Check out the set of 'NCIS' with Pauley Perrette and her tech toys

-Hey everybody, I'm Kevin Frazier and this is Hooked Up. This is the show where celebrity and tech collided. Today, I'm here on the set of NCIS to hang out with one of my good friends in Hollywood, Pauley Perrette. And she's gonna show us how she channels her inner tech geek. This is my good friend, Pauley Perrette, and we are here on the set of NCIS in Abby's Lab. -Abby's Lab. -Some place where we spend a few days-- -Yes. -together. And we are going to find out how Pauley uses technology to interact with the world. -Pauley, not Abby, 'cause Abby is way smarter than me. -They're shooting. -Yes, we're in the middle of live shooting. -Pauley Perrette is one of the most recognizable actresses in television best known as Abby, the lovable and corky lab tech technician on the CBS hit drama NCIS. -Where's the director? I heard you guys were like the dynamic duo today. -So, this is Abby's Lab like the real deal Abby's Lab. -Yes. -I love this. Tell the story behind that. -Like Abby's dolls are her friend and Bert the hippo is obviously her-- -Yes. -best friend, but then her other best friend-- -Well-- -[unk]. And again, these work. You see, it makes it sounds. I know how to make this thing so sometimes and then I get into-- I'm not supposed to this. It's not supposed to be on and nobody is here to tell me no. -Oh look, it just did-- it just, you know-- -It will be so. -This is my luck. I'm gonna be the one who is here when she breaks it. -Don't say-- it's a really expensive machine actually. So guess what? I was-- I started talking to the founder of Twitter, right. -Uh-huh. -The founder of Twitter's father. His job in real life is that he works on mass spectrometers. He tweeted me and told me that. -Wow. So, he loves that? -Yes. The founder of Twitter's dad works in mass spectrometers. -The world is-- -That is full circle. -The world is connected to Pauley. I know you may not believe it, but the whole world is connected to her. Really. Off the set, Pauley uses Twitter as a vehicle to connect the world to her charitable causes. -What do you like about tweeting so much? 'Cause you're-- you love social media, but what would you like about it so much? -I do it a lot. -You do it a ton? -Yeah. -Right. -I do. Well, there's a couple of good things. It's a great way to get-- especially for all my charity work. -Uh-huh. -Women and children shelters, that is very dear to my heart. Hope Gardens, we had a huge funding problem and it was gonna close. So, I was like I can't do that. They were gonna have to go on buses and just be taken right back down the trees. -They were gonna drop 'em off in the middle of city and just say good luck. -Didn't have a choice. -Best to you, yeah, good luck. -I was closing-- So, I asked my friend, Chad, from Churchill and like what do we do 'cause we had like 8 days to raise this money and he said you should start a Twitter page. So, I started with a video of me explaining this whole story and then we ended up raising-- it wasn't just me-- but through that whole effort, we raised the money. -But you helped spear it. Don't-- You help spearhead this in 4 days. -In 4 days raised-- -Raise all the money and then some-- -And then some. -to keep the shelter open, keep these kids and these parents off the street. -So, the whole Twitter thing started with me trying to raise money for Hope Gardens. It's just an incredible thing and that I really have to be so grateful. That's when I started realizing it's a few what you use social media for. -As social media ambassador for CBS, Pauley tweets behind the scenes at the Grammy's and live tweets during NCIS, giving fans the chance to interact with her directly. -Okay. So Pauley, first of all, you are a Twitter goddess. -Why, thank you, Kevin Frazier. -So, tell me about live tweeting for the show and tweet week. Explain that. -Oh, okay. That is-- It is so crazy and so stressful. It's just uh. But what we do is-- CBS tweet week, you get all the stars from the shows and we all just get together and live tweet with the fans and it goes-- it's so rapid and so fast and crazy-- -Right. -that you're-- and I've usually have like-- I'll have-- My laptop will be where I'm tweeting and following on my iPad and pulling on that and then tweeting pictures from my phone, following up over here. We're trying to like answer questions like it's insane. It's literally at 7:59 you just take a deep breath and then you just go. It's crazy. -And it's like-- -But I'm a big Twitpic person so I love like putting pictures on and I love looking at pictures like on Twitter. -Since she's a tech junkie, I had to ask Pauley about her top tech picks. All right. So, here we go. We're gonna play a little speed round with Pauley. Ready? Here we go. What tablet do you use? -I got an iPad. -You got an iPad? -Yeah. -Okay. What laptop do you use? -I have a MacBook. -You have a MacBook? -Yes. And you love it up, don't you? -My filthy computer. I'm kind of famous for having a really dirty computer. -What headphones do you use? -I'm like-- Okay, I am an obsessive Beats fan. I love my Beats so much. I have the whole family. I have the little ones that I keep right next to my couch and then I have the media ones that I do when I'm recording and then I have my big like heavy duty ones I use in the studio, but they're all like a little family to go. -All right. -My family of Beats headphone. -So, you have every kind of Beats? -I just-- I love them and I-- I'm a headphone person anyway. I can remember the first time when headphones really started moving into-- -Uh-huh. Uh-huh. -this thin where, you know, everybody has had a headphone and we started moving in. I know I had some Bose and I had some which are excellent too. I remember the first time when we started having hi tech headphones and that started. -Right. -I'm a huge Jeff Buckley fan and I think one of the best records ever written is Grace. -She weeps on my arm walking to the bright lights. -I listened to that record hundreds of thousand-- -Just before he died. -times. -Right. Just before he passed away. -Yeah. No telling, I know every-- know everything. And the first time I listened to Jeff Buckley's Grace on really super hi tech good headphones I was-- it blew my mind. -Yeah. -I couldn't accommodate all the nuances that I never heard after listening to that record for 10 years. -All right, it's time to check in with my man, Brian Tong, CNET's senior editor. And he is going to test your knowledge in Check Your Tech. -Thanks Kevin. So, we talked about how Pauley switched over from the Bose QuietComfort 15s over to the Beats by Dre Studio headphones. They're both $300 and they're really great for different reasons. So, what we wanted to do right now is really break down the differences between the two to find out which headset is the right one for you. Now, design wise, the Beats Studio really bring a unique and flashy styling with multiple color options and I just love how they look. Compare that to the Bose, which really brings the more understated and classier look with silver and black as the color combinations. When it comes to comfort, the Beats are really stiffer and heavier on your head so they don't feel that good where as the Bose QC 15, they're lighter in weight and their ear pads feel like soft baby pillows. Durability wise, the Beats really have the solid chunky construction that you know can take a few hits and its headphone cable is thick and sturdy as well. Now, the Bose headsets, those guys are a little different. They feel more plasticky. The swivel joints have cracked on me. And its cable is this thin, flimsy, little wire. But headphones always come down to sound quality and it's gonna be different for each person depending on the genre of music they like. So, we start off with Bose. They really have the best noise cancelling that you can find, but lacks bass with an umph. You have some great mids and highs that give you a really clear sounding tone. So, think about more of like Coldplay and classical music for this headset. The Beat Studio brings a richer and fuller sound with some serious bass that you can feel and that's why everyone loves these. Now, you're not gonna get the cleanest sounding music, but really for genres like hip hop and electronic, this is what you wanna have. So guys, really, what's the verdict here? We've got the Bose QC 15. We've got the Beats Studio headphones. They both sound great depending on what your ear is like, but if you had to ask someone like me, I think I'm gonna go with the noise canceling of the Bose headset-- Oh, they feel nice and soft-- and the style of the Studio Beats. Yeah. This is cool. This sounds really good. All right. Back to you, Kev. -Pauley is gearing up for the season 10 finale of NCIS. As a matter of fact, let me pull up a clip right here on Youtube of Pauley and her costar, Mark Harmon. He is the man. Started quarterback in college. You know, those two have worked on NCIS together for 11 years. -It's about time, Gibbs. We gotta hop to it. Strange things are brewing. Mercury is in retrograde just so you know. -Abby-- -Who knows what kind of mayhem is gonna pop up after the sun goes down. So, chop, chop, over here. I'm so piecing everything together, but this is what we know so far. -Pauley is a good friend and I'm a huge fan of the show. I love stopping by the set because they have great food, but also to see everybody. I'm going to see if I can get a few secrets out of Pauley about the season finale. Let's go talk to my girl, Pauley. Now, it's the 10th season. I've been privileged enough to hang at the NCIS set for years. And it is no surprise to me that Pauley has emerged as a major fan favorite. -When you're like, you know, in this famous weird celebrity thing that we're in-- -And you are a big season big celebrity. -Crazy thing that we're in. It's like people are constantly talking about you. -Uh-huh. -And before social networking and before the internet, you really-- I mean, what are you gonna do? You just go stand outside and like shout stuff-- -Right. -like you can tell your own story. And when I read false things written about me, I'm like, well, anyone, the thinking person, is gonna be like, "Huh, that doesn't seem true" and just go over here 'cause, you know, I'm right here. I'm talking-- -And they can talk to you-- -all the time. -Yeah. -And that's where they can talk to you. -Yes. -She does all this charity work. She has her full-time job here at NCIS and Pauley is also a musician. If you know anything about Pauley, you know that she's really a musician and so-- -And he's a fanatic. -A fanatic. In addition to her acting career, Pauley was the lead singer for the punk band Lo-Ball and contributed the song Fear to the first volume of the NCIS soundtrack. -Are you scared to lose? Are you afraid to choose? -Tell me about making music and what it's meant to you in your life and that-- really, that's your passion. -Yeah. It's just-- And the process of making it, of being in a studio. I'm not-- I'm not-- I have a horrific, crippling stage fright. So, I have no interest in performing live. I've done it in my band. I was on a world tour. I've done that back then. But it's the process of that thing, getting an idea, getting a song in your head, getting the lyrics, and getting something that you wanna express or a feeling or whatever and then watching that from that moment of inception in your head and then being in the studio and hearing your crew. -She also runs her own independent music label, GO Records, and uses her own personal gadgets to power her passion for music. Tell me about the musical process. How do you write songs? -Right. Mine is so tact actually. Everything that I want in my entire record-- -Uh-huh. -I wrote on garage band on my laptop, the whole thing. Play all the instruments like how the guitar part is gonna be and the drums and the way that I carry it in my head. And if I can't play something, I'll just like sing it. I'll sing it [unk] guitar play so then I can go into the studio and I have a pretty much full version of my song and then you get like the awesome musicians that play with me-- -Right. -that actually play it. -How do you listen to music? -I am usually on my laptop with my headphones on like just playing-- and I'm a huge music video person. I'm just a fan of music videos. I love-- I direct them. I've directed a few. -Right. -And I love that art form. It's a great thing. So, it's kinda hard to find them on television now. So, I often just-- -Ain't that funny? -Yeah. I go on-- I'll be on Youtube or I just go on the internet and like look for music videos that I love. And it's fun 'cause that will show you another one and another one and another one. -Your favorite music video of all time? -My favorite music video of all time? I'm gonna say it's my song Fear that I directed. -Oh yeah. -And that's good too. You can like show-- Like I'll tweet that out so my fans and they can see that. And then what I'm obsessed with a new-- I am obsessed with this van called Vintage Trouble,-- -Okay. -which people don't know yet. So like, I think I've tweeted their video like 3 times in the last week, but they deserve it. -Pauley definitely own her tech game. And with the help of some Hollywood magic, so is her NCIS character Abby. Does that work? -Well, sure. I mean it's a microscope. So, it's like, you know, you can see through it, but like these things-- a lot of stuff you see out here obviously I'm not doing any of that stuff. Sometimes, there's nothing there. It's just a green screen. I'm having to fake it all the time. This doesn't work. Actually, nothing works. I've had this keyboard for years. This-- Everyone, this was our new big piece of technology, which was probably 7 years ago, but I mean even this-- I just got this like semi flat screens and I had the big-- and in my other-- in her office-- Abby's office, now I have the big, big, big monitory. They're like this big. -As always, it is so much fun hanging out with you. Thank you for inviting me. -We love it when you come up here. -I love being here. -Kevin was here. -I love being here. By the way, I gotta talk to my man, Brian Tong, at CNET. Say hello to Brian. -Hi, Brian! -Well, last week, he talked about this Jawbone bracelet and I went out and got it on Brian's recommendation, but you have other things to talk about. I'm gonna explain this to Pauley right now. Brian, you do your thing. -Fantasies. -All right. Thanks, Kevin. Now, we saw how active Pauley is on social media and Twitter. And it can really be a powerful tool, so we wanted to show you some CNET secrets that will possibly get you as many followers as Justin Bieber and I'm serious about that. So, let's start off with what I call the Big 3. And Kev, you need to pay attention. Number 1, be useful. You wanna post some interesting links that your followers will also be interested in. So, for example, I have people that follow me for tech, video games, and geek pop culture, but I'm not gonna tell them about my cross-stitching project. Now number 2 is be opinionated. Share your thoughts on the top with their idea and really generate a conversation around it without being overly negative. In this case, I started a conversation about a really important topic, creamy or crunchy peanut butter, and better yet it's also useful. And number 3, be funny. Everyone loves to be entertained and Twitter is a really quick and easy way to throw out a jab or a joke. So, have fun with it. Now, there's also some other tools that you can use to enhance your Twitter experience. You wanna check out Bitly and this allows you to shorten your links that leaves you more characters for your tweets. Also, a really cool trick is if you add a plus sign at the end of your Bitly link, put it in your browser. You'll be able to see how many people clicked on it, where they're from, and when they did it. Also for you desktop users, another cool tool is a free app called TweetDeck. It lets you see all your interactions on Twitter and even cooler, you can schedule specific Tweets for a specific time to go out. And if you guys haven't jumped on the Instagram bandwagon, pretty much it's time to do that. It's really a great way to share the snapshots of your life from your perspective. I like to take pictures of cities I've been in or some of the great amazing food I've had to eat. But there's other people that like to take self-portraits of themselves. Kevin? So you guys, there you have it. Some really cool tips for social media. And Kev, I expect now to be useful, be opinionated, and be funny, man. Back to you. -Thanks so much, Brian. You always set it straight with your tech tips. And by the way, I wanna thank Pauley for letting us come hang out here on the set of NCIS. Always a blast. I'm Kevin Frazier from OMG Insider. Until next time. You're Hooked Up.