Every TV has one: a button that zooms in on the picture, or changes the aspect ratio. Sometimes called View Mode, Format, Size, Zoom, or something similar, these modes have a variety of names, but all have the same purpose.

In reality, most of the time there is only one “correct” mode, the other modes offering less resolution, possible artifacts, and in a few limited cases, a better picture.

Overscan
One of the primary reasons why these controls exist is a “feature” called Overscan. In the olden days, TV makers had a lot of wiggle room in defining the edges of the image. So two TVs, of the same size, might show slightly more or less of the broadcast image. At the edges of the image, there was frequently a lot of noise (some of which was part of the image, some not).

MSNBC has the details HERE!

WiFi has easily been one of the most useful technologies of the past decade—so many of our daily tasks and the devices we use rely on it. But it’s on the verge of getting a whole lot better.

Technology upgrades we’ll see within the next year or so will make WiFi much smarter and more efficient in how it distributes signals. It’ll be so fast, and integrated into so many devices, that you may finally get to dump a lot of those cables cluttering your living room.

We talked about some of these upcoming advancements a few months back. Evolving WiFi standards were also a hot topic at last week’s Interop Las Vegas conference, where panelists and tech experts we interviewed updated us on the progress of the new standards and technologies that will improve our wireless lives.

Get the details HERE!

A Verizon executive said at a trade show this week the company would begin transitioning its 3G customers with unlimited data plans to the limited tiered-pricing plans it introduced last year.

Verizon has since clarified his comments, but it’s clear from the policy that, going forward, the carrier plans to get those customers grandfathered in on unlimited plans toward abandoning them.

Speaking to attendees at the JP Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference, as first reported by Fierce Wireless, CFO Fran Shammo said, “A lot of our 3G base is unlimited. As they start to migrate into 4G, they will have to come off of unlimited and go into the data share plan.

“And that is beneficial for us for many reasons, obviously.”

Obviously. After Shammo’s comments were widely publicized, Verizon backtracked — but only a little. It said customers who are on an unlimited data plan will only be forced to drop their unlimited plans if they buy a subsidized phone with a two-year contract.

Mashable has the story HERE!

Earlier this week, Verizon Wireless confirmed that current customers who still are under the unlimited data plan for $30 a month will soon be forced to change to the company's upcoming shared data plans. That will mean Sprint will be the only one of the four major US wireless carriers with a truly unlimited data plan for all of its customers, with no throttling or data overage charges.

Now Sprint is taking advantage of the situation by offering people who own an iPhone from a competitor to switch to Sprint, with its unlimited plan, and get some money off in the process. Sprint has posted word on its website that from now until July 1st, people who trade in an iPhone from Verizon, AT&T or any other wireless carrier that offers Apple's smartphone will get a $100 discount when they buy a new iPhone 4S.

Neowin has the details HERE!

Android Tablets

If you want to consider an Android tablet, now is not the time to buy. Though we've seen some speedy quad-core tablets like the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, we're still waiting for Android tablet makers to come out with screens that have higher than 1280 x 800 resolution. Both ASUS and Acer have announced 1920 x 1200 tablets, but neither one has hit the market yet. If you plunk down $500 on a tablet now, you'll feel silly when the new HD models arrive within the next couple of months.

Blackberrys

Research in Motion, the company that makes Blackberry phones, seems to be stuck in a time warp, offering phones that have the best specs of 2009, including single-core 800-MHz CPUs, tiny 2.4-inch screens and an outmoded BlackBerry 7 OS. Fortunately, RIM seems to understand the problem and plans to release an entirely new line of phones running its new BlackBerry 10 OS later this year.

eReaders

There are several great eReader options on the market right now, from the tablet-like Amazon Kindle Fire to the E Ink-powered Nook Simple Touch. However, as strong as the eReader offerings are today, they're about to get much better. Barnes & Noble just released its Simple Touch with GlowLight and rumor has it that Amazon is set to release its own backlit E Ink-based Kindle this summer.

The use of wireless technology in the latest medical devices found in hospitals, health clinics and doctor offices has become a major concern of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a bulletin issued this month, the DHS warned that while new technology brings efficiency, lower cost and better patient care, it also carries security risks that the multi-trillion-dollar healthcare industry may not be prepared to tackle.

"The communications security of medical devices to protect against theft of medical information and malicious intrusion is now becoming a major concern," the report, entitled "Attack Surface: Healthcare and Public Health Sector," said.

Doctors, nurses and ambulance workers are using wireless medical devices for diagnosis and treatment and to monitor changes in patients' health. The devices can be handheld, wheeled in on a stand or implanted, such as in the case of heart-sustaining pacemakers and defibrillators.

Get the details HERE!

When Windows 8 comes out later this year, the new Start screen and Metro-style apps will likely be the first changes you'll notice, but those aren't the only things that are new. Microsoft is also making some serious security enhancements to help keep your system safer and to improve Windows' ability to combat viruses and malware. It just may be the biggest improvement to Windows security yet.

Antivirus Comes Preinstalled

For the first time in the history of Windows, you’ll enjoy protection from viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, rootkits, and other malware from the very first day you turn on your Windows PC--without spending a cent. Windows 8 comes with an updated version of Windows Defender that includes traditional antivirus functions in addition to the spyware protection and other security features that it has offered since Windows Vista.

Get the full story HERE!

It's bad enough that file sharing is illegal, immoral, nasty, evil and dangerous, but the news just got a lot worse for those poor pirates: their low-down ways could be giving them the blues. TorrentFreak reports that a new study from the Missouri University of Science and Technology found that avid file sharers were more likely to be depressed than members of the law abiding, churchgoing citizenry.

We've spent a lot of time thinking and talking about piracy, but through all of that it never crossed our minds that torrents could be the reason we live our unbalanced, sad, anger filled lives in sorrow, held back only by hard (but legal!) drugs. But now it all seems so clear – or does it?

The study came to this startling conclusion by keeping tabs on how 216 students used the campus network. The results were then cross referenced with a self-rated depression scale (try it for yourself here!). Long story short, the people who spent the most time pirating were the saddest campers in the bunch.

Get the details HERE!