40 posts tagged “twitter”
SmartSwipe
Security for Online Shopping
Link: smartswipe.ca
According to NetSecure, although traditional SSL encrypts the data in transit from the web browser on your computer to the secure server of the e-commerce site, hackers may still be able to access the information while it's on your computer or its memory before the data is encrypted. SmartSwipe uses a technology called Dynamic SSL, which interacts with traditional SSL. It encrypts the data at the SmartSwipe hardware itself and initiates the SSL key negotiation from SmartSwipe (and not from the personal computer), so that the encryption is extended further back to the earlier point in time where the information is read from the credit card. SmartSwipe works with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and JBC, but only on Windows XP and Vista and on Internet Explorer. Those who are interested in the security side of the technology may want to read up on NetSecure's documentation on Dynamic SSL to see if their claims are made out. Dell is now selling SmartSwipe as an accessory.
Squirrel iPhone Credit Card Swiper
Rumour has it that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is going to make an iPhone hardware and software solution, codename Squirrel, for accepting credit card payment on a card swiper connected to the iPhone. Here's the TechCrunch article.
The March of Technology
Dick is much amused by a frankfurter stand in New York with a red Neon sign flashing "Open". Wouldn't people know, muses Dick.
Waterproof Housing for the Nokia
Alessandro Abate is taking his Canon EOS 50D and a 300mm lens on an Alaska cruise to celebrate with his wife their 25th wedding anniversary. He wonders if Leo can recommend a waterproof housing for his cherished camera while kayaking. If he doesn't need to take photo while kayaking, Leo suggests a waterproof cinch bag, but if he wants to shoot through the protective cover, it's going to cost him.
Warnings from Sandrino
If Leo is going to name his autobiography "Just One More Podcast" (see Episode 812), Sandrino's wife, who is an attorney, is ready to collect their share of the royalties. Also, his daughter has just been accepted into the San Francisco Institute of Art and they may pay a visit to the TWiT Cottage while in the neighbourhood. Leo will be ready with his TWiT Mat.
Listen to Episode 858
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Find DGW Info on GizWizSearch
Photojojo Bottle Cap Tripod
Tripod Mount
Link: Photojo
Faithful listener Mike Gunn from San Francisco (who last suggested the GE 911 Emergency Light Switch in Episode 758) has suggested another gadget to Dick, the Bottle Cap Tripod from Photojojo. It is screwed on to the tripod mount on the camera, and has a cap that fits over a bottle cap. The bottle of water or drink acts as the "tripod" itself, or monopod if you like. It pivots up to 15 degrees in any direction.
Dick and Leo talk about Soupy Sales and how he informed Leo's own sense of humour. There's a Soupy Sales on Twitter, although no one is quite sure if Dick and Leo are not sure that's the real one. Always irreverent, Sales once asked children to get those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of US Presidents" and mail them to him, which got him into quite a controversy.
Gadget Repatriation
Leo is off to China soon, and Dick reckons Leo can get a whole case of Bottle Cap Tripods for $10. Leo finds it funny that he will be repatriating a whole lot of gadgets like the iPod back to China, where they were made. Dick doesn't travel outside the US any more. He's done it all with Bill Gaines, including travelling to Hong Kong.
A Guest Appearance
After Amber MacArthur (Episode 77) and Henry Laporte (Episode 252), Dane Golden is the third guest to appear on the Daily Giz Wiz, playing the voice of White Fang.
Old Clothes
Dick reminds Leo to take his old clothes with him when he travels to China. This is a reference, often made in older episodes, to Dick's old habit of travelling with his old clothes and leaving them behind at the end of the trip. Go back to Episode 61 for Dick's first mention of this habit, which generated a lot of empathy from the audience.
It's A Brand New Generation
David Sanders from Fort Wayne complains about the decades of therapy bills he'll have to pay for his young children who, having been subjected to the Daily Giz Wiz in the car, may have been irreparably harmed. Now, as the children get ready for school in the morning, his 5-year-old starts singing "It's a brand new day, it's a brand new week, it's a brand new Daily Giz Wiz ...", while the 8- and 10-year-old complete the jingle. David needs a jingle eraser gadget, or else Leo should employ a younger generation of Jingle Singers.
CCrane Z-Bar Desk Lamp
LED Desk Lamp
Link: CCrane
TWiT: The Early Days
Leo explains the origin of the name TWiT. When the old gang from G4/TechTV, including Leo, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, David Prager and Robert Heron, got together for the podcast, they originally called the show Revenge of the Screen Savers. They soon got a cease and desist letter from G4. Eventually they asked the listeners to make suggestions for the name, and the winning entrant would get a surprise box of stuff from Patrick's garage - the "box of crap". Entries included Revenge Of The Green Saviours, SledgeCast, Saved By The Geeks, and This Week In Geek, the last of which was closest to what Leo wanted. In the end Leo decided on This Week In Tech, shortened to the acronym TWiT which became the name of the site and his podcasting network.
For a summary of the early episodes of TWiT (0 to 9), you can get Episode 81 of TWiT: The Early Years. It is a collection of tidbits from the podcasts (but not a best-of) outlining how the podcast evolved in the early days, badly put together by none other than myself, which I would have called TWiTbits.
TWiT Trademark
Leo has trademarked the brand TWiT for virtually all media, including audio, video, variety show and musical. Leo's lawyer questioned Leo about his involvement in variety shows. Of course we do variety shows. The Daily Giz Wiz. What about musicals? The Daily Giz Wiz. The only 4 media left are vinyl, cylinder, 8-track and wire recorder.
Just don't talk to Leo or Dane Golden about TWiT and Twitter.
Leo's Life Stories
Dick and Leo have often talked about Leo's autobiography and its title, the last time in Episode 812. Tom Pruett has 3 ideas for Leo's book, all of which lend themselves easily to TV production as well.
The PodCouple - Leo Laporte has recently lost his job at TechTV. Despondent, he wanders aimlessly until his friend Dick DeBartolo comes to the rescue and the two do a podcast together. The trouble is Dick is neat and tidy and Leo is a slob ...
The PodFather - An aging patriarch of an organised podcasting dynasty, Leo Laporte, wants to transfer control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant friend Dick DeBartolo. A story of power and greed, culminating in the Toothpick Bird and Spork Episodes.
Podman Begins - Explore the Podman legend and his emergence into a force for good. A disillusioned tech journalist Leo Laporte travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and to turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He comes back as his alter ego Podman, a mass crusader who uses his strength, intelligence and vast podcasting network to fight sinister forces. Don't forget his butler, Leo adds, Dick TheBartolo.
MAD 500
MAD 500 is out, with retrospective looks into different parts of MAD Magazine's past issues (or episodes as Leo persists in calling them). By MAD 502, Dick will have completed 40 years of unbroken contribution to every issue of MAD. You can get MAD 500 along with the 2 Obama-cover issues as a collection autographed by Dick from MAD Stuff.
Listen to Episode 824
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Elgato Turbo.264 HD
Video Encoder
Link: Elgato
The Turbo.264 HD is a hardware encoder, using a USB connection, to speed up the encoding process. It accepts many input formats including AVCHD videos (e.g. from HD camcorders), QuickTime, AVI, DV, Xvid, WMV and Video_TS folders, encodes them using the H.264 profile, and outputs to a variety of formats for the iPhone, iPod, Sony PSP, YouTube, YouTube HD, 720p HD, and 1080p HD. Leo's experience is that it can encode videos twice as fast.
The Turbo.264 HD comes with Elgato's software for the Mac, and when plugged in, detects and gives you instant access to the videos on a camcorder. It also works with other video software on the Mac for importing or encoding videos, including iMovie, QuickTime Pro, Final Cut Pro and Elgato's own EyeTV.
For a similar USB hardware H.264 encoder for Windows, Leo has heard about the BlackMagic Video Recorder.
DGW Scheduling
Because Leo is going away in July on his China tour, Dick and Leo are recording 6 shows at a time, starting with this session. Dick will have to come up with more gadgets for each session, and will be going off to Las Vegas for the National Hardware Show which starts on 5 May. Hence the first recording session for May will be on Monday 4 May, instead of the Tuesday. Dick is looking forward to bringing back an arm load of gadgets from the show.
The Hilton's Suffering
Conventions have been hard hit by the economic downturn, and the Hilton in Vegas is hurting. Leo thinks that's because they've stopped the Star Trek attraction, which reminds Dick of how he was berated by a PR lady for referring to the attraction on TV as "The Star Trek Experience", when it was "Star Trek, The Experience". For the full story, go to Episode 261.
Leo's Autobiography
Various names have been touted for Leo's autobiography (for a previous discussion, see Episode 665). Alessandro Abate suggests "Just One More Podcast". For Dick's, someone has suggested "I'll Be Here". Leo loves and repeats the motto used in Sandro's signature: "Never Surrender Dreams" (see Episode 797).
Dick's Lust For Life
When Dick loves something, he doesn't just admire it from a distance, but wants to be part of it, and that's what he's done with MAD and TechTV, the latter of which led to the Daily Giz Wiz. At the recent Turner Classics presentation at Barnes and Noble (Episode 783), Dick introduced himself to Robert Osborne, and now he's been invited to co-host a TCM special next year on A Night of Movie Satires.
Listen to Episode 812
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
SwissPen X1
Swiss Army Knife Pen
Link: VAT19
A heads-up from a listener whose email Dick has misplaced. VAT19 is selling the SwissPen X1, which is a pressurised pen, with a whole of other functions, like a Swiss Army knife. It also has a knife, a pair of scissors, a screwdriver, a nail file, a letter opener and an LED flashlight.
Yesterday's gadget was a hoax, Leo reveals. What a shocker!
My Email Buddy
"My Em@il Buddy" is a USB gadget that lights up, does a dance and plays a sound file when an email comes in, shown at CES 2009. Dick thought it would be a really annoying gadget, one of his more bizarre selections from CES. German writes in to correct Dick. He says that you can configure the My Email Buddy to do the routine (itself configurable) only when mail has come in from selected senders. For a photo of the gadget at CES, click here.
Leo has no recollection that this gadget has been covered on the Daily Giz Wiz. It wasn't. Dick did cover it after CES but he only did it on Leo's radio show The Tech Guy Episode 526, but not on this show.
There was a similar home-made gadget called the Availabot (for instant messenger applications). See Episode 119.
Rubber Stamping
Bill Gaines didn't have a secretary. He answered letters coming in for MAD using rubber stamps. His other quirks included berating people for not sending him bills and invoices promptly, and getting upset at Dick for his using one-time only typewriter ribbons.
ioSafe Solo
Disaster Resistant External Hard Drive
Link: ioSafe
Dick went to CES 2009 early to attend a demo of the new product from ioSafe. The ioSafe Solo is a USB2 external hard drive, but it's no ordinary CompUSA External HDD Enclosure (Episode 67). It has a specially designed and constructed enclosure that is "indestructible", or disaster resistant. It can stay immersed in water up to 10 feet deep for 72 hours, and withstand heat up to 1550° (or about 760°), which will protect the hard drive in case of flooding or fire. Choices of capacity of 500GB, 1TB or 1.5TB. The disaster protection does come at a price - in terms of size and weight. It's about 5" x 7" x 11" and weighs 15 pounds. The price includes 3 years of warranty and a year of $1,000 disaster data recovery.
Ordeal by Fire and Water
The Solo Demo was one of the best CES demos Dick attended. The Solo was thrown into a swimming pool, and then put into a furnace with the temperature rising to 1200°F and up. After the ordeal by water and fire, the hard drive was retrieved from its steaming case, connected to a computer, and the data was still safe.
Ian Johnson from Vancouver discovered th Daily Giz Wiz about 6 months ago, around the time he broke up with his girlfriend of 7 years' standing. He couldn't get enough of the DGW and has now listened to the entire back catalogue. The slogan in the Monday Theme "The worse your life is, the better we sound" particularly resonates with Ian.
Jingle Submissions
Ian Johnson is a musician himself, and he wonders if Dick and Leo receive a lot of theme songs and jingle submissions. He has a few ideas for the Mail Bag and may in due course submit a theme or two.
The First DGW Jingle
Dick asks Leo which was the first DGW jingle. In a rare moment of lucidity, Leo remembers, correctly, that it was Mark Blasco's Opening Theme, which he wrote on a geek cruise. Then the first listener-submitted jingle was Paul Minshall's D-A-I-L-Y Closing Theme (or the gravy jingle). George Wood then arrived on the scene and more recently Dan Lueders. Not bad for someone who can't remember the iCap from the radio show just a few weeks ago.
Listen to Episode 751
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Yashica KC600/Kyocera DR350
Early Digital Camera
Link: Business Wire on FindArticles.com
CES Reports on Stickam
Dick intends to talk about CES on Stickam from his hotel room in Vegas. Follow him on Twitter and TWiT Army to get the details.
Apple Quicktake
Three years before the Yashica KC600 was the Apple QuickTake 100, same resolution, 1MB storage for eight 24-bit photos, cost $750.
Dick and Leo surmise that at this CES, they will see 64GB USB sticks.
Leo asks Dick, if he could choose any time to have been born in, what time would he choose. 8.30 pm, says Dick. Leo would like to be born as late as possible, because he wants to see what the future holds. Dick wants to have been born in 1900, but with all the gadgets he now has.
Radio Leo
Jeff Royal from Braunfels, Texas (who last wrote in Episode 563) heard the request by a listener for a single weekly download of DGW (Episode 730), and thinks that there should be a single weekly download of all of Leo's podcasts. Not quite, but Leo already has something like that, an RSS feed of all of Leo's podcasts, all under one roof, called Radio Leo.
Listen to Episode 740
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Homepage
New Year Resolutions
New Year's Day Special
Twitter Offer
Leo offered a trip to France to anyone who decided to follow him. Dick thinks Leo should have added, "Transportation not included."
Withdrawal Symptoms
When Leo was away, Dick missed doing the show, and had to go on Stickam.
Listen to Episode 734
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Homepage
Exergen TemporalScanner
Temporal Thermometer
Link: Exergen
Scary Christmas Movies
Lil Banchik, aka DrMom on TWiT Army, has fond memories of Polaroid Instant Slides (Episode 730), and reminds us all of the scary Christmas movie Black Christmas.
DGW Favourite Episodes
In Episode 679, a listener asked Dick and Leo if they have their favourite 20 episodes. They have since talked about it a couple of times. Now Ludwik Trammer has set up a vote on his website, for listeners to vote their own favourite episodes of the Daily Giz Wiz. Go to http://www.gizwizsearch.com/vote/ to vote for your favourite episodes.
Ludwik has asked me to make some suggestions, to get listeners started. It wasn't an easy exercise, but I've picked 30 episodes. Some of them are important milestones of DGW, some of them are funny, but all of them I hope remind you of what's been happening since the start of the Daily Giz Wiz (which relatively new listeners may also find useful). Here is a quick summary of the "nominations" - but you absolutely are not limited to them:
Episode 61 Pack-Flat Back-Up Bag: Dick talks about how he disposes of his old clothes, which generates a lot of empathetic emails from fellow listeners.
Episode 76 A Tribute to
William M Gaines: Dick has often talked about Mad and in particular entertaining stories about Bill Gaines. Here on the anniversary of Bill Gaines's death, Dick gives us some heart-warming stories about Bill Gaines.
Episode 95 Franklin Rex: After winning the Podcast Alley vote, Leo says "We were Number 1 on Podcast
[Alley]. That's all we care about. So now, the rest is gravy. It
makes its own gravy, this podcast." A non-sequitur which is to become the slogan of DGW.
Episode 97 The Flag Waver: Dick is a true eccentric, and his way of watching the 4th of July fireworks is further evidence of this.
Episode 99 Oakley O Rokr: Before this episode, Dick has been saying "I'll be here" on and off, at the end of the shows. But it is not until this episode, after listeners write in about it, that Dick realises it, and ever since then, it's become Dick's official tag line.
Episode 101 Cruzin' Cooler: Dick has always prided himself on showing us wacky gadgets. This is one of the earlier classic ones.
Episode 115 SunSquirt: We are now all very familiar with Dan Lueders and his prolific output of themes and jingles for DGW. When Leo invited submissions of a gravy jingle for DGW, Dan was one of the participants. At the end of this episode, Dick mentioned Dan's submission which he thought had been played the day before (or was going to be played), but it never appeared on air. The submission was "lost" until it reapearaed in Episode 313. It was also to become the basis of Dan's Disclaimer Theme.
Episode 118 Energizer
Quick Switch Flashlight: Paul's Closing Theme started appearing in downloads from Episode 116 onwards, but it was in Episode 118 that it was first officially aired. A milestone in DGW history, the first of many jingles to come.
Episode 137 Altec Lansing FX6021: After Dick and Leo started reading a letter each day, Leo got the idea that they should have a Letters Jingle. This is where Leo invited submissions. It also had a letter from Seth, a sweet story of how he was "saved" on the road by simply listening to DGW.
Episode 138 Radar Golf: Another wacky gadget, with a touch of the risque.
Episode 145 Dejaview: Leo will probably hate me for this, but Leo was on good form, getting a little wild maybe, but please don't tell the sponsors.
Episode 149 Key Buoy: Another classic, with an important health advisory.
Episode 151 Gorillapod: An off-beat choice perhaps, but despite its ear-jarring tendency, this early Finnish letters jingle submission was actually missed after it was discontinued - which generated a search , during which Dan Lueders's earlier gravy jingle submission was retrieved.
Episode 169 Garmin
Forerunner 305: A listener makes a suggestion for the Halloween show, but Dick says, "We don't have time." Leo makes good fun of it. As it turned out, the Halloween show for that year was to become another classic.
Episode 173 Plantronics Discovery 655: Leo loves doing his phoney accents, and the Scottish one is one of his favourites. Here he gives a Scottish rendition of the Letters Jingle.
Episode 182 The Titanium Spork: A hot favourite, on Halloween. Dick calls it El Crappo Plus, but the audience love it, and it still gets talked about in fan emails.
Episode 188 Kingston
K-PEX 100: A listener bust a gut listening to DGW. Proof positive that DGW is not good for your health.
Episode 208 Viewsonic
ViewDock Monitor: George Wood's original Letters Jingle was a favourite for many listeners, but this Festive Letters Jingle was an instant hit, and every year it gets played earlier and earlier. Somehow it seems to embody all the cheers, joy and anticipation that is the Daily Giz Wiz itself.
Episode 246 A Visit To
The Gadget Warehouse: Right from the very first Warehouse Friday (Episode 5), Dick described what the real Gadget Warehouse was like, but many listeners still thought that it was just a piece of imaginatiion. In this episode, Leo took some time off while filming Regis and Kelly in New York, to visit Dick in his warehouse. A real treasure trove.
Episode 253 Databreaker: In the early days, Dick and Leo used to joke about the lack of sponsors, and beg for sponsorship. Here is the start of one of their most spectacular attempts, and failures, with To[s]tino. Dick and Leo should count themselves lucky - see Episode 443.
Episode 282 Toothpick
Bird: Exactly 100 episodes after the Spork comes another piece of crap from under Leo's desk. Leo was to have his revenge in Episode 413 when Dick gives us another bird, Squawkers McCaw.
Episode 291 The Smart
Cab: Listener Shane has a risky plot for his marriage proposal to his then pish-posh girlfriend. Will it work? Follow the story in Episodes 299 and 312.
Episode 364 HP
Photosmart R937 Pet Eye Camera: The beginning of a lovely relationship between the Daily Giz Wiz and a computer wiz from Poland, Ludwik Trammer, of GizWizSearch, who Dick thought for a very long time was 15 years old. As far as I know, Ludwik is now 22, going on 23? Still eligible.
Episode 391 Bedfan: Another of the nonsense pieces from Dick and Leo gives us another slogan, "The worse your life is, the better we sound."
Episode 406 Purseguard
Ultra: It's not often that Leo gets a real chance to trash Dick's gadgets, and Leo isn't about to let it slip away.
Episode 463 Talking
Photo Album: Despite Leo's ADD condition and always trying to do ten things at a time, he seldom slips up really badly. But this time Leo just doesn't get it. One of Dick's favourite episodes.
Episode 528 Fred's 500XL
Desktop Earbuds Speakers: The gadget itself is wacky enough, but perhaps this show is more noteworthy for the first appearance of an official DGW theme from Dan Lueders - Theme Free Wednesday.
Episode 552 Canon VIXIA HV30: A good example of how enthusiastic listeners' response can be. Someone challenged the claim by the makers of the 500XL Desktop Earbuds Speakers (500 times the size of the iPod earbuds). Another reminisced about the metal plate that thawed frozen foods but couldn't remember the name.- the Miracle Thaw. Floods of emails in response.
Episode 598 Uroclub: The wacky companion to Radar Golf.
Episode 670 GFX-100
Indoor Antenna: Dick has mentioned a few scams, but the cleverly crafted and almost completely truthful promotional material of this Indoor Antenna was a wonder. Other listeners may "prefer" other dodgy gadgets, and the Electron Echo Mini Piano (Episode 465) seems to have generated more searches on Ludwik's website, and more comments and enquiries on mine, than any other.
Enjoy your vote. If you have a favourite episode but can't remember the episode number, try searching on GizWizSearch, or send me an email to insidedgw@gmail.com, and'll try to help. Have fun.
Listen to Episode 733
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Homepage
Verbatim Tune Board
Speaker Keyboard
Link: Verbatim
Back from France
Leo is back with Henry from Rennes after their visit to Abby, but Jennifer is stuck in Paris as she has lost her passport. While Leo was in France, Dick went on Stickam on both Tuesdays.
Check out Leo's blog post "France Montage" and the links there to his photos from France.
An Ozzy Jingle?
East Coast Girl on the Chatroom suggests there should be a jingle for whenever Ozzy comes on TWiTLive.
Ten Questions from Dr Mark
Dr Mark Sukoenig put in 10 questions for Leo. What does an A battery look like? Why do Dick and Leo sound as energetic on the Friday show as they do on the Monday show? What is a Luma and how safe is it to pet one?
Themed to the Gills
Paul Minshall, apart from doing the 12 Days of GizWiz, has done a country-style jingle for the Daily Giz Wiz. Visit http://paulminshall.com/themes to play the Country Giz Wiz jingle.
Listen to Episode 732
Go to TWiT
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