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Issue 492- March 19, 2008

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2008
==== 1358 Subscribers in 44 Countries ====

Welcome to the 492nd 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

With St. Patrick's Day past us now, the shamrock shake at McDonald's is gone. I think Lisa is glad to see it go. I think she ended up having more than she expected.

Chris is on vacation this week, so there is no Digital Photography Tip of the Week. You can view former tips on the PCIN.net Update blog in the Digital Photography Tips category.

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

News Highlights

Polaroid's entrepreneurial legacy

The Boston Globe has a great article about an offshoot of Polaroid called Zink Imaging that has made a portable, colour thermal printer. Along with the article, there is a great video showing it in action.

Zink has the closest connections. As Polaroid was sliding into bankruptcy in 2001, the company was trying to figure out what to do with a printing technology it had developed that doesn't rely on ink, but instead uses a patented type of crystal that changes color in response to heat. Paper coated with Zink's crystals can produce full-color photos when exposed to just the right pulses of heat. The project was nearly killed as Polaroid stumbled through its bankruptcy proceedings, but Zink got a reprieve and was spun out as an independent company in 2005.

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Forgive us, father; we'd rather go online

If you can pay for your bills online; why not pay for your sins?
Already a repository for too much information from bloggers divulging their every intimate thought, the Web recently extended its reach into territory the church once dominated.
Tens of thousands of the guilty among us are visiting confessional booths at ivescrewedup.com, mysecret.tv and dailyconfessions.com and unburdening themselves anonymously.
As priests report a steady decline in sinners showing up to confess in person, according to a Georgetown University study, and parishes across America staff makeshift confessionals in malls with rotating priests, the guilty are repenting online.

Read the CNN article...
Leave a comment...

Microsoft Building Searched By Feds Investigating High-Priced Hookers

Federal investigators executed a search warrant at Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s Mountain View, Calif., offices earlier this month as part of an investigation into a high-priced call girl ring similar to the one used by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Court records show that that an Internal Revenue Service agent carried out the search order at Building 4 of Microsoft's Mountain View campus on March 4.
Lead investigator, IRS special agent Anthony Romero, was seeking the Microsoft Hotmail account records of a woman accused of involvement in a pricey escort service operating out of Denver, Colo. Records show that Romero seized from Microsoft more than 3,000 files of "preserved data" from the account of Kitty_Crimson@hotmail.com.

Read the InformationWeek article...
Leave a comment...

Bored with your life? Bid on this guy's

A painful breakup with his wife has prompted a man to put his entire life - his house, his car, his job, even his friends - up for sale online in an effort to start over.
Ian Usher, a British immigrant to Australia, said Tuesday he would auction everything he owns and more on e-Bay starting June 22.
"On the day it's all sold and settled, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all," Usher says on his Web site.

Read the MSNBC article...
Leave a comment...

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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

72 Tips for Safer Computing

PC Magazine has a nice collection of tips (72 of them) for "Safer Computing":

You might wonder if it's even possible to have a safe computing experience in this day and age, beyond unplugging your broadband connection and never installing any software. Of course it's possible, but it will take some work on your part. You need to install tools to protect yourself, learn good practices, and most important: Exercise common sense. Here's what you need to do, from the bare minimum on up.

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Yet Another 8 Absolutely Cool, Totally Free Utilities

The March issue of Windows IT Pro magazine has an article called Yet Another 8 Absolutely Cool, Totally Free Utilities where they highlight some free utilities. You can read the first couple of paragraphs for free, but you need to be a subscriber to see it all. However, the free tools mentioned in the article are linked to in the sidebar that everyone can see. You may not be able to read the entire article, but you can certainly look into the utilities yourself. They highlight CamStudio, CDBurnerXP, Comodo Firewall Pro, DriveImage XML, GParted LiveCD, JkDefrag, PageDefrag, and TestDisk. You can also click through to other articles in the series. Again, you can't read the article if you're not a subscriber, but you can follow the links to the programs in the sidebar and read up about them yourself.

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Recipe Analyzer

recipe_analyzer.gif

Dietitians of Canada is what you would expect it to be, the professional association for Dietitians in Canada. They call themselves "the most trusted source of information on food and nutrition for Canadians." Their web site has a neat Recipe Analyzer tool:

Use this tool to find out the nutrients in your favourite recipes, and see how many Food Guide Servings your recipe provides. You will also find ingredient substitution tips that you can try to make your recipes healthier (e.g. lower in calories, fat, sugar or salt). You can also compare your new recipe to your original recipe to see the difference.

A quick search shows that there are several such services out there. I haven't compared them, but I'm sure you'll find one you like.

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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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