Sunday 11 March 2007

Did you remember to set your clocks forward one hour last night?

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.

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Tech News

The rich got richer. Forbes has released their yearly list of billionaires, and Bill Gates was #1 for the 13th year in a row coming in at $56.0 billion.

South by Southwest is taking place this week. It used to be an interactive music show/conference. However, they also now have an interactive Web 2.0 conference as well.

Sony announced the Playstation 3 “Home” at the Game Developer’s Conference recently. It’s similar to Second Life. The beta site is also now up.

Guests

Ron Rossberg: PMA photography expo

• 80–90% digital
• JVC GZHD7 is high definition 3CCD camcorder with 60gb hard drive
  • shoots in 1080i
  • uses professional 3rd party lens
• AVCHD is new HD format
  • No software to edit though
• Sanyo Xacti HD2 much improved for low-light conditions
  • high def camera
  • records to SD memory up to 8gb
• Canon EOS 1D Mark III professional SLR camera
  • fastest SLR in the world
  • 10.1 megapixels
• Zigview Digital Angle Viewfinder adds rotating LCD display to digital cameras
• ZoomAlbum service helps you create pocket-sized photobooks
• Camera Bright adds additional lighting to photography

Scott Wilkinson: HDMI

• Stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface
• Means of getting digital video from source to TV
• Based off of DVI
• HDMI carries both audio and video
• Very tiny connector
  • can fall out
• DVI to HDMI adaptors available
• Content protection may begin to require HDMI
  • Image constraint token can downgrade resolution if not using HDMI
• Most TVs have 1–2 HDMI inputs
  • Problem mitigated with AV receivers
• Five versions
  • 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.2a, 1.3
• 1.3 has higher bandwidth, “deep color” 48-bit color, and increased color space
• Not worth it to wait for newer HDMI cables
• No real difference between cheaper and more expensive cables

Steve Gibson: “Free Public WiFi”

• Issue surfaced with Windows Xp
  • Wireless Zero Configuration
    • Windows looks for nearby networks
    • sends queries to networks
• Anybody who has a computer to sniff traffic will see probes
  • Privacy leakage
• Somebody once used a network called Free Public WiFi
  • Then other computers joined to the computer connected to Free Public WiFi
    • Then the SSID is added and spreaded
• Spreads virally
• Wireless client update available from Microsoft
  • Not available from normal Windows Update

Hour 1

Q Jeff from Van Nuys, CA - Looking for a laptop to double as a GPS

• Wants a Mac because friends use it
• If just want GPS, not really needed to have laptop
  • Garmin & Magellan
• Garmin is Mac compatible
  • plugs in using USB
• No reason to not get Macintosh
  • In general, more choices for Windows
• On Mac, laptop choices include MacBook and MacBook Pro
• Garmin USB 18 is GPS you want
• Routebuddy software for OSX is great mapping software
  • Will interface with the Garmin USB 18

Q Kevin - Playing audio through Skype

• Leo has a mixer
• Feeds audio into mixer along with microphones
  • plugs mixer output through Skype
• Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro
  • Allows audio routing on the Mac
  • Like audio patch bay
• Soundflower free and gives 16 channels of audio
  • Harder to use

Q Carmen from San Diego, CA - Can’t send email in other places

• ISPs want to prevent spammers from using their SMTP servers
• Checks for people by checking IP
  • IP changes on the road
• Some ISPs use password authentication to get around IP checking
• Can use Gmail’s SMTP server
  • Don’t need invitation anymore to make account

Hour 2

Q Ben from Burbank, CA - Setting up a telephone line at home

• Wants to try VoiP
• Skype has service called SkypeIn
  • Will give you a phone number
• Then you can get unlimited SkypeOut for $30 a year
  • Skype has option to automatically forward calls as well
• Can also go geekier route and play around with Asterisk
  Trixbox is the simple Asterisk

Q Connor from Atlanta, GA - Looking for podcasting microphone/Backing up partitions

• $50-$75 budget
• Leo likes Plantronics DSP-400 USB headset
• Rode has more expensive Podcaster USB microphone
• Super Duper for Mac and Drive Snapshot for Windows are great backup solutions

Q Daniel from Rome, GA - No restore discs

• Wondering why there’s 2 partitions on Dell laptop
• Hidden partition has restore disc data on there
• Instructions should be included on how to make discs
  • May contain file allowing restore discs to work
• Wouldn’t be a bad idea to call Dell to make sure you’re following their procedure.
• Can use any old Windows install disc alright

Q Ed from San Diego, CA - Bluetooth wasn’t finding devices/iTunes update sizes

• Experienced dropouts as well
• Fixed itself while on hold
• May be a loose antenna inside the laptop
  • Make sure its connected
• The iTunes updates replace the older one

Hour 3

Q Lawrence - Ejecting iPod

• Both OSX and Vista are journaled
• Possible to disconnect before iPod is finished writing
  • In older days, data would be spewed all over drive
  • Now, writing simply won’t be finished
• Can easily disconnect without actually “ejecting” a couple seconds after operation is done

Q Matt from Los Angeles, CA - DiskPart from Vista

• Comment
  • Vista has built-in nondestructive partitioner: tutorial
• Gparted Linux LiveCD is specifically a nondestructive partitioner

Q Ted - 1080p and Blu-Ray

• Wants to know what would happen from a Blu-Ray player outputting 1080p on a 1080i set
• Traditional broadcasting is 480i
• Can’t really tell difference between 1080p and 1080i in normal conditions
• Leo thinks the scaling chips are the most important

Q Joyce from Apple Valley, CA - Pictures sent in email removed

• Receiving party email client removing/hiding pictures in HTML
• HTML emails have potential to be dangerous
• Most clients remove in-line images
• Buttons should be available to view pictures within trusted emails

Q Jonathan from Southern CA - Moving music from Philips mp3 player to MacBook

• It’s the wma files you’re having trouble with
• Can burn a CD from the music
• Rip music to mp3, not the iTunes default AAC
  • mp3 is standard format
    • make sure bitrate is at least 160kbps
    • iPod’s not going to be king of the world forever.

Q David from Riverside, CA - Mouse not working properly

• Try another USB mouse
• Check for new drivers
• Motherboard’s connector may be bad
• Worst case situation, some spyware