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Sunday, November 20, 2005
- New ideas for using your camera phone
- Tech News
- 11a-Noon
- Noon-1p
- Steve in Colton - Scanner and Camera Wizard won’t launch
- Richard - system doesn’t always boot normally
- Frank in Aliso Viejo - store not honoring Xbox 360 reservation.
- Richard in San Diego - software for the blind
- Ruth in Anaheim - looking for digital camera with no shutter lag
- Russ in San Bernardino - blue section on his screen
- Steve in Encinitas - Listening to KFI on his new Mac
- 1-2p
- Chat Logs and Show Audio
- Listener Comments
New ideas for using your camera phone
Merlin Mann’s got some great tips on 43folders.com.
Tech News
- XBox 360 goes on sale Tuesday. Will you be in line for it?
- Think Secret joins other Apple rumor sites in saying that the first Intel Macs will debut in January at the MacWorld Expo.
- The first beta of Microsoft Office 2006 is out. PC Magazine has a review and a surprise. No more menu bar.
- Google Base goes live.
- The US and ICANN retain control of the Internet.
- Cingular plans to offer radio over its cell phones. TV, too.
11a-Noon
Q Bob in North Hollywood - MP3 burning problem
He’s using Easy CD Creator 3.5 and it keeps sorting tracks alphabetically. I think that’s because you’re trying to burn a Data disc. Make sure when you begin the project you select Audio disc. That’s the only kind that will play in your stereo or car CD player (this is not strictly true. Many CD players and car audio players will play MP3s now). Audio discs should allow you to order your tracks as you like.
- ANSWER - I remember dealing with EZCD Creator 3.5… their support for direct burning of MP3’s to audio discs didn’t come until version 4.0. With the 3.5 version, you’ll need to create WAV files first (which is probably why when the caller did exactly that, it worked for him) before making an audio CD. Version 4.0 and later allows you to drag those MP3 files in just like you would a WAV (in 3.5). Good luck! David.
- ANSWER - Couldn’t he also just re-name the files to use the alphabetical hierarchy work. Example: 00name, 01name, 02name, etc….
Q Cole in Springfield, OH - Quicktime hijacked my computer
He installed Quicktime 7 on Windows and now it plays all MP3s. He wants Windows Media Player to do that. Media players are so agressive about this, but you can use this fact to your advantage. Open Windows Media Player, select Options from the Tools menu, click the File Types tab then check the box next to MP3 (and any other media types you want WMP to handle). If QuickTime annoyances persist, go to “Control Panel -→ QuickTime -→ File Types” and uncheck “Notify me if other applications modify these associations.”
I think Cole’s real problem is that mp3′s are now auto playing rather than giveing the option to download in Firefox. The solution to that problem is in Firefox - Tools - Options - Downloads - View and Edit Actions choose mp3 and change action to save
It’s a little different on earlier versions of Firefox.
He uses Martin Dyde’s Hauptwerk - the pipe organ simulator for Windows. Marcel Gagne’s Moving to Linux is a good way to start using Linux.
Q Dave in Simi Valley - home network computers can’t see each other
He’s got three computers on a local network, two XP Home systems, and one XP Pro. There’s no single reason they can’t talk with one another, but diagnosing network issues involves moving through the seven networking layers from bottom to top and verifying each works before you move to the next. The seven layers:
1) Physical : Connects the entity to the transmission media
2) Data Link : Provides error control between adjacent nodes
3) Network : Routes the information in the network
4) Transport : Provides end to end communication control
5) Session : Handles problems which are not communication issues
6) Presentation : Converts the information
7) Application : Provides different services to the applications
All three systems can get online through his router so we know that layers 1, 2, and 3 are working. Turn off all security software and try to ping the Pro computer from one of the Home computers. If you can ping the transport layer is working. That means the issue lies in the File Sharing configuration. Try the networking troubleshooter at Pratically Networked.
Make sure all of the computers are set to receive Windows updates. I have seen this alone solve the problem on machines that had not been automatically updated. Also, make sure you are sharing a folder on the XP Pro machine and try turning on Simple File Sharing on the Pro machine. - Bill Jackson
Noon-1p
Q Steve in Colton - Scanner and Camera Wizard won’t launch
This can happen when you install some versions of the Real Player on Windows. Uninstall Real Player and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn’t then download and run Microsoft’s Autofix program.
Another possibility is to skip real player and all of the extra junk it installs and use real alternative. This is an alternative slimmed down, real codec that can play real audio and video files and is free. You can get it at http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm
Read more in this forum thread.
You could also try plugging in the camera, opening My Computer, right-clicking on the camera (drive) icon, find the auto-play tab and set it to always open Scanner and Camera Wizard. - Bill Jackson
Q Richard - system doesn’t always boot normally
He swapped the primary and secondary SATA drives, reinstalled Windows, but the boot sometimes fails. With any luck it’s just that the BIOS is confused about where your boot disk is. Make sure it’s set to boot from the SATA chain. You might want to reset ESCD info, too. If that doesn’t help it could be a problem with the drive or SATA controller.
Richard said that he went into the bios and set the new drive to be the boot. The bios should have probably stayed at its original setting since they are both SATA drives, and he just switched connectors. - Bill Jackson
Q Frank in Aliso Viejo - store not honoring Xbox 360 reservation.
Reserved Xbox but won’t be able to get it. Microsoft is only shipping the store 28 units.
Q Richard in San Diego - software for the blind
I know a number of people use the JAWS screen reader.
Got some advice for him? Write to flyingblindib@msn.com
Jaws can be downloaded and used for free for 40 minutes per boot from Freedom Scientific http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/jaws_hq.asp. The cost is The price for a single user is $895, and $1095 if you wish to use it on a Windows 2000 or XP Professional machine. The software maintanence agreements cost $120 for the standard and $200 for hte professional version; once you “upgrade” to professional, you cannot go back to standard. The SMAs are good for two major upgrades, which is usually about a year. Aditionally, you can buy a 60-day timed demo of the program for $40.
You can download Window Eyes from http://www.gwmicro.com/products/. The demo will time out after 30 minutes, and can be used an unlimmited number of times. WindowEyes costs $795, and it looks like you pay around $50 or $75 per upgrade.
Both products have you fill out a form with your email address and other contact information to get the demo so that they can bug you about promoting their product; you can try avoiding this by downloading the fully-functional versions of their products. I know this works for JAWS but I’m not sure about WindowEyes, without authorization the program will run in demo mode, so you’re getting the same product just without filling out a form they can use to evangilize their software.
You can get Dragon Naturally Speaking from http://www.dragontalk.com/NATURAL.htm; I know nothing whatsoever about them other than that it works as speech-to-text software, so someone more knowledgeable than me or with more time on his or her hands than me might want to fill in the pricing info and whatnot.
=======
Jaws can be downloaded and used for free for 40 minutes per boot from Freedom Scientific http://www.freedomscientific.com/. You can also look at Window Eyes at GW Micro http://www.gwmicro.com/
Q Ruth in Anaheim - looking for digital camera with no shutter lag
I would check the shutter lag specs at www.digitalcamerainfo.com. I know the digital SLRs like the Canon Digital Rebel XT and Nikon D70 have very little shutter lag. Some of the Sony Cybershots are reputed to be very fast. Try before you buy.
Q Russ in San Bernardino - blue section on his screen
His friend has a weird blue region on his screen with folders in it. I think Active Desktop has been turned on. Open the Display Properties control panel, click the Desktop tab, press the Customize Desktop… button, then click the Web tab. Make sure all entries are unchecked.
Mark in San Diego Sometimes corupt wallpaper causes this problem. Change the wallpaper setting.
WolvenSpectre in Prince Albert, Canada suggests:
There is a free User Interface Tweaking Utility (to register it you do give your email and when they send you info or update notifications they also include ads) called Fresh UI. It is made by Fresh Devices. It has a setting that will let you keep Active Desktop from loading, not just turning it off. When it is active and running it can take up to 32 MB of RAM on its on. Fresh UI also lets you turn on many useful features built into windows but it isn’t active in a default install, so I recomend it.
Q Steve in Encinitas - Listening to KFI on his new Mac
You need Microsoft’s Windows Media Player for the Mac.
1–2p
Q Steve in Santa Clarita - reboots on startup
Sounds like a driver is crashing. Unfortunately, it must be something pretty important since it happens even in Safe Mode. Press F8 for the startup menu then run bootlog - this will generate a detailed text file on booting. The last line in the file is the driver or service that’s crashing.
Q Ryan in Newport Beach - Dell desktop can’t get online
He’s using Earthlink DSL, but the dialer isn’t working properly. You could uninstall and reinstall it, or you can eliminate the DSL dialer entirely. Any broadband router will do the dialing for you, and offer good firewall protection.
Q Sharon in Anaheim - printer won’t print black
She wisely swapped printers and the problem still happens. That means it’s either the cable or the printer software. I’d try swapping cables first because it’s easy. But more likely you need to replace the printer driver. Uninstall and download the latest from the manufacturer.
bruceb adds:
Links to drivers for popular printer manufacturers:
HP drivers
Canon drivers
Epson drivers
—bruceb
Q Jeff in Hemet - giving away a computer
He’s giving his six-year-old HP Pavilion to a friend who only wants to use it as a word processor. Sounds like a job for Ubuntu Linux. It’s free, will work well with that old hardware, comes with the excellent Open Office, and is rock solid. They even offer a free CD.
Q Jeff in Mission Viejo - computer only starts half the time
It can’t find the hard drive, then it can. Sounds like you don’t have enough power to get that drive spinning up with one startup. Try a more powerful power supply.
Andrew Australia - I have had this problem when the jumper on the harddrive was incorrectly set. Some hard drives can be set as “Master with slave” and if there isn’t a slave connected as well they wont start up every other time. If you change it to “Master - no slave” it should work fine.
Q Susan in San Diego - donating her PC
She’s giving her old computer to the Christina Foundation - a great cause - but she wiped it and can’t reinstall Windows. No problem. It’s good you wiped off the drive so there’s no personal data on it. They would do exactly the same thing. As long as you’re giving them the discs that came with the system they can restore it to original factory condition.
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