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Sunday, May 8, 2005
Show #142
toc | toc
The Mac Gathering is next week in North Hollywood. Get a special listener discount on tickets at their web site.
Today’s news items
Why are IQs in the industrialized nations consistently getting higher? Some say it’s because of video games.
The PDA isn’t dead yet, and the Blackberry is leading the pack.
A new Sober virus variant is spreading like wildfire - and we thought people knew better than to click on attachments
WiMax long range wireless Internet is growing. Seattle’s ISP Speakeasy is going to put it on the Space Needle.
Google has come up with a web accelerator that has some privacy advocates worried.
Al Gore DID invent the Internet. And he has a lifetime achievement award to prove it. He also gets the blame for coining the term “information superhighway.”
Yahoo introduces video search and is working on audio search next.
11a-Noon
Freddy in Los Angeles - bi-wire cables
Here’s the full description of the theory. It eliminates the need from crossover circuitry in the speaker and that might well make a difference.
Listener Bill writes:
Leo: I would credit your first instinct about bi-wire: It’s (likely) just more Audiophile Gobbledygook.
The article above on the workings of bi-wire has (mostly) valid explanation of how filters (audio crossovers) work, but the technique used is to explain the operation in different ways … at tedious length. The author does not clearly explain how bi-wire works!
The article is fairly useless.
A better article is referenced, however (http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm). This article also uses considerable nonsense (example: “Running separate wires from the amplifier can have a profound impact on relieving the tweeter circuit from the back flush of EMF (elector-motive force (sic)) generated by the woofer.”).
The idea is that the impedance of the wires is significant at audio frequencies, so separating them isolates the effect of speaker impedance variations from the other speaker. My offhand opinion is that if decent speaker cables are used, the effects are insignificant.
Of course, if testing results from a reputable laboratory on representative systems comes up with a noticeable improvement, I would be happy to change my opinion.
Frank in San Diego - AM interference
The FCC has a page on intereference with some good tips. But if the entire AM spectrum is being blocked on all radios in your home, there’s a serious problem. Call the FCC.
[sparkieinparadise adds:] Frank made it sound like the interference got stronger as he got closer to his house. The interference may indeed be coming from his own house. I would recommend that he try a portable AM radio and shut off the AC circuits at his circuit breaker panel/fusebox. Either one at a time or shut off the main breaker. This is of course after you shut down sensitive equipment such as PC’s and TV’s/Stereos. See if the interference quits. Frank may have an appliance with a problem. If that doesn’t help, take that portable radio for a walk around the neighborhood and see where the interference gets strongest. If it only occurs at certain times of the day then it is not coming from a radio/TV/cellular/police/fire etc. radio station that runs 24/7. Steve W7SJK in San Diego.
Bill - is my PC safe without an anti-virus
The PC is behind a router (which makes an effective firewall) and he only uses it for one thing: postage. If you only visit the USPS web site and never use email you’re safe. Make sure to run Windows Update regularly. But if you should ever be tempted to 1) get email or 2) surf to other sites, you’ll absolutely need to install and anti-virus and anti-spyware. Read my article on Must Have Security Software.
Jay - first time computer buyer
He’s a retiree with no investment in Windows hardware or software, no preference or recent experience on either platform. For reasons of security alone, I strongly recommend the Mac.
Tony in Pensacola - I completely agree with Mr. Laporte, since it is a complete first time machine, go with the MAC, it is a lot more stable than the avg windows machine, easy to use and if you have enough System Memory (RAM) installed (512MB or more) it will be very fast. Since you are a new learner why not learn with a macintosh :) Buona Fortuna
Noon-1p
Rubin - my domain was hijacked
He runs www.acmestudios.com and his registrar, Network Solutions, switched it to a different domain server. He was able to get it fixed, but warns webmasters to pay attention. Make sure to use domain locking when you are not planning to transfer the domain, and it makes
sense to spend time to choose
your registrar carefully.
Did you notice that Google was down for a few hours yesterday?
BenListening reports:
A system message from my ISP, Sonic :
Sat May 7 16:03:41 PDT 2005 — Google outage. Google is experiencing
trouble with their DNS. Folks can still reach Google by IP address at
the following link: http://216.239.39.99/
We’ll try to find out what happened. -Scott and Nathan
Update: Sat May 7 16:06:03 PDT 2005 — Google’s DNS appears to be
working now. -Scott and Nathan
Paul - PC won’t boot from CD
Check your BIOS setup. Test it with a variety of bootable CDs just to make sure it’s not the CD. (Windows installer, Restore CDs, Norton Systemworks are all bootable.)
TTT_Travis Says:
If you can’t boot from cd you may want to download the Super MS-DOS Bootdisk from here (site currently down). This will give you a option to boot from a CD. If that doesn’t work try Smart Boot Manager
Cody - buying a Mac, Tiger compatibility issues
If you’re buying a new computer everything should be fine. Some third-party applications aren’t compatible, but they’re all updating as quick as they can. Visit www.macfixit.com for a good list of issues.
Have you seen the iPod vending machines?
Don - misses the Nikon D70 software
You might need it if you shoot RAW (although both iPhoto and Photoshop can read the current Nikon RAW format) but otherwise I’d recommend using the free Picasa or Adobe’s Photoshop Album. Both are excellent programs.
Tom in Canyon County - using a laptop with DSL and a modem
(We learned that he doesn’t actually have a modem, so the issue is moot but…)
Both the DSL and dial-up modems use dialers. You should have two in your Network Connections folder, one for each. If you’re having trouble switching network settings try Netswtcher. I do recommend you buy a broadband router to protect you when you’re using DSL - it also does the DSL dialing so you don’t need dialing software on your PC. Something like the D-Link DI-604. It’s $32 from Amazon.com.
1–2p
Daniel in Phelan -two iTunes users, one computer
Nina in Orlando - Paypal buttons
Daniel in Westlake Village - can his Compaq Presario 1240 play DVDs
Nope. It doesn’t have a DVD player. If it did, he’d have to buy DVD player software. I recommend WinDVD.
Peter in San Clemente - editing HD Video
He has the Sony FX1 HD camcorder. How does he burn HD DVDs. He doesn’t.
For editing, the latest patch for Adobe Premiere Pro support HDV. It is available here:
[[http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2654 | toc
For HD-DVD he can use WMV9 HD (Playable on PCs), or HighDef DivX, which is/will be
playable on Standalone DVD/DivX players such as KISS Technologies Player with
firmware updates. (Until HD DVD comes around, that is :)
Leo, I listen to you radio show as often as I can. This web site is a great addition, especially the ability to add comments. Keep up the good work!
You get many calls asking how to fix Windows after some disaster. I have found that the fastest and best way is to use a disk image to restore a known good copy of Windows. Of course, this requires advance preparation. There can be many approaches, but here is what I have found to be the best for me.
When I set up a computer, I create two partitions on the hard disk. The first is approximately 10 GB, and the second is the remaining space on the disk. I install Windows and all application software on the first partition, and I put all my user data on the second. The size of the first partition may have to be larger, and experience will dictate its size.
I then create an image of the first partition and store it safely away. If anything should go wrong, I just restore the image, and I’m back where I was in minutes. I always create a new image before installing any software or updating Windows. I keep the last few images so I can roll back if something is not to my liking. If you think about it, we all have a lot of time invested in our current installation of Windows, plus all our software, Windows updates, and settings. Fixing this installation is complicated, and often impossible. Starting from scratch is too painful to think about.
I have purposely left out the details to keep this brief, but here are a few. I use PowerQuest Drive Image 5, which is no longer available. Later versions (by Symantec) have received mixed reviews, and I have no experience with them. Acronis True Image has some good reviews, as does VCOM Copy Commander. There are also ways to use a bootable Linux disc, but this is beyond the scope here. Finally, it takes some effort to relocate all user data to another partition. Many Windows applications place user data on the boot partition by default, and it is sometimes stubbornly resist changes.
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