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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday November 21, 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
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Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Senate Probes Web Loyalty Scams
The Senate has begun hearings on web companies that ensnare users with “web loyalty” offers and in the fine print, they get charged on their cards or cell phones. The Senate report reveals that these companies mislead people to get them to sign up and then charge them about $10 a month to the tune of millions of dollars annually part of which gets kicked back to the website that partners with them, which include Orbitz, Priceline.com, Buy.com, 1–800 Flowers, Continental Airlines, Fandango, Classmates.com and nearly 100 others.
Leo thinks that any company involved in this SCAM should be boycotted from here on out.
Is Apple having a Black Friday sale?
A flyer has leaked online offering 30% off iPods, 25% off Macs. Leo suspects it’s a hoax, but if it is legit, that would be unprecedented. The Chatroom agrees, has to be a hoax.
Use a Cellphone camera, go to Jail.
A Bartender sends to Facebook a nude picture she found on a customer’s cellphone and now she’s facing the Big House.
Cellphone use on the rise, landline use falls
Fewer landlines are being used as more people opt for cellphones as their primary means of communication.
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Black Friday is coming! Blu-Ray discs are getting real cheap for the busiest shopping day of the year. On the order of $10–20 from Amazon, Target, etc.
Visio is going to have some great deals on Black Friday. Leo just picked up a few 24″ Vizios for studio monitors. Are they okay? Scott says it’s a great second tier brand and very popular for it’s pricepoint. And you can even get anywhere from 20–35% off LCDs at Best Buy, Sears, and other retailers looking to move their big ticket HDTVs.
How do you find word of advanced deals for Black Friday? Scott says they are the worst kept secret on the Net. Just googling Black Friday, you’ll find dozens of sites which have Black Friday ad scans and other information. In fact, many retailers have leaked their ads finally realizing they get free advertising on the web.
Blu-ray players are now as low as $150 from name brands like Samsung, Sony, Panasonic. At WalMart, they are offering “door buster” of a Magnavox for $78. Leo says it’s a price like that which makes people line up at 3am.
Will it work? Many people just think that Standard Def DVDs are “good enough.” Scott says it’s an individual call. Then again, just looking at the Blu-ray and you quickly get convinced.
Home Theater in a Box systems are also being “blown out,” during Black Friday. Scott recommends if you’re going to get an HTiB, go Blu-ray.
Hour 1
Q Peter, Los Angeles, CA - Running Windows 7 on the Mac
Peter got a new 27″ iMac and wants to run Windows 7 as well as OSX. Leo says there are two ways. Virualization and through Boot Camp. With Boot Camp you can do dual boot, but with VMWare Fusion, you can also run it virtually. If you’re gaming, you don’t really want to run Windows virtually as it will slow you down some. But Virtualization has gotten so good that for just about anything else, it works great. But there are driver issues running Boot Camp in some Macs. Check out Simple Help.net for tips on how to install Windows 7 with Boot Camp assistant.
From the Chat room, most have simply given up and install Vista instead. But in time, updates will get issued. But until then, Vista is probably a better idea.
Joey wants to know about the Consumer Electronics Show. Leo and Scott both agree that it’s “trade only,” which means it’s not really open to the public. If you have a relationship with a retailer, it may be possible, but it becomes a nightmare for doing business with dealers and manufacturers.
Word is also that attendance is going to be way down this year. Not only because of the economy, but also because most of the information you get these days can be found on internet sources like Leo’s TWiT network, Engadget and others. Some manufacturers are even talking about doing an online “line show,” which would enable people to view all the latest stuff streamed live.
But fear not, Joey, Leo’s going to be broadcasting live from CES, so he’ll brave the crowds for you on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Hour 2
Q Theresa, Los Angeles, CA - Anti Virus renewal
Theresa’s Anti Virus Software is due to be renewed. Is there a better option now? Leo says there is. In fact, it’s really the only free option he offers. It’s Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s free, up to date, and works great.
But in the end, your first line of defense is your behavior. Follow Leo’s Tips for Safe Computing and make them habit and you’ll be virus free no matter what AVS you use.
Q Jay, Providence, NC - Sea Monkey
What does Leo think of Sea Monkey? Leo says Sea Monkey is a browser that’s very similar to Firefox, but also has a web package, email, IRC client. Leo likes it.
Q Ken - fighting bad guys online
Ken is apalled by the Web Loyalty scams and spammers who are ruining the Internet experience. Leo says we can defeat the bad guys by our behavior. Don’t buy from them. Ken wants to know if using a virus to fight them would work? Nope. You’re subject to the same penalties.
Q Armando, Whitter, CA - Buying Word
Armando wants to know if he can just buy Microsoft Word by itself. Leo says you can, but it’s not cheap. It’s cheaper to pick up the Student edition of Office, which costs only a little bit more. But it doesn’t come with Outlook.
Q Dave, Monrovia, CA - Printer trouble
Dave is having trouble with his Printer. Leo says that printer troubles are the nature of the beast and it could be so many different things from drivers, to clogged printer heads, bad ink, even condensation in the air. Run a test page from the printer. If it does, then you may have a bad cable or driver issue.
Q James, Los Angeles, CA - website times out
James has a favorite website which times out. It popped right up for Leo. Try going to the website from a different browser, like Firefox. If it doesn’t then you know it’s a login issue. Try a different computer. If it can’t as well, the somewhere along the line the website got blocked. The likely culprit is your ISP.
Hour 3
Q Richard, Gallup, NM - Blackberry Tour
Richard wants to know if he needs to run an AVS on his Blackberry Tour Smart Phone. Leo says it’s possible, but it will really put a drain on your performance. It’s too bad too because BlackBerry is being attacked relentlessly of late. Make sure your BlackBerry isn’t in auto-discovery mode. Be careful about where you download software. And following Leo’s tips of safe computing. By doing these two things, you’re very safe from any BlackBerry virus. But if you want one, F-Secure makes a very good one.
Q Daniel, Napier, NZ (vis Skype) - iMac recommendation
Should Daniel spend the extra $500 to get the 27″ over the 21″? Leo says that studies show that larger screens do make you more productive. But the resolution is so high it can be hard to read if you’re set at the highest res. But absolutely, it’s worth it. But the thing is, should you get the i5 or i7 iMac? The i5 is probably sufficient for you.
Q Jesus, Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Droid Phone*
Jesus is thinking about getting the Droid*. But he hear’s you can’t access Yahoo through the Droid. Leo saves he loves the Droid and it’s an ideal option for Verizon customers.
He recommends that if you pay Yahoo $29 a year, you’ll get POP3 access and will be able to use your email application. But if you can’t set it up directly, just have GMail grab your Yahoo mail and use the Gmail application. There’s always a way around things.
Leo says that the Droid Eris is an option. It doesn’t have a slide out keyboard, but Leo has found it’s not an issue.
Q Jay, Los Angeles, CA - Using your iPhone to read his car computer
Jay just got a KiWi WiFi OBD2 Reader. Leo says it’s a car interface which wirelessly plugs into his iPhone to read the car’s computer data. It’s helpful to reset the phantom check engine light, Miles per gallon, etc. Leo says that Ford Sync will email him with similar information, which is very cool. There are three different iPhone apps ranging from $5–40. Leo likes it for the Black Box possibilities. Imagine getting an email letting you know when your teenager is redlining the car or driving so fast that he has to break hard to stop. Great idea. Is it hard to find the connector? Jay says it’s really easy to find and connect. But which app is best? Inquiring minds want to know. But you can bet Leo will be checking them all out!
Q Chris, Yorba Linda, CA - Mouse trouble
Chris’ Dell Laptop has a hiding mouse cursor which runs over to the edge and stays there. Leo says that it’s a common problem with track pads. Clean it really good as a dirty track pad often causes the issue. If it persists, it may be the trackpad has failed. Try disabling the trackpad and plugging in a USB mouse. If it works, you may have a failed trackpad as that is a common culprit. If not, then it’s pointing perhaps to a mouse driver issue or even a USB problem. But Leo’s convinced it’s probably a hardware issue. Check the device manager, delete all the USB ports and reboot. Windows will reacquire them and reinstall the drivers. That could help.
Q Steve, Palo Alto, CA - Liquid spilled on the his MAC
Steve got a MacBook about 4 months ago and someone spilled something on his Mac. The Apple Store said the logic board is probably corroded and it’ll cost about $800. A tech said they could clean it for $170 by cleaning it. Apple’s tendency is to swap parts, which is guaranteed to work, but it’s the most expensive option. Leo recommends going to a Value Added Retailer (VAR) and if they can fix it for less, it’s a very viable option. But it largely depends on the damage done to the board if it would really work. Leo also recommends getting a guarantee that if it doesn’t work, it’s not going to cost you anyway. Leo’s suspicion though, is if the board short circuited, it’s dead in the water. But it’s not unheard of. Get a second opinion though, before you whip out the checkbook.
See you tomorrow!
