Tech News & Commentary
Kamal in Erie, Pennsylvania Listening on 1450 WPSE asked: “When I’m using my laptop, I get on YouTube and try to play a song. It plays for a bit then the screen goes blank and the internet connection is disconnected. What can I do to fix this? It started doing this about a month ago.”
YouTube is likely not the cause — but perhaps the trigger. Videos move a lot of data, we’d be willing to bet that if you try to move a large file over WiFi the same will happen. Your network card is failing when it’s put under heavy use for some reason.
The reason could be hardware, which would be the worst case, that it would mean either replacing it, if that’s possible, or getting some kind of USB replacement. A USB WiFi adapter wouldn’t cost a lot though, so it may be an easy way out of the problem if it’s hardware based.
It could also be drivers, sometimes a faulty driver may, for lack of a better explanation, get overwhelmed under pressure and shut down or do something wrong. If you can reinstall the drivers and any software related to your WiFi adapter and see if that fixes the issue. Some VAIO laptops in particular were having a problem like the one you’re describing that was due to drivers, but even if you’re not using a VAIO you may still be using the same faulty driver.
If you’re just trying to listen to music though … give Spotify a try! There’s a free trial for 30 days and then its $9.99 monthly after that, but that’s only worth it if you’re a music junkie. I use it all the time without any issues and am able to download entire playlists to listen offline too!
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
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Steve in Ontario, Canada listens on CKLW 800 The Information Station asked: “I’ve been using Imtoo Ipad Mate Platinum with my new generation 4 Ipad and my iPhone 4S, for converting /loading video files to mp4 format, managing music and photos etc. The software is a great concept with many useful applications within itself. My problem is that the software crashes constantly whether on my older laptop running Vista or my newer PC running Windows 7. I removed and installed it twice on both machines with no improvement. Can you recommend a fix for this problem or an alternative software that is similar to the Imtoo product in its function?”
If all you want is the video conversion we can give you a few options, as for the full package, there’s not much out there that’s like the iPad Mate, iTunes can do the syncing, including WiFi syncing, so not many people are willing to pay for that.
The video downloads from YouTube and video conversion is cool, but $70 is not cheap for that, and a lot of people are ok with converting their videos on one program and loading them with iTunes.
For the videos conversion you can try ArcSoft Media converter for $30, again it will only convert, not transfer. Xilisoft also makes an video converter, also for around $30.
If you want to try an iTunes alternative for the transfer, Tomahawk is free, and just different enough to avoid expensive lawsuits, it also incorporates music from several online sources, MediaMonkey has been around for quite a few years and it has hardcore followers, so you can try that too. And doubletwist is also very close to the iTunes interface but with extra features and still free.
None of those are truly like iPad Mate though, and they will not incorporate anywhere near the same functionality.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Keith in Shreveport, Louisiana Listening via 710am KEEL asked: “I’m in the military, getting ready to go overseas. My wife is an Apple zombie and I’m an Android Acolyte. I was wanting to get a Google Nexus 7 to take with my so I can Skype with my wife on her iPad Mini. Are we going to have compatibility problems?”
No, you’ll be just fine.
Skype works on both platforms and you don’t have to worry about what she’s running it on, iPad, computer, phone, even some TVs… as long as the device is compatible with Skype you won’t have any compatibility issues.
You won’t be able to FaceTime with her, but Skype should present no problems at all.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Larry in Prince Edward Island, Canada listening Online asked: “I’ve got about $500 that I’m looking to spend on a computer – either a laptop or a tablet. My present laptop is a little old and is running sluggish. Could you give me two or three items that you would purchase if you were in my shoes?”
For your price range, you’re pretty covered in terms of tablets. You should be able to look at the least expensive ones like the Kindle Fire HD and the Nook HD, but you’ll also have the base models of more expensive ones available to you.
All of the iPad models have some version that fits within your budget as well so you may want to consider them. They’re still the most successful tablets out there, in my biased opinion – I love my ipad, working off it it right now actually!
On the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is within your budget as well and you may like it if you want widgets on a big screen.
As far as laptops go, you can find the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 online for about what you want to spend and get a very lightweight laptop with Windows 8, 4GB of RAM a 14” screen and a 500GB hard drive. You can find similar models by ASUS and Acer with slightly bigger screens.
$500 laptops will be on the low end, while $500 tablets will be on the high end. But even low end laptops will do more than high end tablets, so if you don’t have any other computer and you need to do more than email, web browsing and some basic games, a laptop may serve you better.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
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eton: FRX3 – Hand Turbine AM/FM/Weather Alert Radio
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — Now with Dave’s face on them! — A clever solution to tangled earbuds.
iolo: Copies of: Drive Scrubber – Erase data so it can NEVER be recovered.
SoundMatters: foxl – Pocket Sized portable Bluetooth Loudspeaker.