So much for Windows 10 fun. Now Ray has to reinstall Windows 8.1 just so he can upgrade it to 10, so he can reinstall Windows 10!

Killer robots, self-aware robots, cars, guns and Android phones getting hacked into and the death of another Google product? Yeah, that sounds like a typical Deemable Tech episode.

If you?re listening to Deemable Tech on the website, make sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Stitcher. And, while you?re there, leave a review. The more subscribers we have and reviews we get, the more people will find our show.

If you have a response or 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?S RUNDOWN

Windows 10 is released.

Our top story this week is the long-awaited release of Microsoft?s Windows 10. In an unprecedented move, Microsoft has made the new Windows available as a free upgrade to anyone who had Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. The upgrade became available to download for most of those folks starting on Wednesday.

With Windows 10, Microsoft hopes to reunite its fractured userbase, many of whom are still stuck way back on Windows XP. Windows 10 will feature continuous upgrades and may be the last major windows version for the foreseeable future. To lure back customers scared off by the controversial Windows 8, Windows 10 brings back the Start Button and does away with the charms menu.

Other new features include the integration of Microsoft?s Siri-like virtual assistant Cortana, the brand new Edge web browser, virtual desktops, and Mission Control, which gives you an overview of all the apps you have running.

Ray Hollister has bravely volunteered to install Windows the 10th on the dual boot partition of his MacBook, so let?s dive right in.

The beauty of Windows 10 is that you can’t install Windows 10 as a fresh, clean install. Except you can. But you can’t.

Forbes – Windows 10 Updating, Reinstalling And Activation Guide: Essential Advice To Avoid Problems

The Verge – How to get Windows 10 on your Mac

CEO of Mozilla Firefox complains in an open letter that Windows 10 upgrade resets default web browser

Mozilla CEO Chris Beard is one person who is less than pleased with Windows 10. It appears that when you do an upgrade with ?Express Settings? that it will default your browser to Microsoft?s Edge browser, even if you had Firefox selected by default before. Even worse, in Windows 10 the default browser is now buried down in the settings control panel, meaning that it is difficult to find for non-technical users. Microsoft defends the changes as making the upgrade ?simple and cohesive? for users and says that they may make ?improvements? in the future.

Facebook builds an Internet drone

The BBC is reporting that Facebook has built a drone, with the wingspan of a Boeing 737 that will fly as high as 90,000 feet and for up to 90 days at a time to provide wireless Internet access at up to 10 Gigabits per second.

The drone will communicate via a laser beam that can hit a target the size of a dime more than 10 miles away. The lasers will connect the drones together and to the ground.

This is part of Facebook’s Internet.org project to bring Internet access to the developing world. No word on whether this will be like Internet.org’s last launch which only included access to a few sites, which caused a bit of a backlash since the access gave an unfair advantage to those sites.

Facebook will be testing the drones later this year in the United States.

Google+ dies a slow and painful death

Google?s ill-fated Facebook competitor, Google+, courted a lot of controversy in 2013 when Google started requiring users to create a Google+ profile to comment on YouTube. This week on the official Google blog, the search giant announced that they would be hitting the ?undo? button on that policy. They said that a Google account would be all you need to share content, create contacts, comment on YouTube, and more, across all of Google. This change will reportedly be rolled out ?in the coming months.? This announcement comes on the heels of Google splitting Google+ in two, with Google Photos becoming its own stand-alone service and app.

Killer Robots

I posted this on our Facebook page, facebook.com/Deemable, but it bears repeating. As a general rule, everyone here at Deemable Tech is anti-killer robots.

Unless, as I said, the uprising has already happened, in which case, let me rephrase that: How may we serve you, robot masters?

I bring this all up because Elon Musk (you know, Iron Man, the guy who brought you PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, the Hyperloop, and who plans to die on Mars) and Steve Wozniak, (the reason why you have a computer at your desk, smartphone in your pocket and ultimately why you’re listening to this podcast) and Stephen Hawking (who you’ll know as the guy who played poker with Data, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.) and have joined a letter calling for the banning of autonomous weapons.

We talked about a weaponized drone last week that had a gun attached to it, well imagine an autonomous drone with a gun. The icons aren’t as concerned about them throwing a revolution and killing humanity as they are concerned about another cold war arms race where every country tries to build bigger, better faster killing machines. But considering a robot recently demonstrated self awareness, perhaps they should be concerned about a robot uprising too.

Hacking Smart Rifles

Speaking of things that shouldn’t be connected to the Internet, like killer robots. As much as I love my connected light bulbs, switches and thermostat, The Internet of things is not necessarily a good thing. Not everything should be connected to the Internet. Case in point, smart guns. In case you didn’t know, TrackingPoint makes an smart rifle that almost anyone can use to hit a bullseye up to a mile away. The gun, which sells for $13,000, has a computer screen for a scope where you can enter wind speed, ammunition weight and distance. The computer calculates the correct aim and after you pull the trigger, it waits until you have the shot lined up perfectly before firing the gun.

The Mirror is reporting that a couple of married hackers have hacked the gun wirelessly to shoot 2.5 feet away from the intended target. They also managed to get it to disable the firing pin, making the gun unable to fire.

Android hack

Speaking of hacks, NPR is reporting that the security firm Zimperium says there’s a “gaping hole” in Android that would allow hackers to take over your phone, and all they need is your phone number.

The app Hangouts automatically processes videos when they are received by text message. So, all a hacker has to do is send a video with malware inside it and send it to your phone. Since Hangouts instantly processes the videos, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

Google has released a patch and manufacturers have been notified, but we’ll see how long it takes for them to get the update sent out to users.

Fiat Chrysler follow-up

Last week we reported that if you had a Jeep Cherokee with Fiat Chrysler?s ?uConnect? system, hackers could remotely take control of your vehicle and destroy everyone that you hold dear. It turns out that this was a source of some concern to Chrysler Fiat, as they have issued an official recall for 1.4 million vehicles to patch the issue. Affected models include certain Dodge Rams, Dodge Vipers, Dodge Chargers, Dodge Challengers, Chrysler 200s and 300s, and of course Jeep Grand Cherokees, all model year 2013 or later. If you are driving one of those vehicles you should check to see if your specific model is affected. The recall does not actually require the vehicles to be taken to the dealer: affected owners will receive a USB device which can be used to load the patch into their uConnect systems.

Wired – This Gadget Hacks GM Cars to Locate, Unlock, and Start Them

Dale writes, “My son-in-law was helping me with some computer stuff and he showed me a trick where I could see all the windows I have open on my computer at once and switch between them. The problem is, I have forgotten how he did it, and I don?t want to keep bothering him. So I thought I’d bother you guys instead!”

No problem, Dale, that’s what we’re here for!

As far as your question goes, we’re pretty sure that the “trick” you are looking for is holding down the ALT and TAB keys on your keyboard at the same time. In Windows 8, that brings up a view of all the windows you currently have open. If you keep holding ALT and start pressing TAB, you can switch from window to window. When you get to the one you want to select, just let go of the ALT key and boom, there you go.

ALT-TAB is one of many keyboard shortcuts that we think are essential to know when using Windows. A shortcut — or hotkey, as they are sometimes called — is a combination of key presses that triggers a command. They unusually involve holding down two keys at once, like pressing CTRL and C to copy, or CTRL and V to paste. Shortcuts can save you a lot of time by condensing everyday tasks that usually require several clicks of the mouse into one press of the keys.

Here are some of our favorite keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac.

Windows

• Alt + Tab – Cycle through open windows/programs
• Windows key + D – Display desktop
• Windows key + E – Open new Windows Explorer window
• Windows key + F – Open Windows search window
• Windows key + down arrow – Minimize window
• Windows key + up arrow – Maximize window
• Windows key + X – Open Quick Access Menu
• Windows key + plus or minus sign – Zoom in or zoom out
• Windows key + L – Lock computer or switch user
• Ctrl + Shift + Esc – Open Task Manager
• Ctrl + W – Close window
• Ctrl + C – Copy selected item or text
• Ctrl + X – Cut selected item or text
• Ctr l+ V – Paste selected copied item or text
• Ctrl + P – Print
• Ctrl + A – Select everything
• Ctrl + Z – Undo
• Ctrl + Y – Redo

Mac

• Command + Tab – Cycle through open windows/applications
• Command + Q – Quit open application
• Command + W – Close active window
• Command + C – Copy selected item or text
• Command + X – Cut Selected item or text
• Command + V – Paste copie item or text
• Command + F3 – Show desktop
• Command + Alt + Esc – Force quit application
• Command + Option + Control + Esc – Shut down computer
• Command + Alt + Eject button – Put computer to sleep
• Ctrl + D – Delete

This week Ray warns us about storing our SSDs in hot places, unless you want to wipe your drives clean. Tom explores the dangers of asking questions on Quora. And Sean finds out why one company is trying to make the food replicators from Star Trek a reality. Plus the guys look at Facebook’s new “instant articles,” learn why Microsoft is saying Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows they’ll release, and delve into Verizon’s purchase of AOL. Then later, Sean acts like Steve Harvey as Tom and Ray play a few rounds of the online game Google Feud.

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.

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.

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

SSDs can lose data really fast

You know those amazingly fast SSDs that are replacing hard drives in high end laptops like practically every Mac on the market? Well, there is a trade off. You definitely don’t want to store your wedding pictures on them. Or your tax records. Or your receipts from Best Buy. Because, some SSDs can lose their data in only a few days.

According to Gizmodo, heat is the enemy. The length of data retention is cut in half for every nine degrees of temperature increase. So, if you do like a lot of people Ray has talked to have done, and stick your old computer in a hot storage unit, expect to reinstall Windows on it when you get it out, because the SSD might be blank.

Just another reminder to back up your data!

Man weighing two job offers finds one of them retracted after asking Quora which of them he should take

In the news this week, yet another cautionary tale about being very careful with what you post online.

Last week a San Francisco engineer who was weighing competing job offers from Uber and Zenefits posted on Quora, asking the advice of its users on which to take. The engineer said that he liked what Zenefits was offering but that it didn’t seem as compelling a ?buzzword? to have on his resume as Uber.

The dilemma was presumably cleared up for the engineer when Zenefits’ CEO responded, saying “Definitely not Zenefits,” and retracting the job offer.

While the post was later changed to remove the public job retraction, presumably the damage was done. It was not clear if the candidate, who remains anonymous, had accepted Uber’s offer.

Microsoft representative claims that Windows 10 is the “last” version of Windows

This week at Microsoft’s Ignite conference, tech evangelist Jerry Nixon was quoted as saying, “Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.” Microsoft confirmed this statement to The Verge, saying that it would be focusing on “Windows as a service,” delivering continuous updates to the system rather than rolling out new versions of Windows.

That is of course until the next time Marketing gets a bright idea in its head and they announce Windows 20.

Facebook rolls out “instant articles” from major news publishers

Starting this week on the iOS Facebook app, some news articles will load much, much faster when you click on them. Facebook is calling these ?instant articles?, and they will be available from a handful of publishers that have partnered with Facebook, including the New York Times, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, BBC News and National Geographic, among others. Instant articles won?t look much different to users, at least at first – they will just load instantly when clicked. In the future, however, Facebook may add auto-playing “video covers” as well.

Facebook will allow new, special interactions with Instant Articles, including audio captions, geotagged photos, and interactive maps. And of course, there will be no ads.

No word yet on when Android users will see this feature.

Israeli company creates Genie, a futuristic appliance that can create instant meals on demand

A new Israeli device called the Genie, which claims its inspiration from Star Trek’s fictional replicators, can turn pods of dehydrated powders into meals on demand. While details are light, supposedly the meals can be customized to personal preference, including specifying whether they should be gluten-, dairy-, or egg-free. The Genie will also work with smartphones and mobile devices.

No word if it responds to voice commands like, “Tea, earl gray, hot.”

Verizon announces plan to buy AOL for 4.4 billion dollars

In a surprise announcement this week, Verizon and AOL announced that Verizon will buy AOL for $4.4 billion dollars. People with knowledge of the matter say that Verizon is looking to acquire AOL’s mobile, video and advertising technology. Verizon may be looking to offer its own streaming video platform which it can sell ads against. It will also acquire popular news site The Huffington Post, not to mention the legacy dial-up service which once made AOL a powerhouse.

Verizon is currently valued at $200 billion dollars, making the four and a half billion in cash they plan to spend on AOL little more than a rounding error.

It’s time to play the feud!

Credit: Google Feud

You may have seen the site Google Feud making the rounds on social media recently. This online game combines weird Google autocomplete search suggestions with Family Feud style game play, in which you have to guess the top 10 ways Google autocompletes a specific sentence or question (for example, “Is it weird to _____”). Sean plays the role of Steve Harvey – or John O’Hurley, Louie Anderson, Richard Dawson, or whoever you favorite Family Feud host was – while Ray and Tom guess their way through a few rounds.

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.

And, don’t forget to help us to 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.

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

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.

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

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

Q: I want to make a photo slideshow with music for my friend’s upcoming 60th birthday party. Is there an easy way to make one in Windows?

Image credit: Microsoft

A: You’re in luck, Madelyn, because there is an easy (and free) piece of software you can use called Windows Movie Maker. This program, which is made by Microsoft, comes pre-installed on some PCs, so check in your start menu to see if you have it. If you don’t already have it, you can download it from Microsoft’s site here.

When you open Windows Movie Maker, you’ll see a big box that says “Click here to browse for photos and videos”. You can import your photos through that menu, or you can just drag and drop them into that box from any folder on your computer.

Once you have some photos imported, that box will transform into a timeline where they are arranged sequentially. You can drop and drop photos around on the timeline to rearrange them. To add music, simply click the “Add Music” button at the top.

From our experience, the really time-consuming part of making a slideshow is getting your photos synchronized to the music you pick. Luckily, this is where Windows Movie Maker really shines. Look for the “Fit to Music” button in the “Project” tab at the top of the screen – this will automatically change the length of your slideshow pictures so they fit perfectly to the length of your music.

Once you’ve put the finishing touches on your slideshow, Windows Movie Maker gives you a few different options for presenting it: save the project as a file, upload it to YouTube, or burn it to a DVD.

If you can hook your laptop to your friend’s TV, either saving the slideshow as a file you can play from your computer or putting it on YouTube is the easiest way to show it to your friends. If you go this route, we highly recommend connecting your laptop using an HDMI cable, because they’re easy to connect and will give you great picture and sound. Most modern laptops have HDMI outputs, and almost all HDTVs have HDMI inputs. You can purchase an HDMI cable from basically any store that sells electronics.

Or, if your laptop or the TV doesn’t have HDMI, you can always burn a DVD.

Q: Whenever I unplug my USB thumb drive, a warning pops up telling me that I didn’t eject the drive, and it could cause damage if I don’t eject it. I usually ignore this message and it hasn’t caused me any issues yet. Is this really a problem?

A: We’ll admit it, Hector, we’ve occasionally done the same thing. There’s nothing more irritating than waiting for a computer to eject a thumb drive when you’ve got to be somewhere. What’s worse is trying to eject a drive only to have the computer tell you that it’s “busy.” Busy doing what? Getting a cup of coffee?

As annoying as it can be, the truth is you really should eject all USB devices before you unplug them. This is especially true for external hard drives, as the sudden loss of power can cause physical damage to the spinning discs inside them. That doesn’t have to happen too many times for the hard drive to fail, taking all that data with it.

Now that’s just for USB hard drives. USB flash drives (or thumb drives as many people call them) use flash memory so they don’t have any moving parts inside them. However, flash drives do have an important limitation: they only have a certain number of times they can be written to before they wear out. Each time a computer writes to a flash drive, that number decreases. To try to extend that lifespan, your computer will try to make fewer writes to the drive by grouping them all together.

For example, let’s say you decide to copy three different files to your flash drive. Instead of writing to your drive three separate times, Windows will hold onto them. Then when you tell Windows to eject that device, it will finish copying the files over, reducing three jobs down to one. This is where that “busy” warning comes in; Windows is letting you know that it needs to finish saving these files.

You may be wondering how long you can expect your flash drive to last. This varies based on the quality of the drive, so unfortunately there is no one true answer. However, high quality flash memory is rated to nearly one million writes, which translates to one use every day for almost 10 years.

Just remember, Hector: you must eject before you disconnect!

Q: I’ve started getting into editing videos. I’ve heard Macs are the best computers for this, but I need to have a PC for my job. We have some programs for our company that only work on Windows. Do you have any suggestions?

A: We sure do, Clare. We would definitely recommend getting a Mac if you are seriously interested in video editing, but if the software you need for your job will only work on Windows, you’ll need to have Windows. Unfortunately, it can be frustrating to have to run two computers at the same time. But what if you could have the best of both worlds on one computer? It can be done by installing Windows on a Mac.

Windows 8 running on a MacBook Pro.

Yes, you read that correctly. You can actually install Windows on any Mac with an Intel processor, which all current Mac models have. This will create what is called a dual-boot system with both Mac OS and Windows. Setting this up isn’t hard to do, but you’ll need to make sure that you purchase a full version installation disc or download of Windows first (an upgrade version cannot be used). Of course, you’ll need to buy a Mac as well.

To install Windows on a Mac, you will use one of two programs: Boot Camp or Parallels. Boot Camp comes free with your Apple computer, while Parallels is a separate program that costs around $80. The major difference between the two programs is how your computer will run the different operating systems in relation to each other. Boot Camp allows you to run Windows or Mac OS, and you decide which one you want to use when you boot your computer. If you want to switch to the other operating system, you have restart your machine.

Parallels, on the other hand, lets you use Windows and Mac OS at the same time and switch back and forth while both are running. You can even launch Windows applications right from your Mac dock, and it will switch over to Windows automatically. The downside to this program (apart from the price tag) is that your computer can become really bogged down since you’re running two operating systems at the same time.

Of the two, we prefer Boot Camp. To install Windows using it, just open your Launchpad, go to the Boot Camp Assistant and follow the instructions. As with any major change to your computer, we recommend that you back up all of your important files and documents before you install Windows.

With a little time and energy, Clare, you’ll be doing everything you want and need to with two computers in one!

Q: My son wants some games for our family’s new laptop. Can you recommend a way we can download games without being exposed to viruses?

Image credit: Valve

A: Well, Grant, you’re in luck because there are a few great one-stop game shops out there, including the Windows Store, the Mac App Store, and GameFly Digital. The one we recommend, though, is called Steam.

Steam was created by computer game maker Valve to go along with the release of their game, Half-Life 2. It was originally developed as a way to better distribute updates for Valve games, curb piracy, and to let players access online multiplayer games. Valve then began to sell their own games through the platform, and eventually let other companies do the same. Today, virtually every computer game that comes out is available on Steam.

If you have an Xbox, Steam is a little bit like Xbox Live for your home computer. It’s a program that allows you to buy and download games, chat with friends and play games with them online. Steam has all of the top titles you’ll find on Xbox and Playstation (for example, the Batman: Arkham Asylum games), but it also has simple casual games like you probably have on your phone (like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja).

To use it, you’ll need to download their software, known as the Steam client, from their site, steampowered.com. They have versions available for Windows, Mac and Linux (note: since some games are made for specific operating systems, not every game you can purchase through Steam will work on all three). It doesn’t cost anything to use the platform itself, but games you can download through it do cost money.

Prices are usually anywhere from $0.50 to $60.00 depending on the game. Some games can cost more than that, while others are sometimes offered for free. Another thing we like about Steam is that they have sales basically every single day; you’ll see $50 games for $20, $25 for $5 and so on. You can add games you’re interested in to a wish list and Steam will send you an email when they go on sale.

Once you’ve purchased a game through Steam, it will automatically begin downloading to your computer. This will happen in the background, so you can check Facebook or watch some YouTube videos while you wait. Then, once it’s downloaded, you can launch the game from inside of Steam. If there any updates for the game, it will automatically download them for you. And don’t worry, all of this content is first going through Valve, who work to make sure there are no viruses in the files.

Steam also offers parental controls in case you’re worried about your son playing games that aren’t age-appropriate. Under the “Settings” menu, you can activate a password-protected mode called “Family Options” which will filter which games he buy or play.

So, Grant, Steam is one way to safely download games for your home computer. We also recommend checking out GameFly Digital (which is very similar), or the Windows and Mac stores. Happy gaming!

Image Credit: Chris Owens / Flickr

Q: I use two desktop computers at work, and I’m starting to feel like having two keyboards and mice is taking up too much space on my desk. Is there any way I can use one keyboard and one mouse for both computers? Also, is there any app I can use to control my computer from my iPad?

A: Thanks for your question, Mike. There are a couple of methods to control two different computers from one keyboard and mouse: either with a cable or with software.

First, there is a cable called a KVM switch, which is short for “keyboard, video and mouse” switch. These let you share one mouse, keyboard and monitor between two computers. There are also KM switch cables that allow you to share just a keyboard and mouse with two computers that have two separate monitors. If you are using the two different computers at the same time, that second one might be the best option for you.

Either way, they both run between $20 and $100. The great thing about using a physical cable is that the connection is really fast, and you’ll never have any lag. The down side is that you are limited by the length of the cable. Also, you’ll need to press a button, or turn a switch, to go back and forth between the two computers.

If you want to go the software route, there are two great programs that do the same thing as a KM switch, but over your network instead of a cable. One is called ShareMouse. It is super easy to use, and isn’t too difficult to set up. However, it normally costs $30 per computer!

Another option is a program called Synergy (this is the one we prefer). It’s a tiny bit harder to set up than ShareMouse, but it starts at only $10 and it’s open-source, so there’s an entire community constantly working on it to make it better! On both programs you don’t have to press a button to switch computers – it’s as simple as sliding your mouse off the edge of one screen, and it will appear on the other screen. Also, both programs support clipboard sharing, which allows you to copy text on one computer and paste it on the other.

Both programs are relatively small ones that don’t use up a lot of resources on your computers or bandwidth on your network. One potential downside of using one of these programs is that if your network is bogged down (for example if you are running streaming video or downloading a lot), you might notice a slight lag in reaction time. Also, neither program supports sharing a monitor between the two computers.

If you are trying to do that with software, you’ll have to try Remote Desktop or a Virtual Network Computing program. That’s a little bit more complicated, and probably isn’t worth it if you have both computers in the same room.

If each computer does have its own monitor, we recommend starting out by trying Synergy. That will probably be the best solution for your problem. If that doesn’t work, then try ShareMouse or a hardware KM or KVM switch.

To answer your second question about controlling your computers from your iPad, we recommend Mobile Mouse Pro. You can get it in the App Store for $2.99 (it’s also available for the same price in Google Play for Android users). You have to install a small server app on your desktop, but once you do and open the app, your phone or tablet turns into a multitouch trackpad, remote keyboard, and music and presentation remote. If you just want to try out Mobile Mouse before you buy it, there is a free version called Mobile Mouse Lite in the App Store and Google Play.

Hopefully one of these options will help you out, Mike. Try them out, and clear off that desk!

Graph via Something of that Ilk.

This week on the Deemable Tech podcast, the bowels of hell reopened and spat out more fun printer questions! Also, Ray and Tom helped a listener understand what to look for in a new computer, and helped another listener understand why her phone is better at being a computer than her computer is. All that and more on this week’s episode of Deemable Tech.

Episode 37 – More Evil Printers!

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT

RAY: From WJCT studios in Jacksonville, Florida, I’m Ray Hollister, I’m Tom Braun, and this is Deemable Tech, technology worth talking about, and tech help worth listening to.

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: 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 asmallorange.com.

And, by audible.com – get a FREE audiobook download at audibletrial.com/Deemable Over 100,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

TOM: This week on the podcast we’re talking about… what are we talking about, Ray?

RAY: Well Tom, this week we’re going to talk about how to shop for laptops, but first we’re going to talk about your favorite topic.

TOM: What’s that?

RAY: Printers!

TOM: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

RAY: Listeners from last week’s podcast may remember that Tom has an – aversion – to printers.

TOM: They are from the devil and should be burned.

RAY: Well, people still have questions about printers. Let’s see if we can help the nice people out.

TOM: Oookay…

Melissa asks, my HP Photosmart C5100 printer says that I need to insert a new ink cartridge (the pink) even though we already have. It won’t let me choose black and white printing either, which it usually does when one color is out. I’ve tried two different pink ink cartridges so I know that isn’t the problem.

RAY: Printers are probably the most-hated pieces of technology ever created, and at no time are they more hated than when they pop up the dreaded ?Ink Cartridge(s) Are Empty” error message. Fortunately, with your model, you can override that error message without hacking into the printer. It does take a few steps though. Here’s how to get rid of that pesky error message.

Before you start this, you should bookmark this page or open it on another device. You have to reboot your computer during this process, and since you can’t use your printer you’ll need a way to get back to this information. A fast easy way to bookmark this page is to press Ctrl-D on your keyboard. That will start the save this page as a bookmark dialogue in almost every web browser. Now that you have that saved, you can move on.

First, if the computer and the printer isn’t turned on and plugged in, go ahead and do that now. This will sound ironic in a minute, but trust me, it’s important.
Now, disconnect the Ethernet Cable or the USB cable from the back of the printer. (Disconnect both if you have them both plugged in for some reason.)
Restart your computer. (Make sure you’ve already bookmarked this page before you do that so you can easily get back here after the computer restarts.)
Once the computer is back on, and with the printer still turned on, unplug the power cord from the printer.
Now, wait 30 seconds. Listen to Her Majesty, by The Beatles to kill the time. (Technically, it’s only 23 seconds long but by the time you fire up the CD or record player or YouTube, you’ll have burnt those extra 7 seconds.)
Put all your CDs or records back in the closet, or stop watching cat videos on YouTube.
Insert the power cord back into the printer, and turn the printer on.
Clear any error messages.
Now, you shouldn’t have that pesky error message in your face, and you should be able to go back to printing. Until the next time.

If that doesn’t work, try repeating these steps again, but perhaps try substituting Her Majesty for one of these videos. They won’t improve your odds, but they’ll probably make you laugh, and you might forget about your evil printer for a little bit.

Joe D. writes,

Hello Ray and Tom,

I also have a printer problem but not related to operation. It’s the cost of operation. We have been using 2 Canon inkjet printers for the past 4-5 years – the entire time my kids were in college they used these printers. While the printers were very cheap to purchase, they have been very expensive to operate (granted that’s subjective). I am not sure which costed more – the college tuition or the ink for the printers! I recently started looking for replacement printers with the goal of getting the operational price down, but there is so little information on this, it’s hard to determine what models are cheapest to run. While I realize that all-in-one inkjets aren’t the least expensive to operate, I really would like to find the least expensive in this category while still getting decent print quality and speed for occasional home use only. Thanks for any help you can provide.

RAY: Lauren writes, Hi guys,

So I’m in the market for a new laptop. (After much wailing and gnashing of teeth over my still new-ish old one which went kaput for absolutely no reason other than that it hates me. I’m only a teensy bit bitter.)

I’m not a gamer so I don’t foresee needing tons of bells & whistles, but I do want to stream video on things like YouTube, watch TV shows on Hulu, chat on Skype and store pictures and music. I’m pretty sure I don’t want a Chromebook.

Can you give some pointers about:

processors (does it really matter which kind?)

GB Memory (is there a basic number to shoot for? Like 4? 4 sounds good…)

GB Hard Drive (same as memory; basic ballpark for functionality?)

Thanks! If you’ve already covered this in a different show never mind…

RAY: No Chromebook? Aw, come on, that’s no fun.

TOM: The lady has spoken Ray. No Chromebooks. I mean, I can see where she’s coming from. Would you necessarily want your Chromebook to be your only computer?

RAY: *vamps*

TOM: Well, so Lauren’s in the market for a Windows-based laptop. These can be pretty murky waters to navigate for the casual buyer. But she’s asking the right questions.

RAY: Oh yeah. First of all, she’s not hung up on brands that really don’t matter. So many times when I ask someone who is having problems what kind of computer they have they tell me ?HP” or ?Dell.” Those are just brand-names!

TOM: Right. That’s like if you go to your mechanic because you’re having car problems and when they ask what kind of car you have you say ?Ford.”

RAY: When you’re shopping for a car you look at things like whether it’s manual or automatic, how many cylinders the engine has, what kind of MPG it gets.

You’ve got to do the same thing when you’re fixing a computer, or in this case, shopping for one. You need to know what numbers matter, and what they mean.

TOM: Lauren’s email hit on several of the important ones. Why don’t we make a quick list of things you need to know about your laptop and then we can dive into more detail on some of them.

Windows or Mac (or Chromebook)*

Amount of RAM (in Gigabytes)

Processor

Who made it?

How many cores?

How fast?

Size of hard drive (in Gigabytes)

Type of hard drive (SSD vs. SATA)

32 bit or 64 bit*

Screen resolution*

Slots (USB/HDMI/Ethernet/Card Reader)*

*(elaborate)

TOM: Ray, I love your explanation of RAM versus hard drive space. Can I use it?

RAY: *vamps*

TOM: Thanks! So as Ray has elegantly put it, if you think of your computer like your desk at the office, then RAM is like the size of your desktop. If you have a really large desk you can work on a lot of things at once. If you have a small desk, you can maybe only work on one or two things at a time. Am I doing okay so far Ray?

RAY: *vamps*

TOM: Now your hard drive space is like the filing cabinet next to your desk. Stuff you’re not working on right now goes in there. The bigger your filing cabinet, the more notes and papers and stuff you can stash away in it.

To bring this back to computers: if you have a computer with a big hard drive but a small amount of RAM, that’s like having a big filing cabinet with an itty-bitty desk. You can save lots of your old folders, but you may only be able to get one out at a time.

You can fill that big hard drive up with music and video and programs and games, but you can probably only actually run one or two programs simultaneously.

RAY: Even if you’re not a power user, having a decent amount of RAM is a good idea. More RAM simply makes the computing experience better. Your operating system will run more smoothly, programs will open and close faster, and you’re a lot less likely to run into mysterious slow-downs as your computer keeps running out of places to put things.

TOM: Right. So what’s a good amount of RAM, Ray? Lauren suggested four. Is that enough?

RAY: I think you definitely want at least four. Right now if you have four gigs most things will run smoothly. Two gigs or one gig is definitely too little. If you can get six or eight, though, I’d say go for it. That will future-proof your laptop a little bit.

TOM: Newer programs and operating systems almost always want more RAM.

RAY: Absolutely.

TOM: Now hard drives are also measured in gigs, but instead of a few gigs they usually have hundreds of gigs, or even a terabyte.

RAY: A terabyte being a thousand gigs.

TOM: Bingo. Remember, this is your filing cabinet. Or, if you like downloading movies, this is your DVD shelf. The bigger your shelf is, the more movies you can store.

Hard drive space is really cheap. If you get a laptop with a normal, SATA hard drive, I wouldn’t get anything less than 500 gigabytes. It shouldn’t cost you that much and it should be enough space to keep the average user happy for a long time.

RAY: But if Lauren is really into music and movies, I might recommend getting a full terabyte.

TOM: True.

RAY: Also, some newer laptops come with SSD hard drives instead of or in addition to the classic SATA drive. SSD drives cost more per gig, so you’re probably looking at getting a 50-100 gigabyte drive for the same price.

TOM: That’s not nearly as much space. What’s the advantage of an SSD drive?

RAY: Well a) they are much faster and b) they can take more of a beating. Oh and c), they’re smaller. So your really thin laptop is likely to have one because they take up less physical space and aren’t likely to be jostled when you carry the laptop around.

TOM: But with a fifty gig hard drive, your computer will barely have space for its operating system. You’re not going to be downloading many movies.

RAY: A lot of high-end laptops now offer a small SSD drive and a larger SATA hard drive next to it. That way you get speed and size.

TOM: But if you’re looking at laptops on a budget, you’re probably looking at standard SATA hard drives. And in that case, you want a few hundred gigabytes at least in my opinion.

RAY: Definitely.

TOM: OK, so let’s talk about processors.

Processors are a complicated subject. You get into things like busses and transistor counts and onboard cache, stuff that no normal human being should have to think about.

But here are a few guidelines. All processors have a clock speed, which is a really big number. Bigger numbers mean faster clock speeds. Clock speed is NOT the final word on how good a processor is, but it helps when you’re comparing two processors to each other.

There are also cores. Almost all processors these days are multi-core. What that means is that they have two processors in one chip. Or four. Or eight. The more cores that are on the chip, the more processes the computer can accomplish simultaneously.

Finally, the brand matters. For all intents and purposes, if you’re buying a laptop, it should say Intel Inside. Intel still dominates the personal computer market and the fact is they still make a mean CPU.

RAY: Right. So let’s recap. When Lauren is shopping for a laptop she should consider RAM

TOM: 4 gigs or more

RAY: hard drive size

TOM: at least 500 gigabytes for a normal hard drive

RAY: and processor

TOM: Intel Inside!

RAY: So Lauren, I hope that helps you out.

Hi guys! Loving the show!

I have a question for you guys today that is more knowledge-based than needing help.
I recently was working on ordering something online from Africa. I worked on it simultaneously on my laptop and my iPhone. My laptop just kept taking so long, and my iPhone was able to make everything happen and complete all of the page refreshes the way that it was supposed to. Why is my cell phone so much better at being a computer than my laptop?

Thanks! Geri

And the other Geri asked,

I bought a used iPhone from a friend. I have ATT go phone unlimited talk, text, web. I can access wifi from anywhere on my phone. I can text and receive plain messages.
I can’t however send or receive texts with photos or videos. They won’t send and they don’t show up when I receive. The text doesn’t even show up either. My friend has an earlier iPhone 3 and she has all capabilities.
Is there a fix? thanks.

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

Wednesday at a New York City press event, Nokia unveiled two new Windows 8 phones: the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia Lumia 820.

A Microsoft representative was present at the event to show off some of the phone’s Windows 8-specific features. The company has apparently taken a page from the Google playbook and decided that Windows 8 phones need a flagship, similar to Android’s Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone. It would appear that the Nokia Lumia 920 is that flagship.

Nokia is an interesting choice as Microsoft’s primary partner for Windows Phone 8 as the company has been hemorrhaging market share to Samsung and HTC in the last couple years, while posting billion dollar losses.

The Lumia 920 that Nokia showed off at Wednesday’s event looked impressive, however, with a major focus on a powerful camera that uses ?floating lens’ technology to stabilize video and take high-quality photographs in low-light situations. Another camera-based integrated feature is ?City Lens’, an augmented reality app that tags the environment around the user with information about businesses and restaurants. Nokia is marketing the screen on the phone as ?HD+’ and claims that it shows up well even in direct sunlight.

The phone also boasts native support for the Qi wireless charging standard.

Nokia has not neglected its new phones’ styling: the 920 comes in a variety of bright, vibrant colors including ?spectacular yellow, stunning lipstick red and seductive gray.? The 820 features easily swappable snap-on backs in a variety of colors. Both phones boast a rounded form-factor, including curved Gorilla Glass screens. Customers are certainly unlikely to confuse the new Nokia Lumia phones with any other smartphone.

There were a couple small flies in the ointment after the unveiling. Nokia admitted that its impressive side-by-side image stabilization comparisons were not shot with the actual phone. They have now posted a new demo video using the actual phone. While the Lumia 920’s stabilized video certainly compares favorably against the iPhone 4s, it’s not as effortlessly smooth as the original demo video. Some bloggers are also calling some of the demo images of the phone’s low-light photo capabilities into question, but we’ll probably have to wait until the phone is out in the wild to see how its night-shot camera really stacks up.

There’s no word yet on the official release date although it will probably coincide closely with the official release of Windows 8. The final phone is expected to boast a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 32 mb of on-board memory (no expandable SD slot, though). Pricing and carriers have yet to be announced.

Both Microsoft and Nokia have a lot riding on the new Lumia phones. Microsoft needs to get a ?must-have’ Windows 8 phone into the marketplace in order to seriously compete with iOS and Android. And Nokia desperately needs a big hit to help it regain its old position as a major phone maker, or at least put it back in the black.