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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday November 29, 2008
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Blackberry Storm coming out …
The Blackberry Storm is coming out, but a bad sign is that RIM isn’t sending out review units. David Pogue isn’t impressed. His complaint is that RIM was so obsessed with beating the iPhone, that it made a clone and abandoned what made the Blackberry special - a keyboard. Walt Mossberg calls the Storm a “curious design decision” but goes on to say that overall, the Storm is “a very capable handheld computer.”
Black Friday turned deadly
People so desperate to get a great deal at WalMart that people stampeded into the store and crushed an employee to death. When told the store needed to be cleared to investigate, shoppers refused.
Tragedy aside, Leo found the Black Friday deals to be rather unimpressive. The origins of the term “Black Friday,” comes from the fact that as the biggest shopping day of the year, it gives merchants the chance to get “out of the red” and into the black, namely, to make a profit.
Cyber Monday is coming as well
Cyber Monday is coming in two days, where people will be doing online shopping and trying to score some deals. But Leo doesn’t think people have to wait until Monday. Since most people have broadband at home now, the notion of waiting until Monday to go your online shopping at work is past.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade gets Rick Rolled
Rick Astley appears on a float and begins singing his hit song, interrupting a puppet singing the theme to Courtship of Eddie’s Father, thereby “Rick Rolling” the parade. Planned? Sure. But still classic. Video here.
GPS devices getting dirt cheap
Leo uses the Tom Tom 125 and it’s gotten under a $100 now! You can get celebrity voices, user created voices and updated maps. Very cool. The Garmin Nuvi is also below a “C Note.”
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
With great deals on Blu-Ray players coming this Black Friday weekend, Scott wants to talk about what Blu-Ray movies are worth getting. He likes Wall-E, which just came out. Another good one on Blu-ray is Iron Man. And surprisingly, Casablanca - which looks great in Black and White. Casino Royale (2007 vs.), The Godfather collection. TV collections include LOST Season 4.
Leo has a hunch that because of the economy, and people less willing to use credit cards this season, that movies and video games will be very popular gifts this season due to their affordability.
Dick Debartolo, The Giz Wiz
MatchGame is coming back to the Game Show Network. And to celebrate, Dick is going to be doing a show on Stickam called “Matchgame Memories.” 5pm PT. Questions about Matchgame can be sent to dick@gizwizbiz.com.
Gadgetwise - Dick like Easy Bloom - Stick it into the ground and 24 hours later it’ll tell you what’ss best to plant there. All Dressed Up Napkins - great to tuck into your collar and still look all dressed up!
Hour 1
Q Ken, Palo Alto, CA - WoW for Christmas
Wants to get his son a Net Book for Christmas to play World of Warcraft while traveling on a train. Leo says that without an Internet connection, you can’t. So you need to be sure he has wifi access. Leo likes the Lenovo. It has enough juice to handle WoW. Get the 10″. But understand that World of Warcraft is a HUGE program. About 5GB. So make sure you get the larger drive. But understand that the 120GB drive netbook will cost you over $500. And faster solid state drives aren’t really available yet for netbooks. And if they were, they’d be REALLY expensive.
You’re gonna want to turn the settings down, however. Because it’s very demanding of a computer’s resources and a netbook isn’t that powerful to handle WoW full bore. You’ll want to consider a larger battery or a secondary battery as battery life on these Netbooks is only about 2–3 hours.
Q Ray, Port Townsend, MA - LCD Monitor recommendation
Ray prefers a resolution of 800 x 600 and is finding it difficult to find an LCD monitor which can use that resolution. He also is concerned about not being able to take advantage of the widescreen capability. Leo says the aspect ratio isn’t that big a deal if you have plenty of RAM. The real key is that you need to find a monitor that can downscale well. Sometimes, the monitor will place a border around the monitor and some will stretch it out to accommodate. But there’s no way to know ahead of time, so you should try before you buy.
Your OS can help in that you can make the default text size bigger. It’ll make both the text and icons bigger, making it legible.
Hour 2
Q Steve, Helendale, CA - Can’t listen to radio streams in England
Steve is finding that he can’t listen to an Internet radio stream while he’s out of the country. Leo says that this is by design. The thing is that Internet radio costs money for every person streaming. It isn’t really like terrestrial radio that’s free and ad supported by local merchants. If you’re listening to internet streams in England, they don’t get advertising revenue for local companies.
The particular radio he has is made by the C Crane company and is called the “Grace.” Leo believes that if you can hear it on your laptop, you should be able to listen on your C Crane Radio. So there may be another issue as well. But Leo’s betting it’s cut off by the radio provider. Leo says that he tells broadcasters all the time that it is shortsighted to close off streams for international broadcasting. Sooner or later, the advertising will catch up and when it does, it’ll be truly international. Leo says another option is the Logitech Squeeze Box Boom.
What’s important is to get a radio that supports the “Reciva” database.
Leo also suggests that iPhone users download the “I Heart Radio” application which will stream all Clear Channel stations.
Q Mark, Santa Ana, CA - Converter cables
Mark wants to know if they make an S-Video to RGB converter cable. Leo says you can convert just about any video source. The problem is that different specs have different signals and sometimes it’s expensive.
Q Barbara, Yucaipa, CA - AVS Expired
Barbara has Norton Internet Securities and it’s expired now. What should she do? Is it safe to go online and renew it? Leo says yes. Make sure that you’re using Symantec’s to renew it. Enter it yourself. Or, call them directly to renew. That’s the safest.
She’s also worried with updates not being compatible. Leo says not to worry. New drivers will update periodically and then Windows will install a needed update. She’s getting an HPUS update. Leo says it’s okay to update the printer. You can turn it off.
Hour 3
Q David, Halifax, Nova Scotia - driving traffic to his website
David just built his site and wants to drive traffic to it. Google says that the easiest way to get people to see your site is to contribute to it regularly. Using Blogspot is a good idea because Google indexes it regularly. Focus on a topic. It easier to drive traffic if it’s narrow, focused. Also, get other sites to link to you. Avoid Search Engine Optimization companies. Google watches those for fake linking. You can do link exchanges, but the best thing is to write a review that’s so good that other sites will link to it.
Tech Crunch is a good study in how to grab an audience. Stimulate links with catchy titles. And negative links are just as good as positive ones. Not that you want to trash your own site, but it represents out of the box thinking. Contribute on other message boards, comment on blogs. Link to other people’s blogs. In essence, be active in a community.
Design of the site is important. Google accesses the page name. So use targeted keywords that provide context. Make the first 1500 characters very compelling. Make them content. That’ll drive traffic. Use Twitter. Facebook. Friendfeed. Etc. Lastly, post OFTEN. Always have fresh content.
David’s site is AmazonGems.blogspot.com
Q Ladeen, Tustin, CA - New Palm Treo Pro
Ladeen is getting email about the new Treo Pro, but she can’t find any information about. Leo says that the reviews he’s seen aren’t very complimentary. It doesn’t run Palm, it runs Windows Mobile. Leo can see why Palm is on the ropes. The iPhone and Blackberry have completely devoured Palm’s market share. Leo says that you can’t buy it yet because no deals are made with it yet to subsidize the cost.
Palm promises shortcuts that will make it easier to use, but Leo recommends to try before you buy.
Q Mike, Palo Alto, CA - GPS Units
Mike wants to know if he should get an in dash or portable GPS unit. Leo likes portable units because they are easier to update and correct. How to update in dash? They are a lot cooler, cleaner than having a portable unit on your dash, but they’re more expensive, harder to install, and seldom updated. Leo says that they need to be GPRS compatible so that they can receive updates over the air.
Q Stan, Los Angeles, CA - Worried about digital TV transition
Stan doesn’t live in line of sight to Mount Wilson where most of the TV antennas are. Leo says that’s a good reason to be concerned. Check out AntennaWeb to know what to expect. YAGI antennas seem to be picking up digital signals better than most other models.
Stations may have to put up repeater stations to overcome the line of sight and long distance issues. Leo says not spending any money just yet. Wait until February to see what happens.
For more information about the coming digital TV transition, visit DTV.GOV.
Scott Wilkinson chimes in by saying that since most stations are already digital, Stan can hook up the converter box to test how well the signal comes in. Scott says you can lift the antenna by placing it on a mast, but that’ll be rather hassling since you’ll need guidewires. But now’s the time to test it out and see what you need to do.
Q Richard, Calabassas, CA - Hard drive not recognized in Vista.
Richard can’t see his third hard drive. Right click my computer, then select manage. If it’s not there, you may not have a functioning drive. Leo suspects that’s the real issue is that the drive has died. You could check the connector, try placing it into an external connector which has it’s own power.
Q Jim, Covina, CA - Blackberry Storm questions
Jim wants to know if he can take an unlocked phone to Sprint. Leo says that it’ll be tricky as Sprint needs to program the phone to get it to work. Find an independent operator who works with both companies and knows how to make it work.
