Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Amazon's Fire TV and voice commands, a hacking risk for Medtronic pumps, Target and eBay competing with Prime Day, premium brand Loewe shutting down, and more.

Our guest this hour:

John Ponte, Senior Director of the Gold Star Family Home and Smart Home Program at Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation

Tom in Erie, Pennsylvania listens to the podcast and asked: "I was wondering about these new 8K TVs. Is this even something worth considering? I haven't even had my 4K TV very long and I even went OLED. I'm one to adopt early when I can afford it, but it seems like this is a little ridiculous at this point since I don't know that there's any content yet. Correct me if I'm wrong on that."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/07-05-2019/07-05-2019-H2S1.mp3

Tom, there’s probably no reason for anyone to get one any time soon and there’s even less reason for you to get one if you went with an OLED 4K set. Those are not cheap. Just remember that when 1080p and 4K came out, for a long time all you could watch in those definitions were flowers swaying softly in the wind and some pretty mountains.

8K probably won’t be any different. Also keep in mind the requirements of streaming at those definitions if you hear about any 8K streaming services (we haven’t heard of any yet). You may need to pay more for internet if your connection is not already pretty fast.

For the time being, you may be better off sticking with your OLED set and waiting for the price 8K to settle and drop and for more content to be available. As it is, not everything is even available in 4K today. Apparently, we were all pretty pleased with 1080p and haven’t been in a rush to demand anything better.

Darrell in Amherstburg, Ontario listens on AM800 CKLW and asked: "What I'd like to do is record a video of myself playing the banjo, as well as one accompanying myself on the guitar. Is there an app for my phone that can record split-screen, aligning the tempo so they both match? I have an LG G7 One phone, as well as an HP laptop with Windows 10."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/07-05-2019/07-05-2019-H2S2.mp3

Darrell, technically yes there are, but they will be a constant source of frustration.

Just imagine trying to juggle two video tracks each with an audio track or two in a small screen, and trying to line up the audio tracks with the poor resolution that comes with dragging a finger across a screen.

Your best bet will be to use that HP laptop with just about any video editing software that supports at least 2 tracks. Just transfer the videos you take with your phone over to your laptop and try any video editing software. Odds are that even the free and simple programs will do a better job than the apps you can get on your phone for multitrack video editing.

Smartphone video editing apps are pretty great at what they do well, but what they do well is very limited and syncing audio on two different videos and switching back and forth will be a lot of work to be doing on a small screen.

Alan in Ackerman, Mississippi listens on Supertalk Mississippi and asked: "Have solid state drives come into being a reasonable cost, compared to hard drives?