Life & Technology

 

iPhone and iPad security vulnerability has been in the news lately with some concerned their device can be remotely enslaved. However the rigmarole you’d have to go through for that to happen is quite lengthy. You would get an email from cyberscammers, which you’d have to open, click on a link within the email and download a pdf file, which would open your unit to security vulnerability.  So the chance of you being open to a scam is remote. Plus the likes of Microsoft etc issues patches to get rid of such things.

There were also issues about some Telstra shops loading costs that were not advertised in their plans. Telstra owns some of its T-life stores and some are franchised. Some of the franchised stores were not compelled to follow the Telstra plans, which were more than the Telstra plan. That was the problem there. Before you sign into a phone or internet service make sure you know all the up front costs.

With phone calls today Clare had a problem with her computer being super slow to start up. What happens with Windows-based machine is that there is an area of the computer called the registry, which can become bloated over time when you install and uninstall programs and causes your computer to slow down. You can run a program called Clean Sweep that gets rid of all the unwanted stuff on the computer.

Jamie wanted to know if there were smartphones with Gigabyte plans. There are, including Telstra and Optus – some go up to 7GB of data a month.

Andy called and said one of the good, free programs he used to clean his registry is Easy Cleaner by ToniARTS.

Adam is with BigPond and was wondering what a T-Box does. It’s two things – a persona l video recorder for free to air television andiIt streams content over the internet, so it is an IPTV device. The speed is affected by how many people are using the internet.

Judy has a three year old laptop. She switches it on, the fan come on for quite a while and Judy  was wondering if anything was wrong with it. The fan is cooling down the computer, but if you have any worries I suggest getting a portable hard drive make sure do a back up.

Fiona’ computer screen is going dark. It’s probably the graphics card issue, or it could be the monitor going. Try out the monitor on another computer and if it is still going dark, then that is the issue. If not, then it is likely to be the graphics card.

Harry wanted to know about the iPhone and was wondering when he could get one because they are sold out. He said there is a three-month waiting list, and I find that easy to believe.

 

 

Of course we had to show the iPhone launch, so I spoke to Cameron about what people can expect from the new unit. There are pros and cons with it, as I explained to Cam. Check it out…

Had a great segment on the Today Show with a few gadgets and some that caught the eye of listeners, as I have already had queries about some of the gadgets featured.

The Kaiser Baas MusicMaker looks like it could become a popular item as it turns your old vinyl records into MP3s. It has a built in pre-amp, so no need for external amp (all other products on the market need an external amp). So how does it work? All you do is  connect the turntable to the MusicMaker (cable provided). You then hook up a PC with Spin-It-Again software preloaded (comes with MusicMaker), hit the record button on the PC, put down the needle on the record, and you’re away laughing.

We also looked at the Fujifilm W1 3D Camera, which is said to be the first still camera of its kind on the market. You don’t need to wear special glasses to see the prints, although they can be pretty pricey with some sites saying they can cost  up to $8 each. Alternatively, you can buy the V1 digital viewer, which can cost over $650.

Netgear’s Powerline Ethernet product was an interesting one to have on the show. It basically turns any electrical power outlet into a network connection, which enables high-quality video streaming, gaming and VoIP over a home network. To make it work you plug in one of Netgear’s XAVB2001 into your router and nearby electrical socket, then plug a second XAVB2001 into an electrical socket near to the device you wish to network – and you are up and running.

Finally, we showed the Samsung Series 9 LED TV, and what a beauty it is. Sure it doesn’t come cheap at $10,000, but the quality of picture and features it offers are nothing to be sneezed at. As well as being pencil thin, it also has a the world’s first touch-screen remote control with a three-inch colour display offering either a live feed of the channel you’re currently watching, or the channel you are preparing to watch. The remote also comes with a built-in speaker and headphone jack.  It also has access to the Samsung Internet@TV services, which means access YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, games, weather information etc.