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Tech News & Commentary
Jim in New Port Richey, Florida calling in via the App asked: “My friend recently jailbroke his iPad. I believe that’s the proper term. I’m thinking about doing the same. What am I in for? Should I? Is this a good idea?”
Jim, what you’re in for in terms of the process is really not that much, rooting Android can be tough on some phones and tablets, but jailbreaking iOS is a pretty simple process, the hardest part is restarting the tablet the right away to put it into something called “DFU mode” – (Device Firmware Upgrade) – but after that the process basically consist in following prompts and letting the computer do what it will.
Whether it’s a good or bad idea depends on your reasons to do it, jalbreaking an iPad will give you low level control over it, basically you go from being an iPad user to being an iPad administrator and, assuming you’re not going to go messing with system files without knowing if they’re needed, that’s fine, but the problem is that your apps can also achieve that level of control over your iPad.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, that’s what allows bluetooth switches on the notification bar of iOS devices, for example, but that can also allow apps with malicious intent access to much more, if not all, of your data.
Should you or shouldn’t you? The only answer that we can give you is: is there a reason for you to do it? is there anything you need from your tablet that you haven’t been able to achieved with your non-jailbroken version?
If there’s anything you want that jailbreaking your iPad will let you do, then sure, go for it, but otherwise we wouldn’t bother… you may introduce some bugs by jailbreaking, you may have trouble updating without having to restore all your data each time… for most people it’s just not worth the hassle.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Denise in Chicago, Illinois listening on 94.9 WSJM sends the following email: “I have a Mac, but i believe that Apple needs to do a better job. I want to know what is Apple doing to make their system more Business friendly, as in what they are doing to make thier devices work better together, ipads iphones and macs.”
Well Denise, Apple is not making their operating systems more business friendly per say, but there is a ton of software that will likely meet your expectations. First of all, if you have a scalable business where you want to have multiple users login to their accounts on different machines, then apple has their server app. It has some very rich features like user databases, web-servers, mail & file servers that work across all of the iOS and Mac platforms, and much more.
We have had hands on experience with making the Mac OS X operating system adapt to businesses using the Server app and it has worked great. Best of all, it’s less than $20.
If you are looking for apps that will let you create documents, presentations and spreadsheets, than the iWork suite for Mac and iOS is great, your documents sync automatically, you have a huge choice of templates and styles, and it makes the end product look very professional.
(Or you could have a look at FileMaker, it’s easy-to-use database software. You can create forms, reports and labels and share all of your files on a network or over the web.)
We aren’t quite sure what you’re asking about, honestly, since if Apple does anything well, they certainly have their OWN devices working together. iCloud will keep the data backed up from your MacBook, iPad, or iPhone, and it will synchronize email, calendar, contacts, notes, reminders, etc.
Typically when someone criticizes Apple for not being “business friendly,” they are upset because Apple computers won’t sign in to their Windows server using Active Directory. And that’s true, they won’t. Apple requires that you have a Mac running OS X Server. Your Macs authenticate to that, and the server authenticates them to the Active Directory. So there are a few more hoops to jump through.
Also remember that Macs can run Microsoft Office in order to share documents with Windows users. The current version of Office for Mac is 2011, which is a bit older than the 2013 version for Windows, but still perfectly serviceable in a business environment.
Now as to the blanket statement “Apple needs to do a better job,” we would respond with the generalization that no company is perfect, and all of them certainly could do a better job.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Facebook announced this past week new software that will change the design and social feeling of your phone. The ‘home’ android layer will let you see what is happening with your friends as soon as you turn the phone on. You can see notifications, chat, like & comment.
This being the first phone software built specifically for social experiences what do YOU think about being even more “Open & Connected”
Jan – More invasion of privacy!!
John – I won’t be using it. I don’t like the way it’ll be able to access other aspects of my phone, like text messages and other apps.
Dean – I believe this is a case of “Too MUCH, Too LATE”! — If Facebook was going to successfully launch something like “Home”, they should have done it about 2 years ago. While the service has gained more users, I believe the majority of them in recent times are from an older demographic, which most likely won’t be interested in a “Facebook Phone”. Meanwhile, the younger demographic, who are more likely to be enticed by “Home”, have been bailing on FB for “cooler” places like Instagram and Twitter.
On the “tech” side… Why should I all of a sudden trust that Facebook has gotten their act together on smartphone software, when their app development efforts, for both Android and iOS, have been abysmal? Now, they want me to basically hand over control of my entire phone to their inept app developers? No Thanks!
In summary, I see the HTC First “Facebook Phone” as a FAIL. While many will initially jump on the Facebook “Home” app (on eligible devices) to satisfy their curiosity, I don’t see it gaining any major traction, and I expect to find it on many year-end “Top 10” lists for worst tech products of the year!
John – I think all the devices devoted to one service or another are really stupid. We should be working at devices that are …universal – in both content and service.
Ryan Alovis, CEO & Founder – ArkNet Media
ArkNet Media is an e-commerce company that operates a series of highly successful online businesses including MagazineDiscountCenter.com, LensDirect.com and BirthdayPartyBooker.com.
Steven in Ashland City, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM sends the following email: “What can you tell me about these internal antennas that, if you’re in a poor reception area for your cell phone, that you’re supposed to be able to use the wireless system inside your home to boost your signal?”
There are plenty of these and the one that will work for you depends on the cellular technology your phone uses, so we can’t recommend a general one anymore because a regular cell phone booster may not help you with a 4G LTE signal, for example, but if you know what you’re using the choices are simple.
We’ve tried cell phone boosters from both WiEx and Wilson Electronics. They’re priced similarly, and as long as you get a signal somewhere in your house, you should be able to set them up without too much trouble.
The important thing is: know your network. You will find some $500 ones that will extend fewer networks than some $300 ones, but that will have the power to extend the hotspot you’re creating over a wider area. If you have LTE, make sure you get an LTE booster, if your family is on several different networks, get one that will cover them all (it’s easier than it sounds, they make some models that will cover all US carriers, though they may not cover the fastest connections on all of them).
In terms of price, you’re looking at a range of around $300 to $500 on WiEx devices, depending on the cell phone network you need and how big an area you need to cover, Wilson has similar prices, but they also vary depending on the area you’d like to cover.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Jesse in Japan sends the following email: “Dave,
Why a SSD hard drive vs. a standard hard drive? I’m looking at getting a new hard drive for additional storage for backing up photos and was wondering what the benefit of a SSD hard drive would be over a standard hard drive. For the storage amount a standard hard drive looks like it would be better. I was looking online for and saw a SSD drive 16GB (I know very small) for about $180 and a 8GB for about $105. Why would this be any better than just getting a SD memory card? I could get the same amount of memory for a lot lower cost.”
Depending on what kind of SSD you buy, the speed will range from a low of MUCH FASTER than a traditional hard drive to OH MY GOD faster. Seriously, Jesse, it’s about speed when it comes to SSD. Boot times that used to be measured in minutes are now taking just a few seconds, application load times feel instant. You click, it responds.
If you’re talking about a laptop computer, then the SSD also has the advantage of power use. Even when you’re reading from or writing to it, the SSD uses less power than a traditional hard drive (it also generates less heat), and when you’re not actively reading or writing, the SSD uses no power while a traditional hard drive is still spinning the platters.
Now that being said, an SSD is great for a system volume where you’re loading the operating system or application programs, but it’s a poor choice for long-term storage of documents, music, videos, or pictures and it’s a dreadful choice for backup. For those uses, you want the most space for your buck, and performance simply doesn’t matter. Use a traditional hard drive.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Bill in Manchester, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: “I was wondering about the Kindle Fire compared to the Nook. Which one’s better?”
They’re both very similar in every way: price, size, specs, everything. But the Kindle may have an edge anyway.
A few things that set the tablets apart: the Nook beats the Kindle in screen resolution, and it has a microSD port where the Kindle does not. The Kindle also has a better camera and better battery life.
If those are not deal breakers to you, the biggest difference between them may be: the Kindle has access to Amazon’s very extensive media library: you have access to Amazon Prime, Amazon apps, Amazon’s books, and Amazon’s music. For all the books Barnes & Noble has, they can’t really match all of that.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
HGST: G-Drive Mini – 500GB High Performance Portable Drive
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — Now with Dave’s face on them! — A clever solution to tangled earbuds.
Joos: Orange Portable Solar Charger — Charges cell phones, MP3 Players, GPS Devices and more
Improv Electronics: Boogie Board rip — Paperless, LCD writing tablet that will let you save your notes and transfer them to your PC.
iolo: Copies of: Drive Scrubber – Erase data so it can NEVER be recovered.