Join Dr. Bill as he examines the wild and wacky world of the web, computers, and all things geeky! Hot Tech Tips, Tech News, and Geek Culture are examined… with plenty of good humor as well!
Since Digg.com is now promoting podcasts… PLEASE, PLEASE go to the link below and “digg” the Doctor!
Click here to “Digg” the Doctor!
You will have to create a free account on Digg to register a “digg” but it will be worth it! Thank you SO much! And, Merry Christmas!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:22 — 12.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Dr. Bill Podcast – 68 – (12/23/06)
Click on the “Streaming MP3” badge below to play Streaming Audio of this Podcast.
Download MP3
(Right-Click on the Link Above and Choose “Save” to Save the MP3 file locally on your PC.)
Click on the “Streaming Ogg” badge below to play Streaming Ogg Vorbis Format Audio of the Podcast.
Download Ogg Vorbis Format
(Right-Click on the Link Above and Choose “Save” to Save the Ogg Vorbis file locally on your PC.)
Our Christmas show! Candy canes and sugar plums, and other stuff! It’s Christmas Eve-Eve as we record the Podcast! Techpodcast promo… if it’s tech it is here! Geek Culture out the wazoo! Weird Al Yankovik’s “The Night that Santa Went Crazy!” Give Santa Christmas Pizza! Here’s the link to the flash video:
Merry Christmas – Happy Holidays – Happy Hanukkah! Podcast number 68… it’s a number! Our URL: www.drbill.tv where you can get the podcasts back into antiquity. A friend of mine and his boss listened to ALL the podcasts! Wow! If you listen to them all your brain might explode! New Digg.com features! The good stuff rises to the top! They now have “Podcasts” as a section on Digg. Digg the Doctor on Digg! Enjoy the Diggness! Get down with da ‘Doc! Microsoft Zune will now work with Microsoft Vista… and it only took a firmware update! You guys! OpenOffice.org 2.1 is out! Rock on! A new “Save the Internet” video! Sa-lute to the “Save the Internet!” folks! Here’s a link to the video:
Dr. Bill’s new project… to continue the DirCaster Project… and his reasons! The RSS (Really Simple Syndication) must be iTunes compliant! “Dir” for “directory” and “Caster” for broad”casting.” The nooks and crannies of the Internet have my current URL for my RSS feed. DirCaster is automatic! Badda Bing Badda Boom! Very cool! BUT… DirCaster appeared to be dead! What is a “GUID”? Check out the new DirCaster Website… and a sa-lute to Ryan King! Calling all PHP hackers! Help perfect DirCaster! Belinda will help me fix it! Two major points to fix: the “blank title” issue, and the “weird character” problem… like ampersands in the title. Streaming audio code and FTP upload tool that will be available soon! And another cool feature idea for DirCaster… the ability to limit the number of broadcasted files. 25 weeks for instance… half a year-ish in time! Belinda thinks I’m crazy to take on yet another project! Sigh! Hopefully Santa won’t go crazy at your house! The Doctor is out for this week!
It is with a “gulp!” that I take on the maintenance of the DirCaster Project. I have long benefited from other Open Source projects, but I have never tried to maintain one. I hope I am up to it! The “DirCaster Software” is what I use to create the RSS feed auto-magically for the “Dr. Bill” Podcast. It really rocks! I have updated it to use the iTunes feed info and tags correctly. It passes the feed test for RSS feeds with iTunes data. If you are interested in helping, check out the site I created for it, and welcome aboard!
DirCaster: An Open Source Project
“DirCaster is a PHP script that allows one to very easily start Podcasting MP3 files from their web host. This allows original content creators to easily provide a feed for the Juice Podcast Receiver, jPodder, and other “podcatching” software. Simply drop the dircaster.php script (and accompanying files) into a directory on the web server and it will generate a valid RSS feed suitable for Juice Podcast Receiver, etc., based off the MP3 files (with appropriate ID3 tag information) in that directory. To broadcast a new MP3 file, simply upload it to the same directory that contains the DirCaster script and files.”
There’s a new video out from Save The Internet… and it is cool! I especially like that they had the “bad guys” be UFOs firing on Washington… very Science Fiction-y! Like the “Independence Day” movie! Anyway, click the “Play” Arrow above and watch the video! It rocks!
Check it out! A new version! Get it now!
Superficially appearing the same, version 2.1 of OpenOffice.org has five more languages, interoperability improvements and better final presentation!
Amazing! They fixed it! (OK, I am being facetious!)
MS Adds Vista Compatibility to Zune
“Microsoft issued its second firmware update for its Zune music device on Tuesday, offering stability and performance improvements. In addition, the company updated the device to make it compatible with Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, Windows Vista. The update is now available from the Zune Web site. The company had originally scheduled to make such functionality available in conjunction with the consumer release of the OS in January, however the company received some criticism for not offering compatibility out of the box. ‘It is plumbing stuff, but it is stuff customers will notice and appreciate,’ Zune marketing director Jason Reindorp said recently of the update.”
New Digg Features O’ Plenty
by Kevin Rose at 6am, Dec 18th, 2006 in Digg Website
Big update today. Tons of new features to share with you – many inspired by feedback you’ve given us over the last few months (thanks!). Check out this video link.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:26 — 11.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Dr. Bill Podcast – 67 – (12/16/06)
Click on the “Streaming MP3” badge below to play Streaming Audio of this Podcast.
Download MP3
(Right-Click on the Link Above and Choose “Save” to Save the MP3 file locally on your PC.)
Click on the “Streaming Ogg” badge below to play Streaming Ogg Vorbis Format Audio of the Podcast.
Download Ogg Vorbis Format
(Right-Click on the Link Above and Choose “Save” to Save the Ogg Vorbis file locally on your PC.)
Recording the Podcast late on a Saturday night! Dr. Bill works with a slow brain as he records the show! The 67th podcast… a boring number, but an exciting podcast! Dr. Bill does sound effects with the talent of his own voice… with no tech help! (And, without a net!) A promo for Bwana.org Radio… and we play the TV Theme for “George of the Jungle” to celebrate his podcast! Bwana has it going on! Dr. Bill is odd. (We knew that.) Geek Culture of the Week… a Jonathan Coulton song called Chiron Beta Prime. Merry Christmas from a faraway asteroid! Watch out for those robot overlords with glowing red eyes! Meandering down the road of podcasting: Yet another Microsoft Word “Zero Day” exploit! If we can’t open Word documents with Microsoft Word, we should use OpenOffice.org. The 25 Greatest All Time “Killer Apps!” Going down memory lane with the “Killer Apps.” The “LXP Project” – making Linux look like Windows XP. Strange, but kinda cool… especially for the mind-numbed Microsoft masses. Whoa… a “Start Button.” Microsoft’s big major “screw-up!” Vista is not compatible with Microsoft SQL Server! Ouch! That’s bad! Last item… Yo Momma likes Ubuntu Linux! Salute! It’s time to slide on out… since we ran over time… Dr. Bill’s brain fizzles out! Z-z-z-z-z!
This guy’s mother was always having problems with Spyware, Adware, and other Malware… so he put her on to Ubuntu Linux. Now, she has no problems…
“Actually, my mom loves Ubuntu. My mother is like most parents these days – they buy a computer at Best Buy or Walmart and they take it home, plug it in and start using the web. The computer they bought usually has Windows on it and some form of AOL. After about 8 months of using the computer is becomes “slow†so they begin asking around for help. Usually some “helpful†person tells them that their computer is “just too old†and so rather than fixing the whatever is wrong, they need to buy a new computer. My mom now owns 3 laptops and two desktops (one I’ve been using for a couple of years) – none of which are older than 5 years. Sound like your parents? This is great for computer manufacturers that make money off selling new computers to people. It’s not great for my mom who’s got 5 computers that all are in terrible shape but could be working perfectly, if they just were set up correctly. Tired of this trend, I decided to install Ubuntu on my mom’s new laptop. The only problem I had was with the network card – both Toshiba and RadioShack had the wrong drivers for it. Good job, guys. Once I nailed down that issue, though, Ubuntu worked perfectly. I sent the laptop home with my mom and she’s been chugging along nicely with it since. No slowdowns. No viruses. No spyware. No… ahem… AOL. It works so well, I’m now installing it on her other “broken†computers and am amazed at how they scream along, booting in no time, and just working the way they’re supposed to.”
Talk about screw-ups! Last time it was Zune that wasn’t compatible with Windows… now it is Vista that is not compatible with Microsoft’s own database server… SQL Server! Ouch!
Vista flaw could haunt Microsoft
“The latest evidence that Microsoft has lost its Midas Touch? Its bid for a bigger piece of the $14 billion database business, a sector now ruled by Oracle and IBM. Until now, Microsoft has been doing what it does best to attract corporate customers: It has tied its SQL Server database management software to programs running on Windows desktops. But now Microsoft has a problem. Vista, its long-awaited update to the Windows operating system, can’t run the current version of SQL Server. The company is working on a SQL upgrade that is compatible with Vista – called SQL Server 2005 Express Service Pack 2 – but it’s in beta and can be licensed only for testing purposes. Microsoft hasn’t set a release date for the new SQL program. So companies looking to install Vista, which went on sale to corporate customers Nov. 30, are going to have to get their database management software someplace else.”