Leo Laporte
The Tech Guy
2–5p ET Sat & Sun

Leo Links

Show Notes > Show 340	Edit \| Read \| Hist \| Prt

For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
TWiT Netcast Network

Sunday 1 April 2007

«Previous Show

Next Show»

Show Audio

Edited Audio
64kbps MP3	16kbps MP3

Tech News

Google has announced their TiSP free in-home wireless broadband service. This changes everything. It is currently in beta; sign up today! APRIL FOOLS!

Another Google April Fools joke is Gmail Paper. Archive all your email with simple unobtrusive ads (in 36pt red Helvetica font); attachments included!

There are new bar codes in Asia which you can wave a cell phone over and get information about a product.

The Pirate Bay has allegedly found a permanent hosting solution in the North Korean embassy in Stockholm. Then again, it seems like Leo has fallen for an April Fools’ joke. The Pirate Bay is known for mocking cease and desist letters.

Steve Jobs is supposedly holding a keynote at a music event in London. Leo predicts that Jobs will announce the Beatles being on iTunes and hopefully a new iPod.

Guests

Q Scott Wilkinson - Speakers

Try to avoid sound coming from TV
- Not very good
Speaker positioning of utmost importance
Front, right, left, center, and rear speakers should be at even fractions of room’s dimension
- Make sure to take note of all sides including height
- Will minimize complications in sound
Square room will encourage reinforcement/cancellation
Could hire an acoustician
Want to keep bass as smooth as possible
- Rooms easily can reinforce/cancel bass
Also want to keep seats at odd fractions to stay away from places of reinforcement/cancellation

Q Ron Rossberg - Brite Strike/Sandisk Ultra II SD Plus

Miniature flashlights that are incredibly bright/SanDisk USB SD card
Polive officers use this
80–90 lumens!
Only 1 LED
- Lasts 100,000 hours
Rechargeable batteries coming soon

SanDisk has an SD card with a built-in USB adapter on it
Sandisk Ultra II SD Plus
Folds in half to unveil USB port

Q Paul Thurott - Another Vista tip

Slideshow feature built into Windows shell
Go to a folder with pictures in it
- Slideshow button available in toolbar
Slideshow has a toolbar at the bottom to control show
Several cool themes available
- Aero-only feature

Q Chris Marquardt - Digital photography tips

Does his podcast in english from Germany
Don’t always need subject in the middle
Slice image into 3 horizontal/vertical pieces
- Results in 4 main points where piece separations intersect
- Want main subjects in the 4 main points
Chris has an example taken with a camera phone
Called the ROT (Rule of Thirds)

Hour 1

Q Paul from New Mexico - Moving to the Mac

Wants to move to the Mac and bring data from PC
Macs can read from Windows partitions but can’t write
To record a cassette deck on Mac, all you need is a simple recording program
- Check out Audacity
- Leo uses the Plusdeck

Q Brian from Malibu - High definition camcorder

Leo recommends the just-released Canon HV20
- Has 24p mode for more cinema-like experience
- Also has HDMI output to get uncompressed video

Q Jenna - Laptop for daughter

Dell is a great choice
Very robust
- Has accidental coverage warranty
Only negative is that it’s a little heavy

Hour 2

Q John from San Jose - Home network goes down when listening to Internet radio

Big downloads and Internet streams are similar
It’s a router issue
- After a lot of traffic, Linksys/Netgear routers sometimes collapse
Get latest firmware
Belkin Draft N router is the best
- Can use less crowded 5ghz frequency
- Can also try a different channel
Try moving router/machine

Q Julian from Los Angeles - Barcode software for cell phones

Is visually impaired and the software would be of much help
Uses screen reading technology with cell phone
He uses GPS software for his phone to know where he is

Q Dennis from Morristown - Refurbished MacBooks

Until a few years ago, companies could sell open-box items as new
Most of these refurbished aren’t even used or very lightly used
Discount is amazing and has been tested much more
- Pretty much guaranteed to work without a hitch

Q Eric - Dell XPS M2010 DVD playback

Volume drops sharply in movie itself
Same problem in all software
AC3 surround sound is not as loud because much more dynamic sound
Some players have acceleration option for hardware
- On WinDVD for sure

Hour 3

Q John - Getting podcast statistics

Wants to get a Feedburner account to get statistics
If you can manually put a link in iWeb, you can use Podtrac
- Podtrac ads redirect URL to get your stats

Q Sarah from Laguna Nigel - Best laptop/desktop for graphics design in college

Adobe CS3 coming out very soon
Most graphics designers use Macintosh
- Software available on both Windows and Mac though
Should ask around at school
Leo has a MacBook and a MacBook Pro
Given programs you’re using, you should go with MacBook Pro
- Up to you for screen size
Stick with a laptop
- No need for both a desktop and laptop
Get at least 2gb RAM

Q Ruth from Hercules - Real time/live backup solution