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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday 25 January 2009
- Show Audio
- Tech News
- Guests
- Hour 1
- Hour 2
- Frank, Ontario, OR - Satellite TV on the Internet
- George, Houston, TX - Sharing files between router and separate OS
- Amber, San Diego, CA - Improving a wireless signal
- Aaron, San Rafael, CA - Chatting
- Warren, Lakewood, CA - iPhone trouble
- Art, Camarillo CA - Printer compatibility issues
- Jonathan, Palo Alto, CA - Networking two MACS, separate locations
- Hour 3
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Twenty Five years ago … January 24, 1984
… the MAC is born. $2500. Leo got his at Macy’s, of all places. What was mindblowing about it was the graphical user interface and the mouse.
2 GB Panorama taken of Obama Inaugeration
Photographer David Bergman stiches together 220 images, taken with the help of a Gigapan robotic camera mount. Here it is.
CNN, meanwhile, asked anyone attending the inauguration to take a picture of it at “The Moment” that Barack Obama took the oath of office. They were then encouraged to email them to CNN so they could be stitched together using Microsoft’s Photosynth. Over 24000 people did so and the results are amazing as it ended up being a 360 degree panorama from every angle.
Windows Beta Test to end February 10th
Windows 7 is out on beta for people to download and test. But that will end on February 10th. Leo loves it and is on a campaign to release it early. He also believes it should be more a “dot upgrade” price for those who already suffered with Vista. Like at $99.99. Release the Hounds, Redmond!
Monty Python gives away clips on YouTube, raises DVD sales
Monty Python gets it. They’re posting some of their best comedy bits on YouTube and have found that as a result, they are #2 on the Amazon movie list with sales increased by 23,000%! (yes, we’re saying THOUSAND).
Guests
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Today, Chris is answering listener questions from the Tech Guy group on Flickr:
From Bakethempie: What other factors besides distance and aperture affect depth of field? The focal length is a main factor. If you shoot in a telephoto range, its really easy to toss things out of focus into background whereas a wide angle will be more in focus background. Macro lenses also allows you to get really close and that affects depth of field.
From Randy, Santa Ana: What to do to get out of a creative photo rut? Make yourself take pictures, but do it with others who love taking pictures as well. Also, take pictures you aren’t accustomed to take and it’ll get you thinking of new ways to shoot.
From DWR2K: What are your thoughts of using a circular polarizer? Worth getting a multi coated one? A circular polarizer is a filter that helps with color saturation. Skies bluer, plants greener. However, whatever filter you get, the multicoated ones are better because they reflect less light into the lens, thereby limiting phantom images and lost contrast.
From DrewJS1: What is the one thing that helped you become the photographer you are today? Chris says that shooting with other photographers and learning from them is the best. You can be with like-minded people, pick up tips, learn from their critiques, and photo-walking is a great thing for practicing.
And don’t forget the current assignment - SILHOUETTE! Take a shot and upload it to the Flickr Tech Guy group!
Hour 1
Q James, Woodland Hills, CA - USB Router options
James needs to know if he can get a router to share a USB drive on the network. Leo says that there are routers which have USB connections for all to share. Not exactly as “NAS,” but pretty close. Leo likes the Linksys “N” router (802.11n) for it’s capability.
Q Zach, Orange County, CA - Risks to jailbreaking iPod TOuch
Zach wants to jailbreak his 8GB iPod Touch. What are the risks and benefits to it? Jailbreaking means you modify the firmware to add applications that aren’t approved by Apple - such as cut/paste. But you won’t get functions such as GPS or Video camera.
It’s legal to do. Apple doesn’t seem to try hard enough to stop it. And you can restore the original firmware back to factory defaults. So there’s little risk. You will lose any apps you’ve bought when you do that. And Apple can crash the it with an update - so don’t do the updates until they’re jailbroken. But should it happen, just do a restore and you’re back in the saddle again.
Q Ron, Fallbrook CA - All in one media/phone solution.
Ron wants a phone that he can do work on as well as enjoy his mp3s. Leo thinks Ron is an iPhone candidate or a Blackberry candidate. Though Leo doesn’t think the BlackBerry isn’t much of a media platform. The Palm Pre is coming and it may end up being the phone to beat, but it won’t be out for several months. Leo thinks for now, the iPhone is still the best bet for Ron and others like him who want a phone that allows for internet access, media playing, camera and more. But remember that a jack of all trades is a master of none. There is also the Nokia e71, or also a few an HTC handsets that run Windows Mobile. The problem is that Verizon uses CDMA and that’s going to limit your choices. Being a Verizon customer, the HTC Touch Pro (3.2 MP camera, full keyboard) may be your best bet.
Q Justin, Diamond Bar, CA - Shooting short films for the web
Justin is an actor and wants to start making his own short films for the Web. What’s the best option for under $1000? Leo likes the HV30. Still tape, but it’s the same quality and provides an archival option with the tape. Who needs the big studios? This is where the future is for Hollywood.
Hour 2
Q Frank, Ontario, OR - Satellite TV on the Internet
Frank downloaded a player that promised free satellite TV from the Internet. But it proves out to be stuff you aren’t really interested in (Polish soccer anyone?). At best, it’s just internet streams, at worst - spyware and viruses. Leo recommends scour your system or even reinstall your OS and start over.
If you want to watch good TV online, JOOST is a good option, as is HULU.
Q George, Houston, TX - Sharing files between router and separate OS
George wants to know if he can share files wirelessly between two PCs that have different OS. Leo says yes. Turn on file sharing on your main Vista machine. Check out Practically Networked for how to do it step by step.
Q Amber, San Diego, CA - Improving a wireless signal
Amber got the MSI Wind for her kids. But he can’t connect wirelessly from his class. How can they boost the signal? It’s a longshot, but you can connect a USB wireless adapter which you can position and manipulate to get a better signal, but to be honest, it’s unlikely. And even if you can, it’ll probably be slow as WiFi slows down as the connection signal degrades.
He could try and build a “cantenna” or buy a bigger antenna like the Hawking. But you’d have to open the case to get access to the WiFi card. A pricey, dangerous option. You could also buy an EVDO card, but that isn’t cheap either.
Q Aaron, San Rafael, CA - Chatting
Aaron wants to chat with his friends but they are across many platforms. Leo suggest Skype as it’s free and has the best quality. You can do both audio and video and can even IM with it.
Q Warren, Lakewood, CA - iPhone trouble
Warren has plenty of signal, but his iPhone isn’t picking up web pages when he tries to surf. The iPhone needs to rebooted from time to time otherwise the signal degrades. Try turning it off from time to time and reboot it. Also try turning off the WiFi and resetting it. Leo thinks that the phone may need to be repaired as it’s having trouble talking to the Aiport Extreme. If that’s the case, you can try resetting the Extreme. Also, make sure you’re running in “G” mode as well as “N” mode.
Check the Apple support forums for similar problems and solutions for how to troubleshoot it.
Q Art, Camarillo CA - Printer compatibility issues
Art’s mother got a new printer but she uses ME and it isn’t being supported anymore. The printer won’t work for it because it needs minimum of XP. It’s possible that Kodak may have a driver which may work for ME online. Windows ME is also basically Win98, so if there’s a Win98 driver, it should work. But in the end you may have to upgrade to XP for her and help her get used to it. Setting the desktop to look like the classic mode will help.
Art also wants to know if he has to always do a deep AVS scan or can he get away with doing a quick scan. Leo says that doing the quick scan most of the time and a deep scan once a week will be fine for most users.
Q Jonathan, Palo Alto, CA - Networking two MACS, separate locations
Jonathan has a Macbook Pro and an iMac. How can he avoid duplicating files and making sure file changes are up to date? Leo says the trick is that unless they’re both in the same location, you can’t use a networked attached storage option to keep photos and music. But as soon as one leaves, you have an issue. Mobile Me is a limited option. You could use Amazon’s S3 option using Jungle Disc for your iTunes/iPhoto database, but it’ll be sluggish. Leo just burns a DVD and imports them back into the desktop. There really isn’t a good solution at the moment.
What about backup options? Super Duper, Time Machine or Chrono Sync? Time Machine gets everything and you need a large hard drive to cover it. But it’s very easy to use. Super Duper can synchronize folders and then setup an image boot disc. Leo highly recommends it and it works with Time Machine.
Hour 3
Q Jerri, Gardena, CA - Returning her cellphone, she hates it.
Jerri has the LG Dare and hates it. It sort of looks like the iPhone but it’s way too slow. Leo says that’s usually the hallmark of a so-called “iPhone killer.” There’s more to an iPhone than form. Other iPhone killers like the Samsung Instinct and the Blackberry Storm? are also rather slow to handle. But she can’t return it because they were slow in getting back to her until her “30 days” had expired. Leo says to write a letter to the president of Verizon. Go to Newscenter.verizon.com/leadership and you’ll get the someone who’s job it is to address it. Tell your story, don’t be angry or mean but mention you talked to Leo about it.
Q Tony, Simi Valley, CA - Monitoring kids computer use
Tony wants to know about options in monitoring kids computer use online. Leo suggests OpenDNS. Change your DNS to OpenDNS and you can filter what you don’t want your kids to see. And unless the kids are network gurus, they won’t be able to figure it out. You can control which computers are filtered and which aren’t. You can also get something like BOB or the iTimer to limit computer and TV use.
Q Stan, Los Angeles, CA - restoring deleted pictures
He took some great shots of the Inauguration but accidentally deleted them! Leo says DON’T TOUCH THE CARD! The data is still there, but the sectors have been released for overwriting. If you write over the files, you lose them forever. But if you haven’t, Leo recommends PC Inspector. Connect to a USB card reader and run PC Inspector’s recovery option. It’ll get the pictures back.
Q Kimberly, California - Data Recovery Options
Kimberly did used her recovery discs and lost her data. Should she use a data recovery service like DriveSavers? They’re great, but expensive. They’re great if it’s a hardware problem. They take the hard drives apart and put them in a working case to harvest the data. But for a software problem, there are different options. Data debris or accidental erasure of the disc catalog are some of the easiest methods to be recovered using software. And they’re not that expensive.
You can do it yourself if you have the software and the skills. One way to do it is to use Ubuntu and use the recovery tools to get the data off. But Leo wouldn’t suggest doing it unless you already know how. Best option is to go a local computer service and pay them to get the data off.
Q Terri, Riverside, CA - lost files in iPod
Terri was trying to move her iPod music from her PC to her MAC. She got iPod Rip, but only got 250 songs out of 5,000 and now her songs are gone. Leo is baffled by it. How odd.
