Saturday, February 14, 2009

shout-out from TR Out Loud

Ya'll know how I likes (free) stuff. Sonja Thompson of TechRepublic sent a box o' goodies to me, so I put up a quick YouTube post "outting" her...and, at 6:23 into her video, she outted me:

"...a snippet of a YouTube video created by TR member S!ick. Now, S!ick is also the co-host of TechtalkRadio.com. Maybe S!ick will send me an official TechtalkRadio t-shirt, size medium?..."

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

mandatory change to digital television moved to June

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
...President Barack Obama signed S.352, a bill to postpone the DTV transition date to June 12th...


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Congress mandated that “full-power” TV stations will not be able to broadcast in analog after June 12, 2009...three other categories of TV stations exist – “low-power” stations, “Class A” stations, and “TV translator” stations. There is currently no deadline for these stations to convert to digital broadcasting.

...the June 12, 2009 deadline for ending analog broadcasts does not apply to low-power, Class A, and TV translator stations...

Viewers should look for information from their LPTV, Class A, and TV translator stations about plans to convert from analog to digital broadcasting. Viewers should also visit www.fcc.gov for any updates on the digital transition of low-power, Class A, and TV translator stations.

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Saturday, February 7, 2009

antennas for television reception

AntennaWeb.org attempts to suggest types of antennas needed to receive local television broadcast channels based on geographical maps and signal strengths.

For example: most of the transmitters of the Tucson (Arizona) television stations are on Mount Bigelow in the Santa Catalina Mountains, which is north of Tucson.

My area is Picture Rocks, which is far west of Tucson...beyond the Tucson Mountains.

According to AntennaWeb.org:
for my CBS, ABC, and PBS affiliate stations I need a Medium Directional Antenna rooftop antenna with a pre-amp...
and for my Fox, NBC, and KTTU stations I need a Large Directional Antenna rooftop antenna with an amplifier.

(I'm not surprised...as long as I've lived in Tucson, to receive most of the television stations available, I've needed to use the best antennas I could afford.)

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Regarding the installation of outdoor antennas...

The Telecommunications Act (Section 207/rule 47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance, or use of antennas used to receive video programming including: satellite dishes, TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas.

It applies to condominiums, rental properties, and single-family homes.

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop version 1

I had been testing the beta version of this product, and at this moment their website has the word "beta" on it...but it appears that "version 1" has been released: my installed software has updated to "version 1".

Amongst its many features:

Contacts-
import contacts as .csv files, or export contacts as .csv files
Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! and Gmail contacts

Calendar-Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! and Gmail calendars


Windows, Mac OS and Linux

mailbox data is kept on the server

Yahoo! Mail, Address Book, and Calendar Support
Gmail Mail, Address Book, and Calendar Support


It's being promoted as a replacement for Microsoft Outlook.

Per their blog, it's possible I have "Release candidate 1"; in the "About" window it states it is "Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop 1.0".

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My experiences, so far...

In Zimbra, I added a contact to my Gmail account...that did not sync with my Google Contacts account.

Because I'm using the free version of Yahoo! Calendar, I cannot sync Zimbra with my online Yahoo! Calendar.

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latest Logitech webcam software link

I had problems updating the software for a Logitech webcam:  it displayed error messages whenever I tried to.  So, I sent a message to their support division...

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Summary: cannot update
Product Level 1: Logitech
Product Level 2: Cameras
Product Level 3: QuickCam Fusion
Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Ed
Logitech Software: QuickCam 11
Software Version: 11.0.0

 Discussion Thread
 Customer

After having problems updating QuickCam software, I:
uninstalled it...
restarted my computer...
downloaded and installed the latest version (Logitech QuickCam Version 11.0.01218)...
and attempted to update the software.

On my Windows Vista computer, the latest version of the software that is installed and updated is 11.5.0.1169

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from Logitech Customer Support
subject cannot update

Reply

 Discussion Thread
 Response

...the latest update for your webcam is QuickCam 11.1...Do a clean installation for your QuickCam software...remove the current installation of the software first...

You can acquire the software driver QuickCam 11.1 from the following link:

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It worked.

Whenever I had gone to their website to download the latest version of software available for the Logitech Fusion, the only file that was available was qc1100.exe.  After contacting support, I was given a link to qc1110.exe.  And now, in case you need it, I'm giving it to you...

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