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 said "Samsung has overtaken Apple as the leading, I believe, world wide device for a smartphone". He didn't have the figures handy but thought that included all the phones that Samsung sells, including the low end ones. Paul said patent infringement claims between the two companies are continuing. There are big bucks involved, The Samsung Galaxy S4 is $639 off the shelf without a contract or about $200 with a 2 year contract, he said.

Paul asked Glenn what his favorite Android tablet is. He didn't have a favorite one but did test a Galaxy Note about a year ago. A couple of weeks ago he was going to buy an inexpensive refurbished 7" tablet for $59.99 at Fry's but was steered away from it by indications it wouldn't be a real good product. He had thought it would be useful for exploring what Android was about.

Paul said he just got a "proper" Android TV. The Android stick he talked about on 2-27-13 show didn't work out very well. What he has now is about the size of a pack of playing cards. It's out of China and just says "Android TV" on it. He said he would put up a link about it in today's show notes.
– It's under a $100 and comes with a remote control that has pre-programmed buttons that lets you run built-in apps.
– It includes a separate power supply and doesn't rely on USB port to power it.
– It has 2 USB port and you can plug in a webcam so you can Skype with it. You can access Google Play, the Android store, where you can get apps for Skype & Netflix.
– You can plug a hard drive into one of the USB ports and watch movies from it.
– Glenn asked if one can record TO the hard drive a movie that you're watching (like from Netfix). Paul said there might be an app to save to the hard drive. But a Netfix movie goes directly the HDMI (TV port) and may not allow diversion, unless the Android operating system is hacked in a process called rooting. Paul hasn't explored the possibility and his statements were just speculation.

Paul said he's been looking a tablets and, so far, is attracted to the Google Nexus 7" for $229. It has the 2 features he was particularly interested in: front & back facing cameras and a genuine GPS chip. Some other tablets don't have a GPS chip and rely on other methods to determine your location. Though it can connect to the internet wirelessly, using a mapping service while driving around is problematic, so you have to try something else. Tom Tom for Android lets you download & keep the maps on your device so you don't need to be online to use it. <Tom Tom was mentioned in the 9-26-12 & 5-9-12 shows>
<A New and Improved Nexus 7, by David Pogue>

Paul mentioned his disappointing experience with the PD10 & PD20 tables. <Mentioned on the 11-14-12 show>

The guys talked about the ZTE Firefox smartphone.
– It will only be sold on Ebay.
– It's from China & has been sold internationally but not in the U.S. The entry price is $80 (no contract required).
– To find reviews, google the words: Firefox smartphone…or: zte open smartphone
– It runs the Firefox operating system and has a browser-like interface.
– Paul thinks it may be using the XML markup language, an extension of HTML.
– Reading from an article on the web, Glenn said it uses HTML5.
– Paul speculated that many of the apps that it runs require an internet connection.
– Glenn read, "It will not be locked to a specific mobile network operator"
– It should be a good entry-level phone that has some power behind it, if your web needs are modest.

"Professor" called about his XP laptop, which loses the internet connection when he tries to download or watch a video on Youtube. He's tried both a wireless and a wired connection. The only way to get the connection back is to restart the laptop. He's tried taking the laptop to another location (with a different modem & router) and it still misbehaved.
– Try a different computer on your home network to be sure the network is working ok.
– Visit speedtest.net to check the transfer rate you're getting. He said he did that: he gets about 3meg download speed. That speed should be adequate, Paul said, and suggested he retest periodically because the problem might be intermittent.
– Glenn suggested he consider trying a USB wireless adapter. <As an alternative to the built-in adapter, I guess>
– Paul seemed to focus on tuning up the laptop. "Professor" said he's already tried CCleaner and an AVG clean-up product. Paul said he should uninstall AVG programs <except for the (free) anti-virus>, because they tend to run in the background and put an extra burden on the computer.
– Try using the free Eusing Registry Cleaner. <I think this is it.> Paul thinks it's just as good as any commercial registry cleaner.
– The 2 tools, CCleaner & Eusing cover about 90% of your cleanup needs. <Some other utilities mentioned on 9-14-11 show
– "Professor" said he's only had this failure with Youtube — other video services work ok, at worst they only slow down a bit. Paul said he should check Youtube's video quality setting in the lower right — it may be trying to stream the video in High Def.
– Paul asked him to check the speed of his CPU. Anything slower than 1.7 gigaHz can have problems with Youtube. His is 1.6 gigaHz.
– Some laptops have Intel Speed Step; which allows the CPU to throttle back when it get over heated. Paul thought it's possible the laptop may have accumulated dust that may be causing over heating and, thereby, a slow running CPU. Try compressed air to blow out the dust.

Marilyn called. She was helping relative with their Mac and it was suggested that an anti-virus should be installed on it. Marilyn couldn't find a version of AVG for Macs but did find Avast. But while trying to install it she was required to stop the Safari browser, and she couldn't find how to do that.
– Stopping it is not very intuitive on the Mac.
– First of all, Apples can't get viruses, per se. The need for an anti-virus questionable. However, if you forward email to users of other computers, it's considerate to pre-scan the emails first. This is the only obvious need for an anti-virus.
– Technically, Paul said, a Mac can get a virus but you have to go thru a couple of confirmation steps before a Mac will allow you to install anything, including malware. A Mac won't let malware be foisted on you just by visiting a malevolent webpage. <see foistware>
– Marilyn wasn't sure where the downloaded Avast file was. Paul said it's in the folder called "Downloads". Just drag the file to the trash.
– Go up to the Apple logo and select "Check for Updates".
– Marilyn expressed difficulty finding things on the Mac and Glenn 'reassured' her that even he still has this problem.

Paul explained why companies like AVGgive away free software. It's often the case that free software collects data about your browsing habits and sends it to the company. It's usually "aggregated data" and not associated with the particular user.

The disclaimer:
The views and opinions you hear expressed on this, and probably other shows as well, are those of the speakers doing the broadcasting only at this moment, and not necessarily those of KVMR itself, even its board, or its management, its staff, its contributors or even its members.

Glenn said he's going to look into the ZTE Firefox phone. <above> It looks like it has a touch-sensitive screen similiar to the Samsung Galaxy.

Glenn's been getting some questions about Pure Talk, his current cell carrier and one that he's happy with.
– It uses the same cell towers and network as AT&T.
– Some have wondered if AT&T users get higher priority access to the network. He wasn't sure that was even possible. Paul said prioritizing is possible: amber alerts work that way as well as emergency calls by civil servants.
– Pure Talk requires a GSM phone, the type that takes a SIM card. There's a list of phones that aren't compatible. <see their website>

William called with 3 questions. He upgraded a Mac recently but it died shortly afterward.
– Remove the battery and try running without it. He's tried that.
– Hold on to the power button for 20 or 30 seconds. <I'm not sure what it's supposed to do…something about resetting it, maybe>
– The motherboard may have gone bad.
– William thought it might be the power switch. Paul said use an airgun and/or vacuum cleaner to get any dust out of it.
– Check the power transformer. He's already tried that, too.
– William wondered if the new RAM he put in might be the problem. Paul said that wouldn't normally cause it to be totally dead, but it might be worth putting the old RAM back in.

Also, William has temporary use of a PC netbook and wanted to know how to load it with software from a CD.
– You'll have to buy an external CD drive.
– Paul's seen some USB CD DVD drives that are powered from the USB interface for about $29. Check places like amazon.com. Paul looked up one on Amazon for $17.
– If the software comes as an ISO image, you can try putting it on a flash drive and running it from there.

Finally, William asked about reading a Mac hard drive on a PC. He has one in an external enclosure that he hooked up the netbook thru the USB port.
– Google the words: read mac disk on pc. Look for HFS Explorer…it's free.go to page run by Catacombae. <I think this is it>
– Going the other way, Macs will read PC drives but won't write to them without additional software.

Paul has a client who's shopping for a laptop to run Photoshop, which puts a moderate demand on the graphics chip — about 40 frames per second.
– Graphic chips are measured in how many frames per second they can render
– DVDs viewing is adequate at 29.5 frames per second

The graphics in a laptop come in 2 flavors:
1) Discrete graphics unit, which is a separate dedicated graphics processor unit, a GPU. With it, the graphics are snappier and the machine is generally faster. The down side is that it's costlier — about $150, there's more heat produced and there are more things to go wrong.
– Macs can determine when to use their GPU depending on the demand. They shut down the GPU when the workload is light.
2) Built-in, like that by Intel, where the graphics rendering is done by the chip that also does the other things.

Changelog:
spelling: smart phone to smartphone
added link: article about the Google Nexus 7"
fixed minor typos

 Last updated  2:18 PM 8/17/2013

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 < >

NOTE: there will be NO Zentech show on 7-31-13

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio.

Glenn thanked those who chose to become supporting members of KVMR. If you'd like to become a member, visit the KVMR web site kvmr.org . Local listeners can call 530-265-9073 to join.

As noted in on a pervious show, every word in the dictionary and many short sentences have been reserved as website names in the .com domain <names like xxx in xxx.com>. Similarly, names for the .net & .org domains are "pretty much gone".

There is a name grab going on for Facebook too. Zentech has a Facebook page and you're welcome to join.

There's gross misconduct on Facebook called "like farming". 'Likes' are worth money, the more 'likes' the more money. See the above link for more info.

Glenn was helping a friend who has a computer identical to the ones both he and Paul have: an Asus 12" notebook. <I think it's actually a netbook>. Her computer was starting to run slowly and Glenn was going to reinstall the operating system (XP). The computer didn't have separate copy of XP and Asus wanted $50 to send a copy. She only used her computer for email so Glenn thought installing the free Ubuntu operating system would work fine for her. Earlier, Paul had suggested he install X-Ubuntu, a light version of Ubuntu.

Glenn had trouble creating the required Ubuntu bootable CD until he used his Mac computer to do it. He's now using a similar process with X-Ubuntu.

Paul explained that X-Ubuntu has the X graphical user interface that goes back to a time before Windows. It's a type of windows manager that has a counterpart on the Mac as Finder and on Windows as Explorer. X-Ubuntu works well on small and underpowered netbooks.

There are many choices of windows manager for Ubuntu. One such manager is made by the Ubuntu people and is called Unity. Paul said he doesn't care much for it because it's not as intuitive as some of the others. You can get the KDE Desktop Environment, which Paul likes, or one called Gnome. If you need guidance on installing KDE, just google the words: Ubuntu KDE.

Paul said downloads & installations of "stuff" is fairly problem free in the Linux environment. However, Glenn did have trouble getting Firefox to run automatically when starting up. He said Ubuntu wouldn't let him drag the Firefox icon to the startup folder until he managed to get it on the desktop. From there he could drag it to the startup folder.

Years ago there was a windows manager called Lindows that looked & worked much like Windows. It sounded too similar to Windows and Microsoft got them to change the name. The program eventually faded into history.

Older computers are more amenable to using Linux than other operating systems. As long as they are in reasonably good shape, even machines going back to the 1990's can run Linux; where otherwise they won't run Windows XP or the Mac OS. Even a Mac Power PC can be a good canidate for Linux. Paul said he's never seen a virus in the Linux world, though they do exist.

Paul didn't think it was right that Asus tried to sell the install disk for $50. He noted that peer-to-peer networks can sometimes have copies of installation CDs that would normally come from the manufacturer; OEM CDs.

Glenn said the local maker group The Curious Forge will have its first open house at its new location on Thursday Aug 1. Its now at 12400 Loma Rica Drive <Nevada City, I guess. To get the hours, I suggest going to their website>.

Paul recommended inexpensive translucent CD protector sleeves with double-sided tape on them to keep installation CDs attached to the computer they go with. He also uses a Sharpie on white PVC tape to keep notes directly on the equipment he's working on. "A nerd and his information are soon separated", so keep the information with the computer, Paul said.

Glenn said he once used a Sharpie on masking tape for this purpose but the writing faded. Masking tape gets "crispy" and sticks permanently when it ages, Paul added. Glenn said a number 2 pencil doesn't fade, but you have to pair it up with a suitable surface: it has trouble writing on slick surfaces. Glenn claimed the writing from a Sharpie will fade, despite what many people think.

Continuing on the topic of writing permanence, Paul mentioned you can get aluminum tape at garden stores for outdoor use, where conditions are harsher. You can also cut out a coke can and write on that <the inner surface> using a scribe to indent or emboss the surface with lettering: use a semi-hard surface behind it, like wood, to aid in the embossing.

Josh called with a question about how to connect a newish, 6 month old Mac Book Pro, which doesn't have Ethernet, to an old (7 or 8 year old) Brother laser printer. The Mac doesn't have Ethernet but has wireless and the printer has Ethernet but no wireless.
– You can get an Ethernet to USB adapter.
– Or you can connect the printer to your office router. That puts them both on the same network (one attached by cable (Ethernet) and the other wirelessly).
– Then turn the printer on and go to Preferences -> Printers. The printer should be using either Bonjour or Rendezvous to announce itself to the network. The Mac should then be able to identify the printer. You then "add" the printer by clicking on the plus symbol.

Josh's other question is how to format a hard disk that was made for a PC.
– Use the disk utility called Disk Manager
– Paul also suggested the use of TimeMachine to do your backups.

Josh said he bought a 4teraByte hard drive and was thinking of partitioning it to do separate backups for him & his wife.
– You don't have to partition the drive when you use TimeMachine. What you do is first pick reasonable names for the 2 computers (JoshsMacBook & WifesLaptop, for example).
– When you plug in the drive, designate it as a TimeMachine backup drive. Wait for it to finish backing up the first computer. Then eject the drive. Next, plug it in to her machine and repeat the procedure (answer NO when it asks you if you want it to use the backups from the 1st machine).
– This should create 2 folders within a backup folder, with the names you chose in the 1st step above.
– As long as you don't touch <add or delete> anything in that backup folder (the one with the 2 subfolders), you can use the rest of the drive like it's an ordinary drive. Thus you don't have to do any partitioning.
– You can use any drive out there (including flash drive) and format it to the native HPFS+ .Go to Applications -> Folder Utilities -> Disk Utilities and erase what ever partitions are on the drive to make it just 1 partition. You can also name the drive at this time. <Note: be prepared to lose any date the drive came with>
– Ideally, the backup drive should be twice the size of the drive you're backing up. Or twice the size of the space being used, if you're not already using all of the space on the internal drive.

Glenn asked if there is a program similar to TimeMachine but for the PC. Paul asked listeners to call if they know of one. Paul has been using Cobian Backup. It's free but can be vexing to use. For one thing, it can't backup files that are currently in use — it just unceremoniously stops when it comes to such a file.

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

Many people don't write down the passwords they use because they've heard it's dangerous to do so. Glenn said it's dangerous not to write them down if you don't have an adequate system to keep track of them.

Paul said a knowledgeable technician is able to get past a password that's protecting a computer and do it without ever finding out the password. Don't think a password will protect your computer after it's stolen.

On the Mac there's something called Keychain. It stores in one place all of the passwords you use. You then need just one password for Keychain itself to use all of the passwords it contains.

Some wireless routers that use WPA passwords allow you to use a phrase (including spaces) instead of a password, making it easier to remember.

Bill called to suggest a backup program for Windows called Paragon Hard Disk Manager Pro for about $130. It is avail as in trial version at download.cnet.com . Note, Bill recommends the Pro version. <Possibly different than the one at Cnet>
– It does incremental backups and will backup files that are currently in use.
– Bill said Acronis True Image doesn't work well. It's "garbage".

Bill asked about software that can crack a password protected .rar file. <.rar files are similar to .zip files where the data is compressed>

It's been said that Microsoft uses weak passwords in its products, in some cases using the Rot13 method. See the above link <go to rot13.com, copy & paste the encrypted text (above) and it will be decoded>

Paul didn't have a specific answer to Bill's cracking question. There used to be a Unix program called Crack that would attempt to crack a password. Paul said there is a Windows version.
<More info about Crack including a whitepaper here.>

 Glenn asked the for the name of the program that would copy media files from an iPod to a PC. This assumes you no longer have access to the computer that originally put that media on the iPod.
– Search for an iPod ripper like xilisoft.
– When you plug the iPod into a computer it's never 'seen' before, make usre iTunes does not start because iTunes "would love" to format an iPod it's never seen before. Then run the iPod ripper.
<for the latest trial version go to download.cnet.com and search for words: Xilisoft iPod Rip>

<There is about a minute of dialog I missed at this point because the KVMR stream paused. The archived file at KVMR completely ended here though the stream restarted when Marilyn called in.>

Marilyn called wanting to know if a 1gig Dell Inspiron memory chip would work in a Dell Latitude. Would she do any damage if there is an incompatibility.
– Usually no damage would be done.
– There are 2 ways for it to be incompatible. It may not use the same physical plug where it plugs into the motherboard. Or, it may have a clock speed that's slower that what's required by the computer you're putting it in to. A memory chip with a faster than required speed should be ok.

Changelog:
fixed link: download.cnet.com

Last updated 6:16 PM 7/26/2013

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 < >

There will NOT be a Zentech show on 7-31-13 (the 5th Wednesday),

The KVMR FM transmitter was down for the entire show, but the internet stream was working.

The guys rambled a lot more than usual and about non-tech subjects, so these notes will seem VERY 'sketchy'.

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio.

Paul noted that he's had a decline in his vision over several years due to a disorder common in people as they get older. Glenn told us that presbyopia a condition caused by the cornea getting harder, making it difficult to focus.

Paul said that names can mean different things to different people. For instance, CPU is sometimes used to describe the case and its contents that comprise the computer; including the motherboard, what's plugged into it and the peripherals (drives etc.). CPU is also used to describe the main chip that's on the motherboard. It's good to be aware of such distinctions when talking to tech support.

Paul went on to talk about the differences between England, Britain, Great Britain and The United Kingdom.

If you're about to scrap a computer, there's no reason you can't have a look inside. For instance, you can pry open the CPU (the chip), and satisfy your curiosity (or that of your kids). There are "no toxic materials to speak of" in a computer and there aren't any voltages that will do you a lot of harm. <But stay away from a CRT monitor: high voltages> Do this outside and wear gloves as there may be some sharp objects inside.

The disclaimer:
"All views and opinions expressed here are of curious children and nothing to be recommended".

<A more proper 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.>

There are podcasts of some KVMR shows available here. Paul may actually make this show available <since there was no FM broadcast, but don't hold your breath. The Zentech shows, when available, can be found here. An older archive of Zentech shows is here.>

Glenn thanked the supporters of the station. If you'd like to become a member please visit kvmr.org.

Starting 7-15-13, KVMR will have a membership drive lasting 1 week.

The only phone call came from Kevin. The only reason he called was to let the station know that there was no FM signal.

Paul talked a bit about how the broadcast goes from the studio to the nearby Banner Mountain and eventually to the listeners. Your reception can vary due to the distance from the transmitter (or the regional translators) as well as how far, on the radio dial, KVMR's frequency is from other stronger stations. In fact, there is a radio station whose frequency is exactly 89.5. It's in the Bay Area with the call letters KPOO.

Paul talked about nominal conditions and how knowing what's normal) helps you tell if something is going wrong when the condition changes. Originally, Fahrenheit meant 100 degrees on his scale to represent the normal human body temperature and 0 the freezing point of alcohol. Obviously, he was off a bit on the high end: normal body temp is considered 98.6.

Glenn told us he had a problem with his car, which he eventually resolved. That got Paul started about how, as cars became more complicated, instrumentation became simpler thus making it harder to diagnose problems from the indicators on the dashboard. On modern cars, when a warning light comes on, special equipment is used to diagnose the problem <as mentioned on the 11-14-12 show>. One thing Paul liked about old cars was the vacuum gauge: it could be used to indicate how much throttle you're using, and thereby the mileage you're getting. The feedback it gave helped you become a more efficient driver.

Continuing on the theme, Paul mentioned SMART hard drives that are able store information about the condition of the drive (like temperature). Then on the next bootup, the user is warned of any conditions that are not nominal. Glenn reminded people to backup important data on the drive — don't wait for an error condition.

Paul was in Alaska this time last week. His GPS could not plot his return route back to the US, it said "roads are discontinuous". The reason was that it had no map of the Yukon Territory. It turned out he didn't have any Canadian maps installed.

Glenn wondered how to find the point on Earth that's directly opposite of where he is now. Paul suggested he first find the latitude & longitude of his current location, say it's 49 North 130 West, then use 49 South 130 East for the point that's opposite. <I don't think that works: e.g. 179 West and 179 East are only 2 degrees apart> <more abut the antipodal point here.>

Talk turned to the Earth's circumference being different depending on the direction you measure (around the equator or around the poles). Also the gravitational force varies depending on where you are.

Due to the Coriolis Effect, the water in a flushed toilet goes clockwise or counter clockwise depending on weather you're in the Southern or Northern Hemisphere. This effect was then debunked because the distance over which the Coriolis effect acts, the width of the toilet, is too small to have anything but a vanishingly small effect. Legend has it that syrup also exhibits a similar effect when you get some on a spoon and let it dribble its long strand back into the jar.

Explaining why there was no show last week the guys said Paul was in Alaska and Glenn was on Santa Catalina Island. Glenn gave some details of his enjoyable adventure.

Paul said that he left for Alaska just before the big heat wave here in Calif. and that the Alaskans were lamenting the 80 degrees they were experiencing. He was surprised by the big vegetables he saw there. He said plants benefit from the prolonged daylight hours and are less effected by the low temperatures.

There was some talk about bigger vegetables having less taste. And, how consumers are more likely to buy bigger ones, caring less about the taste.

During his Alaska trip, Paul said he went to remote cabin and was surprised that he could get cell phone service. It turned out that there was a cellular tower on a mountain across the lake. It ran on a diesel-powered generator. Despite the expense of such an arrangement, in many Alaskan locations, such towers provide the only means of outside communication. Police, fire and emergency service use cell phones. Law enforcement has the ability to override civilian cell phone calls "with a priority bit", in case of an emergency.

Last updated 9:54 PM 7/10/2013

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 < >

Remember, no there will NOT be a show on 6-12-13

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio today.

Paul said texting (txt) comes in handy during emergencies (like the Oklahoma tornadoes) because a text message will be put in a queue and eventually sent. This is handy to know when you can't get thru on a voice line and all you want do, for instance, is acknowledge the receipt of message.

Paul briefly mentioned a type of FBI warrant called a "cell tower dump", which is the data going thru a particular cell tower or subservice that's fielding the phone calls of the suspect.
– With the warrant the FBI casts a wide net and receives data of all those that who used the particular tower, not just that of the suspect.
– It's not the phone number that's identified but the IMEI number, which is like the serial number of the phone itself.
– For more info, google the words: cell tower dump

Paul brought into the studio the webcam he's been playing with.
– Years ago, Paul was impressed with a 320 X 240 pixel camera and required proprietary software.
– Two or three years ago, webcams came out that didn't require a driver during installation: the interface would work by default with Windows XP service pack 3 and above, as well as the Mac computers.
– Glenn noted that hardware addons for the Mac used to be proprietary and fairly expensive. Things are much better now, the Mac can use a much greater variety of hardware.

Statistics tell a very specific kind of truth and can be made to tell a slanted version of the truth. Up until recently Apple has been the most valuable company (not the largest). So people ask, why does Apple have only 10% to 15% of the market?
– The PC market is divided among multiple manufactures.
– Most of the value of Apple is in things other than computers, like iPads & iPhones.

Paul talked about what "best" means when rating a product. He said it could vary from person to person. And there's a tendency to compare 'apples & oranges' like comparing an iPhone to an Android phone. "Best" often comes down to what a person likes.
– Companies look at the success of others and tweak their products to reflect what people want. So there tends to be a sort of convergence of products. This is perhaps what lead to the series of legal actions over patents between Samsung & Apple involving their mobile devices.
– Most recently, Samsung won a round against Apple denying them sale, in the USA, of iPhone models up to & including the iPhone 4 as well as some iPad models.
<Apples suit against Sumsung was mentioned on the 8-29-12 show. See those notes for a couple of articles>

Paul rhetorically asked, why lawsuits over models no longer made and he use an example from the past. Years ago there was an alternative to MSDOS called Digital Research DOS (DRDOS). After the company went under, there was a lawsuit to protect an asset that was believed to have been taken from it: drivespace, a compression program. The reason it mattered to a company that no longer makes the product is "protective damages". They claimed that one of the reasons they went out of business was due to unfair business practices.

There are companies <patent trolls> that collect patents & grievances "for those entities that are, essentially, no longer functional". For example, Rambus is a company whose sole purpose is to collect patents of technologies for memory. Rambus was once a memory technology but it lost ground to the emergence of DDR memory, so it went into the business of buying up memory patents & collecting royalties on them. Paul opined that holding a company to ransom <over a patent> is more detrimental to technological advance than lack of creativity.

Glenn asked a trivia question: what is Big Ben. But Paul jumped in too soon with the answer: it's the largest bell in St. Stephan's Tower of House of Parliament.

Glenn warned listeners that it's not ok to use any power cord that just happens to fit into their laptop computer.
– There are 3 variables to be aware of the input voltage, wattage and the plug. The plug may fit but the voltage & wattage could be wrong.
– The other thing that can vary is the polarity of the plug: either the center pin or the outer connector can be positive.
– Paul said that the industry seems to be converging on 19.2 volts as a standard.
– Too much voltage can fry your computer and too little can cause overheating and failure, according to Paul.
– And plugs that look the same can be subtly different. If the center pin is a little too fat, it can shove the center connector in the laptop into the machine resulting in a costly repair.

Paul had a audio trivia question. He played some bells chiming and asked which one is Big Ben: it was the one that sounded out the count of the hour.

Discussion turned to what is the best software for protecting your PC. Recommened in the past were AVG Free, Avast, Kaspersky, Mcafee (might have a free version), and Norton. Mcafee & Norton are "top heavy" <large in size and use a lot of the CPU's processing capacity>. But the others are catching up and are becoming cumbersome or just annoying. For example, AVG tries to get you to use the trial version, but they fail to tell you that you're committing to a 30 day trial. Of course, when the 30 days are up, they start bugging you to buy the yearly subscription.

Paul said AVG, if you let it, replaces your browsers search window (in the upper right of Firefox). AVG calls it "browser protection" but it allows them track your surfing habits. Most modern browsers (e.g. IE7 & higher, Firefox 21 & higher) have plenty of protection without it. Paul suggested that one stay away from the extra stuff that comes with anti-virus programs. Glenn noted that in AVG 2013 Free you can opt out of installing the extras but you must first check a box that says "allow me to customize". If you choose to install the extra 'protections', you may have great trouble getting rid of them.

Firefox has a feature called "search from address bar" that automatically initiates a search when you type something in the address bar that is not a URL (a web address). 3/4 of the money that comes to the Mozilla foundation (Firefox) comes from Google. If you let AVG install its own search bar, Firefox doesn't get credit for the search referral. To change things back, you have to go the somewhat hidden configuration screen, you can't get to the setting from the regular menus. To get more info, google the words: search from address bar default search engine. Look for the information that comes from support.mozilla.org. You can tell if it was AVG that initiated the search by looking at the search results screen, it will say AVG in the upper left.

Sharon called. She was concerned someone can turn on her webcam or mic and monitor her activity.
– It's theoretically possible.
– If it's an external camera or mic, unplug it.
– If the camera is built-in, like in a laptop, you can disable the drivers for the camera or just put some opaque tape over the lens.

Paul was having some trouble with dishwashers lately. It was only the third washer that was simple enough that he could fix it. It was electromechanical <gears, levers, solenoids> and didn't not use a microprocessor, unlike the first two. Ultimately, the admonition to manufacturers was "keep it simple".

Don called. He suggested Startpage, which acts as a proxy <a go-between>, for your search. It uses Google to do the search but it doesn't let Google know your IP address and keeps Google from being tracking you. Paul asked if Startpage itself tracks you and Don said they claim they don't keep logs of your access.

Don also mentioned Noscript for the Firefox browser.
– Paul said that in Firefox go to tools -> addons -> search for addons, then type in noscript. You'll be directed to the Noscript addon.
– Don said Noscript gives you fine-grain control over who can run Javascript on your machine, as well as other "possibly malicious" stuff, even Flash.
– When Paul did the search for Noscript he noticed a similar addon that he uses called Flashblock. Don said Noscript gives more control than Flashblock.

Paul said that there's "no need to add functionality to your browser now for a new law that was passed", which requires the consent of the user to be tracked. In Firefox go to tools -> options -> privacy and look for something like "tell sites I don't want to be tracked". Then it's up to the site to honor your request. Don likes Noscript better because it gives him more definitive control. He gets notification when a site wants to store a cookie or run Javascipt and he can make the decision at that moment.

Until recently, Paul was using the text (not graphical) web browser called Lynx, which was originally used on the Unix platform. It's been made to run on Windows. <The site where I got my copy is gone, try here or here> Using it will let you experience what the web was like 25 years ago. <For the adventuresome, an alternate way to experience Lynx (and other fine Unix programs) is to use a *free* Unix Shell account, like that at sdf.org or grex.org>

Paul was going to say more about his webcam but that will have to be for the next show on Jun 26.

Last updated 11:47 PM 6/8/2013

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: The next Zentech show will be on June 5 trading time slots with Bike Talk which will broadcast on the 12th.

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio today

Paul has been playing around with a web camera with the intention of documenting the construction of the new KVMR headquarters using time-lapse photography.

Glenn didn't have much new to report except he mentioned that he's doing good with his new Pure Talk cellular service at $43.95 per month.

He doesn't exceed his allotted 600meg a month of data usage because he uses wi-fi when he can, when he's away from home. There's a cheaper plan at $10 a month, and there are family plans too.

Paul said the cheapest way to get a cellular plan is to use a Go Phone SIM card. It costs about $5 a month and gives you about 20 or 30 minutes of voice calls and a certain number of text (txt) messages at 10 or 20 cents each.
– The best place to get the SIM is NOT from AT&T but from an online vendor like Ebay or Amazon.
– Just remember that incoming calls count against the allotted time, too.
– There's an alternate Go Phone plan for $1 a day with additional charges for calls, text and data.
– These Go Phones plans are handy for temporary use: for visiting foreigners or people with a credit problem that prevents buying a regular contract.
– When you activate the SIM you get to pick the area that's local for you.
– Beware that you may end up paying ala Carte for various services.

Glenn looked at an ad from Rakuten (formerly Best Buy) and found an LED flashlight, camera & video recorder in one unit for $30. Also known a "key cam", this type of device is often used by sports enthusiasts to record their antics. Paul saw one attached to the nose of a 3D-printed missile being shot out of a potato cannon (a PVC pipe) at a Maker fair. It gave the perspective of someone being shot out of the cannon.
– Key cams usually have a USB port. That provides the means for charging the on-board battery.
– They look similar to a flash drive.
– They don't need any special drivers.

Glenn said he saw pre-assembled quad coptors at the recent Maker Fair and noted they have a place to attach a small camera.

Paul said the quality of such cameras is based on 2 aspects:
– The resolution: anything less than a 640 x 480 is unacceptable.
– The optics. You don't necessarily need a big lens, but a good quality one. However, a small lens makes it harder to get a decent picture in low light.
– Sometimes a camera has what looks like a big lens, but if you look closer, it may just be glass covering the actual, smaller lens further inside.
– The cameras are sensitive to infrared. If you dim your lights, you may be able to record the infrared light coming from your TV remote controller.

Fred called. His laptop keeps shutting itself off and rebooting. It's been doing this for a few months at a rate of a few times per week. Just today it's done it several times. It's a reconditioned Asus that's less than a year old with 90day warranty (it's now out of warranty).
– Remember, using a credit card for a purchase may double your original warranty (up to 1 year).
– Paul thought the problem might be a motherboard failure.
– There's a chance it may be due to overheating. But Fred said it's not warm in the least. And Paul said, typically a laptop will issue a warning when it's overheating.
– You can have Asus repair it but might be costly.
– When you call Asus, feign as if you didn't know its warranty was only 90 days. Tell them the symtoms only (not what you suspect is wrong: the motherboard).
– Companies keep a record of the serial numbers so they know if it's refurbished.

Paul does not hesitate to buy refurbished equipment. The major drawback is the typically shorter warranty period. Even current computer models can come as refurbished units. Packard Bell used to push the boundary of what's considered refurbished by repackaging machines that were returned by customers for the simple reason of not liking them. Such machines should have been labeled as refurbished.

There are two types of refurbishing:
– The process of refurbishing typically means it went back to the manufacturer (though not necessarily). In the process the original software is reloaded and tests are run to insure it's working.
– The other type of refurbished units are those that have come of lease. A company may get a tax break to get new machines so the older units go back to the manufacturer who then wipe everything clean, restore it to factory defaults and run tests.

Some BIOSs on some computers have a burn-in check option. It's usually hidden away so you have to know where to look. You get to the BIOS configuration screen when you boot up an hit the F2 or Del key (varies by machine). The burn-in check causes the computer to go thru a series of self-tests over and over again until you stop it. The burn-in process is usually done for 72 hours, as most failures will happen in that time. Knowing this could be useful if you suspect a problem with your computer.

Paul mentioned during the last show something I left out of those notes: fried bacon. That refers to the deliberate noise or hiss that's injected into a VOIP (internet phone call) connection to let you know the line is open. He said that old telephones used carbon granular microphones, which produced a characteristic noise similar to frying bacon when you were not actually speaking. Now days, VOIP circuits have a digital signal processor that produces a similar noise, though it's much quieter now.

William called. He's looking to upgrade a 2007 MacBook Pro with more memory and a hard drive. He wondered if he has to get memory with the same megahertz rating as his current memory.
– No. Get memory that's equal in speed to what you have or greater.
– His machine has an Intel Duo Core and Glenn said if you don't have, at least, a Core 2 Duo, you wont be able to upgrade to latest operating system.
– He's already upgraded to version 10.68 and Paul said that's possibly the highest you can go, maybe 10.7.
– William said he's been getting the spinning wheel a lot (indicating computer is busy). Paul said he should look for the cause before upgrading.
– Run the disk utility check. William said he's done that.
– Check how much free disk space is available. Things start to slow down when there's less that 10% spare space.
– Before buying a drive check which type it is. It could be an IDE or SATA drive that's in there now.
– There are links in last week's show notes for finding the serial number. And then, using the serial, there's a link to find more details about your computer.
– Memory is not special to the Mac. It can use memory advertised for the PC.
– There are two speed ratings: the clock speed and the buss speed.
– Using some of the numbers William provided, Paul found that he needs DDR 2 memory. DDR or DDR 3 will not work.
– The type of physical memory that goes into those computers is called SODIMM.

Now on to the hard drive upgrade. Paul seemed think William's computer has the newer SATA type.
– You should be able to find a 500gig drive for under $100.
– You may want to go with the faster 7200 type drive instead of the 5400. But the faster one is less common in laptops and more common in desktop computers.

William asked about a hybrid type drive. Paul explained that these are made with flash memory instead of the spinning disks. Paul said he hasn't had any experience with them and that they are fairly new to the market. There used to be drives that had a few gigs of flash memory for booting the machine and the rest of the drive had the spinning platters. Glenn suggested he check the local big box stores like Fry's, especially for the memory.

Gary called. He helped a friend clean up hard drive by deleting files. He noticed that the machine was reporting one value for available memory but when he highlighted the files, he determined a very different number. He ended up reinstalling the Vista operating system. He wanted to know why he was getting such different numbers.
– Use Crap Cleaner, <ccleaner> The latest is version is 4 and it's free. That gets rid of unneeded files <that were not put there by the user>. "If you did that, that's all she wrote".
– Vista is buggy and can stop in the middle of enumerating the content of a folder when you right-click and view its 'properties'.
– As a first check when a drive seems to misbehave, use the command chkdsk.
– A couple of disk utilities mentioned on previous shows are Ztree and TeraCopy <I hope that's the right link>. You should be able to find them at cnet.com aka download.com.
– Paul finally remembered the utility he was trying to recall: Windirstat and it's free. It shows you what type of files you have and where they are.
– He thought William (above) could use a similar utility called Grand Perspective on his Mac. There's a link at Windirstat that takes you to Grand Perspective.
– Remember to empty the trash, too.
<Alternate link to Windirstat is here.>

Frank called with a problem similar to Fred's (above) — keeps shutting off — but he has a desktop Asus (10 years old). The other difference is that his machine works better when it gets hot.
– Paul thought it might be a bad solder connection on motherboard.
– Since this machine is about 10 years old, the capacitors may be the problem. It's related to heat and gets worse with age. To find out more, google the words: bad caps. The cure, in a lot of the cases, is resoldering the components, a nearly impossible job on modern motherboards.
– You can start replacing parts (e.g. power supply) but it's such an old machine it may not be worth repairing. No use to keep throwing money at it. For $200 to $400 you can find a good replacement.

Frank also has a set-top DVD recorder that doesn't work anymore. He was thinking of replacing the drive.
– If it's a 'slot load', a replacement could be expensive. Frank's is a 'tray load'.
– Check if it's an IDE or SATA type. IDE is more expensive.
– Paul's caveat: don't used buy CD or DVD burners ("they age poorly") <talked about this in the 5-8-13 show>, or used batteries.

Paul talked about web cameras:
– Dlink wireless cameras are about $70 but with a little hunting you might find one on auction for $35, as Paul did.
– They can be set up to send the pictures via FTP to an internet account.
– They can be made to detect motion. You just tell it what part of the image to pay attention to for motion. And you can set the sensitivity to ignore something small, like a cat.
– It can record video and you can watch live video remotely.
– He intends to talk more about it on the next show.
– Google the words: Dlink wireless webcam. They make several models.

Changelog:
typo: unexceptable to unacceptable
added link: Ztree
added link: TeraCopy
typo: TerraCopy to TeraCopy
changed link: downloads.com to download.com
added link: Grand Perspective
added link: Windirstat
added link: Alternate link to Windirstat

Last updated 9:53 PM 6/1/2013