Leo Laporte
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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday 12 July 2008
- Show Audio
- Tech News
- Guests
- Hour 1
- Hour 2
- Hour 3
- Mike, Glendale, CA - Help scanning his slides.
- Bill, Torrance, CA - Connecting his SONY to his MAC.
- Antonio, Los Angeles, CA - Using exchange servers in Entourage
- Eric, Chevy Chase, MD - Ripping VHS tapes to computer
- Ethan, Huntington Beach, CA - Setting up a security webcam
- Mr. Anders, in the Chatroom - An update for the Blackberry Curve?
- Lani, Upton, CA - How to update a website?
- Glen, Glendale, CA - Another updating his website for publishing news
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Yesterday was iPhone Day!
The 3G iPhone comes out in 22 countries all over the world. But not without some glitches and not as many in line as last year - until that last minute that is.
What was bad? AT&Ts servers were slammed and activation was taking hours, instead of minutes, much like last year. It got so bad that even though in store activation was required, it was decided to let customers go home to finish the activation.
What’s great? The iPhone Applications Store which has some really great applications on it.
More on Viacom’s suing of YouTube
Viacom says that YouTube allowed “pervasive piracy.” But we’re talking clips here. Even though they may have a case, come on. We’re talking clips here that can only help Viacom publicize those shows. To go after those using YouTube by demanding I.P. addresses is a gross violation.
Update: The judge was very careful that Viacom can only get information piecemeal through a third party. So, Viacom gets what they want without getting personal information of those using YouTube.
Yahoo is opening up it’s search engine
With B.O.S.S. (Build your own Search Service). Anyone can now create their own search site powered by Yahoo. Will this be a Google killer? It’s certainly interesting and thinking outside the box.
Kindle Sales on the rise
Sales of eBooks for the Kindle represent about 12% of Amazon’s sales with reader units being sold at over 50,000 a month. Looks like Amazon has officially launched the eBook era.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Scott gets a letter from George wanting to know about DLP Rear Projection Televisions. What’s the story with the mirrors? Most of the manufacturers have gotten out of the business. Only two remain - Samsung and Mitsubishi being one of them. It’s a lot cheaper per screen inch than LCD or Plasma over 60″. But since the prices have dropped, they are having trouble competing with the others.
If you want really big, you’re going RP DLP or Front Projection (which is like a movie theater and really needs to be dark). It’s mature technology. Can display 3D (if encoded properly), which is great for gaming. And 3D movies are becoming popular again.
Drawbacks are that off axis causes dimming and color shifting. And the bulbs will burn out after a few thousand hours and are expen$ive. But Samsung gets around this with superbright L.E.D. and Mitsubishi uses lasers (which will come out in their new “Laser View” TVs later this fall.
Hour 1
Q Michael, Chicago, IL - Codec Overun on his MAC
Uses Leopard. Loads Senuti (iTunes unlocking application) and he gets an error message when the drive is mounted.
This is a common error. First, run “Repair disk permissions.” Then, there’s some lower level system software that may have gotten damaged. Clean the cache (Cocktail is good for this). Run Disk Warrior by Alsoft. See if that works. It could also be a download failure which causes a damaged/corrupted file. And this may not even be your fault - the company may have a damaged file or server sector which is tripping you up.
Hour 2
Q Leia, DixHills, NY - Getting SPAM on her website forms.
It’s Robots. Every time someone inputs a form to fill out, these robots find them and flood them with SPAM. Use Captcha. Check out ReCaptcha.net, which uses two words that Robots can’t read. What’s cool about it is that it’s run by the Gutenberg project which is using the masses to “digitze” books by using scanned images of books to create the Captcha. What’s a fabulous idea.
Is there a way for her to merge iPhoto libraries? Decide which library is your basic and then import the others into it. iPhoto will automagically delete any duplicate photos.
Q Ivan, Compton, CA - What Computer Degree should he get?
He’s really into networking, not so much into programming. Leo says certifications like MCSE is of great use to be a Systems Administration, but they’re more for impressing an employer. They’re expensive and don’t really add to your knowledge base, though. However, if you have a job where the company will pay for all or some of the certification, you’re in like Flynt.
A good general education or an electronic engineering degree would be more helpful. Learn by doing is always the best. So getting a job which gets your in the deep end of the pool will give you the more practical knowledge.
Q Cindy, Riverside, CA - how can she make her Wii travel?
Loves her Wii-Fit. Feels like it’s improved her shape and helped with her back pain. She uses Yoga, Skiing, etc. She won’t be able to Can she find a way to hook it up to her laptop? Hauppauge has a USB device called WinTV (for the MAC, ElGato) which will take the composite yellow plug in and then translate it to your laptop. It’s about $100.
Q Neil, Upland, CA - Secure Internet password applications
So many websites are asking passwords now. How can be remember them all? What can he use to store his passwords so he can have different passwords but not remeber them? Leo recommends RoboForm for Windows. You can use it anywhere cause you can place it on your USB drive. For MAC - 1 Password. A freebie, which is less convenient, but cool, is SuperGenPass. It’s a toolbar application which will generate passwords. You enter a master password and SuperGenPass will handle it from there.
Hour 3
Q Mike, Glendale, CA - Help scanning his slides.
His slides aren’t sharp when he scans them. Are the mounts causing it? He uses the Epson Perfection, which Leo loves. Leo is puzzled because he has had sharp success with Epson scanners and slides.
Check on Photo.net, there are forum posts there about sharpness problems with the Perfection. So this isn’t unusual. The recommendation is to calibrate the focus with the Epson software.
Leo also says that if you have good camera gear with a great macro, and a light box or 3 point light kit, you may be able to do this by photographing it. It’ll work great with gentle to scan items as well. You’ll need a tripod and eisle as well. If you don’t have a good digital SLR, you can always rent them from mom and pop stores - make sure you have a good portrait and macro lens.
Q Bill, Torrance, CA - Connecting his SONY to his MAC.
Just upgraded to a G4 iBook. His SONY DCR-SR65 camcorder isn’t compatible. If you go to the Apple iMovie Camcorder Compatibility page, you’ll find a good list. Also, you’ll need to upgrade to iLife `08. Be careful, though, that AVCHD camcorders will require Intel MACs.
If you’re dealing with iLink compatibility, then try using an iLink to firewire cable.
Q Antonio, Los Angeles, CA - Using exchange servers in Entourage
Thinks the iPhone is more a hi-tech toy. Serious business users should look at the Blackberry Bold.
He wants to know if he can use exchange servers in Entourage. You can use it with your iPhone. What he’s finding is Entourage doesn’t use RPC HTTP. It SHOULD.
Q Eric, Chevy Chase, MD - Ripping VHS tapes to computer
Wants to plug in VCR into composite ports and rip it. If your computer has the composite port, it’s a good chance it’s ATI, since it’s a Windows Media Center PC. If commercial VHSs tapes, you’ll run into MacroVision DRM issues.
But what you need to find out is what kind of card that is and then download the software utilty to handle it. A good third party option may be ULead Video Studio. Download the free demo and check to see if it reads it.
Q Ethan, Huntington Beach, CA - Setting up a security webcam
Has to do a webcam from a few hundred feet. What can he use? Check out AXIS. They have WiFi-based servers built into the camera which will make it easier. X10 cameras are another wireless option. Check out Powerline Networking as another option.
Q Mr. Anders, in the Chatroom - An update for the Blackberry Curve?
Will there be an update of the OS after the bold comes out? Often it’s just a new skin on an old OS. But there may be a firmware update which will update it. But don’t look for significant changes. And Leo has a hunch that you will not be able to update the curve to the same User Interface that the Bold will use.
Q Lani, Upton, CA - How to update a website?
Has no clue about how their website was built and can’t update it. The good news is that they have control of their site through the web host. Call the host and ask for the FTP password. Then you can go to someone you can trust to fix it. Or, just start over. College kids are great for this.
Q Glen, Glendale, CA - Another updating his website for publishing news
You’ll want to create an RSS feed. Check to see if your publisher uses CMS. It may be that if it’s too old, you’ll need a complete site redesign. ACK!
