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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday 20 December 2009
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
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Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Google moves farther down the road to digital global domination.
While Google constantly releases new products - like Google Goggles - which not only gives us easier access to information, but also gives Google’s easier access to search results. Google is also buying YELP, which gives reviews of businesses. Leo says that it’s clear that Google is aggregating every bit of information to make it searchable.
Does that mean that privacy is really dead? It seems so to Eric Schmidt of Google. And maybe it’s just the stark reality and Leo says that it’s not a matter of losing your privacy, but what you do now that it’s lost.
Guests
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Chris returns to talk about the Ricoh GXR, which takes camera design modular and includes the processing sensor with the lens so you can swap it out as you change the lens. Intriguing. Leo says it makes sense because sometimes lenses aren’t entirely matched with the sensor in the camera.
Hour 1
Q Christy, Tom’s River, NJ - Monitoring Internet Acess
Christy wants to monitor and filter her kids Internet access. Leo recommends OpenDNS. DNS is the “phonebook” which routes web addresses you type to it’s actual numerical address on the web. OpenDNS has filtering and offers monitoring features so that parents can see if their kids are trying to get around it. And it works with the entire network.
For Windows users, you can go to get.live.com and download their filtering applications, which Leo says is quite good. But remember that anything on the computer can be worked around. It’s always better to password protect the router so that those settings can’t be changed.
Q Pete, Los Angeles, CA - Expensive cables
Pete wants to know if he really needs to spend $100 on an HDMI cable. Leo says absolutely not! Cables are pure money makers for retailers and Leo recommends going to monoprice.com and buy your HDMI cables for $3.00. If you have to string it beyond over 10 feet, then perhaps you need a more pricey cable, but Leo doesn’t think so. Leo also says that every once in a while, Amazon has a cable sale.
Also, any reason not to get a DLP rear projection TV? Leo says they aren’t as price and a little thicker. But Leo doesn’t see any reason not to. And good prices can be had. One downside is bulbs can burn out every few years and they’re expensive. What happened to Sony’s LCOS TVs? Leo says they were an alternative to LCDs, and were expensive to make. But the bottom fell out of the HDTV market and LCDs were able to secure most of the market, with Plasma a distant second.
Scott Wilkinson calls in to say to agree with Leo that HDMI cables don’t need to be expensive at all. The cheap ones work just as well. As for the TVs, he says that consumers decided on LCDs as the winner of the HDTV war and as such, only one company makes DLPs. Mitsubishi. But Sony and Epson do make projection TVs and Sony still offers LCOS technology in their front projectors. JVC also uses LCOS in their front projectors - some of the best. Leo may be thinking about SED technology, which was killed by lawsuits. OLED isn’t dead. Works great. But it isn’t practical for big screen TVs. Scott says that bulb prices have dropped some and you can get a bulb replacement for about $100 these days.
Scott also says that rainbow problems are still an issue in DLP TVs. Angle of viewing on DLPs can be a problem because they use a lenticular screen, which causes off access problems. There’s also “hotspots” which can occur due to the lamp shining on the screen.
Bottom line, if you want a home theater, go plasma for dark rooms, LCDs for brightly lit rooms. Scott agrees.
Q Angela, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, CAN - Router options
Angela wants to go wireless with her router. Leo says that the Airport Extreme router is a great router, but expensive. The mainstream routers are cheaper - Leo likes DLink - and are a tad more involved to configure, but if you want to save money, a garden variety router is an excellent option.
Hour 2
Q Mike, So. Pasadena, CA - What’s new in radio?
Mike is a radio fan. He knows about HD, is there anything else on the horizon? Leo says that HD is still in need to be sold to the public. It’s great in that it’s digital and sounds great. But like digital, you either get it or you don’t. There is no graceful degrading of signal. HD on FM is CD quality, while HD on AM isn’t as good. But Leo also likes the information you get with the HD signal.
Leo says that the best advancement is the ability of a smartphone to stream radio stations. Leo uses I Heart Radio on his iPhone. And Pandora, which is great because you tell it what artists you like and it chooses similar artists and creates a station. But there’s also the SONOS controller for in the house. All you need is a broadband connection. Receiva is another option, this enables you to search for stations you like and listen to them online.
Q Dick, Colorado Springs, CO - Building a new computer
Dick is building a new replacement computer. What does Leo know of the Linfield socket? Leo says it’s a very good socket, but the only reason to get a new socket set is to generically upgrade. The 1156 does use dual channel RAM for the i7 Processor. That means you can buy them in pairs for best performance.
Q Paul, Oakland, CA - laptop recommendation
Paul works at home and needs to transition from a desktop to a laptop. He’s lost in all the choices. Vostros and Latitudes are aimed at business, but it’s mostly marketing. These days, there aren’t really much difference. Leo likes the Dell Studio line. Vostros are low cost business laptops, while the Latitudes are higher costs quality options. Leo says that the Latitude is ideal for the price. The Dell Studio 16 has a faster video card for multimedia applications. If you’re concerned about tech support, you’ll want to buy a Gold support package as well.
Q Mike, SoCal - building a new computer
Mike is building a few new computers and wants to know what boards to build. Leo says for top of the line - you want to go Nehalem. What boards, exactly, Leo says that Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte work fine. Leo likes ASUS. He also recommends PC Perspective’s Hardware leaderboard. They breakdown each kind of rig from top of the line to budget, what to use and why. A great resource if you’re planning to build your own rig.
Q John, Yorba Linda, CA - connecting multiple HDMI devices
John got a Roku Player, but now he has too many HDMI devices to connect to his TV. What to do? He’s planning to get a switch. Leo says to get a $50 switch. Amazon has one for $40 that connects five HDMIs and comes with a remote. Stay way from “remote sensing.” Doesn’t work. From the Chatroom, make sure you buy an HDMI port that’s compatible with 1.3b. Also, MonoPrice.com has one for $30!
Q Brian, Chicago, IL - Outlook file limitations
Brian has run into a 2GB file size limit. Leo says that Brian needs to either archive out some items or compress the file. Dan in the Chatroom says that Office has a file called the Inbox Repair Tool called Scan.pst. Run it. It’ll scan the inbox and repair it. PS2TGB.pst will get your file down below 2GB, but it truncates it, which means you’ll lose data.
A better option is to upgrade. The new BETA version of OFFICE 2010 is available for free and will run for a year. Go to Home, Small Business, and School version.
Hour 3
Q Stan, Woodland Hills, CA - Digital TV
Stan is getting the best TV he’s had now that he’s gotten a digital converter box. Congress is putting forth a bill to establish a fund to build translator stations to fill out communities that can’t get digital TV.
Q Chris, Los Angeles, CA - Droid doesn’t play youtube?
He tries to play youtube on his Droid phone and it won’t play. Leo says that not all videos are playable and recommends starting with the most viewed, most discussed. But the bottom line, smart phones don’t play flash and Google is re-encoding a select number of youtube videos for playback on phones.
Q Andrew, Tornto, ONT CAN - Linux & BootCamp
Andrew has a Mac and wants to know if he can dual boot and run Linux on it through BootCamp. Leo says it’s possible, but you’d need specific drivers. A better option if going virtually using VirtualBox. It’s free.
Googling Linux and BootCamp will also gives you a good selection of articles on how to do it.
Q Diana, Burbank, CA - Flash drive issues
Diana plugs in a flash drive and her computer will immediately shut down when she plugs them in. Leo suggests a powered hub. It may be that there’s not enough power going on there. But if it still persists, there may be a short somewhere. Leo says that the flashdrive may be used in readyboost mode for Windows. This is a new feature. Or, more likely, the flash drive has U3 which Leo doesn’t like. Hold down the shift key and insert the flash drive. This will prevent the U3 from starting. It could also be a bad driver. The USB Mass Storage driver may be damaged. Another interesting theory that security software is causing it. But Leo thinks it unlikely.
Take the Windows install disc, run it and repair your Windows. Hopefully, that’ll solve it.
Q Ken, Fairfield, CA - Freezing computer.
Ken has an older Pentium 3 system that he uses for real old games. He’d like to keep it running. It runs on XP Pro, but sometimes it freezes up and he has to reboot. Leo says it may be a failing power supply. It’s definitely a hardware issue.
Microsoft has discontinued the Windows 7 Family pack? Leo says yes, they have. The best deal is over at NewEgg.com, a Windows 7 OEM upgrade, $104.
Have a great geek week!
