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Saturday 21 June 2008

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Show Audio

Edited Audio

Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

• What has happened to Yahoo?!

Executives are fleeing YAHOO like rats jumping off a sinking ship. What happened to Yahoo?

Yahoo was the first great search engine. Originally called “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” Then it became YAHOO. First address for Yahoo was …. akabono.stanford.edu/yahoo

The long slide began when former Warner Brother’s president Terry Semmel came on board. Yahoo began acquiring everything. Then Google came in and stole their search business. And even though Yahoo is still a profitable company, the latest failed mergers and now the brain drain, the perception is that Yahoo is fading fast.

• Firefox 3 premieres.

Going for a world record in downloads. Started downloading at 10am. They easily set a high record with 8 million downloads in the first 24 hours.

Leo loves it. Hated Firefox 2. But in every way that Firefox 2 was terrible, Firefox 3 is GREAT. So, Firefox is back and in a big way. The real plus with Firefox is it’s extensions. Leo like Foxmarks and PicLens. Also, check out Customize Google. It’ll change the way you use Google on firefox. Will force a secure connection through google.
What would you add?

• Delicious

A great way bookmark stories and share them with others. Firefox has an extension that allows you to bookmark automagically. But will Yahoo do something with it? So far, they haven’t.

• iTunes sold it’s 5 BILLIONTH song this week. They’ve sold a billion in the last, what, two months? Clearly, legal downloading is not in jeopardy and won’t be any time soon.

Leo likes other stores that don’t force DRM copy protection on you. Copy protection stinks. And all it does is teach kids to be music pirates.

iTunes may be on top, but Amazon.com offers the same songs for a dime less, 256KB mp3s, and they’re DRM FREE!

Guests

• Scott Wilkenson,

Disney. The new Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland. Home of the “Elias Family.” Sponsored by Microsoft and HP. The big thing is Media Distribution. The screen is called THE BLUE OCEAN for high end HDTV projection TV. Cristie Projector (one of the biggest names in digital cinema, kinda overkill). Had a media server. Tanoi 5.1 speaker system. Touch panels, complete automation. Wireless digital picture frames. Media Center PCs. Touchscreens. All done by the central server.

And even the Microsoft Surface. There’s several in the home.

The Elias Family walks around with RFID ID tags, where the family members walk into a room and all the lighting, environmental controls, pictures, music, and media automatically changes to fit the liking of the family member. (Leo thinks it’s silly and kinda creepy.) About 70% you can buy now.

Scott also got to ride TOY STORY MANIA, the new ride at Disney’s California Adventure. 3D shooting gallery with characters from Toy Story.

• Dick Debartolo, The Giz Wiz and writer for Mad Magazine

Dick’s in studio this week, bringing gifts! The GizWiz Hat vs. 2, lighted pen, the works. This week, Dick’s jonsin’ over the WildPlanet Spy Video Car 360. Now, with sound! So, it’s much better. It also has tank treads for better traction and can turn 360 degrees on a dime. The Spycar Video 360 will be out in time for Christmas for around $129.

Wild Planet Toys are the high tech version of WAMMO. Fun toys that are wacky and high tech.

• Steve Gibson, GRC Research and Security Now

Amazon has a cool tool for security. They offer their data storage on a retail basis to end users. Check out Amazon S3. At .15 per GB plus bandwidth charges, it’s a very affordable way for end users to easily store files in encrypted, secure, fashion onto an off location server. And Amazon is as secure as it gets.

It’s great for shared service (using “Jungle Disk”) while at a hotspot. It’s very secure, so anyone sniffing your wireless connection, it’s completely encrypted by a key that only you have.

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Hour 1

Q JOHN, Los Angeles, CA - HDMI Data Transfers in gaming.

Has a computer with HDMI in/out. Does the data transfer rate matter? HDMI is the same as DVI plus audio. Does the speed matter? Not really. It’s the same speed as the DVI connection and as such, spending money on an expensive HDMI cable is a waste of money. But if you’re going DVI, you will need a separate audio connection (unless you’re doing headphones).

Q DARRYL, Toledo, OH - Can he put Tiger on an old G3 Laptop?

Old Blue G3 Clamshell. Does it matter he doesn’t have a DVD player? You’ll need an external player. Leo doesn’t think, however, that it may not run on it.

Check out EVERYMAC.COM. It’s a great site for seeing what your macs are capable of.

QFrom TWITTER - What’s the best Point and shoot camera, money isn’t an option.

Leo says all the pros he knows love the Canon G9. Awesome camera. Shoots raw. All the features of a DSLR with no lenses. Also, use Photoshop Elements to edit.

Q Girard, TWITTER - what’s that MAC site again?

EVERYMAC.COM. There’s also another good one called lowendmac.com. These sites are great for seeing just what you can do with that old rig. Xubuntu for older, slower computers.

Q DAVID, Chino Hills, CA - Firefox slower in OSX. Why?

Made “The Switch.” Using Bootcamp. Seems that Firefox is slower in OSX than it is in Windows. Check out speedtest.net to see how fast your computer is running both operating systems. Leo says if it feels slower, it is. After speed test, it may be more to do with DNS. Windows may be “cacheing” better. Check Windows DNS server settings for the DNS and see if you can duplicate those in the MAC.

Then, got to opendns.com and use it to bypass the DNS negotiation.

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Hour 2

Q TODD, Dunkirk, NY - Which iPod should he buy.

Considering getting an “iTouch” (IPod Touch). He’s worried about buying one now in case a new iTouch is close to being released. Apple has shaken up it’s release schedule to prevent customers from waiting. If you wait until July 11th, you will get a Touch with the upgraded version 2 OS and you’ll save $10, which will give you access to the Apps store. So, Leo recommends to wait until then at least.

Leo thinks the Touch is a great video iPod, but it’s not as good for music as he thought it would be. Reason? No buttons. But it’s gorgeous.

Q SockMonkeyFun on TWITTER - What do you think of SPORE and the future of gaming?

Leo think’s SPORE is fantastic and is a much needed break from the plethora of violent first person shooters that have flooded the market.

Games that make money are sports and driving sims and first person shooters. But Leo likes real time strategy games. And he’s still looking for innovation in the gaming industry. But instead, Gaming is becoming more like Hollywood.
Except, that in gaming, the sequels are usually better because of the improvement in technology. And that’s why more and more sequels are coming out. But Leo is excited about SPORE. Will Wright, the creator of the SIMS, is the creator. And it’s looking excitingly innovative. In fact, you can download the “Creature Creator” now.

Q RANDY, LINDERA RANCH, CA - Wireless Router trouble.

Can’t connect using his wireless router. Leo says it’s pretty common. Reset and start over and double check your settings. You probably have a bad switch or setting in there.

Q KEITH, Escondido, CA - Concerned with viruses on wireless Pocket PCs.

Leo doesn’t think viruses are an issue for wireless Pocket PCs at the moment. You can use VPN for more security. Check out MyVPN. Costs about $10 a month. But it will slow you down. Just be aware that everything you do is visible and stay clear of sensitive personal information when using a wireless connection.

Check your ISP for Secure Email or use a secure Gmail connection. Turn off file sharing. Don’t let bluetooth automatically authorize connections or sharing. You’ll be fine.

Q ALBERT, Brookline, NH - looking to start a community for disabled programmers. How?

Disabled programmer. Has tried everything. Can’t seem to get the ball rolling. Create profiles on some big networks. Create a website. Put yourself out there. Facebook. LinkedIn is the next big professional network. Steer clear of MySpace that’s mostly for kids and young adults. Twitter. Friendfeed. Check out NING. You can create your own communities there. It’s free and completely customizable. And subscribe and contribute to blogs that interest you. Using Disqus. Create a community by building an audience around you and use it to point traffic to your community.

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Hour 3

Q REED, Thousand Oaks, CA - Trouble playing Netflix DVDs.

Netflix DVD plays a few minutes and then repeats. If it’s a single disk, it’s a scratched disk. Happens on Netflix all the time. Even worse on GameFly. It’s just the nature of the rental DVD mail by disk game. Send it back marked scratched and they’ll get you another. But you lose time, unfortunately.
A workaround … try skipping the chapter.

Q DAVID, Los Angeles, CA - Can’t get his PC out of Standby mode.

Loaded up VISTA on an older, upgraded PC and now it’s stuck in standby. The CMOS may be corrupted. Open up the computer case and find the CMOS battery. Remove and replace it. That will probably clear out the CMOS. If that doesn’t fix it, there may be something more serious like a dead powers supply. Very common in older computers. Easy fix. Check out PC POWER AND COOLING.

Q KEN, Encinitas, CA - Needs a calendar based scheduler for comedy traffic school.

Has a traffic school needs a scheduling tool for his instructors and students. This may be a specialized need that off the shelf software can’t really address to your liking, but since you’re already stuck in a proprietary situation, there has to be another option. Leo recommends Asgard Systems. They do employee scheduling software which may work and they have a free trial. But remember that off the shelf isn’t an ideal fit. But it may be customizable enough to get you what you need and it will always be ungraded down the road.

BTW - Ken’s Traffic School is I’LL NEVER DRIVE FAST AGAIN COMEDY

Q SKY, Manhattan Beach, CA - Trouble downloading into Second Life with Vista.

Serious Second Life player. Owns SKYLAND. Can’t add anything into Second Life using Vista. It just shuts down the program. Leo suspects it may be the Vista Firewall. But he isn’t really sure what it is. And when techs say “it’s on your end,” that translatess to “we don’t know!” Leo also suggests updating to SP1 as Second Life had a heck of a time with Vista. So Leo thinks it just may be Second Life and they don’t want to admit it. Check your security settings. It may also be a video card driver issue.

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