The DogHouse Podcast

Direct download: 7-TheDogHouse.mp3

Computer Technology News

Palm Pre debuts on June 2nd. How will it do versus the iPhone? Pre syncs with iTunes.

Napster rolls out a new $5 a month service.

Vista Service Pack 2 is released this week. We go over some of the features.

We talk about Google PowerMeter and how that might change the way Sina does laundry in the future!

PC Gaming

The Sims 3 comes out on June 2nd. We look forward to the next release and we are working on having a guest give a review in the next couple of weeks.

Jumpgate Evolution is delayed.

38 Studios acquires Big Huge Games!

Technical Corner featuring Q&A

We go over a number of emails our listeners have submitted this week.

Darrell’s Tech Tip of the Week

SyncToy is a free utility that Microsoft made that simplifies the synchronizing of files and folders.
What you will need:  A second hard drive.
 This can be an external USB or FireWire hard drive, a secondary internal hard drive, or a NAS (network attached storage drive).

You will need to create a “folder pair”. Let’s use the Pictures folder as an example. You would navigate to that for the left (or source) folder. You would then create a second folder on the backup drive. Name that folder Pictures. You then would choose the type of synchronization you want to do.
Sync Methods:
Synchronize: SyncToy makes sure both folders have the exact same files. SyncToy might copy files in either direction. It might also delete or rename files in either folder.

Echo: SyncToy looks for any changes in the left folder and does a one-way sync to the right folder. This can include new files, deletes, and renamed files.

Contribute: This is similar to the Echo option, but the difference is that it won’t delete any files in the right folder that might end up being deleted over time in the left folder.
This is a great way to keep your photos, music, and documents backed up. Keep in mind that many backup solutions today just copy everything to the second folder and then does the exact same thing each time after that. SyncToy will check to see what’s been updated and then co
py the changes over to your backup folder.
New Contest!
 It’s that time again…time for a new contest! We need your help in branding a new set of products we will be adding to our store. We are going to be releasing two new external backup drives. These will come standard with a 3 year warranty and have 500GB or 1TB capacity. To enter the contest, submit an email to podcast@doghousesystems.com with Backup Entry in the subject line with what you would name the new backup drives.

Contact Information

We welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions! If you would like to submit a question for a future podcast you can leave a message for us at 214-705-3788 . Try and keep your message under a minute so we can play it back on the next show. We can also be reached by email: podcast@doghousesystems.com

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#6 The DogHouse – 3D Vision-Direct Download

Computer Technology News

This week we had the opportunity to speak with an Nvidia Rep, Tri Wyn. The interview includes details on 3D-Vision product as well as PhysX technology.

We discuss Cablevision’s 101Mbps downstream using DOCSIS 3.0.  Verizon doubts its capabilities but Cablevision throws a quick left hook by bundling their product with no overage fees or caps.

Bye bye 16:10 notebook displays, Heeeeellloooo 16:9!

We quickly discuss some of the advantages and beta options for Windows 7. Don’t forget to pick up your trial key here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

PC Gaming

Jumpgate Evolution, The new frontier for space MMORPGs. With twitch based combat, immense online battles, Space Combat, Player advancement, Massive space conflict, Compelling universe, Pvp Combat, and a Dynamic Economy to boot…. Open beta is rumored to begin later this year.

www.JumpgateEvolution.com

Technical Corner featuring Q&A

We answer a few questions left on our podcast voice mail as well as a tip from Darrell the Tip Giver:

External USB Hard Drive Performance Boost!

With Vista, USB storage devices have write back cache turned off by default.  This is so can safely unplug the device without having to use the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon that is the the system tray.  We recommend leaving this on for thumb drives, but this can really hamper performance of an external USB hard drive!  The good news is that there is an easy fix for this:

1.  Plug in the external USB hard drive.

2.  In Vista, go to the Start menu (Windows icon on bottom left of your screen) and right click on Computer.

3.  Choose Properties.

4.  Click on the Device Manager link.

5.  Click on the plus sign next to Disk drives to expand the drive list.

6.  Double click on your external hard drive.

7.  Click on the Policies tab.

8.  Click on “Optimize for performance”

9.  You will be prompted you to restart your system.

New Contest!

The next 2,000 gold from J!NX will be given next week to our favorite call / feedback / and comments!

Contact Information

We welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions! If you would like to submit a question for a future podcast you can leave a message for us at 214-705-3788 . Try and keep your message under a minute so we can play it back on the next show. We can also be reached by email: podcast@doghousesystems.com

Download MP3
iTunes Subscription
RSS Feed