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Tech News & Commentary
Michael in Montgomery, Alabama listening on 1440 WLWI asked: “I’m considering the changes in technology. How much sense do you think it makes to get a tablet. Now I’m not really into the idea of tablets, I’m more of a laptop guy because of the power and capabilities. I use computers for music production, video editing and stuff like that. Would I still be able to do work on a tablet similar to what I can do with a laptop?”
Even with the wide variety of Tablets, from android to iOS, they don’t come close to the video and audio work that you can do on a computer.
Take the iPad for example, apple offers the iLife suite, consisting of Garageband for music, iPhoto for photo work, and iMovie for, you guessed it, movie editing. But even with this apps that are very powerful at their purpose, you are still very limited to the actual amount of work you can do. Adobe has an iPad version of photoshop but again, you don’t nearly have the same features and efficiency as a PC.
While manufacturers and developers are trying to make tablets more and more content creation devices, they still stay for the most part, except for word processing, content consumption devices. No one has really found the secret ingredient necessary to make tablet devices suitable for content creation.
For any media production, whether it be photo, video or audio, tablets are not great at it, and for now at least, your better choice is to stick to full fledged computers that can handle and run power intensive programs.
Which does not mean tablets are bad, or that we don’t like tablets. They are superior in almost every way when it comes to the consumption of content, and they’re getting better at the creation of content as well — but that is mostly as the apps improve. The proper tool for the job, we say!
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Jack in Los Alamos, New Mexico listens online: “I’m wondering if it is possible to dualboot Windows 8 & 7? Is it a good idea to do? How do I do it? Will my apps have to be reinstalled to the Windows 8 part? Will my data from windows 7 be available to my windows 8? How do I go about getting upgrades with a dualboot?”
You can install both Windows 7 and Windows 8, in fact a lot of people have chosen that setup to “try” to upgrade after hearing so many bad things about Windows 8.
Your data and software will not be copied if you go that route, but you may be able to access your file on the Windows 7 partition from Windows 8 anyway, you just won’t have two copies.
Software is a different story, a lot of programs probably won’t run if you try to open them from the Windows 7 partition while you’re running Windows 8, in fact, some probably will, but they will be in the minority.
As for getting upgrade, if you mean updating your OS, you just update each when you’re using them, basically as far as Windows 8 is concerned, it will be on a world of it’s own with access to a partition that just so happens to have Windows 7 on it, and Windows 7 will look at Windows 8 the same way. The should each be able to update individually and you’ll never get a pop up saying “here are you 3 updates for Windows 7 and you’re 2 updates for Windows 8, would you like to install them?”
If you’re talking about upgrading hardware though, you’re gonna have to make sure that whatever you’re installing has drivers for both Windows 7 and Windows 8 for both of the OSs to be able to use it.
That shouldn’t be a huge problem by now, though.
By the way, we have now seen enough of the upcoming Windows 8.1 upgrade to know that the Start button IS returning…sort of. There will be a Start button, but all it does is return you to the Home screen in Windows 8’s “Modern” user interface. The old Start button menu is gone for good, it seems.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Chris and the team shared their experiences with the olloclip iPhone Photo Lens and the
Touchfire iPad Keyboard
Bill asked: “Can I run microsoft works calendar on windows 8?”
You can install Microsoft Works calendar on Windows 8 and it will work, at least for now, but you might want to think about transitioning to Windows Calendar or any current calendar.
Microsoft Works has been discontinued and it hasn’t been updated since September 2007, for now it just happens to still work (though some users report that it’s making their CPU work a little too hard), but sooner or later it won’t anymore.
If you don’t like Windows Calendar or want to try other features, you can try Windows Live Calendar or Google Calendar, you have plenty of free and paid options out there, but you may want to switch to something that still supported, this year it will be 6 years since Microsoft killed off Works, you probably shouldn’t still be relying on it.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Josh in Fremont, California listens on KLIV and is calling in via the App asked: “Responding about the FB post about the ban on texting on driving.”
Josh, thank you for your input — and especially for using our App to do so. Guess what? As a result, if you enter our BIG “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway to Berlin, you’ll get a BONUS entry because you participated with audio, via our “Into Tomorrow” App!
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Mike in Pembroke Pines, Florida listens via the iPhone App asked: “I’m about to upgrade my phone. I currently have an iPhone 4. I don’t know if I should go with an iPhone 5 or even a Galaxy Note 2. I can see thta they’re both great phones. I’m just not that thrilled with the iPhone 5. I feel that the Note has some great features. wanted to see in comparison, what you guys think.”
Neither device is perfect and there are definitely areas where the Galaxy Note 2 bests the iPhone 5 and vice-versa. The 1st and probably biggest thing you’ll notice is the size of the phone. With the Iphone 5 screen being a little bigger than that of the 4, upgrading from a 3.5 inch screen, to a 4 inch screen.
However the Galaxy Note has a 5.5 inch screen, which is great for viewing, but can also make it a bit difficult for storage — like in your pocket.
Next you can look at data storage size. The Note 2 comes with 16GB internal storage which can be expanded with a memory card. Where as the iPhone5 come with 16, 32 and 64 GB options, that can not be expanded. Battery life is a little better on the iPhone 5 but that tends to vary based on the user.
The best thing to do is to figure out which features meet your needs the most, and look to see which phone meets those needs better. Keep in mind, when switching from apple to android, you will need to rebuy a lot of your material (such as your paid apps). That is always something to consider when switching.
We would recommend taking some time to see what phone would work best, and if you get a chance, try going to a store and ask to play with the phones to get a better feel for it. If you need any more help, feel free to call us back, and we can provide even more specific details.
What it will likely come down to, however, is apps. Still, even today, after all this time, iOS has the app edge over Android, and everybody else for that matter. If an app is available only for one platform, it will be iOS, generally speaking. And when you compare the iOS and Android versions of apps, you will likely find that the iOS version just feels smoother and sharper.
A lot of app developers will talk to you about how Apple devoted so much time and effort to screen updates and user interface, while Google wasn’t as focused, and as a result iPhones update their screens very well and their apps feel smooth.
But the Galaxy Note II is a unique product, a combination phone and tablet that actually works, and offers great support for a pressure sensitive stylus (something iPhones and even iPads cannot).
Which one is better? Whichever one you like better, we’re pretty confident in saying, for you…will be better.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
HDRadio: FM/HD Insignia Table Top Radios with 10 presets
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.
Magix: Music Maker 2013 Premium – Make Music Now! With More Sounds. More Possibilities.