Leo Laporte
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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday April 05, 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
New Microsoft Ads Provoke MacHeads by Design
With the idea of turning Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads to their advantage, Microsoft launches a new ad campaign with so-called “real people” looking for a real computer and avoiding the cult of MAC. Ironically, though, Windows isn’t mentioned in the ads, nor real merits talked about. They talked about how PCs are cheaper, sure, but Leo thinks they miss out on Window’s real strength’s while obsessing to address the I’m a Mac ads in a rather personal, and fascinating fashion.
Time Warner expands data caps
Time Warner is limiting data downloads to 40 GB a month and is expanding it to 6 marketss around the country. Leo thinks this is a huge deal considering that more and more video and audio bandwidth is being enjoyed. People download HiDef movies from iTunes. Watch live streaming. Is Time Warner being anti-competitive because their cable TV business has competition now? Boycott Time Warner … this isn’t okay.
Web 2.0 conference this week.
What is “Web 2.0?” No one really knows. LOL. But to Leo, it means social, interactivity. But what about “Web 3.0?” Leo says that it’s “symantic,” and will have a machine interaction to it. See TWINE for an example.
Guests
Brian Rushwood, host of Scam School on Revision 3.
He’s a “bizarre magician” who teaches people how to meet others and win “bar bets.” A kind of personal, fun magic that allows you to interact and make people get to know each other easier.
Hour 1
Q Charles, Berkeley, CA - Media Monkey issues
Charles is having trouble listening to his music using Media Monkey. Leo says that the problem is that Charles needs to upgrade his music in iTunes to DRM free. Media Monkey will also need a plugin to play AAC encoded music. Also getting WinAmp will help as Media Monkey uses WinAmp’s plugins. Also, try uninstalling Quicktime and then iTunes. Then re-download iTunes with Quicktime and install it.
Also, check your mixer settings. There may be an issue with the settings.
Q Hillary, Whittier, CA - laptop recommendation for college
Hillary is going to college in the fall and wants to know what laptop to get. Leo says the best plan is to talk to teachers and administrators about what laptop platform is widespread at your school. Schools may be Mac or PC centric and it’ll be easier for assignments etc. And the argument for the MAC is that you can dual boot Windows or Mac and have the best of both worlds. Leo likes the 13″ MacBook. It’s elegant, has great media options. Dell makes a nice “desktop replacement” laptop - the Studio 15. You can get it with a Blu-Ray DVD player as well so it also becomes your entertainment unit. If you need something more robust and tough, the Panasonic Toughbook is also a good option.
Also, find out what the educational discount is at the school. 10% or more can save you some coin.
Q Mark, Port Hueneme, CA - Carbonite and networks
Mark is an underwater photographer who has a network he wants to backup and Carbonite doesn’t do network solutions. What are his options? He already backs up to an external hard drive. Leo suggests JungleDisk with Amazon S3.
Leo also suggests taking a look at SmugMug. You can use it not only for online storage (they use Amazon built in) and you can sell your photographs online. Other companies include Mozy, eVault, there’s a lot of choices.
Q Aaron, San Francisco, CA - Is MySpace dying out?
and thinks that MySpace is just terrible. Could MySpace go the way of the do-do? Leo doesn’t think so. MySpace, ugly as it is, has over 100 million users. Where it really succeeds is as a place for independent musicians. That’s how it started. But it really needs a facelift.
Leo has a hunch that as time goes on, like email and IM before it, there will come a time where the walls will come down and you’ll be able to follow anyone from one or the other. Google calls it “open social.”
Hour 2
Q Chris, Pittsburgh, PA - Mac and Bootcamp
Chris just got a MacBook Pro Unibody and wants to image his hard drive so he can bump up to a larger hard drive. Leo says that MAC is “HFS” and most imaging programs don’t recognize that filing format. Hard drives come with imaging tools that ignore the format and copy the data sectors that can do it, so what you’d need to do is get a laptop to desktop adapter and the use your desktop and the hard drive utilities to imaging and transfer them.
One easier option may be Super Duper.
Q John, Concord, CA - bypassing WinXP Welcome screen
John wants to bypass the welcome login screen. But how. Leo sayss there’s a “secret control panel. Click Start-Run then type “control userpasswords2.” Uncheck it and select which user gets to login automatically. For other versions, google the OS and “auto login” and you’ll find it.
Q Howard, Long Beach, CA - USB card reader issues
Howard is building a computer and he noticed that a USB card reader has half as many pins as on the USB plug. Leo thinks that the second set of pins on the motherboard is for power. It may also be for a second set of USB ports. You’ll want to look on your documentation for the nomenclature of your motherboard to be sure as you don’t want to brick it with a wrong connection. In the chatroom, JR says the extra pin is for grounding which is rarely used.
Q Eric - Computer recommendation
Eric is brand new to this new fangled computer thing. He’s overwhelmed about the basic of computers. Is there a book he can read? Leo says you want to get a computer and a book to learn from at the same time. Otherwise, it becomes fairly abstract. Leo suggests starting with a MAC. And since all Eric’s friends are on the “red, delicious,” they’ll be your support system. So if they use a Mac, you should. And for a book, Leo recommends The Little Mac Book by Robin Williams. And David Pogue’s MAC OSX: The Missing Manual. Start slow and ease into it so you won’t become overwhelmed. In fact, Leo suggests getting your computer and don’t tell your friends right away until your comfortable with it.
Hour 3
Q Rachel, Redondo Beach, CA - Strange file names
Rachel has noticed several files in her Mac with strange names. Leo suspects they are temporary files that are created when using the computer. Not unusual. You can delete them if you want.
Q Phil, Mission Viejo, CA - Being safe online
Phil is on Windows and is concerned about security. Leo says that security issues are primarily why home users should use Mac, rather than PC, which is geared for business look. Phil may have been hijacked in his browser and that may only be the tip of the iceburg. Leo says there are Tips to Safe Computing that everyone should follow:
Leo’s Six Rules for Safe Computing
1. Don’t open email attachments; even if it’s from someone you know. If you do get something from someone you know, make sure that they really sent it to you. Email attachments are the number one way viruses and trojan horses get into your email. You might also want to turn off HTML email in Outlook and other programs. HTML emails are just as dangerous as rogue web sites, and can spread infections just by previewing them.
2. Don’t click links in email. That link could lead you to a phishing site, or the link may lead you to install malicious software. Copy and paste links into your browser, or type them in by hand instead. Another reason to disable HTML email - the HTML hides the real destination of that seemingly innocuous link.
3. Don’t download files from places you aren’t absolutely sure are safe. Stick with the well known sites. Teeneagers who use filesharing software like BitTorrent, Azureus, Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, and Limewire, often unwittingly download spyware and trojans. If you must, quarantine all downloads then scan them a few days later with an updated anti-virus.
4. Update your OS regularly! Turn on automatic updates in OS X and Windows. Apply all critical updates immediately. Criminals often create hacks within 24 hours of Microsoft’s patches (these are called zero day exploits), so you need to protect yourself the day the patches appear.
5. Use a firewall. The best firewall is a hardware router - the kind you use to share an internet connection. Even if they’re not billed as firewalls, they are, and they’re quite effective. I also recommend turning on your operating system’s firewall - even if you have a router - but I don’t recommend third-party software firewalls. They cause more problems than they solve.
6. Never run as an administrator in any operating system. Administrators have way too many priveleges that malicious people/code can take advantage of. Run as a limited user as much as possible. Windows Vista, Linux, and Mac OSX allow you to run a majority of features, but with some additional safety, as a limited user.
Leo thinks you have a bug, and you should have someone clean it up. You may even need to reinstall your OS. But once you get it clean, follow the rules above!
Q Mark (iDoc), Upstate NY - Logo clipart problems
Mark has a logo that doesn’t scale well. Leo says that’s because it’s “rasterized,” not vectored. Leo says you can retrace the picture into vector and save it as an “AI” file. Leo suggests finding a design student who can trace your photo and turn it into vectored.
Q Ryan, Iowa - Computer recommendation
Ryan is using a 14″ notebook for his photography work. What should he get, a larger laptop or desktop. Leo says size is important, but accuracy is just as critical. You need a display that gives you the full gamut of colors available. Leo likes the Eizio monitor, but they’re really pricey. Another option is to take any monitor and printer you have and calibrate them. The monitor uses a Colorimeter (called a Spider) and the printer uses a spectral photometer. In the end, it depends on how finicky you want to be with it. But you can edit on a laptop. And since Photoshop is better in 64 bit, then Windows is your best bet for now. Leo also says to take pictures for “high dynamic range” or HDR. It’s where you shoot three shots of the same subject in bracket - focusing on the sky for one, the subject for another and the background for the third. Then stitch them together for a truly stunning picture.
Search Flickr for HDR for examples.
Q Brian, Palo Alto, CA - AOL Email missing
Brian lost all his email from AOL. He contacted tech support and they won’t give him an answer why. He found out that he appears to be online when he isn’t. Leo suspects his account may be hacked. Leo says that even though you save your email on your computer, when you delete it online, it delete’s it automatically on your computer! So make copies of all your email. Leo recommends to keep calling AOL support until you get someone who knows what they’re talking about. And perhaps it’s time to dump them for a REAL ISP!
Have a great geek week!
