Monthly Archive for March, 2006

Dell to acquire Alienware

Published
by
Graham
on March 23, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From TechRepublic:

Dell has agreed to purchase gaming PC maker Alienware, in a rare acquisition designed to improve Alienware’s supply chain and boost Dell’s standing among PC enthusiasts.
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Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alienware will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the world’s largest PC maker, said Nelson Gonzalez, chief executive officer of Alienware. Gonzalez will now report to Jim Schneider, Dell’s chief financial officer, but the company will operate separately from Dell, he said.

A Dell representative confirmed the deal, but said the company was deferring comment until later on Wednesday. A Dell representative in Australia had downplayed the possibility of a deal earlier this month. The transaction should be finalized about 30 to 45 days after regulatory hurdles are cleared, Gonzalez said.

ajaxWrite

Published
by
Graham
on March 23, 2006
in Software Tips
. 1 Comment

The latest issue of Michael Robertson’s Michael’s Minute announces the release of a new web-based word processor called ajaxWrite:

ajaxWrite is a powerful word processor that can read and write Microsoft Word formatted documents. Anytime you need a word processor, need to open a .doc file or edit a .doc file, simply point your Firefox browser at ajaxWrite.com and in seconds a full-featured program will be loaded. For 90 percent of the people in the world, the need to buy Microsoft Word just vanished. This won’t make Microsoft happy, but software users should be very excited that software just got cheaper, immediate and modern.

Unfortunately, when I tried to access the program/web site, it wouldn’t load. It was trying, but nothing happened. My guess is the servers are overloaded. I’ll keep trying and let you know what I think.

Photographic Critiques - Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Published
by
Chris
on March 22, 2006
in Digital Photography Tips & Info
. 2 Comments

Last week I discussed some memory card maintenance to be sure your camera can record the photos that you shoot. This week I will discuss the merits of photography critiques and offer some websites where you can go to get them.

Over the past few years, photography sites that allow people to submit photos for competition or critique have become popular hangouts for those interested in photography. They offer a place to view other people’s work, read articles on different photographic techniques, and received comments and critiques about your photography. The last point is where I see the real benefit to these forums.

Submitting your photos for critique can help your photography by providing your with feedback from many other photographers. The critiques are often very detailed and can provide a tremendous amount of help into where you can improve a photo. Some of the websites even allow visitors to rate critiques, so you can gauge which might be better than others. You may also have camera or photographic clubs in your area that you can join to receive further help with your photos.

Something to beware of with some of the sites though. There seems to be a lot of people who like to post critiques such as "Great photo" or "nice work". While these may help boost your ego, they really do nothing to boost your photographic ability. There are very few photos that can’t be improved in some way. A better critique may be something along the lines of "Great Photo. The exposure is very nice as is the placement of x and y. Cropping a little off the left side just short of w may have improved this shot though". This critique praises the good, but more importantly suggests a way to improve your photo.

Some sites where you can have your photographs critiqued:

There are a lot of places on the web that feature this sort of atmosphere. Some concentrate on a particular style such as nature photography, while others have categories or are more generalized. But try them out and see how you can improve your photography.

Note: Just a reminder that if you are in the Western New York area this weekend the Niagara Frontier Regional Camera Clubs will be holding their 45th Annual Photography Convention at the Holiday Inn on Grand Island. There are a number of guest speakers including Monte Zucker, Gil Lopez Espina. Ethan Meleg and others. For more information and rates, visit http://www.vaxxine.com/nfrcc/Convention%202006/Convention2006.htm.

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 vice-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.

More on Box.net

Published
by
Graham
on March 22, 2006
in Internet Tips
. 0 Comments

Quite a while ago I posted about Box.net Virtual Storage. I still haven’t tried the service, as I don’t really have a need for it, but it’s interesting. One of the guys who is at Box.net has been in contact with me regarding a test that they were running (I didn’t end up participating). He has been pleasant to deal with. Also, their blog has interesting thoughts on the online storage market, reasonable opinions on the competition and where the market is going.

Recently Pocket PC Thoughts link to an a review by Russell Beattie who says, “This is awesome stuff!”

They offer 1 GB of storage for free, and 5 GB of storage for $4.99 a month. Check it out…

Real Estate / City information

Published
by
Graham
on March 22, 2006
in Recommended Web Sites
. 0 Comments

Irving (of Irving’s Info Page) sent me these links:

These three links may be of interest…..for U and family and/or your readers:

www.citytowninfo.com

www.city-data.com

www.zillow.com

Here’s a bit about each one…

CityTownInfo.com

CityTownInfo.com is the easy way to find info on thousands of US cities and towns.

Want to know the population of a town? Or its latitude and longitude? Need to find mortgage brokers licensed to do business in your city or town? Looking for a weather forecast for the next few days in your specific location? How about a map of your home town or somewhere you are about to visit?

City-Data.com

We’ve collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create as complete and interesting profiles of all U.S. cities as we could. We have tens of thousands of city photos not found anywhere else, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment…), geographical data, state profiles, crime data, housing, businesses, birthplaces of famous people, political contributions, city government employment, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list, comparisons to averages… If you ever need to research any city for any reason, from considering a move there to just checking where somebody you know is staying, this is the site for you.

Zillow.com

Zillow provides a free Home Valuation Tool for Real Estate enthusiasts. Whether you’re an agent, broker, buyer of investment property or first time homebuyer - Get Your Edge in Real Estate at Zillow.com.

Thanks Irving!

Web site sues over drop in rank

Published
by
Graham
on March 22, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From Mercury News:

Google has mysteriously downgraded the search ranking of a Web site geared to help parents care for young children, causing a “cataclysmic fall”in advertising revenue and the number of monthly page views, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Friday.

The civil suit by KinderStart.com of Norwalk seeks financial damages and more information about Google’s secret method for ranking sites. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, seeks class-action status for other sites that have seen their rankings drop without warning or explanation from the Mountain View search giant.

Video game therapy–a new frontier

Published
by
Graham
on March 22, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From TechRepublic:

Doctors pronounced Ethan Myers brain dead after a car accident dealt the 9-year-old a severe brain injury in 2002. After he miraculously awoke from a nearly month-long coma, doctors declared he would never again eat on his own, walk or talk.

Yet, thanks partly to a video game system, Myers has caught up with his peers in school and even read a speech to a large group of students.

Cache as Cache Can For Google

Published
by
Graham
on March 18, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From InternetNews.com:

Google is free to cache whatever material it wants unless content owners specifically forbid the search site from copying and archiving online content, a federal judge ruled last Friday.

The judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming Google had violated an author’s copyright by archiving his Usenet posts and providing excerpts from his Web site in Google’s search results.

Gordon Roy Parker, who is also known as Ray Gordon, filed suit against Google in 2004, after the search engine archived a chapter of one of Parker’s e-books, “29 Reasons Not To Be A Nice Guy.” Gordon had posted the chapter on Usenet, a collective name for the thousands of public discussion forms available online.

The State of the Silent PC

Published
by
Graham
on March 18, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From Datamation:

Workers! If your office space sounds like the inside of a wind tunnel from the incessant hum of all the PCs surrounding you, lend me your ears.

A small manufacturing company recently started shipping a new kind of PC case that emits almost no audible noise whatsoever. Its components stay cool without the need for fans of any kind.

To research this technology, I flew to Los Angeles to interview executives of Zalman USA, the American headquarters of the company that makes the new case. I also visited a computer store in a suburb of Portland, Ore., Cool Tech PC (endpcnoise.com), which Zalman officials confirmed is the largest U.S. reseller of their virtually silent cases.

If PCs are the noisiest things in your office, this new enclosure may save both your hearing and your sanity. First, we need to understand a little bit of history.

Senators renew call for .xxx domains

Published
by
Graham
on March 18, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From CNet News:

On Thursday, two Senate Democrats, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Max Baucus of Montana, introduced a bill called the “Cyber Safety for Kids Act of 2006.” The 11-page measure would require the U.S. Department of Commerce to work with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit organization that oversees domain names, to develop plans for a domain name system that would house material deemed “harmful to minors.”

That material, according to the bill, includes any “communication,” image, article, recording or other “obscene” matter, including actual or simulated sexual acts and “lewd exhibition of the genitals or post-pubescent female breast.”

“By corralling pornography in its own domain, our bill provides parents with the ability to create a ‘do not enter zone’ for their kids,” Pryor said in a statement.