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Tech News & Commentary
Karina in Miami, Florida listens via the FREE “Into Tomorrow” App asked: “I’m interested in getting an eReader. Can you tell me if the Kindle Fire is the best and what makes it different?”
The Kindle Fire is a tablet, it can do much more than just display books, it can play movies, music, browse the internet, play games, and more.
If you want something like that, a more full featured device, then the Kindle Fire is a good choice, they’re fairly inexpensive, powerful enough, and they have access to a good enough library of content, however, if what you want is an eReader and you don’t care about the rest of the tablet features, a regular Kindle is far superior.
The screen of a Kindle is very paper-like and easy to read under normal lighting conditions, inside or outside, the Kindle Fire does a decent job of displaying content even under bright conditions, but it’s nowhere near as good at displaying plain text as regular Kindle eReaders are.
If what you’re looking for is just an eReader, go for a Kindle, if you want the extra tablet features, a Kindle Fire is for you.
Now while we’re comfortable telling you that the Kindle, especially the Paperwhite Kindle, is the best eReader in our opinion, if you expand your focus to include tablets like the Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HDX, then we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the excellent reviews the new Apple iPad Air is receiving. The iPad Mini with Retina display, due out in December, will use the same hardware with a smaller screen, and so it should enjoy the same positive reception. Although pricey, the fifth generation iPad and second generation iPad Mini are extremely high quality, well supported tablet computers that do much more than simply work as an eReader, although they do that well.
On the Android side, there are a lot of compelling new tablets. One that we like for its excellent value is the Google Nexus 7. It’s fast, with an excellent screen, and since it’s Google’s own tablet it always runs the latest version of Android without a lot of crapware shoveled on top of it. It’s priced very well, you can find it as cheaply as $229. Compare that with the $399 for the second generation iPad Mini and you see why we say the Nexus 7 is a terrific value.
There are also a number of tablets from Lenovo, ASUS, and Acer running the Windows operating system. They’re priced about the same as the iPad Air base models but typically have larger screens than the iPad does. One caution, however, is to be certain you get a Windows tablet running Windows 8 and NOT Windows 8 RT. As we’ve said on many occasions, RT stands for Really Terrible.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Tom in Columbus, Ohio listens to the FREE “Into Tomorrow” Podcast and 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.”
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 2 of our podcast.
Eddie in Louisiana told us: “What’s best way to remove a virus from online?”
We don’t know what you mean by “from online,” do you mean a virus that you got “from online”? as in from a file you downloaded?
If that’s what you mean, you’d remove it the same way you’d remove any virus from any source: get an antivirus program, run a scan, and when it’s found, click on the option to remove.
As for the program itself, you can choose anything from Microsoft’s Security Essentials, to Avast, to AVG, to Norton, to TrendNet, you have plenty of options.
Other than that, we don’t know what you could mean, you can’t really wipe a virus from the internet, and to wipe one from your website, simply remove the offending file, but we suspect you mean one you got online and not one that just resides there.
Chances are you don’t have a virus at all. Some smart web designers have gotten very good at tricking us. Sometimes their advertisements are meant to look like an operating system under attack. If you see a pop-up alerting you that there is a virus, or a webpage that warns you that you are being spied upon, most likely everything is fine. As long as you have some sort of virus protection, only pay attention to the alerts sent to you from within the program, and be sure to set up regular routine virus checks.
If it is “malware” that you invited on to your computer after being tricked by a pop-up message from a website, then antivirus software won’t help. We recommend a program called Malwarebytes. We’ll have a link to their website in the show notes for this weekend. Malwarebytes has a free on demand version that scans and removes malware from your computer, and a Pro version that they sell which does that and provides a resident component that keeps you from getting that malware in the first place.
The differences between malware and a virus are technical, but the method by which most malware gets on your computer — which is you clicking on a pop-up and giving the malware permission to load — will get around antivirus software, generally.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
John in Chesterfield, Michigan listens to The Information Station 800AM CKLW told us: “I’m trying to get Neverwinter Knights Diamond edition to work on windows 7. I have revision 1.69 and its not working, not even in XP Compatibility Mode. Please help?”
We have an answer for you, but there are a few options depending on how you installed the game and whether or not it’s patched, and each has a series of steps that wouldn’t be too easy to follow on the radio.
The short answer is: it can be done, you just have to jump through a few hoops.If you come by our website and look at this week’s show notes, we’ll guide you through the process.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Iska Hain, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Sr Associate – Google
Carol in Miami, Florida listens to our FREE “Into Tomorrow” Podcasts asked: “How do you feel about the Hisense products? I’m looking particularly at the new 3D flatscreen TV, priced under $800 for the 55 inch.”
We can tell you that I have visited their factories and offices in Quingdao China and for the price they have some decent products, some are even loaded with features. If you are shooting for a true cinematic experience then you will certainly want to aim for more like a Samsung or Sony, but if price is your concern, Hisense may be a brand that you should at least look at. They are cheap and really trying to get in to the US market.
But that being said, HiSense hasn’t tested very high in terms of quality and we’ve found plenty of users with complaints about the warranty as well. If the price works for you, then it may be worth the risk, but keep in mind they’re marketing themselves as budget manufacturers, expect their quality to match that.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Gene in St. Charles, Missouri listening via TuneIn Radio asked: “Months back I paid $40.00 to Microsoft to upgrade from windows 7 to windows 8 then I upgraded to windows 8.1 preview…Now I cannot upgrade to windows 8.1 final version, it is not in the store that I purchased it or anywhere on Microsoft’s sites where it will let me download it ..where do I find it or what do I have to do to get rid of the preview version?”
Unfortunately, Windows 8.1 Preview cannot be updated to the final version, you’re gonna have to go back to Windows 8 and from there, you should be able to update to 8.1 from the store.
Depending on whether or not you backed up before installing the preview, this may be a more or less painful experience, just remember to backup whatever you have done since either way.
We agree that this is not the best way for Microsoft to handle the transfer to 8.1, especially considering how they made it available to a lot of people, but unfortunately you don’t have much of a way out on this one, Gene.
That’s a good general warning to our listeners to be careful when choosing to install “Preview” or “Beta” releases of software. While it can be fun to get the new stuff early, it can also be painful because developers don’t feel as compelled to give Preview or Beta users simple upgrades to the final release version. They regard you as a sort of “paid” tester of their software, since you were “paid” with early access to a new version.
But frankly, we’re not shocked with any of the silliness and bad news we hear about Microsoft and Windows 8. It’s really a very fine operating system, but it does seem as though Microsoft can’t seem to stop shooting themselves in the foot over it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Clinton in Huntington, West Virginia calling in via the App asked: “I recently upgraded from the Samsung Galaxy Note 1 to the Galaxy Mega 6.3. The problem I have is whenever I go to your webpage to stream your show, where the little bar is that you’re supposed to click on to start the streaming, I get a box with question marks around it. I’m running Android 4.2.2. I’m wondering if this is a problem with the upgrade or if there’s a setting I need to tweak to be able to listen to the show.”
The question marks are your phone’s way of saying “what is this ‘Flash’ you speak of?” Adobe discontinued flash for phones and newer versions of Android no longer come with a flash player.
Your best bet to listen straight from the phone is to click on the MP3 links of the showpage, rather than the flash links, your phone should be able to recognize the file and play it without problems.
You can also subscribe to the podcast and just have the files automatically download to your phone when they are posted.
Although the Flash Player for Android is no longer available from the Google Play Store, Adobe still offer it as a download through their web site “Archived Flash Players” page. They have a forum thread with a video showing you how to download and install it.
But be aware that Flash is officially an orphaned technology. The future is HTML5, and Flash is widely known to be a source of security risks. Just bear that in mind before you decide to add Flash to your Android device.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Scottevest: Lola Puff Jackets for Women & Puffer Jackets for Men – Complete with pockets for all your gadgets.
iolo: Copies of System Mechanic- Fix and speed up your PC Automatically.
TYLT: An assortment of Smartphone charging accessories and bluetooth speakers.
Nite Ize Innovation: Connect Case and Connect Cradle for iPhone – Hard case with belt clip, vehicle mount and desk stand.