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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday 9 March 2008
- Show Audio
- Guests
- Tech News
- Hour 1
- Tim in Santa Rosa — Is it good to get a wireless hi def system
- Chris in Wilmington, NC — Recommendation for photography software for the Mac and camera recommendations
- Todd in Dunkirk, NY — Other than satellite what options are available in rural Missouri?
- Naomi Hellendale, CA — Use computer as a digital video recorder (DVR). Media Center not recognizing TV tuner.
- Hour 2
- Ken in California — How to change the default e-mail program from AOL mail
- Dwane in Santa Clarita, CA — Analog OnStar service no longer works on 2004 Saab
- Marsha in Redondo Beach, CA — Camera is not being recognized by Vista and Internet connectivity is slow
- Jeff in Fullerton, CA — Recommendation for bluetooth headsets
- Hour 3
- Tim in San Francisco, CA — Best scanner to digitize film pictures
- Darren in San Francisco, CA — Best guide to learn how to use OS X Leopard
- Brian in Los Angeles, CA — Unknown hard drive error
- Diane — Riverside, CA — Is opening an e-mail via webmail the same as opening it locally
- Mark in Los Angeles, CA — Website that compares laptops and how to use a cell phone via car radio
- Larry — Lake Elsinore, CA — Experience with Linspire (Lindows)
- Kent in Sana Ana, CA — LCD or Plasma doesn’t work above 6000 feet? Go with XPR?
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Guests
Ron Rosberg - Gadgets of the Week
Sprint’s Samsung Slider M520
Price with 2 Year Contract $49.95
Sprint Announces $99.95 “Simply Everything(SM)” Plan
Radio YourWay’ Original and LX are no longer available - Discontinued throughout the United States
Accessories still available at www.radioyourway.com
Tech News
- Wired kids—article in the New York Times. The kids in the back are talking to each other via text message so that their dad doesn’t hear.
- Microsoft Mix 08—Microsoft admits that Google is the competition. Microsoft wants to be the portal for applications such as mail, spreadsheets, word processing, and presentations. silverlight 2 highlighted at Mix. NBC Olympics site is using Silverlight 2. Demo showed you zooming in on things like Janice Joplin’s coat and other special effects. Silverlight is “Windows on the web” but is cross platform with support for Mac and Linux.
- Windows Vista Capable—Class action suit against Microsoft about labeling computers Window Vista capable when the computer could not utilize all the features Microsoft has advertised about Vista, such as the Aero interface. In the court case, as part of the discovery process, Mike Nash, VP in charge of the Windows product has sent an e-mail stating that he got burned by buying a Vista capable computer. If your computer has Windows XP, don’t try to put Vista on it since Vista’s hardware requirements are so much larger.
Hour 1
Q Tim in Santa Rosa — Is it good to get a wireless hi def system
I would wait, but for video it isn’t a good time to get it yet. It is good for wireless audio since the bandwidth requirements are much lower. Sonos is the best to get, but it is also the most expensive. For $1000 you get two base stations and a great remote. Others to look at are Prismiq, Roku Labs, and Slim Devices.
Q Chris in Wilmington, NC — Recommendation for photography software for the Mac and camera recommendations
iPhoto is a great starting point and comes with every new Mac. Aperture and Lightroom are two other good programs to try. I like Lightroom, which is $300. What it lets you do is import the photos, sort them, and edit them. What’s nice about it is that it doesn’t change the original photo. Photo Shop is the ultimate application people use. For $400 you should get a “point and shoot” camera. For more advanced users you should get a digital SLR. SLR cameras are faster, allows for removable lenses, and have better quality. A good “starter SLR” is the Nikon D40, D70, D100, or D300. The Canon Rebel is also a good choice. You can’t go wrong with either a Canon or Nikon. The
Canon G9 is my favorite point and shoot.
Q Todd in Dunkirk, NY — Other than satellite what options are available in rural Missouri?
Go to Broadband reports and do a search by ZIP code. Satellite is too slow, especially with upload. Another option is NNDS. High speed cell capability is a possibility via HSDPA from AT&T. Sprint PCS might be another choice via EVDO. One thing to be aware of is that they limit you after using 5 gigabytes of data per month.
Q Naomi Hellendale, CA — Use computer as a digital video recorder (DVR). Media Center not recognizing TV tuner.
Vista comes with Windows Media Center which can act as a DVR provided that the hardware is compatible with it. Caller needs to get a Vista specific driver for her computer. Pinnacle will not see her TV tuner. The computer is a laptop and if possible, return it if it is still within the time period to do so. Unfortunately USB video cards do not work well with Windows Media Center. Hauppauge makes a good alternative USB TV tuner card to use.
Hour 2
Q Ken in California — How to change the default e-mail program from AOL mail
Caller uses Gmail and would like to switch the default back. Since Gmail is web based, there is no easy way to change the default back. The way to do it is to install the Gmail notifier which will let you change the default back to Gmail.
Q Dwane in Santa Clarita, CA — Analog OnStar service no longer works on 2004 Saab
Analog cell service (which some OnStar systems use) was discontinued a few weeks ago. Try to find an after market person who might be able to replace the OnStar with a digital system. Onstar FAQ mentions an upgrade kit as an option. For GM cars there is an
upgrade program.
Q Marsha in Redondo Beach, CA — Camera is not being recognized by Vista and Internet connectivity is slow
The best thing to do at this point is to reformat and use the recovery disks to reinstall all the software.
Q Jeff in Fullerton, CA — Recommendation for bluetooth headsets
I recommend the Jawbone.
Hour 3
Rick Hanson Club 100 — The TRS-80-Model 100 users group. Celebrating the 25th birthday of the Model 100. Rick refurbishes the first portable computer, the Model 100 from Tandy Radio Shack.
Q Tim in San Francisco, CA — Best scanner to digitize film pictures
The Nikon Cool Scan is the best one to get, but it will be slow.
Q Darren in San Francisco, CA — Best guide to learn how to use OS X Leopard
I recommend The Missing Manual for OS X Leopard by David Pogue. The Take Control series from Adam Engst from Tidbits.com is also very good.
Q Brian in Los Angeles, CA — Unknown hard drive error
Use either SMART tools which may not always give reliable information. Normally you can get the tools for free from the drive manufacturer. I recommend getting SpinRite, though it can be costly at $80–90. The best thing to do is back up the drive and keep using it.
Q Diane — Riverside, CA — Is opening an e-mail via webmail the same as opening it locally
When opening an e-mail via webmail you’re not opening it locally, but you’re not necessarily safe. If the web page has anything hostile on it, it can affect your system. Make sure you update Windows whenever new patches come out. Also avoid using HTML mail because of all of the security problems associated with it. Another thing to do is raise the security levels if you use Internet Explorer. Another thing to do is to avoid running Windows as an administrator.
Q Mark in Los Angeles, CA — Website that compares laptops and how to use a cell phone via car radio
I recommend PC Mag for laptop reviews. For using the cell phone via the car radio, I suggest The Toothpick or The Super Ant bluetooth lite from Blue Ant.
Q Larry — Lake Elsinore, CA — Experience with Linspire (Lindows)
Caller likes using Linspire with his $200 EEE PC. Machine comes with Freespire, which is the free version of Linspire, just with less features.
Q Kent in Sana Ana, CA — LCD or Plasma doesn’t work above 6000 feet? Go with XPR?
Plasma is the one that fades over 6000 feet. XPR gives you better blacks since it has more advanced circuitry.
