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 < >

Zentech is scheduled to air on 12-11-13 but probably not on Christmas day.

Glenn's phone call quality was terrible on this show. I hope I didn't mishear anything.

The show was not particularly information dense, so the notes will be a tad sparse. Hey, it's Thanksgiving eve, what do you expect.

Dave "Buzz" Barnett, KVMR's chief engineer, was the guest host. Glenn called in from the Bay Area. We didn't hear from Paul.

Glenn said Apple is having difficulties filling orders for the iPhone 5S, the newest model, and has told the manufacturer to increase its production. They have an overstock of the 5C model.

An on-going issue for Apple users is getting the KVMR Flea Market webpage to display correctly. Glenn restated the solution he found when this was brought up during the 10-23-13 show — use the Firefox browser. He said he'll continue to work on the problem to pinpoint the exact cause.

Glenn helped a friend explore the possibility of using a SIM card from a TracPhone, which is not a smartphone, in one that is smart — like an AT&T or T-Mobile smartphone. He also suggested trying the SIM card in any unlocked, off-contract smartphone — a used phone, for instance. And if you're going to get an older iPhone, make it the 3G or older model.

Dave was looking at some tech news and noted that Microsoft is preparing to kill Windows RT. Glenn said RT isn't able to run standard Windows applications <unless they are compiled for RT>, and Microsoft is moving on to Windows 8.1.

Win81 can be made to look more like Win7, which is closer to WinXP that Glenn is familiar with. Dave concurred and said he likes the older shortcuts available to WinXP — like WindowsKey + E to launch the file explorer. Dave said some of them are not available in Win8.

As on the last show, Glenn said that Samsung & Intel are collaborating on a Linux based operating system for mobile phones.

Dave said that most webservers run on the Linux operating system. When you install Windows, it brings with it all kinds of services. With Linux you can install with a rich set of services & programs, or install a minimal system for a specific purpose — like a database server, for example. As a result, Linux tends to be more efficient, have less overhead and be more secure.

Dave said that the Android operating system on the smartphones, though widely used, is still owned by Google, and developing an alternate open source Linux-based OS is good hedge, in case it's needed.

A few years ago there was an open source project called OpenMoco that was an attempt to build a universal, SIM card-enabled smartphone with Linux. He didn't know what happened to it; he thought they had "trouble finding the hardware". There were a few prototypes spotted in the Far East but he doesn't know more about it.

Glenn said Best Buy is going to have a "doorbuster" deal on Friday (he thought Friday) on a 32" or possibly 42" LCD TV for $99. It's not a smart TV, the kind you can hookup to the internet, Glenn said.

Glenn mentioned that KVMR has 2 broadcast studios — A & B. Studio B was meant to be a backup in case there's trouble with studio A and it's now used for training. Glenn likes B because it's more user friendly.

Dave said studio B is set up better to use KVMR's digital library and is being used for archiving many of KVMR's recordings (some 16,000 CDs) into the Flac format. Unlike the MP3 format, Flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a high quality recording — it doesn't lose any quality from compression, it's lossless.

Glenn wondered about the details of the new building that KVMR is moving to, which will be across the street. Dave said it will have an upgraded operating system with most of the hardware that's in studio B.

Dave said the phone interface will be different. The Axia brand phone interface for the operator will be the same, but behind the scene it's different. The current system "takes the audio in the board and translates it to a standard copper phone line pair". <It's analog, I guess> The new facility will use VOIP with something called Asterisk.

Dave said that recently the FCC had a filing window close for low power FM stations (LPFM). Any established non-profit organization not involved in broadcasting was able to apply. Low power stations transmit at under 100 watts and typically have a coverage area of 2 to 4 miles. He said about 2800 have applied. One such station is KFOK at 95.1 in Georgetown.

Glenn brought up the subject of HD radio. KVMR has the ability to broadcast in HD, and he wondered what the channel designations are. Dave said that 89.5-1 is a digital copy of their analog signal.
– On an HD radio, if you tune in to 89.5 (analog) it will switch to HD channel 89.5-1, if the signal is strong enough. HD is normally a weaker signal with a smaller coverage.
– If the signal is strong enough and you then dial in 89.5-2 you will hear classical music from a service called Classical 24.
– KVMR has the ability to use channels 89.5-3 & 89.5-4 but the bandwidth of HD radio is 96Kbits in total. 2 channels will be 48Kbits each, 3 channels 32Kbits and 4 channels will be 24Kbits each. KVMR has decided not to broadcast more than 2 channels because the quality would be too low.

Jerry <maybe it was Gary> called wanting to know the peak allowed wattage of a LPFM station and what can be done to extend the coverage.
– The limit is 100 watts if the antenna is no higher than 10 meters above average terrain. The taller the antenna the lower the allowed power.
– You can extend the range by using a translator. It will receive the primary frequency (89.5) and rebroadcast at a different frequency to cover a new area (like 104.7 for KVMR's Woodland translator).
– There is a fine of about $10,000 if the allowed wattage is exceeded.

Thanks to all the listeners & subscribers. To become a member please visit the KVMR website.

The Flea Market will NOT broadcast tomorrow. Glenn didn't know what will take its place. It will be on the following week.

At the very end, someone called in to complain about the poor quality of today's audio.
– The quality problem was with Glenn's cell phone call.

Last updated 8:23 PM 11/27/2013

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 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

Glenn will talk about Google Offers and their refund policy

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 < >

Glenn was in the studio and Paul called in Casper CA near Point Cabrillo on the North coast.

NOTE: There will not be a show on the 5th Wed this month (10-30-13) due to the membership drive. There will be special programming in its place.

Glenn thanked current KVMR members for their support. To become a member, please visit the KVMR website.

Glenn said he's gotten complaints from 2 iMac users about not being able to get the KVMR Flea Market website to display properly while using the Safari browser.
– He recommended they use the Firefox browser and that solved the problem.
– Paul tried to replicate the problem but it worked fine for him.
– Besides using a different browser, Paul suggested an upgrade to the operating system. He sees no compelling reason not to get the Mountain Lion OS, if your machine is compatible. It's about $19. Glenn thought you'd need at least a Core 2 Duo processor to run Mountain Lion.

Paul said some early Macs, typically from early 2007, with a Core 2 Duo couldn't run Mountain Lion because the graphics processing was not fast enough. He mentioned a website where you can enter the serial number of your Mac and find the date of manufacture as well as other info.

Paul reminded listeners that you can put the Ubuntu operating system (a version of Linux) on a Mac as old as the G4 <later he said G5>. Go to Ubuntu and download the G5 or Power PC (PPC) version and follow the instructions. Older laptops with an Intel processor work even better, using the Intel version of Ubuntu.

Glenn asked Paul if he knew what the critter is on the Firefox emblem. According to Glenn, it's a red panda. Paul remembered that the original Mozilla project had a gecko for its logo

The forerunner of the current Firefox browser was based on Netscape code (though the code itself was not copied). Netscape eventually became the property of AOL (America On Line). <The Netscape browser was popular during the 1990s>

Paul noted that the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse had its foghorns silenced by the Coast Guard. He then talked about sound propagation as well as progress that's been made in marine navigation.
– High-pitched sounds are more directional than low-pitched sounds.
– However, the high frequency sounds don't travel as far as the low-pitched sounds.
– It's harder to tell where low pitch sounds are coming from. The strategy had been to not go in the direction where the fog horn gets louder because your going toward the horn & hence toward land.
– Glenn speculated that the horns at Point Cabrillo were shut down because sailors now use GPS. The lights of the light houses as well as an older navigation system called Omega are being phased out slowly because it's not clear who may still depend on them, Paul said.
– Paul said the sailors now download their charts rather than use printed ones.
<From today's All Things Considered: NOAA Says No More Paper Maps Of U.S. Waterways>

Brother Free called. He has an Emachine PC with a Pentium processor E5400 and Windows 7. He defragged the hard drive and consequently lost all of the icons on the desktop. Otherwise it works fine.
– Press F5 to refresh the desktop. He tried that but it didn't help.
– Right-click on desktop -> View -> Show Desktop Icons. That solved his problem.

Patricia called. She lives in Browns Valley where she doesn't have any internet service except dialup. She wanted to know what options she has for a broadband service. She said the Verizon cellular service is available to her and Jetpack from Verizon (in conjunction with a smartphone) had been recommended to her.
– Ask Verizon how much extra it would cost to use a smartphone as a hotspot for your computer. She already did and was told it would cost $100 per month for 2gigs of data.
– Dish Network & Direct TV have satellite service that might work for you.
– Digital Path might also be an option. Call them at 800-676-7284. Digital Path was installed at Glenn's property for an initial fee of $250 and subscription fee of $50 to $60 per month for unlimited service.
– Paul said, go to a Verizon store and ask about mi-fi. It's just a black box that converts cell phone signals into wi-fi signals. You don't need a cell phone to use it. Make sure the Verizon store you go to is a company store not an independent store.
– If your computer doesn't have wi-fi, you should be able to plug it directly into the mi-fi box. Or, you can add wi-fi to your computer with an adapter for about $6.
– Other cellular providers have a similar product. Ask your neighbors what cellular service they're using, to know what works in your location.
– Words to remember when asking about these services are 'mi-fi' and 'tether '. Tethering is where a cell phone converts cellular signals to wi-fi.
<A review of Jetpack>

Bongo called. He uses an amplifier to boost his cellular signal and has antennas in the house to distribute the signal. He wanted to know if there is something he can do to boost the signal to increase the range, or should he continue adding antennas throughout the house.
– Glenn suggested using a wi-fi router to distribute the signal that's coming into the house. Additionally, you'll probably need a modem to take the cellular signal and pass it to the router. The modem would come from AT&T and may commit you to a contract.

Bongo is using an iPhone 4 and Paul suggested he go into Settings and look for something that says 'tethering'. If that's not there, you don't have that plan from AT&T. Bongo said he already jailbroken the phone and Glenn suggested he go to Cydia and look for an app that does tethering or acts as a hotspot. Glenn once used an app called TetherMe which costs $5.

Bongo went on to say that he doesn't hang out at wi-fi hotspots so he doesn't use the cloud to backup the files from his phone. As a result, he doesn't have enough available memory to upgrade his phone to version 7 of iOS. He wanted to know how to get the data off his phone. He doesn't have a computer to back it up to.
– Ask a friend with a computer, who's not already using it to backup an iPhone, if you can backup your phone on their machine. Use iTunes on the friend's computer to select what you want to keep. iTunes will also tell you how much memory you've freed up. Once you have transferred the date to their computer, you can then put the data on a flash drive.
– Since you only have a cellular plan at home, it can get expensive to backup to the cloud.
– Read up on other suggestions – google the words: ios 7 upgrade insufficient space.

Mary called to say she uses a mi-fi device from AT&T and it has worked wonderfully for her. Paul added, the cool thing is you can use the mi-fi device anywhere you can get a cellular signal from the provider, not just at home. And you can connect to it from any wi-fi enabled device (smartphone, tablet etc.).

Matthew called. He said he's simplified his life by selling his computer & cell phone. He wanted to know the cheapest way to receive messages.
– Try something like the GoPhone or TrackPhone. Check with Walmart or Best Buy and ask for a plan with just text (txt) service.
– You can use cell phones without a cellular plan by using it only in a wi-fi mode. You just need to find a place that has wi-fi: McDonalds, Flower Garden, an AT&T store, etc.
– Freedom Pop is another option. Their minimum plan is about $18/mo. See the show notes from 10-9-13 for more info.

Bill called with a comment. He uses Mac OS10 Snow Leopard. He was about to pay $29.95 to get Mountain Lion but then found out that the latest OS, called Maverick, is free. He said one of the improvements is longer battery life for those using a laptop. Visit the Apple site.
– Paul cautioned that if you go from version 10.6 to 10.9 of the OS, Power PC applications will no longer work.
– To tell which apps will have problems with Maverick, google the word: maverick compatibility applications

Last update 9:46 PM 10/23/2013

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.

Paul talked about getting your computer to show the right time. To manage the time on your computer, click (or double click) the clock displaying the time in the lower right on a PC or upper right on a Mac.

In the window that pops up you can change the time manually, but the time will drift and you will have to keep resetting it. While there, you can change the time zone, too. In our area it should be set to GMT -8 hours also know as Pacific Time.

When you click the "Internet Time" tab, you can tell Windows to go out on the net to retrieve the correct time and set your computer to that. Checkmark the box where it says "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server and next to "Server:" select the particular server you want it to use. It will then automatically update your clock.

One of the time servers Windows can access is time.nist.gov. The other choice is time.windows.com. <I use 209.81.9.7 if the other two are temporarily unavailable. You can type in an alternate server address of your choice directly into the box>. Other servers you can try: time.apple.com & pool.ntp.org. You can actually go to nist.gov and find out more about the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

You can also click the "Update Now" button and Windows will synch your clock immediately. Paul tried that on the KVMR's computer and got an error message. He thought the problem might be that the firewall is blocking the port used for time updates — it's different from the port used for displaying webpages. The other thing that could be blocking the time port is the router in their office. At first Paul speculated the NIST time server might be a victim of the government shutdown but he tried the other servers and still got the error message, so he figured the problem was at KVMR.

Glenn noted that the weather site at NOAA was shut down last week.

Paul speculated that the government websites for the Affordable Care Act may eventually be shut down, since they are currently having trouble handling the volume of users. Paul thinks Wikipedia is a good source for info about the health care act.

Paul went on to talk about Britain's health system. He thought it was 1947 that the Bevin Act was passed. It enabled Britain's nationalized insurance to "distribute the load of cost of health care provisioning across the whole population of Britain". Check out the Wikipedia article about the National Health Service.

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

Bongo called. He thought he had heard the guys talk about Textme! on a previous show. It's an app to let you send text <txt> messages for free. The guys didn't recall having said anything about it but welcomed the question anyway.

Bongo said when he started using the app, it asked him for his contact list and some other info. He was concerned about sharing the list with a third party.
– You can decline sharing that info. You'll just have to manually enter the phone number of the person you're texting to every time.
– For additional privacy, you can turn off the location services feature on the iPhone by going into Settings -> privacy. Paul likes to check this setting periodically to be sure some app didn't change it.
– In the upper right corner of the screen there is a little "pointy arrow", and if some application starts using your GPS service, the arrow will light up.
– Glenn found the Textme! app and it seems to have a high rating — 4.5 stars out of 5 — as well as 17,000 reviews. Based on that, he guessed that it is a well-behaved app.
– Glenn uses Google Voice (a free service), which has a texting function. He likes it because it works with his phone, iPad, his computer and any computer he uses to sign with.
– Paul seemed to say that Textme! works thru the Google Talk and you don't need Textme! if you already have the Google Talk application. Bong said he'll check out Google Talk.
– Glenn noted that just because a app asks for your contact list, that doesn't mean the list will be sent back to the makers of the app. <The app may use the list only on your phone>.
– Apple reviews apps that are submitted to its app store, but it's still possible for the app developers to sneek something in that might violate Apple's rules.

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.

Richard called. He called about Freedom Pop during the 9-25-13 show and wondered what the guys found out about it.
– It uses one of the radio frequencies used by cell phones for 4G service.
– Go to their website & enter your zip code "to see if that particular type of wireless service is available that allows you to get 4G access".
– A certain number of megabytes is free per month. When you've used that up, you can buy 2 gigs of data for $19 per month.
– You have to get a mino router, which is a gateway between the 4G network and wireless. You use wi-fi in the house and the router (gateway) translates the data so it can be sent to/from a 4G cellular network. A refurbished router is $39.
– Freedom Pop uses a nation-wide service called something like Clear Data.
– You enter IMEI number, which the unique identity of your mobile device, and "that gives you 4G service if it's compliant with the hardware you own".
– Paul speculated that giving away a certain amount of service for free is just the cost of doing business. Doing it this way and relying on word-of-mouth advertising could cost less than traditional advertising.
– Even if Freedom Pop is not available a particular zip code, if enough people query their website with that zip code, it might encourage them to offer the service at that location.

Paul talked about Emailchemy. It's a program that converts email between different formats, even between email programs that don't exist anymore. It starts at $29. See the above link.

Glenn: took Windows XP off of a friends Asus 12" and installed Xubuntu. He asked Paul if they could use that computer to show a slidshow when it's connected to a projector.
– Yes you can. Paul thought the name of the Linux (Xubuntu) program is called Presentations. It will display Microsoft Power Point content. Presentations is part of LibreOffice (a branch of OpenOffice). <See the Favorite Programs And Utilities file for more info >.
– Glenn said it's just images they want to show, not Power Point files. In that case, Paul said, there are a bunch of programs they can use.
– As he said before, Paul prefers Kubuntu because of its user interface. See the notes for the 9-25-13 show for more info.
– The package manager in Ubuntu allows you to search for the app you need for a slideshow — just enter 'slideshow' in the search box. The apps are free from the Ubuntu store.

Glenn asked about getting files off an iPod using Windows. Using instruction in a Youtube video, he managed to unlock & show hidden folders and eventually transfer the music files.
– Paul said it's likely that only the music files were transferred and not the album titles, song titles, etc.
– Glenn thought that after the music is transferred to a separate drive, pointing iTunes to the music's location would let iTunes figure out what the titles are. Paul thought iTunes would play the music but not supply the titles.
– Paul said a better way is to use an "ipod ripper" for about $19. Xilisoft makes one. For more info; google the words: ipod ripper.
<Download.com may have a trial version:>
– When you upgrade iOS you may have to upgrade the iPod ripper.

Marilyn called. She let someone use her computer to login to Hotmail & her info showed up when he was filling out a form on-screen. She wanted to know how to prevent that.
– It differs depending on whether you're using Internet Explorer or Firefox. She said she uses Firefox
– The easiest way is to "empty all the setting that have been saved by Firefox". Paul couldn't recall where in Firefox you would do that but there should be a place to empty the cache & saved passwords. <This seems draconian to me. The next suggestion seems better…>
– Initiate private browsing before letting him use the computer. That will isolate that particular browsing session. Go to File -> New Private Window.

Last updated 8:41 PM 10/9/2013

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 < >

Paul was in the studio, Glenn called in from Sacramento

The intro music was the track Nothing Is Something Worth Doing by Shpongle

Glenn got to try the iPhone 5S & 5C at a T-Mobile store.
– It doesn't look that much different from the previous version.
– The big thing this time is the changes in the operating system — it's now iOS 7. However, it won't work on anything earlier that an iPhone 4 or 4S. Nor will it run on the original iPad — iPad 2 or later is required.
– The 5S has an new processor — the A7 chip
– The 5S has a 4" screen — iPhone 4 is said to have a 3.5" screen.
– In comparison, Glenn saw a friends newest Samsung Galaxy. It's screen is much larger — it's "almost all LCD screen".

Those who have iPhones or iPads that have the "traditional wide dock" (not the newer Lightning dock) can buy device that lets them read flash cards. The device is about $5 or $10 on Ebay. Google the words: flash dock.

Glenn had some problems getting his Asus netbook to connect to a router, even while using a direct Ethernet cable. It's an AT&T/Motorola router and Paul remembered that the cream-colored 2-wire router from AT&T is known to have had problems some time back — something to do with capacitors. Glenn's router is black.

Glenn addressed some questions that have accumulated over the past weeks. Richard wrote in asking if there is an inexpensive, reliable notebook with out wi-fi.
– Glenn didn't think that there are any notebooks sold without wi-fi. But you can just turn off the wi-fi.

Richard also asked about an inexpensive but reliable printer that doesn't cost a fortune in ink to operate.
– The ink for all of them is fairly expensive.
– Paul noted that buy.com (aka rakuten.com) has a series of Canon Laser printers with scanners whose ink cartridge can print 3000 black & white images. One of the cheaper Canons is $110. Also, the cartridges don't have any electronic chips meant to prevent refilling.

Recently, Fry's has been advertising Asus PCs with a 15.6" screen, Intel dual core processor, 4gig of memory, 300gig hard drive and Windows 8 for $258.

Paul repeated his challenge for anyone to tell him what benefit Windows 8 has over anything else. He also said that the tile interface is disliked by many. At least in Windows 8.1 that interface is optional.

The guys complained that logging off a computer often involves more than one action — it's true with many products including those from Apple. Paul gave some tips.
– With laptops, and often with desktops, if you push the off button once briefly, it doesn't shut it done but "triggers the shut down process as if you told the machine to shut down with the mouse".
– This action can be changed. Go to the Control Panel -> Power Options (sometimes under Desktop). There you can specify what to do when you press the off button — some choices are shut down, hibernate and ask me.
– Glenn noted that a pushing and holding down the off button is not the best way to turn of a computer because running programs are not terminated properly and you're not logged off of Windows.

Paul gave some tips when you have programs not responding or the mouse is jammed or things have slowed way down. In preferred order…
1) Be patient. Wait for the computer to finish something that's just taking a long time. Look at the hard drive light to see if it's busy, wait for it to finish. A busy drive light is the worst time to pull the power plug. 5 minutes is reasonable time to wait.
2) When you come back, use the mouse to close individual programs.
3) If nothing works right, not just your programs, press Control+Alt+Delete. This brings up the Task Manager. It should come up in 60 seconds and you can use it to shut down the computer <or individual programs>.
4) Push the power button briefly to see if it gives you a choice to shut down.
5) The last option is to hold the power button down for up to 30 seconds. That forces power supply to shut down.

Ingrid called to asked about places that refill ink carts.
– A few weeks ago Glenn took Epson ink cartridges into Costco for refilling. However, they didn't work right and he plans to get a refund. He said Costco has a pretty good return policy.
– Paul said it's pretty messy trying to refill them yourself. One drop of ink can leave a lot of stain. He doesn't do that anymore.
– You can buy cheap cartridges at Amazon or Ebay. <I've had good results with LD Products>
– Newer printers often have cartridges that contain a chip to prevent or make it difficult to refill. Older printers don't usually have this problem.
– Paul read up on the laser printer he bought to be sure the cartridge would be easy to refill or buy refurbished.
– Glenn said some newer laser printer cartridges come with the fuser roller & exposure mechanism so you end up replacing the high mortality parts all at once — not just the toner alone.

Paul was delighted to find that the $110 printer/scanner he bought has an automatic document feeder that can feed 40 8.5" X 11" documents to be scanned. But after using it a while it stopped feeding in the documents. It turned out that it had only a single roller that does the feeding and it would get coated with china clay and paper fibers from the documents. Business grade printer/scanners usually have multiple rollers to do the job. He solved the problem by gently using emery paper on the roller to rough up its surface. He said if you clean rubber rollers with isopropyl alcohol don't use rubbing alcohol — it contains lanolin, which leaves a slick finish.

Bruce called. He had revived a old Pentium 4 computer and after adding software to it, he found an instance of "service host" taking up much of the processor time. <Do a Control+Alt+Delete -> click the Processes tab -> see the items called svchost.exe> If he kills tha//t process, it works fine. He wants to know how to find the program that is launching that instance of service host.
– Use the Microsoft program called Process Explorer. It's like task manager but gives more information.
– To figure out what you're looking at in Process Explorer, google the terms to get more info.
<Process Explorer was mentioned in the 10-19-09 show>
Tips for Using Process Explorer>