This week on the podcast we're talking about CISPA returning to the House of Representatives, Clever uses for reverse image search, and building your first home theater. We're also answering questions about building computers, automating downloads, and the new Gmail compose window.
How to Listen to This Week's Episode
Here's how you can listen to our episode (sorry for this week's audio quality!):
News and Top Stories
- CISPA Is Back: CISPA, the bill that wants to erode your online privacy, is back, and it has passed the House of Representatives. We talk a bit about how it's different (it isn't) and whether you should fight back (you should).
- Twitter #Music Recommends New Music with iTunes, Spotify, and Rdio: Twitter has officially announced its music app, Twitter #Music. The iOS and webapp seeks to help you find and listen to new music based on who you follow on Twitter.
- Mailbox, the Best Gmail App We've Seen for iOS, Now Available for All: Previously waiting-list only, Mailbox, the hugely popular Gmail app for iPhone is now open to everyone. Mailbox makes getting to inbox zero easy, thanks to its easy gestures for managing your inbox and the ability to turn your emails into to-do lists.
- How to Build Your First Home Theater From Nothing: Alan talks about his journey building a home theater, even a basic one in a small apartment, and how easy it is to do.
- Clever Uses for Reverse Image Search: Reverse image search, like that offered by Google or TinEye, is one of those awesome features that it's hard to come up with uses for. Thorin runs through some of his favorite uses, suggested by our readers.
- Automate Your Phone for Every Room in the House with NFC Tags: Whitson takes a boring, oft-ignored feature called NFC?the one that let's you bump phones to share a playlist?and makes it useful. With a cheap pack of NFC tags or stickers, you can perform actions on your phone around the house just by tapping them to the tags.
Questions and Answers
Each week we answer five questions from readers and listeners. Here's what we tackled this week.
- I want to buy a desktop computer that I can upgrade over a period of time when I gather enough money. What's a good upgradeable computer to buy? Or should I just wait and buy the parts separate that I want and build it myself? We're very big advocates of building your own. It isn't necessarily cheaper, but it gives you complete control over the hardware you buy now and what you can upgrade to later. Plus, it's really easy to upgrade, and you'll already know how to do it. Check out our complete guide to building a computer from scratch, as well as the best computers you can build for $600 and $1200.
- I love to play Minecraft in my living room over the LAN with my four kids. The problem is: My wife hates the look of all the computers. How can we play without making a horrible mess of my living room? This is tough, and it depends a lot on your setup, but we have a few ideas. You could make your computer less ugly (with cases from companies like Lian Li or Fractal Design), you could move your gaming area (basements are always a good option, if you have them), or you could run Minecraft on a few Raspberry Pis, which are only about the size of a deck of cards!
- Is it possible to automate my web downloads by file type? I want MP3 files sent to my music folder, AVI files sent to my video folder, and so on. Your best bet would be to use something like Belvedere for Windows or Hazel for Mac. They'll let you automate files on your computer in a ton of different ways, and they'll be able to handle this task with ease.
- I hate Gmail's new compose box! What can I do to avoid it? Press Shift+C or hold Shift while pressing the Compose button. It'll bring the Compose box up in a separate window so you can make it as big or small as you want.
- I want to learn how to program. I'm currently learning Python. Is this the way to go or should I start somewhere else? That's tough to say. It depends on what you want to program for. We've done a guide to learning JavaScript, but our live listeners recommended checking out resources at sites like Codeacademy, Learn Code the Hard Way, Treehouse, PeepCode, Code School, and others that might be able to help direct you.
- What home theater PC solution do you suggest? The Roku, Apple TV, XBMC on a home-built machine, Boxee, or something else? Again, we're all big fans of home-built solutions, but if you want something pre-built, we're pretty big fans of the Roku. You get a ton of channels and you can install Plex on it to play your networked files. Check out our roundup of set-top box options for more info.
Tips of the Week
Downloads of the Week
How Do I Submit a Question?
There are two ways to send in your question:
Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!
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