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Saturday, August 26, 2006

Tech News

Artificial intelligence has been inspired by chess. However, development has slowed down on the chess side because it is considered that the problem has been solved after a computer defeated a world champion. Now, the focus is on a much tougher Japanese game called Go.

11a-Noon

Q Jim from Chino Hills - Utilizing the spare space Acer has partitioned/Playing files on DVD Camcorder

Some companies will have a hidden partition on the drive to validate the computer. I recommend Partition Magic to merge the partitions. Esentially that will give you 8gb free.

Q Bob - Duplicating a memory card

There may be invisible data on the card, but make sure you honor the file system while copying. You can take a picture to format the card. If there’s invisible metadata though, you won’t be able to copy that. The other data that gives information about the camera is stored within the picture itself as EXIM data.

Q Morris from Manhattan - XP Encryption strong enough?

I don’t prefer it because it is not open source. Also the certificate is outdated. I recommend an open-source application called TrueCrypt. Every security expert you ask will recommend that to you. It has several useful features that are not included in Windows. I cohost a podcast called Security Now and we did an entire show covering all the features of Truecrypt.

Q Roger from West Hills - MP3 not working on iPod

If it’s a copy-protected Audible file, it won’t work. However, in your case, all you have to do is add the mp3 to your library. There’s no need to import.

Q Robert from Los Angeles - Running out of space on hard drive

He wants to know if he should get a new internal hard drive for his laptop or get an external. I’d recommend getting an external hard drive. There’s also an application called Super Duper that will back up to an external hard drive as well.

Noon-1p

Q Odeo Question - Where to begin with a brand new Mac

He just switched to the Mac. It can be a little challenging. There aren’t as many differences, but there are a few things you should do first. You should throw away that mighty mouse, just go out and buy a cheap USB mouse. Also, download Quicksilver; it is very useful. The iLife package is great. For office, you can buy Office 2004 or get the open-source Neo Office. My advice to anyone would be to not overload any new computer with new applications. Start with Mail, Safari, iLife, the System Preferences. One thing you won’t find is the registry. The directory structure isn’t the same, but analogous. Finally, Spymac has set up a great resource for switchers.

Q Mike from Los Angeles - Put a firewall on a PDA

I wouldn’t yet. There’s no real issue yet for an antivirus for PDAs to be of any use. At this point, no.

Q Jason from Lancaster - Laptop cannot connect to dialup Internet

It sounds like there may be a problem with Netzero. They want you to see the ads in their interface. The broadband configuration may also be interfering with the dialup configuration. Try out Netswitcher. Also, you may want to uninstall and reinstall Netzero.

Q Ethan from Los Angeles - Difference between CCD and CMOS

Both convert the light data to bits. CCD has been around for longer. However, now, CMOS has improved drastically. They get better color reproduction and get bigger pickups. CMOS is the better way to go.

Q Robert - MPEG1 vs. MPEG2 what is the latest?

Sony has been doing this proprietary version [VX] of MPEG1 which makes me angry. I’d say to stick with MPEG4 which is an established standard.

Q Gary from Culver City - Can’t Skypeout on a PowerMac G5

If it’s working computer to computer, it should work. Make sure you put a + sign in front of the phone number! For example, in the United States, we use the country code 1, dial +1 and then a phone number. This is a common error.

1–2p

Q Odeo Comment - Converting from Windows to Mac for Adobe software

Adobe has said that if you call them and tell them that you will not use the Windows discs anymore, they will swap with you.

Q Odeo Question - Trouble connecting Windows in Parallels to the Internet

The way the virtualization works is that it emulates a very general configuration which will allow you to run almost any OS. Make sure you choose the right networking interface within Parallels. Virtualization is a way to sandbox things in. The great thing about VMWare is that the VMWare files are cross-platform.

Q Michael - How to offload DishDVR videos

The extraction process requires hacking the device. The Dish box does have analog output. The easiest way to get it out is to take the analog outputs and record them to something like a DVD recorder. What you can also do is get another DVR and swap out the card.

Q Jim from Tokyo - Which countries have the best consumer privacy?

He wants to find a country with good privacy rights as well as a secure IMAP email service. What IMAP does is keeps all your emails on a server and whatever you do from any computer is copied back to the server and everything is synchronized from the server. For now, the European Union has the best privacy laws. Hushmail, which uses POP encrypts all email sent so no one can see your mail.

Q Odeo Question - How to clean out an iMac case

It is not easy to open an iMac case. They are like laptops. The insides of an iMac are pretty well jammed in so I wouldn’t think you should open it up. However, if you take it to an Apple Store, they may clean it out for you. I wouldn’t worry so much.

Q Odeo Question - Will a router protect you since Windows ME is no longer supported?

The end-of-life means that there will be no more security updates. More than a third of Microsoft’s income is upgrades. The router will still work. It is a good idea to check periodically that the firmware is up-to-date. One thing that we’ve learned lately is that using Javascript is that a hacker can compromise a router if the default password has not been changed. The router will not protect you from Windows exploits however.

Chat Logs and Show Audio

Chat logs available shortly after show ends