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Tech News & Commentary
Nicholas in Lewisburg, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7 asked: “I’m deciding between Roku and Boxee tv. Not sure which one to get. I’m not sure if i get local channels where I live. So I’m wondering which one is mre popular and which one i will be satisfied with more.”
Nicholas, if you find out your TV reception is good, the Boxee looks like a good option for you, as it’s trying to distinguish itself by being a free DVR accessible on all your devices, that’s pretty cool.
Roku has more options when it comes to their boxes so you may be able to buy a cheaper one that will meet your needs, and it has the advantage of looking like they may have a more stable business model, so they could be more likely to be around for a little while, with Boxee it’s hard to tell…
CHRIS: Having said that, you really can’t go too wrong with either, if the DVR feature doesn’t appeal to you, they will both give you access to almost the same content, so whichever way you go, you should be satisfied, the big differences are the DVR feature on the Boxee and the ability to pick your price if you can do with fewer features on the Roku.
The brand new Roku 3 DOES have a few features that we like, however. One clever thing is the ability to plug headphones into the remote. This can be used to boost volume for someone who has trouble understanding dialogue, or for watching TV with the sound turned down on the TV itself — which is ideal for watching in bed while your partner snoozes beside you.
The Roku 3 controller also functions as a game controller, and the device will allow you to play simple games. It’s not Xbox, but it might amuse the kids who are otherwise bored and driving you crazy.
And the new search interface on the Roku 3 is very slick. It allows you to search for programs across multiple services. You don’t have to know whether a show is available on Netflix, huluplus, or Amazon. Just search for the show and Roku will tell you where it can be found. There is also the Roku app which lets you control your device using your smartphone or tablet.
So, as is often the case with consumer electronics and technology, there are reasons to prefer each of them. Which is better for you depends on which features you need or want.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into
Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Cathy in Columbia, Missouri sends the following email: “I am wondering how to transfer files from Facebook or e-mail to Google Docs to be applied to a mobile app.”
To move files from Facebook or your email to Google Drive, you’re going to have to copy them to your computer first, but once you’ve done that, the rest is very, very easy.
Just go to drive.google.com, sign in, and you’re going to be greeted by a list of your files and documents (if you have any there already), and on the left there’s going to be a side bar with a big red button that says “Create” and a smaller red button that has an image of a hard drive and an arrow pointing straight up… that’s your upload button.
Just click on that button, then click on “Files…” and select what you want to upload from your hard drive. That’s it, your files should be accessible on the website and via the Google Drive apps.
If you have the Google Drive desktop app loaded on your PC or Mac, it’s even easier. Simply save the files in the Google Drive folder and they will be automatically synchronized with your Google Drive on the web. Any other computers you have linked to that Google Drive will automatically receive the files, next time you log in. Very similar to Drop Box or Sugar Sync. Be careful, however, to check the synchronization. In our experience, quite a number of times when we’ve saved a file in the folder and not found it on the web later, we check the desktop app only to find it has declared the file not synchronizable (if that’s a word).
Exiting and restarting the desktop app has always corrected the problem. So Google Drive works great, the Google Drive desktop app…not so much. It’s still extremely convenient though, when it works.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Sherry Chapman, Director of Marketing – Dane-Elec
Looking for some fun and unique USB flash drives? Dane-Elec has a fun new line of products based on popular super
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The first professional studio tape recorder came to the market in the US in 1948 with the Ampex 200; two years later in Germany, Grundig and AEG began producing the first tape recorders for home use. At the Funkausstellung in 1953, Grundig showed an open reel tape recorder with six inch reels and reverse operation. Ten years later the end had come for the complicated open reel recorders as the Compact Cassette offered easy operation with a tiny cassette housing the tape. Both technologies were introduced at IFA.
Robert in Fairbanks, Alaska listening on KFBX 970 AM says: “I was trying to develop an App. What’s the best place I can go to, or outsource it to? I have a great idea for an app. It might be a little technical but I’d like to see it developed. I think it would be very valuable to the people who would like it.”
Have a look around and make sure that a few versions of it don’t exist already, most of the apps that people approach developers with exist and most typically don’t do super well, unless you have a big improvement over the current ones being offered, yours will probably sit there with the rest if you get it made.
Other than that, you need to find a developer and see if they find the project interesting, most of what developers are pitched is in the form “you make it and we’ll split whatever money it makes cause I had the idea” most of the time the idea is not good enough to justify weeks of work for little money, if you have something else to offer your chances improve greatly. Any industry specific knowledge that can be exploited, connections, servers, all help, what helps the most is just paying for the project yourself.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Tom in Albuquerque, New Mexico listens to the podcast – says: “I have noticed that when I transferred my photos of the hot air balloon fiesta from my phone to my laptop they are all Upside down and it’s turning into a pain to right side them up to see. Is this some kind of “special feature” of the iPhone or is there some kind of setting that needs to be slapped?”
You’re experiencing a known problem that came along with iOS 5. Apparently, if you take pictures or video using the volume key as your shutter, and the key is facing up the pictures and videos may import into windows upside down. Either Apple is adding EXIF – or Exchangeable image file format – information to pictures in a strange way, or Microsoft is not always reading EXIF information the normal way. Nobody seems to be very clear on which one’s the case.
The fact that it happens with videos as well as pictures points to Apple though, since EXIF doesn’t really work with videos.
For now it seems like you have two options:
1) the easiest option, is to either shoot with the volume button facing down at the ground and either release the shutter with your left thumb, or by pressing the on-screen button, which will be on your right.
2) if you don’t mind making things a little harder, you can manually rotate the pictures and videos when you import them into Windows.
And there’s an option 3 that is too drastically to mention seriously, but you could always stop using Windows, since it only happens in Windows, or an iPhone.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Dan in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida listens via the App sent us this comment: “My first smartphone was an HTC 1 which had terrible sound quality on 3 way calls, so I switched to the Samsung S2 which was excellent and now have he Note 2. so for a guy like me in their 60s +, the extra large screen is fantastic, I do believe that we’re going to see more crossbreeds between phones and tablets.”
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
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.