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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday November 22, 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
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Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Cern’s Large Hadron Collider is back online
The Cern Large Hadron Collider has been repaired (again) and is getting ready to power up to search for the Higgs-Boson particle. The collider had broken down during power up twice (including once when a bird had dropped a bagette down an exhaust port in a very Luke Skywalker fashion) prompting some theoretical physicists to claim that God doesn’t like Higgs Boson or that the elusive particle simply doesn’t want to be found. They have even postulated that a future element has been at work sabotaging the LHC to prevent it from finding the HBP. Wild!
Guests
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Being in a photographic rut. If you find yourself shooting the same stuff, and you’re in a rutt, there’s a few things you can do. Collect shapes. Simple colors. Or shoot all day with a theme. Find things in other things. Shoot images with A-Z in mind and make a photobook out of it. Lastly, try taking three different images in a row with nothing in common. Challenge yourself. Push yourself out of your comfort zone, and you’ll find you’re picking up some new tricks.
The theme is Iron Photographer. Take an image with these three ingredients: Natural Light, Round, and Texture. Then, head on over to flickr.com, sign up, and join the Tech Guy group to post it. If it catches Chris’ eye, you may hear it on the Tech Guy show.
Hour 1
Q Lee, Weston, MA - Sync issues in Windows 7
Lee ended up buying a new computers, rather than just upgrade the old ones to Windows 7. Trouble is, his Nokia N515 won’t sync to it and Palm isn’t going to support it. Leo says that Palm is on the ropes and that Lee is going to have to go to a third party solution. Check out markspaces.com. They make third party syncing utilities which may help. Leo says that one advantage of living “in the cloud,” like on Google (which has a great sync capability, btw) is that moving foward, you don’t really need to sync data across various devices. You just get your data in the cloud and it doesn’t matter what hardware you use.
Q John, Palo Alto, CA - Sleeping computers
John has an iMac. He’s wondering what’s the best practice to shut down the machine … “sleep,” or “shut down.” Leo says that the best practice is to leave the Mac alone. Longevity wise, a hard drive runs better at a constant temperature and velocity, rather than shutting it down, turning it on, shutting it down, etc. Then again, to save electricity by putting computers in low power mode is a good idea. But Leo says if you’re not going to use the computer for over 24 hours, then shut it down. Now, the good thing about rebooting a PC periodically is that it cures any memory leaks, etc.
Q Julie, Agoura Hills, CA - Camcorder recommendation
Julie has a Macbook and likes to make movies on YouTube. She’s been making her movies using her Mac’s laptop camera. Now she wants to free herself and get a camcorder. What does Leo recommend? Leo suggests the Kodak Zi8. It’s a pocket HD video camcorder that has the added benefit of an external microphone jack. And it’s under $200. For just starting out, it’s a great option for young filmmakers that doesn’t break the bank.
But if you’re getting serious and want something with more teeth, a video camcorder may not be the best option for movie making. Leo’s lately been moving away from Camcorders and towards digital SLRs like the Canon 5D Mk. II or T1 which shoot 1080p HD video but give you the added advantage of depth of field from interchangeable lenses. Now, they aren’t cheap, but they’re a lot more affordable when you see the results they get. Check out the movie “Reverie,” by Vincent LaForet for an example of what you can do with a digital SLR that takes HD video. Amazing.
And now that YouTube is supporting 1080p, the future is Julie!
Hour 2
Q Doug, Altoona, PA - Watching streaming video on HDTV
Doug wants to stream internet videos on his HDTV. But he’s having trouble doing so with his DLink DSM750 media extender. Leo says this is because the video you buy and download is copy protected. Hollywood is of the notion that everyone is a potential pirate. But if you’re downloading from iTunes, you can get an AppleTV device which will allow you to stream directly from your iTunes account. If you’re playing back from Windows Media Center, you can, but iTunes is pretty much AppleTV centric. What about Hulu? Leo says if you can play it back in Windows Media Center, you can. If not, then it’s hacking time. Boxee is a good option, though sadly, Hulu shut down access through Boxee. There’s also the Roku box which allows to stream your Netflix and Amazon accounts, as well as Leo’s TWiT TV!
Most people, though, just hook a computer up to their TV and bypass the Media Center Extender altogether.
Q Eric Geller, MD - HP Laptop trouble
Eric’s HP Laptop has crashed and now he’s having startup issues and it won’t boot up right. Is it a video issue or hard drive issue? Leo thinks it’s probably a hard drive issue, but it could also be a failing logic board, which could as much as a new computer. Best way to test is to boot to an OS on a disk (like Ubuntu) and see if it works. If it does, then it’s a software issue. If not, then it’s probably a hardware issue like a failing hard drive. And before you have it repaired, you’re gonna have to try and get your data off, because the hardware geeks will restore the drive and wipe your data. Another thing you can do is try GRC’s SpinRite, which isn’t cheap at about $85, but it’ll movie all your data off any bad sectors and get it back to a healthy state.
Q Eric, Los Angeles, CA - Using Twitter
Eric says that Twitter is fairly fun, though narcissistic. He’s not too sure it’s going to be very useful in the long run. Leo says that the beauty of Twitter is you can customize Twitter to focus on Tweets that are useful and interesting. Leo likes to use it to follow fellow tech journalists who post interesting stories he may not have seen. You can also find people who are extremely funny. Twitter has helped out with their new “lists,” feature.
Eric also bought a Mac Mini to use as a media center. Leo agrees it’s a good option, but you do need to cobble together some DVi-HDMI adapters to get it to work right.
Eric also wants to talk about the religious Mac vs. PC war. Eric think’s it’s time for PC guys like Michael Dell to admit they were wrong and that the Mac has really become a forceful option for getting a PC. Leo says there’s no real top dog in this battle. Both are largely responsible for the computer revolution, and actually, the war isn’t even a computer revolution anymore, it’s a portable revolution. No point in saying who’s better. They compliment each other in that the better they get, the better it is for us.
Q Tom, Santa Clarita, CA - which eReader is better?
Tom wants to know which reader is better, the Amazon Kindle or the Sony eBook Reader. Leo says that Amazon’s Kindle is still king because of it’s wireless capability. Which one to get, the Kindle 1 or 2? Leo says the Kindle 2 is much better, cheaper, and has a greater form factor to make it easier to use. Don’t even bother with the DX. Too big, and over priced. One thing to be aware of, though, is that the Kindle is kind of hard to read in low light situations as it has no backlit screen. It also has a “dithering” page turn.
Now, Barnes and Noble is coming out with one, which will be in color and have a backlit screen. It’ll suck up the battery life, but may be great for textbooks, universities are hoping so, anyway.
Hour 3
Q Raka, CA - Syncing contacts in Windows 7
Raka is having trouble getting his Android contacts into Windows 7. Leo says that Missing Sync for Android over at MarkSpaces.com is your best bet. But you can also sync to Gmail, and go from your Android to Google, and then Google will update your Outlook. Go to Google Calendar and look for the Sync Button. Choose Outlook as the option and you’re on your way.
Raka also wants to play the movies he’s bought from iTunes on his Android phone. Leo says you can’t thanks to the copy protection which is locking down any movie you download from Apple.
What does Leo think of the Droid*? Leo says that if you’re ready to bolt from AT&T, or are Verizon and want to stay, the Droid* is an outstanding phone. And it wouldn’t surprise Leo if Android phones close the gap on the iPhone.
* - Droid is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm, Ltd. Used by permission.
Q Jeff, Los Angeles, CA - XP Crash
Jeff’s son crashed their computer, but because they are using XP Professional, they don’t have the discs. They do have their keys though. Leo says you need to find someone who is using the same version of XP Pro (a version match is crucial) that you are and you can even try repairing it first before installing it. Leo suggests that Jeff contact Microsoft, tell them the story. If you have the product keys, they would probably just send you replacement discs for about $10 or 20. In the Chatroom - they suggest calling the manufacturer of the computer. They may be able to send you discs as well. Might be a good time to upgrade to Windows 7, though.
Q Edward, Whittier, CA - Hard drive disappeared
Edward has an 1TB external hard drive and it can’t be picked up by his PC. Leo says to if brand new, you need to format it for the computer to see it. R/C My computer, select “Manage,” then “Storage,” and see if you can see the drive in the USB chain. Format it and the computer will now see it. One thing though, XP may not be able to handle a 1TB drive. But if you try this tip, it may be able to.
Q Tom, San Diego, CA - Anti Virus software
Tom has a 3 year old computer running AdAware and Nod 32 and it’s become dreadfully so. Good time to go to Windows 7? Leo says absolutely. It’s time to reinstall the OS anyway, which means you have to backup your data and format the drive. You can get a family upgrade pack for about $50. NewEgg is also offering an upgrade for about $100.
Carbonite. Good idea to use it to get your data uploaded first? Leo says it is, but the thing is, it takes a long time to upload all your data (like a couple of days). So you’ll have to be patient. You can also just get an external hard drive and then it’s just a drag and drop. And Windows 7 has a handy migration utility that will backup all that stuff to the external drive. Then Windows 7 will restore the data, and your settings, back onto the PC under Windows 7.
Q Mizba, Torrence, CA - Upgrading to an i7 laptop.
Mizba has an HP entertainment laptop, but he wants to upgrade to an i7 running Turbo boost. Is it faster than a core two duo? Leo says it is. Much faster. So, if you can swing it, absolutely. It’s REALLY fast and ideal for gaming, video editing, etc.
Have a great geek week!
