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

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 < >

Zentech will be on next week (the 5th Wednesday). The following show will be on the 1st Wed in June (6-1-13), swapping places with Bike Talk, which will broadcast on the 12th (leading up to some bike event the following weekend).

The guys talked about the Maker Fair they attended at the San Mateo County Fair Grounds last weekend. Glenn summarized it as — "it was packed, it was wonderful"
– Newer 3-D printers are now sold to work right out of the box, where previously you had to assemble them (which you can still do to save money).
– There are different flavors of Maker groups. Paul mentioned a Maker space in San Francisco called Noise Bridge on Mission. He plans to check it out this weekend.
– The local (Nevada County) Maker group is called The Curious Forge.

Lately, Paul has been coming across a lot of computers over 6 or 7 years old. With a machine older than that your return on investment takes a big hit, should it need repair, he said.

Paul had to deal with an older Gateway laptop recently. Following his regular procedure, he blew it out with compressed air. He said be careful if you use a high-pressure shop compressor, and do it outside.
– A high pressure air blast can damage a cooling fan.
– Dust can insulate the heat sink and block air flow, which can cause the CPU to throttle back its speed in an effort to keep its temperature down.
– You can check if the power supply fan is working by sticking a sliver of paper into the vent and noting if the fan blades hit it at a rapid rate.

He went on to say that if an older computer has Windows 98 on it, he would not try to revitalize it. If it has Win98, chances are it won't be able to run a modern Microsoft operating system. However, you can put XUbuntu on such a machine. It's a cut down version of the regular Ubuntu that's specially designed to run on older hardware. The older machine has to be able to boot from a CD or you have to plug something in to it to boot from. Unlike the regular Ubuntu, XUbuntu is probably not made to boot from a flash drive, he said.

Glenn asked if it's possible to use a cable on an Android device to output an HDMI signal to a TV or monitor.
– You can on some of them.
– Apple has an adapter for their products to output HDMI, but Apple charges about $70 or $80 for it. Chinese knockoff adapters don't always work.
– If an Android has HDMI it may be one of at least two types: mini & micro. Google your make & model number to find which one you have. Adapters for Androids are about $4 or $5 and the cable can be had for a similar price.

Apparently, Glenn was considering using an old unlimited cellular data plan (from back in the days when there were such plans) to steam video to his TV.
– A number of companies have been taken to task for their advertising. Paul: the plan is unlimited until you've used as much data as they think you should use. Then they start throttling the speed, but gradually so it's harder noticeable.

On a related note Paul said, "There is a plan afoot, which was published by a consortium of internet service providers, that if they caught you, as they believe, or they got it reported to them that you are pirating stuff, they would actually punish you by nailing your bandwidth down to dialup speed". Speed would be restored if you confess & apologize but after 3 strikes, you're history.
<This is the Copyright Alert System (CAS) discussed on the 2-27-13 show>

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.

Ron called. He has an iMac 27 (about 3 years old) and wanted to know if there's a way to adapt a VHS tape machine to it.
– The VHS should have the cable with red white & yellow RCA connectors. Red & white are the audio channels, yellow is the video.
– To play the video signal in real time requires a real time converter. Alternately, you can capture and save the VHS video to a file, then play the file back later.
– There is a device from China for about $15 that plugs into a USB port and has an MPEG2 compressor chip in it. One end plugs into the USB and the other end has the 3 RCA jacks (red, white, yellow). He's seen this device work on a PC and it's purported to work on a Mac.
– Doing a quick search, Paul found the El Gato for $100 that definitely works on the Mac, PC or iPad.
– There's another one called VC500 Mac for $51.87, or $27 for a used one on Amazon.
– If the video is available some other way (e.g. Netflix or is sold on DVD), it may be worth getting it that way instead of doing a video capture.
– Consider that a 1-hour movie will take 1 hour to capture.
– Glenn said that Fry's has an RCA video-to-USB adapter on sale thru tomorrow. It's the Siig ju-av0012-s1 $27 at the register plus tax & $24 rebate; but he was not sure it can work on the Mac.

Bruce called. He has resisted moving on to Windows 7, but the software he works with is going to require it. He uses Delphi for writing programs, and some of its components will eventually stop being available for the older systems.
– Win7 is not as bad as some have made it out to be. And Win8 is not so bad, especially if it's version 8.1.
– Win7 has had a service pack issued, as well as a bunch of patches.
– Win7 seems to run ok on 2 gigs of RAM.
– Paul suggested that any new computer have nothing less that a dual core CPU.
– Bruce thought he might need an i5 or i7 CPU to run a virtual system (and be able to switch between operating systems to test his software). Paul suggested that separate machines connected by a network may be cheaper.

Paul was given a MacBook that had coke or something similar spilled in it. It was one of the earliest Macs that has an Intel core 2 duo chip and may be worth repairing because that means it can use the Mountain Lion operating system. He determined that the motherboard needed to be replaced.

To find the specifics about a Mac it's important to know the serial number & where to find it, and there's a site to help you. Just follow the above link to go to an article from Apple support called ht1349. It will tell you where to look for the serial number.

When you have the serial number you can check if there's been a recall on the product. Enter the serial number on Google followed by the word: recall. Alternately, you can use appleserialnumberinfo.com to get the particulars on your machine, including, as in Paul's case, what motherboard you have. Then, if you find someone parting out a broken Mac on, say, Ebay, you can ask them for the serial of their Mac and determine if that motherboard is compatible with your machine.

Old eyes reading serial numbers may benefit from one of those magnifying glasses incorporated into a goose neck lamp with LED lights around it. Paul picked one up for $2 or $3 at Grocery Outlet, if he recalled correctly.

Paul also got a USB 400x microscope with camera from Amazon. It's UVC compatible so it doesn't need any drivers.

Paul likes to play with Christmas tree lights using an x10 unit with a 16 channel controller. X10 is an old technology that sends controlling signals thru the AC wiring of the house. The signals are sent for just a few milliseconds near the time the AC current is close to 0 in its sinusoidal pattern. You plug an X10-compatible unit into a wall socket and plug what you want to control (Christmas lights) into the unit. X10 can control up to 16 devices.

More modern technology, like that from Belkin, uses wi-fi instead of the wiring of the house. You can even control the units from outside of the house using an app on your mobile device. Each controlling unit is more expensive than that for the X10 at about $50.

Glenn said an X10 system he has used was programmable to do things like turn lights on and off in certain order or to vary the pattern depending on the time of the day. <Making it appear like the house is occupied>

Last updated 10:44 PM 5/22/2013

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 < >

The guys seemed to think there is not a 5th Wed this month and said so at the end of the show. Well, according to my calendar, the 29th is the 5th Wednesday.

Paul was in the studio by himself. Glenn joined in by phone.

The show opened with music by Weird Al. <See the above link>

Glenn got a battery backup case for his iPhone. It cost him less than $7 including shipping, from Ebay. The good deal was due to its color — yellow. The case contains a chargeable battery, which then charges the iPhone battery, according to the way Glenn explained it.

Paul then told us about the battery-saving strategies that cell phones use when communicating with the towers. Where the cell signal is weak the phone has to put out more power to stay connected, thus draining the battery faster. Inversely, a stronger signal from the tower means the phone uses less power.

Glenn said, in his experience, he's found that to be true and gave tips to conserve the battery.
– Turn off Bluetooth.
– Turn wi-fi off.
– Doing a lot of uploading, like videos, will flatten the battery sooner.
<Related: Making your lithium battery last longer:>

Paul said that a large part of the operation system in a mobile device is devoted to conserve power.
– It doesn't continuously listen for a signal.
– It doesn't constantly send a signal at full power to reach a cell tower. – – It uses a complex algorithm, pinging the towers with short signal bursts. And then it uses "reciprocal backoff": it extends the time between pings until they come about a minute apart.

Paul said if you place your cell phone near an amplifier or even a PC speaker, you can tell from the noise you hear if a call or a text is about to come in.

Paul thought Ebay does a great service by recycling (reusing) used equipment and parts. For instance, parts (like keytops from keyboards) are sometimes stripped out of obsolete equipment and resold instead of ending up in the dump. He also mentioned Freecycle — a website to find recycled parts,

The guys then talked about the Maker Fair. Glenn said the idea stared with a dad helping his daughter with projects, and that led to the magazine called Make and, eventually, to get-togethers (fairs). He recounted how he and Paul got drawn into a local group called The Courious Forge. Now there are fairs in many parts of the country, like the well known The Crucible in Oakland. The next big regional fair will be in San Mateo on the weekend of May 18th & 19th. Links to Maker Faire & The Curious Forge are above.

When men talk while doing other things (multi-tasking), their voices tend to become monotone. Paul said that's not noticeable when it comes to women. Supposedly, men have a serial brain, women a parallel brain.

Up until a few years ago, CPU's did things one at a time. They would rapidly switch between tasks to do multiple things: displaying your email, running Microsoft Word, checking for keyboard activity, etc. These days, Paul said, he would not buy a computer that didn't have at least 2 brains that are multi-threaded: where the operating system assigns different tasks to each of the brains. Some of the latest processors are "duo core duo chip" (essentially 4 chips). Not all applications can make use of this feature. The Adobe Creative Suite version 3 (approx.) or greater does make use of this facility.

Ely called about creating a website and wanted recommendations for a web host (the place where webpages reside).
– A good web host should be cheap, no reason to pay a lot of money, maybe $50 or $60 per year. The guys won't endorse a particular host except for 1and1.com. Also check out lunarpages.com.
– If you see a website you like and want to know who the host is, you can go to netcraft.com. Submit the web address of the website and it will tell you the software it uses as well as the host.
– Many hosting sites offer a free trial period.

Ely is learning to use HTML and Paul didn't want to discourage Ely, but there are newer & better tools for creating webpages. These tools may create HTML as you use them, but you'll not have to deal with HTML directly.
– Try WordPress.com. You can create a webpage there for free.

Glenn asked about HTML5. Paul said that's the latest iteration of HTML. It has the ability to render video "and stuff".

Ely creates games that use HTML5. Paul said in that case you may indeed have to deal with the HTML code itself. It may be possible to insert HTML directly into WordPress while creating a webpage, but he wasn't sure. He also suggest that Ely explore AJAX: a mix of HTML and Javascript, which is sometimes used for gaming.

Thinking Paul said Java, Glenn cautioned us that it's had some vulnerability lately. Paul said Javascript is different from Java and that it's a good idea to uninstall the Java Virtual Machine, but it has nothing to do with Javascript.
<Talked about in the 1-23-13 show. See the notes for related articles,>

Paul then talked about a version of Linux called Ubuntu. This operating system will sometimes run on older equipment that would otherwise be trashed, giving it a second life. Ubuntu is usually run from a bootable CD, so the old computer will have to have a working CD drive <and be able to boot from it>.

The current version of Ubuntu is 13 but it seems to be somewhat flawed so Paul said he's sticking to version 12.04, which has long-term support. It's "generationally frozen", meaning it won't change much over 4 or 5 years.

The Macbook Air doesn't have a CD drive, making it problematic to install software from CDs. The latest Macbook Air doesn't even have an Ethernet connection, only wi-fi. And wi-fi is not particularly fast and it's prone to interruptions that can interfere with an installation.
– You can stick the CD into a PC and share it on a network <where the Mac can see it>. But if it's a Mac-formatted CD, you "can't sensibly share it from a PC".
– Create an ISO image. <See the above link> Make the name of the file end in .iso and send the file to the Mac. The Mac can understand that file type and can mount it on the desktop. It's as if you had shoved a CD into a drive. The Mac can then use the file as if it were the original CD.
– This trick won't work with movies because of the copy protection scheme they use.
– The CD must not have any defects. Paul said that it should be perfectly ok to wash the CD using detergent and then carefully dry it.

Steve called with a question about his Netgear wireless router. He said it would work for a while and then stop receiving from the internet. It's about 6 years old and is connected to a cable modem.
– They are cheap enough, just replace it…about $20. But you should determine the router is the actual problem, not something else.
– Verify that your cable service is not the problem. Steve did, by plugging the cable modem directly into the computer: problem went away.
– Steve said the problem goes away when the router is connected to the computer by cable. It only happens when he uses the wireless portion of the router.
– As more of your neighbors get wireless, interference can become a problem. Check your list of detected wireless networks. If there are a lot of them, interference may indeed be the cause.
– If you suspect interference, run the software called Netstumbler to give you info about what channels the neighboring transmitters are using. You may be using the same channel as one of your neighbors.
– Cordless phones use similar frequencies. Keep them far away. In fact, unplug them while you're diagnosing the problem.
– Older phones & routers used 2.4gHz and tended to interfere more than modern equipment. Both types of devices tend to now use 5.8gHz but are designed better to avoid interference.

There is a method that Paul is not recommending and that he's never tried, to avoid interference. When you rest the unit <router, I assume> pick the channel group that's used in Europe. That can make it easier to find a channel to use that's different from your neighbors. However the authorities may detect your use of those channels and cause you grief. So remember, you didn't hear it on Zentech.

Scott called. He got a CD from KVMR when he became a member but couldn't get it to play on his Macbook Pro. When he puts it in the drive he'd get the message "you inserted a blank CD". The CD works fine in his (physical) CD player.
– The music may have been burned as data files <.mp3> rather than audio format <Red Book Audio>
– Bring the disk back to KVMR for an exchange. But Scott said it's not that important, he was just curious about the cause of the problem.
– CD drives in computer suffer badly even if they're not used much, even in as little as 3 years.
– You can try a CD cleaning disk.
– As a last resort, try blowing the drive out with air. But that may dislodge dust and put it someplace else, causing more problems.

You too can become a KVMR member.

Last updated 11:11 PM 5/8/2013

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 < >

Both Glenn and Paul were in the studio.

Glenn thanked all those who became members of KVMR. To become a member, please go to KVMR.

The guys briefly talked about the algorithm for determining Easter.
<Refer to the 3/24/08 show>

Glenn said he recently got a used iPhone 4S. He got a pretty good deal but there were some issues. Paul said there's quite a market for used, unlocked or refurbished 3GS & 4GS iPhones on Amazon.

Glenn has been looking for one for a few months. He previously bought a Sprint iPhone 4S while mistakenly thinking he could get it to work on T-Mobile but found out that, until it's unlocked, he couldn't use a different SIM card <which lets him change carriers>. Even then, that option may only be available to international travelers, not to those within the USA.

Pure Talk (Glenn's carrier) doesn't require a phone to be unlocked because they use the AT&T network, so an iPhone originally on contract with AT&T should be good to go. Nevertheless he had problems…
– He brought the person he was buying the phone from to an AT&T store to verify the phone was indeed hers.
– After verifying, he asked that the phone be unlocked and was told that they couldn't do it because she was still under contract. And they couldn't unlock it later (after Glenn bought it and the contract was up) because the phone would not be hers by then. He didn't argue further because he didn't really need it unlocked to use it on Pure Talk.
– He then told her he'd like to go over to Apple and have them do a diagnostic to check if anything has been replaced, if there's water damage, etc. Apple found that it did have water damage. Paul noted that some other cell phones have a dye spot under the battery that changes color after contact with water.
– Because of the water damage, he got her to come down on the price and they settled on $280.
– After the transaction, he found out she had a warranty under Apple CarePlus. Glenn, "…had this not been under any kind of extended care, they <Apple> would have exchanged it for $150". With Apple Care there's only a $50 deductible so he's not worried as he can get the phone replaced before the Apple Care runs out.
– Paul mentioned there are other warranties available (not from Apple) that cover specific things like the glass breaking. Glenn said that some cell carriers also offer limited insurance for about $7 or $8 per month plus deductible.

Paul has had phones come off his belt clip and fall to the ground. So, on Ebay, he found a latchable belt halter, which can't come off without the loop being ripped. He's had success with that as well as a silicon rubber case (about $4 form Hong Kong) that has thick corners to cushion a fall.

Glenn mentioned a phone case called an Otter Box. He got one for his iPhone 3GS on Ebay for less than $30. He said they make cases with varying degrees of protection going up to waterproof.

Paul talked about the iPad being used as a "control surface". Instead of a traditional computer interface controlling a mixer or lighting on a stage or an irrigation system, for example, a control surface (iPad) tells the computer what to do, which in turn controls the equipment. This gives a sound engineer, for example, the ability to change the sound while standing in different places in a theater.

Paul went on to say that iPads are also being used as cash registers. Some of the software is free, but if you want it to print receipts, keep tax records, integrate with tax software, etc., you'll have to pay a subscription fee. This type of software often stores data on the internet and if you lose the iPad, the data is still safe.

Glenn said he was in a restaurant that used an iPad to process payments using Square. His complaint was that he couldn't see what items were being charged, unless the iPad was deliberately turned in his direction.

Paul said that even though people like the MacBook Air, its thinness makes it vulnerable to damage. Glenn noted that the ASUS 12" netbook, which they both own, is surprisingly sturdy.

One of Paul's peeves is that laptops are still being made with power sockets that fail. Apple has an improved connector called magsafe that allows the plug to come out easily, reducing the force put on the interior of the computer. He thought that if other laptops would at least use a right-angled power connector, it would be an improvement. Paul said he's never secured the VGA computer-to-monitor connector with its screws, preferring it come out accidentally than rip the screws or bend the pins.

Glenn said he has an iPad app to give him information about the Moon: rise/set times, phase, etc. The app is simply called Moon. Paul loves the astronomy app called Star Walk from the European Space Agency (ESA). It keeps track of ephemera: things that come & go in the sky like comets, planets as well as the moon. And it has cool music. It uses some of the sensors in the iPhone, so at least an iPhone 3G is required.
<I think this may be the Star Walk app>

Paul said you should have nothing older than an iPhone 3G because current apps won't load.
– The 3G can run the latest operating system: 613 <maybe 6.1.3>.
– The 3G won't take panoramic photos.
– The 3G won't run Siri. Siri won't run on a iPhone 4 either, you need a 4S.
– There is a Google app that's alternative to Siri. <He didn't name the app>. The app is for both the Android and iPhone. Glenn said it understands his spoken words better than Siri. But it doesn't integrate with iPhone's operating system: you can't set your calendar, for instance.

Paul offered a tip for those who don't have a data plan and can't surf the web. If you want to know what the weather is, you can text (txt) the word 'weather' to Google. This works for 'movies' and many other things. It will tell you what's in your vicinity. If you text 'location' followed by your zip code, Google will tailor the results to your location. It will associate your phone number with the zip code so subsequent queries will also be tailored to your location. Text the word 'help' to learn more.

Paul talked briefly about how a service can tell where you are. DSL connections in this area are broadly identified as coming from Sacramento and Comcast from Yuba City or Chico. And people <concerned about privacy> may be interested to know that wi-fi connections "do know how to figure out where they are". Paul's not sure how they do that, he speculated it may have something to do with the information Google collected when it sent out vehicles for its Street View project.

Glenn said he had thought that the Google cars (used for the Street View project) were driverless when in fact they had drivers. But the drivers were there only for emergencies — so the cars were essentially autonomous. Googles software for driverless cars is being considered for long haul trucking and costs about $150,000. Insurance liability and legislation, as usual, need to catch up to the technology.

Robert called only to say he loves the show.

Michael called. He has a Nook (an ereader from Barns & Nobel) that he dropped into water. He had previously done the same with a cell phone. He tried putting them into a container of rice to speed up the drying. The cell phone recovered but not the Nook. He asked if anyone repairs them.
– Yes, there are places in Sacramento.
– There is a place in Rocklin near the intersection of Rocklin Blvd & Sierra College Blvd (near the college). Paul did a search and found Yakety Yak.
– If the circuit board is damaged, the cost of repair will be pretty high.

Michael said he didn't use it as an ereader but only as a tablet and wondered if some other cheap tablet would suit him.
– Glenn seemed to think so. He's seen tablets down around $70. Check Buy.com <now Rakuten>, overstock.com, Ebay or Amazon for bargains.
– If you were interested in ebooks, the Android, iPhone, iPad <and the PC> have the Kindle ebook software, which you can use to buy ebooks from Amazon. There's similar Nook software too. Just make sure the device you get has a display that's adequate for reading.

Michael asked what differences to expect between the cheapest tablets and those just a little over $100.
– Screen size might be bigger as you go up in price.
– They may have capacitive touch vs. resistive touch, which is not as responsive.
– Fry's sale for today & tomorrow offers a 7" tablet for $69.
– Do some hand-on shopping before buying. Especially to compare the 2 different types of touch screens.

Michael has had trouble listening to KVMR over the internet. Paul thought using an app to listen to radio stations might be more reliable than clicking on a webpage link. He couldn't remember the app he was about to recommend. He did mention that KVMR has many (mostly non-music) shows available online.

Paul talked about hacking (in the traditional sense) Android devices. Some Android devices allow root access when they are hacked in a procedure called rooting. This will allow you to access features the manufacturer didn't intend you to have: like installing the latest operating system. Not all Android devices will allow this. To find out more, google the words: root android followed by the name of your device.

Glenn previously used Evasi0n to jailbreak his iPhone 3GS but found it doesn't work with his 4S: only works on iPhone 4 and earlier. It doesn't work with iOS version 6.1.3 and Apple changed version 6.1.2 to foil Evasi0n. Expect the cat & mouse game to continue with newer updates.

Scott called. He has MacBook Pro with a faulty Nvidia card (apparently a known defect). He got it to work by turning down the screen resolution but wondered if he's just postponing the inevitable and should start looking for another computer.
– There have been 2 rounds of recalls for this problem and now it's been long enough that there are units that fall outside of the recall period.
– The symptoms are so sporadic it's advised to take pictures of the malfunction. Then go to the Apple store and (no promises) they'll "care of it" for $150,
– It's a problem that goes back several models. The video chip would become dislodged, possibly from thermal stress.
– Rumor says you can take the back off and insert some foam, so when the case is closed the foam will push the chip back into contact with the circuit board. Make sure the foam is heat resistant so it doesn't melt or burn.
– During manufacture, special soldering equipment is used, because the pins are so small and close together. It's not a project for the average hardware hacker to attempt.
– Try an external monitor.
– Try a USB cooling pad underneath the computer.
– Later Macs have an onboard video chip that's part of the Intel CPU, as well as the 'external' video chip, which uses more power. The Mac software arbitrates the usage as the demand for graphic processing changes.
– Google the words: switch gpu. One of the results is a reference to TomsHardware that talks about a piece of software that lets you force it to use one graphics chip or the other. In this case, tell it not to use the Nvidia chip.

Paul offered some general tips when your hardware goes wrong:
– Check to see if you have a warranty. Refurbished stuff will sometimes have a limited warranty.
– Check if you have an extended warranty that comes thru using credit card. That can double the warranty for up to an additional year.
– See if you have additional insurance like Apple Care.
– Check for recalls. Google the words: recall with the make & model of your unit.
– It may be a well-known defect that has a well-known solution. Like the above suggestion to use a cooling pad.
– Some problems are age related. Google the words: bad caps. There is a group of machine made for about 10 years, ending a few years ago, that have bad capacitors: the caps dried up over time.

Last updated 11:57 PM 4/24/2013

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 < >

Glenn and Mikail Graham were in the studio.

There will NOT be a Zentech show on Apr 10 due to the membership drive.

For his cell phone service, Glenn switched from T-Mobile to Pure TalkUSA, which uses the AT&T network. He pays $45/mo and is happy with it. The plan he's on offers 600 megabytes/mo of data thru the cellular network. He tends to use the wi-fi option that comes with it so as not to use up his alloted data limit. The plan had unlimited talk and text.

Mikail said T-Mobile will be carrying a special version of the iPhone5 that Verizon & AT&T do not have. Its new technology allows it to work on T-Mobile using a broader range of frequencies. Next versions of the AT&T iPhone5 will also have the newer chip.

Mikail said T-Mobile is "not doing subsidised phones anymore". "You go and buy your 16gig iPhone5 for $579 thru them, as oppossed to $649, which is what you'd pay if you bought it at the Apple store…you put down $100 and you pay $20/mo for 2 years, but it's all up front, so your price of your actual monthly deal comes down. Whereas, with AT&T and Verizon you get a phone for $200…but…if you don't get a new phone in 2 years, they're still making money off the subsidy that you're paying for in your contract because your contract cost you more and you get less"
<I haven't had a chance to read these articles about T-Mobile's new plan. Hopefully, they'll be clearer than what was said on today's show…
T-Mobile to offer unlimited, no-contract plans — and the iPhone
T-Mobile's New Contractless Data Plan Debunked (FAQ)
The Fine Print on T-Mobile’s New No-Contract Cellphone Plans>

Glenn mentioned, again, his contract troubles with T-Mobile — he was put on a 2 year contract without being told. After canceling his contract they still want $277 that he's going to dispute.

Mikail went over some of the cell phone contracts, I think he was talking about the phone only.
– For T-Mobile it's $100 no contract
– For AT&T it's $200, $300 or $400 with a 2 year contract depending on the <memory> size of the iPhone. Verizon & Sprint are similar.

For the data plans:
– T-Mobile 500meg or 2.5gig and unlimited text & voice starts at $50/mo.
– AT&T 300meg/mo for $20/mo and that's on top of your voice plan.
– Verizon $40/mo for 300meg/mo.

Mikial on the overall costs..
– T-Mobile is $1780 (500meg/mo & voice on a 2 year contract).
– AT&T $1640 (300meg/mo & pay-as-you-go texting for 2 years).
– Verizon $2120 (300meg/mo for 2 year contract).
– Sprint $2120 (450 min & unlimited data for 2 years).
– Pure TalkUSA looks like a great deal. Glenn said it's $43.95/mo $1078.80 for 2 years.

Mikail noted that, unlike in Europe, cell phone users here have to pay to both receive and initiate a call and he doesn't understand why people are so accepting.

Glenn said Pure TalkUSA gives you unlimited talk & text (txt), 600meg data and 600 multimedia messages (MMS).
Mikail said they've got affordable plans starting at $10/mo. 130 minutes with rollover, Glenn added.
Additionally, you don't have to unlock you phone if you're already with AT&T.

Lorraine called to say AT&T and Verizon are notoriously horrible politically, especially for women. In Hawaii she used Credo Mobile "1% of everything goes to the progressive cause of my choice" and the customer service is great, she said. She has a minimal plan for $40/mo. Her son's plan "has everything" for $90/mo.

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.

Jerome called about a plan he said is cheaper than those mentioned so far but he doesn't know if it supports the iPhone. He has a Verizon pre-paid data plan at $20 or $25/mo that gives him 1gig of data. In addition, he has Line 2, an app that gives him a phone line, voice over ip <VOIP>. Line 2 can use wi-fi to avoid cell phone charges. The Line 2 service cost him $10/mo. Mikial noted that audio quality can sometimes drop with VOIP services. Jerome was surpised to find that Line 2 works while driving down the freeway (in this case it uses the Verizon cellular 1gig data plan). Essentially, he gets unlimited voice & text when he can get a wi-fi connection (he doesn't have to use any of the 1gig of data in this case) and uses Verizon cellular when there's no wi-fi. There is no contract for either Verizon or Line 2 — he pays month-to-month.

 Shiloh called, She's been using Verizon for a very long time and she was grandfathered-in at $14.95/mo. She gets 3500 night/weekend minutes and 10 daytime minutes. From what I can decipher, she got another phone, which she thinks is crappy, and signed a service contract. She doesn't do texting but would like to have voice mail. She tried a TracFone but reception was poor. She'd like to get something with a wide screen and a decent camera
– Mikail said you can get a free iPhone 4 with a contract from Verizon or AT&T. (But she's already signed a contract)
– Glenn suggested she buy a separate camera. You can get a really nice one for about $100. If you don't have a data plan, you can't do anything with a phone camera except transfer the pictures to your computer <there's no advantage over a regular camera>. From there, of course, you can upload them to the web.
– For voice mail try Google Voice. That's what Glenn uses, He enters a special code he got from Google Voice into his phone, which deactivates the Pure TalkUSA voice mail and allows Google Voice to receive the message. Mikail uses YouMail (as well as Google Voice), it has greetings that are personalized to the particular caller. Both Google Voice and YouMail have free versions.
– With either of these services, you can access your messages from your computer, store them or have them converted to text.
– You can get an iPod Touch. It has a camera and all of the smartphone features. You won't have a cell phone but will be able to use VOIP over wi-fi — the way Jerome just got thru telling us. Of course you'll need wi-fi in your house if you want to use it at home.

John of Spiral Internet called to update us on the fiber cable being laid in the Nevada County area. It's meant to connect 3 schools and a library — won't go to houses. Spiral Internet intends to "extend from that" and bring "fiber to the home" and possibly provide better backhaul to the local wireless providers (Smarter Broadband & Digital Path). John said it will take a while — 2 years for phase 1 and 7 years for further deployment. Those who are interested can contribute to a survey at spiralinternet.com/survey.

Doug called. Like Shiloh, he seldom uses the cell phone. He used to have a Verizon plan, then went to TracPhone but had problems. He was initially told it can use the Verizon network but later found out it can only use the AT&T network. He gets poor reception with AT&T. He heard that Walmart has a service called StraightTalk that works thru Verizon and asked if that's correct. He also wondered about the Net10 service.
– Net10 is another Walmart product.
– Glenn didn't know anything about StraightTalk but said to give them a call.

Doug also wondered if some cell phones are better at receiving weak signals.
– They're all pretty good these days
– Check with Consumer Reports for comparisons. If you don't subscribe to them, a local library may have access.

James called. He read a news item about T-Mobile offering a new plan. <Apparently he didn't listen to the first part of this broadcast>
– Mikail reiterated: "You're not locked into a contract when you do that. When the phone's done <paid for> you own it and you're not paying any extra premium a month for that subsidy, which is what's happening with AT&T or Verizon". You get an iPhone or Galaxy 4 for $200 and think that's cool, much better than $600 at full price, but you pay for it in your contract and "that doesn't go away at the end of those 2 years".
– Again, check out Pure TalkUSA.

Ken called. He likes Apple and would like to get an iPhone. He wanted to know what carriers he could use that take a SIM card.
– Your options (not exclusively) Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Pure TalkUSA. You can use these without having to jailbreak or unlock the phone.
– Glenn thought some iPhones don't take a SIM card. Mikail said they all do. <They 'take' SIM cards but still have limitations>
– Glenn said he previously bought an iPhone 4S that had been used with the Sprint system and found it was impossible to make it work on other systems.
– Mikial: You can use a Verizon iPhone with GSM on the AT&T network. You have to get it off the Verizon contract. This is true for the iPhone 5, not the iPhone 4S.
– Glenn added that those who travel abroad should look for a GSM phone. It's what's used in most of the world. Mikail thinks CDMA is being supplanted by GSM. He said the new Qualcom multi-band chips can accommodate almost anything and you should start seeing them on more new phones.

Mikail played with Siri, asking it "what's the best cell phone on the market". Siri replied "Wait, there are other phones", He then went on to demonstrate other voices that Siri can use — British, Australian and French (others are available). He said when you first start to use Siri the voice sounds odd, but it gets better as it learns about your environment and adapts to it. To change the voice go to settings -> general -> siri and choose your language.

Glenn thanked the KVMR members. To become a member, go to KVMR.

James called to complain about cell phone quality. He gets annoyed when people call in to radio talk shows and their cell phones betray them.
– HD Voice is on the horizon. More cell phones are starting use it. The newer Samsung & iPhones are starting to support it, but it may be another year before it becomes ubiquitous. It's currently available only thru the T-Mobile carrier network, others should follow.

Megan called asking about any good places to donate cell phones.
– Check places that sell phones for a donation bin.
– Check with DVSAC. <I think that's what was said. It's a domestic violence organization>

In closing, Mikail spoke about Mailplane, an email app. <Looks like it's only for the Mac>
– It works with IMAP. <a mail protocol> It's "like having a browser separate from your browser"
– It's primarily for Gmail. All of it's features are there, like "undo send" to call back unintended emails.
– It supports other Google services like calendar.
– Mikail thinks it's fabulous.
– It's $24:95

Last updated 11:04 PM 3/27/2013