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DEL.ICIO.USHere’s your answer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have a great seat for watching the technology parade go by - in no small part because of the e-mails, letters and calls I get from you. They give me a pretty clear picture of what you like, what puzzles you and what you wonder about.
Today, as 2007 comes to a close, we’ll run down a few of the most popular questions of the past year - and the outlook for 2008.
What does the switch to digital television mean for me?
Stations are changing over to digital broadcasts in 2009, and you’ll start hearing a lot more about that. Many of you worry you’ll need a new television. Far be it from me to discourage the purchase of a nice new wide-screen TV. I have one and love it.
But you don’t have to have one. No matter how old your TV is, cable and satellite subscribers won’t even notice the change. Your receiver or cable box is - or will be capable of getting a digital signal and converting it to an analog signal your old television can use.
Even if you only have rabbit ears, digital receivers - they’ll look like a cable box - will let your old TV work just fine. Watch your newspapers and Web sites for information on how to get these receivers in coming months.
Will I have problems if I move to a Macintosh?
Apple sales are surging, especially to home users. Nowadays it is common to receive e-mails from PC users who are thinking of making the switch.
Some analysts say the rise in Apple’s fortunes comes from the popularity of iPhone and the iPod music player. That’s part of it, but - for many of my readers - it’s an escape from the virus-ridden world of the PC.
To answer the question, there are no real problems switching to a Macintosh. The menus and operation of a Mac isn’t all that different from using a Windows PC. You can even run Windows on a Mac, as well as the native Apple operating system.
How do I know if I need a new computer?
When I first started writing this column, back in 1993, I created Husted’s First Law of Computing. It still holds true today:
“Replace your computer when it can no longer do a satisfactory job at the chores you need it to do.”
How do I stop e-mail spam?
It’s almost impossible to stop every bit of spam. Even with anti-spam software, you are likely to get some amount of spam every day.
The major spammers are well-run businesses, often located in other countries. Professional level computer experts work at ways to avoid spam filters.
The only method I know that comes close to being universally effective is a cumbersome system called Challenge and Response. When someone who isn’t in your address book sends you an e-mail, the Challenge and Response software sends back a challenge in the form of an e-mail that asks the sender to copy down some letters he sees on the screen. Spammers won’t go to that trouble for millions of pieces of spam.
If you want to know more about this technology, or about some of the programs, try this Web site: http://tinyurl.com/265loj or this entry in Wikipedia: http://tinyurl.com/2lvyxa
Should I turn off my PC at night, or just let it sleep?
Nary a week goes by without someone worrying about this. The answer: It’s OK to leave your PC on all the time; it’s OK to turn it off when you go to sleep at night. No big deal either way.
Personally I turn off my PC at night or when I leave the house for an extended period. It cuts electricity use, even if only slightly, and it means the computer isn’t online waiting to be hijacked.
There’s another benefit. While desktop PCs are capable of running 24/7 with no harm, that’s based on everything working correctly. If the fan goes out, or if the cooling vent is clogged, a PC can overheat.
What’s the biggest change coming?
Mostly it’s evolutionary - faster computer chips, bigger and cheaper hard disks, faster and larger solid state memory chips, for instance. Each year you get a little more performance for the same or smaller price.
Probably the most important trend right now is toward home computer servers. A central computer handles all your back-up chores and serves as a store house for data and your music and video files.
Microsoft’s Home Server software is one effort in this direction. You can read about the product here
It’ll be fun to see the questions the new year will bring.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns
Comments
By Eaglehawk
December 28, 2007 2:53 PM | Link to this
Challenge and response is one of the biggest failures in anti-spam technologies that has ever been created. Spammers quite frequently will use forged email addresses. Chances are that address exists somewhere. What happens to that poor user of that email address? They get slammed with bounces from this challenge and response. Think about it.
By Bill
December 28, 2007 3:39 PM | Link to this
I agree Eaglehawk - I dislike C&R anti-spam technology for dozens of reasons … including the inconvenience to the sender.
By Thomas
December 28, 2007 4:54 PM | Link to this
Technobuddy: How many programs are being broadcast in 1080p? I dont think Fox is broadcasting the Falcons in 1080p, although it’s some lesser HD, like 720? Is this true, or am I making this up, because my reception on my 1080p Samsung 50 inch DLP stinks on Fox and I have to blame it on somebody? I get great football 1080p on CBS.
I think.
Do you know about the 1080p thing?
By Bill
December 28, 2007 6:22 PM | Link to this
I don’t think any broadcaster is using 1080p yet. However, I’ll sure yield to anyone who knows of some exceptions. If you do know of some jump right in. It would be helpful if you could include official Web sites verifying that.
By Thomas
December 28, 2007 9:11 PM | Link to this
Well that is discouraging. Surely there must be some 1080p broadcast. Even if it’s not, then it must be 720. But Fox vs CBS football clarity is no contest. CBS is clearly more distinct and sharp, at least three times better. I think.
By Thomas
December 29, 2007 8:45 AM | Link to this
Technobuddy, do you know about the “contrast ratio” which is described in TV ads as 10,000 to 1, or 25,000 to 1, or 5,000 to 1.
When I bought my samsung, the circuit city salesman told me that the real number to shoot for is a high contrast ratio. Samsung has an amazing plasma 1080p with a 25,000 to 1 contrast ratio that was the best picture I’ve ever seen. Some televisions sold today only have 5,000 to 1 and they are premium HD televisions.
First, what is the contrast ratio, cause I didn’t understand the explaination the sales clerk gave, and second, is plasma a good way to go, or are the tales of short-life true?
By Bill
December 29, 2007 11:46 AM | Link to this
Thomas, contrast ratio is based on the difference between the deepest black the set can display and the whitest white. I guess that’s over-simplified. You can read about it in detail on the Web. Here’s one place, but there are many others: contrast ratio
Plasma TVs are a good buy these days - much cheaper and much much more reliable. Back when I bought that wasn’t true - there were all sorts of problems and the price was high. I have an old Sony rear projection LCD HDTV. That technology has seen its day and Sony is going out of the rear projection business. Don’t feel too sorry for me, it’s still - to my eyes - a fine picture.
That’s one thing to keep in mind when you think of 10800p by the way. Even when there are routine broadcasts of 1080p, it really won’t be a huge difference to your eyes. You’d need a really giant screen and you’d need to sit close to it to see the difference.
If I was buying today, I’d be looking for a plasma set. I’d also get some argument on this one. I know one expert - he easily knows more than me - who swears by DLP. So while I still think plasma is the way to go, you need to know that not everyone agrees.
By GodBlogger
December 29, 2007 5:34 PM | Link to this
I knew it! I wanted to get the 46” samsung 1080 plasma but it was a whole grand more. And my wife was acting like a maniac when we went into circuit city that night for some reason. She was totally out of control and wouldn’t even consider a 46” samsung 720 plasma with a 15,000 to 1 contrast ratio and everything. Instead we ended up with a stinky samsung 50” 1080 DLP which I hate. I hate everything now! The world stinks! You stink. I stink. She stinks. Awwwwwww
By M. McIntyre
December 30, 2007 1:14 PM | Link to this
Re the switch to digital broadcasting - I keep reading that “it won’t affect your TV”. But this statement seems to be dependent on the cable box. I, like many people, have a lovely HDTV in the family room, but also have several small analog “cable-ready” TV’s around the house (kitchen, exercise room, guest room, office). These have no cable box. So will have to get cable boxes for all those TV’s in order to continue using them?
By Bill
December 30, 2007 2:33 PM | Link to this
Analog TVs will need to be connected to either a digital satellite receiver, a digital cable box, or a digitial receiver if you use them to receive over-the-air broadcasts.
By Duke
December 31, 2007 2:00 PM | Link to this
Two of my posts have been deleted from this blog. Don’t you think it is appropriate in this forum to warn readers about internet hoaxes? My first post admittledy contained language offensive to decent sensibilities; but that language was omitted from my second post, and I see no justification for excluding it.
By Bill
December 31, 2007 2:07 PM | Link to this
Hi Duke, I mean no offense when I delete posts. Here’s why I deleted yours.
I’d like to keep this blog focused on technology. Also I try to eliminate posts that become attacks on other posters.
There’s no rule that requires this. It’s just what I prefer. I’d be delighted if you want to stick around and talk about technology.
By Evelyn Baker
December 31, 2007 9:53 PM | Link to this
Duke is hot.
By Duke
January 2, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
Thanks, Evelyn.
By Michael
January 2, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this
On the HD broadcasts, nobody that I know of broadcasts in 1080p yet. I know Dish Network and DirecTV don’t. Cable…I’ll let you other folks deal with them.
Unless I’m mistaken, the only 1080p source you can get is Blu-ray or HD-DVD. With both players dipping below $300, don’t be afraid to jump in. I have a feeling that Blu-ray will win this war because of the disc’s storage capacity, but I have a feeling that it may be something along the line of CD and DVD recording technologies. LG already makes a unit that plays both, and I assume either a hybrid player or disc will emerge within the next 2 years to settle the score.
On a personal note, don’t ever pay $35 for a Blu-ray or HD-DVD movie. Force the sellers to bring it down. Best Buy and Circuit City have been putting new releases at $35 while Target and Fry’s will have the same exact one at $30.
By dekedeac
January 2, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this
Can anybody recommend a great FREE OCR program?
By Bill
January 3, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this
I agree with the master - Mossberg - when he says that most folks won’t see much of a difference with 1080p anyway.
Here’s a link to some of that.
By D
January 7, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this
I am a HDTV holdout for one simple reason. From what I have seen, analog non-hi-def programming looks better on my 16 year old RCA 27 inch TV than it does than it does on any plasma I have looked at. Sure, hi-def material the plasmas are amazing, but I see a distinct graininess /pixilazation effect on most of the channels coming in on cable (using my brother-in-law’s new 42 inch Pioneer plasma as reference. Perhaps he is not properly set up and I am seeing a bad example, but even some DVDs we watched had the same lack of detail, particularly one that was originally a TV special (George C. Scott in the IBM presentation of “A Christmas Carroll” produced sometime during the 80s).
Another issue I am not fond of is the distortion of the picture in the non-widescreen format. I would much rather see the picture in its original aspect, whether that be widescreen or not, but particularly with burn-in worries on Plasmas, I hesitate to use the black bars to view in its natural aspect.
Does the new digital standard for 2009 mean that all new programming will be in a widescreen aspect? If so, what does that mean for older programming on DVD or on rebroadcast?
Eventually the old RCA will bite the duct and I will probably end up with plasma as the contrast ratio and decent viewing angle are the most important aspects in determining my TV choice. I just hope some of the above concerns are redressed by then.
By Bill
January 7, 2008 6:01 PM | Link to this
Hi D, interesting comments on HDTV. Here’s my experience. I have the same problems when viewing analog channels using my cable box (my service is from Comcast). However, when I switch to my HDTV’s tuner, the analog channels are fairly crisp.
However, my experience differs from yours when it comes to DVDs. They look markedly better on my HDTV screen. I do use an upconverting DVD player.
As far as the distortion from forcing a letterbox picture into the wide screen format - that can be avoided with most sets. You usually have the choice of watching in letterbox, zoom, or - a forced wide screen format (and I agree that’s awful … I was watching a baseball game that way during the season and wondered why all the players had gotten fat).
The switch in 2009 won’t mandate wide screen programming, or even HDTV - just a digital signal.
By D
January 8, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this
Thanks Bill. Is the HDTV Tuner incorporated into the TV or is it another box?
By Bill
January 8, 2008 4:08 PM | Link to this
The tuner is in the TV - so I use a splitter to run one cable line to the cable company’s box and another to one of the inputs of the TV. Like most HDTVs my set has a load of inputs.
Now, to tell the truth, I usually just watch the inferior picture using the cable box rather than change over the input that goes directly to the cable. At first I was obsessed with the picture but, as time passed, I didn’t bother to make the switch on analog channels.
I also keep another input connected to a rabbit ear antenna … I live close enough to the transmitter sites so that I can get several of the stations using rabbit ears only. That picture - from the over the air broadcast - is by far the best of any of them on HDTV. That’s because the signal is compressed more when it travels over the cable network.
By Politics Aside
January 9, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
What? Rabbit ears beat that 100 dollar expensive uber-cable thing you buy at circuit city to plug into your ridiculously complex and weird looking HD USB in your television? There cant be a god. There just cant be. Or evolution, or dinosaurs, or gravity or nuthin!
I will never watch tv again. Oh look, it’s Dick Van D**’s son……