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Saturday June 19, 2010

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Edited Audio

Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

Apple’s iPhone 4 goes on sale

Apple says that the new iPhone 4 has broken a new record as over 600,000 people preordered on Monday alone making it the largest presale in Apple’s history. It was so wildly popular, AT&T had to suspend sales as their servers were overwhelmed. Apple now says that future online orders won’t be filled until July 15 for a July 25 delivery.

Leo is mystified as to why the iPhone is so wildly popular. Is everyone who already have an iPhone going for an upgrade? Leo says it’s a nice phone, better screen, better camera, and thinner. But it’s just an upgrade and frankly, there are better handsets out there.

Are you going to wait in line for the new iPhone?

Apple’s Shares Set a new Record

Apple surpassed Microsoft last month as the most valued tech company on the market and now Apple’s shares have set another record with shares worth $275 per share, with a market value of over $250 BILLION, second only to Exxon.

Meanwhile, BAM Investors predicts that Apple shares will plummet by this fall … oh yeah, we believe that.

The World Cup is the most popular Web Event in History

Leo goes to E3

Red Dead Redemption - Grand Theft Auto in Cowboy Hats

Little Big Planet 2 - Follow up to the wildly successful kids game.

Nintendo DS3D was the big ticket. Glassesless 3D, sort of. It also has a slider to increase or decrease the effect to adjust how the effect works.

No updates for the XBox 360 or the PS3. In fact, an update on a game platform is rare. But Microsoft did announce Kinect (formerly Natal) which is similar to the Wii Bar or the EyeToy for the PS3.

Kinect is more advanced and takes the place of your controller - using face recognition and other sensors to control the game. You can bet Lucas arts will take advantage of that with upcoming Star Wars titles. Leo says that Kinnect will be a winner. It’s very physical and does the WiiFit one step better. It’ll be great for social gaming and parties to be sure.

Sony Move is essentially a duplicated WiiMote which is probably better than the Wii but does the same thing.

Leo is playing BioShock 2 right now and he thinks it’s pretty innovative. But strip the concept down and it’s still a first person shooter and it’s always interesting how popular the FPS games are. In fact, Leo says that you see so many first person shooters is because it’s an easy thing to do not only programming wise, but also playing.

Casual gaming is also getting wildly popular thanks to the iPad and Smartphones which allow gamers who don’t have a lot of time to still have a fun experience. And in fact, Leo was surprised not to see as many casual apps at E3 showing this convention may be a bit out of touch. Casual games are the next big thing - especially those that are free, but tempt you to make in game purchases of virtual items for real cash.

T-Mobile offers every phone free for Father’s Day

T-Mobile is doing an interesting “no more ties” promotion for Father’s Day only offering any phone they have for free today only. Leo says that’s great only there isn’t any phone T-Mobile really offers he’d like to get. But they do have the BlackBerry Curve, the Samsung Behold. But do they have Android phones? He doesn’t think so.

Guests

Dick DeBartolo, The Giz Wiz

Today, Dick shows us the MytDriver. This ratchet based screw driver can drive screws into hard wood thanks to fold up arms that can allow you increase torque and also screw into tight spaces.

It uses the principal of leverage to screw in hard to screw materials. It also has LED lights, bits, the works. Whole kit … $20. Great tool that actually improves on the screwdriver which Leo thought was nearly impossible unless you’re Dr. Who.

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Hour 1

QEd, California - Dying MacBook

Ed has a MacBook that’s dying and he’s looking to replace it. Is refurbished a good option? Leo says it’s a great option if you get it from the manufacturer. Most refurbished items are simple returns that can’t be resold as new. You have a new warranty and the models are current. They are safe bets, and you’ll no doubt save a few hundred dollars. But don’t go to a third party as you are running a risk of getting a repaired laptop that may end up having more problems.

Ed also wants to know Leo’s thoughts on how much storage he should get. Leo says they start at 250GB and that’s pretty huge, and you can always add an external USB hard drive if you want to increase the size. The only caviat is if you’re doing video. Do one project at a time, and maybe then get a larger hard drive. As for RAM, you can get by with two but you should really get 4GB.

Q Esther, Temecula, CA - Camera recommendation

Esther wants a camera that she can use on water. Leo says this is a new category started by Pentax which allows people to take images in pools or on the lake. Most do fairly well as regular point and shoot cameras as well. Canon, Pentax and Olympus all make them now. DPReview.com has a great article reviewing all the pocket waterproof point and shoot cameras. Pay close attention to performance underwater as it can vary greatly. Leo’s choice would probably be Olympus.

Q Ken, Dallas, TX - Strange Hard drive issues

Ken says he thinks his Hard drive constantly being accessed. Is that normal? Leo says there’s a good chance the hard drive is being indexed and that can take a few days. It’s a service that kicks in when your computer goes idle. R/C My computer and select system manage. At the bottom, you’ll see what services are running. You’ll see several services that are always running and they can be disabled if you want to. But it’s not really necessary. Also, check at your task manager to see if there’s something running there. Look under processes and CPU use and you’ll see what’s being used.

Check out Windows SysInternals Tools for more in depth analysis.

Q Sandra, Los Angeles, CA - Internet discounts for Seniors

Sandra wants to know if there’s an ISP out there that offer senior discounts. Leo says that’s a great idea since most seniors don’t use a lot of bandwidth. Leo suggests talking to AARP and see if there’s any offers out there through them. Also, Leo recommends DSL Extreme because they are very affordable but also independent and can go to bat for you with the phone company should issues arise.

Leo also says we should prepare ourselves for tiering coming to home internet use. Originally announced for the iPad with AT&T, Leo says that cracked up the glass wall and he predicts that not only will the other wireless companies follow, but ISPs will pick up the trend as well.

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Hour 2

Q Billy, Enon, OH - Video sync issues

Billy bought a Microsoft LifeCam and the audio/video is out of sync. Leo says that the main reason audio is out of sync is because it takes longer time to compress video than it does the audio and as such, it can fall behind as the software waits for the video to catch up. It’s a common problem, especially in high resolutions. In fact, this is a known problem that is what TimeCode was invented for with professional video. Consumer video doesn’t have it and it’ll be an issue for some time to come.

Q Ko, Fontana, CA - capturing old video tape

Ko transfers a lot of old video footage and is now going towards old photos and slides. Leo says if you have a ton of old photos, it’s best to have a service to do it as it has a lot of labor to scan and clean up old photos.

Ko also got the Canopus ADVC 300 for capturing his old video. Leo says that’s a very good analog to digital video converter. Ko is concerned, however, with the age of these old tapes. Leo says that with video as old as 15 years, you need to be careful as tape can begin to deteriorate over time. And the longer it takes the worse the tape will be - the iron oxide will flake, the tape become brittle. So you really want to do it now.

But Ko is going the best way using the Canopus and use a capture/editor like Adobe’s Premiere Elements and also edit it down. Then backup the captured footage to an external hard drive. You can also use a VHS-DVD-R video recorder to capture directly to DVD. That is the fastest way if you have a ton and you just want to dub straight over.

What about software that will help restore and provide color correction. Leo says that if you’re a Mac user, Final Cut Pro has a lot of restoration plugins. There’s also a plug in called Magic Bullet. There’s really no shortage of tools out there to help clean up your video.

Once you get it from analog to digital, Leo also recommends keeping the original capture on an external hard drive. That’s your master and with ultimately, you’ll want to make a copy and edit it down. Store the original and cull down by editing copy, burning it to DVD.

Great project. Don’t put it off because those old analog tapes aren’t going to last much longer.

Q Rob, Columbia, TN - Audio issues.

Rob got a new Gateway laptop and was hoping to use it to capture audio. But it won’t let him since it has no audio jack. Leo says he has a hunch you can record the audio, but you can’t really hear it. Rob says his computer doesn’t have an audio input jack, so he can’t input an audio connection.

Since you have a USB jack, you can get an analog to digital converter which will allow you to convert and capture via USB. Griffin has one called the iMic which works well. Leo also recommends getting one that lets you choose between mic and line level. But it’s a really low cost solution.

Q Raymond, Irvine, CA - BLSoD!

Raymond’s Wife has a Black Screen of Death! A few quick flashes and then black. They connected to an external monitor and was able to see the screen after running a utility or two. They ran all the AVS options. Leo says that Raymond’s instinct to run on an external monitor was a good one. But since the computer no longer does, it seems to be worse.

Leo says it sounds like the computer is working, but the monitor isn’t driving. It’s probably a bad screen in the laptop lid. It’ll require repair. Hopefully, Raymond has it under warranty.

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Hour 3

Q Hector, Glendora, CA - Loves his iPhone

Hector loves his iPhone so much, he ordered his new iPhone 4 bright and early on day one. What is it about the new iPhone? Hector likes the 5mp camera, the HD video capability, and even the LED flash. Leo says the iPhone is late to the party for HD. The EVO has an 8mp camera, nearly twice that of the iPhone. Leo thinks what it’s really coming down to is that they’re all iPhone fans. Hector buys his phone and sells the old one on eBay so he can always upgrade. It’s great!

Leo also says that in terms of hardware, Android phones are superior save one feature - that new Retina screen is the best screen for a phone Leo’s ever seen. But Leo also sees that the iPhone is more polished, elegant, feels better in the hand.

Q Joe, Thomasville, GA - Phones for the disabled

Joe is disabled and wishes there was a smartphone for the disabled. Leo says that the iPhone has great access for the disabled - Apple has gone the extra mile to make their products accessible for that reason.

Joe wants to know if you can overload an HDTV with too much digital signal. He uses The Chatroom is of the opinion that you can, but he’s going to ask Scott Wilkinson about it tomorrow, so stay tuned.
this article on fixing Antennas is called “If it doesn’t work, now what?” According to it, it is possible. Overload can happen when you add a signal amp and too much signal can make the amp non-linear when it needs to be linear. As such, it causes complete dropout. Use an “attenuator,” to limit your boost. It may also be caused if you’re close to an FM station or a police station whose audio band is causing the issue. Aim your antenna more carefully or use an FM trap to filter out the FM signals.

Cybil in the Chatroom says it’s called “Front end desensing.” It could also be what’s called “frequency clipping.”

Q Bruce, Carpenteria, CA - Voice dialing with Android phones

Bruce finds that you can’t use voice dialing over Bluetooth with the Android? Leo says that Android doesn’t have that feature, but you can get a third party voice dialer accessory like BluAnt. Leo recommends the Q1 as it is said to offer true hands free dialing with Android.

Leo also uses his Android phone in concert with his Ford Sync all the time. So the real answer is … maybe.

What about AMOLED screens on the HTC Incredible? Leo says they’re beautiful! But like most phones, they don’t do well in bright, ambient light. You have to turn the brightness all the way to make it useable. So AMOLED isn’t much worse, but it isn’t much better either. And you don’t want to do it all the time. But it’s certainly not a deal breaker when considering the Incredible.

Will a screen cover help? Leo says they’re klunky/klugey and Leo doesn’t use them. And a capacitance touch screen makes it a challenge. you need to be sure the cover is conductive. And considering how short a time that someone uses a smart phone, it’s not really worth it as it doesn’t get “that” scratched up. They’re really hard now and can take a good solid scratching with no trouble.

Q David,Temecula, CA - the iPhone

David ordered the iPhone 4 at 5am on Tuesday and he’s getting it soon! Leo’s jealous. AT&T sold 600,000 phones and shut down the site by noon, so David was really lucky to get it. David says that the iPhone is all about spit and finish. It’s like an high quality watch. Sure it tells time like a Timex, but it just looks beautiful. And Leo agrees, but doesn’t really see it. He still believes that the Android is quite comparable, but he understands the vibe.

David does wonder if the antenna/body cast is really the difference. Leo says that dropped calls were a flaw in the original iPhone design and by making the phone’s metal case an antenna very well defeat that flaw.

See you tomorrow gang!

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