Forest Whitaker, iMovie, GeForce FX
Episode #1223
Top Features
Bit Chat: Forest Whitaker Actor Forest Whitaker promotes the Nodance film festival, an alternative venue for digital films. | Review: iMovie 3 We take a close look a the latest movie editing application for the Macintosh. Nvidia's Fastest Video Card |
More From This Episode
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Today's headlines
- Rival to Comdex show considered (New York Times; free registration required)
- Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report
Join our LAN Party
Find out how you frag one of us in our weekly LAN Party powered by Nvidia.
Question of the Day: News source
Vote in our poll and join our Talkback discussion.
[H]ard|OCP
Kyle Bennett, editor in chief of [H]ard|OCP, visits the show to talk about the new Nvidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra.
Megan's Web tip: IP diagnostic tools
If you're behind a firewall, finding your external IP address can be tricky. Here's an easy way to find it.
Go to IPMonster. At the top of the website you'll see your current IP address. If you're having problems, use IPMonster's free diagnostic tools.
On This Day
In 1902, aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh was born.
Windows Tip: Print File
Morgan shows you how to print out a directory of your files in Windows XP.
Site of the Nite: The Advertising Slogan Generator
What can this mechanized marketing marvel come up with?
Megan's Windows tip: Stop error reports
Windows XP includes a new feature called error reporting. This pops up when a program crashes. It asks you to send an email to report the event to Microsoft's debugging teams. Here's how to stop this feature:
- Right-click My Computer and choose Properties.
- Select the Advanced tab.
- Click on Error reporting.
- Click on Disable error reporting.
Tune in tomorrow
Be sure to catch tomorrow's show. This show is not to be missed.
- William Gibson, one of the most celebrated sci-fi authors on the planet, joins us.
- Stan Lee, comic-book genius and creator of the comic-book character Daredevil, is in the studio.
- We'll have a TiVo tweak, too.
End of show emails
- Martin has received a lot of email bragging about IQs over 150. Martin says you're taking the wrong test. Take the Test for Exceptional Intelligence.
- A viewer wants to know if you can use an old car antenna as a Wi-Fi antenna. Can't do.
- A viewer wants to know the difference between a laptop and a notebook. There's no difference. You say "toe-may-toe" I say "toe-mah-toe."
- A viewer can't remove the heatsink from his CPU. Try using a hairdryer and blow some warm air where the compound is supposed to be. You need to loosen up the compound to free the heatsink.
Send us email
- Got something for the show notes? Email us.
- This page is updated throughout the live broadcast of the show at 7 p.m. Eastern.
- Looking for a past article? Find it in our archive, which keeps a list of articles up to a year old.
Live Calls
Ping problemRyan in Greendale, Wisconsin, want to know what "ping" is.
Ping is a way to test an Internet or network connection. The ping time tells you how fast the data is getting to your computer. In network gaming, the lower the ping, the better. If your ping rates are above 200, you might want to do some troubleshooting to better your performance.
If your ping has been fluctuating, you might want to do some troubleshooting to see if you computer is having problems. Patrick recommends using the VisualRoute Server, which provides a graphical traceroute from its server to any other network device you choose. It's useful for pinpointing network connectivity problems and identifying IP addresses. You just hit the Start Trace button, and it'll perform a trace, which you can use to determine your performance.
Patrick also recommends Ping Plotter, a network troubleshooting and diagnostic tool. It uses a combination of trace route, ping, and whois to collect data and then lets you continue to collect data over time to give you the information you need to identify problems.
Another tool Patrick recommends is AnalogX NetStat Live. NetStat Live is a TCP/IP protocol monitor that lets you see your exact throughput on both incoming and outgoing data. The software also lets you see how quickly your data goes from your computer to another computer on the Internet.
Shuttle PCs
Dane in Cedar Falls, Iowa, is building his first computer. He's thinking about putting together a shuttle PC. Do we have any advice for him?
Shuttle PCs are small and compact, ideal for mobility, but not as portable as a laptop. They look nice, and they're easy to carry, but Patrick and Martin don't recommend using a shuttle PC if you want a PC that uses the latest components. You have to consider size when picking your components, and it may mean selecting components that you may not want.
If this is the first PC you're building, start with a regular-size desktop PC. Component size is a secondary consideration, and it's easier to assemble.
Boot Camp call
Dave in Point Huron, Michigan, wants to know how to use the Linux Mandrake ISO image he downloaded from the Internet.
Our favorite way to get Linux is in ISO format. ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization. There are many ISO standards. In this case we're talking about the ISO 9660 format used by almost all CD-ROMs of Windows, Mac, Unix, and so on. It's sometimes called the High Sierra format.
Using your CD burning software, you take the ISO format and burn it to a CD, then run the install from that. Some CD burning programs can copy the contents of a CD-ROM to an image file and re-create the CD from that image file. Check your software manual or the software manufacturer's website for assistance on burning ISOs.
Read all about ISOs, where you can find them on the Internet, and how you can burn them to a CD.
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