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Sunday March 7, 2010

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Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

Lower Marion School District in trouble with the Feds now

The School District in Pennsylvania has admitted to 42 episodes of spying on school children with a program called LandWave (made by LoJack). LoJack claims that changes to the software have made it impossible for the users to turn on the webcam now unless done by police warrant. Leo says we may have dodged a bullet this time, but this is surely a warning sign that webcams aren’t that scure and should be covered when not in use

Apple throws a tentrum, sues HTC for 20 patent violations

Although Multi-Touch should be the main patent violations, there are 20 other which Apple is suing HTC over (although the violations are made by Google’s Android OS). Why didn’t Apple go after Google? Deep Pockets. And though lawsuits can take years to resolve, Apple has also appealed to the International Trade Commission to prohibit importing HTC phones into the United States. And while they have every right to protect their patents, Leo believes this is anti-competitive and may result in backlash from consumers.

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Home Theater Magazine

[technical difficulties with KFI stream prohibited getting the beginning of this segment. Will repost later today.]

Leo says many ISPs are stuck with copper cable because the FCC gave a “duopoloy” to Cable companies and copper can only go so fast. Luckily, Verizon is offering FIOS fiber optic cable directly to the house. So Internet Broadcasters will be able to come into their own with serious HD video then.

Leo says that convergence is finally here with ethernet plugs built into new HDTVs making them Internet ready. And Scott says the death of traditional television is on the horizon.

Here’s a few questions -

Ashley Hill - The Satellite signal comes into the house via the Coax. Why can’t you just bypass the tuner box and go directly to the TV? Scott says that’s a great question. The signal has all the channels embedded into the signal simultaneously. The Tuner then picks out the channel you want from that giant digital furball of a signal. All TVs do have ATSC & QUAM tuners which can do this with broadcast and unencrypted digital cable channels, but not premium/encrypted channels. Those you need an external box for. The point is, without the box, you could get it for free.

Leo says that some TVs have a cable card capability which can bypass the external box. Scott says they are being phased out, unfortunately. The new TIVO box has a cable card box slot. Leo says that the FCC has given up on cable card. The truth is, that the Cable and Phone companies don’t really have consumer’s interest in mind. They have been granted a monopoly, but it’s all changing with convergence.

With the Academy Awards on tonight, people are no doubt going to the store to buy a new HDTV. What are the good options? Scott says Vizio isn’t too bad. Samsung’s 8000 and 8500 are great, and the 8500 is far better than the 8000 because it enjoys LED backlighting with local dimming. And you should get it while you can as Samsung is phasing out LED backlighting with local dimming.

Viewing angle is important if you’re having a party. Scott says yes, and LCDs are problematic, and with the issues Plasma’s are having with sudden darkening of black levels growing more and more, what does Scott recommend? He doesn’t know at this point.

Local dimming also makes the image “plasticky,” says Leo. Scott says you can turn that off in the menu settings.

Doctor Mom - New York’s ABC Battle with Cable Companies

According to Doctor Mom, Cablevision has dropped ABC from their lineup today to make a point over contract negotiations. ABC wants more to broadcast their shows than Cablevision wants to pay. Leo says this just underscores the point that TV is dying and stuff like this will just push more viewers to Internet Television.

Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor

Using Depth of Field in Macro Photography is our topic today. A true macro is where the image is as big as the picture itself. With DSLRs, you can get a dedicated macro lens which gives you a LOT of depth of field, whereas shooting on a point and shoot macro setting gives you very little depth of field.

There is a technique for Macro photography lovers called “focus stacking.” You basically take different pictures at different focus points. Then you combine them in PC image software and merge them together. CombineZM does this. Helicon Focus is available for Windows and Mac for about $30 and also Photoshop CS4 has the feature built in (called “autoblend” with a stacking option). You can manually do it if your photo editor supports layers, but it’s labor intensive.

Don’t forget that our current Tech Guy Flickr Group assignment is SPRING! To take a picture with Spring as it’s subject and post it on Flickr tagged with the Tech Guy Group. If Chris likes it, we’ll talk about it on the show!

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Hour 1

Q Justin, Windsor, NS, CAN - Internet Television

Justin wants to know if convergence is here and if Internet Television is the wave of the future. Leo says yes and he’s gone “all in,” on it - having not been on regular TV for two years now. And with Internet TV, you can forget about a 500 channel universe, ITV is an unlimited channel universe!

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Hour 2

Q Jay, Gilroy, CA - TV sound

Jay wants to know how he can improve the sound in his TV. He has a set of computer speakers with sub woofer. Leo says that 5.1 encoding has a center channel for voice only. He recommends picking up a home theater in a box setup, which is designed to take the audio and divide it for it’s maximum Dolby 5.1 presentation. They come with AV receivers with HDMI IN and optical out. Would a sound bar help? Leo says it does the same thing but it simulates it digitally. Leo also says the TV’s audio settings can also be adjusted to improve the dialog track.

Scott delayed his brunch to chime in - Scott agrees that a better sound system makes a huge difference. He likes the Onkyo HTiB, Samsung and Sony makes good ones as well. And if you don’t need a DVD/Blu-ray player, Onkyo is your best bet because they have HTiBs that don’t include a player.

What about the Sound Bar? Scott says they simulate surround by bouncing sound off the walls and adjusting the phase difference to trick your brain to think it’s hearing surround sound. The Polk may be the ticket for Jay because of his specific room needs. Scott also recommends going to Home Theater Magazine and looking at the reviews of “compact speaker systems,” which is what sound bars fall under.

Q Eleer, Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Video with MSM msgr

Eleer has trouble with his video webcam using MSM Msgr. Leo’s not a fan of MSM messenger and recommends going to Skype instead. Also, the camera drivers may be corrupted. Leo says try another program to see if the webcam is working. If not, then unplug the camera, reboot the machine and plug the camera back in. This will reinstall the drivers. If it does, then it’s an MSM Msgr issue and Leo recommends Skype. It’s far better anyway.

Q Ted, Penninsula, CA - Roku box

Ted wants to know what’s the best Internet TV box? Roku? Leo says he hasn’t tested every box, but the Roku box is great because you can watch Hulu, rent premium content, and even watch TWiT podcasts! And with no monthly fee, it’s Leo’s favorite.

Q Matt - Sheboygan, NJ - Balancing midi audio

Matt wants to balance midi audio. Leo says you want a “henry” which will take the unbalanced analog audio and turn it into digital via USB.

Q Mark, Pokipsee, NY - USB flash drive issue

Mark has a 64 GB flash drive and it writes garbage. Leo says it’s probably just bad. Mark says he’s tried several different ones and the problem does it on all of them using both computers. Leo says computers don’t care about size etc. and Leo thinks they’re just bad. And considering he bought them on eBay, chances are, they are just cheap, lousy flashdrives.

Bunny Huang wrote and article recently about bad flash RAM. According to Bunny, chips that don’t test properly, some rogue chinese companies are making counterfeit flash drives from this faulty flash and selling them on eBay. Worth avoiding.

Q Mike, San Jose, CA - Calibrating HDTVs

Mike picked up a Pioneer Elite Kuro 1620FD, and he wanted to calibrate his own settings, but there’s no way to do it. Leo says that there’s no physical adjustments, and you have to modify the software to do it. You need to connect your computer to the TV (which voids your warranty, BTW) and use the software to get into the service menu. Leo says it’s not that surprising since today’s HDTVs are essentially computers. But understand that you void could even “brick” your Kuro TV if you don’t know what you’re doing. You can get 80% of the way by choosing movie mode in your menu settings, but if you really care about your TV and it being the best, it’s well worth the money to have a professional do it.

Q Dillon, Cincinnati, OH - Audio buzz

Dillon has a Tasco Mixer running into his Soundblaster and it’s persistent low buzz. Leo says that’s because you’re sending an analog signal into the soundcard. Leo recommends going into your computer via USB to avoid the buzz. You’ll need an analog to digital converter to do that. Leo also suggests a mixer that has a firewire out to go directly into it.

Q John, Lancaster, CA - slow running laptop

John has noticed his laptop has slowed to a crawl. He tried formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows, but that didn’t help much. Could be a flakey hard drive which is causing the computer to read it longer to get all the data. Time to get a new hard drive.

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Hour 3

Q Bill, Pomona, CA - Building a home theater PC

Bill wants to build a home theater PC. Should he get a dedicated video card? Leo says you want to use hardware that’s most compatible with your software. So start with the software. All you really need is a card that can take the input of the cable/Sat/ etc and run it to the software, so it’s important to use what’s best for the software. Does he need something super fast? Leo says for Blu-ray, you have to be sure the entire setup supports HTCP copy protection. And at that point, it’s just easier to buy one designed and built to it. Leo says that aside from the educational benefits, there’s really no advantage anymore to building your own rig. And with one bought, you have a support option that won’t be there if you build your own. HP makes a great one.

Q Tucker, Fountain Valley, CA - Jailbreaking iPod

Tucker wants to know if it’s a good idea to jailbreak his 2nd Gen iPod Touch. Leo says that although Apple doesn’t really like it, it’s not illegal. Just be sure that you can restore it back to it’s original condition in iTunes should you have to go to Apple for a problem. But here’s the thing - once you jailbreak the iPod, it’ll be unreliable. So although it opens up more software possibilities (that Apple doesn’t approve), it isn’t really worth it. But it’s easy to go back, so give it a try, you’ll learn a lot.

Q Nick, Utica, NY - The Microsoft Courier

Nick wants to know what’s going on with the new Microsoft Courier. How did the iPad announcement affect it? Leo says that the Courier is pretty cool, but he’s thinking it’s vaporware until he knows when it’s available and how much it is. But we don’t know any of that. Leo says this is just another “me too” thing to keep the public looking their way rather than jumping completely into the Apple pool. And there’s no way you can release a two screen device that can compete with the price of the iPad. Leo also says it’s not even the same category as the iPad. So don’t get excited about it yet as at this point, it’s like a “concept car” at an Auto Show.

Q George, Santa Monica, CA - Watching Internet TV

George likes to use JLCs InternetTV which shows TV from all over the world. Leo says you want to be careful though, this may have spyware on it. Let Leo check it out first. But since it’s on CNet, it’s probably okay.

Q Jill, Los Angeles, CA - Ordering the iPad

Jill says the rumor is that users can pre-order the iPad beginning Friday 13th. Should she wait and get the 3G? Leo says no. Leo’s going to get the cheapest WiFi model since 1) the 3G will have a monthly fee and 2) 16GB is large enough for what the iPad does. He’s always near a WiFi source, and it’s fairly large to travel with, so the WiFi version is fine for 99% of what you’re going to use it for.

The iPad will ship April 3rd.

Q Eric, Lawndale, CA - backing up images in Carbonite

Eric can’t backup his .JPGs with Carbonite. Leo says that most backup programs looks at the “archive bit,” and if it’s set, then it won’t backup. I can be reset though. Tom’s Hardware has an article on clearing it in Windows 7.

Have a great geek week guys!

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