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Tech News & Commentary
James in Jefferson City, Missouri asked: “I would like to know about a cell phone called Cricket. It has a larger keypad because I’m getting older and my hands shake and my fingers can’t seem to fit those little tiny keys. I’d also like to know what you know about its range and it’s program – as far as what it costs to buy it and how much a month.”
As far as we can tell, Cricket is just the cell phone company, not a specific cell phone model.
Cricket has a 4G LTE network and, like all other cell phone carriers, it’s mostly focusing on smartphones right now, but they do have a couple of phones left with physical keys.
If you’re ok with feature phones, the Kyocera Domino and Kona or the LG Helix may be for you, they have just number keys, so they’re pretty big, they also carry the Samsung Comment 2 which is a basic, Blackberry-like smartphone, but that phone has a full qwerty keyboard and it’s keys are considerably smaller.
When it comes to pricing, all of the phones with physical keys are quite inexpensive, out of the ones with told you about the most expensive is the Samsung Comment 2 at $39.99, and for a feature phone you’re looking at $35/month for unlimited everything, including even international long distance.
If you are only using the phone for calls while on the go, or in case of emergencies, I would check out Jitterbug. While they use outdated phones and technology, they are geared for seniors and people that have difficulty handling devices. They have very low-end plans with minimal minutes and text usage, so I would only use them if your phone is a back up only type of device.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Nathan in Naples, Florida listening and calling-in via the iPhone App asked: “I’m trying to copy my iphone videos to my PC but they keep copying and playing sideways; How can I fix this?”
You can rotate the video clips by using Windows Movie Maker. And we can tell you exactly how to do that.
First – in case your driving or unable to take notes — you don’t have to, because we’ll have the details on this week’s show page at IntoTomorrow.com. Just look for the show notes for the weekend of October 18th. Remember we always use the Friday dates, leading into each weekend.
1.Import the video into Windows Movie Maker
2. Drag the clip and drop it on the timeline.
3. In the Tools menu, select Video Effects
4. To rotate to the right, drag the Rotate 90 video effect and drop it on the timeline or the movie. To rotate to the left, Select the Rotate 270 video effect and drag it on the timeline or the movie.
5. Under the File menu, select Save Movie File and follow the instructions in the Save Movie Wizard.
Another option that’s available to you is to stop using the volume keys as the shutter. For some reason using those as the shutter seem to cause this problem on Windows Machines (but not on Macs). Using the software key keeps the orientation as it should be on all machines (Windows and Macs). It’s probably a really dumb software bug that should’ve been fixed a long, long time ago, but since it seems to still be around, this is an easy way to get around it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Thomas in Bellville, Ohio listens to the FREE “Into Tomorrow” Podcast asked: “I am thinking of buying a new Shortwave Radio for DXing as the radio folks call it. I was wondering what the best portable shortwave radio is for a person on a budget? I keep hearing about the Sangean ATS-909X from most people. I would like a sensitive Shortwave radio with all the bells and whistles that picks up far away stations using just the antenna that comes with the radio. In other words what shortwave radio would you buy if you were to get a new shortwave radio that would not break the bank and not need replaced for a long time after you bought it. Are there any new models out that meet or exceed the radio I mentioned above or is it still the best choice?”
We should put “being on a budget” in perspective, a Sangean ATS-909X has a list price of $500… you can find it for half that much online, but it’s really not a cheap radio, so you do have a few other options.
As for the Sangean itself, there’s some disagreement over how sensitive it actually is, and much of it comes from the fact that old versions of this model seemed to be more sensitive than the current version, and they won’t pick up some stations that the old model would’ve picked up faintly.
Even so, it’s still a well regarded option.
For around the same price, you can also look at a Grundig Satellit 750, it can pick up FM, AM Shortwave and aircraft VHF bands it also has a digital tuner, it’s considered a good, sensitive shortwave radio, and it’s a little plasticy but it looks like something that fell out of a fighter jet.
For under $200 you can buy the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, it’s much smaller than the Grundig, very portable, with very good sensitivity and digital tuning and the price is very reasonable.
You have one other option, if you’re only using this for fun and not to have in case of emergency or anything, you can stream stations from almost anywhere online on your computer or smartphone. TuneIn radio in particular has stations from all over the world, so does rad.io, and doing it this way would both get you better quality and it would save you the expense of buying a standalone radio, if you’re looking for the shortwave experience this option is probably not for you, but if you’re only interested in the content then it could be a great way to get it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Dave from Huntersville, North Carolina listening via the Website asked: “I have the kindle Fire HD, I’m reading more than ever before but I am now having some quality problems. I’m worried that some of the books I’ve D/L of the reference nature are only going to work on my Kindle. I wanted to know if I can get any other EReader and still load up the books I have already rented. Thank you and I really enjoy your show.”
Actually your books don’t really live in your Kindle, as long as you bought them through Amazon, they vacation in your Kindle but call Amazon’s servers home. They’re not really tied to your device, they’re actually tied to your account.
Basically, if you get anything with the Kindle brand, be it an app, a tablet, or an eReader, you can log in with your Amazon credentials and have access to all the media you’ve purchased from them. So if your Fire HD dies for whatever reason, you can still retain all your Amazon-purchased books and access them on other Kindle products.
Even if it doesn’t die and you buy another device, you can still access your books on both devices at the same time.
The Kindle app is available for free in both the Android and iOS marketplace. It can be downloaded to any Android or iOS based tablet or phone, and all of your reading material will be right where you left it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Jacob Klein, Cofounder and CEO – Motion Math
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
At the 1981 IFA, the Compact Disc had its world premiere. Philips and Sony had agreed to standardize the disc to a 4.7 inch diameter, with a maximum recording time of 74 minutes, According to legend, that recording time was requested by Sony president Nohrio Ohga, because it was enough to record Beethoven’s 9th symphony. Music is recorded in pits on the disc which are then read by a laser beam. Mass production of CDs started on August 17 1982 in Hanover, Germany at the Polygram factory. Herbert von Karajan who had been involved in the development, personally received the first disc.
Sean from Fairbanks, Alaska listens to News Radio KFBX 970AM asked: “I went to my Google Play Store to get your app. However I can’t find it when I search for it. So, how can I get it on on my S3. Also, my provider won’t send me a new battery. How can I get another battery?”
You should be able to find the app by just searching for Into Tomorrow on the Google Play store, but we can make it easier for you, just come to IntoTomorrow.com and look for the Tap Our App banner and click on the little bugdroid. That should take you straight to our app.
Finding extra batteries for the S3 shouldn’t be too hard, you can find official Samsung brand batteries at Samsung.com, and on the usual sites, for example, Amazon has spare batteries that say Samsung, but you judge for yourself, listed for as little as $4, eBay has them too and they’re also very cheap.
Samsung sells a very cool looking, foldable spare battery charger, it looks like a phone dock that lets you stand the phone upright while it charges the spare battery on the back.
We should give you a heads up on something though, Samsung does advertise it as a “spare battery charger”, so we can’t say they’re lying, but be aware that that is ONLY a spare battery charger, it will not charge the actual phone, it’ll charge the spare battery and work as a phone stand, but it is not a phone charger.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Chuck from Baton Rouge, Louisiana listening via the iPhone App asked: “My iPhone 5 OS 6.1 speaker stopped working. Headlines still work, tried reset reboot etc, no good Phone dial sound is ok, any ideas?”
There’s not much more for you to try in terms of software fixes, so at this point your best bet is to stop by an Apple Store and see what they say.
The speaker is a replaceable part, so if it does need replacing, you may be able to get another one put in very quickly (think 20 minutes or so), and if your phone is under warranty it would be free as well.
At this point, since you’ve tried the software solutions, our best guess is that it’s a hardware issue, and with any luck you’ll be able to have it fixed quickly and painlessly.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Chris from Baton Rouge, Louisiana listens to Talk WBRP 107.3FM asked: “The Nook from Barnes n Noble doesn’t have a camera; is there anyway to connect a camera to the Nook?”
Sorry, unfortunately, there is no way to connect a camera to the Nook. The Nook does come with a USB port, but it’s not enabled for that kind of data, so you’d have to install some hacked firmware to be able to use the port at all, and even then you’d have a hard time finding a camera to work with it.
Then there’s the other obvious problem, it’s not supposed to work with a camera, so even if you manage to connect one to it, you won’t find a lot of software that expects the camera to be there at all, so you won’t really be able to get a lot of use out of it anyway.
Your best bet here is to get a tablet with a built in camera that can take advantage of it through apps that know it should be there.
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
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.