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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday August 29, 2009
- Show Audio
- Tech News
- Guests
- Hour 1
- Hour 2
- Hour 3
- Jared, Columbus, OH - Ripping DVDs
- Eric, Waterloo, IA - Scratched screen
- Crystal, Calabasas, CA - Tip on lowering Eric’s data roaming bill
- Missy, Los Angeles, CA - Full External Hard Drive
- Jeff, New Brunfelds, TX - Upgrading to Snow Leopard
- Jamie, Los Angeles, CA - Tethering her Blackberry
- Sultan, Kansas City, KS - Laptop problems
- Mike, Yuma, AZ - getting data off MP3 hard drive
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
Tech News
How long before we say goodbye to the PC?
With computing getting more mobile, Leo poses the question of how long before we say goodbye to the desktop PC?
Apple Snow Leopard is out.
Snow Leopard, the latest version of OSX is out. Leo can say you can install it over Tiger and Leopard, but only if you have an Intel Mac. Power PC is now officially out of the mix. What’s his first impressions? Leo thinks it should be renamed “Snow JOB.” Cause he doesn’t see any difference and is more a “service pack” that should’ve been a free upgrade, not an insane $29. It also breaks a few applications. Sure, you have a little more hard drive space, but only because it doesn’t install all the unnecessary drivers. And the Mac knows where it is … Oooooo!
Some in the chat room think that the promise of Snow Leopard will come down the road as more programs are written to take advantage of the new features “under the hood.” Leo says perhaps. With this update, it’s more moving Mac users further towards their vision down the road. But Leo doesn’t see any compelling reason to update to Snow Leopard right now. Save your $30.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Scott says that it’s a great time to buy a Kuro plasma as they’re still available, are being sold at a bargain price and will continue to be supported even after they are discontinued. But the Panasonic Plasma is a great alternative.
As for the LED backlit LCDs, they’re getting really good thanks to the LEDs which make for deeper, richer colors as they are controlled independently in small blocks. But the resolution is much lower. And another downside is angle of view. Scott doesn’t like the matte screens either. But they help in bright, ambient rooms where plasmas would have too much reflection. After about 20 degrees, you can’t really see the image. They are “greener” though as they use less power.
Hour 1
Q Ralph, Torrance, CA - Plasma TV recommendation
Ralph has a 50″ Pioneer Kurow, but they don’t make them anymore. What’s the best plasma out there now? Leo says you can still get a Pioneer Plasma until March 2010, but the screens are made by Panasonic these days. And while there’s nothing wrong with getting another Pioneer, Panasonic’s plasmas just as good. Compared with Samsung or Sony’s backlit LCDs? Leo says they’re so different you can’t really compare them. But everyone’s LCDs these days and with LED back lighting they’ve gotten REALLY good.
Q Jim, Los Angeles, CA - Stereo loudness issues
Jim just isn’t happy with the quality of his Onkyo stereo output at mid range and low volumes. Leo says it’s pretty common. You can get an EQ and boost it. You can bump the bass. And for surround sound, you get the directional input from higher ends, so you need to boost them as well. Look up Fletcher/Munson curves for research on how, as the levels go down, the contours change. You can also push the “loudness” button.
Scott says that our ears are less sensitive to the lower volumes. Leo had the right advice, but there is another alternative. Some Onkyo receivers have “Audacy Dynamic EQ.” This is a “super duper loudness” function. Most loudness buttons just boost the base, but Audacy Dynamic EQ boost the high range as well. It compensates in an intelligent way by evening out the tone quality over a wider range of frequencies.
Q Jean, Costa Mesa, CA - OS Compatibility issues
Jean has a laptop with Microsoft Office`94 and it won’t run on XP. And her laptop screen is black. Leo says the black screen is another issue. Sometimes when you update an OS, it can break software. But that software should work just fine. As for the black screen … sounds like your screen just plain died.
Hour 2
Q Ethan, Los Angeles, CA - Content management blogging
Ethan has heard of a content management system (CMS) called FireRift. It has three levels of complexity, but it isn’t template dependent. You can choose what parts of your blog FireRift controls. But it’s developed completely backwards.
Leo says that while cool, there’s some issues which will prevent Google from seeing some of their features and could render the webpage invisible to Google. And that’s a bad thing.
Ethan’s website is at ethanresnick.com
Q Peter, Buffalo, NY - Agrees on Snow Leopard
Peter agrees with Leo that Snow Leopard is more of a “dot upgrade,” than a serious upgrade requiring buying it. He does like the Microsoft Exchange support, though. Leo says if you want to use Exchange with your Mac because of business, then perhaps that alone is worth laying out the $30 for.
Q Dov, Oceanside, CA - Tethering
Dov would like to tether. Leo says that most smart phones won’t allow tethering without an additional cost except for a Windows Mobile phone. And then there’s if you’re using the phone, the 3G stops. Leo thinks that Verizon allows using voice and EVDO simultaneously. Leo says that the BlackBerry Tour and Bold are great smartphones.
Q Eric, Los Angeles, CA - A $7,000 roaming bill!!!!
He was out of the country and forgot to turn off his data roaming. Leo says we hear this time and time again (remember Adam Savage of the Mythbusters?). He suggests contacting the chairman’s office and be polite. Cop to it. And fall on their mercy. Ask if they can help you out. T-Mobile is great customer service. But this is certainly a cautionary tale of woe for all of us to learn from. When traveling, get the International Data Roaming package. Reset your stats and keep track of your usage while going so you don’t go past your IDR package. You can also turn off your 3G and data roaming.
Criminal, isn’t it?
Hour 3
Q Jared, Columbus, OH - Ripping DVDs
Jared wants to create a media extender and rip his DVDs to create a kind of DVD jukebox. Leo says it can be done but you have to remember there’s copy protection and it’s technically illegal (so much for fair use). Leo’s recommend is to use Slysoft’s AnyDVD. You can rip the entire DVD and get all the menus and extra features, or just rip the movie.
Jared also likes Snow Leopard, it speeded up his computer. Leo says that’s largely due to reinstalling and cleaning out all the “kruft,” that is left behind. If you upgrade, though, you want to do a clean install.
Q Eric, Waterloo, IA - Scratched screen
Eric has an 19″ LCD screen that has been scratched. Leo says that there’s a thin plastic coating on the LCD and while there’s no way to fix it as it would be cost prohibitive, you could perhaps buff it out if it isn’t too deep a scratch. If you can’t buff it, the cost to repair it, you can just get a newer, better LCD.
Q Crystal, Calabasas, CA - Tip on lowering Eric’s data roaming bill
Crystal is calling about poor Eric and his tale of woe. She says going to Consumerist.com and searching T-Mobile & Customer Service, will give you information on how to contact the president of T-Mobile and the success of others who have tried to lower their IDR bill.
Q Missy, Los Angeles, CA - Full External Hard Drive
Missy bought a 500 “G-Drive” to backup her data on using Time Machine. Now it’s full. What now? Get another? Leo says yes. Leo says you need to get a drive that’s several times larger because Time Machine backs up EVERYTHING and does it several times. You can limit Time Machine’s backup reach by omitting system folders, etc. The Library folders can be excluded as well. You don’t need to backup those.
Another option is SuperDuper. It’ll backup everything just once and then just what changes. You can also make sure certain folders are always backed up.
Q Jeff, New Brunfelds, TX - Upgrading to Snow Leopard
Jeff just bought the 13″ MacBook Pro. Should he upgrade to Snow Leopard and do a clean install? He hasn’t used it. Leo says in Jeff’s case, just do an upgrade.
Q Jamie, Los Angeles, CA - Tethering her Blackberry
Jamie has AT&T and wants to turn her BlackBerry Bold into a tethered modem. Leo says AT&T won’t let you do it unless you buy their optional tethering package. You can do it, it’ll just cost you.
Q Sultan, Kansas City, KS - Laptop problems
Sultan is having boot up issues on an old Compaq Laptop. Three beeps. The three beeps is a “POST code.” This usually happens due to a hardware failure and often it’s a loose RAM stick. Repairing it will probably cost more than it’s worth. Reseat your RAM sticks see if that helps. The good news is, prices are so cheap (especially with Netbooks) that you can get a laptop 10x’s as good as what you originally paid for the Compaq.
Q Mike, Yuma, AZ - getting data off MP3 hard drive
Mike has an old 30GB hard drive from his old Creative Zen player. How can he get the data off? Leo says if it’s a standard laptop drive, you can use a connector from NewerTek. Mike says he can, but the data is in an odd format. Leo says that’s not too surprising. If you can find out what file format it saves in, you can probably google it for more info on how to get the data off.
