Internet

How to control a TV over the Internet?

Episode 979

Matt from San Diego, CA

Matt's father has recently suffered a stroke and he lives across the country. He's concerned about his father's mental stimulation since he was once an avid reader. Leo says that audio books are ideal for that kind of situation. Leo bought his mother a huge iPod classic and an account on Audible to load the books on. It's great for that. Matt would also like to watch TV with his father via online.

I got a warning from Google that my site was infected. What should I do?

Bill from Woodland Hills, CA

Episode 978

Billy has been getting calls from his customers saying that his website is infected. Leo says that can be a serious warning. When Google crawls websites, they make a note if a site is infected and redirect visitors to a warning message. If he's running Wordpress and doesn't keep it up to date, it can easily be breached and infected. Even plugins are vulnerable. He should be sure to have his website updated completely. He should get his site cleaned up, which may take a good SysAdmin. Once Google sees it's cleaned, it could take a few days or even weeks before they take the warning down.

What's the best URL suffix?

Jay from Providence, NC

Episode 977

Jay wants to know which domain name suffixes to avoid. Leo warns that XXX is a bad one for anyone, save the adult industry - and even they don't want it. .COM is always the one to get, followed by .NET. Leo likes .TV, but he's not a fan of .biz or .info. The problem is that users assume a site is .com even if he would tell them it's something else. He also definitely will want to avoid hyphens.

What's the best place to start an internet radio station?

Joe from Kansas City, MO

Episode 976

Joe has his own radio station on a "mom and pop" radio station and he wants to expand to the Internet. He'd like to do it legal, but also do it free. Leo says that streaming music is more expensive than broadcast. Leo recommends going to Live365.com. They will take care of the license fees and it's not very expensive. You can get a free account, but it's ad supported. It's not that expensive to have a paid account and it's a great option.

What's the best internet provider for rural internet access?

Frankie from Victorville, CA

Episode 976

Frankie is moving to a rural area and would like to have an alternative that's similar to FIOS. Leo says that rural areas are hard because there's not enough in population to justify laying down broadband cable. So that leaves Satellite and 4G. Satellite has the downside of being expensive and that there's a lot of latency. It's also slow and subject to weather. The chatroom also recommends Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs). Exceed is the best satellite Internet provider.

Is there a way to share the video feed from my security camera?

George from Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Episode 968

George lives in an apartment and he has an outside Wi-Fi security camera. A neighbor would like to have access to the video feed, and is wondering if he could do that without giving out access to his network. Leo says that a lot of security cams have a web based interface, but George says he needs to be on his network to access the camera.

What should former Posterous users do now that it's been shut down?

Steven from Willoughby, OH

Episode 967

Steven went to China and while he was there, he posted his travels to Facebook and Twitter by first posting to Posterous. Sadly, Twitter bought Posterous and shut it down at the end of the month. They offered a transfer utility to back it up, but it didn't really work all that well for Steven. Leo says that's a cautionary tale about free services. One day they're here, the next they get purchased and shut down.

How can I get on WPA2 Wi-Fi on an old laptop?

Dick from Orange County, CA

Episode 966

Dick has a 7 year old ThinkPad, and he can't get on WPA2 Wi-Fi networks. Leo suggests buying a USB WiFi Dongle. That'll take the WPA2 signal for him.

The chatroom says that it's possible to change out the Wi-Fi card on the laptop, but Leo says it's cheaper to go the dongle route. Dick just has to be sure he's using the latest Service Pack of XP (SP3). He'll also get better reception that way.