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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday April 12, 2009
- Show Audio
- Tech News
- Hour 1
- Hour 2
- Hour 3
- Mark, CA - iTunes question
- Dennis, Temple City, CA - Netflicks Streaming Video
- Adam, Jacksonville, FL - Linux and video drivers
- James, Springfield, OR - Hard Drive crashed
- Jerry, Tampa, FL - Experimenting with point and shoot cameras
- John, Los Angeles, CA - just got an iPod Touch
- Ellie, Hawaii - Mac Mini and Apple TV
- Brad, Ojai, CA - Mobile Me email
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Apple announces that Steve Jobs still involved in running Apple
Steve Jobs still has his hand on the Apple tiller and is on track to return to Apple in June. Leo says this is great news. And indications are that Apple is poised to finally release an Apple Touch Tablet. Could they be working towards Jobs introducing the iTab at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June? And could it once again revolutionize the computing world?
Virus bites Twitter users
“Stalk Daily” is a virus that works into and takes over user accounts to push out unsolicited tweets. It injects code into your session and “zombies” your session. Clear cache, empty cookies, log out and change password, then log back in. And delete any tweets sent by you pointing to Stalk Daily. The writer, Michael Mooney, created the worm because he was bored. He says he created it to “give site developers insight on their vulnerabilities while promoting himself.”
Twitter says it has fixed the bug.
Hour 1
Q Steve, Burbank CA - Video podcasting
Steve is going to document learning how to fly, but is concerned about the amount of bandwidth his HD camera will provide. He doesn’t want to be limited by storage size like YouTube does (100MB). Leo says that few people will be able to handle a HiDef stream. Leo says Vimeo HD is about the best online, but you can also upload Quicktime HD movies at SmugMug. And you can embed them onto your webpage. Leo also recommends to stay at H.264 and make it the same screen size/resolution as is offered.
Q Vernon, Avington, VA - Webpage for politics
Vernon wants to create a webpage where citizens can post their opinion of the issues, have conversations, and even do video streaming of government. Leo says that WordPress is a very good choice, much more than just “blogging software,” it’s a content management system. Leo also recommends using your own name for the blog/forums and also [yournamehere]forcouncilman.com to tie them up and WordPress can handle more than one site at a time.
Q Tom, Sherman Oaks, CA - Doing fiction on the Internet
Tom and his friends are doing an Internet based sci-fi series. They’ve been doing YouTube for the last six months, but hasn’t seen much traffic of late. How does he get the word out? Should they pay for the YouTube “Promoted Videos” option? Leo says there’s been an explosion of content and as such, a lot of background noise. Leo says the cream always rises and you make the best content you can, virally spread the word, and people will find you. Great a Facebook fanpage. Go where Sci-fi fans are and tell them about it. Kevin Kelly says all it takes is 1,000 people to make something explode. And make a community for people to participate. Do live streaming of producing the show. There is a trick on how to get high quality video on your site using the “>” at the end of your video code.
Tom’s site is JupitersGhost.com
Hour 2
Q Scott, Westminster, CA - Mac Mini media center
Scott wants to take his old single core Mac Mini and turn it into a media center. Leo says he’s doing that with his old mini as well. 1) do you want to watch TV with it? Leo says that because the Mini’s have a firewire port, he is able to boot from a “fast drive” that connects to the Mini for faster boot and workings. Leo says using ElGato’s EyeTV. Use “Front Row” to watch your movies and “PyeTV” to watch live TV. Boxie is great for streaming media like Netflicks. XBMC.
Leo thinks this is how we’re going to get our media in the future and why companies like Time Warner are introducing shamefully low bandwidth caps.
Scott’s podcasts is called Boston Sports Coast 2 Coast.
Q Avive, Richmond, CA - iMovie and the Flip
C
Avive just got a new Flip Ultra video camcorder and wants to use it with the new iMovie `09. He installed the included software but now he’s having trouble skimming in iMovie. Leo says that the codec the Flip uses may not be supported by iMovie and the “IVX” plugin with the Flip may not be needed. Leo says to uninstall it all and start over. And you may want to reinstall Quicktime, iTunes, and iLife and then go back to the Flip.
Q Julian, Los Angeles, CA - Overlay area codes
Julian wants to know why you have to dial a 10 digit number if you live in the original area code. Leo says that it’s because of ambiguity. The phone switchers won’t understand unless you do because it can’t assume your region.
Q Tom, Fairfield, OH - OS choices on bootup
Tom has a choice of OSs on boot, but wants to just pick one as default. R/C my computer, select properties. You get the Sysstem control panel. ADvanced Tab. Startup/recovery panel, choose Settings. Click on the Edit button to edit the boot.ini (make a copy first). And CAREFULLY edit the file. Delete just the lines you don’t want and that will turn off the boot menu.
Q Frank, Sarasota, FL - Creating a blog
Frank wants to create a blog and post pictures. Leo recommends Wordpress.com for a first try. It’s got templates, it’s free and is very easy to use. Did I mention it’s free?
Hour 3
Mark has a pretty good iTunes collection. He does he play those songs on more than one iPod? Leo says that DRM has been removed from here on out. You can upgrade all your songs for .30 a song by going to iTunes and upgrading them to iTunes Plus.
But each song can be authorized to play on up to 5 computers/ipods. Create a playlist for each iPod and it’ll copy the specific songs to each iPod.
Q Dennis, Temple City, CA - Netflicks Streaming Video
Dennis signed up for the free two week trial at Netflicks, and wonders what’s the advantage using Roku. Leo says it’s great for watching streaming movies on the TV. It’s a convenient interface.
Q Adam, Jacksonville, FL - Linux and video drivers
He’s trying Ubuntu Linux and is having video trouble. Leo says that was a common problem in the early days due to drivers. Recommend to try the LiveCD to see if that works. But if it doesn’t, then google your exact model and the linux version you’re using, or even the display driver you’re using for advice. Also, check out Linux for Laptops and drill down to what laptop you’re using and find some possible solutions.
Q James, Springfield, OR - Hard Drive crashed
James had his hard drive crashed and took it in for repair. Will he get the old drive back? Leo says odds are they will wipe the drive if they can’t restore it. Hopefully, you backed up the drive because chances are, all the data is gone.
Q Jerry, Tampa, FL - Experimenting with point and shoot cameras
Jerry has a point and shoot and holds it up against a wide angle lens and has managed to get good enough to take great shots. Leo says sure, with practice he can see that work. Ironically, some of the best photographers he knows does experimental stuff like that to push the limits and get interesting shots.
Leo says that you probably have to not use a flash because the flash gets it’s information from the lens and adding a wide angle like that could prevent the flash from getting the information it needs, so just turn it off.
Q John, Los Angeles, CA - just got an iPod Touch
John is debating to return the iPod Touch since Apple may be releasing a tablet PC soon. He uses it for Skype. Leo says he doesn’t really know if Apple is going to announce a Tablet PC, it’s pure speculation based on factual stories this week. But it shouldn’t really prevent you from keeping the iTouch. You’ll need a handset that works with the Touch to use Skype, but the iPod Touch is a great deal and you should keep it. But if you do return it, restore it through iTunes first.
Q Ellie, Hawaii - Mac Mini and Apple TV
Ellie wants to watch TV on her Apple TV while recording another channel. Leo says you could get a TV that has multiple tuners and split the cable between the TV and the Apple TV. This works unless you’re using a cable box. It’s your tuner. So, you’d need an extra cable box … Try this though … hook up the cable to the Apple TV directly and have it scan. It should pick up basic channels in the clear and you can record them separately. Anything encrypted though would require a tuner.
Q Brad, Ojai, CA - Mobile Me email
Brad is considering getting Mobile Me for an email and picking up a Windows PC and an iPhone. Can he use Office with it? Leo says Mobile Me is a great choice for a Mac user, but it stinks on the Windows platform. If you’re just using the iPhone with Outlook, you’re fine. Leo says that Google works great with the iPhone thanks to Google’s sync utility. If you’re happy with your Gmail and putting your contacts on Google, that’s really the best option. You don’t really need Mobile Me for the iPhone. And you can continue to use Outlook with no problem.
Brad also has a question about Carbonite. Only about 200MB a day? Leo says it’s largely dependent on the speed of your Internet connection, and you may need to limit the cycles it uses in the setup to keep working on your computer.
Have a great geek week and don’t forget to backup!
