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The Geekcast #66
The Geekcast #66 
Show Notes:
Contact info: | Feed: feeds.feedburner.com/geekcast | Website: TheGeekcast.com | geekcast@gmail.com | Skype & Gizmo: Geekcast | 206-98-geek-1 | Show notes: send blank e-mail to geekcastpodcast-subscribe@yahoogroups.co
**************
Items of Note:
This episode continues a series of product reviews in each Geekcast to help you all with your holiday shopping.
The Podcast Alley drive is on for December! Please vote for The Geekcast on podcastalley.com.
Improve The Geekcast while helping out those in need! As I continue to try to improve The Geekcast, I would like to step it up a notch by asking all of you for help while helping those in need.
The Show: I am looking to 'upgrade' the show with a new microphone. I currently record into a $5 Radio Shack microphone, which you can probably tell. The most practical microphone I've found is the Samson C10U, which is professional but also affordable. The C10U retails for $79.99.
The Charity: Given that it's the holiday season, I would like to help those who are less fortunate. There is no greater feeling than helping someone who has nothing and being able to brighten their lives. This year, along with every year I am financially able to, I would like to continue giving to people who are in need of help.
The Idea: I ask that each of you donate $2 to The Geekcast. For each donation I will give $1 to charity and put $1 aside for a 'microphone fund'. Because there are many great charities, I am listing more than one organization to give to. Please visit their websites to decide which one you wish to help out.
The American Red Cross www.redcross.org
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) www.eff.org
The Salvation Army www.salvationarmyusa.org
UNICEF www.unicef.org
Starlight Foundation http://www.slsb.org
How we all win: The charity / microphone drive is a win-win situation for everyone. Here is a breakdown of what would be done with all donations in any outcome:
-50% of all donations will be put aside for a 'microphone fund' until that sum reaches $79.99.
-If the sum of $79.99 is reached for the 'microphone fund', 100% of all subsequent donations will be given to charity.
-Choice of charity is to be determined by the donor. If no charity is specified, funds will go to a charity of my choice from the list above.
-If the 'microphone fund' does not reach $79.99 by 1/1/06 all money donated will be given to a charity listed above, regardless of sum.
How to donate: Click this button to donate $2 and start the ball rolling.
Please select only from the charities above, as they are legitimate charities and there is no fear of donating to a scam. If you wish to donate more than $2, feel free. Unless specified, 50% of that donation will be split. If you wish for more to go to the charity, a minimum of $1 has to go to the microphone fund. Updates will be given on each episode of The Geekcast. Thank you to all who help out the show and also help out those in need.
**************
Tech news:
Firefox 1.5 is released. The new releases sport some interesting new features, including faster page navigation, redesigned preferences dialogs, a new update system, and much more. Most browser users are familiar with this situation: You load a page in the browser, then click a link that takes you to a new page, and then return to the original page -- and you have to wait for the browser to render the page that you were just looking at. Firefox 1.5 tackles this problem with a fast backwards and forwards navigation feature (bfcache) that speeds up browsing pages that have already been rendered. The options for Firefox have been redesigned. The new dialogs have a tabbed interface similar to options dialogs on Mac OS X. Firefox 1.5 allows users to rearrange browser tabs by dragging and dropping them to a new location. The 1.5 release of Firefox includes an Update feature that allows you to simply download an update to the application rather than the entire package.
Windows Vista to allow updates without rebooting. Microsoft is working on a new feature for Windows Vista, known as Restart Manager, which will update parts of the operating system or applications without having to reboot the entire machine. If a part of an application, or the operating system itself, needs to updated, the Installer will call the Restart Manager, which looks to see if it can clear that part of the system so that it can be updated. If it can do that, it does, and that happens without a reboot.
Google adds virus scanning to GMail. Google’s web mail client GMail has recently updated it's What’s New page with information on Google Virus Checking. From that page: "Each time you send and receive attachments, Gmail automatically scans them for viruses. If a virus is found in an attachment you’ve received, our system will attempt to remove it, or clean the file, so you can still access the information it contains. If the virus can’t be removed from the file, you won’t be able to download it. If a virus is found in an attachment you’re trying to send, you won’t be able to send the message until you remove the attachment.”
**************
Test a geek:
--Last Question--
This is a two-part question:
What video game console was named after a move made in a board-game?
1. What is the console? Atari / Atari 2600
2. What is the name of the game? Go
--New Question--
What was the motto or 'tag-line' for the original iPod?
**************
How To: Learn This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
**************
Ask A Geek:
--Question--
Michael asks How do i get words of songs onto my iPod nano?
--Answer--
All iPods support a notes feature where you can take text and upload it to your iPod. There are two programs I found that can do this for you, one supplied by Apple.
Apple has a file available for download at http://www.apple.com/applescript/ipod/
A second program is called "Text to iPod Notes 1.6" This is a freeware drag and drop AppleScript that allows you to read longer texts (e. g. books) segmented into text notes. This program is available from http://www.averbecks.de/scripts.htm
As far as getting the actual lyrics themselves on your computer, you can google a particular line from a song using double quotes so you get exact matches. For example, if you google "The killer in me is the killer in you" along with the word lyrics, you will see the results all bring up the song Disarm from The Smashing Pumpkins.
**************
Hack: Take a screen capture of a DVD in OsX.
Apple places restrictions into their DVD application to not allow you to take screen captures. With this handy terminal command, you can get around that.
1) Put your DVD in your computer and open DVD Player (Applications -> DVD Player) if it does not open automatically. Go to Video -> Maximum Size, or hit Command-3. Fast forward to the frame you want to capture, or select the scene to start at.
2) Open the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal). Type this, or copy / paste it right in the Terminal:
screencapture -i ~/Desktop/dvd.png
Your mouse should turn into crosshairs. Now hit the space bar. Your mouse should now be a camera. Click the window the DVD is playing in. A file called "dvd.png" will appear on your desktop.
If you're on a Windows machine, you can use Cyberlink Power DVD to take captures.
Tip from http://highschoolblows.blogspot.com
**************
The geek's view: Roomba
When looking for a fun gift to give someone, that is also something they can practically use, a Roomba can be a great item to consider. A Roomba is a robotic vacuum that moves around your floor cleaning up the normal dust & dirt our homes accumulate.
At first glance, the Roomba gets a lot of doubt because of its small size. The first thing I and many people thing is "how well can this really clean?". Well that was answered very well after my first outing with the robot. Scurrying around, it got to all corners of my apartment and visible dirt I kept an eye on was eventually picked up by the unit. Once it was done, I opened its dustbin. I was amazed to see a nice-sized amount of dirt and dust was picked up. At that point, I was sold.
The Roomba is a device of mystery at times. Its cleaning pattern is random to say the least. Running the unit time and time again, I noticed the little blue guy didn't take the same path every time even though the room never changed. Like clockwork though, it did get to all areas. The Roomba has a patented technology called AWARE where it can figure out where it is and where it needs to go. Using a series of sensors, it can detect walls and staircases. The Roomba will not fall down stairs, instead it turns away and continues on its merry way.
Along with a basic Roomba, there are accessories that make the unit even easier to use. The top unit, the Roomba Scheduler, allows you to schedule cleanings at any time on any day. You can set it as a one-time cleaning or have it repeat at that day / time each week. You can schedule up to 7 cleanings, one per day. The Roomba also has a 'home base' charging station that is discoverable, which means the Roomba can find it. Once it's done cleaning, the Roomba tries to find the charging station. If successful it will drive up to it and dock up so the battery can charge. Finally there are Virtual Walls you can place in your house if you don't want Roomba to enter certain rooms. My bathroom's rug is too thick for Roomba, so I set one up so it doesn't enter that room of my apartment. It runs of 2 D batteries and best of all can be scheduled as well so it only turns on when the Roomba is cleaning. When the cleaning cycle is done, the wall shuts off on its own.
The Roomba is a great vacuum for someone who doesn't have time to clean or just doesn't like it. It easily goes from floors to tile to carpet with no issues. The automatic charging is a fantastic feature, along with the ability to not fall down stairs. If using the Roomba twice a week, a normal vacuum of your house can become a rare chore. The roomba has 120-minutes of battery life and that is plenty when doing all rooms that are needed.
There are many different models of Roomba with a regular base unit retailing for around $200. The Roomba Scheduler, which comes with 2 walls, charging station and remote can retail for $329.99. You can learn more about Roomba at www.irobot.com.
**************
Show Notes:
Contact info: | Feed: feeds.feedburner.com/geekcast | Website: TheGeekcast.com | geekcast@gmail.com | Skype & Gizmo: Geekcast | 206-98-geek-1 | Show notes: send blank e-mail to geekcastpodcast-subscribe@yahoogroups.co
**************
Items of Note:
This episode continues a series of product reviews in each Geekcast to help you all with your holiday shopping.
The Podcast Alley drive is on for December! Please vote for The Geekcast on podcastalley.com.
Improve The Geekcast while helping out those in need! As I continue to try to improve The Geekcast, I would like to step it up a notch by asking all of you for help while helping those in need.
The Show: I am looking to 'upgrade' the show with a new microphone. I currently record into a $5 Radio Shack microphone, which you can probably tell. The most practical microphone I've found is the Samson C10U, which is professional but also affordable. The C10U retails for $79.99.
The Charity: Given that it's the holiday season, I would like to help those who are less fortunate. There is no greater feeling than helping someone who has nothing and being able to brighten their lives. This year, along with every year I am financially able to, I would like to continue giving to people who are in need of help.
The Idea: I ask that each of you donate $2 to The Geekcast. For each donation I will give $1 to charity and put $1 aside for a 'microphone fund'. Because there are many great charities, I am listing more than one organization to give to. Please visit their websites to decide which one you wish to help out.
The American Red Cross www.redcross.org
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) www.eff.org
The Salvation Army www.salvationarmyusa.org
UNICEF www.unicef.org
Starlight Foundation http://www.slsb.org
How we all win: The charity / microphone drive is a win-win situation for everyone. Here is a breakdown of what would be done with all donations in any outcome:
-50% of all donations will be put aside for a 'microphone fund' until that sum reaches $79.99.
-If the sum of $79.99 is reached for the 'microphone fund', 100% of all subsequent donations will be given to charity.
-Choice of charity is to be determined by the donor. If no charity is specified, funds will go to a charity of my choice from the list above.
-If the 'microphone fund' does not reach $79.99 by 1/1/06 all money donated will be given to a charity listed above, regardless of sum.
How to donate: Click this button to donate $2 and start the ball rolling.
Please select only from the charities above, as they are legitimate charities and there is no fear of donating to a scam. If you wish to donate more than $2, feel free. Unless specified, 50% of that donation will be split. If you wish for more to go to the charity, a minimum of $1 has to go to the microphone fund. Updates will be given on each episode of The Geekcast. Thank you to all who help out the show and also help out those in need.
**************
Tech news:
Firefox 1.5 is released. The new releases sport some interesting new features, including faster page navigation, redesigned preferences dialogs, a new update system, and much more. Most browser users are familiar with this situation: You load a page in the browser, then click a link that takes you to a new page, and then return to the original page -- and you have to wait for the browser to render the page that you were just looking at. Firefox 1.5 tackles this problem with a fast backwards and forwards navigation feature (bfcache) that speeds up browsing pages that have already been rendered. The options for Firefox have been redesigned. The new dialogs have a tabbed interface similar to options dialogs on Mac OS X. Firefox 1.5 allows users to rearrange browser tabs by dragging and dropping them to a new location. The 1.5 release of Firefox includes an Update feature that allows you to simply download an update to the application rather than the entire package.
Windows Vista to allow updates without rebooting. Microsoft is working on a new feature for Windows Vista, known as Restart Manager, which will update parts of the operating system or applications without having to reboot the entire machine. If a part of an application, or the operating system itself, needs to updated, the Installer will call the Restart Manager, which looks to see if it can clear that part of the system so that it can be updated. If it can do that, it does, and that happens without a reboot.
Google adds virus scanning to GMail. Google’s web mail client GMail has recently updated it's What’s New page with information on Google Virus Checking. From that page: "Each time you send and receive attachments, Gmail automatically scans them for viruses. If a virus is found in an attachment you’ve received, our system will attempt to remove it, or clean the file, so you can still access the information it contains. If the virus can’t be removed from the file, you won’t be able to download it. If a virus is found in an attachment you’re trying to send, you won’t be able to send the message until you remove the attachment.”
**************
Test a geek:
--Last Question--
This is a two-part question:
What video game console was named after a move made in a board-game?
1. What is the console? Atari / Atari 2600
2. What is the name of the game? Go
--New Question--
What was the motto or 'tag-line' for the original iPod?
**************
How To: Learn This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
**************
Ask A Geek:
--Question--
Michael asks How do i get words of songs onto my iPod nano?
--Answer--
All iPods support a notes feature where you can take text and upload it to your iPod. There are two programs I found that can do this for you, one supplied by Apple.
Apple has a file available for download at http://www.apple.com/applescript/ipod/
A second program is called "Text to iPod Notes 1.6" This is a freeware drag and drop AppleScript that allows you to read longer texts (e. g. books) segmented into text notes. This program is available from http://www.averbecks.de/scripts.htm
As far as getting the actual lyrics themselves on your computer, you can google a particular line from a song using double quotes so you get exact matches. For example, if you google "The killer in me is the killer in you" along with the word lyrics, you will see the results all bring up the song Disarm from The Smashing Pumpkins.
**************
Hack: Take a screen capture of a DVD in OsX.
Apple places restrictions into their DVD application to not allow you to take screen captures. With this handy terminal command, you can get around that.
1) Put your DVD in your computer and open DVD Player (Applications -> DVD Player) if it does not open automatically. Go to Video -> Maximum Size, or hit Command-3. Fast forward to the frame you want to capture, or select the scene to start at.
2) Open the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal). Type this, or copy / paste it right in the Terminal:
screencapture -i ~/Desktop/dvd.png
Your mouse should turn into crosshairs. Now hit the space bar. Your mouse should now be a camera. Click the window the DVD is playing in. A file called "dvd.png" will appear on your desktop.
If you're on a Windows machine, you can use Cyberlink Power DVD to take captures.
Tip from http://highschoolblows.blogspot.com
**************
The geek's view: Roomba
When looking for a fun gift to give someone, that is also something they can practically use, a Roomba can be a great item to consider. A Roomba is a robotic vacuum that moves around your floor cleaning up the normal dust & dirt our homes accumulate.
At first glance, the Roomba gets a lot of doubt because of its small size. The first thing I and many people thing is "how well can this really clean?". Well that was answered very well after my first outing with the robot. Scurrying around, it got to all corners of my apartment and visible dirt I kept an eye on was eventually picked up by the unit. Once it was done, I opened its dustbin. I was amazed to see a nice-sized amount of dirt and dust was picked up. At that point, I was sold.
The Roomba is a device of mystery at times. Its cleaning pattern is random to say the least. Running the unit time and time again, I noticed the little blue guy didn't take the same path every time even though the room never changed. Like clockwork though, it did get to all areas. The Roomba has a patented technology called AWARE where it can figure out where it is and where it needs to go. Using a series of sensors, it can detect walls and staircases. The Roomba will not fall down stairs, instead it turns away and continues on its merry way.
Along with a basic Roomba, there are accessories that make the unit even easier to use. The top unit, the Roomba Scheduler, allows you to schedule cleanings at any time on any day. You can set it as a one-time cleaning or have it repeat at that day / time each week. You can schedule up to 7 cleanings, one per day. The Roomba also has a 'home base' charging station that is discoverable, which means the Roomba can find it. Once it's done cleaning, the Roomba tries to find the charging station. If successful it will drive up to it and dock up so the battery can charge. Finally there are Virtual Walls you can place in your house if you don't want Roomba to enter certain rooms. My bathroom's rug is too thick for Roomba, so I set one up so it doesn't enter that room of my apartment. It runs of 2 D batteries and best of all can be scheduled as well so it only turns on when the Roomba is cleaning. When the cleaning cycle is done, the wall shuts off on its own.
The Roomba is a great vacuum for someone who doesn't have time to clean or just doesn't like it. It easily goes from floors to tile to carpet with no issues. The automatic charging is a fantastic feature, along with the ability to not fall down stairs. If using the Roomba twice a week, a normal vacuum of your house can become a rare chore. The roomba has 120-minutes of battery life and that is plenty when doing all rooms that are needed.
There are many different models of Roomba with a regular base unit retailing for around $200. The Roomba Scheduler, which comes with 2 walls, charging station and remote can retail for $329.99. You can learn more about Roomba at www.irobot.com.
**************