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Sunday, January 30, 2005

Show #114

In today’s show: Dave Ciccone, publisher of one of the best iPaq sites, Dave’s iPAQ is being threatened by Microsoft for publishing information Microsoft is featuring on its own site. Dave will join us in the 12p hour to tell us the story.

 toc | toc 

Today’s news items

The US Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation has suggested a 3% excise tax on all Internet and data connections. The tax is currently levied on traditional telephone service, but the Committee says it makes sense to extend it to modern telecom services. It’s not a recommendation - it’s an “option.” This is one to watch.

Bill adds:
For Californian’s interested in expressing their opposition to this tax, go to Congressman Bill Thomas’ feedback page and make your voice heard.

9.3 million consumers were hit by identity theft last year. Only 12 percent of it happened electronically, however. Most identity fraud comes from dumpster diving, stolen wallets and mail. In fact, according to the study by Wells Fargo, Visa, and Checkfree, people with electronic accounts suffered lower losses because they were more likely to catch the thefts early. The good news is that there was a slight drop in identity theft in 2004 over 2003.

Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP, says the flaw in Microsoft Office encryption is serious and deserves immediate attention. He says, “if Microsoft wants to earn the respect of the cryptographic community and the public it must rise to the occasion by producing competent security.” No patch is available.

Apple has already cut prices on Mac mini add-ons. A gig of RAM is now a more reasonable $325, down from $470. The Airport/Bluetooth combo is just $99. Maybe this is just a way to hype Apple Stores’ price protection.

Bill adds:
Memory suppliers like Crucial.com already sell RAM for the Mac Mini, with 1GB going for $226. Of course, you’ll have to open the case yourself. It’s not too difficult, and can be accomplished with a putty knife. There’s a QuickTime video that shows how to do it available here.

For all the news updated throughout the week, visit my blog.

Mitch Adds:
Firefox 1.1 most likely will not be released in early March as it was originally scheduled to, due to the amount of work needed. Version 2 of Firefox is still expected to be launched by the end of the year.

iMovie HD already has one patched bug in it, just weeks after it was announced at MWSF. The bug involved audio and video synchronization, but has now been corrected with version 5.0.1.

Microsoft and Verizon have decided to team up to provide media over highspeed internet. This deal is much like the deal that Microsoft has with SBC and Comcast. Verizon will use the software to send High Definition TV and On Demand services to its customers. This service will use Verizon’s new fiber-optic network, which means we may have the highspeed internet to our homes using FiOS later this year!

DaveG Added:

Sonic MyDVD Studio 6.1 was quietly released for the users of the TiVoToGo feature. This allows you to burn the recorded show from TiVo to a DVD for playback on most standalone DVD players. The basic version of MyDVD is $49.99 ($20 discount for TiVo users). They also have 2 upgraded versions: Deluxe $69.99 ($30 off) that adds the Label creator and Deluxe Suite $99.99 ($50 off) that adds the BackUp PC program.

Mike B’s trivia question of the day

Who invented the World Wide Web? ¹
a) Al Gore
b) Vinton Cerf
c) Tim Berners-Lee
d) Leo Laporte

11a-Noon

Thomas in Long Beach - VoIP questions

He’s a Vonage user and was asking about Internet telephony. I use Packet8 and Vonage, and prefer the sound quality of Packet8 (that’s one of the reasons I do commercials for them). The biggest difference, however, is in 911 calls. 911 is free with Vonage, but it’s not true 911 - your calls are routed through a Regional Emergency center but can end up on a non-emergency number. As far as I know, Packet8 is the only VoIP provider that uses a true 911, but you pay a little more for it.
NetJocky adds:
As to Thomas’ question; “What ever happened to Kate Botello from techTV?” Find her here… http://www.katebotello.net/

Pam in Sun City - maximizing Windows whenever they open

It’s really up to the program to do that. There is a shareware program that will resize windows when they open, but I don’t recommend it. It’s always running in the background, monitors window opens, then resizes them. Try the free trial, but I think you’ll find it’s annoying and can cause relibility issues.

Jim writes:

I’ve used AutoSizer since IE4 days with complete success. It has never caused any interference, will resize almost any window, IE or otherwise, and uses almost no resources. Free, here: http://www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/ Recommended.

Cameron in La Puente - sister is being hacked

Read Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling The Wily Hacker by William Cheswick, Steve Bellovin, and Avi Rubin. It’s the best book on how hackers work and how to repel them.

WinXPNo#1 adds:

Cameron should download these programs from Gibson Research Corporation Home Page unplug n’ pray at UnPlug n’ Pray - Disable the Dangerous UPnP Internet Server, DCOMbobulator at DCOMbobulator and Shoot The Messenger at Shoot The Messenger

Also from grc.com scan your computer for Internet security checkup at ShieldsUP!, LeakTest and The Classic DoS Attack Report

You should download and use Firefox browser instead of Explorer browser.

For spyware download programs go to AdAware, SpyBot Search and Destroy and Spyware Blaster

For anti-virus go and download AVG

Noon-1p

Kari in Long Beach - podcasting advice

She is the queen of all media in the 562 area code with a TV show, Internet radio show, and newspaper column. (Check out her site at www.theprimespot.com.) Can she use her MiniDisc recorder and built-in microphone for interviews? You bet. Lots of radio reporters do just that.

Mark in Santa Ana - errors

His and his mom’s new Dells are crashing frequently with shell32 errors. That usually means an incompatibility between Explorer (that’s shell32) and some other software. First thing to update: your video driver.

Jeff in LaVerne - getting stereo sound from his surround sound system

He’s purchased a Niles speaker selector to route audio into other rooms of his house, but it wants stereo inputs and he has a 5.1 receiver. Look for stereo out on the back of your receiver and use that.

I have a Yamaha HTR 5790 Receiver. It allows different formats and a different source for up to 3 zones. Each zone can be controlled with the one remote for volume, tone, source,etc. I have the 5.1 set up for the theater and stereo set up for zone 2 (other rooms in the home) and stereo set up for the back yard in Zone 3. I can select TV sound for all zones or I can select radio for zone 2 and CD for zone 3 or select any source for any zone. All this while getting 5.1 on the theater speakers while watching a DVD movie or TV broadcast. Yamaha internal Amp’s can be turned on or off to drive zone 2 and 3 speakers.

Ken

1–2p

Joe in Sebastapol - iPAQ and Internet Radio

Listens to the Internet stream on his Wi-FI based iPAQ.

Henry in Riverside - Garageband 2 and VoIP in business

Are the loops on .Mac worth getting? You bet - they’re a subset of the jam Packs Apple charges $99 each for.

I think VoIP is an excellent choice for business - you get many more features and save considerable money.

Jeff in Santa Ana adds:
John C. Dvorak’s take on businesses using VoIP Phones (He doesn’t like the notion.)
[[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1753984,00.asp | toc

Erik in Bakersfield Adds:

I have been using Vonage for about 3 months. I love all the free features that come with VoiP. Including the real time web site that allows you to make real time changes to your account. I do notice the “cell phone” voice loss while I’m in a call. (once in a while) I just use my Voip as a 2nd line for my home. I still use SBC for my primary phone service. At least when the power goes out the SBC service stays on. That’s a big downside to using VoiP as your primary service provider in an emergency or power outage your “up a creek”. I guess you could get a UPS and power the modem & VoiP box. But let’s get real!!

Chris in Pittsburgh adds:

I too have been using Vonage for about 3 months. It is my primary phone. No problems. One thing Vonage offers that I found Packet8 did not, is forwarding to another phone if the cable internet goes out. If it goes out, calls are forwarded to my cell phone. Either service will send it to voice mail, but I like the forwarding as I don’t use the voice mail, I use my home answering machine (because I can check from any of my handsets.) Also, Packet8 charges $3 for its 911 service. Another plus with Vonage, you can dial 7, 10 or 11 digits to place a call. Packet8 requires the 11. And, I like the web interface better. I do have mine plugged into my UPS as well. Although I have the cell phone if needed.

Joe in San Jacinto - spyware in his Windows prefetch folder

Even if you clean your prefetch folder the malware will reappear there. The folder is where Windows stores resources that get loaded on each startup. You’ve got to root out the infection at its source.

Joe already has good virus and spyware protection, but just in case, I’d visit Housecall and get a second opinion on the viruses. (You’ll need to do this with IE). Then go to www.grc.com and run Shields Up to check for security holes in your system. You’ll probably want to check to make sure Universal PnP is turned off in your router. And close any ports that have been forwarded. Make sure you’re not using the default password either.

Finally, use Hijack This to manually remove any spyware that the automatic tools can’t delete.

Brian in San Diego - PDA for school

He wants to synch with school calendar on dot-Mac and Filemaker mobile. I recommend Palm, for sure. You can use Pocket PCs with Macs with PocketMac, but it’s not perfect. I like the Zire 72.

Mike in Red Bud Adds:

If you don’t need the camera, another great option is the Tungsten E which can be had for less than $200. It has a beautiful hi-res color screen and plenty of memory for everyday use.

Jason in Lancaster - problems with NTI Backup now

They won’t give him his PIN number. Well that stinks, but they probably don’t have any legal obligation to do so. I don’t recommend backup software anyway. Just copy My Documents to a CD-R - then you can restore the files anywhere and you can reassure yourself that they’re ok. If you must buy backup software, I prefer Dantz’s Retrospect.

He also has reinstalled Windows several times and now gets a dialog asking him to choose which installation. You can edit the BOOT.INI file to remove the other lines, or do it by opening the System Properties control panel, clicking the Advanced tab, pressing the Settings button under Startup and Recovery, then pressing the Edit button.
Ugh.

Chat Logs and Show Audio

¹ The answer is c) Tim Berners-Lee. In 1980, Berners-Lee proposed a project based on the concept of hypertext to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers. On August 6, 1991 the first web site was created. (↑)