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Show Notes:
Teaser
Intro Music.
Contact info.
Items of note:
To get your tech question answered on the show send mp3 attachments or just type your question to geekcast@gmail.com
Vote for the show at podcast alley. If you vote, I will send you a Gmail invitation.
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Tech news:
Tiger has been leaked. According to various websites, the gold master DVD image of Apple’s OsX Tiger 10.4.0 has been leaked
and is now available on the underground portion of the internet. Having been confirmed from a number of users, it seems that people can get a look at Tiger early. Tiger comes out on April 29.
Congress passes the The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act. The bill would make it a federal crime to use video cameras to record films in movie theaters, and it would set tough penalties of up to 10 years in prison for anyone caught distributing a movie or song prior to its commercial release. Moviegoers caught using video cameras in theaters would face up to three years in prison for a first offense and up to six years for later arrests. The bill’s most controversial provision focused on new filtering technology that lets parents automatically skip or mute sections of commercial movies that contain foul language, violence or nudity.
Opera 8 is released. Opera 8 is a substantial upgrade from previous versions, and includes new features such as a unique security information field that indicates the trustworthiness of banking and shopping Web sites and voice interaction capabilities. The new version of Opera also introduces an advanced page-resizing function that adapts Web pages to fit the width of any screen or window. The release for Windows is available in English, German, Dutch and Polish, with more languages to follow.
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How To: Get free, legal, Mp3′s.
In the never-ending quest for free music that is legit, a new opportunity has popped up to get new music for free. Amazon has always offered music on their website, but they are now giving away popular music and their list updates every 6 hours. Head on over to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/561964/gizmodo-20/104-0873263-3298315 and you will see a list of songs you can sample and then download. These are mp3′s, which means there is no copy-protection and you can do what you want with them.
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Music: Underwhelmed- Reveal
http://www.underwhelmednyc.com
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Ask A Geek:
Segment will return in a future edition of the Geekcast.
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Hack: Avoid more spam
When you must register for a website, it’s a great idea to try bugmenot.com in order to get into a website whenever you need. But perhaps you want to register with your own username but you don’t want to compromise your e-mail account to the spam-senders out there. You can get around this with a free service called DodgeIt.com. Dodgeit is a website where you can check e-mail that comes to any address at their domain. When you register for a website, put your e-mail address as anything you want @dogeit.com. It doesn’t have to be unique and it doesn’t matter if someone has used this in the past. Once you are done registering and you need to check for that confirmation e-mail, head on over to dodgeit.com and log in with the username you chose. The e-mail sent from the website will be there. A word of caution, this is not a permanent e-mail address and is purged every so often. Also, anyone can access the mailbox so avoid information that is sensitave.
For more information visit www.dodgeit.com
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The geek’s view:
Sidekick II
The Sidekick II is an interesting phone/PDA offered by T-Mobile and Danger Inc. Sold overseas as the HipTop, the Sidekick is a phone with internet capabilities where you can surf the web and use AOL Instant Messenger. It also has an integrated camera, notes area, addressbook, e-mail client and a catalog to download games and ringtones.
This new version of the Sidekick is a much better fit when carrying it around than the last version. The engineers have made the screen close flush with the rest of the device making it easier to talk on and to keep in your pocket. The hinge for the screen seems stronger and overall the construction looks better. There is also no more grey paint to chip off the unit. The color screen works great and is bright in dark areas due to its backlighting.
One interesting thing about the Sidekick is that all information is stored online at Danger’s servers and that means if hacked, like Paris Hilton’s was, all your information is available. On the flip-side, you don’t have to worry about losing your data if you lose your phone or upgrade from the Sidekick to the Sidekick II.
Browsing the web on the device is slow but it gets the job done when you need it. I estimate the speed is somewhere along the lines of a 14.4 modem. If you can find palm-compatible or mobile versions of websites, they load much faster and are easier to use. One major drawback is that the browser does not support Java. The AIM client on the phone is fantastic and looks exactly like AIM on your computer. It has all the familiar sounds and sports most of the features the standard client does. E-mail on the Sidekick is both good and bad. It supports many formats such as IMAP, SSL, and POP. You can configure it to use GMail and it can check multiple accounts at the same time. You can also create a folder for each account’s messages to go into. The down-side to this is no corporate e-mail integration. There is no support for Exchange at all on the Sidekick. If you need to access your e-mail you would need to forward it to another address the Sidekick can check.
Overall the sidekick is a great device for people who have a need for a phone and a mid-level PDA. While not very customizable, the Sidekick has its limitations but for what it is, it works great.
The Sidekick II retails for $249 but can be found for less with rebates. Learn more at www.t-mobile.com.
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Contact info.
Outro music / sound clip.
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