HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
Marcy in Havana, Florida listens online asked: “I’m having a problem with my Dell Inspiron. It doesn’t want to upload from my browser. How do I clear my cache?”
It actually depends on what browser you’re using, it typically involves going into the browser’s settings and clicking a button.
The problem is that depending on what browser you’re using you “cache” can be called a “cache” or “temporary internet files”, “browsing data” and we’re sure many other names, so what that button says varies.
Instead of listing the boring detailed procedure for every browser we can think of, why don’t you go to this WikiHow page and just read the one that applies to you.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Last week listener Brandon from Jefferson City, Missouri asked about aviation apps for his phone, listener Rickey in Columbus, Ohio listening online called in this week with three aviation app recommendations for Brandon:
Rickey recommended:
• FlightBriefer Aviation Weather
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Facebook friend Tom asked :”Ok guys. After getting a dorky answer from the Apple Store here in town its time to ask the adults in the business. According to Verizon, I’m eligible for upgrading to the iPhone 4S. Here is my question: Would this phone, since it has iTunes built-in, just download my podcasts directly to it via WiFi? In other words, can it just download directly from iTunes on WiFi without syncing to a laptop? If it can’t, ok, then is there an Android App that does download all mp3 podcasts directly to the handset over WiFi? I know stitcher streams podcasts. That way you guys are downloaded to my phone and when I leave for work there you are ready to listen to.P.S.: Keep water on standby … I think this could melt the iDork on this one. Love the show.”
The iPhone won’t natively let you automatically download podcasts, but you do have a few options to accomplish that. The first thing we should mention is that you can always open iTunes and download a podcast manually directly onto the phone, that’s not what you’re looking for, but it’s useful to know.
If you want to have the podcasts download automatically you have 2 options:
1) Let your computer’s iTunes do the work. You can leave your computer on with your iTunes open and it will download the podcast and sync them over WiFi automatically when you plug the phone in to charge.
2) There’s an app for that! Have a look at Podcaster, it’s a very popular app that lets you subscribe to your favorite podcasts and will download them in the background as new episodes becomes available.
We haven’t tried Podcaster ourselves, but it’s users swear by it. Having said that, you’re not stuck with that one app, you can look at similar alternatives like Podcatcher and see which one you prefer.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
John in Rocklin, California listens to the podcast asked :”I work from home and my home office is on the other side of the house. Based on the design of the home, we don’t have a landline telephone setup, so I’ve been using cordless phones (both the DECT 6 and 5.8 megahertz phones) to make phone calls. I get a lot of complaints that the calls are staticky. Short of running a wire from my phone connection in the house around to where the office is, are there any wireless options out there that would give me a good strong signal that wouldn’t get interference from outside sources?”
Theoretically a 5.8 GHz cordless phone should give you the longest range and the least interference, up to 2000 feet in ideal conditions. Unfortunately, homes are not what manufacturers consider ideal conditions. A 5.8 GHz phone will free you from some interference problems 2.4 GHz phones are prone to, such as interference from WiFi and microwave ovens, but building materials will still degrade the signal.
If the call quality is bad enough for people to complain about the static, it’s unlikely that a different type of phone will help. You can always try phones with bigger, better antennas or different frequencies, but you may be better off trying to either move the base station closer to the office where you use the handset, if that’s at all possible, or even look for alternatives to traditional phones.
If you have a good broadband connection at the office, you could try an internet service. You don’t even have to use a headset, you can buy a actual handset that plugs into your computer or a WiFi phone. If you go this route, you might even save some money. If you use Google Voice you can make and receive domestic calls for free (at least for now). Skype charges a few dollars a month for a unlimited nationwide long distance and a few dollars more for a “Skype In” number, an actual phone number that calls your Skype user.
You can also try services that bypass your computer altogether. Ooma provides unlimited nationwide calls for about 3 dollars a month and you can use a regular phone to make and receive calls.
If you get cell phone signal at the office, you could even try to move your landline number to a cell phone company and use a cell phone for business calls (there’s no law that says you have to carry the cell phone with you at all times, you can just leave it at the office and pretend it’s a cordless phone!).
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Andres Fabris, Founder & CEO – Traxo.com
Traveling can be very hectic and boy do we know it! How would you like to simplify your life and make travel fun and convenient again?
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The DVD was a huge success with growth rates even higher than the CD after its introduction, but it was a replay medium only. It took several years until 1999 when, at the International Funkausstellung in Berlin, Panasonic presented the first DVD recorder prototype. In 2001 the first DVD recorder was market ready and premiered at IFA. One year later these recorders were already being sold in big numbers. At IFA 2003 the first DVD recorder with built-in hard disk had its world premiere.
That’s this week’s IFA Update brought to you by Messe-Berlin. Be sure to visit IFA-Berlin.com.
Facebook Message from Al asked: “Help! with my horrible iTune/iOS upgrade experience. Wednesday, I downloaded the new iTunes 10.5 successfully. The new software backed up my iPhone (I did not enter a encryption password for the backup). After the backup, the new iOS 5 was downloaded to my 3GS, which deleted everything on the phone. I proceeded to restore the phone with my earlier backup of apps, notes, music, etc. iTunes kept asking for a password which I never entered. I even tried all passwords associated with Apple with no luck. Bottom line is I now have no data on my phone and cannot get my backup 🙁 What a headache! I’ve been trying all kinds of ways suggested on Google.”
Thanks for the heads-up. Al brings up a very good point that we try to remind people of all the time. Back up, Back up, Backup!! You can never have too many backups of your important files. It may seem tedious to some people to have to always copy their important data somewhere, but trust me, that first time you need to access your backup for some reason, you’ll be glad you took that extra step.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Omar in Saudi Arabia listens to the podcast asked: “I have a question regarding Aperture 3 on my MacBook Pro. I always shoot in RAW format through my DSLR and I know that the size of these files are huge! My question: Is there a way to have only the edited version on the Aperture library instead of copying the whole RAW file there? Because currently the Aperture library file is 25GB, which is a duplicate of the original files located on my laptop. Thank you and keep up the great show!”
You could just get rid of the RAW file after you’re done editing it, just keep the edited JPG. If you take a lot of pictures, deleting each RAW manually, one by one, could take a lot of effort, instead you can make a new Smart Album and set the condition to “file type is RAW”. That should show you all the files whose format is RAW, and you can delete them from there. Omar, RAW files are pretty huge, so you should see those 25GB shrink by a lot right away!
We should mention, there is another option. RAW files will fill up your hard drive, and if you’re sure you never want to use them again, then by all means delete them and keep the pictures in a compressed format. Having said that, if you think you may want to edit your pictures some more later, hard drives are pretty cheap, you could buy a multi-terabyte hard drive and keep it for picture storage only.
They don’t even have to be in your Aperture library, but if you need them you can copy them from the hard drive.
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
Energizer: Several Weather Ready 2 LED Flashlights
Otterbox: Several protective cases, including: Defender for Amazon Kindle & Defender for iPad 2
Philips: Sonicare AirFloss (interdental cleaner) … Experience a microburst of clean in-between.