Play the Atari "Battle Zone" arcade tank game from 1980 Here!!

More Info HERE

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Ed Rotberg was the guest today. He was the programmer & designer of the Atari game called Battle Zone, a vector graphics, tank commander, shoot-em-up style game from about 30 year ago.
Paul asked how much memory & speed were required for the game at that time.

Ed said those early video games didn't have hard drives but used ROM to store the program. RAM was 256 to 512 bytes and about 4K of ROM.

Battle Zone was programmed in assembly language. At that time, each computer instruction was 1 byte long <8 bits> so there was a max of 256 instructions available.
– It took about 9 or 10 months to finish programming the game but it involved long hours.
– The CRT was special. It didn't do raster scan but vector graphics instead.
– The circuitry & peripheral capabilities around the microprocessor were uniquely designed for each new game that came out.
– Battle Zone was not the first vector graphics game by Atari, but it was the first fully 3D arcade game.
– There was no hidden line removal so the tanks, and such, were transparent.
– Collision detection required a lot of computing power, so only one projectile at a time was allowed to be fired.
– The positions of the tanks were actually done in 2D. The missiles and exploding debris were the only things that could change vertical positions.
– The microprocessor used was the 6502 by Mostek. That was the same chip used in the Commodore 64 & the Apple 2 computers.

There is a Java-based emulator of Battle Zone, See the above link. Ed said the emulation is very accurate.
– The emulator uses the actual ROM image from the game.
– All of the hardware is emulated.

Paul mentioned that the movie Tron Legacy has just come out. The original Tron movie was by Disney and came out in 1982 or 1983.

Atari would not let the programmers put their names in the credits for fear that some other company would try to hire them. Eventually they were allowed to use their initials in the default values of the highest score table.

After Battle Zone, Ed co-programmed for one project and directed another project, neither of which were finished before he left Atari to form his own company.
– The first project was the original Star Wars game.
– The other was Dragon Riders of <something I couldn't make out>. It never made it to production.
– Star Wars was a vector graphic game.
– Dragon Riders, eventually called Fire Beast, was a raster graphics game.
– Raster games, at the time required too much horsepower to run in 3D.
– The 6502 chip ran at 1 megahertz, 1,000 times slower than a 1 gigahertz processor.
– The chipmaker AMD isn't making even 32bit processors anymore, only 64bit. And most distributions of modern operating systems are 64bit.

Ed said that few students of programming actually learn assembly programming these days. They are not likely to use assembly, though it does provide insight into how things work in the computer. He said it has helped in writing more efficient code. It has also helped to take advantage of the limited hardware they had back then. Now days, game designers don't need to know the technical aspects of their creations because the tools (programs) they use are so sophisticated. The designers can then concentrate on the creative aspects. But, eventually, a programmer has to incorporate all the design elements into the completed game.

The 6502 had 4K transistors, compared to the current processors that have hundreds of thousands. The chip was priced well below its competitors like the Intel 8080 & the Z80. Ed said the 6502 was more efficient than the others even though it too had a 8bit buss and a 16bit address space.

At the time Ed was writing Battle Zone, the US military approached Atari to write a training program. They wanted a simulator for the Bradley fighting vehicle. Ed, being a pacifist, was not thrilled and Atari was not amenable to the extra documentation that the military required. But he did work on the project and had to put in long hours to meet the deadline.

Paul asked Ed what he thought about current games being so realistic. Ed said he's happy with the trend but he's not pleased with all of the violence. He said many parents don't want to monitor their kids and expect the government to issue standards. He's mostly avoided working on violent games.

Paul asked if Ed had worked with force feedback handsets.
– Yes, he's worked for Silicon Entertainment on a NASCAR simulator game console. It provided physical feedback as if the vehicle was shaking or rounding a corner, etc. It cost the player about $7 for the experience.

According to Ed, the better arcade games had a lifespan of about 1 year. It depended on how much they were earning.

There were a couple of versions of Battle Zone. The original had a periscope feature, but it limited how many people could watch, and that limited its earning potential.

Paul wondered how the games were market tested.
– Ed said they used focus groups or they would just monitor how much it actually earned.
– Later on, they made the consoles collect data on the usage. Eventually, they put modems in them so the data could be sent back to the company.
– They had to make sure people didn't play too long or too short for each quarter spent. Too long and the company wouldn't earn as much money. Too short and the player would stop playing out of frustration.
– Some games were made with reprogrammable ROMS so the gaming experience could be changed.

The game Lunar Lander was mentioned. It was another game that Ed worked on.

Ed talked about there being collectors of arcade consoles and conventions featuring the old games. He said about 50,000 Battle Zone consoles were produced worldwide. Atari sold them to distributors but not to the end operators. The distributors were the same ones who handled pinball machines & jukeboxes.

Ed appeared in the credits of the original Tron movie for his sound effects work.

The sounds in Battle Zone were generated from the ROM. But music from the 1812 Overture did use a sound chip. It was the first game to use the sound chip from the Atari 800 computer.

John called to reminisce about playing Battle Zone in junior high. He also mentioned some controversy about the library lending violent games and wondered what other options are available for teenagers.
– Paul mentioned the video game called Mist that was non-violent.
– Glenn suggested getting kids to read books or get outdoors.
– Try to achieve a balance of entertainment options.

There was some talk about rating systems. First applied to movies and music and then to video games, the rating systems can get politicized. People will take positions for political reasons and lose sight of what's best for kids. Ed thinks censorship by the government sets a bad precedent and that parents are in the best position to oversee their children.

Some games have had hidden content inserted by the programmers. The content sometimes violates the rating of the game and causes controversy when discovered at a later time. There is a website dedicated to these easter eggs at eeggs.com

Paul said there are sometimes easter egg facilities in CDs — a hidden track called track 0. You put the CD into the player and it starts playing at track 1, but if you hit the button to play the previous track, it will, on some players, play track 0 — the hidden content.

Glenn mentioned that he couldn't find the original Tron movie on DVD. Ed said it should be available. Apparently, it was on Netflix, specifically, where Glenn couldn't find it

Paul said the audio of this show will be "stored up" on zen.kvmr.org

Last updated: 9:51 PM 12/22/2010 

Lovely astronomy program for all amjor platforms! http://www.stellarium.org
also CELESTIA

Use TWO displays with your Windows laptop or desktop:

NEAT PodCasts!

http://www.radiolab.org
http://www.themoth.org

 Additional notes

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There's a free astronomy planetarium program called Stellarium. See the above link. The graphics were said to be very good.
It does require a graphics accelerator. Cheaper laptops or netbooks may produce jerky video.

Glenn said that a Black Friday sale item, a tablet PC <possibly the one mentioned in the last show>, wasn't an authorized user of Android. Though he didn't verify it, the apps for Android were not usable on it.
– If it looks to good to be true…
– Legit 7" & 10" tablets sell in the $300 to $500 range.
Paul said the Apple iPad has a custom chip, the A4, which makes it power efficient.
Glenn asked Paul about the available RAM on the iPad.
– It comes in 8, 16 & 32 megabytes.
Glenn said "these 7" units that are designed to run on the Google Android system" have 256meg of RAM, which doesn't seem like much. But Paul noted that the apps for the iPhone & iPad are pretty small and depend a lot on the operating system to do much of the work.

Paul mentioned the game called Angry Birds for the iPhone, the only game he's ever bought; it's $.99. He's impressed by the sound effects and played a sample.

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

You used to need a special video card or add a second video card. to use a 2nd monitor.
It's now possible on all laptops and a lot of desktop computers.
Paul said all modern laptops of the last year or two can do "desktop extension" where the monitors work together to increase the size of the desktop: each showing a part of the larger display area.
– There's a link at the top to a document describing how to do it.
– The article is for Windows XP, Vista and Win7. <It sounded like Paul said it's possible for Win98, not sure>
– The computer has to have dual video ports.
– The Mac can do it but not some low end machines.
– On some Macs the option doesn't show up under the preferences settings
– The last remaining model of the iBook doesn't show that setting, but there is some software that allows that setting to be displayed. <Paul didn't name that software but said it was mentioned on a previous show>

Paul talked about Macs with a mini video port (like on a Mac Book Pro).
There are 3 types of Mac video ports:
– Some that look like a regular VGA of DVI output.
– Some that look about 1cm across called a mini video port.
– Some with a micro DVI port.
<It was a little hard to follow Paul, but I think what he was saying was…>
A mini video port can be made to use any modern flat panel display with an adapter you can get for about $3. One end will go into the Mac <mini video port presumably> and the other end will plug into either the VGA or DVI port of the monitor.

Glenn added that netbook computers usually wouldn't work well with this monitor extension process because the resolution is poor.

Paul said the resolution on Glenn's 12" netbook is 1024 X 768 and on smaller models it's 840 X 460.

At Best Buy Paul saw a Dyson fan that doesn't have a visible fan. The fan is in the base but the air was coming out of a circle attached to the base. The circular part was a wrap-around airfoil using the Venturi effect that increases the airflow by 15X. It's called a Dyson Air Multiplier. The airflow is non-turbulent and travels a long distance similar to the way laser light does because it's coherent. The down side is that the fan is over $200.

Glenn said he's seen Dyson hand air dryers that do an especially good job because they actually blow the water off your hands rather than just speeding up the evaporation.

Marilyn called. She bought an external hard drive for backup but it slowed the computer. Tech support told her to update her software (including Microsoft .NET Framework) & the hard drive firmware. She wonders if she can just turn off the hard drive while using the computer and turn it on again when she's not actively using it. She has about a week left to return it and wondered what to do.
– She'll probably have to do the updates as suggested.
– Since she doesn't have a high-speed connection, the suggestion was to take her laptop & drive to the library and use their faster connection.
– Return it & get another brand of hard drive.
– The reason for the .NET Framework is that the software the hard drive uses requires it. It's a programming framework and the software was originally written to use it — it's required.

Scott called. He has a Mac Book Pro built in 2008
He said the CPU diode goes up to 191deg before fan responds. He wanted to know how hot is too hot.
– 190 sound too hot, should be more like 170.
– Blow the dust out with canned air.
– Update the OS to get the latest fan control software. Normal Apple updates should get it.
– There may be a 3rd party utility that allows you to specify what temp the fan should kick in. Do a Google search.
– Get a notebook cooler. A powered cooler that runs off the USB power supply.
– On some Macs, the CPU & GPU will slow down when the temp gets too high. There's less heat produced at the slower speeds.

PC users may hear beeping when overheating occurs.

The free utility Speedfan was mentioned. It reports the temperature of various chips in the PC. What gets reported depends on what the manufacturer designed into the hardware.

Paul said he bought, for about $3 or $4, what's called a keyboard condom from Amazon. It's a membrane that goes over the keyboard to protect it from spills and such.

John called to say there's another free astronomy program called Celestia. It provides a point of view that's not limited to the surface of the earth. He thinks that it's available for the Mac as well as Unix. <Probably meant Linux>. See the above link.

Ken called to ask for opinions on ebook readers. Is it possible to turn a Mac Book into an ebook reader?
– If you buy a Kindle or have access to Kindle books, there is a reader for the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac Book and PC.
– The Kindle has a paper-like display and Glenn thinks it's the most reader-friendly in most lighting conditions.
– Paul said there's an app for the iPad so it can be used like a kindle.
– Unlike the iPad, the Kindle uses no backlight so it runs long time on a charge.

Paul talked about podcasting. Podcasts are subscription-based, time-shifted audio broadcasts. At the top are links for 2 to get you started.

One way to subscirbe to a podcast is to use iTunes.
– Open iTunes, click podcasts and click on the iTunes store. At the store, click on podcasts and search for, e.g., The Moth or Radio Lab <I love Radio Lab>.
– Some podcasts are free, some charge.
– When you find something you like, you can subscribe to it.
– You can then listen using iTunes or let iTunes put the audio into your iPod.

James called. He has an older computer running XP Pro. He wanted to know how to hook it up to his TV. The TV has S-video and the red yellow green <red yellow white?> composite connections. The computer only has a VGA port.
– Do an internet search for a "vga to composite converter" or "pc to tv converter".
– Paul did a quick search and found one at Tiger Direct for $29, he didn't know if it included the cables.

Last updated: 9:49 PM 12/8/2010 

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Glenn & Mikail were in the studio; Paul was away.

Mikail has Google Voice Plus for his iPhone (also available for the Android).
He also has a Comcast app, to remotely check voice mail & an Exfinity app to remotely control his DVR.
He can do both thru his iPhone.

Recently Mikail had a problem where calls to his house went to his voice mail. He found out that his electricity went out at home and Comcast was diverting the calls to voice mail.
So now he has good way to check remotely if his power is out.

Devices like smart phones and the iPad have apps to add functionality. Apple jumped in to apps early on, providing them thru their app store. Though many people don't like the tight control Apple has over the apps, the quality is better controlled.
Some Apple apps are silly, many are very useful and many are free.
Besides the Apple store, you can get apps at Cydia. Cydia recently bought out the Rock App Store. Both were associated with jailbreaking the iPhone.

There are other specialty app stores that cater to alternative lifestyles (e.g.gay)
Mikail has yet to find an app with malware
There is an issue if you enable SSH on the iPhone (it's not enabled by default). The default password for SSH is alpine and if it's enabled and you didn't change the password, others may play havoc with your phone.
If you do enable it, be sure to change your password.

Use some common sense when judging whether an app has malware. Services that provide apps for their community, and that you're familiar with, are generally safe. But beware of places you know nothing about.

Some people get concerned about battery usage because of the apps they run, but you have to consider whether the usefulness of the app outweighs that concern. An app called Grinder was mentioned. It is a drain on the battery but is very useful.

Mikail said that the jailbreak for versions 4.2 & 4.21 is not quite ready and to avoid it for now. The jailbreak for version 4.1 works great.

Mikail recently went to England and while there he changed the AT&T SIM in his iPhone for a Truphone SIM.
– The Truphone service costs him $20/mo.

But while he was charging the phones battery, he received a call and the phone died.
The phone was under the Apple Care warranty and he was able to get a replacement phone.
At that point, he no longer had the info (like his contacts) normally stored on his phone.
– He now recommends people carry a back up on a flash drive
– Or you can use MobilMe to store your info online.
– You can also put your contacts on Google.

With version 4.2 of the iPhone OS you get the Find My Phone service for free. It's to track your lost phone.
Again, if you're thinking of unlocking or jailbreaking your iPhone, DO NOT upgrade to this version at this point, or you'll end up with a 'tethered jailbreak'.

Allison called. She has 3G iPhone and has had no success using a different SIM card.
– The 3G, unless you upgraded it to the latest OS (4.1 or 4.2 which changes the baseband and prevents you from unlocking it) it can be unlocked thru the jailbreak process. When it's unlocked, you can use a separate SIM.
– Beware that an unlocked iPhone cancels your Apple Care warranty. Mikail was able to get the warranty service mentioned above because it was completely dead; they had no idea it was unlocked.
– If you restore to original OS you can get service under Apple Care.

Mikail offered his services to Allison. Go to mikailgraham.com and click the mechanic logo at the bottom of the screen.

Allison also asked about using the iPhone as an iPod.
– It's the other way round, you can use an iPod Touch as an iPhone over wi-fi. The 4th generation iPod has a mic built-in to make calls and a front-facing camera so you can do Facetime <video calling>.
– For $220, or what ever it is, it's a killer tech toy.

She also wondered if it's possible to use the iPhone to make calls without paying AT&T.
– If you have a contract with AT&T you have to turn off your phone service. Then, with the iPhone, the newer iPod, or older iPods if you plug in an external mic, you can use Skype or other services that work over wi-fi to make phone calls.

Gary called. He has an Android and wanted to know if the apps for it are safe to use? Is there a way to prescreen the apps before using them?
– Try listandroidapps.com/tags/unsafe.
– Some apps can damage the android OS.

Gary also asked if there is anti-malware software for his Android.
– Mikail hasn't heard of any

Mikail said Glenn's iPhone (a 2G) can dual-boot to Android OS or iPhone iOS. The iPhone 3GS & 4 haven't quite gotten there yet because of a change in the hardware.

Gary then asked about tethering. He's used PdaNet on his Android and asked if the iPhone needs to be jailbroken in order to use it.
– Yes, it's true. AT&T hasn't enabled tethering and you have to jailbreak the iPhone to bypass AT&T.

Mikail said the Android has a lot of cool stuff even though he's an "Apple guy" and already has service with AT&T.

Glenn asked Gary what he uses for his contact list & calendar with his Android. Gary said Google synchs completely with his phone.

Thor called. He uses an Android phone and said an alternative to PdaNet is Barnacle which does wireless tethering.

He also asked if one can use a different SIM card.
– If it's an iPhone and it's unlocked, yes.
– On the Android it's a "similar sort of thing"
– Mikail came across a device that allows you to have up to 4 SIM cards in one phone and you can easily select which to use. It's great for travelers who need to readily change services.
– Glenn said even if your phone is not unlocked and you travel, you can still use your phone but you'll just pay a lot.

Virgin has pay-as-you-go plans, mentioned on a previous show.
– There is a weekend rate, a minute-to-minute rate, a day-to-day rate and a month-to-month rate.
– It can be tethered with some effort.

Mikail used the pay-as-you-go TruPhone service; at $20/mo

Again, Mikail recommended Google Voice, it's great.

Mikail recommended these other apps for the jailbroken iPhone:
– Package Backup for about $5 to backup/restore your phone data.
– Infinidock to dock your apps at the bottom of your screen.
– Folder Enhancer allows you to have folders within folders.
– Multimove Icon to tag & move multiple icons. <maybe MultiIconMover; I couldn't find the link>

Kelly called and asked what cell phone to look for? He's currently on the AT&T network.
– Base your choice on the features you need.
– Virgin Mobile has a Google phone for $25/mo.
– Both the iPhone & Android phones are available for use on AT&T; in particular the Droid 2 is recommended.
– Again, Mikail said he really likes iPhone 4; but get a good case for it because it has a lot of glass that can break if you're careless.
– Mikail's not crazy about the Blackberry.

Mikail mentioned a couple of things quickly in closing:
– Acer just announced 7" & 10" tablet computers under $200.
– There's a Black Friday app for the iPhone that's highly recommended.
– K-Mart has a 7" Android tablet for $139.95 going on sale between 5am & 11am Friday.

Last updated 4:45 PM 11/25/2010 

This easy to steal Facebook Accounts?

Or Steal Original Work (Plagiarism)

Additional notes

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Paul was in studio; Glenn called in from Sacramento

Some time was spent talking about auto anti-freeze.
– Paul reminded us that the proper name is coolant, not anti-freeze.
– Coolant depresses the freezing point and raises boiling point of the mixture.
– It contains anti-corrosion stuff, so it has more than ethylene glycol.
– Glenn: the environmentally friendly stuff comes in a color other than the traditional fluorescent green.
– Don't leave the anti-freeze where animals can get to it; it can kill them. Paul said the compound is related to glycerin and tastes sweet, so it attracts animals.
– The mixture of ethylene glycol & water has less heat carrying capacity than plain water, but not by much.
– To gauge the efficacy of your coolant mixture you can get a hydrometer at an auto parts store. It measures the specific gravity of the mixture. Plain water is 1gram per cc (cubic centimeter). The coolant is actually has less density than this, and the reduced density indicates how much ethylene glycol is in the mixture.

The KVMR membership drive about 2 weeks ago raised $104079 from 846 pledges, which includes 152 new members.

John called in to say he looks for coolant using propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol because it's less toxic. The brand name has the word Sierra in it <I couldn't tell if there was more to it, they all talked at once>. Paul speculated that the different color might indicate this different formulation.

There was some speculation about frogs having natural anti-freeze.

Paul found an instrumentation thermometer on Ebay which has a cable so he can measure the temp in his freezer and he said it's recommended the refrigerator should not go above 4 degrees Centigrade. And the freezer should be about -18 degrees Centigrade
– Using Google you can do unit conversions like Centigrade to Fahrenheit. In the search window type e.g. " 35 Centigrade = " and you'll get the result in Fahrenheit.

Glenn mentioned that today is the 1st day of official production of the Chevy Volt. It has a fully electric propulsion system and a gasoline generator to charge the battery, adding approx. 300 miles to extend its range above the 40 miles you get from the initial charge (initial charge is estimated to cost $1.50).
– It recharges in 10hr at 120v or 4hr at 220v.
– It will be at the dealers in about 1 month at a base price of $33000. Glenn thinks that price includes various price incentives.
Find out more at chevrolet.com/volt.

Paul said the burden of energy production for electric cars is shifted to the power plants where the 'economy of scale' keeps the price more reasonable.
Glenn said that on the current model of the Prius, the heating & cooling is assisted by solar cells on top.

Glenn said that Clark Howard, a consumer advocate, spent about $9000 to convert his Toyota hybrid to an electric plugin hybrid. His mileage went from about 40 to 50 mpg, as a hybrid, to 90 mpg average as a plugin hybrid.

Paul talked about lithium batteries, saying they were patented around the time of the lead-acid batteries.
– When not properly regulated or on over-current conditions, they can be explosive.
– In cars that use them, there are electronics that monitor their temperature & current to provide a measure of safety.
– Paul said the biggest aging factor of these batteries is their temperature (being stored in warm conditions) and not so much how often they are charged & discharged.
– He said you can't extend their life by keeping them in the refrigerator. Too cold or too hot and they age spontaneously even without any current being taken out of them.
– Alkaline batteries do benefit from being stored at cold temps.

Jeff called to ask if the Community Calendar is on the KVMR website.
– No, but maybe soon. Try going to yuba.net, though their calendar may be different.

He also asked whether the guys offer computer classes.
– No, not the guys personally, but there are links on the front page of zen.kvmr.org to classes. And the local senior center may offer some.

Then he asked if electrical power stations reduce generation at night.
– No. Continuous load stations (e.g. coal-fired stations) run all of the time. Peak load stations (e.g. diesel or natural gas-fired stations) do fluctuate in their production.
– Check Wikipedia for "base loading".

He also asked about cell phone use by children and if it's safe.
– Paul's personal opinion: "It did me no harm. Take a look at me"
– Dangerous or not, you don't need to keep it near your head. Use a hands-free system,
– You can get an EMF meter to measure exposure to cell phone radiation, but be aware of what the readings mean.

Airport body scanners use radiation, but planes fly so high above the protective atmosphere that you get more radiation at high altitude than from body scanners.
There are 2 types body scanners. One uses frequencies similar to those used by radar speed traps & the other uses ionizing radiation (a type of x-ray).

Robert called to say the tire wear on a Prius is substantially greater than on regular car because of the "constant drive on all 4 wheels". They are under constant torque, both to propel forward and during regenerative braking. So you spend more on tires, which offsets the saving on fuel.

Charlie called to ask if the radiation from smart meters is dangerous?
– Paul said he hasn't completed his research on the subject. He asked knowledgeable listeners to respond.

Charlie also concurred with the previous comments about Prius tire wear, but also said that if your tires are under warranty, they are like prorated for ware. So the cost of excessive tire wear is not such a big issue.
Glenn added that his favorite tire brand is Michelin.

The disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed on this show are entirely those of the speakers only and they don't necessarily represent those of this station (KVMR), the board of its directors, the staff who work here, or anyone who contributes anything (including, probably, the people who call in). You're under advice not to follow the instructions. It's just information. And judicious use of the information is entirely up to you.

Glenn went back to the subject of computer instruction. He said the Gold Country Computer Learning Center is still in business. Check them out at www.gcclc.org

Paul was impressed by the Zoom H1 handheld recorder; $99 digital stereo voice recorder. He said it has great audio quality. Includes a 2gig microSD card with 23 hours of recording at 128kbps mp3. It will go up to 320kbps. And it can record in lossless .wav format. It uses USB to transfer files and behaves as regular flash drive.

Paul also just got a Mac Book Pro and is very excited about it. It has the new i7 Intel processor that can do real-time speech recognition. He has 10 to 15 years of DV & analog 8mm magnetic videocassette tapes, and the extra horsepower makes it easy to transcribe & edit.

Glenn said Bill, who called last week about a USB mouse problem, followed the suggestion to unplug all other USB devices. That led to the solution of the problem: the keyboard that was plugged in.
Paul said laptops are known for not delivering enough current to power all USB devices.
A powered USB hub can take care of the problem. Avoid connecting high-speed devices to the hub, but keyboards, mice and printers should benefit.

Last updated: 7:51 PM 11/10/2010 

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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