ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2008
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Welcome to the 486th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly of news highlights 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
Well, my vacation was fantastic! We did very little that was of any significance, but it sure was relaxing. My wife always starts to get a little frazzled near the end of my time off, as I mess up whatever routines she has around the house. I'm sure she was still happy to have me home though.
We take for granted how quiet computers are these days. Today at work I took apart an old computer to access the hard drive. I think it was a 1 GB hard drive, and it was the loudest, clunkiest sounding thing I've ever heard. It's hard to believe we used to have such loud systems and it never bothered anyone. These days, if I hear my computer at all (fans, vibrations, etc), it bothers me.
Last week I commented on playing some Nintendo games online. Well, I beat this one level of Tetris, so now I actually feel like I can get away from the thing :-)
Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net
Microsoft tables $44.6-billion offer for Yahoo
Microsoft Corp. revealed plans for a surprise $44.6-billion (U.S.) cash and stock takeover offer for struggling Internet search pioneer Yahoo! Inc., in a move that would not only dramatically increase its share of the global Web search business but would have serious implications for top dog Google Inc.
The world's largest software company made the announcement Friday morning after sending a letter to the Yahoo board of directors dated Jan. 31. Microsoft is offering Yahoo shareholders $31 per share for all outstanding share of Yahoo! common stock, which represents a 62 per cent premium above the price that Yahoo! shares closed at last night.
Yahoo confirmed that it had received the offer and said its board would consider the deal.
Analyzing the Internet Collapse
When the Internet suddenly collapsed early last Wednesday across the Middle East and into India, it provided a stark reminder of how the Net's virtual spaces can still be held hostage to real-world events.
Almost simultaneously, two separate undersea fiber-optic cables connecting Europe with Egypt, and eventually with the Middle East and India, were cut. The precise cause remains unknown: experts initially said that ships' anchors, dragged by stormy weather across the sea floor, were the most likely culprit, but Egyptian authorities have said that no ships were in the region.
Whatever the cause, the effects were immediate.
Where's your Domino's pizza? Track it online
After ordering pizza for the gang on Super Bowl Sunday, many folks will be able to go online and track the progress of their pies.
Domino's, the pizza-delivery kingpin, on Wednesday will unveil a technology, Pizza Tracker, that lets customers literally track their pizza from the moment they place the order until it leaves the store en route to them. What's more, Domino's vows that its online tracking system - for phone or online orders - is accurate to within 40 seconds.
The LAN turns 30, but will it reach 40?
LAN technology recently passed a milestone -- it's been around for 30 years, some of them tumultuous. But while the LAN seems ubiquitous now, there are those who think its future may be more troubled than its past.
"Comparing the present environment to our original vision, the temptation is huge to say that we foresaw all this," commented Bob Metcalfe, one of the inventors of Ethernet (by far the best-selling LAN protocol) and now a general partner at Polaris Venture Partners in Waltham, Mass. "But I will resist and say, 'duh, wow, look what happened.'"
Identify Your Camera
Several of my blog feeds this week featured a story of how a couple in New York did some very impressive work and was able to track down the owner of a found camera based upon images contained within the camera.
Losing your camera is of course one of every photographer's nightmares and we cannot all count on the great detective skills of those who find a lost camera. A suggestion was made over at photoborg.org to label your camera with your email address someplace unobtrusive such as the memory card door.
There is another option yet. Many cameras allow you to set owner information within the camera itself. The camera will then add this information on to every photo taken afterward as part of the EXIF information for the photograph. For those of you who have never used the software included in your camera, this might be a great reason to do it now. I typically include my name, email and website address in my camera EXIF information.
Read you manual and find out if you can embed owner information in your camera.
Until next time, happy shooting.
Leave a comment on 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.
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Paragon Software Group Hard Disk Manager 2008
http://PCIN.net/help/software/paragonhdm2008.phpAdobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/photoshopEL5_Premiere3.phpExpoDisc White Balance Filter Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/expodisc.phpParagon Software Group Partition Manager 8.0 Professional Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ppm8.phpUpdate PCIN.net home page with "Top 10 Most Popular..." features
http://PCIN.net/
Flash Earth ... satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash
I'm sure you are all familiar with the various satellite image services out there. Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and others have amazing aerial views of land. Someone recently shared with a cool link with me. If you visit FlashEarth.com you will find a site that focuses on the images themselves, and lets you easily switch between the different mappings services.
Looking at this screen capture (which isn't the best since it is so small), you can see a picture of Niagara Falls. The bottom right corner has a search field. The top right corner has a slider where you can zoom in and out. The top left corner contains a list of the different mapping services. This is the cool part. This picture was from Google Maps. All you have to do is click on Microsoft Virtual Earth and the exact same location will be loaded from that site. You don't have to navigate away to the site. Just click on the different service and it will load in the same window. This lets you easily compare the maps and choose the one that has the best view.
test everything - 100+ tools in one!
Download Squad covered this a while ago...
Serving as a webmaster's Swiss Army knife, Test Everything! allows you to run a bunch of different tests on your website and domain name, ranging from Alexa traffic details to CSS validation. To use, simply type in your website's URL, select a category, and check the boxes next to the tests you want to run. When you've selected all of your tests, click the "Test website!" button and wait for your test results to be generated. The Test Everything! site will then return a helpful aggregation of links to each of the specific tests you chose.
Paragon Software releases Partition Manager 9
A week or two ago I received information from Paragon Software about their latest version of Partition Manager, which I have reviewed in the past:
I'd like to let you know about new Paragon Partition Manager 9.0.
The product was designed to be the safest and most reliable partitioning software available. This new version includes improved Vista compatibility, Paragon boot manager, advanced recovery options and data loss prevention tools.
You can find more information here: www.partition-manager.com
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:
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 1998-2008, 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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