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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday 8 August 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
Twitter, Facebook and numerous blog sites attacked for one target
One political blogger in the Republic of Georgia seemed to have been the target of a denial of service attack (DDOS) which brought down or extremely slowed Twitter, Facebook, and a numerous social sites.
Leo says this is becoming easier and easier as a great deal of computers world wide have been quietly co-opted (called zombied) to launch the attack. This is largely because people don’t realize that when they click on links they should’t, they become infected.
Windows RTM Version out. It’s done.
Windows Ready to Manufacture version is completed and released. So Win7 is done. There was a “showstopper” error with ChkDsk bluescreening on an external drive - turned out to be a driver issue. But it’s fixed now. Windows 7 is finished and ready to release in October 22.
Leo recommends backing up your data, and starting from scratch. Wipe the drive, and installing from a full install. A lot of work, sure, but worth it for a reliable installation of Windows.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
We had a call about the Dolby Volume question last week. This gadget normalizes the volume when a program breaks to commercial. Using a process called “dynamic range compression,” these chips normalize the volume from program to commercial and back. Sadly, while it’s feature being incorporated into some new HDTVs and receivers, nobody is building a standalone box. Look for a Sirus Logic Chip or Dolby Volume inside when you look for a new TV or receiver.
Also, Leo wants to know if there’s a way to apply ICC Color profiles on TVs. Scott says that TVs are designed for a smaller color spectrum (called REC709). It’s what TV is shot and displayed at. You need a wider, more dynamic color range/gamut for photography, than broadcast TV.
Hour 1
Q Paul, Hollywood, CA - Need a new video camera
Paul needs a new video camera. Budget $500. Leo says that interestingly, he doesn’t use a video camera out in the field much anymore because his Canon 5D Mk. II does 1080p video.
Leo still recommends tape-based camcorders, however. They’re faster to use and you have an archival backup copy. Tapes are everywhere. Scott Wilkinson chimes in and says he doesn’t have a dog in the hunt. He thinks that “solid state” would be faster because you use a reader and drag and drop in a few minutes. Can you take digital stills with them? Leo says most do now and have a dual capture capability to a memory card, but he’s not much of a fan of taking stills with camcorders. The CCD chips on camcorders are cheaper than digital stills. So, if stills are important to you, go the other way and get a good high quality still camera that shoots great video. Leo thinks for the budget, the Canon T1i is the way to go. It’s a bit more than your budget, but you kill two birds with one stone.
Brandwise, Sony, Canon, and Panasonic are the best. Leo uses the Canon HV30 (the HV20, though, is closer to your budget). Avoid the 3CCDs that Panasonic is pushing. Chips are too tiny. The larger the chip, the better the low light performance. Does he need HD? Leo says most are moving forward with HD, so it’s better for archiving and hi-resolution.
Leo recommends visiting CamcorderInfo.com. It’s a great, ethical website which has legitimate benchmark numbers.
Shooting for video - you can shoot like a movie, but that takes forever and you’ll never really edit it together. Or, you can treat your video like a video photo album where you can shoot brief 6–10 second clips and then put them easily together with transitions when editing. A video photo album approach works great for capturing those “Kodak moments.”
Q Dean, Anaheim, CA - Flash video takes less time, here’s how.
Dean uses AVCHD and imports using Pinnacle Studio 12, which supports AVCHD natively. As such, he can import the video off his flash memory cards in about 15 minutes.
Hour 2
Q Richard, Hollywood, CA - Video over a computer network
Richard has network attached storage (NAS). How does he attach his TV to the NAS to watch his videos? Leo says you can use a media extender. Most NAS servers have media server software. HP makes a great Media Home Server NAS. Leo loves his Ready NAS, which has Windows Media Center built in. But you can also use an XBox or PS3 game console. The Sony PS3 is great because you can game, watch blu-ray moves, and it has Ethernet connections and media center capability. So, you get three options for the price of 1.
Q Nick, Pittsburg, PA - Podcasting
Nick is starting his own tech podcast. He’s wondering what programs/sites Leo uses to get all his tech news. Leo says when you do a podcast, do it on something you love. Subscribing to RSS feeds and collate them with an RSS reader. Leo has an “OPML” which he’ll send you if you email him at leo@leoville.com. It includes not only blogs he visits, but people he follows via Twitter.
But readers are like needles in a haystack. Following people on Twitter often can be much more streamlined. You can get more pinpointed stories from people who do the work for you and post them on Twitter. Like Jay Rosen. Friendfeed is the same way. But you also get conversations and analysis.
Q John, Billings, MT - Laptop repairs
John has a laptop he needs to send away for repair. How can he backup everything? He doesn’t have recovery disks. Leo says the easiest thing to do is get an external hard drive and image your drive to it. Leo recommends Image for Windows. Backing up and imaging are two different things. Imaging is a bit for bit image of the hard drive that you can restore back to. Backing up will just get you the data, which everyone should do weekly anyway.
Q John, Los Angeles, CA - computer recommendation
John is on a budget and needs to get a computer for his son in 7th grade. Leo says that you should get one with a Dual Core Process, 2GB RAM minimum. Apple’s are about $1,000 for the lower end. But if you’re on a budget, Windows is going to be the way to go, you just have to be your own security. Refurb’d okay? Leo says buying refurbished is okay, often you have a full warranty and they’re just returned and can’t be sold brand new. Leo also says get them from the manufacturer only. But you don’t want one older than a year. Avoid a 30-day warranty. And if you’re on a budget, look at a Netbook. Small, light, no ability to play games (which is a good thing). Leo’s favorite is the Samsung NC-20. Dell makes great ones. Asus 1008HA is a good one (named Seashell). MSI makes good one’s like the Wind.
Q Marylou, Torrance, CA - Photoshop advice
Marylou wants to make a slideshow and burn it to DVD. She’s having trouble in Photoshop Elements to do that. The program hangs and she has to reboot. Leo says it’s a bug in the program. Because Windows PCs are so varied in hardware, it’s difficult to test the software in every configuration. It may also be that the software installation wasn’t complete or that it’s conflicting with another program putting you in “DLL Hell.” Maybe reinstalling the software will fix it. But Leo recommends talking to Adobe, they may know about the issue and know a workaround. Checking the Photoshop Elements forums and Google Search for someone who’s got a similar problem.
From the Chatroom, FinkOS says Technote #408940 addresses this issue.
Hour 3
Q Sean, Dallas, TX - Updating hard drive
Sean says he can’t get a new hard drive for his HP because they “tatoo” their hard drives. Leo says that they don’t really, they just put a hidden partition on it to identify it as an HD drive. Just go buy a new hard drive. Then there’s a program that comes with the drive that does a bit for bit copy of the original drive. But for a laptop, there’s another issue. You may need to get an IDE mount for your desktop to make that bit copy. You could also use driveimage for windows and an external USB drive. Then swap the old hard drive out from the new one and then restore from the external drive.
Q Duane, West Virginia - upgrading Windows 7 & WinDVD
Duane has a few laptops he wants to upgrade to Windows 7. He wants to do a clean install and keep a few of the programs he likes - WinDVD being one. Leo says that uninstallers have a “transport” feature that can move a program from one computer to another. Easy Uninstaller is one Leo uses. But they work so-so. You may be able to upgrade your copy of WinDVD for a nominal fee and install it to Windows 7.
Q Steven, Edinburgh, Scotland - Sharing photos
Steven wants to know how to share photos with friends. Leo says that a 7 or 8″ digital picture frame with SD card capability would be good. More expensive frames have wifi access for remote updating. Great for families that want to share photos with grandparents and the like.
Chris Pirillo has a great review of the MemoryFrame 8104 Premium by Digital Spectrum.
Q Dan, Mizzoula, MT - Craigslist & SPAM
Dan put something up on Craigslist and now he’s getting tons of SPAM and he suspects that they’re using his email account for SPAM as well. Leo says the “bouncebacks” can be ignored. People can “spoof” your email address. Doesn’t mean the computer gets compromised. And everyone gets them. Just ignore those. Spammers will move on to another random address sooner or later. But clicking on attachments may install something worse and actually take over your computer. So don’t fall for it.
