Guest: Michelle Madhok our "Cyber Santa"
Helps busy women shop on line to find great hi-tech holiday gifts for kids of all ages!
and
Current Hot Gift Ideas:
Game consoles are going fast, but this year games may be harder to find if you wait too long, especially Super Mario for Nintendo & Halo 3 for XBox, so shop early!
Other Tech gift ideas:
Kindle - Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device
iPod Nano - the new video iPod Nano is selling as fast as Apple can make it, and with good reason too, it's a lovely product!
Zune player - Microsoft's fighting back with an improved Zune.
Electronic Toys for (Young) Kids:
Smart Cycle - plugs into tv kid rides it to make it work
EyeClops Bionic Eye - EyeClops is the handheld Bionic Eye that plugs into your TV. Simply point the EyeClops at virtually any object and see it magnified 200 times on your TV. It's like a microscope you can use on your TV or an unique, interactive TV toy
On-Line Buying Tips:
ID Theft Protection
Use a Credit Card not an ATM or Debit Card because there's someone to complain to if something goes wrong, and there's only a $50 Maximum that you can be charged. You can also protect yourself by using PayPal.
Check for "Scam" Sellers
- Search the retailer by going to Google and typing their name and "scam" to see if there are any reports of misconduct.
- Overeseas sites - beware of sites that do not have a real, physical address.
- For the most part, shopping on the net is just as safe (or dangerous!) as shopping in person - protect yourself by only dealing with websites tha that have secure servers, and have a good reputation.
Get A Deal:
Sign up for emails and alerts from retailers - use a free email that you can easily discard, such as Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hot Mail.
Get Coupons - you can get coupons on-line that can save you $$$! Check out Michelle's website to get coupons for almost anything.
Caller: Michael in Sherman Oaks
Wants to buy a PC, budget approx $1,500 for a home use desktop with a 22" monitor.
HP or Dell?
Marc's not a fan on Dell, HP is fine, but Gateway is Marc's computer of choice. FX530 $1,499.00 and is available on-line customizable, or you can get it off the shelf at Best Buy. Extended warrantee? Typically, problems occur in first few months. Over time Hard Drives can fail, but they're cheap to replace.
Michael wins 4 tickets to the Computer Fair - December 16 & 1, 2007 at the Pomona Fairplex.
Caller: Mark in Santa Ana
Says he works on Dells, but last week worked on a Gateway and re-installs on Gateways are much easier as they provide automated driver installs and as Mario points out, Gateway are the only company that still provides a restore disc. Also, HP charges you if you call them out of warranty, but Dell does not charge.
Caller: Thomas
Not so impressed with Gateway - bought 3 laptops from Best Buy last year and all started freezing up. Could be a bad batch - it's unusual to hear that about Gateway, and Marc's tested many of them without problems.
Thomas downloaded a free program called "Super Anti Spyware" and wants to know if it's legit. Marc's never heard of it, and warns that many of these free programs can actually contain spyware. Stick to known safe programs such as Spysweeper and free programs Adaware and Spyboot Search and Destroy. Thomas can post a message in out Yahoo Group to see if anyone has heard of this program.
Caller: Glenn in Westwood
Glenn's been buying Gateway since the 1990's and never had a bad one. They're the only company that provides a Restore Disk and ongoing support.
Marc also says Gateway's new 30 inch monitor (XHD3000) is awesome.
Caller: Alan in Newport Beach
Recently bought an Apple MacBook Pro, and loves the design and features, especially the back-lit keyboard. But Alan is having a hard time learning Mac and want to know if he can run Windows XP on the Mac?
Marc says absolutely. Macs come with a program called Boot Camp which allows users to install Windows XP or Vista. It's a dual boot program, so as you boot up the Mac, you choose which OS you want to use, Windows or Mac OSX.
There are also two 'emulation' programs; Parallels and Fusion that allow users to seamlessly switch between Apple's operating system and Windows.
Caller: Bill in truck on the way to Rancho Cucamonga
Has an HP, when he boots up it goes to the password screen and goes completely blank. Bill has done a System Restore, but still cannot access his files. Should he re-install Windows?
Restore from a DOS prompt might be the way to go, it often works when System Restore fails to work from within Windows. Otherwise, reinstall the OS and do all the updates.
10 O'Clock Hour
Guest: Katlean De Monchy
Editor in Chief of Nextpert News Network with Tech Gifts for the Holiday Season.
Nextpert News Network tracks the New and the Next. Loves gadgets that really compliments life, and for guys, one of the cool gadgets this holiday season is GPS Systems despite guy's reluctance to accept directions.
Microsoft's Streets and Trips 2008
comes with a GPS and gives real time information on how to get the cheapest gas, as well as voice prompts for the most efficient way to get from point A to B.
Large LCD's on cameras are making it easier to take and view digital photos.
The Nikon D40 not only has a great display, but can also take up to 50 pictures in 10 seconds, so you never miss the shot. It's a dummy proof digital SLR with on-line support and makes a great gift for under $500.
Cellphones are developing into more than just a communication device.
The LG Venus can access video of sports events and news, has sliding QUERTY keyboard, and fast data connection speeds.
More information on cool gadget gifts for the holidays from http://www.nextpert.com/
Caller: Barbara in Granada Hills
Not computer savvy, gets error messages like "Do you want to Debug?" and does not know what to do.
Marc says debugging is a way to fix something that did not work properly, and is very difficult to use, so it's better to just leave it alone.
Marc says that since he started using Vista, he has not got a debug message.
You can turn off Debugging and unless the problem is persistent, ignore it or turn off debugging.
Barbara is getting this message when she uses AOL, the answer may be to uninstall and reinstall AOL, and make sure that there is no conflict with an Anti Virus program. Make sure that your anti-virus has the latest definitions, and just to be sure that no virus has attacked your system, go to Cyber Defender and run their free virus scan.
BOTW
4GB Kingston Data Traveler Flash Drive
for only $23.99 from Buy.Com
Caller: Henry in Los Angeles
Has a problem playing a music file that he recorded from vinyl from a Maxor external hard drive on a Vista machine. The file plays on his laptop. He has the latest drivers and the latest Windows Media Player. Marc thinks the problem may be a compatibility issue, and suggests re-recording the music file directly to the external hard drive.
Feature: Conan Video Game for PlayStation 3
The character that would not die; an action adventure video game, featuring epic brutality, sheer evil, and visceral combat.
What more could you ask for? It's for Sony's PS3 and the graphics are amazing. Click here for more gore...
Caller: Don in Winnetka
Don downloaded and saved a You Tube video to his hard drive, and wants to create a DVD of it so that he can send it to a friend who does not have a computer. Marc says Don should be able to Drag and Drop the video file to a CD or DVD and burn it to the media.
Caller: Richard in West L.A.
Has an HD DVR box on his cable, and wants to know if he can transfer something he has recorded to a DVD using a DVD Recorder. Marc says "Probably," it depends on the type of DVR that Richard has.
TiVo allows you to stream video to a PC and then burn to a DVD.
Dish Network's new HD recorder allows you to plug in an external hard drive and copy it to the external hard drive, but not burn a DVD.
There is software that can create a DVD "My DVD" by Roxio.
Mario says that if there's a USB port on the back of the DVR then you can get the video out of the DVR and into a PC for burning to a DVD.
Next Week
Another great show, and on December 15, 2007 Chris Hardwick Host of Wired Science will Co-Host with Marc.