This week Tom brings the joyous news that Nintendoland is coming! Ray wants fast passes to the Mario Kart ride. But none of the guys want to ride on a Boeing 787 after Ray tells the guys that some of the planes are turning off… in mid air. Not good. Oculus finally announces a consumer model of the Oculus Rift. People are breaking/not breaking their Microsoft Surface 3 tablets. Twitter broke MS-DOS games, and Tesla just brought the future one step closer to today. All that on this week’s episode.

But first, could we ask a favor of you? If you’re listening to Deemable Tech on our website, would you subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Stitcher? And, while you’re there, would you leave a review and say a few nice things about us? The more subscribers we have and reviews we get, the more people will find our show.

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Make sure to share Deemable Tech on the forums, Facebook, Twitter and all over the interwebs.

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THIS WEEK’S RUN DOWN

Nintendo Theme Park

Who is up for Mario Kart in real life? Nintendo announced during an earnings call this week that it is partnering with Universal Parks and Resorts which runs the Universal Studios theme parks to create Nintendo-themed rides and attractions. Nintendo has not announced specific details on which of its properties it would adapt, but it seems like a safe bet that it will leverage long lasting and popular characters and games like Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong. In fact, Universal executive Tom Schroder said pretty much exactly that in a press release: “The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal?s theme parks and will feature Nintendo?s most famous characters and games.”

Have you tried turning your plane off and on again?

The FAA sent out a warning on May 1st that Boeing 787s may have some computer problems that could cause your terrible, terrible death. Mashable reports that the administration discovered the computers in 787s have a “software counter” that periodically shuts down all electrical systems, which results in “loss of control of the airplane.” Now, I’m not an aviation expert, but I think that is a bad thing. Am I right in assuming that guys?

Boeing is working out a software update that will eliminate the problem, but until then, they have issued a work around. If you work in the IT industry or have ever worked technical support you are probably familiar with it:

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Yes folks, it’s the I.T. Crowd fix.

Call Roy and Moss or your plane will crash to the ground.

Oculus announces “Q1 2016” release for Rift

In other news that is sure to have gamers everywhere jumping for joy, Oculus announced this week that the first commercial release of their hotly anticipated virtual reality headset the Oculus Rift will be in early 2016.

The company also released promotional images of the sleek final consumer product after several years of prototypes.

Oculus first made a splash at the E3 gaming expo in 2012, followed by a very successful Kickstarter campaign. They also kicked off a virtual reality race, with other big companies like Sony and Valve and HTC working on releasing their own VR products.

How low can you go?

One of the most interesting tablets to come out, other than the iPad, has definitely been the Microsoft Surface. Sure, it’s had its share of troubles. It came out with Windows RT, which was this weird, stripped down version of Windows. It had two interfaces, the desktop and the “tablet” UI which really confused people. But, it was an incredible design that really changed the market, making it a serious contender for a laptop replacement. One of its signature features was the coveted kickstand that can hold the tablet in one of three positions. Well, now the Verge is reporting that Redditors have discovered a secret fourth position for the Surface 3 kickstand. Apparently, if you keep pressing the kickstand back after the third position it will break away and fold all the way back.

Microsoft said in a statement that the kickstand “contains a safety mechanism unique to Surface 3 to help protect the device, but the mechanism is not designed for use as a fourth kickstand position.”

So it might work once, twice or maybe even a few times, but it’s probably going to ruin your Surface 3.

The lesson here is, don’t play too rough with your toys. Just like a Slinky, once you bend it out of shape, you can’t bend it back, no matter what happened in Toy Story.

MS-DOS games on Twitter update

Last week we told you how you can embed and play classic MS-DOS games in tweets. Sadly, it looks like Twitter has put a stop to that.

It was discovered last week that Twitter users could embed these games from the Internet Archive?s site into tweets using Twitter?s Cards widget (that?s the system that allows videos, images and other media to be displayed in-line in the Twitter stream). But it turns out that embedding interactive media, specifically games, is against the terms of service for Twitter Cards.

You can, however, still play the MS-DOS games at the Internet Archive?s site, archive.org.

Powerwall

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, the maker of powerful electric sports cars recently announced that his company will begin manufacturing batteries for homes. This week Elon Musk announced that demand for their ?Powerwall? batteries was ?crazy off the hook?. He said they have received over 38,000 reservations, a level of demand which could take them up to a year to fulfill. Orders included over 2,500 from companies for their commercial-ready Powerpack.

The Powerwall batteries are designed for a 24-hour charge-and-discharge cycle, which would be ideal in combination with a solar power system that could charge them during the day letting them run the house at night. The batteries are designed to be mounted on the wall and a 7kWh unit starts at $3,000.

Note from Ray: The Powerwall is apparently not nearly as bad as the Power Glove.

If you have a suggestion, or just have a comment for the show. Give us a call and leave us a voicemail, 1-888-972-9868 or you can send us an email to feedback at deemable dot com.

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This week, Comcast can’t keep itself out of the news. First, Comcast announces that it is bringing the fastest Interwebs in the country to Jacksonville (WOOT!) and other cities in Florida. Then, the FCC and the Justice Department rain on Comcast’s parade and lets it know they are not going to let it merge with Time Warner Cable. In other news, a paranoid dad flew a drone to school with his daughter, and two guys took the iPhone/Android fight way too far.

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 asmallorange.com.

If you haven?t subscribed to Deemable Tech yet, get on it! Subscribe to Deemable Tech in iTunes, on Stitcheror subscribe to the show in another podcast reader. Make sure to leave a review on iTunes and Stitcher. The more reviews posted, the higher Deemable Tech will be listed, and the more listeners will see the show.

And make sure to share Deemable Tech on the forums, Facebook, Twitter and all over the interwebs.

Thank you to our Redditors who have been helping us decide what stories we talk about on the show. Go to our subreddit page and submit a story, and vote other stories up or down. Deemable.com/reddit will take you there.

THIS WEEK’S RUN DOWN

Comcast Gigabit Pro

People in Jacksonville and some other towns in Florida are going to be pretty excited next month. In a story Jessica Palombo contributed to Deemable.com, Comcast is bringing the fastest fiber optic Internet service in the country to a few cities in Florida, including our own fair town. The service, which is called Gigabit Pro, will actually have 2 Gbps download and upload speeds ? more than twice the speed of Google Fiber.

However, Comcast would not give a price for the new service. The next fastest service from Comcast is Extreme 505, which runs up to 505 Mbps up and down, and costs over $400 a month with taxes and fees.

Comcast Drops Its Bid to Merge With Time Warner Cable

Speaking of Comcast, earlier this week it was looking pretty  looked bad for its merger with Time Warner Cable. According to Bloomberg, the Justice Department’s antitrust department was going to recommend blocking the merger. And, the FCC was not negotiating the terms of the deal with Comcast, which made it look even less likely that it was going to go through.

But now, ?people with knowledge of the matter? have told Bloomberg that Comcast is backing out of the merger. There was supposed to be a board meeting Thursday. And an official  announcement will probably come Friday.

As the Verge pointed out in an editorial, throughout this whole process, Comcast has never answered this simple question: Why not compete?

Verizon to offer custom pay TV packages, let customers choose monthly programming bundles

And while we?re on the subject of Internet and TV providers, in move that is one small step closer to a la carte cable TV, Verizon recently announced that they are rolling out a new pay TV service that will let customers choose from channel bundles that they change monthly.

These Verizon FiOS ?Custom TV? packages will start at 65 dollars a month for broadband service, 36 fixed basic cable channels, and two genre-based channel packs that customers can swap or unsubscribe from after a month. You can also add packs for an extra 10 dollars. Verizon has seven of these packs to choose from, including sports and children?s programming.

Verizon says they are going after customers who want something in between giant, fully loaded cable packages and cheaper basic packages offered by their competitors.

After “Drone Dad” follows his daughter to school, DJI Phantom 2 grounded

Tennessee father Chris Early?s daughter decided she wanted to walk to the school bus by herself so he did what any tech-inclined father would do: he followed her with a drone.

The drone was a model known as a DJI Phantom 2 which has a high def video camera mounted on it. Early followed his daughter with the drone. A local news station caught wind of this and the story went nationwide. Chris Early has been called ?overprotective?, ?the world?s most embarrassing father? and ‘drone dad’. As a result of all the attention he says he has grounded the drone for now.

One World Trade Center Elevator Shows 515 Years Of New York City

One World Trade Center has added an elevator that displays 515 years of New York City history in 50 seconds.

The New York Times covered this story, but I wrote an article about it for Deemable.com.

While they haven?t developed time travel, the engineers and designers behind the elevators that takes guests to the observatory at the very top of One World Trade Center in New York City have come pretty close. When you board the elevators, you will see a panoramic view of New York City rising out of the underground in the 1500s all the way up through time to the 102nd floor today.

The elevator uses nine 75-inch screens to create the illusion that it is a glass-walled elevator traveling through time.

Along the way, you’ll see the arrival of the Europeans, the Revolution and the rise of the skyscrapers. Inevitably, as time travels through the late-1900s, one of the Twin Towers enters your sight and just as quickly fades away as the 2000s begin. It is a touching, beautiful memorial to the history of the site. You can see The New York Times video of the elevator on our website at Deemable.com

YouTube celebrates 10 year anniversary

This week marks the 10 year anniversary of the first video being uploaded to YouTube.

On April 23 2005, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim posted a 19 second clip of elephants at the zoo titled “Me at the zoo.”  In it, Karim discusses the elephants’ “really, really, really long trunks” and, well, that’s all. Pretty tame compared to what you can find on YouTube today.

About a year after this video was posted, Google acquired YouTube for $1.6 billion.

According to reports, YouTube will mark the anniversary with a month-long celebration starting next week.

Skycure Hack Can Use Wifi To Disable iOS Devices

A research firm called Skycure reported that it has developed a hack based around a bug in iOS that could allow it to disable all nearby iOS devices using a wifi router. The wifi router has to be configured in a specific way. It will then cause any device connected to it to keep crashing and rebooting in an endless loop. It can be combined with another hack that forces iOS devices to connect to that network. Essentially the only way to escape the endless cycle of rebooting would be to get out of range of the router.

Skycure has not publicly released technical specifications for the bug it used to create the hack to give Apple time to patch it.

Argument Over Which Smartphone Is Better Turns Deadly

Police in Tulsa, OK apprehended a man staggering around a parking lot late at night cut up and covered in blood. The man reported to them that he had been in a fight with his roommate over which smartphone was better – the iPhone or the new Samsung Galaxy. iPhone versus Android fights can get heated, but most stop short of physical conflict. The man reported that he and his roommate had been drinking and wound up stabbing each other with broken beer bottles. Both were admitted to the hospital and are expected to make a full recovery. No word on whether either man was arrested or whether either had his mind changed about his preferred choice of phone.

How many tabs does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

Redditor Peanut Butter Shudder suggested an answer to Ray’s question. Last week during Shower Thoughts, Ray said he didn’t know how many tabs he had ever opened in his life. Peanut Butter Shudder mentioned Tab for a Cause on our reddit page (reddit.com/r/deemable) Tab for a Cause apparently tracks how many tabs you open and it has a bit of slacktivism built into it. If you install the browser extension, you’ll raise money for charities simply by browsing the internet. Heck, why not?

Who had the best segue?

Vote! Send us an email to feedback at deemable dot com or leave us a voicemail at 1-888-972-9868.

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Photo credit: iPhone vs Android by nrkbeta.no is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.

If Google can do it, we can too! The title of this episode is this GIF.

This week the guys geek out over Tesla adding an autopilot feature to their electric cars, mourn the death of TigerDirect retail stores, and wonder if they can follow in Google’s footsteps and communicate purely through GIFs. Plus, Ray shares his thoughts on the Cogito smartwatch.

If you haven’t subscribed to Deemable Tech yet, get on it! Subscribe to Deemable Tech in iTunes, on Stitcher or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader. Make sure to leave us a review in iTunes and Stitcher. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed, and the more listeners will see our show.

And make sure to share us on the forums, Facebook, Twitter and all over the interwebs.

Thank you to our Redditors who have been helping us decide what stories we talk about on the show. Go to our subreddit page and submit a story, and vote other stories up or down. Deemable.com/reddit will take you there.

This Week’s Run Down

Tesla Announces Software Update for Cars Which Adds “Autopilot” Feature

Tesla CEO Elon Musk held a press conference this week at which he announced that late model Teslas will be getting a software update that will give them a new feature called ‘autopilot.’ The autopilot feature will bring ordinary Tesla electric cars that much closer to being self-driving, enabling them to stay in their lane on a well-marked highway without driver intervention. Musk claimed that the autopilot technology would enable to a driver to make it from San Francisco to Seattle without steering.

Musk also announced a feature called Range Assurance which will alert Tesla drivers when the charge in their car is getting too low to make it to the nearest charging station.

$10 Million Target Credit Card Data Breach Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval

You probably remember the massive data breach that hit Target during the 2013 holiday season where tens of millions of credit cards were stolen right out of their systems. A class action lawsuit was filed and now Target is preparing to settle? for $10 million dollars.

If that amount seems low to you, it is because Target is not going to do the usual thing and send five dollars to every customer whose card number was stolen. Instead, card holders can only be reimbursed if they can show that they were actually hurt by the data breach. They need to have had fraudulent charges placed on their card that they were not reimbursed for, that negatively affected their credit score, or show that they spent a lot of time and money resolving the problem, or that it harmed them in some other way.

The proposed settlement is only preliminary, and members of the class action suit have until November 10th to object.

RadioShack Puts Customer Data Up for Sale in Bankruptcy Auction

RadioShack is on the auction block this week as its creditors attempt to sell the company?s assets – this apparently includes a large chunk of customer data, including 65 million customer names and physical addresses and 13 million email addresses. Consumer advocates are concerned, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims it may be illegal under state law. Texas does not allow companies to violate their own privacy policies and signage in RadioShack promises that they will not sell their private mailing list.

AT&T is also opposing the sale of data because they say RadioShack is not entitled to personal information it collects from wireless sales. AT&T wants the data destroyed to keep it from falling into competitors hands.

A bankruptcy court still has to approve the deal.

TigerDirect Closing Retail Stores

Speaking of defunct electronic stores, remember Circuit City… CompUSA… Ultimate Electronics? Well, TigerDirect bought them in the late aughts. Well, now TigerDirect is joining them in the electronic retail store afterlife. Two of the former executives for TigerDirect were recently sentenced to 60 and 80 months in jail for a kickback scheme that cost the company $27 million. Apparently that hurt the company enough that the company decided to close all by two retail stores.

It makes me sad because TigerDirect was a “dot com boom” success story. They actually started as a catalog company, but transitioned into internet sales early. When all of the retail computer stores started dying, TigerDirect was holding strong, and they bought up the stores and their IP and entered the retail market. They did a fantastic job of turning stores like CompUSA and Circuit City, which were known for fancy displays and overpriced electronics, into stores with smart employees, simple displays and prices that competed with the Internet.

TigerDirect is going to continue selling computers, electronics and computer components on its website.

No word yet if NewEgg is planning on buying its stores, but that would be the perfect irony.

Facial Recognition Software Leads To Arrest of Jacksonville Man Who Faked His Own Death

Another thing the internet has ruined: faking your own death. Jacksonville businessman Jose Lantigua had been reported dead in Venezuela two years ago. But when he attempted to apply for a new passport under his new, false identity the US State Department used facial recognition software to match him to his original identity in their database. Federal agents then set up a sting operation and caught him wearing a brown toupee and ?a poorly dyed beard.?

Lantigua is wanted on numerous counts of insurance fraud, since his family attempted to collect on his life insurance policy after his death. The insurance company has long viewed this with suspicion.

Google Responds to Reporter with GIF Instead of “No Comment”

This week, Daily Dot writer Richard Lewis published a story about YouTube reportedly planning to relaunch its livestreaming platform with a focus on computer gaming and esports. This is similar to Twitch, which Google tried to buy last year before it ended up being purchased by Amazon.

Lewis reached out to Google for a comment on the reports, and they apparently responded with something only Google could get away with. Instead of the usual “no comment,” the representative sent Lewis this animated GIF of a little girl shrugging. No text, just the GIF.

Lewis at first assumed that this was a joke, and said that he received a “no comment” response from Google in his story. The same representative sent another message saying that the GIF was, in fact, their official response.

Reviews

Ray shares his thoughts on the Cogito swartwatch this week.

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If you have a comment, contact us at feedback at deemable.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-888-972-9868.

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This week the guys are elated about the death of Internet Explorer, the low, low price of free to upgrade to Windows 10, (even if you never paid for Windows 7 or 8) and Mario, Zelda and the gang are finally coming to mobile phones, but not the way you want them to.

If you haven’t subscribed to Deemable Tech yet, get on it! Subscribe to Deemable Tech in iTunes, on Stitcher or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader. Make sure to leave us a review in iTunes and Stitcher. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed, and the more listeners will see our show.

And make sure to share us on the forums, Facebook, Twitter and all over the interwebs.

Thank you to our Redditors who have been helping us decide what stories we talk about on the show. Go to our subreddit page and submit a story, and vote other stories up or down. Deemable.com/reddit will take you there.

This Week’s Run Down

Windows 10 is free for everybody!

So, you may have heard of the latest version of Windows that Microsoft is working on releasing later this summer. If you haven’t, it’s called Windows 10. If you’re wondering why it’s called Windows 10 instead of… you know… Windows 9, it’s because of a little coding shortcut where programmers referred to Windows 95 and Windows 98 as – you guessed it – “Windows 9.”

Well, it turns out that Windows 10 is going to be FREE for everyone, well almost everyone.

Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Windows chief to Reuters “We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10”

So that means, as long as you have a computer running Windows 7 or Window 8 or 8.1 you can install 10 on your computer, at no charge, even if you stole the version that’s on your computer right now.

The Death of Internet Explorer

Microsoft confirmed this week that Internet Explorer will not be the primary web browser in Windows 10. Yes, the venerable Internet Explorer, which has been a part of Windows since Windows 95, is being put out to pasture. It will still ship with the next version of Microsoft’s operating system for backwards compatibility reasons, but a new browser with the codename Project Spartan will be Microsoft’s flagship browser. Project Spartan’s real name has not been released yet but Microsoft says that it will not use the Internet Explorer branding.

Nintendo to develop mobile games

After years of speculation, Nintendo is moving into the mobile game market. They announced this week that they have partnered with Japanese mobile game giant DeNA to “develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s intellectual property, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices.”

They were quick to point out that their primary focus will still be their game consoles like the Wii U and 3DS, and that these new mobile apps are intended to complement, not replace, those systems. In the same announcement, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that a new console codenamed NX is development.

Unfortunately for those of us hoping this means we’ll be able to play classic Mario or Zelda games on our devices, Iwata also said that Nintendo’s plans do not include direct ports of console games. He cited differences between dedicated controllers and touchscreens as the reason.

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If you have a comment, contact us at feedback at deemable.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-888-972-9868.

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Photo Credit: Internet Explorer, a web developers menace by Jorgen Kesseler is used under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Ray Hollister reviews the BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer on Deemable Tech

This week Ray, Tom and Sean talk about how Hilary Clinton used her personal email address the entire time she worked at the State Department. They discussed the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, (which included the announcement of SamsungPay which is the implementation of LoopPay into the Samsung phones which Ray insisted two weeks ago would not happen!) They also talked about the death of Google+ and Google starting its own wireless carrier. Then, Ray shared his review of the BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer. If you’re just here for the video, make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom.

#74 Ray Likes His Crow Breaded With A Light, Crispy Panko Crust

RUN DOWN

Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge

This week was the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain and Samsung used the opportunity to take the wraps off the next iteration of its flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S6? and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. That?s right, the S6 will come in two formats – a standard rectangular shape and a more curvy version with a display that wraps around the edge and which can display alerts by lighting up.

Regardless of what you think about Samsung?s latest gimmick, both phones are aimed squarely at the premium smartphone market. Samsung has ditched the removable plastic cases of previous Galaxy S?s for a phone that is completely encased in aluminum and Gorilla Glass, similar to the iPhone. The phone boasts an almost ridiculous Quad HD (2560 x 1440) Super AMOLED. Why would anyone need that kind of resolution on a 5.1 inch screen? Virtual Reality! You can strap your S6 into the latest version of Samsung?s Gear VR for a super-high-res virtual reality experience. Since the screen will be literally centimeters from your face, it has to look good.

Not all of Samsung?s longtime users are excited about the S6. The premium case materials means that the newest Galaxy phones no longer allow for a removable battery or an expandable SD memory card, two longstanding features of the Galaxy line.

Samsung Pay, formerly known as Loop Pay, with its magnetic card swiping technology, is built right into the phone.

Google announced that Google+, its one-time ambitious attempt to take on Facebook and Twitter, is going under the knife.

Google+ Divests

The Verge is reporting that the Google+ social network is getting split up into Streams, Photos and Hangouts. It is also getting a new lead: Bradley Horowitz, a long time VP, is taking over from David Besbris. Besbris had held his position less than a year after Vic Gundotra was let go with little fanfare.

Google+ was originally pitched to be Google?s answer to rivals like Facebook and Twitter. In 2012 it took the controversial step of forcibly assigning every Google user across all of its services a Google+ account. Despite this, Google+ never reached the critical mass of user activity needed to take on the big guys. Google has since backed away from their one-size-fits-all approach.

Google execs are now calling the social network side of the product ?Streams? and considering them to be separate from Photos, home of the ridiculous Auto-Awesome feature, and Hangouts, Google?s free and easy-to-use chat and videoconferencing system.

How to Auto-Awesome your photos manually – AndroidCentral.

While Google has not officially announced the death of ?Streams? as a product, some experts are predicting it could be on the chopping block soon.

Google Wireless

According to Mashable, Google?s latest crazy plan is to become a wireless carrier.

Google revealed this week at Mobile World Congress that it plans to get into the wireless carrier business, offering mobile voice and data service to customers. Google says that it will do this on a small scale, buying wholesale access from Sprint and T-Mobile?s networks and selling them to customers. Google says it wants to ?push the needle? when it comes to features offered to mobile customers, for instance allowing users to seamlessly transition between wifi and cellular connections.

Google was careful to emphasize that it does not intend to compete with AT&T and Verizon and that they have been informed of its plans.

BIG STORY

Hillary Clinton used a personal email account the entire time she was US Secretary of State

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/hillary-clintons-use-of-private-email-at-state-department-raises-flags.html

Clinton apparently set up an email account one week prior to President Obama’s inauguration, and she did not use an official @state.gov email address.

For comparison, according to NBC News, Former secretary of State Condelezza Rice did not use personal email while she was in office, but she rarely used email at all. Clinton aides have also said that, Colin Powell did regularly use a personal e-mail account while Secretary of State.

A Powell aide confirmed that information, saying, “General Powell used a personal email account during his tenure as Secretary of State. He was not aware of any restrictions nor does he recall being made aware of any over the four years he served at State.”

According to the Washington Post, “Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to have operated in violation of what the White House said Tuesday was ?very specific guidance? that members of the Obama administration use government e-mail accounts to carry out official business.”

Hillary Clinton said on Twitter :

I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.

? Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 5, 2015

REVIEWS

BACtrack MobileBreathalyzer Review

Last year Ray received the BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer, which, unsurprisingly, tracks your BAC or your blood alcohol content. In other words, it’s a mobile Breathalyzer.

It is a really great product. (Disclaimer, BACtrack did provide a sample unit for review.) The BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer connects with your Smartphone via Bluetooth.

It’s pretty comfortable to hold in your hand, and it is very easy to use. You just turn it on, open the BACtrack app and pair it with your phone via bluetooth and follow the on screen instructions.

It keeps track of your blood alcohol level over time while you are drinking, and it calculates how long it will take for you to be sober. In addition to a number calculation of your BAC, it give you an idea of where you should be feeling. It will say things like “You are experiencing slight alcohol intoxication.”

The strangest feature of the device is that it let’s you post your blood alcohol level on social media. I personally never use that feature, but I can definitely see it going horribly, horribly wrong. I can only imagine the legal implications but it could possibly have too. But, it would help to explain all of those wacky drunk pictures.

If you are a frequent drinker, this breathalyzer has a great feature that will let you track when and where you drank. You can choose what you share otherwise it always stays private.

The BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer cost $99 now. It was $149 when I reviewed it. I feel like it was worth $149, but I think that $99 is the perfect price point for the features it has.

Now, there are other breathalyzers that BACtrack makes that are cheaper. They have a model that uses a different sensor that only costs $49, and they have keychain models that do not connect to your smartphone that are $29.

Personally, I like the model that uses the same technology that the police use to check blood alcohol level, because if I am trusting something to check if I am below the legal limit or not, I want to be absolutely certain it is right!

That being said, this is in no way an endorsement to drive while intoxicated. It’s never safe to drink under the influence of alcohol, and you can be arrested for DUI even if you’re under the legal limit.

The thing that surprised me most about using the backtrack mobile breathalyzer was that I am apparently a cheap date. I was drunk long before the device said I was a legally drunk. Or, at least I felt like I was drunk.

It was crazy to me that at .02, I felt that I could not drive a car, but I was still legal to drive.

Check out the video of the review below:

UNCUT!

If you missed last week’s episode, we have rebooted the Deemable Tech podcast. From now on, we are not answering tech questions on this show. But, we are answering them on our spin-off show, Ask Deemable Tech. So, if that’s what you love, go subscribe to that podcast. It’s called Ask Deemable Tech – search for it on iTunes.

Help us decide what stories we talk about on the show, go to our subreddit page and submit a story. Or vote other stories up or down. reddit.com/r/Deemable

This Week’s Run Down

Season 3 of House of Cards leaks out early

Season 3 of the critically acclaimed Netflix original show House of Cards is scheduled to come out on Feb. 27th, but fans got an accidental sneak peek on Tuesday when the first ten episodes appeared on the streaming TV service early. Netflix quickly pulled it, but those who were already streaming an episode were able to continue to do so as long as they did not stop until the episode ended. Netflix kept a good sense of humor about it, tweeting ?This is Washington. There is always a leak.? Fans can binge on the twisted schemes of the conniving Frank Underwood starting February 27th.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/11/8021935/house-of-cards-season-three-is-on-netflix-right-now

Jeb Bush accidentally doxes thousands of Floridians

In his words, “In the spirit of transparency,” presidential candidate Jeb Bush released emails from when he was governor of Florida. Unfortunately, the sensitive information like Social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and Credit Card numbers were not redacted from the emails. So, his team basically just accidentally doxed thousands of Floridians.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/10/8013531/jeb-bush-florida-email-dump-privacy

Jeb Bush’s CTO resigns over controversial tweets

Chief Technical Officer for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign resigned Tuesday after it came out in the media that Ethan Czahor posted several sexist and racist jokes on Twitter several years ago. He did delete them before starting to work for Bush, but the backlash was apparently too intense.

Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for Bush says, “While Ethan has apologized for regrettable and insensitive comments, they do not reflect the views of Gov. Bush or his organization and it is appropriate for him to step aside. We wish him the best.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-tech-adviser-jeb-bush-potential-campaign-resignsm-article-1.2110482

Will.i.am Puls ?Smart watch? Beta Reviews

http://gizmodo.com/will-i-ams-puls-smartwatch-so-bad-im-actually-kind-of-1685130042

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/15/will-i-ams-plan-to-bring-fashion-and-technology-together-with-the-creation-of-i-am/

Snapchat selfie leads to first degree murder charge

A Pennsylvania 16-year-old has been charged with first degree murder after posting a selfie on Snapchat with the dead victim.

Snapchat messages delete themselves after a short period of time, but the person who received the picture saved it before it deleted itself.

http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/7729452-74/police-morton-photo#axzz3Qh0xyVti

Facebook makes plans for the afterlife

Facebook has announced new features that allow users to designate a very special Facebook Friend to administer their profile after they die. Before when a Facebook user died there were only two options for their account: permanent deletion or ?memorialization?. Memorialized accounts were frozen in time and could not be accessed, even by immediate family members.

Facebook?s new features will let the ?legacy contact? have SOME control over the memorialized profile. Among other things they will be able to post at the top of the deceased timeline, according to Facebook, ?to announce a memorial service or share a special message.? They can also approve or deny friend requests and update profile pictures.

What they cannot do is access the deceased? private messages. Some secrets, it seems, you take to the grave.

http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/02/adding-a-legacy-contact/

 http://news.wjct.org/post/facebook-virtual-you-planning-your-digital-afterlife

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This week we did things a little differently on Deemable Tech and actually didn’t answer any questions! Ray and Tom are both back in the studio following almost a month of holidays, illnesses and no shows. After catching up and making sure everyone is feeling better (spoilers: they are!), they’re joined by producer Sean Birch to play a round of geeky trivia we’re calling DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Then all three review some new tech gadgets, including the bug bite itch relief instrument Therapik, the Jabra HALO2 Bluetooth headphones and the Lifeproof Fre iPad Mini case.

Remember, we are prepping for the first Deemable Tech hour-long radio episode. Get your calls in at 1-888-972-9868 to “audition” for the show!

#55 Reviews! Reviews! Reviews!

TRANSCRIPT

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

TOM: I’m Tom Braun,

RAY: and this is Deemable Tech. 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.

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

TOM: Well we?re back after quite a long break. Let?s address the elephant in the room. Ray, what happened?

RAY: Well, I had major surgery!

TOM: Today on the show we?re changing things up a little.

RAY: Right, we are going to be doing fewer questions. We?ve realized that the people who listen to our podcast and the people that listen to our radio segments on NPR are not necessarily the same people.

TOM: With all due respect to any radio listeners out there, the typical podcast listener is a little more tech savvy. And we want to make this podcast more interesting for you guys. We don?t have a specific plan. Instead we?re going to try different things. And if you have suggestions for things you?d like to hear us try, let us know. Questions@deemable.com.

RAY: Well, later on in the show, we have some cool tech products to review, but before we jump into that, what do we have on the docket first, Tom.

TOM: We?ve come up with a segment called DOES NOT COMPUTE. I?ve compiled some quiz-show style questions about tech facts, things that the average user may not know. I?m going to ask Ray joined by our producer Sean Birch some of these questions and we?ll see how they do.

Where did the word robot originate from?

Ken Olsen, the founder of DEC, said in 1977, ?There?s no reason for any individual to have a ____ in their home.?

What is the only sport played on the moon?

In a vacuum light travels at 670 and a half million MPH. Harvard scientists recently used slowed a beam of light down to what speed?

How many bytes are there in a kilobyte?

Reviews

Therapik Bug Bite Itch Relief Gadget

Jabra HALO2 Bluetooth Headhpones

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, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and follow us or subscribe.

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

On this week’s episode Ray and Tom do not give accounting, financial or tax related advice, but they do answer questions about apps to keep receipts, using an iPhone 4S in Mexico, calendar and task app suggestions, and moving an Android app to the SD card. They also announced the winner of the Amazon Gift Card, #24 Eugene!

#51 How To Root Your TI-84

DRAFT TRANSCRIPT

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

TOM: I’m Tom Braun,

RAY: and this is Deemable Tech.

RAY: 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.

TOM: Before we jump into the show, could I ask a favor? ? OK, thanks.

Would you take a second and tell your friends about Deemable Tech? Especially if you know someone who is interested in learning more about technology, whether they currently know nothing about technology, or you think they already know everything about technology. Tell them to check out Deemable Tech. We’d really appreciate it!

RAY: Also, if you haven’t done so already, make sure you are subscribed to Deemable Tech. Just go to iTunes and search for Deemable Tech, or go to deemable.com/itunes to take you directly to our iTunes page. You can also subscribe to our YouTube page. And we’re on the Facebook and the Twitter, just search for Deemable Tech.

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

RAY: Well, the time is finally here to announce the winner of the Amazon Gift Card contest. If you’re not familiar with it, we have been asking you guys to answer a few questions about the Deemable Tech podcast. All you had to do was go to Deemable.com and click the link to take the survey. And if you did it, you are entered to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card, which we are going to draw the winner of riiiight, after we answer your questions!

TOM: Today on the show we?re going to answer your questions about what phone works best for overseas travel,

RAY: Which calendar app is the best,

TOM: How to move apps to the SD Card on an Android phone,

RAY: And how to print a morning edition. But first –

TOM: We have a question from Deborah.

Deborah writes: I am a teacher, and I need to track my receipts for tax purposes. I try to keep up with this on my computer, but invariably forget, get behind, and give up. This leads to me merely estimating my out-of-pocket expenses for my classroom at tax time. Is there a good, FREE app for my iPhone that can help me keep up with my expenses and receipts? I searched the app store at iTunes, but the results list was so long that it was daunting, especially since I cannot sort it for reviews. I thought I had found a winner with Concur, but then realized only the app was free – an online account would require money.

RAY: Well, let me start by making a disclosure and a disclaimer. I work for the IRS, but I do not speak for the IRS. Don’t take anything that I say as representative of the Internal Revenue Service’s position on anything. They are solely my opinions and do not necessarily reflect the Internal Revenue Service’s view or opinion.

Also, do not take anything that we say as financial or accounting advice. If you need financial or accounting advice, we strongly recommend seeking expert advice from qualified professionals.

Now, that being said, we do know of a couple of apps that might work for what you are trying to find. The simplest one, is also free, and it’s called Google Drive. Just start a Spreadsheet up on Google Drive to keep track of your transactions, and take photos of your receipts and upload them to a Receipt folder in Google Drive.

Now, for a solution that is custom made for what you are trying to do, OneReceipt is a great app that you can use to scan receipts in with your iPhone camera. It automatically determines the amount of the transaction, and what it was for. It also can connect to your email account, so when you get electronic receipts, like from Apple iTunes account, Amazon, Office Depot, Square, etc, it will grab those receipts for you and keep track of them as well.

The app is currently free, but it is still in beta. Also, I doubt that the optical character recognition is as good as the results imply. There must be someone looking at these receipts to confirm the results. That might make you uncomfortable. But it is pretty seamless and simple to use.

An app called Lemon Wallet does the same, but it’s mostly focused on storing your credit cards and loyalty cards. The receipt scanning feature isn’t quite as good, and the app is a little crashy the last time I tried it.

I haven’t found any other apps that were free or worth the money, if anyone of our listeners know of expense record keeping apps that you like that work on iOS, let us know. Send us an email at questions@deemable.com.

Now, there is a question of whether or not these apps would be sufficient for record keeping if you were audited by the IRS. I wish I could answer that question, but I don’t know the answer. But I do know where you can find the answer, go to irs.gov and search for “Publication 17 Your Federal Income Tax”. That will have all the answers you seek, and if it’s not in there, it will usually tell you where to find the answer in a different publication. And if you still can’t find the answer, you can call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 (Individuals) or 1-800-829-4933 (Business)

Summer asked: I listened recently to your advice about using a phone outside the U.S. I will be traveling to MX soon and I’ve lived there before, so I actually have an el cheapo phone that I can bring with me and use there. However, I’d like to use my iPhone if I could..it’s an iPhone 4s, but it’s on the Sprint Network. You mentioned iPhone 4s would work—but that Sprint uses CDMA….so…Is there something I can do so that it will work for me? I won’t have a ton of WiFi access…thanks!

Great question, Summer. An iPhone 4S does work international because it is a world phone, however, like you said Sprint does use CDMA. There is a SIM card in your phone, but you can’t activate it except for international roaming without unlocking your phone. However, if you call Sprint they will might unlock it for you, if you are in good standing with Sprint and you explain why you need it unlocked and you are very nice to them. This will be much easier if you are out of contract. If you are still in contract, you might have a harder time. Otherwise, you’ll have to unlock it the old fashioned way, which means jailbreaking it. If that is something you are interested in trying visit imore.com/jailbreak at your own risk.

Louis asks: After recovering items from two different recovery software applications I am unable to open videos and over 90% of the photos. Please provide me guidance to resolve this problem.

Thanks for your email. We need some additional details to be able to help you out. What operating system are you running, and what software applications did you use? Email us back at questions@deemable.com and hopefully we should be able to help you out. If you need access to those files faster, check out our business directory at //business-directory/ and there are several companies in Jacksonville that should be able to help you out.

Krysten asked on Facebook: Can anyone recommend a calendar app for my iPhone? I’ve kept my calendar as a list in my notes for years and have accidentally deleted it multiple times, which is all stupid, I know. Haven’t found a calendar app yet that I like. I want to be able to integrate tasks I’ve given myself for the day and I’d like it to be easy to cut/paste from date to date. Suggestions?

The built in calendar app is pretty good since iOS 7 came out, but I honestly don’t think you want a calendar app. I think you want a good task manager or to-do list app.

Check out Getting Things Done. You should only use a calendar app for events that are set in time, not for tasks.

If you are looking for a to-do app, Reminders in iOS is actually a pretty decent basic task app. If you’re looking for something a little more comprehensive, Toodledo is a great app that will let you organize your tasks by context and by location.

Dana emailed us:

I listened to your discussion on the use of cellphones overseas. I wanted to print this. On your website/WJCT, I see that I can listen to it, but I do not see where I can print this.

Can you forward me a copy of this? I would like to have this copy so I can decide what I would like to do as I plan to travel soon.

All of our Radio Segments at deemable.com/radio We include a transcript of the segment on the site. We don’t have a print friendly version, but we will look into it. The copy of the transcript on WJCT’s news website is printer friendly, just click the Print icon above the headline. Otherwise, just copy and paste the text into a Word or Google Drive document.

Robert Snyder writes, I had to uninstall Facebook on my Android phone, and when I reinstalled it, I couldn’t move it to my SD card. This is a problem because my phone doesn’t have a lot of internal memory.

Why can’t I move it, and is there a way around it?

TOM: Robert Snyder? Snyder, that name rings a bell.

ROBERT: Yeah I?m? back here?

• What phone does Robert have?

• What version of Android? (Froyo)

• Publishers can set apps so that they can?t be moved to the SD card.

• Later versions of Android have disabled move to SD card completely

• Apps running on the SD card are de-prioritized and run much slower. To be fair though, with the exception of games most apps are pretty small. It?s the data that takes up a lot of space. So most music, pictures and video will be stored on your SD card.

• If you?re really strapped for space and need to move stuff to the SD card, you have two options: root the phone, or download an app. There are apps that will move it to the SD card, but use at your own risk.

All right it is actually time is to announce the winner of the Amazon Gift Card contest! We had 27 of entries to the contest. Now we are going to random.org to pick one of these contestants at random. The winner was number 24, Eugene! Thanks to everyone who answered the survey!

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, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and follow us or subscribe.

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 on Deemable Tech, we’re really back in the studio, and we answer tech questions! We have questions about how to wipe an iPad, whether you should buy an AMD or an Intel laptop, the best way to host unique email addresses, and more. And Ray and Tom talk about their new toys! Ray has an iPhone 5S, and Tom finally got his hands on the semi-mythical Chromecast.

#49 Ray Admits He’s an Idiot

DRAFT 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 if you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe to the Deemable Tech podcast. Just go to iTunes and search for Deemable Tech, or go to deemable.com/itunes to take you directly to our iTunes page. You can also subscribe to our YouTube page at youtube.com/DeemableTech. And we’re on the Facebook and the Twitter, just search for Deemable Tech.

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:

We’ve started a new Amazon Gift Card contest. All you have to do is answer a few questions about the Deemable Tech podcast.

Don’t worry, it’s not a trivia contest. We just need your opinion on a few questions. If you could take a few minutes and answer our survey it will really help us out a lot. And, just for doing so, you’ll be entered to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card.

Just go to Deemable.com and click the link to take the survey. You can’t miss it, it will be the first or second article at the top of the page until the contest is over. Speaking of which, it ends September 30th, so don’t wait, go submit your survey answers right now,… unless you’re listening live, then wait until the show’s over and then answer the questions.

Speaking of questions, Tom, do we have any questions?

TOM: Do we have any questions? Do we have any questions?! Yeah, we have questions. We have questions about how to wipe an iPhone, whether you should buy an AMD or an Intel laptop, the best way to host unique email addresses, and more.

RAY: Ooh ooh an we talk about our new toys?

TOM: OH, that?s right, we both have fun new gadgets. Ray has an iPhone 5S, and I?ve finally got my hands on the semi-mythical Chromebook. But first we?re going to dive into a couple of questions, starting with this one from Martha.

TOM: Martha writes, I am a middle school art teacher. My classroom is long and narrow and set up for for projection on the center of one of the long walls. With large classes of 44 students plus, nearly half of them cannot see the examples and demonstrations that I am projecting. Having 16 -20 students move their seats every time I want to show them something eats up too much class time. I am looking for a way to project the same image on the side and end wall at the same time – and of course on a school teachers budget. I have a laptop and an LCD projector. I thought about trying to add a TV to the set up. How? Will it work? Is there a better (and/or cheaper) option?
Thanks guys!

RAY: It all depends on your setup Martha. I am assuming that you are connecting your laptop to your projector with a VGA cable. The end of a VGA cable looks like an upside-down trapezoid with 3 rows of 5 pins on it. That used to be the standard monitor/projector cable. If you’re using HDMI or DVI then these instructions would be a little different.
Many projectors have an extra VGA out port, so you can daisy chain them.

Let me explain what that means.

If it doesn’t, you’ll have to get a VGA splitter. You can find them for $10 to $20.

Now, if I was doing this, and I had an unlimited amount of money, I would hook up another projector on the other side of the room. But, since you mentioned that you’re on a school teacher’s budget, and, if I had to guess you’re probably paying for this out of your own pocket, I expect you don’t have a load of cash to throw it this problem.

You mentioned that you have a TV that you could add to the set up. That will most likely work, but you may have to buy adapters to connect the laptop to the television set. If you’re really lucky, it might have a VGA in port on it. If you’re not so lucky, you may have to buy an adapter, which can run anywhere from $50-$200 depending on which type of adapter you need.

Either way, you are going to need a cable to run from your laptop, or from the other projector, to the other side of the room where the TV or the other projector is going to be. 50 foot VGA cables run anywhere from $15-$60 online.

So, best case scenario this is going to cost you about $50. Worst case scenario it might cost you closer to $200.

I hope that helps. If that seems doable to you, but you need some more help, do us a favor and take a picture of the back of your laptop, and the back of the projector where you plug it in the laptop, and the back of the TV where the ports are. We will be able to tell you more specifically what exact cables and/or adapters you need. Email us those pictures at questions@Deemable.com and we’ll take another look at it okay? Thanks.

Maliery writes, Are AMD processors the generic processors in comparison to Intel Celeron processors?
I’m shopping for a laptop, and I’m finding that the price of the AMD is more alluring, but not more than the specs on a i5 intel processor. If I bought an AMD processor (laptop), will I be disappointed when I visit my grandma, and she’s playing Solitare on an i5?

Thanks for the question, Maliery.

The way you framed it makes me think you?re comparing, say, Tylenol to the generic store-brand stuff. Processors don?t work quite the same way. There can be a lot of little differences under the hood.

AMD had kind of a hay-day in the 90?s, and several desktops I owned then had AMD processors and could go toe-to-toe with more expensive Intel machines. But things have really changed. While AMD computers are often quite cheap these days, they just aren?t up to par with Intel machines.

I?m not just talking about performance, either. You?re generally going to see better battery life on Intel laptops versus AMD laptops. Intel chips do a much better job with power management. I also suspect that you?re just going to have a smoother overall experience with an Intel machine.

Even price doesn?t have to hold you back from buying Intel. I recently helped a friend shop for an Intel laptop that was under $500. Sure, there are some real bargain basement AMD laptops, but once you get down to the $250 range I?d start thinking about getting a Chromebook for that email-and-web-browsing laptop.

It is possible to get higher end AMD processors that have clock speeds on par with lower end Intel processors. But Intel simply makes a better chip, so unless you are planning on buying a laptop based on price alone I would not get an AMD.

Name: Bill

Question: One of the icons on my iPad screen is called “Notes”. It’s a yellow legal pad app that I have used often to make notes in meetings. How do I print those notes off my iPad using my MG6220 Canon Printer? Thanks.

Fortunately your Printer is AirPrint ready. So you can automatically print from your iPad.

Just tap the Action button, which on iOS 6 is square with an arrow point sorta to the right. On iOS 7 it’s a square with an arrow pointing up.

Walk through from there

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/printers_multifunction/pixma_mg_series/pixma_mg6220

BREAK

RAY: So, if you follow us on Twitter @Deemable, or if you follow me on Twitter @RayHollister, then you know that I spent Friday morning waiting in line at the Apple store for the iPhone 5S.

TOM: Now Ray, I know you are an Apple fan, but I thought you always said people that lined up overnight for the iPhone launches were idiots?

RAY: Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still think they’re idiots, I’ve just accepted that I am one of them. All kidding aside, it was a lot of fun although it was exhausting. I got there at about 3:00 AM and got my iPhone 5S at just after 8:00, so it wasn’t too bad, but I really didn’t prepare for it. I was busy all day Thursday, so I was about to pass out from exhaustion by the time I got home. If you want to read the highlights, check out my Twitter feed @rayhollister.

TOM: So, what’s your verdict? Was it worth the wait and the money?

RAY:
TouchID works fantastic
I never had a passcode on my iPhone before, like most people, but now I have a 35+ character passcode

It works almost every single time. The only time I have had a problem was when my fingers were wet, and I tried to unlock it.

The A7 processor is so snappy.
Significantly faster than my iPhone 4S, and quite a bit faster than my friend’s iPhone 5.
The larger screen size took a little bit to get used to. Especially with my Megan Fox thubs.

Camera

Burst mode

SloMo

True Tone flash

New sounds, no more marimba

RAY: So Tom, I know that you also recently got a new toy, and I wondered if you wanted to talk about it a little bit.
TOM: Does a geek want to talk about his new toy??? Does Tim Cook own an iPhone?
RAY: OK, so tell us what it is.
TOM: It?s a Chromecast.
RAY: Now explain to our listeners what a Chromecast is.
TOM: Basically a Chromecast is a little dongle that plugs into the HDMI port of your television. When connected to your home wifi network, any device that can run Google Chrome can send video and audio wirelessly directly to your TV.
It works pretty well, and the kicker is that it?s $30.
The Chromecast actually came out this summer, but at that low price they sold out within about 24 hours. I wasn?t one of the people in the first wave, but I went ahead and put it an order for one on Amazon.com.
Right when Google announced the Chromecast I had actually been looking for ways to do exactly what it does: stream wireless video from my laptop to my TV. I probably stream video from my laptop 70% of the time I?m using my TV. I was getting tired of lugging my laptop into the living room and tripping over the eight foot HDMI cable I use to connect it.
Google is not the first company to come up with a way to broadcast video from a computer to a TV.
RAY: There?s Apple TV.
TOM: Right, but you have to have a Mac, and I don?t. Some newer Intel-based laptops have a technology called WiDi which can do it, but my laptop unfortunately doesn?t have that either. There are a number of third party solutions out there, but they all have two big drawbacks: they all require line of sight to the TV, and they all start at $150 and go up from there.
RAY: You can get AirParrot for Windows. It lets you broadcast video from your Mac or Windows PC to an Apple TV. It’s only $9.99 for the program, but you still have to buy a $99 Apple TV.
TOM: Right. So when Google announced that it had a $30 solution to this problem I definitely paid attention.
RAY: Okay, so how does the Chromecast actually work? How do you set it up?
TOM: *explains*
RAY: Cool. Can you send any video to the TV with the Chromecast?
TOM: No, you can?t send just anything. You have to have the Google Chrome browser installed, and that?s what?s going to talk to your television. But the nice thing is that Chrome is available for the PC, the Mac, Android and iDevices. So any of those can talk to the Chromecast.
So far the only apps that have native support for Chromecast are YouTube, Netflix and Google Play. If you have any of those apps on your phone or tablet you should see a square Chromecast icon. Touching the icon will send whatever you?re playing to the Chromecast. This works very well. The Chromecast actually streams the video or audio, and your phone or tablet basically acts as the controller.
RAY: But what about things that don?t have native Chromecast support?
TOM: There is a Chromecast extension which you install on Chrome, and that puts a button on your browser that allows you to share any browser tab with Chromecast. So if your want to share something that doesn?t have Chromecast support yet you can still do that. For instance, Hulu doesn?t have native Chromecast support but you simply cast the tab you?re watching it in and it appears on your TV – with a second or so delay, granted.
RAY: What about local files. Can you play movies that are on your hard drive?
TOM: You can, at least on a Windows PC. You can actually play video files in Chrome, as long as they aren?t in a proprietary format. Windows Media Player?s WMV files and Apple?s MOV files won?t work, but file types like AVI and MP4 will open in a Chrome tab. And then you can share them to your Chromecast.
Overall it works pretty well. Sometimes the interface is a little clunky and there can be a delay of a few seconds when starting a video. And of course it doesn?t support every video format. But for $30 I personally am willing to forgive a lot of those quirks.

BREAK

TOM:
Subject: For Those w/o a Domain Name
Ray, Tom-
Howdy. Your listeners might be interested in https://www.sneakemail.com,/
they provide a fair priced solution similar to what Amber and you do.
-Hoff
RAY: Last week Amber and I talked about how we use bestbuy@rayhollister.com, avenue@amberhollister.com etc.
For folks without their own domain address Sneakemail.com works the same way. $2.00 per month, which is about the same price as a domain name without all the hassle.

Geri writes in:

Okay, don’t laugh… I just found an old computer game CD-Rom designed for Windows 95/98. (I said don’t laugh!) It’s Scrabble, and it would be more convenient than online options sometimes, since I’m in Africa. Anyway, will this thing work on my Windows XP (also outdated now, I know)? Will it crash my computer?
Waiting anxiously for your response if I can get my Scrabble on!

RAY: It should work. Most likely you’ll only need to put the disc in. However, you might have to run it in “compatibility mode.” Try it and see.

Dave writes, Hi.
I have a Samsung Centura phone that accumulates frequently called
numbers. This is something different from the regular call log which I
can clear any time. The frequently called log is retaining _every_
number I dial and I cannot find a way to delete/clear this log. In fact
I would like to disable it altogether. Any help?
Thanks very much.
TOM: OK Dave, hopefully we can help you. We aren?t familiar with the Samsung Centura and we don?t have access to one, but we can tell you what the internet says about your problem. I searched for ?samsung centura frequently called numbers? and found someone complaining about the same issue. Another user said there is an app they can download that will do the trick.
Try searching for and downloading the ?HistoryEraser? app from DUMAPIC in the Google Play Market.
Once you have the app, select `Contacts`. Then, select target will say `All Frequently Called (in Favorites tab). Press `Ok` and they`re gone!
As far as I can tell, the HistoryEraser app looks legit. But we haven?t tried it ourselves, so this is a little bit of a use-at-your-own-risk case. That said, if this issue is really driving you crazy it might worth trying.

Michael wrote on our Facebook page:

All of a sudden an icon called “Homegroup” appeared on my desktop. I didn’t do anything I know of to get this, whatever it is. Have I been hacked or what? Is it safe and, if so, what for? And how did I get it? I’m running Windows 8, but not on a touch screen.

RAY: Most likely it is safe. I haven’t heard of any viruses or hacks involving Homegroup. You or someone on your network was most likely playing with file sharing settings. A homegroup is something that is setup on Windows 7 and 8 to allow you to share documents, photos, music, videos and printers with other people on your home network. You can set it up so that they make changes to your documents or set it up so all they can do is view them.

You don’t have to do anything about it, but if you want to get rid of it from your desktop, we’ll include a link in our show notes with directions on how to remove the Homegroup icon from Windows 8 and how to remove the Homegroup icon from Windows 7 if any other listeners that have Windows 7 want to remove it as well.

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, we’re finally half-back in studio. “Half-back” because Tom was out sick, but Amber Hollister, Ray’s wife, came in to fill Tom’s shoes. Ray and Amber were joined in the studio by Brian DeAlexandris, the owner of PrepChefs.com, to talk about his incredible company that delivers delicious, ready-to-cook, homemade style meals. If you’ve ever wished that you could pick up your iPhone and make dinner for the entire week appear at your doorstep, you need to listen to this episode!

After the interview, Ray and Amber recapped the Apple iPhone 5C and 5S announcement and answered a listener’s question about security questions.

#48 PrepChefs.com, New iPhones and In-security Questions

DRAFT TRANSCRIPT

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

AMBER: I’m Amber Hollister,

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

RAY: 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: So, as you can tell Tom is out of the studio today, so we’re joined today by wife Amber Hollister.

Does it feel weird being in here instead of at home watching the show on the website?

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: Well, as you might remember, we were doing a contest to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card, and the time is now to announce the winner.

[Drumroll]

… No one!

That’s right. A lot of people liked us on Facebook and Twitter and subscribed to the show on iTunes and YouTube, but not a single person emailed us at giftcard@deemable.com to enter the contest, except for one guy that sent us some spam. So, that contest was an epic fail.

But we’ve learned from the experience, and we are starting a new Amazon Gift Card contest that is much easier to enter. All you have to do is answer a few questions about the Deemable Tech podcast.

Don’t worry, it’s not a trivia contest. We just need your opinion on a few questions. If you could take a few minutes and answer our survey it will really help us out a lot. And, just for doing so, you’ll be entered to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card.

Just go to Deemable.com and click the link to take the survey.  You can’t miss it, it will be the first or second article at the top until the contest is over. Speaking of which, it ends September 30th, so don’t wait, go submit your survey answers right now,… unless you’re listening live, then just load the page in the background and answer the questions after the show is over.

Now, on to the show. So, Amber you remember the 90s, right?

AMBER: Sure,

• it started with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union,

• They were playing alternative, grunge and ska on the radio,

• Dolly the sheep was the first cloned animal,

• There was the Iraq war, the Lewinski scandal, the ramp up to the fear of Y2K bug,

• and of course, that was the decade when Al Gore invented the Internet.

RAY: Wow, that was a really in depth description.

AMBER: [pause] I just looked on Wikipedia.

RAY: Ah. Well, I ask because remember how back in the old days of the Information Superhighway, the Internet was going to change how we did everything? Back then, they predicted that by now, we would be doing all of our shopping on the Internet. Brick and mortar stores would be relics of the past. We would buy everything online, all of our electronics, all of our clothes, all of our groceries would be bought online.

I have never bought a single piece of clothing online, have you?

AMBER: *answer, and vamp*

RAY: Well, obviously the Internet has turned out a bit differently than they predicted. But, there’s one thing that you can do online that they did predict right. That is buying your food online. Now, I’m not talking about going to the grocery store and buying your groceries online, although there are services that will do that for you, and you can even buy groceries on Amazon. What I’m talking about is delicious, ready to cook meals delivered to your door.

So, a little over a month ago I found out about this website that is here in Jacksonville called PrepChefs.com. The website looked fantastic, so we decided to check it out. My wife Amber and I have been using the service for about a month now, and we have loved it, so I invited the owner Brian DeAlexandris to join us here in the studio to tell us more about it.

Thanks for joining us Brian.

Also, because, I’ll be honest, she knows more about cooking these days than I do, I also invited my wife Amber to join us in the studio to tell us about her experience using the service.

OUTRO

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.

Unlike previous Apple press events, we believe that Apple will lift the veil to allow those of us who weren’t lucky enough to receive a golden ticket to peer into the magic of this year’s Apple iPhone event. This year, we have rumors of the mystical iPhone 5C, a more cost effective (that’s a nice way to say cheap) iPhone that will come in a multitude of colorful plastic backs. We also have rumors of a gold-plated, or golden-colored, iPhone and a fingerprint scanner. We’ll see what plays out.

If you want unadulterated, pure Apple goodness, you should be able to watch the event live at http://www.apple.com/apple-events/. If the live stream of the Apple iPhone event works the same way that WWDC 2013 worked, you will need to be running Safari on iOS 4.2 or later on any iPhone, iPad, iPad mini or iPod touch; Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later or a second or third generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later. We will update this article if that changes.

If Apple decides not to live stream the Apple iPhone Event, several reputable websites will be running live blogs or live streams of the event, including:

• The Verge – live blog,
• TWiT.tv – live video and commentary,
• TechCrunch – live blog,
• SlashGear – live blog,
• Mashable – live blog,
• iMore – Video commentary and live blog,
• Gizmodo – live blog,
• Engadget – live blog,
• CNET – live blog,
• Apple Insider – live blog

We will add links directly to the live event web stream and blog pages as they are announced.

Don’t forget, the event starts at 10AM Pacific or you’re time.

What site will you be watching the iPhone event on while you try not to get caught by the boss? Know of another reputable website where you can watch Apple’s iPhone event? Let us know in the comments down below.

Is this a early leak of the iPhone 5S product video? No, it’s just some good-hearted ribbing of the way that Apple presents something as remarkable and magical that otherwise would seem pretty mediocre. Here’s to hoping the event is a little more spectacular than this video. It would be pretty hilarious if they showed this video during the Apple Live event though! The S stands for Same.

Back in the 90’s Bill Gates predicted that we would all be carrying “wallet PCs,” small computers with screens the size of a wallet that we would hold our money, ID, credit cards and tickets, and would have basic computing functions like calculator, calendar and note applications. Unfortunately, he did not predict that we would also use them to watch endless cat videos and fling birds at green pigs. The modern smart phone has practically fulfilled his prediction, except for replacing the fundamental functions of the old leather wallet. All but very few of us still carry a piece of leather that holds our IDs and credit and debit cards. The problem with most digital wallet apps has been that none of them have yet to become more convenient than simply pulling out a debit card and swiping it. Even Apple’s Passbook, which was supposed to be the pinacle of simplicity, is much more complicated than most people are willing to put up with. Until an app makes paying for something with your smartphone as simple and easy as paying for something with a credit card, digital wallets will never replace credit cards. But, PayPal is still willing to try with its latest app update. For more on that story, here is Landon Robinson‘s article from BestTechie.

The days of Dick Tracy watches have finally arrived! After many rumors, Samsung announced its foray into the smart watch with the Samsung Galaxy Gear. The smartwatch, which looks and feels like it came right out of a futuristic sci-fi movie, will be available in early October in the United States. For more on Samsung’s announcment, here’s Jeff Weisbein’s article from BestTechie.com.

Samsung Reveals Its Galaxy Gear Smartwatch (via http://www.besttechie.com/)

Samsung just revealed its Galaxy Gear at its Unpacked 2013 episode 2 event and boy does Samsung appear to have high hopes for this device. JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile Communications said that he believes that the Galaxy Gear will ?become a new fashion icon around the world.? Whether it will or not remains to be seen (and is something we’ll have to discuss in a later article), but let’s dive into what the device has to offer…