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Internet and Web
How to use a computer to teach music?
Episode 980
Mike would like to use a computer or tablet to teach his kids to play musical instruments. He tried Garage Band on the iPad and his kids found it boring. Leo says that the iPad Garage Band app is the best option on the market. The sad part is that Apple was planning to have popular artists teach on video to kids and dropped that after a few lessons. The Chatroom says Virtual Piano.net is very popular. There's also Jammit with $4 lessons of popular songs.
Online Retailers to Charge Internet Sales Tax
Episode 979
Leo discusses the Marketplace Fairness Act which recently passed in the Senate, and for the most part he is in favor of it. He thinks since brick and mortar businesses have had to charge sales tax, that online retailers should as well. Many local businesses have suffered because of online retailers that have been able to sell the same products without the sales tax.
Andrew Ex and Jared from iLockOut
Episode 980
Andrew X and Jared of ILockOut are joining us to talk about a call Leo got a few weeks ago from a caller who said someone contacted him to say they can clean up his infected website. Andrew got started as a web designer who noticed a trend a few years ago of more and more websites getting infected. Now there's over a million sites on Google's blacklist. That aint' right. So he did something about it.
How can I control a webcam online?
Episode 979
Al would like to have a webcam that will only work when people log into a website that he controls. Leo says it would take some programming. He'd likely have to have a program that controls the camera at all times until it's released for use. Clients may not like that, though.
How could I control and watch TV with someone remotely over the internet?
Episode 979
Matt from
Matt's father has recently suffered a stroke and he lives across the country. He's concerned about his father's mental stimulation since he was once an avid reader. Leo says that audio books are ideal for that kind of situation. Leo bought his mother a huge iPod classic and an account on Audible to load the books on.
Johnny Jet
Episode 979
Johnny Jet just put out an alert that SAS airlines is putting Europe on Sale. It's under $1,000 round trip!
American Airlines has a new thing going on where if you have no carry ons, you can board right after group one. They'll also check any bag for free at the gate. That's pretty slick, but how many people will take advantage of the loop hole and check that extra bag?
Bob Heil Live From Hamvention
Episode 979
Bob Heil, the host of Ham Nation joins Leo live via satellite from Hamvention. Bob says that dozens have approached him at Hamvention this week telling him they got his Ham license because of Leo. He also says that a lot of Hams have come to the hobby because of TWiT and the HamNation podcast. Check out the Hamvention live on the Internet at http://www.w5hub.com
How could I create my own Roku channel?
Episode 979
David would like to stream his own video or audio live to his TV via the Roku Box. Leo says that Houdini7 in the chatroom has written an app that can stream Leo's Show, and David would have to write his own. He suspects that the app is mostly javascript and shouldn't be all that difficult to modify. People have done it all over the world as there are thousands of custom Roku Channels available.
Google I/O Kicks Off With 3.5 Hour Keynote
Episode 979
Google launched their annual developers' conference, Google I/O, with a marathon 3 1/2 hour keynote address. Leo says there was no new hardware announced, not even from Motorola. There was an announcement that there will be a Nexus version of the Samsung Galaxy SIV soon running pure vanilla Android. They barely even talked about Google glass, which they just launched. They did, however, have plenty to say about Google+, which Leo says shows that Google is all in on their social network. Leo also says he thinks that Google+ will be adding SMS to challenge Facebook Messenger.
How can I unlock my thumb drive on a Mac? (Part 1)
Episode 978
Mark has two thumbdrives hooked into a PogoPlug connected to his MacBook Air, but now his drives are read only. Leo says that drives can end up read-only when they're damaged. If he removed the thumbdrive without ejecting it, it could have damaged it. Leo says he can pull the data off it and then reformat the thumbdrive.
