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Tech News & Commentary
Delaney in Vicksburg, Mississippi asked: “Is there any type of CD adapter available on the market that you could plug into your CD player that you can plug into your MP3 plater or smartphone and hear the audio in your car, the same way you can with a cassette adapter?”
As far as we know there’s no direct MP3 to CD adapter you can use in your car.
What you can do instead is look at FM transmitters, if you have a good clear frequency you should be able to plug one into your MP3 player’s headphone jack and transmit your music wirelessly to your car radio.
All you have to do is tune your radio to the same frequency as your FM transmitter and your music should be playing.
The effectiveness of the transmitter depends on how crowded FM bands are where you live, if you can find a frequency that’s not too close to the ones used by the bigger radio stations you should be able to use an FM transmitter well enough, but if most FM frequencies are taken then you may get a lot of interference.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Susan in Shreveport, Louisiana listening on 710 KEEL asked: “My problem is people invading my computer and hacking my e-mail and sending spam out to everybody on my e-mail list and pretty much making everybody on my e-mail list mad.”
There are a couple of ways in which this could be happening to you, your computer could be infected by malware that makes it act as a spam zombie, or you could be getting your email password stolen somehow.
If the problem is malware, then just install an antivirus, keep it updated and run regular scans, if it looks like that’s not how people are getting into your email account, check your security questions on your email settings, sometimes people pick very simple ones that someone they don’t really know can guess, for example “what city where you born in?” someone that doesn’t know you too well may be able to guess that you we born in the same city you live in.
You can also try changing your password regularly and choosing strong passwords instead of simple common words or phrases, something with letter in different cases and number or symbols should be stronger than most.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Barry in Cherry Hill, New Jersey listens online asked: “I have an HP p6242f computer with Win7 Home Premium (this computer includes an NVIDIA GeForce G210 card). Currently, I have two Samsung Syncmaster 204t monitors connected. One is set for analog, the other for digital. I have recently acquired a third Samsung Sync master 204t monitor, and would like to have all connected. I realize that I need a new video card to support this third monitor, and I am very confused as to what I need. I do not play video games, and I occasionally stream a movie now and then, so I don’t need the latest, highest, performance card. I am budget conscious. Any recommendations?”
Your graphics card will only let you run two monitors at once. You can install a second video card, but you will need some slots available in your motherboard for this.
To ensure compatibility you should look at other NVIDIA cards, but after the card is installed things should go smoothly, even Windows XP already supported up to 10 monitors, provided the computer had the proper number of cards to work with.
Ultimately, if you like the big screen, the phone’s for you. If you don’t, it’s not. The Note will probably stay as a niche phone, more than a mass appeal one like the Galaxy S line.
Another NVIDIA 210 like the one you have will cost you as little as $29.99 on NewEgg so, being budget conscious, that may be a way to go. Buying the same model should ensure that you won’t face any compatibility issues, but you are not required to use the exact same model, so if anything else looks good to you, you can opt for that instead, you won’t need a very high end video card to just play some video on an external screen.
We should mention there’s a solution from ATI called Eyefinity. It will let you connect up to 6 monitors from a single GPU. But, Eyefinity will definitely move you away from “budget” prices and you may even need a new graphics card to the replace the one you currently have for that setup to work.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Philip in Shreveport, Louisiana listens via the app asked: “Would like to know if the Android Thunderbolt is still a good phone to hang on to, or whether I should start looking at upgrades, considering the battery gets real hot on the Thunderbolt when running 4G. Is that typical?”
Well, let’s start with the battery problem. We have found plenty of reports about the Thunderbolt running overly hot at times, especially when using some processing power or when the 4G radio is on. There’s not a clear solution.
As for whether or not the Thunderbolt is a good phone, well, it depends on what you need, it certainly is a powerful phone, it has access to a very fast network if, That is if it’s available in your area, you won’t find many phones with better specs, but whether or not it’s the best one for you is something that we can’t tell you, maybe you’d prefer a less powerful phone with a battery that doesn’t worry you.
If you’re thinking about replacing it for a newer one just to have the latest and greatest, you should probably wait, new phones aren’t that far ahead of the Thunderbolt yet, if you’re just not happy and want to try something different, then sure, have a look around, you may like the Droid Razr, it has similar specs as your Thunderbolt but in a much thinner package, and is made by a different manufacturer.
And if you are seriously considering a replacement 4G LTE phone, then the Droid Razr Maxx might be the best bet. Battery life was a real problem on the original Droid Razr, and the new Maxx edition fixes that in a big way. It has the longest battery life per charge of any smartphone you can buy.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
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 2 of our podcast.
Lisa in Nashville, Tennessee listens to WTN, calling in via our Free App asked: “I have an iPhone 3G, is it possible that it can get a virus. If so, is there a way to protect it? I appreciate it. ”
If your phone has not been “jailbroken” then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. There is no virus protection for iPhones because there are no known viruses — at the moment. Viruses, most often, are attached to e-mails. The iPhone OS doesn’t allow software to be installed from an e-mail message or an MMS. It has to be downloaded from the App Store or installed from a computer while the phone is connected to it.
Even with “jailbreaking”, it doesn’t necessarily allow a virus to be installed. What it does sometimes, depending on what sot ware was installed, is open up some security vulnerabilities. Apple warns against this on their site, saying that it can allow hackers access to your personal information. Now remember, jailbreaking isn’t illegal, but if you do it, you will ensure that Apple will not offer you any support, should anything go wrong.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
| HOUR 2 GUESTS | ||
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| TechShop | Mark Hatch, CEO – TechShop | TechShop-built robots |
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| Some of the machines at TechShop | Safety first | Carving out Ford |
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Boingo: Several 60-day Certificates — With Boingo you can connect online at free and paid Wi-Fi hotspots.
Kingston: 16GB SD memory cards and a MobileLite G3 (USB 3.0 Card Reader)
Idea Incubator: Several txtRng — “the stylus with style”. This is a unique stylus Rob recently featured it on our Product Spotlight.
Radio Shack: Auvio Element Earbuds with Microphone