Sunday 8 April 2007
- Show Audio
- Tech News
- Guests
- Hour 1
- Hour 2
- Hour 3
- Dave from West Lake Village - Internet Explorer crashing after installing Firefox
- Mark from West Virginia - Setting up a message board to keep family in touch
- Mary Ann - 3rd party grammar checker
- Dan from San Bernadino - Vista Home Basic loaded on business machine/Vista driver for multifunction HP printer
- Roger from Whittier - Making the “Show Desktop” shortcut show up
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Paul Graham has determined Microsoft to be dead.
Microsoft released an “out-of-cycle” patch for a “zero-day” expoit. Microsoft usually ships patches on the second Tuesday of every month. The fact that they sent out a patch out of cycle means that the exploit was very critical. So run your Windows Update!
EEye, a security company, had notified Microsoft of the problem over 3 months ago, and they had an interim patch available. Follow Leo’s Six Rules for Safe Computing.
A zero-day exploit is when an undisclosed or unpatched vulnerability is taken advantage of.
John Naughton of The Observer has an explanation as to why Apple wants to charge a premium for “freedom”, or DRM-free, music.
WinDVD has released a mandatory patch for high definition DVDs. Update or never watch movies again. The idea behind this is that the hackers who cracked AACS protection used the software.
Leo discovered a cool Mac application: Sticky Windows that will minimize windows into tabs instead of into the dock.
Guests
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 Ron Rossberg - Mio DigiWalker H610 GPS/USB beverage cooler
- 2/3 the size of a Palm device
- Can hang around your neck
- 320×240 resolution
- Has SD slot to play mp3s
- Entire USA maps preloaded
- Price is $339 on Amazon
- Watch a review going through features on YouTube
- Battery lasts 4–6 hours
- Beverage cooler brings things down to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit
- Probably will kill laptop battery
Q Rick Alber - WuFoo
- Helps create almost any type of form on the fly
- That exists as a web page
- People can add information and WuFoo will add it to its servers
- Can subscribe to form data via RSS, get emails
- Also can get statistics
- Customize the page to your heart’s desire
- Can export the data to Excel or .csv file
- Allow you to download code to embed in your own website
- Stikkit is a similar, but very useful tool
- Check out this Web 2.0 name generator
Hour 1
Q Richard from Fullerton - Error in a program that makes no sense
- Regarding “Network Time Protocol”
- There is a server running somewhere that you connect to in order to sync times
- Uses weird “strata” system
- Computers that are connected to atomic clock
- TClockEx lets you modify the clock options
Q Scott from Alta Loma - Web Browsers
- Wants to know difference between Firefox and Internet Explorer
- Has numerous security programs
- Your behavior is the most important thing you can change
- Firefox is safer because it’s “dumber”
- Internet Explorer has ActiveX controls (mini-applications) that have the capabilities of a true application
- Internet Explorer 7 at least warns you before running ActiveX controls
- Internet Explorer 7 is fine compared to Firefox
- In Vista, turn on the “protected mode” in IE7
- When you load a webpage, you load several elements
- Once security is compromised, you can never be sure that you are safe.
- Eliminate ZoneAlarm if you have a router
- Windows Defender is a great antispyware program.
Q Jan from Beverly Hills - Difference in HDMI cables/”G-Drive”
- Get the cheapest HDMI cables as possible
- A digital signal is always a digital signal
- Either makes it or it doesn’t
- More protection in analog meant the signal would be clearer.
- Not so with digital signal
- G-Drives are very pretty
- Everybody is using the same drive mechanisms
- No need to spend the extra money
Hour 2
Q Rob from Houston - Editing podcasts on the Mac
- Has a podcast covering AirShows: AirShowCast
- GarageBand isn’t great at audio editing
- For $40, try out AmadeusPro
- Audacity is a free, open-source alternative
Q Peter from Van Nuys - Cannot boot from slipstreamed Windows XP disc
- Using Nero and told it to make a bootable disc
- Try using another program
Q Gary from New York - Powerpoint not playing video
- Powerpoint rarely plays nice with Quicktime video
- Within avi file, there is a codec for the video
- Indezine has an article describing various video formats and how it works with Powerpoint
Q Bruce from San Diego - Resetting Microsoft Word settings
- You have to do it page by page
- Possible to delete preferences
- Delete a specific registry key
- Also need to change the global template file
- Then Word should fix itself
- Can also do “Help & Repair” from the help menu in Word
- Also in add/remove programs
Hour 3
Q Dave from West Lake Village - Internet Explorer crashing after installing Firefox
- Firefox extension available to use IE rendering engine on certain sites
- May be time to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7
- If it’s Internet Explorer itself having the problem, then IETab may not work
- Possible to download IE standalone installer
Q Mark from West Virginia - Setting up a message board to keep family in touch
- Wants to keep message board absolutely private
- Sponsor in LA, thefamilypost.com, has included message board
- If you don’t mind ads, Yahoo 360 will allow you to create private websites that people can be a part of
- Can also use Yahoo Groups that will allow you to create a mailing list that is archived online
- Free
- Can keep private
- Can keep invite-only
Q Mary Ann - 3rd party grammar checker
- Several available
Q Dan from San Bernadino - Vista Home Basic loaded on business machine/Vista driver for multifunction HP printer
- Vista Home Basic was the “introductory” OS
- Just upgrade machine to Vista Business
- HP is still working on many multifunction drivers for Vista
Q Roger from Whittier - Making the “Show Desktop” shortcut show up
- Problem is that the shortcut disappears on its own
- Microsoft has a knowledge-base article on how to recreate the Show Desktop icon