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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday 25 October 2008
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
How is the Economic downturn affecting Tech?
Apple announces earnings haven’t been that rosey and won’t be next quarter either. Microsoft agrees. What’s hitting Redmond is that Vista simply isn’t performing well at all, saleswise. So much so, Windows 7 is being unveiled at the Windows Developers Conference and Leo thinks it’ll be out this time next year. And what is up with the name? There’s been way more than 7 versions of Windows.
The G1 Google Android Phone is here.
Big, usable Keyboard. Good browser using WebKit technology. But no flash or java. But they’ll be coming, you can bet, since Android is open source. Battery life is terrible, but charges with USB charger. Still, although Leo is pleasantly surprised with the G1, the iPhone is still sleeker, thiner, and a better OS.
Microsoft’s Emergency Patch out Thursday
Microsoft identified a nasty flaw in Windows that would allow a hacker take complete control of your computer. No word on how, but users should turn on automatic updates and get the patch now!
The new Apple’s have no firewire!
Is Apple phasing out firewire? Leo is disappointed that Apple has discontinued firewire connections in the lower end MacBooks.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Today, we’re talking Sub Channels! Digital Broadcasting allows for additional “dot” channels (2.1, 2.2, etc) that broadcasters can take advantage of. Stations can divide bandwidth, independently, so that they can run multiple channels or one master channel using all the bandwidth. They dont’ have to use it for video only either. They can transmit data, audio, just about anything.
Note. These sub channels are usually only available through “terrestrial broadcast.” Although Leo says he’s scanned channels on his cable and extra sub channels do pop up - but only for local broadcast channels.
Hour 1
Q Sally, Meridan, CT. - Selling her Mac & Touch
Sally is planning on selling her Mac Mini and iPod Touch but needs to wipe everything. Leo says the iPod is easy. Connect to iTunes and do a restore. It’ll wipe the drive and nothing will be left. Here’s the question though. Will the restore wipe the drive to prevent it from recovering the music? Possibly.
As for her Mac Mini, Leo says there’s a secure erase feature into the finder. Drag your home folder into the trash can, and then select secure erase. It’ll be unrecoverable. Then, take the original disks, run format and install and it’s back to where it needs to be.
Q Quame, Phoenix, AZ - Extending a PCs life
Quame needs to keep his PC going until he can afford a new computer. PCs do run into “bit rot” where the longer you run a PC the slower it gets. Leo strongly believes in an annual wipe of the hard drive and reinstalling the OS. Back up your Data onto an external hard drive, along with book marks, favorites, emails, etc. Then simply start over. Format the drive. Reinstall Windows. Then reinstall your applications. The machine will go back to being fast and furious. It should take the weekend, but you’ll be glad you did.
Q Ed, San Diego, CA - Network printing on the MAC
Ed is having trouble printing on his network printer. Getting “access denied” error. Leo wonders if security software is blocking things. Ed just installed AVG and Leo wonders if it’s monitoring the outbound traffic to the extent where it’s causing it. Sometimes the IP can change or stop working.Leo suggests starting over by removing the printer and reinstalling it. Check out practicallynetworked.com for information on it.
Hour 2
Q Karen, Torrance, CA - iPhone doesn’t sync.
Karen says her iPhone can’t sync although it will state that it does. Leo says that if the sync database gets corrupted, it won’t sync. You need to clear the sync database with iSync. Make a backup copy of your contacts book address and Calendars first. In the preferences of ISync, it has a reset sync history option. Use it to start fresh. It’ll start over with everything. You can also try to reset the Mobile Me Database. It could also be a disk permissions issue. Rebuild them and it could also help. Also, you can restore the iPhone itself. That could help, starting fresh. Course, you may have also reached the limit of contacts and as such, some housekeeping may be in order.
Q Brian, Fontana, CA - PSP shut down midupgrade
Brian’s son shut down his Playstation Portable during an upgrade of the firmware. Does he have to buy a new one? No. Leo says Sony has special software that can be used to restore the firmware and bring that PSP back to life. Brian can go to a Sony repair facility to repair it, or, there’s a thriving PSP hacking community out there for those geeky enough to find it. Google “unbrick PSP” and you’ll find many “recipes” on how to unbrick it. But the best way to do it is to go to SONY and get them to restore the software.
Q Colleen, Baltimore, MD - Format hassles with Sony Walkman MP3
Colleen has a Sony Walkman MP3 player. She can’t play MP4s or AAC (she loves “All About Photography,” a podcast about digital photography. Leo says the Walkman Mp3 player probably doesn’t have the “juice” to play video encoded with H.264. Leo recommends transcoding the videos into a format that the Sony understands (probably AVI or WMV). Google “convert AVI format.”
Q Bill, San Diego, CA - Cellphone may be hacked
He’s not hearing his phone ring, but can hear the caller leave a message. He’s got a strange icon on his phone and Bill suspects his phone got hacked. Leo’s not so sure. Phone are just simple phones, and, though hackable, are rather limited for any reasonable payoff for the hacker. Leo suggests taking it back to the cellphone store and get them to restore the firmware.
Will this be happening to smart phones like the new G1? You bet. A flaw was found within a few days of the G1 coming out.
Q Bob, Carlsbad, CA - Going DSL, wired or wireless?
Bob is upgrading to DSL and wants to know if he should make his desktop wireless? Leo says if the computer is right next to the modem, than going wireless is faster, more secure. But if the computer is moving to another part of the house, then going wireless makes sense (just turn on WPA).
Hour 3
Q Laurie, Glendale, CA - May have a computer virus
Laurie thinks she’s been infected by a worm as she’s gotten locked out of her document. Leo isn’t so sure. Leo says that if her AVS (she uses Nod32) doesn’t say she has a bug, then she doesn’t.
Leo thinks that something has gone wrong with Windows. Leo also suspects that she’s not logged in as herself, but another user. As such, she doesn’t have access to her documents anymore. Since Windows in a multi-user system, if something has gone wrong with the log-in user system, that’s what causes the problem. Leo suggests logging out. Try and log in as a different user. But in the end, her deciding to go to Make It Work was a good idea.
Q Sharon, Minden, NV - Slow running USB ports
She has an external hard drive which copies slowly on one computer, but fast on another. Colleen thinks that the front port is a 1.1 port and not a 2.0 port like Sharon thought. If she plugs into the back, she’ll be on the 2.0 port. Another thing to check to be sure the latest motherboard drivers are installed.
Q Daniel, Corona, CA - Video sync issues
Daniels says his video and audio are out of sync after converting the video files. What can he do? He doesn’t have the original files. Leo says you can separate the audio/video track in a video editor and nudge them back into sync, but chances are it’s not consistently out of sync through the entire video. So it’ll never be back in sync without the original videos. Sorry, Dan.
Q Scott, San Diego, CA - Wireless Card errors
Just installed a new D-Link wireless card and is getting an “error 10″ code. Leo thinks it’s either a card install error or a USB error. But it could also be that the card just flat out died. If it’s going to die, it’ll die right away. Try uninstalling the software, take the card out. Reboot. Reinstall the software. In fact, also go to D-Link and install the latest drivers first. Then, install the card. If it doesn’t work, then chances are the card just plain died out of the box. Good news is, you can probably return it.
Q Dan, Louisville, Ky - Problem with HP Quickplay
The image is small that he watches movies using Quickplay. Look at the display driver and change the setting. Turn off accelerate video. Also, download another program like VLC Media player or WinDVD and see if you can replicate the problem. It could also be that your HP Laptop may not be HDPC compatible and as such, the DVD player won’t play it in the proper resolution.
Q Fleschelle, San Diego, CA - Got a new 15″ Mac Unibody
She loves it, but she can’t use ACT with it. Leo recommends Daylight at MarketCircle.com. It’s about as close to Act as she’ll get and it’ll import her ACT contacts. She can also use “Crossover Office,” which will allow her to use Windows Programs the MAC. Or, you can just run Windows on the MAC. Use XP, not Vista. Using “Spaces,” you can switch between Windows and MAC as you need to.
