Norbtek.info Podcast #002

We will be going over the subject of HDTVs on the next few podcasts and discuss; when is HDTV going to be manditory for broadcsaters, the kinds of diaplays available, what type of display is best for your application and should you get an integrated HDTV or a HDTV monitor (also know as "HDTV Ready", "HDTV Upgradeable" or "HDTV Compatible").

Todays topic is HDTV 101:
We will discuss the basic types of HDTVs & Display types

Check out some of the articles at Electronic House
or the online coure for HDTVs offered by CNET
for additional HDTV information.


Here are a couple of Gadget Goodies for this week from the Think Geek web site designed for Cube Farm Warriors:

The Marshmallow Shooter: An excellent addition to the office arsenal, shooting calamitous confections over 30 feet

The Room Defender: Use it to protect your cubicle or office

Todays Windows XP tip:
Take advantage of the Show In Groups view

If you're managing a Windows XP system that stores a significant number of data files, chances are good that you're using Windows Explorer's Details view to help sort through all of the files.
While the Details view is a great way to look at your data files, Windows XP offers another view that, in many circumstances, can make it even easier to manage your collection of data files: the Show In Groups view.
To enable the Show In Groups view, follow these steps:
1. Launch Windows Explorer.
2. Go to View | Arrange Icons By | Show In Groups.
This view setting divides Windows Explorer's displays into sections with headers that correspond to the sort option that you've selected. For example, if you've sorted files by Name, XP will group them alphabetically by letter. If you've sorted files by Date Modified, XP will group them by time, such as Yesterday, Earlier This Week, Last Week, etc. You can easily change the group sort order by clicking a different column header.

What is a Podcast?

What is a Podcast? I believe that a podcast is an audio file that is recorded and made available for direct download or via RSS for listening later on a computer or portable audio device like a PDA, laptop, MP3 player, etc. The audio content is created as if the host or hosts were talking directly to the listenening audience about a specific subject or subjects.

Lately there have been a couple of "podcasts" that are just re-broadcastings of previously recorded radio shows made available at a later date or time. This type of "podcast" is not a podcast at all and should not be called one. I don't care that people like Rush Limbaugh or Leo Laporte and others are or will be making their radio shows available on the net, but please don't call them podcasts! Are the traditional podcasters going to be drowned out by the influx of this type of content? I surely hope not!

To give credit where credit is due, Leo does do the "This Week In Tech" podcast and the audio for his blogs, all which are available via RSS, and these are real podcasts and are rightly called such.

Thank you for reading this rant as it is my prerogative to do such, and damn it, I will!

Somebody is Listening!

I have tracked the downloads for the show this week and by Friday I have had a total of 26 downloads, of which 22 are from unique IP addresses. Wow, that is cool! I actually had one listener email and was asked for not one, but two Gmail acounts. Why not? They are free, and who could not use another email acount, especially since they are at over 2 Gigs of storage right now.

Thanks again to Troy Harmer for his wonderful theme music. I'm sorry to hear that your equipment was taken after a recent show Troy, I hope you get it back. Please go to www.troyharmer.com and check out some of his great music.

I am working on the next podcast and maybe if I get the time, I can put it out earlier than I thought, but it will not be later than the 30th. Hmmm... wedding anniversery weekend... better get it done eralier and maybe shelve it for a couple of days. Well, we'll see.

So, until next time, happy computing.

- Norbert

Finally, Show #001!

Yes, at last. I finally got the first show done. I'm hoping that I will get some hits on this and get some listener feedback, especially some questions for norbtek.info.

I want to thank Todd Cochrane and Chuck Tomasi for their support and encouragement and Troy Harmer for letting me use his music for a theme song. You can find out more about Troy Harmer and his music at http://www.troyharmer.com/ or at http://www.garageband.com/.

Todays Windows Tip:

Disable the new program highlight feature:

Windows XP user interface enhancements are designed to make the operating system easy to work with for users at all levels. However, some features are distracting for intermediate to advanced users, such as the new program highlight feature.

When you install new applications in XP, the corresponding shortcuts on the Start menu are highlighted so you can quickly locate them. Until you actually use these shortcuts, they remain highlighted. If there are numerous shortcuts on the application's menu, you have to access each one to turn off the highlighting.

Here's how to disable this feature:
1. Right-click the Start button and select Properties.
2. Click the Customize button.
3. On the Advanced tab, deselect the Highlight Newly Installed Programs check box.
4. Click OK twice.

You may need to restart the system or log out of XP for the change to take effect.

Well, till next time...

Time to Roll

Well, I had a successful test #2. I got some good feedback on the podcast. Sound levels seem to be where they need to be. So with that, I will get the first "production" version ready for recording and delivery for Monday the 16th if not sooner. The working title for the podcast will be "The norbtek.info Pocast" unless something else comes up. Hey, how about having the listeners come up with something... well, how about I just try to get the darn podcast out first, then maybe work on a different title.

I feel great about this, now for some content...

Nortek,info Podcast Test Show #2

Well I finally got around to the second podcast test. It took several starts and a lot of butterflies. Why I don't know because its not like I'm on live radio or something. Anyway, download the podcast and let me know what you think. I could use some constructive critisim in the technical sense of the podcast, audio levels, how I sounded infront of the mic, what ever. I know the content is kind of lame, but I'm going tohave to just work on that on a "on the job" type of thing.

But I prommised some show notes and here they are (it is?). All I had was the one tip on Extended Security for File Sharing that I got from TechRepublic.com.

Extend security options beyond Simple File Sharing

Simple File Sharing is helpful to inexperienced users, but many advanced users find it too limiting. In fact, you can take advantage of more flexible editors if you disable Simple File Sharing.
Right-click on a file or folder, choose Properties, and select the Security tab. Here are some features available on the Security tab that aren't available with Simple File Sharing:
• Assign individual permissions, such as Read, Write, Modify, and Full Control for every user and/or group.
• See fine-grained permissions for each file.
• Change the permissions on all child objects and prevent the inheritance of permissions from the parent.
• Enable auditing and thus track information, including what's happening with the files and who's changing them.
• Display effective permissions for a user and/or group on each file and/or folder.
• Display and change ownership of files and folders.
In addition, you'll find the following options on the Sharing tab:
• Provide a comment for the share.
• Specify the maximum number of users that are allowed to access the share at the same time.
• Set individual permissions for each user and/or group.
• Configure caching settings for clients using the shared folder from the network.

Oh yeah, I wanted to mention that the theme music for the show is courtesy of Troy Harmer. You can find more of his stuff at Garageband.com. Thanks Troy for the great music.