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Sunday 22 June 2008

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Tech News

• What was your first computer?

A Mitz Altair kit? A Commodore 64? A Trash 80? Compact? IBM PC Jr.? A Mac from 1984 or 1994? Or maybe your first computer was a cellphone? Leo has a toaster which has a computer in it!

• Bill Gates is into BioTech

Bill is famous for his month long reading vacations where he dives into “heavy reading.” Now that he’s retired, he’s getting into BioTech.

• Challengers of the iPhone with the Instinct.

Definitely not an iPhone, but it does have turn by turn GPS. HTC’s new phone. Sadly, it runs Windows Mobile. Leo doesn’t think Windows work as a portable OS.

Leo can’t wait for the Blackberry Bold. Sleek, cool, basic, simple.

• First MAC Trojan is in the wild!

Spotted by SecureMac and Intigo. Do the AVS companies create viruses to sell AVS software? NO. That would be nuts. But certainly the threat is overstated. However, this one is interesting. Someone sends you a file in iChat, through a bug in the remote access agent. Gives a hacker control of your Mac. ARDA Agent vulnerability is well known and easy to fix. Zip up the ARD Agent and take it out. This will close the door on the trojan.

• FCC Backs cable companies over Verizon in phone switching case.

It’s nearly impossible to cancel a customer account from AOL or a wireless phone. Companies spent almost as much trying to keep you as getting you. The FCC supported the Cable Companies’ complaint that Verizon wasn’t allowing customers to leave with their portable numbers without going through a lot to get out of their contracts. The vote was 4–1.

• iTunes sells it’s 5 Billionth Song, passes Walmart.

iTunes has become the single largest seller of music and has completely taken over the record business. What’s interesting is the record companies are offering DRM free music to Apple’s competitors in an effort to crack their hold on the download business.

Apple is also very good in getting computers into movies. In GET SMART, Maxwell Smart carries a White MACBook.

• The iPhone isn’t as cheaper as everyone thinks.

In fact, it’s actually MORE expensive! That’s because even though AT&T is subsidizing some of the cost of the phone, it’s raising the costs on the data plan, which means, in the end, you end up paying $129 MORE for the iPhone, not less! Only over the two year contract.

Guests

CHRIS MARQUART - Tips from the Top Floor.

Celebrating his 3rd Anniversary! The assignment is still to take a picture to illustrate the word “FLAT.” Post on Flickr and join the group TECH GUY GROUP.

Today, we’re talking color. When was the last time you had a picture that was “yellowish.” This happens when you shoot under incandescent light. Almost every camera has trouble compensating for it. How can you make sure the corrections are accurate? Is the monitor throwing it off? Or, the printer?

A yellowish cast means the blue channel isn’t strong enough. More blue = Less yellow. If your monitor is slightly out of tune, it can throw it off and you could be correcting for something that isn’t really necessary. So, calibrating your monitor will greatly help. Two ways to do this. Visual calibration (Mac has it built in). There’s also a Spyder Color Calibration System, XRite also makes one. Leo calls it, a “color sucker” and it which reads your monitor screen and creates a profile that the computer can use to keep your colors perfect. Start at a range of $80–200.

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Hour 1

Q DAVID, Los Angeles, CA - Toshiba laptop shuts off by itself and stays off.

Sometimes a PC can crash so badly that the system reboots itself. That doesn’t seem to be it as it doesn’t come back offering the safe boot option. For some reason, Windows is shutting itself down. There is an abrupt, normal shut down capability in Windows. Leo thinks that there’s a program or command line that’s setting a quick shut down capability into your PC. It may be MALWARE.

Run your AVS and Spyware. Then, check MSCONFIG (start-run-msconfig). Check to see what’s running in the background and what’s checked to come on in Startup. Disable each and see if it happens. Run a second opinion at Housecall. Or, the easiest is to restore your system through either a restore point or even a complete reinstall.

Another fix is using a backup Universal Power Supply (UPS).

Q HARRIS, Orange, CA - Wants to reboot his computer automatically after power loss.

How can he set his PC to do an auto-start rather than a physical pushing of the on button? Needs it for work through GO TO MY PC. Look in the BIOS for a checkbox that says “reboot after power outage.” If your power goes out and back on, the computer will turn itself back on. Also check “wake on LAN.” Make sure APN/ACPI is enabled. If it doesn’t see an ACPI compatible BIOS, Windows can’t do it. Look in your advanced power management control panel.

Q MARK, Santa Ana, CA - How to find what files went bad?

SPIN RITE tells you that you have bad sectors, but not what files went bad that caused it. How does he find that out? Spin Rite looks purely at the physical hard drive so that it doesn’t get tied to an OS. NORTON DISK DOCTOR can tell you exactly what file(s) is causing the problem.

Also has a USB question. His computer has trouble with USB connectors going bad on iPods, printers, hard drive. It’s maddening. Is there a “USB Checker?” Leo suspects a short in the USB port. It does have power running through it. If the pins have shorted, it can send power down the wrong line.

NIGHTWING2012 in the chatroom says UVCVIEW. A Google search will help you find it. Also, Passmark makes a USB tester called the USB2 Loopback. It’s called a “Loop back device.” Thanks Cole2839.

Q MARTY, Boston, MA - MP3 player can’t play Audible content.

His Sansa MP3 player can’t play his Audible.com books. Sounds like Marty’s MP3 can’t play back Audible’s copy protected content. His only choice is to remove the copy protection. You can use the “analog” hole and burn the Audible books to CD and then rip them back to mp3. But the downside is you won’t get a “bookmark” (a pick up where you left off option). It’s a hassle, but the good news is, you’ll have an archival copy.

Q WENDY, San Pedro, CA - Her WebTV was hacked.

They claim that it’s unhackable. But her’s was hacked and it turned her life upside down. Leo remembers when Wendy called a few weeks back. She needs to talk to an attorney, or Leo’s buddy Bill Handel at KFI.

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Hour 2

Q GIRARD, Santa Cruz, CA - HTC phones and YouTube Pocket.

Girard like the HTC Phone. So does Leo! He digs the HTC 6800 from Sprint. SDA and MDA. Very good headset manufacturer. Girard has gotten YouTube Pocket to work on it. He Googled YouTube Pocket and follow directions to the letter on how to download and install the core player. You may need to adjust the buffering some.

He can watch all other flash video as well. But even streaming, like from TwitLive.TV? That’d be real cool. Sadly, the iPhone doesn’t support flash video. So people wanting to watch it, can’t even though Leo’s convinced that the iPhone can do it. But Apple wants to work on it using Sprout Core using SVG.

Q PAUL, Vancouver, BC - A few website tips.

Found a site called PASSWORD CHART. Allows you to take a phrase or word and generates a password. Leo uses something similar called SuperGen Pass.

He also recommends NUTSIE, which allows you to upload your iTunes playlists to listen to your songs anywhere in the world from anything. They have a huge database of songs and as long as you own them, you can play them. Type in the artist and learn more about him.

And for $20, you can listen to it on your phone - but you’ll need an unlimited data plan. But will it work with Podcasts?

Q LEON, Philadelphia, PA - His MACbook Pro screen doesn’t turn back on.

Test to see if you can see the backlight by shining light on the screen. It’s a known problem. Get all the firmware updates. But if that doesn’t work, take it to the Apple Store and have them fix it under warranty. It’s supposed to be an update fix.

Check out MACFIXIT.COM. You gotta pay for a membership, but it’s a great resource in troubleshooting your MAC.

Q CINDY, Orange County, CA - Taking information on her name off Google.

You can’t take it off, unfortunately. Not much to do, except sure. EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) says there’s a six month window on keeping stuff on the net. You should double check that with EPIC and ask them how you can have something taken down. But Google doesn’t want to be an arbiter of what’s true and not on the Net.

Q IDOTMARK, Twitter - Does Stamps.com work with the MAC?

Indeed it does.

Q JOE, Anaheim, CA - Needs a Bluetooth Headset for the car.

Bluetooth devices that play through the car stereo speakers. Leo likes The Toothpik. It’s a handsfree adapter that has a radio transmitter built in. $89.95 plus shipping. Downside, it’s in your stereo and others can pick it up if they’re close enough.

Leo uses the BLUEANT SUPERTOOTH LITE. It’s a stand alone unit with it’s own speakers. Pretty loud. Good mic. Great battery life. Perfect since in California we all have to go hands free! http://myblueant.com

Q SANFORD, Realto, CA - Daughter’s computer has the “blue screen of death.”

It runs into a corrupted driver or program and crashes. Try running in SAFE MODE. If you can’t restart in Safe Mode, then the hard drive is probably has some damaged sectors in key programs. Use your recovery discs and reformat the drive first (the recovery will give you the option). Most of the time, the drive errors are “soft” and the format will fix it. But, if it’s more serious, it’s time to get a new hard drive. Or, if you have some important data on it, run SPIN RITE.

Another reason to BACKUP!

Q CONNOR, Pittsburgh, PA - Suggestion for bluetooth headset - Ziveo.

It’s a bluetooth headset that has a longer microphone which claims to pick up your voice better. But it’s Joby’s first bluetooth and it’s not available until next summer. So wait. Your patience will be rewarded. Meanwhile, the Plantronics 925? does a great job picking up your voice. Then there’s THE BOOM E, that Ron Rosberg really likes.

Connor also has a question about what languages he should learn for a career in computers and programming? There’s alot of value to learn JAVASCRIPT if you want to get into web based applications. Most software is built around “C.” Alot of people learned that. Pearl, Python, Ruby on Rails. Chances are, any language you use won’t be “the” language in a few years when you enter into the work force. Leo likes Google’s - PYTHON. It’s already on the MAC if you have it. NASA, Lucasfilm, Disney also use it. Good language to learn good technique. Also read “How to think like a Programmer.”

Once you learn one, you can learn just about any of them.

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Hour 3

Q STEVE, Los Angeles, Ca - What AntiVirus Software is best?

Avoid Norton Internet Securities. Really slows you down. Norton AntiVirus is supposed to be lightweight. But Leo recommends ESETs Nod32. Windows Defender for Spyware.

But remember, ultimately it’s your online behavior that’s your first line of defense. Practice Leo’s Rule of Safe Computing. Apply Microsoft’s update every Tuesday. Do this religiously. Because hackers are looking at those patches for new vulnerabilities.

And don’t click on links in emails. There’s a new “phishing” scam that will grab your bank security passwords. There’s also “Spear phishing” where they target specific people. Don’t get files from a chat room or illegal files.

Q BLACKSTIGER on Twitter - Recommends the T305 Motorola Bluetooth.

It’s a visor bluetooth. Works great. $50 at Amazon.

Q GARYK on Twitter - Webcam for the MAC?

If you have a DVCam using firewire, your camcorder will be far superior than a cheap webcam.

But if you don’t want to tie up your camcorder, Leo recommends the Logitech QuickCam 9000 Webcam. The hardware works great on the Mac, but the software - not so much. But the camera is solid.

Q JD on Twitter - His iMac keeps turning on by itself.

Apple can’t figure it out? What is up with that? It could be that power surges are triggering your computer to wake up. So, to protect your rig, get a UPC (uninterruptable power supply) or Power Conditioner. Leo likes APC or TRIPLIGHT. This will precent surges from messing with your computer.

Q WALT, Tejunga, CA - Can’t connect to the Net in XP.

His PC has both XP and Vista on it. Vista is fine. But on XP, he gets “limited connections.” This is a configuration issue in XP. Look at your router setup. Check “obtain IP automatically” and “obtain DNS automatically.” Check and see if your security software is getting in the way. Turn it off and see if you can connect.

Q GAIL, Orange County, CA - Is there two-line cellphone?

Check out GotVmail. It’s about $10 a month. Gives you multi lines, switchboard. Virtual receptionist. You can set it up to call your home phone for one, cellphone for another. And it will “follow you” and ring them in sequence. It’ll email you voicemail. Google has a service called GRAND CENTRAL. Free, but you need an invitation at the moment.

And for a business phone … get a BLACKBERRY. It’s THE business phone.

Will she still need an Aircard with the Blackberry? She uses Verizon. Well, Verizon is notorious for disabling the wireless modem feature. They’ve promised to fix that. But have they? SPRINT does it. You could save the cost of the AirCard by using the phone’s Bluetooth connection. But be sure you can use the data plan for your laptop. Third party stores (that are good ones) can tell you how to trick out your Laptop to use it.

Q RADMAN, on Twitter - says PICLENS is a great plugin for Firefox.

And Firefox 3 is back to the sleek, fast, and efficient Firefox we fell in love with. Download it today.

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