The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro will be online Thursday, March 22 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss recent reviews and answer your personal tech questions.

Read Rob's latest tech tips in his new blog, Faster Forward.

A transcript follows.

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Rob Pegoraro: Greetings--thanks for showing up! My column this morning looked at some high-res cameraphones that, unfortunately, aren't quite ready to replace a "real" digital camera. Is that something you'd want to be able to do? Discuss.

I also just got back from the FOSE trade show (I should have a blog post about the handful of consumer-relevant things I saw across town this morning), so we can talk about that also.

And, as ever, whatever malfunction has beset your computer/TV/stereo is fair game. Let's go!

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Arlington, Va.:"Militantly clueless"?

Why won't you support our troops?

Rob Pegoraro: Heh. I spent more time than I thought I would trying to find the right set of words to describe Verizon's behavior (it crippled the cameraphone I reviewed, blocking all the usual, easy ways of copying your photos to a computer). For the record, "militantly clueless" narrowly won out over "pig-headed greed."

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Dayton, Ohio: Have you heard of any significant issues with the latest version of Itunes? Is it a resource hog?

Rob Pegoraro: Not in my experience--but it does need some decent graphics hardware for the CoverFlow album-art browsing to work at an acceptable speed. (So on most of the PCs I use, I stick to the usual listing of track names, without cover-art visible.)

This would be a good time, BTW, for anybody running iTunes in Windows Vista to chime in on how the software's been working. Apple says the latest version of iTunes should work fine but still has "a few remaining known issues."

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Rockville, Md.: Background: Vista premium PC are supposed to record HD TV, replacing multimedia PC. For this purpose they require a tuner. They can use more than one tuner, or at least 2 (since some brands sell with 2 tuners). To run the tuner properly, view and record, presumably one needs a powerful PC and video card (although my old multimedia with 1 Gb from 2006/5 is doing OK).

Question: I noticed that VERY few PCs sold by major companies (Best buy, Costco, Samsclub, Circuit city) have built in tuners. A tuner costs about $100. Adding a tuner later is complicated because of the huge variety of cards and potential incompatibilities.

It seems that $100 in a $1000+ machine is little money given the opportunity to save on a videorecorder, TV guide and the convenience of recording TV, perhaps one of the greatest + of vista premium. So, why aren't they adding these tuners to most machines? Is there a problem that is concealed? Is there a problem with manufacturing? Software?

Consider that the wholesale price of tuners should be far lower than the retail price of $100, so companies would profit by charging $90 for adding a tuner. It puzzles me.

Rob Pegoraro: Great question, Rockville. I would put it this way: For all of its professed public devotion to innovation, most mainstream PC manufacturers can be extraordinarily backwards in their adoption of new technology. Look at how many of them still ship PS/2 keyboards and mice, offer DVI video output or include Bluetooth wireless. Only providing an analog TV tuner--guaranteed to be useless as of 2/17/2009!--instead of a digital tuner fits right into this pattern.

Then again, most electronics manufacturers have been just as sluggish to include digital-TV tuners in smaller TVs, VCRs and DVD recorders.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob, As a Mac user, I felt pretty despondent after >reading your Mar. 8 column, about the Parallels and CrossOver programs for enabling one to run Windows on Mac machines -- specifically, when I read the part about Dragon's Naturally Speaking voice recognition program not working well on Parallels. (You didn't say if you tried it with CrossOver).

Having an effective voice recognition program would be tremendously useful to me in my work, and from my reading, it sounds like Dragon NS is significantly better than the other programs in this category (including the one that is available for Mac.) (I should add that I've never actually used any type of voice rec software before). I was thinking of buying a new Intel-based Mac soon and hoping to run Dragon NS by using Parallels. But it seems like that might not work.

Since there appears to be little chance of Dragon NS coming out in a Mac edition, what do I do? Should I just try to make do with the Mac voice rec program? Or is Dragon NS running suboptimally on Parallels better than that?

Rob Pegoraro: Your simplest option would be the one you mentioned at the end--using MacSpeech's iListen software, which doesn't require running a separate copy of Windows. But iListen needs a lot more training time than Dragon.

Plan B: Run Dragon inside Windows in Boot Camp, which doesn't have any hardware-compatibility glitches to speak of.

Plan C: Give Parallels a little more time to iron out whatever issues keep Dragon from working to its full potential.

(It's also possible that there's some special configuration needed to get Dragon to work properly inside Parallels, and I just didn't know about it when I wrote that review.)

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George: I wrote in last session about the sound quality of HD radio.

You responded that although the sound resolution is indeed compressed, you and Fisher don't consider it to be a big deal given that you've got access to all sorts of new radio stations.

This is a good point, and I'm sold.

How is that that you two are hearing the signals? Did you pony up for one of these 'spensive table radios with built-in receivers? Or is there a cheaper outboard receiver one can buy and plug into an existing boombox or whatnot the same was I can plug my iPod into a mini-plug auxiliary input?

If none exists, do you know if one is being planned for release?

(Oh -- HOYA SAXA! Not to get to far ahead, but I betcha the likely Hoyas/Heels game will be for all the marbles. God bless HDTV, btw.)

Rob Pegoraro: I've tested HD Radio on a couple of loaner radios--a car stereo I tried out a couple of summers ago, and a clock radio I tested last year. I don't know of any outboard receiver add-ons for existing stereos, although there is one in the works for computers.

FYI, earlier today the Federal Communications Commission resolved two big issues with HD Radio--it gave its final approval to "multicast" broadcasts by FM stations (this is what allows WAMU to offer two digital-only channels to HD listeners) and allowed HD AM broadcasters to transmit at night, not just during the day. Expect a blog post about this later today or tomorrow.

Go Hoyas! Really want to see Georgetown wipe the smirk of Joakim Noah's face this time around...

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Re: Itunes: Both my mom and myself installed the 7.1 (?) version of Itunes on our respective (PC) computers, and then we both had a new problem with the computer trying to boot itself off of a music cd at startup. Don't know for sure it was Itunes or not, but weird nontheless. And now I see Apple has just issued 7.1.1.

Rob Pegoraro: I always get a little nervous when I see an insta-update like that--7.1 was followed only a day or two later by 7.1.1.

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Raleigh, N.C.: Ugh! Windows Vista and iTunes -- talk about a match made in ... um ... well, you know where, and it's not Heaven. The incompatibilities between iTunes and my new computer with pre-installed Vista chewed up my iPod, and it had to be replaced. I've been terrified to sync the new iPod often with Vista for fear of another clickclickwhirrrrr-of-death event. I know Apple and Microsoft are working furiously to remedy the situation, and that's some solace. I wish, though, there had been better communication from the get-go about the incompatibilities, which must have been readily apparently soon after Vista came out.

Rob Pegoraro: FWIW, I did test iTunes and my iPod with Windows Vista when I wrote my review--and I didn't have any problems with that. But if there's anything that I've learned about Windows, it's that success on one machine does not guarantee success on the next machine. Sometimes things just break... because they can, it seems.

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Gallery Place: Do you think the banning of Vista by some government agencies will have a significant ripple-affect throughout the office computer market? Everything I seem to be reading about Vista makes those Mac ads (the one with the Security agent screening all of PC's messages) seem more and more true-to-life.

Rob Pegoraro: I'm not sure that the government hesitancy about Vista will do much either way--a lot of government and corporate users are very late adopters. It's not at all unusual to see offices still using Windows 2000 as the standard operating system.

(That's why I found it so illogical that Microsoft released Vista first to business and corporate markets, with retail availability delayed two months after that. C'mon--like the Fortune 500 are really going to jump into *any* new Microsoft operating system before the gamers and enthusiasts at home.)

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wiredog: Rob, I did it. I drank the kool-aid. Yes, I bought a Mac. A week ago last Sunday the six year old Linux Box died. Horribly.

I don't know if the power supply blew and took out the motherboard, or the other way around. All I know is that I started it ripping a CD. Went out for a walk. Came home, walked into the apartment. "Is that the lovely sharp tang of burning electronics I smell? OH REDACTED!!!!" Run into the room the Linux box is in. Smoke is coming out the back. Once more, with feeling: "OH REDACTED!!!!"

So I unplugged the box, put it on the table, and started disassembling it. Noted that the power supply was hot to the touch. Ran cold water over the hand that I grabbed the power supply with while removing it. Looked at motherboard. "I'm pretty sure there used to be chips where that charcoal is..." At this point I realized that I hadn't done a backup since the end of January.

I got busy, OK? No time to do the monthly in February. Besides, what's the worst that can happen?

So I got a 24-inch iMac, and an enclosure for making the internal ATA hard drives into external USB drives.

Pretty, and it Just Works. (Pay no attention to those stylish white helicopters over McLean...) Well, it "Just Works" after I install an ext2 filesystem driver, copy over all the data (which required Unix skills) from the drives that used to be in the Linux box, and install Firefox and OpenOffice.

So, anyway, to my question: Could the Mac, in the long run, be more of a threat to "Linux on the Desktop" than Windows is? It's just as Unixy and with a bash shell even. BSD instead of Linux based, but all the command line tools I've been using for years seem to be there and to work as expected. But, unlike Linux-, it's easy.

(Sure, Linux is easy for me, but I've been using it for 12 years.)

Rob Pegoraro: Wiredog, I had no idea you'd joined the Mac fold. This is big news! (For the uninitiated, wiredog has been keeping folks here current about Linux happenings for years and years.)

The Mac may be a threat to Linux on the desktop, but it's more of a threat to Windows on the desktop. Think of it this way: If you've got a 2-3 year-old PC, upgrading to Windows Vista isn't a real option. So if you want to upgrade your computing security, you can either put Linux on that machine for free, or you can buy a new machine--Vista or a Mac. And only one of those options provides you a system that's passed the test of time.

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Washington, D.C.: Has anyone yet figured out how to get NetLibrary audio books onto a Treo 700P using Pocket Tunes Deluxe and Windows Media Player? The error message I'm getting reads: "Windows Media Player cannot copy the file because the license associated with the file restricts it." Sincerely, Desiree

Rob Pegoraro: This should be possible--a reader told me a year or two back that Pocket Tunes was the only program that allowed her to listen to library downloads on the go--but I'm not sure what might be the problem. You've got the upgrade to Pocket Tunes that adds Windows Media DRM support, right?

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Bethesda, Md.: Rob, this is a followup to a question from your last chat regarding Adobe Reader for Mac. While you are correct that in most cases Preview is the only PDF viewer needed, I have on occasion run into PDF files that would not render or print properly with Preview but were fine with Adobe Reader. One was actually a U.S. passport renewal form. So there is actually a reason why someone would want to load Adobe Reader onto their Mac. Sincerely, Rob Fan and Mac Fan

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the clarification!

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Charlotte, N.C.: Hi Rob. I recently bought a new laptop with Microsoft Vista (Home Premium edition). Will I be able to download iTunes onto it and transfer music to my iPod?

Rob Pegoraro: I would say yes. I just can't guarantee it--it seems that a minority of people are having issues with iTunes on Vista, but I don't know why.

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Fairfax, Va.: Hey, Rob. Great job as usual. I really enjoy your columns and reviews. I only wish the Sunday tech section was larger.

I'm in the market for a MacBook. Is the difference between the 1.83 GHZ and the 2 GHZ notebooks big enough to pay the difference? Also, I know everybody says get as much memory as possible. But given budget limitations, how would you weigh additional memory vs a larger hard drive? That brings up another issue -- How big a deal would it be to add memory or a larger drive later on my own to save money now? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro:1) No, don't spend extra for the faster chip.

2) If you don't get extra memory now, at least make sure the MacBook ships with memory slot free for you to add more later on.

3) It's easier to add more drive space; the MacBook's hard drive is user-replaceable, and you can also plug in an external model. Adding more memory once you've maxed out the slots will force you to eat the cost of one of the existing modules if you can't unload it on eBay or whatever.

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Hyattsville, Md.: I have a desktop computer (XP) that is running my ISP through a cable mod. and a Linksys Wireless Router for my WiFi. I have a Lexmark 5470 that is NOT network adaptable. I'm using a G4 Powerbook in the back of the apt. How can I print using the Powerbook through the WiFi?

Rob Pegoraro: By "not network adaptable," do you mean only that the Lexmark doesn't have an Ethernet jack or WiFi receiver? In that case, you should still be able to share it out to the PowerBook by turning on file/printer sharing on the Dell. (Not that this is necessarily easy to do in practice...)

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movie downloads: Rob, you blogged recently about movie download services. Do you know much about the XBox 360's ability to download HD and SD movies? Do you know how long it takes? Since I don't have an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, I'm thinking that $6 for an HD movie rental might be an interesting thing to try at least once, and it's probably the only way I'll be able to watch an HD rental any time in the near future.

washingtonpost.com: Movie Downloads, Direct To The Living Room

Rob Pegoraro: I know of it, but I haven't tested it out myself. From what I've heard, though, it sounds like Microsoft is going about this in the right way--it's offering not just SD, but high-def downloads. And it's doing so on a device that's already plugged into the TV, a much more palatable option than cabling a laptop up to the television.

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Washington, D.C. Brightwood: Rob,

I am having a problem with a security update for Office XP not installing on my home PC. The security update is KB9290603. The error message reads Secuirty Update KB9290603 failed to install. I have an emachine D2266. The software is MS Windows XP (office edition).

What do I need to do for it to install? Or what can I do to delete it? Everytime I shut down. It tries to install, but it doesn't.

Thanks for your help.

Rob Pegoraro: I hate these kinds of problems, I really do. I mean, would it kill Microsoft to provide some info that anybody can use in that error message? "Failed to install" doesn't say anything about what went wrong.

The other problem I'm having is that... well, the Microsoft tech-support database can't seem to find any info about this update at all.

I gotta punt on this. Can anybody suggest what Brightwood should try next?

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Firefox Fan: Hi there Rob, just a note to those who would like to use something other than Explorer at work but do not have administrative privileges to install another browser. I've been using Firefox Portable Edition (http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable) with great success. You can install it on a local hard drive or even on a USB flash drive without admin privileges.

Rob Pegoraro: Good tip - I've got the portable edition installed on a USB flash drive myself, just in case I need it on some random computer.

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wiredog: Oh, I'd been thinking about a Mac for awhile. The old Linux box was old enough (1 GHz P III processor, etc..) that I'd been planning to replace it anyway.

The iMac runs silently, has a 24-inch screen, and comes with a keyboard and mouse. (But I use the 2 button USB mouse I had on the old Linux box).

A PC set up with similar capabilities, including the low/no noise capabilities, would cost about the same. With the PC I'd have to order all the components, assemble it myself, and install the OS and apps myself. At almost 42 I have better things to do with my time.

I did buy the O'Reilly Missing Manual for the Mac. Highly recommended.

The Mac is a Unix box. It has a Real Command Line (Bash shell) with Real Unix Commands. Even in the GUI you can use keystrokes to do most anything.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the info. Good luck with the new machine!

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Van Ness: Hi Rob,

I hate to ask you repair questions, but I'm desperate after a Mac repair shop/reseller in Bethesda royally mistreated one of my Macs.

In short, I'm looking for a good Mac pro shop that is (a) not one of the many Apple Stores in the DC metro area and (b) ISN'T named MacUpgrades.

Also, are there reliable services for post-warranty iPod repair? Most mail-in options seem to handle cosmetic or battery-replacement jobs, whereas I have a hard drive issue.

Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: I've only heard good things about MacUpgrades myself--they're one of the places I would suggest if somebody said "don't send me to an Apple Store." Any other suggestions for Van Ness?

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Jack, Arlington, Va.: My wife has a Razor phone and takes photos with it. We have tried and tried to transfer to our PC and cannot. We have the cable and I bought the CD, but the latest windows will not allow it or recognize the phone. I have plugged the phone into a powered USB, directly into the PC, but the PC will not recognize the Phone. Any ideas? Also have been to the Motorola website and that is not help at all.

Rob Pegoraro: This wouldn't be a Verizon phone, would it?

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Fairfax, Va.: My brother-in-law gave us his old ipod photo (he thought he had lost it, bought a new one and then found it), It has tons of music on it, some that I like some that I don't. Is there anyway to add the music from my meager shuffle (the old model) playlist to the ipod photo so that I can retain some of the songs I like or will I have to start from scratch. And if so, how do I clear the songs from the ipod? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: A shareware program called Music Rescue can help you out (if you use a Mac, try the free Senuti). This was something I dealt with in Help File not too long ago.

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New Laptop--What to buy???: Hello Rob-- My husband and I need a new laptop. I bought a modest Dell laptop (my co. had a discount program with them) three years ago before we married. Naturally, I focused less on gaming and fancy graphics options and more on just having a decent computer that was not a big old desktop. It works just fine but we have a feeling the hard drive is getting ready to die.

My husband wants one of those Mac books (???). All I want is a choice that is good for lots of internet use including wireless, SOME I-Tunes purchasing, some basic gaming for him, some digital camera stuff, Word, Excel. I don't need amazing photography options or intense business options. We just need a high quality laptop that will work well and last a few years.

Can you suggest some options for us? We would like to spend under $1200. That is a relatively arbitrary number since we having not looked at prices lately. I don't want to spend $1800 for a home laptop that people with completely ordinary needs will use.

washingtonpost.com: Laptop Guide: 6 Ways to Go

Rob Pegoraro: Under $1,200 will limit you to a MacBook--which is fine; I think the MacBook Pro is way overpriced for consumer use anyway.

The story my producer has ever-so-helpfully linked to has more advice, but I would add this: Make sure the machine has the graphics hardware necessary to run Aero. How? Look for a "Vista Premium Ready" sticker somewhere on the machine.

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g'burg: Hi Rob, It's time to replace my desktop, old faithful, an HP Pavilion bought in 2000. PIII 733Mhz I've upgraded, most recently, new hard drive and clean install of XP Home SP2. I don't need a new HDD and don't want vista (yet) so I was going to build my own machine, but wow, is there a myriad of choices on motherboards, cases, video cards. My head is spinning. Any suggestions where to start? I've been referred to newegg.com by a few people but I need a good resource to figure out what I want to buy first!

Rob Pegoraro: I will send you to the Ars Technica System Guide--a regularly-updated story that lists the components you'd want to get in a system you're building on your own. They break their recommendations down into three categories of system--the "Budget Box," the "Hot Rod" and the uber-expensive "God Box." Here's the most recent version: Ars System Guide: December 2006 edition

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RE: problem with a security update for Office XP: Search for the update manually on the MS update site using the KB # and download it from there. It's worked for me in the past.

Rob Pegoraro: Here's one suggestion...

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McLean, Va.: When you google "KB9290603" you get 0 hits. This is a /bad sign/. That "update" is probably a trojan of some sort...

Rob Pegoraro: And here's another. I *hope* the original poster just typed the number wrong...

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Tallahassee, Fla.: For a year, I used Firefox Portable running off an external USB drive. Last month I got the following semi-accuratewarning from the CIO. My questions: (1) Why does he think I have it "installed" when I don't? Just slppy language? He controls the environment; shouldn't he be WAY concerned if someone 'installed' something without his control? (2) How did he know? I don't think they're actively watching us; maybe I accessed one of the internal sites and it showed on his logs? (3) Is it a valid argument, to point to Firefox's FIXED vulnerabilites?!?!?!? Of course I can't complain b/c I'm an at-will employee. It doesn't matter if I'm right; the CIO can say, "he's out," and my butt is out. Thanks for letting me vent.

Hello,

A periodic security sweep of computers has told us that you have a copy of the Firefox Internet browser loaded onto your computer. I wanted you to understand the ramifications of having that browser on your computer.

Professional hackers are now writing and launching exploits aimed specifically at that browser. As a result, there have been several patches that have been released to correct those flaws. Since Firefox is an unsupported software application and is not an approved software product for use on equipment, it is your responsibility to patch the browser yourself. Additionally, if another scan (set for this weekend) detects that the browser has not been updated, we will be compelled to remove it remotely from your computer as a security risk to the network.

Computer security is a shared responsibility. We manage the big picture, but each and every user has an equal responsibility to maintain a reduced risk environment. If you have any questions regarding this Firefox risk, please refer to this Website:

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/known-vulnerabilities.html#Firefox

Thank you for your cooperation. If you need help removing this browser from your computer, please email the Help Desk.

Rob Pegoraro: Your CIO sounds like a world-class idiot. Is this fellow not familiar with the exhaustively-documented history of attacks on IE? You're doing him a favor by using a more secure browser, and all he seems capable of doing is retreating into stereotypical IT-department control-freakery. Moron.

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Issues With Windows itunes in Richmond: My issue with iTunes is twice having to uninstall and reinstall Quicktime because when I boot up iTunes, I get an error message saying I don't have any audio playback devices despite the fact that media player, websites etc. produce sound. The HP helpline seemed very familiar with this "issue."

Rob Pegoraro: No way--a major PC manufacturer's tech-support department actually knew about the problem you called about? Impossible :)

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Arlington, no, wait, Falls Church, Va.: I'm considering a move from Comcastville to an area that is still largely Cox ruled, but where FIOS is available. I'm relatively OK now with my existing Verizon DSL, land line, and cell service but I don't know anyone who has taken the FIOS plunge to include cable TV.

Do you or anyone following your chat today have any insight on whether a move to FIOS vs. Cox would be wise? I plan on keeping my Verizon DSL and land line/cell service regardless of my eventual cable TV choice. Thanks for the great articles and these very informative chats.

Rob Pegoraro: Most of the Fios users that I've talked to seem really happy with the service, and that includes TV. It's certainly cheaper than Cox or Comcast.

FYI: although Verizon in general treats the state of its Fios rollout as some kind of secret, its Virginia division posts a map of where it's adding fiber (look for the "FTTP Deployment" link to bring up a map).

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Chapel Hill, N.C.: I am a longtime Palm m500 series user, thinking about changing to a smartphone. Besides adding on the cellphone feature, will I still have a cradle and connect to my PC as I am used to? Will I also be able to run the many healthcare software applications I currently enjoy? Thanks so much!

Rob Pegoraro: Yes and (if you get a Palm OS smartphone) yes.

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Bethesda, MD: Apparently NaturallySpeaking can be made to work under Parallels.

I haven't tried it myself, but here's a post on a Dragon forum by a NaturallySpeaking user (a quadrapelic, actually) who I know well and trust:

http://support.lhsl.com/databases/dragon/webdisc.nsf/

UNID/D3CD40EAEF0232038525724D000E4A21?OpenDocument

He mentions that one should search for "NaturallySpeaking" on this forum as well:

http://forums.parallels.com/

Rob Pegoraro: Thank you!

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West Milford, N.J.: For Arlington, VA. I have a Verizon Razr phone and transfer photos from the phone to my PC using the MicroSD memory. You'll have to buy the memory chip and install it and the slot is under the battery--a pain. Also you'll need a memory card reader. Clumsy but it works. Oh, after you take the picture you need to use the phone to transfer it to the memory chip otherwise it's stored on the phone's built in memory, but that's fairly simple.

Rob Pegoraro: The memory-card slot is *under* the battery? What kind of genius came up with that design?

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Downtown, D.C.: I have an iPod shuffle that's a couple of years old. I ran into somebody at the gym who has one of the cool newer ones that looks like a matchbook. I asked him how he liked it. He said, "It's a lot smarter than the old one." What did he mean? Anything other than that it holds more songs? Because mine works fine, but I'm grabbing at straws to find an excuse to get a new one like the cool kids have.

Rob Pegoraro: I am not aware of any increase in the iPod shuffle's IQ. It's smaller, and it comes in colors; OTOH, you can't plug the new one right into a computer's USB port (you have to use a separate dock instead).

I wouldn't upgrade myself if the old shuffle works fine.

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Bethesda, Md.: What's your take on the Treo 700p? I'm a longtime 650 user, and have an opportunity for a free upgrade (except that I'll pay Sprint an extra $15/month for their high-bandwidth "Power Vision"), but I'm dubious about making this switch. I've read too many reports about long lag times switching between applications, and some compatability issues.

Any advice to offer?

Rob Pegoraro: I'd hold off. I've seen those complaints as well--including some from Palm-software developers, who I would trust to spot real bugs.

The other reason I'd wait: I still have this hope--possibly a delusional one--that Palm can ship a Palm OS smartphone that isn't yet another warmed-over revision of the 650. Surely this company can design something as thin as the Blackjack, the Dash or the Q, right?

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Webster, N.Y.: CNBC analysts called for the demise of TiVo due to the unveiling of Apple TV. Do you think this is really going to happen? I am a Time Warner cable customer and there DVRs have seen improvements to the software. Also, they offer a rewind service for some cable programs, so if you come home at 20 minutes after the hour of a show you can simply hit rewind and watch from the beginning. This is handy if you forgot to set the DVR, but the drawback is that you can't fast forward through the show (read: commercials).

Do you see anything come down the pike that will solve the answer to a combination unit of TiVo/DVR functionality with the size of an iPod for TV recording? What is your guess on Apple's iPhone? There is no way this is going to sell like hotcakes because of the closed agreement with Cingular (or is it now just AT&T). Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: No - without the ability to record TV, the Apple TV is no more of a TiVo killer than a DVD player would be. Not that TiVo doesn't have serious issues; its current model is woefully overpriced, and just about every cable/satellite provider now offers a DVR that will cost far less than a TiVo over time. I know the TiVo interface is cool and all, but money is still money.

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Lexington, Ky.: I have several Macs at home all running OS X Tiger (10.4.9). One is connected directly to a DSL modem. The rest access my broadband Internet via an Airport Extreme Base Station. I have WPA password protection enabled. I also have the Airport ID numbers (similar to MAC addresses) entered into the Access Control settings to try and prevent others from using my network.

Rob, what other steps would you suggest I take so others cannot use my DSL signal? I turn off the DSL modem when I'm not using it. Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: You could stop the AirPort from broadcasting your network's name, if you haven't already done that. You could also encase your home inside a Faraday cage... but some would say that's going a little too far. I also suspect your house would get atrociously hot during the summer.

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Phoenix, Ariz.: Okay, did Wiredog actually type "OH REDACTED!!!" or was that your edit of what he typed? Either is hilarious but I think I prefer the former.

On to business: I've recently accepted my first grownup job, which has led to my first grownup apartment, leading to my first grownup TV purchase. My budget is around $2k and my apartment is small-ish so I don't need anything bigger than 37-40-inch (I think). My living room has a ton of light so does that mean I want to avoid plasma? I know that LCD can have glare problems too. I'll be getting a satellite but probably not HD. The TV will be for broadcast and DVD viewing, no gaming or anything like that. What are your suggestions? Thank you!

Rob Pegoraro: When I get mad at the computer, I've tried to tone down my language by saying "REDACT YOU!", but it just doesn't sound right.

Get an LCD. Very few companies make under-42-inch plasmas, and you're totally right about the glare issue.

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Rob Pegoraro: To FF Portable: Don't worry, we'll... simplify the transcript once the chat ends.

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Bethesda, Md.: Rob, Thanks for the chats. Just wondering whether you (or Daniel?) have checked out the new Apple Airport Extreme at 5 gHz. I have a wireless network running on Expresses at 2.4 gHz, and the 2.4 cordless phone interferes (I've tried changing channels w/o lasting success). If I get the new Extreme but run it with my existing Expresses, will it run at 5? This is all a prelude to my splurge on the iTV of course (have you seen how that looks on screens 32-inch and up?).

Rob Pegoraro: I'm told that there's an Apple TV and a new AirPort Extreme waiting in the Post mailroom, which should allow me to have a review in next Thursday's paper.

(So why have two of my competitors already reviewed the Apple TV? Apple plays favorites, and I'm apparently not at the top of their list. I can go into more detail about that on the blog if anybody's curious.)

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Chapel Hill, N.C.: Thanks---and one more thing: as I'm trying to compare functionality, I'm having trouble finding unbiased reviews. I've found Consumer Reports helpful, and of course, your articles, but how can I tell if magazine writers (PC World, etc) are pushing products? It's like reading Glamour magazine for their "unbiased takes" on Lancome lipstick---I know they're all hand in hand. What other sources would you suggest I read?

Rob Pegoraro: It could be worse--you could be trying to get lipstick advice from PC World and your tech-shopping help from Glamour!

Earlier in the chat, I linked to a story from Ars Technica. That's one of my favorite sites; I like how their reviewers try to pay attention to everyday ease-of-use issues. There's also something to be said for a careful reading of Amazon customer reviews.

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West Milfor, N.J.: Memory card slot under the battery--the idea probably came from somebody in marketing who pointed out that if it was difficult to get to, users would just email pictures to themselves at a quarter a pop or whatever.

Rob Pegoraro: You're not the only one thinking along those lines!

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23112: The memory card thing made me crack a smile. I went through this same thing with my dad after he got a camera that used the xD format and he wanted to offload some pics while visiting us. My 8-in-1 reader doesn't have an xD slot and neither did the camera station at whatever drugstore we went to. As for me, personally, it's CF for my camera, SD for my PDA, Micro-SD for my phone. Of the three, I only have multiple SD cards, but I also usually just leave the cards in their devices.

Rob Pegoraro: That's exactly the kind of scenario that I try to prevent when I write reviews that say "don't buy a camera that doesn't take SD Cards." The advantages of using the most popular, cheapest storage format are so obvious, you almost have to question the common sense--maybe even the ethics--of a company that chooses to stick with a competing format that offers no advantage of its own.

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Woodley Park, Washington, D.C.: Hi, Rob,

I was wonder what strange aftereffects you or any other chatters might have experienced with the early switch to Daylight Savings. At work, several recurring items on my Outlook calender were mysteriously moved ahead one hour. And at home, neither my VCR or non-TiVo DVR seem to be able to retrieve the correct time from my cable service as they did in the past. Guess I'll have to wait until April for the equipment to change to DST using the old date.

Rob Pegoraro: Just the other day, I got an e-mail from a reader whose XM Radio didn't adjust for the DST switch--and which won't be getting any updates from XM to fix this problem.

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Arlington, Va.: Rob,

I have a palm TX which is great but I have two questions about it.

1. When I'm at a wireless cafe can anyone else see into my palm's contents?

and

2. What's the deal on versamail? How is it different from loading my outlook mail onto the Palm.

Thanks

Rob Pegoraro:1) No.

2) VersaMail downloads new messages when you're away from your computer and lets you send replies on the go as well.

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Phoenix, Ariz.: Rob, thanks for the LCD suggestion. Any acronyms I need to be familiar with before I pick a TV? Anything to avoid? I have a vague recollection of you advising people that they need to have a certain kind of tuner because another kind will be phased out soon...is it just digital vs. analog? Maybe it's ADSC or something? Sorry for my total cluelessness - you're a lifesaver.

Rob Pegoraro: Have a look at the HDTV column I did back in November--I tried to address all the things you'd want to consider before you might get around to checking out sets in a store: LCD or Plasma? Consider Size, Weight, Glare

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Greensboro, Md.: Between work and home we have 5 macs all G4's running 10.4.9. We have a .mac account for Sync and Backup. I am prepared to dump the service if there is a reasonable way to sync my keychains, addresses, bookmarks and calendars. Also, what's the latest on backup software? btw I tried to use the .mac email and it was slow and clunky. On your advice I looked at FastMail.fm and have never looked back. It's stable, fast and feature rich. Thx. George

Rob Pegoraro: There's a new program from Mark/Space called Sync Together that seems like it would do the trick for you: http://markspace.com/synctogether.php

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D.C.: Hiya Rob. Submitting at lunch to keep my boss happy: I have a large number of "contacts" in my Outlook program on my PC at work. My home PC recently died, and I bought an iMac to replace it. It is wicked fun! But is there any way to electronically transfer my contacts from my PC at work to my iMac at home? I have a Blackberry that I sync with the PC. Thanks a lot for doing these chats!

Rob Pegoraro: You can download a free BlackBerry Mac-sync program, Pocket Mac for Blackberry, at pocketmac.com--that'd let you use the BlackBerry to bring over your contacts. Otherwise, export your Outlook contacts in vCard format, and Address Book will import that without a problem.

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Warrenton, Va.: How well is Vista working so far? I usually hate to buy anything too new before they have a chance to get the bugs worked out. But my mom is ready for a new computer, and if she doesn't get it next month when I'm down visiting and can set it up for her, she probably won't get one for another year or more, and that's a long time to keep putting up with Windows 98.

Rob Pegoraro: It can work fine, but there are real bugs and I suspect a lot of them haven't even been found yet. That said, if you set up your mom's system carefully--and she only uses the same few programs all the time--she should be fine. I would be more worried about putting Vista in the hands of a middle adopter, somebody who likes trying out the occasional new program but doesn't have a lot of troubleshooting experience to get himself out of trouble.

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NY, N.Y.: Hi Rob, sorry if this has already been posted, but my understanding is that the Macbook is required to have matching memory in its two slots - i.e. if it has 256 in one it must have 256 in the other as well - thus all macbooks ship with both slots filled.

dealram.com lists 2 gigs of ram for a macbook at about $120; a 160gig replacement hard drive goes for about the same. This represents a substantial savings over having Apple do it for you. Get the base core 2 duo model and max it out yourself. You can sell the old ram on ebay and get an enclosure for the old hard drive and use it for back-ups.

Best,

Chris

Rob Pegoraro: Yes - Apple only sells the MacBook with paired memory modules. Good catch. And good advice (dealram.com and its parent site, dealnews.com, are both excellent shopping resources.)

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Washington, D.C.: Hello, I have a large DVD library and a video iPod. I want to buy software to rip the DVDs and put them on my iPod, but I don't know the legal consequences. I don't want to buy software and then be sued by the MPAA. I looked around on the internet, and there were conflicting opinions on whether or not this is legal.

Of course, I am not planning to share the movies, it would be just for my personal viewing on my iPod. To me, this seems no different from ripping a CD and putting it on my iPod which seems to have been regarded as legal. Do you know the answer? Is this legal? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act says it's illegal to break a copy-control mechanism that "effectively" secures copyrighted material. But DVD encryption has been broken for years. It's a complete joke in practice. Arguably, DVD encryption stopped being "effective" long ago.

IANAL, but I can tell you that when I've suggested DVD-decrypting programs in print, nobody from the MPAA has said boo to me.

Your best option for DVD-to-iPod conversion is a free program called HandBrake, which I've had great success with in the past: http://handbrake.m0k.org/

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob, I have an old palm Vx and a Verizon cell phone and I'm considering combining the two with a treo or blackberry or something similar. I have to stay with Verizon because it's the only carrier that provides reception in my house. I use gmail and have heard about some problems with receiving gmail on a treo (I'd like to have a phone that includes email access). Given all of that, which would you recommend? Treo? Q? Blackberry? Is there another out there that would work for me? Thanks in advance.

Rob Pegoraro: The mobile version of Gmail--m.gmail.com--works just fine on the Treo's browser, and it should be fine on a Q's browser as well. I'm not so sure about the BlackBerry's browser; it's not that good.

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Rumford, R.I.: hi Rob, i don't know if you're aware of the limits put on such sites as 'iTunes' for downloading music(even when willing to pay for it) when you're 'out of country'. For example, there are several selections on iTunes UK site, but you can't download them as the system identies country of origin. can't sign up for a UK account without UK adddress OR a credit card ISSUED by a UK bank! needless to say, i attempted to get around this, to no avail. have you ever encountered(heard of) this? any suggestions? your site is great and has helped an old MSDOS user begin to come to terms with shells(within shells...). be wel - ted

Rob Pegoraro: That's not a software issue--it's a "broken recording industry business model" problem. Record deals are on a country-by-country basis. So if you want that U.K.-only song, you'll have to order the CD off Amazon's U.K. site or hop on a plane to London and buy it yourself. And if you only want that song, not the entire album, I'm afraid you'll have to pirate it--the record label involved will not take your money.

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Arlington, Va.: Regarding the Firefox Portable question: Why would you want to use another browser at work?

Rob Pegoraro: Because the version of IE you're likely to find in the average office--IE 6--sucks.

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Bethesda, MD newbie: Hi Rob: I just found your chat. Whata great thing! I can't believe I've missed out so long. Here's question for you which was probably covered umpteen times but here goes... I need to buy an external hard drive for my laptop. Never had one or knew i needed one until 2 months ago. Now after looking and reading my head is swimming with choices. What do I really need? I have already decided that I do not want it to be portable. And I think I want the firewire compatibility and 250GB. What else is truly important? I am lookig at the WD 250GB My Book Pro. Ok choice or am I missing something? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Why would you not want a portable hard drive for your portable computer? I know, the lighter ones cost more. But they also get all the electricity they need off your laptop's USB or FireWire port, which means you don't need to haul around a power brick on the road.

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Columbia, Md.: Hi rob, I have a HP dv9000t laptop. Can I safely delete the partition in the C: drive for the extra space. Right now that's where the recovery system is, but since I have the CD disks - is there any danger to removing the partition?

Rob Pegoraro: If you've got actual system-restore CDs, yes, you should be OK to remove the system-recovery partition. I mean, I can't think of any reason not to. Can anybody suggest one?

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Cody, Wyo.: Hi Rob, I know virtually nothing about MP3, iPods, iTunes, etc. I have a small consulting business, and often consult with clients on the phone. I record the sessions on old-fashioned audio cassette tapes with an old-fashioned tape recorder. Then I send copies to the clients. One of my clients recently asked me if I could send her the recording on an audio CD or as an MP3 file. I have no idea how that works. I have 2-year-old Gateway computer with Windows XP Home (Service Pack 2), 1.5 gigabytes of RAM, an 80-gigabyte hard drive, and a CD-RW drive.

I know this is a very basic question, considering the sophisticated audience you have. But can you tell how I convert an audio cassette tape to an audio CD, using my computer? Thanks! John

Rob Pegoraro: This is an old story, but the advice in it still applies: Digital Transformation Revives Old Records

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Washington, D.C.: Is there a way to randomly (i.e. shuffle mode) loads songs onto my nano from itunes? It's pretty annoying that itunes seems to be set up to sequentially load the first 1000 songs from itunes. Is the only option for me to manually select a 1,000 songs for a new playlist and then load those 1,000 songs onto the nano? I prefer to have the computer make the random selections since it's fast and less prejudicial when it makes selections.

Rob Pegoraro: Yes. What you need to do is set up a smart playlist, then tell iTunes to load only that smart playlist onto the iPod. Select "New smart playlist" from the File menu. Under the "Match the following rule" heading, select "Last Played" from the first drop-down menu, "is not in the last" from the second drop-down and type, say, 15 in the box. Then click the checkbox next to "Limit to," and type in 1000. ITunes will now randomly group a set of songs that you haven't played in the last 15 days each time you sync the iPod.

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LPs to MP3: Rob, I wrote in a while back asking if you tested out any of the new USB turntables. Well, my very un-tech savy mom got one and she reports that it's working great, although the noise reduction software is a little tricky, and it's hard to get it to figure out where the track breaks should be unless you do it manually. But she says that so far she's been very pleased with it.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the follow-up--and thanks to my colleague Marc Fisher, who originally posted an item about this on his blog.

Just a few more minutes to see if I missed anything earlier in this chat, and then I've gotta get back to the day job...

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Fairfax, Va.: I used the Portable Thunderbird once or twice at work a while ago. It does leave some kind of footprint on the computer, and I believe it was developed by the same guy who did portable Firefox. I work for one of the DOD agencies and they have forbidden any non-approved software. But they love IE (a crippled version though). I need Al Gore's golden hammer to whack my head to make the pain go away....

Rob Pegoraro: If you really want to leave no trace at all on the computer's hard drive, you'd have to take a Linux LiveCD into work and boot the machine off that. But it might be a little difficult to hide that from the boss if he/she walks by...

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Nashville, Tenn.: For the Arizona LCD-tv buyer, do you think it's worth looking for a set with a built-in QAM tuner? I ask because your linked article doesn't mention it. If they are using cable rather than OTA it might be handy. I use OTA myself so am not sure, but my set does have a QAM tuner.

Rob Pegoraro: Yeah, that's worth looking for. (It will let you watch basic digital cable without needing a cable box. A CableCard slot--much harder to find--will also let you watch premium cable.)

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Poway, Calif.: Trying hard not to sound silly, my paranoid fears of identity theft/etc. while using the internet lead me to ask a simple question. Can anyone gain access to my personal PC files (e.g. Quicken) if I leave my browser on and unattended throughout the day?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, if you don't have a firewall active on your PC, or if you browse your way to a malicious site that hijacks your computer.

In a practical sense, your financial data is safe from the scenario you described. You are much more likely to suffer ID theft due to a conventional virus attack or some compromise of your bank's system (or if some bozo leaves a work laptop in a car that then gets broken into). There's also the risk of logging into a phishing site by mistake.

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Richmond, Va.: I used to work in a 1-hour photo, and we'd always get these horrible photos that people took at concerts that featured a brightly lit, crisply focused shot of the back of someone's head with a faint blob of color in the background that was supposedly Sting or Garth Brooks or someone.

With camera phones, people still take those pictures, but they don't have to pay develping costs and they (presumably) don't feel so dumb for having dragged a camera in the first place to document the view from section Quadruple-Z.

Rob Pegoraro: And you can make the annoying phone call--"GUESS WHERE I'M AT! ISN'T THIS COOL! THE BAND SOUNDS AWESOME!"--before or after taking that photo.

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Rob Pegoraro: That's it for today. Thanks, everybody! See you here in a couple of weeks...

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