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Sunday 27 July 2008

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Tech News

Steve Jobs tells NY Times isn’t sick.

The ongoing story about Steve’s health came to a head when Jobs tells the NY Times rather curtly that he isn’t sick, in spite of the fact he dealt with pancreatic cancer a few years ago. Apple’s stock has suffered as a result. Jobs calls the NY Times to explain the details and facts behind his cancer battle and recovery and why it looked that way.

The surgery he had to cure him of the cancer has a side effect of bordering malnutrition and having the flu at the time he gave his speech to the WWDC didn’t help either. But Apple stock recovered as a result, which is what Jobs was lookin’ to do.

The iPhone, Buggy as heck.

Leo reports it crashes all the time, but it’s a work of art and the apps still make it worth buying.

Leo wants to try TokBox

So if you want to sign up and send him a TokBok video message, let the experiment begin.

Guests

Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor

Today’s photo tip - the magic of three. There are three things that relate to your camera when you create a picture. Speed, ISO, and Aperture. Speed is how long the shutter is open. ISO is how fast the light is absorbed and aperture is how large the amount of light is when it strikes your cameras chip. The higher the ISO, the grainier/noisier your picture can be. Noise happens mostly in point and shoot cameras, not DSLRs which have larger chips.
The smaller the aperture setting, the faster the lens.

Balancing these three things are what makes for a good quality picture. But there is yet another option - depth of field. This is the distance between the subject and the background. When you have a shallow depth of field (the aperture at its widest point), you can blur the background making your subject “pop.” Depth of field also depends on three things - aperture, subject distance, and lens focal length. The more telephoto range you use, the less depth of field. Wide angle will put everything in focus, whereas using telephoto will blur out the background. Subject distance can vary the depth of field as well. If the subject is right up against the background, then it will compete with it. But if there’s distance between subject and the background, you’ll have a more shallow depth of field.

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Hour 1

Q Marissa, from yesterday - DVD Recorder recommendation

Husband wants a DVD recorder for his birthday as a replacement for his VCR. Panasonic makes good ones. Some have TIVO, which Leo loves. Pioneer, Toshiba, and Humax has this capability and would give a fantastic option to move saved programs onto DVD from the DVR.

But if you want to get a model that has the ability to transfer VHS tapes to DVD, then a Panasonic VHS to DVD recorder is a good option. But it won’t dupe commercial films on VHS.

Q Nick, Santa Rosa, CA - New Digital Converter Boxes

Will his new HDTV accept the digital converter box? Leo says the box they are selling will convert digital signals to an analog signal for existing analog TVs. Nick’s HDTV probably has ATSC and he probably won’t need the converter box. A good new digital UHF antenna will work, although if he’s in a good area, it’ll work fine. Check out AntennaWeb.org to see if you can receive digital stations and what antenna is best.

As for being hooked up to cable, he has no worry as both Cable and Satellite services will handle conversion or HD signals directly.

Q Darren, Stockton, CA - Coupon Codes?

Darren got a great deal at SonyStyle.com using a coupon code called “DiscoverCash.” He ended up getting his mp3 player for free. These coupon codes are available all over the net, but you need to strike while the iron is hot because when they get too popular, the codes usually get pulled.

Q Lloyd, SoCal - Hard drive replacement options.

He wants to take the data off his existing hard drive before it gives up the ghost. Leo recommends a Newer Tech adapter. It’s a connector with power supply that creates a USB hard drive out of any drive. At $35, it’s a great deal.

Q Joe, Orange County, NY - New Mac recommendation

Wants to get a new MAC for college. Should he wait for Snow Leopard? Leo says there will always be something new on the horizon, so there isn’t really a reason to wait … EXCEPT … there’s rumors that a major price cut will happen soon and there may be a sub $1,000 Mac Book on the horizon. No one really knows what Apple will do, though, so get it when you’re ready and get the benefit now.

Joe also wants to know about traveling overseas with his laptop. He’s concerned about his music being on his laptop. Leo has never had an issue with this, but there are stories of people being stopped and having their tech searched for pirated audio/video. And they have huge latitude to confiscate your stuff and fine you. You have the right to privacy and as such, using TruCrypt can protect you.

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Hour 2

Q John, San Angelo, TX - Connecting wirelessly with his notebook

Can’t connect to his wireless router “for some unknown reason.” He can connect wired, but not wirelessly. Leo suspects John’s wireless software isn’t 64 bit compatible. Most wifi chips come with their own software. But Windows also runs it’s own wireless client. Use Windows wireless software over the other. It works better. Windows will then disable and then you can uninstall the other third party wireless stuff.

This is yet another reason why 64 Bit computing isn’t all that great. 64 bit is more secure and you have access to more RAM, but if you don’t need it, don’t use it.

Q Matthew, Puerto Rico - Server suggestion

What works better, Windows Server edition or Linux? Leo likes Red Hat Linux with LAMP, Php, MySQL. Leo says the best, however is OpenBSD, which is also the most secure.

Matthew also recommends “My Bulletin Board,” which is free forum software.

Q Steve, Los Angeles, CA - Getting more traffic to his website

How can he optimize WordPress to streamline it and drive more traffic to his website? Search Engine Optimization is a controversial and shady practice.
Make the default page names that are clean URLs. A good practice is the date of the post. Putting spaces in your post will toss off RSS feeds. Don’t use non-printing characters in file names. Google will also take info off the title of the page and who links to you. So more incoming links your linked to, the higher you will be ranked.

Q Chad, Columbus, OH - Skype recommendation?

His grandfather is a paraplegic, and as such, needs to do phone calling with his computer. Is Skype a good option? Sure! Skype is free computer to computer, but for making phone calls, you need a “skype-out” version, but it costs. He’ll also need “skype-in.” It’s VERY reasonable and in the Skype store are special phones that can also be used.

Skype has great quality … Leo uses it all the time for recording his interviews on the TWiT podcasting network.

Q Joe, Alabama - Changing computer cases.

Joe wants to change his computer case … just because. Leo says it isn’t hard, it’s fairly easy and makes for a great intro to building your own system. But you need to pay attention to a few things. Firstly, the motherboard may not fit the holes in the case. But if they do, no problem. Look for “offsets” or risers that are designed to mount the motherboard. They exist to prevent the board from shorting on the metal case. Make sure you use them. Once mounted, everything else is really plug and play.

Q Andrew, Salinas, CA - Is file sharing safe for network computing?

It’s safe as long as you have WEP enabled. Filesharing isn’t routable. Check out Practically Networked for more information on networking computers.

Likes “Active Undelete” to recover files from a formatted drive. So does Leo. But you do have to pay for it.

BTW - Leo will be on the Ron Owens Show/KGO on August 1st.

Q Storm, Los Angeles, CA - ISight camera issue

He gets a camera error message of his iSight being in use by another camera. And reboot won’t fix it. He can use it in iChat, but not with Skype, Remote Buddy, etc. iChat may be holding on to it after quitting the application. Force Quit with CMD-OPTION-ESCAPE.

Also, run CamTwist. It’ll allow you to do time/date stamps, etc. CamTwist will help also in maintaining control of the iSight so you can use it with other video chat applications.

Storm also needs a good 3D modeling texture mapping application. FormZ, although pricey, will help Storm doing textures on surfaces - which is in essence 3D modeling. $1300! Ack. A freebie is Google’s SketchUp. Easy to use, very powerful, and did we mention free?

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Hour 3

Q Jane, Los Angeles - She bought a video game that doesn’t work with her son’s PC. Then bought a video card that’s way too powerful or fast for her computer. It’s always a good idea to check the hardware requirements before buying a game. Leo recommends the NVidia GeForce FX video card.

Q Bryson, Pittsburgh, PA - Skype Crashing with WoW

Skype crashes when he plays World of Warcraft. Leo recommends Ventrilo as it’s designed to work behind the scenes while gaming. Jerry Bryce, from the ChatRoom - change the Skype settings to use WAV. There may be a conflict with the direct sound driver.

Check out Project Lore.

Q Chuck, Palo Alto, CA - Hassles changing his DSL provider.

Changed his phone provider and got a “dry loop” cell service (which is DSL without a phone). He’s had to do it twice because Verizon is dragging its feet in making the change. They do this as a disincentive to prevent customers from switching service. Leo recommends letting your ISP, like DSL Extreme, handle the phone company.

Leo says that the more tech savy people become, the more nervous phone companies are about losing customers and merely becoming data bitstream providers. He’s an idea … TRY BETTER SERVICE!

He also wants to create his own server based podcast/blog. Leo recommends installing Wordpress, PHP and MySQL. You may even have a push button capability with your host. Libsyn is a great alternative along with Feedburner.

Q Rick, Parker, CO - Bandwidth monitoring options

Rick wants to know if there’s any routers out there that will log bandwidth use while his computer is turned off? Leo says that shouldn’t be a big deal for today’s routers. But he recommends openWRT, which is a hack for the LinkSys WRT router. There may be a plug-in for that purpose.

Q Sam, Downey, CA - Wants to make a screen cast

Sam has software for Green screens called Green Genie that he wants to create a screen cast for to teach people how to use his product. The best screen cast software for PC is from TechSmith.com, makers of SnagIt and Camtasia. They have a project called JING PROJECT which will work great for what Sam wants.

Q Bob, Santa Barbara, CA - Mac vs. PC for video editing/graphic design

Apple’s are dominant for this purpose and most will be using it. But check with the college to see if they are “Mac friendly” and then ask if they have a MAC deal with Apple. They probably do and you’ll save a lot.

See you next week!

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