Monthly Archive for December, 2006

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 Software Review – Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Published on December 21, 2006 in Digital Photography Tips & Info and Software Reviews. 0 Comments

Over the past several weeks I have been using the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0. Having used every version of Photoshop Elements, I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of a few features I have long thought would make this the best product for amateur and serious hobbyist photographers, curves and better black and white support. Those additions, along with several other features make this a worthy upgrade from Elements 4.0.

Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 is the third edition of Adobe’s consumer level video editing package. Unlike Adobe Photoshop Elements 5, I had some difficulties with this product. Installation was not possible on my main system as the software requires a processor with SSE 2 instructions and my Athlon XP 2600+ processor does not include this instruction set (newer AMD processors and Intel Processors do). I was able to install the software on my second system though it ran slow. The feature set of Premiere Elements is excellent and apart from the speed on my test machine, the software was easy to use and quick to learn. I am sure that the performance on newer PC’s would be fine, and have no doubts that today’s Dual Core processors would provide a dramatic speed boost.

Together, the bundle, available for $119.00 US from Amazon is still a great value. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 sells for $86.99 US from Amazon.com and Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 sells for $89.99 US.

Read the full review…

Until next time, happy shooting.

Secunia Software Inspector

Published on December 20, 2006 in Internet Tips, Recommended Web Sites and Software Tips. 0 Comments

Almost everyone uses WindowsUpdate to keep their Microsoft products up to date, but what about all the other applications that you have on your system? Secunia, the well-known security research company, has a new web-based scanner:

The Secunia Software Inspector relies on carefully crafted “Secunia File Signatures” to recognise applications on your system. The detected applications are then matched against our “Secunia Advisory Intelligence” to determine whether an application is up-to-date or not. The results are then used to advise you on how to update to more secure releases of the insecure applications.

Microsoft Windows Update is used to determine if your system is missing security updates from Microsoft.

The Secunia Software Inspector covers the most common/popular end user applications:
* Internet browsers
* Internet browser plugins
* Instant messaging clients
* Email clients
* Media players
* Operating systems

It uses a Java applet, so it works in Firefox as well as Internet Explorer. I’m pretty active at keeping my system up-to-date. I just ran it and it took about 3 minutes to do a complete scan. It recognized about a dozen different programs that I had installed, and told me that QuickTime, Flash, and Java all had updates. I installed the updates and then reran the scan, and I’m all up to date now.

2006 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

Published on December 20, 2006 in Internet Tips and Recommended Web Sites. 0 Comments

Last week I mentioned Yahoo’s top searches of 2006. This week it’s Google:

A year’s worth of search speaks to our collective consciousness, and 2006 is no exception. To compile these year-end lists and graphs, we reviewed a variety of the most popular search terms that people typed into Google. Click on all the tabs to learn something new — or confirm that you too reflect the spirit of the times. Except where noted, all of these search terms are global for Google.com.

There are What’s Hot, Current Events, Milestones, Entertainment, and Sports sections.

Are You Suffering From Mouse Rage Syndrome?

Published on December 20, 2006 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From InformationWeek:

A phenomenon as monumental as the Internet should have an ailment of its own. Indeed, the Web appears to be breeding its very own disease, a medical syndrome recognizable by a quickening of the heart, profuse sweating, and furious clicking and bashing of the mouse. In extreme cases, the ailment can be identified by loud screaming at video screens.

It’s Mouse Rage Syndrome, and it infects all Internet users sooner or later, according to a study of 2,500 Web users that was released Tuesday. Conducted by the Social Issues Research Centre in the United Kingdom, the study identified key factors that can negatively affect cardio functions, as well as the immune and nervous systems.

What’s the root cause of Mouse Rage Syndrome? It’s primarily caused by badly designed and hosted Web sites, according to the research center.

Ripping DVDs

Published on December 20, 2006 in Software Tips. 0 Comments

I have a DVD burner at home and at work, but I’ve never tried to make my own video DVD. I’m not particularly concerned about any legal ramifications. I’ve just never really needed to. Lately I’ve been doing some reading and thought I’d share a couple of things.

The first is software called DVD Shrink:

DVD Shrink is software to backup DVD discs. You can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc.

The people that make the software don’t host it, but if you search on the Internet for it, it is pretty easy to find.

The second is a help description of copying a DVD that can be read on the wikiHow site:

While ripping CDs is a common activity performed by many software programs, even many advanced computer users don’t know how to rip a DVD.

The instructions explain how to use a particular utility to do this.

The big man in red goes online

Published on December 19, 2006 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From the Globe and Mail:

Hold onto your sleigh-reins: Santa has gone interactive.

In either a blatant manipulation of a beloved Christmas legend or a genius attempt to bring children and parents together this festive season, one of the world’s largest instant-messaging operators has taken last year’s ‘e-mail Santa’ campaign to another level.

MSN has established a live website where people can read Santa’s blog, download games and recipes, and even chat live with the big man himself.

Companies grapple with Web use and abuse

Published on December 19, 2006 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From MSNBC:

By his own admission, James Pacenza was spending too much time in Internet chat rooms, in some of them discussing sex. He goes so far as to call his interest in inappropriate Web sites a form of addiction that stems from the post-traumatic stress disorder he’s suffered since returning from Vietnam. Whatever it’s called, Pacenza’s chat-room habit cost him his job.

After 19 years at IBM’s East Fishkill plant, Pacenza was fired in May, 2003, after a fellow employee noticed discussion of a sex act on a chat room open on Pacenza’s computer. IBM  maintains that logging onto the Web site was a violation of its business conduct guidelines and a misuse of company property — and that it was well within its rights to terminate Pacenza’s employment…

But cases like Pacenza’s, which involve Internet misuse, may no longer be quite so simple, thanks to a growing debate over whether Internet abuse is a legitimate addiction, akin to alcoholism.

An Ominous Milestone: 100 Million Data Leaks

Published on December 19, 2006 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From the New York Times:

On Thursday, Kevin Poulsen, senior editor for Wired News, noted in his blog, a milestone in the number of records that have been compromised in data breaches since the ChoicePoint breach nearly two years ago:

“Rapid-fire announcements this week by U.C.L.A. (800,000 records) and Aetna (130,000) moved the total to the threshold, when Boeing revealed yesterday that a laptop recently stolen from an employee’s car contained names, Social Security numbers and other data on 382,000 current and former employees of the aerospace giant — bringing the total to a grim 100,152,801 records (as of this post).”

ExpoDisc White Balance Filter Review – Digital Photography Tip of the Week

Published on December 13, 2006 in Digital Photography Tips & Info and Hardware Reviews. 1 Comment

This week I review ExpoImaging ExpoDisc White Balance Filter. Through a series of controlled tests in different lighting conditions and real world examples, I show how this filter can improve colour accuracy in your photographs.

Read the full review…

Hacker attack at UCLA affects 800,000 people

Published on December 13, 2006 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From CNN:

The University of California, Los Angeles alerted about 800,000 current and former students, faculty and staff on Tuesday that their names and certain personal information were exposed after a hacker broke into a campus computer system.

Only a small percentage — “far less than 5 percent” — of the records in the database were actually accessed, UCLA spokesman Jim Davis told The Associated Press.

Still, it was one of the largest such breaches involving a U.S. higher education institution.

The attacks in October 2005 and ended November 21 of this year, when computer security technicians noticed suspicious database queries, according to a statement posted on a school Web site set up to answer questions about the theft.