It's 9am on Saturday morning, and Marc and Marsha's show has returned to its regular time.
Marc and Marsha are in the studio taking calls and talking about what's new in tech this week.
Feature: Routers - What are they? Why do you need one?
According to Marsha, it's "the thingy you need to go between your modem and your PC" so that you can connect multiple computers to the internet. Perhaps that's not the most technical explanation, but it gets to the point.
A router allows you to share your internet connection and, if it's a wireless router, allows you to use a laptop anywhere within range of the router.
Marc points out that routers are more than convenient, they also form a hardware firewall that protects you from intrusions by hackers.
Marc and Marsha are huge fans of Netgear's range of wireless routers. Marc says they are reliable, well made and easy to set up.
Marsha particularly likes the look of Netgear's products, if you are going to have one in your home then it's better if it looks good.
Netgear routers are stylish and lend a high-tech look to your home without sprouting antennae like some alien robotic life form. The Rangemax router is pictured here, and it certainly looks like Netgear have taken a lesson from Apple in product design.
Routers come in varying specifications and are rated from slowest to highest in terms of data transfer (the time it takes to transfer data to and from the PC to the modem) by the letter in the 802.11 sequence.
So the slowest are the original 802.11b routers, next up are 802.11g which have a speed of up to 54 Megabytes per second (Mbps), and the fastest are the 802.11n routers with speeds of up to 270 Mbps.
Feature: Marc's Blazing Gaming Laptop
Marc has been testing Gateway's new FX edition of their popular line of laptops.
Weighing in at a hefty 9.2 pounds, the $1,400.00 laptop boasts a superlative graphics card to give its 17 inch screen the ability to satisfy the needs of the most demanding gamer, and it also allows you to watch a DVD on an airplane with cinema quality playback. It does, however, beg the question of whether this is a notebook/laptop, or rather a portable desktop.
Feature: $5 Rebate on Books for Dummies
Practically everything you ever need to do, is explained in Wiley Publishing's easy to read and understand range of books.
Marsha's eBay for Dummies is a great example of the way that Wiley Publishing demands that authors simplify and explain the complicated in ways that anyone who can read can understand.
For the month of March, there's a $5 rebate being offered to buyers of any of the vast range of books for Dummies, and don't be put off by the title, many an 'expert' uses these books for their own reference.
Feature: Modern Gaming
Marc says there are basically 3 types of gaming systems (apart from various handheld devices:
Sony's Playstation 3 (PS3)
Microsoft's XBox 360, and
Nintendo's Wii
While the PS3 offers the best in graphics (and is also a Blue Ray player) and the X-Box 360 is a very close second, the Wii offers a more active interface, it's motion sensing hand held controller allows gamers to play tennis with a tennis racquet that attaches to the controller to give you the real feel of the games, and a jolly good workout into the bargain!
Caller: David in Beverly Hills (me!)
Last week Marc recommended Canon's CanoScan LiDE 600F as a scanning solution for desk space conscious users, and I went ahead and bought one!
It's an amazing device - light weight (3.5lbs) and USB powered, so there's no power adapter to lug around. It also can sit and operate semi vertically so it really frees up your desk space.
It comes with Canon's suite of software, an one of the most useful features is its ability to recognize and separate multiple items. So, if like me, you want to scan your old photographs before the fade or get damaged, you can put as many as six photo on the scanner's platen, press a button, and seconds later, bingo! you have six separately scanned images.
Another really good feature is the LiDE technology - the 600F uses LEDs to scan the image, and therefore there's no delay in scanning while you wait for the light to warm up - a typical complaint with traditional scanners.
I bought mine from Amazon, but you can find the 600F in stores as well as on-line for under $140.00.
Although the CanoScan 600F comes with software for use on Windows and Mac, I had problems installing the software on my Apple MacBook Pro.
Fortunately, a trip to Apple's Genius Bar resolved the problem. I pay $99 a year for Apple's ProCare - a priority service at any Apple Store. I get the undivided attention of a Genius, and in this case, Juan at the Beverly Center Apple Store wouldn't give up until he solved the problem.
In my case it was Apple's new operating system, Leopard. It comes with drivers for almost every device you can imagine. That's good because you can plug and play almost anything. However, sometimes devices conflict with those pre-installed drivers, so the solution was simply to remove the conflicting drivers.
Feature: Internet Radio in your Car
Marc and Marsha agree that the days of local radio broadcasting are numbered: wsRadio has a worldwide audience 4 times higher than Marc's radio station KABC 790 Los Angeles.
If Internet radio is the shape of things to come, then Ford is not slow to jump on the wagon, and featured an Internet Radio equipped car at CES.
Here's a video by one of Ford's product managers that explains it in more detail:
Now, wouldn't it be great if you could also get Internet Radio in your home without having to use your PC?
GUEST: Jim Carlton from Logitech
Logitech's line of "Squeeze Box" internet radio devices provide the easiest way to get literally thousands of internet radio broadcasts in your home, without turning on your PC.
Logitech spent as much time in designing a device that looks cool as they did working on the User Interface. With the Squeeze Box Duet, you can easily search for precisely the type of radio you want.
Buy Of The Week
It's a 500GB External Hard Drive with "One Touch" Backup, for only $99.99 from Buy.com!
It's amazing value - just 20 cents a Gigabyte!
Feature: Ergonomics in Computer Use
These days, with computers in the home and office, and most people spending more time working with computers, it's increasingly important to pay attention to how you work.
One of the most important factors is the height of your monitor - ideally it should be in line with your eyes, so you are not constantly hunched down looking at it.
Monitor design has come a long way since the days of bulky CRT monitors, and 15 inch flat panel LCD monitors are available for under $100. You can also spend a lot more, like Marc with his 30 inch Gateway monitor
that costs around $1700!
Perhaps a good compromise is somewhere in the middle.
Marsha found this Viewsonic 22 inch monitor for $220 at Buy.com.
Ergonomics is a vast topic, and it's not just the monitor, it's the chair, the keyboard and the mouse. Marsha found the perfect mouse...
The Perific mouse is perfect, according to Marsha, and can be used in up to 10 different ways to reduce strain and make your mouse use, well, perfect!
Get it here for under $120.
Feature: Must Have Gadget of the Week
Ever been somewhere where your portable device runs out of power and you don't have a charger? Marsha's been there and done that, and has the answer:
The TekCharge is a mobile power charger that comes with a wide range of tips so you can charge your cellphone, iPod, digital camera, or pda, in fact just about any portable device.
Get it here for under $30.
It's a Wrap!