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Sunday May 2, 2010

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Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

HP Buys Palm

Having never recovered from losing the market to the iPhone, Pam went on sale and in what Leo says is a better ending than anyone dreaded, Hewlett Packard buys Palm for $1.2 Billion ($5.70 a share). HP has deep pockets, great marketing, and everything else Palm didn’t have, Leo says this is a new beginning for a struggling pioneer in the smart mobile computing category. Citing a desire to be a major player in mobile computing, could HP be angling to use WebOS as a slate competitor to the iPad?

1.4 Million iPads sold

According to Chitika, a company that measures iPad access to the Internet, nearly 1.4 million iPads have sold through this weekend, making it crystal clear where the world is moving when it comes to computing.

Leo’s thumbnail review of the new 3G iPad… it’s the same. Battery life a little better. Speed is as inconsistent as 3G is. Sometimes up to 2 MBPS down, but the real issue is the latency … it’s quite high, and would be frustrating for gamers.

The two levels of access $15 per mo. for 250MB, $30 for all you can eat 3G. So they say.

SciFi writer Charlie Stross thinks this is the next great move in computing, away from complicated desktop OS’s to a more mobile platform.

Guests

Scott Wilkinson, Home Theater Magazine

Scott has changed his Twitter name from “skovar,” to “HTGeekScott.” This is in keeping with Scott’s new show on TWiT called Home Theater Geeks. Scott wanted his name, but someone has it and they don’t Tweet! What’s up with that? Leo says that you can contact Twitter and if a handle hasn’t been used in a long time, sometimes they’ll just give it to you. Also check out http://tweetclaims.com/ to claim a tied up twitter name.

Today, Scott is answering a few Home Theater questions:
Kurt Miller wants to know the difference between 7.1 Audicy DSX and Dolby Pro Logic 2Z. Audicy DSX synthesizes two extra channels and Dolby makes wider channels. Which is best? Scott says it depends. Dolby is, well … Dolby. It expands two channel sources, but 2Z creates ambiance. Audicy requires a special 5.1 output. So if you have two channels, go with Dolby. If you want to add height or wide channels, then choosing Audicy DSX is the way to go.

Rob in the Netherlands wonders about why don’t flat panels have overscan control? Overscan is a left over of CRT TVs since the edges have strange information - called digital hash - which lives on the edges. But it does it by scaling the image to fill the entire screen, which sadly degrades the image. How can you turn it off? Easier said than done as different TVs have different names (from screen size to aspect ratio to zoom). Leo says that choosing dot to dot, or as Scott says 1 to 1 picture mapping is the best way to go for seeing everything. You will get the “digital hash” from time to time, but you’ll see everything.

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Hour 1

Q Denise, Santa Clarita, CA - Migrating iTunes

Denise just upgraded to Snow Leopard and needs to switch her iTunes library, how? Leo says that it should’ve migrated. You should be able to open it up and all should be there. But if there’s nothing in the library, just open iTunes, choose import and it’ll import it in. Just be sure you check the advanced tab in preferences to know where the folder is for iTunes and also to check “keep iTunes Media folder organized.” Most importantly, choose “copy files to iTunes media folder” in order to have them all inside your home folder inside iTunes.

Denise also has a Mac Mini that doesn’t wake up. Leo says that there’s an on/off switch on the back. Press and hold and it will turn off. Then press it again and it’ll wake up.

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Hour 2

Q John, San Diego, CA - Time for a new phone?

John is getting courted by Verizon that he needs to pick a new phone. Leo says that’s usually their code for getting you to get a new phone so that they can tie you up for another two years (but they don’t tell you that). SO he’s thinking about changing services. Is Sprint good? Leo likes Sprint and they have great access and speed if you’re in a good Sprint neighborhood. You get an advantage going with a second level company because they tried harder to keep your business. Find out from other Sprint owners what they think. And even try it out. Most carriers will take back your phone and cancel your service after a week or so if it just doesn’t work for you. The big issue about Sprint though is that they use CDMA technology which isn’t popular worldwide. So if you travel a lot, Sprint may not be the way to go.

Q Zach, Stephenson Ranch, CA - upgrading old PCs at school

Zach has two computers running Windows 98. How can he upgrade them? Leo says that they are sold old that they won’t run anything more modern than that. Dump Windows and put Linux on them! Tell the school you can do it for free, too and they’ll be humming along. PCs that age probably won’t run a modern Linux, but there’s so many flavors of Linux, you can find one that will breathe new life into those PCs. Check out Ubuntu.com. You want “XuBuntu,” which is designed for old computers. And can add Open Office - a free Office clone. From the chatroom - EduBuntu is another good option - designed for schools.

Unfortunately though, he has no CD drives. You could invest in an external CD drive for $50. And if they have USB ports you can use a USB key to install them. Great project for Zach! Leo says this will give Zach a chance to learn import experience on UNIX for if he wants to go into computers for a career. XP may work, but Microsoft doesn’t support or sell XP anymore. And there will be no more security patches coming for it.

Q Paul, New Mexico - magazines on the iPad

Paul bought a 3G iPad this week and he couldn’t be happier. But he’s not really thrilled about something. Though reading his magazines and newspapers on it is outstanding, but to charge the same price or more for the digital version is nonsense. Leo says that if publishing companies don’t wise up, they’ll lose their business, much like Polaroid did when digital took the place of film. The old phrase “evolve or die” has never been more appropriate.

Q Bruce, Irvine, CA - Flying with the iPad, doing a blog

Bruce is a private pilot and he’s using the iPad for flying. He loves it. Is the size and issue? Maxwell says in the cockpit the size is an issue. Bruce says it can be, but you can read it, which is an advantage. He also does checklists and it’s really easy to use. Another advantage is the iPad’s “instant on” capability. Windows still can’t do that.

Bruce is also getting an HTC Incredible. Leo says it’s the second generation of the Nexus One, but the battery life is atrocious, so buy an extra battery. Bruce is doing a long distance bike tour and wants to blog it. Leo recommends Posterous. You can email anything to it and it’ll funnel it to your Blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, the works.

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Hour 3

Q Joe, Ringold, GA - Should he make “the Switch?”

Joe runs the media at his church and he needs to replace the computer he runs. His Church people say the Mac is the way to go, but he’s a PC guy. Thoughts? Leo says that if you’re comfortable using a PC, you won’t really gain anything running a Mac. Windows 7 is really refined now. Also, since Joe uses specific software for worship, it would be problematic to make the Switch. As such, the real issue isn’t the platform, it’s the software you’re using. And OSX and Windows 7 are about the basically the same now, outside of the religious arguements. Thing is, Windows is better on price, OSX better on security (which isn’t an issue for Joe and his church). Some say you’ll be faster on a Mac. Leo says that’s a biased point of view. You’re faster on what you’re faster on. The truth is, you should use the tool that is right for the software.

Q Steve, San Diego, CA - slow eCommerce site

Steve has a company with an eCommerce site, and it takes a long time to load the store. Leo says that studies show that if a store doesn’t load in 5 seconds, you’ll lose half your customers. But it isn’t the web host. Leo says that commerce section should run faster but understand that there’s a difference between the program that runs your eCommerce and the simple code your website operates. Leo has a hunch that the web guy who installed it, didn’t optimize your interface or tuned the server to make it run more efficient. From the Chatroom - XCart archives tracking stats in your database and over time, it can slow it down. Clear that out and it’ll speed up. Learn more here (thanks to Lady Montana in the Chatroom).

Check out Steve’s site is http://www.waveaudia.com

Q Rick, Valley Village, CA - Problem PC

Rick’s friend has a PC that’s pretty messed up and he can’t set a restore point. Leo says you probably need to set a restore point from the command line. And some programs don’t open from the desktop. Also, you want to re-associate your files to the programs you want to open. But Leo suspects that the hard drive is going bad … and fast. Back up the data and get a new one. Also, there’s probably a ton of malware on his system now. You can download and install Microsoft Security Essentials, or do the Eset free online scan.

And restore points are only going to backup the malware if it’s already infected.

Q Ron, Kansas, City, CA - Starting a video podcast

All you really need is a tripod and a camera. Record, edit. iMovie works great on the Mac for that. Then put it up on YouTube. YouTube is where the audience is and Google indexes it really well. And people can subscribe. Leo says that the easiest way to do it is with YouTube. If you think that a podcast is a show distributed by RSS feed. And if you want people to get it via iPod, etc., there’s Wordpress, with it’s podcast plugins like “Podcast Machine.” And Libsyn, which charges a very affordable price for storage. Feedburner for creating your RSS feed.

Video camera wise, Leo likes the Kodak Zi8, because it has a mini mic jack so you can use a better mic.

Have a great geek week!

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