Saturday, October 21, 2006
Help me out! I’m taping ahead for next weekend’s Geek Cruise. Keep the phones ringing: 1–800–520–1520 until 4p today.
Tech News
Flying toaster screensavers are back! Download a flying toaster screensaver for either Mac or Windows here.
Apple has announced their fourth quarter financial results.
Less than 1% of 5.5 generation iPods have a Windows virus preloaded.
YouTube has removed 30,000 videos at the request of a nonprofit group representing Japanese television and music companies.
Web 2.0 Homepages
Protopage has complete customizability.
Page Flakes is just like Protopage.
Google is one of the simplest.
Netvibes is highly customizable as well.
Digg is a great site for news. The top stories are chosen by voters.
Flickr is a site to share photos.
11a-Noon
Q Rick from Utah - Syncing the BlackBerry 8700 with a MacBook
Get the latest version of PocketMac.
Q Alan from Palm Desert - Looking for a large screen for multitasking
I use a very big 30″ monitor. You can also do this: 3 19″, 2 24″ or 1 30″ screen/s. It all depends on how your work is. Look at how your programs are laid out. I have learned one thing, however, there is no monitor large enough to do everything we want to do. For multiple monitors, most modern video cards have dual heads to drive multiple monitors. Generally, you can have full resolution on all the monitors. Here’s an article Bill Gates wrote on how he works.
Q Burt from Laguna Woods - Computer has “broken”
Chances are something’s fried. Its a situation where you may want to bring it in. It may even not be worth repairing. If you want to buy a new computer, you can go almost anywhere: Fry’s, CompUSA, Best Buy, or any other places.
Noon-1p
Q Michael from New York - Embedding flash into a podcast site
The easiest way to do that is to use something like YouTube or VideoEgg. Just upload your videos to YouTube or VideoEgg and they will give you the code to embed the flash on your site.
Q Tom from Temecula - Looking for a high quality printer for brochures
Don’t do inkjet. Laser printers are more expensive up front. PC Magazine does all the reviews. I use the Epson AcuLaser CX11. I would consider the cost of printing.
Q Sean from Hermosa Beach - What’s the best way to get recorded content streaming to the TV
This is one of the things ReplayTV did, but they were forced out of business. I would imagine that Snapstream would allow you to do that. What a lot of people are doing is getting a small media PC to connect to the computer. Apple pre-announced the iTV that will relay content from your PC to the TV.
Q Larry from Tuston - Supacam?
These guys are made in China, probably not very good. I’d absolutely demand to play around with them before buying em. The real issue is what kind of circuitry it has for compression. I’ve seen similar cameras at trade shows for years, and they just look awful.
Q Mark from West Covina - Registry cleaners?
I don’t generally recommend registry cleaners. First of all, the Windows registry is a horrible mistake. Registry cleaners all have one fatal flaw, they are sometimes too aggressive. The chance of you breaking something is high. The risk outweighs the reward.
Q Ishmael from Texas - Turning your PC into a voice modem
There was a lot of software to do this. However, they sort of went off the radar because answering machines are so cheap. I use an online service called GotVMail.
Q Graphic Comic of the TWiTs
If you’re looking for cartoonists, ask around
1–2p
Q Richard from Monrovia - Earthlink “number”
That number 1.5 means 1.5 megabits per second which is a decent speed. The modem that they send you uses the same copper phone line. Your regular modem actually turns the data into sound. DSL really depends on line quality. I prefer to go with an independent DSL provider and let them deal with the phone company.
Q John - Where to find a history of “Web 2.0″ and recommendations for educationally-related Web 2.0 applications
Tim O’Reilly coined the term and owns the trademark to it. The history begins with him declaring that this is the new web. Web 2.0 is much more interactive, the design is different, and the single most important thing is the ability to run an application on a website. I do a podcast called Inside the Net. I’d say to contact O’Reilly. Here’s an article quoting the Pew Study on Web 2.0. Also, Wikipedia has an article covering Web 2.0. As teachers, you must be aware that MySpace is a significant phenomenon. Digication does for education what MySpace did for networking amongst kids.
Q Eric - Podcast microphones
The problem with the MacBook microphone is that it is an omnidirectional microphone that will pick up all sound. USB microphones are a great choice because they have digital outputs. Take a look at the Samson C01u or the Snowball microphones. Unidirectional microphones are great. You have a choice between condenser microphones (which are highly sensitive) and dynamic microphones (which, in my opinion, sound much better than condenser mics). For software, Garageband and Audacity are all you need.
Show Audio
21 October 2006
11:49 by .
There was a 4 LCD monitor setup last weekend at the computer sweepmeet. It was pretty cool. Matrox makes 4 and 8 output cards to drive them but they are rather expensive.
I like www.gotapex.com for getting the best deal on Dell computers. They usually post 1–4 on top, front, center page. When Leo suggests to a caller to buy a Dell, he should have them check out gotapex.com first.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH LAST SUNDAY SHOW NOTES?????
I’m working on them calm down
Michael Hurdle needs to put a title on his webpage for the MHShow.com. All it says at the top is Main!
Also, the browser Back button won’t work on MHShow.com so when you go there you’re trapped! I hate that!
Xerox has a program through www.freeprinters.com
I got a Workecentre C2424DP for free. Just have to send in a print report each month and buy supplies from them.
Michael Hurdle’s site is quite impressive. I will give the shows a look. I am always interested in new technology.
I sue spammers (www.barbieslapp.com/spam) and I was looking for a tool to print a web page, and print the link’s urls. Is there a tool to ‘video’ a visit to a web site? What I mean by ‘video’ is when I click on a link, it will record the display so when I put the email in, it shows it going to the site owner that I am suing? I have livehttp headers for firefox, but that is not easy for a jury to see.
Is there a better way to time lapse video files than Windows media player? I have some time lapse files to play to law enforcement and court, but I want to have an easier way of skipping to the good stuff, and then slow for that portion.
Thanks.
Did anybody know if i ca resize the bootcamp partition on my imac without erase windows????
That’s funny Leo, “it’s made in China, it’s No Good …”
Hey Leo baby, ALL your iPods, MacBooks and iMacs are MADE IN CHINA!!!
So maybe you are right about “Made in China”!
Answering machine:
If you want the flexibility of checking messages over the net, try www.skype.com . You can get a local number from skyope for your incoming calls. I think you get the answering machine free with and inbound phone number. To top it off you get cheaper long distance charges. If some of your frineds and family get sky, you get voice and great video conferencing completely free.
Leo, I know you said the site you use for answering several times, but I just didn’t get it. Could you please type it?
Thanks,
Gene
Leo, who do I contact who is looking for qualified artists to post on his website?
Leo, DSL was not invented by the Telcos. The concept of DSL was first proposed by a UCLA professor of Electrical Engineering named Henry Samueli. Along with a student of his, Henry Nicholas, they published articles leading to the possbility of practical DSL hardware. Two other electrical engineers, Howard Flagg and Ben Itri, created PairGain Technologies in Torrance, California which made DSL a practical product for Telcos to use. The “Two Henrys” went on to form Broadcom Coporation. PairGain was bought by ADC Telecommunications in 2000. Several original PairGain people went on to form Aktino in Irvine, California.
Here is a reference to many of the original papers on DSL technology: http://www.janet.ucla.edu/wamis2/refs.html
Honesty in Radio, go to twit.tv and look at one of his main sponsors, Dell. That’s a windows machine, isn’t it?
PC World… of course they would never be biased.
Any company is going to have a certain percentage of their products that will have problems. Plus, Leo has mentioned in other shows that Macbooks have caused some problems.
I’m a Dell user myself for the last four years.
No, the “Good News” is that Leo is off the Radio at least till tomorrows BS.
I am looking to buy a laptop that is a tablet. Does anyone have a suggestion on who makes the best tablet? Is there a website that tests and rates tablets?
14:07 by dt?.
does anybody know how to print a list of my mp3 music list,i tried copy paste to wordpad and copy paste to notepad and copy to clip board but it all does not work.whats the trick???
which number is he still taking calls? The phone on top of the page is a couples home number…..
14:59 by RAD?.
Does anyone know how I can use 1 IPOD on 2 PC and keep all 3 in sync?
Has any one Noticed there is FREE calling to anywhere in the US till the end of the Year --- My handle is Midwaybait
to ----- Bill Silverstien ----- i use Jet audio 6
I’ve used Registry Mechanic for PC Tools on 3 Windows based computers and have seen remarkable improvements on all three. But Leo is correct, you should always backup your data first before using any registry cleaner… Just in case.
So YouTube pulled 30,000 videos?
I wish I could have asked em to wait until I’ve watched em all!
So how long would it take to watch 30,000 vids?
For simplicity I assumed that each viveo was 1 minute long. I know in fact, that many of them are alot longer in length.
So, if each vid was 1 min & I watched for 12 hours a day thats 720 vids a day.
30,000 divided by 720 is 41.6
It would take 41.6 days to watch all of those vids if I never took a lunch break, not counting load times & vids over 1 min in length, actual time would probably be about 3 months if I watched 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. (I GOTTA have lunch!)
My point?
MAN that’s alot of content!
My iPhantom stopped working today and I can’t access iphantom.com. Has anyone else noticed this?
I found the same thing about iPhantom and IBoss. Can someone let us know what happened to them?
For Sean, Woot has a remote media player, ADS MXL-581 Media-Link Entertainment Receiver, for $49.99. www.woot.com
22 October 2006
00:16 by Mike.
dt,
What platform are you on and what player are you using? There may be a way to print off a nicely formatted listing from inside the player. If you say what you’re using, someone here may know it and be able to help.
I was quite surprised last week (and mentioned it in the Chatroom) that Ubuntu has a Flying Toaster screensaver included.
Color printing: I’ve seen refurbished color laser printers for half of what the color cartridges cost. I would buy one of those, print till it runs out and toss it.
Use Streamcaster or the Jet Audio Broadcast Cliant to Stream live audio or Podcasts
11:30 by dt?.
to ylonestar and mike:as for the media player i ues window media 9.as for downloading the karenware.com.i do not download any new software from the net.every time i try to download any software from the net my pc crashs and i try to do a restore but does not work so i have to do a recovery.and it aint no fun so i stay away from any downloads from the net…i only install from cd with no problem…
11:55 by Mike.
Hi dt,
I don’t use Windows Media Player myself, but I do know you can export its library into Excel or Word. Perhaps that would be a good way to go. See here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/howto/MediaInfoExp.aspx
That page gives a link for a download for people using WMP version 9:
“Download and install the Media Info Exporter from the Windows Media Player 9 Series Winter Fun Pack 2003 Web page, and you can export all of the information from your library to Excel, Word, or any other program you specify. You can even turn the contents of your library into an HTML or XML file for easy sharing on the Web.”
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/wm_winterfun.mspx
Might be worth a try. It is from Microsoft themselves not a 3rd party, and it is quite a small download.
23 October 2006
Looking for a PC answering machine solution?:
Try EZVoice from http://www.internetsoftsolution.com and a voice capable modem (about $20.00 bucks from newegg.com) Hope this helps.
Happy Halloween!
24 October 2006
Hey there Leo,
For the last 3 weeks I’ve been catching up on KFI, Security now, Windows weekly, call for help and most of the podcasts on twit.tv (Yes, yes, netcasts then)
Thanks for the entertainment, good advice and putting things into terms my friends that can understand so I can point them to you.
Terry
Re. Sean from Hermosa Beach’s question — I get annoyed at the suggestion that Apple’s iTV is going to offer ground-breaking functionality when in fact it’s simply an idiot-proof version of existing products that haven’t received much press. Assuming that Sean wants a cheap solution and doesn’t want to get all gearheady with network media players or media center extenders, there’s an easy solution.
1. Make sure you’re running the latest version of Snapstream BeyondTV.
2. Change your recording format to DivX.
3. Burn your DivX recorded shows to a data CDRW or DVDRW — no special formatting required, although it helps to give the individual shows names you can recognize.
4. Buy an inexpensive DivX-capable DVD player and hook it up to your TV. There are plenty of them available for under $100, including the wonderful Philips DVP432/37, which can still be found for around $50.
5. Play the disc. The menus, etc., may be a bit spartan, but it works.
6. Erase the disc and repeat.
Works like a charm.
25 October 2006
How much heat do two 30″ 300+ nit flat panel monitors put out? I have one 24″ wide-aspect and even that size doubles as a space heater.
Leo should have said that once you start up the size scale its never enough BECAUSE screen resolution increases so text and windows need larger font and size just to get back to even, (assuming one had the size one wanted before the upgrade), AND we’ll just naturally resize the windows larger anyway—so the law of diminishing returns is highly applicable.
04 November 2006
