ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
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Welcome to the 390th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with any suggestions or comments.
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Here's a bit of useless information that someone told me at work. Today there was a 1:02:03 and it was 04-05-06 (one, two, three, four, five, six, all in order). Hmm... probably means nothing, but I figured I'd share it with you.
Last week I mentioned that Julia got a new Dell, but the LCD display was dead. Well, they quickly sent a new one, and everything is working great. Now she is in front of the computer all day admiring her screen, and one of my other sisters is now coveting the screen. I sense some sibling rivalry.
We have some reviews to finish, so over the next several weeks we should start publishing them. We have the latest Nero, Microsoft Streets & Trips, and a couple of Pocket PC titles. Hopefully there will be something there that interests you.
Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net
Lost an iPod, wallet, ring? Look for it online
Maureen Silliman felt her empty pocket and gulped: Her new $300 iPod must have bounced out as she ran to catch a train. While she sobbed, her boyfriend suggested a message on the lost-and-found section of Craigslist, an online bazaar of classified ads.
"No," the 24-year-old Silliman said. "Nobody would ever turn in an iPod."
Her boyfriend posted the message anyway. Within 24 hours, Silliman's iPod was back.
In an increasingly cynical world, there are still places where people try to do the right thing.
Big Easy may face showdown over Internet
A showdown may be looming over a free wireless Internet network that New Orleans set up to boost recovery after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the city.
Calling the network vital to the city's economic comeback, New Orleans technology chief Greg Meffert is vowing to keep the system running as is, even if it means breaking a state law that permits its full operation only during emergencies.
He says he's ready to go to court, if necessary.
"If you can get to the Net, you can do business," Meffert said.
The system, established with $1-million (U.S.) in donated equipment, made its debut last fall in the wake of the hurricane disaster. It's the first free wireless Internet network owned and run by a major city.
Spyware For The Masses
One of the great things about Steve Jobs is what comes out of his mouth.
The CEO of Apple Computer is a master of hype, hyperbole and the catchy phrase. Even when he's trying to talk normally, brilliant verbiage comes tumbling out.
Here's a selection of some of the most insanely great things the man has said, organized by topic: innovation and design, fixing Apple, his greatest sales pitches, life's lessons, taking the fight to the enemy and Pixar.
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Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Update PCIN.net home page with "Top 10 Most Popular..." features
http://PCIN.net/Microsoft Digital Image Suite Plus Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/msdimagesuiteplus.phpOmega One Software Battery Pack Pro 2.1 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/bpp2.phpMakayama Interactive DVD to Pocket PC 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/dvd2ppc3.phpAdobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elements40.php
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Saturation
Most digital cameras have settings that affect how the camera renders colour in the final image. One such setting is saturation. Saturation refers to the amount of grey in a colour. The more grey in the colours, the less saturated and the the less vivid the colour appears.More grey in a colour increases saturation and makes the colours appear more vivid. Changes in saturation should not affect the hue of the colours though.
Adjusting saturation in your camera can help improve your photos too. Increasing saturation will make your colour more intense. Decreasing saturation will provide you with more subdued colours. Over saturation of colour will often create an image with unnatural looking colours while complete desaturation will produce a black and white image.
A few situations I encounter where I like to adjust saturation are when shooting nature or when shooting portraits. I find when shooting nature scenes, increasing the saturation a little gives a little more snap to colours and creates a punchier, more vibrant, more dramatic photo. When shooting portraits, I like to decrease my saturation a little bit. Too much saturation often creates unnatural looking skin tones that are too red. These of course are both guidelines. Traditional film photographers often picked their film based on the saturation of the film. Fuji Velvia is one of the most widely used films for nature photography because of it's high saturation, while portrait photographers like to shoot with a less saturated film such as Kodak Portra
This is another spot where digital photographers have an advantage over film photographers. They have the ability to adjust saturation on a shot by shot basis whereas film photographers have to shoot an entire role of the same film type. Another use of saturation is through selective saturation or desaturation in your photo editing software. With selective saturation, you can create a black and white image with just a small colour portion, or a colour image with selections in black and white.
Leave a comment about this week's Digital Photography Tip of the Week..
The digital photography tip of the week is written by the PCIN Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Chris is a long time photographer and is currently the vice-president of the Niagara Falls Camera Club. You can see more of his photography at his Photo of the Day website.
If you have a tip to send Chris, or a question about digital photography he can address in the newsletter, send it to chris@pcin.net.
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Medcyclopaedia.com
Medcyclopaedia.com is a text, media and feature rich web site addressing the information needs of medical professionals around the globe. Here, among other high quality pieces of content, you will find the complete on-line edition of the Encyclopaedia of Medical Imaging, the complete on-line edition of A Global Textbook of Radiology, as well as several hundred carefully chosen chapters from the ESNR CD-ROM series.It's kind of technical, but interesting. Check it out...
Helexis Ads Filter
I received this press release recently:We are glad to announce the release of our new product: Ads Filter - the powerful content/banner filter designed for MS Internet Explorer. It allows user to block unwanted adverts and other annoying content while browsing with IE. The Ads Filter prevents downloading tons of ads, saves your internet bandwidth and improves the page load time. Ads Filter shrinks wasted space earlier used by adverts for more informative page look and less scrolling. Our program keeps pages always clean, small and more informative. See more information at http://www.adsfilter.com/en
VirusCop Version 2.0 Released
I received this press release the other day:CyberMatrix Corporation has released version 2.00 of VirusCop. VirusCop is a freeware Windows program for reporting e-mail virus spam, Usenet spam, erroneous e-mail bounces and other spam. This latest release contains several important new features. There is now an automatic bulk reporting feature. This feature allows you to save many spam messages to a folder. The program will then automatically send complaint reports to the Internet Service Providers of the spam senders. VirusCop works in conjunction with SpamAssassin, automatically removing SpamAssassin headers before reporting. Spam that cannot be reported can be automatically forwarded to another spam reporting service such as SpamCop. VirusCop allows you to paste in the headers from spam and the relevant ISP e-mail contacts. If you prefer, VirusCop can even automatically find the email complaint contacts for you. The included complaint messages can be edited to suit your particular tastes. Multiple SpamCop reporting links can be conveniently launched from the VirusCop reporting window.Check it out on the CyberMatrix web site...
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Both of us have other sites other than PCIN.net. These are all sites that we are actively involved in (they aren't client sites). Don't forget to check them out from time to time for updates:
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PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying the tips in this newsletter.
Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2006, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
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