For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the TWiT Netcast Network

Sunday February 21, 2010

«Previous Show

Next Show»

Show Audio

Edited Audio

Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

Pennvsylvania School Spying on Kids getting more news attention

A Pennsylvania school district gives their kids laptops for their schoolwork and is now catching fire for their assistant principal turning on the webcam in order to spy on students. Now parents are up in arms and have filed a class action lawsuit for invasion of privacy. The district counters that they have a right to include spy software on the laptops in case they are stolen. But when the assistant principal uses that software to spy on his students, Leo thinks this lawsuit is a winner for parents and is a shocking violation of privacy rights.

Google is now a power company

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted Google Energy, the right to behave like a utility in order to provide and sell power at market rates. The idea is for Google to go carbon neutral by using alternate sources of energy exclusively and then, if they have extra, they can sell it.

US, Canada and others in a secret copyright treaty negotiations

Computer World reports that the US and other countries are engaged in secret negotiations for the ACTA treaty, which would make ISPs liable for copyright violations of it’s subscribers. It would force ISPs to permanently terminate, with no due process, connection to the Internet and blacklist you for life so you can never get Internet access. WITH. NO. DUE. PROCESS!

Twitter phishing attack underway

There’s a Twitter Phishing scam going on where you get a Tweet that says “LOL, Is this you?” and gives a link. You click on it, you end up being asked for your Twitter password again. DO NOT CLICK ON IT OR GIVE YOUR PASSWORD. ANd if you already have, or your friends start asking why you’re sending stuff, change your password immediately.

Leo’s tech stories are available at http://delicious.com/twit.

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Home Theater Magazine

Today, Scott wants to vent about copy protection. Not only does blu-ray copy protection prevent users from ripping Blu-ray discs, but it can also prevent users from playing the Blu-ray on anything but approved Blu-ray players. And now, content providers (i.e., money grubbing Hollywood) is now demanding that the Blu-ray copy protection be turned on and not only that, starting in January 2011, the MPAA will attempt to use it to turn off access to component video/audio (i.e. the analog window) in new Blu-ray players.

Leo says it burns him that player manufacturers are being forced to do this and that amounts to being an anti-competitive monopoly. Scott also says that older TVs won’t be able to enjoy the HD signal except via HDMI. The great irony is, according to Leo, that this nonsense doesn’t stop pirates in the least and all it really does is push law biding citizens into piracy because it’s just plain easier than jumping through all the hoops that the MPAA require.

So get your blu-ray player and upgrade your receivers now, gang, before January 2011 closes that window.

Don’t forget to check out Scott’s podcast - HOME THEATER GEEKS right here on the TWiT network. This week - Kevin Biggs, chief speaker designer at Revel speakers.

Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor

Chris Marquardt joins us to talk about old school, analog photography. When did you shoot your last roll of film? The great impact of digital photography is that you take a lot more images and you have greater control of managing the image (called the digital darkroom). And because you’re taking more images and you get an instant preview, you end up getting better.

But what hasn’t changed is photo composition - how you see the world through the camera. There’s a whole generation growing up without experience in analog film photogrpahy and a “boom” is building as young photographers wish to experiment with filmed photography. Leo says the process of going into the darkroom, developing the film and enlarging the negative and exposing onto the paper is something he’s really enjoyed and misses. Chris agrees and says that the ability to take your time working out that image the old school way is a good thing.

What you can do is use a hybird approach. Shoot on film, develop it and then scan the film to work it into the digital world for further processing. So that way, you get the best of both worlds.

And analog photography gives you back the “accidental creative moment.”

---

Hour 1

Q Chuck, Santa Monica, CA - Video conferencing

Chuck puts on a conference for documentary producers and he’d like to have a worldwide pitchfest using Skype or something similar. What are his options?
Leo says there’s a cheap and fancy way. Leo says you can use something like Stickam, which would enable users to create a live web stream that anyone could watch. You could create a channel that would allow anyone to watch the conference and then, they have a capability for up to six other contributors in a sidebar via video.

Vidyo is a business teleconferencing utlity you could also use. It would cost, but it’s in HD and perhaps they’d be willing to cut you a deal to get the exposure to your clients.

For more information about Chuck’s Documentary TV conference, go to http://www.thewestdoc.com/.

Q Stephen, Santa Cruz, CA - Utility to troubleshoot a PC

Stephen says he can’t access his OS or Hard drive and needs a utility that can fix the problem. Leo says that he Ultimate Boot CD is a great option of what you can do to troubleshoot when your computer stops working. On the Mac side is called TechTool Pro. But it’s not cheap.

---

Hour 2

Q Ellen, Upstate NY - webcam monitoring

Ellen is about to get a wind turbine to provider her power. Her installer would like to monitor the turbine via webcam. Any ideas how to do this cheaply? Leo says that if you need video, that’ll be very difficult with uploading in rural areas. But you can take a Logitech Quickcam 9000 and have it take still images and upload them every minute or so. Part of the problem will be to get your camera setup and connected to your home and still see your turbine. You can buy an inexpensive webcam and hook it up to a computer. Leo likes Webcam32, but it’s gone out of business. Even Microsoft has one called Webcam Timershot that’s part of their PowerToys collection. The Chatroom says ManyCam, Webcam Max, YAWCam, TinCam and then there’s the company AXIS, which provides for wifi enabled webcams. You’d then set it up to upload to a website via FTP.

Q Zack, Los Angeles, CA - Ripping DVDs to an iPod

Zack wants to take DVDs of his favorite TV Show and rip them to his iPod. Leo says it’s pretty easy and Hollywood considers it illegal under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. But Leo doesn’t think that’s right. Handbrake is the best option, but you also need VLC Videolan Client installed so Handbrake can make it into the right file for your iPod.

Q Phillip, Washington State - WiFi trouble

Phillip has a Fujitsu laptop and he’s suffering from slow internet and break up over Skype. He’s run speedtest.net and pingtest.net and his quality is really low. Leo says that insufficient bandwidth is one symptom. But there can be others. Having a troubled WiFi connection can also cause it. Being wired will help a lot. Would changing ISPs help? Leo says yes, absolutely. Leo says that Phillips current ISP has too much latency and jitter.

Q Ranine Sarhi, Germany - Uploading video podcast in Garage Band

Ranine is 13 and he wants to do a video podcast using Garage Band. Leo says you’d use iMovie to use the video podcast and then upload it using iWeb and it’s media browser. You’ll want to save it out in a format that is appropriate for the web like H.264. Then you’ll embed it.

How does Leo do graphics on his live video stream? Leo says he uses the Tricaster by NewTek, which has all the hardware and software and runs on XP. It’s not cheap, but it does allow you to make a “poor man’s TV station.”

Q Steve, Reno, NV - video storage recommendation

Steve got bit by the DVR bug and would like to get a video storage unit. Leo says that there is a product that will expand your DVR by exploiting the analog hole. You could also buy a series 1 TIVO, which wasn’t encrypted. Then you can do whatever you want with it. Windows Home Media Server or the HP Network Attached Storage (NAS) which you can then run the video from anywhere. Get a video capture card which you can then capture the video coming from the analog hole. Leo likes Pinnacle Studio 16. Then you can put the video anywhere.

Q Gabriel, San Clemente, CA - Google Voice issues

Gabriel is having trouble accessing Google Voice with his password. The tech support isn’t great. Leo says one thing you can do is set up your cellphone to get a password update. Likely, someone hacked your password and changed it.

---

Hour 3

Q Kym, California - Backing up music

Kym wants to backup her music MP3s and put them on her new laptop. Leo says with the number of mp3s she has, backing up is vital. She uses Windows Media Player. Leo recommends to backup to an external USB hard drive and just drag and drop them onto it. You can also use Microsoft SyncToy which you can schedule and back everything to the hard drive on a schedule so it’ll then include anything new. But that isn’t enough. It’s important to adopt a 3-2-1 rule of backing up (3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 off site). This guarantees you have backups no matter what may happen.

Q Tom, Northridge, CA - Internet connectivity trouble

Tom is frustrated with Time Warner’s intermittent Internet outage. Is he better off getting DSL? Leo says no. One isn’t better than the other. You just have a bad cable connection. And according to Luiz our board operator and the chatroom, Time Warner is notorious for bad technical support and the internet drop out is common. DSL does have the advantage of not having to share bandwidth with your neighbors. Leo recommends talking to your neighbors about what they use and if they like it. As for DSL providers, Leo recommends an independent provider like DSLExtreme, who will work hard to keep your business and will let you know if DSL is available in your area.

Q Parker, Tennessee - Overscanning TV with laptop issues

Parker got a new Asus Laptop and he’s got trouble with resolution issues when he connects it to a TV via HDMI. Leo says that’s a common problem. When computers are connected to a monitor, they have a monitor driver that handles the resolution options. But with TVs there are no drivers and the computer usually relies on a generic driver. But if your computer picks up the resolution properly, you may have “overscan” turned on. If you disable overscan, it’ll solve the problem. XP99 says that over the air video has noise on the edges and that’s why overscan was created, to deal with that chatter.

Q Gil, California - Slow video play in flash

Gil has an old G4 Powerbook which works well with over the net video, but his flash video is getting really slow. Leo says that the reason he hates flash is because it’s a bandwidth hog and is very slow.

Gil is going to get a new Powerbook and wants to know if upgrading the GPU will help. Leo says that in the Mac, Flash doens’t use the GPU, but getting more horsepower under the processor hood is a good idea and will help.

Q TiWi, Los Angeles, CA - Sony eSeries

TiWi wants to know what Leo thinks of the Sony eSeries laptop. Leo saw it last month at CES and he was impressed. A tad pricey, of course. It’s a Sony. But Leo says it’s a good buy.

Q Diana, San Bernadino - Laptop recommendation

Diana is in the market for a new laptop, budget around $1200. Leo says that a 13″ Macbook is excellent. But Diana needs something bigger. Thoughts on the Sony Vaio? Leo says that Sony makes nice, beautiful hardware. But he’s a Dell fan, but because they build to order, it can take a little longer to get the order. But Leo says they’re worth the wait. Leo has the XPS Studio 16 and loves it. And the new i7 Arendale chip will really make it rock. What about 64 bit? Leo’s not really a fan of 64 bit for everyday use. It chief function is for accessing more than 4GB of RAM.

Leo says the benefit of the MAC is no security issues. Leo’s rule of thumb - MAC in the home, Windows in the Office. And you can run Windows on them, as well.

Have a great geek week!

---

«Previous Show

Back to TOC

Next Show»