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Tech News & Commentary
John in Water Valley, Mississippi asked: “What is the difference between Dish Network’s Hopper and DirecTV’s Media Center?”
They’re similar offerings by competing companies. They both let you have one DVR and access it from any room in the house. The Hopper system limits you to three Joeys and a Hopper being able to play different shows at the same time. The same with DirecTV version, allowing you to play 4 shows at the same time.
The Hopper will record all of the Primetime shows on the major networks automatically, recording up to 6 shows in HD at the same time. It has three satellite tuners. Meanwhile, DirecTV’s Home Media Center can record up to 5 at the same time, but whatever Primetime shows you record will eat up some of those 5 slots.
The Hopper has a nice edge when it comes to watching recorded Primetime shows. The AutoHop feature will automatically skip through the commercials for you without you needing to do anything except say “yes” to using AutoHop, when you first start playing the recorded show. The AutoHop feature can only be used with Primetime shows.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Michael in Olive Branch, Mississippi listens online and asked: “Hey Dave, I have a question about USB car chargers. I am looking for a dual port charger that is best at charging the latest smart phones and tablets. I am not sure of the amount of volts, or watts, or amps that would work best. My wife and I both have Transformer tablets and Galaxy Phones and are just wanting to stay charged commuting to work and school.I stream your show straight from your website and enjoy every minute of it. Thanks for any help.”
They’re similar offerings by competing companies. They both let you have one DVR and access it from any room in the house. The Hopper system limits you to three Joeys and a Hopper being able to play different shows at the same time. The same with DirecTV version, allowing you to play 4 shows at the same time.
The Hopper will record all of the Primetime shows on the major networks automatically, recording up to 6 shows in HD at the same time. It has three satellite tuners. Meanwhile, DirecTV’s Home Media Center can record up to 5 at the same time, but whatever Primetime shows you record will eat up some of those 5 slots.
The Hopper has a nice edge when it comes to watching recorded Primetime shows. The AutoHop feature will automatically skip through the commercials for you without you needing to do anything except say “yes” to using AutoHop, when you first start playing the recorded show. The AutoHop feature can only be used with Primetime shows.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Shelby Clark, Founder and Chief Community Officer – RelayRides
Does your car sit unused? Do you want to put it to work? Maybe you don’t have a car at all and could use one for a few hours. Find out how RelayRides can help.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT with Rob: BlackDiamond Lamp (Smartphone/Tablet Charger)
This week Rob shares one of his latest distractions with us. A unique smart phone and tablet charger that has him staring at LEDs all day long.
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 Features/Specs we love:– YANTOUCH is known for their unique lighting products that also function as a charger for your devices. For example, they make the BlackDiamond 2 3D ambience dock, which we first reported on at IFA in Berlin last year.- The BlackDiamond 2 works along with a free app called “BlackDiamond”. Launch the app and insert the phone in the dock. Your device enhances the lighting effects of the lamp. – This dock is also a sound enhancer for the iPhone. It’s not only a helpful charging tool, it’s a good conversation piece because it just looks sweet on your desk or any other flat surface at home. In case you’re interested, it’s currently selling in the US for about $43 on Amazon. – For non-iPhone users, they created the BlackDiamond Lamp. It works with all sorts of tablets and smart phones. And, yes it still works with iPhone as well. – BlackDiamond Lamp has some neat controls. To turn it ON, you simply put your hand over it. To turn it OFF, you hold your hand over it for 3 seconds. – To adjust the brightness, you blow. Yes, blow. Leave it to the Taiwanese to make it fun. Just blow in the slot to toggle through the 3 different levels of brightness – 10%, 30% or 100%. – The lamp uses LEDs and goes through 1500 colors. It’s nice to mellow out, by staring at the lamp as it changes colors slowly. – The BlackDiamond Lamp is USB-powered. You plug it in to your laptop or PC or use your device’s USB power adapter. Then, insert the appropriate USB cable to charge your device. The charging indicator will be an orange color, pulsating while your device is plugged in. When it’s fully charged, a green light will throb. – Currently available for about $43 online.
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Rebecca in Naples, Florida listening via our “Into Tomorrow” iPhone App asked: “Hello Dave and Team,
Do you know anything about the YouMail app for the iPhone? If so, what?? Thanks :)”
We haven’t used YouMail, but what we know about it is that it’s a voicemail replacement app for iPhone and Android.
It’s similar to Google Voice in the sense that it will show you all of your messages on a list, Visual Voicemail style, and they both offer message transcription. YouMail offers the option of having a human being listen to the message and transcribe it.
One big difference between YouMail and Google Voice, though, is that Google Voice is free. YouMail has several tiers of service, so it’s not free. YouMail charges between $4.99 and $39.99 a month for the plans.
One problem you may run into is that YouMail does not transcribe past the first 60 seconds of a message, so you will have to listen to longer messages to know what the caller said.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
NQ Mobile: Activation codes for NQ Mobile Vault (Premium Version) — An Android app that keeps your text messages, pictures, and videos safely hidden from prying eyes.
StrikeForce Technologies: Several Download Keys for GuardedID – anti-keylogging software
ZoneAlarm by Check Point Software: Several download keys for ZoneAlarm Extreme Security (antivirus, firewall, spyware protection)