Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss most smarthome impressions being positive, Google allowing developers to access users' Gmail inboxes, T-Mobile parental controls, YouTube Premium, Facebook and tbh, T-Mobile and Sprint's merger, 3D and shopping, Morgan Stanley and subsidized Google Home Minis, and more.

Yehuda in Silver Spring, Maryland asked: "I'm looking for a 50-60 inch TV that is rated to be left on 24/7. I've seen some commercial monitors that are billed to support this but they run in the many thousands of dollars, where consumer TVs of that size seem to be very cheap these days. How will I know if a TV will really be able to run 24/7 for any length of time?"

 

Well Yehuda… TVs that can truly run 24/7 are expensive for a reason. How many hours a day would you say a typical TV needs to stay on considering that people work, go out, and generally have lives?

24/7 TVs are usually either security monitors or advertising screens, so you pay for components that won’t wear out after a couple of years of running non-stop.

The question here is, are you going to be running the 24/7? Or just for a big chunk of the day? Most TVs will do just fine being on for many hours a day. And the second question is, how much is the 24/7 assurance worth to you?

There’s a decent chance that if you buy any regular TV and keep it running 24/7 it will still last you many years. It may not, and they won’t promise that it will, but it will probably last you long enough that you will have amortized it by the time it breaks down and you have to replace it.

If the TV breaking down isn’t a huge problem, you may be better off with a regular one and dealing with it when it will no longer turn on, if it’s a critical component that cannot fail, then you may need to spend the money.

Andrea in Windsor, Ontario Canada listens on AM800 CKLW and asked: "I need to know how to spec out a computer to use for photography. I know it needs to have large RAM and needs to be fast. Also, I want a program for editing and filing photos, but I don't want it to be online. And I've got a beautiful new printer, and Epson Tank. The higher level one. It works for everything and prints beautiful pictures but every editing program I've used, the colors change between whatever the computer's telling it and what's coming out the printer. So I need to understand how to get it to go in true color or whatever it is."

 

Andrea, if you’re going to be editing large files make sure you have plenty of RAM, that doesn’t matter as much for smaller pictures you may just take on your phone, but if you’re using a professional camera and uncompressed formats having the most RAM possible will help things along. The processor is important too, like you said, but less so than it is for tasks like video editing.

As for your printer, matching colors is not trivial but the main two things you’ll need to do is calibrate your monitor and set the right color profile for your printer.

Even then, the paper your pick will have an effect too. Properly matching colors takes a good amount of work and you won’t be able to do it by adjusting as single setting and walking away. Unfortunately, this will require calibration and trial and error.

Norman in Chattanooga, Tennessee listens to the Podcast and asked: "I heard that they're gonna need SSL certificates on all the websites even if they don't sell stuff. Is that true or not? GoDaddy wants to charge about $60 a year for it. Don't know if there's a cheaper place. And I can't understand why we'd need it if we don't have an online store or something. I just have a bunch of "information" sites."