Leo Laporte
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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday May 16, 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Computer Game sales down
Leo says that having to pay over $60 for a game is steep and it’s not surprising that discretionary spending on video games is down.
Duke gets Nuked
Duke Nukem Forever gets dropped after a promise 12 years ago. 3D Realms has gone out of business, but what’s interesting is that all the development material is being released on the Net. Save Duke Nukem is the website. What’s intriguing is that the website was created the day before 3D Realms announced Duke Nukem was dead. Is this a publicity stunt? Leo thinks if Duke is dead, and the company is folding, then they should release everything to the open source community to see what they can do with it.
Apple’s latest update largest ever
Apple’s latest Leopard update - to 10.5.7 is the largest ever at 450MB! It affects some 16,000 different files. What a major fix.
Leo on Twitter
If you can’t get through to the show on the phone, you can pose a question to Leo on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/leolaporte. Just type @leolaporte and then your question. And if you use #techguy Leo will be able to filter it much easier and see your question.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
New feature on Ultimate AV Magazine called Ultimate Demos, which identifies the best Blu-ray discs out on the market. This Week - Star Trek Season 1.
Scott says it’s an amazing looking disc set. Filmed on 35mm film, Star Trek Season 1 was digitally remastered and the special effects were redone in CGI. Even the Enterprise cruising through space is stunning in it’s CGI redux. And what’s really cool is that you can flip back and forth from the original spfx and the new CGI.
Don’t forget, Scott will be in studio for 3 hours answering home theater questions on June 7th!
Hour 1
Q Angela, Nova Scotia, CAN - IPhone Apps suggestions
Angela loves Wonder Radio. Leo likes FM Stream, Internet Tuner Radio. Leo says it’s great because you can listen to radio through the iPhone’s data connection, and if you have an unlimited plan, it’s excellent for listening to radios all over the world.
Angela also likes the Yellow Pages app, for obvious reasons. Do people really remember looking up phone numberss in a thick, yellow book? Another one … I Heart TV like a TV Guide for the iPhone.
Q Steve, Mill Valley, CA - Using Media Center for TV
Steve is hooking up his HDTV through Media Center using the Home Run software. Leo says you’ll need a clear Quam tuner to support the QAM Stations. But Steve is confused about the station nomenclature. Leo says you need to do a thorough scan and not a spot scan because HDTV stations will populate several channels in the “dot” spectrum (i.e., 2.1, 2.2, etc).
Steve says, however, that he has to manually adjust the channels to hone them in after scanning using the Home Run software. Leo says that as long as the tuner doesn’t lock you out, you’re okay. In fact, because you can adjust the channels to hone them in, that means Media Center is very flexible.
Hour 2
Q Kelly, San Diego, CA - YouTube suggestions
Kelly and his friends are creating their own comedy web series on YouTube. What format to use for the best quality? Leo says the best format for YouTube is H.264 and for HD - 1280×720. Leo says to import it as 540p to save space and time. Output in original frame rate. See this YouTube help page for more information.
Kelly’s YouTube Channel is at THE CRUSADER.
Q From Twitter - get an iPhone now?
Leo says that if you can, WAIT. This summer will be yet another summer of an iPhone with more memory, faster processor (50% faster), better functions for gaming, better camera (Leo says it should be 3–5MP) with autofocus, cut and paste and MMS with the iPhone 3.0 firmware … but the iPhone isn’t the only phone coming out. So is the Palm Pre, which is Palm’s hail mary against Cupertino.
Q Lee, Washington State - trouble with Cable and TV
Lee is having trouble with her picture, but she admits her TV is fairly old. She’d like a normal looking widescreen - under-scanning it (as if the picture is zoomed in, cutting stuff off). Leo says that the age of her TV may mean she can’t adjust the wide aspect of her TV picture.
Scott Wilkinson chimes in. He says that her TV should letterbox the image. But even he’s stymied by it. But he should check to see if the cable box is digital. That may cause the TV to under-scan do to not knowing how to interpret the digital signal.
Bottom line, she needs a new TV.
Q Bonnie, Norwalk, CA - Powerpoint viewer
Bonnie can’t access her Powerpoint viewer. What happened? Leo said that when she upgraded to Office, it disabled the viewer. You can download the new Powerpoint viewer here.
Should she get AVS to add to Microsoft Defender? Leo says it’s a good idea to have AVS software on your Windows machine, but your first and main line of defense is your behavior. Follow Leo’s Rules for Safe Computing and you’re your own AVS! But to be safe, Leo likes Nod32 by Eset. And there are freebies like AVG by Grisoft. Just be sure you’ve removed every trace of Norton. Download the Norton Removal Tool. Run it.
Hour 3
Q Darren, Stockton, CA - Conficker
Darren downloaded Microsoft OneCare Live and he already has Eset. Slowing down his computer. Leo says you don’t, and shouldn’t, need both. OneCare Live is being killed at the end of the year, so go ahead and dump it. If you have two, they go to war on each other. So stick with Nod32, it’s way more powerful anyway.
What Leo is talking about is the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool. It gets updated everytime Windows updates and you can type MRT and it’ll remove anything like Conficker which may be lurking in your system. Run it in deep scan mode once a month to keep your clean and safe.
Q Chris, Los Angeles, CA - Gadget recommendation for school
Chris is going to get a laptop for school and wants to get a gadget to go along with it. Maybe something like a PDA? Leo says that paper isn’t so bad. To Do lists work best on paper because they’re so easy. But if you lose it, you lost it. At least with a PDA, you can sync to the laptop. Leo recommends the book GETTING THINGS DONE by Dave Allen. See it on TWIT PICKS!
Think iPhone app like “Things” or Omni Focus. And then there’s JOTT, where you do a todo list by voice. And Remember the Milk. There really isn’t one answer - but it’s good to get the philosophy down first. Then you can look for a tool.
Q Dennis, Carlsbad, CA - Starting a blog
Dennis is a real estate agent who wants start a blog. Should he have it on his existing page or start it on a different site? Leo says it depends on if it’s professional or personal. If professional, then your content should stay on your site. Your site will drive traffic to your blog. But if personal, it should be separate.
What software to use? Leo says talk to your host about what blog software they support. Leo suggests Wordpress. You can also put a link to hosted sites like Wordpress.com or Squarespace. Just be sure the link in the address page stays with your page. They don’t have to know they’ve gone off site.
Dennis’ site is SanDiegoHome4U.com.
Q Ann, Simi Valley - Canon vs. Panasonic Cameras
Ann wants a new point and shoot and is the Panasonic LX3 the best bet? Leo loves the LX3, but Canon makes great point and shoots as well. But the LX3 gives you a widescreen option for landscapes and large groups. Also it has a wide angle Leica lens, great glass. A lot of pros use it. By comparison, the Canon G9? is the other camera that pros love, and it’s been upgraded to the G10.
Q Dana, Griffin, GA - Backing up
Dana notices that some computers have a backup utility, some don’t. Why? Leo says it doesn’t matter because it’s not a very good backup. Use Microsoft’s Sync Toy and backup to an external hard drive. Reason being that backup software usually balls your files into one main file and you need the same software to restore it. You can’t get to them otherwise. Sync Toy, however, will back up the files to an external hard drive and refresh them when they change. And you should also have an off site backup option like Carbonite or just back them up to DVD and send those to your mom.
Q Jake, Newport Beach, CA - Red Ring of Death for XBox
Attach:rrod.jpg Δ
Jakes’ XBox 360 has the red ring of death. Contact Microsoft. They’ll send you a shipping box and will repair it free of charge. Leo’s had it done twice already.
