Saturday, June 17, 2006
Tech News
Ranger Pete will be posting pictures of the Bel-Aire show.
Bill Gates is retiring from his position
Check out the ringtone that adults cannot hear!
Finally! A turntable that will help you convert your old records to any audio format on your PC via USB.
11a-Noon
Q Ken from Sherman Oaks - Waiting for the “perfect” iPod with FLAC support
FLAC is a lossless audio format, which gives you the exact same quality as a CD. Apple does have an Apple Lossless technology however. When you’re importing a CD, set iTunes to import using the Apple Lossless codec.
Q Linda from Calabasas - Printing exactly the same colors you see on screen
Computers generate colors a completely different way from the way printers generate colors. Get a colorimeter which will verify the colors on your screen, and then you have to buy a separate piece of hardware to calibrate your printer.
Q Jenny from Los Angeles - Alphabetizing playlists in Windows Media Player
If you click any of the columns at the top of the playlist, it will sort it. Check out a program called The Godfather. It should handle all your problems. It’s a really useful program.
Q Lola from Glendale - Netorking PCs and scanners
Scanners are generally not networkable. However, it may be a driver issue with the scanner.
Noon-1p
Q Harry from ? - Web browsers and Antiviruses
It’s perfectly fine to run two web browsers. The problem with Internet Explorer is that it’s too powerful and malicious sites can take advantage of it. On the other hand, it’s not a good idea to be running two antiviruses on your PC
Q Mike from Miraloma - Trying to set up dial-up connection in Windows 2000
I think the problem may actually be the wizard itself. If you right click on the Network Connections control panel and select “New Connection” then enter in all the information, it should work.
Q Is there a program that will crop/enlarge your photo without degrading the image?
No. There’s only a certain amount of pixels in the image. There is software that will attempt to smooth out the image or try to guess what’s in between, but they do not do that great of a job.
Q Crystal from Santa Clarita - Nintendo DS vs. Nintendo DS Lite
Definitely get the DS Lite. It is 20% lighter, the screen is a lot brighter, and finally, it’s cheaper!
Q Randy from ? - Looking for a new laptop: Macbook vs. Sony SZ series
The Macbook, in my situation, does get warm, but does not crash at all. Your decision is Mac vs. Windows not Sony vs. Apple. One thing that is nice about the Macbook is that you are able to run Windows on it. On the Macbook, I recommend getting at least 1gb of RAM.
1–2p
Q Steve from Bakersfield - Sound not transferring from camcorder to PC
The problem is that you are using USB instead of Firewire. Get a Firewire cable and you should be fine.
Q Diana from Burbank - Windows XP Service Pack 2
You should go ahead and install Service Pack 2 with the disc you got from Microsoft. However, just in case, make a backup of your PC before you install. After you install, immediately go and run Windows Update.
Q Alan from Los Angeles - Switching from PC to Mac due to viruses/spyware
It’s a little tough to stop the Windows “habit”, but it shouldn’t take too long to learn the Mac OS. If you give it a few months, you’ll be much better off.
Q Mason from - Standalone DVD Player vs. PC’s DVD Recorder for VHS to DVD conversion
The standalone unit would give you better quality and ease of use. I recommend Panasonic.
Q Jay from Ventura - Digital MiniDV camcorder shopping
I like the Panasonic miniDV cameras. The one I linked to is $349.99 Michael likes the Sony and Canon cameras that are priced around $299. If you want to find out more about camcorders, check out camcorderinfo.com. The key thing you’re looking for is the low-light performance.
Q Dave from San Diego - Can Canon lenses work on a digital SLR?
Nikon and Canon have tried to maintain similar body structures so you can keep the older lenses with the digital SLRs.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
Listener Comments
17 June 2006
Cyberhome busted over counterfeit DVD players!
A multi-agency task force has executed a search warrant on the country’s largest importer of DVD recorders and players, confiscating eight tractor-trailer loads of recorders allegedly bearing counterfeit trademarks.
James Sibley, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney, said the warrant was served June 8 on Fremont-based Cyberhome USA, a U.S. affiliate of Cyberhome Taiwan. Sibley said the value of the 20,000 units exceeds $2 million.
Sibley said agents from the REACT task force, an anti-counterfeiting strike team composed of agents from five California counties and the state and federal governments, served the warrant. No arrests have been made, Sibley said, but a criminal investigation is ongoing.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/13/MNG5RJDKKS4.DTL
That seems like quite a bit of overkill to collect an unpaid bill. Since when is a strike team composed of agents from five California
counties and the state and federal governments supposed to be collecting royalty payments for Philips? It’s not a crime to have unpaid bills in the USA and should be a civil matter that gets settled in court. Apex has been sued at least two times because they never paid royalties to the DVD consortium in California.
Sony must have got tired of being number two and was still mad about getting caught putting spyware on their music CD’s so they got together with Philips to set this up.
I wonder who Sony and Philips had to bribe in order to bring about such a big raid by a law enforcement task force on Cyberhome? You’d
think a better way to deploy all those law enforcement personnel would be to station them along the border to catch criminals, smugglers and gang members streaming across the border into California! I think some more investigation should be done to find out who was bribed
set this up, and how they got law enforcement involved.
Listening to the stream and want to ask a Mac question. I can’t find the phone number on the website. What isthe number?
RE: monitor colorimeters: The one I saw at CES was from www.datacolor.com May be called a Spyder; also believe Pantone has one advertised in PC Magazine
isn’t it the HUEY? i thyink that is what it is.
Yes, Spyder is good and I think you can use that program to calibrate your monitor to your printer
11:50 by anonymous.
iTunes won’t let you sort all the columns. It is too hard for me to get what I want, and know where it hid my files. Someone need to write a good play list manager. Windows Media and iTunes both suck.
11:51 by anonymous.
does anyone have the 10,000 frequencey sample?
11:53 by anonymous.
You can create you own 10khz sample with audacity.
Wife to retire soon and she wants a laptop. I have a pc. I wonder if a MAC laptop can be networked? I need a router, correct? Can this be wireless? How does that mesh with WI-FI?
12:02 by anonymous.
Networkable all-in-one printer/scanners are the way to go if you want to scan across the network. Software will have to be loaded on each machine that uses it. At work we have a HP that seems to work. It has no fax, and some people don’t know how you can have an all-in-one without a fax, but we use it to print & scan.
Re: print server. Fry’s will take opened products back within 30 days without a restocking fee, assuming you return all the pieces. Tell them the truth, that the product didn’t work as the saleperson said. I’ve never had a problem with returns, except for the long lines at times.
12:08 by anonymous.
HB Hubbie -
MAC laptops can be networked.
Routers are needed if you have more then one computer wanting to use a high speed Internet connection at once, or if you have a Windows computer a router helps prevent some infections.
Most modern laptops MAC/PC have or can have wireless.
WiFi, you need the same types of wireless on the access point and the laptop. i.e. If you have a B/G wireless on the laptop, you can access both B and G access points. 802.11g is backward compatible with b. 802.11a is not common, so if you get don’t get a laptop with 802.11a you probably won’t miss out on a lot.
12:16 by anonymous.
Someone asked if Microsoft knew of a problem, wouldn’t they of fixed it? Why pay for OneCare then?
Macs are much easier to network than windows pcs, the new macbooks come with 082.11g built in, plus blootooth. I have never experienced that my powerbook cannot connect to a wireless network that a windows pc can connect to.
Just incase another option for Screen and printer configuration tools for the first caller is needed I find http://www.displaymate.com/ has some accredited options.
Would have posted earlier but I had other things I was working on typing.
13:29 by Dale.
Thanks for the Art Bell plugs Leo!
For the lady with the question about SP2. The problems I heard about involved 3rd party software, however on all of the systems I deal with I did a clean install of XP to be safe. If she bought the computer, she was entitled by law to get either the OEM disk or the recovery disks from the manufacturer. If she doesn’t have them she can contact the maker with the model and serial number and for a small charge she can buy the disk set (usually in the 20–30 dollar range). She can try to get them to give her the disks if she didn’t get them but goo luck on that. If it is from a small local builder they should have given her the OEM Windows install disk. In the old ‘98 days they sometimes put a WIN-98 folder on the hard drive, but I’ve never seen that with XP, but look for it anyway.
14:36 by anonymous.
It looks like the ring tone is a 15khz tone. Oddly it isn’t a pure tone, all kinds of peeks and low frequency 3–12hz. Also from 11.5khz and below there is some sound. I used audacity to generate a 15khz tone and plotted the spectrum. It showed the harmonic spikes but it was clean. It is hard to tell the difference, but I can barely notice the difference between the two. This kind of reminds me of the sound CRT TVs make when they are on and muted. The old TVs are worse about this.
I honestly do not recommend a Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder. I purchased one last fall and it worked well for a few months and then developed a “split screen” problem this spring. I tried a firmware upgrade to no avail. I have since gone with a Samsung model and hope to have better luck. Just my two cents on the subject. Nevertheless, this approach is the way to go if you have several VHS tapes you want to get on DVD. Hope this helps.
I beg To Disagree with wyocold, I have a Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder and I think it is GREAT. It will do everything that I would like in a copier. A point of view, they have a new one out.
18 June 2006
I would like to get the name of the turntable mentioned by Leo that hooks up via USB. This sounds like a more ease of use way to convert my vinyl albums.
Print Server: I have the same D-Link Print Server. The difference is I have both an Epson Color Stylus 960 and a Konica Minolta PagePro 1350W. While both will work (that is print), neither one of them will display ink or toner supplies. I went to the D-Link site and found my Epson was not, at frist, on their compatibility list, later it was but the updates has had no effect. If you have an old PC with a network card you can easily set it up as a print server and also use your scanner.
WOW The Trolls Must have taken the last couple of week OFF ( THANKS )
To all those who fear “the switch” (from PC to Mac) — fear not! I made the switch 2 years ago and never regretted it! In my business I still sometimes have to work on a PC and while I much prefer my Mac, it is soooooo easy to move between platforms. Yes I sometimes look in the wrong corner to close a window, but it’s no big deal. And it took me about 3 months (and very little $$) to find all the programs I needed in OSX that I used in Windows. They all work the same way, or in some cases are easier. And for all the reasons Leo has stated before, I really prefer “Mac-ing” versus “PC-ing.” Hope this helps.
Leo, you have a typo on the show notes. Lola from Glendale - Netorking PCs and scanners -----networking
19 June 2006
Thanks for the sharp eye there electorgasm
21 June 2006
I installed RockBox (http://www.rockbox.org/) on my ipod video 60GB, and I’ve been quite happy with it. It has FLAC support, along with almost every other popular codec used by music loving people today.
