CastMedium » Veronica Belmont

Tekzilla | Episode 104

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:55:53 +0000

Snow Leopard continues to leave mediocre impressions with Veronica not even venturing to install it due to the many reports of problems flying around. Robert did install it and Patrick aptly points out that 4 minutes into explaining the new feature that he is talking about new wallpapers. The bottom line is that there aren’t too many end-user features that will be apparent to most and it would probably be wise to wait a month or so until the bugs and incompatibilities are worked out.

Veronica is talking about Spotify, which is an iTunes-like streaming media service. It has a fairly large library of songs and the software seems to be sleek and easy to use. It is only available in private beta in the U.S. though, so you may have to wait a while before getting your hands on it.

Some other small things are covered such as turning old PCs into a network attached storage device, correctly wiping a hard drive and what you should use for backup.

Snow Leopard, Make Your PC a NAS, Spotify Preview, Time Machines Sucks and Stop Data Theft: Wipe your HD.

Runtime – 40:40

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

TWiT 207: Grandpa’s Woody

Jonathan Downin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:53:25 +0000

Twitter, Facebook and a few other big social networking sites were hit by a flood of traffic which culminated in a direct denial of service attack. The greatest impact was felt by Twitter, which just reiterated the fragile state of Twitter’s infrastructure. Why is it that other huge platforms can handle this kind of situation, but Twitter was down for over a day?

Facebook is now the 4th biggest site on the internet. At 340 million unique visitors a month, it has beaten MySpace at its peak by almost 250 million. The only companies in their path now are Google, Microsoft, Yahoo.

A new company called, named IZEA, is paying average Twitter users to insert sponsored tweets into their stream. Leo was quite upset upon first hearing about this, but he has come around to the idea somewhat. Other members of the group haven’t had the same change of heart.

DDoS of Twitter, Google Voice, Facebook goes ginormous, pay-per-post, cyber czar, and more.

Runtime – 1:36:14

Links → [web] [mp3] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

[See post to listen to audio]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 100

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:32:41 +0000

Happy 100th Tekzilla! Patrick attended Defcon, the yearly convention for hackers, and he seems like he enjoyed himself. This leads into an interview with Flexilis founder John Herring who talks about the various threats out there to mobile devices including phones.

At the beginning the Tekzilla duo cover great gadgets that are under $100. You really can get a lot for your money these days and there are some great choices here. Patrick and Veronica really blew it out on this topic and you can see their huge list of picks over on the Revision3 page for this episode.

The topic of wireless headphones comes up in the user video question this week and the sad news is that there still aren’t any stellar sets out there. How is this possible? Wireless technologies have been around for so long and we still can’t get a pair of great-sounding wireless head/earphones? Looks like if you really care about audio quality you will need to stay wired, or have a lot of money to shell out on a good pair.

DIY Home Audio Streaming, Wireless Headphones, Is Mint.com Secure? Flexilis, PronounceNames.com, Free Video Game. It’s our one hundredth episode!

Runtime – 43:13

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 99

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:37:27 +0000

The first gadget at the beginning of the show this week, after the talk of creepy spy cams, is the new Sonos Controller 200. Sonos is a system that will pump synchronous music throughout your home from up to 32 connected speaker systems. The new controller looks to be a great upgrade, but this system is expensive with the controller alone priced at $349, so it may not be for everyone.

Veronica has brought in the MiFi and it is a small and wonderful piece of technology. It connects to 3G and then puts out a wireless signal that up to 5 clients can connect to. That means WiFi access anywhere, anytime. But of course there is a catch, you must sign a data contract with 1 of the big carriers and those monthly packages are not cheap.

Not quite tech related, but Patrick and Veronica answer a user question about where to go and what to see when visiting San Fransisco. It’s sometimes hard to get this kind of information since anonymous advice an the internet is not always reliable, so this is a nice segment if you ever plan to drop by the SF area.

Spycam Warning! MiFi = Easy Internet Anywhere! Veronica and Roger Go To Comicon, Sonos Gets Better, Would we buy a Psystar OS X PC? FUTZ.ME: Your command line for the web.

Runtime – 40:41

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 95

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:59:41 +0000

Up front Patrick and Veronica are discussing how to get the most out of your notebook in the realm of audio. They cover amplifiers and break-out boxes that can make you notebook sound better than you have ever heard it sound. Of course Patrick throws in his 2 cents with a little DIY soldering action as well.

The real stand-out this week is the smartphone discussion with PC Magazine’s Sascha Segan. He really knows his phones and he is on the show this week talking about the iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry and Android phones. Along with everyone else, he crowns the iPhone the current leader, but he has a lot to say about the other contenders as well.

There is some talk of using copious amounts of RAM in your Windows 7 machine at the end, but they don’t get too in-depth. Caching all your apps in RAM sounds pretty exciting though.

Smart Phone Battle; Windows 7 App caching, Awesome Free Password Manager, Switch Audio in OS X, Notebook USB Audio Upgrade, AT&T Promises Better Service

Runtime – 42:38

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 93

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:14:38 +0000

First up, Patrick and Veronica have a great look at netbooks. Veronica has a couple of on-hand units, one with Windows 7 and another that is a hankintoshed OS X equipped Dell mini 9. They both look good, but with the new Intel CPUs coming up in December it may be best to wait if you can.

There is a big segment about HDR photography, but there is not much focus on the camera side. It is all about the software side here, so if you have the camera side down, you should be okay. The camera side is a big deal though so don’t be too ready to drop $99(US).

Free Software Finds Lost Drive Space. Tripit: Make An Instant Itinerary, High Dynamic Range Photos Look Gorgeous. Netbook Guide: from Hackintosh to Long Battery Life, Everything You Need To Know Before Buying.

Runtime – 46:19

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 92

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:33:52 +0000

The Apple announcements get overshadowed at the beginning here by Veronica’s obsession with The Sims 3, but we aren’t ones to be condemning anyone for that. Seriously, that is one addicting game.

There is a great interview with Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress on this episode. While this may not interest everyone, it is interesting for those of us who live in it every day.

Secret Shortcut Saves Thousands of Mouse Clicks, Does Blackle Really Save Energy Over Google? What’s In Store for WordPress? Veronica Interviews Matt Mullenweg. WWDC: New OS X! New Macbooks! New iPhone! (Same old AT&T…) Convert File Formats Fast and Free, More!

Runtime – 38:01

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 88

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:30:40 +0000

Windows 7 gets some coverage at the beginning here with a quick rundown of how to setup the recently loosed Release Candidate. This leads into a discussion on Patrick’s new PC which he has procured parts to build. He is setting out to build a Core i7 CD ripping box and has some good parts going into it, especially that mean looking case.

Patrick and Veronica also cover the SanDisk slotRadio which is a portable media player which you buy preloaded SD cards of music for and treat like the radio. The songs are cheap, but low in quality and get this, the player has now skip backwards function. Predicted failure in 3, 2, 1…

If you want to download some YouTube videos, that is also covered in this one. Check out http://kickyoutube.com/.

Windows 7 is Nagware? Surge Protect Your Whole House, Avoid Reruns, CanJam vs. Maker Faire, Joby Gorillapod, Consoles vs. Big Video Files. Save YouTube Videos

Runtime – 35:05

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

TWiT 193: Toodle Loo, Tuvalu

Jonathan Downin — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:46:04 +0000

Disney is bringing ABC content to Hulu and with this Hulu’s quest for complete online TV content domination is almost complete. If you haven’t you used Hulu, go check it out. It is a very nice service with fairly minimal interstitial ads in the TV shows. Also check out Boxee as Hulu is currently supported again, let’s hope it stays that way.

Apple has started hiring for positions to start the process of producing their own chips in-house. This is a very interesting move for Apple and is something that we have not seen from them before. As Apple has had more control over their parts and production things have only improved so this is looking to be good thing as well.

Everyone in the tech community is pretty excited about the prospect of having cheap, fast internet service. With Cablevision introducing its 101Mbps service at $99 we are getting closer to that being a reality. Leo voices that he hopes this will push other providers to offer more bang for the customers buck, something we mentioned here a few days ago.

Encarta checks out, Disney/ABC joins Hulu, Cablevision upcaps bandwidth, Apple chips, a post-PC world, and more.

Runtime – 1:29:47

Links → [web] [mp3] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 86

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:17:08 +0000

Tekzilla is a little late to the game on this one, but they are talking about the DSi. Coming from a show like Tekzilla it really leaves an impression that the DSi is going to be another huge hit for Nintendo with the mainstream crowd.

In a bit of a different focus for the show Patrick got his hands on the new Lincoln MKS and he has a lot to say about. It is almost a review it seems. For those of us who haven’t bought a car in the past couple years it is cool to see that technology is creeping its way into cars more and more.

Although almost as “old-school’ as gets Patrick and Veronica cover a really geeky service that allows you to send telegrams. All you do is log into their website, type up your message and for around $5 they will snail mail an authentic looking telegram to the address you have provided. Cool or dumb, could go either way.

Nintendo DSi, Save Plants with the EasyBloom Plant Sensor, Send A Telegram, GetGlue “the network that sticks to you!” Heat Your Home with PCs: Your Answers.

Runtime – 44:20

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 85

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:36:12 +0000

Patrick is talking about one of his favorite topics this week, GPSs. He took a a long road trip with his family over the past week and found himself in need of a GPS that could get the job done in the middle of nowhere. He recommends a couple Garmin units while Veronica goes with TomTom. Either way, GPSs have become incredibly affordable.

The Kindle 2 was another gadget that Patrick got quite a bit of time with on his trip and he impressions are just short of glowing. The only thing he has any real issue with is the price.

Password management is another topic this week, but Patrick and Veronica miss one big Mac OS pick which shouldn’t be missed called 1Password.

Manage all your passwords painlessly. Sub-$200 GPS Pick! Stop yourself from visiting a website too often. Dump RAID 1 for RAID 0… or entirely?

Runtime – 43:32

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 84

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:03:36 +0000

Kevin Rose from Diggnation is standing in for Patrick this week and it makes for a pretty fun episode.

Kevin is talking a bit about Twitter clients and it demoing Seesmic Desktop as Veronica vouches for TweetDeck. The next big one coming soon is Tweetie for Mac which is from the same guy that brought us Tweetie for iPhone and it looks pretty amazing. Look for that to be available on Monday.

There are a few other questions answered about hard drive partitioning, flash video encoding and YouTube as well as video up-scalers.

Kevin Rose steps in as co-host while Patrick is out on vacation. We show off the upcoming Seesmic Desktop which puts other Twitter apps to shame, how to upscale SD to HD, how to get the highest quality from the videos uploaded to YouTube, the best way to partition a new 1.5TB hard drive and showcase a site that gives you commercial software free and legal!

Runtime – 34:54

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 83

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:34:55 +0000

Patrick and Veronica are the Web 2.0 Expo and they have a very special guest on the show, Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter. He talks about how Twitter came about, where it is now and where it is heading. @ev is not giving out too much information about a business model or where Twitter is heading.

While it is nice to get interviews with important people, the live shows are just never as good as the regular Tekzillas. Produced shows filmed in a well lit and mic’d studio are a good thing. Oh, and the audience is creepily silent through the whole show. Weird.

Tekzilla Live at @Web 2.0! Evan Williams, Twitter CEO, Are SSDs ready for prime time? Best 4×6 Photo Printer, Waterproof iPhone cases, TypeTester, Free Audio Editing Software.

Runtime – 43:03

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 81

Jonathan Downin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:53:59 +0000

With all of the GDC craziness and the launch of OnLiveMedium we missed this one on Thursday.

The Tekzilla duo have Vizio’s VSB210WS Sound Bar With Wireless Subwoofer on the show this week and they liked it. Don’t be deterred by the wireless, Patrick calls it “shockingly good.” In the vein of home theater they are also talking about HD media players from Western Digital and Seagate.

Speaking of GDC, Jeff Cannata from The Totally Rad Show is on this week and he saw some cool stuff. He gives a broad overview of what GDC is all about. Come on, get Jeff Cannata to guest host with Veronica or Patrick soon.

SmartDefrag, Jeff Cannata from the Totally Rad Show joins us, MacBook vs. MacBook Pro vs. CS4, Never Say “Crap! I Missed It!” Again!

Runtime – 32:11

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts:

Tekzilla | Episode 80

Jonathan Downin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:59:40 +0000

The new 3rd generation iPod Shuffle comes up at the beginning here and Patrick is not happy about it at all. What is everyone’s’ thoughts on it?

Ever had problems backing up or moving your iTunes music? Patrick and Veronica have you covered and Veronica even mentions TuneUp, a program which finds missing album artwork, which you may have seen advertised here.

Not much else on this one other than Patrick saying to always go with more RAM.

Get the best OTA reception for DTV or HDTV, update all your social networking sites at once! Avoid disaster: backup your iTunes music, copy the tunes off your iPod and build a custom recovery CD! Plus, does Windows 7 Need 8GB of Memory?

Runtime – 27:56

Links → [web] [Quicktime] [iTunes] [Zune] [rss]

Related posts: