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Issue 419 - October 25, 2006

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
==== 1540 Subscribers in 50 Countries ====

Welcome to the 419th 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.

Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php

CONTENTS

Opening Thoughts

My vacation is over. Boy, do I ever wish I was independently wealthy :-)

To make up for the lack of any content last week, this week's PCIN is longer than normal. The next issue should be back to normal.

One last thing... A while ago I received this email from a regular visitor:

Question which should be of concern to many of your readers.
As you know, Microsoft dumped support on w98 and others...which then caused ZoneAlarm to dump their support.
Therefore, which free (preferable) firewall do you guys recommend for w98?

Any thoughts?

Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net

The NEWS

iPod at 5: The little gadget that could

The Macintosh may be the soul of Apple Computer, but the iPod is its wallet.
Five years ago, the Silicon Valley icon reported quarterly revenues of $1.45 billion, down 22 percent. Profits were cut in half, and some wondered if Apple would forever suffer at the hands of low-cost PC competitors like Dell.
Apple fans needn't have fretted, because six days later on Oct. 23, 2001, Apple unveiled the iPod, and its fortunes along with those of the music industry dramatically changed.
Spin forward five years. The company said Wednesday that it shipped 8.7 million iPods during its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30. In fact, Apple's $1.6 billion from iPod sales in the quarter was more than it generated as an entire company back in October 2001. Those iPod sales were also 35 percent more than the same period last year and a lot more than cautious financial analysts were expecting.
It's hard to overstate the impact of the iPod on the computer, consumer electronics and music industries since it was introduced in 2001.

Read the TechRepublic article...
Leave a comment...

Video-hungry users could push Net to brink: Nortel

Soaring demand for games, video and music will stretch the Internet to its limits, Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. says, and it expects service providers will make big investments in its technology to avoid a crunch.
But the telecom equipment giant, still struggling to turn its fortunes round after the tech bubble burst, is treading carefully as it prepares for what it sees as a looming buildout of capacity by telecommunications companies.
Massive overbuild of Internet bandwidth capacity helped lead to the meltdown six years ago, and the company says it doesn't want things to go wrong again...
But perhaps ironically, Roese also believes the capacity bubble helped service providers cope with the surge in demand for bandwidth that came with the advent of online video Web sites like YouTube.com.
"The only reason YouTube didn't destroy the Internet is because there was a bit of a bubble in terms of excess capacity out there," Roese said. "But, boy, don't take that for granted."

Read the Reuters article...
Leave a comment...

The Web According to Ballmer

Even the people running the richest tech companies are awestruck by Web 2.0 valuations. Microsoft boss Steven Ballmer, who sat down with BusinessWeek editors and writers hours before Google finalized its $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, questioned how the online video service could fetch so much. He also talked about Microsoft's video-game and digital music business, as well as the new breed of competition the company faces. Here's an edited transcript of the conversation.

Read the BusinessWeek article...
Leave a comment...

US shows signs of net addiction

More than one in eight adults in the US show signs of being addicted to the internet, a study has shown.
"Addicts" showed signs of compulsive internet use, habitually checking e-mail, websites and chat rooms.
More than 8% of the 2,513 respondents to the Stanford University phone survey said they hid their use from partners.

Read the BBC article...
Leave a comment...

Other News postings from the PCIN.net Update blog

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Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Camera Motion: Using it to Your Advantage: Digital Photography Tip of the Week

As I have mentioned several times before, I have been a member of my local camera club for about 8 years. Camera clubs typically look for technically perfect shots with absolutely sharp, critical focus. However, when you start to look around at fine art photography, you will find that those same attributes aren't necessarily as important.

One method you can use to add a little creative flair to your image is to incorporate camera movement into your photographs. The key to making this technique work is to have enough movement that the effect is obvious. Too little and the photo will simply look like an accident.

Longer shutter speeds are necessary in order to have enough time to create the movement. To achieve these longer shutter speeds, you may have to lower your ISO and shoot at a smaller aperture, which will in turn let less light into through lens, causing the shutter to stay open longer.

Below are a few examples of camera motion.

motion1.jpg motion2.jpg

The first image does not show enough camera movement to make the process work, it really looks more like accidental camera shake, not the intended camera motion. The second image however does show the intended camera motion. In this case, I moved the camera in a slight arc to achieve this look. The various colours begun to form a pattern and merge together to form an abstract image as the image begins to become unrecognizable. Exposure time was about 1/4 second.

Another form of camera motion is panning. Panning is the process of moving your camera horizontally but keeping it vertically still, or the reverse. This is useful in capturing a moving subject. Again, you want to use a long enough shutter speed that will convey motion. The big trick with panning is to follow the subject at the same speed of it's motion so that the subject is stationary in your viewfinder and continue the panning motion during the photograph as well. If the camera moves vertically on a horizontal pan (or horizontally on a vertical pan) the effect will not be as good. This photo of a van is an example of how panning can add motion to an otherwise static image.

motion4.jpg

Note: To use this technique you will need to turn off your Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction feature on your camera if it is so equipped, or in the event of panning, either turn the feature off or set it to a panning mode.

Photography is a static medium, but it does not have to feel static. By utilizing such techniques as panning and moving the camera, you can create interesting photographs that convey motion, add emphasis or obscure reality. This type of photography does not interest everyone, but it can be fun to do.

If you are in the Southern Ontario or Western New York area on November 18, the Niagara Frontier Regional Camera Clubs (to which I also belong) will be hosting a one day seminar featuring Rick Sammon, author of many books and magazine articles. Full details can be viewed at the NFRCC site: http://nfrcc.org/FallSeminar2006.php.

Next week I will talk about about the Orton Process and how you can mimic that in Photoshop.

Until next week, happy shooting.

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 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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PCIN.net UPDATE

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.php

Omega One Software Battery Pack Pro 2.1 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/bpp2.php

Makayama Interactive DVD to Pocket PC 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/dvd2ppc3.php

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elements40.php

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THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF

Receive RSS via email

RSS or blog feeds are becoming increasingly popular. Almost all of the major online email providers also have online feed readers. However, if you already use an email client (like Outlook Express), then you may not want to install more software in order to read the feeds. There are several services that will send the blog feeds to an email address. The latest issue of the LangaList newsletter mentions this:

A smattering of free, Web-based services will send any RSS feed to you via e-mail. You provide only the URL for the RSS feed of your choice and your e-mail address. Once you provide that information, they'll send you a confirmation e-mail requesting that you click on a link. After that, you'll get updates as soon as new items are posted.

There are several such services available. Here are three of the better known offerings:

R|Mail
http://www.r-mail.org/

RSSFWD
http://rssfwd.com

Feedblitz
https://www.feedblitz.com

I haven't tried these services, but thought I'd pass the information along.

Leave a comment...

SpeedUpMyPC version 3.0 has been released

I received an email this week from Uniblue about their recent release of SpeedUpMyPC v3.0:

You might want to tell your audience about the release of SpeedUpMyPC v3.0 which dramatically increases system efficiency and boosts launch applications. Version 3.0 is easy to use with single-click navigation and has several new clean-up features.

You can take a look at the full Press Release: http://www.liutilities.com/news/pressrelease/release23/

I haven't reviewed or even tried the product, but I thought I'd pass it along.

Leave a comment...

Upgrade to Print2PDF 6.0

I've reviewed several Software602 software packages in the past, but nothing recently. They keep churning out new updates, and they have released a new version of Print2PDF:

Print2PDF 6.0 was introduced on September 14, 2006. This new version features a completely redesigned conversion engine for increased performance, Microsoft Office 2007 file support, AutoCAD DWF file support, integrated SMTP client and more.

Here are a few of the new features available in Print2PDF 6.0:

* Embedded File Attachment Support
* Rotation and Optimization Support
* Improved Microsoft Word Macro
* Enhanced Image to PDF Conversion
* and much more...

Learn more about Print2PDF 6.0, download the trial or view the demo gallery, here:

http://www.software602.com/products/print2pdf/

I haven't reviewed a version of a product in years, but I thought I'd still pass the information along.

Leave a comment...

Freeserve founder launches 'Browzar'

Regular reader Shawn tipped me off to this...

By Anne Morris, Total Telecom
30 August 2006
New free browser promises to keep your Internet search habits secret.
A new free Web browser has been launched that claims it will enable people to surf the Internet without fear that their information and search habits will be collected and stored.

Dubbed "Browzar" the new browser, which was created by one of the founders of U.K. ISP Freeserve Ajaz Ahmed, does not store cookies, create a search history, or use "auto-complete" for search terms.

But since Web users would still want to be able to store cookies and create caches, Browzar is clearly positioning itself as a "complementary" solution to the more standard browsers such as Netscape, Explorer and Firefox. Basically, if you want to carry out a search and don't want to leave a trail for whatever reason, then Browzar promises to keep your most sensitive secrets secret - such as your latest peculiar hobby, financial situation or pending job move.

Web users and privacy advocates may find such claims compelling given the increasing number of stories about personal search history "accidentally" being published, as happened recently to thousands of AOL subscribers.

However, it seems those who use the Internet for illegal purposes can still be tracked using "standard" law enforcement methods, and is also only available for Windows operating systems. Those with Apple Macs will have to wait, as will Linux users.

The browser can downloaded at www.browzar.com

Leave a comment...

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PCIN.net AFFILIATED SITES

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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DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF

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.

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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.

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