Rob Pegoraro
Washington Post Personal Technology Columnist
Monday, July 11, 2005
2:00 PM
The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro fielded your personal tech questions and discussed a recent column on the Google Earth service and his review of the wireless-enabled Sony Vaio T350 laptop .
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Rob Pegoraro: Welcome back, everyone. Over the last two weeks, I've reviewed Google Earth, a nifty new mapping program, and Sony's Vaio T350 laptop, which I found not quite so nifty. We've got a bunch of questions already on those two topics, and probably quite a few on others, so let's started...
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Alexandria, VA: Hey Rob,
I love Google Earth already, but was wondering if Google plans to add their simple-minded UI design to it anytime soon? If so, that would totally rock!
Rob Pegoraro: I agree, although I would call most of Google's interfaces simple, not "simple-minded." There's a real difference between making a product as simple as possible and making it too simple for its own good (Microsoft's MSN software comes to mind as an example of the latter).
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Fairfax, Va.: Rob:
The latest laptops are interesting, but beyond my current needs. I am more curious about how to buy a low-end laptop, or one that has fallen off the radar screen.
My wife is interested in getting a portable DVD player, which can cost up to $300 for one with a 10-inch screen. It seems to me that it is possible to get a laptop (with DVD player and larger screen) for not much more. A local store is selling one for $549, and if I could find it, the model just previous to that one in the ad should go for less.
So, my question: How can I find a new older-generation laptop in the 300-500 buck range? Should I fear refurbished or used machines? It seems their batteries could be unreliable. I would love to let my family see the DVDs, but still be able to use the laptop for other things.
Rob Pegoraro: Good question. What you're talking about is definitely possible, but any laptop that cheap will probably weigh more than twice as much as any portable DVD player. Your safest bet would be to buy a refurbished or closeout model direct from the manufacturer, which means you get the same warranty coverage as with a new model.
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Paris, France: Is there any chance to get Google Earth for Mac?
Rob Pegoraro: Yes. Google says it's developing a Mac version, and I think we will see such a thing before too long. First, the company has a fine record of making its earlier products Mac-compatible. Second, Google Earth itself looks a great deal like a Linux application converted to Windows (check out the dialog box to save a file), and Linux apps are generally easy to rewrite to run on Mac OS X.
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HAMILTON, BERMUDA: Google Maps appears to use a variety of images patched together for the Satellite view. But some map blocks are darker and fuzzier than others, or shaded in colors. Some are even dark enough to obscure all details. Is this an evolving database and can we expect more detail and more complete coverage in future? Will we be able some day to specify GPS coordinates in a search field?
Rob Pegoraro: Yes, Google Maps (and Google Earth) cobble together different sets of overhead imagery. The idea is to get coverage of the whole world at the same level of resolution, but--well, it's a big world.
The paid version of Google Earth ($20) does offer support for GPS devices, but I didn't try that.
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Quantico, VA: When is the Washington Post site going to start publishing additional information about news stories as KML data. For example, the DC sniper story could have been easier to visualize if there had been a KML File.
Rob Pegoraro: I can't answer that, but it's an interesting idea. ("KML" is the type of file that Google Earth outputs when you want to share a place mark with other people.)
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Southwest: Hi Rob - I'm wondering if you or any of the chatters have any experience with portable DVD players. I'm taking young kids on an airplane shortly and the ability to watch movies seems like a good idea. Have you tested any players? Any brands you like or don't like? Thanks in advance!
Rob Pegoraro: Lemme share this one with the crowd, as I don't own one of these things myself--all my movie-watching while traveling is done on laptops.
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Fredericksburg, Va: Hi Rob,
I get anywhere from 10 to 20 Spam emails a day. I can access my email in two ways - through the WEB connection with my cable company and through Outlook Express. From a security standpoint, am I more secure accessing email through the WEB connection than through Outlook Express which will download emails onto my computer?
Rob Pegoraro: Yes, a Web-mail connection is more secure--provided you're using a secure browser. There are plenty of attacks that target vulnerabilities in Web browsers. (I.e., Firefox would be much safer than an old version of Internet Explorer.)
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Tenleytown, DC: Rob, Does anyone make an HD Radio converter for new GM cars ( Cadillac SRX )? The article did not get into detail re: aftermarket conversions.
washingtonpost.com: Read the related article: -- With HD Sound, the Future Is Becoming a Lot Less Fuzzy (Post, July 10).
Rob Pegoraro: I was glad to see Marc Fisher's story in Sunday's paper (FWIW, I -- reviewed -- HD Radio last summer). I believe there are kits to add HD Radio capability, but I don't know if they can connect to a car's original head unit, or if you have to replace the entire car stereo.
This is one of HD Radio's biggest shortfalls--how hard it is to get the hardware. I'm continually amazed at how many home-theater receivers, devices that sell for well north of $1,000, don't include HD Radio. (That would be all but one or two models from Yamaha, last I checked.) I can see this not being included on $200 entry-level models, but shouldn't it be a standard feature at some price level?
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RE: Google Earth: Any idea when they took the pictures that make this up? And how often they will update these for new roads and developments?
Rob Pegoraro: From what I could see, most of the photos seem to be at least a year or two old. For instance, in Boston you can see that the Central Artery is still intact and the Zakim Bridge is not yet open, and in downtown D.C. the Gallery Place project next to the MCI Center hasn't even started construction.
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Detroit, MI: Rob: I have a Verizon wireless card and it really does transfer data fast. However, my new laptop (Dell Latitude X1) does not have a pcmcia slot so I can't use my card. Verizon doesn't support web access over my Motorola V710 phone so using the bluetooth is out. Do you know of any USB to PCMCIA adapters out there? Do you have any other suggestions?
Rob Pegoraro: You can use a V710 as a Bluetooth modem, or at least you could--I got the one I tested last fall to work that way with a Mac. (Don't ask me how I did that; it was not remotely obvious until I found a helpful page on somebody's blog.)
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Fairfax, Va.: I am a verizon DSL customer and I have received numerous offers from verizon to upgrade to their fiber optic FiOS service. We are not heavy internet users, mostly the standard stuff like reading the post on-line, but a little more speed is always nice. Are there any downsides to going to the 5 Mbps FiOS service. Are there any advantages? Will we really be able to see a difference?
Thanks
washingtonpost.com: See this May 8 Post piece on FiOS: FiOS Speeds Up Web, Phone and TV Access.
Rob Pegoraro: The major downside is that you give up the option of reverting to DSL, and therefore of using any broadband provider besides Verizon and (in your case) Cox.
If you're not using the speed your connection offers now, why pay more for extra speed you still won't be using?
Note: I reserve the right to change my mind on this if Verizon offers some competitive pricing on the TV service it plans to start providing over FiOS at some point in the allegedly near future.
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PC Mover: Rob - is software like PC Mover the recommended way to migrate to a new computer? I personally prefer to start from scratch and only add/tweak things as I need to, and not transfer everything over indiscriminately. But I might be mistaken in that. Thank you for your help in advance.
Rob Pegoraro: If you're reasonably well versed in Windows, it's not that hard to move over your own files. From your question, I'm thinking that description would apply to you, so I'd say you don't need a data-migration utility.
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San Francisco, CA: I noticed that the few positives that you had in the T350 review is about the notebook itself. Despite Cingular's EDGE speeds and pricey data plans, would you recommend the notebook for the on-the-go professional?
The battery life is AMAZING!
Thanks,
Curious
Rob Pegoraro: It's a tad expensive, but it is a nice little machine. But compare it with Panasonic's ToughBook W2 and IBM, er, Lenovo's ThinkPad X series too.
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Dayton, Ohio: There have been constant rumors that Apple is going to build their own cellular brand for their rumored iTunes phone. An even bigger reason for that network would be building laptops, with Intel chips, that could connect to this network. What do you suspect regarding these rumors?
Jameson
Rob Pegoraro: Not sure. By these rumors, Apple would become what's called an "MVNO"--mobile virtual network operator, a company that resells somebody else's signal. (See, for example, Virgin Mobile.) It doesn't seem implausible, but it also seems like an enormous amount of work, when the alternative simply requires Apple to wheedle one established carrier into selling the iTunes phone (if it actually exists!)
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Google pictures: The Google images in New York, at least, appear to date from mid- to late-2002 or early 2003 because the World Trade Center debris is cleared out and because there is an Air France Concorde parked at Kennedy Airport (Air France's final commercial Concorde flight was May 31, 2003).
Rob Pegoraro: Ooh, I gotta check that Concorde photo out. (Google Earth users have done an amazing job of finding interesting/unusual photos; somebody has a place mark that points only to a picture of the Mojave Desert that happens to capture an airliner in flight.)
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Alexandria, Va.: A word of advice to the person considering a portable DVD player: if you want to have it on an airplane with kids (plural), you should make sure you've got enough headphone jacks to go around. You might want to buy a splitter from Radio Shack if the device only has one headphone jack. Headphones may provide better sound than the internal speakers (especially given the jet engine noise), and they will prevent you from annoying fellow passengers.
Rob Pegoraro: Good tip...
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Bethesda, Md: Just upgraded to DSL from dialup-- and I was astonished at how easy it was. And not so expensive, either. DSL seems to have crossed the line from geeky to easy.
Rob Pegoraro: I think so. The only trick these days is being eligible for the service in the first place.
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Arlington VA: Is the Samsung I730 a "Treo 650 killer"? I have been anxiously waiting to switch from my Blackberry plus Palm plus cell phone for a while and thought the Treo 650 was "it". But now comes the Samsing I730. Is the Samsung divide better than the Treo?
Rob Pegoraro: I haven't tried it yet. I doubt it will be any sort of Treo killer, mainly because of its price and the fact that it's running the same old Windows Mobile 2003 software, which I've never liked much--too complicated, too inefficient. (I'm looking forward to trying out the upcoming Windows Mobile 5.0; look for a review later this summer.)
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Gaithersburg: any idea when tivo might allow WPA for wireless connections? there is no way I would use WEP on the rest of my network just to hook up my tivo without wires.
Rob Pegoraro: No idea at all. It's really backward for TiVo not to include that feature, isn't it? Then again, this is the company that doesn't include *any* networking capability out of the box; even adding an Ethernet port requires buying a USB adapter.
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Oakland, CA: Regarding your review of Sony's ultraportable laptop, what about International coverage? Since it's GSM, does this mean that Sony's machine can work outside of the U.S.?
Also, regarding pricing, is the new wireless capability an added cost or part of the purchase price?
Rob Pegoraro: The GSM receiver in the T350 does have a removable SIM (subscriber identity module) card behind the battery, so you should be able to use it with any other GSM carrier, once you reconfigure the dial-up software with your new account info. Unfortunately, the Post was so short-sighted as to decline to ship me off to Paris for a few days to test that theory.
Wireless access costs extra, but the hardware is included with purchase.
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Washington, DC: Re Google images--you reference the "Zakim Bridge" in Boston. Funny, I thought it was called the Bill Buckner Bridge because the road goes between the legs of the towers.....
Rob Pegoraro: I'm Googling for a Yankees joke right now...
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New Vaio - what now?: Rob - just got a new Vaio for a gift. I've deliberately avoided finding out what model it is (so that I won't be comparing it against every laptop I come across while surfing), beyond the 1G memory (what I care about most). Now, tell me, what accessories are must's? In addition to speakers, mouse, obviously...
Rob Pegoraro: A laptop shouldn't really need any accessories. A mouse is nice to have (and will only set you back $10 or $20), and speakers could be handy. You'd need a printer if you don't have one, and maybe a memory-card reader (if that's not built into the machine). Otherwise--save your money for now.
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Bethesda, Md.: A bit unrelated question. I was finally able to upgrade from dialup to DSL (Earthlink). What additional security precautions should I take for my Windows XP PC? I turned off print and file sharing (I only have 1 PC), enabled IFC and have Macafee Virsus Scan and Personal Firewall Plus. Is there anything else I should have or being doing? I also use Firefox instead of IE. I haven't upgraded XP to SP2 yet, still a little nervous about that upgrade.
washingtonpost.com: See Rob's Dec. 19 column: New Computer? Six Steps to Safer Surfing. And check out the Security Fix computer security blog -- on washingtonpost.com.
Rob Pegoraro: You've done all the easy steps, but you should upgrade to SP2 as well. It fixes a lot of deep-rooted security issues in Windows. And if you've kept your PC healthy (run an anti-spyware scan with a couple of utilities), the SP2 install should go just fine.
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Alexandria VA: What laptop do you recommend for long battery life in the under $1000 range?
We have a Panasonic portable DVD player and love it. Can't really talk to battery life, though, as we mostly use it in the car, where it can run off of the cigarette lighter.
Rob Pegoraro: Thanks!
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Alexandria, Va.: The fact that the Vaio T350 doesn't support EVDO makes it barely worth reviewing. There are plenty of PC Card adapters for the old-style cell network, so a built-in adapter isn't a huge selling point.
Rob Pegoraro: I reviewed this machine in part because this topic gave me a chance to talk about the broader problems of combining cellular data services with portable computing. Given how much profit there is in wireless Internet access, you'd think that the cell carriers would be bending over backwards to make it easy for laptop users to employ their service. And yet the T350 is the only laptop I can think of to include a built-in cellular receiver.
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portable DVD: I did a lot of research and the difference between a $150 portable DVD and a $300 DVD is battery life. The low end gets you 2 hours, the high end up to 8. We flew from FL to MT and needed the long battery life. I bought a Panasonic DVD-LS90 and so far it has performed excellently. I bought it from Amazon, got their credit card offer, which gave me $40 off the price. I bought cheapo headphones, which helped on the plane. I also bought a lot of short films for the toddler set (bob builder/dragontales etc.).
Rob Pegoraro: Very helpful post, thanks...
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Alexandria, Va.: I just thought of another tip for the person thinking about portable DVD players. Make sure to check out how wide the viewing angle is. In other words, if you are viewing the screen from the side, does the picture still look good, or is it dark or have colors inverted? If the picture only looks good when you're looking directly at the screen, it won't work well for multi-person viewing. Different screens have different specs, so check out multiple brands and models. It should be easy to test this in a store.
Rob Pegoraro: This is good advice for trying out any sort of flat-panel display.
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liberty corner, New Jersey: is windows smartphone or pocket pc edition supported for Google Earth?
Rob Pegoraro: Nope.
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Washington, DC : I recently tried out my colleague's HP Compaq 4200 Tablet PC. It seemed like a good bet for note taking as I go back to law school in the fall. Any thoughts on its durability and suitability as a substitute for a regular laptop?
Rob Pegoraro: Tablet PCs have been in the field for a few years now, and I haven't heard of any great problems with their durability. I think you're safe there. The main issue with them is their software; while it's easy to jot down notes for yourself, sharing those notes with friends is not particularly easy unless they also have Tablet PCs.
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Tampa, FL: As for Google Earth for Mac, Terra Browser offers a possible alternative. See http://www.chimoosoft.com/terrabrowser.html. These are just images from a few years ago, but it seems to work.
I spoke with Verizon reps at the recent Mac Design Conference here in Tampa (should have plenty of hurricane pictures to Photoshop soon), and they did not know when they would roll out Direct TV via FIOS. By the way, my brother got FIOS, and sometimes he has to reboot to get an internet connection. Also, the installation tech for FIOS mentioned Verizon has had problems getting it to work on Macs.
Rob Pegoraro: How could Verizon have trouble getting FiOS to work with Macs? The services uses completely standard Internet protocols, so unless Verizon is loading some out-of-date software on Macs and ignoring what comes built into the OS--oh wait, they have a history of doing exactly that.
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Washington, DC: Hello! I am in the process of buying a laptop for Grad School. I've been looking mostly at HP, specifically the DV1000, DV4000 and v2000. Do you have any advice and/or opinions, especially concerning mainly using the notebook for school.
Thank you!
Rob Pegoraro: You're talking about Compaq's V2000, right? I'd go with that or the HP DV1000--they both weigh just over 5 lbs., while the DV4000 is 6.3 lbs. You *will* notice that extra pound when it's hanging off your shoulder.
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Fairfax, Va: my desktop freezes all the time. i reinstall the OS (WIN XP), it often freezes when i do this. if it does reinstall ok, it will start freezing again within a few days. how should i begin to diagnose the problem?
Rob Pegoraro: I have no idea, beyond that you need to start by noting what type of error you see and what you were doing right before that error happened. You should also do the usual diagnostic rituals--run scandisk to check for hard-drive damage and make sure you've got up-to-date driver software for all the parts of the PC.
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Dating the satellite images: Is is possible to get metadata on the images you see on Google Earth? It would be useful to know the approximate date the picture was taken. That way you can reasonably judge whether or not your directions may be out of date.
Rob Pegoraro: If anybody at Google reads this chat, they'll get to see your feature request.
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Washington, DC: There's no need for a tablet PC for law school - you won't be able to write fast enough to keep up with the professors so you'll just end up typing which defeats the purpose!
Rob Pegoraro: Fortunately, I've managed to remain ignorant of just what it is people do in law school classrooms...
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Washington, DC: "I'm Googling for a Yankees joke right now..."
I sent in the Bill Buckner comment. I'm a Nationals fan. I just make fun of everyone.
Rob Pegoraro: After seeing us throw away the last two games, I could use a good Phillies joke.
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washington dc and cyberia: Hi, Rob, Laptop? Hand-held? What should I get? I'm inexperienced at buying hardware and really don't know how to determine what best meets my needs, or how much to spend. I've already got a desktop but need to get something I can carry around. Blackberries and other small or hand-held devices seem to do the same stuff as a laptop (e-mail, web-surf, IM, word-process ...) and sometimes even more, so why would I or should I get a much-heavier laptop? Especially if the laptop costs more? Or do laptops cost less? Or do hand-helds require different ISPs, e-mail, etc? Thanks for explaining this! A devoted reader.
Rob Pegoraro: Handheld organizers and Blackberries do *not* do the same stuff as a laptop. They're fine for checking and replying to e-mail, and for looking up things online. But doing any extended typing on them is really unwise, even if you invest in a separate keyboard. I'd put it this way: If you need to more with your data in the field than collect it and refer back to it, you probably need a laptop.
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Potential bug? Or maybe it's just me: I've noticed twice now, while using Google Earth, that my laptop (less than a year old and very high quality) freezes and requires a reboot. The entire screen just goes black. Do you know if other users have noticed this problem? I haven't noticed it happening with anything else on my computer, so I wonder if it might be a bug. I wasn't using another program at the time, so I doubt it was a lack of free memory.
On that note, I just have to say that I love Google Earth. It's my favorite new toy.
Rob Pegoraro: I don't think that Google Earth installs any drivers, which would rule out one of the more common ways that a program can crash Windows. OTOH, it could still be talking your laptop's graphics cards in some weird way. That's why it's got that "beta" label attached.
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Vienna, Va.: Hey Rob,
Enjoy your articles and chats. What's your opinion of the Palm Wi-Fi card? I've got a T5 and was thinking of adding the card. Thanks!
Rob Pegoraro: I think Palm's WiFi SD Card is one of the company's biggest failures ever. First, it's ridiculous that so many people need to buy it at all, because this company was so late at including WiFi built-in. Second, at $100 it's no great bargain at all. Third, it only works in a strange subset of Palm handhelds--the Tungsten E2 but not E, Zire 72 but 71. Fourth, using that requires giving up use of the SD Card slot for every other purpose.
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Anonymous: if google earth crashes/freezes try running in OpenGL or DirectX modes off the start menu, they work differently
Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, anon.
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Bethesda: Rob, I have dial-up at home but will be using RoadRunner while visiting friends in upstate New York. Do I have to program something into my laptop so it'll work with RoadRunner and, generally, in a different area code? Thanks!
Rob Pegoraro: As long as RoadRunner is like every other cable modem connection around, and you haven't changed the default settings for PC's Ethernet connection, you don't need to reset anything--just plug your laptop into their cable modem or router, and it should get all its settings automatically.
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Raleigh, NC: Hi! I have a Dell desktop that I purchased three years ago with an 80GB hard drive. There is an internal bay for a second hard drive, yet when I called technical support with the aim of purchasing at least a 250GB drive, I was told that I could not put more than another 80GB internal hard drive in there. That doesn't make sense to me -- I tried to press the service rep on that one to get the details, but her English was terrible and I believe she was reading from some kind of spec sheet, so I just let it drop. Do you think that's correct?
Rob Pegoraro: I don't. It's quite plausible that your PC's BIOS system software won't allow for drives bigger than that, but an update ought to be able to remedy that.
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Washington, DC: Rob,
Is there ever a way with the map services (Google, Mapquest or otherwise) to let them know that their directions are wrong/dangerous. I tried Google maps to go from Virginia to a location in Georgetown up on Wisconsin, and Google suggested I make a u-turn in the middle of M St. and then make a right to go up Wisconsin. Mapquest told me to make a left onto Wisconsin from M (not realizing of course that this isn't possible). I know all these services have disclaimers but shouldn't there be a way to say, "no, no, this is dumb?"
Rob Pegoraro: There should be, and the means by which you let the vendor know they've got it wrong should be easy to find in the map software's interface. Consider this a public feature request.
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Falls Church, Va.: I think Google rolling out their downloads of Google Earth has very little to do with the bandwidth consumption of the actual program's download and more to do with them not being able to keep up with streaming out all that bandwidth to all the people that are already running the program. I can only imagine how taxing it is to continually stream gobs of detailed cartographical images with embedded information alongside of it.
Rob Pegoraro: Fair enough. But, but--this is Google! They've got more bandwidth than God!
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Rockville, MD: If the person who got the VAIO as a gift received an A series model (desktop replacement type) with the AV docking station, then the laptop comes with a pair of desktop speakers.
A nice carrying case is usually a must. External hard drive/flash drive is pretty handy as well if you don't have a home network (or if your office IT guy won't let you into the company's network...)
Rob Pegoraro: Forget about the need for a USB keychain drive. (They've gotten so cheap that they've become a common PR giveaway.)
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Tech support to far-away parents: Like many people, I get to play tech support to my non-tech-savvy parents. They live on the other coast - I haven't yet managed to get them to do remote assistance (probably a blessing in disguise).
I want to do a great job, i.e. give them the info they need, get them up and running as fast as possible, while helping them grasp the basic concept so that they can get better at this (sort of "teach them how of fish"). Is there a good website for really basic stuff, such as instructions for burning music to RW-CD?
Rob Pegoraro: I'm in the exact same boat (hi, Mom!). I think for basic tutoring, you're better off with a book (most beginner users only have dial-up, so having to read lots of stuff online will only be annoying.)
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Arlington, Va.: Rob -- have you invested in one of the stereo systems built to synch up with an iPod? Any recommendations?
Rob Pegoraro: Nope, still trucking along with my now-quite-antique stereo receiver. I think Denon just came out with a new line of receivers that feature built-in iPod docks, but I don't know if they let you control the iPod with the stereo's remote. If they don't, you'd do just as well buying a regular iPod dock and connecting that to a stereo's input jacks.
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RE: data migration: Thanks Rob for answering my question. I was mostly concerned with moving app's without their original install CD's, and application-specific files that are expected to be in certain directories, which might not be "findable" by the app on a new computer if the reg entries are different. I was thinking along these lines regarding PC Mover:
Pro: time-saving, error-reducing
Con: I didn't install everything on the old computer, and I'd prefer to a clean install such that app's are where I want them, set up the way I want, etc., instead of just inheriting how the old family computer was done.
In the meantime, I'm having problems getting access across the home network to the shares on the old computer (access denied). Once that's cleared up I can obviously do a straight move, although I'm not fond of the time investment.
Rob Pegoraro: Even if a program claims it can move entire applications, I'd still be skeptical. Windows' design basically makes that as difficult as possible, and if things go wrong debugging them will be a royal pain.
Most of the data-migration tools are programmed to deal with the data-storage quirks of the most popular applications (like the way Palm Desktop idiotically stores your user data in its own Program Files subdirectory, not your user-account directory). But if you've got anything semi-obscure, don't count on the data-migrator to locate its data for you.
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Wash DC: Rob,
A mystery: I belong to a list-serve that's also accessible on-line ... except not from my laptop! I keep getting a message saying the website isn't available. I can't even get to the sign-in. I'm stumped. Any thoughts on how I can remedy this?
Rob Pegoraro: If you can get to this from any other machine, then the fault may be the "hosts" file on your laptop--a small text listing of the Internet Protocol addresses of some sites that's supposed to speed up access to them. Look for that file and move it to your desktop, so it won't be consulted the next time you go online.
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Rob Pegoraro: Work awaits, so I must sign off. Thanks for all the great questions--I should be back here in a couple of weeks.
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