Harris Interactive Poll says Blu-Ray adotion Lukewarm

While HDTV Resides in More Households, Interest in Blu-ray Remains Lukewarm
Few Likely to Purchase a Blu-ray Player within the Next Year

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While Blu-ray was declared the big “winner” in the high definition format war last year, consumers may be slow to be part of the winning team. In fact, Americans are not jumping on board with any of the high definition DVD players. Just one in ten Americans (11%) own a HD DVD player while 7% own a Blu-ray player. Looking at the other devices for playing HD DVDs, 9% own a Sony PLAYSTATION®3 (which plays Blu-ray ) and 3% have the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox® 360 (which plays HD DVDs).

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,401 U.S. adults surveyed online between April 13 and 21, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.

While slow to catch on, ownership of all these high definition disc players is up from May 2008. Interestingly, while Blu-ray was the clear “format war” winner over HD DVD, sales of HD DVD players (11% in 2009 vs. 6% in 2008) are up over 2008 by about the same margin as Blu-ray players (7% in 2009 vs. 4% in 2008). Both were rivaled by the Sony PLAYSTATION®3 (9% vs. 5%). However, only 3% purchased the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox® 360, up from 1% in 2008. There is no expected surge of interest pending -- only 7% of non-Blu-ray player owners report a likely purchase of a Blu-ray disc player within the next year, down from 9% in May 2008

Ownership of HDTVs

Looking at high definition television sets, almost half of consumers now report owning a high definition television (47%), up decidedly from May of 2008 (35%). HDTV ownership rises dramatically with household income (27% for those with less than $35K vs. 62% among those with more than $75K).

Are Blu-ray Player Owners Switching from Standard DVDs to Blu-ray Discs?
On average, consumers purchased approximately 6 Standard Format DVD’s in the last six months compared with 1 in HD format (HD DVD .7 vs. Blu-ray .5). However, plans to purchase Standard Format DVD’s is down by half compared to past six month purchases, while interest in HD DVD’s (.6) and Blu-ray (.7) are holding their own. Notably, HD DVD format purchases reflect the continued sales of the HD DVD players within the past year.

When Blu-ray player or PS3™ owners are asked specifically about standard versus Blu-ray format purchases, the results suggest a mixed bag of behaviors with some price sensitivity indicated:

Only one quarter plan to switch to Blu-ray completely (25%), while one third of Blu-ray or PS3 owners claim that most of their movie purchases are now on Blu-ray format (32%);

Two in five are waiting for Blu-ray format prices to come down before they buy more (43%) – and a quarter buy Blu-ray regardless of price (25%); and, Only 1 in 5 appear to be replacing or duplicating their existing standard format DVD library with Blu-ray format (21%), and over a third say they only buy movies on Blu-ray format that they currently do not own on standard definition (37%).

So What?

In addition to financial issues that may be slowing consumer adoption, Milton Ellis, Vice President and Senior Consultant, Harris Interactive Technology, Media, and Telecom Practice added, “Blu-ray also faces competition from alternative technologies such as cable, satellite, and the Internet. Consumers today can easily watch high definition TV channels or use the Internet or video-on-demand to access high definition movies. In the near future, access to high definition movies may be a download or streaming delivery of one’s favorite movies to a home media server that eliminates the need for a Blu-ray player and Blu-ray disc. One thing is for sure, the market will be highly competitive and consumers will have a wide variety of choices for their entertainment experience.”

The Harris Poll® #63, June 18, 2009By Joan Barten Kline, VP, Research, Business and Industry Sector, Harris Interactive Methodology

This Harris Poll® was conducted online within the United States between April 13 and 21, 2009, among 2,401 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at www.harrisinteractive.com.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Symantec Center Advises on Twitter Invite Worm

The good folks over at Symantec have posted an interesting article on a Mass Mailing Worm in a Fake Twitter Account Invite that is catching some - Take a look at this good posting at the Symnatec Blog

https://forums2.symantec.com/t5/blogs/blogarticlepage/blog-id/spam/article-id/203

Andy

Update: Added Video Segment from Schlage

We added a segment from KOLD TV 13 on the Schlage LiNK system. This Home Security Keypad Lock and Bridge to your network gives you more control over your Networked Home

system. Check out the Video at http://www.techtalkradio.com/koldtv/koldtv.htm

Scroll to the Segment from 5/5/2009

Swooosh Gone from TechtalkRadio

We have finally removed the Swoosh Sound from the TechtalkRadio Page after it loads. I had some of those with Screen Readers complain it was a bit annoying when it would pop in every 45 secs..Keep the Suggestions coming!

Review Posted of the DXG U579V

We took a look at the DXG U579V High Definition Digital Video Camera with 720p capabilities (30Fps) 1280 x 720. The bundled Camera and Waterproof housing offers a great solution to those that enjoy the great outdoors and maybe even getting wet! Check out our review and video from KOLD TV CBS

The picture to the left was taken while getting ready for the Tech Tuesday Segment while Jenny and Scott were delivering the Morning News. We give the Camera a few stars in its operations although we weren't entirely overwhelmed with the Battery Life at a little over an hour with 4 AAA Batteries. The ability to take some fun video though gets us past having to carry an extra set of batteries.

Read the full review at http://www.techtalkradio.com/reviews/dxgu579v.html

Interview with Eviant VP Andy Frankel Posted

We talked with Andy Frankel of Eviant on the Companies Portable Digital Televisions in both 4.3-Inch and 7-inch models. A wide range of colors and other great features go along with these Portable Televisions that will work after the Digital Conversion June 12th, 2009.

Check out the interview at http://www.techtalkradio.com/hardware/eviant.html

New Interview Posted

We've posted a new Interview at http://www.techtalkradio.com with Associate Creative Director Yvonne Perez Emerson of Curiosity Group. The Company, based in Portland, handles creative design and output for client projects with companies such as HP, Apple, Disney, Sega, Dreamworks and an impressive list. Yvonne shares with us how she has integrated the Adobe Creative Suite 4 products into the workflow for the stylish and creative agency.

Tune in to find out how you can try Adobe Creative Suite 4 for 30 days to get your feet wet and how the products interact with the other software in the suite to provide faster and productive completion of projects. Listen in at http://www.techtalkradio.com/software/curiositygroup.html

Interview with Macworld Senior Editor Christopher Breen Posted

We posted an interview with Macworld Senior Editor Christopher Breen at TechtalkRadio sharing information on the new book available as a Downloadable PDF, CD with PDF or Book form titled "Macworld iPhone Superguide Second Edition." It covers the iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch. Access the Interview here http://www.techtalkradio.com/books/iphoneguide.html

A sample PDF from the Book can also be download from the site at http://www.macworld.com/superguide/iphone2/

TurboTax 2008

Intuits TurboTax is a program that can be used throughout the year to help understand your Tax Situation as income or life changes occur. With many different flavors of the program to handle both Federal and State filing on paper or with e-File, Andy Taylor gives you a look at some of the updates from last years options and what to expect with each program. We even tell you how to use the program for Free! Check out the article at http://www.techtalkradio.com/reviews/turbotax2008.html

Game On: Steelseries Gaming Devices

Got GEAR?

From headsets to gaming pads, game and gender specific accessories for every gamer, steelseries wants you to know that they’ve got the gear you want and need!

Their line of headsets is quite impressive and includes something for every gamers personal preferences in size, type and style of device…guys or gals! Like the iron.lady full sized headset is a fav for the gals; fully loaded AND awesomely pink!

And guys, the next time some orc you’ve just pwned with your vicious pyroblast accuses you of having ‘big brass ones,’ tell them “Aw-hells-no! I’ve got the steelseries World of Warcraft custom Zboard, keyset & gaming mouse*!”

* Look for a more in-depth review of the World of Warcraft set next!

The steelseries ZBoard is truly an innovative idea that has revolutionized and customized the gaming experience like nothing since the “mouse” was introduced decades ago! And steelseries notes: “With its ability to adapt for any game through removable keysets the steelseries Zboard is a completely unique gaming keyboard. The “anti-ghosting" feature allows for 7 simultaneous keystrokes opposed to the standard 2-4 on other keyboards.”

From the moment I unpacked the Zboard I knew I was about to a have truly unique experience AND expected to travel along a steep and arduous ‘leaning curve’ before I would be able to even use this new toy, let alone master its use…but when I opened the package I found a small folded sheet of paper, with a few paragraphs of simple instructions (in many languages) which included the words “Check for Keyset Updates” (This comes into play in a moment).

I inserted the included CD, which loaded the “ZEngine” software, onto my Vista Home Premium, Q6600 quad-core based gaming rig, and loaded the interface that assists in customizing the board to your personal wants and needs. (Side note: the Zboard comes with a fairly standard QWERTY ‘keyset’ insert AND an advanced gaming ‘keyset’)

Each keyset has its own ROM or ERROM chip so ‘programming’ can really be simply changing the keyset out from one pre-configured keyset (like the FPS keyset included) to another (like the WoW-WotLK keyset) and in and of itself is completely reprogrammable! Once you’ve got your keyset in place, you can customize every key to do whatever is possible in the game to do with a keystroke or set of keystrokes…and you can simply save your setup, naming it whatever you want (CoD4 set) and make another customized set for another favorite game (like Team Fortress 2). Once set up, this leaves the gamer to PLAY the game to his or her fullest potential, without having to remember key combinations for different games…awesome!

My only ‘hiccup’ was that as soon as I plugged in the Zboard, the interface started and failed! But please, don’t take that out on steelseries …the Zboard I reviewed says plainly on the box that it supports UP TO Windows XP…and the instructions plainly say “Check for Keyset Updates,” and a quick trip to the download section of the website and I had the latest, VISTA compatible ZEngine up and running without another hitch. (Darn you RTM folks out there! LOL)

So the next time you get PWND by “EZTarget” in Call of Duty or Team Fortress, you’ll know I’ve traded my ‘big brass ones’ in for pair of steelseries tools…the Zboard and MMO Gaming Mouse!

Game ON!

Pick up the 24" Apple iMac now at $1,499

Apple(R) today announced updates to its iMac(R) and Mac(R) mini desktop lines, including a 24-inch iMac that is priced more affordably than ever before and a Mac mini with powerful new integrated graphics.

For the same $1,499 price as the previous generation 20-inch iMac, the new 24-inch iMac delivers a 30 percent larger display, twice the memory and twice the storage. Delivering up to five times better graphics performance, the updated Mac mini now features the same groundbreaking NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics introduced with the aluminum unibody MacBook(R) family.* The Mac mini is the world's most energy efficient desktop, drawing less than 13 watts of power when idle.** All iMac and Mac mini systems come with Mac OS(R) X Leopard(R), the world's most advanced operating system, and iLife(R) '09, Apple's unparalleled suite of consumer applications for managing and organizing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music.

"Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499," said Tim Cook, Apple's COO. "The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it's also the world's most energy efficient desktop computer."

The elegant, full-featured iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac for only $1,199 with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The 24-inch iMac features a beautiful 1920-by-1200 pixel widescreen display that offers 30 percent more screen real estate than the 20-inch model, and starts at just $1,499. The 24-inch iMac includes up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive, and a variety of graphics technology from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics for ultimate performance.
Every iMac features a glossy display with a built-in iSight(R) video camera, mic and speakers in a thin aluminum and glass design. The new iMac also includes a Mini DisplayPort connector for a pure digital signal to Apple's new 24-inch LED Cinema Display with adapters available for DisplayPort, VGA, DVI and Dual-Link DVI displays. iMac includes built-in AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n Wi-Fi networking; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; Gigabit Ethernet; a total of six USB 2.0 ports (including two on the Apple Keyboard); and one FireWire(R) 800 port.

Starting at $599, the Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop measuring only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches. Available in two models, Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive(R). The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before* and now with dual display support can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. Using less than 13 watts of power at idle, up to 10 times less power than a typical desktop PC, the new Mac mini is the most energy efficient desktop in the world.**
Continuing Apple's commitment to the environment, both iMac and Mac mini extend their leadership in green design. Both iMac and Mac mini exceed current Energy Star 4.0 requirements and are leading the industry as early adopters of the more stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements which will become effective later this year. Both iMac and Mac mini use PVC-free internal components and cables and contain no brominated flame retardants. Both iMac and Mac mini feature material-efficient system and packaging designs and use highly recyclable materials. Apple's new desktop lineup joins its recently introduced aluminum unibody MacBook family in achieving EPEAT Gold status.***

Every Mac comes with Apple's innovative iLife '09 suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. iLife '09 features iPhoto(R), which introduces Faces and Places as breakthrough new ways to easily organize and manage your photos; iMovie(R) with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand(R) which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar. Every Mac also includes Leopard, the world's most advanced operating system which features Time Machine(TM), an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder(TM) that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, the best way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces(R), an intuitive feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; Mail with easy setup and elegant, personalized stationery; and iChat(R), the most advanced video chat.

Apple also announced that its popular AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi Base Station and Time Capsule(R) now feature simultaneous 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual-band networking for optimal performance, range and compatibility. An innovative Guest Network feature allows setting up a secondary network for friends and visitors with Internet-only access so you don't have to hand out your WiFi password. Time Capsule combines an 802.11n router and server-grade hard disk for automatic wireless back-up with Time Machine, and is immediately available in two models: a 500GB model for $299 and a 1TB model for $499. The AirPort Extreme Base Station is also available immediately for a suggested retail price of $179.****

Pricing & Availability
The new iMac and Mac mini lines are now shipping and available through the Apple Store(R) (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes: -- 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
-- 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
-- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
-- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
-- 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
-- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R
DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
-- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
-- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth
2.1+EDR;
-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- four USB 2.0 ports;
-- one FireWire 800 port;
-- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
-- the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

The new 24-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes: -- 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
-- 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
-- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
-- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
-- 640GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
-- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R
DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
-- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
-- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth
2.1+EDR;
-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- four USB 2.0 ports;
-- one FireWire 800 port;
-- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
-- the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

The new 24-inch 2.93 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes: -- 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
-- 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
-- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
-- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120; with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM memory;
-- 640GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
-- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R
DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
-- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
-- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth
2.1+EDR;
-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- four USB 2.0 ports;
-- one FireWire 800 port;
-- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
-- the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

The new 24-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $2,199 (US), includes: -- 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
-- 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
-- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
-- NVIDIA GeForce GT 130; with 512MB GDDR3 memory;
-- 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
-- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R
DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
-- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
-- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth
2.1+EDR;
-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- four USB 2.0 ports;
-- one FireWire 800 port;
-- built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
-- the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

For Specs on the Mac Mini or any of these products listed, check out http://www.apple.com

Day One and I decided to install the Windows 7 Beta. I am not normally into running beta's however have heard some great things about Windows 7 I decided to give it a try. The ISO I installed from the Beta site was just over 3GB in size and downloaded easily. Once I had it I used the Roxio 2009 to take the ISO and create a Bootable DVD.

We installed it on:
Intel Core i7 Motherboard DX58SO
Intel Core i7 Extreme Processor
6GB Kingston DDR3 HyperX 1066 Memory
Seagate 300GB SATA
ATI Radion 4850 512MB
Creative Labs X-FI Titanium
Cooler Master Haf932
Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler
Cooler Master Ultimate 900w Power Supply

We decided to obviously go with the 64bit install to make use of the memory and see if the issues we had run into with the XP64 Bit version at release would be prevalent with the Beta U7.

Install took about 2.5 hours as we partitions and formatted (Had Windows 7 handle that) and ran through the install process. In set up we had the option to choose a Home Network, Business Network and Public Computer install. We have chosen the Home Group which will allow us to connect and share with other home users in the Home Group.

We have another XP Pro Machine and a Vista Machine on the Network and will check the functionality of this network which seems to be on the surface, similar to the Network Setup when connecting to the Xbox Live Network?

We did not notice any glitches with install which can usuallly be experienced with Beta Installs. We were also able to setup the included Internet Explorer 8 which has a nice new menu feature and was very responsive to the system.

While we are testing this on a Upper End spec system, it has performed flawless through set up. The Famous UAC control was easily located and gave us the option to how we want the User Account Control to respond when Downloading, Installing, Etc. We adjusted the UAC by going into the Control Panel, User Accounts and Family Safety and then the User Account you want to manage. An option pops up that will allow you to adjust the settings.

We visited the Adobe site and Downloaded and installed the Flash Player, No Issues which then showed us the Flash on our Website. There was no prompting that we should download this feature but can assume this will be changed in the full release of Windows 7.

We did notice the sound was choppy with the WDM drivers under Windows 7 so we took the gamble and visited the Creative Labs site where we downloaded the Titanium Drivers Only and fixed the choppy sound on Internet Playback.

We installed iTunes and again, experienced no issues at present. We will atempt to install NOD32 AV and Office, which we hear may have some install issues with the Beta build which is Build 7000.

One issue that will take some getting used to for me is the inability to change out the Menu to the Classic Start Menu. We attempted to located it but read various Web Postings that the Classic Menu Option was not included and getting used to the XP/Vista style task menu may speed up use. I am sure I can get use to this.

There are some customization options for the Menu which allow you to pin programs not only to the Start Menu but also to the Taskbar itself and easily select the screen orientation for the Menu. I didn't the Gadget Sidebar with this install, a menu offered the Desktop Gadget Gallery however, I would rather not see this feature, and on first look it is not run by default. I like what
I see so far, we'll report on more later.

Andy

New Articles Posted

I've published a couple of stories on the TechtalkRadio website, One of them Highlights a New Racing Wheel Stand from Fanatec announced today, great idea! We also take a feature look at KGVY 1080 AM in Green Valley which not only plays familiar favorites for those in Green Valley and Tucson but across the Net over the Internet. The Station also features a Video Business Directory in Flash (I am the Host in the Travetti's Restaurant Video)

Check out the new entries at http://www.techtalkradio.com

Adobe Launches Creative Suite 4

Adobe this morning outlined the offerings in the companies new Creative Suite 4. For Web Designers, graphics designers and multimedia producers; each suite offers something for everybody. A Master suite is available which combines the design, web and production suites.
For more infomation, check out the article at http://www.techtalkradio.com/articles/adobecs4launch.html

Photoshop World 2008 Photos Posted

We had a great time in Las Vegas with the Photoshop World 2008 Conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. The trip up to Las Vegas in the 2009 Ford Flex was an awesome ride and the accomadations at the Tahiti Village rocked! Be sure to take a look at the Photos we have posted on our site at http://www.techtalkradio.com/photos.htm

We have a few hours of Video we will also be editing and place on our Site. Feel free to check them out on our Video page as they are uploaded.

Photoshop World Las Vegas

We are in Las Vegas for Photoshop World - The Evolution Begins 2008 at the Mandalay Bay - Throughout the next couple of days we will provide photos, thoughts and interviews from the Expo Center and Event.

Andy

New Roxio Product Makes it easy to Create PhotoShows

Check out the New Roxio Online and Listen to our Audio Interview with Sean Penn of Roxio on the Service.

Changes to the site

I am playing around with some changes to the TechtalkRadio Site. More than anything I would like to make the site more interactive, other then switching it completely to a Word Press or Blogger Blogsite, I'm not quite sure how to achieve it. Maybe comments sections? Visitor Reviews? More Tips? I could really use some of your suggestions.

I did change up the Tech Tuesday, now called Television tab and shorten it to the 5 most recent and current video segment. I am looking for a Program that can rotate the videos out with the click of an Image and have them play in the bigger window. I read that the way I have been doing them is better for the search engines but I would just like to see the page get more hits and again, have the interactive features. Would love some input on this.

It looks like our new Engineer for the Radio Show is an avid gamer. Although he kicked my butt in Team Fortress 2 on Sunday we've chatted about doing the occasional review on gaming for the show. Should be fun and he already have some titles he can write about.

Carol is doing a KILLER job on the Tshirts and it looks like we're going to be rolling on them soon. We have collected the funds to get them printed by all of the companies except for two, and we won't out them here! Our printer is Alladin Graphics in Apparel who does awesome work. They did the TechtalkRadio Banner seen in our Ustream segments when we do them in the hot, un airconditioned studios! Can't wait for Winter!

Catch ya tommorow
Andy

Red State Update Featured at TechtalkRadio

I had the opportunity to speak with the guys from Red State Update and chat about the new CD "How Freedom Sounds." Jackie Broyles and Dunlap visited to tell us why we should go out and buy the new CD and how it could force Miley Cyrus into Retirement!

The new CD features the same tongue in cheek balsy humor seen by over 10 million YouTube and MySpace Viewers since its beginnings a couple of years ago. Lately, The Red State Update has been featured on CNN and in numerous Newspaper and Magazine Articles. Now, Red State Update tells TechtalkRadio about the Election Season, Technology, The Internet and the talents the guys have.

Check it out at http://www.techtalkradio.com/celebrities/redstate.html

War Games 25th Anniversary Screening Thursday!

In a Theater Near You! Fathom and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios are proud to present WarGames back on the big screen after 25 years. Don't miss this one-night-only event in select movie theatres nationwide on Thursday, July 24th at 7:30PM (local).

In Tucson, look for the screenings at the El Con and Park Place Mall, Check the link below for the Theater playing the film near you!

The event will include never-before-seen interviews with cast and crew on how the movie was ahead of its time and its relevance today. Additionally, only at this one night event, get a sneak peek at the making of the sequel – WarGames: The Dead Code.

Movie synopsis: Computer hacker David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) can bypass the most advanced security systems, break the most intricate secret codes and master even the most difficult computer games. But when he unwittingly taps into the Defense Department's war computer, he initiates a confrontation of global proportions World War III! Together with his girlfriend (Ally Sheedy) and a wizardly computer genius (Tony Award® winner John Wood), David must race against time to outwit his opponent... and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.

Check the List of theaters where War Games will be shown near you!

http://www. fathomevents. com/details. aspx?eventid=724

Steel Series Featured on TechtalkRadio

We have posted the interview with CEO Bruce Hawver and Director of Marketing Kim Rom from Steel Series. The company produces professional products for the gamer and recently produced a mouse for the female gamer, the Iron.Lady Ikari Laser. Carol is raving about this mouse and said it has helped her in Team Fortress 2 gameplay. Even if her computer blows up while she's fragging, she'll go out with an Ikari in her hands! (She needs a new rig!)

Maybe we can get them on the new TechtalkRadio T-Shirts!

Check out the interview at http://www.techtalkradio.com/hardware/steelseries.html

Intel turns 40 - An Audio Interview with Bill Caldwell

The Intel Corporation, Integrated Electronics Company, began in July of 1968 with Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce investigating technology with integrated circuits and memory. Now in 2008, 40 years later, the company continues to be on the cutting edge of tech and delivers with products that will allow us to carry our tech almost anywhere for longer periods of time without charging or wishing we were on the desktop workstation due to performance.

From the 4004 to the Atom, we talked with Bill Caldwell about some of Intel's greatest moments and how the company is giving back.

Listen in on our interview at http://www.techtalkradio.com/hardware/intel40.html

Thanks!

Scott Kelby Interview Posted

We've uploaded the audio from the interview with Scott Kelby! Tune in to find out all about Photoshop World in Las Vegas Sept 4-6th at the Mandalay Bay. Pre Conference Registration ends August 1st.

Congratulations to Bonnie, A Teacher from Arizona that Won a Conference Registration and will be getting into all the great seminars at Photoshop World. We'll have another Registration next Sunday on the Show!

Check out the Audio at http://www.techtalkradio.com/events/scottkelby.html

Steve Greenberg Audio posted at TechtalkRadio

We had the chance last month to talk with Author and Innovation Insider Steve Greenberg on TechtalkRadio. His book Gadget Nation has been getting great reviews for his insightful look at the American Innovator. We enjoyed every page which we found was full of information on Gadgets for just about every segment of the population. Steve breaks down the idea, the reason, the cost and the profit for many of these innovators.

Visit the Site at http://www.techtalkradio.com/books/gadgetnation.html and listen to Steve Greenberg describe his book Gadget Nation.

Matt Kloskowski Interviewed

We talked last week to Matt Kloskowski from the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Tune in to listen and find out about Photoshop World Las Vegas 2008 and What to Expect from this huge conference September 4th - 6th at The Mandalay Bay Conference Center.

http://www.techtalkradio.com/events/mattknapp.html

It's iWork you fools!

I just got a great email from a true Machead on our butchering of the powerful
program for the Mac platform, iWork 08. Leave it to us PC heads that we would add a plural to anything! It's not iWorks as we have been calling it, it is iWork - but for the program which can do much for word processing with Pages '08, presentations with Keynote '08 and spreadsheets with Numbers '08, it's understandable we would add the 'S' Now I am wondering if my old Apple IIE program was Appleworks or Applework?

SkullCandy puts the Music in your Head

A couple of weeks back we received a question about headphones and some brands we would recommend. The Question came from a lover of music that was looking for good quality sound, sturdy headphones and offered a style. He had asked us about a company called SkullCandy and wanted to know what we thought of the line from the company that seems to target the younger ager set 16-24 and give them style and good sound from earbuds and traditional headphones.

Carol sent the company an email and we received a pair of "cans" to take a look and listen with. Impressive looking, even while still in the packaging, was our quick summation. Hard colorful plastic with Soft earphones and a cable set up that seems to deal with cords wrapping around you while DJ'ing, casual listening or listening to the closed ear style while still maintaining some activity. The comfort level seems high with these, The GI, that we looked at. Replacement Earpads and a cord that can be disconnected in two places, great for not having a long cord trailing you like a bad shoelace. A nice carrying bag also came with the SkullCandy headphones that Slick and Carol will look at on this weeks TechtalkRadio Broadcast Show.

I've put a couple of pictures here in the blog and we'll post an official review after we get a chance to play with these a bit.

Is it a Movie? TV Show? No..It's a New TV

LG formally announced the teaser campaign for the SCARLET is a new line of TV's from the Company. Check out the cool site they set up for the campaign which Stars Natassia Malthe and was Directed by David Nutter. The LG Scarlet is the LG60 which features a Red (Scarlet) hue to the frame of this screen. To get a sneak peak at the Screen itself, take a look at http://us.lge.com/scarlet/

Andy

Windows Vista Ultimate New DreamScene

New Dreamscenes are available for Ultimate users, from what it seems to me to be 3 new video features, a dripping leaf, a dripping ice cube and autumn leaves. They are available at Windows Update.

Getting your Skype onto Ustream

This is a question we get quite a bit however we use a Digital Telephone Hybrid to take calls during the show. We would like to incorporate the use of Skype on our Webcast since once in awhile we broadcast from remote locations and won't have the ability to take our phone hybrid with us. It really is quite simple and after watching a video demonstration anybody should be able to do it with a secondary microphone and speakers without feedback.

Take a look at this great link as a way to get er done!

Andy

Western Digital Bumps it Up! (With Pic)

Western Digital has bumped up the 10,000 RPM drives with a solution for those wanting larger capacity on the traditionally small capacity storage area. with many drives on the market now in the 1TB range at a reasonable cost, it makes sense to take a look at bumping up your internal and external storage however these SATA drives generally spin at 7200RPM. This is a jump over the old 5400RPM technology in the past and combined with large cache size, now at a standard 16MB cache, the speeds to access your data and write to the drives has significantly increased.

I have always been a fan of 10,000RPM technology however because of the higer spin rate on the platters, more heat is generated and thus the size has usually been reserved to a max of 160GB. The announcement this morning from Western Digital almost doubles the capacity and seems to focus it's attention on the gaming market with the VelociRaptor. The 10,000RPM drive with a 16MB Cache features a capcity of 300GB. The drive itself is a 2.5inch form factor however it is wrapped by what Western Digital calls the IcePack taking it to a 3.5 inch factor, commen with most internal drives today.

Alienware will have the VelociRaptor in the ALX Desktop by the end of the month of April and will also sell direct the drives through its website. The WD3000GLFS will also be available through the WD store at http://www.shopwd.com/ The cost for the drive will be around $299 which should satisfy most performance seekers for Gaming, Digital Audio and Video Editing and overall speed of your data read and writes. For more info, check out the WD Website

Andy

New products we're checking out!

We received some new products just in time for tonights Ustream.TV broadcast! We'll give you a look at the XploreTech Rugged PC Tablet. Awesome and great size screen with Biometrics on the unit for security. This is the most rugged PC we've ever looked at.

Also,

Plustek sent us over the OpticFilm 7300 Slide and Negative Scanner. A new way to scan, space saving and great results.

Tonight, 6pm Pacific on Ustream.tv/channel/techtalkradio

Perks to the Job

There really are certain perks of doing a Technology Radio Show, Running a Website and hosting segments on tech for the local CBS Affiliate. With some of those perks comes responsibilities, such as making sure stuff gets back to manufacturers on time so they can send them out to other reviewers, editors and the lot. There are also deadlines with Radio and TV and we have to fit all the stuff in we can within a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes, we have to pull ourselves away from testing the stuff out and jot our thoughts down on One Note or Google Doc just so that we don't get to far behind. So, with the perks comes work.

Early this morning, FedEx showed up at the door with a nice new padded envelope which contained one of the latest digital cameras from Casio. The EX-Z80 is a colorful digital camera with a huge LCD screen on the back for viewing. Gone is the eye viewfinder so they can fit as much screen on this baby as possible. I have to say, even though we are looking at a Hot Pink digital camera, its brushed metal and nice corners with compact size make this easy to handle.

There are many options with this and over the next couple of days we'll play around with it, take some shots and put together some thoughts on this camera. We'll also snap some more shots for you of the camera and some shots from the Casio EX-Z80 to take a look at. Office Depot is going to print up a couple of the images in Large format for us and we will be shutterbugs for the next week or two. By The Way, Office Depot is handling large format printing and can tackle just about anything you need. Make sure you consider them for your next special job.

Ok, but now..we have something very strange that has happened in the TechtalkRadio studio. I left late this afternoon for a meeting with our producer Carol. Driving around Tucson on a Friday afternoon can get rather hectic and while I had thought I would be back around 5:30, it was more like 6:30. Gloria met me outside and we went in and had a nice fish dinner, while watching A Fish Called Wanda. Ironic as that is.

After the movie I told her I needed to get some work done in the studio and fix a website that is giving me flash problems. I opened the door and there in the back of the studio was a strange large metal crate. I called for gloria if she had seen this huge beast of a roadie style crate and she was oblivious to it. The girls were not here and left before I did. What was this mysterious crate and how did it get in the studio. I haven't opened it yet..but the temptation is killing me.

I'll have more tommorow.

Today Was on Rocky and Sue

Greetings from Tucson, This morning I was on the Rocky and Sue morning show (WKRZ-FM) from Wilkes Barre PA and did a segment highlighting the Archos 705 WiFi, ShoZu.com and the wave bye bye to Windows XP set for June 30th. This farewell to Xp does not mean your XP will stop working, just that Windows will no longer be available for sale. Microsoft will still support XP through mid April 2009. If you are thinking you would like to get a system and want to get it installed with XP, some manufacturers will sell you a system with XP, you want to do it before June 30th. You can listen to the segment with the awesome morning duo here
wkrz031108.mp3

I then went over to KOLD and did the TV segment where we featured the BlueX Watch and Headphones. Jenny misplaced her MP3 Shuffle and we talked about some options for replacement including the RCA Jet which is also a Bluetooth compatible MP3 device, great for those that want to work out! We'll have the video posted at TechtalkRadio.com later today.

We also showed the Wacom Bamboo tablet which retails for about 79.00.

iTunes is Working Now!

About a month ago I logged onto iTunes and found that for some reason we had not had any updates to iTunes since September of last year! I tried to adjust the code, rewrite the XML and even reverse engineer some coding to get the thing to update. I just didn't have any luck in this.

Today I finally decided to delve into this and figure out what was going wrong. Having the site through Feedburner has been no problem at all and as a matter of fact, whenever I adjusted the iTunes Feed, my Feedburner would generate RSS errors. Arggg.

After trolling the web, I found some really good sites with RSS and XML examples and was able to re-write the Channel information for our podcast.

Here are a couple of good links I found:
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/XML/How-to-Set-Up-Podcasting-and-Vodcasting/2/

http://www.podcast411.com/howto_1.html

I have since been able to update the Channel Info, waiting on the graphic to refresh, and now the updates are appearing in iTunes again. Feedburner is also returning a Valid feed.
To Subscribe to our iTunes Feed:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=121593668

New Features

We're always looking for new features to add to the site. We integrated the Ustream.TV Chat onto the page (It's a popup) and allows you to chat in our Ustream Chat. I could have set up a website chat on Wyldryde (I did) but then on Sundays we would have two different chats? Not sure what the best way to go is? Thoughts, Suggestions?

Also added the Blog headlines to the front page of the site. I have to post them manually unless anybody knows how to just grab the headlines off the feed.

Will be doing the Morning Show with Rocky and Sue at WKRZ in Wilkes Barre PA. We'll talk about some cool new tech. I am going to send Rocky a list of possible things to talk about and see what he likes for the listeners. They are great people and have known them for over 15 years!
I'm hoping we can start doing other radio shows around the country and share some cool info on all this tech stuff! I'll keep ya posted.

Andy

Photoshop for Photographers - Kelby Training

The entire crew, Slick, Carol and myself hit the road thusrday morning (02.28.2008) and were in Phoenix for the Kelby training, Photoshop for Photographers Workshop hosted by Photoshop Guru, Ben Willmore. To read our entire experience, please visit the website page at http://www.techtalkradio.com/events/kelbytour0208.htm Be sure to check out Carol's Blog and her story of the brown potato as well. Photos and Videos also on the Website from the Event!

Andy