Sunday 17 June 2007

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Tech News

Google has launched a “Street View” service that are fairly recent. Leo’s buddy Patrick Norton was actually caught on it crossing the street. Check out the top 15 sightings on Google Street View.

Google is becoming more and more like Big Brother. Take a look at their Google Web History. It tracks all the websites you have been to through Google for several months.

Fathers and kids are bonding over videogames according to USA Today.

The FBI is trying to contact 1 million PC users whose computers have been compromised by hackers.

Check out the hilarious Mac or PC rap at MacorPC.org.

Walt Mossberg, tech journalist for the Wall Street Journal, already has an iPhone.

Guests

Q Rick Alber - Google Earth Audio KML Layer

• KML allows you to map several points in Google Earth
• Wild Sanctuary contains numerous animal sounds for around the world
  • The audio KML layer will play the sounds of animals at various points around the world
• Contains just less than 100 sounds
  • More to come soon

Q Scott Wilkinson - All things home theater

• 720p and 1080i more suited towards TV signal
• Can’t call display 1080i
  • Digital displays are simply a set of pixels

Q Ron Rosberg - Blackberry Curve 8300/Blackberry 8830

• Has a 2 megapixel camera
• $99.99 with a 2-year contract on AT&T via Amazon

• Uses EVDO
• Will allow people to put SIM card into the phone in other places around the world.
• Eliminates need for 2 phones
• Media player with microSD slot
• 35-key backlit keyboard
• $199.99 after rebates on Verizon

Hour 1

Q Emmanuel from Richmond, Indiana - Mac locked up and new iChat contacts/Phone for blind father

• Using Firefox, his Mac froze up and he had to do a hard reboot.
• When he rebooted, new buddies appeared on iChat
• Firefox freezes all the time
  • Probably because of extensions
• Not sure about iChat
• Take a look at Jitterbug
• Carriers usually do sell accessible phones
• Sprint has a page regarding accessibility

Q Denise from Valencia, CA - USB transfers slow

• Only has USB 1.1 on PowerMac G4
  • Limited to 1.5 megabytes/second
• Take a look at a Firewire drive

Q Taylor from Santa Ana, CA - CD not opening at all

• Autorun.inf not running on the CD
• There is probably a damaged registry entry
• Windows XP autorun repair wizard

Q Louis from Los Angeles, CA - Toshiba SED TVs?

• Supposedly coming out in July
• Better than plasma or LCD
• How Stuff Works has an article about SED

Hour 2

Q Bright projector

• Look at a cinema DLP projector
  • Very bright
  • Will run you about 6 figures
• Could have a rear projection system as well
• Ambient light rejecting screens do exist

Q Ron - Widescreen video being letterboxed

• Being letterboxed on LCD TV
  • Bars on left, right, top, bottom
• Make sure aspect ratio is set for 16:9 on TV and DVD player
• Scott’s initial setup for new HDTVs
  • Lower the brightness/contrast
    • Brightness affects the blacks
  • Contrast control changes the entire range
  • Use disc like “Digital Video Essentials”
    • Test disc
  • Can hire a calibrater
  • Use the “warm” color setting

Hour 3

Q David - Wildblue service review

• Getting about 192 kilobytes/second download
• 20–30 kilobytes/second upload
• Latency is high
  • Ping times about 650 milliseconds-2 seconds
  • Will kill all live Internet activity
    • Skype/games for example
• Pretty reliable
• Get a dial-up number just in case satellite goes down

Q Tony from San Antonio, TX - GPS Maps

• Wants to update maps regularly
• Microsoft Streets and Trips 2007 will have the latest maps
  • Updates every year with new version
• For a miniature GPS, check out the Mio
  • Not updateable

Q CT from Charlotte, NC - Can’t see other computers on network from Linux

• Firewall probably making the problem
• Try pinging the other computers
• Security software is preventing file sharing

Q Lucian from Los Angeles, CA - Cannot sync Jornada to Windows Vista

• Can use Virtual PC to install XP in virtual machine in order to sync
• Microsoft has a Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows Vista that will sync the device

Q Shelly from Agora Hills, CA - Treo 700p not connecting to Bluetooth headset/Car audio system with Bluetooth/iPod support

• Not sure about Bluetooth problem, contact Leo with suggestions
• Alpine is a great choice

Q Ron from Santa Maria, CA - Batch photo editor

• Can select all the photos, right click, and select properties to edit
• Take a look at Picasa photo organization tool
• Also try Irfanview

Q Scott - Router that supports gigabit ethernet

• D-Link has an 802.11n router that supports gigabit
• Leo uses the D-Link 802.11g gaming router