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Tech News & Commentary
Jon in Rocklin, California listens to the podcast and is calling via the App asked: “I have an iPad 2 and one of the things that really bugs me is the stupid keyboard. Certain sites like Amazon or eBay are almost impossible to find anything on. I click on the search engine, a keyboard pops up and immediately goes away. So I have to keep fighting it to get it back up. Then half way through trying it’ll disappear and I’ll click on a link I didn’t intend to and then I’m fighting to bring it back up on my next search. For some reason it works fine on forums, but not some of these sites that seem to be ecommerce sites. Is there anything I can do about that? I’m at a loss. Is there some sort of a patch I could get?”
Jon, One quick fix that works most of the time is to reboot the iPad by clicking and holding down the power and home buttons.
Another option is to close all your apps, to do so, go the home screen, double tap the home button and swipe upward on the apps that are open to close them out completely. Then go into Settings> General>Reset>Reset keyboard dictionary. This will reset all your keyboard settings including learned words and custom words that you have in the keyboard.
If these don’t fix the issue, you may just have to take into an Apple store and have the genius look at it because there might be a hardware failure.
Given that the sites you mentioned have apps, it’s likely that they know where the problem is coming from and the apps are the way to fix it. The fact that you type and then your keyboard goes away probably means that the browser detects activity going on in the page, the website is probably analyzing what you’re typing and doing something in the background.
Many websites do that, and it normally doesn’t get in the way, but it all depends on what’s being done in the background, some things may actually confuse your tablet and make it think that the page is about to reload itself. Using their apps may be the easiest solution.
The iPad keyboard is displayed whenever a text input field has the focus (meaning that there is a blinking cursor in it, ready to receive input — in other words, the iPad is “paying attention” to it). When the focus clears, the keyboard disappears instantly. There is no way to change this behavior.
You could spend some time trying to figure out how the web browser is losing focus. As we suggested earlier, it might be a background app or even a hardware fault in the touch screen sensors. If you can’t find anything and it’s driving you bonkers, then an external bluetooth keyboard might be just the ticket. It will always take the place of the on screen keyboard and it’s always ready to work.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Josh in Sparta, Tennessee listening on WTN 99.7 FM and calling in via the App asked: “I have finally convinced my wife to let me upgrade our TV. I’m trying to find out which is the best TV. Right now we got a 42 inch Sanyo. It works pretty good but only has 1 HDMI. We’re upgrading to something with more megahertz as far as the refresh rate and the best HD screen. What do you think of the “OL… LCD” and all that kind of stuff.”
Josh, In terms of image quality alone, the most recent survey we’ve seen the top 5 sets are either Samsung, Sony or Vizio, all other brands score below the top 5.
The high refresh rate you’re after can be a good thing for sports or video games, but keep in mind that it will also probably give you what is known as “the soap opera effect” in which the TV is creating so many fake frames to use as padding for every movement that the final product ends up looking hyperrealistic in a way that makes it seem like you’re watching dolls move, not people, pans across the room show no blur and everything looks strange.
For sports and video games it usually adds to the experience, but for closeups of regular people it just looks odd, so keep in mind that you may be better off turning down the refresh rate every now and then.
As for the different type of screens: OLED is thin, has vivid colors, but it’s not worth being discussed because you would probably be paying tens of thousands for one, and they’re not worth that kind of money. Plasma still has the best contrast, but if the room is bright you’re basically buying a mirror, so only consider them for dark rooms. LEDs are probably your best choice, they have reasonable quality, a reasonable price, and can be used in a reasonable lit room.
A Samsung UNF8000 set will get you 1080p, a 240hz refresh rate, 3D and SmartTV features (including voice commands), for a couple thousand dollars.
A Vizio M2i-B will get you the same features, except no 3D but will cost you less, so it may be a nice option, and if you don’t want the latest, for around $550 you can get a Vizio E0i-B, that still has a very decent refresh rate of 120hz and SmartTV features and a very affordable price.
If you are at all interested in plasma TVs, you should purchase one soon because they are a dying breed. Panasonic has already discontinued making them, Samsung has announced they will stop later this year, and the last company to be making plasma displays, LG, will shut down production sometime in 2015.
All of the arguments about which is best are really moot now, since plasmas don’t sell enough to keep the breed alive and OLEDs are very expensive. If you have that kind of cash, you go OLED, otherwise you look for the best LED/LCD picture you can find and live with that.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Denise asked us: “Bought windows 7 from Fry’s and was told that if it crashed due to oem, I would have to buy another copy. Is there a version of windows 7 that doesn’t have oem problems? I can’t find the disks that came with the computer. If I paid fry’s to load it, would it still have an oem problem? Someone said the software had to be compatible with the mother board. Help! Thanks and blessings.”
Denise, OEM means “Original Equipment Manufacturer” and it’s meant to indicate that it’s a cheaper copy because it’s made for someone who buys not as the end user, but as the computer’s builder, and that as a professional computer builder they will not be getting free phone support from Microsoft if they need it, and they will not have the option to upgrade a system, only to do a full installation, since they’re supposed to be installing system on a NEW computer that they’re building.
That means that if you’re upgrading a computer you shouldn’t buy an OEM version of Windows because you will have to wipe your hard drive and do a full installation, other than that and the access to phone support, you’re buying the same Windows.
All that technical stuff aside, OEM means “manufacturer” and “OEM Windows Disc” means “Manufacturer’s Windows Disc.” It may come with all the drivers you should need for your computer if the manufacturer decided to include them, but other than that it’s just a copy of Windows, just as OEM brake pads would mean “the brake pads that were sold to your car’s manufacturer to install on brand new cars” but they’re just brake pads.
Like we said, OEM discs may come with extra drivers that you will need to make sure that every component on your computer works, that may be your problem. You may need to download drivers to make certain components work, if your copy of Windows wasn’t specifically tweaked for your computer, but OEM is not crashing your computer, OEM just means “sold at a discount to a computer builder.”
Frankly, if Fry’s told you that the OEM is crashing your computer, they’re either trying to take advantage of you, or they don’t know what they’re talking about, they might as well have said that the Gandalf in the Flux Capacitor of Windows crashed your system, they’re words, but they mean nothing that bears any relation to Windows crashing.
If you can find someone more reputable and see what they think, or even go to a different Fry’s branch with more competent workers, but odds are you’re looking at a driver issue or a faulty component, and not a case of the intended buyer of that copy of Windows causing it to crash.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Larry O’Connor, Founder & CEO – Other World Computing
CEA Update with Krista Silano
Ever wished you had a robot to help with your housecleaning or home security? Krista Silano with the Consumer Electronics Association has a look at some uses for consumer robots that are already underway – in this week’s CEA Update.
Matt in Baton Rouge, Louisiana calling in via the App asked us: “I found out about the absolute glory of mechanical keyboards. I recently purchased a keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches and it’s easily the best keyboard I’ve ever owned. A lot of the marketing says they’re a gaming keyboard. But I think that’s a huge disservice. They’re great for typing, they’re great gaming. What’s your favorite keyboard?”
Mechanical keyboards are probably marketed as gaming keyboards because gamers are really the bulk of the people that are willing to pay the extra to buy them.
They’re known for being very good typing keyboards, they’re more durable than membrane keyboards (think 10 times more durable on average), but most people just don’t care enough to pay $150 rather than $10.
Mechanical keyboards have loyal fans, the MX Brown switches you mentioned are kind of a halfway point between a gamers keyboard (with Cherry MX Reds and Blacks) and a typist keyboard (with Cherry MX Blues and Clears), and those are the switches that you don’t see that live under they keys! Most people don’t know what’s under their keys at all, let alone what the components happen to be optimized for…
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
SMS Audio: Street by 50 – Over-The-Ear Headphones and earbuds
Parellels:Parallels Desktop 10 Software allows you to run Windows on your Mac
Kanex: GoPower Battery Pack – Mobile battery pack with built-in stand for smartphones
Tylt: Several Charging cases and cables – for smartphones and tablets