Episode 64: Feliz Navidad & Viewer Questions

In this episode, Viewer Questions are answered on how to defrag a Mac hard drive, problems erasing an NTFS hard drive on Mac OS 10.4, how to uninstall programs and their related files on a Mac, problems with Parallels, and how to create a wireless USB hub.
Hosts: D.Lee Beard & Brandon Jackson

Episode 64: Feliz Navidad & Viewer Questions

Episode 63: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Final Review

Is Leopard the new Vista? Should you upgrade now or wait? In this episode, Brandon and D.Lee present the last part (3) of their Mac OS X Leopard review.
Among the topics discussed are Parental Controls, Safari 3 features, the ever changing dock icons, PhotoBooth video, improvements to Preview, spaces, guest account, and more. 40min 50sec. http://AsktheTechies.com
Episode 63: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Final Review

Episode 62: YouTube Us Your Questions, Mac OS X Leopard Review Part 2

D.Lee and Brandon invite you to send us your question via video. They show you how and for free! Also, where else to find video internet shows including iTunes, Joost, Miro, Veoh, and Blip.TV Their review of the new Mac OS X Leopard continues with information on how to instantly view files without having to open a related application, the new cover flow feature for viewing a folder of files, Dock feature new and missing, record your video chats using iChat, how to create your own widgets, and cool new hidden features of the new DVD player built into the Mac OS X Leopard.
Hosts: D.Lee Beard, Brandon Jackson
Camerawork: Cody Moore

Visit us at: http://AskTheTechies.com

Episode 62: YouTube Us Your Questions, Mac OS X Leopard Review Part 2

Episode 61: Photoshop background blur and Mac OS X First Looks Review

In this video: How to blur the background of an image in Photoshop CS3. Also, the Techies offer their first look at the new Mac OS X Leopard operating system. This is NOT your "fanboi" review. They point out some of the best features AND tell you what Apple was afraid to tell you.

Episode 61: Photoshop background blur and Mac OS X First Looks Review

Episode 60: Parallels 3 Review: Windows Apps on a Mac - Now Easier!

D.Lee Beard and Brandon Jackson demonstrate some of the more powerful features of Parallels version 3 such as "Coherence" which allows you to run Microsoft Windows applications along side your Mac applications without having to view a Windows desktop. (24min 44sec)

Hosts: D.Lee Beard, Brandon Jackson
Camerawork: Cody Moore, D.Lee Beard

Become a "Techie" yourself:
Share your comments, knowledge and experiences as well on the Ask the Techies Blog!
(requires a free Google account)

"Ask the Techies" hosts will be posting to the Comments section as well.

NEXT WEEK: Photoshop background blurring tip, Mac OS X.5 Leopard: a first looks review, how to erase and format CDs and hard drives on a Mac, plus how to resize a partition using Apple's Disk Utility.

Visit us at AskTheTechies.com

Episode 60: Parallels 3 Review: Windows Apps on a Mac - Now Easier!

Episode 59: iMac Glossy Review, Hard Drive Recommendations, French Videos (ooh la la), How to Zoom in a Screen, & Viewer Criticisms

D.Lee Beard presents a review of the glossy screen 2007 iMac: this is not your typical "fanboy" review.

This video is also chock-full of viewer e-mail including questions on hard drive brand recommendations, watching French fromatted videos, how to zoom in the computer screen on Macs and Windows, and criticicsms on the Techies video sizes & Mac vs. PC review. (38min 56sec)

NEXT WEEK: Run Windows on the iMac with Paralles: in-depth

Visit us at AskTheTechies.com

Episode 59: iMac Glossy Review, Hard Drive Recommendations, French Videos (ooh la la), How to Zoom in a Screen, & Viewer Criticisms

Episode 58: Questions from the Podcast and New Media Expo

Brandon Jackson joins D.Lee Beard to discuss his trip to the 2007 Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario, California. While there, D.Lee videotaped some viewer questions on removing pops and clicks in audio, video editing Linux, and are cookies safe for your computer to eat? D.Lee and Brandon answer these questions and also share some of their experiences in american airports. (24min 53sec)

Hosts: D.Lee Beard, Brandon Jackson
Camerawork: Cody Moore, D.Lee Beard

Become a "Techie" yourself:
Share your comments, knowledge and experiences as well on the Ask the Techies Blog!
(requires a free Google account)

"Ask the Techies" hosts will be posting to the Comments section as well.

NEXT WEEK: Glossy iMac 2007 review and gobs of your viewer questions.
Send us your questions: AskTheTechies@Gmail.com

Visit us at AskTheTechies.com

Episode 58: Questions from the Podcast and New Media Expo

Episode 57: iMovie HD '06, Part II

In part 2, D.Lee Beard continues to explain how to use iMovie 06 (iMovie HD).

D.Lee explores the "Editing" tab to demonstrate how to add titles, themes, video effects, audio effects, transitions between video clips or photos, and apply "Themes" as another type of title effect to your video. He also explains how to add "Chapter" markers for longer videos burned to DVD, or exported for iPod, so that one can skip a section of the video the same way one skips sections on a professional DVD. Speaking of DVDs and iPods, D.Lee explains how to burn your video to a DVD disk that can play in a TV DVD player using iDVD, how to export your video as a QuickTime movie that can be played on an iPod (or not), and how to even export it to videotape.

Stick around to the end and you'll see a short (and very silly) video that was edited entirely in iMovie 06. Hopefully this will inspire you to see what you can do with even simple editing techniques. It is a tribute to the Monty Python "dead parrot" skit although we use a "dead computer" being brought into the local "Geniuis Counter" at the local computer store. Smiles everyone! (29min 35sec)

Host: D.Lee Beard

NEXT WEEK: Questions from attendees at the Podcast and New Media Expo in California!

Like this show? Go to your e-mail program and send us an e-mail. We want to hear from all of you. AskTheTechies@Gmail.com

AskTheTechies.com

Episode 57: iMovie HD '06, Part II

Episode 56: iMovie, Part I

In this two part video, D.Lee Beard explains how to use iMovie 06 (iMovie HD).

He explains how to import video, how to arrage, and reaarange clips. D.Lee also shows you how delete unwanted portions of video you imported.

Did you know you could make an entire movie out of just photos? D.Lee shows you how including using such features as the Ken Burns effect.

Since no movie is complete without audio (even silent movies had music being played live in the theater), D.Lee shows you how to import multiple audio files and sound effects into iMovie as well as how to edit their volume levels. (27min 23sec)

NEXT WEEK: Part II on iMovie, with advanced features.

Host: D.Lee Beard

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Visit us at AskTheTechies.com

Episode 56: iMovie, Part I

Episode 55: Frequently Missed Internet Skills

In this video, D.Lee offers suggestions on how to do credible research on the internet from Wikipedia and Citizendium to university library resources.

E-mail etiquette is sorely lacking these days, and D.Lee gives you some tips on how to avoid being rude.

Computer security is always a concern, and D.Lee offers some tips regarding you anonymity (or lack thereof) , some tips for working with USB flash drives, and more.

Viewer questions are also answered on using Rosetta for the Shockwave player for Mac, and microphone hookups for older Macs.

(20min 11sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 55: Frequently Missed Internet Skills

Episode 54: Mac vs. Windows PC

Should you buy a Macintosh or a Windows computer. In this video, D.Lee Beard explains why we have two different major operating systems by taking a brief look at computer history. He then explains some of the differences between the Macintosh operating system and Windows. Hardware choices for Macs and Windows are explored as well as the ability to run Windows on an Apple computer with Parallels. (21min 44sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 54: Mac vs. Windows PC

Episode 53: TV Pilot

In this video:
•How to compare different aerial photo maps, like Google's and Yahoo's, with just one click.

•How to tranfer huge amounts of data from one computer to another quickly, Mac or Windows!

•Viewer Questions are answered on recharging an iPod and choosing a RAID storage format.

Hosts: D.Lee Beard , Brandon Jackson, Tim Welsh (27min 10sec)


This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Like this show? Go to your e-mail program and send us an e-mail. We want to hear from all of you. Our e-mail address is really simple, AskTheTechies@Gmail.com

Episode 53: TV Pilot

Episode 52: The "Twenty Farce" Century

In this video:
•How to insert video into a PowerPoint presentation on both Macs and PCs and how to avoid cross-platform snags.
•Using Photoshop’s extraction tool to extract a face out of one document and insert into another.
•Gettings songs onto an iPod including using the iTunes music store and digital rights management.

Hosts: D.Lee Beard , Brandon Jackson, Tim Welsh (27min 58sec)


This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

What's up with the New Look?

As many of you know, we have produced over 50 videos explaining technology, offering unbiased reviews of products, and answering viewer questions. This has been a mostly volunteer experiment. This project has appeared to be successful with thousands of viewers.

Still, it seems that we have the possibility to assist even more people if we were on TV. We have already done this already with some distribution on local university television. There are a lot of people who need help using technology but who don't even know what a podcast is, much less how to subscribe to one. If these people could tune in to our show on their television sets, we stand to teach a lot more people with our efforts.

Reaching a larger audience would also help us locate underwriters of the show to make Ask the Techies not only sustainable, but to improve the video quality and content.

To that end, we partnered with our local PBS television affiliate, WOUB, to produce two pilot episodes of Ask the Techies for television. The next two videos we will be putting out are the result of that effort. I welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions on this project. What do you think of the improved quality (i.e. is video production quality even important to you)? Would you prefer to watch these on TV or as a downloadable podcast? If TV, would PBS be your first choice for viewing Ask the Techies or would you prefer some other choice such as a cable channel?

This is the point where you, the viewer, have a chance to make a difference ...to make things happen.

Let us know if you like this idea. This is not a done deal. We only shot 2 pilot episodes. Further episodes are not planned at this time.

The e-mails from you, our viewers, in support of our show is what can convince the powers that be to support our show so we can provide more content to you to better empower you with technology.

Go to your e-mail program and send us an e-mail. We need to hear from all of you. Our e-mail address is really simple, AskTheTechies@Gmail.com

From Podcast to Broadcast" ...

Episode 52: The "Twenty Farce" Century

Episode 51: Podcasting the Next Frontier

Episode 51 is a complete video recording of D.Lee Beard's presentation, "Podcasting the Next Frontier", at the SEOCATS Spring
Conference in March 2007.

In this video, D.Lee explains what podcasting is by comparing podcasting with magazine subscriptions (as opposed to books).

He spends a great deal of time explaining how podcasting can enhance education, increase enrollment and involvement.

He also points out the similarities between the television revolution in the 1950's and the current podcasting revolution. Podcasting is often compared to TV the same way TV was compared to movies in the 1950's (e.g., poorer quality, smaller screen, etc...).

At the end of the presentation, he answers many attendees questions. Have a comment or question of your own, send him an e-mail at: AskTheTechies@gmail.com

(52min 27sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard

Episode 51: Podcasting the Next Frontier

Episode 50: How to Shoot Pro Video, & Should You Fix or Redo an Old Web Page?

More viewer questions are answered. What makes pro video look good; D.Lee and Brandon give you some tips on how to shoot better quality video including some funny special effects.

Have a web page to fix that someone else created? Would it be easier to just tweak it or just give up and start over from scratch? We help you decide. (18min 42sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard & Brandon Jackson

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 50: How to Shoot Pro Video, & Should You Fix or Redo an Old Web Page?

Episode 49: Mac Files You Can Trash & Sorting Bookmarks

Brandon Jackson is back with D.Lee Beard to answer "What files are safe to trash on my new Mac to clear out hard drive space." What files are the biggest hogs? Have you really tashed all the files you thought you had? Also in this episode: how to sort web browser bookmarks.

(34min 14sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 49: Mac Files You Can Trash & Sorting Bookmarks

Episode 48: How Secure/Private is a Public Computer? Subscribing to Ask the Techies

In response to viewer questions, D.Lee Beard explains how to subscribe and view the two versions of Ask the Techies via iTunes and the Democracy Player & explains which version you should be subscribing to.

Is someone secretly and remotely watching what you are doing on your computer without your knowledge? This can easily happen on public computers. D.Lee shows you how someone can watch what is happening on another computer or computers using VNC or Apple Remote Desktop software without the user even knowing! Learn how secure you are (or are not) in this brief review of VNC and Apple Remote Desktop software to connect Macs & Macs and Macs & Windows computers with virtual remote desktop software VNC. (21min 45sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 48: How Secure/Private is a Public Computer? Subscribing to Ask the Techies

Episode 47: Windows Remote Desktop

In this video, Nathan Galieti explains how to use Microsoft's Remote Desktop software to remotely connect to a Windows computer from another Windows or even Macintosh computer. With this software you can visually interact with the remote computer the same way you would if you were there: just click on icons, print to your localprinter, send e-mails, & copy files.

Remote Desktop is a great way to connect to that home computer while you are on the road or, since you gain full control of the computers with your local mouse and keyboard, for remotely fixing a computer for someone.

Want to see us make a video on how to remotely connect to a Macintosh computer? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com

(37min 04sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard & Nathan Galieti

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 47: Windows Remote Desktop

Episode 46: Computer Use Ergonomics

In this video, D.Lee Beard demonstrates some equipment and strategies for reducing computer use related injuries. Reviewed in this video are the Evoluent vertical mouse, the Kinesis keyboard, and the NeutralPosture N·hancement keyboard and mouse tray. (17min 00sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Host: D.Lee Beard

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 46: Computer Use Ergonomics

Episode 45: iWeb Part II-Advanced, Cross Platform File Encryption, Setting up a Home Wireless Network

In this video, Tim Welsh and D.Lee Beard explain advanced features of iWeb for creating ePortfolios.

Nathan Galieti and Jason Rybicki explain how to set up a home wireless network.

D.Lee Beard explains how to encrypt files and folders with AES 128-bit encryption for free on a USB Flash Drive that can be decrypted and encrypted regardless of Operating System including Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Solaris! Cross platform file encryption made easy and cheap!(36min 17sec)

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed).

Hosts: D.Lee Beard, Tim Welsh, Nathan Galieti & Jason Rybicki

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 45: iWeb Part II-Advanced, Cross Platform File Encryption, Setting up a Home Wireless Network

Episode 44: ePortfolios Made Easy With iWeb, Plus Network Hardware explained!

In this video, Tim Welsh and D.Lee Beard explan the basics of iWeb for creating ePortfolios. Nathan Galieti and Jason Rybicki explain the basics of networking hardware. Special thanks to Radio Shack of Athens for lending us some equipment for the network hardware segment! (29min 02sec)

Next week, we will cover advanced features of iWeb and how to set up a home wireless network.

This instructional video podcast is available in the MP4 iPod Video compatible format & in a higher quality H.264 format for viewing on a computer (requires QuickTime 7 Player installed). Click on the episode title or image above to view this video.

Hosts: D.Lee Beard, Tim Welsh, Nathan Galieti & Jason Rybicki

Have a comment/question? Send us an e-mail at AskTheTechies@gmail.com.

Episode 44: ePortfolios Made Easy With iWeb, Plus Network Hardware explained!