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Items of Note:
Thank you to everyone for 100 amazing episodes of The Geekcast. It is with all your help, participation, feedback and love that I continue doing this great show. Enjoy these favorite cuts of past episodes which feature some of the best content I’ve presented:
The original opening from episode #1.
From Episode #4:
How To: Set up a podcast
Software: Adobe Audition, Audacity
Hardware: XP, $4 microphone
Blog: Livejournal, blogger
Feedburner converts feed.
Hosting the files
From Episode #10
How To: Get something for nothing. Free software alternatives to
expensive programs:
Adobe Photoshop- Free equivilant: The Gimp (www.gimp.org)
Microsoft Office- Free equivilant: OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org)
Microsoft Windows- Free (geeky) equivilant: Linux (www.knoppix.org)
Norton AntiVirus | McAfee AntiVirus- Free equivilant: AVG AntiVirus (www.grisoft.com)
Other great free programs:
Trillian- All-in-one instant messaging that combines AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ. (www.trillian.cc)
iTunes- A great music jukebox that plays many music formats (even Mp3′s you ‘aquired’ from Kazaa. www.itunes.com)
ZoneAlarm- Simply the best free firewall out there. (www.zonelabs.com)
From episode #13
How To: Search Google from anywhere using your cell phone
Google is one of the greatest tools anyone can use. When you’re on the road, away from a computer you many need to do a Froogle or Google Local search. This can be accomplished via Google SMS and will work with any cell phone on any carrier.
1. Open a new blank text message on your phone.
2. Enter your query as a text message.
3. Send the message to 46645 (GOOGL on most phones).
4. Receive a text message (or messages) with your results, usually within a minute.
With Google SMS you can get local listings, movie showtimes, weather reports, Froogle search results and dictionary definitions. Learn more at http://sms.google.com
From Episode #18
Ask A Geek:
Paul asks: What is ‘DRM’ and why does it seem that there are lots of effort by people to break it? I’m just curious why Apple is trying to push this ‘DRM’ thing, I’ve no idea what it is or how it works.
DRM, or Digital Rights Management, has made a lot of news lately with the latest iTunes hack from the well-known DVD Jon. DRM is a security system for computer files. It protects files from being copied or moved or anything else its creator wishes. By wrapping a security system around a file, the people who get the files are limited in what they can do with them. This is why if you buy a song from the iTunes Music Store, you can only burn it 7 times. The security system (the DRM) protects the file. By creating this DRM scheme, music studios are able to breathe easier about files not being shared once bought.
On the other side of the argument, people are always trying to break DRM security because of fair use. Fair use exists as a way for the average person to use things. When you tape a song off the radio, that is okay because it is fair use of your equipment. Ripping a CD to your computer is fair use as well because you are trying to listen to the music in your PC. There are people dead-set against DRM and to fight this, they try to break the security. Usually when this is done two things happen:
1. The company alters the DRM and ‘breaks’ the method used by the hackers so it no longer works.
2. The company gets out the lawyers and files lawsuits.
So in essence, DRM is good for companies, limits end-users, and is the enemy of freedom fighters. A balance should be struck for all sides that is fair to all parties involved.
From Episode #29
Portions of my interview with Leo Laporte
From Episode #35
How To: Delete files Windows XP claims are still in use.
If you use Windows XP, you have run across this issue too many times. You attempt to delete a file, and you are told: “in use by another person or program.” The problem is this file is not in use at all.
This is a common problem for Windows users, and a frustrating one at that. Sometimes you have to reboot the computer to correct the condition, and it may persist even after a reboot. The error message isn’t even very helpful, since it doesn’t tell you which person or program has a lock on the file! How do you stop the insanity??
A new freeware utility called Unlocker helps get around this problem. When installed, it creates a right-click context menu in Explorer that provides you with a list of what processes are holding a lock on a particular file. Select the processes, click Unlock, and the locks are freed up. You are then free to move, delete or modify the file.
Unlocker is different from other utilities on the market since it works by closing handles held for a particular file by a process. Other utilities only kill the host process that has a lock on a file — and if the host process in question is Explorer or some other program that really should be left running, this isn’t practical.
Unlocker works great and best of all, it’s completely free. You can download Unlocker from: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
From Episode #38
Audio Segment: Mac switch parody
Audio from http://www.happynowhere.net parody of the old Apple ‘switch’ commercials. This is a classic bit.
****Please note some of the audio is not work-safe due to one or two curse words.
From Episode #44
The geek’s view: The.Scene
The.Scene is an online ‘tv show’ following a group of people who release movies onto IRC networks. Each episode focuses on the worries, paranoia, and real life influences of these people feeding the online community with the latest movies. The main character Brian Sandro is an NYU student that begins to turn on his group by selling the releases to groups in other countries and the story goes from there to become intricate and truly interesting.
The.Scene is visually just like being at your computer. The episodes are of computer screens with open mIRC windows and music playing in the background. Sometimes someone is at the computer and other times not. Either way, the story is interesting and relaxing to watch. If you are into trance / techno music, The.Scene plays some interesting music that will definitly perk your interest. Already at episode 11, The.Scene is released monthly and is a true geek story. For anyone who watches internet video, this is a fun one to add to your list of things to watch.
The.Scene is free, comes in many formats and can be downloaded quickly over BitTorrent. To learn more, head on over to http://www.welcometothescene.com
From Episode #60
Digital Life Expo 2005
This episode covers the Digital Life expo at the Javits Center in NYC. This is a huge show put on by Ziff Davis and features some of the biggest companies out there. On this episode I interview a rep from Akimbo, Janet from the TV show Guiding Light, Erik from MobiTV, John from Pepper Computer, and the world-famous “TiVo” Shannon who is the main spokesperson for TiVo.
From Episode #70
How To: Use GMail on your mobile phone.
Google has just launched Gmail mobile, a super-stripped-down version of Gmail for your mobile device. Now you can access your Gmail messages from the web browser on your mobile phone or device. Read and reply to your Gmail messages any time, anywhere.
This is good news for anyone with a web browsing mobile device, or anyone who’s hoping to find a hot new web browsing mobile device under the tree this year. Just point your phone to http://m.gmail.com and get Gmailing!
From Episode #94
How To: Record Skype calls on a mac.
One of the major gripes with Skype is that it doesn’t integrate a recorder function. If you want to record your calls, it can be difficult and frustrating. After much trial and error, I have found a great method for doing this on a mac.
The method of recording the call will involve 2 audio files, one of each person, that will be needed to combined into one conversation. To record Skype you want to use Audio Hijack Pro, which is a fantastic application that can record audio from any application. You will use this to ‘hijack’ Skype. The person you’re speaking to will be in this audio file. For your voice, you want to open up Garageband and record from your microphone into there. The great thing about Garageband is that it will record from your microphone but not take it over so Skype can use it too.
Once you’re ready to go, hit record on both programs and have your conversation. Once it’s done, import the Skype audio file into Garageband as a second track. With just a little bit of lining up at the beginning, the conversation should automatically be synced and now you’re set. The two tracks can be exported as a single file and edited as needed. Best of all, because no conversion is needed, the audio is clear.
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Tech news: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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Test a geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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How To: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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The geek’s view: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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