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Issue 471 - October 24, 2007

ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2007
==== 1423 Subscribers in 46 Countries ====

Welcome to the 471st 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

Christine is going to be 3 weeks old tomorrow, and for the first time Lisa is going to be alone during the day as a mother of 3. She's a little scared. I was off for a week, and then her mother has been here. Now the fun begins!

Andrew and Matthew are very excited for Halloween. This past Monday we made a haunted gingerbread house (using orange and black icing) and we ate some of it tonight. They have their costumes ready and my parents (their Nanna and Poppa) gave them some Halloween pajamas that they look very cute in.

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

News Highlights

Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web

Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.
The research libraries, including a large consortium in the Boston area, are instead signing on with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available.

Read the New York Times article...
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Parents Face Real Bills for Virtual Real Estate

Teenagers are using their parents' credit cards to buy thousands of dollars' worth of virtual property, including real estate, on Web sites such as Second Life.
NetSafe chief executive Martin Cocker says parents are shocked because they don't realize it's possible to buy something that doesn't exist in the real world -- and they don't know how fast it's possible to spend.

Read the LinuxInsider article...
Leave a comment...

Ballmer: We Can Compete with Google

To hear Ballmer tell it, Microsoft is the little engine that will eventually surpass the behemoth that is Google. Comfortable with sports metaphors, he referred to Microsoft's search and advertising teams as young athletes who will eventually rule the basketball court. "You're growing up quickly. You're getting better every day," he said. "You're three years old and you're playing basketball with 12-year-olds. You're going to dunk on the other guys some day."

Read the NewsFactor article...
Leave a comment...

iPhone Mystery: 1.4 Million Sold, 250,000 Never Activated

Out of 1.4 million iPhones sold since the hot gadget debuted June 29, fully 250,000 have not been activated to run on AT&T's wireless network, The New York Times and The Register, a British technology blog, both reported Tuesday.
An Apple executive admitted the discrepancy during a conference call with analysts following the release of fourth-quarter performance results.
"[A] number of [iPhones] were sold to people that have an intention to unlock and where we don't know precisely how many people are doing that, our current guess is there is probably 250,000 of the 1.4 million that we sold where people had bought them with the intention of doing that," said Chief Operating Officer Timothy B. Cook. "Many of those happened after the [September] price cut."

Read the Fox News article...
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Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Using your Depth of Field Preview

I have talked about depth of field and using aperture to minimize or maximize depth of field in the past. Today I will talk about Automatic Depth of Field function some camera's have and depth of field preview.

Automatic Depth of Field (A-Dep or DEP) is creative mode on some camera's that will help you select the best aperture to get everything in your frame in focus. To use A-DEP, turn the dial on your camera to A-DEP, and compose your image. The camera will then evaluate your frame, set your aperture and focus on a point where everything from front to back will be in focus by setting the focus to the hyperfocal distance. As it is an automatic setting, it tends to be hit and miss at time. When using this setting, be sure to have everything you want in focus to fall within your camera's focus points as this is what the camera uses to determine what needs to be in focus. On older cameras (DEP) you were able to focus on the point nearest to you that you wanted in focus the press the shutter 1/2 way. Next, focus on the point (without changing the zoom setting) further from you and press the shutter 1/2 way. Finally, recompose your photo and press the shutter all the way. The camera will then focus at the correct spot to get the near and far points in focus.

If you want a more manual approach, using your depth of field preview button will help you determine how your given aperture will affect your image. Once your image is composed, press your depth of field preview button to stop down the lens. This will force your diaphragm blades to close and you will be able to see how the depth of field will be represented when you take the photo. Because you are closing the diaphragm blades, the image will go darker in your viewfinder as you let less light into the lens. This is normal and will not alter your image.

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.

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

Hershey's TrickorTreats.com

hershey_trickortreat_screenshot.jpg

With Halloween coming along soon, you may be looking for some "scary" web sites. A fun one to check it is Hershey's TrickorTreats.com. There are all sorts of activities, crafts, pumpkin stencils, and more that you can download.

Leave a comment...

Attensa Feed Reader

attensa_logo.gif

Internet Explorer and Firefox both come with integrated RSS feed readers. These are both pretty basic, but give you quick access to your feeds. I think I've mentioned in the past that I use BlogBridge. This allows you to have a profile of feeds that can be loaded on any computer that has BlogBridge installed. I sync up my feeds at work, on my home computer, and on my laptop.

Recently Chris has been using Attensa Feed Reader. This can either be a standalone application, or an Outlook add-in. If you live in Outlook, then it can be a pain to have to go to other software to read your feeds. Attensa brings your feeds into Outlook and gives them the same look and feel as your email. It looks quite impressive. If they added in a sync feature like BlogBridge, I'd probably switch.

attensa_screenshot.jpg

Leave a comment...

The 16 Greatest Moments in Web History

From MSN:

Depending on how you calculate it, the Web has been around for between 15 and 17 years--which makes it old enough to ask for the car keys, but still an awkward teenager growing toward maturity. Yet it already has a long and storied history (and some prehistory). We've decided to chronicle its 16 greatest moments here.

When possible, we pinpointed a specific day, hour, and even minute--the "aha" moment when the people involved got the original idea, launched the site, sold the first product, or posted the first entry. Instead of listing the events chronologically, we've ranked them in ascending order of importance.

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.

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