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For more Leo all week long, listen to the
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Saturday 25 September 2010
Show Audio
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Edited Audio | |
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Posted one week after broadcast… | |
Tech News
Facebook Phone Rumor refuses to die
Leo is perplexed over the persistence of the rumors that Facebook is developing a website. It isn’t unprecedented, Google did it. But Leo didn’t buy it until Bloomberg did a story this week that Facebook is working on two different phone handsets.
Zynga’s Games most popular online
Supporting over 3 BILLION connections and pushing a petabyte of data every day, Zynga has some of the most popular games online.
Guests
Dick DeBartolo, The Giz Wiz, @thegizwiz
The news is that G.E. made their last incandescent light bulb this week and to commemorate, the Giz Wiz decided that today’s gadget of the week would be the C Crane GeoBulb3 Compact LED light bulb.
Rated for a 50,000 lifetime, uses 8 watts of power to put out more light than a 60 watt light bulb. And it uses about 47% less energy than a compact florescent bulb as well. Available in soft and warm white for about $40.
Hour 1
Q Kim, San Diego, CA - Emergency Cell Phone
Kim wants to get a cell phone for emergencies only. Leo says they’re referred to as a “burner phone,” and they usually have about 100 minutes built in, with no contract and they’re simple feature phones. You can get them at 7–11, Radio Shack, CVS, and other drug stores. The problem with cell phones used to be that they have regional locations in that in the event of a fire of break-in, you call 911 and they won’t know where you are. But most phones now have GPS capability so that they can at least get your general location. And burners are good for if you get a flat tire or into an accident.
But here’s another idea … old cellphones that you haven’t tossed still have 911 access by law. So you can take an old phone and it should still have access for emergencies.
Q Kyle, Bakersfield, CA - Live streaming
Kyle does a karaoke show streaming live on Stickam. Kyle wants to do a similar Live Stream like Leo did when he went crowd surfing. Leo says that is a rig from Live-U and they lease it for quite a princely sum. And how they do it is proprietary. The thing is, even though LiveU has more than one connection bonded together, most of the time it only uses one. That means you can stream via 3G with no trouble. 500kb is a good reliable connection and that’s what 3G does.
For more information on Kyle’s Karaoke show, check out [[http://karaokekingshow.com/|KaraokeKingShow.com
Q MeFi, California - iTunes trouble
MeFi has been running into trouble where iTunes scrambles his audio and videos when he goes to transfer them to his iPhone. Leo says it may be do to the phone itself. He recommends doing a hard reset and maybe even a restore in order to get it back to normal. Leo also says reverting back to OS3 on his iPhone 3G may help as vs. 4.0 is simple too much for it.
Another thing to try is to sync it with a different computer and see if that helps. If not, then you know it’s the phone. You can also rebuild your iTunes library. Otherwise, it’s time to go to the Genius Bar and let them take it from there. It may just be time to replace the phone.
What Android phone would Leo recommend? Leo likes the HTC Incredible. The Samsung Galaxy. Both on Verizon. But if you’re on AT&T, the iPhone 4 is a worthy upgrade.
Hour 2
Q Sally, Meridan, Connecticut - Killed her cable and is happy she did
Sally cut her cable TV connection. She has the basic cable and gets everything else over the Internet. But there’s some things she can’t get. Leo recommends the ROKU Box. You can get baseball, network news in a delayed download. AppleTV, GoogleTV and the upcoming Boxee Box are all possibilities when they come out. If you’re a gamer, the XBox 360 or even the PS3 can be turned into a media center using XBMC (XBox Media Center), PlayOn or other media server software and then you can stream Netflix, Hulu, and more. Leo also says that it’s a good idea to compare iTunes and Amazon for what shows you really want to watch. That can determine what box you should get. Leo says that “ala carte” TV watching is the wave of the future and Sally is getting in on the ground floor of that.
If you have to buy now, Leo says the Roku is the best bet.
Q Bruce, Banning, CA - DSLR Video
Bruce is a professional event photographer and is getting more and more requests for video. Does Leo recommend a dedicated video rig or a DSLR that shoots HD Video? Leo says that DSLRs can shoot beautiful HD video, he has the Canon 5D Mk. II and it’s gorgeous. … BUT. They use CMOS sensors that causes a rolling shutter issue in camera movement. Additionally, the form factor isn’t easy for pulling focus or holding as the form factor is still hand held. But more pros are using cameras like the Canon 5D Mk. II for shooting video, even Hollywood is experimenting with it. What about the Panasonic GH2 or the Canon 7D? The GH2 claims 1080p but it doesn’t really shoot in 1080p it upscales to it. And there are limitations in shooting time as the camera has to write to the card and will stop after about 15 minutes.
Leo says that if your customers want Blu-ray quality 1080p video, you’ll also need a more powerful computer and learn Apple’s Final Cut Pro. And format wise, you’ll need a blu-ray burner if they want it on HD. And that isn’t cheap. What about 720p? Leo says it’s a nice compromise. Better than DVD quality and it still looks good on TV. But it’s a complicated path to follow.
Leo says that documenting speakers or even events, Leo says that a dedicated camcorder is the best way to go and Leo recommends spending time over at camcorderinfo.com for the best choices with reviews. But if you want to go DSLR video, RENT before you buy so you know what it can and cannot do.
Q Julio, Cerritos, CA - Converting old movies to digital
Julio wants to be able to enjoy watching his home movies without having to load up the DVD all the time. Leo says it’s a good idea to take those old video tapes and dub them to a DVD. You can get players that do this. Then, rip that DVD to your computer as a data file and then you’ll be able to stream it via a media center utility. And you keep the discs AND the tapes for archival purposes. Having it done professionally is a good way to go but it isn’t cheap.
Doing it yourself, Leo recommends the Canopus ADVC 110. You connect your VHS player to it and then connect to your PC via firewire. You can then record it via iMovie or Final Cut.
Q Diana, Redlands, CA - Scanner/Printer thoughts
Diana is looking at an HP Printer/Scanner. Leo says they’re fine but he’s more fond of the Epson Artisan Printers. Very high quality. Leo’s not much a fan of HP printers anymore. For photos, Epson really is the king of the castle.
Q Eddie, San Clemente, CA - getting data off an old Mac
Eddie has an old iMac Clamshell, but the USB cable port is damaged. He can use the firewire, but he’s having trouble because his other computer doens’t have firewire. Leo says you can get a firewire card and install it and then put your mag into “target disk mode” and then reboot the Mac by holding down the “T”. Then you can just drag and drop. Many external hard drives do come with both USB and firewire connections. Then you can hook it up to the old computer, copy the data, and then connect it to USB to the other PC to load it up. But make sure you’ve got the drive formatted to FAT32 otherwise the Mac won’t read it.
Hour 3
Q Sam, Los Angeles, CA - playing his cellphone music on his receiver
Sam wants to hook up his Samsung Moment to his SONY VIAO and play his music on his computer. Leo says that Sam have to be sure to put the Moment in USB mode so that it acts as a drive. Then Sam can play the music directly from his Media player.
Q Eli, Visalia, CA - transferring 8mm videos
Eli wants to transfer some old 8mm video tapes, but his player is dead. Leo recommends going on eBay and picking up an old Sony 8mm Camcorder. Connect that to a Canopus ADVC 110 which will digitize the signal and connect it to your PC and you can transfer your video that way. What about an 8mm to VHS deck? Leo says sure you can do that but you’re going backwards, quality wise.
Q Eric, Los Angeles, CA - Trouble with Outlook Express
Eric’s grandmother uses Outlook Express and it keeps sending her email attachments over and over. Leo says that is sounds like Outlook isn’t getting the message received command from Eric’s ISP and so Outlook keeps trying to send it.
Leo says that Outlook Express is ancient and Microsoft doesn’t even support it anymore. It’s time to update it by going to get.live.com and download and install Windows Live Mail. It looks almost the same as Outlook but is more secure, faster.
Another possibility is that Norton’s AVS is doing it. Disable the outbound mail scan option and it should prevent that from happening. Norton is probably delaying the scan of the attachment to the point that Express gives up on getting the confirmation that the mail was sent. In fact, Leo also recommends getting rid of Norton and installing Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s far better than Norton and it’s free.
Q Jody, Lafayette, TN - Broken update
Jody had a popup saying her computer has a virus and she got bit by it when she downloaded the alledged fix. Leo helped her and now she’s very skeptical of so called tune up utilities that promiise to speed her up. Leo agrees. Leo says that those so-called tuneup utilities often cause more trouble than they are worth and don’t do anything more than you can do yourself.
Jody also uses a MagicJack and a JAWS screen reader. Leo says both products are very cool. But Jody says she got an update to her Magic Jack and now her screen reader can’t read it. Can she downgrade it? Leo says that even though JAWS is pretty widely used, Magic Jack’s update probably “broke” the compatibility to JAWS. She also can’t minimize the Magic Jack Window either. One thing Jody can try is to use System Restore as many updates will set a restore point just in case something goes wrong. If you have a restore point, then you have the option of going back into time to the previous version. The chatroom also suggests uninstalling Magic Jack and reinstalling it. And there’s always Google Voice, which is free until the end of the year if you have a headset microphone.
Q Jim, Danville, CA - Moving to Italy, will his iPhone work?
Jim is heading to Italy and wants to know if his iPhone 3G works in Italy. Leo says if you’re just visiting on vacation, it’s best to get an International Data roaming plan or it may cost you a bundle without it. But since Jim is moving to Italy permanently, he will have to unlock the phone in order to use it. Leo has done it and it’s pretty straight forward. But you won’t be able update the phone once you do it. And it’s perfectly legal to do. In fact, Leo recommends going to an independent cell phone store and ask them to unlock it for you, they know how.
