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

Saturday 30 August 2008

«Previous Show

Next Show»

Show Audio

Edited Audio
64kbps MP3	16kbps MP3

Tech News

Comcast pulls the trigger on bandwidth limits

Beginning October 1st, Comcast is going to limit “unlimited” residential use to 250GB a month. Going over this limit could force cancellation of internet accounts or punitive additional charges. Could this be due to the fact that more people are using the Internet to access television and movie content and Comcast wants users to get that from their cable business? Is it anti-competitive? You bet. But Comcast and others don’t think they can make money just providing data access.

The only real way to combat this is to support local internet providers and competition.

Google Calculator: Convert.

Leo’s having a ball playing with the Google Calculator. Type “Convert” into the Google searchline and convert just about anything mathematically. It’s really cool.

Roz Savage Arriving in Hawaii Monday

She rowed the Pacific all by herself to Hawaii. She’s almost there.Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine

Scott agrees that Comcast’s decision to throttle bandwidth is an anti-competitive measure designed to kill IPTV or Internet television. Scott is testing a SONY HDTV which has a Bravia Internet Video Link (BIVL) that will pickup and display IPTV. CBS, the CW, AOL, even Wired Magazine broadcasts over IPTV. Then there’s that “Twit” guy in Petaluma …

There is a disadvantage of IPTV, download times can be rather slow with start and stops of the buffer and some quality of the imagery. But Comcast’s 250GB limit will be eaten up very quickly with HDTV over the Internet. So it’s clear that Comcast is worried about the future of television/internet conversion.

---

Hour 1

Q John, Duarte, CA - Computer recommendation

Concerned about what speed processor he needs. Leo says that even the slowest processors are more than enough for daily use like word processing, email, internet surfing. But as you get into more demanding applications like video and gaming, then you need faster processors. Putting the faster processor side by side, you probably won’t see a difference. Leo likes the Core 2 for those more demanding applications, but he says that if the choice is a faster processor with 1GB of RAM or a slower processor with 2GB of RAM, you take the slower processor with more RAM. That’s where you’re money needs to be. But there’s a limit to RAM in the 32 Bit world, where Windows only sees 4GB. It’s only when you’re using 64 Bit Vista that you can address and access more than 4 gigs.

Also, don’t minimize the importance of screen real estate. A larger screen is also a better place to spend your coin than a slightly faster processor. A larger screen will make you more productive and make the gaming or video experience much more fun.

John also wants to know about security. Leo recommends our sponsor, Eset’s Nod32, but says that if you know what you’re doing and are practicing safe computing, that and AVS, though a wise idea, isn’t really needed. But ONLY if you practice Leo’s Rules of Safe Computing. Changing your behavior online has a much larger impact on keeping your computer safe than relying on software to do it.

Q George, Houston, TX - Computer Fax suggestions for Vista Home

George wants to know what’s the best software for sending faxes from his computer. Fax and Scan can be installed into Vista, but Leo recommends eFax. $19 a month. There’s also drop.io where you can receive faxes and for $10 a year, you can send faxes. The advantages for sending from a PC directly is the highest quality possible.

Word on the street that Pamela’s PamFax can do Skype to Fax. But you need “Skype out” credits to use since you’re calling outbound phones.

Q Jim, Huntington Beach, CA - Cloud storage

Jim is using offline file storage - aka Cloud computing. Kinda like Carbonite but for constant accessing files like a hard drive. Leo recommends JungleDisk by Amazon. Dirt cheap at pennies a GB a month.

Q Michael, Los Angeles, CA - Synch software for iTunes

Michael recommends XPlay by Media Four. Connects with WMP. Allows iPods to read Windows files systems. There’s also Anapod Explorer.

---

Hour 2

Q Mike, Palo Alto, CA - Camcorders and Mac connections

Mike has a JVC Everio hard drive camcorder and wants to do a keynote address with pictures and video by doing it on his mac. He’s concerned about the quality of the video (he’s recording straight off the HDTV, rather than capturing the old VHS tape).

Connections are an issue as he tries to move it over to his MAC since his JVC has USB. Leo says you need the DOCK (called THE SHARE STATION), which has an iLink/firewire connector. This is how they lighten the load of the camcorder, using the dock as the connector to the PC. Not a bad idea. Most of the Everio Gs come with the dock, but the low end one doesn’t, but it’s not bad for about $50 at Amazon (link above).

Another option is the video on the El Gato Eye TV. That’ll be analog, but it’s doable.

Bee Documents Time Line is another great idea when making a KeyNote presentation about the family history. Using it will blow their minds! It comes with a free thirty day demo download.

Mike’s other question is about ONE PASSWORD. Is it encrypted? Yep. Strong encryption, without the master password nobody can crack it. Leo highly recommends it.

Q John, Ashburn, VA - Converting VHS - DVD

Wants to capture VHS Family movies and then create DVDs for the rest of the family without breaking the bank. Cheapest way is to import the Video IN and then edit. Leo recommends Canopus ADVC110. But it’s around $200. Hauppage USB-Live makes pretty good stuff and it’s $50.

Ion Media just came out with their VHS to PC converter. It’s an all in one solution.

Q Ken, Orlando, CA - Disappointed in Comcast’s decision

He’s concerned that as time goes on that the 250GB limit Comcast has announced will become less and less as we download more and more content. XBox Live, IPTV, it’ll add up. And will Comcast provide monitoring tools? Leo recommends NET METER.

Q Alan, Ann Arbor, MI - Quicktime audio issues

The audio from his camcorder is really bad. He wants to know if he can “wash it” through something to improve it. Leo recommends Audacity.

Alan says his equalizer is grayed out in Audacity. You need to select the audio FIRST and then the equalizer becomes available.

Alan has also been warned by Comcast that he’ll be disconnected by downloading HD content. SHAME!

Q Richard, West L.A., CA - CD Burning issues

Richard captures audio using Total Recorder. He’s getting error messages burning audio CDs. Leo suspects he’s using a format like RA (real audio) that the burner doesn’t recongnize or support. Leo recommends Applian. Figure out what format it is, convert it to WAV, then you can burn it to CD easily.

Q Eric, Winchester, CA - Windows version of Little Snitch

Uses Little Snitch, it’s a program that sniffs out suspicious outbound traffic. Is there a Windows version? Leo recommends Comodo, which is a firewall that monitors outbound traffic. But understand that sophisticated hackers already know how to disable software firewalls.

Q Rom, Burbank, CA - Will AT&T Limit Bandwidth?

Leo says that they haven’t announced it yet, but they have been one of those that are lobbying for net neutrality. Leo also suspects there’s collusion going on which will prevent any competition from stopping it.

Rom also has an iPhone question. He wants to connect to Windows Exchange, does he need Mobile Me to check Gmail - Leo says no. You can connect and check Gmail directly if Exchange is aleady going there and Gmail works great on the iPhone.

---

Hour 3

Q Vicky, Santa Barbara, CA - FIOS Connection problems

Vicky doesn’t really see a difference between her basic FIOS and regular Broadband. But she’s having trouble connecting her Acer PC running Vista via WiFi. Acer says it’s incompatible, Leo says that isn’t true. WiFi is WiFi. It shouldn’t matter.

From the Chat Room - You don’t really need the Action Tech router unless you’re using it for TV. Apparently, the issue is that FIOS uses MAC (media access control) address filtering and only devices told to the router can use the route. A stupid, easily spoofed security setting.

Leo suspects that the router is seeing the WIRED address and not the WIFI address. [[http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=256895
|Here’s a link]] to get your ACER running on FIOS.

Q Paul, Alexandria, VA - Managing Fonts on a G5

Needs to manage his fonts to keep his computer faster. AlSoft makes one called Master Juggler.

Also concerned about RFID chips in passports. Leo says although there may be privacy concerns, it really isn’t practical to make it a legitimate threat. The idea of the RFID was to make it harder to forge a passport, but hackers at the Black Hat conference showed just how easy it is to clone it, modify it, or forge it.

Q Ellie, Honolulu, HI - Time Capsule and DSL

She’s having trouble connecting Time Capsule with DSL. Her ISP says you have to use theirs. She doesn’t want to lose the backup capability that Time Capsule provides. Leo says you can use both. Just daisy chain it to the router. Tell Time Capsule to not use any IP Assignments. This is called “bridging mode.” Also see if you can “turn off disable wireless” on the DSL router and turn on WPA encryption in Time Capsule.

Q Mark, Newberry Park, CA - Firefox crashing

It crashes. There’s an issue in your configuration or cache that’s crashing it. Start Firefox in “safe mode,” (hold down ALT key when starting) this will start up with minimum needed and you can then uncheck add-ons, etc. to get it running right. Or, Programs, Run, then type firefox.exe-safe-mode.

Q Josh, San Diego, CA - Can he connect without an IP address?

Leo says you can by using Proxy servers like TOUR Routers. It anonymizes the user by sending the connection all over the world. But it slows things down quite a bit.

Josh says his ISP (Cox Cable) throttles his account to 60GB! He’d LOVE to have a 250GB limit!

Q Ron, Burbank, CA - Trouble in his address book email.

Using his online webmail with his MAC, he’s having trouble accessing his address books in webmail. Leo suspects it may be Safari doesn’t work well with the webmail provider and suggests Firefox.

---

«Previous Show

Next Show»