Episode 5: Leopard First Look, iPod Batteries, Transformers, eBooks and Flock

[chuckles]

Kicking off this episode, Jessica is disturbed by the Hello Kitty themed AK-47 available at GlamGuns.com.

Do you have an old iPod whose battery is just so far gone? It won't hold a charge and now is pretty much useless? Well don't despair, you can replace the battery! Yes, YOU can do it as Sarah, along with the help from the tutorial at ifixit.com, will show you the tools, the step by step instructions and the challenges on replacing your iPod's battery.

One of the summer's biggest movie hits, Transformers features state of the art, photorealistic effects to make the robots look real. We spoke with some of the movie making wizards at Industrial Light and Magic, who opened the hood on these robots in disguise and explained how they were able to make these robots come to life.

Heather's website pick of the week is gemueseorchester.org (there was a mistake in the show CG stating that it is gemueseorchester.com), the world's first vegetable orchestra.

Chris Breen, senior editor from Macworld visits us to give us the skinny on the new release of OSX from Apple, Leopard. With the new version, there are great new features like, Time Machine, Spaces, Stacks, Quicklook and a new version of Spotlight.

Freedocumentaries.org - Want to stream and watch documentaries online for free? Well here's the site for you. Check out the great and informative documentaries available, all for free!

Our fearless leader and CEO of Revision3, Jim Louderback tries to convert Jessica to the wonderful world of eBook Readers with the Sony PRS-505 which holds over 100 books and has rechargeable batteries to allow you to turn up to 7,500 pages on a single charge which can be charged via USB. It also can store music or photos (even though the display is black and white). While the Sony Memory Stick is still present, they also support SD cards. While you can buy books through Sony's Connect store application, but you can also load your own books and PDFs. Jim also shows us an older eBook, the RCA REB1200 which has a touch screen and the ability to mark up the screen as you read.

Martin Sargent makes his plea to take over Tekzilla and Systm from Patrick Norton.

Site of the week: etsy.com - A great site to buy and sell hand made projects with super cool ways to search.

Jessica brings us this week's Code Red: a new browser based on social browsing, Flock. Making it easy to blog, upload photos and interact with your social network websites. It's also got great extensions like me.dium.com which allows you to see other users using Flock. It also has neat tools like "Drag and Drop" interaction with Flickr for all your photo needs.

We've got some viewer e-mail:

Gary from North Carolina writes in asking about how to convert old 8mm film reels to DVDs? The obvious answer is to look up a video transfer/dubbing service in your local yellow pages. But Sarah and Jessica have a bit more ghetto way: Buy a projector and film the projected image with a video camera.

[ghaerdon]

I thought it was another great show. TGIF has a whole new meaning now :-p The first look at Leopard and Transformers segs were good, very basic, but good. The iPod seg was awesome and I hope to see lots more like that. The ebook was along the same line and I think thats what makes this show great. You guys rock and it would be awesome to keep Sarah doing segments with Patrick when he returns... blurry eyes and all.

SOUND, is it possible to out some egg crates around the studio to dampen the cavern effect LOL. It's just a bit distracting / rough.

Anyway I'm a big fan and Martin has some compelling arguments... I'm going to expect a followup on why Martin should replace Alex... maybe he could even suggest why he should replace Steve Jobs, Larry Page and/or Sergey Brin. Funny stuff.

[mrpopular]

Awesome Episode. it was All Killer & No filler. I am now Curiously looking at my Ipod wondering if I should tear it up. I'm still not a fan of Ebooks. the transformers parts was cool.

I also Martin comes back with his arguments about taking over Alex. I think it would be really funny if somehow Martin Showed up in every show 1 week. that 'd be funny

[bs0l]

I agree 100% with Martin Sargent. He needs more shows. He should be in control of at least half the shows on Revision3.

[eminemdrdre00]

Martin Sargent for host!!! PLEASE come back and tell us why you should replace Alex Albrecht! Your Alex impressions are great and hilarious!

[sptlght]

Martin Sargent for host!!! PLEASE come back and tell us why you should replace Alex Albrecht! Your Alex impressions are great and hilarious!

It would be epic if he did a diggnation episode as an alex impostor and alex comes on and is like WTF, kinda like the impostor mac on the mac vs pc commercial.

[rowlodge]

i would just tape a regular d cell battery on the outside of the ipod or something.

get joey to do a segment, dammit!, he's been the intern for 9 years already.

[sobo310]

This show is great. Once Patrick comes back it would be cool if Sarah could stay on and do her own segments. Please let Martin come back. He was hilarious in this episode and I want to see why he's better than Alex.

[shinku]

ARGH! Enough Martin already... sure, people love him, but I don't (and I know I'm not the only one...) so give him more shows, a many as you like, but please don't keep putting him in shows he's not part of!

[ryudo]

ARGH! Enough Martin already... sure, people love him, but I don't (and I know I'm not the only one...) so give him more shows, a many as you like, but please don't keep putting him in shows he's not part of!

I am with you. I am not a fan of martin either.

[hrvat]

Martin Sargent...no thanks

that extreme goofy personality isint really what im after
maybe if i was 15 or 16 again

[xtynct]

I wish Martin would replace Jessica Corbin... I cringe every time I want to enjoy the show and she bursts with those strange giggles. Oh, and how she transforms into a bobble head every time someone else is trying to explain something and results in asking the lamest questions... I get the feeling she doesn't care at all about anything tech related and she only wants to be on the show so she can have her "five minutes of fame..." Good show though! I just think they can make some improvements *cough*jessica*cough*

[mr-underachiever]

Eww @ Martin's eyes bugging out during his segment. Creepy...

[boxofmoonlight]

I don't miss Pat at all. (Sorry).

There was so much useful stuff in this show! It took hours to watch it; every new segment I had to click pause so I could investigate the new tidbit!

Thanks, keep it coming!

[blofeld07]

I had a hard time seeing the pointer in a lot of the demos. I usually don't sit directly in front of the video. Can you make it a little bigger?

Martin was great as everyone else. Any chance of doing a Chumby review soon? That seems to be an interesting gadget.

[scienceking]

I found Martin's segment to be the most enjoyable of the episode.(^_^)b

[spmion]

I agree, I don't miss Patrick much either. I loved what he brought
to the Screen Savers way back when, but I have become really
disillusioned with him ever since his entry on Systm.

On the other hand, I think Sarah could bring a lot to this show.
The Rev3 Gazette is the first time I was introduced to her, and I
really enjoy her unique sense of humor.

If Tekzilla continues along the lines it's been moving, I could see
myself becoming at least a semi-regular viewer.

I don't miss Pat at all. (Sorry).

There was so much useful stuff in this show! It took hours to watch it; every new segment I had to click pause so I could investigate the new tidbit!

Thanks, keep it coming!

[thepierre]

I am tearing up from laughing so hard on the Martin Sargent segment. Comic gold.
i would LOVE to see Martin on the couch next to Kevin for an episode of Diggnation.

[darknessgp]

I am with you. I am not a fan of martin either.

I agree as well.

Also, this episode IMO still had too much in the way of advertisement, both real and fake (Mostly fake makes it feel like time wasted)

I've been a little disappointed that Heather hasn't had any face time segments, only ones where she's narrating. Also, why is that one girl (won't try to spell her name and butcher it.) not doing segments, and do we really need segment introductions like that? I mean it's that then a real/fake "ad" and then the segment to which the segment hosts introduce what they are going to talk about.

[vampireblood]

Martin Sargent...no thanks

that extreme goofy personality isint really what im after
maybe if i was 15 or 16 again

Are you kidding?

Martin Sargent should host allot more Revision3 shows than just Web Drifter, His talents are going to waste.

I want to see him guest star on an episode of diggnation.

[vladsmail]

Just a quick clarification about why the ipod battery replacement tools are made out of plastic. The whole purpose of that is so you don't damage your ipod when your opening it, if you would have used a screwdriver or something else that is metal it would damage the nice finish on the ipod and wouldn't look nice. (But if you are replacing a old ipod, odds are that its already pretty scratched up and a couple more scratches wouldn't have made a difference) That's my 2 cents...

[heyseuss]

I am with you. I am not a fan of martin either.

Hear hear. Somebody tell him to get rid of the excess spit before he talks. Wit is one thing, goofy is another. He's Jay Leno, not David Letterman. He's Tom Green not Bill Maher.

As for the episode, the film to digital trasnfer advice was utterly stupid. Three seconds into it, I was staring at my brain upside down my eyes were rolling so far back.

Especially considering the guy that wrote in (are those letters real?) was from NC, the advice and offering of options was just not right. There are alot of good post production houses in NC. I can't believe that neither Jessica or Sarah could find the phrase 'post production' in their vocabs. Have they ever considered what goes on after they talk into a camera ?? Advising someone to 'buy a projector' to video a downgraded version of their film image is absurd. That's like telling someone, to insure the longevity of their car, that they should buy a bike.

If you're going to start off by buying a projector, then there is a new world of options available after that purchase. Maybe perhaps plug the projector directly into a camera, dvd burner, or computer huh ??? But why do that filming the wall crap and be left with a projector? Isn't the freakin purpose of the project, and main reason the person wrote in, because a projector wasn't considered an option??


The best way quality wise, yet most expensive (depends on how much it's worth to you) is to send the film to a post production house. You can have straight identical transfers of the film made or you can pay for extra services like digital enhancements in both audio and video. You could also just have the film restored, trasnferred to digital and then back to film, if you do already have a projector and wish to continue using it. You could also find a private pro guy, who will do the same thing as a corporate post production house, while probbly being slightly easier to deal with. Or do it yourself if you have the time and money to learn the software and buy equipment. If you do that, then you can become a private pro guy when you're done, and instead of get paid $55/hr working for a corp. that charges the client $4000/hr, you can charge a nice amount, that you can keep for yourself.

I guess the best way to preseve my old 8-track audio tapes, is to BUY AN 8-TRACK PLAYER ??? Then what, plug a mic into a cd burner and record the audio from in the room ? ?


P.S. That being said, I could watch Jessica faux-humping the table all day. Well maybe not all day, maybe once every hour given enough gatorade. I'd be honoured to make her giggle and laugh in the bright and cheerful way that she does and it would be a heart-breaking shame to ever see her face sad or hurt. Laughing is foreplay.

[Bret]

I feel like I am being talked down to when i watch this show

[markr7]

I feel like I am being talked down to when i watch this show
I dont think im being talked down to - but I think the show might not be aimed at either you or me..

Back to the episode discussion - did anyone else notice they used a screenshot a *nix distro with Gnome (i think) when demoing spaces in leopard?

[jsgotangco]

I thought that Martin spiel was pretty dumb filler material. He could be a very entertaining guest for Diggnation though.

The odd transfer method was well, odd for a suggestion from a tech show as well.

Perhaps have Neha do something more than just inform us of what's coming next.

[wizmaster]

I wish Martin would replace Jessica Corbin... I cringe every time I want to enjoy the show and she bursts with those strange giggles. Oh, and how she transforms into a bobble head every time someone else is trying to explain something and results in asking the lamest questions... I get the feeling she doesn't care at all about anything tech related and she only wants to be on the show so she can have her "five minutes of fame..." Good show though! I just think they can make some improvements *cough*jessica*cough*

There's not caring about tech and not being techie. You can enjoy the consumer aspect of tech without wanting to run Linux on an Ipod or creating your own programming language from scratch. Tech is getting more mainstream everyday and you will find more and more "techies" that are into the consumer aspect then the technical. It was bound to happen, get over it. Her questions may be lame for you (and frankly for me) but those questions are perfect for others who are consumer techies (or newbies). Pat was a true techie while Jessica is a consumer techie. It works well. Say what you want about her giggling but saying she doesn't like tech or doesn't ask questions that are hardcore techie shows how elitist you are (then again, most true techies are). There's nothing wrong with her questions other then they aren't beneficial for me and I'm not the type who demands the world to revolve around me.

Not accusing you of anything in particular but you should try thinking about what about her you don't like. Also, this isn't systm or thebroken. It's general tech show that will appeal to consumers and average people.

[echos]

Another interesting episode of Tekzilla to say the least, while watching this episode I came across a few snags that should of been caught.

The first thing I found was the screnshot of linux with a gnome desktop running firefox, gaim, nautilus, and a console window with top.
http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/5025/screenshottekzilla0005llc4.png

The other snag to point out was during the user e-mail portion of the show, when answering about how to transfer 8mm film to DVD. I would have to say that the answer that was given was totally improvisational ignorance. Tekzilla isn't a live show or even if it was you still don't just start spewing out an incorrect answer without even taking the time to research the correct answer before you start filming. If someone actually took ten minuets of their time you would of know that telecine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine) was the correct word used to describe the transfer of film to video and not dubbing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing_%28filmmaking%29) which isn't related to the transferring of film to video.

I hate to come off as being rude but it really bothers me to see someone display their laziness and ignorance by not researching something before talking about it.

[tnvwboy]

To echo Heyseuss and echos (heh), I have to say the email section about dubbing an old 8mm video was pretty awful. It's cool and fine for shows like Diggnation and Totally Rad Show to be unscripted and unrehearsed but to try to answer an email, apparently, off the cuff was bad. That info should have been researched greater. If it was it didn't show.

The rest of the episode was fine, even Martin's bit, but the email Q&A sucked. Sorry.

[kickarse]

I wish that RoboDump crapped on Martins segment. That was the dumbest reading rant I've ever heard. I CAN'T GET THAT TIME BACK! EVER!

I swear I'll never watch another episode if Martin comes back with that shit.

[stephan]

I am with you. I am not a fan of martin either.
Me too. Martin's personality is kinda odd, some like and love it, others don't. Having him on all/most of Rev3's shows would be a bad mistake, since it doesn't fit into all categories, especially Tekzilla and Systm. Impersonating Alex on ONE (emphasis on one) episode of diggnation would be entertaining.

The answer to the email question was not appropriate for a show on Rev3. I just want to bring emphasis to this, since it has already been stated.
I have found Sarah Lane to be sort of untechy, she just scratches the surface, right before it seems like going into the topic, issue (tech related), she already goes to some other aspect, which is disappointing.

I almost forgot:

The Leopard segment was nice, but only nice, since it just covered the few most advertised features (time maschine first) of 10.5, but the really good ones like improved network sharing in the finder for example was not covered at all. My expectations at Tekzilla are to go beyond the basic stuff everybody else covers. Time Maschine is a great show-off feature, lets see how much it will actually be used. You should have worked with Leopard some time, then go back to Tiger, and cover the features you actually miss most in Tiger compared to Leopard.

[hillwog]

Marty would be good on Diggnation but having him show up on techzilla and Sytm is to much. Rev 3 should put up a shorts section for rants and such. Seeing Sarah, Patrick, or some of the others doing a rant would be cool.

[corwin155]

another great show Jessica an Sarah also rest of the tekzilla crew
congratz pat on your new baby take your time but hurry back lol
:)

[xenu-cruise]

Please keep Martin off Tekzilla. I understand that there may be some people out there that find him funny (but not as funny as he finds himself). However, he has enough presence on Revision3 as it is. Save it, Martin. I'll keep Patrick Norton (and Sarah Lane as interim host).

[ponytissue]

Seems like the people who can't deal with Martin don't have much of a sense of humor. God forbid there be something funny in an otherwise pretty dry show.

[kickarse]

^^ Problem is it WASN'T funny. It was scripted BS that he READ from the teleprompter talking about shitting on a toilet! It's a ****ing tech show and your talking about shitting on a toilet with RoboDump 2.0?

There are shows specifically FOR Martin. So don't ruin our oasis.

I admit when he's off the cuff he's fairly intelligently funny. But not this dumb shit.

[ponytissue]

Well I thought it was the best part of the show and that Martin, unlike Patrick or Jessica, can actually talk to a camera without sounding like a puppet, but I'm not going to argue with you about a difference of opinion. The point I was making is that someone at rev3 decided it would be a good idea to have 30 seconds of something funny in the middle of 30 minutes of tech, and a few people are whining about 'never getting that time back in their life'. And that seems to be fueled more by the fact that there was non-tech content than whether or not anything was funny. And I just respectfully think that if its such a big thing to those people, they can spend those 30 seconds by grabbing their 12-sided die and masturbating to pics they covertly took with their camera phone of the fat TRON chick at the last D&D GenCon. That's probably all the time it takes them anyway.

[darknessgp]

Marty would be good on Diggnation but having him show up on techzilla and Sytm is to much. Rev 3 should put up a shorts section for rants and such. Seeing Sarah, Patrick, or some of the others doing a rant would be cool.

I disagree, Martin wouldn't be good on any show. Honestly, though is webdrifter hurting? Are any of Martin's shows hurting? Seems like they have him going on a plug parade to try and get some viewers. Seriously, keep Martin off your other shows. I have a feeling that the shows are lacking viewers not because people don't know about them, but because people don't like them... or at least that is why I don't watch.

[ub3rgeek]

Personally I would much rather have Martin in place of Jessica. I don't have anything against Jessica its just I find her a bit annoying. I think it's her voice.

I'm just glad that they are doing tekzilla (the name, I do have a problem with. Really, "zilla"?). So keep them coming!

[bman]

I am loving this show, the 5th episode and still strong. My thoughts at least, my new favorite one at least!

[heyseuss]

Personally I would much rather have Martin in place of Jessica. I don't have anything against Jessica its just I find her a bit annoying. I think it's her voice.

You find HER voice annoying, but not Marty's??? Can't say I've ever heard her choking on her own spit, but Marty on the other hand .. .