This is the premiere of the Computer & Technology Radio show, and Marc and Marsha are webcasting live on wsRadio.com, the worldwide leader in internet talk.
Hour 1
Feature: Where Can You Get Good Movie Reviews?
Marc loves getting reviews on the good, bad and ugly in movies fromwww.rottentomatoes.com
And to look up just about everything on movies, try www.imdb.com where you can settle that argument about who was in "The Usual Supsects." Of course, no website can tell you what that movie was actually about!
Feature: Follow-Up Questions
Got a question about something you heard on today's show? You can email Marc and Marsha at marcandmarsha@gmail.com, or for the answer to the question that you cannot find anywhere, go to our Yahoo! User Group.
Caller: "Uncle Joe"
Wants to know the meaning of all the numbers associated with processors? What's the difference between a Core 2 Duo, and a Dual Core? According to Marc and Marsha, it's a huge topic, and one that would take too long to answer now, so Marc will do a segment on "Processor Numerology" next week.
Caller: Robert from the Yahoo! Group
Robert Gismondi has been the moderator of the Computer & Technology Show Yahoo! User Group for years, and has a dedicated band of members who love nothing more than trying to find the answers to your computer and technology related problems.
Joining the Group is easy, and best of all free!
Just click hereto go to the Computer & Technology Show Yahoo! Group, join up, post your question, tip, advice, and you will get the answer.
Caller: David Berger the Show Notes Guy (Me!)
First time calling in to an internet webcast, and the only thing I can say is that the audio quality is fantastic! Infinitely better than AM radio, and best of all, it's captured and stored on the wsRadio website, so that you can download a show if you miss hearing it live.
My question for Marc and Marsha is whether they can recommend a cheap digital video camera for moderate quality videos suitable for posting on YouTube?
Marsha recommends the Flip Video and actually uses it to create video content for YouTube that she features on her web site: www.coolebaytools.com, here's an example of what the Flip Video can do:
The Flip Video is small, completely digital, and had a USB connection to a PC, and best of all comes with its own software that allows your to edit your video, add titles, fade between clips, wait, there's more, it actually formats the video for uploading to YouTube!
Who could ask for more? The Flip Video is available at Best Buy for around $100, and also on-line from Amazon. There is a slightly more expensive version that can record up to one hour of video, and the price is still under $200.
The Flip Video does everything I want, but Marc has a suggestion for a slightly more sophisticated (read expensive) solution - there's a surprise!
Sanyo's Xacti range of Digital Media Cameras start at around $299
and go up to over $700 for a Full HD Quality ultra portable camcorder.
Marsha has seen the Xacti and agrees that it's a really useful device because not only can it capture video in higher quality than Flip Video, but it can also take high resolution still images, so you don't have to carry a video camera and a digital camera, you have two devices in one!
I'm sensing that my credit card is getting that twitchy feeling right about now! At least I won't have to worry about how to spend my tax refund!
Caller: Bill Summers
Bill is Marsha's Canadian co-editor of eBay for Dummies, now in it's 5th Edition.
Bill is an eBay Education Specialist, and teaches his students how to use the Flip Video to add video content to their eBay listings.
Marsha also uses video at her eBay Store, Marsha Collier's Fabulous Finds, where she sells Quakehold - a must have for all Los Angelenos, and uses video clip of Carl Reiner using it to make sure his Oscars don't fall off the shelf in an earthquake! Imagine, mini videos in an eBay listing? Marc says that he's seen eBay listings for cars where the seller has included video clips of the car running so the buyer can see exactly what they're getting.
Feature: Speeding Up Your Computer
Defragging your computer cleans up your computer and really makes it run faster and more efficiently. Fragmenting of files, especially large files, means that the file, say a photo file or long document, occurs as your disk space becomes more cluttered, or when you delete files. The computer stores parts of such a large file in different locations on the hard drive - in other words, in fragments. So, when you load that file, takes longer to open because the hard disk has to hunt around, find the all the fragments, and then present a single file.
Although Windows has built in tools to defragement the hard drive, Marc says a better solution is to use Diskeeper, which works in the background to keep your hard drive spinning efficiently.
Marsha says that Diskeeper's not graphic enough, she likes a program that shows you more of what's going on, a "prettier" program. Of course, you could get a Mac and forget all about defragging, viruses, and the blue screen of death, but what fun would that be?
So if you've noticed that your computer's taking a long time to open and save files, perhaps it's time to defrag your hard drive. Diskeeper is $29.95 and available for on-line purchase and instant download here. It's the best defragging program around according to Marc.
Hour 2
Caller: Katherine in Auburn
Had her PC running when there was a major power outage, when the power came back on, her PC would not print to her HP Laserjet. Tech advice told her it was a problem with her IP Address - totally the wrong advice as her printer is hard wired to the PC by a Parallel Cable.
Marc says that as long as neither the PC or printer were damaged by the power outage and the surge when the power came back on, then the easy answer is to uninstall the HP printer driver, and reinstall it.
Katherine can check the printer by connecting it to another PC to see if it works there. If it does, then get a driver.
Problem for Katherine is that she cannot find her driver disk. Not a problem, according to Marc, just go to www.hp.com and click on the links to 'support' and then 'drivers,' then download the driver for the printer - it's free.
Marsha has an easier solution. Just go to Google, type in the name and model of the printer, plus the word 'driver' and Google will take you straight to the download page.
Marc says if Katherine cannot solve the problem as suggested, she can email Marc and Marsha at marcandmarsha@gmail.com.
Caller: Linda in Chatsworth
Linda's always had her email through her local cable company, and can see problems in the future accessing her email if she moves. She's heard that Gmail has problems, what do Marc and Marsha think?
Marc has used Earthlink for years without problems, hasn't tried Gmail. Marsha uses Gmail and has no problems at all - she can even pick up Gmail on her Sidekick LX, a portable messaging device.
Linda's cable provider is Time Warner, and is Marsha's. Marsha says Time Warner has a website where you can access your email anywhere you have internet access - https://webmail.socal.rr.com/
Linda can pick up her email anywhere from that site. Problem solved!
Guest: Aaron Ronco from Rapid Repair
Marc's biggest gripe about portable devices, like iPods, is that they seem to be designed to slip out of your hand and fall on a hard surface, or into a pool of water! What do you do if that happens to you? Rapid Repair has the answer. At low cost, typically between $50 and $90, they can fix it.
Go to www.rapidrepair.com and get a free diagnostic, they'll send you a container with prepaid postage, and within a few days, your portable device will be as good as new.
Aaron says one of the most common causes of liquid damage to portable devices, like cellphones and iPods is in the car - people somehow manage to drop them into the cupholder!
Feature: The Best Screen Cleaner?
Marc likes a product called Puracell, but Marsha insists that Monster, the makers of cables for practically everything, makes the best cleaner. It's called iClean and it cleans lcd panels, iPods, cell phones, and conventional CRT screens. It also comes with a lint-free, anti-static cloth.
Get it here.
Buy Of The Week
It's an Acer AL2216WDB 22 inch flat panel widescreen LCD computer monitor, Ultra-fast 5ms, WSXGA+ 1680x1050, DVI, VGA, Black, VESA 100mm for only $199.00 from Tiger Direct.
Every week Marc and Marsha will be bringing you the best buys in computer and technology, hardware and software. But be warned, many of the BOTWs go fast, so if you're thinking about it, don't think too long.
Feature: Anti-Virus Programs
Norton Anti-Virus has been the bane of the PC user for many years now, it takes over your PC, slows it down, and won't go away. Marc recommends Panda's Titanium AV program and has used it on all his PCs. But the problem is how to get rid of Norton?
Join our Yahoo! Group where you'll find step by step instructions for removing Norton AV.
Then click here for Panda Titanium Anti-Virus.
Marsha has Panda and hates the constant updates, what's that all about? Well if the evil people out there stopped creating new viruses and an hourly basis, Panda wouldn't have to update. The fact is that without the updates you are vulnerable to computer viruses, and the best part about Panda is that it doesn't slow you down while it updates.
Caller: Chris on the road somewhere between Arizona and California
Chris is lucky, he has a car fitted with an internet radio and has been listening to the show on the road. He has a year and half old Apple MacBook that has suddenly stopped printing on his HP printer.
Marc's advice is to go to System Preferences (similar to Control Panel on a PC) and click on Print & Fax, remove the old driver, and then reinstall.
If that doesn't solve the problem, try our Yahoo! group, or drop Marc and email at marcandmarsha@gmail.com. The Computer and Technology Radio Show will be having a guest Apple Genius in the future, so stay tuned.
It's a Wrap!
The fastest 2 hours is almost over. Marc and Marsha will be back next week at 5PM, but after that, the show will move to its traditional time of 9AM on Saturday mornings, Pacific Time.