HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
Richard in California asked: “I’m trying to buy a camcorder.I want to know the difference between the Flip Slide HD, the Sony Blogee, and the Kodak ZI8 HD. I’m thinking about the Kodak because it also takes pictures.”
All three of these cameras are very similar in a lot of ways. First, they’re all “pocket camcorders”, meaning they can … fit your pocket. They’re all flash-based, so they don’t have any moving hard drives. And they all have a built-in USB connector so you can connect them directly to your computer. You mentioned you were leaning towards the Kodak because it also took still pictures. All three of these will do still pictures.
The best advice is to stop by a local electronics retailer and see if they have any of these out for you to touch and feel. See which one feels right for you.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
The latest Lara Croft game is missing something very important to Lara Croft games. In fact, a “couple” of somethings! Listen for details!
Dave and the team discussed Sprint’s upcoming release of Samsung Epic 4G phone
Features:
– 4″ Super AMOLED Screen
– Slide-out hard QWERTY keyboard (comfortable to type on)
– Android 2.1 — Wil eventually get the 2.2 update
– Front Facing VGA Camera / 5 MP Camera on back
– Panoramic Photos using its camera. (Watch video below)
– Available Aug. 31st for $249 after a 2-year contract and rebates
Here’s a demo of Samsung Epic 4G’s “Panorama” feature — One of Into Tomorrow’s initial favorite features. Samsung Epic will be available to public on Sprint on Aug. 31, 2010.
John in South Carolina asked: ” I’d like to know about setting up an HTC 6800 cell phone to use Wi-Fi only, to make calls using my magicJack for free.”
For those who don’t know, magicJack is a VOIP product, that is, a device that uses your computer to send telephone calls over the Internet. You plug a standard telephone in to the magicJack, you plug the magicJack into a USB port on your computer that’s connected with the Internet, and run the supplied software. For less than $20 a year, you can make all the domestic local and long distance calls you want.
Now the cell phone. Here’s the problem: The cell phone is built to make telephone calls in one manner only, by using the wireless network of the carrier who sold the phone. Yes, you can unlock phones and switch carriers, but you’re still connecting to the wireless network of one carrier or another. The HTC 6800 is a smartphone running the Windows Mobile 6 operating system.
The only way to make a phone call using your DATA connection instead of the wireless cellular network is to use a third party app like Skype Mobile. The good news for you is, Skype Mobile is available for Windows Mobile 6, and Sprint does allow it to be used on their data network, so it should be as simple as getting Skype Mobile loaded on your phone. If for some reason you can’t get Skype Mobile working on your phone, you could always consider buying a cordless phone to plug in to your magicJack. That would give you the same cordless conversation ability as using your cell phone.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Brian Maffitt, Founder & Chief Creative Officer – Total Training
Total Training provides fun and functional video-based training for all sorts of computer graphics software, from Adobe to Microsoft, to audio and 3D apps.
IFA2010 Update
Learn about the rich history behind one of the largest consumer electronics trade shows we report from each year in Berlin, Germany.
Victor in Buffalo, Missouri listening via the Android App asked: “It’s time to upgrade my battery backup for my computers and also wanted to get one for my 47-inch TV. Is it based on how large the screen is? Or how many amps do I need to watch my TV for like 30 minutes when the power goes out due to electrical storms?”
Probably the main thing you want to look for when shopping for a battery backup unit, is the wattage it can handle. If you know what how many watts whatever you want to pug into it uses, you should be able to find one fairly easily that fits your needs. Most of the units will have a chart on the outside of the box with how long the power will last based on how many watts you are pulling. Plasma TVs pull more watts than LCDs do, so if you have a plasma, you’ll probably need a more powerful unit. Check the manual or manufacturer’s website for the TV you have and it should tell you how much power it comsumes.
If you have troubble finding the info, you could always look into products like the “Kill-a-Watt.” (Click here for link) This is a small device that you plug into the wall. You then plug whatever you want to measure in the front of it, and on its LCD screen, it’ll tell you how many watts are being pulled from whatever you plugged into it. That would help you determine how big of a UPS to get.
Faith sent us the following email and asked: “I heard on your show tonight that “LunaScape” was available for the iPad and Windows. I was wondering is it is safe and secure for Windows 7? I would like to use it.”
Mark Lautenschlager on our staff has spent some time running Lunascape on his notebook and desktop, both of which run Windows 7. So let’s ask him. He had no problems whatsoever loading Lunascape onto his computers. However, he stopped using it. Why? Well, the reason he wanted to run Lunascape was to be able to quickly switch rendering engines while looking at a web page, to see which did the best job of displaying the page. The problem was, Lunascape took more time initializing the Gecko and Webkit engines than it took my computer to load Firefox or Chrome. Since Lunascape really provided me with no advantage over simply loading the alternate browsers, and there were some glitchy things with it, he decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.
If you want to download it and give it a try, though, we don’t believe you’d be risking anything. The program triggered no virus or malware warnings, it uninstalled without an issue, and gave me no uneasy feelings at all.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza
How can an FM transmitter boost your ego? Meet SoundRacer. An FM transmitter that gives your car the sounds of a V8 or V10 engine, no matter what vehicle you own.
SoundRacer is available in two flavors.
1) V8 Engine
2) V10 Engine
**We demoed the V10 model on our Product Spotlight. Watch video above.**
Being an FM transmitter, it comes with a line-in cable that allows you to plug-in any audio device to play your tunes.
What do YOU think about SoundRacer? Is it worth spending money on it? Send me a note below or leave us a comment on the video above.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
SleepPhones: A Sheep of Your Dreams Kit
Smith Micro Software: Copies of Anime Studio Pro 7
Total Training: Copies of Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended: Essentials