Sunday, June 3, 2007

Planning a Dream PC


Don't bust the budget
A dream machine can have many incarnations, depending on how much money you truly are able to put into it. At some point along the configuration process, you’re going to ask yourself the question, “Do I really need this particular item in my machine?” It can be a high-end video card, HD-ready display, etc. The first thing you need to decide on is essentials.You should write (or type) the absolute must-haves for your machine. This list will differ with everyone, depending on what you’ll be using the computer for. After the essentials are done, then you can start thinking about spending that extra buck on a component that may be a bit frivolous, but you can’t live without it.
Bottom Line: Have a budget and a dollar figure that you won’t go over by more than a few bucks.

Choosing components
The best advice I can give is to choose your components based on a couple things.

First, if you have had past experience with a particular brand, whether positive or negative, that should factor into your decision-making process every time you are shopping around again. If you have had nothing but wonderful experiences with ASUS motherboards or Nvidia video cards, that’s obviously going to influence your decision, and that’s perfectly fine. The same goes for negative experiences.

Second, it is essential that you read reviews of products you are interested in. Just because a company has made well-reviewed and popular products in the past, that doesn’t mean they are infallible. Make sure you read reviews from both tech professionals and consumers for the exact product you are looking to purchase.Also, make sure the components you buy complement each other.
For example, if you are planning on taking advantage of SLI [to boost your machine's graphic processing], you want an SLI-capable motherboard. If you are planning on a nice digital speaker system, make sure that your sound, whether it’s integrated or dedicated, has an S/PDIF input.

Bottom line: You want components in your Dream PC to operate as if they were built to do so seamlessly.

Dreamweaver CS3 vs. Expression Web


Although some coders turn their noses up at any visual Web page editor, others who mix hand-coding with a WYSIWYG interface can now pick from new options from both Adobe and Microsoft. (Since Adobe purchased Macromedia, it has phased out GoLive from its Creative Suite packages, but will release a standalone update to that application this summer.) Both the updated Dreamweaver CS3 and the new Expression Web, which replaces Microsoft FrontPage, allow you to create Web sites from scratch, with or without knowing the ABCs of HTML and other languages. Each program offers design templates and supports CSS and dynamic design standards to allow for data-driven sites, and both programs offer similar interfaces.

However, Dreamweaver supports Secure FTP for safer file transfers. At the same time, Dreamweaver's copious features have piled on over the years, which can make for a cluttered experience. And we liked Expression's many reminders for filling in ALT tags to keep accessibility standards up to par.

YouTube video download by Real Player


Real Networks has announced a new version of their RealPlayer today that will be available as a PC-only public Beta in June. The player allows users to download and organize nearly all embedded internet video content (Flash, WMV, QuickTime) including content from popular video sites like YouTube, Comedy Central, and of course, CNET. The player was demonstrated for me and actually looks pretty impressive. The new video download feature integrates fairly elegantly into your Web browser (yes, it works on Firefox). It works by temporarily displaying a small, fairly unobtrusive download tab in the right top corner of any video content it detects on a given Web page. It's even able to record streaming internet video in real time.
It looks like a great improvement over the slow, intrusive RealPlayer I remember. One feature it lacks, however, is the ability to export your downloaded video content to an iPod-compatible format. You can, however, use RealPlayer to burn your downloaded videos to CD, and if you pony up some money for RealPlayer Plus, they give the ability to burn video content to DVD. Some small improvements have also been made to speed up the load time of the application and cut out many of the annoying installation questions.

Loch Ness Camcoder Discovery

Wheather the experts may be spending many years in analyzing the recent video of tyhe Loch Ness Monster .
But the crack analytic team of the CNET, the editor Lori Grunin, has identified the Camcoder used to take the video footage.



After viewing the Scottish TV video of the cameraman and his sighting. After examining the video of the camcorder, she tells that it's an antique Sony DCR-TRV130E (an old Digital 8 model). At any rate, the camcorder is far more modern than the legends of Loch Ness, which go back more than 2,500 years. Now that's some analysis you won't see from the Loch Ness experts.

Fact about Loch Ness : She'll continue to be good for the tourist trade around Loch Ness.
And this latest video certainly won't hurt.

Photoshop plug-ins at next Lightroom

An update to Adobe Systems' Photoshop has given a glimpse into forthcoming features in the company's new Lightroom software.
Adobe on Wednesday night posted for download the new version 4.1 of a plug-in that lets Photoshop CS3 process "raw" files taken directly from image sensors without in-camera processing. The plug-in supports several new camera models, including the Nikon D40x and Canon 1D Mark III, but it also adds some significant features to the process of converting raw images to more widely supported graphics formats such as JPEG or TIFF.
The new features will be among those in Photoshop Lightroom 1.1, said Tom Hogarty, Camera Raw and Lightroom product manager, in a blog post Thursday. "Not only are all the additional raw processing controls found in Camera Raw 4.1 included in the next Lightroom update, but we've added a few other features that should further streamline your workflow," Hogarty said.
Adobe is working to release Lightroom 1.1 "as soon as possible," Hogarty said. "Lightroom...is a brand new product, and the team has taken the opportunity to address a number of critiques on Lightroom 1.0...I believe that you'll find it worth the wait."
Among the new features in the raw conversion plug-in is a "clarity" setting that increases contrast for selective parts of the image, resulting in a "punchier" image, according to a blog posting by Photoshop Senior Product Manager John Nack and a Photoshop News article by Jeff Schewe, who was involved in the plug-in development.
And for those whose digital photos are plagued with purple borders around bright patches such as glinting chrome, the new raw converter includes a "defringing" tool.
Another change is finer control over edge sharpening. Instead of relying on a single slider, several parameters can be set, including a "mask" setting that sharpens edges only in parts of an image where there are lots of edges present. That makes it easier to sharpen eyes in an image without increasing graininess in the areas with cheeks, for example.

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