Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Tech News & Commentary
Ron in Dover, Delaware listening on WXTE 105.9 asked: “I’m Blind, and I’m looking for a screen reader app, called NVDA. It’s supposed to be free but when I search for it I only found websites that make me buy something else in order to get NVDA free. Can you help me find it free with no strings attached?”
Well Ron, NVDA is an opensource project, meaning that the software is FREE. However, they accept donations.
What that means is: instead of just letting you go download the link hassle free, they put a paypal donations section on the downloads page. The link to get the software for free, with no strings attached isn’t obvious to find. And even when you click on the download link, it redirects you to “sourceforge.net” which is an open-source download platform for software. It makes you wait 5 seconds until the program starts to download.
The link to the page you need to go to is here
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
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 2 of our podcast.
Joan in Davie, Florida listening via the App sends the following email: “My iphone 4 suddenly stopped making any sounds despite the fact that all of the volume and custom tone settings are definetly correct. I tried several restarts to no avail. If it truly is broken and you guys can’t tell me what to do to correct this, whats the least expensive way to get it repaired? Thanks in advance. LOVE YOUR SHOW!”
Joan, it depends on what’s actually happening to your phone, some people have reported similar problems that stem from the phone being stuck in headphone mode, but if you’ve tried restarts, that’s not likely to be the case. But just in case, the solution is very simple, just plug in some headphone and unplug them a few times, in case the sensor is somehow confused.
If that doesn’t fix it, you’re for the most part stuck with the usual cure: try restoring to factory settings – it may work or it may not, if it’s a mechanical issue.
If neither the headphone, nor the software fix make the problem go away, you may want to take it somewhere to get it looked at. If it still happens to be under warranty, the Apple Store will likely fix or replace it for you, if it’s not, you can still go to them, or to a third party store like UBreakIFix, they’ll likely at least open it up and look for loose connectors or any obvious flaws with that may be causing the problem.
Depending on your contract situation you could also look into a replacement, you can get an iPhone 4 for free on AT&T, or upgrade to a newer version for not a lot of money.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Marly in Erie, Pennsylvania listening on WPSE 1450 sends the following email: “I’m interested in cloud services that can only be accessed by a password for a large company that has a lot of data transfer going between two different cities. I wonder how secure cloud services can be in such cases.”
They can be as safe as they are in any other case, really. The authentication methods don’t really change.
Cloud services can be extremely secure, for example, when you get on a plane, the airline has offices all over the world that can access the details about your flight. Now think about every single cargo and passenger flight that airline operates everywhere on the planet, that’s only a fraction of the information that company handles, and it handles it in an extremely secure way. The same goes for banks, or the stock market, or the government, they all share information over highly secure computer networks.
If you if you’re looking to use a third part to transfer your date, something like Dropbox, then your most likely security hole will be a user choosing “123456” or “password” as their password.
There is always the chance that someone will hack into their servers and get users credentials from it, it has happened with several big companies recently, but those cases are rare compared to the amount of data transfer that goes on online these days.
There’s another, realistic, thing to consider: do you really have a choice? Can you pay a courier to deliver all your data between cities? can they do it fast enough? would they really be any safer? After all, you’d be handing your data over to someone you don’t know…
Google has introduced two-factor authentication using a mobile app on your smartphone to provide the access codes, so people who use Google Drive for their cloud storage don’t have to worry about someone hacking into their account. The first time that a new computer tries to log in, Google asks for the code. No device = no code, which means no access.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Ken Higgins, Director of Branded Sales – HGST
Create functional furniture that seamlessly integrates your lifestyle with today’s technology.
Jan in Leonore, Illinois sends the following email: “Having used nothing but Windows for 20+ years or close to it, since my computer is over 5 years old and this would be the last new computer I would buy, would a Mac be too complicated? Keep in mind I am almost 70 and the brain doesn’t function like it used to!
I really do love your show, but do wonder why you all talk so fast.”
If you’re saying that your brain doesn’t function like it used to (don’t worry, I can relate) and you’ve been using nothing but Windows for over 20 years, you may just want to stick to Windows. At least Windows 7. Windows 8 is a whole different ballgame.
Macs have a completely different operating system. While we wouldn’t say it’s “hard” to use a Mac, there would be a bit of a learning curve for someone who has not used one before and is used to the way Windows operates.
Not to mention that if you were looking into a laptop, you can typically find a Windows laptop for far less than a Macbook. Depending on what you plan to use it for, you can find a decent Windows laptop for around six or seven hundred bucks.
With Windows 8 being so different from Windows 7, the learning curve of buying a new Windows 8 computer wouldn’t be any more steep than buying a Mac. However, you would not be able to use any of the Windows programs you have already purchased, so there would be the additional expense of acquiring new applications.
It’s also rumored that Windows 8.1 will give an option for booting into the Desktop mode by default, which will be good news for Windows 7 fans.
70 isn’t that old, by the way, and we don’t want to hear any of this “last computer I’ll ever buy” business. We know you’ll be asking us this same question again! Oh, and we would say that we talk fast because we have a lot to say and not enough time to say it in.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Audiofly: AF33 in-ear headphones
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — Now with Dave’s face on them! — A clever solution to tangled earbuds.
HGST: G-Drive Mini – 500GB High Performance Portable Drive
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.
Joos: Orange Portable Solar Charger — Charges cell phones, MP3 Players, GPS Devices and more