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Saturday, July 16, 2005

Show #161

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 toc | toc 

Today’s news items

President-elect Hillary Clinton is shocked, shocked by porn images in GTA:San Andreas.

A listener writes:
Not ALL video game use is bad for you:
For more info on the benefits of video game in cognitive and motor skills development (learn baby, learn!) please check out the July edition of Discover Magazine - seriously folks, it beats table tennis.
As to restricting the release of games, this is a terrible idea. All that will do is frustrate people, it won’t solve the problem of questionable content. Parent involvement, correct labelling and communcation about content is a much, much better solution.

Supremes rule on MGM vs. Grokster.

Sasser kid gets suspended sentence.

PhilTheFormer MacUser informs:
Yeah, but Apple has been heavily CRITICIZED by the open source community for using an Apple PROPRIETARY Podcast format in iTunes 4.9 to the EXCLUSION of all the WIDELY ACCEPTED Podcast formats. This is just another way that Apple is trying to force anyone downloading to a Apple product into an Apple controlled World. Apple has turned into a 21st Century Microsoft and should be ashamed of themselves.

Leo writes: I agree to some degree - and I plan to rant about iTunes’s podcast support in this week’s TWiTcast. iTunes support is simultaneously the best and worst thing that’s happened to podcasts.

11a-Noon

David from Downey - Looking for password keeper

He doesn’t want to use that spyw… er adware program Gator, but likes the functionality. Try RoboForm for Windows. It works with FireFox, Mozilla, IE, and Netscape and leeps track of all your passwords, credit cards, bank accounts, etc. and can be encrypted to keep them safe. Includes a password generator to generate random text strings and pastes them to the clipboard for easy insertion in both the web page and RoboForm itself. Free version is full function except that it keeps a limited number of passwords. Full version is only $35 with free upgrades.

A listener writes:
When you put your password into the clipboard, make sure you have closed all other IE windows. As the clipboard might possibly be watched by an active script of anonymous web site. Or it may be better to turn your security settings to high to prevent that.

I am using the Microsoft Finger Print reader that works great for storing and using passwords. It works really well I might add. I picked mine up from Sam’s Club for $30 and would recommend it. This is Microsoft Finger Print Reader web site if you want to check it out.

If you’re using FireFox, I would recommend just using their own built in password manager. The only site that I’ve found it doesn’t work with is Google’s Gmail.

Sean from Fresno - Combine DSL and Cable connections

You can do it but it takes an expensive specialized router.

I just got a $250 Netgear Gigabit VPN Firewall Router that does this. I think there are also some from linksys and dlink that does the same thing. It has 2 WAN ports lable WAN1 and WAN2 and within the web interface you can tell it to either load balance or combine the bandwidth. Works pretty well. The model number is FVS124G. Just do a search on google or pricegrabber and you will find plenty online for sale. goodluck, dan.

Joel from Covington, Louisiana - DSL connection drops off

Make sure you’ve got the keep alive setting turned on in your router.

Happy Harry Potter Day

You don’t have to restart your computer if it loses its IP address. Just click Start→Run and enter cmd to get to a command prompt then enter the following commands in succession:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

A listener writes: I found this little programthat you place in your startup folder. When you start your computer, it starts zero wireless config, waits for the wireless connection, and then stops the zero wireless config. It’s called Wireless Fix XP.

Lanita in Yorba Linda- football mom wants computer setup on field

Verizon EV-DO
UPS to power printer

A listener writes: That lady in Yorba Linda should try the HP 1610 color printer. I got one for my office recently. It has several different card readers built in so there would be no need for a computer in field (assuming she can overcome the electricity problem). Once you fill up your camera card with pictures you can print out a contact sheet. Then you take a marker and circle on the contact sheet the photos you want to print and then put the contact sheet on the scanner platter. The printer then pulls those photos from the card and prints them at the size you choose! Interesting, eh? -----

A listener writes: I run a laptop and an old epson printer in my truck for customer invoices. it all runs on a DC to DC converter from Kragen auto parts. i even have it “sink” up thru the wireless network when i pull in the driveway. DL

Noon-1p

Don in San Diego - projector for school

3rd grade math teacher wants to display math forms on screen. Use your digital camera to photograph the pages, put them in Powerpoint, then use a TabletPC to draw on the screen. I like the X41 convertible tablet PC.

A listener writes: why not go to a craft supply store and get a “tracer projector” for about 60 bucks. its strictly an optical device. you lay it on the page and it shines whats under it onto a screen. its normaly used to trace photographs to make paterns of them. DL

Erich from Chicago writes: Have you heard about the SmartBoard? It’s an interactive whiteboard I’ve used in my classes. www.smarttech.com

Ignacio in San Diego - AMD vs. Intel

Spyware has clobbered their computer. They want a new one. You can restore your old computer, but follow my instructions on Installing Windows safely.

As for buying a new computer, yes AMD is better than Intel, but few of the top tier PC manufacturers sell AMD computers. (I like Shuttle’s XPC though.) Frankly, you should probably worry less about which CPU and worry more about buying from the best company. In other words, Buy a Dell, dude.

Kim in Rancho Bernardo - Firefox

Firefox doesn’t do Flash. You need to go to Macromedia’s Flash site and download the player. It’s free. Even if you installed it for Internet Explorer you’ll need to reinstall for Firefox. It’s the same for Java - go to www.java.com.

Copying Quicken from Windows 98 to XP. She has a Flash Reader but it won’t work on Windows 98. That’s right - Windows 98 doesn’t have built-in support for flash readers or USB drives. But you should be able to download a suitable driver. It will work without a driver on XP, Mac, and Linux.

Techeon writes: One thing to check is that you have the latest version of Firefox. which as of this airing is 1.0.6 and can be found at GetFirefox.com. I used to have problems installing Flash and Java with earlier versions. It was actually quite difficult to get it in Firefox and not just IE, but as of late I have had no problems just clicking on “install missing plugin.” And yes everyone should have a “thumb drive.” There are countless times when you really need one. Replaces floppies “almost” entirely.

1–2p

Vern in Temeculah - CD won’t play on DVD player

Make sure you’re actually making a Video CD -I recommend using Nero to make the disc (there’s a free 30-day trial). Not all standalone DVD players can handle VCD discs. Check your manual or the box for VCD support. Multiread players can.

John Smith writes: Leo, I have to correct you a bit. Most DVD players can play VCDs. In fact, I have yet to see a consumer DVD player that can’t. Like adding mp3 playback or JPG display, it is trivial to add support for VCD display since it uses MPEG encoding. It is also a very long established standard (they were hugely popular in Asia.) Now, not all DVD players support SVCDs, that can be a problem, though most newer players should.

The easiest option for him is to buy a DVD player that will play MPEG video files directly, off a CD or DVD, without a VCD (MPEG-1) or SVCD (MPEG-2) conversion. For the cost of Nero at retail, you can buy a Divx-compatible DVD player, which should also play .mpg (.mpeg) files directly, as well as Divx, and in some cases WMV. I used to convert MPEG files I downloaded to VCDs so I could watch them on my old DVD player, but having a “computer video files aware” DVD player makes the conversion unnecessary and saves time. I use a Philips DVP-642 and it plays all MPEG 1 and 2 files just fine (in addition to Divx files of course.)

If he still really needs to convert MPEG files to (S)VCD, Nero Express will do the conversion (it is just Nero with basic burning capabilities no bloat), and can be found bundled with some DVD recorders (which can be had for less than what full Nero goes for at retail!), or bought OEM for less than $12 on eBay or computer shows.

Some DVD players cannot play VCD because the vendors were too cheap to pay for a license. Just enter your make and model at the videohelp website just to be sure. It is kind of misleading when you say you must convert the mpeg-1 to burn a vcd. In Nero Express, you just need to click on the wizard and follow the instructions. The “conversion” is so minor that one does not even realize that it happened when Nero is doing the burning.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

David Pick writes: John Smith, I have to correct you a bit. As you have obviously not researched information on www.videohelp.com, you are unaware that there are a majority of DVD players that will not play SVCDs and even VCDs. This problem is more and more of a problem the older the player is. I own a 7 year old Toshiba player that won’t even play DVD-R disc encoded with AC3 audio, simply because of the firmware of the player won’t recognize non-stamped disc.

This is something one has to keep in mind when deciding to give someone a VCD you made and did not take the time to figure if the person you are sending it to is tech savvy enough to own a DVD player that will play VCDs or has a computer with a CD Rom drive and the software to play it. This can be a big problem if the people you are sending the disc to are grand parent or great grand parent age and don’t have anything to do with computers.

As for Leo’s recommendation, when making SVCDs or VCDs, I always highly recommend using VCDeasy at http://www.vcdeasy.org. Its an excellent shareware application I have used for years with much satisfaction as it allows a novice to pro create interactive menus and ensures you burn a compliant to non compliant disc. As for making his movies mpeg 1 compliant, simply use TMPGENC freeware version at http://www.tmpgenc.net. TMPGENC is by far the best mpeg encoder on any platform and I highly recommend that over Nero’s encoder any day.

Kenny in Studio City - USB hub choices

Look for a powered 2.0 hub - I use Belkin’s but many brand names work fine.

Dave in Tampa, Florida - Using his DirecTV Tivo with cable

Can he? I don’t think so. [sparkieinparadise adds] No, mine (HDVR2) won’t record or pause live TV, but it will pass the signal through, according to the manual. It has F-connectors for input and output.

Michael in Oceanside - sees rainbow on DLP

About 1 in 10 people can see a rainbow with DLP TVs - I can’t. But you’re not crazy. You’re just going to have to live with it, or get an LCD instead.

Barbara in Huntington Beach - missing files in Windows Media Player

She moved some music files and now they show up with yellow exclamation markes in Windows Media Player. No fear - the library just can’t find the files. The easiest way to fix this is to open WMP, click the Add to Library link in the lower right hand corner and choose “By Searching Computer.” Select “New files and existing files in library without media information” them press Search. It will re-add those missing files to your library without touching your playlists.

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