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Known as MAD's Maddest Writer, co-host of The Giz Wiz with OMGchad at www.GizWiz.TV, The Giz Wiz on ABC's World News Now, and on Tech Guy Labs with Leo Laporte on www.TWiT.TV

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    Friday
    Sep182009

    Episode 920

    Citibank Chasing Manhattan
    Citibank's Visa Cash Card, made by Schlumberger, was its answer to Chase Manhattan's Mondex card which came out at around the same time.  See mondex.org.

    DGW
    Just before the show starts, Leo asks Dick if he realises that Dick’s Gadget Warehouse has the same initials as the Daily Giz Wiz.  Yes, of course, says Dick, though he can’t remember when.  That was in Episode 115, another piece of information you truly don’t need to know about the Daily Giz Wiz.

    DGW Back Catalogue and the Automated Feed
    John Zengerle (thanks to Dick for spelling out the name), whose other letter was read by Leo in Episode 912, started listening to the Daily Giz Wiz from Episode 200, and has been listening to the back catalogue using Ludwik’s All Episodes RSS Feed (specifically made by Ludwik to make it convenient for new listeners to catch up on old shows - see Episode 627).  John was listening to Episode 111, in which Dick and Leo talked about DGW’s release time, and how sometimes when Leo forgot to upload the daily show, he would get a call from Dick.  Back then, Leo referred to this wonderful automated system which should be up and running by Episode 1000.

    So over 800 shows later, John wonders if the automated system is up and running, or if it’s still called Dane.

    John adds that Leo should remind listeners to make donations to the TWiT network.


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    Thursday
    Sep172009

    Episode 919

    My World, And Welcome To It
    In Episode 855, Leo recommended My World, and Welcome to it by James Thurber on Audible.  He talked about the TV series that came from it, and the actor whose name Leo couldn’t remember.  Rick Barber fills in the details.  The actor was William Windom who won an Emmy for his performance in the series as John Monroe, who later went on to play town doctor Seth Hazlitt in Murder, She Wrote.

    Murder, She Hoped
    Leo is a fan of Angela Lansbury, star of Murder, She Wrote, and misses the age of gentile small-town murders, a far cry from current-day CSI’s.  Dick did a spoof once on the murder series, called Murder, She Hoped.


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    Wednesday
    Sep162009

    Episode 918

    Pandigital 8" PanTouch Clear Digital Photo Frame
    Dick forgot to mention during the show that the photo frame is Bluetooth- and WiFi-compatible which means that you need to buy a USB Bluetooth dongle (any brand) or a specific Pandigital USB WiFi adapter.  The model number of the photo frame is PAN8000DWPCF1.  Dick has also heard that Viewsonic is coming out with a photo frame with its own phone number.

    A Flatulent Cat
    The lyrics of Paul Minshall's Audible Theme continue to generate speculation.  George the Teacher from Ajax, Ontario, Canada thinks they are "I love my flatulent cat."

    X10-Controlled Daughter
    Sleep-deprived parent Dan Linda, from Bellevue, Nebraska, is a user of X10 (Episode 904) modules at his household.  He already uses an X10 module to turn off the bedtime music for his 3-year-old daughter.  He has added a night-light to her room, plugged into another X10 module and configured a computer to turn the light on in the morning, told his daughter to stay in bed until the light has come on.  So far it has worked.  Leo's solution is to turn off the internet at 11 pm.  It just takes the fun out of staying up.

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    Tuesday
    Sep152009

    Episode 917

    Another HDD Enclosure
    Back in Episode 67, Leo had a good tease at Dick over the CompUSA HDD Enclosure, only to regret that he didn't have one to back up that week's recordings, which were lost.  Dick is much kinder this time about Leo's MCE OptiBay, which is far more expensive as a bare hard drive bay, even for a Mac and a notebook.

    Leo's Corsair SSD
    Earlier in April Leo installed a Corsair 128GB solid-state drive (Corsair CMFSSD-128GBG1D) on his MacBook Pro.  Applications launched instantly.  The trade-off was a smaller hard drive capacity.  With the OptiBay Leo has now reinstalled the original 320GB hard drive into his notebook.

    999
    Dr Mark Sukoenig confesses that he is writing with "multiful" purposes.  The first one is to say that when he listens to the Daily Giz Wiz, he thinks of Dick and Leo as friends and finds himself with commentary to inject.  He hears their quips, and it's almost as if he had met them and visited their apartments, not once but twice.  The second purpose is to wish his older brother Alan a happy 68th birthday on 9 September, who lives 23 blocks away from Dick, and 5 blocks away from the original site of the Women's Hospital on Manhattan's 110th Street, where Leo (and Mark himself, see Episode 342 and Episode 64) was born.

    A Multi-Million Dollar Idea
    Dick has a bright spark all of a sudden.  Since Leo is still a wedding minister, he should get Citrix to produce a new program, GoToWedding.  People can get married and attend weddings without being there.  Leo thinks Jennifer might like the idea.

    Screw-You Sticker
    TWiT is going to have some vinyl stickers made.  The designer has given Leo a freebie, a sticker that says "Remember kids, Uncle Leo says ... Screw You!"


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    Monday
    Sep142009

    Episode 916

    Joby Gorillagadgets
    Joby is extending the idea of Gorillapod's flexible legs to other products, including today's Gorillatorch, and the Gorillamobile (a mobile device stand).

    Gorillatorch
    TWiT Team Lost the Battle
    Last Monday, Leo and the TWiT Team went to the Junipero Serra Park for their lasertag .comwars, and came 6th out of 6 teams.  The event was organised by Ziggy who hired the equipment from SpecOps.

    Geek Wedding
    Sue McAllister (who custom-made polo shirts for Dick and Leo for Episode 900) wonders if Dick knows that he’s been working with a wedding minister.  On 5 April 2002, Leo officiated a wedding ceremony on Screen Savers, marrying Amber Thompson and Mike McKinnon.  It was a nice wedding, but was also one of the stunts of TechTV that Leo prefers not to be reminded of.

    You can catch the wedding on Internet Archive and on YouTube.


    Listen to this Episode
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    Read Dick's Write-up
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