Into Tomorrow Quickies

Andrew asked: "I lost all volume control on my iPad. It worked this morning, now I can't find it anywhere."   Andrew, the obvious first thing to check would be switch on the side above the volume keys, that can be configured to act as a mute button, so flick it and see if the sound happens to come back. You can also check that your volume is where it would be by either swiping up from the bottom and adjusting the volume slider from the Control Center, or by going to Settings, and then Sounds. If that doesn’t work, whatever is going on is not settings related and it’s a bug of some kind. The best way to deal with that is the 3 Rs: Restart, Reset, and Restore. First try restarting the iPad and see if the iPad happens to come back, if that won’t work you can try to reset all settings, or fully restore the iPad, but both of those will have effects beyond the volume, you will end up with an iPad that looks like it did when it came out of the box if you restore, so try the other options first.

Harry asked: "My wife has 2 Bluetooth hearing aids. I have a fairly new 4K TV and a 4K receiver, but neither one has Bluetooth. So I bought a bluetooth transmitter that you can plug into the headphone jack. The problem is, it only works about 8 hours on a charge, then you have to plug it in and it doesn't work while it's charging. Is there a USB transmitter that i can use for the bluetooth hearing aids. It sure would help my wife who has profound deafness."   Harry, there are bluetooth transmitters that are virtually the same as the one you have except that they work while they’re plugged in. The TaoTronics Wireless Portable Transmitter sells for $28 and is one such transmitter. The problem you’ll run into very quickly is that most bluetooth transmitters are chinese generics. We can’t really say “buy the Sony one” or “buy the Samsung one.” We promise they do exist though, we know that because we use a chinese generic bluetooth transmitter on remote broadcasts to feed a speaker we use so that waiting guests and PR reps can listen live as we record interviews for the show. Our no-name generic works both on battery and A/C power. Your best bet is to look at specs online and make sure they specifically mention that they work while charging. Sorry we can’t give you specific models, Harry, but even the TaoTronics we mentioned earlier looks exactly like the one we use. They really do look like they all come out of the same assembly line and just get stamped with different brands at the end.

Gordon asked: "I'm curious about identify theft getting worse nowadays. Are the RFID wallets worth the investment? Or can I put a piece of foil on both sides of my wallet, encompassing my credit cards so they can't be used? Maybe something of the same for purses?"   Gordon, if you’re concerned about anyone reading your RFID cards a RFID blocking wallet will probably make more sense than trying to line your current one. Foil won’t necessarily work, it might, but if your cards have good enough antennas they may very well get through the weak shielding the foil would provide. You can make your own RFID blocking wallet out of thicker aluminum, think closer to a soda can, but considering you can buy an aluminum RFID blocking wallet for as little as $5 online, it may not be worth the effort. One thing we should mention is that RFID skimming has been demonstrated more than once, but it doesn’t seem to have become a problem in the real world, so we don’t really know if it’s something that can easily be replicated in the wild. So far it hasn’t really been an issue, but as RFID cards, passports, and tags in general become more and more common, we may see that change. For, we’d say that if you can live with an ugly and somewhat bulky aluminum wallet, it should block the signal from going anywhere.

Ed asked: "I'm calling about an iPhone freezing up. It just doesn't turn, when you turn the phone to a different angle, the screen doesn't change. Are they having a problem with that? If so, is it something they're gonna fix? I have a iPhone 6S."   Ed, it sounds like you just have your phone’s orientation lock turned on. If you swipe up from the bottom to open Control Center, you should be able to see a padlock surrounded by a curved arrow on the far right of top row. That is your orientation lock and it’s used for keeping the phone from turning when you don’t want it to. For example, when you’re reading and holding the phone at a slight angle. You can also turn that off in your phone’s Settings app, but it’s faster to just use Control Center by swiping from the bottom. That being said, there is no rule that says an app must rotate to landscape orientation when you turn your iPhone on its side. We can think of plenty of examples where it doesn’t. The Facebook app for iOS, for instance, or Flipbook, one of our favorite news readers. The home screens also won’t rotate if you have zoom turned on in your display settings. You find that under Settings, Display & Brightness, then look for Zoom. Before you spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out why your broken phone won’t rotate

Ron in Mount Juliet, Tennessee listens on SuperTalk WTN 99.7 asked: Explain what the Roku does, as far as watching TV.   Roku makes streaming devices, so what they do as far as watching TV is provide access to alternative sources of content. Rokus feature access to lots of services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, HBO Now, Vudu, Crackle, Sling, Showtime Anytime, Google Play, and hundreds of others, includes access to streaming content from TV channels. Most services require some kind of a subscription, whether it’s a standalone one like Netflix and Hulu’s, or a cable subscription. As far as watching live TV, you don’t gain much if you already have cable, but if you’re a cord cutter you may be able to find a lot of quality content for less than the cost of a cable subscription. It’s also a good device to consider if you’re already paying for subscription services like Netflix and want to watch on your TV easily. Garrett in Jackson, Mississippi listens on SuperTalk 97.3 FM asked: I own a Samsung smart tv. It does not have a headphone jack but obviously has AV in jacks. I recently purchased a Bluetooth transmitter so I can listen to my tv via my Bluetooth headphones. Is there any way to do this?   Garrett, if the TV has absolutely no audio outputs, your only option would probably be to buy an amp of the kind you’d use for a home theater, connect it via HDMI, and then use its outputs. Having said that, modern TVs are thin, and their speakers sound like thin speakers, so there usually is an audio out of some kind, even if it’s not a headphone jack. A lot of people want better sound than they can get from a modern TV, especially people who enjoy movies. If you can see an RCA out, you can buy an adapter that will end in a female 3.5mm jack. The adapter will cost you a few dollars and will solve the problem by creating a headphone jack for you. If you have an optical audio out, you will find adapters too, but they may not work to convert the audio to what your headphones need. An optical audio out will put out digital audio, a connector won’t make it analog, you’d need a converter for that. Those converters do exist, and they don’t cost too much money either, but they are more expensive than RCA to 3.5mm adapters and they will need to be fed power to work.

Bill asked: "I got one of those D-Link routers that look like a spaceship. It's got 3 channels. Just installed a Linksys range extender upstairs. How secure are these systems? Or what is the best, most secure system to automate things like turning lights on and off in a house?"   Bill, these systems are as strong as the encryption you’re using. Ideally you want to be using WPA 2 + AES encryption, and you’re better off having WPS or Wireless Protected Setup disabled, since WPS has been an attack vector used against WPA networks for a while. There are still some security vulnerabilities when you use those settings, but they generally require that you’re already connected to the network, so they’re not a big threat to smaller networks or homes. As far as secure IoT systems, well… we have bad news for you. HP did a study in 2014 that showed that 70% of IoT devices didn’t even bother with encrypted networks, that 60% used insecure web interfaces and did not use encryption when downloading updates. Frankly, when it comes to lights, that’s not a huge concern, but IoT systems also include smart locks, smart garage door openers, and more. If security is a top concern for you, you may want to wait a little longer, this lack of proper security is a recognized issue that is being worked on. Your best bet may be to wait for an updated lineup of smart hubs that takes encryption more seriously than the current ones.

Harry asked: "I have a question about modems. I was looking at the specs of my modem and I noticed that it is not IPv6 compatible. I know there's a conversion going on from IPv4, and it's been going on for a long time. Do you think it's important that I upgrade my modem now to something that's IPv6 compatible, or will this conversion take a lot more time. In other words, when will this modem be out of business?"   Harry, don’t worry about it. The transition to IPv6 is supposed to be very slow and gradual, there is no end in sight for IPv4 right now, no turn off date. IPv4 is expected to be turned off eventually, sooner or later IPv6 will be such a huge majority that it won’t make sense to continue to support older devices, but we don’t know when that will be. As things stand right now, many ISPs, especially smaller ones, don’t even support IPv6, so if you switch to an IPv6 modem, you may end up using IPv4 anyway until your service provider manages to upgrade its own technology. Even if they do use IPv6 now, they probably have no plans to turn off IPv4, which means that upgrading now would get you nothing. To give you an idea of how slow the transition is, at our studios we’re using Comcast (a very large, very rich ISP), and we’re using a business modem provided by Comcast. You’d think that given the size of the ISP and the fact that they very recently provided us with this new modem we’d automatically be on IPv6, but you’d be wrong. We’re still on IPv4 and those were the default setting on the device. You’re probably better off waiting until you either need to replace your modem, or your ISP tells you that it will stop working. There’s no real benefit to upgrading today if your current setup is working.

Frank asked: "I have a computer that is completely shot. It just won't work anymore. It is an older model. I'm interested in your idea of a good computer at a nominal price. It will just be for home use. Looking for a PC."   Well the first question we want to ask is whether a regular computer is even needed, or whether you’d do better with a Chromebook. Some of the new Chromebook models use very nice hardware and soon ChromeOS will also run many Android apps, which opens up the choice of software considerably. The bottom line is that Chromebooks are resistant to viruses and security hacks, and they don’t lose performance over time in the same way a Windows or Mac computer will. Because they work entirely in the cloud, your data is always safe. Chromebooks, however, are simple devices that run the Chrome web browser and, as noted, soon Android apps as well. If you need things like Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, you are not Chromebook material. You’ll need a Windows or Mac computer. For a modest price, there is no choice. You go with Windows. Even the cheapest new Mac, one of the refurbished ones in the Apple Store, costs far more than a comparable Windows computer. So, which Windows machine? There are, quite literally, a million of them. One value priced desktop computer is the Acer T ATC-710. For just $529 it comes with a 6th Generation Intel Core i5-6400 (2.7 GHz) 16GB of DDR3 RAM, a 2 TB HD with a 96 GB SSD, and Intel HD 530 Graphics. It includes Windows 10 Home. A great value priced laptop is the HP 250 G5. That model is available configured many different ways, but we found one for just $369 with a 5th Generation Intel Core i3-5005U (2.0 GHz), 4GB of DDR3L RAM, a 128 GB SSD, and Intel HD 5500 Graphics with 15.6" TN LCD screen with a matte finish. It comes with Windows 10 Home. There are fancier computers and faster computers, but these are two solid machines from name brand companies that are very fairly priced and excellent performers. Don’t forget you’ll need a screen to go with that Acer desktop PC, figure $99 for a nice one.

Terri asked: “I have an iPad Air 2 and in the settings it says it’s ready for a software upgrade. I click on it and it it comes up with the usual “Do you agree.” I click agree and it just sits there. is there something blocking that or a setting preventing it from downloading the software upgrade? Or is it just “stuck?”   Terri, there should be no setting preventing it from proceeding, and if there was we’d hope that Apple would tell you “hey, you need to flip this switch if you want to proceed with the update,” otherwise, how would you even know? Typically there are two things to try when something like this happen: 1) restart your device, sometimes the catchall solution actually fixes things 2) Try canceling the update, going to iCloud under your devices settings, and logging out and back in. We don’t know how exactly Apple checks the update, but apparently it has helped some people in your situation. The truth is that you shouldn’t need to do anything but confirm that you do want to install the update, whatever is going on here is a bug that has nothing to do with you.

Dan The Rocketman in McKinney, Texas called in to talk about his experience using the Samsung Gear 360 to shoot a fireworks display Dan At Work Cari in Fort Wayne, Indiana asked us about Google Calendar: I’m a mom of teen boys and we stay organized with Google Calendar. We had all our schedule on there. My husband and my phones are Android and my boys are iPhone. We were all able to update the calendar and keep synced. Over the last year, with updates, it’s not working so great. Is there another app, or can we somehow fix Google Calendar?   Cari, we also use a shared Google Calendar to stay organized, and we also sync it across iPhones and Android phones, as well as plenty of different Windows and Mac computers running different operating systems, but it seems to still be working just fine for us. What problems are you seeing? If it’s an issue with keeping it synced, you can try using Google’s own Calendar app What problems are you seeing? If it’s an issue with keeping it synced, you can try using Google’s own Calendar app on all of your devices. That app is built by Google to talk to Google’s servers and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t sync. Having said that, we have no trouble using any Androids or iPhones different built-in calendars. If you can send us some more information about your specific issues, we’ll gladly look into them. As far as what we tell from our own calendars, Google’s service seems to be working fine.

Dominick asked: “I’m setting up a storage server and I have 5 WD Red hard drives. In the server setup, it’s asking for what RAID I should use. There’s RAID 0,1,5 and 10. I was wondering which one I should use. I looked at some articles, but really don’t get the difference between them.”   Dominick, the question is what are you looking for? Speed or redundancy? RAID 0 RAID 0 is all about speed, it reads and writes to several disks at once to be as quick as possible and it does 0 backup. The positive there is that you get very fast performance, the bad side of it is that if a single one of the disks dies, you lose your data. Basically, RAID 0 acts as a single, very fast disk. RAID 1 RAID 1 is the opposite, it doesn’t care about performance but about protecting your data. If one disk dies, it doesn’t really matter because the exact same data is copied onto the other ones. RAID 1 keeps an exact backup at all times, but you can only have the storage space equivalent of a single disk, since the other ones are just mirrors. RAID 5 RAID 5 requires a minimum of 3 disks and it distributes the information across the drives to make access fast, but to also allow for the failure of one of the drives. If one drives does fail, then the data can be rebuilt from the others, but it will probably take a long time to do it. It could easily take a full day to put your data back together. RAID 10 RAID 10 is actually more RAID 1+0 than 10, it  uses a minimum of 4 disks to do both RAID 0 and RAID 1 at once. The data is spread across several disks, but each one also has a mirror. What that means is that each drive has a constant backup and recovering the data in case of failure is far faster than recovering it from a RAID 5 array, since all it takes is copying the information from that disk’s backup to the replacement. The data is also spread across several disks so you can get performance improvements like you do with RAID 0. he difference between 5 and 10 is that 5 assumes only one disk will fail at once The difference between 5 and 10 is that 5 assumes only one disk will fail at once, if more than one does their data cannot be recovered. With 10 the data can be recovered, but the array has to waste half of the storage it could have, since it’s turned into a constant backup. RAID 10 read speeds are faster than RAID 5’s, but RAID 5 allows you to get more useable storage out of the same disks and still have a backup, and it has faster write speeds. The question is, how much do your backups mean to you, and how much does your performance mean to you? For performance and nothing else RAID 0 is your friend, the other options offer different levels of backup with different advantages and disadvantages.

Gary asked: “Started backing up my iPhone to the cloud. How do I go back and retrieve the things I put in the cloud like pictures? I can’t pull them up, once I send them out. I don’t know how to do that.”   Gary, it depends on which “cloud” you’re using. If you’re using iCloud, you don’t go back and retrieve things, it just makes a full phone backup. You can individually save pictures to iCloud Drive, but that’s not the same as the “iCloud backups.” Those are mostly just useful to restore your entire phone if you ever need to. If you’re using iCloud, you don’t go back and retrieve things, it just makes a full phone backup. If you’re using any other app, say Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon’s Cloud Drive, or basically any other one, you simply open the app and go through the list of files and folders the way you would on a computer’s hard drive. iCloud only really works differently because it has the regular “backup” that creates an image of your phone, and the “drive” feature that acts as an external hard drive in the cloud. Don’t back up to iCloud thinking you’ll just be able to access individual files.

Marie asked: “I live in a very small apartment. My reception on my iPhone is not good at all. I have been told that it’s because I have a Tin roof. Is there any truth to that? If so, what can I do to improve my reception. My second question is: Is there an app to retrieve all deleted text messages? Just trying to keep tabs on teenagers. They will delete text messages and I can’t find out what they have texted.”   Marie, tin roof can interfere with cellphone signals, there are two solutions to deal with that. Your iPhone almost certainly supports WiFi calling. If your carrier does too, you can just turn it on and it will route all your calls and texts through your home’s WiFi. The only catch is carrier support, some support it, some don’t. Your iPhone almost certainly supports WiFi calling. If that’s not an option for you, you can look into cellphone signal repeaters. The kind with the antenna that is mounted outside, and the base unit that is plugged in inside. The installation is more involved, but it would be repeating the signal that exists outside your house, and outside the interference that your tin roof creates, so it should give you the kind of signal you get when you stand outside. These boosters will likely cost you hundreds of dollars, some even not too far south of the $1000 mark but you can find more basic versions starting at around $250. They should do the job, but it won’t be cheap. You can also ask your phone company, they may have their own device you can use. As for keeping tabs on your teenagers, there is a service called TeenSafe that claims to do what you need. As for keeping tabs on your teenagers, there is a service called TeenSafe that claims to do what you need. It will keep track of your teens GPS, text messages, Kik messages, and Whatsapp messages. It does not require a rooted or jailbroken phone, but it’s not free. You can try it for a week for free, but after that it will cost you $14.95/month if you want to keep it. We hear it does work, but keep in mind that your teens can also be using other apps to communicate and TeenSafe can’t track everything. If they want to get around whatever tracking you set up, they can and probably will within minutes of finding out what you can actually track. You’re on the wrong side of this arms race.

Doug asked: “I built a new patio and want to put a TV out there. How tolerant will the TV be in the outside environment, or will I have to bring it in all the time?”   You’ll probably have to bring it in. Even assuming you keep it away from the sun and rain, temperature will be an issue. Murfreesboro actually has a relatively mild climate, so you have a better shot than other listeners in other parts of the country would, but your average high in July and August is still 90 degrees, and your average low in January is 25. A regular TV won’t love temperatures over 90 or below freezing. A regular TV won’t love temperatures over 90 or below freezing. All televisions have a temperature operating range, and those ranges vary by brand, you can try to find one that can take a little bit more of a beating, but really your only real choice is an outdoor TV. They’re much more expensive, look at SunBriteTV for examples, they specialize in outdoor TVs, but they’ll cost you a lot of money. They are built for what you need though, so they may be worth the investment if you don’t want to  constantly have to replace your TV.

Consumer Reports joined Into Tomorrow this week with advice about cellphone use abroad: Traveling abroad can cost you a fortune – for cellular service.  The minute you’re outside the U.S. with your smartphone, costs for making calls and using your apps can soar higher than the jet you flew in on.  Consumer Reports electronics spokesman James McQueen is here with some tips how to avoid those high costs. If your phone is compatible with your host country’s cellular networks and you’ve got decent WiFi service at the hotel, consider using your carrier’s world plan. You won’t have to fuss with your phone and the people you care about can just dial or text your number to reach you (though you should warn them that those phone calls may cost them more than usual). Or you could slip a foreign SIM card into your phone. The service rates of foreign providers are often comparable to those of U.S. carriers. Sometimes they’re even cheaper. And that includes data fees. So it behooves you to consider buying a pre-paid SIM card and using it in place of the one in your phone. If replacing the SIM card proves to be too complicated, think about purchasing a low-cost smartphone in the country you’re visiting. Or buy one from a trusted retailer such as Amazon. And of course you can always try turning off your data and only using WIFI. Using apps like Skype or Google Voice-accessible from any smartphone or tablet, you can host free person-to-person chats over WIFI. For more info on this story, visit ConsumerReports.org. For Into Tomorrow, James McQueen – Consumer Reports Dave and Chris recommended apps they’ve been playing with: Google’s response to other popular video calling options, including Apple’s FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype and Facebook’s Messenger app. It’s called Duo and isn’t too much different from the other video chatting services, except it gives a glimpse at who is making the call, helping you decide whether to answer or not. Google calls this feature “knock, knock.” The new app was just released this week as a free service for phones running on Google’s Android operating system … as well as Apple’s iPhones. So maybe you’d like to give Duo a look. Dave I have not quite found the real use for this app, but MyIdol is probably one of the coolest apps I have found in a while. It allows you to make a 3D animated avatar using your face and interact with friends that have also used the app to create avatars. Basically, you import a picture of your face which it uses to create the general shape of the face, then you select a hairstyle, eye color, facial hair and so forth. Then it creates your avatar. You can also use the app to create animated emojis of yourself that you can send to your friends. One of the coolest things, though is that you can insert your avatar into some of their many pre-built scenes. Ever wanted to see yourself play the piano or pole dance? You can, in this app! Chris