A few weeks ago I received this press release from Paragon Software Group about the latest version of NTFS for Linux:
Paragon Software Group, the technological leader in innovative data security and data management technology, announced that it has released Paragon NTFS for Linux 6.0, the latest in its family of software. The product’s purpose is to provide reliable, rapid and transparent read/write access to NTFS volumes under Linux. Among the new improvements and features in this release are complete support for 64 bit CPU architecture, Windows Vista NTFS file system, the latest Linux kernel and also includes performance enhancements.
You can read the entire press release in PDF format on the Paragon web site.
Several weeks ago I received this press release from ExtraLabs Software:
The ExtraLabs Software company, a developer of software for creating RSS feeds, announced the new release of the Image Assistant graphic editor that has some new features improving the usability of the product. These new improvements take into account users’ most urgent needs.
Image Assistant is a multifunctional and yet easy-to-use program for batch image processing. The main advantages of the product include the intuitive interface allowing you to resize images and automatically rename image files, generate HTML preview pages and also apply all kinds of text and graphic “watermarks” and filters to images (remove the red-eye effect, correct colors and much more).
The program can be used for quite a wide range of purposes, both at home and in office. With Image Assistant, any user - no matter how experienced - will be able to create an album of home photos, correct colors, protect image files with “watermarks”.
I haven’t tried the software, but I figured I’d pass along the information.
This week’s tip is about controlling the brightness of your background when using your on camera flash.
Controlling the brightness of your background relies on a little technical knowledge, the inverse square law. The brightness of the flash output is relative to the inverse square of the distance from the flash from the subject. Sounds complicated, but to sum it up simply, the brightness of your flash at a given distance is reduced by to 1/4 it’s brightness at twice the distance (the inverse square).
Using this, when the flash is your primary light source of your image, you can utilize this knowledge to help create some separation between your subject and the background. By moving your subject further from the background (still assuming correct exposure for your flash) the background will get darker. This technique can be used to completely darken the background as you may sometimes see with macro photography with flash, or make your subject stand out from the background.
Subtle use of this technique is required though. If the exposure of the foreground and background is too dramatic, your subject may look pasted on to the background.
Until next time, happy shooting.
Last week I shared a tip about a free utility from Microsoft that lets you use an ISO image of a CD as if it were a real CD. I was asked how to create an ISO image, so I did some research into some available software.
There are commercial titles such as WinImage and Magic ISO Maker. There are also free utilities such as Folder2Iso and LC ISO Creator, and ISO Recorder. I haven’t used any of these, but they all do the same thing. The software will make an ISO out of the contents of a CD or DVD, or make an ISO out of files (or folders) that you specify. Then once you have an ISO image created, you can use the Microsoft utility to turn that into a virtual CD drive.
PC Magazine has an article that reviews the various online pay movie services:
Chances are that you’ve watched those amusing three-minute viral videos on YouTube and other sites. Cute. But what if you’re in the mood for some longer-format entertainment at a higher image quality, maybe even featuring professional talent? The Internet can help there too. I spent an exhausting week watching movies from five on-demand and download services: Amazon Unbox, CinemaNow, MovieFlix, Movielink, and Vongo. Each has a somewhat different take on what your online movie experience should be. They vary significantly in what they offer, how you should pay, and whether you subscribe to a film library, rent, or purchase the content. Read on to see which service works best.
Every once in a while I click on the link in one of those phishing emails to see what happens. I have no plans to give any personal information, but it’s interesting to see the sites and how they try to duplicate the look of legitimate sites. The other day I clicked on a link and I had my first experience with Firefox’s Phishing Protection. The screen went dark gray and a Suspected Web Forgery warning came up. Neat!
I know that IE7 has a similar feature, but since I don’t use it, I haven’t seen what it does.
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