Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss smart home spending, magnetized cement to recharge electric vehicles, self-driving car's shortcomings, Backflip and smartphone reselling, the growth of podcasts, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Joe Valenti, Product Manager of Android Tablets - Panasonic

Ann - didnt tell us where shes calling from - but used the AskDave button: "I do not have the soundbar connected to my LG TV because of other connection issues, but my main question is the picture and the sound don't go together. The picture is just like stopped, and goes "spotty" here and there, as the sound just goes on. (sounds like buffering. -cg) How do I get them to connect?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-30-2021-H3S1.mp3

Ann, if your soundbar isnt connected to your TV then we assume that this is all happening in the TV itself.

If thats the case you may have connection issues of some kind. If this is happening while using smart functions, for example while streaming Netflix or YouTube, your internet connection may be struggling to cope and your TV may just be constantly buffering to try to stream your shows.

If this is happening while watching over the air TV or cable TV then you may have an issue with the signal reaching your home that is causing your TV to lose it periodically.

The solution to the internet issue is to check your connection speeds and make sure that your TV is able to pick up a good solid signal from your home router.

The solution to the over the air issue would be to get a better antenna or move it somewhere that gets a better signal if thats possible.

The solution to the cable issue, unfortunately, would involve reaching out to your cable company and trying to get them to come fix it.

If youre lucky theyll find the root cause quickly, but most likely youll just wind up needing to get them to come over several times to try to fix the problem. If your internet connection is solid, it may be easier to switch to a streaming TV provider like Hulu Plus or YouTube TV.

When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway:

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway: Call anytime, 24/7 – 800-899-INTO (4686), click the Ask Dave button on the website, or use the “Message to Studio” option on the FREE Into Tomorrow App!

All CALLERS -- using the AUDIO option on our Free App or 1-800-899-INTO(4686)  - automatically qualify to win prizes.

Audio archived for at least 6 months

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Jeff Bezos returning to Earth, Twitter's Fleets going away, TurboTax leave the IRS' free file program, LG's rollable displays coming to the US, Samsung phone news, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Hayley Arceneaux, Pediatric Cancer Survivor and Current St. Jude Physician Assistant & Youngest American to go to Space at St. Jude

Tim in Miami Lakes, Florida listens to the podcast and asked: "My son-in-law seems to have issues with his internet going down at home. He's got an internet company that's not quite working so well, so he needs a hotspot. I need your suggestion on what hotspot would work the best for him. He works on a computer. This will probably just be a backup, as the Internet at his apartment goes down about once a week."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-23-2021-H1S1.mp3

Tim, the main question is who has better service around your son-in-laws home.

All of the major cell phone service providers offer roughly comparable service. Theyre all capped, though. They call it unlimited but the high speed is limited. Once you reach a threshold, your speeds will be throttled.

That cap will vary. for example, Verizon offer plans that cost between $20 and $30 and are capped at 15GB and 30GB of fast data speed, respectively .

AT&T offers plans from $25 to $55 a month ranging from 15GB to 100GB of high speed.

T-Mobile has similar plans but also offers a home internet replacement hub that they charge $50 for and it does include real unlimited data. That, however is not yet available in Miami Lakes. We know that because Chris also lives in Miami Lakes and has been trying to find an alternative to his internet that also keeps going out at home. Thank you, Comcast. Not that he thinks T-Mobiles solution will work any better for him because at his house, he barely gets one bar of T-Mobile signal on his cell phone.

Your best choice will really just boil down to who has the best service around me?. They all offer 5G hotspot, but do they offer 5G around you? Are their towers overloaded? If they are, your connection speeds will drop.

There is also the option of just using a phones own hotspot. Many plans already include an allotment of high speed hotspot data that is comparable to what the dedicated hotspot plans provide a month.

When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway:

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway: Call anytime, 24/7 – 800-899-INTO (4686), click the Ask Dave button on the website, or use the “Message to Studio” option on the FREE Into Tomorrow App!

All CALLERS -- using the AUDIO option on our Free App or 1-800-899-INTO(4686)  - automat...

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss seed funding for creators, robotaxis, Apple warning leakers to stop releasing confidential information, Chrome for iOS and secure tabs, gaming companies addressing diversity in gaming with AI, another Windows print service vulnerability, Teslas requiring a paid hardware update to gain a feature, Google's anti-competitive practices, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Amélie Caudron, CEO of Invoxia

Bernie in North Carolina calling in using the AskDave button on our site"I'm a retired police officer and also a chaplain. I'm looking into getting into a podcast. On a shoestring budget at the moment. Your advice would be greatly appreciated."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-23-2021-H2S1.mp3

Well Bernie, You COULD do it all on your own, but with so many companies out there that will take care of all the hard work for you, theres really no reason to. As weve said, we use Blubrry to host our Into Tomorrow podcasts - and have been extremely happy with their service.

Of course, were on Blubrry's more expensive Pro plan, but you can get started with them for $12/month, whichll get you a hundred megabytes of storage - enough for about 2 hours of audio. They also have a $20 plan which will get you 250 megabytes. And they have a couple plans with even more storage. They all include a WordPress website to go along with your podcast.

At the very least youre going to want to invest in a decent microphone. Some of the microphones that are popular with podcasters - and broadcasters - are expensive, though for example, the Shure SM7B retails for around $400 and an ElectroVoice RE20, which Im using right now, will cost you around $500.

Rather than going with one of those, you can go with something like a Yeti USB mic which will cost you around $100 and will plug in directly to your computer, just like the Audio Technica ATR-2100 which is also about $100.

That can also free you from needing a board of any kind and you can just control your levels via the built in volume knob and via your software.

The software itself can be really costly too, so rather than choosing something more polished like Adobe Audition or Apples Logic Pro you can go for something simpler like Audacity. Audacity is completely free but it is rougher around the edges.

Audacity will allow you to edit and crop out parts of your recording that you want to exclude and it will allow you to do things like normalize the audio, but it will make you work harder than you would with a paid solution.

When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway:

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway: Call anytime, 24/7 – 800-899-INTO (4686),

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss an optical zoom patent granted to Apple, iPhones with always on-screens, Windows on the cloud, Netflix increases its subscriber count, privacy and tracking, an Apple fix that helps podcasters, robotic assistants for older adults, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Milburn Noronha, Marketing Specialist at RapidX

Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia listens on AM920 The Answer and asked: "I am frustrated by not being given an icon for the option to print articles online any longer. Why am I no longer able to print so easily?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-23-2021-H3S1.mp3

Georgia, there are two big reasons.

The first one is that printing is just not very popular anymore. Fewer people browse with computers, and fewer people still have printers at home.

If you ever go to a show where people can buy tickets online youll see just how many phones get scanned at the door, the same goes for airlines and boarding passes, or trains for that matter, or even coupons at shops. People just dont print much anymore because they dont need to.

The other reason is the main one: its hard to provide those buttons.

Old sites were extremely simple, they all had the same basic markup and were optimized for roughly the same resolution, so printing was pretty much adapting one look to a printed page format and moving on.

Modern sites are very complex, they typically use CSS or frontend frameworks to style what the user sees and how they see it. Things are hidden in the background, pages are made responsive to adapt to both small phones and large widescreen monitors and they rearrange to fit a different resolution, and different browsers need to be taken into account to ensure everything always looks like it should.

Adapting a page like that to a printed version would mean more custom CSS, and it would mean both catering to the different browsers in the market and staying on top of updates so the page always prints like it should.

That means a lot of work and a lot of cost, but most importantly, it means that an end user of a CMS (or, Content Management System) like Wordpress or Drupal cant do it. Theyd need to hire programmers to build the printing logic and keep it working, which in the vast majority of cases is just not worth it.

When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway:

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway: Call anytime, 24/7 – 800-899-INTO (4686), click the Ask Dave button on the website, or use the “Message to Studio” option on the FREE Into Tomorrow App!

All CALLERS -- using the AUDIO option on our Free App or 1-800-899-INTO(4686)  - auto...

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Virgin Galactic's first flight, processor smuggling, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Jim Louderback, Author of “Inside the Creator Economy” Newsletter & GM of VidCon

Chris in Tyler, Texas listens on KTBB and asked: "I've never bought a computer before and I'm looking to buy a laptop because I'm starting my own business. Can you guys help me out with a beginner style laptop? And can you recommend any apps that are free that I could put on that laptop to help my business?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-16-2021-H1S1.mp3

Chris, thats hard to say without knowing what youre going to do and how you want to do it.

Obviously, if your business was something like creating 3D animations, or heavy graphic design youd already have an idea of the heavier hardware that would be required, so we are going to assume you want to do something more akin to admin work.

If thats the case, just about any laptop will do, but wed advise you to go for a mid-level laptop rather than the cheapest you can find. Quality varies greatly by price and a very cheap laptop can turn into a hassle a few months or a year in.

For example, Lenovo has ranked high in reliability ratings in recent years, so you can look at something like a $600 Lenovo IdeaPad 3, which will have more power than you need for office tasks but wont be the highest end, most powerful model meant for other tasks.

You can also look at something like a Dell Inspiron 3000 or an ASUS Vivobook, both will cost you roughly around the same as the Lenovo.

As for software, most of what you need is probably going to be online. For example, Google Docs has both free personal and paid business tiers and will include a full office suite that you can also set up to access offline. Microsoft does the same thing.

If you want something free that is entirely offline you can look at LibreOffice for example, a free, open-source office suite. If you do, keep in mind that its clunkier than the better known paid office suites, but its certainly usable.

Larry in Metamora, Michigan listens to the podcasts and asked: "I have a Google phone and I must have changed one of the settings inadvertently. I get text messages with a link. They used to open a web page using my default browser. Now it opens an app. LIke I had an app for some of the cable channels like TLC and the History Channel. And it just keeps opening the app instead of opening to the browser. I've been trying to find how to fix this."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-16-2021-H1S5.mp3

Larry, your mileage may vary and reports are mixed, but there is a setting within Android that should be able to help you.

Open your Settings app, then go to Apps & Notifications, and then Default Apps.

At the bottom of the screen you should see an option named Opening links.

Once there you should be able to select the TLC or History Channel apps and set them to not be allowed to open links.

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Chris' unwanted group text, France suing Google, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Kevin Terwilliger, VP, Inspiron and Vostro, Client Product Group - Dell Technologies

Richard in Hero, Mississippi listens on SuperTalk MIssissippi and asked: "My Samsung Galaxy watch just suddenly stopped working and this thing's probably less than a year old. It acts like it doesn't want to charge up. So I think maybe the battery's dead or something like that."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-16-2021-H2S1.mp3

Richard, your Samsung Galaxy Watch should last more than a year, as you probably know theyre expensive devices.

The good news here is that they do offer a 1-year warranty so if they watch is refusing to charge you should contact Samsung as soon as possible and send it in for repair before the year is up.

You can find an authorized service facility to take your watch to by calling Samsung at 1-800-SAMSUNG.

They should be able to guide you as to where to get the watch fixed and confirm that its still under warranty, though their blanket coverage is 1 year, so it should be.

Well also have a link in our show notes at IntoTomorrow.com to Samsungs wearables support page, where you can find more information as well as put in a request for service.

https://www.samsung.com/us/support/mobile/wearables/

Mitzi in Austin, Texas"Does Roborock clean carpet AND tile floors?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-16-2021-H2S5.mp3

Mitzi, it does. The Max models like the S6 MaxV that is part of our summer giveaway do a better job on carpets, so you may want to consider one of those models if you have a lot of carpeting.

For your tile floors theres also a smart mopping add on that can help keep your floors clean.

We have read reports of issues with dark carpeting and the navigation system confusing the edges for drops, but as long as you dont have very dark carpets you should be able to use a Roborock vacuum cleaner to do both.

In case you werent specifically asking about the robotic models, Roborock also makes handheld vacuums and those can also do both tile and carpet.

When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway:

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway: Call anytime, 24/7 – 800-899-INTO (4686), click the Ask Dave button on the website, or use the “Message to Studio” option on the FREE Into Tomorrow App!

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss an autonomous command car patent from Amazon, Apple Pay Later, Samsung launching its TV Plus, a malware group disappearing, automated content checks, Facebook Group experts, 6G research, Xbox's restrictions on microtransactions, electronic noses, Pinterest banning weight loss ads, Fleet ads, Twitter launching a weather service, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Francois Kress, CEO and Co-Founder - Feelmore Labs

Gigi in St. Simons Island, Georgia listens on 93.7 WBQO and asked: "I'm interested in your suggestions that might help an elderly person in isolation feel less lonely. Possibly things that do not require Internet or Wi-Fi, like standalone items."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-16-2021-H3S1.mp3

Gigi, pretty much all standalone devices these days will require the internet to work to connect people.

Barring something like shortwave radio, theres very little technology that can connect people and doesnt require some form of an internet connection.

If you can afford a basic tablet with a cellular connection, that would allow you to connect to publications and get ebooks from both commercial sellers and public libraries. It would also allow you to make video calls to people and groups.

That does require an internet connection but you can limit it to the device and turn it off if it doesnt work for you. These days there are lots of social groups over video conferences, so you could join book clubs, knitting groups, and lots of other remote social groups that way.

Without some form of internet, though, theres really not much new tech out there that would provide some companionship other than what you already know about: a phone, a TV, a radio, etc.

When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway:

The 2021 COOL “Into Tomorrow” HOT Summer Giveaway: Call anytime, 24/7 – 800-899-INTO (4686), click the Ask Dave button on the website, or use the “Message to Studio” option on the FREE Into Tomorrow App!

All CALLERS -- using the AUDIO option on our Free App or 1-800-899-INTO(4686)  - automatically qualify to win prizes.

Audio archived for at least 6 months

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss the ransomeware attacks, Donald Trump's lawsuits against Google, Facebook, and Twitter, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Sharon Cooksey, Fire Safety Educator at Kidde

Orlando in Columbia, Mississippi calling in using the AskDave button on our site"I have an abundance of DVDs and I may even have some VHS hiding somewhere. I'm looking for a compact storage system where I could record all my DVDs, all my movies, maybe a hard drive of some sort - that I could also connect to a television to play. Is there anything like that that exists currently? Also want to say that the Summer Giveaway is like a tech nerd's Christmas list."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-09-2021-H1S1.mp3

Orlando, you can store your media in a hard drive and stream it to your TV using a media server.

The most popular free versions are Plex and Kobi and you can set either one of them up either on a computer you already own, or you can use very basic and inexpensive hardware like a Raspberry Pi.

One you have the media server set up you can control it using your smartphone, by logging into the server, or by using an IR or WiFi remote but an IR remote will require extra hardware.

The connection is simple enough, theyll just plug into your TV using a regular HDMI cable.

There are out of the box solution out there as well, but they are usually too expensive to recommend, for example an NVIDIA Shield Android TV player sells for around $250.

If you have a Roku player, they will allow you to scan local servers and stream the media files in them, so you can set up a network hard drive and stream the content to your TV via the Roku as well.

Obviously you will still need to rip all of this content and for that youll need an extra solution. Something like Freemake Video Converter or Handbrake will do that for you and wont cost you any money, but you will need to find a computer with a DVD drive or buy a drive first.

Chris in Tyler, Texas listens on KTBB and asked: "I've never bought a computer before and I'm looking to buy a laptop because I'm starting my own business. Can you guys help me out with a beginner style laptop? And can you recommend any apps that are free that I could put on that laptop to help my business?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-09-2021-H1S4.mp3

Chris, thats hard to say without knowing what youre going to do and how you want to do it.

Obviously, if your business was something like creating 3D animations, or heavy graphic design youd already have an idea of the heavier hardware that would be required, so we are going to assume you want to do something more akin to admin work.

If thats the case, just about any laptop will do, but wed advise you to go for a mid-level laptop rather than the cheapest you can find. Quality varies greatly by price and a very cheap laptop can turn into a hassle a few months or a year in.

For example, Lenovo has ranked high in reliability ratings in recent years,

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Jeff Bezos stepping down as Amazon's CEO, Ring forcing password changes, flying cars, a Boring tunnel in Ft. Lauderdale, smartphone features in other devices, a Starlink satellite dish attached to a car, Amazon's new EVs, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Micah Muzio, Managing Editor at KBB.com

Joe in Gladewater, Texas listens on 97.5 FM KTBB and is calling in via the App and asked: "I just had an iMac, 27-inch, die on me. The screen still works, but the hard drive is toast. So I'm buying a new M1, 24-inch. Wondering if I can use the old iMac as a monitor. It would be cool to have 24 inches on one side, and 27 inches on the other side."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-09-2021-H2S1.mp3

Joe, the answer is yes and no.

27 models from 2009 and 2010 can be used as an external display. Apple used to call the feature target display mode and it worked by connecting the iMac to a laptop or other desktop via the Mini DisplayPort.

There are two things that will likely keep you from being able to do that, though.

First of all, an operating system is required to do that, in particular it needs to be macOS High Sierra, so youd need to get a hard drive for your old machine, try to find High Sierra and install it. Given how cheap regular monitors are, that may just not be worth the hassle.

Second and most important, it wont be compatible with your new generation iMac. Apple supported the feature during the decade between 2009 and 2019, but newer iMacs cant use your model as an external display anymore.

If you still want to have a 27 external monitor, you can find them for as little as $150, so it may still be something you can do if it will help you be more productive.

Richard in Hero, Mississippi listens on SuperTalk MIssissippi and asked: "My Samsung Galaxy watch just suddenly stopped working and this thing's probably less than a year old. It acts like it doesn't want to charge up. So I think maybe the battery's dead or something like that."

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-09-2021-H2S2.mp3

Richard, your Samsung Galaxy Watch should last more than a year, as you probably know theyre expensive devices.

The good news here is that they do offer a 1-year warranty so if they watch is refusing to charge you should contact Samsung as soon as possible and send it in for repair before the year is up.

You can find an authorized service facility to take your watch to by calling Samsung at 1-800-SAMSUNG.

They should be able to guide you as to where to get the watch fixed and confirm that its still under warranty, though their blanket coverage is 1 year, so it should be.

Well also have a link in our show notes at IntoTomorrow.com to Samsungs wearables support page, where you can find more information as well as put in a request for service.

https://www.samsung.com/us/support/mobile/wearables/

Doug in Durham, North Carolina listens on NewsRadio 680 WPTF and asked...

Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss the FCC's new robocall rules, a lawsuit against Amazon for the way Alexa manages health information, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Markos Kern , CEO - Fun With Balls

Dustin in Woodbine, Georgia listens on WBQO When You Need to Know and is calling via the App and asked: "I'm looking at purchasing a TV for outside, underneath my screen enclosure. Do you recommend any certain TVs for the outside, for being down in Georgia in the weather and hot climate, or can I just put a regular TV?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-09-2021-H3S4.mp3

Dustin, regular TVs may survive outside but you shouldnt count on it. Its not what theyre built for and the weather in some areas can fall outside of their operating specs.

Georgia mostly has relatively mild weather compared to places like South Florida for the humidity or Minnesota for the cold, but there are still no guarantees that the TV will last.

If you want to try this with a regular TV, dont buy one thats too expensive at least until you know your weather wont kill it.

If you want something that will live outside permanently and dont mind paying a steeper price for it, there are weatherproof TVs.

For example, the Furrion brand sells them almost exclusively. Their TVs tend to be a little bit more expensive ($1000 is not rare), but you can find outdoor TV from lots of brands from pretty unknown and inexpensive ones like QIMO to huge names like Samsung, which will sell them at a premium and will most likely ask for a few thousand dollars (for example, a Samsung 55 Terrace retails for roughly $3500).

If youre happy to test this out with a relatively cheap TV knowing you may lose it, give it a try. Georgia weather is not that extreme so you may luck out and be able to use an indoor TV outside without any issues, but you dont want to spend your money on a top of the line indoor TV without at least testing with a cheaper model first.

Either way you go, Id recommend also getting an outdoor cover for your TV. While it wont make it waterproof, itll at least offer some protection when youre not using it. You can find those on Amazon for like $20.

Jeff in Ackerman, Mississippi listens on SuperTalk Mississippi and asked: "Is there any laptop that compares to the iMac - on the IBM side?"

https://media.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/content.blubrry.com/into_tomorrow/07-09-2021-H3S5.mp3

Jeff, the iMac is a desktop computer but even if you mean the MacBook line the answer is still no.

IBM sold their consumer PC line to Lenovo back in 2005 and they havent made consumer laptops or desktops since then.

They still do make high end corporate servers and other machines, but nothing for the consumer market.

If you want to buy the descendants of their old Thinkpad line, Lenovo still makes them and their higher end models are competitive with MacBooks. Lenovo also makes very inexpensive models that are not comparable, so you will have to spend a little more money and buy a premium model if you want it to compe...