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Tech News & Commentary
Casey in Salem, New York listens on Stitcher calling in from the app asks us: “Been using my Gear live for quite a while. Ever since the latest Android update, I noticed a significant decrease in battery life. I always leave the screen dimmed all the way down. I was getting about 18-20 hours of battery life, now only less than 12 hours. Not sure if it’s a software issue with Android Ware and part 2 of my question: I have several apps that got updated and maybe they’re draining my battery. Is there an app where I can track the battery usage and see how much battery each app is using?”
Casey, You have a few Kindles you can choose from depending on what you want to do.
shorter battery life on any device especially wearable devices can have many causes. You can try factory resetting your Android Wear, restarting your phone and then repairing the wearable to your phone and see if the battery drainage continues. Another option would be to clear the data on the Android Wear, which can be done by going into setting, application manager, and look for your Android Wear and touch “Clear Data”.
To answer your second part of your question, technically, you don’t need an app to track the phone’s battery usage. Simply, go into your settings and then battery and you’ll be able to see what apps are draining your battery the most and least.
If you want to get a more detailed report on your battery usage, you can download “App Usage Tracker” which is available in the Google Play Store. This apps features daily notifications with the most used apps, the option to disable tracking on specific apps and the app consumes very little battery.
App Usage Manager is another app alternative that you can use that is also available in the Google Play Store. With 4.3 star rating, this app will help identify the cause of your drainage of battery. Featuring a 1-tap uninstall app, overuse reminder, the ability to view your most used apps through a widget on your phone.
One thing we do want to say, however, is that while most people suspect a background app of draining their battery, unless that app is doing some serious data transfer or really running the processor hard, the vast majority of time fast battery drain is caused by the display. It requires more battery power to run your display than anything else your device might do.
So while you’re spending a lot of time tracking down rogue apps, it might be as simple as paying attention to whether a change in your environment (such as an Android update, or the addition of some wearable tech) is causing your display to be on more often or for longer periods of time.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports Feature With James McQueen
Should you buy a $250 laptop? Consumer Reports says, well, maybe. Their electronics spokesman James McQueen is here to explain.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Intern Fidel recommends: Flipboard, FREE
- “Does physically flipping through a magazine or newspaper make you nostalgic… reminding you of the old feeling of paper moving in-between your fingertips? Well, then you will love his favorite app this week, Flipboard! It has a pretty unique interface because it allows users to feel as though they are browsing through their own personal magazine, by flicking yer finger. What’s really neat about Flipboard is the way you can set it to share the most interesting articles you find on social media, so your friends, family, and enemies can also access it. See something you like? You can now share it on your Facebook feed with a few clicks so others can like it as well. Flipboard is available on almost every major app store and– did we mention … it’s also entirely free!”
• Mark recommends: iOS 8, FREE
- “My app this week isn’t so much an ‘app’ as it is the mother of all apps. I’m going to talk about Apple’s new iPhone operating system, iOS 8. Specifically I’m going to mention a couple of the new features that, for me at least, have made the upgrade worthwhile. The first is the Do Not Disturb feature on messages. This week was elections week and on election day, my friends were sending those ‘Get out the vote’ text messages…to EVERYONE in their contacts list, and EVERYONE in their contacts list, NONE of whom I know, was responding with ‘I did!’ or worse yet, a picture of the I Voted sticker on their shirt. But it didn’t bother me a bit because when I received the first one, I touched Details, then the Do Not Disturb button, and just like that the message was silenced. I still received the updates, but I didn’t have to hear about each one as it arrived. I was a little disappointed that I needed to do the same thing on my computer also, it would be nice if my phone had communicated that to my MacBook. And that brings me to the second feature I want to mention, Connectedness. As long as my iPhone and my iPad or MacBook are on the same WiFi network, even if they are not immediately next to one another, telephone calls or messages, even SMS and MMS messages, can be sent or received from whatever device I have handy. At first, this seemed like it would be annoying, but not having to go grab my phone off the table when I’m sitting in the chair reading my iPad is, well, seductively convenient. The 8.1 release of iOS 8 appears to be stable enough now that we can recommend it, so if you haven’t updated and you CAN update, perhaps these features will convince you that it’s time to move..” — Mark
What are your favorite Apps? Let us know at 800-899-INTO and we’ll feature them in this segment!
- Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details
Guest Segment:
Adam Elkassas, Co-Founder – Down to Chill
Think Tinder for chilling with friends.
Drake in Ontario calling in asked: “I am going to be purchasing a VPS and I was wondering what Vps provider will be the best. I’m currently looking at Rack Space and Digital Ocean and I was wondering which one would I will be more successful in and which one is cheapest with the RAM.”
Drake, Virtual Private Servers vary widely from one hosting company to the next. They’re always tweaking how much they offer and how much they charge in an effort to lure new customers. Honestly, we haven’t seen a gigantic difference in pricing between “brand name” hosting providers. They all seem pretty close on their deals.
You’re far better off focusing on reliability, up time, and customer service. For that, the official support forums are a good place to start, but you’ll also want to search the Internet for forums, such as reddit, where users can complain without the company deleting their posts.
Regardless of who you choose, be sure you understand the product you’re purchasing. The best way to understand hosting plans is by what we call the “pool method.” Shared hosting is like a pool that everyone can enter at once. If the pool gets full, you’re a little uncomfortable with that and things don’t work well, so either the pool has to be made bigger or some of the occupants have to move to another pool.
VPS, or virtual private server, is like a pool where ropes are used to divide the pool into segments. You get your own chunk of pool real estate, and even though there are people in the pool with you, you don’t really notice them so much. But you are still sharing a pool. And if one of them does something unmentionable to foul the waters, it’s going to drift your way also.
Dedicated hosting means you get your own pool. Very expensive, but very exclusive and you never have to worry about someone else spoiling your swim.
VPS makes sense if you are going to be installing custom scripts or software that require you to have root access to the host computer (it’s not true root access with a VPS, but it’s effectively the same thing). But it’s not always true to assume that it means better performance for a standard website. Hosting companies do a lot to make certain they don’t have too many people in the community pool at once, and the cost of shared hosting is dramatically less than a VPS plan.
Sorry we can’t give you a cut-and-dried answer, but even if we did, the information it was based on might change before you heard that answer. Compare the specs, check the customer satisfaction levels, and consider carefully what sort of plan you need.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Bonnie in Denham Springs, Louisiana – listening via Talk 107.3FM Baton Rouge called and asked: “I have a iPhone 4s and ever since I got it I have not been able to get on our netgear wifi router. I have tried everything I can think of. I can connect with my kindle, laptop and my granddaughter can connect with her iPad. I hope you can give me some insight to it. Thank you for all your info on your show.”
Bonnie, If you just got it and everything else connects and the phone doesn’t, you may want to return it and get a new one… there may be something wrong with the phone and if it’s new they should still honor your warranty.
If you can’t or don’t want to do that, you can reset the phone’s network setting by going to settings, general and reset at the bottom of the list. Doing that will get rid of all of the passwords for every WiFi network you connect to, so while it may fix this problem, it may not be the best solution if you connect to a lot of different networks.
Before trying that, you may just want to go for the default answer for all electronics ever, and unplug everything and plug everything back in, turn the phone off and on, power cycle everything that can be power cycled… that fixes a ridiculous amount of problems.
The iPhone 4S doesn’t use any special method to get on WiFi, in fact it works pretty much the same way as the iPad, so if your granddaughter can get her iPad online, but she can’t get your phone online, you should probably consider having it replaced if you still can.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Steve in Lake Villa, Illinois listens to the Podcast – calling via the App called and asked: “What online job site do you recommend? I’m thinking of maybe looking around and seeing what else is out there. I know the big sites but I was wondering if there was anything more precise.”
Steve, When you ask if there’s anything more precise, we assume you’re asking about finding specific jobs in your specific field. If your profession is regulated in any way, you may find some good job leads on whatever website the regulating body operates.
For example, let’s say you were a lawyer in Florida. The Florida Bar has a website, floridabar.org. Under the Member Services menu item, there’s a link for Employment Opportunities. That page has in turn links for Career Opportunities, Employment Classified Ads, Available Judicial Appointments, and even jobs at the Florida Bar itself.
You can also target company websites, if you know who you want to work for in your chosen field. Visit their website directly. The jobs listed there are almost always the most recent offerings, and since you’re coming straight in from their website and not through a referral site where they have to pay for the listing, you’ll often find it an easier road to employment. There will usually be an email address where you can submit a resume, or a link to an online employment application.
So don’t assume that these giant mega-mart job sites are the only place, or even the best place to find jobs. Doing some online leg work from your kitchen table might just take you closer to the source and get you hired more quickly. Good luck!
For more information tune in to Hour 1 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