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Saturday October 3, 2009

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Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

LightPeak could be the new transfer standard

Apple has been working with Intel on Light Peak. 10GB per sec. WOW. That’s faster than ethernet, firewire, even USB 3. It uses fiber optics to connect with. The more popular it gets, the cheaper it will be and that kind of competition will help with others as well.

Mayor of New York has a new idea for parking fees

Mayor Bloomberg wants to use smart parking meters that allows users to text money to the meter before it expires. What a great idea!

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine

Scott says that in time for the 70th Anniversary of the Wizard of Oz, MGM has released the Blu-ray version which is amazing. MGM went back to the original camera negative, re-edited it, and scanned it at 8K (16x more than HD). And they used their “ultra resolution process for color correcting, where they align RGB pixel by pixel. Astonishing. They used an answer print which was found over at UCLA’s Film Preservation vaults. The level of detail and the richness of color is simply unparalleled.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray version is available and comes with 4 discs (which has the Blu-ray version, SD version, digital download version, as well as a silent film by the novel’s author Frank L. Baum), a jewel encrusted watch, and collector’s book.

Leo says that right now, Netflix is streaming the Wizard of Oz for the next 24 hours in celebration.

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Hour 1

Q Dennis, Marina Del Rey, CA - Comparing smart phones

Dennis wants to know how the iPhone compares to the BlackBerry Storm. Leo says it’s a personal choice. But the iPhone’s virtual keyboard has better text prediction. Some don’t like that you can’t change the battery, but Leo says battery life has improved. The iPhone’s real strength is their applications… 75,000 of them. And they’re better quality. The BlackBerry may have the edge in email and Verizon’s coverage in Dennis’ area is better than AT&Ts. But Leo didn’t care for the Storm, felt it was a huge step back. The iPhone is still better.

Q Cheryl, Torrance, CA - Syncing iTunes from iPod to Computer

Cheryl wants to know how to move her iTunes songs from her iPod back to her computer. Leo says officially, you can’t. Which, of course means, that you can. You can copy all those files off the original MAC and back it up to a hard drive and then plug them into the new Mac. Or, if you put your iPod in “disc” mode, you can then use the free space of the iPod as a hard drive and move them over that way. Then, go to the iTunes settings, under “advanced,” and check “copy files to iTunes media,” and “keep media folder organized.” Then, go to iTunes and point to the drive and select “Add to Library.” This is the easiest way to do it. You will, however, lose playcounts, ratings, etc.

Special software like Senuti will work going directly from the iPod to the PC.

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Hour 2

Q Pat, Laguna Hills, CA - Computer Recommendation

Pat wants to get an “all in one” computer to cut down on clutter. Leo suggests waiting until after October 22nd, since that’s when Windows 7 comes out. It’s far better than Vista. You could buy now and get a coupon for the upgrade, but then you have to do the upgrade.

But if you’re looking at the Mac, new Macs may be coming out in the next month. A rumor, still. You don’t really have to wait, but what’s a few weeks?

Anyway, Pat wants to eliminate not just PC clutter, but also for TIVO and DVD capabilities as well. Leo says when you go to the store, make sure you tell them you want a Home Theater PC (HTPC). A desktop replacement home theater laptop would be ideal. But you’d have to connect it to the TV. Pat wants to just burn video to DVD. Leo says that’ll get old real fast. If you’re going to record shows, you have to connect your PC to the cable box. If on the Net, you’ll need a wifi access point that connects to the cable modem so you can get the Internet.

QEduardo, Los Angeles, CA - Website access slow

Eduardo is experiencing slowdowns online. Will switching help? Leo says it can, but often, many hosts are owned by the same company. How about hosting yourself? leo says that hosts have more bandwidth, backsups, etc. It’s a far better deal. But the cheap, $5.00 a month service is a shared service. A really successful site could bring your site down. You can pay for more bandwidth or ask for a dedicated servr, but that’s going to cost more. Check out Broadbandreports.com or our chatroom and get a reference.

Q Bill, Portsmith, VA - Privacy online

Bill wants to do an online show giving legal advice. Suggestions? Leo says Justin.tv, Stickam.com and UStream.tv are great, free options. All you need is a webcam like the Logitech Quickcam 9000, the Plantronics DSP-400 USB Headset mic. And you’d be huge! Don’t forget to create a website for it.

Could he also use Skype and take calls? Leo says it’s doable, but more complicated. You’d need a mixer and other gear. What about multi camera? Leo says that Boinx is good software for that purpose.

But the bottom line is, go for the content FIRST. Worry about quality later.

Bill is a lawyer and wants to talk about computer privacy online. People are worried about their kids downloading stuff that they may hav to worry about. Leo says that this is a concern and a miscarriage of justice of they don’t have complete control over their hardware. Leo says if your computer is completely public, STEADYSTATE by Microsoft is a great idea. Everytime you boot up the computer, it wipes out what was done before and goes back to known good install. It’s great for protecting from viruses and liability issues.

For extreme cases where you need to “nuke the hard drive from orbit,” get Derik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN). It’ll wipe any hard drive very effectively.

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Hour 3

QJessie, Long Beach, CA - Starting an online radio station

Jessie wants to start an online radio station with original programming. Suggestions? Leo says for playing music, play unsigned artists. If you try to play unsigned artists, it can get REALLY expensive. Internet radio actually pays more than broadcast radio due to piracy concerns. You can license music with Sound Exchange which handles it, but it costs.

Jessie wants to make it available for iPods. iPods don’t stream. You could download podcasts, but you can’t stream, perse. One place to look is LIVE 365. They handle all that so all you need to do is join and start running your station.

Leo does run an “Icecast server” for about $100 a month. Free software. You need a host server to upload to. The box Leo uses called the BARIX Instreamer 100.

You can use NICECAST by Rogue Amoeba with iTunes and Live 365 to play music online as well.

Q Ed, Moreno Valley, CA - Recovering data from a hard drive

Ed loaned his external hard drive out to a friend who didn’t realize they had a MAC. Now his drive is blank. Leo says this is a perfect reason to backup. One copy on an external drive is not a backup. You need an off site backup or a secondary backup as well.

If you initialize a disc on a MAC, is the data gone? Leo says the data should still be there,especially if all they did was “repartition” the drive. Active@ Partition Recovery 3, NTFS Undelete, Recuva, DiData Recovery. But the free one is http://www.cgsecurity.orgTestDisk.

First thing you want to do is make an image of the disc first so that if something doesn’t work, you can try again.

Q Eric, Tustin, CA - Smart Phone SD card unreadable

Eric is having trouble reading the files with both his computer and Palm Treo. Leo suspects it’s a bad card. It could also be a bad reader. Card readers can go bad or even be poorly made. Acer is a high second tier company with decent gear at a lower price. Truth is, though, every company is making the same components and sometimes, they make equipment for other higher end companies. Try an external card reader. Vista issue? Could be. More likely, though, it’s a bad reader. Format your card in the phone and see if you can reproduce the problem. If so, then you know.

Q Gail, Temecula, CA - Windows Live Messenger isn’t working

Gail has a Dell computer and it’s not working. She signed on and updated Windows Live. That’s when the trouble started. Could be the resolution changed or the menu bar is hidden. Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and see if it pops up. It does. She can’t sign into Windows Live Messenger. She can go online. Leo suspects Gail just isn’t signed in. Go into Windows Live Messenger and sign on. You won’t see the list until you are properly logged in. You can go to Microsoft’s Live Site and reset your password. This may fix it as updating could’ve reset your password. Or, bring a smart kid over to troubleshoot it for you. MakeItWork.com can also come to your house and solve the issue pretty quickly.

Q Chris, Los Angeles, CA - GPS recommendation

Chris is getting married and wants to give his future father in law (a truck driver) a special GPS that works for truckers. Leo says the Tom Tom ONE is a good basic entry level GPS for those who don’t want a lot of whistles and bells. And celebrity voices as well, which is hysterical. About $100.

In the Chatroom, Titus recommends the Garmin 465T. Fully customizable for height restrictions, detours, etc. Ideal for your father in law. For more information, swing by GPS Planet.

Q Mike, Virginia Beach VA - Linux recommendation

Mike wants to install Linux on his old PC. Which one is best? Leo recommends Ubuntu. Boot from the CD to verify it’ll work with your hardware configuration then you can install directly and set it up to dual boot with Windows. It’s great.

See you tomorrow!

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