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Show Notes:
Teaser
Intro Music.
Contact info.
Items of note:
I am trying to normalize the mp3 of this show and also eliminate background noise. Is it working? Please e-mail me and let me know. Thanks!
I need to know a good but inexpensive microphone for my iPod. I heard the iTalk from Griffin isn’t so good. How is the Belkin? Are there others I don’t know about? Please e-mail me before Friday evening geekcast@gmail.com.
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Tech news:
Apple updates the Power Mac and their Cinema Displays. As rumored, Apple has released new Power Mac systems, topping out at 2.7 ghz with dual G5 processors. Running at a cheap $2,999, your crazy-fast computer sports 1.35ghz fronside bus, 512mb of RAM, 250gb SATA hard drive, 16x SuperDrive (double-layer), Three PCI-X Slots and an ATI Radeon 9650 with 256MB DDR video memory. On top of this, the Cinema Displays have dropped in price with the 20-inch coming in at $799. A great deal for sure.
Russell Crowe has probably infuriated Apple by revealing the launch date of the iTunes store in Australia. Apparently it will be open as early as Thursday, selling tracks for AU$1.80 each.
Apple has pulled all of John Wiley & Sons’ books following a spat over an unauthorized Jobs biography. The book, iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, has had its entire line of books banned from Apple stores as a result of their unhappiness with the content of the book. Wiley, publisher of the popular Dummies series of books, as well as the Bible series, is quite surprised, due to the fact that they view the book to show Jobs in a largely positive light.
Paul Thurrott gives an early review of Microsoft’s Longhorn. He writes: “I’m reflecting a bit on Longhorn 5048. My thoughts are not positive, not positive at all. This is a painful build to have to deal with after a year of waiting, a step back in some ways. I hope Microsoft has surprises up their sleeves. This has the makings of a train wreck.” Looks like Apple’s OsX is the way to go…. again.
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How To: Use BitTorrent
BitTorrent is THE way to share files online. It’s fast, easy, and works great when you’re trying to distribute files as well because it relieves the demand on your servers. First you should understand how BitTorrent works, in theory.
The theory: Instead of connecting to a network of peers that are sharing multiple files, you connect to a network sharing one specific file. Everyone is only getting the one file and because each new member of the network is another resource to pull from, the download speeds get faster as more people use it. This is in total contradiction with servers that get killed as millions pull files from it. When downloading from the peers, you are not getting the file sequentially but in chunks that go somewhere in
the file. You may need the first few parts of a file and someone else could need the end that you have. You’re both close to finishing the file but you need those last chunks. You both ‘trade’ the chunks and now you have the file.
The practial use: BitTorrent is good for two things: downloading huge files and providing huge files. When you want to download a file, you need to find a website that keeps track of these torrent ‘networks’ that you can find a specific file on. The keeper of this information is called a Tracker. When you download and open a .torrent file you connect to the tracker and that provides peers to download from. Because of this implementation you are NOT anonymous when using BitTorrent.
On the flip-side, if you have a large file you want to distribute, you can make a torrent and have people download it in that fashion. Because they are not downloading directly from your website and from their peers instead, you can get the file to all your readers with only a small hit to your server. The tracker is what will need to be kept accessible.
BitTorrent is free and works great once you understand how it works and where to get what you need. Lots of Linux ISO’s are now being sent out via this method and you can also find lots of underground illegal files this way too.
To get BitTorrent head on over to www.bittorrent.com.
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Music: Mash-up: DJ Ruckus- Walkie Talkie Vertigo Man
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Ask A Geek:
Segment will return in a future edition of the Geekcast.
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Hack: Disable Windows Messenger in Windows XP
When you use Windows XP, Windows Messenger comes up all the time when you use certain programs. When you’re in Outlook or Outlook Express, you will have problems with stopping it from launching. Its integration into the OS is frankly annoying and to the average user it cannot be stopped. Well this is how you do it:
1. Open My Computer and go into your C drive.
2. Go into the Program Files folder.
3. You will see a folder called Messenger. Right-click this folder and rename it to Messenger_
Windows may ask if you are sure you want to do this. Say yes. If Windows Messenger is still running, be sure to exit it before you make this change. From this point on, Windows Messenger will not run at all. To undo this hack, just rename the folder back to the old name.
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The geek’s view:
Segment will return in a future edition of the Geekcast.
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Outro music / sound clip.
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