TechTalk on WRLR 98.3 FM

 

 paul mcfedries windows 7 unleashed [60:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (50)

TOPIC:  Wondering about all this Windows 7 hype you’re hearing?  Not sure how you’ll figure all the new stuff out, or if it’s worth it?  Well, Paul McFedries joins us and provides answers from his 800+ page tome Windows 7; Unleashed!  We have a great time and get around to at least a few of those burning questions!

Jay Garmon does his usual Jay thing again, but we’re once again without Dave “Sparky” Saganaki.  If you’re missing Dave, send him some love at techtalk@wrlr.fm and see if we can’t beg, con, guilt or otherwise convince him to come back in the studio sometime soon!

We don’t have a huge amount of time for cool sites, but I did pick a real good one – with multiple areas – anyways:

• Aviary - With a whole host of online, free, and very cool products to check out you’ll definitely want to fly up to the aviary sometime soon.  I’ve played with the audio creator (named Myna), but you’ll have fun looking at everything if you’re more graphically inclined than me!  They’ve got flash image editors, fun color and vector editors, and more … this may be just one site, but it’s got tons of great stuff on it!

And finally, the podcast only song of the week is the totally rocking “Elvis” by These New Puritans!

The press release from Myine Electronics states “Myine’s Ira Wireless Internet Radio is designed to harness the universe of radio broadcasts available on the Internet and to allow user enjoyment anywhere a wireless internet connection, a speaker system and power sources are available.” And that pretty well sums it up – and it does a great job at it too!

The general point of the unit is to not only give you access to the world of internet streaming radio and podcasts, but to do it easily, quickly, and without having to know a whole lot about what’s going on with your network or connections. “There is a lack of good products available for people who are not tech savvy or just busy,” said Jake Sigal, Principal and Founder of Myine Electronics. “Ira doesn’t have any unnecessary bells and whistles, and sets up automatically right out of the box without a computer. We believe that with potentially confusing electronics, less is more.”

When you first break the Ira out of the box, Continue reading »

 

 geek atlas john graham-cumming [57:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (75)

TOPIC:  We get all geek-a-licious on you this week! Not only do we have our usual ‘Geek Trivia’ with Jay Garmon, but we are also joined by John Graham-Cumming discussing our latest recommended read -”The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive.”  We had a great time with the book, and an even better time talking with the author! The Geek Atlas is a wonderful travel guide that not only details locations to go to but the detailed and fascinating science behind why they are some of the most interesting places on earth for the geek in us. Though we didn’t get time for a lot of news and updates, no show would be complete without a whole handful of coolsites of the week:

• GrooveShark – Looking for a tune you just have to hear?  This site will find dozens of copies and versions you can stream instantly and for free!  Jump on the grooveshark before the RIAA catches wind!
• TwitCam and CamTweet – Both excellent options for getting your face out there to all your tweeps … easy to set up, easy to use, and (of course) free!
• TheUserManualSite – Looking for a manual? Want to throw out those dozens of paper ones you have in the drawer? Check this free site out to combine all your manuals in one place, organized and downloadable!

The podcast only song of the week is “Dear God” by Black Landlord and is truly podcast only thanks to a few questionable words, so beware.   There’s a good chance you won’t be hearing from us for a few weeks … we’re on our summer vacation, but pick up a copy of the “The Geek Atlas” by John Graham-Cumming or hang out and wait for us to come back and talk to Plextor on August 22nd!

Casio EX-FC100 High Speed Camera

The Casio EX-FC100 is one of Casio’s newest entries in their line of highly regarded, extreme tech point and shoot cameras.  Like the others in the line, the FC100 has a very small form factor and weight, 9 megapixel JPG resolution, and a large, easy to read LCD.

Although there are some nice options like the ‘best shot’ presets and a really fabulous anti-shake system, if all you’re looking for is a good, easy to carry point and shoot, you might think the $399 list price is somewhat overpriced; and you’d be right.  Where the FC100 really shines and achieves it’s value is in the breadth and depth of their high speed still and video options.

Just looking at the back of the camera you’ll notice some buttons that should grab your attention.  The first is one called ‘slow.’  Using this button caused a universal jaw-drop to everyone I demonstrated it for … it seems to slow down whatever you are looking at until you are ready to take your picture(s)!  At least within the confines of the LCD screen, when you click the ‘slow’ button, you start viewing 1, 2, or 3 seconds worth of full-resolution images at 30, 15, or 10 frames per second that allows you to cherry pick just the pictures you want to take – no more missed smiles, splashes, or slam dunks!

There’s also a one-click ‘30’ button that takes a burst of 30 pictures during one second – so if you know you’re going to see something cool, you can bracket it with this and come up with some pretty neat flip card type pictures and effects as well as making sure you don’t miss that critical shot.  It would have been nice if the FC100 let you adjust the burst mode, speed, or number of pictures, but in most cases between that and the slow motion button I did not miss it.  Of course, 30 fps is going to fill up your storage pretty quickly, but the FC100 has a nicely intuitive interface to let you choose just the frames you want – another great way to zero in on just the right picture. Continue reading »

 

 spycraft and coolsites [59:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (107)

TOPIC:  We missed Jay this week through issues that were solely the responsibility of the host (yours truly), so don’t believe the audio where we cuss Jay out (for those with sensitive ears this is of course not true, we would have redacted anything like that!)  Speaking of which, on the flip side our error with Jay got us a ton of time to spend with J. Keith Melton and discussion on his new book SPYCRAFT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA’S SPYTECHS, FROM COMMUNISM TO AL-QAEDA. His book and our interview are well worth your time as we cover the first mobile communication devices, evolution of spy gadgetry, and what does miniaturization mean for spies of today!

We decided to do a list of lists coolsite listing this week and came up with:

• Data Recovery Tools – Top 5 FREE data recovery tools, as collected by Lifehacker.
• Online PDF Apps – Top 10 awesome online PDF apps, as collected by CNET.
• Career Sites – Top 20 slideshow of IT professional’s career websites from Dice to The Ladders, as collected by Network World.
• Top 50 Websites – 50 websites you’ll wonder how you ever lived without, as selected by curiousread.com!

The podcast only song of the week is “The Golden Path” by Chemical Brothers feat. Flaming Lips!

Plextor PX-B310U DVD and CD Burner + Blu-ray ROM

The Plextor B310U BD is a slick, glossy black external DVD/CD burner, and Blu-ray disc ROM.  It cuts DVD’s at 16x and CD’s at 48x.  It can read Blu-ray at 6x, but note that it does NOT write blu-ray … if you’re looking for that you’ll have to step up to a pro model (and pay quite a bit more).

Stepping through the basics, I’ve got to say that the installation was one of the easiest that I’ve done in a long time!  You connect it up to your USB and then turn it on.  There’s no driver disks, no need to download stuff off the Internet, you literally just plug it  in, wait a minute and it’s ready to go!  I installed it in this manner on both my Dell Latitude loaded with XP and also an Acer with Vista Home Premium with the same results.  It brings the ‘play’ back to ‘plug and play’ like it’s meant to be!

Continue reading »

iFrogz DJ Style “Union” Headphones
When I first saw these headphones, I went ‘Yow!’  My cohost and other DJ’s at the studio had a similar reaction.  I believe the quoted statement was ‘you look like a DJ escapee from a Mumbai discotheque!’ You can catch the complete show – and our live reactions right HERE.

Let there be no mistake however, iFrogz makes some serious ‘phones.  I plugged them first into my laptop to start reviewing and listening to music prep for the show and pulled up some Talking Heads ‘Naïve Melody’ … and was immediately impressed.  The bass response was deep and full, the highs registered well with only minimal loss at upper registers, and the overall comfort and fit were excellent.  It really made listening to some of these ‘classic’ tunes like hearing them for the first time again.

I used a 1/8” to ¼” adapter to allow me to plug into our professional Tascam equipment for the show.  Again, I was suitably impressed with the response and comfort during our hour long show.  The ‘phones come with an extra long cord, perfect for moving around the board, giving enough extra reach that you can easily arrange mic’s for guests, spin in your chair or whatever needs you might have.

Continue reading »