HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Aziz in Algeria listening online asked: “Hi, I listen to your wonderful radio from a program called RadioSure. But, the problem is that everyday the show is repeated. All the talks are the same everyday 🙁 Please guide me how to listen to more shows on the radio. I’m so sad, please help me. Another link or PC App to listen to your radio will be great.”
For those wondering, Radio Sure is a free Internet Radio Player.
Our online stream plays the last 5 most current shows. If you’re listening online everyday, we can see how you would get tired of listening to the same stuff. However, we air a new show every Sunday at 2pm Eastern Time (UTC -5).
You are welcome to listen to our show on our website. We have a show player on the main page — on the bottom right. And, if you want to download or listen to our podcast anytime, we’ll have a link to our RSS Feed on this week’s show notes. Look for the show page for the Weekend of April 22 under “Past Shows” or just click here.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
David in Scottsdale, Arizona asked: “Wondering about surge protectors. I’ve never used one and never had a problem. I don’t know if we’re just lucky. We live in Arizona and don’t have a lot of thunderstorms. I bought one that is 490 Joules and was planning to use it for my computer area and my home entertainment area. Didn’t know if it was enough”
Surge Protectors are a great first line of defense for your electronics. It’s not just lightning from thunderstorms that can cause problems. Many surges can even come from the power company.
There are a few things you want to look at when choosing a surge protector. You should find a couple of ratings on them. You want to first look for the Clamping voltage. This tells you what voltage will cause the MOVs to conduct electricity to the ground line. (The MOVs are what take the extra current during a surge and redirect it, keeping your equipment safe.) A lower clamping voltage indicates better protection. There are three levels of protection in the UL rating — 330 V, 400 V and 500 V. Generally, a clamping voltage more than 400 V is too high.
The next thing you want to look at is the Energy absorption/dissipation – This rating, which is the “joules” number you mentioned, tells you how much energy the surge protector can absorb before it fails. A higher number indicates greater protection. Look for a protector that is at least rated at 200 to 400 joules. For better protection, look for a rating of 600 joules or more.
Then you want to look at the response time – Surge protectors don’t kick-in immediately; there is a very slight delay as they respond to the power surge. A longer response time tells you that your computer (or other equipment) will be exposed to the surge for a greater amount of time. Look for a surge protector that responds in less than one nanosecond.
You should also look for a protector with an indicator light that tells you if the protection components are functioning. All MOVs will burn out after repeated power surges, but the protector will still function as a power strip. Without an indicator light, you have no way of knowing if your protector is still functioning properly.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Jim in Wilmington, Delaware listening on WDEL: “If you wanted to drop your cable TV service, what would you be able to receive on a high-quality old-style antenna — like on your chimney or in your attic?”
With a good HD antenna, you would be able to receive high-quality, actually the highest quality digital television. And that’s why we always recommend an antenna — even rabbit ears can work. Every cable and satellite provider compresses the HD TV signal, resulting in a loss of quality. For the most part this isn’t really noticeable, but it is most definitely there. Over the air broadcasts direct from the TV affiliate to your antenna, are uncompressed and will give you a perfect picture, assuming you have signal at all.
And, of course, that’s the rub. Signal at all. Jim is calling from Wilmington, Delaware, which is not “way out in the country,” so you’d be fine. But others who live far outside of a populated area may find that they can’t get a signal. For them, satellite may be the only option. Also don’t forget, you’d be dropping back to network programming only, and foregoing all the cable and satellite network choices. You can make up a lot of that over the Internet, these days, but it’s something you should be prepared to do.
For recommendations on HD antennas, our friends at the CEA run a great site: AntennaWeb.org. Check it out for some great tips on how to best set up your antenna.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
Joan in Miami, FL asked: “Dave, which is better: the iPhone 4 with AT&T or with Verizon? I know that all you guys are well versed in electronics.”
Dave responded: I’ve heard that Verizon iPhone users are quite happy with their service. They experience far less “dropped calls” than AT&T iPhone users. As a matter of fact, 2-3 times more, according to a recent study. If call quality is your top priority, Verizon is still the better choice. As a non-iPhone user, I will leave that question to our AT&T iPhonies in the studio …
Rob’s opinion: “I’ve had an iPhone since 6 months after it was first available on AT&T back in 2007. For years, we read and heard rumors about the iPhone going to Verizon, but I didn’t get excited or started making plans to switch. I visited two Verizon Stores here in South Florida when their iPhone version finally came out and wasn’t tempted to switch. I could’ve, but chose not to. 1) I travel and need a GSM phone — only AT&T can handle that right now. Verizon has a CDMA iPhone version. 2) I can surf the Web and talk at the same time. Verizon iPhone users can’t. 3) I don’t make that many calls on my phone. I text, check email and social network. I’m usually around a WiFi network and can do all of those things. That’s how and why I’ve put up with AT&T’s iPhone service for almost 4 years now.”
Our other AT&T iPhone user, Chris, hasn’t switched to Verizon only because his contract isn’t up yet!
So, ask yourself the following: What will you be doing with an iPhone? Do you travel? What matters most, making calls and not dropping them as often? or, surf and talk when possible?
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Alan Wallace, Senior Global PR Manager – Trend Micro
Keep your Android devices safe from harmful applications with TrendMicro’s mobile protection.
Jason Liszewski, Managing Director, Vice President of Sales – E FUN
E FUN is an American company that designs and markets fun, lifestyle e-products that are easily accessible – including Android Tablets.
Jimmy from Indonesia in North Sumatra watches the ITTV Updates on YouTube and asked :
“Hallo Dave, I wanna ask some questions:
1. Can we use Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Xoom, HTC Flyer and BlackBerry book for phone calls?
2. Is it true that Samsung Galaxy Tab will not get the Android Honeycomb?
. When is HTC Flyer release and sell in Asia, including my home country Indonesia?
Thx for your answer.”
It’s hard to tell if you’ll be able to use any of those tablets to make phone calls because sometimes that feature is blocked by some providers and allowed by others, but we can tell you that none of those are being marketed for phone calls in the US.
Unfortunately, it does look like the original Galaxy tab will probably not be getting Honeycomb (though in some countries it does make phone calls). It seems that Google (at least for now) is keeping Honeycomb from being used on smaller tablets. That may change, but as it is now, 7-inch tablets don’t look like they’ll be getting Honeycomb anytime soon.
Just this last week we learned that here in the US the HTC Flyer has been made available for pre-order on Best Buy, but we haven’t heard anything about worldwide releases yet. In fact, before the Best Buy news, all we had heard was that it would be available “in the Spring” (northern hemisphere spring, that is), so it looks like we’re going to have to wait to find out.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
Into Tomorrow Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza
Computer Mice – Swiftpoint Mouse & Smartfish Whirl Mini
Are you ready to upgrade your mouse? There are some neat innovations in the computer mice world and our correspondent Rob Almanza has two that you might want to try. Products mentioned: Swiftpoint Mouse & Smartfish Whirl Mini.
– By Rob Almanza, “Into Tomorrow” Correspondent
John in Durham, NC asked: “I bought a Verizon Octane from Costco since Verizon has more towers. I have 30 days to return it. I want to know if there is a better phone for the money since I only need it for calls and emails. I have my mother on my plan also. Two years is a long time for me since I am retired. I like your show a lot. I hope you can help me.”
The LG Octane is what Verizon calls a “Feature phone,” meaning that it’s not a smartphone running an operating system like Android, but rather it’s a phone where the software is supplied in the phone’s ROM. It can do whatever it can do out of the box, and you can’t do anything more with it unless Verizon and LG update the firmware.
For people who don’t require a lot from their phones, these can often represent an excellent value. To answer your question about the Octane, many users have complained of an echo on voice calls. Some say you can turn off the “voice clarity” feature to eliminate it, others say a firmware update cleared it up, and the rest of the owners are divided into the “nothing fixed it” and “it never happened to me” groups.
The only similar Feature phone is another LG model, the Cosmos. It’s less expensive, with a lower resolution camera, but aside from that it is a very similar phone.
While we’re all big fans of our app-monster smartphones here, if you’re going to roll with Verizon and stick with Feature phones, the LG Octane is pretty much their top of the line model in that category.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
Mike in Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7 FM and asked: “I heard y’all talking about a small radio that cost in the neighborhood of $156. I copied the website as ccradio.com, but that is not right. Could you give me the info?”
That is the correct web site. CCRadio.com forwards to CCrane.com, the company that makes that radio. We had Bob Crane of C.Crane on the show at CES – the Consumer Electronics Show and they make & carry many good radios, including: AM/FM, Shortwave, WiFi Internet, HD Radios and a ton of accessories too. He brought a brand new one in particular to our Broadcast Booth called CC Gozo but it’s not out yet. It’s small radio with powerful sound.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
C.Crane: Several Super USB WiFi Antenna
Endangerbles: Several music CDs to help children learn about endangered species
Lynda.com: 1-year premium gift subscription – You’ll have access to all of Lynda.com instructional videos, on hundred of topics.