Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– 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 < >

For those who missed my tweet, the notes for the 2-12-14 show have been posted.

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio.

Much of the show dealt with computer security. Paul started by asking how do you know if you're being watched on your computer. How do you know if your computer has something malicious happening or if your internet connection is being monitored. Like any kind of knowledge, you can never be 100% certain

Even if you're 99.9% secure, that's not enough. That .1% can be all it takes to be compromised. Only a tiny portion of what you do with your computer over the internet is useful to the bad guys — passwords and credit card numbers, for example, That's all it takes for the them to wreak havoc. The only sure way to protect against computer fraud is to not have a computer at all.

The 2nd best protection is not to be on the internet. But even if you don't use the internet, someone can steal the computer and still get the info. The FBI reports that most security breaches are a result of theft of computers and flash drives. Even if you have your computer protected by a password, it doesn't take long to crack when someone has physical possession of the computer.

Paul suggested people take pictures of their monitor screens when they suspect something unusual is happening. He cited the case of Nvidia, the company that makes video chips for some Mac computers. Over the years they had a series of manufacturing defects. He said it's a good idea to document any symptoms of a malfunction before the warranty expires. This is especially useful it the symptoms are intermittent.

Glenn said no anti-virus software, no matter the brand, is foolproof. The anti-virus software is only as good as its last update.

Glenn said his email account at Yahoo was hacked even though he had a very strong password. He warned people to be suspicious of emails that only have a link to a website, even if the email is from someone you know.

Paul said that about 5 years ago someone one figured out that about 10% of the Yahoo accounts had been stolen by somebody who broke into the Yahoo servers and pulled off the password database. Since Glenn changed his password recently, Paul suspects that the database thieves are able to break in continually. Or more likely, Yahoo is vulnerable to what's called 'cross-site scripting'. This is where the frame that asks you to login to Yahoo doesn't originate with Yahoo <originates with the fraudsters>. Paul thinks that the best way to deal with such Yahoo problems is not to use Yahoo. Furthermore, when you leave an email service, don't just abandon the account, formally cancel the account so it won't be broken into and misused.

Paul went on to say that if someone breaks into your mail account, change the password and notify the people in your contacts list, telling them that the mail they've received from 'you' recently may be bogus.

Paul has heard objections to using the IMAP protocol because the technicians can read the email stored on the mailserver. In fact, email of any kind is one of the least secure forms of communication and can be intercepted and read at many points.

So, what do we recommend, Glenn asked. He said he uses Gmail and Paul said he does too. But Paul doesn't like the way Google Plus is going, His Youtube channel has been switched to Google Plus, which he doesn't like. He tried to switch it back but there was no provision to do so. Google bought Youtube a number of years ago and has spent all this time to merge it with their other services.

Glenn asked about other services Google has bought. Paul said they just bought Whatsapp <it was Facebook who bought them and Paul corrected himself later in the show>. Whatsapp is more popular in Europe because it sidesteps having to pay roaming text <txt > charges between countries.

Speaking of companies buying other companies, Glenn noted that Comcast has put together a merger plan with Time Warner. As he understands the deal, the two companies will dominate 50 of 53 major cable markets in the USA, if the deal goes thru.

The guys talked a bit about a decentralized power grid where multiple power providers sell their service over common power lines — in order to avoid duplicating the infrastructure. It works in Europe but is not so poplar in the USA. There can be pitfalls when you're asked to join other people in getting such a service. Paul added, if it doesn't make sense or can't be explained in terms that make sense. don't do it,

Paul said this applies if you're asked to install a program. If you didn't ask a program to install or something doesn't look right about it, don't do it.

Glenn said that sometimes you're not given a choice to stop a program that insists you continue — the close button doesn't work, for instance. Paul said Firefox used to be vulnerable to this — kiosk mode he called it. You'd go to a web page and find there was no obvious way to close it. He said the way to close it is to hit CNTRL + ALT + DEL (Option + Apple + Escape on the Mac). That will bring up the task manager where you can then highlight the browser you're running and 'End Task'. You can then restart the browser.

Paul encountered a person who said the mouse pointer on their Mac was moving by itself. The concern was that there was someone controlling the machine for nefarious purposes. But Paul thought that was not very likely because they would be drawing attention to themselves by the mouse movement. Data thieves tend to be more surreptitious — they siphon off data from your files. Glenn suggested that the lighting in a room could affect an optical mouse if the light hit it just right. Paul had a case where the cord to the mouse got too close to a power cable and the mouse pointer would jitter.

Bill called. He had installed Norton Internet Security 2014 on his Window XP computer with Service Pack 3. When Norton ran it detected that the file tcpip.sys had a virus. It quarantined the file without asking for permission. After restarting his computer, he no longer had internet capabilities. He tried to go back to a previous restore point. He tried the 'Remove From Quarantine' option. He tried reinstalling the network adapters. But he had no success.
– Call Norton. They should be responsible for a problem their software created. Bill said he did call them and spent about 12 hours and still had no solution.
– Bill read from his Window System Event Log <it keeps a record of recent events on your computer>. What it contained told Paul that the Norton program "has not been in conformance with the correct behavior of the operating system".
– When you start up Windows, hold down the F8 key and go back to a previous restore point. Bill already tried that.
– Norton did some work to improve the program in 2012 but apparently missed this problem, Paul said.
– Contact Norton again and tell them you want to speak to someone here in the USA.
– Bill said he googled the words: tcpip.sys norton false, and got 50 pages with reference to false detection. <Anti-virus programs sometimes show false positives on various files>.
– Find someone running Windows XP and get a copy of tcpip.sys and put it on your computer. But, Bill has already done a byte by byte comparison of the file with the one he has in his backup and they are the same. So then, Paul thought that it is the references (in the Registry) to that file that are flawed.
– Then Paul said that, when Bill installed Service Pack 3, "it reinstalled the whole networking stack". And he thought if Bill installed Service Pack 3 again, it might correct the networking problem.
– At this point, Bill still has access to the data on his drive, and Paul said make sure to backup all the important data files before proceeding.
– You may consider reinstalling Windows. And after you do, try Microsoft Security Essential. It's not very good and not very powerful, but it causes fewer problems. And it's free.

Paul noted that it's not a good idea to use 2 or 3 anti-virus programs at the same time. It slows the computer.

Paul said someone recently installed what looked like an upgrade to the Flash player and it caused mischief. The latest version of the Firefox browser has a method to disable suspect plugins like the Flash player. It will show a box where the video you were trying to play would normally be, and it would say something like: the player is out of date click here to update it. However, you shouldn't click to update. Instead do a google search for 'plugincheck'. This is a service provided by Mozilla (makers of Firefox) that checks the plugins for Firefox. It works with Internet Explorer too, but doesn't check the ActiveX plugins.

Paul said what he's said before about being contacted by a company that asks you to provide information or do some transaction that may have negative consequences. To avoid being scammed; get a known, good phone number for that company and call them to finish that bit of business.

The disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed on this show, Zentech, are of the speakers only and not necessarily of the station, its board, management, staff or contributors.

Doug called. He's going to England in a couple of weeks. He has T-Mobile smartphone and wanted suggestions for doing international calling.
– Ask T-Mobile to unlock the phone, if you've had the phone long enough <it's out of contract>, so you can use other SIM cards. There are many cellular companies in England and you can get a SIM card for as little as about $16.
– Get Skype and use wireless network for calls to the USA for about $.01/min. You'll can even call landlines. And Skype can be used even if you don't have a SIM card installed.
– Paul advised pulling out the T-Mobile (or other USA carrier's) SIM card, in any case. That's to avoid any possibility of incurring roaming charges.
– With the new SIM card, you won't be able to receive calls to your T-Mobile phone number. Those calls will go to voice mail which you can check using Skype.

James called. He uses Thunderbird for his mail program. When he runs it he gets the warning: "Unsent messages. Do you want do you want to send your unsent messages now". He wants to review those messages before sending them.
– Look for the folder called 'outbox' on the left side of Thunderbird. Those messages are in there.

Last updated 9:27 PM 8/14/2014
(fixed link to txt )

Android Emulator onscreen! https://www.manymo.com/emulators

 Additional notes:

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– 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 Glenn & Paul were in the studio.

Glenn thanked KVMR's subscribing members. If you'd like to support KVMR, go to kvmr.org

Glenn said that at one time he didn't know if I was a male or female and he wanted to use the correct pronoun. <My peeve at the time was the lack of a gender-neutral 3rd person pronoun in the English language>. And that led to talk about how, unlike English, other languages assign gender to words. He was looking for the words 'love' and 'peace' in Arabic for decorative work to put on some bowls at a fundraiser. He found that not only were there different words for 'love' but there were also gender specific versions. Paul noted that in some languages the inflection of a word you're using will vary according to the person you're talking to and their status.

Paul talked a bit about computer programming. The purpose of a programming language is to convey meaning to the underlying electronics of the computer.

There was an aborted attempt in the 1950s to make human-like languages to address computers with. The language Cobol was like that, and Lisp to a certain extent. Cobol was used a lot for business programs and the intent was to let the user make program-like statements to get the answers they wanted: statements like "add interest to principle" or "calculate interest times 12". But statements that make sense to a human, because humans infer much of the meaning, tended to be too inaccurate for a computer to understand precisely.

Glenn is still not completely accustomed to his Windows 8.1 touch screen laptop. < Mentioned on the 1-29-14 show>

Glenn said he was setting up a computer with Windows 8.1 for a friend and found that it "all but demands that you use a Microsoft ID to log into the computer". He had a similar situation when he tried to login to his, at that time, new laptop. At that time he tried his Hotmail ID (Hotmail is owned by Microsoft), and it worked.

But his friend didn't have a Microsoft service whose ID he could try. So, they tried establishing a "local account", but Windows 8.1 still insisted that he create an "online account". Glenn said he has to do more research to figure it out.

Paul wondered what you're supposed to do if you're not online <don't use the internet and don't have a Microsoft ID>. He noted that Microsoft is notorious for creating doubt about the necessity of registering, so he usually looks for a button that says "skip" or "later" to bypass the process. Also, he sometimes uses fake information in the registration process. Glenn's situation is a bit different, if he used a fake email address that might be a problem later if he ever has trouble logging in. <e.g. a temporary password, sent by Microsoft, may be sent to a non-existent email address>.

Paul then talked about communicating with tech support about a problem you're having with a computer. He said, one way to explain a problem to the tech is to take a photo of the screen. He said that you'll get a better picture if the ambient light is reduced so you don't have reflections off of the screen, turn up the brightness of the monitor and keep the camera perpendicular to the screen to prevent distortions <I think he meant parallel to the screen>.

Paul was recently asked what computer language to recommend to a kid who's interested in programming. Years ago one might suggest starting with the language Basic. Then moving on to structured programming using Pascal. And then possibly learning some Assembly language, for talking directly to the hardware.

These days, programmers don't do so much typing of individual program commands but use a graphical interface to put the program together, using menus and such. Paul said Apple, for instance, has a free software development kit (SDK) for programming their mobile devices that run the iOS operating system. You can search for the words: ios sdk. Or you can go to developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk.

You don't actually need an iPad to use the SDK. You load the SDK onto a Mac and create the application there while using an emulator to simulate what it will look like on an iPad. When you've finished, you can then load the completed program onto a real iPad.

That's all you need to do if you're creating an app for yourself or your friends. If you plan to sell the app thru Apple's app store, you'll be asked to pay $100 for a security certificate that validates you as a legitimate developer — proving you're not up to some mischief. Paul said that every app that's sold has to go thru Apple's app store.

Android has similar tools for developing apps. There are versions that run on Linux as well as Windows.

Glenn mentioned in-app purchases. This is where someone playing a game app would be given an opportunity to make a purchase of game tokens or artifacts to help the progression of the game. The game might have been free to download but, when you signed in to the app store to get it, you gave permission to charge your account for the in-app purchases. Kids playing games may not be aware of these charges and can run up quite a bill. Glenn said this has pretty much stopped. Now, if there is an in-app purchase, Apple requires you to re-enter your Apple ID password <which you don't give to your kids>.

Paul posed a puzzle: what is the longest word, in English, you can type using the top row of keys on a standard keyboard. <I think he meant the row just below the numbers>. He gave the clues that the word refers to what you are doing and it's 10 letters long.

Greg called. He has a Mac Mini and he can't open multiple windows when he runs multiple programs. Paul asked if he periodically shuts down the computer or if he just lets it go to sleep. Greg said he has shut it down and the problem persisted when he rebooted.
– Paul said it's a good idea to completely shut it down once in a while.
– With the Mac there is actually only one maintenance utility you can run that could make a difference — the Disk Utility, found under Utilities. Paul suggested Greg run that.
– Greg was asked to run the Finder. On the bottom left of the screen (on the dock) is a blue icon that launches the Finder. Click on it and it will bring up a list of drives and things. Greg went thru various gyrations but was not able to locate the Finder — stoking everyone's sense of irony. Paul asked him to send a picture of the screen and they'll try to figure it out after the show.

Stephanie called. Her iMac was stolen and now she has an iPad Mini, an old iPod, and a friends old Power Mac that's been upgraded to OS10. She's been trying to get the music from the iPod onto the Power Mac with no success.
– iTunes <used to manage music> "isn't capable of giving you the music back off the iPod if already it isn't on a computer". Apple designed it so you can't get music or data off the iPod or iPhone unless it started out on your computer (which is now stolen). The intent was to prevent music piracy.
– If you want to do it, you'll need what's called an iPod ripper. It's software NOT made by Apple that runs on Macs or PCs. It waits for an iPod to be plugged into the computer, reads it's contents and allows you to transfer the data.

She also said that when she would "put her iPod on just to use it as an iPod it won't play the music because that iPod is not synched to this computer", it's synched to the stolen computer.

My connection went down at this point and I lost some audio. I didn't hear the name of the program Paul was talking about. When I rejoined, he was talking about a particular ripper for $25.95. There's a free trial version that's 45 megabytes in size. He said there are at least 10 or 15 other ripper programs. <Try searching for the words: ipod ripper>.

Paul noted that newer Macs have the 'find my mac feature' for locating a missing Mac. With this option turned on, it allows you to log into iCloud.com with your Apple ID "and say locate my Mac". She doubted her Mac had that option — it was a 2004 model.

Glenn said the latest iOS <the operating system for Apples mobile devices> forces you to set a password and then periodically asks you to login. He thinks it's annoying but it protects your data in case of theft. Stephanie didn't have a password set on her iPad, which was also stolen.

Paul then talked about backing up your music to the internet. If you have Maverick or Snow Leopard or later operating system on your Mac, Apple lets you back up music you bought at the Apple Store to iCloud. It won't back up any music you put on your iPod from other sources, like from a music CD you have lying around. However, for about $29 a year you can buy a service called Apple Match which will sych ALL of the music — including music you got elsewhere. You can get the music back using any other machine, PC or Mac, that's running iTunes, when you login using your Apple ID.

Alternately, you can use Google Music to backup your music. You'll download software that allows you to use your Google Drive account to store up to 20,000 tracks for free, and it has no restrictions on the original source of the music.

Scott called only to say that Greg (above) sounded exactly like the comic Steven Wright. Scott entertained the thought that it was a put-on. Glenn assured Scott they didn't set that up.

Last updated 11:05 PM 2/22/2014

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio today

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– 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 < >

Talking about the weather & chance of rain in the Nevada City area, Glenn thought it's a good idea to have your headlights on all of the time. He cautioned people to be especially careful of oily & wet roads, at least until the oil has had a chance to dissipate. And Paul noted that around 1992, the year to which his car dates, electronics on cars were made to turn off the headlights when you park the car and exit. All the more reason to always keep the lights on.

Paul recalled the time, as late as the 1960s, when some cars were started by a hand crank in the front fender. He remembered being instructed to keep his thumbs on the same side of the crank handle as his other fingers. This was to prevent injury in case the engine "caught" and the "handle would flip back".

Glenn said the intro music today was Pentatonix <the link from a previous show> doing a Daft Punk song called "Fix it".

Paul talked about privacy on the internet and how easy it is now to google someone's name and find info on that person, whether good or bad. Websites like archive.org, that keeps copies of defunct websites, have provided lawyers with evidence in trials. <Bottom line is be careful what you voluntarily put on the net>

Paul said if you put on your website 'robots.txt', that will prevent webcrawlers from indexing parts or all of your website — "removes it from the indexer's databank". This trick actually works retroactively — sites like archive.org will remove the website from its archives.

Glenn reminded listeners that they need to renew their choice to opt out of junk mail <advertising by postal mail> and junk phone calls.
<Some info on opting out of paper mail here>

Glenn thanked current members of KVMR for supporting the station. If you want to become a member please go to kvmr.org.

Mark called. He has a Dell Pentium PC that he uses for a little Autocad, <a drafting program>, a little spreadsheet work. He wanted to know what to look for in current computers when he shops for a new one. What about the half tablet half laptop models?
– Microsoft has the Surface tablet, which runs Windows — used to be Windows RT, Glenn's not sure if models with RT are still available, but RT being phased out.
– Paul said RT would likely not run Autocad.
– Glenn opined that Android tablets and Apple's mobile products are well supported but support for Windows products will decline.
– Paul: some form of Autocad will work on <some> tablets. They will read .dwg files and you can do some productive work, but it will not be the full version of Autocad.
– Glenn, realizing Mark's requirement for Autocad, said Windows 8 might be the way to go. Check out HP, Asus and Dell tablets with detachable keyboards and running Windows 8.1.

Glenn noted that he recently bought an Asus PC laptop with touch screen and a non-detachable keyboard. It has a 10' screen, 4gig of RAM, 500gig hard drive, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB 3 port, an SD memory slot, an Ethernet port and HDMI & VGA output. He got it on sale for $298.
<more about his Asus from a previous show is here>

Paul said some big box stores display laptops with and without touch screens, side by side. The touch screen typically adds $150 to $200 to the price.

In Paul's opinion, Mark would do best with some sort of notepad computer — a subminiature laptop with a 10' to 13' screen.

From Glenn's experience, he finds little justification for prices over $600. Mark should be able to get a computer to satisfy his needs for under $700. Paul said, if the laptop you buy has a separate and discreet video subsystem, if it has a graph processor unit (the GPU speeds up the display) and not integrated video graphics, it can add about $100 to its price. Paul said a discreet graphics unit may be worth looking into — the one thing worth the extra money.

Mark wondered, if he buys a laptop with Windows 8, can he turn off Win8 an run Windows 7.
– HP is selling, by request, new computers with Windows 7.
– Shop on the HP website to put together a Win7 computer to meet your needs. <Stores may not offer Win7 option>. Also check Dell Computers for similar offers.
– If you don't mind refurbish computers, consider Joy Systems. They sell only thru the likes of Amazon or Overstock. They don't sell directly to the consumer. Search for the words: joy systems amazon
<Where can you still find a PC running Windows 7?>

Josh called. He loved the discussion about crank starting a car. He recalled the time he was fire department volunteer at a college and had to start an old fire truck (circa 1930s) with a crank.

Josh also mentioned another old technology — the floppy disk. That got Paul talking about America Online (AOL) that sent out vast numbers of subscription CDs. There have been internet discussions about what you can do with them — make a device to scare birds or make wind chimes. Apparently, some of those CDs were made to read from either side. When CDs were relatively new to the public, AOL wanted people to be able to read them no matter which side was up. This meant no lettering or graphics could be put on them and people would eventually forget what they were for.

Josh finally got to his question. He recently bought a multi-function wireless printer and device server. It seems he wants to connect his Brother laser printer to the device server. He was asked to enter a passcode and thought it meant the passcode on his iPad but there was not enough room to enter all of the digits.
– Glenn said that's the wrong passcode. The one to enter is the one for your router. Enter the code in your iPad to get it and the printer on the same network.
– Next, download the Brother app onto your iPad, which will then allow you to print from the iPad. The app should let you identify the Brother printer on the wireless system.
– Glenn encountered a similar situation and ended up connecting a Brother printer using an Ethernet cable to the router (not wirelessly).
– Paul said it's not straightforward to print from an Apple mobile device. Typically you have to cut-'n-paste — cut the content you want to print and then paste to the printing app. But Mark said he can print directly to an HP printer without the cut and paste operation. Paul acknowledged that he might be a little behind in knowing the latest procedures.
– Paul and Mark noted that though tablets are light and small compared to notebooks, there was a time when portable computers were as big as sewing machines — the era of the luggables.

The disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and not necessarily those of KVMR, its board, management, staff or contributors.

Listeners were invited to write in to the guys, during the show or any other time at zen at kvmr dot org.

Paul observed that a lot of artistic people are introverted. The guys chatted a bit about performances by various music groups, including Mike Oldfield (did Tubular Bells) who was so reluctant to be interviewed on the BBC that it took Richard Branson of Virgin Records giving him a Rolls Royce to persuade him.

Paul wondered about the usefulness of 800 numbers.
– They count against your cell phone minutes.
– But, Glenn said, many plans include unlimited talk minutes. The companies try to get you for the data instead.
– Glenn rarely uses a landline. He likes his NetTalk provider when he gets things working, but their customer service sucks.

Paul talked about the Android app store Google Play. The apps are cheap, typically under $10, and "there is a moratorium on the deduction of payment that lasts maybe an hour" wherein you can get a refund on the app.
– The Android store tends to be chaotic. There are many different Android devices the apps can potentially run on and Google doesn't differentiate.
– There are bogus apps out there. They're not necessarily malicious, though it's happened. Some just try to get you to buy thing and have no substance to them. Check the reviews before you buy.
– The Android store lists apps by how many have been downloaded. Paul said that the most downloaded apps might have the least problems. That doesn't mean they're the best apps though.
– When you delete an app, Android does a pretty good job of cleaning up — unlike "certain" other platforms.

Glenn said he bought a $30 gift certificate from Google Offers that expired on Oct 31 for $12. He used it on Oct 31 but then got a message from Google saying we notice you didn't use the certificate and we're going refund the $12. Glenn told them he did use it and not to send him the $12, because he didn't want the merchant to get screwed. Google said they've already started the process and will proceed. They assured Glenn that the merchant would be paid. Glenn was pleasantly astonished.

Paul said it used to be material stuff was expensive and labor was cheap now it's the other way around, and "labor is what you have when you talk to somebody on the phone". In Paul's opinion, though you buy material products from abroad, you should shop locally for your service.

Frank called. He has a Compaq laptop and keeps getting the message NTLDR could not open drive multidisk and R disk in partition 1".
– NTLDR stands for Window new technology loader, which goes back to Windows NT4.
– NTLDR is the early stage in loading the operating system (Windows XP or maybe Windows 7).
– Keep hitting the F8 key when you start the bootup to start it in single user mode or command prompt. <They didn't say what he should do after that>.
– The machine may be trying to boot from something plugging into it. Remove any flash drives like camera flash drives. Also remove any peripheral equipment like printers.

Last update 10:13 PM 1/29/2014

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– 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 < >

Briefly, Glenn mentioned a university study in the UK regarding memory loss and aging. Apparently, the ability to remember remains fine with age, it's just that older folks start running out of space to store new information.

Glenn thanked members of KVMR for their support. To become a member, please go to kvmr.org.

The guys talked about a couple of adult toys — the Arduino and Raspberry Pi. These are small programmable electronic devices that can make lights flash in different order and combinations.<and drive relays to perform physical tasks>. They are a motive force behind what you'll find at maker fairs, like the local Curious Forge.
<The Raspberry Pi comes with Mathematica, a CAS (Computer Algebra System), I've heard:
Raspberry Pi Includes Mathematica Free>

At 40 cents each, Paul has been experimenting with RGB LEDs, which, in combination, can be driven to give various colors. He noted the LEDs are either on or off and don't change in brightness with the amount of current going thru them, like an incandescent light bulbs do. Instead, their brightness is controlled by turning the current on & off quickly, and it's the time on vs. time off that determines the brightness.

Glenn said he saw a project in the Make magazine to make your shoes light up while you walk — the light changes depending on how much pressure is put on different parts of the shoe.

Paul said the Arduino costs about $20 or $30, the Raspberry Pi is about $49. The Raspberry is essentially a complete computer and operating system, the Arduino is a simpler, more primitive device that requires more user involvement.

To hook up the Raspberry Pi you just have to use an HDMI cable to plug it into your TV and plug in a flash drive (included if you buy the kit). Then you can use the 2 USB ports to attach a mouse and keyboard, and you're in business. It has…
– a MIPS processor running at 800 megaHertz.
– a graphics processor unit.
– a choice of operating system — a derivative of Linux or the MIPS OS.
– as with the Arduino, there are peripheral circuit boards available to do various things as well as a variety of software.

Paul said, as he had previously, that Youtube is a good resource for do-it-yourselfers. The videos tend to be short and to the point, while addressing a single topic.

Paul talked about the link at the top of this page. When you sign up at Flag Counter, you are given a URL that you then incorporate into your own web page. <I think it counts the number of visitors to your page and what country they're from> When someone visits your page, Flag Counter "increments one flag count per country that has visited you". He said the service is free but they do put cookies on your system though he thought they might be harmless. He thought it might still work if you turn your cookies setting to off.

Glenn said, "I have often said, in my book, the very best way to avoid getting viruses, Trojan horses, anything malicious or something malicious on your computer is do not open anything in your email". Paul added, stay up to date with the Flash player, it's the single biggest vector for the invasion of your machine — it's required for many things and it's bug-ridden.

Ralph called. He was thinking about an Arduino project to make a door opener for his chicken coop that would go up and down along with the Sun.
– First check to see if someone has done it already.
– Paul searched for the words: chicken coop controller. He found applications that not only control the door, but also provide other functions — weighing eggs, monitoring alarms and temperature, etc.
<This might be it>

Ralph also asked about podcasts of the Zentech show. Paul said there are some old ones, <here> <and here> and that he just doesn't find the time to put up more shows. He said KVMR does have podcasts of the many other shows it broadcasts. Go to kvmr.org and click the link called "Podcasts". These are just talk shows because copyright issues prevent podcasts containing music.

Paul said he enjoys the TED Talks and the Radiolab shows. Google the words: ted talks. You'll find a "marvelous series of videos".

Paul implied that it was from Radiolab he learned about loyalty cards at casinos. The casinos keep track of frequent visitors and their rate of winning or losing money. If they find you've been losing a lot, they may offer you a perk like a free stay at a hotel, just to keep you coming back.

Paul offered a tip to save money. He suggested you download, as he did on his Nexus tablet, all the apps for all the 'box' stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, Walgreens, CVS, Ikea, Rite Aid, etc. You can then get discounts, coupons etc. In particular, he likes the Lowe's app. It lets him order what he wants and have it delivered, or have the items boxed up and be ready to be picked up at the store. The stores are very competitive in this area, they can't afford not to offer these services, conveniences and savings.

Paul wondered why one would buy a Kindle when they could buy a tablet.
– The Kindle is a loss leader. It's cheap to buy but Amazon (its maker) expects you to keep coming back to buy things for it — books, music etc.
– Amazon tries to restrict you to their own website. You don't have access to the Google Play Store (without hacking the Kindle).
– Paul has been perfectly happy with an Android tablet <his Nexus 7> that can access the Google Play Store and, after getting the Kindle app, also have access to Amazon products.
– There are also Kindle apps for the Apple devices and desktop/laptop PCs.

Glenn said he's consider getting a Kindle Paperwhite reader. Paul explained…
– The Paperwhite looks more like a printed page than conventional tablets do.
– Conventional tablets use backlit LEDs and their batteries typically last 10 to 12 hours
– The Paperwhite can go for weeks between charges.

Paul said when you're shopping for an Android tablet, it should let you have access to the Google Play Store without any hacking.

Next show Paul plans to review the Dragon 7 tablet that he bought for his sweetie.
– It doesn't have a GPS chip.
– It doesn't have Bluetooth.
– It does have a camera.
– It does have OTG USB (On The Go USB). That means you can add those missing components.
– If you use it in a car, OTG USB means you can push it into a dock that has USB, and if there is a GPS USB chip in the car "you can make this kind of hybrid monster that does all the things you want it to do…"

Paul said he's found "even better" free GPS software called OsmAnd. There's also a paid version for $7. "You can actually download every map in the world" though that's not advised because you generally have limited storage on a tablet.
<More on OsmAnd here>

It's become common for tablets not to have external flash drive storage, Paul said. There can be a problem if the user removes the flash drive because that takes away some of the storage that the tablet depends on and that "can screw stuff up". The thinking now is that with judicious management, along with online storage, the internal memory should be sufficient.

Glenn mentioned his online backup isn't working because he has too many pictures on his iPhone and iPad. And he's having trouble deleting the pictures en masse <as I understood him saying>. Paul thought someone will make an app for that, eventually.

Last updated 10:23 PM 1/22/2014

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– 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 < >

NOTE: There will not be a Zentech show Christmas day 12-25-13

Paul said that sometimes, when you see a pop-up in your browser telling you to upgrade a program, like the Adobe Flash player, you might end up installing a bogus tool bar. He asked, why would someone create such a tool bar? Apparently, it's because there's typically an affiliate fee that is paid by an advertiser — usually a fraction of a cent per click — to those who create & install such tool bars.

Glenn thanked members of KVMR. To become a member, please visit the KVMR website. There's even a vehicle donation program.

When viruses infect his laptop, Glenn said the easiest remedy he's found is to reinstall the operating system. He reminded listeners to backup, backup, backup!

Paul offered a tip for finding the backup program that comes with Windows 7 (possibly in Windows 8 too). Hit the Windows key in the lower left of the keyboard and then perform a search with the word: backup. He said that will launch the backup program. He said that increasingly, operating systems use the search facility to run programs, rather than having to look for a program in the folders.

Paul said the backup program in Windows 7 isn't called "backup" but rather something like "File History" or "File Manager". He was told, but hasn't yet verified, that it can do incremental backups — like Time Machine on the Mac.

Paul noted that flash drives are getting so cheap that one might consider using them for backups. Glenn added that flash drives give no warning of impending failure. Paul said that hard drives might make a noise before failing, or you might notice data not being saved correctly. Flash drives fail catastrophically.

Glenn warned listeners to be sure that all files have finished being written to the drive before removing it. Use the 'Eject' command <right-click on the drive in My Computer or the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray>. This will insure that all reading & writing to the drive have been completed.

Paul said the flash drives have a limited number of times they can be written to <they "wear out">. Computers use a temporary storage area (a cache) where data to be written is stored. Eventually, the data is written to the flash drive all at once. Also, these drives have internal circuitry to insure that all parts of the drive are used evenly. No one spot is written to over and over — so it doesn't "wear out" there. These two strategies combine to maximize the life of the drive.
<In Windows XP, you can set whether the computer uses the write cache: in My Computer right-click on a removable drive & go to -> properties -> hardware -> properties -> policies>

The guys talked about the good old days when mass storage involved tape machines and large hard drive platters. When the computer user typed the command 'mount', technicians at the main frame would litterly mount the tape on the tape machine and then send the message 'Ready' back to the users screen.

Frank called in with 2 questions. He's shopping for a laptop and wanted guidance for comparing the CPUs — like an AMD with 4 cores at 2 gigaHertz speed compared to an Intel CPU with 2 cores and 2.5 gigaHertz. He plans to do some video editing.
– Look for video benchmark software to run speed tests.
– A lot of the video performance would depend on the hard drive access speed rather than on the CPU.
– Much of the performance depends on the type of video circuitry. If it's integrated on the motherboard, it will likely be slower than an independent video card and inadequate for video processing and gaming.
– Laptops don't typically allow you to change the graphics processor. Dell can custom-build a laptop with the video processor of your choice.
– Getting back to comparing the CPUs, Paul said use the word 'versus' in a search along with the CPU names. While talking, Glenn did the search with the words: compare amd versus intel cpus. He found cpubenchmark.net.
– AMD chips are cheaper, but that doesn't mean they are any less in quality or performance.
– If price is not an issue, get an Apple. Be aware that the low-end Mac Books do have an integrated graphics processor. And though the difference between the integrated and discrete processors is less than it used to be, the difference still exists.
– Paul found the website videobenchmark.net that compares video cards.

Frank's second question is about finding a laptop that he can run with a remote control so he can operate its DVD recorder. Frank said there used to be something called Media Center that would do what he wants, but he can't find it now.
– Paul said there's nothing in Media Center that you can't do in other ways — like an infrared USB device with a remote control. Search Ebay with the words: remote control for pc. He thought there might now be such a device that responds to wireless signals (instead of infrared).
– There is a BlueTooth wireless device called the Atom or something like that. It should do the trick. Paul found the SMK Link Blue Link Remote Control Adapter for $25 at Target. Or you can google the words: bluetooth remote control.
– If you don't have BlueTooth on the laptop, there is a USB dongle for about $3 that will enable your computer with BlueTooth. The range of BlueTooth is about 30 feet.
– Also, consider getting a refurbished laptop from Joy Microsystems. They don't have their own outlet, but they sell thru Amazon, Overstock and other places. Google the words: joy refurbished.

Ron called looking for external hard drive for the iPad Air. Does he need to jailbreak the iPad to use these drives? He saw the app called iFile that lets you manage the files like Finder does on the Mac. Ron is an artist and would like to access files that reside in his iMac, using his iPad.
– Glenn has seen wi-fi hard drives that might work for him. They also work with Android and desktop computers.
– Paul looked up iFile and it said you do have to jailbreak the iPad.
– Android devices can connect directly to an external hard drive and, unlike the iPad, the file system is readily accessible.
– If the iMac has iPhoto on it, you can use PhotoStream. It uses iCloud, an online storage service. Frank's internet connection is finicky, so that might not work well for him.
– If you go with Glenn's suggestion of a wi-fi drive, check out the Western Digital Mybook Live from Best Buy for roughly $149. It uses the protocols of Apple Time Capsule and acts like an inexpensive version of it. Paul has actually been using a refurbished 2 teraByte unit he got for something like $70.
– If you go with jailbreaking the iPad, you may find some apps no longer work, as Glenn found out.

Steve Baker, KVMR's program director came into the studio. He said KVMR had its volunteer recognition party the other day and Glenn & the Flea Market were the winners of the Osborne Woods Award For Community Service. Glenn was also named to the Volunteer Hall Of Fame for his service to KVMR.

Doug called with a question about the different types of memory cards — Compact, Memory Stick, SD cards, etc. He asked if some are more reliable than others.
– Glenn said no one is better than the others and you usually have no choice but to use the type your particular device can take.
– In general, SD cards are usually preferred. Compact is hard to find & expensive. Memory stick is particular to Sony products.
– Get brand name memory cards. Paul has had problems with off-brand and recycled cards.
– Multi-card readers are cheap & useful, especially around the holidays when guests arrive with their own particular memory cards.
– Check the speed rating of the flash media, especially for video cameras where something like 10X is required.
– Memory cards are pretty cheap — usually under $1 per gig.
– Be aware that some cameras take cards up to only a certain size.

Last updated 9:45 PM 12/11/2013