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Issue 433 - January 31, 2007

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
==== 1511 Subscribers in 49 Countries ====

Welcome to the 433rd 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

My grandmother's 90th birthday party and open house went well. Lots of people showed up, some of whom came a long way to see her. She seemed very happy!

Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 have now launched. I don't have a copy of either, but I'm sure sometime in the next few months I'll have a chance to try them out. Chris got a free copy of Office 2007 today. He had previously viewed a few webcasts and "earned" a copy. He got a serial number and has to download the software.

Happy Groundhog Day!

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

News Highlights

China's Hu Vows to "Purify" Internet

Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao has vowed to "purify" the Internet, state media reported on Wednesday, describing a top-level meeting that discussed ways to master the country's sprawling, unruly online population.
Hu made the comments as the ruling party's Politburo - its 24-member leading council - was studying China's Internet, which claimed 137 million registered users at the end of 2006.
Hu, a strait-laced communist with little sympathy for cultural relaxation, did not directly mention censorship.

Read the eWeek article...
Leave a comment...

Criminals 'may overwhelm the web'

Criminals controlling millions of personal computers are threatening the internet's future, experts have warned.
Up to a quarter of computers on the net may be used by cyber criminals in so-called botnets, said Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet.
Technology writer John Markoff said: "It's as bad as you can imagine, it puts the whole internet at risk."
The panel of leading experts was discussing the future of the internet at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Read the BBC News article...
Leave a comment...

Survey: Nobody Really Cares that Big Brother Is Watching

Despite employer policies, threats and monitoring, the vast majority of workers still use company technology for personal use, according to a survey commissioned by Lawyers.com, released Jan. 24.
Though nearly one-half (45 percent) of respondents reported that they been explicitly informed by superiors that their technology usage at work is monitored, most still use it for personal tasks, the survey found.

Read the eWeek article...
Leave a comment...

Inside the Lucasfilm data center

Given the cult-film status of 1971's THX 1138 in the George Lucas universe, it should come as little surprise that the total capacity of Lucasfilm's giant data center is 11.38 petabits per second.
Granted, that number--which represents the value one would get by adding up the bandwidth capacity of all the company's 1 gigabit per second desktop machines and its 10-gbps backbone--is purely theoretical. But in an environment like Lucasfilm, which is celebrating four Oscar nominations this week, and where self-referential history is a big parlor game, numbers like that are nothing to be messed with.

Read the TechRepublic article...
Leave a comment...

Tech titans draw fire on U.S. expansions

Google, Dell and Advanced Micro Devices are discovering that building new facilities in the USA can generate almost as much controversy as sending jobs overseas.
Google hopes to open a computer data center in Lenoir, N.C., in about a year. It will employ 75 to 125 people and could expand later.
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said the deal would reinvigorate the area. But former state judge Robert Orr questions the perks state and local officials used to woo Google. The company is getting grants and tax cuts that could be worth $100 million over 30 years. Such perks are common economic development tools. But they force smaller businesses to bear the brunt of state tax bills, and they take money from tight local budgets, Orr says.
"The market capitalization for Google is $150 billion," he says. "Why does a small rural county have to subsidize them?"

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

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Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Review your photographs - Digital Photography Tip of the Week

The very first tip I wrote for the Digital Photography Tip of the Week was to not delete you images.This week I am going to ask you to review the photographs that hopefully you have not deleted.

While I generally feel that everyone is their own worst critic, it takes some discipline and awareness of what merits a good photograph to achieve this and you may or may not be at this point with your photography. But as you photograph more subjects, become more familiar with your equipment, composition and exposure, you will start to understand why some photographs are just better than others. You start to become your own judge. As you begin to review your past work, you may see an evolution to your photography skills. You may even be able to recognize specific changes in your abilities as you see photos from different time periods, 'my composition began to improve here' or 'it was around this time that I began to understand why I was getting the results that I was.' You will find photos that you loved when you shot them but now cannot see the original merit in.

Which brings me to my next point. You may also find photos that you completely ignored, but now they are asking for more attention from you. Over time, you become less attached to the events associated with the photograph and can now see the photographs with out the emotional bias that was attached to them when you first shot them. This may be because of a greater understanding and appreciation of photography, improvements in your own skill, or simply a change in your perception or tastes.

I have been posting images daily to my photo of the day site (http://potd.chrisempey.com) for the past two years. In that time I have had to go back in my own images to find a photo to post when I had been unable to shoot. Sometimes I would find a photo I previously ignored, other times I would find photos that I had previously enjoyed, but knew I could make better with some adjustments in Photoshop.

My review of my own images has revealed new found gems to me, hopefully you have saved all of your images and you can spend some time to review some of your previous photographs.

In the meantime, if you are in the upstate New York area the weekend of February 23, 24 and 25, one of the camera clubs I belong to is holding their annual convention. Our keynote speaker is Darryl Gulin, one of Canon's Explorer of Light group plus several other very talented speakers.

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

Resetting Windows XP registry permissions

The other day I was trying to install Windows XP SP2 on a computer that had SP1 installed. I'm not sure how it got to SP1 (upgrade from XP, upgrade from Win98, etc), but I kept getting to a certain point that was telling me "Access Denied". As I researched this it turns out it was a permissions error in the registry. The suggested answer was to reset permissions on 4 registry keys, but as I looked around the registry, there were all sorts of permissions that were wrong. I'm not sure what happened, but I did figure out how to reset the permissions back the default.

"Access Denied" error when trying to install SP2
This article explained how to use the SubInACL utility from Microsoft to set the permissions on certain registry hives. I guess this doesn't specifically set them back to the default, but it allows you to set hives or keys to what you want the permissions to be.

How to reset security settings back to the defaults
This Microsoft Knowledgebase article does explain how to reset the permission to the default. It uses a utility that is included with Windows XP so it is very easy to use.

Remember, this tip isn't just in case SP2 won't install. If you have been messing around with the registry and changed permissions, this is a way to get them back to the default. And of course remember... when you are working with the registry, be sure you have a backup in case you do something wrong.

Leave a comment...

What does a photographer do when it is very cold?

A couple of weeks ago Chris had a Digital Photography Tip of the Week entitled Shoot at Home that suggested you find things around the house to take pictures of. I came across another blog posting with some similar tips. If it is too cold to get outside to shoot, there are still lots of things you can do. Check out David Kennedy's blog (part of the Osprey Media site) for this tip and others.

Leave a comment...

midomi

midomi_logo.gif

midomi.com makes it fun and easy to find and discover music and people. For the first time, you can use your voice to instantly connect to your favorite music, and to a community of people that share your musical interests. Listen to voices, see pictures, rate singers, send messages, buy music, and more.

I haven't tried it, but it's gotten a lot of "buzz" around the Internet over the last few days. Check it out...

Leave a comment...

Microsoft Photo Info Tool: FREE!

ms_photo_info.gif

I heard about this on RedFlagDeals...

Microsoft Photo Info is a new software add-in for Microsoft Windows that allows photographers to add, change and delete common "metadata" properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer. It also provides enhanced "hover tips" and additional sort properties for digital photographs in Explorer (in Details view).

I've downloaded and installed the tool. There is a new option when I right-click on an image. When I choose Photo Info, a window opens up that shows all sorts of details and lets you edit many of them. Check it out...

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 1998-2006, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.

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