Tech News & Commentary
Steven in Nashville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: “How do you setup wireless printing when you don’t have high-speed Internet?”
You don’t need Internet access at all for wireless printing. It uses your internal network, so all you’d need is a Wi-Fi router. Of course, you’d also need a printer that supports wireless printing. There are many of them available and some manufacturers have wireless adapters you can connect to an existing printer.
You’d then configure your Wi-Fi router to create a wireless LAN between your computer and your printer. What this essentially does is create an Intranet, which is sort of like a “closed circuit” network that doesn’t connect you to the outside world via the Internet.
You want to make sure that even though your Wi-Fi network isn’t going online, that you still have a password to protect it. Otherwise, any passers-by with a Wi-Fi device could essentially access your computer and all the information on it.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
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Joe in Lewiston, Pennsylvania listening on 103.1 has a tip for downloading YouTube videos.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Matt in Nashville, Tennessee listening on XM Ch.139 asked: “I have a Samsung HDTV, and when I watch DVD movies on it, there’s an occasional shift in the picture quality. It gets blurry for one to two seconds, then goes back to a crystal clear picture. Is this related to how my TV is setup or is it related to the DVD?”
We would tend to think the first place you want to check is your cables. It may be as simple as a loose connection, or just a crappy cable. If you’re using one of those “courtesy cables” that comes with just about every piece of home theater equipment, throw it out. Those are usually the cheapest, lowest quality cables you can get. Companies put them in the box as a courtesy (as the name suggests) just so that you’ll be able to connect the components as soon as you unpack them.
There has been a lot of discussion about whether more expensive cables get you better quality than cheaper ones. It’s our belief that all cables are not created equally. The more expensive cables tend to use higher quality metals, better soldering (which is what joins the wires to the connector), and many of them are hand-made. As opposed to the cheaper cables, which tend to be mass-produced by machines. The two may get you very similar quality in the beginning, but as time goes on, the slightly higher priced cables tend to last longer.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Martin in Huntsville, Alabama listening on XM Ch.139 sent us the following email and asked: “I own a iPhone 3GS, and every week I get an email from the app store, but I am unable to read it since it has flash or some other “disabled” plug-in.
I understand Apple saying flash is bad, but shouldn’t they practice using only code the iPhone can display if it is an email about the Olympic app for the iPhone?”
Chances are better than average that the email in question was not written by Apple, and also was intended for people to read in a desktop email client, not on the iPhone.
Now, don’t ask us why someone trying to sell an iPhone app would create an email that wasn’t readable on an iPhone, but we learned a long time ago that there’s just no predicting people.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Jonas Forsberg, General Manager of Jabra, North America (Mobile) – Jabra
Are you suffering from “cellbow”? Jabra says it’s no joke. Just humerus.
“Into Tomorrow” Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza: Palm Pre Plus & Palm Pixi Plus — Click Here or on Rob’s face for details
Patrick in Nashville, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: “Blu-ray DVD Players. What about a PS3? How does it compare to the DVD players you were just talking about?”
PS3 game consoles make excellent Blu-ray players, and they incorporate many of the same streaming video features that we discussed on the high end stand alone players. Streaming Netflix, for example, works splendidly on the PS3.
Mark has said before that he would buy a PS3 for his Blu-ray player to get the game console along with it, and he still believes that’s what he’d do. But the price of the PS3 will be a bit higher than any of the stand-alone players.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Firefold: Several gaming accessories & HDMI 1.4 cables
Flipper: A Big Button Remote
Honestech: Copies of FOTOBOX Plus — Easy to use Photo Slideshow Creator
SpectorSoft: Copies of Spectro Pro for Mac — Internet Monitoring Software.