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Saturday November 14, 2009

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Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

Leo gets his Droid*

After hearing rave reviews of the new Motorola Droid*, Leo finally picked one up this week. Leo says that it’s a great phone which may indeed take on the iPhone head to head. It’s one drawback … not enough apps on the Droid yet, but that’s to be expected.

_{* - Copyright 2009 Lucasfilm, Ltd., used with permission}

Leo also like the openness of the Android Marketplace.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 smashes all records, even movies

First Day sales Tuesday of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was 4.7 million copies. Biggest opening in history. Gamers say this is the best first person shooter of all time. Sales even eclipse movie or even album openings. HUGE success. There’s a supurb online component which allows for game play with players all over the world.

Leo’s not much a fan of first person shooters becauses of the violence it depicts and most playing it are kids.

Twitter account hacking at all time high …

The latest is a direct message phishing scam where it provides a link. DON’T CLICK ON IT, it steals your login credentials.

The most high profile of this hack is that it got Britney Spears Twitter account and made it look like she’s worshiping Satan!

YouTube to support 1080p

Look out Blu-ray, YouTube has announced they will be supporting 1080p in the near future.

Microsoft bans 1 million from XBox Live

In an attempt to thwart XBox 360 hacking of modded consoles, Microsoft has banned over 1 million from XBox Live Internet gaming.

Kevin Rose names Leo as #7 most powerful in Technology

Kevin Rose wrote an article on Forbes and he named Leo as one of the most powerful people in technology.

NASA announces Water Found on the Moon

The “bombing of the moon,” which happened a few weeks ago to great fanfare, has yielded some watering results! NASA has found what they call “significant amounts of water” that was kicked up as a result of crashing two LCROSS probes into the moon. This is fantastic news for hopes in returning to the moon.

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine

Scott saw “Pirate Radio,” last night, based on Radio Caroline - a pirate boat off the coast of Great Britain in 1966. Starring Phillip Seymore Hoffman as the renegade DJ broadcasting rock music into the UK, which had banned rock music during that time.

In home theater, Scott recently met with Panasonic which is relaunching plasma HDTVs as the ideal home theater TV. With larger sizes, plasma is a better option price wise as LCDs get really expensive above 40″. And LCDs have inherent disadvantages like local dimming. LCDs can be brighter on the show room floor, but when you get them home, they aren’t as bright as you believed. Leo says if you’re doing to watch a TV in bright, ambient light, an LCD is better. But if you’re willing to darken the room or are creating a home theater in a room with no real ambient light sources, Plasma is ideal.

Energy Star 3 certified data also shows that Plasma and LCD TVs are now equally energy efficient showing that Plasma’s power drain has been solved.

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Hour 1

Q Angela, Nova Scotia, CAN - Dubbing video to DVD

Angela has a DVD recorder, but can’t make any copies. Leo says that some older DVD players have trouble with burned DVDs. You want to be sure you finalize them. Leo says you want to get a DVD player that is multi format capable. Find out if anyone else has trouble reading the copy. If they do, then you know it’s a compatibility issue. Also pay attention to the media you use.

Scott Wilkinson chimes in and says that Rewriteable DVDs (DVD-RW) are less compatible than write once DVDs. So when archiving video, use write once discs. They’re also cheaper. Scott also recommends buying name brand media. No name brands lower compatibility. Leo also recommends buying a sampler pack of different brands to try out and use the one’s that work best of the bunch.

Q Mark, Santa Ana, CA - Partition Magic

Mark is finding that Partition Magic isn’t doing as good a job these days. Leo says that Acronis makes a partition utility that’s pretty good. Leo says that CloneZilla gets good reviews from people who use it. That may work for what Mark’s needs are.

Jeff in Santa Ana says that PartedMagic for Linux has a lot of rescue applications, especially DD Rescue, which can solve that. Thanks, Jeff!

Q Joshua, Los Angeles, CA - Microsoft Money corruption

Leo says the file may have become damaged from a disc error. There is a file repair utility that Money provides. If it’s still unopenable at that point, you may be out of luck. You can try moving the file. It may be sitting on a faulty data sector. Microsoft is killing Money anyway, so it may be time to take a good look at Quicken. Money files will import. In fact, Quicken may be able to import and read it. But it’s a long shot. You can also use the Quicken Online option.

Yet another reason to have an off site, real time backup option.

Q Grant, Perth, AUS - Canon EOS 7D

Grant picked up the EOS 7D. Both Alex Lindsay and Chris Marquardt love the 7D. It’s a great upgrade for those who are outgrowing an entry level camera like the Digital Rebel XSi. Grant says he loves it. Used the lenses he had for his Rebel, so all he needed to buy was the body. Leo says that’s the advantage of buying into an entry level camera first and spending your money where it counts - on the glass. Then when you’re ready to upgrade to a better body, you already have the glass.

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Hour 2

Q Scott, Panama City, CA - Internet error

Scott is currently experiencing a WinSock error and now he can’t get on the Internet. Leo suspects this was caused by cleaning off some spyware and viruses with a “system cleaner.” Scott confirms. Leo is not a fan of these, as well as registry cleaners. They usually cause more trouble than they are worth. What is likely to have happened is that the Winsock had the “heart torn out of it” by the system cleaner . Get a copy of Winsock Fix. But a better option is the stick your Windows install disc in, reboot, and select the repair Windows option. You can also run the Microsoft System File Checker from the command line. Start. Run. Type: SFC /scan now. It’ll go through your files repair them. Maybe. Odds are … you’ll have to reinstall Windows.

Q Greg, Los Angeles, CA - Modern Warfare 2 gripes

Greg is baggin’ on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 because there are no dedicated servers for PC users - which is where Call of Duty started out. Leo says a lot of gaming companies have turned off local server capability, forcing users to use company servers and pay for them. Greg also complains that even with that, PC gamers are being excluded. From the Chatroom, Microsoft is actually using a peer-to-peer setup and isn’t using company servers at all! And you can’t even choose who you are playing with, so you can’t even play with your buddies! Leo says that stinks, although he thinks you can use XBox Live to find your buddies.

Infinity Ward claims they are just prioritizing the gaming experience above the “PC modders.” I.E., they’re handicapping it to the least common denominator. What.a.dumb.move.

There’s an online petition gamers can sign to protest this decision. Sign it here.

Q Candace Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Learning Programming

Candace wants to become a programmer. Leo suggests How to Design Computer Programs. Download Dr. Scheme and learn to use it. These two will teach you the modern way to program before you learn “bad habits” with programs like C++. Once you’ve gone through this curriculum, you will be properly prepared and have the tools to learn languages like C++.

Q Chris, Kentucky - Windows Media Player 12

Chris had a Windows House Party and is having trouble with Windows Media Player 12 from the Ultimate version of Windows 7 he got. Eventually, after updating the library, it stops. Probably a locked registry entry. You can troubleshoot it, but Leo recommends using Media Monkey instead. It’ll sync to Chris’ Creative Player, allow you to rip CDs, etc.

Q John, Yucaipa, CA - Cellphone recommendation

John’s phone has reception problems and he’s looking to get a new phone. Leo says that more likely, a better phone may not help. It’s more likely that your cell phone provider doesn’t have a supporting cell phone tower nearby. John uses AT&T, which is spotty at best in Northern California. Leo says that Verizon has far better coverage in California. You could get a phone “booster,” called 5 Barz. It’s not cheap, but Leo has used it and it works.

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Hour 3

Q Cody, Wyoming - Vista fatal system error

Cody turned on his computer and he gets a “fatal system error,” with a “blue screen of death.” Leo says it could be a lot of things, from a corrupted hard drive to C000021A error. That’s the one Cody is getting. Leo recommends letting your Windows Installation Disc repair Windows. Place it in and select REPAIR, not install. But this will only be a temporary fix if there’s trouble with your hard drive. If you can run checkdisk, scan your hard drive. Even better, pick up a copy of SpinRite and let it scan and repair your hard drive.

Q Eddie, Los Angeles, CA - netbook recommendation

Eddie wants to buy a netbook for traveling. Is the Asus 1008HA Seashell a good option? Leo says it’s pretty slick. Asus invented the Netbook category. It’s okay if you understand it’s limitations. Another option is the Samsung NC20.

Q Steve, Stephenson Ranch, CA - Windows 7 XP Virualization problems

Steve installed Windows 7 Professional and he’s getting an incompatibility issue running XP in virtualization. Leo says Microsoft hasn’t made it completely clear that you need VT-X support to run XP virtually. Check your BIOS to turn it on. Sadly, Leo suspects that his computer doesn’t support it. It’s always a good idea to doublecheck your hardware is compatible before buying a new version of Windows for stuff like Virtualization.

Leo says that almost everything will run okay in Windows 7, so you may not need it.

Q Steve, Odessa, FL - eBook Voice recommendation

Steve wants an iPhone reader that can read books to him audibly. The Kindle App on the iPhone won’t do it, but the Amazon Kindle 2 will. Leo says you can hack that together with a Mac, but it’s tricky on Windows. Check out TextAloud, which uses AT&T Natural Voices. But if you buy an eBook, copy protection may be an issue. You need to figure out how to get the book into text first, and then you can use Text Aloud to use it. You can try Audible.

Q Dan, Escondido, CA - Mac mini recommendation

Dan is thinking about getting a Mac Mini. Should he get the one with the Snow Leopard Server? The real difference is that it doesn’t have a disc drive and it runs Snow Leopard server. If you are planning to do server operations, great, but if not, you’re really paying twice as much. Get the $500 mini.

Will camera prices come down by the end of the year? Leo says probably starting on “Black Friday,” you’ll see some heavy discounts to try and boost Christmas sales.

Q George (AOBeachbum in chatroom), Canopolus, NC - Migrating data

George wants to know if the Windows Migration Assistant in Vista will work well moving data from an old system to a new one. Leo says that it does a great job getting your settings and data. But not your programs. Leo recommends backing up to an external hard drive anyway, just in case. Contacts? Leo thinks it will, but be prepared to export them anyway.

See you tomorrow!

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