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Tech News & Commentary
Jerry in Detroit, Michigan listening on CKLW 800 asked us: “The Sunday Free press has this article about going Hi-Fi and getting internet radio anywhere and anytime. Is that true? A lot of thing are really pricey like $200, $82.63 is the cheapest one. Do you have to have an internet connection and can you really just go walking down the street and listen to internet radio without having a cell phone that plugs into this thing.”
Jerry, We have not heard of any standalone internet radios with mobile broadband built in, and that’s probably because smartphones are already portable enough and most people wouldn’t want to pay for a second data plan when they already have to pay for their smartphones.
Judging by the prices you mentioned, you’ve probably been looking at regular internet radios, that’s about how much they run for, but they will usually require at least WiFi to be able to stream any radio stations.
If you do have a smartphone, there are many free apps that can be used to listen to both traditional and online-only stations, that may be the way to go.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Nino in St. Joseph, Michigan listens to the Podcast asked: “I am blind. I was wondering if there’s a device that I can attach to my iPad to copy files from a hard drive to the iPad. I use Dropbox, but it’s a little inconvenient”
Nino, As inconvenient as Dropbox is, it might still be your easiest choice, unfortunately.
Since we’re not experts at operating iPads without the use of our sight, though, we’ll give you a couple of other options that may work, just in case you think any of them might be better.
You can try DocSync.net, we’re mostly suggesting this one because it “works with any cloud” meaing that you can use it with Dropbox, Google Drive, Onedrive, and others. If you find that it’s easier for you to share certain documents from Google Drive and certain documents from Dropbox, it might be useful to have one app that can do both. However, free file storage is just 100MB, and you’ll be paying $0.99 for 1GB, it’s not a lot of money, but it’s $1/month more than you’re probably paying Dropbox now.
The thing that might make that dollar worth spending is the fact that you’d get a computer client to transfer your files easily… that sounds good, but since to transfer to Dropbox you just drop the file into a folder, we don’t see how that would be easier.
Another option to consider is that you can just attach the file to an email and just open it from there, you can even save many files to specific apps after opening them from email by tapping the share button on the upper right of the screen and tapping on “Open in [name of the app]” such as “Open in Dropbox” or “Open in iBooks”.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Victor asked: “I have a hard time hearing my cellphone ring when my phone is in one part of the house and I’m in another. Is there something I could buy or use to make the ringers louder so I could hear it? I have a slight hearing problem.”
Victor, Unfortunately there isn’t anything that can extend a phone ringer over distance but what you can do to ensure you hear your phone is to connect your phone to an auxiliary cable and connect the cable to a stereo or speaker and put the volume all the way high. Auxiliary cables can range from $5 to $15.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Gene in St. Charles, Missouri listening via TuneIn Radio asked: “Months back I paid $40.00 to Microsoft to upgrade from windows 7 to windows 8 then I upgraded to windows 8.1 preview…Now I cannot upgrade to windows 8.1 final version, it is not in the store that I purchased it or anywhere on Microsoft’s sites where it will let me download it ..where do I find it or what do I have to do to get rid of the preview version?”
Gene, Unfortunately, Windows 8.1 Preview cannot be updated to the final version, you’re gonna have to go back to Windows 8 and from there, you should be able to update to 8.1 from the store.
Depending on whether or not you backed up before installing the preview, this may be a more or less painful experience, just remember to backup whatever you have done since either way.
We agree that this is not the best way for Microsoft to handle the transfer to 8.1, especially considering how they made it available to a lot of people, but unfortunately you don’t have much of a way out on this one, Gene.
That’s a good general warning to our listeners to be careful when choosing to install “Preview” or “Beta” releases of software. While it can be fun to get the new stuff early, it can also be painful because developers don’t feel as compelled to give Preview or Beta users simple upgrades to the final release version. They regard you as a sort of “paid” tester of their software, since you were “paid” with early access to a new version.
But frankly, we’re not shocked with any of the silliness and bad news we hear about Microsoft and Windows 8. It’s really a very fine operating system, but it does seem as though Microsoft can’t seem to stop shooting themselves in the foot over it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Chuck DeLouis, VP of Product Management – Intronis
offers Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
Traffic information is always getting better and is constantly updated. With the introduction of a “Traffic Message Channel” at the International Funkausstellung in 1997, car radios with TMC reception got updated information continuously. The information was stored internally and could be retrieved any time, acoustically or via the display. TMC is still an essential element of dynamic navigation systems today, which use the updates to find the best way around a traffic jam.
Wael in India asked: “What I want to know is whether I can purchase any laptop or notebook which can install macintosh OS. I know I can purchase a macbook but they are very expensive!”
Wael, Installing the Macintosh OS on a PC, laptop, or notebook is an extremely difficult and illegal process. If you really want the Macbook, we recommend just saving for it and buying one. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble and hassle.
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
Intuit: Activation codes for TurboTax Premier – File your taxes easily (This version includes investments and Rental property)
PhoneHalo: StickR TrackR — find any object you attach it to with your smartphone
Noizy: Kameleon Series Bluetooth earbuds
PURE: Jongo Wireless Adapters — Allows you to stream all your music wirelessly to your home audio system.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!