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Issue 484 - January 23, 2008

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2008
==== 1387 Subscribers in 44 Countries ====

Welcome to the 484th 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

Contents

Opening Thoughts

 

Lisa and I are most likely getting a newer minivan soon. We currently have a 14-year-old van that is beginning to look and run like a 14-year-old minivan. We've been out and done some test drives, and are pretty sure we know what we're going to get. Stay tuned...

When I'm done work tomorrow I'm off on vacation. We have nothing exciting planned, but it'll be nice to home with Lisa and the kids. I'm sure we'll find some fun things to do while I'm off.

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

News Highlights

What Recession? PC Sales Stay Strong

The economy may be teetering, but the personal computer business is still nimbly running at full speed, according to the tally of sales in the fourth quarter of 2007 from the International Data Corporation. Worldwide, 77.3 million PCs were sold in the quarter, up 15.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006. That represents almost double the growth rate of 2005 to 2006.
For the year, IDC said, 297 million PCs were shipped, an increase of 14.3 percent over 2006.

Read the New York Times article...
Leave a comment...

IP addresses are private: EU

IP addresses, string of numbers that identify computers on the Internet, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union's group of data privacy regulators said Monday.
Germany's data protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, leads the EU group preparing a report on how well the privacy policies of Internet search engines operated by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others comply with EU privacy law.
He told a European Parliament hearing on online data protection that when someone is identified by an IP, or Internet protocol, address "then it has to be regarded as personal data."

Read the Globe and Mail article...
Leave a comment...

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Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Rear Curtain Sync

Leanne, my wife, recently wanted to go rollerskating. There is a rollerskating rink about a 30 minute drive away, but we had never been. While looking up information, I noticed the following photo on one of the pages and new what my next tip would be about. Rear or 2nd curtain sync.

front curtain sync example
The original and larger versions may be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7199627@N03/2108070562/ and is from flickr.com user l3xh2k.

I think it is an interesting photo that does a great job of depicting motion, though changing one setting on the camera could have made it a much stronger photograph. This photo is being illuminated with two light sources, the ambient light from the roller rink and the flash from the photographer's camera. The racers are moving fast enough that the 1/60 second exposure shows some motion within the frame. The flash has provided most of the exposure within the image which has provided a sharp image of the racers, effectively stopping their motion. In this image, the flash fired at the beginning of the exposure, front curtain sync. The results of first (or front) curtain sync are a static image with motion trails flowing in front of the subject. This of course is a little distracting.

Now let's consider a similar photo.

rear curtain sync example
This photo and larger versions may be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/photos-martha/422029906/ and is from flicker user photos-martha.

In this photograph, the image is again lit by two sources, the ambient light of the roller rink and the light of the flash. The difference is that in this photo, the flash was fired at the end of the exposure. Using 2nd (or rear) curtain sync this way causes the motion blur of your subject to appear behind the sharp area of the subject in the photograph and enhances the effect of the motion.

In both of these images, the effects could have been exaggerated by using an even longer shutter speed.

When I spoke to a few of my photographer friends about front and rear curtain sync, we could not come up with a good example of when you might wish to use front curtain sync. The best answer I could come up with was to use front curtain sync when you are trying to capture a specific point in time and rear curtain sync every other time. In other words, if you are capturing a subject that requires a highly critical point in time capture, then front curtain sync would be your best best as the flash will fire as soon as the exposure begins. Any other time you are going to get a more pleasing image with rear curtain sync. Read your manual to find out how to enable this feature with your camera.

Another note to consider, if your shutter speed during exposure is sufficiently fast enough to stop motion on it's own, then neither front or rear curtain sync will make a difference either way.

I would like to thank flickr users l3xh2k and photos-martha for the use of their images with this tip. If you have a question about photography or a subject you would like to see me cover, please leave a comment after the tip.

A few previous tips on using flash are:
Flash to Subject Distance - Controlling Light
Turn Off Your Flash
External Flash

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.

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PCIN.net Site Update

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.php

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/photoshopEL5_Premiere3.php

ExpoDisc White Balance Filter Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/expodisc.php

Paragon Software Group Partition Manager 8.0 Professional Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ppm8.php

Update PCIN.net home page with "Top 10 Most Popular..." features
http://PCIN.net/

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Tips and Other Stuff

PDFHammer: Merge and Edit PDFs Online

MakeUseOf.com had a posting recently about PDFHammer, yet another PDF utility. The benefit of this one is that it is all online.

PDFHammer is a web-based application that allows you to merge and rearrange PDF documents online. It's free, extremely easy-to-use and runs directly from your browser. You don't have to register either, just upload PDF files and start arranging the pages in any order you want. Once finished, use the "Export Final PDF" button to download ready PDF file to your PC.

You can see a nice screenshot of PDFHammer on the MakeUseOf.com site, or you can visit the PDFHammer web site directly.

Leave a comment...

10 Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You

MSN Tech & Gadgets has published a Wall Street Journal article about getting around some restrictions that an IT department might be trying to enforce.

Here, then, are the 10 secrets your IT department doesn't want you to know, the risks you'll face if you use them -- and tips about how to keep yourself (and your job) safe while you're at it.

It mentions sending large files via email, getting to blocked web sites, and more.

Leave a comment...

Save Windows XP

InfoWorld has started a campaign to Save Windows XP:

Microsoft plans to end most sales of Windows XP on June 30, despite a deep reluctance by many business and individuals about moving to Vista. InfoWorld believes such an expensive, time-consuming shift with problematic benefits should not be forced on Windows users, so we have decided to rally XP users to demand that XP be kept available.

The web site has a countdown clock as well as a petition which as of the time of this posting, has over 30,000 people who have "signed" it. If you love Windows XP and would like to stay around a while longer, then support the campaign.

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 1998-2008, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.

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