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Episode 911 September 22, 2012

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Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Is this email claiming that I won an iPad legit?

Watch Josh from Apple valley, CA Comments

Josh is suspicious, and Leo says Josh should be. That's a scam designed to get you to click on a link to install malware on your system. Scammers can spoof anyone's email address to make it look like it's coming from somewhere else. Leo can guarantee that Josh is not getting an iPad from Google.

Why does HDTV look so bad on the showroom floor?

Watch Steven from Birmingham, AL Comments

One reason is that the DSP processing can vary when showing SD shows. Scott says that by default, the TVs are mis-calibrated on purpose so they can compete when shown off on a retailer's showroom floor. When someone buys a TV and takes it home, it's calibrated to be too bright and too blue, and needs to be re-calibrated for a home environment. Scott recommends that people take their TV and open the picture menu and select "Movie" or "Cinema" mode. Or, if it's a THX certified TV, then THX Mode.

Will upgrading to Mountain Lion rearrange the partitions on my Macbook drive?

Watch William from Puerto Rico Comments

William has a Macbook, and he's dual booting Windows 7 and Snow Leopard with Boot Camp. He's wondering if upgrading to Mountain Lion would rearrange his partitions.

Leo says it won't, and it's pretty easy to do it. It will create a recovery partition for it, but it's pretty straight forward and won't affect other partitions. Leo recommends that he do the upgrade in place.

Leo also says that it used to be best to do clean installs, but upgrading has gotten much better lately.

How can I backup the database from HP Server Manager to use it offline?

Watch Phyllis from California Comments

Sybil, in the chatroom, says that Microsoft Access can import any database if she can point to it and see it. The chatroom believes it's SQL Server. So, there's a good chance she can use that option.

Another option is to switch to Jira. Leo also recommends listening to This Week in Enterprise Tech with Fr. Robert Ballecer (PadreSJ in the chatroom) on TWiT. It's on Mondays and it's a great show for learning more about the IT world.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

How can I quickly access sound clips while doing a radio show?

Watch Kali from Riverside, CA Comments

Kali wants to do a radio show online and he'd like to pull up sound effects and clips quickly. There are plenty of software options, and even a hardware option, to do this:

  • SoundBoard

    • This is an iPad app by Ambrosia Software. This would let him assign sounds to buttons on pages. This is what Leo would recommend doing.

  • QLab

    • This is a sound board application that runs on Mac.

  • Soundboard Maker Pro

    • This is an app for Android.

  • 360 Systems Instant Replay

    • This is an actual hardware device for quickly accessing sounds.

Check out LionsTent Radio on Facebook.

Is there something I can get to convert my cassette tapes to mp3?

Watch Adam from Alva, Oklahoma Comments

Leo says yes, and it's a good idea to do that because those tapes will degrade over time. He can use the Griffin iMic to get them on his computer. It's a USB device, but he'll still need a cassette player to play the tapes. He should use line level input.

He could also use this all in one unit.

Why does my computer start slowing down when I browse the internet? (Part 1)

Watch Robert from Gilbert, AZ Comments

Leo says that something is taking up a great deal of RAM and it's causing the computer to labor hard and slow down. "Services" are just things running in the background. He can examine what services are running to get an idea of what's slowing down his computer by right clicking on "My Computer", then click "Manage", and click the "Services" tab. This will show him a list of all the services that are running. Windows may also be indexing the computer at bad times.

Process Explorer would also tell him what is running on his system. Or he could run Task Manager (by pressing "Control-Alt-Delete"), click on "processes", and then right click "Service Host".

He should make sure he has at least 4GB of RAM. He can find out how much RAM he has by right clicking on "My Computer".

Malware could be a culprit here as well. He should run the Malicious Software Removal Tool by clicking on "Run" from the Start menu, and typing "MRT".

Is the Samsung Galaxy Reverb a decent phone? (Part 2)

Watch Robert from Gilbert, AZ Comments

Robert wants to know about the Samsung Reverb Android Phone. Leo says it's a low end Android phone. Get the Galaxy SIII.

Are there any alternatives to Google Voice?

Watch Jared from Whittier, CA Comments

There are other options, but they are not free.

  • Grasshopper.com

    • This is a good one for personal use.

  • Ring Central

    • This is a good option for business. (Disclaimer: RingCentral is a sponsor).

  • Mighty Text

    • This is an app that integrates into an Android phone, and allows for texting from the desktop using the phone's number.

  • Evoice

    • This also allows the use of a virtual number that can be routed to other phones.

There are a list of more alternatives here.

Also, he's up for a new phone and is wondering whether to stick with Android or go with iOS. Leo says if he's really into Google Voice, then Android is far better suited. iOS is too locked down. The real choice is the philosphy of locking down with a controlled experience, or open source but more chaotic.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Could I take the hard drive from my old computer and just put it into my new PC?

Watch Mike from California Comments

There are two problems with this. First, despite the fact that the computer may be similar to the old one, it's not identical. Drivers are different, so some things may not work. Leo recommends starting in safe mode first, and remove drivers for devices that had changed, then let Windows plug and play new drivers.

The other issue is going to be Windows Activation. When he loads Windows, Genuine Advantage will check to see if his Windows has been properly installed on a new machine. Sometimes just changing a component can cause the version of Windows to be deactivated. He could call Microsoft and let them know he's changed a few things on the computer and ask for a new activation number. There's a good chance they'll say yes, but he may have to buy a new copy of Windows anyway.

Another option is for him to put the old hard drive in as a second drive, then everything would still be there and copy protection won't be an issue.

Is there a good way to do search engine optimization (SEO)?

Watch Brian from Simi Valley, CA Comments

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be risky, because if he goes about it the wrong way, he could get banned by Google. There are, however, key things to do to improve his results. The first 1500 characters of his page should have everything about him. Read up on Google's document on SEO. There's also an article on BuzzFeed on Human Curation and SEO. There's a lot of good information at SearchEngineLand.com as well.

Why are the dimensions of my scanned photos suddenly different?

Watch Vicky from San Diego, CA Comments

The scanner probably reset itself to the default settings. She changed the settings to what she wanted, but the change isn't taking. Leo suggests using the scanner in pro or expert mode, because basic mode will make choices for her. It also sounds like buggy software, so check for updates on the site. Remember that the scanning software that comes with the scanner is only as up to date as the day the scanner was built.

Another option is third party software like VueScan. She'll also want to scan uncompressed, such as TIFF, so every bit of the data is there. JPEG compresses the image and tosses out unneeded details, which is not good for archiving. What DPI should she use? Leo says 1200 is the best, she doesn't need anything more than that. Enya, in the chatroom, is a graphics designer says that 1200 dpi is too high. 300-400 is plenty for printing. Leo says to future proof it, she'll want to be able to preserve all the data, so she shouldn't worry about the output. So 600 DPI may be fine.

Is the iPod Classic going to go away soon? (Part 1)

Watch Barbara from Redlands, CA Comments

Leo says they're not doomed just yet, but that seems to be the trend. People interested in buying music players tend to go with smartphones and double up so they don't have to carry multiple devices. There's always a need for music players for people working out and hiking, though.

If she wants to replace an iPod, Leo recommends using an iPod that will take the whole music collection. The iPod Classic may be the only one that could do that because of its 160 GB hard drive. If it will be used for working out and exercising, then the iPod Shuffle may be ideal, but it won't store a lot of music. There's also the new iPod Nano.

Since this is a gift for her son, Leo suggests sending him a gift card. That way he can choose exactly what he wants.

Is it worth repairing my 6 year old computer? (Part 2)

Watch Barbara from Redlands, CA Comments

Leo says don't bother. It's too old for modern computing. Get an iPad instead. Or, if she wants to keep a computer, then just get a new Dell. Leo likes the Dell XPS One.

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