Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

How do AMD processors compare to Intel?

Watch George from Houston, TX Comments

AMD isn't really a competitor anymore. They're largely used in cheaper computers, and even the low-end has been supplanted with low power, low cost Intel processors. AnandTech.com has some great benchmarks on both, but he should get an Intel. They are faster and more reliable.

Why are the DVD player controls on my Macbook off the screen?

Watch Marsha from California Comments

Marsha has a MacBook Pro, but when she uses the DVD player, the control panel disappears when she goes full screen. Leo says it disappears by design. It should reappear when she hovers the cursor over it. If she can't get it back, she can try restarting the computer and starting over. She should also check System Preferences>>Displays and make sure it's set to the maximum display resolution.

There's also a feature to zoom in and out on the display. She can hold down the Control key, and then use two fingers on the trackpad until it zooms back out. She can also turn off gestures for the track pad in System Preferences so she doesn't accidentally zoom in again.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Why can't I tap phone numbers to call them from Google Chrome in my Samsung Galaxy SIII? (Part 1)

Watch Sundar from Midland, Maryland Comments

Leo says that's because of an Apple patent called "tap to click," which Apple sued Samsung over.

How can I sync my contacts onto my new Android phone without getting duplicates? (Part 2)

Watch Sundar from Midland, Maryland Comments

Whenever someone gets an Android phone, it will ask them to log in using their Google account. Unless he specifically chooses not to have it sync, it will sync his contacts. Since Sundar had already copied his contacts over using a microSD card, he has duplicates. Leo would stop syncing using the microSD card, and only sync with Google. Leo lets Google handle all of his contacts and calendar information, and he doesn't keep it anywhere else. The advantage to this is, when he gets a new phone, he just has to sync it to Google and he'll have the same address book everywhere.

Now that he has the duplicates, he'll need to find a way to get rid of them. Leo suggests going to contacts.google.com and merging contacts. He can clean up his address book there, then export it so he has a backup. The he should use the Google address book from then on.

Why won't WinZip or UnRAR open a Minecraft .jar file?

Watch William from Redlands, CA Comments

Leo thinks the Minecraft.jar is obfuscated or further encrypted, so he can't get into it. He wants to install modifiers for his Minecraft game. Chad of OMGCraft says that's not the way he'd want to go about it though. Chad says to use MCPatcher, which will patch the mods he wants into the Minecraft JAR files. This program will let him install his mods without having to do any coding by hand.

OMGCraft is on TWiT.tv Wednesdays at 9PM Pacific, 12AM Eastern time.

Can I move my applications to another computer?

Watch Mark from Toluca Lake, CA Comments

Leo says it's very difficult to move an app to another computer. Not only is it difficult just to move those programs, he's also moving them from 32bit to 64bit which in some cases is just not possible. Windows Vista has the capability to move programs built-in, but Leo doesn't recommend doing this at all. He really should buy new apps or install them from their original disks. Another option is to clone the drive from the old computer, and dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7 on the new computer.

Should I keep running Windows Home Server even though Microsoft discontinued it?

Watch Don from Arizona Comments

Leo says it shouldn't be an issue to keep running it since Microsoft will continue to support it for awhile. Windows 8 will have many of the same features, too. This will be less important as time goes on, because in the future he'll be storing everything in the cloud.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Could I use my old netbook as a home media server? (Part 1)

Watch John from Illinois Comments

He could install Plex on it, but since it's such an old computer, it may not be powerful enough to play some higher quality video files. He also wants to connect it to his TV using the old VGA port on it. Leo says that VGA is an analog signal, and he can get a VGA to HDMI adapter for it. It won't be cheap though, because it will have to convert it to a digital signal. It would cost over $100, which would be about as much as that netbook is probably worth.

He should check MonoPrice.com and look for a VGA to component cable. Some TVs also have VGA ports, so he might be able to use the TV as he would an external monitor.

Setting up a media server was explained on episode 4 of Know How with Leo Laporte and Iyaz Akhtar.

I love the app "Songza" that you talked about on iPad Today (Part 2)

Watch John from Illinois Comments

Songza is internet radio similar to Pandora, except with Songza users can find music based on moods instead of favorite artists. John heard about it on iPad Today hosted by Sarah Lane on TWiT. Songza also has an iOS and Android app and even is available on Sonos. Songza is free, although it's only available in the US for now.

Should I get Direct TV Everywhere or AT&T Uverse for TV service?

Watch Tamar from Los Angeles, CA Comments

Tamar is considering AT&T Uverse but the salesperson at Direct TV told her that on Uverse the Internet will slow down when she gets a phone call or watches TV. Leo says it may be true, but she'd have sufficient internet bandwidth to easily do both. However If she's watching an HD TV show and recording another HD show on DVR, then the internet speed will suffer because Uverse puts a higher priority on the TV signal.

She also is wondering if she would run into the bandwidth cap of 250GB a month if she's recording radio shows and downloading audio podcasts daily. Leo says audio is very small, and she would easily stay within her limits with that. If she's downloading video regularly, especially in HD, then she'll hit that cap.

Leo would look into a local cable company for internet and TV if that's an option in her area. Typically cable has a faster internet connection and they have better deals when bundled with TV. There's a website that can help called Broadband Reports. People can report in about their experience with internet service providers.

Should I use Bootcamp or Parallels for dual booting Windows on my Mac?

Watch Andy from Montana Comments

He can use both. It really depends on how much hard drive space he wants to dedicate to Windows. Bootcamp will take the hard drive and divide it into two partitions -- one will run Mac OS X, and the other will run Windows. When he starts up, he can choose whether it will be a Windows or Mac machine. When he boots into Windows, it is a full Windows computer and runs at full speed. All the memory and processing speed is devoted to Windows.

Virtualization software such as Parallels, VMware Fusion, and VirtualBox can actually use the Bootcamp installation of Windows and run it within Mac OS X, so he can have both running simultaneously.

Why does my 1080p PS3 game only work in 720p on my HDTV?

Watch Jacob from Alabama Comments

Jacob first got a game on his XBox 360, and it worked in full 1080p on his HDTV. He then returned it and got the Playstation 3 version of it, but now it only will work at 720p. It says on the box that he has to have a TV that supports HDCP. Leo says HDCP is copy protection, and it's very annoying.

Leo thinks his TV does support HDCP, but he might not have a compliant cable. The reason he didn't have an issue using the Xbox, but does have this problem with the Playstation is that the PS3 has a Blu-Ray player built in. That means they didn't have to implement HDCP on the Xbox. He should check his settings in the PS3 to make sure it's set up properly.

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