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Tech News & Commentary
Marcus in Montgomery, Alabama listening on 1440 AM asked: “Is there any way to get a smartphone that uses the phone for the phone service, but that you don’t have to pay for the internet connection?”
Usually the only way you’re going to be able to do that Marcus is if you buy a phone that hasn’t been subsidized by a company, especially if it’s a GSM phone. With GSM phones, just sliding the SIM card in will be enough to get them running on whatever plan the SIM card is programed for.
With CDMA phones there’s an activation process involved and it includes giving the phone company the phone’s serial number, which they can use to check the model. If they do that and see it’s a smartphone, they usually won’t activate it without a data plan.
That basically means that you’re stuck with AT&T or T-Mobile as your carriers and with the smartphones you can buy unsubsidized.
You could try asking the other phone companies if they would activate a smartphone that “a friend gave you” without requiring a data plan. They don’t do it when they sell you the phone, but you may be able to buy a used one and have it put on the network if you don’t buy from them.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Tom in Nashville, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7and asked: “I’m asking for the most economical way to connect to the Internet via maybe an aircard or something like that. The Wi-Fi signal I get is too weak to connect to.”
Mobile broadband plan prices depend on the amount of data that you want to be able to transfer, the lower the data cap the cheaper the plan, Sprint offers plans starting at $34.99 a month for 3GBs of data, T-Mobile will charge you a little more, $39, for a little less, 2GBs of data, AT&T and Verizon’s plans start at $50, but that’s for 5GBs of data.
These plans all come with different speeds attached to them as well, Sprint offers “4G”, meaning WiMax, T-Mobile offers “4G”, meaning… to be honest: 3G, and AT&T and Verizon offer 4G, meaning LTE where available.
Generally speaking, in terms of speed, LTE is the best, then WiMax, then T-Mobile’s 4G and AT&T’s non-LTE “4G” (AT&T offers both flavors of 4G).
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Gaylord asked: “Buy Apple iPad 2 refurbished and save $50, or buy new?”
Apple it’s pretty good when it comes to their refurbished products, they replace all the packaging and change the cases so what you get pretty much feels like a new product. They also offer the same full one year warranty you would get with a new (non-refurbished) product.
All of that usually makes Apple a pretty good and safe choice when it comes to buying a refurbished product, having said that, for $50 if you’re going to be worried or second guessing the quality of your new iPad, maybe you should buy a new one. You’ll still be paying 90% of the regular price.
We think that as far as refurbished products go, Apple’s are among the safest to buy, but it’s up to you to decided if they difference in price makes it worth the small risk to you.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Victor in Smyrna, Georgia listening online asked: “I just bought the Acer Iconia Tablet with the Nvidia chip on the Android OS. I really enjoy it but having a hard time watching movies and stuff. Looking to see if there might be a built-in kickstand sleeve for this device.”
There are several actually. Acer makes it’s own, they call it the “Acer Iconia Tablet A500 Protective Case”. The case warps around the tablet much like the original iPad’s case did with that iPad and the other end of the case folds to make a stand. It’s relatively cheap, you can find it online for about $30. If you’re interested in products from other companies you can find several of those, too. Keep an eye on the price because we’ve seen them for as much as $120.
Another option you may want to look into is Acer’s dock for the Iconia tablet. It will keep your tablet charged while you watch your movies and it comes with a remote control as well. The downside is that it’s considerably more expensive than the protective case, it’ll cost you around $62, and it’s a little hard to justify the remote for watching movies, let’s face it we’re not talking about a 60-inch screen here, you’ll be pretty close to the tablet.
Still, if you want a dock that will keep your tablet charged and you use your tablet as a music player for example, and could use the remote, have a look at the dock as well. Come by our site and we’ll link you to all of the products we mentioned straight from this week’s show page.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
YouTube Subscriber Giveaway!
Did you win the LaCie LaPlug for subscribing to our YouTube Channel? It was for anyone who subscribed from years ago thru the end of 2011. Watch this week’s ITTV Update and find out.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
Three-dimensional images have a long tradition. In the 1950ies Hollywood tried to fight the upcoming television with 3D movies, and they tried again to fight big screen home theatres by offering 3D experience after the turn of the century. The difference – the signal is digital now, an easy challenge for the electronics industry. We saw long lines of visitors to watch prototypes at several shows, but IFA 2008 in Berlin was the real starting point of today’s 3D hype. The first market ready HD 3D plasma TV set was shown there. Since then 3D is a hot topic at electronic shows.
Leonard in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: “I’m an Apple user and have this program I bought from Apple called TuneUp. It’s supposed to characterize your music files, photos and stuff like that. I found this to be a pain. Now I get an error message saying that TuneUp is not compatible with my OS. Now I got to upgrade my Mac which i 10.4. Can you please help me?”
TuneUp requires at least Mac OS 10.6.6, which is Snow Leopard, you can update 10.4 Tiger to 10.6 Snow Leopard by buying a copy of Snow Leopard, and doing the installation from there.
That is assuming your computer can be upgraded to Snow Leopard at all, version up to Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) allowed PowerPC processors, Snow Leopard is the first Mac OS to require an Intel processor, so if you’re running an old PowerPC Mac, you won’t be able to upgrade past Leopard, and you won’t be able to run TuneUp.
If you’re running an Intel Mac you could also look into modernizing all the way and transferring to Mac OS 10.7, Lion, the current OS for Macs, but Lion might be an even tougher upgrade for you, considering it not only requires Intel processors, but it also requires 64 bit processors, which leaves out the original MacBook’s Core Duo processor.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Tom in Dickson, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 asked: “I live out in a rural area and there’s not too many options for Internet access. I’ve had Wildblue and it’s been terrible. I’m trying to find the simplest, cheapest way to get Internet service. I’ve heard about Straight Talk where you can get Internet service on the phone for $45 a month. If I could buy something like that, is there a device that would let me get online with my PC at home, or a wireless laptop? Or is there any other device I could get that will pick up some connection for that so I can get on the Internet?”
The problem with being out in rural areas is exactly what you said … There’s not a whole lot of options. Typically, if you can’t get high speed Internet from your phone company or a cable modem where you live, then satellite is the best option. Of course, that’s what Wildblue is, so you’ve had some experience with satellite Internet.
If you’re not happy with them, there are some other companies that offer satellite internet connections. HughesNet, Dish and Starband are probably the more popular services. We’re not saying that any of them are gonna work beter than Wildblue, but at least there are options. If you ave any neighbors nearby that also use satellite Internet, ask around. See what others are using and if it works well for them.
Now, the Straight Talk you mentioned is a pre-paid mobile phone service. While you can get mobile Internet on a cell phone, it won’t help you with getting a computer online at home.
One other option you can try along those lines, is a mobile broadband card from a wireless carrier. If you get decent 3G or even 4G cell phone signals in your area, this may be a lower cost option for you. Check with your cell phone carrier and see if they offer high speed data in your area. Then find out what Mobile Internet modems they have and what specials they may be offering. Most times, if you sign a multi-year agreement, you can get a USB Air card for free. Of course, you still have to pay the monthly fees, just like you would a cell phone.
In fact, Dave’s sister lives in a rural area in South Carolina. She encountered the same issues. She’s now online with a 3G Modem from AT&T. It’s not the fastest, but it’s a lot better than the dial-up connection she had before.
Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.
Leroy from East Point, Michigan listening online asked: “I usually listen to you over streamguys, but I would like to know how I can download your podcast on my Android phone, I have an HTC EVO 4G, I understand you need a podcast downloader I went to the marketplace and I see a whole bunch of them. I would like your opinion on which one works best or is there something better. This is my only device as far as that, my phone is my MP3 player I don’t own an MP3 player.”
For a free app that works well, you can try Google Listen, it will let you stream the podcast or download it to your EVO to listen to it later, but it won’t just fetch downloads without you opening the app.
Another really popular option is BeyondPod, it will let you schedule downloads of your favorite shows, and there is a lite version you can try for free (the full version will cost you $6.99).
Doggcatcher, is another well regarded app, it will even import the podcasts you follow from Google Listen and it will let you download audio as well as video podcasts.
You can also just use an RSS reader, like Google Reader, and play each file from the link embedded in the RSS feed, so basically if you see episode 1 and touch it on your EVO it will start streaming it.
Tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast for more details.
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