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Sunday 1 June 2008

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Tech News

• How the internet and technology has changed the face of politics. From fund raising to YouTube. E-Voting was once thought to be the “it” marriage of technology and politics. But in the end, it’s proven to be a bad idea.
• Billboards that look at you. Cameras are being added to billboards to collate who’s looking at their billboards. This is in direct response to the advantages that the internet has in advertising - they know who’s looking and clicking on ads. So it only makes sense that billboards would try and figure that out. But the camera on the billboard only works with small pedestrian bill boards. It won’t really work at this moment on roadside advertising.

Queen VeE is using small digital billboards that play video.

• Vista’s User Access Control blocks root kits.

Guests

Ron Rosberg, The Gadget Guru

Great new EVDO router with plenty of features the Kyocera KR2
MSRP $249.00

Here’s a great review of Kyocera KR2

Brand new “All In One” Printer the Canon Pixma MX7600 MSRP $ 399.00

Here’s a review of the Canon MX7600 from ZDNet

Kingston’s newest DataTraveler Micro Reader
MSRP $20.00

Great Price at eCost only $13.95

Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor

The secret word is SILLY. Take some pictures and put them on Flickr, linked to the Tech Guy Group and we’ll talk about them next week.

Our topic for today is PRE VISUALIZATION, or Pre-viz, preparing for your next photo shoot…

1. Try taking just one photo - Thanks to today’s digital cameras, we now have the freedom to take literally hundreds of photos. Trouble is, we lose the concept of planning the shots we take and taking only one shot. Ansel Adams - used glass plates. Had only one shot at it. Planned and got stunning results.
2. Think about composition - what story do you want to tell, what do you want the shot to say?
3. Think about focal length, exposure aperture. This is another concept that has been lost as we leave more and more of our camera decisions to the camera’s auto feature. Focal length, aperture, and subject distance can have a great impact on the look of the picture. Compression of depth is done with telephotos, whereas wide angle can expand the depth. Then there’s that fuzzy background that’s done by subject distance and a wide open aperture setting. There’s also exposure. How bright or dark do you want your picture? Shutter speeds. Adjusting these can cause a moving object to freeze in the air. Finally, there’s the ISO - the speed of gathering light on the image.

It can take longer to get your shot, but your patience is rewarded with far better results. And the more you consciously do it, the faster and better you get at it.

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Hour 1

Q Linda from Hobart, Tasmania - Trouble with her Nokia N95.

She’s going to the Dubai in the Middle East for holiday and can’t download maps for her Navigator utility. She keeps getting Chinese maps! She’s discovered that with her memory card in, she gets Chinese maps. Without the card in, they come in English! There’s some indicator that’s tripping it. The maps may be downloaded with no language and the phone’s firmware is pulling in the Chinese itself. But she gets English with her 1GB card. It’s her 4GB card that’s causing the issue. Formatting it doesn’t even help. If it’s in the card, it may be in the firmware, an identifier that points to the language.

What a mystery.

Q Ann Marie, Dell Mar, CA - looking for laptop for photographer

The cost of the Mac staggers her. The price on the Mac isn’t as much as you may think. And you will have to buy your applications again for the Mac (unless you run dual boot and have Windows and Mac on it). This is the real hidden cost. The real advantage is that the Mac is more secure on the Net.

The Macbook Pro is gorgeous, but at over $3000 with the 17″ screen, ouch. And it is a little big. Look at the 15″. Spend less and it’s much less unwieldy.

Leo is thinking that even though he loves MAC, she may be better off just staying with PC.

AmigaLander in the Chatroom says that Adobe offers a “Cross Grade” deal when buying the Mac version. Worth looking into.

James suggests to take the jump and just run Windows on it.

Q Tom, Mission Viejo, CA - Converting his albums to mp3. The sound quality isn’t so good. Needs a new sound card that works with Vista.

Leo recommends being sure you have a preamp plugged in first to balance it. Since Tom has that already, then the connection isn’t all that good. It’s where the computer makes the most RF noise.

The M-Audio Fast Track is a high end converter that could work. Or the Griffin iMic. There’s a bunch that make stuff like this.

James recommends Ion’s new LPtoCD which will burn directly to CD or the LP Dock which will rip right to your iPod.

Q Gary, Colton, CA - Bought the “magicJack,” which doesn’t work too well with his analog phone.

Works fine with his USB headset though. The magicJack is a VOIP (voice over IP) phone, which uses the Internet to make phone calls. He says the signal breaks up. Has Vonage, but he can’t get through overseas with that. VOIP is an interesting issue because it has to eventually cross into a regular phone system and overseas Vonage may just have fewer call center lines. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

What’s odd is that it shouldn’t be any difference between talking on the phone and using the headset. That leads Leo to believe it isn’t the magicJack that’s the problem.

Try SKYPE, Gary. They not only work with computers, but they also sell VOIP phones. Also, AT&T’s CallVantage.

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Hour 2

Q Comspy, in the chat room, wants to know about a free disk cleaning tool for the Mac?

Apple builds it in, called Secure Erase. But if you want to clean up your disk? That’s a tad trickier. What you think may not be important, may very well be.

Check out Disk Inventory X from DERLIEN.COM. Gives you a visual look of how your disk is being used. Color coordinated. It can move to trash, but it isn’t a “deleter.” But it will give you an idea of how your disk is being used.

Q Susanne from Huntington Beach, CA - Doesn’t have a computer yet, but is learning. Taking a summer trip and wants to know about getting a laptop.

Durability and size are key. Check out the Panasonic Toughbook. Ruggedized. Popular with police, fire department, construction. Perfect for heavy travelling of motorcycling.

Averatech has a new rugged laptop. Very small. Popular. But go with the Toughbook.

ASUS makes the EEEPC - Tiny one. 7 1/2″. Negatives - Keyboard tiny. Make sure your comfy with it. 7″ screen is too small. The 9″ is a better option. Understand though that the Eee PC runs on Linux, not Windows. But it’s designed for just basic applications like email.

Nobody really expected the Eee PC to be a hit. But they’ve become extremely popular. It should be an interesting experiment for you.

TWIT COMMANDER Suggestion from the chatroom is the Dell Latitude ATG D630 and Latitude XFR D630. Both Very rugged.

ROBERT, in the chatroom suggested the iPhone if all your doing is email and some minor surfing the web. And you have a phone as well.

Good idea. Also the Blackberry. Any smart phone would work if all you really need is to get email.

Lillyputting.com - Has a great list of tiny Computers. Greenbook light. Avoid the Cloudbook by Everex. The MiniNote is like the Eee pc only prettier. Leo’s most interested in the Eee PC 90. $550 Just came out. It’s supposed to “scream.” ECSG10IL ECS.com - built in high speed cellphone connectivity. Uses the Intel Adam. There’s quite a list. Most very popular in Japan.

Q Mark, Woodland Hills, CA - Screen goes black when trying to maximize a YouTube video.

It may be a bug in Flash. Cause if you can see full screen in WMP, then it can’t really be your computer. Reinstall Flash.

Mark also likes the Zune. Leo says the Zune 2 is a nice player. The Zune 1 was a flop. But had it come out before the iPod? Who knows.

Q Lisa in Palm Springs - 1) Needs to replace her laptop. Her current Gateway is cracking at the hinges.

Hinges are always the weak spot of the laptop. Don’t worry about having not to buy XP. Even though June 30 is the last day to buy XP, Dell, Lenovo and others are currently still selling XP on their laptops.

You may be able to get it repaired. Call Gateway and see if you can get the part replaced. The other option is to go on eBay and buy another one just like yours that’s perhaps a “parts” machine. Take it to a tech and have them replaced.

The Chatroom recommends getting a Mac and running XP on it.

Are there more problems on eBay? Is there more fraud? Leo is dealing with a problem seller. Fraud is rampant. Make sure they’ve been selling for a long time. A feedback rating of 100% is useless if it’s only been a few months old.

Q Al, in San Francisco - Puts an add in Craigslist and it keeps getting flagged. Who flags them?

Craigslist is “self policing.” Meaning that the audience can flag offensive posts. It’s a flaw in the system that it’s completely automatic. Craigslist doesn’t monitor it. So if you have someone that wants to grind an axe against you, it can kick you out and Craigslist has done nothing about it.

Too bad, too, since Craigslist is a great community. It just as this automatic flagging flaw.

Contact Craigslist via the feedback form. But chances are they’ll just tell you to repost it.

How does Craigslist make money, anyway?

Part of the maturing process of the Internet is that there’s a certain “unruliness” on it as everyone is involved. It’s like the Wild West.

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Hour 3

Does eBay really work anymore? It seems that unruly troublemakers are ruining the experience. Course, it mirrors life in that regard. It’s the same on forums, email, Craigslist … there’s always one bad apple that spoils the party.

Q Bill from Santa Ana, CA - TIVO. Can’t record in HDE? Also looking for a good quality scanner to scan slides. Budget $500.

TIVO won’t even see HDE, much less record in it.

Leo recommends the Epson Perfection Series. Leo uses the 1670. Has two sources of light - in the lid and under the glass. They do a great job scanning. Can do up to 5 slides at a time.

The $250 Epson 3170 will do just as good a job. Leo doesn’t think you really need the more expensive ones.

The NIKON COOLSCAN is another. But they’re expensive and very slow.

Another good way to do this, that’s fast is to use your digital camera and take a picture of it. Use a light box and a tripod for the camera. A hood to keep out ambient light will help as well. It’s a much faster solution if you have hundreds or even thousands of slides you need to digitize. You can use point and shoot cameras, but a DSLR is much better.

Leo’s two forums - WWW.TWIT.TV/FORUMS. You need to be a supporter to have access. The idea is to limit and weed out the unruly who wouldn’t pay for the experience. The free variant is Leoville Town Square. A nice quiet forum where people help each other. But Shhhh! Let’s keep it quiet and it’ll stay that way!

Converting your dad’s slides is a great idea. But remember that technology is fluid and sooner or later, you’ll need to convert them again to the most recent medium. It’s a never ending cycle.

Imagine if you could look into a window of the future to really see what life will be like in 20 or 30 years? The rate of change doubled between 1908–2008 over 1808–1908. And it’ll double again … or more … from 2008–2108.

Q Ross in Yucaipa - Computer infected with spyware. what do the terms mean?

malware. These are bad things that do bad things to your computer. adware is placing ads like pop-ups on your screen. If you get a pop-up ad saying you have a virus or spyware, DON’T BUY THEIR PRODUCT.

Spyware - has a commercial bent. The idea is usually that the

Viruses, trojans - are designed to take over your computer. Steal information, turn your computer into a “zombie” that will use your computer to send out the spam, or viruses, that a hacker wants to flood the internet with.

And you can’t get rid of it, really. Best chance is to simply copy your data off and reformat and reinstall. It’s a shame, but that’s the nature of the beast.

Q Rick, from Huntington, PA - A caricature artist. Bought a Wacom tablet to do them digitally. Needs a good printer and a way to link the MacBook to a TV monitor.

A CANON PIXMA PORTABLE portable is a great way to print.

Leo’s Toshiba has a VGA input. Use a DVI-VGA connector to hook up your Mac to your TV in this fashion.

Q Adam, Sherman Oaks, CA - Car accident destroyed his CDs. His only copies are on his iPod. How does he connect that iPod to that without erasing them since iTunes wants to erase them?

You are correct. DON’T SYNC WITH ITUNES! You’ll lose everything. The good news is that the iPod is a hard drive. There are programs that can copy your songs back onto a computer without having to use iTunes. PODWORKS by SciFiHiFi is great for MAC. If on a PC, SENUTI will do it. Then, once you get them there. You can open iTunes and re-import them back in. Then makes a third copy!

Q Rick, Wisconsin - Looking for a GPS. Garmin 200, 360, 720. What’s the difference?

Features. Some have XM radio built in. Some have a traffic interface. The Garmin nüvi is the best one out there. The budget determines what you want. For $170–200. The 250 or 350 model is good in that budget. If you don’t need traffic, go with the 250.

TigerDirect is a second tier vendor, but very reliable. You can get great deals with TigerDirect.

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