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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday 6 September 2008
- Show Audio
- Tech News
- Guests
- Hour 1
- Hour 2
- Hour 3
- Alex, Louisville, KY - Sound troubles running OSX on a PC.
- Hans, Westlake Village, CA - Suspicious email got him.
- Stephen, Irvine, CA - Playing flash video on the iPhone
- E.J., Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Buying a PS3 for Blu-Ray
- Bruce, Carlsbad, CA - HDTV recommendation.
- Mark, Los Angeles, CA - Trouble with Spore on the MACbook
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Apple’s new event coming September 9th. Let’s Rock!
Leo gets his Apple invite. Speculation is running rampant that Apple will announce a new iPod Nano with a larger widescreen to watch 16×9 film downloads.
Also iTunes 8 will be coming out as well. Will it go subscription with all you can eat music downloads for a monthly fee? There’s certainly interest in that, but Leo suspects not.
There may be a new sub notebook though. Only time will tell.
Google Chrome gets launched
Google Chrome is a new browser which Google says is designed for web based applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Spreadsheet. Based on WebKit, an open source browser engine. Nifty feature is that you can take any webpage and make an application out of it. But do we really need a new browser?
Online TV viewing doubled since 2006
Most young people are getting their TV online these days according to a new study. Hulu, ITunes, and even illegal downloads by limewire account for 1 in 10 teens. Most popular content? NEWS. 43%
New Cameras announced as Photokina nears
Photokina, the huge photography trade show, is about to happen. And there’s several new cameras coming out on the market including the Canon 50D. The beauty of the 50D is that the chip is a full frame chip, meaning it’s as large as a frame of 35mm film. Great for getting sharp detail and bold colors.
The new Gates/Seinfeld commercial. UGH.
The first add came out. Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in a shoe store while eating churros. What may be the weirdest commercial in TV history.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Scott is reporting from the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) this week. And he’s jonsin’ over the new 4K front video projectors which are coming out. JVC has one for about $50,000! The resolution is so rich and sharp that studios are digitally scanning their films into 4K and then encoding down for Blu-Ray DVDs (4k is about 4x the screen area, twice the resolution of HD). Scott is convinced that even though it’ll take several years for it to be adopted, 4K will become the next great video standard after HiDef. And the Red One Camcorder is leading the way.
What can those of us who can’t afford to burn 50 large get these days in front projection? Epson and Mitsubishi make a very nice HD projector for about $3500. Plus the cost of screen. You also need good light control in order to block out any ambient light that will compete with the projector.
Leo just likes that he can control his Apple TV with his iPhone … it makes a great remote control!
Scott is also seeing some great LCD TVs which have independent LEDs that are blue, red, and green, as well as white. What’s great about being independent LEDs is that some can be turned down while others are turned up making for richer colors and greater contrast.
Hour 1
Q Eric, Apple Valley, CA - Wireless Broadband and gaming
Eric wants to get his son a wireless broadband card so he can play World of Warcraft in his Army Barracks, rather than having to go to the USO all the time to play. Doable?
Leo suspects that you’ll run into both latency and speed consistency problems which will make playing the game extremely frustrating, if not impossible. Though he admits he’s never tried it. But the streaming demands of playing such high graphic games puts a tremendous strain on the system, and with broadband wireless, it can even slow down as more people are on the network. You could try it, but it will be a costly experiment. $100 for the card, $60 a month. But if they have a 30-day return policy, it may be worth trying.
Another option would be to see if there’s Wi-Max in the area that your son can use that instead. WiMax is like long distance WiFi and that would be a better option. Go to Broadbandreports.com and search his area for a WiMax provider.
Q Will, Witchita, KS - A Weather application that will refresh in Keynote?
Will is building a digital kiosk using Keynote. He wants to create a weather application which will refresh as the weather changes (he cites it’s doable in Powerpoint). If there’s a flash embed, that may be the way to go. Problem with Keynote is that it’s rather static. A better option is to embed Quicktime or flash. But when you press play, a browswer will launch to play it.
Leo is opening it up to the TWIT Army to call or email with a solution. Stay tuned.
Q Sean, Hermosa Beach, CA - Smart Phone recommendation
He’s finally gotten out from under his T-Mobile contract and he’s lookin to go AT&T. Son is getting an iPhone but he needs a smartphone that reads MS Office, and Excel in particular.
Fact of the matter is that while it’s fun to get a new “master,” just about every cellphone carrier’s contract stinks. AT&T will be just as bad. As for smart phones, you’ll need to use the Windows Mobile OS which is a terrible OS. Better than it was, but sadly it’s just too complicated for a phone.
There’s a few options for Sean.
Blackberry has applications you can buy which can edit. The iPhone will be able read spreadsheets, but not edit them at this point. The HTC TILT is a great choice, and the HTC Dream will also. The Dream is the first to run on the ANDROID platform from Google.
Sean also wants to run Skype. Leo says that’s a tougher nut to crack, but not impossible. He recommends an unlocked Nokia N96 or E71 running Symbian. And because AT&T is a GSM carrier, you can pop a SIM chip into it with no trouble. And even a unlocked TILT will work great as well. But since you won’t have any subsidies, the cost will be a lot higher for the phones. Skype does sell interfacing for mobile phones.
Hour 2
Q Carole, Compton, CA - Private EYE faked footage
She had a DVD made of evidence in a trial. She needs to point out faked footage on the DVD. Hire a video expert to point out the fakery. Cause it’s easy to point out. And you’ll need to subpeona the original source footage as well.
Q Scott, Newberry Park, CA - Trouble installing Flight Simulator X.
Installed the software, but nothing happens and he can’t find it in his programs. Running 64 Bit. Leo suspects that the install failed late in the game thereby not writing the folder into Programs. Uninstall it and then reinstall. Then go to the Flight Simulator X website and get the SP 1 update.
Q Bob, Clayton, CA - Updates Trouble
The Vista update icon never goes away. Leo suspects that there’s a failed update that is stalling it and you’re not getting any other updates as well. Check to see if you’re stuck in SP1. If you don’t have it, then SP1 is failing. Clear the temp files. One of the reasons this happens is that Vista checks to see if any driver incompatibility may break it. This may be what is the issue. The irony is, it will fix itself when the drivers you’re using are fixed. You can also try to run it manually. Google the Hot Fixes to see if any troubles are having.
But chances are, it will fix itself once the drivers you’re using are made more compatible, and Microsoft is working to update those. Patience. Clear Temp files, turn off UAC, log in as administrator.
Windows update repair tool. A collection of known fixes for Windows update.
Hour 3
Q Alex, Louisville, KY - Sound troubles running OSX on a PC.
He’s made a “Hackintosh,” (installed OSX on a PC) but is experiencing driver trouble. OSX is designed for Apple hardware specifically. As such, using OSX with hardware that isn’t compatible will cause trouble. The Hackintosh community is your best source. Check out the wiki at OSX86 Project.
Leo also wonders if Open Sound System drivers may work to get your sound card running. Another solution is to pick up the Plantronics USB headset and listen to your music through USB, bypassing the sound card altogether.
Q Hans, Westlake Village, CA - Suspicious email got him.
He got snagged by suspicious email which said a package delivery was attempted. He clicked on it. Worried about a virus or spyware. Good news is, Hans is running a MAC and as such, he has nothing to really worry about. But if he was running Windows on the mac at the time, it could get infected. But Hans says he opened it on the MAC side. Delete it. But don’t worry, .exe files are harmless on the Mac. Apple Mail stores your attachments in the Library folder, sub-folder “mail downloads.”
He’s also having trouble with Mobile Me. Join the club! That’s why you got another three months! Remember … DON’T OPEN ATTACHMENTS!
Q Stephen, Irvine, CA - Playing flash video on the iPhone
He can’t play flash video on his iPhone. Apple has decided not to support flash. Period. As such, you won’t be able to watch any video that runs on flash. It’s a locked down platform. If you’re willing to jailbreak your iPhone, then you can install a third party application directly. But it is NOT recommended. Voids the warranty.
Another mistake Apple has made with the iPhone along with not supporting flash. Marrying to AT&T. They really didn’t need to do that. Apple should’ve just sold it unlocked, GSM, and they would’ve made just as much, if not more money. And it would’ve been the best smart phone ever. Instead, they lag behind Blackberry and Nokia.
Q E.J., Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Buying a PS3 for Blu-Ray
Wants to buy an 40-GB Sony PS3 for its Blu-Ray player. Leo says it’s a great idea. You get the #1 Blu-Ray player and a game console to boot. But he can’t play his PS2 games. Can he get an emulator? Or maybe a special chip? Leo says forget that. Get a PS2 off eBay and you KNOW they’ll play. Will they update the firmware? Leo doesn’t know when it will come out. But it can be done. It’s probably just a “flip of a switch.” Don’t go into a lot of energy of that. Just get another PS2 box for your old games. You won’t spent more than $50.
Q Bruce, Carlsbad, CA - HDTV recommendation.
Bruce bought an LCD HDTV. Leo says it’s a good TV. But should he get the professional installation for $300? If the installer is an ISF certified installer]] who knows how to calibrate your TV, it’ll cost that much and is worth it if you don’t want to do it yourself. But you can get 80% of the way there just by changing the setup off dynamic gain and on to “movie.” Also, pick up Digital Video Essentials from Amazon. $17. Has all you need to calibrate your monitor yourself.
Spend $800 on a TV and spend $300 to calibrate it? On second thought, it isn’t worth it when the above will get you 95% there.
Q Mark, Los Angeles, CA - Trouble with Spore on the MACbook
His MacBook has a GMA950 video card and it’s not supported. There is a hack that will modify the properties and preferences of the Spore Creature Creator and make it work. Unfortunately, you can’t upgrade the video card on most laptops. So, your only option would be to get a new laptop. But try the hack first.
