Saturday 10 March 2007

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward one hour tonight!

Windows XP and Mac OS X should handle the transition automatically. Older operating systems and other devices may not. Microsoft is providing a list of DST related support links for third-party vendors here.

Show Audio

Tech News

All the kids are moving from MySpace to Facebook. Yahoo attempted to purchase Facebook for $1 billion, but the owner declined. He wanted to wait for an offer to come worth $2 billion. Facebook was originally for college students, but recently opened up to all. However, things seem to be moving to Virb. The buzz is huge. It is absolutely beautiful! The whole social networking business began with Friendster which is now really popular in South Korea. Leo thinks that the owner of Facebook is going to regret rejecting the offer.

The US Department of Transportation is avoiding Windows Vista. Also, the FAA is ditching Windows.

Microsoft has elected to not release critical updates this month.

There are 3 great ways to find new sites: StumbleUpon, Technorati, and Del.icio.us

Guests

Dick Debartolo:

• CommuteMate Flameless Flare Reusable Roadside Emergency Flare
  • Available from Sam’s Club
• Uses LED
• Can run for 250 hours

Merlin Mann: How to create the best voicemail message

• Get name/call back number out in the beginning
  • repeat again in the end
• People using messages to simply say, “Missed you, so please call me back”
• Leave name/number and get out!
• Having good voicemail intro just as important
  • No need to say, “Leave message after the beep”

Hour 1

Q Nathan from Australia - Taking video footage and cataloguing it

• Wants to be able to easily organize all video footage
• Will need a lot of hard drive space
  • Also may want backup hard drives
• Can use database software
• iView Media Pro can do it
  • Need something that can export into standard format
  • Not sure whether you will be using Windows in 20 years

Q Karen from Lake Forest, CA - Washed daughter’s iPod

• Let it dry out
• Water not really bad for electronics unless it short circuits
• If it works after drying it, it will stay alive
  • Not a promise, but high probability

Q Cliff from Glendora - Dell XPS 410 Woes

• Came with Windows Vista
  • Applications not compatible
• Just install Windows XP
  • Remove Vista
  • Make sure to download XP drivers
    • Drivers disc comes with Vista drivers
• With time, applications may become compatible

Q Jan from Tennessee - Purchasing a new laptop with Vista

• Narrowed down by processor
  • AMD Turion X-2
  • Intel Core 2 Duo
• If AMD did not make better processor than Pentium 4, Intel would not have made better processor
• If buying laptop today, go with Intel

Hour 2

Q Nesrin - Updating Vista for new DST

• If you run Windows Update
  • Start → Windows Update
    • Get critical updates
• That will have the patch
• Can just manually change time zone
  • Without patch, April 1 clock will move forward again

Q Lily from Venice, CA - Simultaneously running Vista/XP

• Option available to dual-boot system during Vista installation
• Mainstream applications will work in Vista
• If laptop breaks, 3rd party insurance sold via CompUSA will fix it

Q Marco - Creating a Web 2.0 site

• Leo’s friend Kevin Rose had simple idea which blew up into Digg.
  • Hired programmer via Internet
    • Can hire people from sites like Guru.com
    • Look for someone competent with Ruby on Rails
• Digg was written in PHP
• Get programmer to show portfolio

Q John from Lake Forest - Proving he did not go to adult sites recently

• Had cookies from adult sites
  • Would show up if you got spam
  • HTML mail very dangerous
    • In effect viewing a web page
• Had gone to some sites when single on older computer
• Ultimately comes down to trust

Q Shane from Cary, NC - Internet Explorer crashing

• Crashing when using javascript editors for content management systems
• Get Firefox

Hour 3

Q Todd from Timecula, CA - Toast 8 not finding multimedia

• Can trick programs
  • If comfortable with Terminal
  • Use @ln@ command
• Delete old pictures/movies/pictures folders
• @cd@ will put you in home folder
• @ln -s /path/to/target/folder /path to your link [name]@
  • [name] is either Movies, Music, or Pictures
  • Can also drag the folder
• Also possible to burn by hand
  • Exporting

Q David from Van Nuys - Zune

• Wants to get album art
• Get image, paste it into the Zune software

Q Reginald from New York - DVR software

• Looking for software & HD receiver cards that support CableCard
• Software will recommend hardware much of the time
• Knoppmyth MythTV is a great choice

Q Erin from Edinburgh, PA - Phone not using bluetooth headset for headphones

• Phone’s not defining Plantronics Voyager 510 headset as both headset/headphones
• Nothing you can do about it
• Phone’s problem, not headset

Q Mark - Quantum Computers

• Looking for dumbed down definition
• Computers now work electrically
  • Transistors have on/off states
• Quantum mechanics means that electrons can be in 2 places at once
  • Very small
• Fears of encryption being cracked because of potential power

Q Ben from Seattle, WA - Networking computers around the house

• Only some computers have gigabit connectors
• If connected to gigabit switch, will not slow down gigabit computers
• D-Link gaming router has gigabit switch + 108mbps wifi