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HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
Karl, listens to the podcasts – calling in via the App asked us: “I see these silly QR codes out there. You can’t read them unless you have an app on your phone. Why can’t they just put it in plain english, and have an App to take a picture of it and use OCR to highlight the link they want you to take and let you go there? Is there an app out there already?”
Karl, It’s mostly because it’s far harder and less reliable to do it that way.
For example, an ‘A’ isn’t always an ‘A’, sometimes it’s a cursive, italic, or stylized to be made it a certain way, sometimes letters are bunched up together, sometimes they’re spaced out, sometimes they’re vertical, sometimes horizontal, sometimes at a random angle, the colors and contrasts between the background and foreground are different, there are as many possibilities as there are graphic design projects. You get the idea.
A QR code is simple, it’s always a square, always two colors to contrast with clearly defined anchors and the edges that the phone can find to find the size of the square. They’re always the same and far easier to decode.
Now, having said that, yes they’re very stupid, they’re not really all that useful except for when it comes to very long or complex URLs, and they’ll probably go away soon enough. Just wait them out, they’re probably just a silly fad.
Or, maybe they’re not. OCR software is notoriously difficult to get 100% accurate. And the bane of a marketing person’s existence is mistyped domain names. There are websites out there with domain names deliberately similar to popular big-name sites, just trying to lure in the inaccurate typist. And that’s what a QR code does. It eliminates typos, even the ones from OCR programs. Not to mention that OCR software is usually a fairly intensive application, requiring a good processor and a decent amount of memory. Smartphones don’t want to give up that battery life or have to include more expensive components just so you don’t have to thumb-type a web address. QR codes are efficient and accurate, and as more people use a smartphone or tablet as their primary web device, QR codes become more useful and less likely to disappear.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Tom in Columbus, Ohio listens to the FREE “Into Tomorrow” Podcast asked: “I have two identical Sony Blu-ray players. One on the first floor, one on the second. The one on the second floor, I have trouble getting it to connect to the Internet. It does go through a second router, although I have a computer right there and it doesn’t seem to have a problem. I always have to reset it, turn it off and on. It’s much slower, in terms of connecting. I thought it was a defect, but I swapped the two and the problem is the same. I don’t think it’s a router issue because the computer doesn’t have a problem.”
Tom, It sounds like your Blu-ray players don’t have great WiFi reception. Computer are usually fairly sensitive to WiFi, your problem may just be that your Blu-ray players are not.
Is there any way you can move the router closer to the player that’s struggling? If you can do that even for a test, you should be able to find out whether it’s a weak signal or something else.
You can also try a different channel and see if that helps, you may have some interference on the channel you’re using on the router, and changing to a less congested one may ease the connection problems.
Since you’re using 2 routers, keep in mind that if the second one is repeating a wireless signal from the first one, it can only repeat what it hears, so if the signal is weak by the time it gets to the second router, the second router will put out a slower connection.
While signal strength is the most common cause of spotty wireless Internet access, you should also check the router configuration in terms of the protocols being used. Are you running WEP or WPA security? Most experts will tell you that WPA2 with AES encryption is the fastest and most reliable. If you’re using WEP, which is an old standard, we’ve seen devices that won’t stay reliably connected to a router using WEP, but when we changed them to use WPA2, those problems disappeared.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Michael in Willow, Alaska listening on KBYR asked: “My kids and I are starting a small at home business screen printing T- shirts for sale to tourists and others. We need to get a new PC and the screen print manufacturer recommends Corel Draw 5 or 6. My question is which operating system would best support This software? And if you recommend Windows 8 should we get the touch screen ? Not sure if we want a laptop or a desktop either. I’m leaning towards a desk top because of cost but would spend the extra money for a laptops convenience. I always look forward to listening to your show while at work in the far north Alaska oilfield. Thanks much for all you do, I look forward to your recommendations.”
Michael, First of all we should mention that Corel Draw 5 and 6 came out in 1994 and 1995 respectively, X5 and X6 came out in 2010 and 2012, we’re sure your print manufacturer recommends X5 or X6, but if they’re actually recommending 5 or 6, you may need to look for more recent stuff.
Having said that, X5 and X6 don’t demand that powerful a computer on paper, X6 requires Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8, will run on 32-bit processors, and even a Pentium 4 processor, and will work on 1GB of RAM and 1.5GB of hard drive space… and if you try to run it on a system with those minimal specs, we suspect your first t-shirt with be printing sometime around the summer of 2016.
You probably won’t be using the most highly advanced features CorelDraw offers, you won’t be dealing with a ton of vectors and layers, or editing very large images, but even so…. a Pentium 4 with 1GB of RAM seems wildly optimistic.
You may want to go for a desktop, and spend some of the money you save by not buying a laptop on RAM, a decent graphics card, and on paying for CorelDraw, which is not at all a cheap piece of software.
CorelDraw X6 will cost you about $400 if you buy it, $25/month if you get a month to month subscription instead of paying the full price for it, or $198/year of you go for a year to year subscription rather than buying it or going month to month.
Whichever way you go, it’s going to be a substantial expense, and you should probably keep it in mind when choosing a computer.
If you go for Windows 8, you should get a touchscreen. Having said that, you can go with Windows 7. X6 will work just fine on 7, and it will likely continue to work just fine for years, since they still support XP.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Anthony in Benton Harbor, Michigan asked: “I have a Galaxy Note 2. I was wondering is there any free apps you can download where I can type and fax letters and do a powerpoint?”
Anthony, You have a few options for faxes, but they won’t be sent straight from your phone, they will be sent to a web service that will then send it to the number that’s supposed to receive it.
Some of those services have apps, and those are the ones you’d need to download. eFax, lets you attach documents and pictures to include with your fax, and the app itself is free, though the service is not.
iFax, works in a similar way, you can also attach files, images, a signature, and you get an incoming number, but again the app is free, and the service is not.
iFax is interesting in that it is a port from their iPhone app, and it looks almost exactly like an iOS6 app on your Android phone, it’s a little odd.
PowerPoint is a different story, to be completely honest, you’re better off using a computer for decent PowerPoint presentations, there are some apps that will let you view presentations, and even those are not as good as what you get on a computer, but to make one you really don’t want to use your phone.
Even Microsoft’s own official Office Mobile app for Android only lets you create Word and Excel files, and edit but not create PowerPoint files. They do support that feature on phones running their Windows Phone software, as you might expect, but for some reason they withhold that capability from Android and iOS users.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Marc Grossman, Founder/CEO – Pricemds.com
Discussion Segment:
Samantha provided her professional opinion regarding some of the statements made by the previous guest, and then team discussed their opinions regarding the product the guest presented.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The first in-car media center was presented during the Internationale Funkausstellung in 1993 in Berlin. Blaupunkt presented a model, named “Berlin” of course, which combined a mobile music- and information system with a three by two inch video screen. The “Berlin” already had interfaces for a CD changer, telephone, television and video players, plus a complete navigation system.
| Candids From Around The Studio | ||
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| Dave in front of the mic | Mandee sending out prizes | Chatting before the show |
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| Erasmo recording segments | Main street shoppers peaking into the ITTV studio | Horacio looking at code |
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Intuit: Activation codes for TurboTax Premier – File your taxes easily (This version includes investments and Rental property)
PhoneHalo: StickR TrackR — find any object you attach it to with your smartphone
Noizy: Kameleon Series Bluetooth earbuds
PURE: Jongo Wireless Adapters — Allows you to stream all your music wirelessly to your home audio system.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!