GeekBrief.TV | Windows Media Edition (Beta)

GBTV #486 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:00:36 -0800

I got a lot of questions about the Federal Reserve vault that we talked briefly about in Brief #485. This is the rest of the story. We met this guy backing something called Woopra. Needless to say, we fell in love with Woopra, and we adopted the guy behind it, John P., as kind of a dad. John P. wrote the first version of CSS. We didn't know that when we adopted him. We just thought he was kind of smart and pretty cool. John P. retired around the age of 30, and then he went back to work for Layered Tech as the CMO. In that capacity, he made it possible for us to bring cameras underneath Dallas to get some footage of the former Federal Reserve Safe.

GBTV #485 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:49:49 -0800

IDG (the company that organizes Macworld) is holding a town hall meeting at Macworld. This is your chance to give them your feedback on what you want from future Macworlds. What should it be post-Apple involvement? In Brief #485, I talk about what I want to see in 2010. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I finally got my Canon 5D Mark II! You can see the full HD video I shot and pictures at cali.smugmug.com. I'll be posting all sorts of photos and video there as I practice and (hopefully) get better.

The Dev-Team released an iPhone 3G unlock called yellosn0w.

I have never talked about a sewing machine on GeekBrief.TV before. The Brother Quattro 6000D warrants it. Check out the stats in the video!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #484 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:43:23 -0800

After we quit our day job at Extra Space to do Geek Brief full time, we moved to the familiarity of our home town. We moved into a loft in an old building and if you were around during that phase, you might remember that we were sick a lot. We pretty much coughed for the whole time we lived and worked there. During that time we met William, the Geek Brief Intern and I built my first computer from scratch. We moved from there to a townhouse where we hired our first employee, Emily. She married a soldier and moved away. We LOVED the townhome, but the rent was freaking expensive.

Almost a year ago, Neal went to the Travel Channel Academy in Washington D.C. (if you go, tell them Neal Campbell sent you!) On the flight back home, we decided to go forward with our dream to buy a bus and travel to all 50 states. For most of 2008 we worked on making The Big Trip happen. We launched a Web site called PaidbyPixels.com where you can buy a 100 pixel ad for $50. For each 100 pixel you buy, you get an ad rotation on the Geek Brief Web sites, so it's a pretty good deal. PaidbyPixels.com so far has raised about $20,000 for the Big Trip, a good amount, but not enough to buy a bus so we're saving it in a money market account. We're either going to continue saving that money to buy a bus, or we're going to lease a bus from the Hemphills and do the trip really fast. In order for it to be called the Big Trip it has to be epic. In our thinking there are two ways to make it epic. Do it fast or make it long. In the mean time, we'll continue to do little big trips until the economy improves.

This past summer, when we got serious about bus shopping, we met Sean and Louise from OurOdyssey.us. They live in a Neoplan bus full time. They're retired geeks and they work with the Red Cross during Natural disasters. We got great advice from them about buses and got serious about buying one. At the time we started planning The Big Trip, it was possible to get a mortgage on a bus, if you were going to live in it. In late Summer, that was no longer possible so we got a glimpse of the credit crisis before everyone else. Bankers told us they would be happy to loan us money to buy a house, but not a bus.

So we have a couple of Big Dreams for Geek Brief. One is the Big Trip and the goal with the Big Trip is to capture awesome tech research in HD and share the best stuff with you guys. The other Big Dream is to take an ordinary house with no technology other than a door bell and a garage door opener and turn it into a gadget house. We wanted to do the Big Trip first, but the economy said no, so we bought a house and re-arranged our dreams.

The house has two large studio spaces that we can dedicate to shooting shows. Our goal is to launch a couple other shows in 2009, but to do that we'll have to hire an editor to help. Shooting video is fast. Processing it is interminable, so before we grow, we have to hire a helper.

That's pretty much our story. Now we're working on the future. Since Christmas, we've been setting up the studio. We'll get back to work distracting you from all the bad news in the world on January 2 with one exception. The Canon 5D Mark II arrives today so we'll shoot an unboxing and share our first footage with you on Brief 485. Thanks for watching and have a Happy New Year!

GBTV #483 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:20:10 -0800

When we talk about starting Geek Brief, we use the term "laser focus". It fits because we were determined to make producing the show our full-time job. For the first time in our lives pretty much, failure wasn't an option. We absolutely believed it would happen, but since we didn't know what we were doing exactly, we expected it to take some time. Three weeks in, we were shut down by our hosting company for using too much bandwidth. Again we were watching what PodShow (now Mevio) was doing and we knew we wanted to work with them. They were the only company making it possible for podcasters to go pro. We were also extremely inspired by something called The Strategy Cast.

The Strategy Cast is a long, long, long recording of Mevio founders Adam Curry and Ron Bloom. It was recorded in a hotel room and for almost three hours Adam and Ron laid out their vision for the business of podcasting. A big part of that vision was all about the indie possibilities provided by the medium. We used to fall asleep every night listing the the Strategy Cast recording. When our hosting company notified us that we were going to be shut down, we did two things. One we've talked about publicly, and the other we haven't. We bought a bunch of extra bandwidth so we didn't have to go down, but we knew getting shut down would make a better story and hopefully help us get Adam and Ron's attention. We uploaded a show that pushed us over the bandwidth limit and then we emailed everyone we could find who was associated with then PodShow now Mevio. We emailed Adam Curry, Ron Bloom, Dawn and Drew, Madge Winestein, Brian Longest and I think others. Mevio flew us out to San Francisco. We told them we wanted to work with them and wanted them to make it possible for us to quite our job at Extra Space to do Geek Brief full time.

Negotiations were absolutely the most stressful thing we ever experienced, but we worked out a deal and May 23rd, 5 months to the date that we started, we announced that we were going pro. At the time we lived in Highland Park Illinois and produced the show in our apartment above the store where we worked. Quitting the day job meant we also had to move. We choose to come home to Dallas because it's an inexpensive place to live and we new how to get around town.

The last week at the job, my sister's husband died of brain cancer. He was diagnosed the same month we started Geek Brief. He's the guy who convinced us to switch to Mac and he also encouraged us to do the deal with Mevio rather than trying to make it on our own. We threw everything in a truck, dropped everything off in Dallas and then headed to the memorial service in L.A. Everytime we have a meetup where we get to spend time with those of you who watch, we have to look up and say, "Thanks Curtis" because we might not be doing this if it weren't for his encouragement.

When we started doing the Brief full time, we were working at least 16 hours a day, 6 and sometimes 7 days a week. We had to, and we wanted to. At first it was taking a minimum of 12 hours just to produce the show. On top of the show, there was email, promoting the brand and learning about lighting and editing and equipment. On our last road trip, we heard about something called the 10,000 hour rule. The principle is that it takes about 10,000 hours for someone to do something before they really master the technical part of doing it. We did the math and it worked out to be true for us. We hit 10,000 hours of working on Geek Brief about 6 months ago and after that it was like a total breakthrough. Now it takes about seven hours to get a show done. It doesn't mean we're working less, but its given us the flexibility to spend time learning new skills that we hope will help us continue to improve how the show looks.

I have a little more of the story left. I'll wrap it up on the next Brief. In the meantime, if you want to take a look at the first episodes or the Complete Video Archive (thanks to Dave Peterson for keeping these up!), here are the links:

Watch GeekBrief.TV #1
Watch GeekBrief.TV #2
See Full Video Archives

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #482 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:15:46 -0800

It's December 23, the third anniversary of GeekBrief.TV, and this is our story. First, the back story.

Long, long ago before the bubble burst ... the Internet bubble, not the housing one ... Neal and I were freelance Web developers. He did the design and I did the code. There was a cable channel called ZDTV that later became TechTV. We kept it on all the time while we were working, kind of like the way some people keep a news channel on all the time. Tech TV introduced us to Leo Laporte, John C. Dvorak and Patrick Norton. There were others, but those three guys are the ones who inspired us, and then the bubble exploded.

I'm sure it was like what some people are going through now post housing bubble. Web Dev jobs dried up. We racked up about $30,000 in credit card debt just to survive and when we had had enough, we got a day job. Neal and I will have been married 10 years in January. When we got married, we made it a goal to always work together. There aren't a lot of jobs where you work for someone else that make that easy to do. We drove past a self storage facility with a sign out front that said, "Hiring Husband and Wife Teams." We stopped, applied and before we knew it, we were working for a company called Extra Space Storage. We were burned out on Tech. We were writing a novel. It was an easy job and the company treated us extremely well. Before we barely noticed, we worked there for five years, moving around and opening new stores for them.

In July 2005, Neal heard Adam Curry being interviewed on NPR. Adam was talking about podcasting. I didn't have a TV in my house growing up so I didn't know Adam Curry from MTV and when Neal started telling me Adam said this and Adam said that, I thought he had joined a cult. Then Neal played an episode of The Dawn and Drew Show for me and I fell in love with the concept of podcasting. Dawn and Drew, a young couple who live in a farm house in rural Wisconsin were doing a show from their house and building a worldwide audience. Adam Curry was doing a show from his house and building the business of podcasting. We wanted in and when Dawn and Drew announced Drew was quitting his day job so they could do the show full time, we decided that's what we wanted to do.

Around the time Dawn and Drew went full time, Steve Jobs announced an iPod that played Video. There wasn't much video content in iTunes at first and we saw an opportunity. Our goal was to get a show in iTunes by Christmas. Everyone always says podcast about what you love. We love each other, our dogs, martinis, movies, Jesus, and Technology. From that list Tech seemed to be the thing with the highest likelihood of commercial success and since we read gadget blogs every morning before work, we decided we would create a video version of our favorite gadget blogs. There was a problem though. Not only had I never been on camera before. Neal had never produced a video and in fact, we didn't even own a camera. One morning on Daily Source Code, Adam Curry talked about a guy named Lucian who was producing a show called Daily Planet TV using an application called Wirecast. It gave him the ability to shoot live on a green screen and do a show that looked pretty darn professional. Varasoft, the company that developed Wirecast also makes an app called Videocue Pro. It was less expensive and included teleprompting functionality. We bought that, four pieces of green poster board to make a green screen, a cheap DV camera, an expensive shotgun microphone and an iMac. We already had a soft light Neal used for photography. As soon as we came up with the right name we were ready to go.

GoDaddy.comis a Geek Brief sponsor, but we used them to register domain names long before we had promo codes GB1, GB2 or GB3. On November 30, 2005, We were on GoDaddy.com typing in domain names. Since we were doing a gadget news show, we had Inspector Gadget in our thoughts. We typed in a bunch of names, but when one of us typed in the name GeekBrief.com we knew that was the one. With that name came a flood of ideas including a cheesy GeekBrief back story. Geek Brief would be a daily news briefing originating from the Geek Intelligence Agency, the G.I.A.. I would be the International Director and my job would be to issue the daily briefing about the latest gadgets for agents in the G.I.A. Until we actually shot and watched the first Brief, we thought the show would appeal almost entirely to guys. The first episode was meant to be wholesomely risque' kind of like how Johnny Carson was so good at a double entendre. After we watched it, though, we thought there was a potential for an appeal to women in addition to men, so there's a pretty big difference between Brief One and Brief Two.

Now we were conflicted when we started. We had the clear intention of quiting our day job to do Geek Brief full time two months before we started the show. We wanted the first episode to go out in time for Christmas so all the people who got new iPods could subscribe in iTunes. At the same time, we had no experience in video production so we didn't really think the audience would grow until we figured out what the heck we were doing. Enough people started watching right away that we were shut down by our hosting company just three weeks after we started. Yikes!

Five months to the date that we released the first episode of Geek Brief, we announced we were quitting our day jobs to do the show full time. In order to keep the "brief" in Geek Brief, that part of the story will be continued tomorrow.

Watch GeekBrief.TV #1
Watch GeekBrief.TV #2
See Full Video Archives

GBTV #481 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:32:09 -0800

You saw our excitement over the Wicked Laser we received a couple weeks ago, so imagine our excitement when we got the Spyder II GX in the mail! This laser is the one The Woz has used. The military grade casing is waterproof and airtight (and might I mention...it's huge!). In Brief #481, we put the laser through some tests and fun experiments.

Be very careful with lasers! They can be dangerous, so avoid people's eyes and planes in the sky!

GBTV #480 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:44:35 -0800

Jamo announced the A804 wall mounted surround sound speaker. It's meant to look good beside a flat panel, and give you some flexibility.

Monoprice is making a mini display port to HDMI adapter. It won't deliver copy protected content or sound, though.

The Addonics NAS Adapter turns a USB drive in NAS, and it only costs $55.

If you do a lot of Powerpoint presentations, you'll be happy to hear about iSpring Free. It turns the presentation into a Flash movie that you can embed into a blog post and share.

Do you follow Dell on Twitter? Lots of people do and Dell says Twitter has produced $1 million through sale alerts. Twitter is becoming a channel companies can't afford to ignore. Decide which alerts you want from Dell here.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #479 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:31:03 -0800

2009 will be Apple's last year exhibiting at Macworld. The shocker announcement also lets us know there will be no Steve Jobs on stage at this year's keynote. Phil Schiller will be taking his place.

CBS will be redeveloping TV.com, an asset they bought in the CNet deal. TV.com will be competing with Hulu.

I asked for your opinions on Gamerox. It's a chair meant to provide health benefits to kids playing games. What do you guys think? Leave a comment below.

IKEA is offering a modern and classic design option for your kitchen appliances in its DÅTID line.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #468 (WMV) | Behind the Scenes with Geoff Smith

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:39:09 -0800

Tonight is our Live Streaming Christmas Party in Nashville. It's the most technically challenging thing we've ever produced. It's being held at The Big Bang Bar with Geoff Smith. This behind the scenes look will give you a taste of some of the challenges we were working on today. You'll hear a buzz in the audio. Also, Neal was switching on the Preview Channel for the first few minutes of this conversation instead of the Live Channel, and he wanted me to put an apology in the shownotes. If you're not familiar with our Ones and 0s parties, click here for a history. I talk to Geoff Smith about the setup and the problems we've had leading up to today. If you can join us, here are the details:

Date: December 15th
Time: 8:00 PM CST
Location (in person): The Big Bang Bar :: 411 Broadway Suite 201 (Upstairs), Nashville (21 and over)
Please be there by 7:30 PM!!! Because it's a private party, we'll have to close the doors so people don't randomly walk in. If you get there after the doors are closed, please call 615-319-4035
Location (online): Ustream.tv

GBTV #477 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:56:36 -0800

Mercedez is the first one bringing to market technology that lets two people watch two different things at the same time. The driver will be able to see controls and navigation information, and the passenger will be able to watch whatever they want.

If you have a small point and shoot camera, take a look at the Wrap-up Tripod. It wraps around your camera to protect it, then unfolds into a tripod.

MiFi gives you a hotspot for all your devices and multiple users, so you can connect on the go. It's perfect for traveling!

Lots of you sent this one in. Woven Bacon is a brilliant idea, and rolling it with cheese is even better. I think it should be called Southern Sushi.

The GeekBrief.TV Christmas Special starring Geoff Smith will stream live from the Big Bang Bar in Nashville, TN Monday, December 15 at 8:00 PM CST. Cali's Ustream channel is at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cali-live. If you're over 21 you can join us at Geoff's bar.

Date: December 15th Time: 8:00 PM CST Location (in person): The Big Bang Bar :: 411 Broadway Suite 201 (Upstairs), Nashville (21 and over) Please be there by 7:30 PM!!! Because it's a private party, we'll have to close the doors so people don't randomly walk in. If you get there after the doors are closed, please call 615-319-4035 Location (online): Ustream.tv

Andrew Baron from Rocketboom is coming to Dallas and we're going to have a joint meetup on December 12th. Here are the details:

Date: December 12th Time: 6:00 PM Location: Opening Bell Coffee, Downtown Dallas (300 North Akard #300, Dallas 214-665-2355) Please RSVP by leaving a comment if you can make it!

GBTV #476 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:25:22 -0800

We're going retro on today's Brief! Sleevefacing is a fad that could (perhaps) be helping the vinyl record industry. There is even a book! The AV Room Portable USB Turntable has built in stereo speakers and USB so you can digitize all those records.

The Nomad Portable Speaker looks like it's from the 1930's.

If you've been around Geek Brief for a while, you know how much I love the Model One Radio, designed by Henry Kloss. It sounds great, and it looks good wherever you put it.

Rollie has a miniture and digital version of their Rollieflex camera. If any of you know the book I talk about in the show, leave a comment please!

The Nostalgia Peanut Butter Maker makes making peanut butter easy and looks retro. Fresh peanut butter is a great thing to have in life!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. Paul bought his domain name, MyLifeAsaFish.com and saved money with my codes.

GBTV #475 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:27:57 -0800

Here are 11 amazing, interesting or downright crazy USB Hubs! Century USB 2.0 Hub Thanko's Gold Ingot Darth Vader USB Hub USB Telephone 4-port Hub TARDIS USB Port Engine USB Hub LaCie Hub USB Triangle Thanko's Scotch Tape Dispenser USB Hub Urban Outfitter's USB Hub Boynq Swing

GBTV #474 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:56:29 -0800

The TiVo and Netflix partnership is getting better and better. Now, if you have a TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD or TiVo HD XL, you can stream HD content with a Netflix account.

The Logitech Lapdesk is meant to keep your lap from burning up and allows air to flow through. It won't be out until January.

Black and Decker announced a Thermal Leak Detector that will help you find heat leaks in your house. It's also not due out until next year.

aTV Flash has a new version. If you're not familiar with aTV Flash, it's a simple and easy way to unlock your Apple TV and play any file you want.

Pano Logic is taking advantage of server-based visualization to the enterprise market. Their beautiful little desktop client is 100% hardware, has no CPU, no memory, no operating system, no software, and I want one!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

GBTV #473 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:23:30 -0800

I've missed you all while I've been sick! Thank goodness for Twitter, which allows us to keep talking even when I don't release shows. :) Brief #473 is a wrap up for the week.

Nokia released the N97 and had bloggers all ablaze. It has a touch display, a QWERTY keyboard, and expandable storage.

HDguru.com is a great place to start with your search for the perfect HDTV. Check out their Holiday Guide. The one thing I'm curious about with Gary Merson's choices is why there aren't any Vizios on the list.

For picking the right camcorder, use CamcorderInfo.com. It'll go into more detail than you probably need, but it's thourough and does a great job breaking down the options.

Core77.com has gift options for design geeks, and they all cost less than $77. Two things that peaked my interest are the Coin Organizer and the Screen Printing Kit, along with the Print Liberation book.

I know I keep talking about the Canon 5D Mark II, but I can't help it! It was, after all, number one on my Favorite Things List for 2008. Chris MacAskill from SmugMug posted his video in full quality. If you didn't see my tweet about it, check it out here. It's amazing!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.

The GeekBrief.TV Christmas Special starring Geoff Smith will stream live from the Big Bang Bar in Nashville, TN Monday, December 15 at 8PM CST. Cali's Ustream channel is at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cali-live. If you're over 21 you can join us at Geoff's bar (http://www.thebigbangbar.com/tn/nashville). We're having the 2008 Christmas Party in Nashville with Geoff Smith! It'll be streamed live on Ustream. If you can make it to Nashville, we'd love to have you! Here are the details:

Date: December 15th Time: 8:00 PM CST Location (in person): The Big Bang Bar :: 411 Broadway Suite 201 (Upstairs), Nashville, 615-747-5851 (21 and over) Location (online): Ustream.tv

Andrew Baron from Rocketboom is coming to Dallas and we're going to have a joint meetup on December 12th. Here are the details:

Date: December 12th Time: 6:00 PM Location: Opening Bell Coffee, Downtown Dallas (300 North Akard #300, Dallas 214-665-2355) Please RSVP by leaving a comment if you can make it!

Geek Brief Radio | Cali Sounds Funny

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:06:51 -0800

We talk a little bit of tech, but mostly people on Twitter just wanted to hear what I sound like!

GBTV #472 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:37:43 -0800

The Nikon D3X uses a new imaging processing system called EXPEED. The camera works to improve image quality, processing speed and reduce power consumption.

The Imation Wireless Projection Link makes it easy for you to send what's on your laptop screen to a projector. It's perfect for conferences and presentations.

Mac users will like the Targus Bluetooth Laser Mouse. In place of the scroll wheel in the middle, there's an optical sensor, allowing for four way scrolling. It also works for PCs.

You may know Rick "MacMerc" Yaeger from segments on The Lab with Leo Laporte, and if you visit our live streams, you'll definitely recognize him from the chatroom. I'm excited about the launch of his new show, MacMerc.TV, where he explains things like the difference between pixels and vectors, simply and in an easy to understand way.

Subscribe to MacMerc.TV

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here. The RAM upgrade mod information is here.

GBTV #471 (WMV) | Top 10 Favorite Things from 2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:26:01 -0800

Brief #471 is my Top 10 Favorite Things List for 2008.

10) Bacon Salt

9) Dell Crystal Display

8) MacBook & MacBook Pro Glass Trackpad

7) Drobo Firewire 800

6) Hulu

5) Griffin Simplifi

4) Boxee on Apple TV

3) App Store

2) Neat Receipts

1) Canon EOS 5D Mark II

GBTV #470 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:56:13 -0800

If you've been wanting a router with that looks less like a router, take a look at STC's Wireless Router.

Mac Rumors published a chart that compares Black Friday Mac sales.

If you've received your Canon 5D Mark II (lucky you!!), leave a link in the comments below with any video footage or pictures you take.

The Golden Shellback Coating System protects gadgets from the weather, and perhaps even water (although they won't guarantee it). It's available for a select few gadgets now, but we're looking forward to seeing that list expand.

Gizmine.com offers customers in the US all those gadgets no one needs that were previously only available in Japan. Have a desire for the Poking Box? It's yours.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #469 (WMV) | Geek Brief Live

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:39:26 -0800

Today's show was shot on Saturday during my presentation at the Leadership Symposium on Digital Media in Healthcare. It was hosted by USF Health, in conjunction with Apple. Since the conference had a medical theme, this Brief is Shiny, Happy Medical News. The iPill is designed to help patients take smaller dosages of medicine, to reduce side effects, by targeting the right part of the body.

GlucoBoy was developed by a father whose son has diabities and kept loosing his glucose monitor. The game works on Game Boy Advance and DS Lite.

When Dr. Jay Parkinson finished his residency, he decided to practice a bit differently than most physicians. He chose to make house calls via a webcam.

Scientists have regrown an entire lost finger, including the fingernail. It also works on internal organs, such as livers.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

You can see the recorded presentation on iTunes U here.

GBTV #468 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:49:40 -0800

This is part 3, the final part of my conversation with Leo Laporte at the TWiT Cottage. This part of our chat might not be interesting to most Geek Briefers because it's very "inside baseball." I asked Leo to talk about how he thinks the economic slowdown might impact new media, especially as it relates to people just getting started. He has hope that it's ultimately good for new media because advertising on new media is proven to be extremely effective. If you're interested in the topic, I think you'll enjoy Leo's insight. Otherwise, feel free to skip this one (after downloading it.) :)

GBTV #467 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:55:43 -0800

The latest Apple TV update breaks Boxee. I'm sure Boxee will come up with a fix soon enough, but I'm disappointed, as I am in the copyright protection on the MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Thanks to Jeff McCord for the tip.

The Bottle Top Tripod could potentially be used as a steadicam for a point and shoot camera. If you try it, leave a comment and let us know how it works!

Vizio announced a new 55" LCD HDTV to it's Vizio XVT line. It may just be my first 1080p TV. The VSB210WS is a High Peformance HD Sound Bar and Wireless Subwoofer kit, meant for a tabletop or it can be mounted on a wall. It'll be available in January.

Neal and I fell in love with Loft 523 years ago. It's a boutique hotel in New Orleans that does simple modern design right. Each room has a Fortuny Lamp, designed by Mariano Fortuny in the 1920's.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #466 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:27:10 -0800

HP released the first multi-touch notebook for consumers. It's called the TouchSmart tx2 Notebook PC. There are some drawbacks, but I'm happy to see it come to market, and it'll only get better from here.

The VUDU XL2 is rack mountable and offers 1TB of storage, with SD and HD video from the VUDU library.

Thinking about frying a turkey for Thanksgiving this year? The Oil-less Turkey Fryer offers all the goodness of a fried turkey without all the fat.

I've been super excited the past couple weeks as I waited for the Wicked Laser to come in the mail. This thing is...well, wicked! The Woz has Wicked Laser, although I think he has one that can light a match. As awesome as these things are, please be very careful with them! They can be dangerous if pointed at someone's eye or in the sky (don't want to take down any planes, okay?). Now that we've gotten the warning out of the way, have fun with yours! Neal won't stop playing with ours.

Eye-Fi and SmugMug partnered up in August. Choose SmugMug as your online service for Eye-Fi and you'll get Wayport Hotspot access for a year, among other things. You can find my photos at cali.smugmug.com.

We're heading out on another leg of The Big Trip. Our final destination will be Tampa, Florida, we're we'll be speaking at the Leadership Symposium on Digital Media in Healthcare. It's hosted by USF Health, in conjunction with Apple.

We'll stop by New Orleans on the way to Tampa, and will have a viewer meetup in both cities.

New Orleans Meetup
Date: Thursday, November 20th
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Cafe Beignet, 311 Bourbon Street

Tampa Meetup
Date: Saturday, November 22nd
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: Petey Brown's at the Grand Hyatt (2900 Bayport Drive, Tampa, FL :: 813.874.1234

Please RSVP by leaving a comment or emailing me!

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #465 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:59:46 -0800

The team at Oblong is getting closer and closer to bringing Minority Report like gesture control to the market. This is awesomeness!

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #464 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:29:24 -0800

If you're thinking of switching to a Mac and think it might be just too difficult, take a look at the Belkin Switch-to-Mac Cable. It'll help you move your email, settings, photos and music over to the Mac.

We keep talking about VisualHub. Thanks to AutomatedHome.com who found Format Factory, a Windows video conversion tool.

HDClone 3.6 is designed to create copies of software and OS installs. I'm looking forward to trying it. Start looking forward to USB 3.0, which launches next Monday. It should be a drool worthy update.

The Google iPhone app (not released as of this taping) does voice based search, also including location based search and the iPhone's sensors and accelerometer.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #463 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:28:11 -0800

RED announced two new cameras to their line. The Scarlet is $2,500 and the Epic is $28,000.

I'll be getting a Flip Mino HD soon to review. It shoots in 720p for $229.95.

I think the Blackberry Storm is the first phone that has a chance at competing against the iPhone.

If you're like me and don't like to keep your downloaded email locally, Stash My Mail is worth a look. You can download all your email in a zip file for safe keeping, and since zip files don't take up much space, you don't have to worry about loosing precious hard drive space.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him at MeetRovio.com.

GBTV #462 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:08 -0800

I've been thinking about loading Boxee on my Apple TV for a while. I finally got to it, thanks to encouragement from John Mahoney at Gizmodo. He published a step-by-step guide. It's was extremely easy. The difficult part was finding my missing Apple TV so I could install the Boxee app.

If you don't already have a Boxee account, you can fast-track an invite with this link: Boxee.tv/geekbrieftv

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for sponsoring The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here. You can visit the MediaSmart's unofficial fansite at MediaSmartServer.net or the official MediaSmart community.

GBTV #461 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:39:13 -0800

We've met our neighbors before, but we're not really the bonding with proximity types. Then on Saturday, we experienced serendipity in living technicolor. We left the apartment take our dogs out. As we passed our neighbor's door, he walked out carrying a T-Rex 600 RC Helicopter. I'm pre-dispososed to adore RC helicopters. I've never seen anything like it. I had a faint understanding about the existence of serious radio controlled toys, but honestly, the really impressive stuff was completely off my radar.

I'm not the type of person that could spend $1,000 on a toy because I'd rather spend the money on production equipment so that I can shoot a video of the person who would spend $1,000 on a toy. Anyone who would spend $1,000 on a toy defines the word "geek", because that person is passionate about the technology they love.

GBTV #460 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:35:57 -0800

Ralph de la Vega said AT&T would be sanctioning tethering for the iPhone soon. Macrumors suggests it could be with the 2.2 update. Many iPhone users have wanted this feature since the beginning!

I've been trying out the Outcast, an outdoor wireless audio system, and I'm impressed. Soundcast has done wireless audio right. They even built the Outcast to withstand fire and a car wash.

Mgestyk Technology is getting us closer to a Webcam Gesture Control System. It's PC only.

You've heard my interview with the founder of Savant. They're building home automation on Mac hardware and software. Their ROSIE line now has a remote control that looks like a bowl.

With the VidaBox Rackserver, you can put an unencrypted disk in, and it will automatically go to work copying to the server and looking for meta data.

Rovio is sponsoring this episode of The Brief. To find out more, go to MeetRovio.com. You can also take over Rovio's controls and test drive him.

GBTV #459 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:13:22 -0800

I've been testing out the Vuzix iWear AV920 for the past few days. The personal video viewing experience has come a long way since these devices first came out. What I liked the most is how it kept distractions out and let me concentrate on the task at hand.

The iPhone 2.2 firmware update is out in the field for testing. When it's released, we should have the ability to download podcasts wirelessly, but there's a limit of 10MB for each download.

Brando has a brilliant little gadget called the Cube Hotshoe Bubble Level. Slip it into the hotshoe mount on your camera to ensure you're getting a level photo.

We showed you Vincent Laforet's short film, Reverie, which he shot with the Canon 5D Mark II. If you've skeptical about the ability for the every day person to get good video out of this camera, check out David Michaud and Florent Porta's video. They say they're not professional photographers.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

If you're inclined, we thank you for your vote for Best Video Podcast at the Podcast Awards.

GBTV #458 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:03:09 -0800

We finally have a price and ship date for the Pico Projector. It's a handheld projector that you can quickly hook up to your iPod for showing off videos on the go.

Bacon Alert! Bacon + Mayonnaise = Baconnaise. It's from the same makers as Bacon Salt. I can't wait to meet these guys!

Marware announced the Game Grip, an iPhone/iPod Touch accessory that we knew was bound to come to market. The wheel holds your iPod Touch or iPhone and has routing for a USB cable and earbuds.

We tested the Zoom H2 Recorder throughout our Little Big Trip. It's the best audio we've gotten for the money. It comes with a windscreen and we recommend using it. Levelator is a free app that works to balance audio levels. Whenever you're uploading audio, it's a great tool!

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of SmugMug

GBTV #457 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:54:00 -0800

Remember when I had the Mophie Juice Pack on GBTV? I've been testing the FastMac iV and give you a comparison of the two options.

Amazon is working with companies to reduce the amount of packaging on the products they ship. This should reduce shipping size and frustration as you try to get to the awesome toy you're waiting anxiously to play with! My package opener is OpenIt.

The Zoom Room offers a more automated approach to Murphy Beds.

You've heard me talk about the Rovio, a mobile communications robot. We're very excited to announce that Rovio is a new sponsor! You can find out more at

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Cliff Blank
Check out the DOGMA Art Show at dogma.me. Zoe and Sydney (the Chihuahuas) are here.

GBTV #456 (WMV) | Leo Laporte Part 2

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:22:06 -0700

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Leo Laporte when I visited the TWiT Cottage on our Little Big Trip. We talk about live streaming and Flash Media Encoder. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here. Paul Thurrott's in-depth review is here.

GBTV #455 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:48:08 -0700

HP announced a new line of netbooks. The most notable is the Mini 1000.

You might have heard of Axiotron Modbooks. If you have an existing MacBook you would like turned into tablet Mac that you can write and draw on, they now offer a service called Modservice.

For pretty much as long as I've been an adult, Elmo has been the highly demanded Christmas gift. This year, will it be the Alive Cubs? It's on my wish list!

A lot of teachers show GeekBrief.TV in the classroom. For that, I am eternally perplexed and honored! Scholarspot.com is a great site that aggregates educational videos. I love the tech and science sections. I suggest parental guidance for the spirituality section.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

Mac OS Ken

Cali's Shirt Courtesy of Dawn and Drew
Go there.

GBTV #454 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:54:07 -0700

Poladroid is a great free Mac application. When you drag a photo to Poladroid, it creates a Polaroid-like photo on your desktop. A Windows version is expected by December.

Windows users can take control of your Send To menu when you right-click on a document. Send to Toys allows you to edit what appears in that menu.

WindowShop has to be the future of shopping online! Check it out at windowshop.com.

I wrote about the Griffin Simplifi when it was released, and now I have it in the studio. For those of you who were wondering, it is compatible with the iPhone. Original units were not shipping with the adapter, but you can pick up one of those separately. If you buy a Simplifi now, it will have the adapter included.

Thanks to all of you who nominated us for Best Video Podcast at the Podcast Awards! We're very honored. You can vote every day until November 6th.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #453 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:43:49 -0700

Google Earth is now available for the iPhone, and it's a great experience. For more iPhone talk, head on over to iCali.tv.

Qik released alpha versions for the BlackBerry Pearl 8120, BlackBerry Pearl 8130, the Blackberry Curve 8320, and the BlackBerry Bold. You can download from qik.com/sign_up. If you're not aware of Qik, it's a live streaming service from mobile phones. My Qik page is qik.com/cali.

Netflix streaming will work on Macs by the end of the year. This will probably cause me to switch from my loyalty to Blockbuster.

The Griffin AirCurve amplifies audio from your iPhone. You can charge it as well by feeding a cable through the bottom.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #452 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:34:56 -0700

Brief #452 is the last stop on our Little Big Trip, this time in Turner Falls, Oklahoma. Thanks @Farren for the suggestion! Road Trip Effect Pro allows you to create an animated route through...well, whatever your imagination can take you.

Driving through Wyoming, we drove through snow. It will probably be the only snow we see this year. For those of you who get to experience it all winter, check out the FrontGate Heated Traction Maps. They melt snow, creating a path for you to get from your house to your car.

LaCie released a new drive that includes an HDMI port and a remote control. It's called the LaCinema Rugged.

I'm loving my new Scottevest! If you're not familiar with the company, they make Technology Enabled Clothing (TEC), giving you lots of options for storing your many gadgets. You can even route your earbuds through the jacket so they're not hanging out and getting caught on things.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #451 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:23:18 -0700

I probably wouldn't be doing GeekBrief.TV if it wasn't for Leo Laporte. Before the dot com bubble burst, Neal and I did Web development and we had ZDTV and later Tech TV on all day long every day. We reconnected to Leo Laporte when podcasting came along. I've gotten to know Leo and consider him to be a friend and mentor so every time I get a chance to do a Leo update on Geek Brief, I take it.

For about the last year, Leo has gotten serious about streaming live video on TWiTlive.tv. He's live several hours a day as he produces a stable of audio "netcasts" and a call in radio show called The Tech Guy. What he's doing is experimental, always improving, and I think, important. Leo is paving the way for what thousands of people will be doing in the future.

On Brief 451, we stick our camera in some places Leo's don't go. It's part one of a behind-the-scenes look at his setup. We talk about Tricaster and Vidblaster and why he made certain choices when he put together his live studio.

GBTV #450 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0700

Last Tuesday, I tweeted that I was at Data Robotics seeing something super secret. I'm pleased to be able to share it with you today! In July, they released an SDK, and developers have been hard at work making apps for your Drobo and DroboShare to make it even more useful for your every day life. The first set of apps are now available at drobo.com/droboapps. I'm most excited about three apps in particular. The FireFly Media Server is an open source server for iTunes. Yoics gives you access to your files away from home from any web browser. The third, Time Tamer, was developed by a Drobo employee (on his personal time), but you don't need a Drobo to use it. If you use Time Machine, you can use Time Tamer to specify exactly how much space Time Machine can take up on your drive. Otherwise, it could wind up taking up the entire drive pretty quickly.

The Plantbot might be a concept, but if it's real, it's a pretty cool idea. It has a light sensor and wooden legs. When the sensor detects better light in another part of the house, the legs will carry your house plant to the light. It's a project built by The Play Coalition

While we were at the TWiT Cottage last week visiting Leo Laporte, we got to meet Marc and Nicole, who do an awesome woodworking show called The Wood Whisperer. Marc created a wood gadget charging station for Leo. You can see it on the set at twitlive.tv.

eCoupled technology is bringing Tesla's theories about inductive coupling to life.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #449 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:29:45 -0700

The Minoru 3D Webcam looks a lot like Wall-E. Each of the robot-like eyes are cameras that can deliver 3D video over video chat clients, take photos and video.

Uncrate featured the World's Greatest Flashlight, which can shine light for hundreds of yards and for up to 11 hours using halogen bulbs. We're wondering what John P., President of Woopra, will think about it.

Is the FlashPoint Exo-Stove a real product? If it is, it's supposed to heat up your food and drinks in seconds. Let me know what you think in the comments!

If you were attracted to the MacBook Air's external DVD drive, but don't have an Air, you might be interested in the Portable USB Blu-ray Super Multi Drive by Amex Digital. As the name suggests, it connects via USB, and there's a Blu-ray player and a recorder.

The USB Volume Slide Controller lets you adjust volume with a finger swipe and turn audio off or on when desired. It's PC only.

GBTV #448 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:21:25 -0700

I got my hands on a new, unibody 15" MacBook Pro. This is the unboxing and a closer look at the design. This model is 2.53GHz, a 320GB hard drive and 4GB RAM. As I mentioned before, it has the GeForce 9600M GT Graphics Processor, however the 17" design is NOT being made with the new unibody design.

The MacBook Pros have an ethernet port, one firewire 800 port, two USBs, a Mini DisplayPort, and ExpressCard slot. The MacBooks have an ethernet port, two USBs, and a MiniDisplayPort. No more firewire ports.

Thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server for supporting The Brief. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #447 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:01:18 -0700

CEIVA announced two new digital photo frames. The CEIVAlife is 640x480 and the CEIVAshare is 800x600. As with all CEIVA frames, their PicturePlan service is available for uploading photos.

The Hover Q claims to be the worlds smallest infared R/C hovercraft.

Fusion announced a new car radio with an iPod dock. It's called the CA-IP500.

Here at GBTV HQ, we use VisualHub to compress each Brief into different formats so you can the show however is most convenient for you. The developer of VisualHub, Tyler Loch, announced a couple weeks ago that he had to stop work on the application for family reasons. We were crushed, and asked if he would be willing to sell us the rights to the code. We'd love to continue development on it. He decided to release it to the open source community, which is always a great thing! If you're a developer who will be working on the new version, now called FilmRedux, send me an email with "VisualHub" in the subject line.

HP is back to support the production of GeekBrief.TV, with the MediaSmart Server. To find out where you can order one, click here.

GBTV #446 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:23:22 -0700

Martin Sargent from Internet Superstar asked me to come on the show while I was in the Bay Area, so we headed to the Revision3 studios on our way out of town. That episode will drop next week. While I was there, I grabbed Patrick Norton from Tekzilla to chat about the Apple announcements. There's a new generation of MacBook Pros, MacBooks, a new Cinema Display, and a few updates to the MacBook Air. We also talk about decision not to support Blu-ray.

There are two new 13" MacBooks, and are available now. The 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo version is $1299. It has 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad. The 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo version is $1599. It has 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad.

The 2.4GHz, 15" MacBook Pro is $1999. It has 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a SuperDrive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad. There's also a 2.53GHz 15". The 17", 2.5GHz Pro is $2799, with 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, DVI output, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor and the new glass Multi-touch trackpad.

The MacBook Air also got an update with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics Processor.

A new Cinema Display was designed specifically to connect to the new MacBook/MacBook Pro line to use as an additional display, and will sell for $899.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. Viewers bought these domain names and saved money with my codes:

GBTV #444 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:04:19 -0700

Marji Smith talks to me about women engineers and her experience growing up as the only woman in a crowd of men.

GBTV #443 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:12:43 -0700

We're on The Little Big Trip, heading to Cupertino, Redmond and Portland. We stopped at The Big Texan Steak Ranch, where they will give you your meal free if you can eat a 72 oz. steak plus a salad, and roll, and other stuff all in under an hour. I gotta tell you, nothing compares to Chef Dave's ribeye at Bluegrass in Highland Park, Illinois!!

On today's Brief, Marji Smith shows me the MVP 8400, one of the controllers available for the AMX systems. We also take a look at the automation and notifications built into the doorbell.

GBTV #442 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:53:57 -0700

On Sunday, we had a meetup at the Great State Fair of Texas. Friends of the Brief got together so we could all eat way too much. Some of the braver souls in the group tried Chicken Fried Bacon for the first time while those of us with Chicken Fried Bacon experience stuck with our "Never Again!" position. We were invited to visit a Smart Home exhibit at The Women's Museum. A team of women engineers were heavily involved in the tech used in the exhibit. Marji Smith, Director of Product Strategy at AMX, gives us an overview of the Smart Home in Brief #442, and she'll give us a more in depth look at the tech in action on the next episode. Stay subscribed! :)

GBTV #441 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:18:44 -0700

In an interview with CIO Magazine, Steve Balmer said they're working on porting the Zune software to Windows Mobile.

Sony's eBook reader, the PRS-700, was announced today. It'll have a touch screen, allowing you to "flip" pages with the swipe of a finger. It'll be available at the end of October.

Wii Speak is a new channel on the Wii. With a Wii mic, and you and three other people can voice chat.

The Nerd Girls are a group of women with the goal of encouraging girls to embrace science, technology, engineering and math. You can join their community at www.nerdgirls.com.

PrintWhatYouLike.com lets you print exactly what you want from a webpage, minus all the ads and extras that take up so much paper.

Don't forget about the State Fair of Texas meetup on Sunday, October 5th!

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. **Editors note: We were supposed to put a list of domains names that were registered with my promo codes, but we kind of forgot, so that segment is there for your comedic pleasure. :)

GBTV #440 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:52:04 -0700

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic rumors were true. It includes something they're calling Comes With Music, which gives you access to two million songs.

The new Nintendo DS is the DSi. We're seeing two cameras and the ability to alter playback speed of audio.

For details of the State Fair Meetup on Sunday October 5th, click here.

We'll be shooting at the Smart Home, designed by women engineers, and we'll be using the DVRig Pro, an inexpensive camera stabilization system. The smaller version I mention is the DVRig Jr.

If you don't know about Sweetwater, we highly suggest them when you need to buy audio gear. They're selling SonicPrints, a treatment to help with sound bounce issues in your home theatre.

Nicholas Colas joined us yesterday on Cali Live to talk about the crisis on Wall Street. He explained everything in an easy-to-understand way and answered the chatroom's questions. You can watch it at www.calilive.tv.

You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. Viewers bought these domain names and saved money with my codes: mattlucht.com, semanticviolation.com, and denniscadorniga.com.

GBTV #439 (WMV) | GeekBrief.TV

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:26:39 -0700

I've got three reviews for you on today's Brief. I start off with the Mophie Juice Pack. It's a battery pack that doubles the battery life of the 1st gen iPhone and the iPod Touch. A version for the iPhone 3G is coming October 30th.

Sometimes WiFi isn't enough. Not every device that wants to be connected to the Internet has WiFi built in. When you don't want to lay a new Cat 5, there's the Netgear Powerline.

A couple weeks ago, I tweeted about NeatReceipts. It's a small, portable scanner that does way more than just scan. It uses text recognition software to "read" your receipts and help you organize them and succesfully get ready for tax season way before tax season arrives. I'm loving this thing! I show you the PC version. They also announced the Mac version yesterday. If you deal with a massive amount of paperwork and receipts, check out the NeatDesk.