HEARING TEST here

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Glenn was in the studio and Paul called in from England.

The guys played around on the site for the hearing test. If you go there, be sure to read the instructions as it's possible to damage your hearing taking the test. See the above link.

Jeff called. He has MacBook as is uses the outline feature in Word for Mac. He said sometimes the A) a) 1) etc don't come up automatically — he has to enter them manually.
– Word tries to follow how you started using the indents. Jeff said it does that sometimes but not always.
– First update the Office suite of programs. It's a separate procedure from updating the Mac. Open <run> the Word program and under the Help menu look for "Check for updates" or maybe "Update Office for Mac". This will update ALL the Office programs.
– "Sometimes the menu system doesn't work" in which case you can go to Applications -> open folder called Microsoft Office 2008 -> find the Microsoft Auto Update App. Paul said he may be wrong and the location of the app is elsewhere, so try the previous method 1st.
– While you're at the update menu, it's a good idea to set it for automatic updates.
– In Word under Insert there's an item called something like 'List". Look for 'bulleted list' and you may be able to set how it behaves.

Doug called and said he's having trouble finding the link to the hearing test.
– Go to zen.kvmr.org, click on Show Notes and then on the show notes for today.

John called. He has MacBook Pro and uses Picasa to manage his photos. When he puts captions on the photos and then tries to email them, the captions don't stay with the photos.
– Paul said that he doesn't use Picasa that way. He publishes them to his Gmail account. After they're published, you can caption them.
– So, in Picasa use the "Publish" menu item and "upload" them to the web album. Then, using the "Share Album" menu, you can enter additional comments and determine whom you want to share with.
– If you insist on using email you can provide the caption in the body of the email.

Paul had a suggestion for people who travel across timezones. Instead of changing the time on your cameras, phones, laptops, etc., change the timezone setting. That way, timestamps on emails and any alarms you've set will reflect the true value.

Marilyn called about a problem with her mouse. Sometimes the arrow <pointer on the screen> doesn't move with the mouse & sometimes the red light of the optical mouse goes out.
Paul said the USB plug isn't very robust — the insert in the connector that has the contacts on it can bend or break.
– Try a different USB port.
– If that doesn't work, try a different mouse. The cable may be damaged.
– For $8 to about $20 you can get a wireless mouse. And look for a nano receiver to go with it. With the smaller receiver there's less chance of damage to the USB port.
– In general, avoid applying unnecessary pressure to anything plugged into a computer.

Next Zentech show is on Nov 9. There will be NO Zentech show on Oct 26 due to a membership drive.

Glenn lent Paul a digital video camera, for use during his trip, which uses a flash drive for storing the video. It's a Sanyo Xacti with a X30 zoom. He said he was very impressed with this small & light camera. It does 720 dots resolution, but he said it's not 'full' HD which would be 1080 pixels left to right on the screen. He also said the battery lasts at least 1 hour.
He mentioned that Youtube now accepts HD video uploads and provides a conversion to lower resolution for those with slower connections.

Glenn read an email from Brian who asked if there's better alternative to Winamp, which he currently uses on his PC, for playing his MP3 files.
– Paul used Winamp before iTunes got as good as it has. But iTunes stores the audio files where IT wants — depending on how you have it configured.
– iTunes "can make what looks like irreversible changes to your music collection…It's important to understand how iTunes works before you start using it."

Brian also asked about a stand-alone hard drive MP3 player that connects to a hi-fi.
– Paul, "The answer has got to be, I'm afraid, an iPod".
– Glenn suggested the possibility of using a $100 music player made by Jawbone that receives via Bluetooth. <wireless receiver plugged into the hi-fi, I guess> If you plug this device into you sound system, then any device that has Bluetooth (Android, iPhone, etc) will be able to play music on your stereo.

Today, Google has an animated graphic of Gumby in acknowledgement of Art Clokey's 90th Birthday. <click on the balls for more animation>

Paul speculated that the recent increase of version numbers by Mozilla's Firefox is an effort to look like it's keeping up with its competitors.

Doug called again to say Art Clokey passed away a couple of years ago.

If you want to look at previous logos by Google, go to google.com/logos. There are different ones for different countries. Be aware that the ones for April 1 may be especially interesting.

Paul mentioned the Wayback Machine at archive.org that has web pages from the past.
Paul said a court of law had ruled that cookies.txt, <later he said robots.txt> a file that controls the access to search engines, should be retroactive. Things can be retroactively removed from the Wayback Machine. The historical web pages have been used in court, for instance, to show the subversive intent of an individual.

Michael Moore will be on KVMR on Oct 29.
<from the show notes of 9-28-11:
Michael Moore will be in Nevada City on Sat Oct 29 in a benefit talk and book signing for KVMR. You can buy tickets, online or here at the station,>

Paul talked about the delay between the FM radio broadcast and the webcast of the Zentech show. The delay can be up to 15 seconds because of the time it takes for the equipment to prepare it for the webcast.

That reminded Paul about the movie "The Kings Speech" and people with a stammering problem. Recent corrective techniques employ a delay between the speaking and the hearing of what's just been spoken by these people. Earplugs with special delaying circuitry change the feedback by about .1 seconds. Though they show a remarkable improvement, the effect is not permanent. Look up "stammer correction" on Youtube to see examples.

Paul mentioned that he had some trouble using Skype & Secure Shell when he was in Prague. He thought it was because he used a public network that locked out anything that could cause trouble and only allowed port 80 to work. He didn't think that it was an institutional policy but was done to avoid complications.

Otherwise, Paul said, Prague is an interesting place to visit.
– Has the world's largest collection of Art Nouveau in the buildings, railings, lighting, statuary, etc.
– It's a haven for artists who can live there cheaply.
– The public art dates back several hundred years.
– It has a wide array of the performance arts and outside cafes.
– The people are friendly but not especially engaging.
– It's relatively inexpensive to live there.

Ross called. He thought that with phone plans getting so expansive it might make sense to get an iPod <presumably the Touch> to do video calling <using wi-fi I'm guessing>.
Without answering such a hypothetical question, the guys related their own situation…
– Paul said he has a jailbroken & unlocked iPhone using a SIM card he's had for a long time. He pays $19 per month for voice only and uses wi-fi for data.
– Glenn has an unlocked iPhone 3GS and he's using T-Mobile with voice & data for $50 per month. <more about his plan in the 9-28-11 notes >

Remember, there's no show on Oct 26. Next show on Nov 9.

 Last Updated: 9:35 PM 10/12/2011 

Amazon iPad Challanger?

Dead Sea Scrolls Alive on WEB

Additional notes 

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Glenn was in the studio. Paul was in Southern Germany and intended to call in, but he never did.

Glenn talked about his switch from AT&T to T-Mobile. He said that though the Verizon iPhone doesn't contain a SIM card and is therefore difficult to switch to a different carrier, the switch to T-Mobile from AT&T is easy because both support the SIM card.

He purchased a 1 month trial from T-Mobile to see if reception was acceptable in the Nevada County foothills and found that, indeed, it was. For those times when he can't get reception, he plans to depend on Google Voice to forward his calls.
– He seemed to imply that T-Mobile offers unlimited voice, txt and data for $50/mo.
– He only gets the 1st 100 meg of data at 4G speed and then it goes down to 2G speed.
– He's a bit unhappy with T-Mobile's voice mail because, in addition to his out-going message, T-Mobile adds its own voice menu which charges 15 seconds or so to the caller's minutes. He plans to explore options to turn that off.

He mentioned that if you plan early termination of your phone contract, check to see if the phone company added any fees or extra assessment during the contract period. That means the phone company violated the contract and you may therefore avoid any cancellation charges.

He then talked about the AVG anti-virus program. It will soon be going to version 2012 and cautioned people about choosing either the free or paid version. In the upgrade process, you'll eventually get a screen with check boxes for either the basic free version or one with a firewall and additional features. He said the Windows firewall is adequate and you don't need to buy the extra features.

He also said that the AVG upgrade process will also want to install a toolbar and one other thing — uncheck those 2 items. The final items ask if you want to join the "feedback team and email team" — you can go either way here.

Mark called in and said he's using Firefox and it keep prompting him to upgrade to the latest version. He wanted to know if that's a good idea.
– Glenn says it's up to you.
– Glenn's using at older version on his netbook because, at about version 4, there were changes made to the interface that he doesn't like. But in version 6, he said, some of those changes have been undone.
– One thing he didn't like is having the tabs at the top instead of directly above the web page, but there is a setting to change that.

Mark wondered of there's a way to keep Firefox from nagging about the upgrade.
– There is no way to stop the upgrade prompts. Just close that window when it appears.

Mark asked if any files would be lost in the upgrade.
– Files for bookmarks, history etc. will remain unchanged.

Mark went on to say that he turned off the history feature in Firefox and that affected his email — it no longer remembered his login. He wondered if the two were actually related.
– They shouldn't be. Passwords are handled separately under Options -> Security.
But Mark said when he turned history back on, his passwords started working as before.
– Glenn said he'd have to experiment with that and asked Mark to email him later.

Mike called to say he has an older Dell desktop and thinks he needs to change the battery because the clock and calendar are way off. He wanted to know how difficult it would be.
– It's not very involved.
– Check the numbers on the battery. It's likely to be either a 3025 or a 2025. They are readily available.
– Look online for your model of computer to get instructions on opening it and locating the battery.
– Be careful not to break the tabs holding the battery.
– Afterwards, the time will need to be set. The computer will <eventually> set the clock when you go onto the internet, or you can set the time manually. <Double-click the clock in the lower right of the screen>

James called. He's having a problem with his Mac laptop (running Snow Leopard) that he got at the end of 2007. He does a lot of writing and when he drags text from the internet into Text Editor the program won't allow him to save his work and he has to turn the computer off.
– It may be that the program was not created to deal with text being dragged into it.
– Test to see if dragging text into Microsoft Word causes the same problem.

James said he went into 'disk utilities' and saw an option about clearing history. He asked Glenn what that's about — he thought it might have something to do with his problem.
– Glenn said he doesn't know enough about the Mac to advise him and asked listeners to call in with suggestions.

Help support KVMR by becoming a member.

Kate called. She has a Dell Optiplex with XP and its hard drive crashed. She wanted to know how to recover the data.
– Try putting the drive in a different machine. <presumably to be sure it's the drive, not the computer>
– There are data recovery sites, but they charge a lot — up in the $1000's.
– Remember to back up your data before a failure.
– Try using a Linux live CD that can be booted from a CD drive. You may then be able to access the hard drive. Search zen.kvmr.org for various Linux options. <e.g. Ubuntu>

Glenn mentioned that Michael Moore will be in Nevada City on Sat Oct 29 in a benefit talk and book signing for KVMR. You can buy tickets, online or here at the station, starting next week. <I bet the KVMR's main page will say something about it >

Paul called. He has a Compaq laptop and suddenly he can't boot up — the screen is all black. He wondered if he also has a problem with the battery.
– No, the battery we talked about is only for the on-board clock, so that's unlikely. But it wouldn't hurt to change it anyway
– It can be the motherboard or screen are bad.
– If there is a pattern of beeps at startup, note that pattern and look it up at the vendors web site to decipher the meaning — it's telling you what's wrong.
– Try other things like cleaning out the dust from the interior using compressed air and a soft brush. And try reinserting the memory modules.
– Connect an external monitor to help diagnose a problem with the screen.

Glenn than talked about using cell phones in cars. He mentioned this article.
"Hold the phone: Motorists warned starting Saturday"
< In a related matter there this article further down the page…
"Fact Checker: Do cellphone, texting bans decrease car crashes?">

Marilyn called about laptop batteries. She has a Dell laptop and was getting a lifespan of about a year and a half from the battery. She usually uses the AC cord and just depends on the battery in case the power goes out.
– Instead of buying batteries and given her usage strategy, Glenn suggested a UPS <uninterruptible power supply> that can be had from $35 to $75 and can give you 3 to 5 minutes to shut the computer down when power goes out.
– Glenn said the brand of the battery can matter. Sony & Dell have had problems in the past.
– Try using Ebay for your battery shopping.

Glenn signed up for Google Plus but didn't use it much to say much about it. But he did get a note from Paul who said it's better integrated than facebook and you can use Picasa, Web Albums and other apps live.
<Here are a couple of articles about it…here and here>

Next Zentech show is on Oct 12.

Last Updated: 9:04 PM 9/28/2011 

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Glenn was in the studio, Paul called in from the UK.

Paul said the new convenience for air travelers will come when they're allowed to store their boarding pass on a smartphone, making the process paperless.

That led he to talking about QR codes (Quick Response codes), aka 3-D bar code,
– They don't require a laser scanner <like at a grocery checkout> to be read. Just a picture of it with a smartphone camera can decipher its meaning.
– Up to 256 characters can be stored in 1 QR code rectangle.
– When used as a boarding pass, they can be quickly scanned at the gate.
– Though the QR code is patented, it has been released to the public domain.
<Something to think about before scanning a QR code here.>

Paul did a Google search for "QR code" and came up with a Wikipedia link and a link to a site that will generate a code for you.

There are various apps for smartphones to read QR codes. The one Paul is using is called Beetagg. He said it works with iOS 3 on the iPhone.
– The QR code can store different types of information and a prefix tells the reading app the type of info that follows. <E.g. if it says the following info is a web address, the app can tell the phone to go to that web site with no further input by you — ergo, Quick Response>.
– A typical use is to put a QR code on your business card that contains the same info that's printed on the card. Someone can then scan the code and the info on the card would go directly into their contact list.
– Paul directed listeners to the Wikipedia article, which has many interesting links.

Glenn said he tried using an app called "The UP Code". That got Paul talking about the UPC code used in merchandizing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPC_code
– The UPC only represents a number. That number is linked to a universal database. The meaning of the number is stored in the database and manufacturers have agreed to each number's single universal meaning.
– There is a 1 to 1 relationship between that number and a particular product.
– On the other hand, the QR code is a self-contained packet of information and doesn't need a database. As a result, it doesn't have the universally agreed-to meaning like a UPC code, though a UPC number can be stored within a QR code, as a special case.
– There are QR code apps for Palm Pilot, Android and Blackberry, too.

Dennis called in and said there are also EAN & the similar JAN bar codes used in Europe & Japan. He also said that QR code boarding passes are already being using by United Airlines.

Dennis then asked if there's a Windows NTP <Network Time Protocol> server that can be used on a local network. Unlike a NTP client that gets a time signal from the internet and sets your computer's clock, the server provides the signal by which other computers would set their clocks.
– Not knowing the answer, Paul asked listeners for suggestions. <But see below for a solution>

Glenn said he's using T-Mobile now as his phone & data provider. He has an unlimited voice, txt and data plan. The plan limits data to 200 meg at 4G speeds but it's unlimited at 3G speeds, though it's throttled down after 200 meg.

Paul said there's a study showing that even hands-free use of a phone in a car, though legal, significantly increases risk.

Paul related a bit of history about one of the tunnels under the Thames River in London. It was built at a time when horses were used. The tunnel was built with some turns in it such that a horse would not see the light at the end, and thus bolt for it, until it was quite near the exit. He speculated that some US freeways, especially in the Midwest, were built with arbitrary curves to relieve driver boredom.

Ed called with a suggestion for an NTP server. It's an older program called AboutTime.

An attempt to standardize time across all time zones gave us UTC or Universal Time Coordinated, said Paul. It's an average of many atomic clocks <and it's adjusted to the nearest second using leap seconds>. UTC is different from the older GMT <Greenwich Mean Time>. Paul said that though GMT provided a common time that all clocks can agree with, it was not well synchronized with celestial events.

The guys mentioned that wristwatches are falling to disuse because people can now get the time from their cell phones.

James called & asked if the guys have heard about a unit of time called the chronon. Neither had, but looking it up, Glenn said it's a unit of quantum time <apparently different from Planck time>.

While looking up chronon, Paul found an online stopwatch.

Jim called. He had done a backup with TimeMachine on his Mac but when he lost his desktop (none of his files were there) and tried to retrieve the backup, the operation was not completed because TimeMachine said the files were "already there". This happened after an upgrade to the Lion operating system.
– Before trying to restore the backup, make sure that data is nowhere on the machine. Open finder and look underneath "Users". You should see an account with a recognizable name (like your name), If there is another account or profile, look in there and you may find your missing files.

Jim asked, if worse came to worst, could he do a clean install and then retrieve the backup.
– Yes. But be sure TimeMachine had backed up the latest files <or you may be restoring old data>.
– Before you do that, try to find the missing files as suggested.

Paul said that Apple already includes software for scanning & printing in their machines and that it's sometime better, especially with HP printers, not to install the manufacturer's software. He said there's no harm (on the Mac) plugging in the printer/scanner without installing the product's software. He suggested checking online for further info. <I find the forums at the manufacturer's web site pretty useful, as well as a Google search>

Gary called in. He has an approx. 6-year-old Toshiba laptop and it's gotten painfully slow. He took it to Staples and they tested it & said the hard drive will die soon. He wondered if he should buy another hard drive or just get another computer.
– 1st back up your data.
– Glenn disagreed with Staples and thought reloading Windows would help. He said it's been mentioned before that reloading Windows, maybe once a year, will keep it running efficiently.
– Before doing that, Paul suggested using some cleanup programs like Crap Cleaner (CCLEANER) & Registry Cleaner (EUSING Registry Cleaner or NTREGOPT registry optimizer).
– Another approach is to replace the existing hard drive with a clean one and install Windows on it. Glenn chimed in to say that serial <SATA> hard drives are reasonably priced, but older 2.5" IDE drives cost "serious bucks". Paul said to look for used drives if this computer is just for casual use.

Another James called in wanting to know if there's an easy way to remove Mozilla Thunderbird's "all mail" file.
– Google mail tends to store a lot of messages there if you use IMAP.
– Go to Tools -> Account Settings -> Synchronization & Storage then click the Advanced button and uncheck the "all mail" folder. That will prevent it from synchronizing the huge bulk of email.

Kathy called. Her daughter's laptop had a bunch of viruses and she had someone do a restore and an upgrade to Windows 7. When she went to restore her data from the Carbonite backup service, "everything froze up". Apparently Carbonite had Vista's files.
– Win7 & Vista use the same file locations but the file structures are different.
– Start Win7 in safe mode and create a different account on it.
– The answer is to restore the data to a folder of your choosing, not where it came from. E.g. restore to a folder on the desktop then manually drag the individual files "onto the new machine".
– Apparently Carbonite has not updated their software to handle such a situation.

Help support KVMR by becoming a member.

Last Updated: 11:50 PM 9/14/2011 

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Glenn has a friend who's having problems printing their bank statement, from a web browser, on an HP printer — it only prints out the portion from the middle to the left side of the statement.
– Paul said there is nothing in a web page that formats it for a printer. It may print out differently from how it looks. Paul suggested looking at the 'print preview', which you can select from the 'file' menu. Glenn said he did that and the preview looked fine.
– Update the HP software. Go to the Start Menu -> Programs -> HP and look for HP software updates.
– Paul said it's a documented problem with HP products & Internet Explorer. It happened went IE went from version 7 to 8 and again when it went to version 9.
 – If you have a dialup connection on the computer that needs the update, HP allows you to just download the files when you happen to be at a computer with a fast connection. Go to the HP website & fill in the model of your printer & download to a flash drive and take it to the computer needing the update.

Paul said that laptops have become a lot more popular in recent years and you can have a setup similar to a desktop if you plug in an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. But there are some negative attributes.
– They have "poorer cooling response than a desktop machine".
– They are less sturdy. E.g. the CD drives are more delicate and subject to errors as well as breakage just by opening & closing them.
– The USB ports prone to damage by plugging & unplugging devices.
– Glenn likes the use of the smaller Micro USB ports with newer equipment because there's less mechanical stress than the big plugs. He also suggested that people avoid the various connector sockets when picking up or moving the laptop — only handle the body of the computer.
– Paul suggested use of wireless devices rather than those that plug in directly. Bluetooth devices tend to be more expensive but the Bluetooth dongle, the part that plugs into the computer, is usually cheap.
– When you put the laptop into its case, unplug everything — cords, wires, cards, etc — to avoid stress on the sockets.
– There are places that repair laptops but check beforehand to see if they're willing to work on your model — some are just too poorly built. Look on Ebay for these services and check the feedback ratings from their former customers. Paul is under the impression that service centers you find on Amazon have the backing of Amazon itself.

Paul mentioned the 3 A's of business: availability, affability and ability
   Should be reachable — availability.
   Should be not be rude — affability
   Should know what they're doing — ability

Paul mentioned that many do-it-yourself repair tutorials are available on Youtube. For laptop repair, search Youtube for the words… teardown laptop repair.

Jeff called to suggest that KVMR have a way people can txt (text) small donations to support the station, similar to disaster relief operations <as in Haiti>.

Dennis <he was not introduced, and it sounded like he was in the studio> wanted to know how to control the order in which applications launch in Windows 7. <presumably the startup programs>
– Paul doesn't know, but in XP "you bring up the cascading menus, right click on whatever is available and left click on sort by name". <I'm not clear on this, but that's what he said. Later he said he hasn't seen a way to do it with XP>
– Glenn thought renaming the apps by putting 1,2,3… as the first characters of their names might work.
– Paul said that apps can be started several ways e.g. from the registry or an autoexec.bat file
– While talking, Paul did a search for a method but didn't come up with anything definitive. He asked listeners to give suggestions.
– Paul then thought of using 'services' for controlling the order. Services is an application that runs before the users account is started <at boot time I think>. He said that using services you can make programs run conditionally — program A has to run before program B, etc. However, he thought that the programs themselves had to have been specially created to run as a service.
– Many of the applications and service that run at startup end up in the lower right hand corner in what's called the system tray.
– Spybot Search And Destroy has a tool called System Startup that lets you decide which applications run at startup. It doesn't uninstall anything, but can keep things from running. Paul said this method is preferred over using a Windows utility called msconfig <it's implied that it does something similar>
– Paul said it's rare that unchecking (preventing) a service or app from running, using Spybot, would prevent Windows from running. Something may not work propery, but he's never seen it "kill a Windows installation". Glenn suggested unchecking 1 item at a time and restarting the computer and then evaluating the effect it has.
– Paul remembered the site blackviper.com. It offers guidance for turning off services and it tells you which are required to run.

Scott called with a couple of Mac questions. He has a mac.com mail service and has received a notice that it's ending. He wondered if the guys knew more about that.
– Paul said it is part of a subscription service called MobileMe and he doubted that Apple would suddenly end the email service. Since you paid for the service, call Apple and find out what's going on.
– Paul thought that, with the new Lion operating system, the mobile synchronization will be performed using the new service called iCloud.
– Glenn looked at the Apple site and reported that MobileMe is no longer accepting new subscribers but the service will be available to currnet users thru June 30, 2012.
– He said go to apple.com/mobileme and click the 'facts' button to get the details of the transition to iCloud.

Scott's other qestion was whether his verion of Photoshop (CS5) will continue to work with the new Lion operating system.
– Paul said, "I wouldn't worry about it". Go to the Adobe Macromedia site and check the compatibility list. Be aware that it may work even though it may not be supported (you won't get help support).
– Glenn said that Windows Vista had trouble running older programs so in Win7 Microsoft provided an XP compatibility mode to address the issue.
– Paul did a search for the words CS5 Lion and found some discussion on macrumors.com Some people said that it works (though some said it had a few bugs).
– Paul heard the recommendation that Lion be installed on a bare drive <rather than as an upgrade>. He also heard that Lion will eventually be sold on a flash drive.
– Paul suggested, after a disclaimer, that Scott back up his current hard drive using TimeMachine and then, after doing a bare installation of Lion, use TimeMachine to restore the backup.

Someone recently asked Paul why Adobe Reader, Java Runtime, etc are free. It's because those who write programs or content that utilize them pay for the privilege <or pay for the developer programs>.

Paul said that AJAX allows for web pages to have an enormous number of features without having to load special programs. For instance, users of Gmail, he said, have benefited from AJAX. The Visible Body is another example. It's a 3D human body tutorial that used to be sold as program that you load on your computer. Now, you can subscribe to it and get it over the net.

John called. He has 2008 version of Microsoft Home Office but there's no way to create a PDF file.
– Get the free program called PDF Creator at Source Forge. It acts like a printer driver but, instead of printing, it saves a PDF document.
– To use it, create a document in Word (or whatever), then use the file menu -> print and choose PDF Creator as the printer.
– PDF Creator works with all Windows programs that print, not just Microsoft Office.

John also wondered whether we are bound to use whatever operating system Microsoft comes out with next and will have to abandon XP or NT.
– XP is still available on refurbished computers.
– Eventually Microsoft will stop supporting XP. <in 2014, I think>

John said he's now struggling with Vista.
– Windows 7 succeeded Vist and works better.
– Glenn said the Home Starter Edition of Win7 doesn't come with some things he had expected — the media player won't play DVDs, just audio.
– Paul said that even XP lacked the content descrambler to play DVDs and you have to scrounge around to find free software to do that.

So, then Glenn asked what's a good free video player for XP for free?
– The best generic video player is not Media Player but one called Videolan. http://www.videolan.org
– "They all lack, unless you go thru various hoops, the ability to unscramble or descramble mass-published digital video disks…"
– You can buy a descrambler from Nvidia for about $19 or get a demo version of Nero. <Nvidia FAQ is here>

<There seems to be a claim that Videolan will decrypt DVDs on their web page. Click on the logo for your computer type to download it.
More info on Videolan (VLC) here.

If anyone has success with it or some other method of descrambleing DVDs, send an email to zen at kvmr dot org (say the mail is for me and the guys will forward it to me) and I'll add it to the Favorite Programs page.>

Lisa called. She has a Mac with version 10.68 OS and she can't delete email addresses using her email program. Each time she tries, they come back.
– Glenn tried to remember when this came up before and suggested clearing the cache, history and cookies.
– Paul thought that these addresses might be stored in a different place than the address book, that they're actually part of the preferences.
– The problem was not resolved and listeners were invited to give suggestions.

James called. He has 2007 vintage MacBook which now has Snow Leopard on it. He wondered what lifespan he could expect from it.
– Glenn thought it could last another 10 years.

He also asked what effect Steve Jobs' exit would have on Apple.
– Good question. All we can do is watch & wait

Then he said that Adobe Reader keeps popping up on his machine and demanding attention.
– Paul thought it may need updating. James has vision problems so Paul suggested he keep notes of what's going on so, when he has help from a sighted person, they can keep track of what needs to be done.

Last Update: 5:08 PM 1/13/2012 

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Remember, there's another show this month. 5th Wed 8/31/11 

Paul & guest, John Paul of Spiral Internet, were in the studio, Glenn called in.

Mentioned at various points during the show:
Nevada County residents can find local internet service at: spiralinternet.com
Spiral's phone # 530-478-9822
More info about the Fusion project for high speed internet (just in Sacramento for now): sacramentofusion.com
John's email: johnp@spiralinternet.com

John first gave us a bit of history about internet access.
– Early form of access was thru dialup.
– Then came ISDN. It was a little better than dialup but was expensive and harder to set up.
– Then DSL came along. It had the ability to put a digital signal over the copper telephone wires.
– Along with DSL came the ability to have internet access over coaxial cable, about 10 years ago. <Like the Comcast service>

He then talked about connection speeds
– DSL can go up to 6 megabits per sec downstream <toward the user> and 1 megabits upstream <from the user to the internet>.
– A DSL signal over copper wire starts to degrade pretty quickly with distance. You begin to "lose all kinds of speed" after about 15000 feet. The rural areas of Nevada County may get only 1.5 megabits/sec. Ironically, many people in Sacramento have the same problem because they're far away from the central office.
– Coaxial cable is a little bit better regarding the distance factor. The distribution point is brought right into the neighborhood. Because of that, the cable speeds are higher. But the users in the neighborhood share the signal so if everyone is watching movies, each user can experience a great slowdown.
– The telephone company (most likely AT&T) is trying to make the most of the copper medium. ADSL 2 Plus is the current technology. With one phone line it can give you about 20 megabits per second at about 2000 feet from the central office. At 8000 feet it's about 10 megabits per second. With 2 phone lines you can double these speeds. <Implied in the conversation was that the Fusion service uses ADSL 2 Plus>

Paul brought Glenn into the conversation. He joined in by a phone call from near Truckee.

With the Fusion service comes the regular analog phone service. And you get an unlimited plan with both the DSL & the phone line. Since this is the traditional phone line, it doesn't affect the bandwidth of the DSL, unlike voice over IP (VOIP).

There are 2 kinds of phone companies that can have access to the central office <of the copper wire provider (e.g. AT&T)>. The Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers — the original telephone company (AT&T, Verizon, SureWest). And the Competing Local Exchange Carriers — they are a result of deregulation and they rent the phone lines from the Incumbent Carriers.

Paul asked whether ADSL 2 can reach a greater distance <than DSL> and John said no. At first it actually degrades faster with respect to distance, and by the time it degrades to 1.5 megabits per second (mentioned above), the distance is comparable to regular DSL — "the quicker stuff end quicker".

John mentioned that AT&T is starting to roll out U-verse in Nevada County. In urban areas, U-verse gives you phone, internet and TV service, but in Nevada County they're getting phone & internet only. However, John said, that once a customer switches to U-verse, "they can't go back to anyone else because it's not part of the Telecommunications Act"…"part of the provision of the Telecommunications Act was if they moved to a digital technology, they would not have to offer those services because they were not really technically running thru the central office". <I'm not clear on this, just be careful to check out your options before subscribing to U-verse>

A service similar to Fusion is available in San Francisco and the response has been good there, John said. He also said that U-verse is not available there because the city council thought the equipment was too ugly.

Fusion is coming to downtown & midtown Sacramento first and, in four months, to the greater Sacramento area.

Glenn mentioned that he now has Digital Path wireless service after having been on dialup for a long time. He said he's been watching Netfilx movies and Paul expressed surprise that he's doing that over wireless. The guys expressed concern of doing that in the early evening hours and suggested that, out of courtesy, to avoid hogging the bandwidth during those hours when people who are, for instance, self-employed are trying to use it.

Paul brought up Google's project to bring 1 gigabits per second internet to some community in the U.S. Now finalized, the project invited communities to submit their pleas to gain Google's favor. Kansas City was the winner, in part, because Google had already bought a lot of pre-existing fiber cable in the area.
<Google's project was mentioned on the 3-22-10 show. John was on this show too.>

Case Western Reserve has been studying how people use this massive amount of bandwidth. John said if you search Youtube for "Case Western Reserve gigabit" you can find about some of the uses — like health care services and telepresence.

John said that many telehealth services, like one in California, are going on their own network that works separately from the internet.

Paul asked what speed you actually get with Fusion's advertised 20 megabits per second. John said that is the guaranteed speed 100% of the time if you're close enough to the central office. It depends on the distance.

Paul said that if you log on to your <DSL> modem you can see what the data rate is. But that's the connection rate and typically, he said, one would get about 90% thru-put. To check your speed use speedtest.phonepower.com.

A few people still use ISDN because it can reach greater distance than DSL. KVMR uses it for remote broadcasts like music festivals and it's pretty reliable for that purpose.

The Fusion service costs $39.95 per month for 20 megabits per second and unlimited nationwide phone calls (federal fees & taxes are extra). The price may become more than that when it's offered in Nevada County because of the low density of users. <There's not the critical mass of people to keep the price low>

John mentioned that AT&T DSL and U-verse now charge you more if your usage goes over a certain amount of data — a data cap. Paul said that started in May and was due in part to people streaming so much video like Netflix. John thought that we're seeing just the beginning of bandwidth deficit.

Paul briefly mentioned that you no longer have to have a landline phone account to get DSL. John said that's only true for AT&T customers; for a service like Fusion you need to have a phone account. <I think I heard that correctly. Check it out before you buy>

Glenn asked John how long it would take to have a running Fusion service from the time it's ordered. John said it would be about 7 to 10 working days.

John said Fusion customers are asked to buy a new modem or wireless router. Technically, existing equipment can work but legacy AT&T modems tend to fail or cause problems. If you want the 40 megabits per second (2 phone line) service, there's different modem for that.

John said there about 18 features that come with the included phone service. Check their web site for details.

Zack, from Grass Valley, called in. He would like to ditch his AT&T internet service but he doesn't need a lot of bandwidth, as with Fusion. He said he'd like to keep it in the $20-$25 price range.
– That just happens to be the lowest price that Spiral Internet offers. You can call them at 530-478-9822.

Some Zentech podcasts (and those of many other KVMR programs) are available from a link on KVMR front page, or here.

Barbara called. She's looking for a very basic Mac laptop.
– The cheapest Mac laptop goes for $999.
– There are used Macs at geeks.com or amazon.com.
– Apple.com and smalldog.com have refurbished Macs with 1 year warranty.
– Make sure you get an Intel Mac. <That it has the Intel CPU>
– Also try powermax.com.

Last Updated 8:28 PM 8/24/2011