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Links and Information from Past Shows
(Here's where to check for links and other information discussed by the Technology Tailor. Note: Links referred to on this page are not associated in any way with WGN Radio. Thus, we cannot be responsible for the nature or accuracy of the content found on the sites.)


You can read excerpts and see the table of contents from Alex's first book, Going Digital: Simple Tools and Techniques for Sharing and Enjoying your Digital Photos and Home Movies here:

http://www.technologytailor.com/goingdigitalbook.php

Going Digital is available for purchase online here: Going Digital: Simple Tools and Techniques for Sharing and Enjoying Your Digital Photos and Home Movies.


Saturday, 2/3/07 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor:

A Big Week for Microsoft

Microsoft finally released Vista this week, after four years on the market. Also, a brand new Microsoft Office 2007 was released. Alex took your calls about whether or not you'd upgrade to these products.

Podcasting

Alex chatted with Adam Lowe, aka Mr. Manners, about his weekly podcast. The Mr. Manners Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Polite Life podcast helps you improve your manners via quick, snippet-like audio instructions. Want to know how to politely split the bill when dining out with friends? How about how to practice phone etiquette? Or how to pass gas politely? Mr. Manners has the answer for you.

Next up, Alex talked with Craig Aichele, one of the hosts of Chicago's only Bears-centric podcast, the Bearscast. Craig and his cohosts have been releasing podcasts twice a week that debate, discuss, and analyze the NFC Champion Chicago Bears. The Bearscast is part of the Chicago Sportscast Network, which also produces a podcast for the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks.


Saturday, 1/27/07 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor:

Are You Ready for some Football (in HD)?!

Mike Abt of Abt Electronics joined Alex to discuss the surge of HDTV sales leading up to the Super Bowl. Mike noted that Abt is moving about 175 HD units a day. LCDs are selling better than they were a year ago, but plasma TVs are still outselling them.

Digital Camera Discussion

Tracy Butler, ABC-7 Meteorologist, joined Alex to talk about her new digital camera. Alex dished some tips and tricks for Tracy to employ as she figures out how to use her new Canon digital SLR. Alex recommended she download Picasa to help her organize all of her photos. Alex also suggested checking out MyPublisher.com, a site on which you can organize your photos and create a picture book. After you organize your photos and arrange them on the pages of your book (online), MyPublisher will mail you a hard cover bound book to your exact specifications.


Saturday, 1/20/07 -- Tonight on the Technology Tailor...

Bear Down, Chicago Bears...

With the Bears on the verge of their first Super Bowl appearance in 21 years, Alex chatted with Jeff Hughes, a superfan who writes DaBearsBlog, a diehard's look at his favorite football team in the world.

Second Life

Alex spent some time talking about Second Life, a online society within a 3D world, where users can explore, build, socialize and participate in their own economy. First, Alex chatted with Time magazine writer Joel Stein; second, Alex talked with Chicago Tribune reporter Rob Elder. Both wrote recent pieces on the phenomenon of Second Life, which has nearly 3 million "residents," a constant number of about 21,000 people on the site at all times, and an average amount of several hundred thousand REAL U.S. dollars spent every day.


Saturday, 1/13/07 -- Tonight on the Technology Tailor...

Bridging the Digital Divide

Alex chatted with Kevin Gates, a graduate of i.c. stars, a Chicago organization founded in 1999 to train inner city young people for careers in technology, leadership and business. Kevin works in Microsoft's Chicago office, and volunteers with i.c. stars.

An Average Techie's CES Recap

Jonathan Kehoe, an actor, teacher and tech enthusiast from L.A., talked with Alex about his experience as an average joe with "backstage" access to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January. Jonathan won backstage access in a CNET contest. Check out Jonathan's video and photo documentation of CES here.


Saturday, 1/6/07 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor:

Alex broadcasted live from the Consumer Electronics Show, the world's largest consumer electronics tradeshow.


Saturday, 12/30/06 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor:

The Best and Worst Technology of the Year

Alex chatted with Charlie White from the popular tech blog Gizmodo to review the best and worst products and technologies of the year.

Tech You Got for Christmas

Alex goes "Teching it to the Street" to see what YOU got for Christmas. The most popular gift? The iPod.

Tailoring Your Tech for New Year's Eve

Karen Budell, Nightlife Producer for Metromix.com, joined Alex to fill him in on how to navigate her Web site to find the best New Year's parties.


Saturday, 12/16/06 -- Tonight on the Technology Tailor...

More on Nintendo's Flying Controllers

Cleveland-based I.T. administrator and video game enthusiast Jim Walsh, 27, is at this moment the world’s top expert on the range of eye-popping and painfully humorous damage caused by the Wii’s flying remotes. Check out his Web site: WiiHaveAProblem.com.

A Look at Flat-Panel TVs

One caller asked about how far away an HDTV should be from where you sit and watch. Alex tracked down this chart on Amazon.com that details the answers. Interestingly, because the resolution on high-definition TVs is so much better than on standard-definition TVs, you can sit much closer to an HDTV.

Here is that link: http://amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000021501

When to shop for a new PC

David Marsiglia, Intel’s mobile computing marketing chief joined Alex for a friendly debate about when it’s time to go shopping for a new PC. Alex also talked with folks shopping on Michigan Avenue about their PC’s age. Several stated that they’re hoping to get 10 more years from their current computer!

Alex's New SmartPhone

Alex recently purchased a new smartphone, the elegant, sexy Blackberry Pearl. Blackberries have never looked like this: it’s small enough to fit comfortably in a front shirt-pocket. The Pearl features Blackberry’s legendary e-mail functionality in addition to playing music and movies. There’s a 1.3 megapixel digital camera to boot. The cost for all this functionality: just $200 with a 2-year contract from Cingular or T-Mobile. If you buy it from Amazon.com, it’ll cost you only $50 for a Cingular model, and, amazingly, a T-Mobile model is free after rebate.

Blackberry Pearl:
http://www.blackberrypearl.com/


Saturday, 11/25/06 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor...

Webby Award Founder's Favorite Web sites

Tiffany Shlain joined Alex on the program Saturday. She's the founder of the popular Webby Awards, which is considered to be the Oscars of the Internet. The above Web site is a remarkable resource for links to the some of the top sites on the Internet.

Tiffany has been quite busy recently: she's promoting her new movie, called "The Tribe." Subtitle: An unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Jewish people and the Barbie doll...in about 15 minutes.

She shared some of her favorite Web sites this time of year:

Shutterfly for photo greeting cards and calendars.

Babycenter.com for gifts for friends with children. One of Alex's favorites here is Shefindsmom.com.

Opentable.com for making restaurant reservations in most major cities. This is an extremely useful site.

Amazon.com, Froogle.com, and Epinions.com for shopping, finding deals, and reading about what your peers think about the items you're considering purchasing.

Photo Greeting Cards

Gary Pageau, editor at the Photo Marketing Association, joined Alex to discuss how to make greeting cards with your digital photos this holiday season. They're personal, impressive, and, frankly, easier than handwritten cards!

Alex and his wife use Cardstore.com. Best thing about this site: they will address, stamp, and stuff your envelopes for you. Talk about a time-saver! (Plus, Alex hates doing that work!)

Gary recommended Shutterfly.com, Kodakgallery.com, and Snapfish.com.

He said the easiest way for making photo greeting cards is to simply bring your photo on CD (or straight from your camera's memory card) into your local photo retailer. They'll do the work for you.

To find your nearest digital photo lab, visit http://secure.pmai.org/QDPCLabFinder/LabFinderStart.asp.


Saturday, 11/11/06 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor, Alex covered...

Microsoft's New Zune MP3 Player Came Out Tuesday

If you're a digital music listener, you should know about a new competitor to Apple's iPod that came out this past Tuesday: the Zune from Microsoft. The reviews haven't exactly been glowing (the words "clunky" and "shabby" have been tossed around), but it's still probably the biggest challenge the iPod has ever had.

It's especially interesting that Microsoft has agreed to pay the biggest of the five music studios, Universal, a small royalty on every Zune player sold. Estimates have the figure at over a dollar per device, which doesn't seem like much, but it's the first time a manufacturer has paid a media company for products sold.

Adults Who Game

Alex was feeling a little bit uncomfortable with being a video game player at his age. After all, he has a wife, a mortgage payment, and challenging, time-consuming work. Real responsibilities! And yet, there are few activities that bring Alex more pleasure than a nice game of FIFA '07 (the new soccer game from Electronic Arts) on his Xbox 360.

So on this show, Alex had a discussion with fellow working adults who like to play video games. Boy did the phone lines light up! Callers were in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and, yes, in their 60s. One 62 year-old man often plays video games against his wife. They even leave the controllers lying around on the floor when they're not playing!

Extended Service / Warranty Plans

The usefulness of extended warranty plans also generated lots of phone calls on this show. A recent article in the New York Times found that extended service plans hardly ever pay for themselves. In fact, the article cites a Consumer Reports study that found that only ten percent of digital cameras have problems in their first five years.

Most products ship with one year of warranty from the manufacturer, but we know that it's no longer possible to buy something at an electronics store without being offered an extended service / replacement plan -- even if it's on a $20 item.


Saturday, 11/4/06 -- On this edition of the Technology Tailor...

Laptop Battery Fires

We took an in-depth look at laptop battery fires during the first hour of The Technology Tailor Show on Saturday.

Please, please visit www.cpsc.gov to see if your laptop battery has been recalled. It's the Web site for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is the government agency in charge of ALL recalled products in the U.S. Click around on this site. You're bound to find products you own that are being recalled.

Digitizing Your Record Collection

Your record collection can be turned into MP3 files that can be transferred to your iPod or turned into CDs with these products:

The Ion iTTUSB Turntable is a metallic turntable that connects to your PC with a USB cable. It comes with software that "records" the music onto your hard drive. Retail price is about $200, but the unit sells for about $130 on Amazon.com here.

A product called The INport is a little converter box with jacks for your red and white audio cables on one side, and a USB port on the other. Just plug your stereo system into it, and connect the other end to your PC. It retails for about $70 at Best Buy and Circuit City.

Both of the above units come with software that captures your music.

As for quality, it's only going to be as good as your record sounds. You can work on improving it in the software, but this is somewhat of a technical process.

You can also have this process done for you. Chicago-based RipIt Digital will digitize your record for $7 each, or $5 each for more than 20, into CDs.

Web sites for Election Day

Professor Michael Cornfield from George Washington University joined Alex to discuss the Internet's effects on politics. This election season, he said no Web site has had more of an effect on the process than YouTube, the amateur video sharing site. Videos posted there can send poll numbers shooting upwards or downwards.

Michael suggested you check your state's Secretary of State's Web site tommorow for the latest election returns if you want to follow results in real-time.

Also, among his favorite political Web sites, Michael listed Pollster.com and Politics1.com.


Saturday, 10/28/06 -- Tonight on the Technology Tailor:

At Look at Genealogy

An announcement by the state of Virginia that it's beginning work on placing life records of freed slaves online -- providing millions of African Americans a place to delve into their ancestry -- is the biggest news in genealogy in years.

This prompted a look at the art of "family tree making" on Saturday's Technology Tailor Show. Many listeners phoned in with praise of Genealogy.com, which is, perhaps, the most comprehensive ancestry-research site on the Internet .

For PC-based work on the family tree, most listeners said they use Family Tree Maker, which is now in its 16th version! A $40 download, it is the home-base for most consumer genealogists.

One caller suggested a free download (though there is a registration fee) called Brothers Keeper, available at www.bkwin.net.

Additional resources:

Archives.gov is the federal government's ancestry research tool. Valuable census information -- among countless other documents -- is available here.

EllisIsland.org details the 22.5 million people who immigrated to the U.S. between 1892 and 1924 and the ship they arrived on.

Impossibly Expensive Cell Phones

Bang & Olufsen, the hoity-toity stereo maker has released its first cell phone. It's called the Serene, and it retails for a whopping $1,275.

It's sexy, too. There's a little motor that opens the flip-phone for you when you nudge the top with your finger. Once open, the screen is on the bottom, and the number buttons, arranged in a circle, are on top.

See the Serene here.

Big Tech Topic: HDTV Programming: Comcast vs. DirecTV

Alex discussed the ups and downs of both Comcast and DirecTV, especially for HD, with Jake Ludington, founder of Mediablab.com.

Tailoring Your Tech: We talked TiVo.

If you go HD, you'll need an HD video recorder. Is TiVo the best? What about DirecTV's DVR? How is their unit? How's Comcast's? Alex broke it down with Lou Jacob from Chicago's PTVUpgrade, the original professional service for upgrading your TiVo Digital Video Recorder.


Saturday, 10/21/06 -- Tonight on the Technology Tailor:

Will Smartphones Overtake PCs?

Last week, executives from two companies in the smartphones industry claimed that before long, smartphones will replace personal computers. The CEO of Symbian Smartphones (the company that makes the operating system for Nokia smartphones) said that smartphones will replace laptops within five years.

Microsoft's New Internet Explorer

After many months of anticipation, Microsoft has finally released Internet Explorer version 7. It's a significant upgrade over its long-lived predecessor (the Web browser on most of our computers), but it's playing catch-up to chief competitor Firefox.

The new Internet Explorer plugs many security holes and offers protection against phishing Web sites that try to get at your personal information. It also blocks pop-up Windows. Most of its new features have been available for years on Mozilla's free Firefox Web browser.

Both tools are free downloads. Try them both:

www.microsoft.com

www.mozilla.org

Online Dating

This Saturday was Sweetest Day, and so it seemed to be the perfect day to look at finding love online.

Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine joined Alex to discuss the ins and outs of online dating. Joe suggested people stay away from negative terms in your online profile (don't tell people you're "so bored" for example!). Online Dating Magazine features more than 800 articles on how to succeed in finding love on the Internet. And they're all free!

Managing Your Passwords

Mark Boroditsky, CEO of PassLogix, Inc. joined me for tips and tricks on making your passwords hacker-proof. He advises that you use different passwords for every site that involves money transactions.

To keep track of which password you're using for which site, consider a free download called Roboform. It's a widely used software available at www.roboform.com.


Saturday, 10/14/06 -- On this edition of The Technology Tailor:

Technology in our Schools

A non-profit called One Laptop Per Child announced a $250 million deal with Libya last week. Under the deal, by 2008, all 1.2 million of Libya's school children will receive a $100 laptop that organization is working on manufacturing. The group is aiming the super-affordable laptops at under-developed countries.

These laptops comes with built-in video cameras, 8-hour batteries, wireless Internet connectivity, and -- my favorite -- a hand or foot crank for charging the battery if electricity goes out.

Alex is happy for the Libyan children, but he asked the question: what about our kids? What's happening in our schools? To help answer these questions, Bob Runcie, the chief information officer at the Chicago Public Schools joined Alex in the studio.

Bob explained that since 1995, the school system has spent a whopping $600 million on technology. Currently, there are 85,000 computers in the Chicago Public Schools, which works out to an average of about five children per computer. Alex was quite impressed with these figures.

What Are You Shopping For This Holiday Season?

Next we moved on to another important topic: holiday tech shopping. For this, Charlie White, associate editor at the tech blog Gizmodo.com joined me. What's hot? What should we be considering this holiday season? Here's a rundown of Charlie's advice:

1. Microsoft's new Zune MP3 player comes out on November 14. It's expected to be a major competitor to Apple's dominant iPod. And at $249 for a 30-gigabyte model, the Zune costs the same as the 30-GB iPod. The Zune comes with a large 3-inch LCD screen, an FM radio receiver, and wireless Internet connectivity to trade songs with family and friends now -- and eventually to download songs directly to the player.

2. In a major scoop, Charlie revealed that he's hot for the Garmin StreetPilot C320 portable GPS. Souped-up global positioning units like this commonly ran around $1,000 a year ago. Nearly across the board, high-end GPS devices have come down in price dramatically. The C320 can be found for about $320. I hope Santa delivers for Charlie!

3. Finally, I believe the top-selling tech category this holiday season will be HDTVs. Prices fell all year long, and today, Charlie tells us, you can buy a 37-inch LCD high-definition television from Sharp (the model is Aquos) for an amazing $1,300 online.

Staying in Touch with Tech while on the Campaign Trail

U.S Congressional candidate David McSweeney, running in Illinois' 8th district, joined Alex to discuss his personal technology (he's an admitted "Blackberry addict), and his take on Internet taxation (under no circumstances, he explained) and Internet safety (David would increase penalties for Internet predators).

Web sites for Holiday Shopping Deals

Finally, in Saturday's Tailoring Your Tech segment, Alex ran through several Web sites you should turn to save money on your holiday shopping:

Shoplocal.com: An extremely useful and little-known site that provides digital versions of your Sunday ads. Just search for what you're shopping for and you'll see full-color digital ads in which that product appears. It's literally "local" too: enter your zip code, and the ads displayed are from your area.

BizRate.com, PriceGrabber.com, NexTag.com: These shopping comparison sites list all the retailers that sell the product you search for, and, more importantly, their prices. Start any shopping process with one of these sites.

Coupons.com, CouponMountain.com, CoolSavings.com: Manufacturers want you to use their coupons when you shop. Visit these sites for coupon codes for online use, or printable coupons for bricks-and-mortar locations. You're shopping anyway...why not save money?


Saturday, 10/7/06 -- On this edition of The Technology Tailor, Bill Moller filled in for Alex.

Eric Benderoff helped us out with The Technology Tailor's Top 3, in which we covered the latest in social networking Web site news, online music stores and built-in obsolescence in cell phones.

Next on The Technology Tailor, we chatted with Scott Kelby, author of The Digital Photography Book, about how to take better digital photographs.

Finally, in the Tailoring Your Tech segment, we spoke with Mary Umberger, real estate reporter for the Chicago Tribune, about the best sites to buy and sell real estate.

Some sites to check out are:

www.zillow.com

www.ziprealty.com

www.reply.com


Saturday, 9/30/06 -- Tonight on The Technology Tailor ... Well, we didn't have much of a show this week. The very last Saturday Chicago Cubs game of the year sure turned out to be an extended, entertaining one. Fourteen innings. A 37-minute rain delay. And, ultimately, a loss for the Cubs. We checked in during a couple of the rain delays, but didn't cover too much ground.


Saturday, 9/16/06 -- Tonight on The Technology Tailor ...

Movies for your iPod: Apple announced recently that it's selling movies through its iTunes music store. There are currently about 75 movies available -- all from Disney-owned studios -- and they run between $10 (for older selections) to $15 (for newer releases).

Apple isn't the first to sell movies online. Others who retail downloadable films:

www.movielink.com
www.cinemanow.com
www.guba.com

A New Product for the "Digital Living Room": Another product announcement from Apple: the iTV is a $300 wireless router that attaches to your entertainment system to stream movies, music and photos from your PC to your TV and stereo system. It's due out in early 2007, but the big focus will be on getting movies from your hard drive to your big-screen.

Charity Projects in 15 Minutes or Less: Alex wrote about CharityGuide.org in a recent Chicago Tribune "My Tech" column, but it's worth another mention here as Michael Organ, the site's executive director, was a guest on this show. If you think you're too busy for volunteer work, check out Charity Guide, as it specializes in listing service projects that can be completed in 15 minutes. It's a goldmine of excellent world-improving ideas.


Saturday, 9/2/06 -- On this edition of The Technology Tailor ...

Free Books on Google!

If you haven't been there yet, visit books.google.com -- the controversial site where searchable scans of copyrighted works are kept.

Recently, Google unveiled free PDF downloads of complete books which are public domain, or not protected by copyright. Click on the "Full view books" option for these items.

Free Books for your iPod!

Another Web site has rolled out a similar service for the iPod. Click on www.librivox.com for free, downloadable audio books you can listen to on your computer or on your MP3 player. According to the company, these volumes are also public domain, and therefore not protected by copyright laws.

My Favorite Audio Book Site

The single best resource on the Internet for audio books is www.audible.com. The company has a partnership with the iTunes Music store and you can find many of its offerings there as well. But these are not free books. Many are popular items, some are best-sellers, and all are a great way to pass the time if you travel.

Selling your old cell phone or laptop? Think twice.

Last week, the Associated Press reported on one company's extremely interesting experiment with 10 used cell phones purchased on eBay. The company, Virginia-based Trust Digital, bought ten used Blackberry / Treo-style smartphones that handle e-mail, instant-messaging and Web browsing.

Data on all the phones was thought to have been deleted by their sellers. And to the "naked eye" (read: yours and mine), it appeared that no data remained. The phones were cleared off.

But a simple program written by Trust Digital, which specializes in data security, found a monstrous combined 27,000 pages of data on the phones!

Nothing was erased.

Trust Digital's CEO, Nick Magliato, joined Alex on the show Saturday to discuss what was found:

- Instant messages between a married man and his girlfriend.
- A multimillion dollar government contract.
- Bank account details and passwords.

The lesson here is that the way to really "hard erase" data on your phone is not often detailed in the instruction manual, but, rather, is burried online. Go to your manufacturer's Web site, and search for the term "hard delete" or "hard erase."

A Web site for Forgiveness

A Chicago Sun Times article profiled a remarkable Web site called ProjectForgiveness recently. The site's founder, Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald joined Alex on the program Saturday. Project Forgiveness is essentially a blog where people (of all faiths) post their deeply personal requests for forgiveness -- from others, or from God.


Saturday, 8/26/06 -- Hip-hop poet Kevin Coval joined Alex Goldfayn in studio to discuss a brand new walking tour of Chicago, which Kevin narrates. You can download the one-hour, one-mile walking tour of Chicago as MP3 files to listen to on your portable player by checking out Audissey Guides.

Alternatively, you can dial into and listen to the same walking tour on your cell phone for about $6. Details on this service can be found at Talking Street.

Next, Alex had a lively discussion about identity theft with Max Marker, supervisory special agent at the Chicago office of the FBI.

Here are a range of resources discussed during this segment:

http://privacyrights.org/identity.htm : Alex claims this is the single most comprehensive resource on identity theft that he knows of. Tons of data, information, advice and techniques here. Included are detailed articles on coping with identity theft, reducing your risk for it, and what to do when it happens to you.

http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com : This Web site is maintained by a number of government agencies, and includes photos of and tips about "phishing" e-mails: those official looking notices that request your personal information.

As a hard rule, NEVER respond to an e-mail requesting your personal information, even if it appears to be from a company you are doing business with.

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft : This is the Federal Trade Commission's official information site on identity theft.

http://www.annualcreditreport.com : This Web site is required to provide you one free credit report every year. Even if you don't suspect fraud, you should know your credit score. Check it here.

There are three major credit reporting bureaus. Their Web sites are:

www.transunion.com
www.experian.com
www.equifax.com


Saturday, 8/19/06 -- This edition of The Technology Tailor was all about eBay.

First, Alex Goldfayn talked with Indie Gill, CEO of UnWired Buyer, about how his company helps you bid--and win--on eBay.

Next, Alex spoke with Bud Bach, co-founder of Receller.com, which offers expert listing assistance for selling on eBay.

Alex also covered the recent news that Dell has issued the largest recall in U.S. consumer electronics history: more than 4 million Dell laptop batteries have been recalled. Visit www.dellbatteryprogram.com to see if your battery model is affected.

Dealing with a hot laptop? Our listeners called in with some great gadget suggestions for blocking laptop heat. Check out The Lapinator and The Coolpad.


Saturday, 8/5/06 -- Technology Tailor Alex Goldfayn spoke with Charlie White, Associate Editor at Gizmodo.com, about high definition DVD players and video editing.

Next, Alex discussed how to keep your photos and movies safe and backed up, outside of your home. He suggested checking out Ezarchive.com and Xdrive.com.


Saturday, 7/29/06 -- Technology Tailor Alex Goldfayn talked about web-based applications, designed to let you handle your common office tasks such as word processing and spreadsheets online through a Web browser. Alex discussed the Web-based applications ThinkFree and Zoho.

Next up, Alex spoke with Dr. Brian Hartigan, orthopedic surgeon at NorthWestern Memorial Hospital, to discuss the health problems that creep up when we spend too much time with our technology. The top issue, it seems, is poor posture at the PC. We hunch over, stick our belly out, and crane our neck towards the monitor.

Also, there are now happy terms such as "Blackberry thumb" (too much typing on a tiny keyboard), and "Blackberry Squint" (too much staring at tiny screens).

The doctor's advice? Moderation, of course.


Saturday, 7/22/06 -- Technology Tailor Alex Goldfayn welcomed Newsweek Magazine Senior Editor Steven Levy, author of the magazine's weekly column entitled "The Technologist."

Next up, Alex chatted with Veronica Hugger, President of the National Scrapbooking Association, about how scrapbooking has gone digital.

On the Technology Tailor's Tailoring Your Tech segment, Alex spoke with Michelle Madhok, founder of shefinds.com and shefindsmom.com, sites devoted to helping busy women meet their shopping needs.


Saturday, 7/15/06 -- Hardik Bhatt, Chief Information Officer for the City of Chicago, joined Alex to discuss the city's plans for a citywide wireless Internet network.


Saturday, 7/1/06 -- David Allen, author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, joined Alex Goldfayn to discuss his well-known approach to getting organized and staying productive. David's website is www.davidco.com. Some of the more popular Web sites that discuss and dissect the GTD system include 43folders.com, Lifehacker.com and Macdevcenter.com.

In Alex's Tailoring Your Tech segment, Alex discussed one of the most helpful Web sites he's come across in recent memory: Gethuman.com. Gethuman is a huge database of phone numbers that get you to living, breathing human beings at thousands of consumer and government organizations.


Saturday, 6/17/06 -- Alex Goldfayn spoke with New York Times technology columnist David Pogue about the latest consumer technologies. Find out more about David here: Davidpogue.com.


Saturday, 6/3/06 -- Alex Goldfayn spent the 7:00 hour chatting with Erik Weihenmayer, a blind mountain climber and world class athlete. Learn more about Erik's inspirational story at Touchthetop.com.


Saturday, 5/27/06 -- Rajesh Agarwal joined Alex Goldfayn all the way from New Delhi, India, to discuss how his company, Web Development Factory, works with American and British companies to design and develop Web sites at extremely affordable prices.

Next on The Technology Tailor, Alex discussed several aspects of security, from protecting your PC to protecting your privacy. Alex chatted with Richard Sherman, better known as Mr. Modem, who discussed ways to protect your PC from Internet dangers. Richard puts out an entertaining and extremely valuable newsletter called Ask Mr. Modem.

Alex next spoke with Mike Sullivan, Deputy Bureau Chief of the High Tech Crimes Bureau in the Illinois Attorney General's office, about how to keep your kids safe from Internet predators. For more information on Mike's work, visit the Illinois Attorney General's Keeping Kids Safe Web page.


Saturday, 5/20/06 -- Bob Seidensticker, author of the new book Future Hype, joined Technology Tailor Alex Goldfayn to discuss this question: with so much technology in a single mobile unit (a smart phone lets people reach us, or interrupt us, depending on which way you look it, in a plethora of ways, wherever we are), are we too connected?

Finally, this show's Tailoring Your Tech segment looked at an easy new way to track the whereabouts of your children. Sprint's new Family Locator Service lets you track your child's physical location in the world via GPS. One neat feature: you can set up alerts at various times of day. For example, your son or daughter is supposed to camp from nine till noon. If they wander away from camp, the alert rings your cell phone and lets you know where they are.


Saturday, 5/13/06 -- Tonight's show was all about blogging. First up, Alex Goldfayn spoke with Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, LLC (a venture capital company). He is also the author of eight books on business, and happens to run one of the most popular blogs in the world.

Next, Andy Wibbels joined Alex on air. Andy's the author of a book, Blog Wild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging, and a blog.

Alex next talked to Jessa Crispin, founder and editor of Bookslut.com, about the book reviews and blog she oversees.

On tonight's Tailoring Your Tech segment, Alex dished on helpful Web sites that may well change the way you shop for technology: Woot.com and ShopLocal.com.


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