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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Saturday February 27, 2010
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
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Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Leo’s Wifi thief call goes viral
Last week, Leo had a caller named Jennifer who admitted she had been “borrowing a cup of wifi” from a neighbor for the last year and a half. Leo turned it into a teachable moment and now, it’s gone viral with a half million views!
Zynga cashing in on social media apps
Leo says that Zynga is making upwards of $200 million a year on social media applications like Farmville. He’s also convinced that they make them as addictive as possible because they are very hard to quit.
Hour 1
Q Michael, Moreno Valley, CA - Saving flash video
Michael is a member of Linda.com where he’s been learning video editing. He’s been using Firefox’s Video Downloader plugin, but it takes forever. He’d like to save all the flash videos and wants to do it in batch form. Leo says he needs a “site sucker.” For Mac, Site Sucker is the best. For PC, Web246 in the Chatroom suggests HTTrack.
Q Chris, Los Angeles, CA - audio quality
Chris is an audiophile and wants to know if it’s worth buying a TrueHD Blu-ray player for movies. Leo says not necessarily, but if you’re a true audiophile, TrueHD is lossless. But is there a difference between TrueHD or Dolby? Leo says that will be a good topic for Scott Wilkinson tomorrow, so stay tuned.
Q Byron, Los Angeles, CA - Remote recommendation
Byron would like to get an “oldtimers” remote control that has huge buttons and simple controls. Leo says there is a website called ActiveandAble.com that specializes in selling electronics for the elderly. Check out the Slicker Clicker, with just two knobs, it couldn’t be easier.
Q Jerry, Concorde, CA - File ownership
Jerry recently upgraded to Windows 7. He forgot to backup his iTunes library and now he can’t access his ID3 tags. Leo says to check your directory to be sure it’s not read only. R/C of the mp3 and see if you can modify the tags directory. It’s not unusual for you to lose “ownership” of a file when you migrate to it. Take ownership of the folder. Here’s a Microsoft Technote of how to do it in XP. Here’s also an article from the Chatroom that details it for Windows 7.
Q Justin, Windsor, Nova Scotia, CAN - using multiple operating systems
Justin called a few weeks back and asked about making a moving background for Windows. He created a moving video background for his laptop and killed his laptop battery in 10 minutes! Wow!
He’s using Windows 7 64 bit dual boot with Ubuntu. He’d like to add a third OS and wants to know if there’s any negative side effects. Leo says if you can figure it out, partition the drive and if you have enough space to do it, no, there’s no negative side effects at all. Go for it, Justin.
Hour 2
Q Don, Atascadero, CA - Smart Phones
Don wants to know what Leo thinks of the HTC Touch Pro 2. Leo says it’s a great phone. Can it be valuable as a PDA and research tool? Leo says that while Windows Mobile is very popular with business, and should be used if you use Microsoft Office, but where it falls short is with the browser. Leo suggests trying the browser and even get Opera Mini for it. But Skyfire is the best choice for a web browser. But the down side is that Windows Mobile is an over complicated OS for a phone. It also uses a stylus, which is a negative, but necessary since it has such a high resolution screen.
What as the root of Leo’s disappointment with the Nokia N900? Leo says it’s big, clunky, and sluggish. Could a software update fix it? Leo says yes. They’ve already updated it once, and hopefully, as they continue to do so, the performance will go up. And browser wise, it has Firefox, which is a plus. What about WikiDroid? Leo says it’s great because it strips all the images and just gives searchable text. But the upside is, you can install the entire wikipedia and search offline. It’s awesome.
Don also wants to talk about the history of the Apple Newton/Message Pad. Leo says that the Message Pad, originated under John Scully, was way ahead of it’s time and has truly become of age with the Apple iPad.
Q John, Burlington, ONT CAN - Unlocking phone
John wants to unlock his Blackberry phone for use on a trip to the States. Leo says that because Rogers uses a GSM phone, it shouldn’t be an issue to plug in a separate SIM card when in the US. And since John has an unlock code, it should be easy enough and would be if you were in Europe or Canada. But in the US, you can’t buy a SIM chip with a local number. So that’s problematic. What you could do is talk to Rogers about an International Data Plan so you don’t go bankrupt with roaming charges.
Q Dennis, Thousand Oaks, CA - Speeding up his PC
Dennis has a P4 PC with XP and it’s running really slow. He’s defragged, but that hasn’t helped as much. Should he use something like CCleaner? Leo says it’s voodoo and won’t really do anything. In fact, you could make matters worse by playing with the computer registry.
Leo says that your computer is slow due to BITROT. Over time, it simply slows down. That, and your computer is really old. The best thing to do … back up your data, erase the drive and restore your OS. Just start over. That’s what will bring your PC up to it’s best speed.
Leo says that LOOKOUT is supposed to be an anti-virus protection utility for Android. It’s free and does data backups, new virus definitions and more. And it’s only a matter of time before hackers really go after smart phones.
Q John, Temecula, CA - Video chatting with Skype
John’s mother loves to video chat via Skype, but wants to do more than just two people. Leo says Skype deliberately restricts it because of all the bandwidth it requires can break down the quality. But there’s other options. Try Oovo, where you can do up to six (4 free) and iVisit.
Q Nick, Birmingham, AL - Secure Data Backup
Nick wants to talk about data backup options. He has Time Capsule, which is part of the issue. But what can he do for offsite that is secure? Leo says that Carbonite has AS263 encryption, which is done locally and you keep the key. Then, they use SSL encryption to transmit the backup. So it’s unbreakable and absolutely secure.
Q Ellie, Honolulu, HI - ripping DVDs
Ellie would like to rip her DVD library onto her hard drive for the MAC. The Little App Factory’s RipIt allows you to rip the entire DVD - menus, special extras, the works - and then you can play it on your PC or use Handbrake (in concert with VLC Media Player) to make a smaller version.
Ellie calls in to report Hawaii is safe and sound, but has gotten tsunami warnings today just in case. She says the tide looks like something is surging and coming. Terrifying.
Keep track of Ellie on Twitter.
Hour 3
Q Thomas, Hemmitt, CA - Wireless Wireless Internet
Thomas has moved to the country and he’s going to have to get a wireless ISP because he has no DSL or Cable access. At that point, all you’re really left with is Satellite (very SLOW upstream, and latency and there’s severe bandwidth caps). Leo says there’s also WiMax, which is the 4G cellphone network that is very fast with DSL quality. But it isn’t available in most areas. Your best bet would probably just be getting your wireless access via your cellphone company, but beware of the 5GB cap you’ll be up against. What you could also do is get with your neighbors and create a kind of Co-op and buy a T1 line from the phone company.
Check out broadbandreports.com, enter your zip code and you’ll get a better handle of what’s available in your area.
It’s the rural areas which Leo says should motivate the US to create a kind of Tennessee Valley Authority which would wire rural areas.
Q Nick, Moreno Valley, CA - Podcasting
Nick has a podcasting channel (he calls himself the poor man’s TWiT network) and he’s like to have guests and mix in the video sources. He’s been using Wirecast and Vidcaster. Leo likes them, as well as Boinx. But Nick has the problem of it crashing in the middle of his shows. Leo says welcome to the bleeding edge! Even Leo has crashes on his TriCaster from time to time. Also, understand that video is expensive bandwidth wise and Leo says when you’re just starting out, stick to audio. Then build up gradually as you build up your audience.
Check out Nick’s channel at pbcasttv.com.
Q Larry, Tustin, CA - Watching Flash Movies
Larry has been using Real Player to watch flash movies. What’s better? Leo says that Real Player was big in the 90s but suffered from junkware and inferior quality. Leo says that hardly anyone uses Real anymore. Why not watch with Flash Player? Also, VLC Media Player (free) will also work.
Q Eric, Castro Valley, CA - Jailbreaking his iPod
Eric is thinking about jailbreaking his 2nd Gen iPod Touch. Leo says NO! Don’t do it! But Eric wants to do screen casts of his iPod Touch applications like Steve Jobs does in his keynotes.
Leo says the only way us lowly minions can do it is to jailbreak it. The good thing is if the problem occurs after jailbreaking, you can restore it in iTunes and get it back to where it belongs. How does he do it? Leo says it depends on your firmware. QuickPwn.com is one option. But Leo also say you can get other options by simply Googling jailbreak with your OS version.
Will it void his warranty? Leo says that if you restore the phone afterwards, you really can’t tell you did. So there’s really little to worry about there.
Q Christine, Fountain Valley, CA - DSLR recommendation
Christine wants to take the leap to a DSLR, but doens’t want to start with an entry level body like the Canon XSi. What mid range DSLR does Leo recommend? Leo says it largely depends on your budget. For $1,000 you can get the Canon EOS Rebel T1i with an 18–55mm lens (equiv. 24–75mm). Leo says that Nikon is another excellent brand. Nikon tends to be faster in focusing for action.
If you want video, then Leo recommends the Canon EOS 7D, which shoots 1080p HD video. Cost is around $1700. [ISBN:B001ET5U92|[Nikon - D90]].
Q Doug, Shelby, MA - Shooting in RAW
Doug got a good camera but didn’t realize it records in JPEG by default! Leo says you can set your camera to RAW - if available, but you need to make sure you have a memory card which can store the size of the images. A 21MP camera will save a file that’s over 21MB per. So you have do the math to determine how large a card to get. And if necessary, get more than one. It’s good insurance anyway.
See you tomorrow!
