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For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the
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Sunday June 6, 2010
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
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Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Steve Jobs to announce iPhone 4 at WWDC?
Steve Jobs will be keynoting at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday and the big rumor, which Leo believes, is that Steve will announce the new iPhone shipping immediately. Leo goes even further to say that Steve will also announce the iPhone AND the iPad available through Verizon! His evidence? AT&Ts new pricing scheme scuttling unlimited iPad data after just 38 days.
OTher possibilities, Apple may announce a new streaming version of the AppleTV that will compete directly with devices like the Roku Box.
AT&T changes course on online Data schemes
AT&T has suddenly reversed course and scuttled it’s $30 a month unlimited iPad bandwidth scheme, choosing to opt instead for a two tiered scheme of 250MB for $15 and 2GB a month for $25. Leo wonders if this is all of a sudden because of a breaking announcement by Steve Jobs at the WWDC? Seems too convenient for Leo.
If users buy and iPad today, even if they don’t take delivery right away, users will be able to get grandfathered into the original all you can eat plan. But starting tomorrow, that’s all over. Could it be that AT&T KNOWS more people will rush to Verizon due to poor customer service by AT&T?
And here’s another data point … AT&T has raised their cancellation fees to $375 effective tomorrow. Coincidence? We don’t think so!
Guests
Scott Wilkinson, Home Theater Magazine, @htcgeekscott
Scott has a few ideas for a caller the other day about connecting problems on his HDTV with a Bluray player. Scott says try a different input port like a DVI port. Also, it’s possible the HDMI board is bad. Try a different HDMI source device to eliminate a faulty HDMI output on the DVD player. Try a different HDMI cable. Eliminate the easy first before looking to replace hardware. Scott also says that if his TV is 720p, it may not be able to accept a 1080p signal (though if it’s a modern display, this is unlikely). If you can set the Bluray player to 720p that may be your solution (you may even need to set it to 768p) and you may end up with “double scaling” as an issue.
Leo wonders about 1080i though. All flat displays are now progressive, but if you have an older HDTV, what about using a 1080i screen with a 1080p? Scott says that older display will accept a 1080i signal and blu-ray players do sent out to that. But you may also see some artifacting. Should you avoid buying a blu-ray player if you have a 1080i TV? Scott says that’s going too far. You may just have to limit it’s signal to 1080i or even 720p.
Steve Gibson, Host of Security Now
There’s a flaw in Flash that Steve wants everyone to know about it. There’s a vulnerability in the widespread flash player which has caused a “zero day vulnerability.” Bad guys are jumping on this hard and fast to take over a user’s computer. If you’re not on Windows, or stay to safe, well known sites like Hulu or YouTube, you’re probably okay, but users are suggested to immediately upgrade their Flash to 10.1. Steve also says that it’ll probably take at least two weeks for Adobe to get 10.1 officially out, HOWEVER, there is an release candidate you can install - RC7. Go to AdobeLabs to get it.
Check out Steve’s new blog at steve.GRC.com.
Chris Marquardt - Tips from the Top Floor, @ChrisMarquardt
This week’s subject is SCALE, and it’s hard to do with landscape photogrpahy. Some think that if it’s big, the more wide angle the better. But that’s contrary to what you really should do. Wide Angle distorts things making things that are close look closer and far things look even further away. The real key is to make the large background get smaller from your subject and use 24mm. But in point and shoots, they usually don’t go super wide anyway, so it’s in the range you need to be to create some good scale in landscape. Another good idea is to have something in the image that people know what the size is. This shows scale to the memory. But sometimes, scale is just impossible to capture.
Check out Chris’ Everest images at http://www.flickr.com/groups/et2010.
Hour 1
Q iDoc Mark, Syracuse, NY - iPhone 4 vs. the HTC Incredible
Mark is curious about the new iPhone coming out. Leo says it’ll be evolutionary, not revolutionary. It will have a forward facing camera so users can make Skype video calls.
How does it compare with the HTC Incredible? Leo says it won’t outshine the screen. Mark says that won’t the Incredible have native tethering? Leo says he doesn’t believe Verizon is offering that option just yet, even though the new OS vs. 2.2 has it native in it.
Q Rob, San Francisco, CA - Web hosting
Rob is interested in starting a website for his small business. Where should he go to safely register his domain and should they host it? Leo says that any ICANN registrar is okay. It comes down to how much they charge? Leo’s not a fan of GoDaddy. He hates their sexist commercials and also after you register they try to upsell you with tons of offers before you finish. And then, every 90 days they automatically void your password so you have to call them to reset it. He believes this is creating an opportunity to upsell you again. And they constantly bother you. Leo says to avoid GoDaddy for these reasons.
Should you still use the registrar’s hosting? Leo says it’s a great idea to tie the two together and some hosts will even toss in the registration fees for free. How do you find a good solid web host? It depends on what your business is and what you want to do. Since Rob wants to create a “brochure” site, it’s very simple to host and operate. Leo recommends SquareSpace.com because they have software which makes it really easy to create a page and maintain it (content management systems). They cost about $8.00. Also TypePad.com $9.00. Both will also do your registration and forwarding automatically. Free choices included Wordpress.com and Vox.com but you’ll have competing ads from other businesses on your site. Stick with a pay option.
Hour 2
Q Mike, Portland, ME - HDTV connection issues
Mike’s mom is using Cablevision and is having trouble with connections with her Sony TV and they don’t know what to do. He’s swapped out TVs, Cable Boxes, and he finally finds out that it’s a “known issue” and they don’t support HDMI and have to go with component! Leo says component is an analog hi-def signal and she probably won’t really see the difference. Mike says that the component signal goes out as well. Deb Yanks in our chatroom says she had the same issue and fired Cablevision for Verizon FIOS.
But before you do that, try putting a DVR in between the box and the TV. Also, Leo says that it may also be the Scientific Atlanta Box that’s the culprit. You could consider using a different set top box that has cable card which will bypass dealing with SA altogether.
Q Tom, Maine - Tethering and the iPhone
Tom is a fan of This Week in Google and Leo says it’s a real enlightening show because of what Google is doing now. Tom also says that iPhone 4.0 will have tethering. Leo says that the iPhone could do tethering for a year now and does so in Europe and Canada, but AT&T won’t allow it here unless they can charge you for it. Leo also says that Apple can’t allow Verizon too soon.
Q Mark, California - recording XBox VGA Video
Mark wants to start a video game reviewing podcast and has no clue how to record a video signal from the XBox 360. Leo says that the first issue is getting the VGA video or even HDMI out and into your PC. HDMI is best. Then, you need to record it. Leo recommends a TV Tuner card that supports HDMI and record it that way, although you may need to use analog out if copy protection prohibits. Then it’s just a matter of recording the output like a TV show. Check out the Hauppage HD PVR. Also, Jacob Smalls has a great article that offers some tips.
Q Jeff, Oroville, CA - Printer adapters
Jeff’s wife is looking to upgrade their computer to the MAC but they don’t have parallel ports for an old printer. Leo says that Parallel died a long time ago, but you can get a USB to parallel adapter. The issue though, may be a driver. So for a driver for the printer you want to use first and you’ll probably have a hard time finding it. Another option is a parallel port extension card to add to your laptop. But Leo says just buy a new printer, that’s easier. Another options is HPs Jet Direct box which would put the printer on the network and you can then print through there.
Q Eve, Berkley, CA - Flakey iPod Touch
Eve’s iPod Touch is acting up and she wants to know what the lifespan is for them. Leo recommends restoring it. You may also want to consider going into DFU mode before you restore it. This is a hard reset, where the iPod Touch/iPhone will be made to force a restore of the firmware. First try restoring it through iTunes. It’ll format the drive and put the OS back onto it. If that doesn’t work, you can do a complete restore using DFU (device firmware update) mode. Open iTunes, plug in the iPod Touch, hold down the HOME and POWER button on the Touch. This is a hard reset. Then, while holding down both buttons, let go of the power button while holding the home button. 10–20 seconds later you should hear a beep. iTunes should then see it in DFU mode. If it doesn’t work, repeat it. If it doesn’t solve the problem, it’s definitely a hardware issue.
Hour 3
Q Ellie, Hawaii - Voiceover and the iPad
Ellie says that the New York Times app doesn’t work in voiceover! She says MLB got that problem fixed in two weeks. But what, no love from the Gray Old Lady?! Leo says that’s disappointing, especially that the NYT completely ignored Ellie’s letter. Now they get negative feedback on a nationally syndicated radio show!
Ellie’s site is HAWAII THROUGH OUR EYES. Check out her podcast.
Q Pete, Michigan - Laptop recommendation
What Acer laptop should he get? Leo recommends the T4400 with the expanded RAM and Intel chipset. Leo prefers Intel for their better processors but appreciates that AMD keeps the competition hot and Intel “honest.” Leo says that Acer isn’t top of the line, but he likes them. Upper tier laptops are Lenovo and Dell, but Acer is good for those on a budget.
Alan has an HP laptop for his daughter and they had to reinstall the OS and now, after reloading iTunes he says duplicates are appearing. Leo says that’s common as the library has entries and if you don’t delete them first, they will stay populated in iTunes. Leo recommends to just start over and delete the library. NOT the music, just the library entries. Then, add all the songs back. You can hold down the option key to find and delete, but it’s very conservative and doesn’t always get them all. Click on File, Display Duplicates with the option key pressed to display EXACT duplicates and then delete.
Q Robert, Fullerton, CA - WiFi trouble
Robert is having issues with his WiFi external adapter on his computer. He had to reformat his hard drive and now his WiFi won’t work. Leo recommends going to the manufacturer and download the latest drivers (you should anyway). The trick is to install the driver software BEFORE you plug in the hardware. And you may need the WiFi manager as well.
Q Roger, Torrance, CA - Lost music on iTunes
Roger’s wife had a computer who’s hard drive died and she’s bought a ton of music on iTunes. Is she out of luck? Leo says that Apple is quite specific that you need to backup your hard drive and treat it like your only copy. However, Apple has allowed those who are in this position on a one time basis to download everything again. Go into iTunes and email support with a heart felt mea cupa.
Roger also wants to know if the Panasonic G25 has the screen brightening issue? Leo says this is where, after about 1000 hours the screen will brighten. Leo suspects others may, but we don’t really know. But he wouldn’t let that stop you from getting a good plasma.
Q Don, Porter Ranch, CA - Wireless data without contracts
Don wants to go on vacation and have a wireless internet access without a contract. Leo says first, check where you’re going and see what the coverage is. Virgin Mobile and Cricket have month to month broadband cards. Virgin resells Sprint. So you need to get the EVDO adapter for Virgin and you’ll connect to Sprint. Also, if you use an Android 2.2 on the Nexus One and turn on your WiFi hotspot for free. But you need T-Mobile where you’re going.
Have a great geek week!
