Sunday, December 10, 2006
Tech News
Microsoft predicts that in the next 24 months, over 200 million people will be using their new products: Windows Vista & Office 2007.
11a-Noon
Q Backing up iTunes library/Turning off OSX bootup sound
If you have a fast network, you can back up data across the network using network-attached storage. On the other hand, you can get a USB2.0 drive and format it to FAT32. Then you can drag and drop files into it and move it across your machines. I spent almost $900 on a terabyte NAS drive. However, you don’t have to spend nearly that much.
If you mute the audio before you turn off the computer, it should be silent at next boot.
Q Ian from San Diego - Cannot start up Windows without installation disc inserted
This problem began when he installed a SATA drive. I would go into the BIOS and tell the computer to boot from the SATA drive. The only thing that I can think of is that the computer cannot find the drives until it loads the boot sector from the install disc. Clearly, it is checking the CD drive first. It may be possible that the SATA drive does not have a boot sector. Try removing the IDE card.
Steve Gibson writes:
The trouble is a drive lettering problem.
The BOOT.INI file is referring to the CD drive which was the letter of the hard drive at the time of installation, but the drive letters changed as he moved his drives around … so that now it’s looking on the CD-ROM.
Your boot.ini should look something like this…
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=“Windows XP” /fastdetect
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s almost certain that the caller won’t have those “zeros” for multi, disk, and rdisk … but he should. If he changes them to zeroes his system should boot without trouble from the first hard drive (his new SATA) in the system. :)
Doh! Thanks, Steve!
Q David from Sunland - Podcasts playing at triple speed
In Windows Media Player 11, downloaded podcasts are playing at triple speed.
Q Steven from Australia - Building a media center PC
You start with the operating center: Sage, SnapTV, or Windows Media Center. Or you can try MythTV which I like a lot. For distributing and playing back the content, try VLC.
Q Danny from New Jersey - Making a private website
He’s currently using Microsoft Publisher. There are things that you’re going to want to do that Publisher won’t be able to do. There’s a secure way and a less secure way. The best way to secure a website is to use a feature in the Apache web server called .htaccess. From there, everybody will be given a username and password. There are also programs out there that use javascript. Here is an article about .htaccess and how to use it.
Noon-1p
Q High definition formats
I like HD-DVD over Blu-Ray mainly because the Blu-Ray players are too expensive and the PS3 is turning out the be a dud because there aren’t enough in circulation. For playing back DVDs, get an upconverting DVD player. I like the Samsung DVD-HD960. However, since you have a 1080p player, you may want to get a 1080p HD-DVD player. First, though, try hooking up a regular DVD player because all these high-end TVs have built-in upscalers. However, you won’t be able to get HDMI out of it. When you’re trying to decide between Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, look at thedvdwars.com. C|Net has an article comparing 1080p vs. 1080i, and frankly, 1080p doesn’t look much different compared to 1080i.
Q Gary from Gilroy - External hard drives/Antivirus
He wants to know if he needs the onetouch gimmick. Don’t spend any extra money on a onetouch gimmick. The most important thing is the hard drive inside. All the brands are fine.
He wants to move to NOD32, but has Norton currently. Just make sure you remove anything and everything by Norton on your computer.
Q Fabian - Using a generic USB wireless adapter with the Xbox 360
If the 360 is just using ethernet to get on Xbox Live, you can use a D-Link, Linksys, or Netgear adapter that has an ethernet adapter on one end. However, you will have to configure it on your computer first. These are called WiFi bridges.
Q Michelle - iTunes not importing songs correctly/Transferring music
Your songs are encoded in an oddball audio format that will not work on the iPod. My recommendation is that you use mp3 to rip your songs because it is the standard format. Use 192kbps to rip; it will sound indistinguishable from the CD.
You can buy music on one computer, load the songs on the iPod as a USB drive, and then move it onto the new computer.
Q Mike from Mission Viejo - Internet messing up
Try resetting your router. That’s the most likely culprit. If it is the router, try looking for a firmware update.
1–2p
Q Andy from West Los Angeles - Buying an iPod
His friend is telling him to wait till Macworld to buy a new iPod. It would be prudent to wait till the Macworld Expo to buy anything Apple related. We haven’t really seen an update to the iPod in over a year; it is due for an update. I think there is absolutely no doubt that they will release an iPhone. There’s some speculation that there will be a touch screen. No one knows what Apple’s going to do. If they don’t announce anything in January, go out and buy an iPod.
Q Tad - Backing up locked files OSX
I think the best way to do backups is a program called Super Duper. The program will create an image of the hard drive, or you can choose what is backed up.
Q Bruce - Using DSP bluetooth headsets
I don’t think it’s worth the extra money for the digital signal processing. I’ve tried these various higher end bluetooth headsets, but personally I don’t think it worth it. I have yet to find a bluetooth headset that doesn’t drop out from time to time. The Boom is very good for noise cancellation. I also have had good experience with Plantronics and Jabra headsets.
Q Diana from Burbank - Hibernate vs. Shutdown
I prefer sleep mode. However, if there’s a power outage, hibernate would be a good choice because it saves the contents of the RAM to the hard drive. In terms of wear and tear, total shut down takes a little longer to start up, but overall there is not much of a difference. What I do is set the power save settings to let the computer go to sleep after a certain amount of time of idle time.
Q Don from Upland - Cannot access old hard drive
Something probably went wrong on the drive. I think the drive is a good candidate for Spinrite. It’ll run for over a day and try to recover the data. If something physical happened, Spinrite will not be able to fix it.
Q Michael from San Diego - iTunes not starting up
For some reason the Windows version of iTunes has several issues with Quicktime. Try reinstalling Quicktime. You can download the standalone Quicktime player here.
Show Audio
10 December 2006
Can someone please explain CPU Usage and Commit Charge? Why would my CPU Usage: 100% and my Commit Charge: ~600M / 24459M? My computer is a dell inspiron 9300 intel Pentium M processor 1.60GHz 399 MHz, 1.00 GB of RAM
Thank you
Re: Windows needs CD to boot - I had this problem and it was because the HD was not bootable, it needed the boot sector from the CD to start up — I fixed it using the fixboot command in the installation CD console.
13:48 by .
Question regarding Video cards and a physics processing unit: for dvd editing, movies and video games,should I get two high quality video cards or one high quality video card and a physics processing unit, or neither, or both?? Does the physics processing unit really do all they say and is it worth the extra $$$???
13:48 by JM?.
I like the Jabra because the majority of the mass is behind your ear. That way you don’t look like such a geek! :-)
I’ve been using the Motorola 510 VOYAGER BT Headset that works with my desk phone at work and my cell phone. It is smart in that it knows which phone to pick up… Very happy witth this headset, no drop outs.
actually now that I look it is not a Moto it’s a Plantronics…
For Michael from SD - Apple has a walk-through on its site for fixing this problem. There’s a bit more to it than just uninstalling, then reinstalling, but it’s not too difficult.
After I read it and ran it, it took about two minutes and it was done. Not so much as a byte of data was lost.
Spinrite will fix this too, of course, but that’s a retail solution. If you want a free partition table repair tool, you can try this.
any opinions on this will be appreciated:
Olevia 23″ LCD HD-Ready TV - 323V
Leo is in negotiations with KFI and is starting a new show that will be more like the old screensavers in HD format. Call For Help is done. He wants to start something new and better. He’s not just leaving and giving up.
11 December 2006
I don’t know about the Norton uninstallers being efficient. My Sony Vaio came with a revoltingly long list of Norton software, after uninstalling the programs, I found 3 folders and files with Norton in the name and 13 with Symantec in the name. I didn’t check the Registry, but I’ll bet a few entries were left in there: CNet in its latest antivirus comparison shoot-out found that Norton left cruft in the Registry after “uninstall”:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6600_7-6655968-1.html
I’d never run _any_ programs from Symantec, having had experience of a few, and resent very much that OEMs foist these programs on users.
Unwanted programs and “trial” software of all sorts added by the OEMs is another major drawback of the Windows platform.
Sony is one of the very worst OEMs in this respect, but it’s not the only offender:
http://www.yorkspace.com/2006/04/38
Such annoyances as unwanted software on supposedly “clean” factory installs just because the OEM has struck a deal with various ISVs are another very good reason to get a Mac.
Just a note on the SATA booting problem Ian was having - I too was stumped about what the problem might be, and Steve may be right about the drive lettering, but as soon as Ian mentioned he had run Vista on that drive and was still getting the boot selection at startup, I realized that I had the same problem. I had at one time dual-booted XP and Vista RC2, and when I dumped Vista, my MBR and NTLDR files got borked. There are tons of articles on the Microsoft KB about fixing the MBR and boot.ini files, but after that you may end up having the “NTLDR is Missing” problem - for that fix see http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm
I’ll also chime in on the SATA drive that won’t boot without the CD. This has happened to me a few times over the years. It’s almost always due to some problem with the Master Boot Record. If you boot off a Rescue CD, and run fdisk /mbr, it should work.
For the guy with the Xbox and wifi adaptor - All you have to do is run a ethernet cable from the xbox to your laptop and then bridge your wifi and lan network on the laptop. Everything should work fine, and you save $100.
This is late, But it is for the guy on Saturday 12/9 2006. He was getting muddy prints on his High End Canon. Two things, its dumb but I did it.
1. Remove the cartriges one by one and make absoloutely sure that you have the correct cart in the correct slot. I was positive mine were correct but Canon support made me check again and…. Embarssing.
To finish on the Muddy Canon Prints advice.
2.) If you run you cartriages to the bitter end, there is an hardware problem by which the ink from another catriage can backup into the empty one, which contaminates that cart and makes some ugly colors. So remove the carts one by one and check to see if the color is what it is labled. Is it Cyan or ugh.
Canon was super helpful with my dumb problems and they even gave me free ink, which at about $11 a cart which is like $80-$90 for my Pixma 8800. They are super.
Regarding the woman who is using an ipod on a PC that is not connected to the internet, she should NOT plan on buying any songs from the iTunes store if she is going to keep the iTunes library. To play those songs on her desktop computer, it will need to be authorized which requires an internet connection. I believe this is also the case for downloading her songs onto her ipod from the desktop computer. I do not think it will copy DRM’ed content onto the ipod unless it has been “authorized” (I could be wrong).
Once a computer has been authorized I do not think it needs to stay connected to the internet to be used by itunes to to serve as a library, even for DRM’ed content. So if she gets it authorized then she should be able to do what Leo has suggested.
12 December 2006
Leo: I appreciate your comments and everyone else’s input on DSP Bluetooth Headsets. I decided to go with the HS-655 designed for the BlackBerry. It claims zero latency for connect, and is DSP for what that may be worth. From what I have read, DSP sounds like a worthwhile investment. I ordered three DSP enabled devices for my family of various models/vendors. I am a little disappointed that there are not more vendors supporting multiple phones from one device. I did receive a response from Ericsson tech support that their headset supports 8 devices, but only one can be a phone. Sounds like BlueAnt is one of the few that states multiphone support. If only their earpiece was a little smaller, I would have bought that device instead. I think this technology is about to evolve since many cell phone users are upgrading into BT enabled phones. Thanks again
BMac: I ordered two Olevia 23 LCD HD-Ready TV - 323V from RadioShack.Com. I had a horrible ordering experience which I am still attempting to resolve. The specs look great on this model, but you need to be aware that the tuner is analog and will only display standard TV resolution through the tuner. I plan to experiment with the other input modes along with my cable box and DVD player (wide screen DVD’s, etc). I may upgrade my cable box to HD as well, but these TV’s are slated for the bedrooms so I may just use them as a test bed to explore this technology. I did notice that the specs list 1080i support and not 1080p, but the price was good enough to not pass up. If only RadioShack.Com would honor their agreement for the advertised sales price…
All: In case anyone is looking for 5.8GHz phones, Motorola makes a few good models. I bought a system that is expandable to 12 phones and Moto claims it will release a Bluetooth docking station at some point (hopefully before discontinuing the device). At any rate, they are well worth checking out for both features and clarity.
Re: MP3 transfer problem
One thing to look at is the properties of the file. I’ve had problems before with mp3 files that won’t copy because they were set to “read only.” Checking to see if the files are set to “read only” and de-selecting that option may be one way to allow the mp3 files to be copied.
I cringe whenever I see an a**h**e berate someone attempting to provide a valued service, hiding behind some phony screen name. Stand up and be a man.
13 December 2006
GMAB, when you start producing 20 podcasts a week, then you can criticize the TWIT network.
07:14 by dt?.
can anyone tell me how to open power point file in wordperfect10 or anyother xp home program?someone sent me an att.tru email and i am unable to open it..
14 December 2006
“I cringe any time someone professes to know all about something, and then talks out their a**”
You mean like Leo? I suggest both you and him read up on something called IVTC. Here are some links:
http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/interlace.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine
In a conversation about HDDVD and bluray Leo says that there is very little 1080p content available. Huh??? EVERY single hddvd and bluray movie is 1080p. Let me say that again. EVERY SINGLE HDDVD AND BLURAY MOVIE IS 1080P.
And then in the same conversation he and the caller make a huge deal about the difference between 1080i and 1080p. Guess what? When you are talking about movies they are the same thing. Same exact quality. How is this possible you say? Well again read up on IVTC (inverse telecine). In fact Leo even made mention of some articles that say 1080i and 1080p look the same. But he never bothers to find out why that is.
To the caller: if you have a 1080p TV it makes no difference if you buy a player with 1080i or 1080p output. Don’t make your decision based on that. Make your decision based on what movies you want to see. Right now hddvd has Paramount, Warners, and Universal. Bluray has Paramount, Warners, Fox, Disney, Sony, and Lions Gate. So if you go with bluray all you are missing is Universal. If you go with hddvd you are missing Fox, Disney, Sony and Lions Gate. Now its very likely that studio alliances will shift in the future but thats the way things are now.
Oh and if it makes it easier to understand just think about 1080i and 1080p the same way you think about 480i and 480p.
You know those progressive scan DVD players? Do you know how they they convert the 480i DVD into 480p? Thats right: IVTC. This is the same process for 1080i and 1080p.
Now all of this is only true for movies. Or any content that is 24 frames per second. That includes 99.999% of all movies ever made and it even includes a lot of TV shows (most of the hour long dramas are shot at 24fps). And that is mostly what is on hddvd and bluray right now.
