Sunday, August 13, 2006
Tech News
AOL will be free for broadband users, but at a cost: tthey’re firing 5000 employees worldwide.
Last weekend an overzealous team of AOL researchers released their search records for 675,000 customers. No names were attached, but an intrepid reporter at the New York Times was able to track down AOL user #4417749. AOL has pulled the database, but many copies exist, and the damage has been done.
On Monday at the World Wide Developer’s Conference, Apple announced the Mac Pro with two dual-core Xeon processors with 4mb shared cache. That means it essentially has four processors. For the first time ever, Apple is charging less than a comparable machine from Dell or any other company.
11a-Noon
Q Mark from Santa Ana - ZIP code locater website code
The best way to do it would be to use Google Maps API. It will let you make a route for you as well as search by radius of a zip code. If you would like completely pre-packaged software, zip-codes.com has a complete database and software.
Q Andy from Anaheim - Scanning and cropping pictures on the tray
I think Vuescan will do it. Also, check out Art Scan. A caller says the HP 4890 will do it.
Q Mel from Calabasas - Moving from GoLive CS to Dreamweaver
Adobe has mentioned that they are phasing out GoLive. I see no reason to stop using it. It’s not like anything has changed on the Internet. If it’s working, no need to move. You probably don’t even need the support. The reason you use something like GoLive instead of handcoding it, is because it is browser-independent. Make sure it is designing WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get).
Q Ross from Oklahoma - 17″ vs. 20″ iMac
I had a 20″ for review. I liked it a lot. The 17″ is cheaper with a slower processor, but not too much slower at all. If you’re going to use Final Cut Express, I’d recommend the 20″ iMac because the Final Cut is a space hog.
Q Bill from Sherman Oaks - Error message when opening wordpad files
There are two possibilites: either you have spyware or it’s a bug. You may want to call HP and see if they’re running anything in the background.
Noon-1p
Q Cathy from Torrance - Two-year warranties-worth it?
Best Buy basically pins you to the floor about the warranty. On a desktop and TV set, it’s a no-brainer, don’t buy the extended warranty. However, laptops get banged around a lot. Ask the sales person about every aspect of the warranty. In general, I like to self-insure. If you do get the warranty, make sure that you have it in writing.
Q Delaney - Video editing for PC
There’s only one I recommend on the PC: Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0. For camcorders, check out camcorderinfo.com.
Q Jane from Ventura - Automation of emailing from an Excel spreadhseet
You can export the files as a comma separated file. You’ll be doing a mail merge. I wouldn’t recommend a Microsoft Word file. I would imagine that Outlook has a mail merge feature. Certainly Outlook lets you use Word as its editor. Just do the mail merge (in the tools menu) in Outlook. The issue is the email addresses, but you can add all the email addresses in Outlook.
Q Trevor from San Francisco - Problems with black MacBook
First, the trackpad mouse gets “stuck”. It may be a driver issue. Also, there may be dirt, grime, or moisture on the edges of the trackpad. His second problem is that his computer is crashing whenever he takes out headphones. I think the problem may be static electricity around you that is causing a crash. This would be a good time to repair the MacBook.
Q Lee from San Diego - Network-attached storage
He wants to know how to make an external hard drive available to the entire network over a router. True network-attached storage has an ethernet port on it. In order to do what you want to do, you’ll have to attach the drive to the computer and then share that drive via the computer. You can buy a network-attached storage drive with a USB port as well. You can buy a “barebones” network-attached storage enclosure and put the drive into it. To share the files, use Samba on Linux. Go to linuxiso.org and search for “file server” and boot off of a live cd. Linksys also has a solution to make any USB external hard drive into network-attached storage.
1–2p
Q Mike from Fullerton - Legality for using unlocked phones
I don’t think our laws have caught up with European laws yet. A GSM phone, unlike a CDMA phone (Verizon and Sprint), have a little card in them that has all your account information. In theory, you can swap out SIM cards and use any GSM phones. In America, however, several carriers lock the phones. If anyone as a lawyer wants to start a class-action lawsuit about losing the data on a so-called “illegal” unlocked phone, please leave a comment. Your next mission is to unlock the phone.
Q Keith from St. Louis - Is it okay to run applications from an external hard drive?/Setting up user registration on a weblog.
Yes it’ll work fine.
There are two ways to go: running software on your own on a server or getting a service to set up a blog for you. I like
TypePad a lot! Get the pro account which is $150 a year, and they’ll provide all the hosting and such.
Q Bob from Middletown - Concerned about memory upgrades on Mac Pro
Apple has done something different with RAM this time with the Mac Pro because they have caught onto what people are doing. They are using RAM with special heatsinks on it. Crucial, a decent memory manufacturer, initially offered RAM for the Mac Pro, but pulled it later because they did not have the correct heatsinks. 2gb of RAM would be fine. Get a good video card with a lot of RAM. H.264 encoding is not very RAM intensive. Don’t get too much RAM right now because I think people will figure out the right kind of RAM for the Mac Pros soon enough.
Q Steve from San Diego - Portable player to speed up audio
The iPod does it, but it only goes to 1.2x. When you get up to 2x, you start hearing glitches. Most mp3 players do this, but I’m not sure by how much. I’m pretty sure the iRiver does it.
Q Robert - Not able to surf the net after installed McAfee update
The problem with Norton and McAfee is that they are so strict. You do not have a trojan horse. AOL may not be working correctly with McAfee. What I would suggest would be to turn off the Internet security portion of McAfee. A router is as good a firewall as you need. McAfee is raising a false alarm.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
13 August 2006
A couple of weeks ago a caller had a question concerning piping audio into other rooms it his house. I solved that problem by getting a low power FM transmitter. I ran the audio output to the transmitter and now I can pick up my computer audio on any FM radio in the house and on the patio. It works great! I got a brand called “Whole House FM Transmitter” over the internet for about $90. I love it and am listening to you as I write over an FM radio.
Leo,
I think I’ve heard you say that Apple is a “hardware company”, and that Mac OS was just created because they needed an OS to run on their hardware.
Now that Apple is using Intel chips (and I think on Intel boards), and having the ability to run Windows and Mac OS, or even just Windows by itself, what constitutes a “Mac” ?
Would a Mac running Intel chips and Windows OS, really be a Mac? or just a PC with a Mac label on it?
Silverfast scanning software from LaserSoft — I believe — will allow multiple selections on a scanner.
I have the scanner Agfa e50 will do it.
I have the HP scanjet 5500c does multiple pictures for you with the touch of a button. The scanner comes with a feeder that will automatically scann and crop up to 50 4×6 at the time.
Scanner software use Photoshop Elements which allows you to scan multiple pictures. You scan through Photoshop Elements
Leo “Groks”. . .Robert Heinlein, long may this SciFi master be read.
My epson scanner does one preview followed by one marquee, scan and save; but then it can to another marquee on the original preview - and so on and so on. Not quite the same thing but still very efficient.
Photoshop Elements 3 will auto divide multipul scanned images goto “images” drop down menu and click divide images
I should have said divide multipul images fro 1 scan
If its various slides try some of the canon’s Been using a 8400F. Darn fast and near the top for slides. And has light in top with various holders in the pack for different type of slides.
Only one problem. It does not understand old 135 Instimatic shots.
Regarding last caller with deciding which iMac to get. The new Intel iMacs support screen spanning. Old iMacs used to only support display mirroring. So the caller can add another DVI display larger.
The another big benefit if the caller decides to buy the 20Inch iMac and is using Final Cut Express he should upgrade the graphics card from ATI Radeon x1600 128MBs of to 256MBs of RAM for 75 bucks more. Worth it.
Hi, I am being told by my partition magic software and my windows XP software that my external hard drive is not able to be seen because of my own effort to remove a partition and reset the fromat to NTFS format. All of my information is gone, which is fine because I don’t need it anyway. What utility do you recommend for the reformatting of this drive? Or how do you recommend I go about solving this? Thank you…
12:16 by anonymous.
Panasonic Toughbook..
Won’t break..
Leo.. Its not the exteded warrantee that bothers me. Its the half dozen magazine subscriptions that they try to ram down your throat….NOTE ABOUT EXTENED WARRANTEES.. In most cases they will issue you a gift card for the amount of the product at the time of purchase if your product cannot be fixed
Hey Leo,
About Extended Warranty on Laptops… I highly recommend getting the Apple Extended Warranty on their laptops! They are great machines, but you travel with them, and they are kind more fragile than desktops that just sit there on your desk. I bought Apple extended warranty in my iBook and the screen went out in Europe last year. Apple fixed it no problem. Also, their 2 year extend3d warranty gives you 3 years total of warraanty AND fantastic phone support. That is worth it when you have problems with applications/hardware.
ALso, I would say the new MacBooks and MacBookPros are close to the perfect laptops available. I love them! Get the extended warranty and phone support!
most visa or mastercards have double the manufacturer warranty buit into the terms of the credit card. it’s called “WARRANTY MANAGER SERVICE” & what you have to do varies a bit with each credit card issurer. most require you to call a 800 # and/or send a copy of your receipt (to verify the purchase) and that’s it. warranty is doulbled up to 3 years. call you credit card issurer to insure they offer that service on your card. saving money is hard!
Leo, i say LEO, if you don’t get paid by apple you should be as you give a lot of “INK” to our ears. if you do get paid, GREAT!! you desirve it!!
Does Premiere Elements 2.0 auto-detect scenes? Its the only thing I can’t get it to do, and that is a VERY useful and needed feature. I currently use Studio to “pre-process” the footage before moving the scenes over to PE2.
About warranties, I don’t know how it works in the US, but in Canada, most credit cards will double your warranty. I just bought a Dell and paid with my credit card so that I get a 2 year warranty instead of a 1 year warranty for free. If the laptop breaks after the first year, all I have to do is send them Dell’s warranty policy and my receipt and they’ll repair it at no charge.
The GSM cellphone guy should call Handle the radio lawyer on Saturday morning who will probably tell him to sue them in small claims court.
Leo
Latest Consumer Reports rates antivirus,spyware, and spam s/w.In the antivirus, they don’t even mention NOD32. They like BitDefender the best.
Spyware:Microsoft Defender the worst; F-Secure the best. Spam: Outlook and Trend Micro Add-On the best.
NAS Linksys NSLU2 for about$99 allows you to hook up 2 USB drives
When I learned I had a need to get a cell phone “unlocked” and asked the people at a Cingular office in L.A. about it, they told me they couldn’t help me with it. At the same time they informed me of an independent gentleman who could be found Wednesdays and Saturdays in the parking lot. In his van just outside the door he had equipment/computers to unlock phones and makes a business out of it for guys like me at $25.
I have the HP 6515 Cingular, I was told by high level tech, There is a known flaw in the phone when you turn on flight mode. The phone will lock, you have to remove the battery reset the phone. Also don’t loose the cover, you need it to power on the phone, I just got an etra one sen’t to me from HP.
Check out http://www.answers.com/topic/sim-lock. It says:
Laws on SIM locking
At this time in most countries it is either mandatory or voluntary for the provider to unlock the customer’s mobile phone. However, some providers, including the former AT&T Wireless, never unlock handsets, even after a customer has fulfilled their service contract. Other providers, for example T-Mobile and more recently Cingular will unlock phones if the customer has an active account in good standing for at least 90 days.
Leo…On yesterday’s show, you mentioned you were going to discuss some editorial commentary made by one of the Windows mavans in an article regarding Macs advances reported at their Development Conference last Monday vs. Vista. i.e. Mac claiming that Windows stole from them and from vica versa. I’d love to hear about it…
There are a lot of online services to unlock GSM phones that can be found with Google. Most are in Europe and the U.K. so only do models sold in Europe like Nokia and Motorola. Prices are cheap as $5.00 though so that might be the best option if one of them can do his phone. They have several options such as connecting to the PC with a USB cable and doing it over the web or downloading some software but some can do it if you just send them the serial no. and they will send back a password to use.
Well ain’t that TYPICAL Apple!
Greedy Stevie Jobs figures out that people realized that Apple has ALWAYS been screwing buyers on the price of Apple RAM and makes the New Mac Pro(tencious) use “Special RAM”!
And Apple kool Aid Drinkers have the NERVE to criticize Win PC makers if anything like this happen. Apple Droids = Hypocrits
I think the Cowon A2 has variable speed playback but keeps the pitch ok.
OOPS. It does .7 to 1.5x but does chipmuch.
14:54 by joe?.
to Jim in FL
the last time I checked the NAS Linksys NSLU2 for about$99 allows you to hook up 2 USB drives but only 1 can be a harddrive the other must be a flashdrive and the harddrive can’t be moved to another PC because the format isn’t standard format. Only works on NSLU2 without formating
what is a pod cast exactly? How do beginners find what they are and how to use them?
Leo,
Regarding the person who was having problems with the track pad sticking on his Macbook. I have been having the same problem on an intermittent basis on my white Mac Book and I have seen similar complaints on the Net, so there may be an issue here.
I have found the my track pad starts to stick when I have had my hand resting to the right side of the pad for a while. I have also found that if I get that hand off of the computer for about 30 seconds (or so) and trace my finger around on the track pad, I find that the track pad comes back to life and the pointer starts moving again.
So I suspect that there may be a mechanical issue causing the track pad to stop sensing which is related to the proximity of ones palm (or weight of one’s palm) near the track pad.
Different Topic - Thanks for moderating the comments. As much as I liked to see them “live”, some of them were starting to get over the top in terms of trying to antagonize people. I am sorry that the lack of self control of some of these listeners has caused extra work for you, since you now have another thing to edit. However, I am sure that I speak for many of your other listeners/readers who appreciate your work to keep this show focused on overcoming the issues we have with computers (or technology) rather than creating new issues (or as my kids would say, “Drama”)
iRiver products have variable speed but not constant pitch. I did find that the Creative Jukebox Zen goes up to 1.5x at constant pitch. (a.k.a. Timestretching)
‘Microsoft Apologist”….
Yes, and EVERYTHING that runs out of Steve Jobs’ mouth is always factual.
Steve - where’s that 3ghz G5 you promised?
Steve - I thought Apple wasn’t interested in adding video capability to iPod?
Steve - how’s that SEC investigation going on the illegal granting of options to executives at Apple and Pixar since 1997?
Right.
Yeaunix…re: the Consumer Reports article on antivirus software. The Personal Computer show (weekly out of NY City)discussed the
CU article this week. They pointed out that CU does not make it clear that the rating is a result of surveyed users and not a side by side comparisons.
http://www.pcradioshow.org/hotnews/mentioned_on_recent_shows.htm
14 August 2006
Network-attached storage
Be carefull with the Linksys NAS product because when you create the drive it uses a fileformat that is not readable by Windows. So essentially if something goes wrong with the Linksys device you can’t take the hard drive enclosure and plug it directly into your computer to copy files or see if the drive is alright.
15 August 2006
02:50 by Ronc.
Re: Last caller and firewall security. I believe Leo gave an incorrect example of poking a hole in a firewall so you can surf the net. Port 80 must be open at the server’s incoming firewall, but the client’s port 80 may be blocked for both incoming and outgoing traffic as it’s not used.
Leo, you network problem.. make sure the link speed/duplex setting of the network card matches what you have on the port on the switch you have.
Leo. Your problem with your gigabit ethernet sounds very similar to a problem I had at one time. Did you install a nforce firewall with the drivers when you installed them? That might be your problem. Even if the nforce firewall is disabled, it STILL can cause problems. So Uninstall the drivers and reinstall without installing the hardware firewall.
Hope this helps!
Server, client? Cliver? Serent? What is what when I open remote desktop on a remote desktop computer? What I have “on the port on the switch” I have? If port 80 is blocked in and out and not used, what port(s) is being used? And is it blocked or not? And just how old does a network card have to be not to auto sense duplex mode?
No disrespect, but anyone still trying to make heads or tails out of the previous two comments…go ride your bike instead, relax,take some Metamucil and see if your blocked ports clear later.
Leo’s Shuddering S**ty Shuttle—Leo is SOOO right; its all in the build. I’ve put together enough systems to just know right off the bat, first time fired up whether its going to be toublemaker or purr for years. One system in particular built for a friend—to this date the only system that fired up perfect, recognized everything perfect, no crossed wires, absolutely nothing to do after crossing the fingers and hitting the power button the first time. I told him that was the only perfect build I’d ever had and he won’t ever have a problem with this system. That was about 2 years ago, he’s put on an addition to the house since and drywall dust and even some of the stringy bits were hanging out of the back exhaust fan the last time I was there so god knows what the inside looks like but it keeps right on hammering away flawlessly, still cool and quiet.
Then there have been systems where the motherboard shorts out and only works when the insulating washers go between the mobo and the risers—not an easy trick though I’ve since surmised a dab of adhesive to keep them in place while placing the mobo down would have saved a bunch of time….OH BOY….
At my work we use an epsonexpression 10000xl scanner and the “Epson Scan” software does let you do multiple selections on the bed. Hope this helps.
A good place to get a GSM phone unlocked is www.iunlock.com. I’ve personally used them and they are excellent. A good community for phone support is www.howardforums.com. It’s probably the largest phone forum on the net.
My epson 2580 does the multiple files marquee the caller wanted.
18:12 by Ronc.
To Al Tech Lansing: The two posts you referred to were unrelated. My post had to do with the 65,000 or so software addresses (ports) used to set up software for communication. However the network card has a physical connector on it, also called a port, as does the network “switch” which has a connector for each computer plugged into it. Both the hardware and the software must be set up to work prpperly, just like with people. I’m sure you know this; just thought I’d clarify this for the novices.
16 August 2006
In regards to the Black MacBook trackpad issues - I’ve had a similar thing occasionally on my MBP. It turns out that my left index finger was just resting on the edge of the pad and I hadn’t even noticed, so it was trying to scroll rather than move the pointer (or just do nothing when I was trying to scroll, since there would have been three fingers on the pad). With the design of the Apple trackpads, it’s fairly easy to do, so just watch out for that.
Though, given the audio jack problems, I’d suspect it IS something hardware-related.
17 August 2006
Correct Ronc, I was only looking at the posts through simulated novice eyes and in that respect they were related because almost no one was going to be able to make heads or tales out of what was posted in either one of them. Too much pre-knowledge was assumed and there isn’t enough space on a comments page to explain everything in your head. Its more a shortcoming of the medium. Speaking of shortcomings…no no, nevermind, its too painfull…
For Andy, the Microteck scanners have always been able to scan multiple images in one pass. From all the scanner software that I have tried, the ScanMaker software is still the best one that I have used. It has an easy and expert mode.
Lee from San Diego - Network-attached storage device One thing I’ve never heard Leo talk about is a USB server. I’ve been using one from Silex. Its a first gen USB 1 unit but it works great. I’ve only used it on my multifunction printer. I’m able to scan,print and fax from any PC.You can hook a hub to it and share hard drives too.The only drawback is you have to capture the device to use it then release it to make it avaiable for someone else to use it.
18 August 2006
For Andy, re:scanning multiple images at once:
This is a pro/prepress feature called batch scanning. I use Linocolor Elite which lets the scanner operator do multiple (batch) scanning. On OS 10.x you might check out SilverFast, another Pro App.
24 August 2006
The Ipod doesn’t speed up podcasts easily as far as I can see. Don’t you have to convert it to an audiobook first? Please help!
Re: Andy from Anaheim - Scanning and cropping pictures on the tray
The Canon Pixma MP500 will do multiple scans also. The feature is undocumented in the user’s guide, but all you have to do is hold the shift key to make multiple selections. Each selection can have different settings. Thanks for the question because I wouldn’t have thought to try it otherwise!
26 August 2006
I have an Epson Stylus CX5200 which included Epson Scan software vers. 2.65A (2002) that also does multiple (batch) scanning very well, with multiple marquees and settings.
