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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday 15 November 2008
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
A significant reduction in SPAM this week.
Trend Micro says there’s been nearly a 40% drop in SPAM pervading the Net this week. Iron Port Spam down 66%. Another. 75%. How? A small web hosting company in San Diego was taken off line and they were in charge of 80% of all the spam around the country! According to the Washington Post, the company, McColo Corp., was also spreading child porn all over the net. So they’re lookin’ to do some serious jail time.
It shows that how easy it is to stop spam if we just had the will to do it. A simple solution is to require an email have a corresponding address. Without that pointing the way, SPAM can’t exist.
Obama names Net Neutrality Hawks to FCC team
Susan Crawford, Kevin Werbach have been named to the Obama Transition Team for the FCC. Crawford has been a main critical voice in how poorly the FCC has been rolling out broadband access.
In addition, President-Elect will be doing weekly radio announcements online at YouTube. Check out Change.gov for the first one.
LCD Monitor manufacturers nailed for price fixing
Sharp, Dell, Apple and Motorola have admitted to price-fixing if of LCD monitors and are fined over a half BILLION dollars.
An Update on WPA Networkign Encryption cracking …
Leo’s fix was right on, but the threat is not as bad as Leo thought. Change the router name and default password. Turn off Universal Plug and Play. Turn off “administration via WAN.” Lastly, turn on WPA Networking.
The news is that there’s a minor attack on TKIP Encryption which allows for sending data. Turn on AES Encryption and WPA2 and you’ll shut the hole. And if you want a really HARD password, head over to GRC.
RED Introduces an EPIC new design
The Inventors of the RED ONE 4K HiDef Camera have announced a new modular camera design (based on the Scarlet and Epic designs) which will marry high definition video with digital still photography. The result is a new 4K modular camera design which is infinitely upgradable, offers cinematic quality, and costs about 1/4th what the pros use.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Scott is doing a face off of top tier HDTVs. He’s been testing the Pioneer Kuro Plasma, Samsung LN55A950 LED Backlit LCDTVs, the Sony KDL55XBR8 (another backlit LED LCD), and a Panasonic TH50PZ800 THx Certified Plasma.
The LCDs TVs are rated 120 Hz to reduce motion blur to complete with the Plasma models. Scott says none of them performed badly, but the Pioneer Kuro was his favorite. The others ranked with the Sony ($7,000!) and the Panasonic in the middle and surprisingly, the Samsung last.
Scott was also pleased that the Panasonic (the cheapest of the four) wasn’t last. It didn’t have the deepest blacks or best video processing, but for a cost that was nearly a 1/4 of the Sony or half the others, it did Fabulous overall.
Hour 1
Q Andy, Palm Springs, CA - Nailed by a Virus
Andy clicked on a link sent from a friend’s email and got a virus. Leo says his friend was probably infected and the email was forwarded to everyone in that address book. Andy got it and probably all his friends. Good news is that if you have AVS or a Firewall, the AVS will catch the Trojan horse. But sometimes it notices is too late to stop the infection.
Leo says the easiest way to get rid of it is to back up your data, format your hard drive and start over.
And next time, follow Leo’s Rules for Safe Computing!
Q Colin, Tom’s River, NJ - Wireless music outside
Colin wants to go wireless with his Music outside. He uses iTunes. But others in the house use WinAmp. Leo says you can see the library with either iTunes or WMP. Leo also recommends the Sonos BU150 Multiroom Music System. It’s not cheap, but it’s great for a House wifi solution. Less expensive is the SqueezeBox Boom, by Slim Devices (now owned by Logitech). A plus is that it will let you listen to Internet radio as well. There’s also Roku.
Hour 2
Q Mark, Tustin, CA - Networking printers
Mark is having trouble trying to network his printer with his Vista 64 bit box. Leo recommends updating your drivers first. Physically hook up the printer to the box to acquire the proper 64 bit drivers. Verify that it prints. Now, you can go into the Vista Control Panel, go to the ports tab, select new port. Use the same settings & name, but share it with the network. //mshome/[printername]. Then, unplug the printer from the Vista machine and hook it into the network. The computer will use the same driver for both.
Read this forum post on C’Net for the play by play.
Q Steve, Lafayette, CO - Getting the word out for Websites
Steve wonders if these small pay for play PR sites are a good way to get the word out? Leo says no. It’s like SPAM. There’s no shortcut to good, effective press coverage. You’re not only buying a press release. You’re buying press contacts. Leo does recommend PR Newswire.
Leo also says that ultimately, the most effective way to get the word out is word of mouth. Happy customers will spread the word. Make the best content you can, publish consistently, and your readers will tell others.
Q Mark, Lacy, WA - Google Analytics
Mark’s wife doesn’t understand why there’s a 90% difference between Webalizer and Google Analytics. Google says that she probably doesn’t have the Google Analytics javascript code on EVERY single page in either the header or footer. You also want to be sure that Webalizer is looking at the right data and only your data. This is common with multiple sites on the same server.
Analytics is very useful in learning how long surfers are on your page, what browswers they’re using, # of uniques, even where they are in the country.
Mark’s wife has a cool website about bad movies called Queen of Cheese.
Q Tim, Williamsburg, KY - Using 2nd account in Vista
Tim has created a secondary account to use in Vista so he doesn’t use the Admin. How can he transfer the settings he uses? Go to the system control panel, system section, advanced system settings, then, under the user profile - click settings - you can copy a profile and paste it to another.
Tim also has an all in one which has great scanning, but lousy printing. Can he scan with that and then print with a different printer?
Hour 3
Q Mo, Ridgecrest, CA - Walmart has a great deal on a laptop
Celeron w/ 2GHz. 160 GB hd. Windows Vista Home Basic. $300. WOW! Leo says you’re going to want to upgrade the OS to Premium though. It’ll be fine for sending email, watching YouTube. You bet. A bargain.
You’ll want to strip off all the trialware, though. Download the PC Decrapifier to remove everything you don’t need. Get a router. Teach her Leo’s Rules for Safe Computing.
Q Alex, Ontario, CA - Podcasting
Alex and his friends want to get together and do a podcast. Being “younguns,” (age 10) they don’t have any money. So they want to do it for free. Skype. Pamela. Audacity. This will get you to produce it. Then, you need an RSS feed and a host. Alex has a Wordpress blog he wants to use. Leo says go to Libsyn ($10 a month) or Archive.org (Free, but slower). Run your RSS feed through Feedburner.
Alex’s podcast will be about gaming and Pokemon!
Q Tom, Bath, NY - System restore
Tom’s computer needs to be restored, but it didn’t come with a restore disk. He did burn his restore files from the hard drive to a dvd. It could work. Hit setup. Look for a utility on the computer that will make a disk as a restore disk. Leo hates this. The assumption that a customer is a thief is unacceptable and is bad business. And if you end up buying a new computer, don’t buy it without a copy of Windows install disks coming with it.
Another good idea is to download the Ultimate Boot CD.
Q Grant, Lebanon, OH - Vista in XP Network environment
Grant is having trouble with file sharing with Vista on an XP Network. It stalls. Leo suspects a hardware issue. Go back and look at the router and cabling. Leo recently replaced a router with intermittent time outs and failures. So it may be that the router is the culprit. Replacing it solved the issue and they’re pretty cheap these days. Leo recommends Linksys and D-Link. You can also update the firmware in the router. That may easily fix the trouble.
Sometimes, if it’s wifi, then the wifi can drop out. Remove “wireless zero config” from the affected machines. This will prevent your PC from getting frisky with competing networks and dropping you.
