ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2007
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Welcome to the 441st 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
After a wonderful week of vacation, I'm back to my regular routine, so the blog and the newsletter are back to normal.
This is a great time of year. All the snow is gone, and the temperatures during the day have been around 10° C (50° F). We even had a day last week that was over 20° C (about 70° F). Spring is in the air!
Over the Christmas holidays we had put a TV in our living room (rather than in the basement only) and we ended up watching too much TV. We needed to replace the TV, and decided not to so that we wouldn't watch so much TV. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had bought my sister's laptop off of her. Well, pretty much all it's been used for is for watching movies in the living room. I took it to work the first week I had it to show Chris, and during the day my son Matthew (he's 2 ½) asked why daddy took the TV to work! Maybe we're watching too much again...
Note: I'm sending this out with an updated version of the mailing list software. Hopefully there are no issues.
Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net
Web traffic shows Shutdown Day organizers shot down
The world was asked to shut down its computers Saturday. The world apparently didn't listen.
At least that's what can be gathered from stats offered on the official Shutdown Day website, which showed no noticeable decline in global Internet traffic.
Even so, the Montreal-based site says 86 per cent of people who responded indicated they could go without a computer for one day.It's interesting... I had forgotten about Shutdown Day, and when I did a search on Google News, there were lots of articles leading up to Saturday, but none about the results. This is the only one I've seen.
E-mail users want more control of inboxes: survey
Bombarded by spam, e-mail users are eager for tools like a "report fraud" button that would help weed out unwanted messages that litter inboxes, according to a survey by the Email Sender and Provider Coalition released on Tuesday.
More than 80 percent of e-mailers already use tools such as "report spam" and the "unsubscribe" button to manage their in-boxes, the survey found.
Computer error rocks Alaska's fund
Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroy hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disc drive containing an account worth $38 billion. That may be how a computer technician at the Alaska Department of Revenue feels after deleting applicant information for an oil-funded sales account -- one of state residents' biggest perks. While reformatting the disk drive during a routine maintenance check, the technician mistakenly reformatted the back up drive as well and, suddenly, all the data disappeared.
Sexy Machines -- Yeah Baby!
Automaker BMW schooled Hewlett-Packard Co. in IT system design. Sun Microsystems Inc.'s co-founder and chief architect designs server boxes largely based on the stereo systems of his youth and wants his company to be more like Apple Inc. when it comes design innovation.
So, if you think it's all for technology's sake and there's no fluff when it comes to enterprise-class IT, think again. Vendors know that when it comes to big-ticket sales, basic psychology still applies.
You might even be surprised where the ideas for those LED-lit, honeycomb-vented, stylized aluminum boxes came from and just how much impact those slick designs have on your decision to fork out thousands of dollars on even the most expensive mainframes, servers and PCs. Even those flashy exterior lights on your hard disk drives have a measure of psychology behind them because manufacturers know certain bright colors evoke succinct messages in the mind of a techie.
Photographic Surprises in Spring - Digital Photography Tip of the Week
Today's photography tip is a short one. As Winter is turning to Spring (at least in the Northern Hemisphere where I am) there are many changes occurring around. The days are getting longer, birds are migrating, flowers are begging to sprout.
In the coming weeks, the first early wildflowers will begin to arrive, some already have. This is a great time of year to get out around your community, into local parks and nature areas and look for new growth and new life.
With a close and watchful eye you will find many wonderful photographic surprises awaiting you.
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:
Adobe 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/Microsoft Digital Image Suite Plus Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/msdimagesuiteplus.php
Vista on a stick: How to flash install your OS
From ComputerWorld:
In a world where there's too much to do -- and too little time to do it in -- we're always looking for shortcuts. So when we stumbled upon a blog entry by Kurt Shintaku over on Windows Live Spaces that promised to let us install Vista from a flash drive instead of an optical disc, there was certainly interest.
Why? Well, if we needed to install Vista on only one computer, it would be a case of "Who cares?" However, running down an aisle of 20 or 50 or 100 PCs with a flash drive in hand, pouring out data at 20MB/sec. - 25MB/sec. sure beats doing the same thing with a disc in hand and an optical drive pumping away at 16MB/sec. - 21MB/sec. Sure, it doesn't sound like much of a speed boost on paper, but when you start multiplying those small transfer rates by the length of each operation and then the number of repetitions, time can fly or it can crawl. The claim for the flash drive was that it soars, as much as 50% faster in some instances (assuming your PC's BIOS will let you boot from a USB device in the first place).
If that wasn't bait enough, fast 4GB flash drives aren't expensive, they can be recycled as Vista ReadyDrives when you're done, and best of all, the instructions for transferring our Vista disc to flash looked so easy a caveman could..., well you get the picture. There were only 10 steps:
100,000 free phone systems up for grabs
This is from a press release I received from 3CX:
3CX a developer of a software-based IP PBX for Windows, today announced that it will give away 100,000 free phone systems. Companies are encouraged to take advantage of this offer to experience first handedly the benefits of an IP PBX when compared with traditional proprietary hardware PBX.
3CX Phone System is a complete software-based office phone system that replaces a traditional hardware PBX. It liberates companies from cumbersome phone wiring and solves the management headaches associated with proprietary PBXs. Since 3CX Phone System is based on the open SIP standard it works with any SIP-based VOIP provider, VOIP gateway or phone. The product integrates easily with most business networks because it runs on Windows - no Linux experience required.
"IP PBX technology includes advanced communication features but also provides a significant dose of worry-free scalability and robustness that all enterprises seek. Our free phone system offer allows companies to familiarize themselves with the technology and to see for themselves that upgrading to an IP PBX, should be the obvious choice for any company," said Nick Galea, CEO 3CX.
Read the rest of the press release here...
How to surf anonymously without a trace
From ComputerWorld:
The punchline to an old cartoon is "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog," but these days, that's no longer true.
It's easier than ever for the government, Web sites and private businesses to track exactly what you do online, know where you've visited, and build up comprehensive profiles about your likes, dislikes and private habits.
And with the federal government increasingly demanding online records from sites such as Google and others, your online privacy is even more endangered.
But you don't need to be a victim. There are things you can do to keep your surfing habits anonymous and protect your online privacy. So read on to find out how to keep your privacy to yourself when you use the Internet, without spending a penny.
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 1998-2007, 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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