Sunday December 21, 2008
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Tech News
David Pogue says backing up to DVD is a bad idea
NY Times’ David Pogue was asked if he could make a DVD of his best conference stuff. All his MAC DVDs were unreadable after 4 years. Luckily, he was able to rescue them on his mac book and get them back on hard drive. But studies suggest that the organic dye that holds the data will fade over time and even after a few years, the DVDs are useless.
Leo says the lesson here is to backup, backup, backup. On more than one medium and in more than one location. And every few years, you may need to redo these videos into different formats. So, every few years, redo your entire collection and keep up on the current technology.
Wayback Machine archiving the Internet
With the change to digital information, what will happen to our online history as things change and evolve. Well, the people at Archive.org are archiving terrabytes of information every day to preserve the historical nature of the Web. You can use the “Wayback Machine” and look at how your favorite websites have evolved over the years, as well as see some sites that have sense disappeared.
Guests
Joe Hagan, former Deputy White House Chief of Staff
Talking about technology and security in the White House. With the stories of President-Elect Obama giving up his BlackBerry, and President Bush giving up his email address when he took office, we thought it would be good to talk about security in national politics.
There are three levels of security in the White House. Legal, Ethical and Personal. With every bit of communication becoming the official property of the US Government, and with the instant spread of information worldwide, it would be next to impossible to control that flow of information, even personal. Then there’s the heavy records management issue of every bit of communication would become a matter of public record, even personal family communication. Then there’s the uncontrollable “gotcha” moments which the President wouldn’t have control of if someone he knows would send him something controversial.
And then there’s sensitive materials being transmitted over wireless communications. Although there are encryption processes available, the thinking towards national security is, it’s not really there yet to be secure.
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Chris is talking about applications on the iPhone for photo editing. He likes Camera Bag. Which gives you the ability to create - Vignetting. “Holga.” Instant/Polaroid. There’s also PhotoCalc. Which allows you to calculate various depth of field, shutter speeds, daytime/sunrise shots. Leo likes Night Camera, which will wait until the camera is rock steady before it takes a picture. PanoLab allows you to stitch pictures together into one master panorama. PhotoGene. One of Chris’ favorites. Like a mini photoshop for the iPhone. Leo liked it so much, he started downloading it on the spot.
Scott Bourne, Wildlife/Nature Photographer.
Scott is a professional photographer and host of This Week in Photography (TWIPhoto). Check out “Cranes in the fire mist.”
Scott just got the Canon 5D Mk. II. He was intrigued with the ability to do video. 21.1 MP, shooting full frame 1080p HD video. ISO up to 25600. But the noise ratio still doesn’t hold up to the Nikon D3. You get more detail, but when you cram that many MP into a small chip, even full frame chip, physics takes over and noise creeps in. But it’s still a stunning camera.
1080p HD video. Super High Quality. It has an HDMI port. DIGIC IV full frame CMOS censor. Video wise, this is a still camera. As such, it isn’t very comfortable ergonomically. And with the CMOS sensor, rolling shutter issues can become an issue UNLESS you use a tripod, and that’s where the true value as a video camera comes into play. And it’s important that full frame sensors require better quality lenses. The L Lens is the target you want to shoot with these. Otherwise, cheaper lenses will require the censor to outperform it. So in the end, it’s fabulous camera that’s expensive and requires expensive lenses to handle the great video features it has.
Scott also says that with these right tools and shot properly, the quality of the video image is shockingly good. Movie good.
Hour 1
Q Brooke, Lake Forest, CA - Computer is dying
Brooke is trying to get her bookmarks off before her computer dies. She’s using a linux disk to search the hard drive. Leo says they are in a file called “bookmarks.htm(l).” And it’s in your Firefox profile. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be a cryptic profile name and that’s probably why you can’t find them. c:/Windows/Program files/Mozilla/Firefox/profiles. You see a bunch of files with long numbers. Take `em all and figure out later which is which. And then, when you rebuild your new computer, put them back the same way.
Q Mike, Orange County, CA - Bluetooth headsets
Mike wants to know if there’s a bluetooth headset connector for his landline. Leo says that there are bluetooth landline headsets. Uniden, Plantronics (Leo’s fav).
Q John, Pasadena, CA - Improving audio quality on VOIP
John wants to know how he can improve and normalize quality of telephone conversations. Leo says Skype is best. He does all his interviews on Skype. Telephone conversations were designed in about 7 bits of bandwidth. Skype, on the other hand, is encoded in much larger bandwidth and includes highs, lows, and sometimes you sound just like you’re in the room. Leo says the headsets help as well. Leo likes the Plantronics DSP400 or the GameCom 1. Leo also uses a hybrid device for the radio show. In the end, though, you’re stuck with the quality on the other end. That’s out of your control.
For radio shows, you have a dedicated computer for Skype that’s patched into the mixing board.
Landline phones - Panasonic and AT&T phones are better quality microphones. So you can always encourage your listeners to get a better quality phone if they plan to contribute to your show.
Q Darryl, Camarillo, CA - altering pictures for desktop background
Darryl is trying to stretch a picture for his background desktop image, but the stretch doesn’t work. Leo says that sometimes if the aspect ratio isn’t correct, you can get black bars. Sometimes, if your default browswer is Firefox, it’ll throw off the background image as Windows uses Internet explorer to stretch the picture. Set your default browser setting to IExplorer and it should work. And fear not, you can still use Firefox to your heart’s content.
Hour 2
Q Glen, Monterey Park, CA - Netbook recommendation
Glen is a member of the TWIT Army. Glen is looking at Netbooks and was told that a RAM disc drive was faster. Leo says it’s quite the opposite. Ram drives have fewer moving parts and uses less power, but it’s not as fast as a hard drive. Faster flash drives in Netbooks will cost a LOT of money ($800 for 64GB). Yikes. Prices will drop, but not for at least a year. He also needs one that can interface at work using a PC card slot. Leo says the Asus N10J-A2 has an 8 in 1 card reader. Cheaper to get a USB EVDO adapter.
If he installs Linux, it locks up with his current video card. Leo says it’s a driver issue. Companies don’t come up with drivers for Linux users because it’s so home built. He can use a text base install with a standard nVidia driver, but not a GUI option. Leo says that confirms a driver issue. It also is what keeps users from considering Linux as a viable OS option in the mainstream. Leo says you can “roll your own” liveCD that has your set driver in it. But that’ll take some work.
Leo says that Ubuntu is a great option for keeping an older computer useful and a great hobby project.
Q Andrew, Philadelphia, P.A. - Editing .sav files in gaming
Andrew is into Stalker (kinda like doom, but more biohazard like) and wants to edit .sav files Leo says that the key is the company has to release the format or some geek has to either crack it or reverse engineer it. But nobody really knows what some of those .sav files really are.
Q Harry, Aliso Viejo, CA - Windows are popping up on his PC
Harry is having performance issues. Virus? The Start window pops up, windows open arbitraily. Leo says you may need a new keyboard. A stuck key or shorted key will cause these kind of symptoms. Leo says if a virus, you’ll have to back up your data and then format and reinstall (you should do this once a year anyway). But first, see if your keyboard needs replacing.
Q Scott, Lake Forest, CA - Networking computers with multiple OS
Scott wants to network his printer from all his computers. Can he? Leo says there’s two ways. 1) a networkable printer or 2) a router that has built in printer sharing. Generally speaking, you’ll install the driver onto all your PCs, but you will be adding it via an IP address, not a port (choosing network printer). Do this to all your PCs. The software will browse around until it finds it on the router. And Leo suggests avoiding the disc that came with it. Go online and get the latest version for each of the OS that your PC uses.
Q Dave, Anaheim, CA - video camera recommendation
Dave wants to video his kids. Wants to know if it’s worth it to go to flash based camcorders. Leo says flash memory is only good if you’re into PC. But Leo is still into tape based, like the HV30. Leo says tape gives you the archival option. The problem with flash memory is that you have to clear them off all the time. Tape is still the best way to go, even if it’s being phased out.
Hour 3
Q Ronald, Fontana, CA - Parental controls
Ron has three kids and wants to know what the best parental controls are. Leo doesn’t recommend third party software anymore. Both Vista and OSX have fabulous parental controls. When kids are young, the controls are very effective. But when they become teens, they will be able to get around the controls pretty easily.
Another thing you can do is to modify your DNS (domain name system) in your router. Go to OpenDNS.com and sign up. Then, you can change your DNS settings to use their DNS server. Then, all computers on the router will be routed through this server and you can then block bad sites you don’t want them to go to. And it’s VERY effective because it’s in the router, and not through any software which can be defeated.
But remember, no blocking system is perfect. Filtering software is never a substitute for talking to your kids and agreeing to where they can and cannot go. And if they come across something they shouldn’t, they need to come to you about it.Talk to your kids. Check out NetSmartz and NetSmartzKids (For youngin’s) for more information on pledges and contracts you can get to agree with them on where they can go, who they can talk to, etc.
Q Todd, Pullman, WA - AntiVirus Popups
Todd is getting a pop up that says “your computer may be at risk ….” This is a scam for spyware called “AntiVirus 2009″ or thereabouts. Here’s the deal. AntiVirus 2009 IS A VIRUS! If it says “click here to download our software,” that’s the teller. Turn on your browser’s pop-up blocker, or download Firefox.
But if it’s happening when you turn on the computer, and not in your browser, then it may be a legitimate threat. Update your anti-virus software. Leo recommends our sponsor NOD32 by Eset (You can get a discount by mentioning Leo.)
Download and install AutoRuns by Microsoft. You can use this to check out what’s running on your system - think of it as “msconfig” on steroids.
Q Rod, Orange County, CA - Cafe Hotspot setup
Rod has a cafe and wants to create a hotspot for his store, giving WiFi access to his customers. But he doesn’t want to use a wide open network. Leo says you can get a segmented router from Meraki that can segregate your personal traffic from the open network traffic. You can also update/hack Linksys router to do this. PolarCloud.com is where you can get the Tomato firmware for buffalo routers.
A great program called Delicious Library is great for the MAC as well.
Q Arsenia, Los Angeles, CA - Game console recommendation
Arsenia wants to know if the Playstation 3 is good for not only gaming, but also playing Blu-ray movies. Leo says it’s a heck of a deal. You can get other Blu-ray players, but if you’re into gaming and watching movies, it’s the best Blu-ray player out there.
She also bought an LG 37″ HDTV. Leo’s thoughts? Leo says it has a beautiful display and is great for playing Blu-ray. Good choice.