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

Editor comments are delimited by < >

NOTE:
There will be a membership drive in 2 weeks and the show will not be broadcast.

Glenn said it looks like Apple will be releasing a version of the iPhone that will work with Verizon. He said that he's heard from people in the Bay Area, who use the iPhone with AT&T, who keep getting poor reception & dropped calls and would like to use their iPhone with Verizon.

Paul talked about the data rates one can expect with 3G & 4G networks.
– 3G can go up to about 1.5 megabits per second.
– 4G, when the cell towers are compliant, can go up to 5 megabits per second, or even higher.
– 4G is a new standard and "nothing you've got now is compatible with it".

Paul explained that there are 2 basic types of cell networks.
1) GSM is used by the majority of carriers including AT&T. It uses a SIM card in the device (e.g. cell phone).
2) CDMA is used by Verizon. It doesn't use a SIM card. To activate it you have to go to a retailer who then puts the serial number into their equipment.
Paul then wondered of Verizon will provide a GSM service for the expected iPhone customers.

Glenn thanked Paul for hosting the Flea Market while he was away.

Glenn also said there will be a membership drive in 2 weeks and the Zentech show will not be broadcast.

Ken called with a question about iPods. He wanted to know how to transfer the music from his son's iPod to his own computer.
– Bottom line, you can't do it using iTunes. They don't want you to do that for copyright & other reasons.
– Do a Google search for "ipod ripper". Paul said he's heard that software, for about $25, made by xilisoft.com can do the job. When you use this program, iTunes may start running when you plug in the iPod. In that case, just close iTunes.
– If you use iTunes with an iPod it's never seen before, it will try to wipe out all of the music. Make sure you get the music saved before doing that.
– The software by xilisoft is called iPod Rip and there's a free trial.
<There as another iPod ripper mentioned on the 27jul09 show>

Bill called. He has a Dell desktop PC with a USB optical mouse and the mouse freezes sometimes. He can get it going again by unplugging the mouse & plugging it back in.
– You can just assume the mouse is defective and buy another for about $10.

Bill said he's tried a different mouse and a different USB port. He also said that the mouse light goes out sometimes.
– Paul said that if this machine is using the XP operating system, the mouse driver is not required. Uninstall any mouse software. When you then plug the mouse back in, you'll have only the basic mouse functions, but you'll be sure it's not the drivers that are causing the problem.
– Try unplugging other devices using the USB ports. That's just in case they are drawing too much current.
– Paul said there is only one chip that drives the USB ports. For about $10 you can get a 4-port PCI USB port. That will bypass the current chip, in case there's something wrong with it.

James called. Not having heard an earlier part of the show, he mentioned that the iPhone is coming to Verizon customers.

Glenn said if you have an iPhone that's not on contract and is unlocked, you can a SIM card for a T-mobile or a pay-as-you-go AT&T Go Phone account.

Talk turned to Mac vs. PC. Paul talked about the total cost of ownership, which extends over the entire life of the product. The cost also includes your time in dealing with problems. Paul said dealing with viruses is particularly time consuming. Though Macs may cost 2 to 3 times the PC for similar horsepower, it has far fewer viruses to deal with. Therefore, Paul subjectively estimated, that the Mac can recoup the price difference in as little as 6 months to a year.

The other big plus of the Mac, Paul said, is that it's the only operating system that can do genuine incremental backups using TimeMachine.

The mother of one of Glenn's friends recently started using a Mac and they initially had trouble turning off the feature that reads aloud what's on the screen.

Paul said the Mac has the ability, with a small adaptor, to add a second screen to extend the desktop real estate. Before each show, Paul usually puts up an announcement on his Facebook page.

Glenn announced that Microsoft has come out with smartphones and an operating system for them. He thinks Dell, LG and Samsung are the three major producers of the phones.
Paul said this is their 3rd generation attempt to get into the PDA and smartphone market. Their 1st operating system was Windows CE, then came Windows Mobile; both were not very successful. The exception is that Windows CE version 5 and Windows Mobile are used in many GPS units.

Marilyn called to ask for suggestion for an external hard drive.
– There's no compelling reason to get a full-sized hard drive. At about the size of a pack of cigarettes, a compact hard drive will do. Look for one with a recessed socket so there's less tendency for the cable to break off.
– All major brands (Western Digital, Maxtor and Iomega) come with backup software.
– The important thing is to be able to restore your data. You may want to get 2 smaller drives and alternate between them. You can then store the drives in separate locations for an extra margin of safety.
– You can also store your data online using a site like Carbonite, mentioned in a previous show. In this case you'll need a broadband connection but it may work poorly with a satellite connection.

George called to say his Mac is also reading text aloud and he'd like to turn it off.
– It's an accessibility setting, possibly in the application and utilities folder.
– The location for this option may change with the OS versions. For 10.5 and 10.6 go to the System preference panel and select text-to-speech and uncheck the option that says speak selected text.

Ben called to suggest using a networked drive, in addition to an external USB drive, to do backups. That way the data is available to all computers on the network. And it's another way to keep your data in different locations.

Both Glenn and Paul use a free synchronizing program called Synchback by 2brightsparks.com.
– They use it at the station in conjunction with the station's RAID drive.
– What really needs to be synchronized is the folder called Documents and Settings, except for 6 files in that folder — one of which is ntuser.dat

Nina called to say that on her version 10.3,9 Mac, the setting to turn off the text to speech is under system preferences -> universal access.
Paul noted that Mac OS version 10.5 has the option to define a keystroke to turn that feature on and off from the keyboard.

On the PC there's a program called Jaws can read text aloud.
<In XP you can turn on text to speech by going to the control panel -> "sounds, speech, and audio devices" -> speech. I don't know how good it is but it's worth a try>

The disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed are those of the hosts and not necessarily those of anyone else.

Gary called to say he gets a 'flag' on his screen occasionally that says "log me in version update" and that it's ready to install. He wants to know if this is malware.
– Paul said it might actually be legit. Log Me In is a remote control program installed by the maker of the PC to help with tech support. It allows the maker to take control of your PC remotely.
– If you think you don't need this feature, you can uninstall it thru Add and Remove Programs in the Control Panel. It should be easy to reinstall if you ever need this form of tech support.

Ross called to mention scroogle.org. It lets you search thru Google but it has its own URL and doesn't use cookies. He said it was created by people who used to work for Google. He also gave the following link scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.
Paul said this is a scrapper that cherry-picks bits of another site and sends them back while accepting the cookies itself so you don't get the cookies, thus providing a bit of anonymity.

Ross said they claim your search attempt is recorded for only 48 hours and then deleted and he wanted to know if he could trust them.
Paul said, if there is no technical limitation, there's no ethical limitation.
Paul added "if they can do it, they will. And you should trust your government".

The cheapest Mac is $699. It's the Mac Mini. It's better than previous versions in that it has a discreet video chip and a 2 core Intel CPU. You still need to get a keyboard, monitor & mouse.

Last updated: 9:16 PM 10/13/2010

TODAY and more..

Live Theatre Relay from London via Sierra Cinemas / Theatres

Can you re sell USed Software? It Just Changed.

For once we will talk about CARS and a useful website to manage yours: that of AutoZone

QuiBids Fakery or Not… watch out.. More Info

Online Investing, Etc:
"Never Gamble what you are not willing to lose unless you are an addict"
"If your Broker is so great, how come she still needs to work?"
""your return reflects the value of the risk you took"

Shopping Around on the Internet?
Once you have physically researched or seen what you want, I would try these Sites:

http://www.shopper.com (CNET), http://www.tigerdirect.com and http://www.geeks.com and http://www.buy.com and of course the venerable http://www.ebay.com

 Tiem Machine (MAC) Issues . Thanks, Mikail!

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 while on the road between Vegas & LA.

Azriel from Sierra Cinemas talked about digital projectors.
– Regular movies are delivered on a hard drive with a key code to unlock the content.
– Broadcast of live theatrical productions thru their digital projectors involves getting the content by a satellite feed. The least amount of compression is used to maintain quality.
– Their first such presentation is tomorrow at 7:15pm. Another one in October. Hamlet is coming in December. There will be 7 presentation continuing until next July.
– She said there have been other types of performances, like a Metallica concert, that have used this type of distribution.
– National Theater Live is the source of tomorrow's presentation. More info at ntlive.com
– At the Sierra Cinemas site you can sign up for email notifications. The link is up above.

Talk turned to the TimeMachine backup software on the Mac.
You can use it 3 ways:
1) With a Firewire drive.
2) With a USB drive.
3) With a TimeCapsule — a network connected drive. But you can't use another type of network drive along with TimeCapsule.

There are 2 conditions under which TimeMachine will run into trouble:
1) If you receive lots of mail with hundreds of separate files, TimeMachine will slow down because it's required to copy each of those incrementally different files at every scheduled backup.
2) If you have large graphic or video files.

But there is a tweak available which postpones the backups. See the above link.

Some TimeCapsules made in 2008 fail due to overheating.

People have asked Paul how he keeps up with all the products & services.
There are mailing lists and the website theregister.com

Apple stores around the country have the full range of products made by Apple, and recently they have started to get the i7 processor made by Intel which Paul thinks has 4 cores. He said it's rare that all of its horsepower is used.
He said there's now a choice of an anti-glare finish as well as anti-scratch finish, but you'll pay extra;

Mikail called to tell a story about ATM problems he had while on the Greek Isle of Crete.

Paul talked about quibids.com that looks a bit like Ebay. You can get cheap things BUT you have to buy bidding tokens. In effect, bidding is not free and you can end up spending more than you expect. On Ebay, on the other hand, bidding is free and the seller pays a fee to Ebay when the item is sold.
Paul said it's not an entire scam but a partial scam and thought the authorities may crack down on them. The above link explains it better.
Paul went on to admonish — like investing or gambling, never put in what you're not willing to lose.

Paul gave a couple of other witticisms:
If your broker is so great, how come she still needs to work?
Your return reflects value of the risk you took.

The above links point to sites Paul finds useful when shopping for a product.
– Shopper.com (owned by Cnet ) is a link referral site. If you search for a product there, you get links to retailers selling that product.
– Tiger Direct sells end of line goods — models that have been discontinued. Geeks.com is similar.
– Glenn, as well, likes buy.com because of what they advertise in their emails includes free shipping.

Google ads, called Adsense, can be found in the right panel of the Zentech page. KVMR gets pennies when someone clicks on them.

KVMR's programming for the rest of the day was mentioned.

Paul found Autozone's site useful. See the above link.
– You can sign up at Autozone, put in what kind of car you have and you'll receive reminders when oil needs to be changed, plugs replaced, etc.
– Glenn said Kragen & Napa do something similar.

Carol called. She has an iMac computer and wondered if it's worth repairing. <I think that's what she was getting at. Her phone connection was bad>
Paul said Apples more than 5 to 7 years old are not usable on the internet, especially if they don't have OS 10.

Nick walked into the studio to ask if there are any commercial backup programs for photos.
– Mac computers with version 10.5 or higher come with TimeMachine.
– You can execute iPhoto within TimeMachine. iPhoto should be a recent version like 8 or 9. iPhoto is photo organizing (not editing) software,
– There's also online backup service called Carbonite, but Paul's not sure it's available for the Mac. It also requires an always-on broadband connection.
– For the PC, Glenn recommended Google Docs for documents & Picasa online for photos.
– Paul suggested Western Digital hard drives that come with backup software. These don't archive your data but merely mirror what happens on your main hard drive — you can't retrieve something you've deleted on the main drive.
– Remember, being able to restore from the backup is just as important. Periodically check to be sure that you can restore what has been backed up.

Last updated 11:39 PM 9/29/2010 

SHOW MOVES TO ALTERNATE WEDNESDAYS FOR NOW! after 10 years of Mondays!

Free SPECLAB PC based comprehensive SPectrum Analyser for Audio Signals

PAC MAN on a Voting machine! (Thanks JB!)

Controlling a helicopter with an iPhone!

Misleading senses of SECURITY with Passwords, and more.

Opensource Cell Telephone System: As USed at Burning man

 Flash Cookies! Not your Mother's Cookies. They come back like zombies.

FileHippo: useful repository

ITUNES now at Version 10 no problem,, But the IOS 4.1 released today should be avoided!

GOGOLE Unveils Instant Search

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 and Glenn called in while on the road headed to Yellowstone Park.

Max called to ask for a recommendation for OCR software.
– Paul's first choice is software by Nuance. He said there are various ways of getting it free. It can read PDF files.
Max said he was looking at Abby Reader, which starts at $49. Paul said that was his second recommendation, as he's used it and didn't have much trouble with it.
Paul added that Nuance, known for its speech recognition software, <mentioned on the 8-9-10 show> recently bought Omnipage, an OCR software maker, and its software starts at $149. There may be a demo version that does one page at a time.

Some inexpensive scanners, like Canon or Brother, come with OCR software.
Higher-end OCR software has more features but it's not necessarily better at the recognition process. Some will scan pages with rows of numbers and output to a spreadsheet and some can generate forms, that can be filled in, in a PDF format.
Paul said he's seen recognition accuracy of about 98 or 99 percent.

A caller said he gets the message "fatal error was detected the application must be terminated" on his XP computer. He said this happens when he turns it on.
– Boot in safe mode. Hold down the F8 key when you turn it on. Use the arrow keys to go down to where it says safe mode and hit return.
– If you have access to another machine, look up safe mode on the internet.
– When safe mode is running, go to the start menu -> run and type in msconfig. You'll then see an option called diagnostic startup and use that. The goal is to prevent Windows from starting the application that's causing the crash. When you find what it is, you can uninstall it.
– Paul asked if there was more to the error message and the caller said it additionally said — assert: hUiresource ! NULL. Paul tried googling that but didn't come up with anything useful.

The caller also asked if playing internet Backgammon is a security risk.
– There's nothing special to playing Backgammon but, no matter what you're doing, you can be coerced into clicking a malicious link.

Someone, Glenn thought it was Marilyn, called to ask if Zentech is permanently scheduled for this new time.
– Paul wasn't sure but there will be a notice on the web site when more is known.

The caller went on to ask about a problem she has when she has several Word documents minimized. When she clicks on one, they all maximize.
– Instead of running Word multiple times, try opening multiple documents within just one instance of Word. Run Word once, then under file, use the open command multiple times, as needed, to open other documents.
– Glenn thought she may have "group similar items" turned on (in the taskbar). Right-click Start -> properties -> taskbar tab then uncheck "group similar taskbar buttons". This should apply to other programs, not just Word.
– Glenn also suggested right-clicking on 'open', while in Word, and choose open in a new page or window.

Paul asked Glenn about his GPS. When he bought it, it came with a service that provides traffic info, and Paul wanted to know how well that works. Glenn gave it a thumbs up.
– Paul said he believes the traffic data comes from terrestrial AM & FM stations and warns the user about traffic congestion, etc. Normally this is a charged service, but Glenn is using a version that's supported by advertisement.

Paul mentioned Speclab for audio enthusiasts. It's a spectrum analyzer for audio signals that come in over your PC. It monitors the signal quality and is free to use. Paul is impressed with it. See the above link.

He also said a voting machine has been hacked to install the Pacman game. Again, the link is above.

Sam called. He's using XP Pro 64 and his HP all-in-one printer won't run on the 64bit machine. He called tech support said they said they don't have 64bit drivers.
– You can use just the printer without the additional functions.
– They do have drivers for 64bit Win7 so switch to Win7 if you insist on using a 64bit machine.

Sam was also thinking of using an external hard drive with 32bit version of XP and "running his printer thru that".
– Paul tried to dissuade him. It's very difficult to do that from an external drive. You'll have to run a driver from an operating system that's not already running, in order to access the hard drive.

Paul mentioned running a radio-controlled helicopter using an iPhone. Link is above.

From the above link, you can learn that Mac users can be lured into a false sense of security. You can become a victim of social engineering.

Thor called to say the Zentech web site looks good. It's an older version of Joomla and Paul would like to upgrade to version 1.5 but didn't want to lose the accumulated content.

Glenn said this week's Fleamarket will not be transcribed but the audio should become available.

KVMR is community supported volunteer radio, so support it.

Joe called. He's redesigning a web page and would like to use Flash but the Apple mobile devices don't support it. He wants to know if there's another way to do something like a slideshow.
– Use Javascript or HTML5. Google "javascirpt photo album" or "html5 photo album" to find some free code to do the job.
– Apple computers can use flash but not their mobile devices, which have touch interface.

Bonnie called to say she has Sony Vio laptop. <the audio became very bad and I missed some of what she said. It sounded like her keyboard went bad>. She asked if it's cheaper to replace the keyboard, hard drive and motherboard, as a worst case, than buying an new laptop.
– Glenn said replacing all 3 would not be cheaper.
– If it's just a keyboard problem, you can try an external USB keyboard.
– Getting parts for highly proprietary laptops is usually very expensive.
– You can try to find a used or junker machine from which you can scavenge parts. Search on eBay for Sony Vio keyboard and you may find someone parting out their machine.
– Since it's only 2 years old, your credit card may have extended the warranty. Also, see if there is a recall on this model.

Last updated: 6:46 PM 9/8/2010 

Downgrade your System!

HOusehold Chemicls DAtabase from NIH

 Search Plugin for FireFox!

 What is Lorem Ipsum??!

Thanks Mikail for the following links about booting a Mac from a flash drive…

Install & Boot OS X Leopard from a USB Flash Drive:
http://www.maciverse.com/install-boot-os-x-leopard-from-a-usb-flash-drive.html
or
http://macs.about.com/od/diyguidesprojects/ss/usbflash.htm

A discussion thread from users…
http://hintsforums.macworld.com/archive/index.php/t-77649.html

It can be done even on a PowerPC but there are issues:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20061017084322177

USB 3.0 vs FireWire 3200:
http://www.pcfastlane.com/usb-30-vs-firewire-3200/

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 < >

The disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed are those of the hosts and not necessarily those of anyone else.

Glenn asked previous callers, to whom solutions were suggested, to call back and share their results.

To find out why less is more, see the above link. You may not need the best computer to suit your needs.

You can get a netbook computer with an Atom CPU that's about as powerful as a CPU in a desktop machine of 5 to 8 years ago.
– Such CPUs consume much less energy and often don't require a cooling fan: one less thing to fail.
– There is less heat stress (thermal cycling) where solder joints and contacts can fail.
– Netbooks don't have CD drives: eliminating yet another thing that can go wrong. You can watch a movie on some netbooks if you copy it to a thumb drive, which can be had for about $12 for 8gig or $20 for 16gig (enough memory for 3 or 4 movies), at a place like Buy.com.
– If you need a USB floppy drive, they can be had from eBay for about $25.
– You can get an external USB CD drive for around $30, if you feel you really need one.
– You can get more storage space by storing your data online at Google Docs or Drop.io <and many other places>
– Keep in mind that floppy disks have a limited lifespan. Don't expect your data to be there after about 3 years. So, before buying a floppy drive, check that your disks are still good.
– A big thing that goes wrong with a machine with CD or floppy drives is that cooling fans draw in dust. And without a fan that's one less mechanical problem. External USB floppy drives don't have either problem.

Glenn said he finds flash drives are handy for utility programs when he services other people's computers and for carrying data.
Paul asked if he has tried booting from a flash drive. Glenn said he's tried it but wasn't successful.
  Paul said modern computers are supposed to be able to do the boot but the flash drive first has to be specially formatted. There is also a utility that can copy application software from a DVD (or CD) to a 4gig flash drive so it can be run from there.
Paul went on to say that flash drives can die suddenly; static electricity is usually the problem, especially during dry weather. He suggested discharging yourself by touching a non-metal object in the room before picking up a flash drive. <By my thinking, you SHOULD touch a metallic ground to properly discharge.>

Chris called about booting a Mac from an external drive. She said that can be done only with a Firewire connection.
Paul said Macs can be made to boot from a USB drive, but it's not straightforward.
Paul said inexpensive miniature Firewire drives can be partitioned with a special boot partition that will allow you to boot from that drive. If you also want to use the drive for backing up your data using Mac's TimeMachine, you'll need to create a separate partition.
Chris said she likes Carbon Copy Cloner better than TimeMachine for backups.
Chris also said, make sure the Firewire hard drive you buy is compatible with TimeMachine, if that's what you want to use it for. Paul said you can buy drives already formatted from LaCie or Rockstar and, if you're going to format a drive, format it as GUID.
Paul said Firewire (for PC or Mac) has the advantage over USB in that it can be cascaded or daiy chained with devices.

Mikail called to correct what Chris just said.
– You can boot from USB drive on any Intel Mac using the built-in disk utilities.
– He has poor opinion about LaCie drives because he's had many of them fail.
– He's never had problems using TimeMachine with non-Firewire drives. He likes to format the drives himself no matter whom he buys the drives from.
– He does agree that Carbon Copy Cloner is a great program. He also suggested SuperDuper.
– Paul added that the problem he's had with booting from a USB drive was on a non-Intel Mac.
– Mikail said the article about downgrading <less is more, above> applies mainly for PCs, not the older non-Intel Macs. Power PC Macs just don't handle many of today's applications.|
– Firewire is getting left behind because Apple charges manufacturers a royalty for using it, making it more expensive. Sony Betamax VCR had a similar issue with licensing.

Cleo called and said she has a 2.5-year-old HP computer with Vista and when she tries to run Word (and some other programs), she gets the message "word is not responding".
Paul asked her to find the exact version of Vista she's using: click Start, right-click Computer, left-click on properties.
Doing that, she said she has Service Pack 2 so the next thing is to update her version of Office. To do that, go to officeupdate.microsoft.com, The Office update should take care the problem.

Scott called. He has an Intel Mac Book and he confirmed that there is no problem booting from USB hard drive or using TimeMachine. Also, he hasn't had any problems with his LaSee drive.
Paul said statistical rather than anecdotal evidence of reliability is more important and that for $1 you can get test results regarding hard drives from Consumer Reports.

Gary called asking for an opinion about Microsoft Essentials, an anti-virus program.
Paul said Microsoft initially tried to sell it and then decided to give it away.
Glenn noted that Microsoft made the operating system and then tried to sell a program to protect it. He said, he and Paul just use the free version of AVG.That's just the anti-virus program and not the entire suite of utilities from AVG. They both agreed that the full suite of any similar product is not worth the bother because, for one reason, it would use up a lot of processor time while constantly running.
Paul again brought up smitfraud <mentioned in last weeks show> saying he's never seen any security software that can defeat it.

Gary went on to say his wife's machine has Avg Free and now has a lot of "crap" from Yahoo. He'd like to get rid of it.
– When installing AVG Free it's important to do it in the manual mode and uncheck the option for the Yahoo toolbar (Paul later called it AVG toolbar <maybe there's 2 of 'em>). There's another checkbox for Internet Explorer: uncheck that too.
– You can manually delete 2 folders to solve the problem. On the C: drive go to Program Files -> AVG -> AVG9 and delete the folders called Toolbars & Firefox. Make sure no web browsers are running.

Gary then ask what the guys knew about the Yippy Cloud search engine. But they haven't heard of it before.

Ben called and asked the guys if they knew anything about Kaspersky Labs, a security product. He's been using it, it runs quietly in the background, and he asked for comments.
Paul said he's seen it running but hasn't dealt with it.
Ben said he first encountered Kaspersky at Sun Micro Systems where he worked. He found out Sun and other companies were using it on their corporate networks. He bought it for $60 and is now using it at home.
Kaspersky has a trial version.

Nicole called. She bought a Thinkpad about 1yr ago but it overheated and now has blank blue screen.
– It's likely a dead computer take in for repair.
– Restart the computer with the original CD in the drive and pick the option to recover the operating system.

She also asked if it's ok to reuse passwords.
– Not a good idea. At least use different versions of a password, e.g. if one password is bottle, your Gmail password might be bottleGmail and for your bank it might be bottleChase.

Listeners were nvited to add KVMR as a friend on Facebook to get notifications of things happening at the station.

Paul said he found a website providing information about household chemicals. See the above link.

Last updated: 10:07 PM 8/23/2010 

Use almost any webcam with a MAC for Skype etc.

Dropped your Electronic into Water? Some Fixes

Cheap Cheap Preventative Maintainance: Can of Air, Surge Protector, etc. & Basic Free Software .

More on 3G Routers: DEAL  (May Be Sold Out) and pay as you go..

 Speech Recognition Dragon 10.1

64-Bit OS talk…

 SpeakEasy & Blind GreenLand Pigs as Euphemisms

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 < >

An example of iTunes 9.1 audio was played to show a problem with that version. It would skip, especially on long quiet sections.
– Get version 9.2

Glenn mentioned that there was a problem with the iPhone update 3.1.3 (as he recalled the number). He recommended you get the next version (4.0 as he recalls).
Generally, he suggests keeping up with all your updates.
Paul chimed in — "if it ain't broke don't fix it" is overruled by the fact that if you don't know it's broken it's appropriate to fix it for the sake of security.

Glenn brought up the fact that XP with Service Pack 2 is no longer supported <plenty of links in a previous show's notes regarding this>
– Upgrade to Service Pack 3 which will be supported until some time in 2014.

The disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed are those of the hosts and not necessarily those of anyone else

The Mac, being somewhat of a closed system, hardware <and drivers> is constrained, by design, to run on it. But there is a piece of free software on Source Forge that lets Mac users use most type of web cameras on their machines. See the above link.

Don't wait for something to go wrong with your computer. See the Cheap Cheap Preventative Maintainance link above.

Paul said he had problems with Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software because his computer fan was so loud it interfered with the sound of his voice. He found that the fins <heat sink> were clogged up with dust thus preventing the cooling effect of airflow. Recommended:
– First turn off; unplug machine
– Use a can of compressed air. Keep the can upright so you don't blow refrigerant on components, which can case problems. Do it outside.
– Brush to loosen the dust and use a vacuum cleaner.
– Laptops are especially vulnerable because of their compact design, and especially Mac laptops older than a few years. You may not need to open a laptop, just direct the compressed air into the inlet or outlet (try both). In this case it may help to have the machine on, as the fan will help force the dust out.
– Some CPUs will throttle down their speed when they get too hot.

Paul mentioned the utility called Speedfan that tells you the speed of fan. <It's mentioned in the utilities list>

Another preventive measure is to use a surge protector. They generally include phone line protection for your modem and fax machine.
Make sure you're getting surge protector (often stated on the package) and not a plain outlet strip.
It's recommended that you unplug your equipment (not just computers) during a lightening storm.

AVG is offering a 30 day free trial of their for-pay software. It is not the same as the free version. After 30 days, should you decide to go back to the free version, you'll have to go to the trouble of uninstalling the paid version.
The free version of AVG is recommended. Many security software companies also offer internet security packages that include things like firewalls. This additional protection can make your computer work extra hard and slow down. The guys said they don't find this extra security is necessary. <XP since Service Pack 2 has had a built in firewall. Be sure to turn it on>

Paul said get a good email service to avoid spam. He recommended Gmail.

Paul talked about the origin of the word "speakeasy". See the above link.

Jim called to question the previous comment about blowing compressed air into a computer, instead of out.
– As much as possible blow out, that's why the vacuum cleaner is good alternative. It's not recommended you open a laptop, so blow whatever way you can to dislodge the dust.
– Jim recommended turning the nozzle tube extension 90 degrees in order to keep the can upright especially while blowing out the keyboard.
– Paul recommended using Windex or similar cleaners on keyboards. First spray a cloth with it and wipe. Don't spray directly onto the keyboard.
– Jim recommended using an anti-static dryer sheet to clean display screens. But he said use a USED one. He also said he's heard that a new dryer sheet repels mosquitoes.

Jim went on to talk about phone lines to a residence. He said about 95% of service wires (drops) have a new "net interface unit" using a chip to protect against lightning strikes. The old style had carbon that went to ground during a strike. The new type also allows the phone company to determine if the problem you're having is the inside wire or outside wire.
Paul said something about dialing 611 to run a diagnostic on the phone line.
Glenn mentioned that there's an option available to cover inside wiring repairs. He said it costs $1 per month. This may be good to know if you use a DSL service.
Jim said that those who have the new type of interface unit can go to the service box and disconnect the inside wire from the out side. Then one can plug in a hard-wired telephone to the outside wire to see if it works. If it does work, the trouble is likely with the inside wire.
Paul said that a corded phone that doesn't require a battery is worth having for such trouble-shooting purposes.

Paul said Congress passed a law saying it's not illegal to unlock your iPhone. He also said the phone company knows when you've unlock the phone.
Jim said AT&T is upgrading all of their cell sites to fiber.

Paul said there is a jailbreak of iPhone 4.01 and it's done with a web break. That means you can install 4.01 naturally whether or not your're a legitimate user of the AT&T service. It's done by exploiting a defect in the processing of PDF files.
Paul said he'll put a link up that covers the reasons for jailbreaking the iPhone.
Glenn said, in the future, iPhones will be able to take advantage of worldwide SIM card use.

Paul has been using the latest version (10.1) of Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software, which runs in 64bits machines.
– He said he's impressed with it.
– It requires 1gig of memory and a 1 giga Hertz CPU.
  – It requires a good quality headset and a quiet background.
– It strings together an entire sentence at a time. It does semantic processing.
– There are dictionaries for special fields like lawyers.
– It learns by reading from your documents folder and in various file formats (pdf, excel, etc) how you tend to use the language. That helps it understand your spoken words.
– It also remembers corrections you make to its mistakes in understanding the pronunciation of words.
– You can find it at nuance.com

Lisa called. She's using Firefox and it says proxy server refusing connection.
– In Firefox go to tools -> options -> advanced -> network -> settings and it should say "no proxy".
– Do the same with Internet Explorer: go to tools -> internet options -> connections -> LAN settings and turn off all those options. **BUT** if you're using a satellite service you should turn on the proxy service setting.

Glenn said the Flea Market won't be on this Thursday — KVMR will broadcast from the county fair.

Dawn called and said she got virus on her computer.
– Use "combofix" from Bleeping Computer.
– Do backup your data first.
– This virus gets on your machine by showing a Flash animation as if your anti-virus has found a problem and then says your subscription has run out and to "click here". When you click, the real virus loads into your computer. It's a class of virus called smitfraud. <smitfraud and other virus issues were discussed on a previous show.>

Jamie called to say he has same virus as Dawn and wanted to know if Norton Anti-virus or AVG can catch it?
– No, it moves so fast that the anti-virus programs can't stay updated in order to detect it.

Gary called wanting to know the name of the voice recognition mentioned before.
– Dragon Naturally Speaking
– Voice recognition has improved over the years do in large part to modern computers being so much faster.
– It's available for the iPhone. Go to the app store and search for Dragon Dictate. It's free.

Last Updated 8:06 PM 8/14/2010