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Tech News & Commentary
Jaime in Tampa, Florida listening via Zeno Radio asked: “I have an HD radio, my question is there any way to improve my reception so that i can get more stations?”
Your first option is to get a bigger, better antenna. If you’re listening from your home, you may be able to find an attic or rooftop antenna that would help boost your reception, like you would do with regular radio, or over the air TV.
If that doesn’t work or isn’t possible, you may also be able to find antenna pre-amps, that basically boost whatever the antenna is faintly picking up before it ever gets to the tuner, that may get you a few extra stations if you’re lucky, but depending on how weak the signals it amplifies are, you may not get much out of it.
HD radio is really the same old signals as before, just used in a better way, it’s not a new type of radio wave, so anything that would’ve amplified your radio reception before has the potential of amplifying your HD radio reception now.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
How in Toronto, Ontario listens on TuneIn and is calling in via the FREE “Into Tomorrow” App asked: “I typically leave the GPS on my Android device off to conserve battery, but when I do use it I turn it on and sometimes forget to shut it off. Does it still consume battery if an app like Google Maps is no longer using it?”
The GPS is indeed a huge battery drain. When you’re actively using, for example, when using navigation, it can be so bad that on some phone it will kill the battery of the phone that is plugged in and charging, but even when it’s not being actively used it is still a pretty major drain on Android phones.
Part of the reason is that even when you aren’t using the GPS, some apps may be in the background. For example, you may open an app that you don’t think needs to know your location at all, something as simple as a tip calculator, but if that tip calculator displays ads, the ads may want to know where you are, so they’ll use location services even if you’re not really benefiting from them or are even aware that they’re being used.
Android can also keep a lot of fairly useless service running in the background at times, for example, you may open Google Latitude once, forget it even exists and it may still be constantly tracking you eventhough you forgot about it months before.
Google Maps will track you even when you’re not actively using it and send that information to Google so it can know how fast traffic is moving and keep Google Maps updated with correct traffic information, that may not be of any use to you, and you may not even know your phone is doing it, but you agree to it when you turn on location services.
Also, just the fact that the GPS is on and ready to be used means it’s using power too, so that can be a drain on it’s own.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
William in Ontario, Canada and listening via the Podcast asked: “What is the best Bluetooth player for an older car? I have a regular cassette player and of course a cigarette lighter. I have a 96 Jeep. I wanted to play from my Android phone, my MP3 music or use TuneIn.”
Your best, and maybe the only inexpensive option, will probably be to buy a Bluetooth cassette adapter. They’re fairly rare, but if you can find them, you can get one for about $25.
You can also look at replacing your radio. You can find some Bluetooth enabled radios for $60 or so, but they’re usually more expensive and will look nothing like your Jeep’s original radio.
The plus side of a new radio is that you will usually get the Bluetooth connection that you want as well and wired inputs, or the ability to play MP3 from flash drives, so you’re not just limited to your phone.
A new radio will also leave the 12V lighter jack unused and available for charging your phone, as Bluetooth use and Internet streaming over long drives will drain your phone if it’s not plugged in.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Tom in Albuquerque, New Mexico listens to the Podcast asked: “I just finished watching the product from Fuze Chicken the Une Bobine and I was wondering about the 30 pin connector. Do you have to take the phone out of a case or can you use the Bobine with an otter box defender case on? Also I heard that Vusix was showing off their heads up display (a la google glasses) and in the blurb they mentioned a Bluetooth connection. Is Bluetooth a powerful enough to handle that much data? Oh and when Mark shouted IGGY did the compressors give him the evil eye?”
The Une Bovine for iPhone is a little wider than the iPhone’s regular connector, you may just be able to get away with using it with the Defender’s charging port, but it looks like it may be a tight fit.
As for Bluetooth delivering enough data to work with Vusix’s glasses, it probably can! Bluetooth 3.0 was already delivering 25mbps, Bluetooth 4.0 can deliver those speeds and use less energy, 25mbps dedicated to one device can do a lot…
It’s faster than 802.11b Wifi and you can stream videos with that, so you can probably do quite a lot with the newer version of Bluetooth, though it may take it’s toll on both your phone’s and your glasses’ batteries, even with the improved energy efficiency.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Ray in Niagara Falls, New York listens Online asked: “I have a Motorola Q, one of the first ones. I took pictures with it, but I cant figure out how to get pictures over to my SD card or onver to my computer. i plugged it into my computer but it doesn;t recognize that it’s there.”
To copy photos from your Q to the memory card, press your home key and go to applications. Under applications you should be able to find “My Files”.
My files will let you view everything that is on your phone’s memory, to find your pictures, you need to go to a folder called DCIM, and inside that folder open the one that’s called Camera.
From there all you have to do is select the pictures you want to move to your SD card by tapping the menu button and selecting more and then copy. Then just open the SD directory and press paste and all of your pictures should be moved there.
Once you have them on your SD card your computer should be able to see them and copy them.
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
Akitio:Neutrino Thunder Duo – 2-bay Thunderbolt Hard Drive enclosure
V Moda Headphones: a variety of styles of the DJ Inspired, Hollywood Designed Headphones
Ventev: An assortment of tangle-free USB cables and battery cases for iPhones