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Tech News & Commentary
John in Pennsylvania listens Online asked: “I want to know why, when I play YouTube on my phone – I have a 4GB card on there. The YouTube videos come on and play half the video and then it shuts the video down and puts it on pause. I just need to know if there’s something wrong or something that YouTube’s doing.”
Since you mentioned that this is on your smartphone and not your computer, we have to suggest first that the problem might be bandwidth related. Streaming video is a very high-data rate application, meaning that you need a really fast and consistent Internet connection to do it well. Especially in a mobile environment, this can be the source of your problem.
YouTube offers an option on its playback settings to control whether something’s played in “HD” or “360p.” Try setting it for 360p and see whether that clears up the problem. If it does, we can say nearly for certain that it’s bandwidth.
Also, what about other video streams on your phone. Is it ONLY YouTube that seems to have problems? Do you have things like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, or Hulu Plus on your phone? Do any of those have issues?
Is this only with the YouTube app, or does it also occur when you access the YouTube mobile website using your phone’s browser? If it happens in the app but not in the browser, then you might have an older version of the YouTube app, or it might be having some kind of problem with something else installed on your phone.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Randy in Nashville, Tennessee listens on SuperTalk WTN 99.7 asked: “I’m trying to convert WAV or WMA files to a PCM file and I don’t know the best way to do that. I have a Windows 7 computer. Can you help me?”
PCM stands for Pulse Code Modulated, and that refers to the format of the actual audio itself. WAV and WMA, on the other hand, are file formats. So a WAV file, typically, is using PCM data.
PCM is an uncompressed file format, which is different from lossless (that’s compressed but only in a way that doesn’t lose any of the file’s original data when being uncompressed) and of course is MUCH different from compressed or “lossy” (where a portion of the file data is thrown away to make a small file size).
WMA can be either lossless or lossy, but WAV should always be uncompressed PCM format files.
If what you have is a WMA Lossless format file and you want to convert that to an uncompressed WAV PCM file, Microsoft themselves makes a free tool you can download.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Scott from Howard, Pennsylvania listening via 103FM WRSC Happy Valley’s Place to Visit asked: “I have an iPod nano 5th gen and I’m having a problem with the phone jack (Assuming he means headphone jack), and for the price to get it fixed i’m thinking about upgrading to the new Nano or iPod Touch. I’m not sure which would have the best features and be the best to invest in. I want it to have an FM radio cause that’s how I listen to you guys. Please give me some info and recommendations. Also, you guys have a great show and I enjoy listening to you guys every Sunday.”
We would definitely recommend the newer iPod Nano since you are already familiar with its functionality! It still has the FM radio that interests you! The radio feature even lets you pause or rewind up to 15 minutes, so you never have to miss anything from our show!
The iPod Touch may be another option for you to look into Scott. It’s a lot more powerful in every way, bigger screen, better processor and RAM, the ability to run far more apps, two cameras, but it will not pick up FM radio over the air, if you want to listen to radio broadcasts you will need to use an app.
That part is easy enough, iHeartRadio and TuneIn have lots of local stations, the problem is that, for them to work, you need internet access, which in the iPod’s case means WiFi. The Nano just picks up FM signals the same way any other radio would, if FM is a big deal to you then the Nano is for you, if you don’t mind getting your radio through your internet connection and don’t mind a larger size, the Touch is a more capable device.
Perhaps the best way to think of it is this: The iPod Touch is an iPhone without the phone part, while the iPod Nano is an iPod. For that reason, you might want to go with the Nano, unless you already have an iPhone. It would be unpleasant to have to buy apps for both iOS and Android (assuming that you have an Android smartphone). If you already had an iPhone, there would be no need to buy an iPod Touch, because everything the Touch would do your iPhone already does.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Jim Hunt, Senior Vice President – GENCO
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The first players for Blu-ray and HD DVD were shown at the IFA, the International Funkausstellung in 2005 with market introduction at the next IFA exhibition in 2006 when they became the focal point of the show. Content for both formats was also shown at IFA. But in early 2008 Toshiba decided to discontinue HD DVD and Blu- ray players became even more popular. At the Funkausstellung the same year Panasonic introduced the first Blu-ray Disc recorder to the market.
Charles from Wilmore, Kentucky listening via Realtalk 1250AM WLRT asked: “I have an epson all in one printer. It just only through a direct connection to my computer. I was wondering if there is an add-on to make it wireless?”
You may be able to either get a new router with USB printer support, if the printer is close to the router, or get a wireless range extender that supports USB Printer sharing.
That should allow you to make the printer wireless, but it may not help make the scanner wireless as well, and it will cost you a decent amount of money, the price varies depending on what you go with, but to give you an idea an EnGenius ERB9250 Wireless repeater goes for about $40.
Buying a new wireless printer to replace the one you have now may not cost you much more than using that kind of setup, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to be able to run all the features the printer supports, rather than just whatever the wireless device you’re plugging it into supports.Check Target, they always have them on sale!
A Canon Pixma MG2220, for example, includes a scanner, is wireless and will cost you $49, that might be a better choice than a similarly priced wireless device that may not translate all of the printer’s functionality for you.
Epson does make their own wireless print server plug in module for both standalone and all-in-one printers, the Connect-It C32C824461. This tongue-twisting product sells for around $150 and integrates directly with your printer. Which means it only supports some Epson printer models. And you didn’t give us your printer’s make and model, so we can’t vouch for the device in your case. But it does fit internally to the printer, no extra box, power, or cables required. The $150 price tag, though, means that it would cost you more than buying a brand new all-in-one printer and scanner that had wireless out of the box.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Steve from Red Oak, Iowa listening via 960AM KMA Land asked: “I bought a toshiba laptop. It was P55 A5200 Model. When I received it, it did not work. It loaded the basic info then went to a black screen (Backlit but Dark). I’m concerned about buying another one without knowing if there’s a problem with this one, or if I should go to another model or even another brand. I’ve had 5 Toshiba Laptops and have had no problems ever.”
You most likely just got a bad one… Toshiba is not in the habit of shipping dead computers regularly.
In terms of reliability they’re a little bit above the middle of the pack in surveys, so they’re not the most reliable brand in the world, but they’re also far from the worst. The surveys are typically giving the most reliability in PCs to ASUS these days.
If you’ve never had any trouble with Toshiba laptops take this as a freak occurrence, Toshiba’s reliability hasn’t dropped significantly over the years, so you’ll probably experience about the same quality you’re used to.
The Satellite P55-A5200 is based around a 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processor. It’s a mid-range laptop built with last year’s technology aimed at the general consumer market. It should work just fine for you. Unless you’re having buyer’s remorse, give ‘em another chance!
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
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yos “A clever solution to tangled earbuds”.
C.Crane: Senta Ally Portable Bluetooth Stereo Speaker with built-in FM radio and SD & USB reader.
Yamaha: Pro 300 Hi Fidelity, over-the-ear Headphones.
Nite Ize Innovation: Connect Case and Connect Cradle for iPhone – Hard case with belt clip, vehicle mount and desk stand.