Notes for the show

 AXIA digital technology, used in studio B at KVMR, uses ethernet to send digitized audio signals.
And Livewire is used to render sound over ethernet between various piece of equipment
www.axiaaudio.com
www.axiaaudio.com/livewire/

Alan Stahler reports there is an asteroid (2008 TC3) that's predicted to hit earth at about 7:46pm over Sudan. It's only a few meters across, so wear sweater and enjoy.
spaceweather.com
astronomy.com

Microsoft moved forward the expiration date for sale & support of Windows XP. At buy.com Paul saw XP for $149 if you buy a 100gig hard drive for $49.

AWS is Amazon Web Services, "cloud computing" for businesses.
http://aws.amazon.com/

When was FAX invented? The telegraph was the original FAX.
British patent to Alexander Bain in 1843.
http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/fax_machine.htm

DSL is coming to various areas near Nevada City; check with att.com.
Also see local DSL providers; nccn.net, spiral.com, omsoft.com fullspectrumia.com
A list of ISP providers & methods of connecting to the net:
http://zen.kvmr.org/content/view/46/

It's speculated that the PUC no longer regulates AT&T's long distance rates.
AT&T DSL has been unbundled, you no longer need a phone account to get DSL.
You will pay a premium but it's still cheaper than paying for the phone too.
Virtual FAX is available thru, e.g. myfax.com and efax.com. You can use your current FAX number at these services

Paul uses a physical VOIP unit that can be plugged into a DSL router. Can be used over satellite with some delay.

To stop telemarketers go to donotcall.gov. Your registration there will not expire due to a congressional act in 2007. Political groups, non-profits, & those businesses you've dealt with before are exempt. Otherwise, just ask solicitors & junk mailers to stop; they sometimes will.

When disputing charges it's often a good idea to pay at the point of sale and dispute later.

There is a do not mail list. Be careful not to cash checks you're not expecting. They may be scams or you may be signing a contract that's printed on the back of the check.
http://dmachoice.org/

For a free credit report freecreditreport.com is not the correct link
annualcreditreport.com

A caller asks if Magic Jack, a VOIP unit, is any good.
Yes, it seems to work well with windows XP, Vista & Intel Macs

The last few items were discussed in the 7-28-8 show.
http://zen.kvmr.org/content/view/67/11/

The same caller asks about CAD software to design landscapes on the PC
AutoSketch, an old product, may still be available; freecad.com; Google's Sketch 3D (Sketch-Up)

The same caller wants a PC based DVR setup to record off of cable and make the recordings available to devices in other rooms.
Apple TV; Media Center is unimpressive; Nero 7 nero.com has the ability to capture the data from a media card that's being fed a video signal. There's Toast for the Mac that can get the signal from a Tivo.
www.apple.com/appletv/
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx
http://www.nero.com/

The same caller asks about a physical mp3 player that's convenient for a Parkinson patient to use. Listeners are invited to make suggestions.
afb.org, a site for the blind, may have some info. Glenn found this on eBay.

A caller wants to capture Youtube video/audio to a file on the PC.
v4f firefox add-on. Sorry I couldn't find this one, but search for similar add-ons here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

To convert flash video to, for instance, avi, search google for "flv to avi" & use at your own risk (no recommendation given).

1. Image resolution is correctly stated in Pixels Per Inch or in Pixels (H) by Pixels (V), not Dots Per Inch. There's a reason for that, because …

2. Physical printer and display resolution (resolving power) is accurately and consistently stated in Dots (or Lines) per Inch.

3. Keep in mind that a digital file in and of itself does not have a physical size in inches or millimeters. It's just a collection of numbers arranged in an array. You can display or paint them out in any size you want. If you want actual size, the dpi of the display device needs to match the ppi of the image, and all of the iamge pixels need to be mapped 1:1 to their respective display pixels.

These two resolution definitions are not the same and are easily confused by many people, especially when combined with a discussion of the resolution of their graphics cards, a third "resolution" number.

For example, one can have a JPEG image with a resolution of, say, 1024 x 768 pixels per inch, which was downscaled (i.e., crushed to some degree) from an original 2048 x 1536 pixels per inch "raw" data file. One can then display this on a monitor with a graphics card setting of 1280 x 960 pixels (a dimensionless pair of numbers) and then display it on a 20.1" monitor with a native resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels, or 100 dpi. (More below on where the 100 dpi comes from.)

Printers (not the machines, the guys) typically discuss lines per inch rather than dots per inch when discussing the resolving power of their printing process. Laser printers, like monitors, are best described by their resolving power in dots per inch (as placed on paper).

The point of all of this blather is that image resolution (digital files) is best described using the term pixels per inch (PPI), while native resolution of physical devices (monitors and printers) is best described by dots per inch (DPI). It is inappropriate to assign "inches" to a graphics card setting as the resulting "dpi" depends on the physical size of the display. That is, you should not refer to the setting of your graphics card as set to 1280 x 1024 dpi' it's just a rendering of the image that is 1280 x 1024 pixels per side.

You'll hear all kinds of nonsense about 72 dpi and 96 dpi as if they had some special meaning for Macintosh and Windows systems. Balderdash. It's an old-wives tale. At one time, early Macintosh systems with closed (i.e., fixed) graphics systems and built-in monitors *might* have had 72 dpi screens by default. My Samsung monitors have a native resolution of 100 dpi, simply because they are 20.1" diagonal screens with a 1600 x 1200 array of pixels. A larger monitor with the same number of pixels has a lower dpi value. Both will give the best picture when the image file is 1600 x 1200 pixels per inch and the graphics card resolution is 1600 x1200 pixels.

Standard GIF files, by the way, only support 256 colors. They are therefore compressed and should not be used for high-quality photographic images.

Underlying all of this is yet another description of resolution usually totally rejected by many computer graphics people when trying to de-confuse them. You can have two different JPEG images with the same resolution (say, 1600 x 1200 ppi) but with different degrees of compression. If one were looking for detail, the least compressed one would generally offer more of it. That is, it offers more detail (information) to the viewer than the other one. One could argue (successfully, I might add) that even though both images have the same resolution (1600 x 1200), the least compressed one has more resolution because you can resolve more detail. The heavily-compressed one will be blurry and "fuzz out" some details. Of course you knew this, but you'd be surprised how many "experts" will argue that the two files have the same resolution. It all depends on how you use the terminology and what it means to you. That's what prompted me to write this missive.

End.

1. Never, never publish a screen shot in JPG (or JPEG, if you prefer) format. Always use BMP or something similar like GIF. The JPEG format will always "soften" the image and it will not look as "real" as it could. One would think a GIF file would be perfect, especially if the color palette used is the standard Windows palette.

2. Save continuous tone images (photographs) in JPEG format. Note: Start with the highest resolution originals if possible, preferably in a raw or bitmapped format if possible. Save the originals in a safe place and always work on (tamper with) copies. I know you know this, because I heard you say so on Zen-Tech.

3. On a Windows machine, you can always obtain a screen shot by pressing the Print Screen button. This saves an image to the clipboard in the resolution set by the graphics card. See the attachment, for example. It is an image of this screen with a resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels.

Note: The image you see in the attachment when opened has, when viewed on my screen, a bit less brightness and a slight greenish-gray hue added to it, more so than the original screen image. Why, you might ask? Good question. I'm not sure, but I *think* it probably has something to do with the path from the image to the screen. In the original case, the screen is driven by the graphics card directly from the OS. In the reproduced case, it is a view of an image generated from a file. It would seem that the brightness, hue and contrast values in the file would be the same as those generated by the OS, and since they are processed by the same graphics card, they would look alike…..but then this is a Windows environment. Who knows for sure how the system and the graphics card drivers handle the same data from different sources? So tell me, what does the image look like….white background or an odd hue to it? Also, keep in mind that the screen capture is taken from the output of the graphics card and then stored when saved. When viewed again, it must pass through the graphics card again…do you agree? If so, the card could muck it up. i haven't calibrated anything, but I'll bet an expert could tweak the graphics drivers so that this problem would go away. The NVIDIA driver offers color management options. Heck, I don't know.

4. Invest in a program like Adobe Illustrator to create line art; then save and use it in a vector-based format like PDF or EPS. These can be resized in the target application without loss of quality. You can export these as a bit-mapped file such as GIF or BMP, but why do it and lose valuable resolution?

5. Programs may be better behaved if you place images in them by reference rather than embedding the image in the file. Caution: Avoid OLE, especially if an XP OS has been upgraded to Service Pack 3. OLE is a failed concept. Note also that It's been a long time since I used PowerPoint 2003 and I have no newer version, so I don't know what image placement options are available in the various versions of the application.

6. You lose a generation of quality if you open a file in an editing application like Photoshop and then resave it as a compressed file over itself, even if you don't edit the file. This applies to MPEG and JPEG files of all types. However, view an image file or playing a music file in something like iTunes does no damage to the original file, as the data is only uncompressed for viewing or for your listening pleasure.

7. In Photoshop, for example, you can increase the PPI of an image (JPG, for example) without decreasing the number of pixels. The resulting picture will appear smaller when displayed on the screen but the file will be the same size in megabytes. The image quality in terms of inherent resolution will the same (no loss of pixel data), but of course as soon as it is re-saved (i.e., re-compressed) there will be a JPG) generation loss, the magnitude of which depends on the degree of re-compression. Note that one could argue that the resolution is higher if you do this, since the PPI is larger, but it's not true. The resolving power is the same; it's just smaller when displayed. Mind you, while all of this image adjustment in Photoshop was taking place, the DPI of the screen (its native resolution*) cannot be changed, but the graphics card resolution  (The number of generated pixels in the H direction by the number of generated pixels in the V direction) are independently set at the discretion of the user using the Properties > Settings interface found by right-clicking on the desktop. These different interactions that affect the resolution of the image and the size of an image as seen on the screen or as printed are the reasons why it is important to talk about the different aspects of *resolution* using the proper units—or none at all. It's the only way to communicate accurately when giving advice or trying to understand what's going on when you are creating, processing, viewing or printing an image.

*This applies to both analog (CRT) and digital (LCD) displays and the type of interface (VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc.). However, if one is serious about it, they should obtain a high quality LCD display(s) with digital inputs and use a graphics card with a matching digital interface (or interfaces, in the case of dual-head, matching dual-monitor setups.) Furthermore, be cautious when selecting your LCD monitors. They should (if possible) always be driven by a graphics card whose resolution setting is the same as the native resolution of the display. However, if you choose a monitor with a native resolution of, say, 1600 x 1200 *and* if it is only a 20.1" monitor (measured diagonally), setting the graphics card to 1600 x 1200 pixels results in icons and text that are too small for comfortable viewing. My monitors are like this, so I have to set both graphics card drivers to 1280 x 960 in order to get reasonably-viewable results. This is a suboptimal setting that results in aliasing of the image due to the mismatch in resolutions (1280 x 960 versus 1600 x 1200). There is not a 1-to-1 correspondence between the image pixels and the monitor's display pixels. In my case, bigger is better only if talking about the physical screen size and not the native resolution of the monitor. A better approach when buying an LCD monitor for use with contemporary graphics cards would be to choose a monitor with a DPI rating of about 80 DPI rather than the 100 DPI that I have. In other words, a 20" monitor is easier on the eyes when looking at a typical windows screen if both the graphics card and the monitor's native resolution match and in the neighborhood of 1280 x 960. My monitors would be easier to use with most Windows applications if they were 24" monitors rather than 20.1" monitors. However…

…there is this important caveat!  If you are just viewing or working with high resolution photographs, higher resolutions are always desirable. In other words, my 1600 x 1200 monitors with 100 dpi resolution (The actual viewing area is exactly 16" wide by 12" high, by the way. That's how the 100 dpi figure is derived.) display full-screen, 1600 x 1200 images in near-perfect quality.

End of Tidbits…

Glen ordered an EEEPC 1000h. Hopefully he'll have a review for us in the future.
It has:
10" screen of higher resolution than the original EEEPC
Weighs 3.12 Lbf
Has 4-7hr battery life
XP is preloaded (batteries lasts longer with XP than Linux)
Web cam
Microphone
Wireless with blue tooth optional
Is about $450
Uses Intel Atom at 1.3GHz, it's a CMOS chip (a little slower but uses less power)
Has 1gig RAM

Posting a video on Youtube. After creating an account, get the video file from your camera (typically an .avi file). Just send the .avi and Youtube does the rest.

A caller wants to go to Mac World (Jan 6-9) just for the exhibits without having to pay to get in.
Suggestion is to google for "free Mac World passes" or "mka31884"; or better yet, go to www.macworldexpo.com/registration and use the priority (or promotional) code mka31884 to have the fee waived when you complete your order. Look for the "expo only" link. But register BEFORE Sept 26 or do the google search after that date.

The same caller wants a dictionary that pronounces the words.
Wiktionary.org is suggested. It also supports some foreign languages. (Unfortunately, I couldn't see where Wiktionary does any pronouncing).
However, an email from Tyler suggested www.answers.com that does pronounce words. There's a toolbar available which, Tyler says, "When installed, this program also allows you to alt-click on any word to pop-up the definition in a new webpage." Or, turn on Flash & javascript and append your word to the URL, e.g. www.answers.com/vitamin.
And dictionary.com now freely provides audio pronunciations. Again Flash & javascript required.
Also, The American Heritage Dictionary at http://www.bartleby.com/61/ doesn't seem to require Flash and the site has many other reference works.

Off topic but still interesting is an audio collection of English spoken in "English language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages."

Mac users may be interested in macrumors.com for, well, rumors about new Mac hardware such as a new Mac Book Pro.

The iPod Touch released in the past couple of weeks has been disassembled and found to have a Blue Tooth chip which is currently inactive except it's being used for connecting to the sensor in Nike shoes. It also has a provision for a microphone so you can plug in a headset with a mic & use it (along with some software) as a VOIP unit over wi-fi (not the cell network). That's so you don't have to pay for cell phone service.

For notes that follow on previous show's discussion about graphic format conversions:
http://zen.kvmr.org/content/view/73/6/
http://zen.kvmr.org/content/view/72/6/

When sending email to multiple recipients, don't put the email addresses on the To: or the CC: line. It's considered rude to expose people's email addressed unnecessarily. Use the Bcc: line and put your own address in the To: line.
Wikipedia article on Bcc.
Also strip out non-relevant quoted text (the stuff after the > symbol). Email etiquette.

Why zen.kvmr.org uses xxx [at] kvmr.org instead of xxx@kvmr.org?
It's to avoid spam robots that harvest emails from web pages.
Also the mailto: links generally don't work with web based email.

A caller got a Mac Book, downloaded the open source program "Office For Mac", but it doesn't allow the user to exit.
Suggestion is to press option + apple + escape and end that process.
This might be an earlier version of Open Office. To get the latest version; use Neo Office. Go to neooffice.org where version 2.2.5 is currently available. It's also for Windows and Linux also; but it may be a bit unstable on the Mac.
Commercial alternatives include Microsoft Office For Mac (look for student edition) and iWork from Apple which has a 30 day free trial.

More Apple programs are being delivered in DMG format. When you run this type of file, drag the content out to the desktop before running the program.

For availability of DSL in your area go to AT&T
$10/mo (for 1 year contract) if you're new to AT&T DSL
$14.99/mo for the month to month contract. This is down from the recently increased rate of $19.99/mo. See att.com/highspeedinternet. Looks like you'll have to call 1-800-237-4589 to get this service, see web page.

Various ways to connect to the internet.
 

Additional Show Notes

The audio for this show is available here, thank you Paul. The times below are in the form minutes:seconds from the start of the mp3 file.

0:0
Conspiracy theories regarding the Trade Center attack abound; see the links above. There's also a link for the Audio Engineers' Convention.

2:25
Comments about Google's new browser Chrome.

4:34
Chrome might possibly use the add-ons from Mozilla, but it's not clear how to incorporate them into Chrome.

5:50
.xpi files are an aggregate of number of objects.

6:25
No easy way to manage bookmarks in Chrome; menu bar is sparse; appears to be early in its development.

See more links about Chrome above.

9:27
Trend Micro anti-virus update that came out last Friday tends to quarantine some Windows system files causing big problems.
trendmicro.com

10:20
A caller was using 300dpi .tiff files in a Power Point presentation and the computer froze up, but at 72dpi they worked ok. What's the ideal resolution?
Suggestion — don't use .tiff images and there's no need to go higher than 100dpi for presentation, use .gif or .jpg file types. .gif files are lossless.

15:36
A caller has a gmail question — how to save mail into folders.
Can't do it, but you can use their color coding scheme instead. You can even use filters so incoming mail that meets certain criteria will be coded a particular color.

19:03
A caller is going to England and wants to be prepared for the different electrical standard.
Check your power adapter or power supply label on the equipment you want to use; if it says 110 to 240 you're all set but you'll need a adapter for the wall plug. The difference between 50Hz & 60Hz is usually not an issue except for a clock that has a synchronous motor, it would need the correct frequency to keep the right time.
If your power supply says 110 only, you'll need a converter with a power rating sufficient for the device. If you have a high wattage device like hair dryer, it's best to just buy or borrow one at your destination.
To use your cell phone in England it needs to be unlocked, call your current provider, and then you can buy pre-paid SIM card to get up & running while you shop for a foreign provider.
24:43
Wireless is common in England; 3G USB adapters with pay as you go are an option.

30:42
A caller mentions that the ATT/Yahoo browser still available & allows multiple simultaneous logins for email (likely because users of that service are allowed multiple email addresses).

32:0
sbcglobal.net email addresses may not be available (to new users) any more — att.net is used now.

32:10
The caller continues by saying gmail doesn't thread mail by subject when people edit the subject line while replying in an old thread (threading depends on the message ID, not the subject line). Gmail only has the threaded view and viewing mail by date order is not an option.

36:15
An emailed question is about finding power ratings on laptops. Look on the power adapter not the laptop or go to the manufacturers web site & find the specs page for your product.

37:58
A caller can't delete/move icons for "My Documents" & "My Network Places" which appear on the desktop.
By design these can't be deleted but can be hidden from view.
Right click on the desktop, left click properties, click the desktop tab, click customize desktop, and uncheck the icons you don't want to see.

40:10
A caller has more detailed tips for the person using .tiff files in a Power Point presentation. There's a tip for getting images out of a Power Point file and other Power Point tips. (Much detail here; please listen to the audio file, I won't transcribe).

48:00
The same caller has a Mac question regarding a way to determine if the hard drive is going bad. Info about using the SMART technology.