Tablets vs. Laptops, Frequent Smartphone Upgrades, and Cookware for Beginners

This week on the podcast we're discussing whether or not a Windows Surface can replace your laptop, how to frequently upgrade your smartphone on the cheap, and the Twitter password leak. We're also answering your questions about cookware for beginners, upgrading or clean installing Windows 8, and making smartphone alerts actually useful.

How to Listen to This Week's Episode

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Questions and Answers

Each week we answer five questions from readers and listeners. Here's what we tackled this week.

• Can you recommend cookware for someone who is just learning to cook? We've suggested many great kitchen upgrades that are relevant to the beginner, but really your just need a bunch of mid-range items that you buy separately. (According to Alan, buying cookware in a bundle means you get a bunch of crap.) Apartment Ratings and Quora have some great suggestions, and Alan highly recommends picking up a Victorinox Chef's Knife, but listen to the podcast for several more suggestions.
• Should I upgrade to Windows 8 with a clean install or standard upgrade? Windows 8 makes upgrading really easy, so you shouldn't run into too much trouble. Just run maintenance tasks first and you should be good to go. That said, if you really want to do a clean install because you've got years of crap piled up and want to start fresh, go for it. We like performing clean installs. You can also always upgrade first and then do a clean install after if things aren't as speedy and perfect as you'd like.
• Is there a webapp that can combine IMAP accounts? We haven't tried it, but mail2web looks like the way to go.
• How can I make my ringtones and alerts distinct so I know which apps they're coming from? We actually have a post about that! But we want to make an in-depth alert pack for this purpose because it's a great idea. Anyone who wants to contribute ideas to the alert pack, please email us! Despite that, you could always grab a cool ringtone pack or use sounds you find on the web, like the "You've Got Mail!" AOL alert for email.

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How Do I Submit a Question?

There are three ways to send in your question:

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.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Cruifi5-ijI/tablets-vs-laptops-frequent-smartphone-upgrades-and-cookware-for-beginners

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