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!

 

 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!

 

 Mike Miller Selling 2.0 [61:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (83)

TOPIC:  Another fantastic (if a bit rushed) interview with our good friend Mike Miller!  This time around he’s sharing with us the in-depth info on how to buy, sell, and market yourself online after the ‘demise’ of eBay (come on and admit it, eBay just isn’t that much FUN anymore!).  His new book, Selling Online 2.0 is available at Amazon, or you can check out all of Mike’s library (over 90 books!) at http://www.molehillgroup.com.

We get rushed this week because in addition to another great segment by Jay “Geek Trivia” Garmon wherein Customer Jones becomes an official nemesis, Michael goes on a GoDaddy rant, sharing info on how your important emails might be blocked if you use GoDaddy for webmail (see our related posts here and here).

We received some questions about the TechTalk Ubuntu setup and how that was done, so continued the useful dual-boot configuration tools discussion with this coolsite of the week:

• EASEUS Partition Manager – The safest way to have your system dual-booting is, as Offspring says, to “keep ‘em seperated.”  If you’ve got one giant C: drive, or maybe too many darn drive letters sharing the same physical unit, the EASEUS Partition manager will take care of that for you – free for home use!

The podcast only song of the week is “Freedom Highway” by Mavis Staples.  We’re off next week, but join us in 2 when we return with another book breakdown of the “The Geek Atlas” by John Graham-Cumming.

 

 spycraft and coolsites [59:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (108)

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!

 

 Michael Miller Speed It Up [63:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (78)

TOPIC:  Author and musician Mike Miller comes back to the show to talk to us about making the most out of that ‘dying’ PC.  If you’re debating whether you should upgrade to a newer piece of equipment or if it’s possible to squeeze some more  useful life out of what you’ve got, you’ll want to listen in this week!  His tips and insight are also good in general, and you’ll be sure to pick up something of value even if you don’t get his highly recommended book Speed it Up! A Non-Technical Guide for Speeding Up Slow Computers

We also spend a lot of time with our good friend Jay “Geek Trivia” Garmon, who informs us that WRLR now has an exclusive lock on the Geek Trivia output from Louisville!

In addition to all of that excitement, we’ve got our cool sites of the week:

• Panda Cloud Antivirus – Free, light, outstanding quality?  Wow, how better to sum up what we look for in a cool site of the week!  Get your hands on this necessary piece of software and protect your computer today  …
• Windows Live SkyDrive – More very cool microsoft cloud stuff, this gives you 25GB of free online space.  That’s right, that’s  a capital G for giga and a lower-case f for free!  You’ll need an office live account, but guess what?  Those are free too!

Our podcast only song of the week this week is Kinky’s remake of Mexican Radio.  And don’t forget to check out Mike Miller’s Speed it Up! or any of his other many excellent tomes!

 

 Matt Richtel Hooked [59:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (60)

TOPIC: August 16th, 2008 (A CLASSIC FROM OUR ARCHIVES) – This week’s geek trivia winner receives a copy of Matt Richtel’s “Hooked”, and then we talk to the author himself about the craziness of a monkey-style brain trying to recreate it’s arboreal roots via electronic stimulation. No, really. And yes, it does make sense!

Of course we’ve got our awesome cool sites of the week – www.criminalsearches.com will expose that creepy neighbor for his true self, and freefonts.co.in and www.searchfreefonts.com for some very great font selections.  We finish up with a new podcast only song … “The Day the Data Died” by Loose Bruce Kerr!