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Saturday November 7, 2009

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Tech News

New Android Version out, called ECLAIR

Android is rather obsessed with naming their OS versions after pasteries. First Cupcake, then Donut, and now, Android 2.0 is dubbed ECLAIR and it’s available today.

DROID is out

The New Android Phone by Motorola and Verizon Wireless is out, called Droid*. Leo says it’s very solid, snappy OS. Nice phone. You can get it at Sears, Best Buy, Amazon.com, it’s everywhere.

Dell Lattitude Z

Leo’s got the new Dell Latitude Z. Thin, but pricey. Fingerprint recognition. Leather, brushed aluminum. We’ve reached the point where computer manufacturers are concentrating on “fins,” rather than serious features.

Moore’s Law is alive and well 40 years later

Electronics are getting smaller, cheaper, and faster. And thanks to Moore’s Law they coming faster and faster. But even though the US is largely responsible for the computer revolution, we are now lagging behind other countries which have faster online access and computers that are on the cutting edge. And the battle over Net Neutrality isn’t helping.

SaveTheInternet.com is where you can go to learn more about Net Neutrality and how to get involved to keep the `net free and open.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has a frighteningly draconian provision in it which would ban you for life from the Internet should you only be ACCUSED of piracy three times. No trial, no conviction. Just accusations. And the details are secret and we’ve only heard about it because of leaks.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a way to get involved to tell Congress you are against it. Check it out.

CALL OF DUTY takes on modern terrorism

The new Call of Duty first person shooter game is called Call of Duty: Modern Terrorism and takes on terrorism. Leo is pretty concerned about how first person shooter games affect kid who play them obsessively.

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine

Scott is reporting on a day long conference held in Los Angeles on Blu-ray. Martin Scorecese spoke live via Satellite. Blu-ray is growing faster than DVD at this point, enjoying 10% of the marketplace at the moment. Leo thinks that’s largely because of the Sony PS3 game console which has a Blu-ray player in it. Average releases a month for Blu-ray - 8. That’s a downside as most releases are new theatrical releases, making it hard to find movies people want to upgrade from DVD. Best Buy is starting to sell Blu-ray players in the $100 range, but you have to be careful as they aren’t capable for connecting to the Internet to access online content (called BDLive). Is that really all that important, Leo wonders? Scott says initially he thought it was cheesy, but with a live lookup of sites like the Internet Movie Database can be beneficial. The show LOST has a site called “Lost University” which teaches people about ancient languages adn time travel.

Scott says he’s surprised that e-commerce hasn’t arrived by now with BDLive so you can order stuff you see on your Blu-ray movie. And Blu-ray isn’t portable yet. There’s one portable Blu-ray player, but it’s about $800. But Blu-ray movies are also usually released with a lower rez digital copy, that you can download onto your PC and move to your iPod.

Leo wants to know if it’s really too late for Blu-ray since digital downloading is now a reality. Scott says that they are really two different animals and as such, the industry thinks they can co-exist.

New on DVD for pre-order is the late Michael Jackson Concert called THIS IS IT. Scott says it’s the final dress rehearsal before Jackson died and Scott says although he’s not much of an MJ fan, the movie is incredibly shot and worth getting.

Hour 1

Q Chuck, Plano, TX - Jerky mouse performance

Chuck updated to Snow Leopard on his iMac and was having trouble with his mouse stalling. He had to wait 138 minutes! He ended up having to reinstall the OS, wiping the drive.

What does Leo think about SuperDuper as a backup utility? Leo loves it. It’s bootable. Can’t do that with Time Machine.

Q Scott, Los Angeles, CA - Chatting

Scott has been using Oovo for online video chat, but it’s been rather buggy of late. Leo says video uses a ton of bandwidth and although he’s certain that will probably be fixed, you could try iVisit. From the Chatroom: DimDim, Tiny Chat and Stickam - which have the advantage of absorbing all the bandwidth so you don’t have to.

Hour 2

Q Perry, Palo Alto, CA - Droid and Microsoft Exchange

He’s just got the Droid* and he’s having trouble with using email with Microsoft Exchange. Leo says if enough people complain about it, and they see it’s a feature customers want, Google is very good with patching the OS. So be patient.

How about that turn by turn Google GPS? It’s pretty great, but if you get outside Verizon’s 3G network, you may be out of luck.

Q Judy, Bakersfield, CA - A Wii for Christmas

Judy’s grandmother wants a Wii for Christmas. Is it expandable? Leo says you can expand by peripherals - getting like the WiiFit, etc. The basic game set is $199, which includes one controller, the console, the WiiSports games (which are the most popular). It’s all you really need to start. You’ll want to get a second controller and nunchuck. Too bad they don’t include it. And also a Charger station.

Q Dan, Columbia, SC - Wireless router for cellphones

Dan was a Verizon customer using the BlackBerry Pearl. Loves the phone. But he wants his website to update his location in real time using InstaMapper. Didn’t work and he ended up moving over to AT&T. Can he use a wireless router with it?

Leo says both Sprint and Verizon use the MyFi wireless card. But since you’re on AT&T, check out the Cradlepoint Cellular Travel Router.

Q Todd, San Diego, CA - XBox 360

Todd’s friends all enjoy playing the XBox 360 using XBox Live. Is this the best one? Well, the XBox has more games. But the Sony PS3 has the Blu-ray player, which is a better advantage for watching Blu-ray movies. Unfortunately, there’s not ability to marry XBox and PS3 online experiences.

BLACK FRIDAY is coming up soon and that may be a great time to pick up a great game console for a bargain.

Q Susanna, Covina, CA - Printer trouble

Susanna’s HP printer won’t print text. Leo suggests running a test print, use the printer utilities to test to see you have ink in your cartridges and clean the nozzles out. The printer itself will print a test page directly. If you get a print that way, then you know there’s a connectivity issue with your PC. Could be a virus or spyware issue. Susanna says the computer has slowed down a lot. You may want to download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. An upcoming hard drive failure could also be the culprit.

Hour 3

Q Jeff, Ventura, CA - Another new “Droider”

Jeff got the Droid*. He loves it. Speech recognition is really good. Types what it think you’ve said. Leo says that thanks to Google’s free 411 service (800-GOOG411), Google has really be able to fine tune it’s speech recognition utility. Leo says that the Droid is the best screen he’s ever seen on a phone.

Q Brandon, Fayetteville, NC - Cellphone recommendation

Brandon needs a GSM phone. What are his options? A GSM phone uses a SIM card so you can insert SIM cards from another country - they sell temporary ones. He uses the MyTouch 3G running Cupcake. Will he be able to use Eclair? Leo doesn’t see why not, it’s just a software upgrade. Google is rather vague about what phones can be upgraded and which ones can’t.

Q Chuck, Hagerstown, MD - Sprint phone recommendation

Chuck is a Sprint customer and wants to know what phone is best for surfin’ the net? Leo says that the Palm Pre is probably the best of what’s available, but the screen is really small. Why not get a Netbook and tether it using the Sprint MiFi?

Sprint is planning on Android phones in the near future. The HTC Hero is one of the phones they are using. Nice screen. Great apps. 5MP camera. Some think it’s better than the Droid*. There’s also the Samsung Moment which comes with a slide up keyboard.

Q Don, Rochester, NY - Trouble with his electronic program guide

Don has a Westinghouse HDTV PX42F45ON and his electronic program guide isn’t working. Support says the TV doesn’t have it, the manual says it does. Leo says there had to have been some sort of error in printing or a last minute update which caused it.. Leo suggests returning the TV for another.

Q Matthew, West Covina, CA - worried about hard drive failure

Matt has a Dell XPS 1210 and updated with Vista. His warranty is still going. But he’s worried about his hard drive about to go out. A three year old hard drive is just starting to be in the period where it could fail. But then again, it may not. SpinRite is pricey, but it’s a great way to keep your hard drive healthy. If Dell is up for replacing your hard drive, why not? Leo also says you may want to try putting Windows 7 on it. It’ll work just fine.

See you tomorrow!

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