The Technology in Our Lives, and How to Make It Work Better

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. Sadly, that is not always the way it works. Sometimes, technology’s promise of an easier, more productive life is lost behind layers of jargon, settings and hardware adjustments ...

That’s fine if you can reattach the cables on the back of a DVR and cable box as quickly as a blindfolded paratrooper can reassemble an M14 sniper rifle. Let’s say you would rather be reading or playing with your children — or doing pretty much anything other than digging through system preferences. If so, the Tool Kit column is for you.

In this new weekly column, I will give you practical advice on how to use technology more effectively — like organizing the apps on your smartphone or setting up remote access to your parents’ computers.

To kick off the column, I asked readers to submit their most vexing problems about technology. More than 100 questions came in over the weekend. I managed to answer 25 of them on the Gadgetwise blog.

From reading through all of them, I gleaned a few key things: You are concerned about keeping data and media safe and secure; you are eager to get more Internet content and streaming services on TVs; and you want easy, safe ways to share things like photos, videos and documents with friends and family.

Plenty of other issues were addressed as well. Many of the questions submitted were on topics that deserve an entire column, and they will be addressed in coming weeks. Here is a taste of what’s to come.

 

Access on a Plane

What is the most efficient but lightweight way to maintain access to all your files while traveling? Lightweight laptop? USB drives? (The cloud is presumably not an answer with airplane connection restrictions.)

A pure cloud service would not be very helpful to you on a plane (as I recently remembered a couple of weeks ago when a speech I was working on was on Google Docs and I was on a 737 at 30,000 feet with no in-flight Wi-Fi.)

But a service like Dropbox (free for up to 2 gigabytes of storage, and an additional 500 megabytes free for each referral) is not just a cloud service. Downloading Dropbox onto your computer creates a local folder there. When you save documents to that folder, any other computer sharing that Dropbox folder gets the updated version of that file. The cloud acts as a central station for files to be distributed, but they actually live on your machine, even when it’s offline.

A USB drive would probably be your next best option. Obviously, any USB drive will do, and you very likely have some lying around — like the commemorative pens we used to get from industry events.

 

Home Wi-Fi Access

In setting up home Wi-Fi with four access points, do you need to set each access point to a different channel, and if each is set to a different channel is there a problem roaming over the house without dropping your connection?

You not only can set them to different channels, you probably should. Multiple routers on the same channel could cause interference. And be sure to spread them out: put one router on Channel 1 and another on, say, Channel 11. Your computer will automatically switch channels when needed.

If you live in a densely populated area, you can see which channels are most heavily used by the networks around you with Meraki’s Wi-Fi Stumbler (tools.meraki.com/stumbler). The Web site uses your computer’s Wi-Fi to sniff out all the networks around you.

 

Best Children’s Laptop

 

What is a good family computer for children heading into middle school? Is a tablet with keyboard extension a good bridge?

I like tablets as home-based devices to consume content, but for doing actual "work," I think a laptop is superior. So I would get them a cheap Windows-based laptop. Which one? Oh, something less than $500, probably from Hewlett-Packard or Dell.

Since most of what your children will be doing will be Web-based, you don’t need a lot of horsepower, but a tablet isn’t really well suited to this, and will ultimately cost you more.

 

Stream Music Cheaply

 

What is the most cost-effective way to hook up your laptop to your music system to enjoy streaming services like Spotify and MOG?

Run an audio cable from your laptop to your sound system, so that what you play on the computer will come out through the speakers attached to your stereo. This can be done from 61 cents to $11, depending on the length and quality of the cord. Check out Monoprice.com for some of the best prices.

 

Better Hotel Wireless

 

Can you set up an Apple Airport Express in a hotel room to turn the hotel’s wired connection into a wireless network?

That should work perfectly. The Airport Express is just looking for an Internet connection. Once it has that, it can blanket a room in Wi-Fi, no matter what the room is. Your iPad should work fine in this setup.

HD Over the Air

 

What are the basics of getting an HD television signal over the air, via an external antenna? What are the gotchas? The antenna needs to go on the roof.

Going antenna for your HD needs can be a great move. Assuming you’re in a location that pulls in a good signal, you will be getting a clean, uncompressed digital (so no static) image.

The uncompressed thing is a wonder. Cable companies offer many HD channels, but  for them to serve up so many, they scrunch the signals, which can affect image quality. When you pull in, say, WNBC-HD from its transmitter atop the Empire State Building, you will get the full signal in all its high-definition glory.

 

No-Contract Wireless Data

 

I want to use an iPad on my commute, and I’d like it to be connected to the Internet, but don’t want to sign up for a wireless data plan with a lengthy contract. Is there a way around this?

Check out Virgin Mobile. It is one of the larger prepaid/no-contract wireless providers out there, and it has something called a MiFi ($100).

A MiFi is a device shaped like a credit card that can get on 3G and 4G networks and share that signal with up to five other devices using Wi-Fi. With Virgin’s MiFi, you pay $35 a month for network access — with no contract. You get 2 gigabytes of data on 3G networks and unlimited use of faster 4G networks, which is enough for most of us. Spend $55 a month and you can use up to 5 gigabytes of 3G data a month; use of 4G networks remains unlimited).

With the MiFi, you can then get a Wi-Fi-only tablet and tether it to the Virgin device. Cancel anytime. No commitment. Going on vacation? Don’t pay Virgin for a month and then restart it when you return. It’s up to you.

Source : nytimes.com