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Tech News & Commentary
Charles in Shreveport, Louisiana listens on 710 KEEL asked: “I bought a house from my mother and she left owing a huge cable bill. We can’t get cable Internet because they think we’re trying to get around paying her bill. We live just outside of the range for DSL. I’m wondering if we have any options at all of getting high speed Internet outside of the regular AT&T network or through the cable, because those options are out for us. We really need our high-speed Internet.”
You can look into satellite internet. WildBlue has plans starting at $49.99 in Shreveport that could get you up to 5 mbps, it is capped to 7GB a month though.
If you get strong cellphone service at home you could also get a MiFi, it will also be capped and it will likely by slower than those 5 mbps that WildBlue claims you’ll get, but you may get faster service if you’re in an LTE area for either AT&T or Verizon.
Also, Charles, you could try talking to the cable company, you could see if they’ll agree to a payment plan or you could even tell them “I’m not the woman that owes you, can I please have some service?”
One downside to satellite Internet service is latency. Although it’s plenty fast once the transfer of data starts, the handshaking that leads up to that point will work more slowly over satellite. As long as you’re prepared for this, you won’t be surprised by it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline.
Tom in Albuquerque, New Mexico listens to the podcast – calling in via the App and asked: “What is Apple’s beef with widgets, the one thing I miss about my old Android phone is the ability to have the little power widget thing that lets you have the ability to to turn off your Bluetooth and wifi and so on. On iOS 5.0 I had the widgets and when 5.1 when came around they’re gone. Is there gonna be an Apple update that’ll let me have my widgets back I don’t have to plow through hundreds and hundreds of menus to get to to my Bluetooth and my WiFi. Maybe the iDork will have something on this one so I can have something like you and the rest of the Android have.”
If you had widgets on iOS 5.0 (other than the weather and stocks widget), your phone must have been jailbroken. Apple has only released pretty lightweight widgets so far for iOS, there are rumors that a music control widget might be coming, which would make sense, and the reason for that is probably battery life.
Android phones tend to have pretty lousy battery life, the iPhone … also has lousy battery life, but not as lousy. One of the reasons for that is probably that running services are kept to a minimum. If you ask someone complaining about their Android’s battery life to shut off every widget and use a static wallpaper, odds are, their battery life will noticeably improve. That’s probably the only reason Apple hasn’t supported widgets and live wallpapers until now.
We suspect that, in time, they will add more widgets to the notification bar and slowly let people get used to the idea that if they want to ruin their own battery life, it’s not Apple’s fault, but that may take a while.
If you don’t mind jailbreaking your iPhone, you can install widgets to the notification bar, including power control widgets but, as we suspect you found out already, if you update the phone the jailbreak will likely go away and you’ll have to start over with all the widget installations again.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Dan in Las Vegas, Nevada listening on KDWN 720 AM asked: “What is the best and most affordable online backup service? I’ve seen a lot of ads for Carbonite, but it seems kind of pricey and the ads look a little spammy. I have files backed up on an external hard drive but I could still lose everything in case of a fire or robbery. It seems much safer to have my data stored in an off- site location.”
You’re absolutely right. It is much safer to have your backup data stored off-site. Whether it’s on an external drive that you take from home and store at your office, or vice versa.
As far as the online services, Carbonite is good. We’ve used it on a few of our machines here, at our studios. Dave has had Carbonite on his main computer for years. Another service we currently use and love is MiMedia. They are pretty much a direct competitor to Carbonite and you will find a lot of the same features with both companies. What gives MiMedia an edge in our book is the fact that they they will give you up to 7gigabytes of backup storage for free. If you need more, that’s when you start getting into their paid plans. With Carbonite, all of their plans are unlimited, but they start at about $60 a year. (Which actually works out cheaper than the $9.95 a month for the unlimited MiMedia plan)
One of the helpful things that MiMedia does is for you with their paid plan, is offer an optional “Shuttle Drive.” They will send you an external drive. You do your first complete backup directly to it, then send it back to them. That will get all of your data backed up to their server without clogging up your network connection. After that, when a file is added or changed on your computer, it is uploaded automatically to their server, so there’s nothing to worry about.
Both services also offer free Smartphone apps so you can access any of your backed up data from anywhere.
Don’t overlook Dropbox, either. While it’s not technically a backup system, anything that you store in the Dropbox folder will be synchronized with the cloud, and then any other computers where you link up the same Dropbox will receive those files, and any updates, automatically. A 50GB Dropbox costs just $10 per month, or $100 per year, and it’s not just backup, it’s also file synchronization between Mac, PC, Android, and all things iDevice-ish. Phones, tablets, computers — Dropbox supports them all.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Jason in Wellington, Florida listening via our free android app asked: “How do I make my smart phone battery last longer? I have a Samsung Captivate and I can only use it for about two hours before the battery goes dead. I’ve started carrying 3 extra batteries just to get me through school! It really gets on my nerves. Any tips? I don’t watch videos or anything … just check my email often or random Google searches. And when I’m done, I end all processes.”
Battery life is a major concern among smartphone users. But, there are some features you can turn off to help save some juice. We’ve talked a lot about it in the past, but it’s always to refresh our memory.
Some helpful tips we can give you include:
– Turning off Bluetooth. If you leave it on, it will keep searching for Bluetooth devices, which drains your battery.
– You can also turn GPS and Wi-Fi when you aren’t using them.
Other smartphone users also turn to 2G radio coverage vs 3G or 4G, but beware … you won’t have the best internet access possible.
We’re wondering what our listeners do to save some battery juice. If there are some tips you’d like to share with our audience, please call us now: 1-800-899-4686.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Angela in Jackson, Mississippi listening on WFMN 97.3 FM asked: “My kids are on Spring Break and love playing video games. However, I would like them to be more active. What exergames do you recommend?”
It’s nice that you want to encourage them to stay active. What’s great is that a lot of exergames will have them moving and having fun and they won’t realizing they’re actually exercising.
One of Rob’s most favorite exergame series is the “Just Dance” franchise from Ubisoft. There are currently 5 games in the franchise: Just Dance, Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids, Just Dance Summer Party and the latest is Just Dance . The games are primarily for the Wii, but Just Dance 3 is also available for the Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation Move.
Another one would be the Zumba Fitness games for Wii and Xbox 360 Kinect, which Caitlyn (our KidsTech reporter) is enjoying and will feature it in a video coming soon. If you’re not familiar with Zumba, it’s a dance fitness party workout. A lot of people claim they don’t realize they’re working out because they’re having fun. And, there’s a lot of good music to choose from, including popular hip hop hits and latin music, since it’s a Latin inspired workout.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT with Rob: Tagg Pet Tracking System Have you ever lost a pet? On this week’s Product Spotlight we’re featuring a product that helps keep track of your beloved member-of-the-family at all times. |
 – The tracker is very light and attaches to your pet’s existing collar. It’s waterproof; so don’t worry if it gets wet. – When you get your Tagg, you setup an account online where you set a “geofence” or “Tagg Zone” for your dog. You then activate the notifications you’d like to receive. It can be a text message about your dog leaving the Tagg zone or even an email reminding you it’s time to charge your tracker. – The tracker can last up to about 30 days on a full battery charge, of course, depending on use. – Using the Tagg website or the mobile app (for Android, iOS or Vcast Verizon phones) … you can see if your dog is roaming around your selected home area, or is being a “bad dog” and exploring your neighbor’s pool! – If your dog or cat has gone missing, you can pinpoint their whereabouts on the Tagg Map. It will also give you directions to their location. – Tagg is tied to a monthly service plan. It costs just under $8 a month. Currently, you can get the first month free when you purchase the master kit for under $100. – The kit includes the tracker … a docking station to charge the device … and a collar kit assembly. – The Tagg tracker is available in gray, pink, blue, or white. |