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Issue 464 - September 05, 2007
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2007
==== 1438 Subscribers in 46 Countries ====
Welcome to the 464th 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 sister moved out to Calgary, Alberta on Saturday. She originally moved
in for a few months, and ended up staying for 2 years. There were never any
problems with her here, but it is nice to have the house back. I'm sure she's
enjoying her new adventure! She'll be coming home for Christmas, and I'm sure
the boys will be excited to see her.
My birthday was on Monday, and when we went out to the minivan to go out for
dinner, we saw there was graffiti on the van. There were 5 small crude/rude
drawings and words. 4 of them came off easily, but the 5th one (words only)
hasn't come off. Thankfully the few words that are there are small and don't
really make any sense. I'll try a bit more to get it off, but I'll probably
have to paint over it.
Graham editor@pcin.net and
Chris chris@pcin.net
News Highlights
Cellphones get the 'all clear' at some hospitals
Anyone who has been inside a hospital probably has been cut off from relatives
and colleagues because of a common rule: no cellphones.
But some health care facilities are creating wireless networks to let patients,
family members, physicians and staff members use their phones.
The concern about the phones, hospital officials say, is that their signals
could create electromagnetic interference with sensitive medical devices,
such as ventilators or external pacemakers. Opinion is divided; some experts
say the risk has been overblown.
Some doctors even say cellphones promote better communication, which reduces
medical errors. And people rely more heavily now on their wireless devices
to stay connected to work and family.
Read the USA Today
article...
Leave a comment...
China hosts nearly half of all malware sites
According to a report released Monday by antivirus company Sophos, China--including
Hong Kong--hosted 44.8 percent of the world's infected sites in August. The
U.S. ranked a distant second, hosting 20.8 percent of sites that contain
malicious code.
The number of infected Web pages has also grown. Sophos said it detected
an average of 5,000 new infected pages each day in the month of August.
Read the ZDNet News
article...
Leave a comment...
RIM shares rise amid Microsoft takeover talk
Research in Motion Ltd moved higher on Thursday on renewed market speculation
that Microsoft Corp could be interested in buying the BlackBerry maker.
"Microsoft has been mentioned as a possible buyer," said Frederic Ruffy,
an analyst at options education firm Optionetics in California.
"According to speculation, the software giant might be interested in RIM
in response to Google's recent announcement that it is interested in making its
own mobile phone operating system, which would compete with Windows Mobile," he
added.
Read the Reuters
article...
Leave a comment...
Don't let your boss catch you reading this
If you are at work, chances are you are probably doing it right now.
Walk into any large office, and you will most likely hear the telltale computer
bleeps of chat programs and online games, accompanied by furious mouse-clicking.
Employees may seem busy, but many are wasting time on the Internet, or "cyberslacking."
Read the MSNBC article...
Leave a comment...
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Digital Photography
Tip of the Week
Practice Makes Perfect - Digital Photography Tip of the Week
Study and Practice
Today's tip could be applied to just about anything you wish to excel at.
It is something I have mentioned in the past and is well clichéd: Practice
makes perfect. If you aren't out practicing photography, you aren't out improving
your photography.
Of course, you could take tens of thousands of photographs but if you aren't
aware of potential problems with your images and cannot see them for yourself,
there will be no improvement. To conquer this, you have to study. Study other
people's photographs, look at the photos of the masters, and pay attention
to images in magazines. Examine them and learn from them. With a little understanding
of the principles of photography, many of which I have already discussed in
the past, you can then begin to evaluate your own images.
To take it a step further, shoot with friends, and critique each others images.
You can then start to get an unbiased opinion without your own emotional attachment
to your photos as well as being able to drawn upon the knowledge of other people.
Practice and study often don't amount to a lot of fun. Fortunately for us,
photography is different. We get to look at beautiful images as part of our
studies, and get to go out and take photos for practice.
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
1970's future view of computers in the home
Shawn Bremner, a friend who
used to provide the Thought of the Week, sent me a link to an image that
is supposedly from a 1979 magazine that computers and other electronic gadgets
in the home.
You can see the much larger, readable image on Flickr...
Leave a comment...
Top 100 Classic Web Sites
From PC Magazine:
Every year, the analysts and editors at PC Magazine excavate our
browser bookmarks, poll our coworkers and friends, dig deep into the World
Wide Web, and put our heads together to come up with PC Magazine's list of
the Top 100 Classic Web Sites.
The following is our list of the top classic sites in 2007...
Leave a comment...
Fall is coming: the best season for photography?
This comes from David Kennedy's
Ontario in Photos blog:
The fall is one of my favorite seasons to photograph Ontario's landscape,
particularly those few weeks when the leaves have turned colour...
Two years ago, though, the colours were very dramatic with bright reds
and yellows and this period seem to last a few weeks...
Even if the colours are not dramatic, there are still interesting fall
elements that are worth photographing, leaves on the ground, close-ups
of leaves, trees by rivers and lakes. One constant in the fall is the changing
light as the days get shorter. For the photographer, the morning sunrise
is later and the sunset is earlier. This makes it much easier for the photographer
to capture the beauty of the light at these times of the day.
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.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut
and paste.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit http://PCIN.net/ and
follow the appropriate links.
- The only way to become a subscriber is by asking. You have either filled
out the subscription form or asked me directly.
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I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.
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by clicking on the PayPal link below:
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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.
Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php
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