TV Day

It's TV Day today on The Screen Savers. The Chair of the FCC's Digital Television Task Force will explain the planned transition to digital TV. We'll tell you what digital TV has to offer, how to turn your computer into an HDTV receiver, and what to look for in your next TV. We're looking for DTV related questions for tonight, so if there's something you want to know about digital television and HDTV call 888-989-7879 or fax 415 437-5869 by 6:30p Eastern. As a side note, I've been playing with the Piano Avanti HE-3200 DLP projector to get ready for the show today. It casts an 80 inch screen on my bedroom wall which turns out to be the perfect way to watch The Sopranos. What I didn't realize is how well it would work with my Xbox. The Xbox has settings to support HDTV, including 480p, 720p, and 1080i resolutions. I bought a component video interface to connect it to the Piano and BAM! Wow! Most Xbox games work in HD. Some of them don't look great (Sega's World Series 2K2 baseball game, for instance, gets a little jaggy) but others look spectacular. Spiderman and Munch's Oddysee are like watching movies. Xbox is surprisingly well prepared for the 21st century. Henry and I can't wait until Rayman 3 comes out March 25.

The New Math Fails Us Again

I called Ken yesterday to ask how many episodes of The Screen Savers we had done. Since our five year anniversary is coming up May 28th, I thought we might be close to our 1000th episode. Here's his response:

Leo,

You called from your cell phone earlier today and asked how many episodes we've had because you thought we were getting close to 1,000.

Well, we missed an opportunity.

According to my records, here's how many Screen Savers we've done...

1998 - 147
1999 - 220
2000 - 208
2001 - 200
2002 - 229
2003 - 43 so far

That would be 1,047 total as of today.

We reached our 1,000 episode on December 17, 2002.. a show co-hosted by Pat and Wil Wheaton.

We should do something... let's chat.

Ken

So we went out and got drunk. Maybe on our 2000th.

Peace is Over

We've been thinking hard about what to do about the war on The Screen Savers. Here's what I'm planning to say on the show tonight:

In one hour, President Bush's ultimatum to Saddam Hussein will expire and the US will very likely be going to war. As some of you know I have been active in the peace movement, but for now the debate is over. The die is cast.

I think it's time for all of us to focus our energies on supporting the men and women in harm's way. So many of our extended Screen Savers family members are on active duty right now. Many more of you have family and friends in the service. Our thoughts and prayers are with them right now. We all hope for a short war with few casualties.

Patrick and I have talked about what we should do on the show tonight and for the duration of the war. We've decided to continue on as usual. There are plenty of places you can get the news of the war. There's only one place you can get the kind of information we offer. So we'll go on doing what we do best, but always with the awareness that so many of those near and dear to us are risking the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation.

Portrait of Dorian Leo

Here's the painting Jeremy Sutton did of me tonight on the show. Click it to download the Quicktime movie (MPEG 4) of the painting process.What did you think of Jeremy? Would you like more Painter tips? I know it's not as popular as Photoshop, but it's a great program for artists.

Déja Vu All Over Again

It's been just over two years since I stopped hosting Call for Help (you can read my original email about leaving in The Laporte Report from March 15, 2001). A number of people hosted the show after I left, including my good friend Chris Pirillo. But I have to admit, I could never watch the show without a little twinge of longing. I missed doing it more than I ever would have thought. Well I'm very pleased to report that I'm coming back. Chris is moving to greener pastures (I'm sure he'll have more to say about it on his blog) and TechTV has invited me to return as host of Call for Help starting tomorrow. We'll miss Chris a lot. He added a bunch of much needed tech savvy to the channel. And I valued him as a colleague and a friend. I'll be returning CFH to its roots as a call-in help show as quickly as possible, taking as many of your calls as we can fit into an hour each day. I know the time slot isn't ideal for many of you (3p Eastern/Noon Pacific) but there will be beefed-up weekend repeats. And if the show goes well (that is, if you and all your friends watch it religiously) it will prove what I've contended all along: people want to watch computer help on TV. And maybe then we can move it to a more convenient hour. Naturally, I will continue to co-host The Screen Savers with Patrick, and Cat has agreed to continue on as co-host on Call for Help. Please tune-in and call-in Call for Help, weekdays at 3p Eastern on TechTV. (Now if we can only find the old show open.)