14 posts tagged “randal schwartz”

The music industry has come up with a new idea for distributing digital music - slotMusic - selling albums as DRM-free MP3s (up to 320 kbps) on a 1GB microSD card.  The 4 major international music companies - Universal, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI all support it.  Any micro-SD enabled phone or MP3 player can play the music.  The slotMusic card is one of those that has a tiny USB sleeve that can plug into any computer for transfer.  Album art, liner notes and any other creative content may be included on the card, in digital form.


Sandisk, being a major flash memory manufacturer, is supporting the new format, and has made a Sansa slotMusic Player - a barebone device with a microSDHC slot that plays MP3 and WMA files, with no other functions, running on a single AAA battery.  The sleeve (or skin) is replaceable.  Bundles including the player and a slotMusic card (currently only ABBA, Robin Thicke, Connie Talbot and Don't Quit) are available.

The slotMusic "albums" and the slotMusic Player can be purchased online through the Sansa Store or at Wal-Mart and Best Buy.  The albums are selling for $15.

You can check out the available albums on the Sansa Store or on slotMusic.org.

Geek Cruises
Captain Neil Bauman has changed the name of Geek Cruises to Insight Cruises.  Leo will be going on the China, Korea and Japan Tour next year with Henry.

Grilling Barbeque
Captain Neil is also a grilling specialist, and Leo was going to a barbeque last Wednesday, with Captain Neil demonstrating his grilling skills, which would be beamed live on TWiTLive, to be joined by Randal Schwartz, FLOSS Weekly co-host and avid DGW listener.  Unfortunately, at an earlier barbeque at Captain Neil's house, poor Randal had an accident and broke his arm.  Listen to FLOSS Weekly Episode 46 where he explained the accident.

Burns & Allen
Prolific letter writer Steve Miller (whose letter was read out only yesterday in Episode 687) writes again.  Dick's mention of George Burns and Gracie Allen in Episode 679 made him search for the Burns & Allen radio show on Audible, Steve having become a subscriber thanks to DGW (see Episode 376).  What he found was an Audible book by Burns called "One Hundred Years, One Hundred Stories".  Steve, who is easily tempted, could not resist buying the book.

This is Steve's 9th letter read out in DGW, the most for any listeners.

In Return for Candy
12-year-old seventh-grader A Z Bopper from Mesa, Arizona has been listening to DGW for the last 6 months and has been inspired by Dick and Leo to become a total computer nerd, helping his mother with her computer, and his English teacher with her computer and printer.  He doesn't mind because he gets candy for it.  Dick advises that he should hold out for soda as well, and Leo adds, "But not candy corn."

Match Game Memories on Stickam
Dick is going to do a show on Match Game Memories on Saturday 29 November, the day Gene Rayburn passed away, which also happens to be Leo's birthday.  It will be on Stickam.  Leo wants to crash the party.  Stayed tuned.


Listen to Episode 688
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Dick saw this gadget at the Marine Aftermarket Trade Show at Las Vegas.  The CoolHut is the equivalent of the Swiss Army Knife for a backpack.  Ideal for the beach or camping.  It has a cooler with a 24-can capacity, a tray for sandwiches, ....



... , a waterproof awning big enough to shade the "ground lounge" of 50 sq. ft . area with UV protection, complete with 2 lounge chairs, and an amplifier and speakers for the iPod.  A higher model, called the CoolerHut, includes Inflatable cushions.



Following the Party Line

Floss Weekly co-host, DGW fan and regular correspondent Randal Schwartz has a story to tell about a "party line" (Episode 614).  Alex, a friend of his, lived in a house in the late 70's with a party line.  Alex loved playing online games on his 300-baud modem connection, and had to wait until the line was free.  One day, Randal and Alex wanted to play a game and picked up the phone to check the line.  They overheard a neighbour say, when asked if they could be overheard on a party line, that all you could hear when the line was engaged, was a series of clicks - the classic noise of Alex's modem.


Listen to Episode 623
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The iSoniCast enables wireless streaming from your iPod to your home stereo or other powered speakers.  Monster Cable calls it a "wireless audio bridge".


Connect the base station to AC power and to your home stereo and to one of the audio inputs of your home stereo (via the mini-jack to RCA cable provided).  Plug the transmitter into the iPod (which draws minimal power from the iPod), start playing and the music will be streamed by 2.4GHz wireless technology (with a bandwidth of 4 Mega-bits per second) to the base station receiver.  The iPod doubles up as a remote control.

Mad Currency
Randal Schwartz, Perl expert, co-host of FLOSS and long-time fan of DGW, came across an entry on Wikipedia about fake denominations of US currency and found that the Mad currency (3-dollar bill) which Dick talked about in the past (see, e.g. Episode 121) has made its way into that entry.  Dick goes on to describe the Alfred E Neuman postage stamps that Mad used to make.

Spork Cartoon
Dick and Leo mention in passing a spork cartoon which listeners have written in about.  Leo says he is going to save it for the Letters Section, but naturally he forgets.  While we wait for Dick and Leo's memory to come round, here's one which is pretty good, by Jakin J Waldock.


Listen to Episode 567
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Although flash memory camcorders are now the norm, Leo found a problem with them on his trip to Egypt.  The videos he took with his Panasonic HDC-SD5 (Episode 407) had to be transferred off the flash cards to the computer, which very quickly filled up the hard drive.  So this time for Tasmania, he decided to get a camcorder using tape, Canon's VIXIA HV30, which records on to HD miniDV cassette tapes.


A successor to last year's HV20, it is a palm-sized camcorder, records High Definition DV in 16:9 mode (1920 x 1080) or 4:3 mode (1440 x 1080).  Supports 24p cinema mode and 30p progressive mode, the latter being good for converting into 15 fps web video.  10x optical zoom, fine low light performance, lens-shift image stabilisation, HDMI out, and a hot shoe for accessories.

Turning up the Volume: Size Matters
A listener's challenge to the 500-times size claim of the iPod Earbuds Speakers 500XL (Episode 543) generated a huge volume of response from the audience, including Perl eminence, FLOSS Weekly co-host and long-time listener Randal Schwartz, maths teacher and tea-maker par excellence George from Ajax, Ontario (who recommended the Penguin Tea Timer to Leo in Episode 501), and Van Miller from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.  It's not just the linear dimension, but the volume that counts, so say the chorus of disapproval.

The Miracle Thaw
Leo is enjoying his letters, and continues with another flood of correspondence, this time on the miracle defrosting tray the name of which escaped Dick adn Leo, in Episode 536.  Listeners rush in to explain the Miracle Thaw, including Brian Trapman from West Chester, Pennsylvania, Jason Gray, Tim Shay, and Andy Heatlie (whose letter is quoted on Dick's website).  It was just a piece of metal, and the FDA wasn't very happy with the commercials either.  The Miracle Thaw is no longer available, but the Miracle Thaw Junior may still be, and if not, there is always the "new and improved" Super D-Frost Wonder from the same manufacturer.

Dick and Leo are understandably surprised that people actually pay attention to the podcasts.  One hopes the FDA does too, and gets a close look at the Super D-Frost Wonder.

Listen to Episode 552
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A recommendation by Scott Bourne, the AudioEngine 5 (A5) is a pair of speakers with built-in amplifiers, 5" Kevlar woofers and 20mm silk dome tweeters.  75W peak power per speaker.  The set is powered via the Left Speaker, which has a USB port (for power charging) and audio input on top for your iPod or other audio source.

At the back, it has an AC outlet for Apple's Airport Express (or other device), ideal for streaming music from iTunes on your computer to the speakers wirelessly.

Approximately 10" (H) x 7" (W) x 8" (D).  14 pounds for the left speaker and 9 pounds for the right.  Available in black or white.

Also available is the AudioEngine 2 (A2) which is designed for the desktop, smaller in size and less powerful, without the built-in iPod and Airport Express connectivity.

The Amazing Criswell ...
... the psychic weather man or woman and DGW listener, writes again (see Episode 176).  In Episode 438, Leo thought Election Day is the first Tuesday of November.  Criswell corrects Leo.  It's actually the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Listen to Episode 442
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Read Dick's Write-Up

Leo was sent the MOTOROKR S9 along with the MOTORIZR Z8 from across the pond (Episode 380).  The MOTORIZR is not available in the US, but the S9 is.  It's a pair of bluetooth stereo headphones, particularly good for listening to music.  Works with any phone or bluetooth device supporting A2DP.  The battery "bulge" is behind your neck, so you don't need to look like a borg, as Leo puts it.  Comes with red or black lining.

Music playback, volume control and call-answering can be done via touch-sensitive controls next to the earpieces.

Wait-For-Dick Jingle ...
... or perhaps a Wait-For-Leo-To-Play-The-Jingle Jingle would have been more appropriate.  Dick has to answer the door for a UPS/Fedex delivery.  This is the moment we've been waiting for since Episode 346, when Paul Minshall made the Wait-For-Dick Jingle, only to have Leo spoil it for us.  Dane Golden has obviously declined to edit out the long wait, to let us have a fly-on-the-wall experience.  At least Leo redeems himself by giving us a a good farce.

Dyson Airblade
Dave Gross from Blackpool, England writes in about a hand dryer that blows out air at a phenomenal speed which Dick mentioned in passing in an earlier episode.  On a recent trip to the Eden Project in Cornwall, Dave saw one of those in the men's room.  It's the Dyson Airblade.  For a picture of and a link to the Airblade, see Episode 394.

A Men's Room Story
Dick has a story to tell about an NBC man with an umbrella.

Listen to Episode 417
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Shaped like peanuts, these are tiny 2" long LED lights, sold in sets of 3, which can be carried around.  They also have velcro strips at the bottom which can be used to attach the light on to different surfaces.  These were first heralded by Dick in Episode 406.

Shy like Johnny Carson
Dick and Leo are shy at parties, like Johnny Carson.  So was Ethel Merman when she first appeared on Match Game (original stories in Episode 167).  The only thing that separate Dick and Leo from them is talent.

From Comic Books To Television
David Sexton of New Jersey (who suggested the Spoon Sisters Wire Identification Labels to Dick, Episode 283) writes in about the Monster HD channel on Cable Satellite, and a documentary called "From Comic Books To Television" which talked about EC Comics, Bill Gaines and his dislike of the Comics Code.

David Sexton wonders if Bill Gaines ever considered reviving Tales from the Crypt, and whether anyone has written a biography of him.  Tales from the Crypt have been republished in hard cover and can be found at EC Crypt: www.eccrypt.com.  Dick's book Good Days and Mad covers many stories about Bill Gaines.

Listen to Episode 411
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Dick has been using a Logitech USB headset to record DGW, which used to have inline voume and mute controls, and Dick used to mute his mic accidentally.  The new ClearChat Pro USB has moved the controls to the middle of an earpiece, and shows a red indicator light at the end of the mic when muted.  Ideal for Dick.  Now he won't be hitting the mute button on his headset as before (as in Episode 10).

The Lab With Leo
Leo was in Vancouver filming The Lab With Leo, and celebrating 100 episodes.

A Date with the Skype Lady
The Skype Lady joins Dick and Leo for a conference call on Skype.

A Letters Jingle that comes on cue
Leo has been blaming the Jingle Singers for being tardy.  Randal Schwartz has advised Leo to move the Letters Jingle file from his external drive to an internal hard drive.  Now finally, the Jingle Singers come on cue.  And Leo still calls himself The Tech Guy.

WWF Mic
Kelly Redwolf Price, and Ron from Houston, have written in about the WWF Mic (Episode 390) and the name conflict between the World Wrestling Federation and the World Wide Fund for Nature.  The wrestling group had to change its name to WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment.  There are WWE mics out there as well, but not the same as Dick's WWF Mic.

Listen to Episode 401
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GizWizBiz Inka Pens
Update: Dick had 100 GizWizBiz Inka Pens made, and has already sold 50.