Intro; WHITE AND NERDY Rap

Detecting Power Bill Anomilies using For Example the "Kill A Watt" device

Additional notes 

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Paul was in the studio, Glenn called in from Sacramento after some great difficulties in the studio.

Scott called about power line network adapters <these use the wiring in the house to carry the data between devices>. He's house was built in the '40s and all of the plugs are 2-pronge — there's no separate ground connector. He wants to know if the adapter will work in his house.
– Pauls thought it will work better if there's grounding but will probably still work without it.
– Buy it and try it. <Presumably making sure you can return it if it doesn't work>
The distance Scott has to span is about 30' to his workshop and Paul thought Wi-Fi should work if:
1) You get the units as close as possible.
2) You keep them away from cordless phones.
He's already tried using a combination modem/router from AT&T that has an internal antenna and Paul suggested getting one with an external antenna or a range booster.

Scott asked if the power line adapters are faster than wireless and Paul thought that his lack of a ground, old wiring and possibly having to go thru more than one electrical panel can make it slower (theoretically they might go faster Wi-Fi, under ideal conditions). He said a range booster could make wireless go up to 100 megabits/sec.

Paul kept trying to receive phone calls but some problem prevented him.

Paul mentioned that another KVMR broadcaster noticed her electricity bill went up substantially for no apparent reason.
– Ideally, call in electrician, if you can afford it.
– You can do some research yourself but don't interfere with the wiring in the house, you shouldn't have to in your initial investigation.
– Go around the house and make an accounting of everything plugged into the electrical outlets. Just because an appliance is off don't assume it's not drawing current.
– Keep a daily record of your utility meter reading.
– Keep in mind that there can be a huge difference in electrical consumption of appliances — e.g. stovetop burner vs. fluorescent lights.
– Each day, turn off a suspect appliance, including outside devices like well pumps (check for safety issues first). Then compare your record of meter readings to see if there's a substantial change.
– Old refrigerators may have deteriorating insulation or the refrigerant may have leaked causing the compressor to work more than it should — using excess energy. Check for similar issues with other thermostatically controlled appliances <e.g. air conditioner>.
– Paul said he's found a probe thermometer on Ebay for a few dollars that you can use to monitor the temperature inside a refrigerator or freezer.

<Paul didn't actually get around to the Kill A Watt device, whose link is above. Two previous shows mentioned it, too: May 19 2008 and May 5 2008.>

A clip from WHITE AND NERDY by Weird Al was played. See the above link.

Paul next talked about key cameras or spy cameras, which can be bought for about $10.
– They function as well in low light as full-scale tape video recorders of 5 to 10 years ago.
– They're about the size of USB flash drive and come with a tie clip-like bracket that allows you to attach it to, for instance, a dog or a kite. <To get interesting footage>
– They generally run at 30 frames/sec so they're not very good for rapid motion, but there may be some that run at 60 frames/sec.

Paul rebooted the Comrex system used by KVMR to receive phone calls.
<I think this may describe it. The company is here.>
– Paul said that computers (which is what the Comrex is) that have been running continuously for a long time may need to be rebooted, even the iPhone may benefit from a reboot every week or two.
– To reboot an iPhone hold down the power button on top of the phone for several seconds and slide the slider to the far right — that will shut the power down for a cold reboot. This is useful if you want to conserve power for a few days without a recharge. This is unlike a typical shut down where you push the button briefly and where the phone still receives calls.

After rebooting the Comerx, the phone system came back online we were able to hear Glenn calling in.

Glenn talked about the new-to-him iMac he bought recently, it's actually a couple of years old. He said he just upgraded the operating system to 10.5 and will eventually move it up to the latest — Lion.
– Access to the App Store has been added to the Mac computers so you can now buy and download Lion for $29.
– Paul said he's heard that when upgrading to Snow Leopard on a blank machine, you can use the previous version's, Leopard, CD to satisfy the licensing agreement, and complete the installation.
– Paul said that when you think you've closed an application on a Mac, the menu bar is left at the top and you have to go to File -> Quit or Option + Q.
– In the dock (on the Mac) are aliases <a particular type of icon> and there's a small mark under the alias if an app is still running in memory. If you hold the mouse button down while on the alias, you're given options to deal with the app — quit, force it to stay in the dock, or start at login.

The 1st step in diagnostics is to define the problem. If you can do it in 4 words or less, and they're unusual words, Google will have the answer. Youtube also has short tutorials that may solve your problem; use the same strategy to search for them.

Glenn's ultimately unsuccessful effort to fix his iPhone <mentioned in the Apr 27, 2011 show> was inspired by a Youtube video.

Paul warned people not to leave their cell phones in their hot cars, as he had done. It still worked but there was damage to the LCD screen.

Glenn received a message from Mike. He's using a Novatel USB 760 3G CDMA wireless to connect his laptop to the internet. He wanted to know if there is a device that can create a personal 3G hotspot.
– Yes but you have to be sure the one you're buying supports the model of your USB modem. These are called Mi-Fi units.
– It may be smarter to contact your carrier and ask them about the cost to convert your existing contract to Mi-Fi.
– Be aware that most providers now have data caps and it's easy to go over with multiple users on the hotspot.
– For $149 virginmobileusa.com has the Mi-Fi 2200 that has pay-as-you-go pricing for 3G.

Jay called. He's using XP Pro and would like to combine 2 logical partitions without losing data in the other partitions. He doesn't want to use Partiton Magic because of the cost. <Info about partitioning here.>
– Back up your files first.
– There is a free utility but it doesn't run under windows. It has to be booted from a CD. It's called Gnome Partition Editor or Gparted. <Read more about it here. You can get it here.>
– It comes as an ISO image file & you have to burn it to a CD using Nero or FreeUtility before using it. <I think he said FreeUtility but I couldn't find such a thing.>

<A couple of other ISO burners:
Infra Recorder…download here
ISO Recorder>

Vern called. He has a Macbook Pro upgraded to 10.6 & he lost his address book except for 1 entry. However, his mail program can see all the addresses.
– Paul thought some of the data files got moved and the data path was lost.
– Do a Google search for the words: data path mac address book

 Last Updated: 8:48 PM 7/13/2011

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Firefox 5 is available. Paul said it's functionally more streamlined and goes a little faster but many of the buttons have been rearranged. You can put them where you want if you right click (control click on a Mac) in the gray area "where the menu is" and go down to customize. You can then drag & drop the buttons where you want. You can also select different icons and install ones not there originally — like the print icon.
Glenn said he likes to have the tab bar directly above the webpage — that's not the default position in the latest Firefox. You can change that by clicking on the gray area again and uncheck the option that says 'Tabs on top'.
One of the things Paul likes about the new Firefox is that if you go to tools -> addons, they are all systematically organized on a single page.
Addons for Firefox are available in groups, one of which is appearance and, specifically, skins. These allow you to choose the general appearance of Firefox.

Talk turned to Internet Explorer 9. It's not available for XP, maybe Microsoft wants to encourage you to move to Windows 7. Like Firefox, it too has done away with many of the tool bars, like the menu bar. Again, you have to right click and choose the options to restore the ones you want.

Glenn recalled that this trend, to minimize what tool bars are displayed, started with Internet Explorer 7.

Paul brought up the issue of getting used to the look & feel of a program and desiring some continuity as new versions come out. He mentioned Winamp — an audio player and suggested listeners give it a try. When they went from version 4 to 5 the look of it became subdued and dark and he had trouble seeing the menus. He said many programs now have the option of changing the skin to make the appearance more to your liking.

Bruce called and wanted to know how to get rid of the search box in the Firefox tool bar.
– Drag it off and stick it on the tablet <after you right click gray area -> customize). You can drag to or drag from the tool bars when you customize.

Betsy called. She's having a problem getting indented paragraphs in Word.
– Setting a tab won't do, a long line will again return to the left margin.
– Use the ruler & set the '1st line indent' feature.
She didn't see a ruler and asked how to get it to display.
– Pick the 'View' on the menu and pick the item called ruler.
– On the ruler, toward the left end, there's an up & down pointing triangles. These set the indent 1st line and also the indent of subsequent lines.
– Resist using the carriage return or you'll subvert the indenting process.
– In the studio, Glenn used Words help feature to search for 'don't auto-align' and came up with more suggestions.

Eric called. He has Norton Anti-virus and keeps getting a pop-up window asking him to renew his subscription. He asked how to stop the pop-up. He also wanted to know that, if he didn't subscribe to Norton after the trial period, would it stop protecting his computer.
– It doesn't stop the protection but it won't keep up with the latest threats and will become ineffective.
– Uninstall Norton. And, if you have a legitimate version of the Microsoft operating system, get the free Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG programs.
– Glenn said Norton & Mcafee are "top-heavy", they use a lot of resources.
– In the past security suits came with anti-virus, firewall, anti-spam, etc. These days the browsers do much of the work <the firewall comes with the operating system>, so now you need an anti-virus and "that's about it".
– To uninstall Norton use Add & Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Uninstall anything that says 'norton' or 'symantec'
– You can also use Revo Uninstaller, which will uninstall Norton and clean up the registry too. Many programs don't uninstall completely, Revo helps with that.
– For example AVG leaves behind traces of itself when uninstalled. You can get an uninstaller special to AVG. Microsoft Essentials may have trouble installing if it finds traces of AVG.
<I think this is where you can find the AVG uninstaller. On the page http://www.avg.com/us-en/utilities you'll see… AVG Remover(32bit) 2011 or AVG Remover(64bit) 2011 >
– Adobe Creative Suite also has a special program for removing all traces of that application.

<For more on Microsoft Security Essentials, links to articles about it and to a chart comparing it to other anti-virus programs, see the 5-11-11 show notes>
<Here's a forum discussion about uninstalling AVG>

Charlie called. He has Gmail & wants to know how to sort his mail by sender.
The guys googled for information but couldn't find a solution.
– They found various tips to search for a particular user in the Gmail search bar, but that's not what he asked for.
– Paul found, by searching for 'gmail sort', some javascript that you can paste into the search bar. That may be beyond what most people are willing to do.
– Use Thunderbird (or other email client) for mail, it can sort.
– Google documentation is actually very good. It can help you set up Gmail so you'll be able to receive your gmail in a local email program (like Thunderbird), but you'll have to turn it on. Start by logging in to Gmail and clicking on the cog in the upper right.
Paul said he's had good result using IMAP instead of POP3. IMAP will continue to show mail that you previously received on another machine, something POP3 will not do.
Using IMAP, Paul said, Thunderbird can color code your email (important, work, personal, etc) if you use the numeric keypad while reading a particular email. If you later use Thunderbird on another machine, the coloring of the messages will persist.

Ron called, He has a year and a half old iMac and he gets the "spinning beach ball" a lot now. He wanted to know what virus protection he needs.
– None. Recently there was a worm that tried to make you think you need to download virus protection. Just don't click to accept the suggestion and nothing will be installed on the Mac.
– Ron's problem has nothing to do with a virus.
– The spinning beach ball means the Mac is busy doing something.
– Ron said said he gets it when switching tabs in Firefox.
– Try deleting the preference folder for the application causing the problem (e.g. Firefox). But this may cause the loss of the bookmarks.
– Get a fresh copy of Firefox & install it over the previous version. Previous updates may have only patched Firefox. A fresh install may take care of the problem.
Ron asked if Firebug (an addon) might be causing the slow down.
– In Firefox go to tools -> addons disable (don't uninstall) Firebug (and the other addons) and see if the problem goes away.
– Basic clean up in the Mac is simple. Go to the utilities folder -> applications -> disk utility, click once on the hard drive & choose repair.

James called. He has a Mac PowerBook and been running the Safari browser. He keeps getting some sort of message from Firefox.
– Uninstall Firefox. Go into the application folder and drag it to the trash. But don't empty the trash just yet, in case you'd like to bring it back.

Being legally blind, James has trouble reading the captchas when he tries to login to Facebook.
– Use the audio button next to the captcha to hear an audio alternative to the captcha. The audio may be different from the visual captcha.
– James said he's had no success with the audio. Glenn suggested he ask someone to help him log in.
– KVMR uses a similar system for their Community Calendar event submission form. They had to use captchas because they were getting spammed a lot.

Mark called asking about the virus that tries to make you think your computer is infected.
– There are a number of malware programs that work similarly. When you go to a specially crafted web page, there's a Flash animation that plays and makes it look like your computer is being scanned for a virus and then "finds" an infection. It then asks you to buy anti-virus protection or to update your anti-virus program. As in Ron's situation above, DON'T CLICK on it. DON'T give them your credit card number. Once they get your credit card number, they can charge what they want on it.
– This malware is known by different names: bogusware; freakwar, smitfraud and combo virus.
– Popular websites like the New York Times can hit by this scam thus leveraging your trust.
– Genuine anti-virus programs don't detect it because the signature files can't be updated quickly enough.
– Proactively use Plugin Check (google the words <or try this one>) to check the version of your Flash plugin. Outdated versions can facilitate the fraud.
– But if you already have the malware, search for "combo fix" on Google and follow the instructions.
– While you can, back up your machine, though Paul said he's never seen these viruses actually "kill the machine", they just try to get money from you.
– You may have to search for the information on a different machine because some of these viruses prevent you from getting to certain websites where help is available.

Russ called from Sacramento. He has Mac Pro, his wife has a PC and they have Comcast for their internet. Comcast sent them a message saying one of their computers has an evil bot and that they sent him Norton Anti-virus. He couldn't get anymore info from Comcast.
– Glenn thought that it was a phishing email, but Russ said he called Comcast and they confirmed sending the email.
– In that case it's up to them to tell you what to do.

Next show is on July 13
Also check out the Zentech Facebook page.

Last updated: 9:16 PM 6/29/2011 

One More Show in a Week: June 29th! (5th. Wednseday!)

FireFox 4– version 5 Out Very Soon!

Price Shopping Pitfalls: An example using shopper.com & nextag.com for a
$2500 Canon 5D MK2 Camera Body; More Examples using Airfares.

 INTERESTING– the Google Ad Words we use linked up to these…!

What's Pretexting? a type of social engineering

Media Quality– High Defintion & 3D use of the Inrernet- Example using Pink Floyd & CD=DDD SPARS Code

Live Instructional Stuff Tonight at 6PM Pacific Time: Photography by MAKE (Thanks, TS!)

First Person Video (FPV)- This is Weird. CHECK THIS VIDEO out chasing a train and
flying through a shed… then THIS!!!!

Additional notes

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart
They're tagged with #Zentech

Editor comments are delimited by < >

Paul noted that the Firefox browser is coming out in a new version: version 5. He said it looks like version 4, whose look & feel he doesn't care for. You can change some of it's appearance if you right-click on the tool bar (view -> customize on the Mac).

One thing Glenn doesn't like about version 4 of Firefox is that the tab bar is no longer directly above the webpage. Paul told him that there's a setting to put the tab bar back to its expected place. But Paul's peeve with version 4 is that it tries to open streaming audio within the browser rather than using an external application. He's continuing to look for a solution.

Talk turned to shopping on the internet. Paul went looking for a Canon 5D Mark 2 camera whose price seems to be around $2500. The 2 places he uses are shopper.com (owned by Cnet.com) & nextag.com. One retailer his search came up with had the camera for $1900 but he was suspicious.
– The link to Better Business Bureau didn't go anywhere.
– The transaction didn't use a secure connection.
– Looking up the domain name (the URL) showed the site was only 6 months old.
– He googled the domain name along with the word 'fraud'. That turned up sites with glowing ratings of 5 stars and subsequent comments claiming they used shady practices like bait and switch.

Commenting on consumer rights Glenn said, they can't charge you until the product is shipped, technically. Paul: they can't charge you without telling you they've substituted a similar product.

About that shady company, Paul said some of the complaints he saw said they sold some gray import products — products whose serial numbers are special and indicate they are not for the US market. You may have trouble getting warranty support.
In the end, Paul didn't order the camera.

More on consumer rights, Glenn said that if you receive the wrong product or it's not as advertised, you typically have 30 to 60 days to contest the purchase.
– Start by calling your credit card company.
– Then follow up in writing or use the card company's online forms.
– No matter how you've been treated, act reasonably — don't threaten.
– If you use a debit card, you don't have much protection at all. This applies to all transactions, not just when you order something.

Paul went on to talk about Google Adsense. The Zentech site has an affiliation with Google to show ads and earn a very modest amount when someone clicks on an ad. One of the ads Google provided was that for the shady company just talked about above. Paul said that under their agreement with Google, Zentech is not allowed to make any comments about the ads that are displayed. That company's ad didn't last long, anyway.

Paul talked about the quality of the media as it comes thru an internet connection. Youtube is increasingly carrying video in hi-def.
– You need a sustained bandwidth of about 3 or 4 megabits per sec (or faster) for hi-def.
– On a slower connection you can hit the pause button and let video load in the background. When it has downloaded, you can play the whole thing at once without it pausing.

Paul played Pink Floyd (link above) and noticed than when it was displayed in a 'windowed' mode (not full screen) the quality went down — the sound as well as the video. He played that Pink Floyd sample in different modes to illustrate.

Paul said that BluRay players are coming out with Ethernet ports and they can play Netflix video and render Youtube videos directly to TVs without the need of a computer.

Paul then talked about 3-letter code that used to be on CDs (the SPARS code, see above link)
– 1st letter indicates how the mastering was done — Analog or Digital.
– 2nd letter indicates how it was mixed — again, either A or D.
– 3rd letter indicates the medium. CDs will always have Digital.
– The lettering scheme has caused confusion as is being dropped.

Make Magazine (mentioned the past couple of shows here and here> produces live instructional videos (see the above link). There are many live video streams produced using a site called Ustream. It uses Flash, so no extra software is needed.

Next, Paul talked about FPV or 1st person video. An example is video from cameras attached to model aircraft which can be broadcast up to 10 miles. For an explanation & sample videos, see the above links.

Katherine called. She uses PowerPoint and had to upgrade from XP to Win7 when she bought a new computer. She's now having trouble using a newer version of PowerPoint.
– Glenn says he doesn't use the Office products a lot but always makes sure that the documents are saved in the Office 2003 format. That will allow people, who don't have the latest version of Office, to open the documents. Don't just rename the files but click the Windows logo in the upper left, then go down to options and change the default save mode to 2003. Repeat the procedure for each document type (Excel, Word, etc.).
– She asked specifically about having the "cool backgrounds" again. Glenn suggested she use the help facility and searching for the specific topic — 'background'.

Paul speculated that there's no compelling reason to use Win7 instead of WinXP. He invited listeners for comments.

Glenn had to reload XP on his computer from a source other than the original install disk and even though he used a legitimate product key number, he got the message that "we no longer sell XP you can't do this."

On a related topic, Paul said that the OEM copy of WinXP for the Dell computers is customized for the Dell line and would not ordinarily work on other brands. But, the installation process only checks for a Dell computer, not a particular model. So, it possible, for instance, to get rid of Vista on a recent Dell laptop by installing XP, using one of these OEM disks. But, you didn't hear that from anyone on the show — see the disclaimer below. Also, not all drivers are available for XP. In particular some video chips, Paul thinks, were especially made lacking drivers for XP so people would be forced to use Vista.

The disclaimer:
The views & opinions expressed on this show are not those of the staff, management, underwriters or board of directors.

Betsy called to say she's thinking about buying a HP laptop. The Word program on her current computer doesn't seem to be working right — drawing weird margins and prompting her to save templates.
– It's possible from long use that the templates and other files may have been compromised somehow.
– When you buy a new computer, any version of Word it comes with should not have the same problems.
– Try reinstalling from the original Office CD.
– Win7 will accept the installation of Office 2003, 2007 & 2011.
– Try OpenOffice <or Libre office> If you don't like it, OpenOffice does uninstall cleanly.
– Use Google Docs.
– If you're going to install an new word-processing or spreadsheet program, first uninstall the trial version of Office that comes with the new computer, after the trial period (or sooner if you like).
– Try creating a new document from scratch instead of recycling old .doc files.

Chris called to say he couldn't individually control the sounds coming from each application. This is one area where Win7 may have an advantage over WinXP.
– In Win7 the sound mixer will bring up the associated programs that have used it. <I assume it allows individual control for each app, too>
– Use a program called Cpuz <I guess this is it> to determine what kind of sound card you have and go their website to find out if they have a sound mixer that will give you the control you want.
– Listeners suggestions were invited.
– Searching the web, Glenn found that Mozilla Labs has a plugin that mutes tabs. It will only work in Firefox and not effect other applications.

Jeff called about the problem Betsy was having. He said the last paragraph marker in a Word file collects a lot of junk. He suggested she delete the last paragraph.

That reminded Paul that the Word document often has an undo list attached to it. The recipient of the document might be able to click the 'undo' button repeatedly to see what the sender had originally typed.

There are 2 Facebook groups of local interest, mentioned in the 5-25-11 show:
SierraMakers
Zentech

Larry called. He has an iMac that's a few years old and its keyboard keeps going dead. He has to unplug & plug it back in.
– Do your updates. There was a recent one for the keyboard controller.
– Try a different keyboard. It doesn't have to be an Apple, as long as it's USB.
– Blow out the keyboard with compressed air.
– There may be a keyboard test program for the Mac.
– Unplug the mouse from the keyboard & see if the problem goes away.

Glenn said he had purchased, but not yet received, a late 2008 or 2009 20" iMac.

Paul is moving 49gig of photos and said just because you have wireless doesn't mean it's the best way to do it. Use a cable instead, and don't forget to turn the wireless off or the machine will get confused.

Marilyn called with a problem in Google Docs. She said presentation is blurry until the download is complete.
– She's using a dialup connection so the behavior is normal.
– Try using Google Gears. It helps to cache the data and minimize the amount of data transfer. You'll even be able to work offline with what data you have and then Gears will synchronize when you go back online.

Remember, there'll be another Zentech show next Wednesday 6-29-11

Last Updated: 5:55 PM 6-24-2011 

Please check back around the time of the broadcast (See Clock at left!!)

How to dreamup a PROPER password

How are these fast moving infections getting onto your PC with Scareware Antivirus?

SoundCloud. Share and SEE sounds

100+ year od Lightbulb!!

Everyone is Going Cloud as Discreet Data & Apps VAnish

Fancy selling your digital images on a Stock Agency? See HERE for Free Software to manage this complex process

Inexpensive Refurbished Intel MACs , around $450.00 Thanks Bruce!

LINKEDIN.COM , first of the trilogy with Facebook, Twitter for SMM, now has a free iPhone App…

Use Google Public Domain Name Service alternative, and Why.

http://sierracommons.org/

Sync Google Calendar with Outlook

Additional notes

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart
They're tagged with #Zentech

Editor comments are delimited by < >

Today's show had a guest for the entire hour: Liam Ellerby

Paul mentioned DTMF, which is a method of generating the tones used by telephones when dialing a number. It stands for Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling.

Paul introduced Liam and implied his an association with Make Magazine. The magazine & the related Maker Fair (mentioned last week) are devoted to various do-it-yourself arts & crafts projects.

Liam talked about the recent Maker Fair and said that its producers are also involved with one of his favorite blogs: boingboing.net. He said the fair attendance was about 45,000.

Paul, who attended the fair, said there were many projects made out of precision-cut plywood, made possible by "almost affordable" laser cutters.
Liam said laser cutters are about $2100 and 3-D printers <mentioned in the last show> are $500 & up.

Paul said the Maker Fair also had 'funny bikes' made from reused materials.
Glenn jumped in to say he saw a bike at the fair with 6 or 7 wheels, none of which were of the same diameter.
Paul said one plywood bike had eccentric hubs and simulated a galloping horse, due to its uneven motion.

A local group devoted to the maker ethic is sierramakers.
Liam said they're working on a wiki to provide additional info.
An organization loosely associated with Makers is Sierra Commons, a local business incubator. See the above link.

The 2nd meeting of Sierra Makers is tonight at Liam's house; 7pm at 16064 Fay Road in Grass Valley, CA.
They'll be working on a mission statement, among other things. You can call for more info at 530-210-6040. There will be future meeting, if you can't make this one.

Paul went on to say that there was a popular exhibit at the Maker Fair involving used clothing & sewing. He also said there seemed to be cross pollination between the Maker Fair & Burning Man.

From the link above, a clip was played about creating a proper password.
Paul said Sony had account information of a huge number of clients stolen recently and that the passwords were in plain text <not encrypted>. So, even well chosen passwords were easily revealed.

Paul said that at one time, he tried to take audio of KVMR shows, record for their archives, and feed it to Dragon Naturally Speaking — a speech to text converter. He found it didn't work well at all.
Glenn then asked if there were similar programs for translating foreign speech, like Chinese, to other languages. Paul thought Chinese might be even easier than English because it's a tonal language and the syllables may be more easily recognized.
<Dragon Naturally Speaking was discussed in a previous show>

Paul said computers can be pretty good at recognizing tonal variations and compared that to music recognition software like Shazam for the iPhone.

Paul mentioned Sound Cloud where people can upload sounds such as music, and which shows the waveform of the sound on your screen. See the above link. Paul compared that to the voiceprints the police use to match suspects (obtained during interviews) to recordings such as phone calls for ransom demands.
<Another reason, I never thought of till now, for never talking to the police>

Liam was reminded of a Ruben's Tube. It's a tube of a few feet long with holes drilled in it at intervals and a flammable gas burning at the holes. When a sound is propagated thru the tube, the height of the flames indicates the wave in the tube.

Along a similar theme, Paul spoke highly of a German program called Melodyne, which decomposes music into its elements for editing.
Paul said it might only be for the Mac. <but you can get it for the PC too. Trial version here>

Liam said musical instruments were popular projects at the Maker Fair and mentioned one where a man in a Faraday suit, to protect himself, controlled the lightning bolts of a Tesla coil which he controlled by playing a guitar.

As mentioned on the last show, pictures from the Maker Fair were posted on the sierramakers facebook page.

Glenn said he got an email directing people the makezine.com. The second item on the page is for Make Live Episode 10 covering 5 Maker spaces around the country.

Paul mentione a Maker venue in Oakland called The Crucible.

Rick called from Marysville. His service provider is AT&T and they recently changed the way he can enter the website address he wants to navigate to. He wants to return to the familiar configuration. <It sounded like he no longer has an address bar. He wasn't at his machine to follow the suggestions interactively.>
– Glenn explained how to set up a home page. Enter the desired site as the address, then go to menu and click edit -> preference or possibly tools -> options and select an option that says something like "use current page as the home page".
– Try using Internet Explorer instead of the AT&T browser.
– Use a different browser like Firefox — it's free.
– Use the down arrow next to the address bar to show you the recent sites you've visited. It's a simple way of returning to them.
– Paul said people often take a picture of their screen while it's showing a error and send the picture to the guys. <the "prt scr" key might be useful in this case>. You may also turn your web camera around and point it at the screen.

Paul talked of refurbished iMacs of 2006 & 2007 vintage from geeks.com for about $400. See the above link. Be sure they're Intel Macs not G5 or G4 models. These older models don't cope with the latest version the Flash animator.
Other places to find used computers: buy.com, amazon.com & overstock.com (overstock has low or no shipping charges).

Paul mentioned that you can only legitimately get Windows XP on used or refurbished machines like the Dell Optiplex. Glenn said he just got a HP machine with 2gig RAM & DVD burner for $180 at geeks.com.
The guys concur that used/refurbished is usually the best way to go: the failure rates are not disproportionally high.

Liam suggested the best way to find solutions for computer errors is thru Google. Quote verbatim the error code into the Google search bar to quickly find solutions.

The guys gave some tips for searching on Google:
– To take advantage of Google's search suggestions, type the more common search words first & least common last.
– Try to limit yourself to 4 or 5 search words, and try to make them unusual words.
– Use search filters like allinurl: inurl: & site: <E.g. if you know the word is in a URL type inurl:theword and you'll find the URLs containing theword.> If there's more than one word in the URL, use the allinurl: filter.
– If you're trying to find something at a particular site, use site: <as in site:thesite.com [followed by the words to search for]>. You'll often get better results this way than by going to the website and using their own search facilities.

Mark called to take issue with the guys suggesting Mozilla's Firefox browser, he seems to like Chrome.

He also asked the guys if they've heard of Google's personalized search results. Google builds a profile of you and gives search results based on what it thinks you're after. Paul said Google already knows something about you based on the IP address you're using — it knows, in general, what part of the country you're in. If you're worried about it just delete your cookies.

In regard to that, Paul again mentioned persistent cookies, which were discussed a couple of shows back.

Then Mark asked about search engines other than Google, to avoid the biased results.
– You can use an anonymizer.
– Liam said, as you're search needs get more refined, you may find you're using Google less and you may start using directories, which are compiled by humans. Liam seems to like the directory dmoz.org
– Use Google to find other search engines. In the search bar type in your search subject followed by the words search engine.

Remember, there's a 5th Wednesday this month so there'll be an extra Zentech show.

Last updated: 9:12 PM 6-8-2011 

TAlking today about FB Groups

 in FB, simply "search" for the word "Groups" and use the "GRoups.App" to see what Grops you are in & to create one and Test It Out.

See 2 new FB Groups:

SierraMakers and ZenTech

 Arduino– Inexpensive micro controller

Additional notes

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart
They're tagged with #Zentech

Editor comments are delimited by < >

Paul was in the studio & Glenn called in from Sacramento

Paul opened the show by noting that Chamba Lane, a KVMR broadcaster, had died. You can find out more on KVMR's front page or here.

About 30 years ago, Paul was into flying model airplanes. Initially they were of the powered variety but he then moved on to glider craft. He recently returned to that hobby and bought a model glider for about $120.
You can find similar products on Ebay

Pledge drive is still going on. To become a member visit the front page of KVMR.

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

A recent survey of internet users found the most used portal pages — pages where people go first. They are, in order, Google, Youtube closely followed by Facebook.

There is a small but growing section of Youtube devoted to 3-D video, the kind requiring the red/green glasses. You can make them from cellophane candy wrappers but you have to make sure to use the correct color for each eye. Paul said there are about 6000 stereo videos on Youtube now.
<I think he meant traditional red/blue anaglyphic glasses, But maybe they are using green now. I dunno>

Facebook searches are different from those of Google. They tend to be "peer reviewed" — they are based on what other people find useful and are facilitated by the formation of groups.

Anyone can form a Facebook group, usually addressing a special interest. There's a group for KVMR. It notifies its members of events regarding the station.
Paul said it's easy to create a group.
– To create a group you have to login to your account first.
– Search for the word groups.
– The first thing you'll find is the groups app (or application).
– Click the button called "Add Group".
– You have to add at least 1 person to make it a valid group.
– Pick a short but descriptive name for the group.
– You can then upload a profile picture. E.g. a group devoted to recycling might have a garbage can picture to identify itself.
– Then there's button to add members to the group. Be thoughtful in its use as not everyone is going to be interested in your project. It would be better to make a wall posting on your personal page to notify your "friends" of the group and inviting them to join.

Paul formed a group for Zentech. He said Facebook postings are more spontaneous than those on KVMR's Zentech site. See the above link.

The other group he mentioned is SierraMakers. Its links is also near the top of this page and it has information about the Maker Fair.

There's The Maker Magazine produced by Tim O'Reilly. It's like a hobby magazine and it was shortly followed by expositions where people share their projects in the venue of a fair: a maker fair. Paul posted some photos, which he took at the Maker Fair last weekend in San Mateo, on the SierraMakers group.

At this point Paul received Glenn's phone call and they talked a bit more about the Maker Fair, which Glenn also attended.

Going back to Facebook groups, Paul said the groups have chat & email functions. These features have been implemented recently.

Continuing with the Maker Fair, Paul mentioned the giant exhibit of Tesla coils and the resulting sparks that moved in time to music. Other exhibits were tiny as the one with the world's simplest electric motor consisting of a bent copper wire, battery, a disk washer and 2 magnets.

Then Glenn talked about an exhibit that taught people how to solder. With some help, he made a microprocessor-controlled flashing lapel pin.

A microprocessor often found at the Maker Fair is the Arduino. It's powered by a USB connection and can be programmed. With it you can build projects to turn lights on & off, open & close curtains and doors, etc. Paul said it costs $20 to $30.   There's a link to Arduino up above.  

Glenn then talked about the 3-D printers at the Maker Fair. There was one kit for just over $1000 that you can put together in about 12 hours. If you bought a unit they would take a 3-D picture of you so you can make a sculpture of yourself when you eventually get the printer.

Jeff called about the radio controlled planes Paul talked about earlier. He too used to fly them long ago and he wondered if the old radio frequencies still work, considering that the government has been reallocating the radio spectrum.
– Yes, they still work. The least expensive model planes use 27 megaHertz, which is in the CB band.
– More modern and expensive models use the 2.4 gigaHertz band. This band has greater range and is less prone to interference.

Paul added that current electric motor technology is much more efficient than it was in the past and is more suitable for electric-powered model aircraft. He also mentioned frankin-planes where people salvage motors & control equipment from model planes and attach them to scrap pieces of wood or polystyrene and fly those — flying garbage. He said there are some Youtube videos of such contraptions.

Paul has seen some viruses get thru Microsoft Security Essentials, talked about during the last show. <In those notes I included links to some articles about Security Essentials>
– Paul reiterated that he's not recommending any particular anti-virus software. None of the programs are 100% effective, as noted in the earlier show.
– Again Glenn warned about malicious links in email. Be sure of the source of the email and that the links in the mail are relevant to the context of the email and not just some random or unexpected link. Just because you have anti-virus software doesn't mean you can click on links irresponsibly.
– You may get warnings saying, for instance, that you need to update Flash. If you do, close it and go to PluginCheck <Also mentioned in the previous show> to find out if you really need to update.
– Though in the past, the Mac has been relatively safe from malware, in the last 10 days there has been some malware showing up. Since the Mac won't install anything without your permission, you have to be careful not to be falsely convinced to grant that permission.
– Beware of social engineering where, for instance, you get an fake email from your bank saying your security has been breached & you must send them your username & password. Don't do it, call your bank instead.
– A survey found Mac users are more prone to trust phishing links.
An article on recent malware attack:
5 ways to stay safe from fake anti-virus malware attack on Macintosh

Daniel called. He got a new computer with Office 2010 but has trouble opening an Excel spreadsheet — it opens up blank.
– Get the latest Microsoft updates for Windows; look for "windows update" or "microsoft update". Win7 keeps changing where it is: try the Start menu or control panel or Internet Explorer -> tools. Keep requesting updates till there aren't anymore.
– If that doesn't solve the problem, call Microsoft for help.
– In Paul's opinion Office 2003 may be a better option; you can use it on a newer machine.
– Glenn recommended saving spreadsheets (and other documents) in 2003 format so others, who don't have the latest version of Office, will have an easier time opening them.
– Those who don't have any version of Office or a version that can't open the newer document formats, you can use Google Docs. Upload the document to Google Docs & view or edit it there.
– Paul doesn't recommend getting a compatibility pack that allows users of older versions of Office to load/edit the newer document formats. He said he's seen it crash Office.

Theresa called. When using the Firefox browser to view Google, the print is too large.
– Hold the Control key & tap the – (minus) key to make it smaller.
She tried it but it didn't work
– Use the View menu at the top then -> Zoom -> reset
She said that worked.

Last Updated 4:28 PM 5/27/2011