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Brian has friends in Japan and they want to play D&D over Skype. What a great idea. What camera should he use? Leo says it doesn’t really matter. Most use cheesy webcams and Skype doens’t really use the best quality anyway. Leo suggests using a camcorder that has a firewire connection which can be used as a windows media device. Then, Skype will see it. But if you can’t, the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000, is great and very affordable.

Q Brian, Ventura, CA - Using Skype

Brian has friends in Japan and they want to play D&D over Skype. What a great idea. What camera should he use? Leo says it doesn’t really matter. Most use cheesy webcams and Skype doens’t really use the best quality anyway. Leo suggests using a camcorder that has a firewire connection which can be used as a windows media device. Then, Skype will see it. But if you can’t, Logitech QuickCams, like the Quickcam Pro 9000B000RZQZM0, are great and very affordable.

Q Dr. Mom - Talkin’ about the Kindle

Dr. Mom loves the Amazon Kindle because she can carry whole libraries on one kindle. The screen is okay, but she does like that it isn’t backlit. Leo likes that you can make the text bigger when he needs to. She also says a new firmware update is available that makes it easier to delete books.

Q Dave, Apple Valley, CA - Installing old editing software

Dave is installing some old editing software and get’s a pop-up that Microsoft hasn’t certified it. Signing just verifies that the driver came from Pinnacle and Certification means that Windows tested it and found it to work. Leo says that’s fine, just ignore it.

Q Clint, Roseville, CA - Sound problems in Virtual PC

Clint is using Virtual PC but can’t get his sound to work. Then, it mysteriously began to work. Leo says that a Windows update probably fixed the problem as it examines your hardware/software configuration and downloads and installs what it needs. Make sure you run Windows update consistently. Or, go online and download the Virtual Machine additions.

Q David, San Diego, CA - Ripping DVDs

David wants to rip his DVDs to backup for watching movies while on a trip. He doesn’t want to risk bringing his original with him. Leo says that technically, it’s illegal, but he doubts any judge will nail you on it. Fair use is still fair use.

But what David wants to do is rip them to a Networked Attacked Storage (NAS). Can he? Leo says yes, you can map right to a NAS quite easily. But he’s not crazy about using the Drobo as a NAS. Leo recommends the HP Media Smart Windows Media Extender.

James has finally come into the 21st century and decided to replace his VCR. LOL. He’s tried using his PC and Myth TV, but he’s having trouble with it. Is there a commercial option? Leo says yes. He suggests a DVD writer. Leo also says that Windows Media Center will work as well with no DRM. In fact, Leo thinks that the WMC is the best DVR out there. You’ll need a Home Theater PC (HTPC) with a Blu-ray player and HTPC compliant monitor. What you may want to do is get an off the shelf solution. Check out PC Perspectives for reviews and specs. HP and Dell make off the shelf solutions. Neuros OSD is another option.

Q Rebecca, KY - Problems with her Wacomb Intuos tablet

Rebecca has an expensive gaming computer and Wacom Intuos tablet to draw with. But she’s having trouble with the pen not stopping to draw. Leo suspects that the pen is overly sensitive. But when she’s using a chat feature, her Wacomb quits working. Leo says that when the JAVA client of the chat feature launches, it alters the settings that disables the tablet. Leo thinks it’s a Windows problem. Uninstall the Wacomb tablet and reinstall. Then, find out from Wacomb how the tablet communications to Windows, because it seems that there’s a strange driver that Java is using to supplant it.

Is Google’s “Latitude” a violation of privacy?

The new Google Latitude in it, which will broadcast your position to anyone on the Latitude network. Privacy groups are up in arms as the phone doesn’t notify users they are being tracked and could leave people wide open to stalkers.

James has finally come into the 21st century and decided to replace his VCR. LOL. He’s tried using his PC and Myth TV, but he’s having trouble with it. Is there a commercial option? Leo says yes. He suggests a DVD writer. Leo also says that Windows Media Center will work as well with no DRM. In fact, Leo thinks that the WMC is the best DVR out there. You’ll need a Home Theater PC (HTPC) with a Blu-ray player and HTPC compliant monitor. What you may want to do is get an off the shelf solution. Check out PC Perspectives for reviews and specs. HP and Dell make off the shelf solutions. Neuros OSD is another option.

Q Rebecca, KY - Problems with her Wacomb tablet

Rebecca has an expensive gaming computer and Wacom tablet to draw with. But she’s having trouble with the pen not stopping to draw. Leo suspects that the pen is overly sensitive. But when she’s using a chat feature, her Wacomb quits working. Leo says that when the JAVA client of the chat feature launches, it alters the settings that disables the tablet. Leo thinks it’s a Windows problem. Uninstall the Wacomb tablet and reinstall. Then, find out from Wacomb how the tablet communications to Windows, because it seems that there’s a strange driver that Java is using to supplant it.

Mark wants to know if he can jailbreak an iPhone and tether it. Leo says jailbreaking the iPhone is perfectly legal, but you need to understand that you can’t do iPhone updates until the jailbreak is updated otherwise you run the risk of bricking the phone. It’s only happened once, but you don’t want to find out the hard way. What you want to do after the new jailbreak comes out is restore, re-sync, and then wait for the new jailbreak.

The best place to learn more is to go the iPhone Development Team Blog. It looks like the updates make the phone “un” jailbreaked again. Then, you have to wait until the update is broken again.

Mark also wants to know if he can create a router out of an laptop. Leo says you can, but using an ad-hoc connection. But the phone doesn’t see the ad-hoc. Leo says that when setting up the ad-hoc network, you may not have both connections through the same Wi-fi card. So, you’d need a secondary card. You can run software to do it - like from Cradlepoint. But, if the phone doesn’t see it, then it may be a limitation of your phone.

Leo says the best way is to go to linux.iso.org and look for tether distributions. Leo says using a DHCP server on your laptop will work.

Q Tara, San Diego, CA - computer crashing

Tara is having trouble with Norton AV360 which is holding her PC hostage. Leo says that he supports AntiVirus software, but doesn’t like all in one solutions. But he also suspects she has a virus, and not Norton. Leo suspects what she really has is AntiVirus 2009, which is actually the virus itself. It’s easy to fall for as a legitimate popup advises you to install to protect you. Leo suggests to simply get your data of the PC and then reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows. That’s the only real way to be sure. But you can also use Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool. Updated every Tuesday. Start, run. Type MRT and hit enter. Let it run.

Another option, reboot in safe mode (with networking). Then, go to MalwareBytes.org and download and install the malware removal tool.

Q James, Lake Jackson, TX - Replacing VCR

James has finally come into the 21st century and decided to replace his VCR. LOL. He’s tried using his PC and Myth TV, but he’s having trouble with it. Is there a commercial option? Leo says yes. He suggests a DVD writer. Leo also says that Windows Media Center will work as well with no DRM. In fact, Leo thinks that the WMC is the best DVR out there. You’ll need a Home Theater PC (HTPC) with a Blu-ray player and HTPC compliant monitor. What you may want to do is get an off the shelf solution. Check out PC Perspectives for reviews and specs. HP and Dell make off the shelf solutions. Neuros OSD is another option.

Another option is to hook up an analog recording device to your existing DVR, play back and exploit the analog hole. Low tech, but it works.

Q Brett, Portland, OR - Robust Digital Camera

Brett spends a ton of time in rough, cold, conditions and wants a good tough digital camera. Olympus? Leo says Pentax makes a rugged waterproof camera. Leo says that Olympus does make excellent cameras, though he hasn’t tried the SW line of cameras.

Q Greg, Louisville, KY - backing up Yahoo mail

Greg wants to know how to backup his Yahoo mail and keep his folder organization. Can he sync and backup? Leo says yes, it can be done. Yahoo supports POP3. But Pop doesn’t support structures. Yahoo has enabled iMap, which you can use. So, log in under iMap and then enable “download for offline use.” Also, check out Zimbra. It can access yahoo mail from your desktop. Thunderbird will also let you do it if you can get your incoming imap settings from Yahoo: “imap.next.mail.yahoo.com”

Q Mark, Tustin, CA - jailbreaking the iPhone

Mark wants to know if he can jailbreak an iPhone and tether it. Leo says jailbreaking the iPhone is perfectly legal, but you need to understand that you can’t do iPhone updates until the jailbreak is updated otherwise you run the risk of bricking the phone. It’s only happened once, but you don’t want to find out the hard way.

Mark wants to tether it, but AT&T doesn’t allow it. Leo says that AT&T has said they’re going to offer a tether plan, but you can bet it won’t be cheap.

Scott is here to talk about a huge story in home theater … Is Pioneer getting out of the TV business? Scott just got an “official statement” about the rumor of Pioneer pulling out, but it says nothing. But Scott has read a Canadian story about Pioneer pulling out of the flat screen market. Could this be a mistaken report since Pioneer was planning to have Panasonic make their panels? But Leo says insiders he knows say that Pioneer is done and Scott says that Nikkei reports they’re out. That’s pretty credible. The sadness is that the Pioneer Kuro is one of the best plasmas on the market.

But the bottom line is that it looks that LCDs have won the flat panel war, due, perhaps of fears of burn-in which Plasmas have never really been able to shake - even though it’s really no longer a reasonable concern.

Scott also has some answers to listener mail.

Q volume level variation

Doug says that every time he changes channels, he has a wide variation of volume control. Scott says it’s a pretty prevalent problem, which can be solved by using a technology from Dolby and Odyssey called “Dynamic Volume,” which normalizes and evens out the volume from channel to channel. Most are available in A/V receivers.

Q Blu-ray players too expensive still. Why buy?

1080p TVs can upscale regular DVDs, why buy a Blu-ray? Scott says that Blu-ray has twice the information on the screen where 1080p TVs merely upscale and duplicate the information on a standard DVD. It looks okay, mind you, but when compared to Blu-ray, you see twice as much information, which equates to crisper images as different as night and day.

Scott is here to talk about a huge story in home theater … Is Pioneer getting out of the TV business?

Q Tim, Daytona Beach, FL - Installing XP Pro & Proprietary software

Tim is trying to install his OS after his hard drive failed, but his “computer guy” says that since Microsoft doesn’t support XP you can’t get the code to install it. He also can’t get “JAWS” installed as anything but a 40 minute demo mode. Is there a hack?

Leo thinks that to hack it to work would be a violation of the EULA and even though Leo thinks what the creators of Jaws are doing is wrong, there’s not much legally which can be done. One of the major problems with proprietary software - arcane and arbitrary rules.

Is Pioneer getting out of the TV business?

Q Tim, Daytona Beach, FL -

The Amazon Kindle 2 is due to be released on Monday. Comes with a brushed metal back, redesigned button interface for about $359. Leo is a huge fan of the Kindle, as he usually checks for a digital version of a book before looking to print (course, he looks for audio books first).

2/3 of the world have cell phones

According to a recent study, there are around 6 billion people in our world and 4 billion cell phones. That means there’s three cellphones for every three people!

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine

Saturday February 07, 2009

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Tech News

Facebook celebrates 5th Birthday

Started by a Harvard college student to keep track of his friends, it has skyrocketed to millions of subscribers in just 5 years.

New Kindle coming Monday

The Kindle 2 is skeined to be released on Monday. Comes with a brushed metal back, redesigned button interface for about $359. Leo is a huge fan of the Kindle, as he usually checks for a digital version of a book before looking to print (course, he looks for audio books first).

Hour 1

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