For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the TWiT Netcast Network

Saturday 9 August 2008

«Previous Show

Next Show»

Show Audio

Edited Audio
64kbps MP3	16kbps MP3

Tech News

The Olympics on NBC.

WOW. Probably the greatest opening ceremonies ever. A perfect marriage of high technology and human expression. Cool how they used 2008 drummers playing ancient drums recently uncovered in an archaeological dig and upgraded them with LED lights that were controlled as they were played. That 140 meter scrolling LED screen. The overhead digital lip that displayed video all around the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

You can watch the Olympics in real time at NBCOlympics.com, but you need Silverlight from Microsoft to use it. Over 2000 hours of streaming video in real time.

TV TONIC is offering HiDef versions of the Olympics for download, but you’ll need Vista Ultimate or 32 bit Home Premium and Silverlight to get it. No XP and No MAC! What is up with that?

Appeals court overturns a ruling over a “Headend DVR.”

Comcast wanted to release a DVR that would have the storage on servers at Comcast and not on a hard drive at your home. The MPAA filed a suit and won. But the appeals court has overturned it, clearing the way for Comcast to test the new technology.

Domain Security Hole Still remains of concern

Leo says that all DNS servers should be patched by now, but they aren’t. The hole will allow hackers to spoof sites and while you think you may be at a legit site, you could actually have been diverted to a hacked site and could steal your information.

And according to a recent hacker report, the fix doesn’t work anyway! But some time may have been bought to recreate or fix the DNS problem. You can still test your server at Dox Para, and also here. You can also change your DNS to OpenDNS.com.

XM/Sirus Merger Approved. Both Networks to run.

sirius-xm-merger
The new company will be called XM/Sirius and both will be run by Mel Carmazan. How will it effect programming? Some will be on both systems, some will be separate, some will migrate to XM (like Howard Stern). But Leo thinks it was a merger that just had to happen.

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine

What else is there to talk about but that LED screen at the Olympics opening ceremony?! 147 meters long. Red,Green,Blue LEDs bundled closely together. And completely rolled up to look like a scroll of ancient parchment. VERY cool.

It showed video, pictures, it was simply amazing. Based on the Jumbotron technology you see at stadiums, which is why they could use it in the stadium. You couldn’t have that kind of technology in your home TV because you couldn’t get the LEDs small enough and they would be terribly pixelated. But for watching from a stadium seat, it’s truly stunning.

Scott saw Journey to the Center of the Earth in “RealD”/3D. Not impressed with the movie, but . It uses a polarizing effect of vertical/horizontal images. The distances are very different without the glasses, but with them on,you get the 3D effect. Leo says it’s like the center channel in surround sound. Very gimmicky. But it just didn’t really look like it should in 3D, according to Scott. But better than we’ve seen in the past.

---

Hour 1

Q Andrew, New York, NY - Redesigning his website for eCommerce.

Andrew has one of the few remaining independent record stores. He’s interested in redesigning his website. Leo thinks it should represent the “feel” of what Andrew is doing. Sure, he can use an online storefront for the eCommerce version, but people can get a bit concerned when going from one site to another to pay. Leo recommends Amazon with their AmazonPayments service. Downside, they need an Am Account. But hey, it’s Amazon. Very trustworthy.

And get someone to design it that’s in the same age group in your target demographic.

Andrew’s site is Alternativemusic.com

---

Hour 2

Q Ed, Orange County - Free, low cost website software recommendation?

Wants to start a PC Tech business. Needs a website. Leo recommends starting at Wordpress. It’s free. Sure, it’s used as a blog, but it’s a website content management system that you can use to manage your site. They have great, easy templates too.

Ed also wants to know about Drupal. Leo uses it, but thinks it may be more than Ed needs. You have to have your own server and it does require more expertise to use it. What about GoDaddy.com for hosting? Leo says AVOID it. He doesn’t recommend it.

Go Wordpress. Clean code. Professional looking. Why spend money?

Q Ronald, Toronto, Canada - Mixer Recommendation for podcasting

This Alesis podcast mixer died. Leo recommends the Beringer Podcast system. Leo also likes Makie, particularly the Onynx 1620, which isn’t very expensive either. Has a FireWire port accessory. Great for podcast.

Q Cassidy, Mission Viejo, CA - looking for a VoIP phone line.

Wants to know how good is ooma? ooma looks interesting. You pay once. $250 for lifetime service. Lifetime for the company, mind you, not you. Clever. It’s a peer to peer system. So the more people using ooma, the better the calls are. Reviews are good, but Leo hasn’t tried it.

It does use 128 kbps. You need at least 64 kbps up or your signal will degrade as you do other stuff. And if you lose power, you lose the phone. Another problem is 911.

Q Dave, Pasadena - Looking for a home media server.

Doesn’t care for Microsoft. Leo likes ReadyNAS from Netgear. It’s Linux, so it’s open source. Runs RAID 5. Expect to drop about $800 for 2TB of storage. If you’re a do it yourself guy, you can do it yourself since Linux is open source. Use an old computer you’ve got lying around and build a RAID for it.

Q Alan, Los Angeles - Uses an ooma.

Uses the ooma. Loves it. Uses it on his cable modem. The trick is plug the cable box into ooma and then into the router. This gives ooma the priority. He also says voice quality is as good, if not better, than wireless. Alan is about to buy a third one. Call screening. Call messaging.

If the company survives, it’ll change things.

---

Hour 3

Q Brian, Boseman, Montana - Converting Super 8 movies to DVD

Should he pay to have it done? Absolutely. And a good service will also clean the home movies before converting it. Then, they will run the film and shoot it into a camera - that’s the less expensive way. A better way is to scan it into the computer. But that isn’t cheap.

Brian also has audio tapes that he’d like to capture. The service should be able to do the entire thing, but separate processes. If you have a cassette player, hook it up using an RCA to minijack cable and plug it into your sound card. You can use a recording program like Audacity (which is free) to record it.

And understand that as is the nature of technology, you’ll need to keep an eye on the technologies as they come and go. You may need to do this again.

Q John, San Diego, CA - Wireless connectivity issues

His notebook has lost the ability to connect to his wireless network when he connected a new router. First, connect wired and see if you can surf. Press the reset button and then plug it in and hole the reset for about 30 seconds. This will reset the router to factory defaults.

Disable your security software and firewall. It may be that they are causing the issue. You can then reconnect each one in order to see what tosses you off. Repair Windows TCP/IP connections. And lastly, it may just be that your wireless card has given up the ghost and you need a new one.

Q Pat, Torrance, CA - Laptop computer for flight sims

Leo recommends a “Desktop replacement” model. Voodoo and Alienware are pricey, but excellent for gaming. The Voodoo Envy is interesting. Light, thin. Probably not best for gaming. Check your hardware requirements for the flight sims and then DOUBLE them. The Dell XPS is a good option, too, but the Alienware M15X is designed for gaming. Core 2 Extreme high end processors, faster, bigger hard drives, better screens for HiDef. Expect to drop about $4K for it.

And James thinks you may want to build one of these for it.

Q Maurice, Ventura, CA - His G4 Powerbook died.

Maurice got the dreaded “three tones.” It’s failed the power-on self test. The memory could also have just shook lose and need to be reseated. But it could also easily just be the RAM. Bring it to a store and ask them to swap it out. It could also be the logic board, video card, just about anything except the hard drive. Also, if you have more than one stick, try taking one out and reboot then repeat. It may be only one stick that’s died. If it’s the logic board, buy a new MacBook. You’ll spend more just to replace the logic board.
Check out MacSales.Com on RAM costs. That could easily be a cheap fix. Also, if you send it in for repair, back up the data to copy the hard drive. You can use

Q Alan, Richmond, VA - See a difference with 720P TV? New DVD player?

He just bought an HDTV and wants to know if his DVD player will upscale and still look good? You bet. It’ll upscale to 720p and look better than what you had with the old one. If you’re lookin’ Blu-ray, get a PS3. Cheapest and best Blu-ray player on the market and you get a great gaming platform to boot. Just get the DVD remote control accessory.

Q Brian, Los Angeles, CA - Lost his pictures folder on his MacBook

There are unerase programs out there. Leo uses TechTool Pro by MicroMat. They have a free trial and you’ll be able to see if you can recover it before paying for it. Just make sure you haven’t overwritten it.

Q Rhonda, Tustin, CA - Wants to buy a MacBook Pro.

Lookin’ to get a MacBook Pro, But needs a Blu-ray burner. Leo says you can buy third party Blu-ray burners and OSX supports it. But Apple hasn’t taken the Blu-ray plunge just yet. Look for a new laptop in September.

---

«Previous Show

Next Show»