This week on the podcast we're talking about future-proofing your job, automatic extreme couponing, and rooting your Android. We're also answering your questions about the purpose of 4G cellular data, building or buying a new computer, and recording phone calls.
How to Listen to This Week's Episode
Here's how you can listen to our episode:
Download the MP3 directly.
Just listen to it in the Souncloud player below.
News and Top Stories
The DHMO Threat: Last week we solicited your information on the threat of dihydrogen monoxide. This week we report back with our findings.
iOS 6.1 Released, Jailbreak Imminent: iOS 6.1 came out, bringing LTE to many more countries and allowing US users of Siri to buy tickets with Fandango. More importantly, however, the iOS 6.1 jailbreak is finally coming. We're hoping it'll be next week, and we can update our always up-to-date jailbreak guide.
XBMC 12 "Frodo" Brings Live TV, Android Support, and Much More to Our Favorite Media Center: The latest version of XBMC brings a lot of killer features, plus full-on support for the building an XBMC media center with the Raspberry Pi.
How To Futureproof Your Job with a Career Insurance Policy: Jobs come and go, but hopefully your career is bit more solid. If it's not, your skills, goals, and personal career plan can guide you, but it's never a bad time to prepare for a future layoff, job change, or even promotion. They can be tricky to handle, but a strong career "insurance policy" can give you the confidence to make the right choice no matter what life throws at you. Here's how to build one.
How to Automate Your Discounts and Always Get the Best Price: Clipping coupons can save a lot of money, but it can also waste a lot of time. You don't have to join the ranks of extreme couponers to ensure you get a great deal. With a few tips and tools, you can automate those discounts and save yourself money without any of the work.
Do Computer Glasses Really Work? Yes, they do. The marketing is just ridiculous.
Questions and Answers
Each week we answer five questions from readers and listeners. Here's what we tackled this week.
Do you know of any good apps that can record phone calls for Android phones? Google Voice allows you to record calls by pressing the number 4 during one. When it comes to apps, we really like Sanity. Of course, there are many others like Auto Call Recorder, Call Recorder, and Record My Call. Just make sure that recording calls is legal in your state.
What's the point of 4G? It's faster. You may burn through your data faster if you use more, but if you just use the same amount of data as you did on 3G you'll just wait less. It's a shame that carriers don't offer massive amounts of data in a cellular plan but faster is better than slower. In terms of it being worthwhile when considering a phone purchase, a lot of us feel it is but it might not be for you. Read this for more on the subject.
How do I root my Samsung Galaxy Note and flash a custom ROM? Our always up-to-date guide to rooting your Android phone actually contains a guide on rooting the Samsung Galaxy Note (and 14 other popular Android devices). As for flashing, it's a pretty similar process on most devices. We sort of have a guide for flashing, but if you search the XDA Developer Forums you should have no trouble finding instructions.
I need a new desktop PC. I don't care it it's a Mac or Windows PC. I'm a little wary of building, but don't know what to buy. What should I do? If you're going to buy a desktop, get an iMac because you can run Windows or OS X on it and the hardware's really great. We really think you should build a computer, however, as it's a lot cheaper and much easier than you probably think. We have a PC Building Guide and a Hackintosh Guide to get you through the basics. When it comes to picking hardware, just consult these $600 and $1200 PC builds, our Hackintosh Pro guide, or this awesome all-in-one build.
Tips of the Week
Alan's Pick: MovieCron Notifies You When A Movie Premieres
Whitson's Pick: Hide Embarrassing Likes on Facebook
Dachis' Pick: Never Lose a Lens Cap with the Help of a Lego Brick
Downloads of the Week
Alan's Pick: Carbon (Android)
Whitson's Pick: A Windows Bundle!
Dachis' Pick: Airmail (OS X) and Fleksy (iOS, Android version forthcoming)
How Do I Submit a Question?
There are two ways to send in your question:
Call (347) 687-8109 and record a question. Calls are awesome! We like them!
Email your question to [email protected].
Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!
Newspaper, Computer, Clock (by Brandon Hopkins), and Alert (by Dima Yagnyuk) provided by the Noun Project.