Saturday, November 19, 2005

Norbtek.info Podcast Show #010

This is the Norbtek.info Podcast, for Saturday, November 19, 2005. Show #010

Kitchen Gadgets

[News]

There is a new U.S. House bill (HR 4127 DATA) currently in review, "The House DATA bill would require companies to contact customers only when there is a reasonable basis to conclude that there is a significant risk of identity theft." This bill is weak in as far as the company who’s database has been compromised gets to decide if the risk is sufficiently great enough to warn you. Senate Bill 1789 would also create one unified law for all 50 states, but it would allow potential ID theft victims to put a seven-year fraud alert on their credit report. Read the full CNet article.

[Main Topic]

‘Tis the Season to be Cookin’! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas is not too far behind. So I’m pretty sure things at your house are gonna be somewhat like mine. A lot of cooking and baking will be happening. My wife suggested that I do a show about Kitchen Tech and Gadgets and so here are a couple of things that she and I thought might come in handy for your cooking season.



[Listener Email]

We received a bit of mail this time.

Listener Kirk asks 2 questions:

Question #1: Is there a way to save emails to a file from a Gmail account? Similar to a *.pst file on Microsoft Outlook

Answer: I have not seen anything on offloading emails to your PC. If you are using an email client that accesses your Gmail via POP3 or you have your Gmail account forward a copy to your PC based email client, then that way you can back them up.

Question #2: How can you play realmedia files on your ipod? Itunes will not recognize a *.ram file.

Answer: iPods will not play *.ram files only AAC, MP3, AIFF, and WAV files according to the Apple website, however, if you can convert your RAM files to MP3 then you can get them onto an iPod. You might want to try RM to MP3 at Snapfiles.com. It is $25 and comes recommended by CNet.com.

New Listener Art who heard my special segment on the Typical PC User Podcast writes:

I heard you on the latest TPCU Podcast with Victor. I was really interested in what you had to say about the Replay TV. I was wondering how the Replay works with Adelphia cable service as far as the Guide. I currently use the Moxi DVR and like it. I would love to be able to network my DVR's as you mentioned you can do with the Replay.

I explained that Replay guide service checks out what subscriber service you use for your TV and parses their database for show listings and times.

I notified Art that there was an AVS Forums ReplayTV user who wanted to sell a brand new 5040 unit for a very decent price. Well, happily I can say that Art is the newest member in the ReplayTV brotherhood.

Congratulation Art, and thanks for listening.

[Additional Items]

Special Rant

  • CBS.COM News

  • I signed up for this service about 2 years ago before I knew about RSS. I severed the automatic downloads via email over a year ago and up until a month ago I was CBS.COM email free. All of a sudden I started getting emails again. So I went to the site to delete myself from the list. But the method of deleting one’s self is neither clear nor easy. This freaking service will not delete me from their mailing system after having requested it several times. No one there gets it. I want to stop the service. CBS, please make a dedicated "Unsubscribe" link that will get me off the mail list. I am encouraging all my listeners not to subscribe to their website email service.




  • Samsung

  • My piece of crap MP3 player. Why doesn’t it work right after being upgraded to the latest firmware? I upgraded it because it was supposed to provide more capabilities. NOT! Now I can’t play “playlists” on my player. It does not show up in the playlist menu. I have to modify all the podcast stracks or music files that I want in a playlist to a new “album” instead so that I can find it. What a bunch of whooey! Apple, here I come! Hey Santa, were you listening? Yeah, the Video iPod, the white one, that would be fine. And a scratch resistant case for it too, thanks. I have been a good boy all year.




  • Napster

  • I upgraded you too and now you are coming up with messages that Podcasts are DRM’d. Uh, hello!?! I don’t think so. Hey Chuck Tomasi, are you DRM’ing your Technorama Podcast? Napster, fix the freaking program. What are you, a bunch of Microsoft Windows reject programmers? Come on.

[Tip]

You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

[Final thoughts]



  • Please let me know how you found this podcast, I’m really interested. Email me at norbtek.info @gamil.com.



  • Show notes are available on the Blog at norbtekinfo-dot-blogspot-dot-com.



  • We have Gmail invites to give-away. Send me an email, Norbtek.info@gmail.com, with “Gmail Invite” in the subject line and we will get that out to you.



  • Hey, check it out! I’m on the Typical PC User Podcast; I do a segment on the ReplayTV 5000 for Victor Cajiao. Go to http://typicalpcuser.biz/tpcu/ it’s show #68

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Norbtek Listener Map

Go to our Listener Map and sign in. I would like to see who is listening and where you are from. So go and put yourself on the map!

Norbtek.info Podcast Show #009 - Home Automation Follow Up

OK, So I said Saturday, November 13 instead of the 12th. Who cares...

This is my Home Automation follow up podcast. In this show I go over some gadgets that you can put into your Home Automation System and do some really cool things. Well, at least some of them. The others are just really cool gadgets. Here are the links to the items:

The Russound iPod friendly multi room sound and entertainment system

Cell phone signal extender by Wireless Extenders - $300

Pocket Dish video Recorder & Player from Dish Networks - $500
or http://www.archos.com/products/av_700/

Clock Radio/Wi-Fi enabled MP3 player - $350 before Nov 30 $400 after

Proliphix Network compatible IP Thermostat - Starting at $260

Central Home Automation Director (CHAD) - About $400 annually for the hardware and service

Centralite – Starlite Lighting Control System - $3000 + installation

LG Remote Laundry Monitoring - $1,349 for the washer, $949 for the dryer, and an additional $99 green for the remote monitoring kit

Sereniti NOW! – Home Networking for Non-techies - $200 annually or $10 a month


Hey, check it out! I’m on the Typical PC User Podcast; I do a segment on the ReplayTV 5000 for Victor Cajiao. Go to http://typicalpcuser.biz/tpcu/ it’s show #68


On my next show my wife suggested that I should cover some Kitchen Tech for the upcoming Holidays, so stay tuned for some really cool stuff.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.