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Tech News & Commentary
Dave discussed a fading interest in the Apple Watch, here’s the article he mentioned.
Mark in Show Low, Arizona listens on News, Traffic Weather – KDWN 970 asked: “I wonder why people are so willing to use Smartphones if they are so easy to hack. I’m using an older generation flip phone, digital not analog. I feel it’s a little more secure than the smartphones. Can someone let me know about the smartphone? I would think the older phone is more secure than the smartphone. Is that correct?”
Mark, An older phone isn’t really more secure than a smartphone, it just does less, so there are less things to try to get from it.
What’s your concern? If you’re worried about your conversations being overheard, or your texts read then at best you’re as vulnerable as 
smartphone users, you may actually be more so, if your phone is so old as to use an older encryption standard.
If anyone gets a hold of your smartphone and manages to unlock it, they will probably have access to more information, since a smartphone has access to email accounts, and other apps, though some like banking apps will have their own passwords.
Having said that, if smartphones were insecure they probably wouldn’t be the standard at every industry around the world these days.
Smartphones get a little riskier when they are rooted or jailbroken, that process removes a lot of the protections built into the operating system and allow rogue software to collect data that it would otherwise not have access to. Having said that, that is not something that happens on it’s own, depending on the phone the process may be simpler or more involved, but it takes actually trying to do it.
So, your flip phone may be safer from the perspective that it stores less information so there is less to steal, but as far as making whatever you have on it less safe, that’s probably not the case.
Smartphones allow for longer passcodes too, and passphrases, and patterns, and biometric scans, just in terms of how they secure the data, they have more solid security features.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports Segment:
Tablets don’t have to cost a fortune. If you don’t mind a smaller, 7- to 8-inch tablet, there are plenty of great deals to be had. Consumer Reports electronics spokesman James McQueen is here with some recommendations.
Guest Segment:
Amy Saypol Tompkins, President & CEO – Gifting 365
An app offering a new way to send greeting cards
Jon in Rocklin, California listens to the Podcast and is calling in via the App asked: “I recently got into metal detecting. You want to use headphones to hear deep targets. I want to find some good quality, wireless headphones. What could you recommend that is reasonably inexpensive and decent quality?”
Jon, That’s an interesting hobby. When looking at wireless headphones – As far as “Reasonably priced” and “good quality” go, you may need to pick one. There are a lot of inexpensive ones out there, but they sometimes lack in quality, reliability or both.
One brand that is worth looking at is Sennheiser, They have headphones in all sorts of price ranges and is our brand of choice here in the studio. One model you might consider is the RS 120 which sells for around $99 – a bit pricey for headphones, but for the quality and reputation Sennheiser has, its probably a good investment. [JP] (re-written by cg)
One of the issues with wireless headphones is lag or delay in the signal. It’s very important that you get the tone indicating the presence of metal instantly, the very moment the coil passes over it, without any delay. Otherwise you will have inaccurate information and might dig fruitlessly in the wrong spot.
Most treasure hunters seemed to prefer headphones using the “Kleer” wireless technology that uses a 2.4 Gigahertz radio transmitter instead of Bluetooth. Kleer sends an uncompressed signal, which they do for the sake of audio quality, but which you care about because it means no lag or delay. There are a number of wireless headphones using this system. The Sennheiser RS160 and RS220 both do, but they’re pricey.
TDK’s WR700 headphones also use Kleer wireless and they’re priced around $150 online. however, you’ll have to act quickly. They have been discontinued, and Amazon says they only have a handful of them left.
David in Denver, Colorado listens Online asked: “I’m actually looking for some information you may have on a good software for running more than two monitors. I actually have Three monitors running from one computer. Thus far have not been able to find software that actually will do the job and run all three simultaneously without any flaws! I’ve tried a lot of different ones. Thought maybe you would have suggestion on a good multisoftware to run on windows 8.1 computer for multi monitor. One of them HP touch screen and HP monitor a TV Samson HD”
David, How are you connecting those screens now? Typically you don’t use software to use multiple screens, you use one or several graphics cards that can support multiple outputs.
There are other solutions, like using USB ports and even WiFi, but typically those are affected by a great deal of lag.
The fan favorite to achieve this is a card AMD makes called Eyefinity, that will allow you to output to 3 screens, but again, that’s a card not software, for the software you just use the card’s own built-in drivers.
If you don’t want to invest in a card that can handle 3 screens on it’s own, you may be able to use a second card and add the extra screen that way, but the issue is really more about hardware than software.
As for the touchscreen, typically all it takes is making the touchscreen the primary monitor and the touchscreen should work just fine, you shouldn’t need any special software for that.
The part we’re confused about here is, what software have you been trying? Normally, if you’re using a card that supports multiple outputs, then just enabling the monitors on the card’s settings should do the trick and, if the card is good enough, it should work normally.
The other item for consideration is what you’re trying to do with that multi-monitor setup. Are you using each of the screens as a separate display? Or are you trying to combine them into a single “video wall” display?
So while it is true that you can work multi-monitor setups with a single video card with the latest drivers, to get that video wall display where three screens combine into one, you will almost certainly need some sort of app to handle the combined displays.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Eddie in West Pittston, Pennsylvania listens to the Podcast asked: “I have a Cisco Linksys EA4500 router. I’m looking online and see that they sell extended antennas that you have to drill out the back of the unit and open it up. They’re 9dB gain at the 2.4 and 5 GHz range. Will this actually increase the performance of the router? There are 6 internal antennas on this router, 3 for 2.4 GHz and 3 for 5 GHz. Are these antenna mods worth it on this router?”
Eddie, You may see some slight improvement as long as the cable you use to connect the antenna is of good enough quality, however… don’t expect an earth shattering difference.
We have heard just about everything from “I saw no change at all” to “it’s a little better” to “it really helps” but most seem to agree that any difference is slight, with some even suggesting that building a makeshift parabolic antenna using a box and tin foil and putting the router in it may be more helpful.
If you really need the signal to be better, you may be better off investing in a better router.
Eddie, Antennas cannot magically create power. What they do is focus the radiated into narrower patterns so there seems to be more power coming in the measured direction. Unless it’s marked somehow on the directional antenna, or you have some equipment to measure the the gain in all directions, you will have a very difficult time getting things to line up correctly. We will link a very good article on this subject in this week’s show notes, so be sure and come to the website to get that.
And the whole point of Wi-Fi is to connect devices that will be moving around the house or office, so having a very directional RF pattern simply isn’t a wise idea in most cases. You would be better off buying a second access point to place about halfway to the area with weak signal.
If you can’t pull an Ethernet cable to that location, buy an access point that offers a range extender feature (or just buy a range extender, if you don’t care to use this device as an access point later). A range extender connects wirelessly to your network and retransmits the signals to increase them in the dead spots. They really do work.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
TYLT: Car Charger RIBBN Cables – These cables rapidly charge 2 Smartphones or 2 Tablets simultaneously.
Jabra: SoleMate Portable Bluetooth speaker for your laptop, tablet, smartphone or music player
Monster Products: DNA Pro 2.0 High powered Over-ear headphones
Hydreon Corp: FakeTV Burglar Deterrent – Simulates the light output of a TV to deter burglars from your home.
Verykool: S5015 Spark II Smartphone – Unlocked GSM phone with Android OS and front facing flash – perfect for selfies!
Kensington: SD4000 Universal 4K Docking Station for laptop computers