Tech Talk Guys

Tech Talk Guys – Episode 8 – Today we are talking about the Apple iPad and our favorite apps.

After a long break and lots of changes in the tech world, we get together to discuss the Apple iPad and its effect on us. Not only was it revolutionary to us but it has become a gamechanger for the industry. As e-readers and the iPad start dominating in

Apps Mentioned:
AirVideo
Netflix
Flipboard
PopSci/Wired/WSJ (News Apps in General)
Keynote
Starwalk
Real HD Racing
Modern Combat
Boggle
Scrabble

 

 Episode 008 - Apple iPad and our favorite apps [28:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (20)

Netbooks Netbooks Netbooks! Bill and I met for dinner again and came home for a quick podcast on the Asus EEE 901 that Bill purchased a few months ago. We discuss the viability of the netbook as the next step in personal computing. Perfect for accessing those cloud based services we mentioned in Episode 6. Also funny how even with the various Linux flavors for Netbooks, Microsoft is boasting its 96% penetration of the netbook market (including Bill’s Asus which runs Windows 7 beta). I am shopping for a netbook and considering the Dell Mini 10 or the Lenovo S Series. I am going to make a decision soon and come back to the show with a review and test run.

 

 Episode 007 - Asus EEE 901 [12:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10)

Well we are back after a long break. Both Bill and I had some major changes from Episode 5 to now. Bill had the great honor of becoming a father to a beautiful daughter. I got engaged, married, and had a major job change from the job that initially kept me from TTG. So Bill’s wife invited my wife and I over for dinner and after the meal Bill and I finally sat back down to record the show.

So we were right about the iPhone when we found this article back in 2006. Bill got the phone and summarily hacked it but now got the new 3G iPhone and was very happy with the latest update. Bill mentions how the new firmware removed the 3G buzz. Competitors try to match the iPhone with the new full screen interface and no tactile keyboard. Even enterprise phone king Blackberry has entered the market with the Blackberry Thunder, Storm, Hurricaine…whatever. Smart phones are the phone of choice by most.

Twitter now has unique competition via Laconica. Its a new micro-blogging service that an individual can run on their own server. Leo Laporte from TWiT setup a Laconica for the TWiTarmy.

Interesting services are now available that provide engines for the end-user a quick way to create a micro-blog, a social-network, or CMS.

Cloud Computing:

Google Docs – for documents

Ning – for social network

Twitter – for micro-blogging

So we are putting everything up in the Cloud but how much will we do?

 

 Episode 006 - The last 2 years, Google Chrome, "Cloud Computing": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (7)

iTunes 7.0 for Mobile Phones?: Code that was commented out in the iTunes has references to using a phone as a media player for video and mp3 playback.

Bill acts like the Rainman and a grunty from Halo.

Bill got a VoIP phone from Wally World: Bill found a nice 30 dollar phone from Walmart. We test it out and you can hear the sample.

AT&T True Voice: I show off how this text-to-speech app makes my phone sound like its really futuristic… and polite. Actually the beginning of the podcast was introduced by Audrey. Bill gets nostalgic and talks about his Commodore 64′s speech program.

Best Buy Refridgerator: Bill and I discuss the future of fridge drawings and how kids will eventually just upload their pictures to the screen on the fridge.

Dodge Daytona: Speaking alerts for cars in the mid-80′s in the Daytona and Chrysler Laser.

Carmina Burana: A wonderful piece of music to have on your mp3 player and to listen to as you enter a room. I got the idea from Weird Al’s page on iTunes.

BMW 330i: I tried out a nice Beemer. Parents are in the market for a car and so I tagged along. The BMW was actually cheaper than the van my parents wanted. Of course the van had bluetooth, sat-nav, and power actuation on just about everything. Also got to sit in a GT-40. Absolutely gorgeous. Scion supercharger boosts it in power but still just shy of 200hp.

Did we catch the rabbit?

SATA Drives are CHEAP!!: Internal drives are getting insanely cheap.

My soon to be 64 bit custom rig: Core Duo, Dual SLi support, 2 gigs of RAM, SATA all around… and the most insane case you have ever seen, from Thermaltake. Kingwin Arctic Liquid Cooling system with sweet radiator.

Bill talks about the fully submerged computer. 64bit processing for the next flavor of Windows.

Video for the Show: Invisible Skating.

 

 Episode 005 - Walmart sells Skype Phones, Computer Speech Now and in the 80s, Joe talks about his new dream machine. [37:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6)

Hyundai’s new GPS all-in-one nav system: The new Roadbank RNB 70 DMB navigation system is all prepped for dashboard action, and the 7-inch screen should help you squeeze a good amount of movie into your peripheral vision while tearing through the streets of Seoul.

Bill’s car 2006 Hyundai Sonata: The car I have fallen in love with, I highly recomend the all new Sonata!

DVR advertising tricks: Cable channel FX plans to show what it calls the first U.K. ad designed for viewers who use digital video recorders to avoid commercials.

Thanks for Listening!

 

 Episode 004 - Hyundai's new GPS, Bill's Car & DVR advertising tricks [7:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6)

News from the Apple Conference:
The new iPods: We don’t get the new full screen iPod that was so heavily rumored. There is more vibrant screen, higher definition support as in 640×480, instant text based searching, and the all important battery life has been extended. The new amazingly tiny iPod Shuffle.

I will say that the new Nanos with the aluminium body are very nice and I will probably get one.
iTunes 7.0: Finally it gets an update and whats this… The Music store now also features the Movie store. Makes sense to go along with the more vibrant screen and battery life in the new iPods. But One More Thing…
iTV: The iTV… Steve said they would change the name because iTV is a codeword. It is a set-top box that acts as a delivery system direct to your TV for all the media that you have on your PC. It can even bring down podcasts like your favorite tech guys, Bill and Joe. The iTV features the following connections:
>> 802.11
>> USB2
>> Ehternet
>> HDMI connector for all new big-screen flat panel TVs
>> Component video (RGB)
>> analog audio RCA jacks
>> Optical audio
This will definitely be an interesting contender to any future generations of Tivo and be an excellent delivery system for the future multimedia home theater systems.

Thanks for listening!

 

 Episode 003 - The Apple conference, The new iPods and the iTV [18:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6)

Amazon Video Download Service: A new service from Amazon that will bring more network tv shows and movies on demand to your computer. Though some networks ABC and Disney probably won’t show up. Due to its relationship with Apple thru Steve Jobs and Pixar. Free episode available from Amazon. But don’t weep for Apple they might be announcing their own Movie Store to go hand in hand with their Music Store. Should be interesting how the consumer movie industry develops from this.

Archos Players: Bill’s original Archos Player… The one that I hope to get in case Apple doesn’t come out with a 100 gig Video Pod is a 100 gig Archos Jukebox that also acts as a DVR. Or my dream machine: Archos AV700. So clean

Why does XP runs slow?: This commonly known problem can be due to the pre-fetch cache. This is a bit of memory that stores information for your most commonly run programs and this is what slows down your boot up. **WARNING** This does involve Regedit and if you are not apt at performing registry edits you can turn your computer into a brick. The second component that slows down your machine is the fragmentation. This is easily fixed by doing a defrag. Bill mentioned Sysinternals as a source for a defragger that runs on your actual registry.

Ben Affleck is a Pirate: In preparation for an upcoming role as Superman, Ben Affleck told Jay Leno that he was watching all the original Superman TV shows on his iPod. This is interesting because those episodes aren’t available on the iTunes Music Store. This means that he must have used some third party software to pull the video the off the DVDs, encoded it for iPod, and enjoyed it as many thinks is appropriate. This brings the question of fair use into light.

Remove a Logo with Sugar: Are you anti-corporate America? You don’t want to represent the carrier for your phone? This is the little hack for you then. Additionally for those interested in seeing what my laptop looks like after I painted it you can see the image here.

Thanks for listening!!

 

 Episode 002 - Amazon.com video, Speeding up Windows XP, Ben Affleck and his iPod [17:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (7)

Bill and Joe talk about Gmail, BlueTooth Sniper Rifle and WiMax

 

 Episode 001 - Gmail, Bluetooth Sniper Rifle and WiMax [14:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6)