To be a computer technician in Texas you have to be a licensed private investigator. In a huge rebuke of Microsoft, Intel is not going to install Vista on the computers of their 80,000 employees. They evaluated the pros/cons and costs in detail. Hank and Alfred felt that Microsoft has to change their business model. There is a big demand for the desktop Atom CPU from Intel which uses very little electricity.

Rhapsody, a download music site, will now sell the 5 million songs in their library in non-copy protected form (no DRM). Alfred felt that Apple will have no choice but to follow suit as almost everyone knows how to defeat their DRM. The prices of flash ram memory. Yesterday was a huge patch day for Mac OS X Leopard. This was the fourth major release of bug fixes for Leopard.

There are many ways to still get Windows XP, even though it was sort-of, maybe, somewhat discontinued a couple days ago. Retailers can continue to sell computers and copies of the OS they have in stock. The major PC vendors will sell you a computer with XP Professional pre-installed if you first buy a business edition of Vista and then ask them to "downgrade" it. This is currently scheduled to end January 31, 2009. Some retailers, such as NewEgg, sell OEM copies of Windows XP in shrink-wrapped boxes. These copies are intended for System Builders but anyone can buy them and install it on a new PC. However, there is no tech support. This too, is scheduled to end on January 31, 2009. To fight off Linux, XP Home will continue to be available on low end laptop computers until 2010. All the major PC vendors sell "refurbished" machines and many of those still have Windows XP.

Sometimes Windows Vista will step down it functions if its running on a computer without sufficient horsepower. The difference between backing up and synching. What is an incremental backup. Your PC is not off when it's off.

Listener phone calls.

 

Hank and Joe went to the digital experience show. We discussed a Vizio 32-inch plasma TV that sells for under $600. More on Verizon blocking usenet.A proposed FCC rule change. The Atom CPU was just released in laptop and desktop versions. The laptop version uses 2.5watts, the desktop version 4.5watts. A new Intel motherboard with the desktop Atom CPU is very small and costs only $80 - list.

Gartner estimates 35 million PCs will end up in landfills this year. We discussed re-cycling. Retailers and manufacturers do it, they really recycle. Hank saw a new high end Toshiba laptop that's very fast. It has the usual core 2 duo CPUs and then adds a cell derived cpu and an extra graphics cpu. It's big and heavy with a 17 inch screen.

A new Sony 32 inch Bravio TV uses less power and LED backlights. LED backlights can be turned off if a segment of picture is dim. Plasma TVs look great in a darker environment, not so much in a bright room. Alfred wouldn't buy a plasma TV for his own use due to noise in the image. Alfred prefers HDMI connectors for HDTVs even though most people wont see a difference compared to component input. He said to only buy the cable online, not at a local electronics store.

Listener phone calls.

 

The first GA version of Wine was just released, it lets you run Windows applications on Linux or the Mac OSX without Windows and without VMs. AMD will release a new CPU to compete with the Intel Atom. IBM's version of Open Office, called Symphony, just came out of beta. We finally know why so many Xbox 360s died - bad heat dissipation from the graphics chip. Sharper Image gift certificates. Despite the popular videos, you can not cook popcorn with the radiation from four cellphones. More about Verizon blocking usenet newsgroups.

David Perry from Trend Micro discussed why the company no longer submits their product to the VB100 anti-virus test.

Listener phone calls.

 

LG sued Quanta. Apple announced a new version of OS X, v10.6 that will run only on Intel CPUs and adds support for Microsoft Exchange. There is a new iPhone coming in July. The Sharper Image is closing all of its stores, use your gift cards now. Three ISPs will block child porn. Windows XP SP3 changed the meaning of the "date modified" field for a folder. While this is a minor point, there was no heads up from Microsoft about this. SP3 also broke a lot of drivers. Back in April, Michael advised on his blog that you Don't install Windows XP Service Pack 3, yet.

We interviewed Kathy Davis of WBAI about audio editing using Adobe Audition. She uses version 2, the program is now up to version 3. It retails for about $300. Kathy is not a techie and it took her six months to get up to speed on using the program.

Listener phone calls.

 

No more fund raising, this was a normal show. Newegg and Amazon are charging tax to NY state residends as of June 1st. A couple cable companies are testing charging based on the amount of data downloaded every month. Download a lot, pay more. Sandisk will release new SSDs for ultra cheap laptops. The new Netflix set-top box. Cheap small laptops.

Listener phone calls.