Hardware

Rich has a bunch of filing cabinets full of papers he wants to digitize. Thoughts on how to do that? Leo says the first step is to get a network-attached storage (NAS) so he can access the data. But you can also use a laptop with a 1TB or larger hard drive. That'll work too. To scan, the Epson Fast Photo has a sheet feeder that enables for high speed, high volume scanning. The feeder will scan up to 1 page per second. Another option is Neat Receipts document scanner. Both will create PDFs pretty quickly. 

Jerry is into ham radios and he wants to know if a software-driven radio is a way to go. Leo says that everyone is going with software-driven radio design now, and a lot of Chinese companies have flooded the market with inexpensive models. SDR USB dongles can even turn a computer into ham radio. But he's frustrated because it doesn't save his information or channels and he has to reacquire everything. Leo says that sounds like a flaw in its design. It could also require a driver for that USB dongle. Or, turn on the computer. Let is power-up, and then plug it in.

Cara's mother is recovering from a stroke and she wants to know how she can still communicate by email on her Chromebook. Leo says that Google Assistant will voice dictate, so she can activate it and dictate. Then she can clean it up before sending it. Google has gotten really good with it. The Google NEST Home Hub Max makes a great video caller. She can also do that. There's also the Facebook portal. One even connects to the TV.

Lex hears that "end of life" support is coming for some Chromebooks. How safe will a Chromebook be after those dates? Leo says that new devices will have six and a half years of auto-updates, while much older generation Chromebooks have already been phased out of support. But Chromebooks are still incredibly secure. It'll be fine to continue to use.  Will a VPN help? Leo says not really.