Leo Laporte
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Show Notes > Show 592	Edit \| Read \| Hist \| Prt

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Sunday August 30, 2009

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Tech News

Leo’s catching hell over his thoughts on Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard, the latest version of OSX is out, and Leo’s getting all kinds of righteous indignation over his comments that Snow Leopard is essentially a service pack update and not really worth laying out the $30 at this time. Admittedly, it isn’t that much money (Leo bought 10 copies for TWIT), and you can get a family pack pretty cheap, but it’s just not “all that” and Leo says you should wait until you have a real need or buy a new Mac to get it. But it’s more Snow Job than Snow Leopard.

New Senate Bill causing a lot of concern.

Senate Bill S773, a bill announced by Senator Rockefeller, will permit the President to seize “temporary” control of private computer networks in the even of a “cybersecurity” threat. Of course, it’s really broad and that causes a lot of concern. Best case, it’s meant to allow the Fed to take over unsecured utilites networks in the event of an attack. Worst case … well, we have what happened in Iran. Either way the law needs some serious scrutiny. And since this law will be for any President in power, it’s important to take the partisanship out of it. Do you really want a President to have that kind of unilateral power? The private networks seriously need to be proactive on security though. That much is true.

Support the TWIT Lasertag team!

Leo’s been challenged to a lasertag match and has formed a TWIT Lasertag Team to do combat on Labor Day. If interested in coming, check out SFLaserTag.Com.

Hour 1

Q Mike, North Carolina - HDTV

Mike has a 42″ RCA HDTV using an HDMI cable. Doesn’t see any difference at all. What’s up with that? Leo suspects that the settings are off. Leo says you need to go into the setting menu and assign responses to the cables you’re using. Adjust the settings so that it responds properly to the content coming in. Set it for the highest quality you want. Then, you’ll want to calibrate the color. Ideally, you’d want to have a professional do it. But if you’re doing it yourself, Leo recommends DV Essentials, it’s a great DVD that you can use to calibrate the color and sharpness of your HDTV.

Q Bret, California - WordPress recommendation

Bret is an IT guy for a large ministry. Lots of databases. Wants to migrate to WordPress as the ministry blog is proprietary. Leo says that it’s probably because the higher ups have realized that they’re pretty dependent on a single point of failure. WordPress means that they don’t have to rely on one person to keep the blog alive. WordPress is more robust and secure. This is a good thing. And there’s many third party e-commerce solutions that’ll work great. WordPress, however, may not be ideal for your site. You may need something more powerful, but difficult, like Drupal.

Q Roger, Los Angeles, CA - Editing Outlook’s NK2 file

Roger needs to edit some emails to get rid of addresses, but Outlook won’t let him do it. Leo says this is one of the problems with Outlooks decision to store everything in one file. And trying to edit the autocomplete list is problematic. Lifehacker suggests a program called NK2View.

Q Ellie, Honolulu, HI - Likes Snow Leopard

Ellie likes Snow Leopard because it’s much easier to use with voice recognition. Leo agrees and says that’s a great feature for those who really need it. Kudos to Cupertino for listening to those who asked for it’s improvement.

Q Anthony, Los Angeles, CA - AVS Software

Anthony’s Norton AVS has expired. Suggestions? Leo suggests our sponsor Eset’s Nod32. Leo started using it first, it’s important to know, but it’s his favorite commercial AVS. But Microsoft has decided to give away an AntiVirus utility in the near future. It’ll be a complete solution which replaces both an AVS and Spyware catcher. And word is, it’s an excellent utility that’ll get better once out of beta. Free solutions include AVG by Grisoft.

Hour 2

Q Erin, Orange County, CA - Cloud computing

Erin wants to sync multiple sources in the cloud and sync files for each resource. Leo says that going up in the “cloud,” is a great idea for what Erin needs. Microsoft’s Sky Drive, Amazon’s Jungle Disk. RSync for Linux (built into Jungle Disk). Microsoft has Sync Toy. You can make sure that all have the most recent file and not everything.
If you’re into photography, Leo likes Adobe’s Lightroom, which uses digital assett managment (DAM). But a more powerful option is Expression Media. Check out Peter Krogue book The DAM Book: Digital Asset Media for Photographers. Online options include SmugMug.

Q Eric, San Rafael, CA - TechTV and IPTV

Eric misses TechTV and wants to know what options there are online. Leo says that TechTV was great while it was happening, but it was never really going to succeed audience wise. It’s much better to do IPTV like Leo does with TWIT or Kevin Rose does with Revision3. It can be done FAR cheaper and target the audience with precision. Broadcast is more mainstream, with broad audiences.

Q Nick, Philadelphia, PA - Starting a podcast/Snow Leopard

Nick ran out and got Snow Leopard. He didn’t do a clean install and isn’t thrilled with Quicktime X. Leo says it’s WAY stripped down with no controls even. It’s become a very different product. You can, however, choose to download and install Quicktime 7 instead when doing a clean install. Nick says there’s a few geek things he likes, but tends to agree with Leo that it’s just a service pack update.

Nick also wants to start a podcast. He uses ProTools and wants to know what hosting options are best for the cheapest. For years, Leo has recommended Libsyn. They offer unlimited bandwidth based on storage caps. It’s never more than $30 a month. Automatic podcast feeds. Best out there.

Nick’s podcast is going to be about ex-patriots living abroad and why. Leo thinks that’s a great idea.

Q D.D. - computer virus issues

DD’s mouse has a life of it’s own, clicks on stuff and opens windows. Could it be a virus? Leo says absolutely. But it may also be a hardware issue. Trackpads on laptops can easily short and cause the loss of mouse control. This will cause the mouse to move around rather on it’s own. Can he disable the trackpad? Leo says it needs repaired. You can try cleaning it really thoroughly with a microfiber cloth and a little (and we do mean LITTLE) dap of screen cleaner. Clean it off. If that doesn’t work, it’ll need to be replaced.

Q Greg, San Jose, CA - Virus trouble

Greg has a Toshiba Laptop with a virus issue. Leo thinks he may have a virus and the computer won’t let him download and install AVG. Leo says that this isn’t surprising. One of the first things a computer virus does is shut off your access to download an AVS so you can’t wipe them off. He’s getting pop ups promising to fix it, Leo says that’s also a virus ploy to get you to download more viruses into your system. At this point, it’s probably best to backup your data and then reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows. A drag, to be sure. Then, download and install every critical update and get that AVS.

Hour 3

Q Jesus, Stockton, CA - Moving to Linux

Jesus is 12 and installed Debian Linux (not bad for a kid) and needs to access some Windows applications. He downloaded WINE but he open or install it. Leo says to make sure you get Wine.DEB to install on Debian. Also, you’ll probably need to spend time getting to know Linux better before trying to run Wine. Wine is not an emulator though. Make sure the programs you want to run are compatible with Wine. Also, the chat room points out that Debian is more for advanced users. Leo recommends Ubuntu to getting your feet wet. Jesus worries he won’t be able to use Python with it. Leo says it can work with Ubuntu 2.52. It shouldn’t crash. Leo says to redo the installation. Go to the support section at WineHq.org, and look for step by step instructions. You’re on the right track, just read up and hang in there.

Q Randy, OH - installing multiple OS

Randy is building a computer and wants to install 3 different operating systems. Windows 7, XP, Linux Mint. He also wants to share files between them. Mint is Ubuntu with media software included. Leo suggests using the Linux Boot Manager for this as once you install Windows, it’ll overwrite the boot manager. Start installing XP, then Win 7. Finally, install MINT.

Randy just got an Archos WiFi Media Tablet, but you have to add a bunch of software which you have to buy. Leo says that can be frustrating, but it’s largely due to codec license fees. Most manufacturers build those fees into the price, Archos lets you piecemeal the ones you want and buy them. Leo also says it’s a nice touchscreen and once you get it going, you’ll love it.

Q Lindsay, Pacific Grove, CA - Is her computer compromised?

Lindsay is using the Dell Mini Netbook with an AT&T 3G card. She’s worried that someone has broken into her computer wirelessly. Leo says that unless you have “enemies,” people aren’t interested in what you do online. Most hackers want to turn your computer into a “bot” and they go after hundreds or thousands of computers at once. Should she use Leak Test? Leo says that Leak Test is out of date and doesn’t do what it was designed to do. Leo says to make sure your AVS is up to date and you’re using a firewall. You’ll be fine.

Q Richard, NV - Gmail bounce failure notices

Richard isn’t getting any Gmail messages lately and his friends are saying they’re getting bounced mail saying there’s a permanent fatal error. Sometimes the bounce error may come from a middle man error and not specifically Gmail. Your original domain host may be running afoul due to “relaying.” Gmail doesn’t like third party relaying.

In the chatroom, GL Dunga thinks that GMail may have turned off your Pop3 Forwarding. Due to a potential spam alert. Try resetting your settings.

Q Toby, Ft. Collins, CO - recovering data off a scratched DVD

Toby has some audio CDs and DVDs that are scratched and unreadable? How can he recover them? Leo says that discs are die data layers and a reflective layer which are sandwiched between polycarbonate plastic. When a bad enough scratch occurs, the laser can’t get through because of refraction. You can polish or buff the scratch out. Some say “toothpaste” works. But it’s iffy at best. And since it’s a physical issue, there isn’t a program that can overcome it.

From the Chat room - Try going to GameStop (or other game stores). For $5 they will polish your CD to buff the scratches off.

Q Jack, Cerritos, CA - GPS logging

Jack was very impressed with Leo’s China pictures. (you can see them at Leo’s SmugMug account. What alternatives for geotagging. Leo said he used the iPhones GPS by taking a pic with the iPhone and then with his digital camera. Leo now recommends the AMOD AGL3080. You’re going to want to set your camera time to match your GPS logger. Then you can download the GPS Log and match it to your photos, where it’ll plot them on a Google Maps, iPhoto or other application. Where does it put it? In the EXIF data. Leo also shoots RAW and uses Jooda which gets the data as well.