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Sunday, May 1, 2005

Show #140

 toc | toc 

Happy May Day!

Today’s news items

One thing you won’t be able to buy in Apple Stores is a “Dummies” book. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is feuding with the publisher over an unauthorized biography called iCon Steve Jobs. Jobs pulled all titles published by Wiley and Sons from his stores in retaliation.

Digital music service RealNetworks will let people listen to 25 songs a month (or one song 25 times) for free as part of its strategy to lure customers away from digital music leader Apple Computer. Rhapsody to Go supports only two devices, from Creative Technology and iRiver.

A radio station in San Francisco is going all podcast. The entire programming day will be made up of listener submitted podcasts starting May 16.

Turner Broadcasting has announced a flat-fee Internet-based video gaming delivery service. For $10 to $20 a month you’ll have access to older titles downloaded to your PC via broadband. Turner will start with 300 games, adding five to 10 titles a week.

11a-Noon

Don - looking for a 4:3 laptop screen

He want’s a 17 inch screen but doesn’t want the 16:9 widescreen. Lots of manufacturers still make these. Look for an UXGA monitor - that’s 1600×1200 which is in a 4:3 ratio. Dell, Sony, IBM, Dell, and others make these.

Richard in Fullerton - software license agreements

are they legally binding? should I worry about the terms changing?
The so called “shrinkwrap licenses” have been generally upheld in court. However, I wouldn’t worry about them. Public pressure keeps the software companies from enforcing clauses that are unusually onerous.

“End User Licence Agreement”

If you’ve installed a lot of programs like I have , you’ve undoubtedly notice the “EULA” statements which the programmers require you to agree to before their software can be installed on your computer. Most people do not bother to read the “fine print” legal verbage, and automatically click the “Agree, OK, Next” button to continue with the installation. This is where many of the “spyware” programs will tell you that’s exactly what they are. I was retesting some old archived computer diagnostic programs used for getting rid of junk files off one’s computer. This “appeared” to be a legtimate program, but I don’t think I would ever want to trust this one as a permanent installation. I happened to read this guys EULA all the way through. I think he was only joking……(maybe)

Reading down to the end of the End User License Agreement it read:

7. User gives the program author their eternal souls upon execution of this program.

8. Any user who actually reads this far gets to keep their eternal soul. (I guess I’m safe.)

 User is defined as anyone who uses this product despite whether they have read
 or agreed to this agreement. This agreement is in effect if NecroFile is executed
 under any situation and applies to all users despite their knowledge or lack 
 thereof of this agreement. Soul is non-refundable.

Install with caution, Guys !

Lily in Venice - first digital camera

Additional things to consider:

• shutter lag time
• lens quality
• camers software quality
• the largest size prints you plan to make
• zoom (extra long zooms beyond 4x are difficult to shoot handheld)

She’s looking at the Kodak 7590, Olympus 770, and Canon S2IS. I also like the Nikon 5900.

Read the reviews at www.DigitalCameraInfo.com

Additional reviews at www.dcresource.com and www.dpreview.com

www.pbase.com is a GREAT site that is a global posting place
that you can search for a specific camera by brand and model and look at galleries that were created with the models of cameras your looking at
it lets you see how pictures turn out in a real world enviroment in the hands of real people, in every day situations

Noon-1p

Freddie in Los Angeles - when will prices drop

Sony 70″ XBR

Randy in La Dara Ranch - Firefox screwed up my system

Upgrading Firefox, uninstall, backup bookmarks, delteing the profiles

The installer for Mozilla Firefox (at least versions 1.0 to 1.2) apparently does not just overwrite existing files..it reinstalls Firefox completely. Thus, on the software install/remove page of Windows, you may see multiple entries for Firefox. On the Mozilla.org page, it is noted that you may need to copy the profiles (for each user)to a folder or desktop, remove Firefox completely, and then reinstall it. Then move the profiles back to the original location. I don’t know if this problem has been fixed in recent installers

Seth in Methuen, MA - using copyright music in podcasts

Don’t unless you want a bill from ASCAP or BMI. Only churches and schools can perform copyrighted music without playing license fees. I recommend using free music from Creative Commons. And if you’re a podcaster, webmaster, or any kind of content creator, I recommend using the Creative Commons licenses to protect your content, while letting people use it. I license all my stuff (including this wiki). Click the Creative Commons badge at the bottom of the page to see what my terms are.

Seth’s podcast is available at www.sethgraham.com.

Paul in Los Angeles - Microsoft AntiSpyware expires in August and Windows Server 2003

The pre-release test version is free right now, and, good news, Microsoft has announced that they will give it away when the beta test is over. Look for the official release in the next month or two.

He’s also looking for a good RegCleaner. I don’t generally recommend them since the benefits are minimal and the risk is high. But there is a very good free one called ???

He’s also looking for good, easy to understand sources of information on Windows Server 2003. Any suggestions gang?

Check into Windows Small Business Server 2003 Users Group or (Harry Brelsford’s) Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices. Good Book!

By far one of the best sites for Windows Server 2000\2003 information is…http://www.minasi.com/

Here you can find probably the best free user forum on the net. The people are nice, helpful and very encouraging to someone who might be just starting out. The site is also home to famed author Mark Minasi. His current book is “Masetering Windows Server 2003″. It is the BEST Server 2003 book you can get. Just go to amazon and read the reviews. Minasi makes dull material fun and enjoyable. He writes in a manner that is easy to understand for newbies but gets some detail for more experienced admins. Hope this helps!

Michael

WinXPo#1 say

Here are some registry cleaner’s below.

Registry Mechanic
Beclean
CCleaner
CleanCache
jv16 PowerTools - OldVersion.com
RegCleaner
RegCool
RegscrubXP
RegSeeker
RegSupreme
Registry Cleaner and Disk Cleaner Utilities

Paul in Santa Monica - Outgoing email is blocked

Ping Port 25 (the outgoing email port) to see if it’s being blocked. Read this FAQ for instructions. Comcast has recently begun blocking port 25, so you might ask them if they’re blocking. You should also make sure you’re not running any agressive security software. Norton Internet Security, for example, should be disabled before testing your connection. Jim in kansas recomends looking at this page COMCAST

Try pinging 127.0.0.1 one each machine see if you get a response. Then ping your own IP address to make sure you have good connection there. Finally if you have a router see if you can ping the router address. If you have a router make sure that port 25 is open for outbound traffic.

Aunti Mac adds -
SBC Global and all their independents like DSL Extreme, etc. started blocking Port 25 about two months ago on a “rolling basis” (means it will eventually get to you) to stop “relay SPAMMERS”. Others have been doing this for a while, more will be doing it as well. BUT, you can call SBC Global and request (make it a demand) to open Port 25 and they will do so. Be sure to “restart” you DSL modem to initiate the status change, ‘cause some of their techs will forget to tell you this.
- Your Cross Platform geek at your service, AuntiMac out! -

John d Geek adds:
I would check this comcast site out. I also use Comcast for internet connectivity and I have not had any problems sending e-mail at all. The link I posted shoould setup the e-mail for your friend with just a few clicks.

1–2p

Victor in Anaheim - 3D animation software

He recommends Animation Master for $299. Check out www.PixelCorps.com for a great group that will help you learn how to use 3D software.

Blender is a high quality 3D modeling, animation, and video editing tool that is free and open source.
Blender Homepage
Blender Gallery, also look through the archive
Blender Book

John d Geek adds: Check out the free version of 3DMax here! It’s called gmax and it’s meant for all people that want to mod games. The cool thing about it though is that you are using 3DMax sans rendering tools.

Daniel in Reno, NV - Microphones for the computer

I use and recommend the Plantronics DSP-100 - it’s a USB headset mic that works great with Skype and for podcasting.

Alan from Lexington, KY - control panel won’t open

Click Start→Run, and enter control to see if you can open the control panel folder. If it doesn’t open it’s likely your registry is munged (the “Control Panel” is actually a special folder - read all about it here. Re-registering the Control Panel folder might fix this problem.

You can open individual control panels using the same technique. For example, control mouse opens the Mouse control panel. Check [[names of all the control panels.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313808/EN-US/ this list]] from Microsoft for the
names of all the Windows standard control panels.

Jim in Los Angeles - can’t share files

There are lots of possible causes (generally none of them show up in the error messages). Take a look at the extensive file and print sharing troublehooting guide at Tom’s Networking.

John in Pasadena - Mac anti-virus

You don’t need one. Nor antispyware neither. They’re not a problem on the Mac platform.

I disagree Leo, while Macs may not get virus’, they sure do propogate them. I work for a .edu and on my file server, most virus’ come from the Macs. Of course the Mac users don’t know they even have then but I have to read the scan logs everyday :( Also, if a mac user forwards an infected file to a Windows user, that is not good as well should the Windows user not be protected. As far a good Mac anti-virus, we standardized on Virex 7.6 from McAfee. The sophos product is also nice.

Michael
Au_scott adds:
Not true you are more likley to get a virius from a windows machine than a mac and some viriuses will not even get on a mac and if you get viriuses on a server get rid of it and get an Xserv G5 from apple and get rid of all your windows machines and get macs dont say it is a mac users fualt if you get a virius and you are using a windows computer

Scott, you are missing the entire point to my posting. I agree, Macs do not get virus’, but they do PROPOGATE them. Suppose some fool mac user downloads an infected mp3 or movie from Limewire, now they have a virus on their system, it has just not affected the system. Now say that person shares that file to someone else, they have propogated that virus.

And get rid of all my Windows machines and Widows servers? Not hardly, in todays business environment, MS Windows dominates, and the Windows server platform far outshines the Mac server. For a fortune 500 company, we will standardize on Windows thank you.

Aunti Mac adds -
Here Here Michael!!, you are absolutley RIGHT and Scott you have no idea what you are talking about in a REAL cross-platform envirnoment. I consult with 4 different school districts and our biggest problem is the Mac’s on our networks being blind carriers of Viruses, Worms and Trojans. The “black hat” hackers have been wise to the idea of “parking” malware on Mac’s in networks where PC’s might not be defensive against “cross-pollination” within an intranet. I’ve read in the past that many of the Windows Virus writers use Mac’s and Linux computers, which makes sense, but not that all of these platform users are bad guys, just the malcontents. NOT having an anti-virus app on any computer platform is just plain naive and negligent to other
users.

Thanks for the love Aunti Mac. I would think most listeners to Leo were more educated to living in a multi-platform world but I guess not. Good luck with those school districts. I feel your pain.

scott adds:
Ok i did not mean the mac is better than windows thing i just wanted to see how many people would be anoyed and complain and say i was an idiot

look i see that mac’s can move windows viriuses but why should a home user get an anti virues, they should not have to and the person calling did not need to buy one and should not have to. You come along and make things hard for people to uunderstand so i tock some pot shots at windows. I use windows and have a mac and have an anti virus on my mac and have never picked up a windows virus and am sick of people who think that mac users shhould buy somthing to protect windows users.

so now i am going to take more pot shots at windows
it is full of spegti code
it is unstable
it is prone to spywear addwear malwera ect
i hate it because i had to use it for so long and i spend my time fixing peoples windows problems

Aunti Mac, interjects
I got to say that this is the most reckless attitude I ever heard and some of the worst English, “scott”. So, I guess you’d also say that YOU shouldn’t have to get Tuburculosis or Polio vacine, so if you catch it, it’s just too bad for others that you might be around that might become infected by you! Pretty selfish thinking, if thinking was even involved.

And by the way scott, in my school districts IT departments routine repair duties, we have had to repair just as many Macs with crashed and corrupted OS X operating systems by percentage, as we do Windows PCs!
- Windows XP offers a safe step back OS recover ability that DOESN’T exist in Mac OS X of any flavor.
- Apple has had to issue OS X and Apple application Security updates on a near bi-monthly basis since 2003.
- It seems to our IT Departments experience, that most Apple updates to fix bugs ,create even more.
- EVERY new release of Mac OS X has had major bugs that Apple uses it customers to find, MacFixit.com is full of user complaints everyday. OS X Tiger has generated full daily coverage of OS X Tiger BUGS now since the day it went public.
- We (our school districts) have returned more Macs to Apple, by a factor of 4:1, for complete failure under warranty than all the other PC brands we’ve bought (Dell, Gateway and IBM) in the last three years. 23% of the iBooks we bought had total Logic Board and LCD display failures within the first year, in 2003 and 2004!

Soon Macs will also become a Malware target, so to play it real safe scott, perhaps you should switch again to an Etch-A-Sketch, so your reckless attitide isn’t a danger to the rest of the computing world.

scott continues to babble:
Mabby we mac and windows and linux users can unite and hunt down and get the real people who we hate the people who make the viruses in the first place.

PS. I moved to mac so i would not have to deal with windows problems and i am not going to. Let windows users deal with windows problems. I do not go around asking windows to buy things to make life easy for me i dont even complain that windos could be more compatibul with mac so what gives windows users the right to say that i should spend my money on somthing to help windows users

If you dont want to deal with windows problems move to linux

MichaelP. >For those of you who Missed the audio on the 10′th of april here is the audio [[http://s45.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2TTIPZYB8M87P0F56X2R6EG0R7 | toc it is a 163 mb MP3 It will only be available for 7 days at usendit if you dont get it i can re post it later or send me an email at kansasjim@gmail.com Jim in Kansas<

Thanks, Jim. I’ve posted 4/10′s show now in the Audio Archives. —Leo

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