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Tech News & Commentary
Victor in Buffalo, Missouri listens ot the Podcast asked: ”
I bought a new computer. An HP 23″ Touchsmart. I’d like to add a screen but it has not DVI or External ports for that. I understand I can use a USB to DVI or USB to VGA. There’s just too many of them. I don’t know if I need to use a 3.0 USB or a 2.0 USB to DVI or VGA. So I thought I’d call the experts and get a recommendation.”
Well Victor, the Arkview USB-DH88 is a great choice for a USB display adapter, it does much more than take USB input and output to DVI. You also have audio RCA outputs for connecting to external speaker. The maximum resolution for the Arkview is 1400×1050 pixels, it is certified windows xp, vista, and it works also on windows 7, but no say on whether windows 8 works with it. And it retails for less than $50
There’s also the j5create JUA210 USB to VGA adapter this has a higher resolution capacity of 1920×1200 pixels but you don’t get any sound output, and it’s certified windows xp, vista and 7, also Mac OS X. The j5create can be found for less than $45.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast
“Into
Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Rogerio in Ontario, Canada calling in via the App asked: “I’m running an iPhone 5 on Bell Networks on LTE, but every time I receive or make a call the telephone switches from LTE to 3G, could you explain to me why that happens? thank you very much.”
Every LTE phone on every carrier will do that for now, Voice-over-LTE is being tested and will likely be available soon but, for now, LTE phones only do LTE data.
As soon as a phone cames in or goes out they trip something called “Circuit Switched Fallback,” what that means is that from that point on the call is handled exclusively via the 3G network, and that network remains dominant until the call ends.
You normally won’t even notice it, you’ll be distracted by the phone call and whatever apps are working in the background will continue to work in the background if the network allows it, but there is one big exception.
If you happen to be using your phone as a hotspot, suddenly your enviable and fast LTE network will drop to slow-old-3G and will stay on 3G mode until you hang up.
That will only affect you if you are on those networks that allows data and voice at the same time, but still, for those who are, it’s a pretty annoying situation.
Voice over LTE is probably less than a year away, so that should change soon enough, but for now, you have to accept that that’s the way LTE phones work and wait until that changes.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Vicky in Escanaba, Michigan listening on NewsTalk Radio 600 WCHT sends us the following email: “What’s better for a child for a very first computer? He’s 12 years old. We’d like to know which is better, the Apple iPad or the Google Nexus. Which is good to do games, email and schoolwork?”
Well, either one will do email just fine, the iPad has a larger library of games, and better ones, too. Now, as for school work….neither?
Neither tablet will be super easy to type on compared to a computer, neither one will multitask as well as a computer, you can open a browser windows and research a topic right next to an open word processor on a tablet, neither one will accept regular software installations, just custom made apps.
It all depends on what kind of school work your talking about, and whether he has access to a regular computer as well. The iPad does have an edge on schoolwork in the form of the school ebooks that Apple introduced with their latest iPad launch, but still, for schoolwork it won’t beat a computer yet.
One last suggestion: Try asking your child’s teacher which system would work better. The school, may even be able help you out with discounts on apps or ebooks as well. It never hurts to ask.
If you do decide to go with a tablet over a computer, there are a couple things to keep in mind. For any kind of serious schoolwork, he’s going to need a keyboard. For the iPad, we recommend the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, or anything that ZAGG makes.
If you’re not constrained on budget, remember that the Microsoft Surface Pro is a full-fledged Windows computer living inside of a tablet. If you are constrained by your budget, then you should probably stop right where you are on the Google Nexus tablet, which is one of the best value-for-dollar tablets sold today.
In my secret identity, when I’m not keeping the world safe for technology here, I manage the IT for a private school. As such, I’m constantly plugged in to the educational world. Android tablets aren’t making much headway there. For tablets it’s all iPad, or Surface Pro which only looks like a tablet. Chromebooks are the dark horse here. Very inexpensive, they’re essentially netbooks running Linux and the Chrome web browser. Because they are so affordable, a lot of schools are determined to find a way to make them fit. Check with your child’s school and see if that’s what they are doing.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Gabe Wiebenga, Marketing Manager – M
Do you want to create a cinema big-screen viewing experience anywhere at home? 3M recently announced an exciting new venture with Roku and a projector sleeve for the iPhone.
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
Magnetic recording has a long history. It began early in 1925 with the invention of the electro-acoustic recording method. In 1926 the Austrian engineer Fritz Fleumer who was working in Dresden, Germany received a patent for a steel powdered paper tape, the grandfather of all tapes. As this technology wasn’t market ready, in 1929, Dr. Curt Stille built a machine with a steel tape. It was used by the BBC from 1930 on for magnetic recording of sound, but it was very complicated and not very reliable. The Internationale Funkaustellung, or IFA has been the birthplace of many recording technologies since that time.
Norman in Chattanooga, Tennessee listening on SuperTalk 99.7 WTN sends us the following email: “I started a Blog the other day and now I’m getting so much Spam coming through on it. It’s a Word Press blog and I don’t know how to stop it.”
Unfortunately, that’s a problem with WordPress… you will get a ton of comments that basically go like this “You article is so fantastic, I love it, such great information on the topic discussed!” if you approve it, then it gets posted on your website and the commenters name will be linked to some spammy website that will get a better ranking on Google because your website is linking to it.
The easiest way to deal with it is obviously to disable comments, but assuming you don’t want to do that, you can look at some plugin that will attempt to keep spam levels under control.
Some popular options to explore are: Akismet, probably the best known one, Cookies for Comments, that requires that the spammer accepts a Cookie to be able to post, and bcSpamBlock, which tries to use JavaScript to block spammers, but those without JavaScript have to use a dreaded captcha.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Josiah in Wichita, Kansas listens via the Android App sends us the following email: “Hi Dave, I am looking into buying one of the Adobe program suites. I plan to use it for photo and video editing. I was wondering if the Production Premium would be best, or if the Master Collection would be better. Thanks and I love the show!”
If all you’re looking to do is photo and video editing, then the Production Premium bundle would cover your needs. That bundle includes 11 different programs, including Premiere for your video editing and Photoshop for your photo editing. It also includes many other programs for video like AfterEffects, Flash, Audition, Encore and so on.
The Master collection would probably be a bit much for you. It has everything that the Production Premium bundle has – plus programs like Acrobat, InDesign and Dreamweaver – for website creation. Of course since the Master collection has more stuff, you can expect to spend a bit more for it. It costs about $2,600 while the Production Premium bundle runs about $1,900.
With Adobe’s latest Creative Suite, you can now rent their programs in the cloud. They call it “Creative Cloud.” With a monthly subscription, you can get access to all of their programs from Creative Suite 6. Prices will vary based on the subscription plan you choose.
For a single program or app, it’s 20 bucks a month and that gives you 20GB of cloud storage. Or, for 50 bucks a month you get the entire collection and 20GB of cloud storage. However, you have to commit to a year for that price (which adds up to $600 a year). Or you get the same package without the annual commitment for 75 bucks a month.
What we like about Adobe is that they let you try before you buy. They have a free 30-day trial and 2GB of storage. We’ll have a link for you on this weekend’s show notes if you want to learn more about their Creative Cloud.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Eton: FRX3 – Hand Turbine AM/FM/Weather Alert Radio
Intuit: Codes for TurboTax Deluxe & Premier — File your Federal & State Income tax online.
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yo — Now with Dave’s face on them! — A clever solution to tangled earbuds.
Magix: Music Maker 2013 Premium — Easy to use software for getting started in the world of music production.