GeekBrief.TV | Windows Media Edition (Beta)

GBTV #472 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:37:43 -0800

The Nikon D3X uses a new imaging processing system called EXPEED. The camera works to improve image quality, processing speed and reduce power consumption.

The Imation Wireless Projection Link makes it easy for you to send what's on your laptop screen to a projector. It's perfect for conferences and presentations.

Mac users will like the Targus Bluetooth Laser Mouse. In place of the scroll wheel in the middle, there's an optical sensor, allowing for four way scrolling. It also works for PCs.

You may know Rick "MacMerc" Yaeger from segments on The Lab with Leo Laporte, and if you visit our live streams, you'll definitely recognize him from the chatroom. I'm excited about the launch of his new show, MacMerc.TV, where he explains things like the difference between pixels and vectors, simply and in an easy to understand way.

Subscribe to MacMerc.TV

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here. The RAM upgrade mod information is here.

GBTV #471 (WMV) | Top 10 Favorite Things from 2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:26:01 -0800

Brief #471 is my Top 10 Favorite Things List for 2008.

10) Bacon Salt

9) Dell Crystal Display

8) MacBook & MacBook Pro Glass Trackpad

7) Drobo Firewire 800

6) Hulu

5) Griffin Simplifi

4) Boxee on Apple TV

3) App Store

2) Neat Receipts

1) Canon EOS 5D Mark II

GBTV #470 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:56:13 -0800

If you've been wanting a router with that looks less like a router, take a look at STC's Wireless Router.

Mac Rumors published a chart that compares Black Friday Mac sales.

If you've received your Canon 5D Mark II (lucky you!!), leave a link in the comments below with any video footage or pictures you take.

The Golden Shellback Coating System protects gadgets from the weather, and perhaps even water (although they won't guarantee it). It's available for a select few gadgets now, but we're looking forward to seeing that list expand.

Gizmine.com offers customers in the US all those gadgets no one needs that were previously only available in Japan. Have a desire for the Poking Box? It's yours.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #469 (WMV) | Geek Brief Live

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:39:26 -0800

Today's show was shot on Saturday during my presentation at the Leadership Symposium on Digital Media in Healthcare. It was hosted by USF Health, in conjunction with Apple. Since the conference had a medical theme, this Brief is Shiny, Happy Medical News. The iPill is designed to help patients take smaller dosages of medicine, to reduce side effects, by targeting the right part of the body.

GlucoBoy was developed by a father whose son has diabities and kept loosing his glucose monitor. The game works on Game Boy Advance and DS Lite.

When Dr. Jay Parkinson finished his residency, he decided to practice a bit differently than most physicians. He chose to make house calls via a webcam.

Scientists have regrown an entire lost finger, including the fingernail. It also works on internal organs, such as livers.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

You can see the recorded presentation on iTunes U here.

GBTV #468 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:49:40 -0800

This is part 3, the final part of my conversation with Leo Laporte at the TWiT Cottage. This part of our chat might not be interesting to most Geek Briefers because it's very "inside baseball." I asked Leo to talk about how he thinks the economic slowdown might impact new media, especially as it relates to people just getting started. He has hope that it's ultimately good for new media because advertising on new media is proven to be extremely effective. If you're interested in the topic, I think you'll enjoy Leo's insight. Otherwise, feel free to skip this one (after downloading it.) :)

GBTV #467 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:55:43 -0800

The latest Apple TV update breaks Boxee. I'm sure Boxee will come up with a fix soon enough, but I'm disappointed, as I am in the copyright protection on the MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Thanks to Jeff McCord for the tip.

The Bottle Top Tripod could potentially be used as a steadicam for a point and shoot camera. If you try it, leave a comment and let us know how it works!

Vizio announced a new 55" LCD HDTV to it's Vizio XVT line. It may just be my first 1080p TV. The VSB210WS is a High Peformance HD Sound Bar and Wireless Subwoofer kit, meant for a tabletop or it can be mounted on a wall. It'll be available in January.

Neal and I fell in love with Loft 523 years ago. It's a boutique hotel in New Orleans that does simple modern design right. Each room has a Fortuny Lamp, designed by Mariano Fortuny in the 1920's.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #466 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:27:10 -0800

HP released the first multi-touch notebook for consumers. It's called the TouchSmart tx2 Notebook PC. There are some drawbacks, but I'm happy to see it come to market, and it'll only get better from here.

The VUDU XL2 is rack mountable and offers 1TB of storage, with SD and HD video from the VUDU library.

Thinking about frying a turkey for Thanksgiving this year? The Oil-less Turkey Fryer offers all the goodness of a fried turkey without all the fat.

I've been super excited the past couple weeks as I waited for the Wicked Laser to come in the mail. This thing is...well, wicked! The Woz has Wicked Laser, although I think he has one that can light a match. As awesome as these things are, please be very careful with them! They can be dangerous if pointed at someone's eye or in the sky (don't want to take down any planes, okay?). Now that we've gotten the warning out of the way, have fun with yours! Neal won't stop playing with ours.

Eye-Fi and SmugMug partnered up in August. Choose SmugMug as your online service for Eye-Fi and you'll get Wayport Hotspot access for a year, among other things. You can find my photos at cali.smugmug.com.

We're heading out on another leg of The Big Trip. Our final destination will be Tampa, Florida, we're we'll be speaking at the Leadership Symposium on Digital Media in Healthcare. It's hosted by USF Health, in conjunction with Apple.

We'll stop by New Orleans on the way to Tampa, and will have a viewer meetup in both cities.

New Orleans Meetup
Date: Thursday, November 20th
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Cafe Beignet, 311 Bourbon Street

Tampa Meetup
Date: Saturday, November 22nd
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: Petey Brown's at the Grand Hyatt (2900 Bayport Drive, Tampa, FL :: 813.874.1234

Please RSVP by leaving a comment or emailing me!

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #465 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:59:46 -0800

The team at Oblong is getting closer and closer to bringing Minority Report like gesture control to the market. This is awesomeness!

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #464 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:29:24 -0800

If you're thinking of switching to a Mac and think it might be just too difficult, take a look at the Belkin Switch-to-Mac Cable. It'll help you move your email, settings, photos and music over to the Mac.

We keep talking about VisualHub. Thanks to AutomatedHome.com who found Format Factory, a Windows video conversion tool.

HDClone 3.6 is designed to create copies of software and OS installs. I'm looking forward to trying it. Start looking forward to USB 3.0, which launches next Monday. It should be a drool worthy update.

The Google iPhone app (not released as of this taping) does voice based search, also including location based search and the iPhone's sensors and accelerometer.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #463 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:28:11 -0800

RED announced two new cameras to their line. The Scarlet is $2,500 and the Epic is $28,000.

I'll be getting a Flip Mino HD soon to review. It shoots in 720p for $229.95.

I think the Blackberry Storm is the first phone that has a chance at competing against the iPhone.

If you're like me and don't like to keep your downloaded email locally, Stash My Mail is worth a look. You can download all your email in a zip file for safe keeping, and since zip files don't take up much space, you don't have to worry about loosing precious hard drive space.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #462 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:08 -0800

I've been thinking about loading Boxee on my Apple TV for a while. I finally got to it, thanks to encouragement from John Mahoney at Gizmodo. He published a step-by-step guide. It's was extremely easy. The difficult part was finding my missing Apple TV so I could install the Boxee app.

If you don't already have a Boxee account, you can fast-track an invite with this link: Boxee.tv/geekbrieftv

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for sponsoring The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here. You can visit the MediaSmart's unofficial fansite at MediaSmartServer.net or the official MediaSmart community.

GBTV #461 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:39:13 -0800

We've met our neighbors before, but we're not really the bonding with proximity types. Then on Saturday, we experienced serendipity in living technicolor. We left the apartment take our dogs out. As we passed our neighbor's door, he walked out carrying a T-Rex 600 RC Helicopter. I'm pre-dispososed to adore RC helicopters. I've never seen anything like it. I had a faint understanding about the existence of serious radio controlled toys, but honestly, the really impressive stuff was completely off my radar.

I'm not the type of person that could spend $1,000 on a toy because I'd rather spend the money on production equipment so that I can shoot a video of the person who would spend $1,000 on a toy. Anyone who would spend $1,000 on a toy defines the word "geek", because that person is passionate about the technology they love.

GBTV #460 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:35:57 -0800

Ralph de la Vega said AT&T would be sanctioning tethering for the iPhone soon. Macrumors suggests it could be with the 2.2 update. Many iPhone users have wanted this feature since the beginning!

I've been trying out the Outcast, an outdoor wireless audio system, and I'm impressed. Soundcast has done wireless audio right. They even built the Outcast to withstand fire and a car wash.

Mgestyk Technology is getting us closer to a Webcam Gesture Control System. It's PC only.

You've heard my interview with the founder of Savant. They're building home automation on Mac hardware and software. Their ROSIE line now has a remote control that looks like a bowl.

With the VidaBox Rackserver, you can put an unencrypted disk in, and it will automatically go to work copying to the server and looking for meta data.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. To find out more, go to MeetRovio.com. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him.

GBTV #459 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:13:22 -0800

I've been testing out the Vuzix iWear AV920 for the past few days. The personal video viewing experience has come a long way since these devices first came out. What I liked the most is how it kept distractions out and let me concentrate on the task at hand.

The iPhone 2.2 firmware update is out in the field for testing. When it's released, we should have the ability to download podcasts wirelessly, but there's a limit of 10MB for each download.

Brando has a brilliant little gadget called the Cube Hotshoe Bubble Level. Slip it into the hotshoe mount on your camera to ensure you're getting a level photo.

We showed you Vincent Laforet's short film, Reverie, which he shot with the Canon 5D Mark II. If you've skeptical about the ability for the every day person to get good video out of this camera, check out David Michaud and Florent Porta's video. They say they're not professional photographers.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

If you're inclined, we thank you for your vote for Best Video Podcast at the Podcast Awards.

GBTV #458 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:03:09 -0800

We finally have a price and ship date for the Pico Projector. It's a handheld projector that you can quickly hook up to your iPod for showing off videos on the go.

Bacon Alert! Bacon + Mayonnaise = Baconnaise. It's from the same makers as Bacon Salt. I can't wait to meet these guys!

Marware announced the Game Grip, an iPhone/iPod Touch accessory that we knew was bound to come to market. The wheel holds your iPod Touch or iPhone and has routing for a USB cable and earbuds.

We tested the Zoom H2 Recorder throughout our Little Big Trip. It's the best audio we've gotten for the money. It comes with a windscreen and we recommend using it. Levelator is a free app that works to balance audio levels. Whenever you're uploading audio, it's a great tool!

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of SmugMug

GBTV #457 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:54:00 -0800

Remember when I had the Mophie Juice Pack on GBTV? I've been testing the FastMac iV and give you a comparison of the two options.

Amazon is working with companies to reduce the amount of packaging on the products they ship. This should reduce shipping size and frustration as you try to get to the awesome toy you're waiting anxiously to play with! My package opener is OpenIt.

The Zoom Room offers a more automated approach to Murphy Beds.

You've heard me talk about the Rovio, a mobile communications robot. We're very excited to announce that Rovio is a new sponsor! You can find out more at

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Cliff Blank
Check out the DOGMA Art Show at dogma.me. Zoe and Sydney (the Chihuahuas) are here.

GBTV #456 (WMV) | Leo Laporte Part 2

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:22:06 -0700

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Leo Laporte when I visited the TWiT Cottage on our Little Big Trip. We talk about live streaming and Flash Media Encoder. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here. Paul Thurrott's in-depth review is here.

GBTV #455 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:48:08 -0700

HP announced a new line of netbooks. The most notable is the Mini 1000.

You might have heard of Axiotron Modbooks. If you have an existing MacBook you would like turned into tablet Mac that you can write and draw on, they now offer a service called Modservice.

For pretty much as long as I've been an adult, Elmo has been the highly demanded Christmas gift. This year, will it be the Alive Cubs? It's on my wish list!

A lot of teachers show GeekBrief.TV in the classroom. For that, I am eternally perplexed and honored! Scholarspot.com is a great site that aggregates educational videos. I love the tech and science sections. I suggest parental guidance for the spirituality section.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

Mac OS Ken

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Dawn and Drew
Go there.

GBTV #454 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:54:07 -0700

Poladroid is a great free Mac application. When you drag a photo to Poladroid, it creates a Polaroid-like photo on your desktop. A Windows version is expected by December.

Windows users can take control of your Send To menu when you right-click on a document. Send to Toys allows you to edit what appears in that menu.

WindowShop has to be the future of shopping online! Check it out at windowshop.com.

I wrote about the Griffin Simplifi when it was released, and now I have it in the studio. For those of you who were wondering, it is compatible with the iPhone. Original units were not shipping with the adapter, but you can pick up one of those separately. If you buy a Simplifi now, it will have the adapter included.

Thanks to all of you who nominated us for Best Video Podcast at the Podcast Awards! We're very honored. You can vote every day until November 6th.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #453 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:43:49 -0700

Google Earth is now available for the iPhone, and it's a great experience. For more iPhone talk, head on over to iCali.tv.

Qik released alpha versions for the BlackBerry Pearl 8120, BlackBerry Pearl 8130, the Blackberry Curve 8320, and the BlackBerry Bold. You can download from qik.com/sign_up. If you're not aware of Qik, it's a live streaming service from mobile phones. My Qik page is qik.com/cali.

Netflix streaming will work on Macs by the end of the year. This will probably cause me to switch from my loyalty to Blockbuster.

The Griffin AirCurve amplifies audio from your iPhone. You can charge it as well by feeding a cable through the bottom.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #452 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:34:56 -0700

Brief #452 is the last stop on our Little Big Trip, this time in Turner Falls, Oklahoma. Thanks @Farren for the suggestion! Road Trip Effect Pro allows you to create an animated route through...well, whatever your imagination can take you.

Driving through Wyoming, we drove through snow. It will probably be the only snow we see this year. For those of you who get to experience it all winter, check out the FrontGate Heated Traction Maps. They melt snow, creating a path for you to get from your house to your car.

LaCie released a new drive that includes an HDMI port and a remote control. It's called the LaCinema Rugged.

I'm loving my new Scottevest! If you're not familiar with the company, they make Technology Enabled Clothing (TEC), giving you lots of options for storing your many gadgets. You can even route your earbuds through the jacket so they're not hanging out and getting caught on things.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #451 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:23:18 -0700

I probably wouldn't be doing GeekBrief.TV if it wasn't for Leo Laporte. Before the dot com bubble burst, Neal and I did Web development and we had ZDTV and later Tech TV on all day long every day. We reconnected to Leo Laporte when podcasting came along. I've gotten to know Leo and consider him to be a friend and mentor so every time I get a chance to do a Leo update on Geek Brief, I take it.

For about the last year, Leo has gotten serious about streaming live video on TWiTlive.tv. He's live several hours a day as he produces a stable of audio "netcasts" and a call in radio show called The Tech Guy. What he's doing is experimental, always improving, and I think, important. Leo is paving the way for what thousands of people will be doing in the future.

On Brief 451, we stick our camera in some places Leo's don't go. It's part one of a behind-the-scenes look at his setup. We talk about Tricaster and Vidblaster and why he made certain choices when he put together his live studio.

GBTV #450 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0700

Last Tuesday, I tweeted that I was at Data Robotics seeing something super secret. I'm pleased to be able to share it with you today! In July, they released an SDK, and developers have been hard at work making apps for your Drobo and DroboShare to make it even more useful for your every day life. The first set of apps are now available at drobo.com/droboapps. I'm most excited about three apps in particular. The FireFly Media Server is an open source server for iTunes. Yoics gives you access to your files away from home from any web browser. The third, Time Tamer, was developed by a Drobo employee (on his personal time), but you don't need a Drobo to use it. If you use Time Machine, you can use Time Tamer to specify exactly how much space Time Machine can take up on your drive. Otherwise, it could wind up taking up the entire drive pretty quickly.

The Plantbot might be a concept, but if it's real, it's a pretty cool idea. It has a light sensor and wooden legs. When the sensor detects better light in another part of the house, the legs will carry your house plant to the light. It's a project built by The Play Coalition

While we were at the TWiT Cottage last week visiting Leo Laporte, we got to meet Marc and Nicole, who do an awesome woodworking show called The Wood Whisperer. Marc created a wood gadget charging station for Leo. You can see it on the set at twitlive.tv.

eCoupled technology is bringing Tesla's theories about inductive coupling to life.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #449 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:29:45 -0700

The Minoru 3D Webcam looks a lot like Wall-E. Each of the robot-like eyes are cameras that can deliver 3D video over video chat clients, take photos and video.

Uncrate featured the World's Greatest Flashlight, which can shine light for hundreds of yards and for up to 11 hours using halogen bulbs. We're wondering what John P., President of Woopra, will think about it.

Is the FlashPoint Exo-Stove a real product? If it is, it's supposed to heat up your food and drinks in seconds. Let me know what you think in the comments!

If you were attracted to the MacBook Air's external DVD drive, but don't have an Air, you might be interested in the Portable USB Blu-ray Super Multi Drive by Amex Digital. As the name suggests, it connects via USB, and there's a Blu-ray player and a recorder.

The USB Volume Slide Controller lets you adjust volume with a finger swipe and turn audio off or on when desired. It's PC only.

GBTV #448 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:21:25 -0700

I got my hands on a new, unibody 15" MacBook Pro. This is the unboxing and a closer look at the design. This model is 2.53GHz, a 320GB hard drive and 4GB RAM. As I mentioned before, it has the GeForce 9600M GT Graphics Processor, however the 17" design is NOT being made with the new unibody design.

The MacBook Pros have an ethernet port, one firewire 800 port, two USBs, a Mini DisplayPort, and ExpressCard slot. The MacBooks have an ethernet port, two USBs, and a MiniDisplayPort. No more firewire ports.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #447 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:01:18 -0700

CEIVA announced two new digital photo frames. The CEIVAlife is 640x480 and the CEIVAshare is 800x600. As with all CEIVA frames, their PicturePlan service is available for uploading photos.

The Hover Q claims to be the worlds smallest infared R/C hovercraft.

Fusion announced a new car radio with an iPod dock. It's called the CA-IP500.

Here at GBTV HQ, we use VisualHub to compress each Brief into different formats so you can the show however is most convenient for you. The developer of VisualHub, Tyler Loch, announced a couple weeks ago that he had to stop work on the application for family reasons. We were crushed, and asked if he would be willing to sell us the rights to the code. We'd love to continue development on it. He decided to release it to the open source community, which is always a great thing! If you're a developer who will be working on the new version, now called FilmRedux, send me an email with "VisualHub" in the subject line.

HP is back to support the production of GeekBrief.TV, with the MediaSmart Server. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #446 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:23:22 -0700

Martin Sargent from Internet Superstar asked me to come on the show while I was in the Bay Area, so we headed to the Revision3 studios on our way out of town. That episode will drop next week. While I was there, I grabbed Patrick Norton from Tekzilla to chat about the Apple announcements. There's a new generation of MacBook Pros, MacBooks, a new Cinema Display, and a few updates to the MacBook Air. We also talk about decision not to support Blu-ray.

There are two new 13" MacBooks, and are available now. The 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo version is $1299. It has 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad. The 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo version is $1599. It has 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad.

The 2.4GHz, 15" MacBook Pro is $1999. It has 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a SuperDrive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad. There's also a 2.53GHz 15". The 17", 2.5GHz Pro is $2799, with 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, DVI output, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad.

The MacBook Air also got an update with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor.

A new Cinema Display was designed specifically to connect to the new MacBook/MacBook Pro line to use as an additional display, and will sell for $899.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. Viewers bought these domain names and saved money with my codes:

GBTV #444 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:04:19 -0700

Marji Smith talks to me about women engineers and her experience growing up as the only woman in a crowd of men.

GBTV #443 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:12:43 -0700

We're on The Little Big Trip, heading to Cupertino, Redmond and Portland. We stopped at The Big Texan Steak Ranch, where they will give you your meal free if you can eat a 72 oz. steak plus a salad, and roll, and other stuff all in under an hour. I gotta tell you, nothing compares to Chef Dave's ribeye at Bluegrass in Highland Park, Illinois!!

On today's Brief, Marji Smith shows me the MVP 8400, one of the controllers available for the AMX systems. We also take a look at the automation and notifications built into the doorbell.

GBTV #442 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:53:57 -0700

On Sunday, we had a meetup at the Great State Fair of Texas. Friends of the Brief got together so we could all eat way too much. Some of the braver souls in the group tried Chicken Fried Bacon for the first time while those of us with Chicken Fried Bacon experience stuck with our "Never Again!" position. We were invited to visit a Smart Home exhibit at The Women's Museum. A team of women engineers were heavily involved in the tech used in the exhibit. Marji Smith, Director of Product Strategy at AMX, gives us an overview of the Smart Home in Brief #442, and she'll give us a more in depth look at the tech in action on the next episode. Stay subscribed! :)

GBTV #441 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:18:44 -0700

In an interview with CIO Magazine, Steve Balmer said they're working on porting the Zune software to Windows Mobile.

Sony's eBook reader, the PRS-700, was announced today. It'll have a touch screen, allowing you to "flip" pages with the swipe of a finger. It'll be available at the end of October.

Wii Speak is a new channel on the Wii. With a Wii mic, and you and three other people can voice chat.

The Nerd Girls are a group of women with the goal of encouraging girls to embrace science, technology, engineering and math. You can join their community at www.nerdgirls.com.

PrintWhatYouLike.com lets you print exactly what you want from a webpage, minus all the ads and extras that take up so much paper.

Don't forget about the State Fair of Texas meetup on Sunday, October 5th!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. **Editors note: We were supposed to put a list of domains names that were registered with my promo codes, but we kind of forgot, so that segment is there for your comedic pleasure. :)

GBTV #440 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:52:04 -0700

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic rumors were true. It includes something they're calling Comes With Music, which gives you access to two million songs.

The new Nintendo DS is the DSi. We're seeing two cameras and the ability to alter playback speed of audio.

For details of the State Fair Meetup on Sunday October 5th, click here.

We'll be shooting at the Smart Home, designed by women engineers, and we'll be using the DVRig Pro, an inexpensive camera stabilization system. The smaller version I mention is the DVRig Jr.

If you don't know about Sweetwater, we highly suggest them when you need to buy audio gear. They're selling SonicPrints, a treatment to help with sound bounce issues in your home theatre.

Nicholas Colas joined us yesterday on Cali Live to talk about the crisis on Wall Street. He explained everything in an easy-to-understand way and answered the chatroom's questions. You can watch it at www.calilive.tv.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. Viewers bought these domain names and saved money with my codes: mattlucht.com, semanticviolation.com, and denniscadorniga.com.

GBTV #439 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:26:39 -0700

I've got three reviews for you on today's Brief. I start off with the Mophie Juice Pack. It's a battery pack that doubles the battery life of the 1st gen iPhone and the iPod Touch. A version for the iPhone 3G is coming October 30th.

Sometimes WiFi isn't enough. Not every device that wants to be connected to the Internet has WiFi built in. When you don't want to lay a new Cat 5, there's the Netgear Powerline.

A couple weeks ago, I tweeted about NeatReceipts. It's a small, portable scanner that does way more than just scan. It uses text recognition software to "read" your receipts and help you organize them and succesfully get ready for tax season way before tax season arrives. I'm loving this thing! I show you the PC version. They also announced the Mac version yesterday. If you deal with a massive amount of paperwork and receipts, check out the NeatDesk.

GBTV #438 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:23:42 -0700

I've eaten octopus before, but I've never heard of Octopus Balls, otherwise known as takoyaki in Osaka. The Automatic Octopus Ball Maker makes it easy to make your own.

TiVo partnered with Nero a few months ago, and out of that partnership, we get the Nero LiquidTV, which let you turn your PC into a TiVo DVR.

Thanks to AutomatedHome.com for finding Jaikoz. Using MusicBrainz and Acoustic ID, it works to tag your music files to fill in the missing blanks.

The Jupiter Mouse is a nice looking gyroscopic mouse.

Netgear announced the WRN2000 and the DGN2000 WiFi-N Routers. Their intention is to make setup and connecting additional computers to your home network. The routers take advantage of the Push 'N' Connect technology. Push a button on the router, then on the computer, and it automatically connects that computer.

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of MacMost.com

GBTV #437 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:24:09 -0700

If I could keep fish alive, I would be buying the R2 Fish Training School Kit. Train your fish to do tricks. If you try it, let us know!,b,
The Electronic Drum Kit Shirt has audio built in, so you can tap away and make music while you walk down the street.

Asus announced a new eeePC with seven and a half hours of battery life, Windows XP, 3G mobile broadband and more.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #436 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:05:12 -0700

The 5800 XpressMusic phone might be Nokia's answer to the iPhone. The translation got a bit screwed up, but we do have some details about the phone.

The Apollo Pro WX is the first wireless USB hard drive, with capacities of 250GB to 1TB.

Sony Ericsson announced three bluetooth enhanced watches for women. Control music on your phone, see who's calling, and answer or ignore the call. They're the The Sparkling Allure Edition, The Contemporary Elegance Edition, and The Evening Classic Edition.

The Colombo Two is a landline telephone with a 2 line dot matrix display for Caller ID, a digital answering machine and more.

The Delicair Basin is for laundry geeks like Neal. It has 14 to 16 air jets in the sink for washing delicate clothing.

GBTV #435 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:05:40 -0700

Vincent Laforet's short film that we mentioned yesterday is online at Canon. He used the 5D Mark II to shoot the film. The behind the scenes footage is online at SmugMug.

We've all been waiting to see a real live phone built on Android, an open source platform. Today, T-Mobile, HTC and Google showed us the G1. It doesn't have multi-touch, but it has a physical keyboard and a trackball. More pros/cons in the show.

Sony announced the VAIO TT, an ultraportable notebook with Blu-ray included. Anyone know what the "TT" stands for? Leave a comment below.

Eye-Fi got an update. It's an SD card that automatically uploads your photos to your computer or a photosharing site like SmugMug. The update makes uploads faster.

Microsoft applied for a very interesting patent. They're calling it "Mobile Device Collaboration". The idea is that you and your friends can all lay your phones side by side and aggregate resources for one large display, surround sound, extra battery life, and more.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #434 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:03:25 -0700

If we ever have kids, I really want the Origami Stroller. It automatically folds or unfolds at the touch of a button. It's powered by a generator that charges a battery when the stroller is being pushed.

Vincent Laforet had the chance to use the Canon 5D Mark II camera I told you about last week. He shot a short film with a $5,000 budget and thinks the camera is fantastic. He says it's so good, it will change everything. Definitely take a few minutes to read about his experience. SmugMug stepped in to provide the bandwidth so we can see Laforet's film. It will be up sometime tonight

Pentax released a DSLR for beginners. If you're making the jump from point and shoot to DSLR, take a look at the K-m (also known as the K2000 in the US).

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Thinker Clothing, "Knowledge as Your Style"
I'm wearing the Roboticus Carpalium

GBTV #433 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:55:26 -0700

Fitbit is a small device that monitors your fitness activity and your sleep at night, and automatically uploads information to the website for you to see how you're doing.

There have been several crowdsourcing ventures that haven't made it, but let's hope FairSoftware does. It was a TechCrunch50 finalist.

MagHound takes the idea of Netflix and applies it to magazines. Switch around the titles you receive each month, or keep receiving the same ones. Up to you.

CRAY intends to make supercomputers available to everyone, although I'm not sure they're there just yet at $25,000 a pop. The AOC V17 is a very inexpensive HD monitor. It's 17" and cost $200.

GBTV #432 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:29:01 -0700

Hotels.com released a technology (in Beta) that uses image psychology to find hotels you might like. All you have to do is choose between photos based on your desired vacation and Hotel Visualizer will give you some options.

KATA has a Multimedia Backpack designed for photographers, videographers and filmmakers. It has tear-resistant fabric, foam padding and protects gear from bumps and weather.

Hammacher Schlemmer is selling the Laser-Guided Pool Cue, the first of it's kind that's available for purchase. It brakes down, has a touch sensor to turn it on and off, as well as an auto shut off option. They're also selling the Anywhere Home Sentry, a home security robot that can travel around the house, take pictures and email them to you. It also streams audio and video to your Web browser.

Neuros Technology announced the OSD2, an update to their open source DVR. Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Thinker Clothing, "Knowledge as Your Style"
I'm wearing the Mobo T-Shirt

GBTV #431 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:08:07 -0700

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR is getting the most buzz out of all the announcements Canon made today. It has a 21.1 megapixel camera and captures full 1080p video. It's actually pretty speced out.

Kodak is showing off the first digital photo frame to use an OLED display at Photokina (photography trade show). It has WiFi, a 7.6" display, 2GB of internal memory, a built in card reader and a USB port.

The Iomega eGo Helium portable drive gives you 320GB of storage and weighs less than half a pound. Drop Guard technology helps to protect the drive for the clumsy (like me).

If you have OTA (over the air) HD, and are tired of dealing with the unsightly antennas, RCA Flat Antennas might be of interest. They're supposed to fix a couple issues you get with existing antennas, and they're designed to fit with your decor.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

Geek Brief Radio #430 | Home Automation by Savant

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:32:58 -0700

We have an audio conversation with Jim Carroll, the founder of Savant. They the only company (that I'm aware of) that builds home automation systems on Apple hardware. You can check them out at SavantAV.com. I don't see the iPhone/iPod Touch app in the App Store. As soon as I get the link, I'll update this post.

We also officially announce the 2008 Christmas Party in Nashville with Geoff Smith. Last year, we did it virtually over Ustream. This year, we're inviting everyone to come to The Big Bang Bar (Geoff's dueling piano bar). We'll stream if we can on Ustream, and if we can't because of bandwidth, we'll record it and release later. If you can make it to Nashville on December 15th, it's going to be a blast!

We'll be renting a couple cameras and a Tricaster in addition to piping in some additional bandwidth. If you're interested in underwriting the event, please contact me.

GBTV #429 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:09:03 -0700

You could have watched every episode of GeekBrief.TV and not know that we have a helicopter fixation. Radio Controlled helicopters, actually. The Wow Wee Bladstar Flame Indoor Flyer has built in sensor detection to help it avoid obstacles.

The HTC Touch 3G site is live, but hidden. It certainly wants to be an iPhone killer with touch and zoom features. You can also shoot video with the 3.2 megapixel camera. If the site is still playing hard to find when you read this, click here.

Crave underwent a site redesign, and today they posted a link to TechRadar.com's Ultimate Guide to Motherboards. I highly encourage those who are just casually interested in technology and don't consider themselves to be all that tech savvy to read it.

Seagate announced their Fall 2008 Lineup of FreeAgent external hard drives. The Go Portable is supposed to be the slimmest external drive available. The Free Agent Desk Drive is for Macs, and comes in 500GB, 1TB or 1.5TB.

The Expressionist BASS speakers are cone shaped, stereo speakers with 4" subwoofers.

I blogged yesterday welcoming new viewers. Click on the BBC featured GeekBrief.TV on their show. We're honored. You can see that show here.

GBTV #428 (WMV) | iPod Unboxing

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 08:07:43 -0700

Unboxing of the new Nano 4G and iPod Touch

GBTV #427 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:31:18 -0700

The Ikonoskop A-cam dll Digital Motion Picture Camera (what's with the supercalifragilisticexpiladocious long name?!) captures footage without compression. It shoots in 1920x1080 and you get 12 minutes of video on an 80GB memory cartridge.

Peek is a device meant to do one thing. Email. It's $100 and $20/month for unlimited use. David Pogue's review is here.

Panasonic announced the Lumix DMC-G1, the worlds smallest and lightest Digital Interchangeable Lens camera.

Hulger VoIP handsets are the most elegantly designed handsets I've ever seen. It's plug and play, works for both Macs and PCs and each one is handmade to order.

If you haven't already figured this out, iTunes 8 allows you set specific settings for each individual podcast. Very nice feature!

In Brief #427, I explain the difference between our iTunes formats. Click the following links if you'd like to change your subscription to a format that better fits you. You can also click here for a description of each format.

Extra Large
Medium
Small You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #426 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:23:58 -0700

We saw the Microsoft ad for a laser free mouse last week. Now we have the details. Three mice have been introduced using BlueTrack. They're the Explorer, the Sidewinder and a mini Explorer.

Ion Audio releases a large range of analog to digital converters. If you're looking for a turntable for those old records, take a look at the Ion LP2 FLASH.

RIM and TiVo announced a partnership, allowing Blackberry users to program their TiVos remotely.

Advanced Windows users running the .NET framework might enjoy an alpha CircleDock, a tool for launching applications quickly.

Today I posted on BigTrip.TV about how we're rethinking the type of bus we might buy for the trip. Then we saw the Tabbert Paganini and fell in love.

GBTV #425 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:51:45 -0700

Microsoft announced an update to the Zune. The most exciting of the features is the ability to tag songs from the FM radio to buy over WiFi or later when you're connected to your computer.

The Nano predictions were right, curved screen and all. Apple also updated the iPod Touch to make it thinner, with a contoured back. Both have the new Genius technology that will suggest songs and playlists.

iTunes 8.0 is now out. The Grid view is fantastic! TV shows will now be offered in HD for $2.99. Oh! Oh! Oh! NBC is back in the iTunes Store.

GBTV #424 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:16:18 -0700

Scientists at CERN have been working on the Large Hadron Collider. It's a 17 mile ring with the initial intention to test the theory of how mass happens. Some scientists are worried that the experiment will cause the world to end. I'm not worried. We'll be live on Ustream, watching the CERN webcam while the experiment takes place. Join us if you can!

When: Wednesday the 10th CERN Webcam: http://webcast.cern.ch Our Live Stream: Ustream.tv Times: 7:00 AM UTC 3:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time 2:00 AM Central Daylight Time 1:00 AM Mountain Daylight Time 12:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Tomorrow there's an Apple event called "Let's Rock". Kevin Rose says we'll see this Nano announced, and iTunes 8.0. I'm skeptical about the nano. I'm reading how Apple develops hardware, and I can't see this version getting through. We'll be live on Ustream.tv during the event.

When: Tuesday the 9th Where: Ustream.tv Time: 10 AM Pacific (5 PM GMT)

Plastic Logic is introducing their electronic reading device today. It's the size of an 8.5x11" piece of paper. The goal is provide publishers with more flexibility for business documents. It'll go on sale next year.

RealDVDis a new Windows DVD ripping application that will copy the entire contents of your DVD...special features and DRM included. It's similar to my favorite Mac DVD ripping application called Drive-in. Drive-in is now available for purchase from Flip4Mac. RealDVD will be released soon.

. These applications are legal due to a precident setting case involving Kleidescape. The judge in that case said "Nothing in the agreement prevents you from making copies of DVDs. Nothing requires that a DVD be present during playback." We'll see how this develops in the future!

GBTV #423 (WMV) | CEDIA #7

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:49:52 -0700

CEDIA Update #7 is full length today. Toshiba's XDE DVD Players are another option to Blu-ray. They're working on upconversion like we've never seen.

I've been learning a lot about how Hz effects your TV viewing experience. Philips announced their new Aurea II 100Hz Displays at IFA last week and Sharp announced their Aquos 120Hz Displays.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #422 (WMV) | CEDIA Expo #6

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:48:34 -0700

CEDIA Update #6 covers the LG DP889 Digital Photo Frame. The thing that makes this frame different is the built in DVD player and twin earphone jacks. There are some downsides, as there are to every digital photo frame I've seen. What have you guys bought? What do you like about your choice? What don't you like? Leave a comment!

The 1394 Trade Association and HANA got together to demo Firewire 800 data distribution via standard coax.

GBTV #421 (WMV) | CEDIA Expo #5

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:57:15 -0700

CEDIA Update #5 covers THIEL Audio's zöet. It's a plug and play home theater system, and is meant to be simple to setup and easy to use.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #420 (WMV) | CEDIA Expo #4

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:46:21 -0700

CEDIA Update #4 covers the Madison Fielding Lowboy, a low sitting console designed for a flat panel display, all your home theater components, and speakers built right in. This is the last update for Tuesday.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #419 (WMV) | CEDIA Expo #3

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:57:40 -0700

CEDIA Update #3 covers the Avoca Semiconductor Voice-Enabled Multi-Modal Interface, or VMI. It's a controller for playing your music collection, and is supposed to understand plain English phrases without needing to be trained. For example, "Play Frank" will begin playing your Frank Sinatra collection.

GBTV #418 (WMV) | CEDIA Expo #2

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:29:58 -0700

CEDIA Update #2 covers the CLO Systems T2:Tilt wall mount. It automatically tilts your TV down when you're ready to watch it so you don't get a glare. When you're done watching, it will automatically move back into an upright position.

GBTV #417 (WMV) | CEDIA Expo #1 repost

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:05:24 -0700

CEDIA Update #1 covers the Triad InWall Silver/4 Omni Sconce Loudspeaker. It's a speaker system and LED light source in one.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #416 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:24:40 -0700

The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association Expo (CEDIA) starts today in Denver. We want to use the week to experiment with how we cover trade shows. Producing video takes a lot of time, and because of that we're not able to get information out quickly during big events like CEDIA, Macworld and CES. The experiment is this: we'll release several shorter shows throughout the week. Let us know what you think throughout the test by leaving comments!

Also let us know if you run into any bugs or issues with the new site design. We're still working on it and have lots more to roll out.

GBTV #0415 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:25:21 -0700

IFA 2008 is taking place in Germany and Philips Electronics announced enough beautifully designed products to fill a weeks worth of briefs. I picked my top three favorites:

Cinema Ones an all-in-one home theater system that includes an upscalling DVD player, CD player, an iPod dock, a five channel amplifier, six speakers and a subwoofer.

The Phillips DVD Home Theater System provides 9.1 surround from four towers, a dedicated center speaker and a subwoofer.

The NP2900 Network Music Player streams music from a PC or Internet radio stations over your home's wireless netork.

Sony's DSC-T500 (I always like to imagine the DSC stands for Daily Source Code) Cyber-Shot point and shoots 720p video.

Amit Goffer, an Israeli engineer created ReWalk. ReWalk is a robotic exoskeleton that makes it possible for paraplegics to walk.