FrequencyCast UK - Show 116
The show notes to go with Show 116 of our technology radio show.
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Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 116 (29 mins)
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Show 116 NEWS
Here's a look at the news stories covered in Show 116:
- New ChromeCasts: Google has announced two new products dedicated to home media streaming. The first is an update to the Google ChromeCast video streaming product. The new circulate design includes more wi-fi antenna for better streaming performance, and is competing with Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. The second is ChromeCast audio - turning existing speaker systems into wireless audio streaming speakers. At £30, it's cheaper than many competitors and is one to watch. It's out in mid-October and a pre-order link is on our show notes
- LG Selfie-phone: It looks like the Selfie is here to stay, as LG has revealed its new phone, the V10, comes with two front-facing cameras to allow a wide angle 120 degree selfie to be taken. The phone also have two front-facing screens – one of them is a small display running along the top of the phone which can show the date, time or battery life at all times without the need to fire up the larger screen. LG's also released a new smartwatch - the Urbane 2nd Edition. This uses Android Wear and has built-in 4G, 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth, so you can leave your phone at home and stay connected
- Freeview HD TV-only from 2016: Freeview has announced that from 2016, new products carrying the Freeview branding must support HD. New TVs over 32 inches will need to support HD in order to get the Freeview endorsement, which will hopefully increase sales of HD products. Keep an eye out too for Freeview Play - a new service launching this month that combines catch-up, on-demand and live TV without a subscription.
- iPlayer to drop Flash: Next, it looks like the BBC iPlayer is set to move away from using Adobe Flash for video, and will be moving over to HTML5. Flash has come under fire for security vulnerabilities, and statement from the Beeb said that it was confident it could achieve the playback quality you'd expect without using a third-party plug-in such as Flash player. A beta test is available - see BBC iPlayer HTM5 Blog
- iOS9 Wi-fi Assist Bill Shock: Last month there have been some horror stories about sky-high data bills coming in for iPhone users who've installed iOS9 – A new feature, called Wifi Assist, is designed to drop you from wi-fi to the mobile Internet is the signal is poor – If you're walking around at home watching streaming video and your free wi-fi drops out, you may start running up unexpected data charges if your mobile data allowance is low. Be warned that the setting is on by default and it can be disabled from Settings - Mobile Data. Android phones have a similar feature, and it can be a real boon, but it's worth being aware of guys!
- And Finally... Nice to see us mere mortals aren't the only ones to fall foul of services like Siri and in this case Cortana. The Microsoft SEO recently came a cropper in a live demo... Instead, this came out as "Show me to buy milk at this opportunity."
FOCUS: Show 116
Facebook Privacy hoax
Got a message that for a fee, you can keep your Facebook secrets safe? Fear not... it's a hoax, as we explain in the show.
Mentioned: Support your local Air Ambulance
We report on Air Ambulance Week, including a message from the CEO of the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust.
Focus: National Hamfest Radio Rally
We visit a national gathering for radio amateurs, National Hamfest in Newark. Including interviews and features from this national event.
Featured: Contactless Coffee
We're back on the subject of comtactless payment, talking to Georgia, one of our favourite coffee people...
Reviewed: HP Instant Ink
We had a look at a service from HP that delivers new ink cartridges to the door when you start running low. Think "pay-as-you-go" for your printer.
Interview: Gadget Girl Nikki Moore on the Kodak Moments app
A new Kodak Moments app's been released. In the show, we featured an interview with TV Gadget Girl Nikki Moore on what the app has to offer.
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Cast 116: Interaction
Thanks to everyone who got in touch with us since the last show. In this show, we respond to the following mails and calls:
Waves from New York:
Neal Kerling says:
"Hi guys and Kelly I'm located here in Central New York - keep up the good work I look forward impatiently each month to your podcast. There is much support in the city for your podcast and we always look forward to you joking around and your levity. Best of all I love your refreshing funny accent."
Sansa Ripping:
Gomez got in touch about Dick Thompson ripping BBC radio programmes to his Sansa Clip:
"I have been doing this for years by recording the radio programmes on my Freeview PVR, transferring over USB to my laptop, extracting the MPA audio track using tsMuxer then transferring that to my Clip+. Needs a PVR that supports recording transfers, I use my trusty old Topfield 5800 but could also use my Humax Foxsat HDR or Digitalstream if need be."
Screen Readers:
Ian Jones mailed us regarding the message from Marvin in Australia in our September show about screen readers for the blind:
"I would have thought that there must be similar organisations in Australia to those in the UK who can provide specialised information about screen readers. The RNIB sell them (www.rnib.org.uk) and there are numerous podcasts on the British Wireless for the Blind website (www.infosound.org.uk) in their 'Briefings' section which cover all sorts of gadgets for the blind. We use their podcasts every week on our local Talking Newspaper programmes that we issue on memory sticks."
Powerline Problmes:
Andrew asks:
"I have successfully used BT 500 powerline adaptors for nearly 2 years to get the internet to my workshop, some 40m from my house. A few days ago the system just stopped working. I know the adaptors are OK because they work fine in the house and there have been no changes at all to the set up for my workshop i.e. no new electrical appliances fitted etc. They also only seem to work in a few of the sockets in my house - which was completely re-wired 10 years ago. Any ideas?"
Free Cloud Storage:
Nick Fletcher got in touch about cloud storage.
"I recently came across a solution to a problem that has been creeping up in recent months which I thought you might like to know about. We have been using Dropbox, One Drive, GoogleDocs for cloud storage for some time but there has always been a size limit on the free storage available and all three do not handle large file sizes very well. I have now come across MegaDrive https:/Imega.nz/which provides up to 50Gb free and has a SyncApp for the desktop. Just installed it so no comments yet but for sheer free size it must be worth a look at. I am going to try it out for a few weeks, I will direct my iTunes directory to it and save my movies there and let you know how it works out."
Saving from the Internet:
We had a podline call froim Alan in Blackpool asking abiut to how to save files from the Internet. It depends on the browser. IE - Right-click "Save Picture As" or "Save Target as" ; Firefox / Chrome -"Save Link as", "Save image as"
Sealand and Pair Stealing:
Thanks to Peter Howav for reminding us about Sealand - there's a new book out by a member of their Royal Family. Link on our show notes.
He also sent us a link to a new system for land Rovers to help you see behind your caravan.
As for Cloud Computing, he says: "So you want other people see your private data/info!" He also mentions "Pair steeling." - A few years ago while repairing a fax for a bank, which didn't receive, the customer said that BT had been working on the green boxes in the street. It turned out that BT had switched the lines between the bank and the shop next door!
Pair Switching:
On the same subject, we heard from Andy in Thamesmead. We had to shorten the message for our show, but here's the original:
Hi Kelly and Pete. After reading of your Bt Openreach woes.I have a tale to tell myself.I first got Broadband about ten years ago.Let me preface this by saying I live 2Km from the exchange,but there is a four lane A road and Railway tracks between there and my house that was built in the mid Eighties.So the cable run is around 5Km.Distance figures obtained from Google Maps and Tom'sHardware.co.uk.
I have never had a particularly fast speed.It's never been that important but I do like to watch video without buffering.When I first got it the speed was around 1.9 Mbps,pretty good when your used to dial-up.As the Internet got more popular,over the years it improved to 2.5 to 2.9 Mbps.Still not great for a London Postcode,I know.
Then one day about Eighteen months ago it crashed down to less the 0.5 Mbps.Well that was it I'd had enough.By this time I had moved from Virgin,O2 and now Plusnet.Plusnet seemed to care unlike the other companies.
After FIVE Openreach visits with no improvement and getting fobbed off every time.With some support from Plusnet (who I guess,were sick of my complaints).My problem finally made to the top mans desk.A SIXTH engineer was despatch,apparently a "boost" engineer.After a few hours,lifting of Manhole covers and checking the underground cables,some he said which led "absolutely nowhere".
The upshot was he had changed my pairs and it was all fixed.I was still only getting 3.3Mbps,but what are going to do?
As I had no cause for complaint,I was happy until.Curiosity got the better of me and last week using the BT Wholesale speedtester http://speedtest.btwholesale.com .I measured my download speed again.
It said over 9 Mbps! This I couldn't believe.So I clicked on FURTHER DIAGNOSTICS and it revealed in the small print.
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1.2 Mbps-4 Mbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 4.17 Mbps
So what the 9Mbps is all about,I don't know.So it looks like I'm stuck with 4Mbps
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