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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday March 22, 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Twitter Celebrates 3rd Birthday
Starting in 2006, Twitter didn’t really hit the gas until 2007 when everyone noticed it at South by Southwest in Austin. Happy Birthday, Twitter.
iPhone 3.0 announced
Speaking of “3s,” iPhone 3.0 was announced this week. New features include cut and paste, tethering (if the phone carrier allows it and most for another $30). MMS messaging. Voice memo applications. Sideways virtual keyboard. Sync notes. Device port opened up for portable applications. Many think that the next iPhone may be a tablet netbook 2–3x the size. We’ll see.
IBM buys Sun Computing
Big Blue gets Java and control of more of the server market.
TV viewing making a comeback?
According to AC Nielsen, television viewing is at an all time high. Nielsen says that the average viewer watches 151 hours of TV a month. They also says there’s more niche programming appealing to viewers while network programming is on the wane. Could it be that TIVO stemmed the slide?
Leo suspects the spike back up is due to the historic nature of the election more than cable channels finding new viewers due to their programming.
Guests
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Part II of “Making the Switch” to digital cameras. Digital cameras are basically now where film resolution is with the benefit of additional features, the ability to edit on the fly, or even delete bad pictures. You can also switch white balance to give you several different types of film conditions at the flip of a switch. Digital cameras will give you direct printing without a PC, you can take black and white, sepia, and even a condition where you strip all the color but one subject. There’s plenty of presets that give you, as a photographer, plenty of options.
Two Tips from the Top Floor seminars coming to San Francisco. It’s a San Francisco Street Safari from July 10–12, and again July 17–19. Check out more information at ChrisMarquardt.com
Hour 1
Q Tom, Fredonia, NY - multi camera control
Tom knows Leo uses the Tricaster. Is there other options for multi-camera control of video on the Net? Leo says that the best choice in software is Vidblaster. Pro - $500, Home - $200. But you need a dedicated firewire port for each camera. Switching is a tad slow. Wirecast has both Mac and Windows support. CamTwist will also do this.
MiniCam and Webcam Max can work for doing online Powerpoint presentations live.
Q Mark, San Diego, CA - Webcam recommendation
Mark wants to set up a security webcam. Camcorders are the best Webcameras in terms of quality. But Mark needs a wireless solution. Check out RemoteVideo.com. Leo uses the Axis camera. Not cheap, but Axis is great because it has it’s own built in web server so you can check them online.
He also wants to unblock blocked calls so knows who’s calling. TrapCall is a utility that supposedly does that.
Then, there’s Sandboxie, which is like a virtual computer which allows users to reverse any negative chances. Leo says it’s a great program - hailed by Steve Gibson of Security Now.
Tater wants to know if he can get Gigabit ethernet speeds through Cat 5. Leo says yes, but you should upgrade to Cat 5 E (enhanced) for optimal performance.
Q Grant, Greenboro, NC - Technical editing a book
Grant is writing a book on the effects of technology in the auto industry. Leo says that the best way to do this is to publish a website and post each chapter for people to read, comment and critique. The crazy thing is that it’ll also work to market the book.
Grants website is Digitalliteracyproject.com/
Hour 2
Q Condy, Los Angeles, CA - Virus issues
Leo says that viruses and Spyware can attach themselves to many of your software library in an attempt to stay on your system. Leo suggests running as a limited user so they can’t get deep into your OS. Using software like SandBoxie will also help. Also, practice Leo’s Rules of Safe Computing. Back up regularly. Always install critical security patches when they come out and you’re much less likely to deal with viruses.
Q Nathaniel, Louisville, KY - wireless cable options
If analog, the WaveCom Jr. is a great option. It’s an antenna that attaches to your cable box and your TV. Easy to install, easy to use. The Slingbox can work. It’s more designed to travel, but if you hook it up to your cable box, DVD, DVR, etc. and then use the Slingbox into the Internet. Then, you can watch TV over the Internet by hooking a computer to your TV set.
Q James, Woodland Hills, CA - Ripping CDs to MP3
James wants to know if there’s a service that will rip your CDs and put them on mp3s. RipDigital does this. There was also a service called iPod Meister that would rip the CDs and keep them as payment, giving you the mp3s back on a hard drive or even an iPod. He then turns around and sells the CDs used. Is it illegal? Well, selling used CDs has been around for quite awhile, it may be a loophole in the law.
Q Nathan, AR - Reading blogs without the Internet
Nathan’s mom is heavily into blogs but she can only get them when she’s at the library for the internet connection. Is there an easier way to get them? Maybe a newsreader? Leo says often a newsreader only gives a summary or the first few sentences. A site sucker may be a better option. Firefox has an extension called Read it Later. Put a check mark on the sites you want and it’ll save the site for you to read later. Much better than opening up all your blogs and then putting the computer to sleep until you get home!
Course, another option is the Kindle 2. $359 gives you lifetime internet access via wifi. The contrast will be different, but a lifetime internet subscription and an eBook reader. That’s an amazing deal.
Q Fred, Phoenix, Az - Getting a tech broadcasting education
Fred has a Mac that he needed to reload the software for. But he has an error screen and no control of his peripherals. The beachball keeps turning. Leo says press and hold the on/off key until it turns off. Reboot and if the same thing happens, the hard drive may be confused with versions. Start over and reformat/repartition the hard drive. Tools - DiskWarrior, Tech Tool Pro. Both of these cost $100 and will check your hard drive and system to be sure everything is okay. Then again, for that price, you can get a 1TB hard drive!
Q Sue, Oregon - Monitor recommendation
Sue has a MacBook Pro and would like to get a monitor for it. Leo says you could get the new 24″ Mac monitor, but they’re really expensive. Just get a DVI connector and a good Dell monitor and you’re good to go for half the price.
Hour 3
Q Anthony, Irvindale, IA - Backing up a MAC Book Pro
Anthony wants to know the proper way to back up everything including his iTunes and iPhoto libraries. Leo recommends SuperDuper and picking up an external hard drive. You can use Time Machine, but the benefit of Super Duper is it makes a bootable version of your external hard drive.
Next, get an off site backup. This could be using something like Carbonite (Leo’s sponsor) or, burning your data to DVDs and mailing them to your mom’s house. But remember that an online backup is dependent on how fast your hard drive is. The first backup may be VERY slow - like weeks.
Q Jeannie, Laguna Nigel, CA - Google redirects
Jeannie clicks on a search result in Google and gets redirected to a strange site. Leo suspects Malware or Spyware which is co-opting her click traffic and redirects to a site of their choosing. And when she hits the back button, it goes where she wants. Clearly, Jeannie is infected. Try running system restore. This will reboot back to the last time your OS put a restore point in. System Tools - Accessories - System Restore. But the Malware may have either wiped out the restore points completely or, changed System Restore to stay on the system. In that case, Jeannie may have no choice but to back up her data and reformat and install the OS.
Q Steve, Long Beach, CA - Building websites for e-commerce
Steve wants to sell things online. Leo says the first thing you need to decide is what content management system you want to use. If Photos, SmugMug is a good option. But if you’re selling a lot of content, content management systems like Wordpress have eCommerce plug-ins which can be of advantage. Drupal is another one.
Content management systems allow the user to separate the design of the site from the content of the site. Makes it far easier to update.
Steve is an assistant director and he says that there’s still a film bias in motion pictures. Leo agrees but points out that the MPAA has certified 4K digital video cameras like the Red One for regular use. Steve adds that even though shot on film, most still digitize the film to edit in Final Cut.
Don’t forget to back up! Have a great geek week!
