For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the TWiT Netcast Network

Next Show»

Saturday, January 3, 2004

Show #0001 (think I’ll ever do more than 9999 shows?)

Thanks to everyone who made me feel so welcome on my debut show. We’re still working out some of the technical difficulties, but once I get my studio built (by the end of the month) these notes should make it online as the show progresses. Meanwhile, thanks for your patience!

According to the experts at ICSA, there’s no need to turn off SSID broadcast to secure your wireless network. It doesn’t protect you and it can slow down the network. Read the white paper “Debunking the Myth of SSID Hiding” by Robert Moskowitz, Senior Technical Director at the ICSA Labs.

QGary from San Diego — looking for a new Sony digital camera.

He’s got an investment in Magic Stick memory cards and doesn’t want to start over. That’s how they get you, Gary! I do like the Sonys now that they’re using Carl Zeiss lenses. I like the DSC-V1 at around $600 list. Can’t say I’m too crazy about the cameras that record to optical media, however. 10x optical zoom is nice, but remember that you’ll need a very steady hand at those lengths, or a tripod. Always consider optical not digital zoom specs when buying a camera. Digital zoom merely blows the picture up, making your subjects look like they’re in the witness protection program. For most people 3 megapixels and 3x zoom is just fine.

Q Ronnie in Ventura — looking for ring tones for his new Motorola cell phone

In general you need to get tones that are compatible with your phone, however many newer phones (including his Motorola T720) can play back MIDI ring tones. That’s great news because it means you don’t have to buy expensive custom ring tones, you can use any MIDI song. Check to see if you need to convert the MIDI tune into another format before uploading to the phone - in many cases you don’t. And of course you’ll need some way to copy the MIDI file from your computer to the phone: either a cable or Bluetooth. A great site for free MIDI files perfect for ring tones is http://36fifty.net. The site says the tones are designed for the Nokia 3650 phone, but don’t be deceived. They’re standard MIDI files that should work with any MIDI capable phone. I especially like the TV themes.

QAdam from Boca Raton — looking for a cool skin for Windows XP

That Fisher-Price interface is so un-hip. The best (and most reliable) skinning program for XP is the shareware Object Desktop from Stardock. But for the ultimate in coolness try Blackbox for XP (I called it Enlightenment on the air - my mistake. Both are window managers for X but only Blackbox is available for Windows, too).

Q Pat from San Diego — wanted a shopping list for an inexpensive wireless network

I recommend 802.11b - it’s fast enough for most applications and compatible with all access points. You’ll need a wireless access point like the Linksys BEFW11S4. That connects to your DSL or cable modem. Then you’ll need wireless adapters for each computer on the network. For desktops I like USB adapters like the Linksys WUB11. On notebooks you can also use PC card adapters. Total cost: $60 for the WAP and around $40 per machine.

QDon in Moreno Valley — using homemade CDs in a car stereo

He downloads the Wall St Journal from Audible, burns it to CD-RW disc, then tries to listen to it in his car’s CD player. No dice. That’s not uncommon because of the low luminance of recordable discs. A newer CD player should handle it ok.

Q Mary from Lancaster — inkjet refills

She is a nurse but she’s having a devil of the time injecting new ink into her inkjet cartridges. I’m not crazy about cartridge refills - they’re messy, don’t replace the print head which is often on the cartridge, and can give you poor results. I understand the desire to save money, but frankly I buy the manufacturers’ cartridges and recycle them when they’re empty.

QKenny from Huntington Beach — DVD playback problems

He was also having a problem with some DVD-Rs not playing on DVD players. It’s not his fault. Just like CD recordables, some machines get confused by DVD-R and DVD-RW. Newer DVD players will work for the most part. There’s a list of players that have trouble with DVD-R at the Yes Video web site. For more information on this subject visit Jim Taylor’s excellent DVD FAQ.

QEric in Santa Ana — Hotfix slowdown

He has a late model PC running Windows XP that suddenly slowed to a crawl after installing Norton Anti-Virus. I suspect the problem stems from a broken patch Microsoft shipped in April of last year. Open the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel and remove Hotfix Q811493. Read more about this issue on Windows-Help.net. Of course, lots of other things can slow your PC down, including trojan horses, misconfigured programs like Windows System Restore and the file indexing service. To look for services you can safely turn off in XP visit Black Viper’s site.

Q Mike in West Covina — recovering a damaged hard drive

He lost a ton of art work when he dropped his Macintosh hard drive. He’s looking for a data recovery center, preferably in Orange County. In some cases it’s a simple case of a damaged file catalog and you can use recovery software like Drive 10 or Norton Systemworks to restore your data. However if it’s a more serious problem you may need to call on a data recovery specialist. These folks are expensive but they can restore data from the most severely damaged disks. I usually recommend Drive Savers in Novato, California - they have a grief counselor manning the phones so you’ll at least get solace if not a savior. Listener Russ Trager wrote to say, “The best data recovery place “down here” is DataMechanix in Irvine, CA. Owner is Craig Rager. 800–886–2231.” Good luck, Mike. And from now on, back up!

QEric in Vista — turn off the GPS or not?

He is an electrician who wants to know if it’s better to leave his Garmin Street Pilot GPS device on or off when he gets out of the car. Beats me, but I doubt that turning it on and off will wear it out significantly faster. If you don’t mind the time it takes to re-acquire the satellites, go ahead and shut it down when you’re not using it.

QDavid in Los Angeles —security cameras

He was looking for a good wired remote net cam for security purposes. I have used and can recommend the wireless D-Link DCS-1000W but they also make wired cameras like the DCS-900. Both have built-in web servers so you can use a browser from any computer access the camera. Lots of other companies make similar products.

QBob in Woodland Hills — receiving SMS messages

He is not having problems sending SMS messages from his Cingular phone, but he can’t receive many messages. Assuming he has his data settings correct and has the proper service for receiving SMS messages, it’s most likely an interoperability problem between carriers. That’s one of the things that has held SMS text messaging back in this country: we have too many different and incompatible networks. Things should get better, though, as carriers work on ways of bridging between their networks.

QSteve in Chino — spam solutions for Microsoft Exchange servers

He is a system administrator running Microsoft’s Exchange email server who is looking for a good server-side spam solution that offers user configurable whitelists. This isn’t one of my areas of expertise. I use and love Spam Assassin but I don’t think it works with Exchange. The excellent Brightmail does work with Exchange and offers user white and black lists. I’m sure there are other server-side solutions that meet Steve’s needs. Anyone have any recommendations.

I was handwriting notes as I went, so apologies in advance if I leave something out. Leave a comment letting me know if I missed something you want to know and I’ll add it. See you tomorrow, noon to 3p!

Show Archives
Hour 1 audio (MP3)	Hour 1 chat log (ZIP)
Hour 2 audio (MP3)	Hour 2 chat log (ZIP)
Hour 3 audio (MP3)	Hour 3 chat log (ZIP)

Back to Top

Next Show»