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.
Leave a comment...
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.
Leave a comment...
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.
Leave a comment...
Recipe Analyzer
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.
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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