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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday July 12, 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
The Art of Community is a great book
Leo has written the forward for The Art of Community, by Jono Bacon. John is the community manager for Ubuntu Linux, Leo’s favorite flavor of that OS. He keeps all the volunteers around the world, and their work coordinated. Real world relationships are challenging enough, but in our digital age, where many of our relationships are online, the challenge can be quite unique. So Jono wrote a book on working community relationships.
Forums and conversations have a cycle which starts with unique and new energy, sharing, etc. Then the trolls show up and eventually drive away the good to other avenues. And the cycle repeats. Leo has seen it time and again, even in his own communities starting all the way back to his first forum - The Well.
Jono’s book is on the lessons he’s learned and how online managers can keep the Barbarians at the gate at bay and keep a vibrant and growing community. Available for pre-order now from Amazon.com.
Leo plays with the MiFi
Leo’s been playing with the Verizon MiFi. It’s about the size of a credit card. Has USB. Ethernet. And an on/off switch. When using it, you get an EVDO connection, but it’s better than most for speed. Can use it for video. Skype. And it becomes a WiFi Access point for up to five devices (though at 1.5 mbps, you don’t want to push it). Downside? Cost. $60 a month. Only good for Verizon or Sprint. Only 5GB a month cap as well.
But in spite of the cost, Leo gives it his highest recommendation for coolness! So if you see him in a wireless joint, swing by and ask if you can “borrow a cup of WiFi!”
Leo’s in China
Leo’s in China, but take heart, all the calls for the next few weeks are brand spanking new. If you want to follow Leo’s China adventure, check out his friendfeed account at http://www.friendfeed.com/leolaporte.
Guests
Brian Brushwood
Stage Magician, Brian Brushwood is our guest in studio. Brian also does ann internet show called Scam School.
Brian decided to pursue magic after seeing Penn and Teller’s first TV special. He says that magic goes in waves from flashy illusionists like Doug Henning to jean clad street magicians like David Blane. And in between was the dark times - Magician’s Secrets Revealed. But so far, magicians don’t see Scam School as lifting the veil on their secrets. If anything, they see it as a way to educate future budding magicians.
Now, to this day, Penn Jillette is one of his mentors in the world of magic. And the shtick of pretending to be hated by magicians really helped them take off.
Now, Brian is doing something new online called BBLive. It’s an unscripted, live phone-in show on uStream about Magic. But Parents, understand that this show is NOT for kids. It’s a bizarre show where he does tricks for adults. And as such, they should probably avoid it if your kids don’t have a driver’s license.
The great thing about online media is it avoids the “one size fits all vibe” of network TV. And it doesn’t always have to be at a set time. Often, Brian will TWITTER that a show is coming live on the spot.
Alex Wellen, author
Alex Wellen is another Tech TV alum and author of “Lovesick,” a book about men and marriage. Contrary to popular rolls in movies about being afraid to commit, men do want to get married and raise a family and this is what the book is about.
Alex is also the deputy political director for CNN Online/Digital Content. These days there’s huge pressure to release details so as not to be “scooped” by rumor sites - i.e. Michael Jackson. It’s a 24 hour news cycle. CNN has iReport, a citizen journalism site which can then be “vetted” by a solid journalistic and editorial agency like CNN.
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor/Shoot from the Hip
Chris also has a daily podcast now called Daily Photo Tips with Chris. The Cool thing is, he’s using his iPhone to record it, with an app called AUDIOBOO. Leo’s using it for updates while in China.
One thing about using your iPhone out of the US is the cost of international data roaming. It’s important to get an IDR package before going or you’ll end up like Mythbuster Adam Savage with an IDR bill of $11,000!
What do you do when your nice, expensive lens gets scratched?! Getting a 1A Skylight filter to protect your lens isn’t that great an idea. Anything in the light path will add reflections. The question you need to ask is, does a scratch really impact your photos? Chances are, no. At worst, it may reduce contrast marginally. And the lens is focusing on the subject and as such, any scratch would be completely out of focus. Even a cracked lens can have minimal impact if the crack is a hairline. And you can always have the front element replaced for a nominal fee. So don’t be so caught up with scratches.
But if you must, get a high quality polarizer filter by BnW or Tiffen. Don’t fall for the entry level quality filters, get the next level up.
Hour 1
Q Eric, Boseman, MT - Graphic design for MAC
Eric is having trouble with Adobe Photoshop CS2 opening on his Mac Pro desktop. But it opens fine in his Macbook Pro. Leo suggests reinstalling CS2 as it’s probably a bad install. Leo says this is fairly easy to do and reinstalling it will solve the issue. Maybe even a repair would work. You can also delete the preferences. Sometimes, a corrupt preference file will cause it to choke.
Q Bernie, Lakewood, CO - digitizing old photos
Bernie scanned his old photos and created a slide show with them using Corel’s DVD Movie Factory. But he needs to convert files to a European standard using the PAL settings. It says he needs to reinstall. Leo says that’s not good. It should be a preference setting for the new project, not the system itself.
What can he do to convert it from NTSC to PAL and avoid the whole thing? Converting NTSC to PAL would be way easier. From Deskshare.com is a program called Digital Media Converter. But a simple Google search will find many others.
Q Steven, Chapel Hill, NC – Starting a blog
Steven is thinking about starting a blog, but doesn’t know what to do organizationally. Leo says to save all your ideas in a notebook so when you come up dry, you can look to the notebook for what to say. And the key is to be fairly regular. People develop a rhythm to check you every day and if they see you aren’t consistent, they’ll drop you.
Steven wants to start a “dad blog.” Leo says that’s a great idea as there aren’t’ a lot of dad blogs out there for support and ideas. It’ll also serve as a record for your child so when they grow up, they’ll have this fantastic fatherly journal they can access to learn from you.
Using blogging software like Red Sweater Mars Edit and Bloggo for the MAC, where you can write off line and then hit publish when it’s polished is a great way to do it. You can also set them to publish ahead of time as well. There’s also a few Firefox extensions for blogging you can enjoy.
Dual Boot off with XP – Yes. You can. Can he do it with a second drive? Yes. There’s an article on LifeHacker just how to do this. What about ReadyBoost for his Netbook? Yes, it is. Win7 supports it. But adding another GB of RAM is not only cheap, but does a better booting job than Ready Boost.
Hour 2
Q From Twitter: Mark Berbe - Java on MAC
Mark wants to know if he should remove JAVA from his MAC and what will he lose. Leo says no, you don’t need to. Often, it’s easy to mistake JAVA from JavaSCRIPT. Javascript runs in the browser and Java is a full fledged programming language. Flawed implementation of Javascript can happen and using a Firefox plugin called NoScript can turn it off. Then, you can turn it on when you hit a page you trust. So no, you don’t have to disable Java. Just be aware.
Q From the Chatroom: HighGuard wants to know about Google Profiles.
His Google Profile doesn’t show up in search. Google Profiles are profiles of members who sign into Google (Leo’s profile is Google.com/profiles/laporte). It gives a list of “approved” search results, pictures, links, bios, etc. You control what people see when they search for your name. An “official list,” of sorts. Pretty cool. You can also verify your name by giving a phone number or credit card. This separates the real McCoy from posers.
But it doesn’t show up? According to Google, some celebrities Google turns off, which seems counter-productive. Why Highguard? Well, it should. Page rank may have influence, so make sure you link to it early and often.
Q Spencer, Wildemoor, NY - DS failures
Spencer has had trouble with failing hardware in his Nintendo DS. He’s replaced it several times. Leo says they take a lot of beating but if it’s under warranty, then return it. Leo hasn’t heard of a particular issue with Nintendo. Sometimes, they just break. But if under warranty, take advantage of the coverage and tell them it’s defective and you want another one to replace it.
Q Juno, Highland, CA – Social Media
Juno is really into the whole social networking thing online, especially for business. But how to manage it? Profilefly.com? Is there something better? Leo says it’s an interesting idea. Social media is so new.
Tony Shay of Zappo Shoes has really blazed a trail in the concept of social media. He uses it to highlight sales in a “blue light special” sort of way, but he will also want to meet twitters as he travels. So that’s pretty cool.
Leo cautions that you don’t want to be too automated. It’s called social media for a reason. Your audience is smart enough to know when they’re being taken advantage of. The key is to strike a balance between caring for your customers and being efficient.
Q Kevin, Spokane, WA – Refurbished laptops … good deal?
Kevin is looking to get one. Good idea? Leo says it depends on who you’re getting them from. If you’re getting them from Dell or Apple, or other original manufacturer that has an original warranty, it’s a great idea. It’s usually just a return that you can’t sell new again. A third party? STAY AWAY. But what about say, Costco? Leo says that’s probably okay. Costco will be getting them from the manufacturer.
Kevin wants one with a Blu-ray player. Leo says that you want the screen to be worthy of the Blu-ray player. Otherwise, you’re paying for something you’re not seeing. Your screen needs to be at least 1600×1200. Leo also says that Blu-ray hasn’t really taken off. Most movies are still DVD only. People aren’t thrilled with having to pay extra for renting Blu-ray. Seems that the audience is thinking that Blu-ray is just plain “good enough”, leaving Blu-ray to be the domain of the so-called “video-phile.”
Q Ryan, Irvine, CA – Upgrading her netbook for college
For Grad school, Ryan wants to switch to a netbook from her more powerful laptop. Leo says that there’s a new line of Netbooks from Asus called Seashell (1008HA), which will have a 12” screen. Great option. And the nice thing is that Windows 7 will run fine on the netbooks.
Hour 3
Q Mike, Thousand Oaks, CA – digital camera recommendation
Mike heard Leo rave about a Panasonic camera. Which one? Leo says it’s the Panasonic Lumix LX 3. Leo says that digital cameras have really saved people money when they shoot pictures because you no longer have to print bad prints. And it eliminates the pause when taking pictures as a result.
Why the LX3? Because Leo has asked many professionals and the LX3 is a very popular backup pocket camera for them. In years past, the Canon G9 was really popular. But lately, the pros have been migrating away from Canon to the Panasonic. It has a Leica lens, which is the best you can get and it’s very wide. 24mm. That means great for landscapes and very closeup shots. It also shoots in 16×9, again great for landscapes. 10MP. Tough, durable body. Slight downside, it has a manual lens cap and it’s not flat like a retractable lens. But it does have a hot shoe, which is great. 720p video for casual video taping. It’s not going to replace a Canon 5D Mk. II, but if you want a serious point and shoot, the LX3 is the way to go. Another slight downside is that the RAW is weird, oddball format. New Adobe Lightroom and Apple iPhoto will support it.
Q Kurt, Los Angeles, CA - Backing up external hard drive
Kurt backed up his iTunes library to his external hard drive, but Carbonite won’t support externals. What does he do? Leo says to simply backup your internal drives using Carbonite and then use your external drives as a local backup copy.
But when he puts the library on the internal drive, iTunes still reads the external drives. What is up with that? Go into the settings and re-point it to the internal drive. If it still doesn’t see it, the external index file got copied to the internal and you’ll need to rebuild the library to fix that. You lose ratings and playcounts, but that isn’t a big deal. Delete the listing - NOT THE SONGS?. And then rebuild the libary, pointing the library to the music.
Q Dov, Los Angeles, CA - Office for HP Mini
Dov just got an HP Mini and wants to know what version of Office to get? Leo says to get the latest version. Virus protection? Leo says that Eset Nod 32 (one of our sponsors) is the best. Leo uses it himself. Free - Komodo.
Have a great geek week!
