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Issue 437 - February 28, 2007

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2007
==== 1518 Subscribers in 49 Countries ====

Welcome to the 437th 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

I've been spending quite a bit of time at work lately working on making sure all of our systems are updated with a patch for the change in daylight savings time. What a pain! Microsoft only has a patch for XP SP2, and that only accounts for 20% of our computers, so there is a variety of other updates that have to be applied. And of course there are all the other devices that keep track of the date/time as well. It hasn't been difficult, just tedious. I have a few links below in the Tips and Other Stuff section.

I've had a 300MHz Dell OptiPlex (10GB hard drive, 256 MB RAM) sitting on my desk at home for a while. I was going to install a few games for Andrew, but I never did. Since I bought the laptop off of my sister, one of my other sisters doesn't have a computer at home to use, so I've cleaned it up and I'm giving it to her. It's not great, but it's better than nothing.

Lastly, speaking of family, Happy Birthday Dad!

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

News Highlights

Study - Virtual men are standoffish too

Males stand further away when talking to other males in the virtual world of Second Life and are less likely to keep eye contact, according to a study that shows at least one aspect of human behavior carries over into the virtual realm.
The study led by doctoral student Nick Yee at Stanford University found that male "avatars," or three-dimensional representations of Second Life players, stood on average 7.7 feet away from each other, compared to 6.9 feet for mixed-gender pairs - measured, of course, in the virtual scale of Second Life...
The results, published in the latest issue of the journal Cyberpsychology & Behavior, indicate that interaction in virtual environments, such as Second Life, "are governed by the same social norms as social interactions in the physical world," according to the authors.

Read the USA Today article...
Leave a comment...

MP3 Patents in Upheaval After Verdict

Microsoft was ordered by a federal jury yesterday to pay $1.52 billion in a patent dispute over the MP3 format, the technology at the heart of the digital music boom. If upheld on appeal, it would be the largest patent judgment on record.
The ruling, in Federal District Court in San Diego, was a victory for Alcatel-Lucent, the big networking equipment company. Its forebears include Bell Laboratories, which was involved in the development of MP3 almost two decades ago.
At issue is the way the Windows Media Player software from Microsoft plays audio files using MP3, the most common method of distributing music on the Internet. If the ruling stands, Apple and hundreds of other companies that make products that play MP3 files, including portable players, computers and software, could also face demands to pay royalties to Alcatel.

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

Settlement Lets Apple Use 'iPhone'

Apple and Cisco Systems have decided that a name is not worth fighting over.
On Wednesday, the companies settled their dispute over the iPhone trademark. Six weeks ago, Cisco filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco over Apple's planned use of the name for its much anticipated multimedia device, which combines the features of a mobile phone, an iPod and a BlackBerry.
Cisco claimed that it had owned the trademark since 2000 and was using it for a line of Internet-connected phones.
Wednesday night, in a short, ambiguously worded statement, the companies said they would dismiss all legal action against each other regarding the trademark and that Apple could use the name for its device, which it plans to start selling in June.

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

Seventy percent of websites are hackable

Businesses and non-commercial entities have much to consider when it comes to securing their web applications and the data they keep on customers and patrons. Acunetix, a leading vendor of web application security solutions, today revealed that on average 70% of websites are at serious and immediate risk of being hacked...
70% of the websites scanned were found to contain high or medium vulnerabilities. There is an extremely high probability of these vulnerabilities being discovered and manipulated by hackers to steal the sensitive data these organizations store.

Read the Acunetix press release...
Leave a comment...

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Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Turn off your flash - Digital Photography Tip of the Week

I know I mentioned last week I will discuss layer masks this week but time has not been on my side so will hold off until next week for that topic when I can give it the time it needs to be properly explained. This week, I want to offer a brief suggestion for point and shoot digital photographers.

Turn off your flash.

Available light photography can produce beautiful images even when they may not be technically perfect. If you place your camera on a tripod and turn your flash off, you can obtain properly exposed available light images without camera motion that is normally associated with longer shutter speeds. During the day, proper camera technique can yield steady pictures without a tripod of flash. At night, use of a flash in low light usually produces 'deer in headlights' images that have a bright subject with a darkness all around. Using the longer shutter speed of the camera with the flash turned off will evenly exposed both the foreground and background while allowing all the colour of the surrounding area to expose themselves in your images. As with so many photographic techniques, this requires a little practice, but who can complain about having a reason to get out and shoot!

Remember, lightweight tripods can be purchased inexpensively that are well suited for point and shoot digital cameras and having one opens up a world of possibilities. Read your manual to find out how to turn the flash off on 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.

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PCIN.net Site Update

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.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/

Microsoft Digital Image Suite Plus Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/msdimagesuiteplus.php

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Tips and Other Stuff

RipIt4Me

ripit4me_logo.gif

RipIt4Me is a freeware utility that helps you backup your copy protected DVDs.

Recently released DVDs are now very often equipped with stronger copy protections - such as ARccOS™ and RipGuard DVD. Programs like DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter cannot handle these types of discs.

It is similar to other programs I have mentioned previously that allow you to backup your DVDs.

Leave a comment...

Daylight Savings Time changes

As you are probably aware of by now, the daylight savings time rules are changing this year. Instead of happening the first Sunday of April and ending the last Sunday in October, it is now going to start the second Sunday of March (March 11 this year) and ending the first Sunday in November (November 4 this year). Only the most recent operating systems have the new change built-in, so there are patches required. Microsoft has official patches for XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1. Anything below that (Windows XP SP1, Windows 2000, Windows 98, ME) have to patched manually. If you have a Windows XP SP2 computer at home, just download the update and install it. If you look after older computers, then here are some resources that you might find useful:

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 1998-2007, 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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