I Know Where You Took That Photo Last Summer, the 2013 blockbuster thriller starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ray Hollister and Tom Braun.

On this episode we were joined in the studio by Mike Khalil, the Lead Coordinator at Sandalwood High School’s SAInT Academy. We also have a great Debunkable segment and we finally have a name for the app segment!

Don’t forget, we’re almost at the end of the $50 Amazon Gift Card giveaway! If Deemable Tech gets at least 500 subscribers on iTunes and at least 200 subscribers on YouTube by the end of August, we are going to give away an Amazon Gift Card worth $50!

To be eligible to win the $50 Amazon Gift Card, you need to subscribe to us on YouTube and iTunes, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Then, send us an email at giftcard@deemable.com. In that email, include your Facebook name, Twitter and YouTube username. We’ll pick one eligible email at random and we’ll announce it on the show. The links to all of our social network profiles are in the top right corner of the website under the heading, Follow Deemable Tech.

Also, the Deemable Tech app is now available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad in the App Store and for Android phones and tablets in the Google Play store. You can find a link to the app simply by visiting Deemable.com on your mobile device.

One last thing! Don’t forget to vote for Ray and Tom in Folio Weekly’s Best of Jax for Hottest Local Celebrity. Go to http://folioweekly.com/bestofjax to enter your vote!

#47 I Know Where You Took That Photo Last Summer

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT

RAY: From WJCT studios in Jacksonville, Florida, I’m Ray Hollister,

TOM: I’m Tom Braun,

RAY: and this is Deemable Tech, tech help worth listening to.

TOM: This week’s episode of the Deemable Tech podcast is brought to you by A Small Orange, Homegrown Hosting. A refreshingly different approach to web hosting. On the web at a small orange dot com.

RAY: And, by audible.com. Hey did you know, you, just because you are listening to Deemable Tech, you can get a FREE audiobook download at audibletrial.com/Deemable

Over 100,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player like…

TOM: The Hobbit, which of course was released as a major motion picture last year. In this fantasy classic, master storyteller J.R.R. Tolkien creates a bewitching world filled with delightful creatures and thrilling dangers. Narrator Rob Inglis will hold listeners of all ages spellbound with his skillful portrayal of hobbits, dwarves, and enchanted beasts.

RAY: Or if you’re not into little people with hairy toes going on adventures, you can download any other audiobook you want for free. Just go to audibletrial.com/Deemable to download your free audiobook.

TOM: Got a question about your computer, smart phone, tablet or the Internet? Give us a call us at One Eight Eight Eight, Nine Seven Two, Nine Eight Six Eight, or send us an email at questions@deemable.com.

RAY: So, we are coming towards the end of our contest to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card. To be eligible, Subscribe to us on YouTube and iTunes. Then, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. Then, send us an email to giftcard@deemable.com. In that email, tell us your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube username.  We’ll pick one eligible email at random and we’ll announce it here on the show.

TOM: To make it easy for you, we have a picture of a big $50 Amazon Card and the instructions on the top right of our website at Deemable.com.

So, go subscribe, like and follow us, and get your emails in so you can win that $50 gift card.

RAY: And this is the last week to vote for us, Ray and Tom for Hottest Local Celebrity in Folio Weekly’s 2013 Best of Jax contest. Make sure to vote for us at folioweekly.com/bestofjax And yes, we are trying to win Hottest Local Celebrity. Don’t laugh! We’re really trying to win. Go to folioweekly.com/bestofjax and vote for Ray and Tom!

All right, well before we jump into your questions, we have a guest in the studio, Mike Khalil.

Mike Khalil is the SAInT Academy Coordinator at Sandalwood High School here in Jacksonville, Florida. Welcome to the show Mike.

Tell us first, what does SAInT in SAInT Academy stand for? Looking at your logo it looks like most of the letters in SAInT are in all caps?

What is an information technology academy?

And, what is it that you teach in the Academy?

How did the program begin?

Are the kids able to do hands-on work?

What are some of the benefits for students?

How do people and businesses in the community get involved?

Do students get college credit for the courses?

How do students get into the SAInT Academy? Is it a Magnet program?

XKCD How to be a computer expert flowchart

——

SAINT Academy is a program that allows students to fully experience high school while gaining skills in business and information technology. They earn a regular diploma, attend a regular neighborhood school, and attend regular classes. They take one or two computer-based electives per year, and get opportunities to compete against other students and meet important people in the community who can help them attain their college and career goals.

We recruit 8th graders while they are in middle school, and they begin the program in 9th grade, they stay in the program all throughout high school. It’s not just an elective, but a career-themed academy where we help students prepare for college and the workforce — writing resumes, interview skills, things like that, but since it’s IT it’s a little but different from most vocational academies. We’re fully aware that most IT workers go to college; it’s very hard to get a job in the field without a college degree, so we’re very focused on Academics as well as vocational study, and most our students in fact are in honors or AP classes.

——

Alright, thanks for coming in Mike. Before we let you go, where can people find out more information about the SAInT Academy?

SAINT web site: http://sandalwoodhigh.org/

Thanks again.

——

Alright, well, we have to take a quick break, but when we come back we have answers to your tech questions, a Debunkable segment, and we finally have a name for the App segment. You’re listening to Deemable Tech.

So we have a question that we answered a long time ago, but I’m not sure if we ever told the listener the answer! They sent us another email about it, and I couldn’t find the question in our previous show notes, so let’s answer it again.

Maliery writes: I was recently given the opportunity of updating my system. Ever since, whenever I send text messages, post on Facebook, or even write on the S note, my text all of a sudden gets erased. It’s similar to a CTRL+a action, but I do not perform this step. Also, my google keyboard fails after of number of selections of the predictive messages. I think if I select 5/6 words, it will stop working. None of things ever happened when I was using the prior Jelly Bean update. Galaxy S III

TOM: First of all, I have a question for you:

* Jen from ?The IT Crowd’: Have you tried turning it off and on. *

Yeah, the number one thing I would try is to reset your phone. Just hold down the power button while the phone is on. When the device options pop-up appears select reset and let the phone do its thing.

Hopefully that will clear it up. If you are using a keyboard other than the default keyboard, you can go to that application under Settings > Application Manager and then clear the cache. That will delete all the data stored for the keyboard and if there’s corrupt data it will get rid of it.

If none of these solutions work, I would try using a different keyboard app. Android phones allow you to change what keyboard app you use. There are a couple preinstalled on your Samsung Galaxy S3. From the home screen hit the menu button, select settings, and then find ?Language and input’. You can change what keyboards are enabled and select a default from this menu.

You can download alternate keyboards. A couple popular keyboard apps are the SwiftKey and the Google Keyboard. I highly recommend the SwiftKey app. It costs about two bucks but its amazing. I highly recommend it.

There is also Swype, but for some reason you have to sideload that app, typically by downloading it to a laptop, connecting your phone, and installing. But I find that SwiftKey does everything Swype does and more.

RAY: So, to sum up – reboot the phone. If that doesn’t work, clear the cache for your keyboard app under the Application Manager. If you are still having problems, try a different keyboard.

TOM: Those are my suggestions. I’ll be honest, Maliery’s problem is kind of a weird one. If none of those work it might be an issue with the phone itself. You may need to be prepared to take it back to the store. But before you get to the nuclear options, you should definitely try these ideas.

So, we’ve been seeing this alot on Facebook and we had to investigate it.

DEBUNKABLE

http://kyeos.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/warning-if-you-take-photos-with-your-cell-phone/

?Warning? If you, your kids or grand kids take pics from your phone?WATCH THIS!

This is truly alarming ? please take the time to watch. At the end they’ll tell you how to set your phone so you don’t run this risk!

PLEASE PASS THIS INFO TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO TAKES PICTURES WITH THEIR CELL OR SMART PHONE AND POSTS THEM ONLINE.

I want everyone of you to watch this and then be sure to share with all your family and friends.

It’s REALLY important info, about what your posting things on your cell phones can do TO YOU!!!

Too much technology out there these days so beware???..

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WATCH THIS VIDEO, AND TAKE THE RECOMMENDED PRECAUTIONS.

If you have children or grandchildren you NEED to watch this. I had no idea this could happen from taking pictures on the blackberry or cell phone. It’s scary.”

Any time something is that important that we HAVE to watch it now, well we have to watch it now. Here’s a clip from the video:

Play Audio from Video

…home, work, or even school of the person in the pic.

OK, let’s pause it right there. First of all, this isn’t new technology. This has been around for quite a few years. At least as far back as when the first iPhone came out. The video itself is from 2010. Second of all, no, they cannot find the home, work or even school of the person in the pic.

Classic news fear mongering Legitimate concern, blown way out of proportion

If you have geo-tagging turned on the location where you took the picture is stored in the picture. Geo-tagging is not the scariest thing in the world, Geo-tagging can be great. Have you ever pulled out a picture from a shoe box and wondered, now where was that taken? With geo-tagging, you don’t have to wonder. It tells you where it was taken. So, with some apps, you can use your photos like a map on a road trip.

So, yes, if you take pictures in your bedroom, park, school, work, then yes, someone who knows how to take GPS coordinates and convert them into locations on a map will be able to figure out where that picture was taken. Not many people know how to do that. Fortunately, most stalkers and creeps don’t know how to do that.

But, then the good folks at 41 Action News make sure that the creeps know how to do it

2:00

icanstalku.com is a great site with good information on how to disable geo-tagging services on your smart phone.

If you do want to disable location services on your photos, here’s how you do it on your iPhone. and on your Android…

Android

All you need to do is fire up your camera app, and then go to settings. Depending on what phone you have, you may need to tap a gear icon, slide the settings out from the edge of your phone, or hit the settings button on your phone. Regardless, you should see an ?Store GPS’ or ?Store location’ setting. Turn it off.

The reality is, it’s a lot easier for a kidnapper, or worse, to just grab a kid. I haven’t heard of any cases where this has been done. Usually, the attacker is known to the child or it’s just a random act. So, while it’s smart to be aware of what information you are inadvertently posting about your child that could possibly be used to harm him or her, it isn’t something that should invoke terror in your heart. This isn’t really that dangerous.

My son recently gave his mother an iPad 4 as a birthday gift he bought earlier this year because he wanted an iPad mini instead

What’s the best way to delete all his data and accounts on the iPad 4 without him losing all his saved email, contacts, iTunes, Apps etc.? Both Ipads are still registered under his accounts.

Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings

 Make sure to backup and sync the iPad 4 before you do that because if you forgot to get anything off of it, you’re not getting it after you do that!

Downloadable

COUCH TO 5K (from Active.net)

• Available on iPhone and Android

• Sets achievable goals and schedule

• App tells you when to walk and when to run, for increasingly lengths each session.

• App plays random songs from a playlist of your choosing.

• Customizable voices.

• Tracks your route on a map, logs each session.

• Suggests 5K that you can enter once you have completed you training.

RYMDKAPSEL

• Game for iOS or Android.

• Swedish for ?space capsule’.

• It’s a strategy game. You allocate tiny rectangular minions to resource management while you try and construct a space station out of Tetris-like blocks.

• You are attempting to reach and research four mysterious monoliths, as well as fend off successive waves of laser blasting aliens.

• $3.99, no free-to-play gimmickry. 3-5 hours of super addictive gameplay.

WiFiFoFum

Dream Talk Recorder

We’ve got a voicemail from a listener. Let’s play that.
[Play voicemail]
TOM: Okay, Ray, two phone lines on one iPhone. Can she do it?
RAY: No. At least, not without major modifications to her phone at a hardware level. She would need a second sim card in her phone, and the iPhone 4 doesn’t support dual sim cards.
TOM: You might possibly be able to find some overseas company that does modifications like that…
RAY: But that’s probably not a good idea. I just think this is the wrong way to approach her problem.
TOM: I agree. Basically she wants to have a way to filter out certain phone calls. The most obvious solution I can think of is: buy a second phone. It doesn’t have to be an iPhone. Just go out and get yourself a $20 pre-paid feature phone. You can give people that number and just check it every so often.
RAY: Yeah, that was my thought too.
TOM: Alternatively, there she could block the calls.
RAY: Yep. unfortunately there’s no built in way to block a call. You can do it through your carrier or you can jailbreak it to automatically ignore calls from certain callers.
There is a way to have two phone numbers that go to one phone though through Google Voice.
Magic Jack
WiFi connection

Thanks for all your questions, and keep them coming. Call us at our toll-free number, 1-888-972-9868 or you can send us an email at questions@deemable.com. Also, subscribe to the show! Search for Deemable Tech on iTunes or point your favorite podcast app to dmbl.co/pod.

Our producer is Sean Birch. Thanks to Robert Snyder for Video Production Assistance. I’m Ray Hollister, I’m Tom Braun, and this is Deemable Tech. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

This week, Ray, Tom and Sean did things a little different. They packed up all the equipment they could find, and took the show on the road to Bold Bean Coffee Roasters! Apparently, Ray was so nervous, he changed the Deemable Tech tagline to “Tech help worth talking to!” But, it wasn’t long and they had the crowd warmed up, and everybody had a great time. If you weren’t able to make it, take a listen to the podcast.

Links mentioned in this episode

• Snopes.com
• UrbanLegends.About.com
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children – Active Amber Alerts
• Nokia PC Suite
• Watchdog Task Manager Lite
• MotionX Sleep
• Alarm Clock Plus
• FxGuru: Movie FX Director
• Apps Gone Free
• AppGratis

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Download Episode 31 – Deemable Tech Live at Bold Bean Coffee Roasters

Ray may not have written Johnny B Goode like Marty McFly, but he almost broke the space-time continuum.

On this week’s episode of Deemable Tech, Ray creates a temporal causal loop by leaving a voice mail for Deemable Tech and answering it.Then, he and Tom answered questions about whether you can play 3D Blu-Rays discs on your HD TV, if can you delete a picture without deleting the picture, how to stop your Kindle devices and apps from synchronizing, how to Google better, how to extend the battery life of your cellphone, what order you should unplug your laptop in, and does Facebook owe you money?

All that and more, on this episode of Deemable Tech!

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 1-888-972-9868, or send us an email to questions at deemable dot com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Links mentioned on this week’s show:

• PhotoAlbums+
• ?You Google Wrong? by The Atlantic Wire
• Inside Seach – Advanced Power Searching – Google
• www.fraleyfacebooksettlement.com
• AppGratis
• Apps Gone Free

Episode 28 – A Voicemail Causal Loop

Crowdsourcing an Answer

Ardis asked,

Dear Deemable Duo,
I’ve recently been having some issues scheduling D&D games due to the busy lives of my fellow dice rollers. I’m sure you find the idea of D&D players having lives as shocking as I do, but regardless, if games are to continue we need to find some way around this problem. I was wondering if there was any kind of program that might make it easier to coordinate our schedules? Not necessarily something that will show our full schedules but something that could let us see what free time we have in common or something to that effect. Thank you for whatever insight you might be able to give.

What do you recommend for Ardis? Leave your suggestion in the comments down below. Thanks!

Deemable Tech – Episode 21 – Happy Early Black Friday!…and something about turkey.

On today’s episode Ray gets a little confused about which holiday is coming up this week, you’ll find out where to get the best deals for Black Friday, which deals you shouldn’t waste your time on, and whether the cashiers are trying to sneak off with your cash back. You’ll also find out what the difference is between a Nook and a Kindle, how to scan business cards into your cell phone, and how to save your files from the dust bunnies.

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-DEEM (3336), or send us an email to questions at deemable dot com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Today’s Questions:

• Is the Nook worth getting at $39? What’s the difference between the Nook and the Kindle?
• How can I save my important files that I don’t need to keep on my computer? How can I archive files in a way that I don’t lose them over the years? What’s the best way to backup my computer so I don’t lose my data?
• Which is safer, wireless or wired Internet?
• Is there a good, cheap business card scanner app or gadget that actually works?
• What do I do if I’ve forgotten the passcode on my iPhone? Is there a way to unlock an iPhone that I forgot the passcode?
• What’s the best way to transfer a large file?

Debunkable

• Are cashiers sneaking off with your cash back?

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• BlackFriday.com
• A hilariously biased comparison of the Kindle and the Nook on bn.com
• The Amazon Kindle
• CrashPlan
• Carbonite
• Lifehacker – You’re Backing Up Your Data The Wrong Way
• Neat Desk Scanner, Neat Desk Organizer $399.95 
• Dymo CardScan Personal $159.99
• Abbyy’s Business Card Reader available for Android (9.99) and iPhone (4.99).
• Yolu Card on Android, iPhone and Windows Phone 7 (Free)
• Lifehacker – What to Do If You’ve Forgotten Your iPhone’s Passcode

Black Friday Deal Breakdown*:

Walmart: Opens Thursday at 10pm

1 Hour Guaranteed in stock:

iPad 2 16GB $399 with $75 Walmart gift card guaranteed in stock until 11pm Thursday.

Best Buy: Opens Friday at 12am
Toshiba 40″ 1080P 60Hz refresh rate LCD HDTV $179.99 (reg $419.99)

Sears: Opens Thursday at 8pm
Nook Simple Touch $39.99 (Reg $99.99)

Target: Opens Thursday at 9pm

Nook Simple Touch $49.00
Nook Color $99.00 (normally $139.99)

External Hard Drives

• Walmart- Toshiba 1 TB portable hard drive for $59
• Staples- Seagate 2 TB $79.99
• Best Buy- Seagate Back-up Plus 3 TB with USB 3.0 $99.99

SD Cards

8 GB SD cards

• Walmart for $4.97
• Staples for $4.99
• Radio Shack for $5.99

16 GB SD cards

• Walmart for $7.88
• Radio Shack and Staples for $7.99
• Office Depot and Office Max for $8.99

USB Flash Drives

16 GB USB flash drive

• Best Buy for $5.99
• Staples for $6.00
• Walmart for $6.97

32 GB USB flash drive

• Office Max for $9.99
• Radio Shack for $9.99
• Best Buy for $12.99

64 GB USB flash drive

• Office Max $24.99
• Best Buy for $27.99
• Office Depot $29.99

*Disclaimer: The prices listed here are in no way controlled by Deemable Tech or any of its employees. The prices are subject to change at the discretion of the respective companies. Deemable Tech has no control over the prices, or if or when they change. This information is provided only as a convenience. Prices listed here can not and should not be used for price matching or advertising comparisons. These prices were gathered from the store’s websites and from BlackFriday.com.

The Blue Screen of DEATH. Truly the most frightening monster to nerds.

You probably shouldn’t even listen to this week’s episode; it’s too much for you to handle. This week’s very special Halloween episode is the creepiest, grossest and scariest episode of Deemable Tech ever! If you dare, you’ll hear all about zombie computers, how to send tweets and Facebook posts from beyond the grave, what to do with your digital estate, how to recover passwords from our departed relatives, how your cell phone is probably going to kill you, or at least make you really sick, new high-tech grave markers, and folks who chose to commit virtual (social media) suicide and others who plan on living forever and are using the Internet to try to make it happen. All that, and Ray tries his best Bela Lugosi impression, on this episode of Deemable Tech!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-DEEM (3336), or send us an email and questions@deemable.com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here.

Subscribe to the show in another podcast reader or RSS feed reader by clicking here.

Deemable Tech – Episode 19 – Death and the Digital Afterlife

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• My Father Sent Me a Facebook Message From Beyond the Grave | The Stir
• Deleting & Memorializing Deceased Facebook Accounts
• Deleting Deceased LinkedIn Accounts
• Deleting Deceased Twitter Accounts
• Accessing Deceased Gmail Accounts
• https://www.securesafe.com/
• http://legacylocker.com/
• http://www.assetlock.net/
• KeePass – http://keepass.info/
• LastPass – http://lastpass.com/
• RoboForm – http://www.roboform.com/
• EmergencyLink – www.emergencylink.com
• Mobile phones have more germs than a toilet seat | Mail Online
• Mobile phones can cause flu, pinkeye and diarrhoea
• Why Your Cellphone Has More Bacteria Than a Toilet Seat
• Ebola Phone Theft: Man Steals From Quarantined Uganda Hospital Patient, Contracts Virus
• Bacteria-Eating Viruses May Power Cell Phones – Scientific American
• #BaldForBieber Hoax Teaches Kids to Fact Check Before Shaving Their Heads
• Digital Legacys
• Quiring Monuments Living Headstones
• All Things Considered – QR Codes For Headstones Keep Dearly Departed Close : NPR
• Web 2.0 Suicide Machine – Meet Your Real Neighbours again!
• LifeNaut
• iTunes Store: About authorization and deauthoriation
• Call waiting not working properly : Apple Support Communities
• While on a call on iPhone 4 the call waiting : Apple Support Communities

This week it seems like everyone wants to know what other people can see on their Facebook page and who’s been stalking them on Facebook. Then, it got really creepy. Also, Ray and Tom launch a new segment called, well, they don’t know what to call it. If you have an idea, leave it in the comments down below. Make sure to subscribe to the show, and leave a review!

If you have a tech question for Deemable Tech call us, leave us a voice-mail at 904-372-3336.

Subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here.

Subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here.

Deemable Tech – Episode 16 – We Took The Lollipop

Today’s Questions:

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-DEEM (3336), or send us an email and questions@deemable.com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Debunkable

• Now you can see who’s been stalking your Facebook page…or can you?

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• Take This Lollipop
• Google Drive
• Call Blocker by NQ Mobile
• iBlacklist from Cydia
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
• Federal Trade Commission
• FTC Debt Collection FAQs’s website
• ioSafe Rugged Portable
• Western Digital My Passport

See that guy in the back seat looking at his iPhone as he plummets down Splash Mountain at Disney World? Yeah, that’s Ray. Yes, he’s wearing a Wookie t-shirt. No, we have no idea what they guys in front of him were doing.

Last week, after Ray started feeling better, he went to Disney World! He got lost on his way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and found out that Apple Maps lost Epcot! This week, Ray and Tom were joined in the studio by Aaron Edelson, a green tech consultant with a.edelson, LLC.

Deemable Tech – Episode 15 – Apple Maps lost Epcot!

Today’s Questions:

• Should I get the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 4S? Is the 4S worth the extra $99?
• Can I print something from my phone?
• Can I upgrade my computer, or is it even worth it?
• What is open source software?
• Is it safe to use free Wi-Fi, or will my phone get hacked?

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-DEEM (3336), or send us an email and questions@deemable.com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Debunkable

• Are redheads going extinct?

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• AirPrint Activator
• Google Cloud Print
• Crucial System Scanner
• Xubuntu
• Puppy Linux
• Ubuntu
• PrinterShare

Deemable Tech – Episode 13 – Online dating makes me paranoid

Debunkable:

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• Carbonite vs Mozy
• Setup a bulletproof automated backup system with CrashPlan.
• 5 best offline backup tools
• Java.com
• Should you disable Java on your computer? MSNBC
• Slate – Why you should disable java on your browser right now
• Mashable – Why ?Slacktivists’ Are More Active Than You Think
• http://blog.okcupid.com/

Bumper Music

• 8 Bit Remix: Mission Impossible Theme

• 8 bit James Bond

Deemable Tech – Episode 12 – Fly Me 2 d Moon

The News Feed:

1. The world lost a reluctant hero, Neil Armstrong.
2. Samsung’s worst scenario happened; Apple won. Samsung was found guilty of wilful infringement of Apple’s patents.

Debunkable:

• Neil Armstrong was misquoted, or was he?
• Good luck Mr. Gorsky!

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• http://www.markpilarski.com/deal-me-in/getting-ignored-by-a-touch-screen.html
• The official NASA transcripts from the Apollo 11 mission.
• lingo2word.com/translatetxt.php
• transl8it.com/
• Text Talk: the Top Text Message Abbreviations, 2012

Bumper Music

• Frank Sinatra – Fly Me To The Moon (8-bit) by Bryan Lopez
• The Clash – I Fought The Law (8-bit NES Version)

This morning I received an email forward with a lovely little critter inside:

Subject: Oh…my…gosh

This is revolting, and if I could find a way to bring up the one I drank I would…Oh boy, there is not a thing safe left to eat or drink anymore. GROUND BUGS FOR FOOD COLORING? YUCK!!! http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/news/2012/03/27/report-starbucks-frappuccinos-dyed-with-crushed-up-bugs/

Read the article to the bottom, guys. Besides being absolutely stomach churning (in our opinion) it is not okay for the health. 

 

According to the article on the Xfinity News Blog, Starbucks has changed the recipe for the Strawberry Frappuccino, and it now includes the tasty little morsel above, called the cochineal bug. The cochineal extract ” is a red dye made of ground up bodies of cochineal insects.” The article goes on to explain that “this change was apparently made in an effort to reduce Starbucks’ use of artificial ingredients.”

The story is true. This Dish Is Veg was tipped off by a barista that the Strawberry Frappuccinos were no longer vegan.

Now, if that grosses you out, get ready for this: we’ve been eating these crushed up cochineal bug shells for decades! Starbucks isn’t the first company to use cochineal extract to dye food red; it has been being used in food for thousands of years. Ever had a Dannon’s Activia yogurt, a Good N’ Plenty, a Pixi Stick, or a refreshing glass of Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit juice? Didn’t those bugs taste yummy? These are just a tiny sample of the thousands of products on America’s grocery shelves that contain carmine or cochineal extract.

Cochineal extract has no detectable flavor and it is safe for human consumption, except for a small number of people who are allergic to it. Any food that has “Artificial color” listed as one of the ingredients and is red to purple in color most likely contains cochineal extract. The FDA did not require it to be listed in the food ingredients (remember cochineal extract has been around since before the United States, let alone the FDA, even existed) until a law was passed in 2009 requiring companies to include it. So, while it certainly isn’t kosher or vegan, cochineal extract is at least as safe to eat as peanuts or strawberries.

Unfortunately, because of the squeamishness of the subject, even though food companies have used cochineal extract for decades (Hershey’s, Nestle, and Old Orchard Juices to name a few), some companies have started switching to Red #40 which is a completely artificial chemical that has, at least anecdotally, been linked to depression, hives, hyperactivity, and abdominal discomfort. (Of course, there hasn’t been substantial research into whether there is a direct link, and there probably won’t ever be because there isn’t any money to be made in finding out that it is harmful.)

So, sometimes the solution might be worse than the problem. For me, I’ll keep my crunchy bug shells. If I didn’t notice them before, they won’t bother me now. Mmm…now I’m craving a Strawberry Frappuccino.

Here’s what the gang at Sourcefed had to say about the news: