’t completely thrilled with it. He’s hoping to see some improvements with the second generation.
John in Bridgewater, New Jersey stated that he has worn his Fitbit Force since he got it for Christmas. It is a great device (and no…he’s not one of the teeny tiny percentage that have complained so loudly the device is not be sold any more). It’s a great device and VERY helpful in his efforts to get fit (no pun intended). If I he had to raise a criticism he has two. Continued (but promised soon) lack of full support for Windows Phone (but… it’s not just Fitbit that has been promising that support for a while) and secondly the lack of BP/Pulse monitoring. That is the one key bit of info missing my fitness monitoring and needs to be addresses. Based upon the quality of the product though he probably will be looking for that solution from Fitbit themselves..
Tom said he already has a piece of wearable technology. He has the Aftershokz Bluetooth bone conduction headphones. If he wanted a smart watch it should be able to take a good knocking in doors and water resistant and just alert me to incoming messages and have all alarms programmed from the phone and that’s it. Oh and on the headphones, I sympathize with the studio limiters. Mark’s Starbucks induced 3 hours can make neurons misfire.
For more listen to hour 2 of the podcast on the right side of this page.
Brady in Tupelo, Mississippi listening on 102.9 asked us: “I’m running windows vista business, it suddenly started playing snippets of audio and it looks like it coming from YouTube or from some other source, but it is using up 75% of memory. When I try to shut it down I get a “Dcom server process error” and it shuts the computer down a few minutes later, do you know what can be causing that?”
Brady, We’re sorry to have to tell you, but it sounds like you’re infected by some kind of malware.
“Dcom process error” is, apparently, a fairly common error caused by some viruses that hijack your computer for their own purposes. This doesn’t absolutely have to be the case, there’s a chance that it could be something benign failing, having said that, the fact that you hear some mysterious YouTube video playing in the background seems to support the virus theory.
It’s likely that someone is turning your computer into a zombie YouTube watcher to boost their own views. When YouTube displays ads on videos, they pay the uploader a small amount of money for each view the ad gets, and a little more money for every ad that is actually clicked.
The trouble is that YouTube will detect fraud pretty easily and close the uploaders account if a video has, say, 4000 views 3900 of which come from the same physical location, there have even been multimillion dollar lawsuits against people who defrauded affiliate programs like theirs, sometimes through fairly sophisticated means.
That’s where the virus comes in, someone may be getting views from thousands of different locations by infecting computers like yours all over the world. Try to run a virus scan and see if anything comes up, unfortunately, odds are something will.
If the virus scan turns up negative, we’d recommend also trying MalwareBytes Pro, a software program specifically designed to ferret out and remove malware. You can download the on demand version of their scanner for free from the website at malwarebytes.org.
We would recommend restarting Windows in safe mode before running the MalwareBytes scanner. Just click Start, type MSCONFIG into the Run box and press enter. Go to the Boot tab and check Safe Mode. Once you’re done scanning and disinfecting, reverse that process for a normal boot up.
If MalwareBytes helps you, you can buy an annual license for $25 and run the program resident, like an antivirus tool, to prevent infections in the first place.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
John Durbin, Director of Project Management – Viper
Vehicle security & auto remote start system
CEA Update with Allison Fried
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Here’s Samantha Nevels with the Consumer Electronics Association with some tips to help you be safer behind the wheel in this week’s CEA Update.
Product Spotlight: Ooma Telo
Chris reviewed the $150 Ooma Telo on the show, you can also find out more by watching last week’s ITTV video:
Christopher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana listening Online asked us: “My question is about waterproofing a cell phone. My cousin just washed hers in the laundry, causing her beaucoups problems & a needed replacement. I think you covered this, previously, but I want to recommend a method of saving her the grief in the future. Isn’t there a silicone solution that will coat a cell phone to protect it? If not, what else is a good solution to this possible disaster?”
Christopher, Nothing will save a phone if you throw it in with your laundry, there are waterproof phones, there are waterproof cases, but nothing will keep a phone safe after being tumbled around under water and detergent.
if you want to protect a phone from milder situations, a Lifeproof case may help, they make several waterproof cases for different phones. Otterbox also offers waterproof cases, and while their models are different for now, they should be at least as good as the Lifeproof cases, considering the own Lifeproof.
InnoPocket makes cases that are less standard looking, you have to screw them on, but they should keep your phone dry under reasonable conditions. Again though, having your phone submerged in a whirlwind of water and soap for an hour is pretty much going to be a death sentence nine times out of ten.
Smartphone makers are becoming more sensitive to people dunking their phones, however. The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is advertised as being able to survive being submerged for up to 30 minutes (assuming you’ve used the supplied charging port plug). That doesn’t account for soap and washing machine agitation, however. It still won’t save people who wash their phones. But it will save phones that get dropped in the sink, or that are in your pocket when someone tosses you in a pool, etc.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Steve from Red Oak, Iowa listening via 960AM KMA Land called us and asked: “I bought a Toshiba laptop. It was P55 A5200 Model. When I received it, it did not work. It loaded the basic info then went to a black screen (Backlit but Dark). I’m concerned about buying another one without knowing if there’s a problem with this one, or if I should go to another model or even another brand. I’ve had 5 Toshiba Laptops and have had no problems ever.”
Steve, You most likely just got a bad one… Toshiba is not in the habit of shipping dead computers regularly.
In terms of reliability they’re a little bit above the middle of the pack in surveys, so they’re not the most reliable brand in the world, but they’re also far from the worst. The surveys are typically giving the most reliability in PCs to ASUS these days.
If you’ve never had any trouble with Toshiba laptops take this as a freak occurrence, Toshiba’s reliability hasn’t dropped significantly over the years, so you’ll probably experience about the same quality you’re used to.
The Satellite P55-A5200 is based around a 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processor. It’s a mid-range laptop built with last year’s technology aimed at the general consumer market. It should work just fine for you. Unless you’re having buyer’s remorse, give ‘em another chance!
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Noizy: Kameleon Series Bluetooth earbuds
Other World Computing (OWC): Nuguard KX phone cases for Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 4/4S and 5
Ventev: Assortment of their new products — like the PowerCell 6000+ Rapid Charger, cases for the new Galaxy S5 Smartphone, ChargeSynce tangle-free USB cables for Android & Apple devices & more.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!