Leo Laporte
The Tech Guy
2–5p ET Sat & Sun
- Home
- Saturday Show
- Sunday Show
- Past Shows
- Audio Archives
- Stations
- Chat
- Watch Live
- Forums
- Tips
- FAQ
- Glossary
- Contact Leo
Sponsors
- Angie’s List
- Carbonite
- DSLExtreme
- ESET NOD32 Antivirus
- GoToAssist
- GoToMeeting
- GoToMyPC
- Make It Work
- Stamps.com
Leo Links
 |
For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
|
|
Sunday January 31, 2010
Show Audio
|
Edited Audio | |
|
Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Apple’s New Creation is the iPad, and the battle rages
Apple’s latest creation, the iPad, it raising all sorts of cain since it’s announcement last Wednesday. First, the tech geeks complain about no camera, no flash, etc. Others hate the name. Book publishers like McMillan want to raise prices. Amazon says “no,” nor will they carry McMillan books anymore (3rd party book sellers will, however). Will Apple respond in kind or will they make a sweetheart deal with McMillan? Authors are upset. Book buyers are upset.
Leo thinks this is the first shot in a war against Amazon and Apple, which could cause Amazon to lose track of what it’s in business to do - selling books.
All this over what is just an iPod Touch increased to a 9.7″ screen. Leo says it’s elegant, fast, a tad heavy. Plays games. Great book reader. Doesn’t multi task, but so what? No camera, so you can’t do Skype. Movies are letterboxed due to the 4:3 resolution. That’s a drag. And No Flash. And Leo thinks that Apple is deliberately omitting flash to move on to something like HTML5 (YouTube is) which is less demanding, more secure, and easier to use.
Leo also says that those who want Flash, Cameras for Skype, etc. should maybe consider buying a Netbook. But if you want a content consumption device, the iPad is an excellent option. And Leo goes even further to say that once you hold it, YOU. WILL. WANT. IT!
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Ultimate AV Magazine
Leo picks Scott’s brain about wireless speakers. Scott agrees that wired is a better way to go since wireless interference can happen and is less reliable. For surround, you want the best surround experience you can get, and with audio being 50% of the home theater experience, wired is by far the best way to go.
Scott also talked to some of the sound mixers at the Grammys a few weeks ago and found out they mix all the music in 5.1 Dolby. Leo thinks it’s fairly strange, but Scott says he likes it. Sometimes it’s simulated surround, and in most cases, the mixing is relying on the home theater being in a room where sound can be “bounced off the walls.” As such, if you have an open area, sound bars and Dolby sound may not be the best. Scott also says that certain models of Sound Bars come with 5.1 decoders built in, so you don’t need an A/V receiver.
Just hooking up speakers directly to the HDTV may be adequate to Marilyn’s needs.
This week on Home Theater Geeks, Scott is interviewing the creators of the HD spec, who have produced a DVD disc to use in setting up their HDTVs.
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor
Shooting events. Have you ever been asked to shoot a party, wedding, or some other event? Chris recommends going to the event area ahead of time to get the lay of the land, know where the light is falling at the time of the event, pre-do your light balance. Talk to the people to ask what they expect of you for the event and be honest about whether you’ve done what they want before. Tell them what you can do and cannot do. Get a backup camera, even if you have to rent one. This is good insurance against losing a critical picture due to a dying camera. Practice the details of the even up front - like group shots, portraits, etc. And don’t make a wedding the first event you ever shoot - that’s a recipe for disaster.
After shooting a few events, you get your sea legs and can take on more pressure filled events like a wedding.
Trick for out of focus shots - size them down for the web only, that’ll hide the out of focus issue pretty well.
Chris is coming to the US this summer, going to San Francisco - for street photography, and New York for cooking photography. Checkout discoverthetopfloor.com for more information.
Hour 1
Q Marilyn, Phoenix, AZ - upgrading her laptop
She has an HP Laptop with Linksys router. Should she upgrade? Leo says now that Windows 7 is out, it’s a good time to upgrade. And a Mac is also a good idea. You have the Genius Bar, they have great classes. A 13″ Macbook is a great option, and there’s really not that much difference anymore. There’s no security issues. The hardware is well made. The price isn’t competitive, but the software is good for video, photos, etc. More elegant, better designed, and easier to use.
She also got a Pioneer Elite Kuro Plasma and a Sound Bar, but she can’t hear 5.1 surround sound. Leo says you need a receiver that supports Dolby. Denon makes a good one. Do wireless speakers work? Leo says they work fine, but are subject to interference. Wired speakers don’t have that trouble and Leo prefers them.
Hour 2
Q Grant, Rancho Cordova, CA - Upgrade issues in Windows 7
Grant bought a HP laptop a few years ago. Now that Windows 7 is out, can he upgrade? HP says that they won’t support Windows 7 for a laptop that old unless grant buys into a one time support session for the drivers. It stinks that HP is trying to shake Grant down for another $50 to get driver upgrades. Leo says that in most cases, Windows Vista drivers will work fine for Windows 7. Any problems are probably proprietary issues. iTunes will need to be reinstalled. But that’s no worry, you won’t lose your library. You may have to tweak it with alternate drivers, but nothing too difficult.
Q Roberto, Los Angeles, CA - reaction to the iPad
Roberto’s thoughts on the negative reactions to iPad - Roberto thinks that the iPad is an intermediary device, much like the original Netbook was meant to be. The iPad seems to be that. Leo says it’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out and if the iPad is a success or not. Leo says that what will really tell, is if content creators step up and offer special apps much like the New York Times has.
Q Charles, Munich, GER - using iTunes internationally
Charles is calling with his iPhone using Skype. WOW! Charles and his wife both have iPhones, but there are some apps each want that they can’t get since they use different credit cards. Leo says that when you use US credit cards, you get the US iTunes store, and a Germany credit card gets the German iTunes store. So you get different content as a result. This could be a result of different laws. But governments and companies need to understand the Internet has no borders and it’s impractical to think it can be adequately policed.
But change is coming. And it’s rapid, so it’s hard for governments and corporations to keep up. Those that will do well going forward are those that recognized that Internet commerce has no borders.
Q John, San Jose, CA - upgrading to Windows 7
John got a Gateway desktop computer with Vista and upgraded to Windows 7. Now he’s having Wireless issues. Leo is curious if he has 64 bit or 32 bit Windows. It’s 64. That could be it - since drivers may be in short supply and one of the reasons why Leo doesn’t recommend 64 bit unless using serious video or gaming applications that require more over 4GB or RAM. But there shouldn’t really be a problem. Go with 32 bit Windows and you should be just fine. But if you must have 64 Bit, there are USB dongles out there which have 64 bit drivers. According to the Chatroom - there’s Linksys for instance.
Q Justin, Windsor, Nova Scotia, CAN - Windows 7 and motion backgrounds
Justin wants a moving video file as a desktop background. Leo says that in Vista, there was an offering called “Dream Scene,” that did that. It does bog down your machine though, and may be why Dream Scene wasn’t offered in Windows 7. But you can download Windows7-dreamscene.exe and run it according to this hack by My Digital Life. But understand it’ll get REAL sluggish.
Hour 3
Q John, San Dimas, CA - Preserving old movie film
John buys old 16mm movie films in the public domain and digitizes them. He started with military training films and is now moving towards national park films. They scan them in at 720p. They’re also doing newsreels as well. Leo says this is a great thing to do to preserve historical films for posterity. What’s a shame is that the copyright holders get in the way and prevent valuable newsreels from being preserved in order to “protect their interests.”
John’s concern is that when digitizing the files, they are very large. So they’re concerned with storage issues. Carbonite can’t handle that. Amazon’s JungleDisk may work, you pay by the byte. But that will cost a LOT of bandwidth.Leo says what you need to do is put them on hard drives and store them off site. And do more than one copy and have them in various locations. Then every year or two you copy onto new drives to keep the files fresh. Getting a Drobo RAID Array may be your best bet.
Their website is at campbellfilms.com.
Q Eric, Castro Valley, CA - naming his website
Eric is 10 years old and wan to create a website called NonPChelp.com, where he helps people who use PCs that “aren’t PCs.” That means Mac and he’s afraid that Apple may sue him if he uses the term ‘Mac.” Leo doesn’t think that’s something Eric needs to worry about. Worst case, you get a cease and desist order. But that’s even unlikely.
Leo says that you can even go a step further and uses the terms Mac and Apple in the first 1500 characters of your site, so that Google will pick it up on search. Look for the field “title” on your website index file. That will help you alot. Go head and use MAC or APPLE. Probably your worst problem is finding a name that hasn’t been taken yet. And you can have a disclaimer saying your not affiliated with Apple - that’ll cover you.
Man, such a heady concern for a 10 year old boy!
Q Hector, Van Nuys, CA - wireless issues with his MacBook
Hector bought his MacBook about a year ago. Now he’s having wireless internet issues. Leo says it’s not unusual and it could be his modem is failing. Leo recommends returning the router to AT&T and requesting a new one. But if it works with other computers then the problem is with your MacBook. Could be a software issue. Try creating a new, dummmy account in OSX. Log into it and see if the issue is happening there as well. If so, then it’s a global issue prompting other action. But if it doesn’t happen, then it’s something unique to your account like a faulty setting or preference. You can then upgrade to Snow Leopard and see if that solves the issue.
Q Mark, Simi Valley, CA - photography
Mark is a professional photographer and has a few comments about Chris’ topic today. Lighting is always an issue. People tend to over rely on their flash and don’t realize the range of those in camera flashes is severely limited. And with the change of such platforms like the Canon 5D Mk. II, professional photographers are now being asked to get into motion arena. So knowing your lighting and being able to take maximum advantage of it, while knowing it’s limitations is important.
Q Andrea, Lakewood, CA - New laptop with I series chip?
Andrea got a Toshiba laptop about a little over a year ago and it’s died. Toshiba fixed it, but it died again. So she’s looking for a new laptop. What does Leo think about the I3,5,7 processors? Leo says the I7 is too much for a laptop, sucks up the power. The I5 is a better choice for the future - it uses the Arrandale chipset. Good performance at low power draw. Even and I3 would be good for basic computing. If you’re not editing or gaming, then go with the I3 or I5.
Q Cheryl, Pasadena, CA - password problems with her Apple
She has an Apple G4 and can’t get the password. What can she do to reset it? Leo says you can clear the password with the OSX install disc. Run the boot disc and use the “forget passwords” command. It’ll wipe out the passwords and you can start over.
Have a great geek week!
