Saturday, March 11, 2006
Tech News
Bill Gates is number 1 again with $50B.
The Origami Project turns out to be the Ultra-Mobile PC or UMPC. Read all about it here.
Microsoft says there will be no EFI support in Vista.
And it is right for a university to keep professors from using anti-plagarism software?
11a-Noon
QPam in Sun City - split screen desktop
Open application and document windows behave normally, but she sees her Verizon window on the desktop. Sounds like active desktop is turned on. To turn it off open the Display Properties control panel. Click the Desktop tab and press the Customize Desktop… button. Click the Web tab and make sure all the items are unchecked.
QThomas in San Clemente - unzipping files
He wants to know what to do with that .ZIP file he downloaded. You can unzip it with Windows, but I recommend the free iZarc - it’s really great.
QRobert in Westwood - Copying SCSI drives to Firewire computer
You need a SCSI to Firewire converter like the $97 ROTAC.
QRick in Pennsylvania - using commerical music on a non-commercial project
These days it’s forbidden and you do run the risk of a lawsuit from ASCAP/BMI, although if it’s a small run and you’re not making money on it I think your risk is low. Better to use music licensed for this purpose from Creative Commons.
You can also find “podsafe” music in a couple of other places. “Podsafe” music is the latest term for music that is allowed to be broadcast in a podcast or similar fashion without requiring the payment of royalties to the copyright holder or RIAA/ASCAP/BMI, etc.
More locations to get “podsafe” music:
There is an enourmous amount of fantastic music out there that allows you to completely bypass the legal issues surrounding this topic and it’s well worth looking into!
QPhil in Kern County - online privacy issues
Protect your Social Security Number like your credit depends on it. It does.
Make sure you don’t click links in emails - read up on phishing scams at www.antiphishing.org.
Check your credit card bills and credit reports regularly for fraudulent activity.
Stick with well known shopping sites, and make sure that you see the closed padlock in the status bar of your browser (not the browser window!) before you enter credit card or other personal info.
Ask your credit card company if they offer one time use credit cards like those offered by Citibank.
Noon-1p
QChris in Lake Forest - computer doesn’t always start up
He put in a new 250GB hard drive and now it doesn’t start reliably. I’d say it’s likely your power supply isn’t big enough for your new configuration. Get a new one from PC Power & Cooling.
QJames in Pasadena - PS/2 game won’t play
He bought it overseas but it doesn’t work on his US PS/2. Probably it’s a Japanese version of the game. You need to mod your US PS/2 before you can play it.
QBrad in Newhall - his brother put pictures on a CD but he can’t see them
His brother can but he can’t. Sounds like he used a UDF-based disc writing program like InCD or DirectCD. He needs to close the CD before you can read it.
Brad just bought a Sony T350 - awesome system.
QDarr in Sherman Oaks - validating my web traffic
He sells ads for www.dragracingonline.com - but he needs accurate numbers to give to potential advertisers. Of course you can use your own logs, but advertisers are going to want an independent audit. The big guys use Nielsen’s NetRatings, but I think Google Analytics are a great way to go. Easy to implement and you get very valuable numbers.
QKeith in Fontana - mixing console
He’s looking for automated faders to use with ProTools. I know nothing about these mixers. Do you?
1–2p
QJR in Altaloma - Online publishing and Free-to-Air Satellite
He wants to write the Great American Novel - try www.Lulu.com for a great print-on-demand service that give the author total control (and lot’s more money).
He’s also interested in Free-to-Air satellite systems. So am I. My question is just how much program is there on FTA? Check the Lyngsat directory.
QJeremy in Ohio - WEP won’t work in Ubuntu
Read the Ubuntu WEP how-to and you might want to read through this thread for some suggestions.
A listener writes: Check this out. It might work for you but not for me because it does not support WPA. The next version of ubuntu “Dapper Drake” should have this built in
QMimi in Los Angeles - laptop won’t work
She bought it from Goodwill and got no discs at all. It’s running Windows Millennium - ugh - and now it won’t get online. I’m mailing her Ubuntu Linux. She could also get a copy from http://shipit.ubuntu.com.
QTom in Chino Hills - where should I get my SSL certificate
The Certificate system ensures that you’re buying from a seller who is who he says he is. If you’re on a secure site you can check the seller’s certificate to verify their identity. (In Firefox right click the page and select View Page Info and click the Security Tab to learn who has certified a secure site. In Internet Explorer get the page properties and click the Certificates button.)
There are many people who will sell you a certificate - including Verisign for $1000 and Thawte for $200. CACert does it free.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
Listener Comments
11 March 2006
The worthless KFI internet player isn’t working again today! Those idiots at Clear Channel can’t seem to keep this working to save their lives. They are now on the 3rd different one since I started trying to listen and it won’t even open today.
KFI Online Steaming Player won’t start streaming live rado, Just some dome dumb ads.
I even tried playing the stream via Replay Radio & Video LAN, Noting but complete dead air.
For Arizona Steve:
I’m listening to the KFI audio stream right now (XP & Windows Media Player). Stream link: http://www.kfi640.com/cc-common/streaming_new/
Give it a second. WITECHGUY-MARTY. After the ads it plays.
here is the direct link to the stream
It’s not a good idea to give out direct links when the content is distributed over a content distribution system. The direct link for you is NOT necessarily the best link for another person. Their local link may be quite different. Direct linking will defeat the distribution network’s attempts to keep everybody happy and streaming.
Oh my god, The radio stream will not work on any of my media players today other then Windows Media Player, I wonder what has Microsoft being doing behind are back?
Thanks for the links. I finally got it playing after clicking it about a hundred times!
The damn streaming internet died again. KFI really sucks, the show should be on XM or something reliable. I got it going again just in time hear Dr. Dean. Ugh!
I know you are uncertain about giving out a Wiki Word but I was wondering how will we get to update our user profiles now?
Human Cry for wiki word of the week
Human Cry #2 for wiki word of the week
http://www.google.com/search?q=define:hue+and+cry
Leo about the Credit Card ID Theft don’t forget Electronic Wallets. They can still get hacked.
Credit Reports can be checked for free once a year. FreeCreditReport. If your ID is stolen it is possible someone will get a new card instead of using your current cards and the report will show it.
Link to non-free site deleted.
Make sure to inform your credit card company (or bank) if you are taking a trip.
It really sucks to have a charge declined on the first day in a new city.
Here’s a region free loader for PS2:
http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=41&products_id=1623&
No need to mod for legit imports.
Whoops, was a bit premature - seems thats only for movies. Google for it for no-mod (swap) solutions.
Whee got nailed on the air - try this:
http://modchip.com/ps2/
In addition to showing mods, there are several swap kits which won’t require killing your warranty. Just make sure you are using the appropriate kit for the appropriate version of your PS2. They have model numbers on ‘em.
Try HD LOADER for PS2 http://www.hdloader.com.au/
Just a note, Shrinkto5 contains WhenU adware as disclosed on their home page.
I’ve been experiementing with Google for 3 years now. Google has a page ranking system you can see if you install the Google Toolbar.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the page ranking system directly reflects how many times the end user clicks on a Google search link to your web site. The more search links Google is able to record, the more possible clicks you can get.
Page Ranking is directly reflected by whether the Google Bot can index your entire web site from start to finish to create several hundred Google entries. As your Google entries increase, your page ranking goes up because more possible topics to click on exist. Alexa seems to directly reflect the Google page ranking system somehow.
I may not be right on the money, but I’m close.
I thought Amazon owned Alexa.
About ‘motorized faders’ on audio mixing consoles- see topic of “Flying faders”. Most audio mixers cannot be easily modified.
Dude needs a Yamaha 02R-96 V.2 or a 01v-96 v.2. These console have motorized faders on them. You should be able to get it to work with Pro-Tools 6.0 or Nuendo or CuBase
SUNROCKET VOIP Any experience with this provider or quality issues?
Merlin Mann of 43folders.com LOVEs sun rocket.
I’ve been using Free To Air or MPEG-2 satellite receivers for several years. I used to watch Call For Help on G4. They didn’t really scramble, just went digital. No problem for a digital receiver. There are hundreds of free digital channels but it’s hard to say what’s on because it changes all the time, like listening to AM or shortwave radio at night, so check the online listings.
You can get both PCI satellite receiver cards for a PC and standalone receivers and they work with either a small Ku band dish or an old C band dish, just depends which band the programming is on that you want to watch. There are some online forums for FTA but I recommend Google and just searching ebay for FTA digital or MPEG-2 receivers and reading about them.
You can buy a good receiver for $150-$175 or a PCI card for about $75-$90, and they work with both Dish and DirecTV dishes. You need at least a 2Ghz Pentium 4 to watch digital TV live using the PCI card though. You won’t be able to get all the satellites with a little Dish Network antenna though, they are too small and the sats are too weak, some require at least 3′-4′ dish. Watch out for people selling Dish Network receivers as MPEG-2 though, they are technically MPEG-2 but locked into Dish so you can’t tune them to anything else so get one that’s fully tuneable and upgradeable via serial cable or internet.
I have not used WEP with ubuntu, but I have it working in Gentoo using the “iwconfig” command. In Gentoo there is a file in etc/conf.d that specifies the WEP settings using, iwconfig, but you can also set it interactively on the command line.
For example:
iwconfig wlan0 key 123–456–789
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted
iwconfig wlan0 commit
The first sets the key, the second sets the card to only accept encrypted connections, and the last ensures that the changes have been activated.
After this you will probably still need to run ifconfig or dhcpcd to configure the network settings (ip address, dns, gateway, etc).
Using Go-To-My-PC is everything that is advertised but having a problem with printing at the remote location with a Dell printer.
Go-To-My-PC tech has dvised that it is a Dell problem and I will not be able to print on my remote location. Looking for a work arround on this problem. Please advise.
For SSL, my company went from VeriSign to DigiCert (http://www.digicert.com/) and have been very happy with them. For $99 for a single site (no subdomains) you get a good, trusted CA for one of the best prices I’ve seen.
14:47 by anonymous.
Rather then using Go-To-My-PC try logmein.com. For printing at the remote location that may be that way for the free account else, when you connect to remote control you can turn off those redirections. I use LogMeIn.com all the time to help my Wife at home and best of all it is free. :)
Mimi in Los Angeles - laptop won’t work
What was the web site Mimi mentioned for biding for Jobs from her home?
http://www.elance.com/
FTA programming is probably more like watching the country’s UHF/niche/religious/political networks. To be honest, many people do not buy a system to watch the free stuff. Instead, they buy a hackable receiver and watch the channels that are normally scrambled.
