This Week in Tech

Aug 8th 2005

This Week in Tech 17

Episode 17 is Here

Hosted by Leo Laporte

Get #17 now from the usual sources

Records live every Sunday at 5:15pm Eastern / 2:15pm Pacific / 21:15 UTC.
Category: News
  • FCC says Bells can close their networks to other ISPs
  • "Sell outs!" cries Dvorak
  • Are they or aren't they? Is Apple using TPM the technology formerly known as Palladium.
  • Dvorak says it's a dead end - Apple should sell the OS separately anyway
  • Will the Treo 670 run PocketPC not Palm?
  • Steve is keeping six Tungstens in deep freeze in case Palm discontinues them
  • In search of the perfect keyboard - the key is the Alps switch as found in the Avant Stellar and Matias Tactile Pro.
  • Apple's $50 Mighty Mouse is hard to get, but probably not worth the trouble.
  • What's dumber than the OQO?
  • Paul Allen's OQO clone the Flipstart.
  • What's Palm Founder Jeff Hawkins up to next? Voice recognition?
  • Kathi from Germany asks how soon is Microsoft going to die?
  • Michael from Las Vegas wants to get audio files working on SuSE Linux. Get the OSS drivers and use XMMS.
  • We won the People's Choice Podcast Awards. We accept at the Podcast Expo, November 11 in Ontario, California. Thanks for your votes!
  • Jay aka TwitCommander from Boston asks about the Pogo Radio Your Way
  • Just buy a Radio Shark from Griffin
  • Brian from Hoboken, NJ asks about Ruby on Rails. Odeo is in ROR.
  • PHP is not dead yet. Look for a PHP net framework from Silver Orange
  • Jay from San Francisco on how to safely create an open Wi-Fi access point for the Pragers of the world
  • OpenWRT is one way but check your ISPs License agreement
  • Brian in Pittsburg asks about x86 open source ports and Apple.
  • David in Houston Texas is looking for a combo DV cam and digital still camera.
  • Dvorak recommends the Samsung DuoCam
  • Too bad about Foveon.
  • Check out the new JVC Everio line - 5 megapixels and 3CCDs
  • Amy from Australia asks about cracking Audible's DRM. Kevin says he has, but he can't remember how - good thing because Patrick is worried about getting sued. Jhymn won't work.
  • Thanks to Andrew Leyden for the link to the map of podcasts.
  • The Sony Libre is the only epaper solution on sale right now.
  • Leo's been listening to David McCollough's 1776 on Audible...
  • ...and reading Steven Baxter's Evolution and Coalescent.
  • Dvorak loves the Firefly DVD - wait 'til Serenity!
  • Steve Gibson compressed the entire set into 2GB using DiVX and the PocketPC Player
  • The Toronto Meetup featuring Leo, Kevin, Amber, Andy and Alex Albrecht is August 11, 7:30pm at No Regrets in Libertyville.
  • And we're going to start taping TWiT in front of a live audience at Noonan's Bar and Restaurant in Larksput Landing, California, starting September 18 at 4p.
  • Mark Mark Mark hates the echo in Episode 15
  • And that's one of the reasons we're going to a live taping
  • Chris from Sherman Oaks asks what are the downsides to buying an iBook?
  • They're not so good for gaming.
  • Leo plays World of Warcraft on his Powerbook
  • Robert is waiting for Age of Empires III
  • Rick from Redmond, WA asks for wireless router brand recommendations
  • No to Linksys (despite the new security button)
  • We all agree that the Belkin Pre-N is the way to go
  • Any Airgo based Pre-N should do you well, low latency, extreme distance, and 100Mbps throughput
  • Belkin has an easy setup routine - the best Dvorak's ever seen
  • Kevin likes the Netgear routers
  • Michael is looking for a good cell phone
  • Verizon hasn't enabled music on the LG 8100 yet.
  • PIM cell phone hacking software
  • Leo likes his Sidekick II
  • Steve and John like the Motorola Razr
  • Mike with the NYPD is looking for a program that does partial word searches in Word documents
  • We like X1, but you might try Yahoo's Desktop Search - it's the same software.
  • Dvorak was having problems with Blinx
  • We hate Plaxo.
  • Jefferson from Curacao (aka Ghetto Cash) wants to know if the Dell Ultrasharp can be used for TV and PC.
  • Kevin loves the Dell LCDs and Kevin and John love MythTV for video recording.
  • Robert is a Snapstream guy.