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<When I update a Zentech page, I post a tweet at twitter.com/ddhart.
You don't have to join Twitter to read it.
You can also search for the tag #Zentech at twitter>

The guest today is John Paul of Spiral Internet, an internet provider in the Nevada City area.

On Feb 10 Google announced it intends to test a 1gig/sec broadband in a few communities and John is trying to get them to do it in the Nevada City area. This speed will allow the downloading of a HD movie in about 5min. This is different than the Rural Broadband Initiative. For more info go to 95959google.com.

There are 3 parts to this. The first is the application, a request for infomation, which John is filling out. Second, Google wants a creative video to show the community's support. The video will result from a community meeting on Mar 14 at 1pm. The planning meeting for the event will be tomorrow (2-23-10) at 5pm at the Nevada City City Hall.

A gesture-based operating system, like in the Minority Report movie, goes back 10 or 15yrs but there wasn't the horsepower to implement it. Now the computers can handle it but it requires a fast broadband connection.

The Google project will bring fiber optic cable to each house. And, according the Google press release, it will be at a competitive price.

John said, based on information from Google, they will allow multiple carriers to provide service on the network, in keeping with the concept of open network.

Glenn said he's called from various phones to see if AT&T's U-verse service is available at each of those locations, and found it's not. Not even in places where AT&T runs ads for it. He thinks that may be because it requires a fiber optic connection.

Paul said that the Highway 80 corridor has fiber and that may be how Google will connect to adjacent communities near Nevada City.

John said he's read news articles that suggest Google itself will be a provider, but it's still speculation.

Glenn, wondered how Google will make money on such a project — advertising?

Paul said Google gets a lot of info about us thru our Google searches, cloud applications like Google Docs and social networks. We may be unknowingly giving out information about ourselves that we wouldn't let the government have.

John thinks Google aims to disrupt the connectivity market because the major providers like AT&T & Verizon don't really give you much for your money.

John said Google intends to serve from 50k to 500k households, as a total, for its test. Go to 95995google.com to fill out a form telling Google how you would use this high bandwidth.

As part of Obama's stimulus package to promote high speed internet, Spiral Internet is providing wireless connections to more remote areas — by way of the Nevada County Economic Resource Council. Find out more at nevadacountyconnected.com.

AT&T is required by law to share its copper wire with other DSL providers but are under no obligation to share its fiber optic cables.

The 1gig/sec fiber optic cable will be limited by the rest of the internet that has a slower infrastructure (the weakest link effect). John thinks that Google will be mostly interested in how just those in a fiber optic community will be using the service between themselves.

Christine called wondering what the cost would be. And, do you need anything special in your computer to handle the higher speed.
– The newer computer the better.
– There will be a modem like device to interface with your computer.
– The processor speed should not be the big issue.
– Typical Ethernet hardware in today's computers goes up to 100mbit/sec so you'll need an upgrade to take full advantage of the 1gig/sec from Google.
– If you're going to do any graphics with the data coming in, you may need a faster graphics card.
– Google said they would like to deploy in the first community within 1yr.

Jim called and said he can't even get a decent DSL service.
– It's John's understanding that Google will wire the entire area right up to individual houses.

Glenn wondered if households would be charged for being wired with Google's high-speed cable even if they won't use it.

Glenn recommends that Jim get service from Digital Path. It's $250 for the installation and $45/mo.

Bill called to say he would like to see the fiber connection interfaced to other media like DSL or wi-fi in those places the fiber doesn't quite reach.
– Paul says he's heard that there is something called a DSLAM that allows DSL to be interfaced to third party infrastructure. John said that sonic.net in Santa Rosa does just that.
– Paul said that DSL doesn't have to come with a dialtone <phone service>, many people are not aware of that. You can eliminate the phone service and use something like Skype to replace it.
– Wireless can reach up to 20 miles under ideal conditions and special hardware.
– Unlicensed wireless frequencies can be problematic due to interference.

John called to say Google is an investor in the O3B satellite network. These satellites are only 8000km high, so there is little signal delay (unlike geosynchronous satellites). He speculates that this would be a way for Google to connect their 1gig/sec project without having to lay extensive fiber optic cable.

Brian called to ask if Digital Path will work with Magic Jack.
– Yes, it should work fine.
– The only place where you may have problems is over a satellite (the geosynchronous type), because of the time lag.
– Calls between 2 Magic Jack users are free <no additional charge>.
– US users of Magic Jack can call the US from anywhere in the world for free.

Paul said he still intends to post the audio from last week's show in the archive.

Glenn says there's no reason for users of Internet Explorer 6 not to upgrade to IE7 or IE8. Support for IE6 will eventually be dropped. Google has already stopped accommodating IE6.

Glenn also likes SynchBack for backing up your data.

Paul mentioned that there are now UVC web cameras that don't require drivers and are easier to install on both a Mac (10.4.11 or newer) & Windows (service pack 2 or newer), but not Win98. They don't tell you to reboot after installing such a camera, but you'll have to.

To talk to John about Google's 1gig/sec project, you can call him at Spiral Internet at 530-478-9822.

Mikail's link to the Apple factory in China is near the top of this page.
The iPad is being made there and it should be available in March.
The iPad has more in common with the iPhone than a Mac. It will not run Mac or PC software, at least not yet.
The article at the above link has something to say about how Apple keeps its secrets.

Last Updated: 9:46 PM 2/22/2010 

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<When I update a Zentech page, I post a tweet at twitter.com/ddhart
You don't have to join Twitter to read it
You can also search for the tag #Zentech at twitter>

Paul said he'll post the audio for this show within about 24hr

Coryon Redd is the guest today. He'll be talking about free & nearly free tools to market & manage your business on the web.

Previous shows with Coryon Redd are here.

Coryon Redd runs Batteries4less.com selling discount cell phone batteries and accessories.
He teaches class on internet marketing for non-profit & for-profit businesses.

Google's Keyword Tool is a good first step to marketing your business.
You can find the tool if you google: "keyword tool".
You should find the appropriate link at adwords.google.com/select/keywordtoolexternal.
The tool helps you see which words people search for and which are the most popular.

Coryon is teaching class at the Nevada County One Stop
More info at sedcorp.biz or call 530-823-4703.

Paul asked what a business with local customers would do differently from a mail-order business.
– Look for keywords relevant to such a business in general and assume the same keywords would apply to local businesses.
– Think of the words you would or would not search for, let that help guide you.

Google Trends lets you see how what's searched for has changed over time and which geographical areas tend to use which words.

A similar tool is Google Insights.
Also, Wonderwheel shows relationships between search terms. It's under the 'options' section of the Google search results page (after you do a search).

Coryon invited email questions about today's show at coryon@batteries4less.com

To use Google's tools you can get a gmail account or register your current email address as your user name.

Useful tools for anyone are found at Google Docs that allow you to share a word-processing or spreadsheet documents. The documents are compatible with Microsoft Word <Office>. It allows employees to share information, in a collaborative way, which can help promote the business. A recently added feature is the ability to share folders of documents. In a folder you can share any document type, even those that Google Docs can't recognize.

Paul mentioned Google Gears which is an addon to Firefox that allows you to use Google while you're offline. Do a google search for google gears and you'll find an addon for both Internet Explorer and Firefox. It also allows the synchronizing of a document when more than one person works on it.

Paul mentioned the file size limits at Google:
1gig for the docs
1gig for a Picassa album
Over 7gig for the email
He also mentioned, from memory, that Google charges $5/yr for 20gig of extra storage.

Another tool is Google Alerts. Use the "News" link at the top of the Google search page. It will send you an email when a certain word, of your choice, shows up in news articles, blogs, periodicals, newspapers and etc. You can choose words that are related to your business or, of course, for non-business use.

Coryon said he has a blog about the "cell culture" at cellplaza.org.

Eli called to say he has a web site at Google Site as was wondering how to get a "shopping cart" or a "buy now" button incorporated into it so he can sell products.
– Coryon thinks it should have the ability to integrate with Google Checkout, so check into that first.
– There are many free & low cost shopping cart services. Make a list of what features you'd like and find one that fits.
– Zencart and Xcart are a couple of examples.
– Paypal is a great first option to receive payment. The various shopping cart services will have other ways to receive money.
– You can also create an eBay storefront.

Tim called and said he got a domain name in Sept at Go Daddy and wants to know an easy way to create a web site.
– You can use WordPress to integrate with Go Daddy.
– Catharine Schultz at catswebweave.com is consultant who can help with WordPress.
 – Joomla and Druple can provide site management but are complex and not particularly recommended.
– Though WordPress can be used on the WordPress site, it can also be installed on other domains. Catswebweave.com has more info.

Another tool is Google Analytics for those on a budget. It informs you about what works to draw people to make a purchase. It gives statistics about the usage of your webpages, which pages are viewed most, where the people visiting the pages come from, at what point do they end their visit and much more.

Gmail itself allows you to group your mail to better manage mail regarding your business.

Paul talked about 'blue screen of death' trouble shooting.
To find what triggered the crash in Windows, use Whocrashed. See the above link.

USB 3 is coming out. See the above link.

Mac users get complacent because they keep hearing that Macs are more secure than the PCs but may be more vulnerable to phishing scams. See the above link.

Disclaimer:
Views and opinions are those of the show's hosts only.

Last updated 12:04 PM 2/9/2010 

Editor's comments delimited by < >

<When I update a Zentech page, I post a tweet at twitter.com/ddhart
You don't have to join Twitter to read it
You can also search for the tag #Zentech at twitter>

<This show was a pledge drive and contained little related to technology. But there was an IMPORTANT WARNING about a virus. Though Paul said it was for Internet Explorer version 8, I think this is the one first involving IE6 and Windows XP. So don't assume it's just for IE8>

As with previous pledge drives, there was an offer, for 4 pledges at the $120 level, to do a computer cleanup to make your computer run faster. This is for people in the general area around Nevada City.
You can pledge at kvmr.org (check out the thank you gifts) or call…
Locally: (530)-265-9555
or 800-355-5865 (800-355-KVMR)

There is a warning about a rootkit attack.
Microsoft has issued an "out of band" update (one that doesn't follow their regular schedule) to IE8 for a "non-intervention" exploit. That's an infection that occurs just by visiting a malicious web site. Paul said he's seen it bypass both AVG & Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate Edition. The symptom is your searches go where you don't expect them. Ultimately, your keystrokes may be monitored and passwords and other information can be stolen. Though the search results, at Google for instance, may seem normal and the links may be indicated as safe, when you click on one of these links, you may be taken to a malicious site because the virus on your computer directs the browser.
– If you're using FireFox, make sure it's the current version (3.6). Though that by itself won't help if you already have the virus.
– If you have the virus, first update to FireFox 3.6 then manually update Windows.
– This virus can also attack by pretending to be an update to an anti-virus program you've never seen before. Become familiar with how your anti-virus program looks and works so a bogus update won't fool you.

<There's more about rootkits from a previous show here.>

Last updated 7:18 PM 1/25/2010 

Additional notes

 Editor's comments delimited by < >

<When I update a Zentech page, I post a tweet at twitter.com/ddhart.
You don't have to join Twitter to read itl
You can also search for the tag #Zentech at twitter.>

Director Denise Zmekhol, who also did the film "Children Of The Amazon", now has a film called "Trading Bows And Arrows For Laptops". It's about how some tribes in the Amazon are embracing the internet.
Will be shown at the Wild And Scenic Film Festival.
You can find clips at green21.org as well as at childrenoftheamazon.com.

Glenn talked about Windows 7. He had a chance to work with it a bit. He said it boots up fast and, unlike Vista, it shuts down without annoying questions to confirm your intention. He said it's a culture shock for XP users who'll have to adjust to it.

Mikail talked about the new open source Google Nexus One cell phone.
Though it's not an iPhone killer, it has been hacked, can do tethering and already has some apps.
Google does tech support for the Nexus One but only by email, it appears.
Support at T-Mobile & HTC, the manufacturer, refer people to Google.
A version is expected to be available on the Verizon network by mid-year.
Rumor also has it that Apple has chosen a Qualcomm chip to allow the iPhone to be used on the Verizon network and should eventually be available on that network.
Apple has called for a press conference on Jan 26 to possibly announce their tablet computer.

Glenn expressed concern that tablet computers don't have a keyboard.
Mikail mentioned that he has an app for his jailbroken iPhone that allows him to use his wireless Apple keyboard, via Bluetooth, on his iPhone. It's found on Cydia and soon on RockApp. We'll have to wait and see if the Apple tablet will have an option for a keyboard.

Though the Nexus One uses T-Mobile, you can use it with AT&T <I heard you can use the 2G but not 3G network on AT&T, so check this out before you buy>.
To get it to work with AT&T, take the back off, take out the battery and put in the SIM card for an AT&T account.

Glenn asked Mikail to ponder why you can only use your finger to input into an iPhone, why can't you use a stylus? <They didn't come back to this question>

Myra called. She's looking for a new cell phone to use in the Bay Area. She's a Mac user and she's thinking of going to Sprint because she also has a Palm. She's also concerned with AT&T coverage.
– Glenn thought the Palm Pre is available for the AT&T network, so you're not limited to Sprint.
– Mikail said Sprint coverage is poor in the Nevada City area and that he's had good coverage with AT&T. He later said that he's never had AT&T coverage problems in the Bay Area though others have complained.
– Glenn said he's heard from people in the Bay Area that AT&T coverage is spotty.
– Most companies allow you a trial period to make sure their phone will work for you.

Mikail gave a list of costs for the various phones & plans:
– Nexus One with T-Mobile: $529 with no contract, $179 with 2yr a contract ($80/mo for 450min).
– Droid with Verizon: $559.99 unlocked with no contract, $199.99 with 2yr a contract ($100/mo for 450min).
– iPhone $599.99 with no contract, $200 with contract ($89.99/mo). You can get a refurb 16gig iPhone 3GS for about $50 from AT&T, if they still have them.
– Palm Pre with Sprint: $549.99 with no contract, $150 with 2yr contract ($69.99/mo for 450min, unlimited text messages and 5gig of data).

While Mikail was taking, Glenn checked with AT&T and said it doesn't look like they carry the Palm any more.
Glenn also said that the iPhone will not interface with her Palm desktop software. He's had issues synching his iPhone with Outlook on his latest laptop — not everything would come thru.
Mikail said both Verizon & AT&T will be carrying the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixie, but not until the end of Jan (the 25th), Expect it on Verizon first.

Myra went on to say she's been using iSynch to do her synchronizing, but Mikail says he's been using iTunes (which then calls on iSynch to do the job).

While Glenn was on the AT&T web site, he noticed that an Android smartphone is coming soon.

Mark called to say he's also had good coverage with his iPhone.
He also got a Mac Book Pro and was wondering about doing backups to a service on the internet using TimeMachine (a program that comes with the Mac). He wants to be able to backup and restore the entire Mac <presumably the OS too>
– TimeMachine will work with MobileMe, but it's limited to 20gig
– Get an external hard drive. There are some that are fireproof and waterproof.
– As an aside, Mikail said there is an iPhone app that lets him synch his messages to Google's Gmail. It's called reMail.

Ellen called to say she has Palm Centro. When her Palm Pilot died, she couldn't get to her backedup data on her Mac without getting another Palm unit.
Mikail explained to Ellen that the Palm company kept trying to develop a way to synch music with the

iTunes store but Apple kept defeating them by issuing new updates. Eventually, Apple won in court.
Apple & Nokia are also battling in court.

Ellen then asked if it will ever be possible to transfer the Palm data to an iPhone.
– The calendar & contacts can be migrated, even now. On a Mac you'd first bring it into the address book & iCal. Try googling "iCal Palm Centro synch".

Ellen went on to say that she once broke the display on her Palm and recommended that people check to see how fragile the display is before buying a PDA/phone.
  – Mikail says the iPhone is very robust in that respect and he's heard that the Droid is too.
– There are screen protectors available.

Ken called to say that Consumer Reports Jan 2010 is has an article about the best & worst cell phone deals.

Last updated 8:35 PM 1/11/2010 

Additional Notes

Editor's comments delimited by < >

<When I update a Zentech page, I post a tweet at twitter.com/ddhart
You don't have to join Twitter to read it
You can also search for the tag #Zentech at twitter>

When traveling across time zones, change the time zone setting in your computer, not the clock time.

Also, when changing the time zone, it's not enough to pick the correct GMT offset. You need to pick the country (with that particular offset) that also has the rules for changing to/from daylight savings time that you want to use.

Zentech radio show is about 10 years old. It started at the end of 1999

Analog phones started to disappear about 10 years ago and were replaced GSM, a digital system. That allowed for more channels and security. Now, GSM has been hacked by a German group. But it's not easily done, requiring a 2Tbyte download of a keyspace file. See the above link.

Paul mentioned someone building a homemade blimp. See the above link.

Facebook has changed its privacy policy. Paul set his permissions to a minimum and used a different machine (one where no one has logged into Facebook) to see what information is available to the public. It's now possible to change who sees each individual post. See the above link, followed by a link to Paul's Facebook page.

Paul has a netbook computer that weights about 3 pounds and runs for 6 hours per charge. It also has a webcam, WinXP, wireless, & 2gig of memory. He says he can do "everthing" on it, including creating a video and uploading it to YouTube.

Paul also added 2 pieces of copyrighted music and got a warning from Google (owners of YouTube) saying that the music was copyrighted. But the warning was not particularly threatening — no requirement to remove the music, though that may still happen.

There was mention of Windows 7 and the listeners were invited to call in and give their views of it. Paul put it on his sister's computer and it seems to be trouble-free. He said it requires fewer resources than Vista but more than XP; he got it running in three-quarters gig of memory where Vista required 1gig.

One thing to look out for is to use hardware that's new enough to have Win7 drivers are available.

Glenn wondered who's responsibility it is to create the drivers. Paul said that, typically, Microsoft charges the manufacturer for the development kit and certification. Some manufacturers don't bother to get the certification because it costs them every time a driver is updated.

Paul said he couldn't think why anyone with properly running XP should switch to Win7. He also said he couldn't find how to switch to the "classic" mode for the Start Menu. The classic mode is what Win98 had.

Glenn mentioned that he can synch his iPhone to only one computer at a time.
– If you're an Apple user, you can use the MobileMe service at $99/year.
– Listeners were invited to make suggestions.

Paul said 98% of the UK has mobile coverage. That's unlike the US where more area is not covered than is, due to the low density of the population. He also said that access in the UK costs about $25/month (with no contract) for a 3G SIM card that gives him unlimited internet access thru a cell phone plus Skype, 500 text messages and 300 phone minutes. He was also able to get a 3G phone for about $35 that would cost over $100 in the US. All this is due in part to the competitiveness in the cell phone market

Bernie called and said that one of his networked computers slowed to a crawl when saving a file or using the My Computer resource (the Explorer). Eventually 3 machines were displaying the same behavior.
– Read the Knowledge Base article KB320138 called "How To Disable Automatic Search For Network Printers And Folders In Windows XP". The bug is called "The Endless Network Search Timeout".
– Disabling the network itself does not cure the problem.

James called. He's using FireFox and tried to search for Huffington Post and got side tracked to Integrity Online, which said you can't go here.
– Use the search box (to the right of the address bar) rather than the address bar to do your search.
– Generally, beware of being redirected to a site you didn't ask for or you may end up with malware.
– Once you find the link, add it to your bookmarks list.
– AVG Anti-Virus adds plugins into FireFox, which can divert your searches.
– Go to Tools -> Addons in FireFox to see if you have any search filters installed.

Caller Dave said every time he right-clicks on a folder, his screen refreshes and he gets dumped back to the desktop. Right-clicking on the desktop itself or a file is no problem.
– Explorer is what shows you the files & folders. The symptom is caused by Explorer reloading and can be caused third party shell extensions like archivers (like Winzip) which add functions to the property tab of a folder.
– In fact, Dave said he just installed Winzip. He was advised to remove it to see what happens.
– Instead of Winzip you can use izarc at izarc.org.
– See the above link that explains reasons Explorer can crash.
– <XP doesn't really need a program to handle .zip files. You can double click on a .zip file and it will be opened as if it were a folder (sort of).>

George called to say the new Yahoo doesn't accept his old browser — Internet Explorer that came with his Mac (with OS 10.0).
– That Explorer is version 5.1, the last one made for the Mac.
– Easiest solution is to try FireFox 2.0, the latest that will work in this case.
– You should be able to upgrade the OS to 10.4 and use later versions of FireFox. Some current software won't run in 10.0 anyway, so this will address compatibility problems too.
– Use a different machine, go to Yahoo and switch to the older classic mode of operation.
– You can try m.yahoo.com if you have a slow connection, which is a stripped down version of Yahoo.

Mark called to ask about voice recognition software.
– You need a lot of horsepower to do it.
He was looking at Dregon Naturally Speaking.
– That's a good one and can be bought for $99. Mark said he saw it on sale for $49. More expensive versions can deal with specialized vocabularies <medical or legal, I suppose>.

Also, Mark wondered if he needed to get a higher quality microphone than the one that comes with it.
– Presumably what's included should be adequate. But you can look for a mic that can cancel surrounding noise or a directional one. Try the one that comes in the package first.

Mark goes on to ask about his MSN home page. The search default was changed to Bing and he wants to change it back to Google. <This is presumably in his browser which is assumed to be Internet Explorer (IE8)>
– Do a search using: change bing google ie8

The next show (11jan10) will have Mikail Graham back in the studio and will be focused on the Mac.

Last updated 8:39 PM 12/28/2009