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Tech News & Commentary
Sally in Cary, North Carolina asked us: “I have taken a video and the white balance was off, I know how to correct that somewhat for digital still photograph but I’m not sure how to do it for video? Is there an editing program that will allow me to take a fairly blue looking video and adjust the color on it?”
Sally, If you have any video editing software, it most likely has a white balance correction tool somewhere. AVID, Final Cut Pro, Premiere, 
even iMovie all have one.
If you don’t have any video editing software yet, and don’t want to pay to get it, Avidemux is free, it’s multiplatform, and it does have a white balance correction setting (including auto white balance). It’s not anywhere near as full featured as any of the other options we mentioned, but it will cost you nothing.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Karl, listens to the podcasts calling in via the App asked us: “I see these silly QR codes out there. You can’t read them unless you have an app on your phone. Why can’t they just put it in plain english, and have an App to take a picture of it and use OCR to highlight the link they want you to take and let you go there? Is there an app out there already?”
Karl, It’s mostly because it’s far harder and less reliable to do it that way. For example, an ‘A’ isn’t always an ‘A’, sometimes it’s a cursive, italic, or stylized to be made it a certain way, sometimes letters are bunched up together, sometimes they’re spaced out, sometimes they’re vertical, sometimes horizontal, sometimes at a random angle, the colors and contrasts between the background and foreground are different, there are as many possibilities as there are graphic design projects. You get the idea.
A QR code is simple, it’s always a square, always two colors to contrast with clearly defined anchors and the edges that the phone can find to find the size of the square. They’re always the same and far easier to decode.
Now, having said that, yes they’re very stupid, they’re not really all that useful except for when it comes to very long or complex URLs, and they’ll probably go away soon enough. Just wait them out, they’re probably just a silly fad.
Or, maybe they’re not. OCR software is notoriously difficult to get 100% accurate. And the bane of a marketing person’s existence is mistyped domain names. There are websites out there with domain names deliberately similar to popular big-name sites, just trying to lure in the inaccurate typist. And that’s what a QR code does. It eliminates typos, even the ones from OCR programs. Not to mention that OCR software is usually a fairly intensive application, requiring a good processor and a decent amount of memory. Smartphones don’t want to give up that battery life or have to include more expensive components just so you don’t have to thumb-type a web address. QR codes are efficient and accurate, and as more people use a smartphone or tablet as their primary web device, QR codes become more useful and less likely to disappear.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Anita in Margate, Florida listening via the Android App asked us: “I was wondering does the surface tablet allow you to add programs and still have apps to download?”
Anita, Programs and apps are the same thing… computer programs basically do the same thing as software applications, but branding the mobile kind apps have made people think that they’re not those complicated things that come with an installer.
If what you’re asking is, can you run the kind of programs that you can under Windows and the kind of apps you’d run on a phone, to an extent you can if you’re using a Surface 2 Pro and not a Surface 2 or the new surface 3.
Phones are just less powerful computers, so typically, if a phone can do it a regular computer can too, the reason Fruit Ninja doesn’t get marketed to regular computers is that slicing fruit in half with a mouse is just annoying, but it might not be a terrible game on a touchscreen laptop.
The same goes for other apps, tilting your laptop all over the place to roll a little ball is not as effortless as tilting a phone or a tablet. Since the Surface is a tablet, those shouldn’t be major concerns.
Depending on what Windows programs you’re thinking of, keep in mind that as far as computers go, a Surface 2 Pro isn’t very powerful, so anything that requires more powerful hardware won’t run well or at all on the Surface 2 Pro. Word, Excel, and that level of programs should run just fine though! Just don’t try to stick a high-end PC game on it.
And as for that app vs. programs branding confusion, we usually say that apps are smaller, simpler, and less expensive programs. That is, all apps are programs, but not all programs would be considered apps.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Tony Jarboe, CEO – Expertory.com
a comprehensive ecommerce solution that allows you to sell subscriptions & pay-per-view rentals of your online videos as well as conduct live
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
In 1939, the United States became the third country, after Germany and Great Britain, to begin regular television broadcasts. President Roosevelt himself started the broadcast during the World Exhibition in New York. As television had become a reality, the Big German Radio Show which had started in 1924 to make radio reception and the necessary machinery popular, was renamed in 1939 and became “The Big German Radio and Television Exhibition”, making it the first television show in the world and the show that would later become the Internationale FunkAusstellung. Today IFA is still the number one show.
Teresa in Durham, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked us: “I have a desktop as well as a Dell laptop computer that has Windows XP, I know its out of order for the moment or no longer going to be service. I have been told that I need to upgrade to Windows 7, but I can’t find anyone online that carries it. Is there anyone in the U.S that carries it?”
Teresa, You should be able to find Windows 7 installation DVDs online at places likeAmazon.com andTigerDirect.com, just keep in mind that they will cost you a fair amount of money and your XP computers will not stop working, so if you’d rather pocket the cash for now and put it towards a new computer whenever you choose to upgrade, you can do that too. Microsoft will not update or patch Windows XP, but it will still work as it does today as long as the computer can run it.
A Windows 7 upgrade will cost you more than a Windows 8 upgrade, at least NOW it does, because Microsoft really wants to push you to their latest version. When we checked pricing, a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade disc cost over $300, while a Windows 8 upgrade cost around $100. That’s quite a big difference.
When upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7, you also have to perform a custom installation of Windows 7, which means none of your programs or settings migrate forward. Microsoft has a rather long and complicated set of instructions on doing this, and we’ll link that website in on our show notes for this weekend’s broadcast. You can get those at IntoTomorrow.com. Look for the show of July 11th, 2014.
Honestly, given the price of an upgrade, it might be time for you to give serious thought to simply buying a new computer. If you have a Dell desktop running Windows XP, that’s an OLD machine. A new Dell Inspiron 300 desktop with an Intel Core i3 processor and Windows 8.1 only costs around $400 and we guarantee you that it will run rings around your Windows XP desktop.
Maybe that’s the best bottom line. Keep using your Windows XP computer until you can afford the $400 to replace it, then buy an entirely new computer with the latest version of Windows.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Mike from Wyoming listening via the App asked us: “Is it better/more efficient to use a cable tether for an internet connection on the computer. Or use the Wifi Hotspot option on the phone? I want to get rid of my wifi and just use my cell service has the wifi.”
Mike, There are a lot of variables here. In my opinion, more important than the speed or efficiency, would be the price. With data plans ranging from $10 to upwards of $100 per month, depending on the carrier, you must be extremely diligent on your usage.
Watching movies or streaming music may become quite an expensive habit. Listening to streaming audio for just 1 hour per day will set you back about 2 gigs per month.
Throw in 1 movie a week and you are over 6 gigs a month. I would only recommend going Mobile Hotspot if your data usage is under 4 gigs a month.
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
Kanex: GoPower Pack – 6,000 mAh and 11,000 mAh battery packs with built-in stands for smartphones
Other World Computing (OWC):Power2U AC/USB Wall Outlet – power outlets for your wall with built-in USB ports.
Bits Limited: Mini Squids — Travel-Sized surge protected power strips
Tylt: ENERGI Sliding Power Cases the Samsung Galaxy S4.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!