Leo Laporte
The Tech Guy
2–5p ET Sat & Sun
- Home
- Saturday Show?
- Sunday Show?
- Past Shows
- Audio Archives
- Stations
- Chat
- Watch Live
- Forums
- Tips
- FAQ
- Glossary
- Contact Leo
Sponsors
- Angie’s List
- Carbonite
- DSLExtreme
- ESET NOD32 Antivirus
- GoToAssist
- GoToMeeting
- GoToMyPC
- Make It Work
- Stamps.com
Leo Links
 |
For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
|
|
Sunday April 19, 2008
Show Audio
|
Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Congress going after Internet Taxation?
Two bills in Congress are going after those who bought goods online and will allow tax collectors to go after the purchasers of online goods for sales tax not paid. This may be due to pressure by brick and mortar retailers who have to charge tax on items and due to a loop hole, internet retailers haven’t had to. Leo says he can see both sides the argument … customers who want to save every dime they can when they buy something and local government who rely on sales tax for their budgets.
T-Mobile introduces new SideKick
The SideKick LX2009 will come out next month with integration of MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. Records video and still images, and of course, it has that keyboard. Leo is intrigued by the social media advantage the SideKick may have.
British Audition on YouTube sets the world on fire
Susan Boyle’s audition to Britain’s Got Talent has enjoyed over 25 MILLION views on YouTube, making her an Internet celebrity practically overnight.
Guests
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Today, Chris and Leo are looking at the photos for our latest assignment “DECAY.” The first SMILE? by KarinisSoHot. Secondly, Union Carbide Bldg 82 Demolition. Finaly, Daisy in Decay makes good use of the Rule of Thirds.
Chris will be doing a San Francisco Photo Safari in July, so check it out. Our new assignment … SPRING!
Hour 1
Q Linus, Idaho - Gaming with the BlackBerry Storm
Linus is having trouble playing games that he bought online for his BlackBerry Storm. Leo says you need to make sure you buy games that work for the Storm specifically. If it doesn’t work, then you need to contact the game maker for support. But the cost of the games are so cheap, you may not get much support wise. One tip that may help is to completely shut down the Storm and restart it. This may help load the game into the memory. And if that doesn’t work, try uninstalling the game and reinstall. Sometimes over the air installations don’t complete or packets get corrupted. Also, check for an updated firmware for the Storm. That may be critical for the running of the game.
Linus also updated to Internet Explorer 8 and it won’t work. Leo says that uninstalling/reinstalling will help. IE 8 will also be in the new update. So it may help to wait until then.
Q Mark, Tustin, CA - Website promotion
Mark has created a website for political and grass roots activism. He’s launching the site on May 1st and has created a Twitter Account. Facebook. But how do you get people to follow you?
Leo says to “act as if.” Create content and people will find and follow you. Participate in similar forums that share your interest. Follow those who do similar things. Use “hashtags” (#talkradioforchange). Put yourself out there. Participate.
Mark’s website is for recalling the Governor and Legislature of California. It’s called TalkRadioforChange.com.
Q Bob, Minnesota - Automating keystrokes
Leo says to go to AutoHotkey. You can create hot keys, automate mouseclicks, etc. Slight downside is all your strokes are in a text file - which is the best way to do it.
Bob also wants to get podcasts on his BlackBerry Storm. The chatroom comes to the rescure with PodTrapper, by Versatile Monkey. Leo says that the easier it gets for people to get and make podcasts, the more popular podcasts will be.
Q Gary, San Jose, CA - Getting a camcorder
Gary is looking to get an HD camcorder. Should he get a hard drive camera? Leo says no. It adds weight, drains the battery, and when it’s full, it’s FULL. Leo is still a fan of tape as it gives you an instant Archival copy. Leo likes the HV30. The sad part is that tape is on it’s way out. So, there’s also the Canon Vixia HF10 Flash based model which everyone seems to rave over. Alex Linsay loves this one. 16GB on board memory plus recording to flash. A large CMOS chip for recording in low light. Very nice camera.
Hour 2
Q Jonathan, Pittsburgh, PA - Video/still convergence
Jonathan wants a camcorder which will shoot both stills and video simultaneously. This is called “dual capture.” Leo says that at this stage, the still quality is disappointing. Leo also says that the quality of HD camcorders has gotten so much better that you can extract a frame from your video and it looks really nice. The Canon 5D Mk. II is really nice for this since it shoots HiDef video in 1080p. And at 30 fps, it’s the ultimate motor wind.
Q Fred, Temecula, CA - Resetting password in Windows 2000
Fred forgot his administrator password in Windows 2000. Leo says using the Emergency Boot CD will boot you into Linux and allow you to reset your password. But sadly, you have to pay for that one. A free option is the Ultimate Boot CD.
He’s also concerned with Smart Phone security. Leo says that if your smart phone is automatically “discoverable,” you could get a virus via Bluetooth. But it’s fairly unlikely right now. But at some point, it could become a prime target.
John wants to know if he can run Windows without a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Leo doesn’t think so. XP99 in the Chatroom agrees.
Q Craig, San Jose, CA - Laptop doesn’t boot up
Craig just experienced where his laptop worked one day, and not the next. After two years, it’s about the right time for a lithium ion battery to stop charging. And on some models, if the battery is dead, it won’t even run on AC unless you take the battery out. Believe it or not, it also is possible you turned your screen brightness down to the point you can’t see it. Turn it up and it may be running.
Chris is building a computer and wants to know if he needs “buffered RAM.” Leo says you don’t really need to pay for buffered RAM. It’s more for servers for data redundancy and would slow your system down. So go with unbuffered. Also, working with the “Nehalmen” chip from Intel, you need to add them in threes.
He also wants to know if he can add SATA ports to his computer. Leo says you can’t really daisy chain as you need a port controller. But you can add a SATA PCI Card.
Q Steve, Victorville, CA - Old computer woes
Steve moved his computer to a different room and now it won’t work. Leo says that older hard drives can stick where the head can stick to the platter. A slight wack on the hard drive can free it up. But bearings can wear out and frankly, it would cost a bundle to get the data off. But if the drive is spinning, then your partition may have gotten corrupted or scrambled or the master boot record got messed up. And there is software which can help you get your data back. GRCs Spin Rite can fix that kind of error.
Hour 3
Q Kyle, Sonoma, CA - Fedora (Linux)
Kyle wants to know if he can dual boot with Fedora Linux. Leo says that there isn’t. Other’s use something called “Wobee” to do it inside of Windows. But not Fedora. You could use VMWare and run Linux inside of Windows.
Q Dave, CA - mobile internet connection options
Dave is very mobile. But what he objects to is the 5 GB cap that Verizon mobile has. What are his options? Leo hates CAPS. Especially with EVDO you can run out of that really fast if you’re into media at all. About your only choice is to dump it and choose WiFi until, at least, the 4G networks come out with WiMax. Check your cellphone data cap limits, some don’t have it. You may be able to tether, or jailbreak and tether your phone and enjoy internet that way. Another idea from the chatroom is Cricket. $40 gets you unlimited 3G broadband access. It gets mixed reviews, so read the fine print. But hey, at least there’s competition now!
Q Barney, San Pedro, CA - recording your own ring tones
Barney’s cell phone won’t let you record your own ring tones. Leo hates cell phone companies because of obnoxious nonsense like that. The RingTone business is a scam to the tune of $17 BILLION a year. If you have music already, you have the right to make a stinkin’ ring tone for crying out loud. And if you want to make a ring tone with your voice, you should be able to. Check out SimpleRingtone.Net. Our chatroom suggests Audiko.
Q Don, Van Nuys, CA - MP3 recommendation
Don is looking for an affordable MP3 option. Leo says the iPod is the best one out there. You can rip your own CDs and import them into iTunes, best interface, it’s just the best option out there.
Q Sam, Upland, CA - Help transferring data
Sam bought a portable hard drive to transfer his data and settings from his old computer to his new one. But he can’t get the hard drive to be recognized. The old drive is FAT32 while the new drive is NTFS. Leo says you can reformat the drive to be FAT32 temporarily so you can move the data over. Right Click on My Computer, select MANAGE. System Console. Click STORAGE. Select your portable drive (not your main drive). Right Click and partition it. 400GB as NTFS, 100GB as FAT32. Then you can move your data over no trouble.
Q Meredith, Glendale, CA - New Computer recommendation
Meredith wants to build her own computer. Leo says to just buy a new computer. It used to be that it was cheaper to build. Now, it’s actually cheaper to buy a complete system and you can customize it. The real issue for you will be RAM. Get as much as you can afford with a Core 2 Duo and you’ll be good to go.
