Saturday, September 16, 2006
Tech News
At Apple’s “It’s Showtime” event this week, they opened the iTunes Movie Store with iTunes, new iPod Nanos, “enhanced” iPods, new and extremely tiny iPod Shuffles, and finally, they previewed a technology called iTV to be released Q1 2007. The iTV relays media from a Mac or PC to your television! Apple says they will soon be in your den (Mac), living room (iTV), car (60% of 2007 cars will have iPod options) and pocket (the iPod).
For iTunes Movie pricing, back-catalogue movies are $9.99, pre-order movies are $12.99, and at release will be $14.99.
Finally, all TV shows in the iTunes Store are now at a higher resolution of 640×480 DVD quality.
11a-Noon
Q Dean from Yorba Linda - Device to share 2 optical cables
You do want to use the optical cables and keep the signal digital as long as you can. Sound Professionals has a “toslink” switcher for $59 that will allow you to switch between 2 optical sources.
Q Bill from Arcadia - Replacing the hard drive and still use the recovery disc
On Compaq and HP machines, there’s a hidden partition that validates the recovery disc. With new hard drives, software is generally included to copy bit-for-bit from the old drive to the new one. This way you’ll be able to have the hidden partition and use the recovery disc.
Q Gary from New York - Confused between the iMac and Mac Pro
I’d say for most people, the iMac is the right choice. The Mac Pro is geared towards professionals as the name suggests. For switching to OSX, there’s just a few little quirks that are minor differences. Take a look at David Pogue’s Mac OS X Tiger: Missing Manual or my own Guide to OSX Tiger. The iMac, however, is not as expandable as PCs. I think a lot of people buy computers thinking they’re going to upgrade, and very few do.
Q John from Los Angeles - Are pay-per-click services good?
Do NOT use these services that move your site up on Google. If Google catches your site, they will delist you! If you are delisted on Google, you practically do not even exist. The best way to get higher on Google is to put out good content and be linked on similar sites. Google’s patent for their Pagerank system was recently passed and secrets about how their algorithm works were revealed.
Noon-1p
Q Dennis from Utah - Email program blocking senders
The longer you have an email address, the more likely you are to get spam. There are 2 good ways to block spam. One at the server and one at your computer. The real problem with spam filters is that they may filter out good emails. Onlymyemail.com will filter out 80% of your spam; the spam that is blatant. You’ll be amazed that you’ll get rid of most of the stuff. For local filtering, try Inboxer Spam Filtering for the PC.
Q Eric from Bakersfield - Why does SpinRite not work in Windows?/Replacing Windows XP disc
While running Windows, a disk utility cannot run the low-level activities on the hard drive. It hogs too many resources. Therefore, it runs in DOS.
His disc cracked in the drive. I think Microsoft will replace it for you because it is a defective disc.
Q Steve from Rancho Santa Margarita - Video goggles for the iPod?
I’ve tried 2 of them and didn’t like either of them. The point of them is that since the screen is so close to you, you get the big-screen effect. I would most definitely try before you buy. Check out the MyVu.
Q Rudy from San Diego - Different types of flatscreen monitors
Check out Dell’s 24-inch flat-panel monitor.
1–2p
Q Heather from Chino - Looking for a new TV
I’d say get a CRT television because they are extremely cheap now. They even have a better picture than the flat screen televisions. Look at a flat CRT. There are 3 levels of TV, standard TV (SDTV), enhanced TV (EDTV), and HDTV.
Q Judy from Huntington Beach - Lost her favorites after reinstalling AOL
The question is are they still even there. There are programs out there that will back up or restore your data in AOL. They may have been overwritten. I’m stumped. If you got a suggestion, please post a comment.
Q Alan from Timecula - Sharing Outlook emails across a network
Microsoft wants you to buy Outlook Exchange for this. I’d say to get an IMAP server. Outlook is an IMAP client as well so it will work fine. I do this because I have many computers and would like to sync them all to the same mailbox. Check out Fastmail.
Q Father Joseph from Anaheim - How to display text on 4 TVs simultaneously
The easiest way to do this would be to just run pictures of the text. I would suggest talking to an audio-video professional company. What you’re trying to do cannot be done using consumer devices.
Q Chad from Anaheim - Using Internet Explorer 7 as a primary browser
I think the jury is still out on IE7. You have to go the internet options and go to the security tab. Modify the setting for the Internet and make the security “high.” Then, select “trusted sites.” While you’re browsing you can add sites to your trusted sites. You can also use a program such as Sandboxie which will “sandbox” any program you choose from the rest of the operating system.
Q Royal from Riverside - Copying DVDs to iPod
The thing about getting it on the iPod, it has to be exactly the right format. Try Shrinkto5. Have that convert the DVD to an mpeg4 file and then use Videora iPod Converter.
Chat Logs and Show Audio
16 September 2006
Maybe she should search her computer for *.pcf files
On the video visor for a iPod.
DONT! Most are low rez of 320×240 or 640×480. And are not worth the money.
Better to buy a PMP with a 4″ screen. Thats the minumn size that worth watching. Got one and fun while waitting in lines or flying.
Now if Apple would get there act together on a 4″ screen iPod!
maybe she could reinstall AOL security, but not uninstall 9.0 and they may show up. Then she could export her favorites and take it from there.
Leo, If what Judy means by favorites is IE’s way of saying bookmarks, tell her to search for Bookmark Priest. I’ve used it plenty and it’s freeware
13:25 by anonymous.
I just searched for bookmarks or favorites and it found them in several places
cant remember how i restored them though..
Who is taking Amber’s spot on CFH?
13:27 by anonymous.
AOL files… when you install additional copies of AOL even if you delete a previous install AOL will create a 2nd, 3rd or whatever subdirectory for that new install. Go and see if the previous subdirectory for your last install still exists if so your favorites will be in that directory in one of its subfolders.
Most dells video cards come with an DVI and a SVG connector.. this can cause studdering in video graphics. keep that in mind!
Well I do believe Apple develops there own products and also buys user licenses to apply other products into there own products. I doubt however the interface or the hardware is anywhere near the quality of what Apple makes. The integration of hardware and software is where Apple’s products stand out versus D-Link or Linksys. They never claimed it to be the first product that does wireless video to a TV set either. But what they do make will be easier to use and fully integrated to work with Apple’s software and the Mac. Apple is the number one innovator in the PC market and that point has been made time and time again no matter what you say.
Media Shout is a great church based program that lets you intergrate text, video, lyrics, etc. Much better than PP.
http://www.mediashout.com/
13:48 by anonymous.
If you are going to use IE, one of the things you can do to make it safer is DropMyRights. Don’t put sites in your trusted sites list, what if their HOSTS file is hacked? Also, use Spybot Search & Destroy, lock the host, fill the host with bad sites to lock them out, immunize bad activex. Also, use Spyware Blaster, to immunize bad activex.
My former church had a similar setup, a computer connected to a VGA to Video converter, which then went into a 2 channel video mixer. the 2nd channel was a remote-controlled camera. It the went to a signal splitter and to 2 or more TVs and a LCD Projector.
I did a rewiring/reorganizing the video setup.
13:49 by anonymous.
Leo..
Earlier you described RAID 5 as mirroring and striping. Actually mirror/stripe is RAID 0+1. RAID 5 is striping with distributed parity (RAID 4) is striping with dedicated parity. Both RAID 4 and 5 required an extra disk for the parity data.
13:49 by anonymous.
sandboxie is more of an undo, then isolates things from doing bad things on your hard drive.
13:50 by anonymous.
iRiver has had gapless playback for years. iPod and Apple are the Other Microsoft.
If someone wants to put me in touch with that guy That needed AV help in Anaheim I can help him. Thats what I do for a living. I do system installs. www.theavden.com / derik@theavden.com
Church AV question.. Anaheim .. if he needs help installing his system I can help him derik@theavden.com
once again the comments have proved to be a valued source of answers to listeners quesrions. bravo to leo for turning them on.
P.S.- Leo is correct about iTV.
Finding Judy’s lost AOL favorite places
First, do a search on your computer for *.pfc files.
If found, import into your new AOL version, using
the import feature. After importing, SAVE them to
another location on your computer where they can
be easially found the next time you upgrade AOL.
AOL’s favorites are kept “inside” AOL’s main folder.
Check to see it you have one or more AOL folders;
(C:AOL 6.0; C:AOL 7.0, etc). If you have more
than one AOL folder, import your favorite places
from that directory. If there is only one, chances
are that the new installation overwrote your old
favorites, with a new default setting.
AOL saves your favs and address book on line, not in your computer. That is unless you manually save a copy. First back up or print your address book. Then uninstall AOL 8. Then reinstall 9.0,
your Favs. should be back! You will have to reboot after install. Use the option to save favs. to a folder on your PC. Remove 9 again and put 8 back. Then you can restore the Favs, from the saved file. Hope that helps!!
after install
I got this from the HDTV podcast, toslink switch 3×1 $7.90, HDMI switcher, cables etc… good service, low cost… www.monoprice.com
14:48 by adam.
how can I extend my wireless at school?
I have a new iMac and was trying with Safari to play Leo’s show off the KFI web site but safari says it needs a plugin. When I click yes, it takes me to the Windows download page. Can anyone help me?? Thank You?
18:53 by Greg.
what is the best DVD protected converting program for IPOD?
19:44 by anonymous.
Who cut your hair?
17 September 2006
RE: Nuance DNS9 and laptops.
Make sure that the laptop in running in CPU full power mode. Otherwise DNS may see a CPU with unacceptable specs for loading.
http://knowledgebase.nuance.com/view.asp?tnID=6712&sQuery=
Products: Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9;
Problem:
When installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 onto a system with a CPU (processor) containing power saving technology, an error message may appear stating “The processor speed is not adequate for running Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.”
Cause:
CPU’s used in laptops, tablets and other mobile systems may contain power saving technologies which reduce the processing speed of the CPU to conserve battery life. This means that even though the system’s CPU may meet the minimum system requirements for installation it may actually be running at less than the requirement at the time of installation.
We have seen this occur in systems using the following CPU’s:
Intel Centrino Pentium M
Mobile AMD Sempron
Solution:
First, stop the current installation process by clicking “OK” on the error message window and then, clicking “Finish” in the InstallShield Wizard window. The following steps provide instructions for turning off the power saving technology so that an installation can be successfully completed.
Leo, please enable some anti-idiot captchas, to keep LA IT and all his other pseudonyms from posting.
18 September 2006
Easyworship is a great windows program for churches. It ssuports live camera feeds.
for mac, try proworship.
25 September 2006
Hopefully this doesn’t get lost in all of the spam, but none of the TOSLink switches I’ve seen mentioned above are remote controllable or automatic. I located one of each type at decent prices. Inday (http://www.inday.com) makes a remote controllable one for $120. Audio Authority (http://www.audioauthority.com) makes an auto-switching one for $115. I can’t vouch for the quality of either one, but I’m seriously considering buying an Inday switch for my home theater. Both switches have 4 inputs and 1 output , support both optical and coax, and convert whatever medium is used on the input to both optical and coax on the output.
