Gadgetory

this week on the CNET tech review how to use Amazon Cloud Player on your Android phone how to turn on parental controls on your iPhone how to get free ebooks from the library boy that sure is a lot of how to's all that and the samsung series 9 are coming up right now hi everyone I'm Molly wood and welcome to the CNET tech review where we collect our hottest videos of the week and tell you what's good and what's bad in the world of tech plus offer some unique tech wisdom in the form of the bottom line let's get started with the good in really good news for those of you who like me have digital music stored on three different computers two old iPods and an Android phone Amazon launched a new cloud service for storing all your tunes and then downloading them anywhere which is awesome and here's how you use it on your Android phone hi I'm Sharon Vaknin for cnet.com here to show you how to use amazon's cloud player with your android device sorry iPhone users you're going to have to sit this one out Amazon didn't release an app for you first set up an account on amazon.com and upload music to your account it's pretty straightforward you can upload almost any mp3 or AAC files so music you've downloaded from iTunes Amazon or other stores will work you can also use music ripped from CDs no matter where you got them Amazon gives you the first five gigabytes of storage free if you want to get more storage through the end of the year you can purchase an album from Amazon and they'll bump you up to a total of 20 gigabytes for free for a year after your purchase now you're ready to stream your music library to your Android device download the free Amazon mp3 app from the Android Market once it's there go to Cloud Drive music and sign in with your Amazon account now you're ready to play music you've uploaded to your cloud just remember that your device must be connected to your network or Wi-Fi to stream music if you know you'll be off the grid but still want to access your music the app lets you download tracks directly onto your device hit the green arrow next to any playlist artist or album to download multiple titles or long-press any song to download a single track the player also lets you create and modify new playlists and access music stored locally on your device you can also use this app to purchase new music from the Amazon mp3 store and save it to your Cloud Drive for safekeeping since amazon wants you to purchase music from them purchases made from the store won't be counted against your storage capacity for now Amazon Cloud Player is only available for Android devices Macs and Windows computers expect to see more developments around cloud storage though Apple and Google should be jumping on the bandwagon any time now for cnet.com I'm Sharon Vaknin and I'll see you on the interwebs I love that service so much all right now speaking of Android there are so many new phones and tablets out there that you're probably looking for ways to get the most out of your new devices well here's Antoine Goodwin with two tasty tricks most Android users will get their apps fix from the Android Market but there are plenty of very cool apps to be found outside of the market from small developers and more recently from third-party sources such as Amazon App Store for Android now to the box your Android phone will not allow you to make use of these third-party apps plugging them as untrusted sources but come on you can trust Amazon right I'm Antoine Goodwin with cnet.com and I'm gonna show you how to enable third-party app installation on your Android phone now enabling this function is actually quite simple just pop into your Android phone setting menu look for the applications option tap that and then look for an option that says unknown sources it's usually the first one here but the placement can vary from phone to phone check that box then back out of the menu and why you'll be able to install third-party apps from anywhere now the apps themselves are usually transported as apk files and can be found all over the place the easiest place will be from Amazon's app store but don't let your hunt stop there often time app makers will make beta versions of their apps such as the swipe alternative keyboard available on their website which can be downloaded and installed directly from your phone's browser other places to look include android hacking communities such as the XDA developer forums or the droid forums where devs are always neat little applets that you can download to your phone's SD card and then access and install using a file manager such as Astro unfortunately access to the third-party app installation function is at the discretion of your wireless service provider so for example users of AT&T powered Android phones such as the Atrix 4G and Samsung Captivate are unable to use or even see this option without first rooting their phone and possibly getting your hands dirty with some command line action well there you have it your now for you to get your apps from wherever you darn roll please be sure to check out the Android outlets blog for even more Android tips and tricks and seeing that TV for even more how-to videos this has been Antwon go with cnet.com showing you how it's done we've all been there you're trying to track down the group of friends in a crowded park on a Sunday afternoon but tell them that you're standing near that one tree and a pack of hipsters isn't very useful when there are dozens of trees and literally hundreds of hipsters I'm going to show you a quick way to share your location with your friends using a little more than your Android phone the easiest way is to use a location sharing service like Google Latitude to keep your pals constantly updated of your whereabouts however services like this also require that your friends sign up which they may not be too keen on doing or may not even have access to so here's how you send your location to your friends using a little more than Google Maps and a well-placed text message or email pop over into the Google Maps app and make sure that your phone has an accurate fix on your location by tapping the find me button in the upper right corner of the screen if you see a gigantic blue circle surrounding your location then you only have an approximate fix and you'll need to wait a few seconds for your GPS accuracy to improve or move to a spot where you have a better view of the sky once you're satisfied with your positioning accuracy tap on the blue arrow marking your location then tap the text bubble that appears you'll be brought to a menu that shows more information and options relevant to where you happen to be the option that you're interested in is the one that says send location to others tap that and you'll be presented with a variety sharing options you can now use your male clients or text messaging app to send your location to your pals on their end they'll receive a Google Maps link that can be used with the Google Maps app on their Android or iPhone in the Google Maps web app on any other phone or computer or opened with any other mapping app that supports Google Maps coordinate system such as MapQuest you can also use this message for sending any address business or a meeting place to your friends simply search for the business for example your favorite burrito spot and tap the location to bring up the Places page then tap the more options icon to share the location complete which street address return by turn directions with your friends using the share this place option and that's all there is to it you can now help your friends find you wherever you are or wherever you may be going without compromising your or their privacy be sure to check out the Android Atlas blog for even more Android tips and tricks and seeing that TV for more awesome how-to videos this has been anthlon Goodwin showing you how it's done you could find me right here on CNET comm naturally when it comes to mastering your Android phone these tips only scratch the surface but rest assured we'll keep bringing you more Android how-to advice all the time over at CNET TV calm now if you iPhone and iPad folks are feeling a little left out here's a video that's just for you how to manage the parental controls on your iOS device hi I'm Sharon Vaknin for cnet.com here with some advice that might save you a lot of money we've heard many stories about kids who spent hundreds of their parents dollars on apps especially games usually it's the in-app purchases that rack up your iTunes bill like the $25 barrel of Smurf berries in Smurfs village or a $20 jar of stars from taps ooh maybe a few of you purchase happy non parents should also take this advice I've seen enough adults obsessed with farmville to disable in-app purchasing on your device go to settings general than restrictions when you turn restrictions on you'll be asked to set a passcode pick one that no one can guess now you can configure a number of controls to disable in-app purchases scroll down to allowed content and switch it to off remember that on iOS 4.3 apple asks for your password each time an in-app purchase is made but this setting will completely disable these purchases you can also disable the installation of apps so that you choose what goes on the device there may be other things you don't want your kids doing either like downloading explicit music sharing their location or playing games with strangers all those settings and more are available here disabling downloads and in-app purchases it's good for passive control but here's an option that will help your child learn about budgeting iTunes has a little-known feature called store allowance it lets you send a monthly iTunes credit to another user so you can give your child $10 a month for app purchasing and they can decide how it will be budgeted go to the iTunes Store and click buy itunes gifts scroll down to allowances and click setup & allowance now before you do this you'll need your own iTunes account and the account of the person who's getting the money if they don't have one you can set one up in the next window once you fill out the form select the monthly allowance and you're set if you ever want to make changes go to your account information page allowance lets kids learn about budgeting without putting your credit card at risk if they run out of money they'll have to wait till next month for cnet.com I'm Sharon Vaknin and I'll you on the interwebs of course if you make your parental control strict enough your kids will probably lose all interest in using your iOS devices anyway so it's really a win-win situation okay let's wrap up our how-to extravaganza this week with a handy tip that anybody can use no matter what platform you're on assuming you like to read that is I'm Sharon Vaknin for cnet.com here to bring you back to the good old days we're seeing brick-and-mortar bookstores like foreigners go bankrupt as cheap online stores and ebooks are taking over so let's help keep one thing alive libraries today I'll show you how to checkout ebooks and audiobooks from your local library for free first you'll have to get off the couch walk out the door and head to your local library to get a library card then download the overdrive app it's available for almost every platform including Windows Mac iOS devices Android Blackberry and Windows Mobile overdrive is like the Kindle or iBooks apps for libraries once it's on your device open the app hit get books and then add a website you'll be asked to find your library once you do select the right library system now you're ready to find a book to download here's the annoying part though right now most libraries only have a few copies or licenses of each book you'll have to think back to your childhood and remember that if somebody else checked out the book you want you'll have to wait your turn each book can be loaned out for up to 14 days so if three people are on the waiting list ahead of you do the math that's 42 days but every library system has its own licenses for e-books and audiobooks so you might have to check a few libraries before finding the copy of your book when you do find a book that's ready for download hit add to cart and checkout this is the one you'll be asked to enter your library card number now confirm your checkout and hit download in the next screen overdrive will reopen and begin the download one thing to keep in mind is that books downloaded with overdrive can only be used with that app you won't be able to open them in any other ereader app like iBooks or Kindle overdrive isn't for people who need instant gratification so if that's what you're looking for you'll probably have to purchase your ebooks on digital platforms or go to one of the few physical bookstores left if you have any how-to questions comments or ideas for one of these videos email how to at Xena com4 CNET I'm Sharon Vaknin and I'll see you on the interwebs and the best part you don't have to return the books when you're done goodbye overdue charges alright let's take a break but come right back for more tech review right after this welcome back to the CNN tech review our weekly video digest of all things good and bad we've seen here at Sina TV continuing on in the good switching gears from phones and tablets let's talk to laptops and tablets as Brian coolly points out in this week's top 5 Apple may have cornered the tablet market for now but there are plenty of worthy competitors nipping at Apple's heels something like eighty-two percent of people who are considering a tablet are actually thinking of an iPad pretty stark numbers from a recent survey by change ways but I know you're more creative than that I'm Brian Cooley with top five tablets to beat the iPad listed by their ecosystem or platform number five check this out the Barnes and Noble Nook Color that's right an e-book reader but if you root this Android based reader bump it up to Android 2.2 Froyo you'll get a very credible Wi-Fi tablet it only costs about two and a half bills even less if you root around eBay to buy one and unlike the rest of the tablets in our list it's actually a real ebook reader with all that great screen technology now it'll have no access to 3g for data might be a little unstable and routing will void the warranty but what the hell you can afford to buy two of these for the price of most real tablets number four the blackberry playbook here's another category of one if you will the PlayBook has been impressive in our hands it's compact enough and it doesn't require you go bag shopping the same day you buy one and it uniquely pairs with your blackberry to inherit contacts calendar and email so it's like a blackberry that does media well which is something we weren't sure Rim would ever figure out number three the Windows 7 tablets from many of the big netbook names in most cases like a soos Lenovo Samsung now some people think a Windows 7 tablet is kind of oxymoronic since tablets normally have a lightweight operating system and use apps and this is of course a real operating system that uses programs and with Apple and Android blotting out the Sun these days Windows 7 tablets are a bit of a dark horse but 7 gets a lot of love for its performance on netbooks and you know how to use Windows right out the box and Microsoft has the guts of a great tablet OS already in Windows Phone 7 if it'll just liberate it to go to tablets number 2 the HP TouchPad running webOS everybody loves this operating system but in the past no one liked any other hardware it lived on the touchpad seems to give webOS the kind of device it was always meant for and don't forget HP is the biggest seller of PCs they sell a bajillion to consumers and businesses they're spillage alone is more than many companies actually make a living on so they can move a tablet before we get to our number one tablet that makes you think twice about an iPad here's a look at where tablets are going in 2011 after selling about 18 million tablets nearly all of them Apple in 2010 the predictions are that in 2011 Apple remains in a big lead role but the tablet sales will soar to 45 maybe 58 million units this may be the fastest hottest introduction in tech history okay the number one tablet to make you think twice before you pull the trigger on an iPad is anything Android from a Dell Streak 7 to a hefty Motorola Xoom this platforms breakout success on smartphones greases the skids with consumers and developers alike and the freed auto version of Android Honeycomb is white-hot and tablet centric oh and most of the new tablets that are gonna come out period are gonna be Android based they'll have multi carriers support in most cases oh and that's the other thing too they can display a flash website ok those are the families to watch like a bunch of mafiosi you got to be careful the specific tablets are breaking out weekly so stay on top at CNET's tablets section it's the busiest burner on our stove these days and for more top 5s like this head to top-5 cnet.com i'm brian coulis thanks for watching I don't like the idea of routing a note to turn it into more of a tablet than an e-reader if only someone could show us how to do that I'm looking at you Antwon and Sharon in the meantime let's see what we've got going on in the bag first off let me just say that the Acer Iconia isn't really all that bad but I had to put something in the slot so let's take a look at a laptop that's really cool and no one's ever gonna buy that's the bad part I'm Dan Ackerman and we are here with a laptop we have been waiting for for some time that is the Acer Iconia and as you can see it ditches the regular setup of a screen up on top and a keyboard down here for two independent 14-inch touch screens that's a little bit like a Nintendo DS or maybe like your iPad because you're supposed to use an on-screen keyboard to type now the way you get to that on-screen keyboard is simply by taking ten of your fingers and resting them lightly on the bottom screen and that pops up a keyboard that works about as well as the one on the iPad does which means that you'll need a few days of sort of self-training to get used to it but I actually found it fairly easy to use once again you kind of get over that learning curve you can also take one hand and put your five fingers down and that would give you kind of a media control jog wheel that lets you launch them specially apps and also get into a bunch of different settings designed for the touch screens and this machine in particular now we call systems like this kind of executive laptops because they're kind of gimmicky they're highly designed sometimes they're kind of overpriced and they're really meant for a sort of the CEO of the company to go hey I need one of these fancy things to put in my you know desk to impress people but they're not really meant for everyday use in terms of executive laptops the Iconia was actually a little bit easier to use than most even though it is really based on a big gimmick once we got used to typing on the screen even though there's not really any sort of feedback besides a clicking sound when you time we eventually got used to almost touch typing on it it was just enough of a hint of lag on the typing that if you're a super fast touch typist you might run into that for most people not so much of a problem our bigger issue was this there's a touchpad built into the bottom here but it's really too small and since it's a virtual touchpad you feel like they could really just make it as big they wanted but you're gonna end up going off the signs a lot and I actually found myself not using the touchpad as much just reaching up and clicking on the things I wanted on the top screen now I'm going to demonstrate very quickly some of the cool things you can do if you have two screens because the number one question we get about the system is why would I need two screens the first thing you can do is open up a web browser and maybe have it on the top screen or hit this little button there and flick it down to the bottom screen or you can have one window open at the top and an entirely different window open in the bottom and they're both you know touch sensitive so you can play around with them like that we also took a HD video and put it in the top screen then we took another HD video and put it in the bottom screen and play them both at once and it actually worked pretty smoothly we also did this with some online video and that worked as well there's also some custom made apps designed for the touch screen if you do the Fivefinger thing and you hit the touch browser that brings up a web browser that works across both screens automatically although you're really more likely to just use Chrome or Firefox or your favorite browser there's also a custom eight social media app and photo and video apps again you're more likely to just use your regular versions of those but there is a nice kind of control center where you can turn the back lights for the different screens off and on and perform a bunch of other power and system control functions now with 214 inch touchscreens this thing is pretty much a tank it's really thick it's really heavy especially compared to other 14 or even some 15-inch laptops we're also not happy that it uses the last generation of Intel processors if they moved up to the newer version there's something called Sandy Bridge you've helped me get better performance longer battery life and even some basic game playing ability as it is right now this thing really can't play games although as you saw it does the HD videos just fine one thing we did like about it is that for a so-called executive laptop compared to a lot of other laptops that are super fancy like the samsung series 9 or Dells at amo XPS this guy is actually relatively reasonably priced considering what you get it's about 1199 which certainly doesn't put it outside of the mainstream of a high-end mid-sized laptop pricing I'm Dan Ackerman and that is Acer Iconia I kind of feel like Acer made the Iconia just to prove that they could but in the end isn't it really just a big tablet that you have to fold and have to carry around all right let's go ahead and check out this week's bottom line from the laptop no one wanted to one that everybody does it's time to feast our eyes on the beauty that is the samsung series 9 I have been drooling over this thing since I first saw it at CES in January and here's Scott Stein to show you why hi I'm Scott Stein and this is not a MacBook Air it's a samsung series 9 laptop you may have heard about this back at CES 2011 and it is one of the most hyped laptops of this year especially if you're a Windows user it is a rival to the MacBook Air in terms of its design in terms of its size and weight and also in terms of its price this is a 1649 for the 13-inch samsung series 9 that's not cheap but it's about the same price as what you get for a similarly configured MacBook Air 13-inch actually it's a little bit more now the design on this features a duralumin exterior now that's a metal that samsung says is used to construct airplanes and has a nice brushed aluminum feel it certainly feels sturdy but on the inside it's a little bit plasticky around the keyboard area that's not the case on the all aluminum MacBook Air but it still feels great the keyboard is nice and large nearly the same as a MacBook Air and it has a nice large trackpad definitely one of the largest trackpads that we've seen on a Windows laptop it's a click pad so there are no discrete buttons you click on the bottom here on a sort of a levered button system it has a matte glass surface it feels great for multi-touch gestures very quick responding now as far as ports they're buried on the sides behind little doors that slide out it's a little unfortunate we prefer direct access to our ports but there are a few of them there are a couple of USB ports there's a mini HDMI port and there's a very funky special dongle that will connect to Ethernet well that's a little annoying there's no in a port on that MacBook Air either now inside this has a Sandy Bridge next-gen Intel Core i5 CPU but it runs in a slower clock speed than of those other core i5s that you see out there a low voltage processor we'll have to see how it tests in our full review and the battery that's integrated promises hopefully equivalent battery life as well comes with four gigs of RAM and a 128 gigabyte SSD drive that for the price range is half of what the MacBook Airs tend to provide for the cost you can get a 13-inch MacBook Air with a 128 gig SSD for about twelve hundred forty nine dollars which is cheaper this has integrated Intel second-generation graphics which as we've shown before are capable of playing some games we're not expecting a lot out of this one but it should be capable of playing some games we did get Street Fighter 4 - technically playback on this and speakers are buried on the sides here there are a little speaker ports on the side of the unit which actually have pretty good sound for its size I mean it's not going to shake a room and there are a couple of other nice little features on this laptop it has a backlit keyboard the screen as you might notice is matte which is very rare on laptops and some people are gonna want this laptop just for that and it has a very fast sleep-wake system built into it by flipping the lid and putting it to sleep it actually turns off all of the power to the unit and then will wake up extremely fast in about 3 seconds which is nice I'm a super speedy startup time and will conserve power boot up time they claim is about 60 percent faster than other hard drive based laptops we definitely found so far that it's a pretty fast boot time compared to Windows laptops overall this is definitely one of these sleekest sexiest Windows laptops and if you want to show off in a coffee shop with your futuristic high-tech machine over your latte well pick this one but you're gonna be paying a high price to do it however for its size for its portability it might be worth it for some people I'm Scott Stein and this is the new Samsung it's ear the bottom line this week why did I buy this thing oh all right well I'll save my buyers regret until the series 9 prices come down a little bit but oh my god it's gorgeous so gorgeous alright folks that's our show we'll be back next week with a brand spanking new CNET tech review until then there are tons of great videos available every day at scene at tv.com see you next time and thank you for watching