Tech News & Commentary
Joe in Martinsville, West Virginia listens Online asked: “I’m a Blackberry fan. I’m not gonna change. I’m looking for a small projector that’s compatible with Blackberry that I can carry around for meetings. I’ve looked at several but I’m not sure what the compatibility is.”
There are some projectors that you can use with Blackberries. The Aiptek PocketCinema V100 is compatible with Blackberry. The Optoma PK320 will also work with Blackberry.
You won’t find a huge amount of projectors that work with Blackberry, but you might also benefit from the ones that work from MicroSD cards, just pop yours out of your phone and use it with the projector, or simply buy a small capacity one to keep in the projector.
The 3M MPro 150 fits that category and it also comes with 1GB of internal memory, the iGo up2020 pico will probably work for you too.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into
Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Jim in Idaho Falls, Idaho listening on 690 KBLY asked: “I have a Windows Vista machine. I have installed Windows 8 on it. I had some trouble and I had to rebuild my hard drive. This time I installed Vista again and partitioned the hard drive. What I want to do is put Windows 8 on the partition. I was wondering how to do that. I was thinking I could move the hard drive information off of the C drive onto the H drive.”
When you install Windows 8 you should be asked which partition you want to install Windows on. The installer will literally ask “Where do you want to install Windows?” and show a list of partitions below, there’s no mistaking what it’s asking you. In your case, one of the partitions should be of the same size you gave your new partition (the one you see as H from within Vista, though it may not say “H” on the installer).
Doing this will install Windows 8 on the new partition, but it won’t move your files. The thing is, this shouldn’t really matter. When you’re using Windows 8, you should see your other partition, the one that has Windows Vista on it, and you should be able to access your files from that partition, as if you were opening a folder on your new partition, you can move any files you want manually, but if you don’t want the hassle of dealing with two sets of files, you can just open them straight from where they are now.
If you’re doing this with Windows Vista and Windows 8, simply installing the operating system in two different partitions should be enough. This should enter each OS into the boot loader menu, and you should get a prompt about which system you want to boot each time you start up (with a timeout after a default, for those unattended reboots).
However, we have not tested Windows 8 with the bootloader, yet. So you might want to give control back to the Windows Vista bootloader. That’s where things get tricky, here are the steps for you:
To give the Windows Vista bootloader control again.
Step 1. Get your Vista DVD and reboot your computer using that DVD.
Step 2. At the install screen, choose the link for Repair Your Computer.
Step 3. Choose the link for Command Prompt.
Step 4. Enter the following commands in the command prompt window:
Bootrec.exe /fixMBR
Bootrec.exe /fixBoot
To check that you have both operating systems listed and set a default, do this.
Step 1. Click Start, Computer.
Step 2. Click System Properties.
Step 3. Click Advanced System Settings.
Step 4. Click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
Step 5. Check to see that both Vista and Windows 8 are listed as available operating systems. Select the default and the menu timeout here.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Foster in Henderson, Tennessee asked: “I work in an office where we have to send sensitive documents by e-mail. Is there an encryption program that we can implement that is not too expensive and is reliable? We are a very small office.”
You can actually do it for free. You can find PGP key generators online that will let you create a combination of public and private keys, you can email a recipient using their public key, which they can safely make publicly available, when they receive the email the use the private key and a password to decode the message.
PGP stands for “Pretty Good Privacy,” the name is mostly in jest, it’s a pretty secure standard and it will most likely serve you well unless you’re trying to keep the information safe from NSA or some foreign government.
If you want an easy, web based solution, you can use SendInc.com or LockBin.com for free or relatively cheap if you need more than one encrypted user, just know that you’re trusting those companies with your private data, some people may not be comfortable with that.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Steve Nicholls, Author of “Social Media in Business”
Businesses are turning to social media, but it doesn’t always go well. Steve shares the Top 10 mistakes business make.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The first players for Blu-ray and HD DVD were shown at the IFA, the International Funkausstellung in 2005 with market introduction at the next IFA exhibition in 2006 when they became the focal point of the show. Content for both formats was also shown at IFA. But in early 2008 Toshiba decided to discontinue HD DVD and Blu- ray players became even more popular. At the Funkausstellung the same year Panasonic introduced the first Blu-ray Disc recorder to the market.
Dane in White Bluff, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7 asked: “I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 computer and having problems with it running slow. Was wondering what would be a quick and easy way to maybe free up some RAM and maybe do some cheap tricks to get rid of some of the stuff on it.”
From what we can find, the Inspiron 8200 is a 2.2 GHz Pentium 4, 9.3 lbs “laptop” with a 60 GB hard drive, that can take up to a maximum of 1GB of RAM… no matter how much RAM you try to free up, it may always struggle with newer software.
You can try to uninstall anything you’re not using, sometimes software leaves services running in the background to look for updates, or perform background tasks while the main program is not running, getting rid of software you don’t use may also get rid of some of those services.
You can download software like Free RAM Optimizer that will kill all the software that’s residing on your RAM and apparently dormant. The easiest way to free up some RAM and generally make your computer ran faster may just be to stick to software that it can run, if the recommended specs for the software you want your computer to run exceed your laptop’s capabilities, then it will either run slowly or not at all.
Try to run as few things at the same time as possible, close any programs that you’re not using, so that the ones you are actively using have access to the most RAM they can get.
But the bottom line is, that’s a slow computer. Very slow. And for the amount of time and effort you’d spend trying to get it boosted, you could spend $400 on a brand new laptop and get something much smaller and much faster. Once the performance gap becomes large enough, you have to consider what the wisest use of your time and money might be.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Jan in Leonore, Illinois asked: “Now for the first of 2 more questions I did have a few weeks ago. Is there a convertor for putting video cassettes onto DVDs? I know I can transfer my VHS tapes with the machine I already have.
Hopefully the last question – having used nothing but Windows for 20+ years or close to it, since my computer is over 5 years old and this would be the last new computer I would buy, would a Mac be too complicated? Keep in mind I am almost 70 and the brain doesn’t function like it used to!”
1) VHS to DVD software from Honestech, can help you transfer those tapes easily, as long as you still have a VHS player.
2) If you’re saying that your brain doesn’t function like it used to, and you’ve been using nothing but Windows for over 20 years, you may just want to stick to Windows. Macs have a completely different operating system. While we wouldn’t say it’s “hard” to use a Mac, there would be a bit of a learning curve for someone who has not used one before and is used to the way Windows operates.
Not to mention that if you were looking into a laptop, you can typically find a Windows laptop for far less than a Macbook. Depending on what you plan to use it for, you can find a decent Windows laptop for around six or seven hundred bucks.
But, we do have to be fair and mention there are books and free tutorials online you can look at that would help with the transition from PC to Mac, if you choose to go that route. In fact, our own iDork Rob went from PC to Mac 4 years ago when he received his first iMac as a Christmas gift. It was his first Apple computer, so he wasn’t too familiar with the operating system.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Tim in Sparta, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 – calling in via the App asked: “We currently have the regular Nintendo Wii, but the color has faded one it and everything comes out in black and white, we’re considering getting the new Nintendo Wii U, but I’m wondering if my old games will work on the new Nintendo Wii U.”
Yes, your new Wii U should support your old Wii discs and it should also let you play even older games with downloads.
You will also be able to use your old controllers to play with the new system, so basically you’ll be able to recycle everything but the broken console itself, plus you’ll get the new Wii U functionality.
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
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — A simple solution to tangled earbuds.
Magix: Copies of Music Maker 2013 Premium – Create your own cool tracks with more advanced tools, additional instruments, high-quality studio effects and more sounds & loops.
Microsoft: Copies of Microsoft Streets and Trips 2013 Software with GPS Locator – The maps software comes with a GPS locator (in the form of a USB stick) that plugs directly into your laptop and provides full-screen navigation, spoken directions, and automatic rerouting.
PNY Technologies: ThinkSafe Portable MacBook Locking System & Security Clamp Combo — The ThinkSafe Portable MacBook Locking System by PNY secures your MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or iMac via your device’s hinge or built-in slot. The Portable Security Clamp provides a secure anchor point for your Laptop, Ultrabook, or MacBook – keeping your device secured.