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Tech News & Commentary
Bill in Manchester, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: “I was wondering about the Kindle Fire compared to the Nook. Which one’s better?”
They’re both very similar in every way: price, size, specs, everything. But the Kindle may have an edge anyway.
A few things that set the tablets apart: the Nook beats the Kindle in screen resolution, and it has a microSD port where the Kindle does not. The Kindle also has a better camera and better battery life.
If those are not deal breakers to you, the biggest difference between them may be: the Kindle has access to Amazon’s very extensive media library: you have access to Amazon Prime, Amazon apps, Amazon’s books, and Amazon’s music. For all the books Barnes & Noble has, they can’t really match all of that.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into
Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Gloria in Brentwood, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM asked: “I have an iPhone 4 and use the StraightTalk. Since the last update, some people I can’t send pictures to anymore and others, I can. Wondering if any other users had that problem and appreciate an answer.”
you may have lost your multimedia messaging setting with the update. That would mean that you would still be able to send pictures to anyone with access to iMessage as Apple bypasses MMS settings and just uses internet access to send iMessages, but you would not be able to send text messages to anyone else, either on an old iPhone or just any other phone.
Here are the settings that would restore your MMS messaging:
Cellular Data
APN: att.mvno
Username:
Password:
MMS
APN: att.mvno
Username:
Password:
MMSC: http://mmsc.cingular.com
MMS Proxy: 66.209.11.33:80
MMS Max Size: 1048576
MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Larry in Prince Edward Island, Canada listening Online asked: “I’ve got about $500 that I’m looking to spend on a computer – either a laptop or a tablet. My present laptop is a little old and is running sluggish. Could you give me two or three items that you would purchase if you were in my shoes?”
For your price range, you’re pretty covered in terms of tablets. You should be able to look at the least expensive ones like the Kindle Fire HD and the Nook HD, but you’ll also have the base models of more expensive ones available to you.
Since all of the iPad models have some version in your budget, you may want to consider them. They’re solid tablets, their owners love them and they’re still currently the most successful tablets out there.
On the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is within your budget as well and you may like it if you want widgets on a big screen.
As far as laptops go, you can find the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 online for about what you want to spend and get a very lightweight laptop with Windows 8, 4GB of RAM a 14” screen and a 500GB hard drive. You can find similar models by ASUS and Acer with slightly bigger screens.
$500 laptops will be on the low end, while $500 tablets will be on the high end. But even low end laptops will do more than high end tablets, so if you don’t have any other computer and you need to do more than email, web browsing and some basic games, a laptop may serve you better.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Nigel Bramwell, CEO – Voiamo
Is your cell phone service provider ripping you off when you travel abroad? There’s a new service that may help you save on those costs.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The size of picture tubes was limited because of costs and weight, but flat panels were just a dream for many years. At IFA in1977 the first miniature LCD screen was shown, 3 by 4 inch, with about 9,000 pixels. No wonder that Eduard Rhein, inventor, author and millionaire offered the incredible award of one million Deutschmark for the first real TV display for the wall. It took nearly two more decades until the first prototypes were shown at IFA in 1995, a 22 inch LCD and a 42 inch plasma. The first real product premiered at IFA in 1997. It was a 42 inch Plasma, only standard definition, costing about 15,000 US $.
Jay in Visalia, California listens on KTIP 1450 asked: “I’m using the Windows anti virus software, I forgot the name of it. But I’m wondering if it’s as good as the other ones like Norton and McAfee. I did get a virus since I started using the Windows anti virus, but wondering if it’s really as good as the other ones.”
Microsoft Security Essentials seems reasonably solid, in one test it managed to detect 98.4% of the viruses it was exposed to. That puts it in the same range as most good antiviruses, some may detect more, some less, but the difference will be fairly small.
Microsoft seems to be updating it several times a week and with each Windows update, so it should be current enough to incorporate most new threats quickly. A big advantage it has over other antiviruses is that it seems to have very little effect on the overall performance of the system, it’s not a big resource hog.
Ultimately, your best bet may be to try it. It seems solid enough to consider, it has a following, and it’s free. So we say give it a shot.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Bruce in Hayesville, Kansas calling in via our free App asked: “I’m looking for street maps app for my Android tablet, I was wondering if you guys know of anything that would download US and Canada street maps for offline viewing on an Android tablet.”
You can try Sygic, it features offline maps and you can get packs depending on what country you’re going to be in, it does work with tablets, if you want to check and see whether or not it works on your particular tablet you can check their website, since we don’t know what tablet you own.
Sygic lets you try the app for free for a week before having to buy it, so you may want to do that.
Your other main option for Android is CoPilot Live, co pilot live has a more standard map view, much more like a regular GPS, Sygic is almost cartoonish by comparison, so you may like the look better, and it also includes some features like fuel prices around you and the ability to drag your route to edit it, if you prefer to use a specific road.
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:
Audiofly: Several AF33M in-ear headphones with microphone
Bedol: Several Bedol Water Clocks – A water powered alternative energy alarm clock. Does not require batteries or electricity. Just fill with normal everyday tap water.
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo – A simple solution to tangled earbuds.
[Fuse]Chicken: Une Bobine for iPhone and Petite Bobine for Android — This is a flexible and eclectic stand and charging cable for iPhone/iPod Touch (30-pin connector) and Micro USB for Android.
Magellan: RoadMate 5265T-LMB GPS – With FREE lifetime map updates and traffic alerts.