Just got of the air with celebrity talk show genius Roland Martin. If you haven't heard him on air in Chicago you probably have seem him on CNN. He is one of their most solid and energizing political contributors. We discussed the internet and the role it's playing in the election. Bottom line: the internet ha leveled the playing field for sure in the 2008 election. Look, big money campaigns that can buy big media days are over (like analog tv-that's a story for another day). If you were to choose the nominees based solely on the internet popularity of each candidate the results would be: Democrat = Barack Obama and Republicans = Ron Paul with a strong lead and the most money raised online than any other Republican candidate.

These are truly interesting times, I mean nowadays watching a primary with live tickers and play-by-play instant-live blogging updates - watching politics is like watching ESPN. I mean people are at bars with net-connected computers watching 50 inch screens and blogging! Will this translate into newer audiences, will this type of activity translate into new votes?

Your thoughts? Will the online momentum die out, does it have the power to bring out new non-voters to the booths - hit us up with a comment below!

PS-some of the websites I shared on Rolands show today are:

www.techpresident.com,   www.politico.com,   www.opensecrets.org 

On today's show Roland wanted to discuss ideas for preserving your precious memories - specifically photos. The idea was thought of due to the fires in CA. Many people have valuables they could replace BUT photos is not one of them, so here are some tips for you to digitize and backup your photos:

To digitize printed photos you need to either:

1.buy a scanner (as low as $75). A scanner connects to your computer and works like a photocopier, you place the photo on the glass, press start and your computer captures the image, then you can save the image on your computer or to an external drive for safekeeping.

 2. if you dont want to buy a scanner you could take your photos to a photo development store and have them scan them for you or use their self-service scanner . More than likely this option will cost more money in the long run depending on the amount of photos you want to scan.

If you have alot of negatives you may want to shop for a scanner that can scan negatives as well as prints.

Once you have digitized your images now you need to store them. Storing on your computer is fine BUT you should absolutely have a backup of your files located somewhere else. For example you could buy an external hard drive these drives range in cost and have come down tremendously in price. These drives range in price from $75.00 to $300 or more depending on how much storage space you want. Just remember you don't buy storage for today you buy for tomorrow so if you can afford it my minimum recommendation is to by a 250 gig drive.  Another option for backing up your files is to place them online with a service like www.Xdrive.com they will store up to 5 Gig of data for free.

Bottom line: Make sure you have your photos stored on your pc and have them backed up somewhere else like an external hard drive or an online service. My preference is an external hard drive that you place at a family member or friends house. No use in having a backup in the same location as your pc, this way you are covered if something was to happen to your home.

 Websites for you to look into are:

http://www.Xdrive.com

http://picasa.google.com/ 

http://ourstory.com/ 

Here are some of the websites and topics we discussed on the Roland S Martin show today on WVON:

Windows Vista - I suggest you stay with Windows XP for now wait a few more months while the Vista kinks are worked out. If you need Vista help goto:

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/default.mspx

Goto:  http://www.ALICE.org - this site is great for kids and really energizes them to learn more about computer programming and software development in a fun and engaging way. Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience.

Kids safe search engines - when dealing with homework help, internet research etc... use safe search engines like Yahooligans.com or AJkids.com , if you use Google you need to turn on the 'SafeSearch Filtering feature' you can turn this feature on by going to www.Google.com and then click on the link  next to the search box that  reads "Preferences" once you are in preferences you can choose the most appropriate level of filtering this will help ensure that your child does not bump into inappropriate material, photos, language etc.. on the web.

The war for your living room presses on with competiting hi-definition systems. On today's show Roland & I discussed the battle between the 2 hi-definiton movie formats HD-DVD backed by Microsoft, Toshiba, Dreamworks, Paramount and host of other backers versus Blu-Ray backed by Sony, Apple, Dell and movie studios like Sony, MGM, Disney, 20th Century Fox & Lionsgate. Now some studios are supporting both formats and are not choosing a side.

Why should you care about any of this? Because if you go and buy a hi-definition movie player you need to know that 1) all movies may not be avalable on the player you choose, 2) that the player MAY - (i doubt it) but it may become obsolete if the type you choose doesn't win and 3) because you need to be educated and not caught in any sales traps if someone ties to push you to a hi-def player.  If I had to choose right now which I prefer not to - I think everyone should still hold off and wait this out another 12 months to really see what happens - BUT if I was forced to choose at this point I'd go with Blu-Ray. Now, one way you can save some money with this issue is if you are in the market to buy a videogame console. The Sony PS3 also plays Blu-Ray movies so for $499 its a good deal to get a game system and Blu-Ray player. The Xbox 360 offers a HD-DVD attachment that sells for $160.00 add that to the cost of the Xbox 360 system (stars at $280.00)  and your Xbox total =  $440.00

I also discussed a few tips for buying your next HD TV and you can read them by going here.

On todays show we discussed back to school and other emerging technologies. Here are today's highlights:

• To convert old school skool vinyl records to digital mp3 files. Take a look at the ION Usb turntable (it gets the job done but it could be a bit easier for a novice to use) or look at the Stanton USB turntable (more money, but straightforward). Certainly, not the only way to convert old vinly but probably the easiest.
  
• Want a free office suite - logon to: www.OpenOffice.org and download their free & legal software that looks and acts just like Microsoft - saving you hundreds from having to buy office software. Read more here
• Back to school websites I mentioned: Chicago's Beehive website:  and www.EschoolNews.com
• Rebate websites like - www.ebates.com
  
• Find low cost computers by logging on to the refurbished sections of companies like Apple, Dell, HP and others. Heres a link to HP and Apple
  
• Now, AT&T is offering a $10 month hispeed internet service in some areas of the country, but for the most part they aren't telling people about it. You'll have to be determined and jump thru some hoops but it is still possible to obtain the service. Here is the link to the webpage they don't want you to know about. https://swot.sbc.com/swot/promoLanding.do