Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss the Moon’s 4G LTE network, Google’s anti-trust problems, Charlie Brown specials leaving broadcast TV, paid Zoom events, measures against phishing attacks, and more.

Michael in Tyler, Texas listens on KTBB and asked: “What is a good watch? Would it be the Apple Watch, or would you go with the Android? I have both phones.”

Michael, there are going to be a few things to consider. The first is what do you want the watch to do? If you have both Android phones and iPhones then you probably use one for work and one for your personal life. Which do you want the watch to be involved in? Which phones notifications are important enough to get on your wrist? Which things do you want to track the most?

The other big thing is an Apple Watch is an Apple Watch, theyre solid, they last a long time, they work well, but most importantly they are made by Apple and no one else.

Android watches are really WatchOS watches and there are lots and lots of different ones. If you look at something like Samsungs Galaxy Watch line, theyre all going to be pretty good. They make different kinds of different lifestyles, some more discrete, some more rugged, but theyre all good watches and its mainly a matter of choosing the one that adapts to your use (for example, running in the rain a lot may call for the Active models).

If you look at some of the generic ones out there, your experience may vary. Even some recognizable brands have put out watches that havent lasted and havent fared well.

If you go with an Apple Watch youll have support and updates for quite a few years, if you go with one of the more solid Android brands like the Galaxy line we mentioned you probably will as well, but if you go with a budget brand your experience may differ greatly.

StarFortress asked: “Four printers in the house and EVERY ONE OF THEM is an epic struggle against the forces of evil to get them to do anything. Any ideas for a GOOD printer under $100? I have a Brother HL2140, two Canon MX922’s, and a Canon TS6220 already. Perhaps a scanner with resolution higher than 600 dpi? I’d like to do some semi-archival family historical photo scanning.”

If all you want the scanner and not the printing feature, there are scanners that are built to just scan documents in bulk. Have a look at the Xerox Documate series for several of them.

There are also scanners that are meant specifically for the higher resolution youre after, for example, the Epson Perfection V600 has a resolution of 6400dpi x 9600 dpi and the Epson Perfection V19 which is a more traditional flatbed scanner has a resolution of 4800 dpi.

If you want the combo printer-scanner, look for ones that work with smartphones. Those are built to be pretty easy to use and to play nice with wireless networks. If nothing else the phone features will give you a fallback if your computer still refuses to connect.

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