Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Should I get the iPad Air?

Watch Tom from Warren, OH Comments

Tom wants to know if he should get iPad Air. Leo says it's too soon to tell, but Apple has made it 40% lighter, and it's narrower while retaining the same screen size as previous full sized iPads. Leo says the Air will be a very good choice if he has an iPad or iPad 2, maybe even an iPad 3.

If he has an iPad 4, there really isn't any hurry to upgrade unless he just likes having the latest and greatest. Leo is actually preferring the iPad Mini with Retina display. It's even better because the DPI is higher, making it more sharp, along with the same guts as the iPad Air.

How can I backup my data and keep it up to date?

Watch Brian from New York, NY Comments

Brian was running backup with Carbonite and his hard drive crashed during the backup. Leo says that's bad luck and is likely a coincidence. Fortunately, Brian had a local backup. Leo says that a good backup strategy is what is known as a 3-2-1 backup. Three copies on two different formats, with one being off-site. Backing up and then deleting the original is not a backup. Redundancy is the key.

Leo says that there's a great utility called Second Copy which will update any changes to the main hard drive to the backup hard drive. It makes the second drive automated with every copy he has. SyncToy is from Microsoft, and it's free. He could also try SyncBack.

(Disclaimer: Carbonite is a sponsor)

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Can I install an SSD Drive in my Acer laptop?

Watch Don from Mojave Valley, AZ Comments

Don wants to know if he can install an SSD into his Acer laptop. Leo says that not all laptops can have their hard drives replaced, but if he can open it up and get to the hard drive, chances are he can replace it.

Why is my iMac running so slow?

Watch Sandy from El Cajon, CA Comments

Sandy has a 2008 iMac, running OS X Lion, and it's running really slow. Leo says it's likely that due to its age. One year to a computer is like 15 years in people time. Leo recommends upgrading to the new OS X Mavericks, but don't install Mavericks just yet, save it to a bootable USB Key.

Then she should backup her data, wipe the drive with Disc Utility and reinstall the new Operating System. That will streamline the hard drive and make it perform just like the day she bought it. It could also be laboring due to dust. The computer could likely use a good cleaning. What about a solid state drive? Leo says it may be too old to benefit from one.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

How can I raise money to build a web app?

Watch Mike from Medford, NY Comments

Mike is planning to write an app that will help him find where he's parked the car when he goes to an event or amusement park. It uses GPS and embeds it on Google Maps. How can he advertise it?

Leo says that Mike has done an interesting thing by posting his app proposal on Kickstarter to see if people will buy the app before he writes it. Leo says it's an interesting idea, but there's no guarantee that people will get the app after they give him the money. Kickstarter is now being more stringent on conditions for proposals to raise money.

How can I get support for my Pebble Watch?

Watch GJ from Santa Barbara, CA Comments

GJ has an idea for how to avoid the CryptoLocker virus. He says people can turn on "File History" in Windows 8 or "Volume Shadow Copy" in Windows 7. Leo says the issue is "hot backups". If he'd have a "hot backup" that is running, it will backup the encrypted file. With versioning turned on, it would be possible to go back to a version of the file before it was encrypted. So Leo says to be careful and not assume that all backups would be alright, but the new versioning in Windows 8 would help.

GJ got a Pebble Watch and it died after a few weeks. So far, he hasn't been able to get any support from Pebble, so he returned it. Leo says that these smart watches are interesting, but there seems to be a lot of return rates on not only the Pebble, but also the Samsung Galaxy Gear. Leo says that clearly the gang over at Pebble hasn't built up it's support division as it should. They probably didn't build the cost of support into the device, which is pretty obvious and unfortunate. But support issues don't plague just small companies. Larger companies have support issues as well because it can really suck up the profit margin. This is why Apple builds that support cost into the cost of the device.

What smartphone should I get, Windows Phone or Android?

Watch Mike from Woodland Hills, CA Comments

Mike is looking to get a new smartphone and he's thinking about Android. Leo says that Mike did the right thing by starting with the carrier he wanted to deal with first. Now he's looking at the Nokia 521 Windows Phone and a Samsung Android phone. Leo says that since Mike has never had a smartphone before, the Nokia Lumia 521 Windows phone is a good entry level offering. Great for someone who has never used one or has a computer. It's far better than an entry-level Android phone.