Additional notes

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– They're tagged with #Zentech.
– When what's said is unclear to me (or I'm unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (" ") verbatim.
– Editor's comments are delimited by < >

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio today

Paul briefly mentioned that he loved the LED watch he had back in 1970. He'd have to push a button to summon the time — the battery would drain too quickly if the display were on constantly.

Glenn had trouble remembering the login password for his new Windows 8 laptop and that drew a comment from Paul about passwords. He said the number one computer security violation stems from theft of the hardware. The greatest loss of personal information comes from theft — more than hacking and viruses. However, passwords are poor protection for a stolen computer because there are hacks to bypass the login.

He went on to say you can register your computer with, he thought, Outlook.com, and then use that service to unlock the computer if you forget the password. There's a similar service for Mac users of the Maverick operating system and possibly Mountain Lion.

Glenn said the only reason he got the new laptop is because it has a touch screen (mouse not required). It's a combination laptop and tablet Asus (his favorite brand) for under $400. It has a 10" screen, an HDMI output for sending video to a TV, a 15 pin VGA output, SD card slot, 2 USB3 slots, an Ethernet port, wireless capability, 320gig hard drive, 4gig RAM (goes up to 8gig) and is less than 2 pounds.

Paul asked him why he didn't choose a tablet with a fold-down skimpy keyboard. He said he didn't like those skimpy keyboards, the lower horsepower, the smaller RAM and smaller storage capacity of the tablets.

Paul installed Skype on a Windows 8 machine and found he was required to create a new Skype account — his old one no longer worked. Apparently this has to do with Microsoft buying Skype. He has yet to find a work-around.

Paul said that in the past couple of years 32bit machines have been discontinued and only 64bit machines are being sold. The operating systems are 64bit also, leading to faster performance. 64bit machines can more easily address memory larger than 4gig. There are programs so poorly written that they use memory than they should — Outlook <not outlook.com> is an example. The 64bit systems handle such programs better.

Paul found a website that lets you opt out of having the Yellow Pages directory delivered to you. You have to create an account there and provide your street address.

Paul noted that printed directories are handy for finding local business. You can also use local.google.com for local listings. Businesses or even individuals that go thru the confirmation process, when listing themselves with Google, can embellish their listing with additional info about themselves or their company.

If you have location services turned on in your mobile device, local.google.com will keep track as you move around, and provide relevant info specific to your location.

Paul said that webpages can look different depending what device you're using to view them. The web servers can tell what you're using as well as your operating system and can adjust the webpage for more suitable viewing.

Google's various services <gmail, docs, etc.> use a secure connection. The security is warranted because so much personal data is being transferred. The throughput on a secure connection is slower because it takes time to encrypt and because webpages aren't cached and require frequent reloading. The slowdown is not an issue these days because machines have become so much faster.

Deborah called. She just wanted Glenn's phone number but then realized she should do it off the air. Glenn asked her to call the office number after the show (530-265-9073).

Kathy called. She recently upgraded her iPhone to iOS7 & now the battery depletes quickly. She said she found useful tips for conserving power at mashable.com in the article "7 Ways to Stop iOS 7 From Killing Your iPhone Battery". On that page she also found an article about what's new in iOS7.
– There's a new feature in iOS7 where you swipe your finger across the top and it brings up the wi-fi, cell phone, and the 3G data interface, and you can turn things on and off from there.
– Kathy wanted to know how to find what version of the OS her phone is using. Glenn said go to Settings -> General -> About to find the info.
– Glenn said he's using iOS7 on his iPhone and he's not had any problems with the battery.
– In addition to turning off wi-fi & Bluetooth, Paul said that using your phone close to cell towers also conserves power — the phone doesn't have to boost a weak signal.

Paul also suggested turning of the Search Index to conserve power. The index keeps track of emails, webpages, applications, logs etc to make things easier to search for. Turn it back on again if you have a new entry in your contacts, install a new application or enter a new phone number. There's a Search Index in various devices, not just the iPhone.

Paul said he really likes his Google Nexus 7 — a 7" tablet made by Asus. He said if you wiggle your finger in the upper right corner and then pull it down, the Quick Menu come up and that takes you more directly to the settings. There you'll find the Power Statistics that tell you how much of the power consumption is due to the various things the device is doing. He's found that up to 50% is due to the screen's backlight and that turning down the brightness doesn't compromise usability and still conserve battery power.

Scott called. He suggested the KVMR phone system have an audible cue to let people know they are the next ones to be on air. He also jokingly suggested putting tape on a cat's paws — they go nuts, they're hilarious. <This was in response to Paul's earlier innocent comment about removing the stickers from Glenn's new computer and sticking them to a cat>

Paul got key fob camera. They go by the name 'keycam' and typically have 320 X 240 resolution. Apparently for amusement, he put it on the head of a weiner dog to get a dog's-eye view.

He also had read and article on the website brainpickings.org <Paul said it's .com but I think he meant .org> about a small camera that attaches to your pet's collar, takes a picture every 10 seconds and makes a GPS fix. This is to track where your pet wanders. He hasn't been able to find this type of camera and ask listeners for more info.

Glenn said Samsung and Intel are collaborating on a Linux based operating system for mobile phones. They want an open source operating system, which the Android is not. Paul speculated that Samsung may have lost its license to use Android because of it's legal dispute with Apple. <mentioned in the 6-5-13 show notes> Google may not want to get involved in the dispute. Android is showing up on many devices and it's the "characteristic feature of the high quality of the Samsung Galaxy and Samsung S3 phone". Paul thinks they are the "best phones out there".

Paul noted an issue that came up for him recently where a product's license agreement said "you are not allowed, without permission, to review this product in a public forum". He said this is understandable because it's easy to write a negative review when you didn't use the product correctly.

Pilar called. She is a Mac user and she can't listen to the Zentech show using Firefox or Safari. When she click the Listen Live she gets the little window that says KVMR audio player, but when she clicks on the play button nothing happens. She's able to play streaming audio from other stations. She's asked Paul about this before a wondered if he had anymore info.
– The guys tried on their devices and it worked ok for them.
– Check the volume control of the KVMR audio player.
– Glenn thought she should try an app that plays radio streams. He searched for: mac app radio tuner. He found "Apple downloads dashboard widgets and there's tuner there". He currently has an app on his iPad called Tune-In Radio.
– They had her try the individual links for the 32kbps & 64kbps streams but neither worked.
– They had her copy (Control + click) one of the links, run iTunes, click 'Open Stream' or maybe 'Open URL' and pasting that link in. She tried that but it didn't work. <She may not have waited long enough during her time on air>
– Do a Disk Utility check.
– Try resetting your router. For her Comcast router just pull the power plug. Then Paul found out she also has phone service thru Comcast and revised his suggestion — use the reset button to do a warm reset because pulling the plug won't do it as her router has a battery in it.

Paul asked her if she has any other equipment and she said she also has something called a Time Capsule.
– He told her to look up: double nat. That's double network address translation. It's where the router is translating the public internet address once and it's getting translated a second time by the Time Capsule. She'll probably have to reconfigure the Time Capsule for bridge mode.
– Paul asked her to email him to continue the trouble shooting.

Glenn thanked KVMR members for their support. If you'd like to become a member, please go to kvmr.org.

Both Glenn and Paul may both be out of town for the next show. They hope to find a guest host.

Last updated 10:20 PM 11/13/2013