Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Google's security key, Facebook hiring a former Google exec, new TSA scanners, Scarlett Cloud, a Snapchat study, Twitter and Elon Musc, YouTube running slower on Edge and Firefox,  and more.

Vincent in Detroit, Michigan listens on AM800 CKLW - “The Information Station” and asked: "I just remodeled my living room and changed all the furniture around. When I moved everything around, I found I don't have room for my subwoofer that's on the ground. It's taking up too much room. I don't want anyone to kick it and break their toe. What are some better options to get a subwoofer sound in your living room? And also, does it have to be facing the couch you're sitting on to get the effect?"

 

Vincent, there aren’t any better options to get the subwoofer sound. The subwoofer is a specialized low range speaker, you can’t get Barry White out of Lady Gaga.

Don’t worry about the subwoofer facing the couch, if you can fit it anywhere in the room, it will likely do its job well, but you won’t be able to find something like a soundbar that replaces a subwoofer, the frequencies are just not there.

What you could look into is a wireless woofer that you can more easily find a place for without having to worry about wiring it to your TV, but that may require replacing the rest of your home theater system along with it, which has some obvious financial downsides.

Don in Mountain View, California asked: "What do you know about the YubiKey? It's a hardware password and security key."

 

Don, it’s an interesting gadget. We’ve interviewed Stina Ehrensvard, the CEO of Yubico, the makers of the key.

The idea is to have a hardware device to function as your 2FA device for every service from email to your bank account.

The Yubikey requires that you touch it when you log in to a website to verify that you’re there as opposed this being a hacking attempt. The new model can even interact with phones via NFC.

Back when we talked to Stina they were selling for under $20 on Amazon, but lately we’ve seen some priced at around $50, so that may have changed.

Jimmy in Norfolk, Delaware listens on 105.9 WXDE and asked: "Interested in buying a new computer setup and I wanted to see what you would recommend for me."

 

Well Jimmy, Acer’s Predator Orion 9000 sounds pretty good to us.

It’s powered by an Intel Core i9 chip, it comes with 128GB of RAM, 2TB of hard drive space and an extra 512GB SSD for speed. It’s also VR ready, which is a good thing because it’ll cost you $8000.

The HP Stream 11 sounds pretty good too, it barely has any storage space with 32GB (most of which will be eaten up by Windows 10), but it’s hard to argue with a $200 MSRP.

Unfortunately, without knowing more about what you’re planning to use it for it’s going to be hard for us to help you find the sweet spot in between those for you.

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.

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