HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
Alan in Knox, IN listening on WWCR-SW shortwave radio and our podcast called and asked us: “There’s a website being advertised called PatriotInternet.com. They claim they’ll give you a 128 Encrypted service from your laptop to their server and then you go on the Internet. It’s supposed to be good for a wireless connection at the library or Burger King. Wondering if this is reliable and who they are.”
Patriot Internet is selling an “anonymous surfing” service. You pay them for access through their servers, then establish an encrypted connection to their servers, and from there … out to the Internet. As for who they are, we don’t know anything about them. The look of the web sites is rather rough and amateurish, and the pages are full of what would appear to be right wing or Tea Party stories and links. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, but you asked who they were and that’s what we can see.
There are other proxy servers available, some of them are anonymous also. But you might be overthinking this just a bit. Unless you’re worried about someone “sidejacking” your social networking connections, there really isn’t much risk using public WiFi. Any secure host like banking or shopping will encrypt the connection to your browser automatically, and no one can break in on that. Someone would need to go to considerable lengths to grab your information.
But, the possibility exists that they might and if that worries you then a service like Patriot Internet will give you some peace of mind. One thing to keep in mind is that proxy servers often cause web sites to display improperly. Some web sites, once they detect that they can’t communicate directly with the remote browser, simply do not function.
We hope this helps you! But … if any other listeners have any more info, please help Alan and the rest of us by calling us at 800-899-INTO.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Magicka is taking the world by storm! This game is the most fun you can have for under $10. Tune in this week for details.
Group discussion: Mark shared his experience as a new Macbook Air owner.
Leroy in East Point, MI listening to our podcast asked: “I have a 4 year-old Gateway laptop. It came with two PC2700 512MB Memory Cards. I want to upgrade the memory. Do I have to replace them in pairs? Or can I put a single 1GB card? Or do I have to put 2? It’s expandable up to 2GB.”
Having pairs of the same amount of memory can help your computer perform at it’s best, especially if it doesn’t have a discrete graphics card, that being said it’s not in any way required.
If you wanted to upgrade one of your two modules to 1GB and leave the other one as is your computer would simply report that it has 1.5GB of RAM and it would use those 1.5GB, the only downside is that your system will not be able to use the most bandwidth it theoretically could, and it won’t be as fast and efficient as it can be.
Having said that you will notice your computer running faster and better anyway, just from the increase in memory alone.
Think of it as a free prize, if you install different modules your computer will run faster, if you install two of the same kind it will run faster and give you a little extra boost for your trouble.
If you do buy a pair of memory modules to get the full performance gain make sure they are identical, same frequency and same capacity, otherwise you won’t be able to use them to the fullest anyway, but remember that even if the modules are different your computer will still have access to the added RAM and it will still run faster.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
• Daniel Sagis, CEO – AnybodyOutThere
AnybodyOutThere is a new website that helps you find the right (like-minded) people to talk with about whatever’s on your mind … outside your current circle of friends. Some people are calling this the “PG version of Chat Roulette”.
Tom in Albuquerque, NM listens to the podcast and on the Android App and asked: “Excited about hearing the BlueAnt interview on our 1/28 Show. I’m loving my current BlueAnt T1, just a little heavy. I’m wondering if the Vlingo thing is going to be a Firmware update or an app to download from the Android Market. At the moment, they only have an app for updates and activating the whole system. Anyways, love the new app and can’t wait for your answer.”
Vlingo is an app, not a firmware update so you’ll be able to download it whenever you want instead of having to wait for your phone’s manufacturer’s to choose to give it to you.
We asked BlueAnt’s PR folks for more information and they said: “Details will be forthcoming. The team is working on it now. It will be an app that will have to be downloaded and installed on your smartphone, but we don’t have any more details on it at this time. Sorry.”
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Aeric from “somewhere on this Earth” asked us: “I installed Windows 7 on my laptop. It was Windows Vista. After I did this, the laptop battery has stopped charging. What could this be and how do I fix it? Thanks. Love your show!”
Batteries, like the rest of your computer’s hardware, need drivers and it is possible that Windows 7‘s default battery drivers took over the old ones after you upgraded your laptop. Usually this doesn’t cause any problems (in fact you wouldn’t even notice it happened), but sometimes it does.
The best thing you can do to fix the problem is go to the manufacturer’s website and look for Windows 7 drivers for your laptop’s model, if you can’t find them you can even look for your battery’s manufacturer’s website and see if they have any drivers.
If you can’t find any and you’re really desperate you can go into Window’s Device Manager and under batteries disable “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery”, after a restart your battery may start charging.
We have to mention that this does work for some people but you are disabling the drivers that are currently controlling the process, so it’s not the safest procedure in the world, only try it if you think the alternative is not being able to use the battery ever again anyway, and watch your laptop very closely for a while after you do it.
Lastly we have to say it… are you sure the battery should be charging? if this is a really old battery that hasn’t been working well for a while, the change in operating systems doesn’t necessarily mean anything, maybe it was just your battery’s time to retire.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Rickey in Columbus, OH listening via our iPhone App called and shared this with our listeners: “I was listening to the stream on the iPhone app and heard you talking about the upgrade for your GPS in your car. I purchased, from Best Buy, a Magellan 3045-LM for $170 (on sale, BB almost always has this on sale) and it has Lifetime Maps and Lifetime Traffic. I absolutely love it. They update the maps four times a year and the Lifetime Traffic is for Major Cities…they give you a listing on their website for those cities.”
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.
Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza
Computer Mice – Swiftpoint Mouse & Smartfish Whirl Mini
Are you ready to upgrade your mouse? There are some neat innovations in the computer mice world and our correspondent Rob Almanza has two that you might want to try. Products mentioned: Swiftpoint Mouse & Smartfish Whirl Mini.
– By Rob Almanza, “Into Tomorrow” Correspondent
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Radio Shack: Several Weather Alert Clock Radios with SkyWarn
RCA: Several travel chargers with surge protection
Honestech: Copies of Audio Recorder 2.0 Deluxe – Software to convert your analog music into digital formats including MP3s and audio CDs. Save those great musical memories.