Keep aware of buying medication online
2007-02-28
Keep aware of buying medication online
Filed Under Health Care, Diet, Health Tips, Cholesterol, Drug, Exercise, Fat, FDA, Lose Weight |
NEWS on the death of a 33-year-old housewife who succumbed to kidney commplications allegedly caused by a slimming pill regime some weeks ago is an indication of a disturbing trend in the purchase of medical and medicinal products among Internet user.
Rather than getting advice from the respective experts and authorities in the field, many are buying drugs and medication through offline and online channels based on decisions made either on information made available in advertisements, cheaper pricing or the sheer lure of being able to beat the system and getting their hands on controlled drugs.
What many are not aware of is that by making that purchase - particularly those made online, consumers are actually exposing themselves to a number of risks.
Firstly, there is no way to confirm the origin of the medical product. Secondly, there is no guarantee the product is genuine and whether its conntent is actually safe from consumption. Third, should there be complications, would there be a way for legal recourse.
The Health Ministry has time and again advised the public not to be so naive as to believe all that is stated about products in online advertiseements.
Using these drugs, the Ministry says, involves high risks because the information on the effects might be false, while the medication might be fake.
MoH is not alone in its line of action.
US-based Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also recently reissued its warning to consumers about the possible dangers of buying prescription drugs online such as Arnbien, Xanax, Lexapro, and Ativan.
The entity has urged consumers to review the FDA Web site for information before buying medication over the Internet.
In its Web site, FDA says preliminary laboratory analysis of the misrepresented tablets show that they contain haloperridol, the active ingredient in a prescription drug used primarily to treat schizophrenia.
FDA learnt about these mislabelled and potentially dangerous products after their
recipients complained to a US pharmaceutical manufacturer.
The entity is now urging consumers to notify their healthcare provider and report the suspected products to FDA by submitting a prodduct quality problem report at a dedicated Web site.
In the mean time, FDA is investigating this illicit trade and plans to release appropriiate information when it is available.
Internet consumers too should take it upon themselves to report any discrepancies in expected efffects of the medical products they purchased through online channels. This would allow the authorities to take the appropriate actions and subsequently, save the lives of others.
Things u need to do computer/internet home business
2007-02-28
Before you can step up to the auction block, you need to connect to the Internet,
and in order to do that, you need some basic computer hardware and software.
Buying and selling through auctions, like other types of electronic commerce,
don’t require a super-fast connection to the Internet. Nor do you have to spend
thousands for a computer with the latest multimedia bells and whistles. A detailed
description of hardware and software you do need is presented in Chapter 2, but
here is an overview of the kinds of things you need to get started.
Buy the Right Computer and Monitor
The good news is that buying and selling on eBay don’t require much computing
overhead. In other words, if you can get on the Internet and surf Web sites, and if you have enough memory to run an image editing program as well, you should be
able to sell successfully on eBay. However, the speed and quality of your computer,
monitor, and other hardware can affect your auction experience.
Hard disk storage space isn’t an issue for most new computers, which come
with hard disk drives that store one or more gigabytes (GB) of data. (A gigabyte
is a thousand megabytes (MB).) Any hard disk capable of storing a gigabyte or
more should be fine for your needs. (Many new computers come with hard disks
of 10, 20, or more gigabytes these days.) If you’re buying a used computer, beware:
Don’t come home with less than a gigabyte of storage space, or you’ll run out of
room before you know it.
Going online, using a Web browser, and shopping for auction treasures doesn’t
require huge amounts of memory, but if you plan to put up goodies for sale, you
need some additional software, and each program requires RAM. For example,
you may want to do one of the following (all of which require RAM):
■ Create a Web page A Web page or Web site can help advertise you or
your business, if you have one .
■ Capture digital images You’re likely to get more bids if you provide a
clear computerized image of your items by scanning them or using a digital
camera (see Chapter 8). Saving the images on your hard disk can quickly
consume storage space unless you delete the image files as soon as the sale
ends. Running a good image editing program like Adobe Photoshop or
Photoshop Elements does require a lot of RAM, however.
The cost of RAM keeps going down, so you should load your computer with as
much as you can in order to streamline the process of creating auction listings, not
to mention listening to Internet radio, downloading video clips, and the many other
multimedia events that increasingly popular parts of the online user experience.
Pick a Scanner or Digital Camera
Hardware requirements for auction sellers are a bit more extensive than those for
buyers. You need a way to take images of the merchandise you want to sell and
capture those images as digitized computer files. Including a clear, sharp image
on your Web site greatly increases your chances of selling your product or service.
You have several choices for digitizing:
■ Taking photos with a digital camera and saving the image files on your
computer.
1 ■ Taking photos with a conventional camera and then scanning them into
your computer.
■ Taking conventional prints or slides and having a photo lab send them back
to you on CD-ROM or posting them online so you can copy or reuse them.
After you have an image in the form of a computer document, you can transfer
it to a Web site to let potential buyers take a look
Install Web Page and Auction Software
For the most part, the software you use to conduct transactions on eBay is the same
as the software you use to view sales, bid on items, surf Web sites, and exchange
e-mail with others. You don’t need special software to get your sales online, to
format auction listings or Web pages that describe you or your business, or edit
photos—but they can help, especially when your sales activity increases.
In addition, software that enables you to keep track of your financial activity so
you can prepare your taxes more efficiently, apply for loans or merchant accounts,
or perform other tasks can make your business life much easier as well. You’ll find
out aboutWeb page software in Chapter 7, digital image editors in Chapter 8, auction
listing software in Chapter 6, and accounting programs in Chapter 17.
Become a Power E-Mail User
Aside from theWeb browser that you use to create auction listings, e-mail is probably
the single most important tool you have as a seller. E-mail is what you use to answer
questions, notify bidders that they have won, tell bidders that their item has shipped,
and remind buyers when they are slow to follow through on their commitments.
When you sell at auction, it’s important to use all aspects of e-mail fully. These
include:
■ Signature files A signature file is a bit of text that you can append
automatically to each of your outgoing e-mails. Such a file tells others
your User ID, the name of your Web site if you have one, and any other
contact information you want to provide. It’s a great way to get free
marketing for your auction business.
■ Attachments Sometimes prospective bidders who are particularly
interested in an item will ask you for more information and possibly
more detailed photos. Although you should post such additional images
on the auction listing itself, you might also want to attach them to e-mails
you send to interested buyers.
■ Checking your e-mail Get an e-mail account that you can access from
the Web; also consider getting a wireless device that you can use to check
your e-mail, such as a Web-enabled cell phone or a handheld device, so
you can get those messages as soon as they arrive.
■ Vacation notices If you’re going to be out of town, make sure your sales
don’t end while you are gone. If you are going to be away, be sure to put
a vacation notice on each of your auction listings that tells bidders when
you’ll be back.
Microsoft ordered to pay $1.5B to Alcatel
2007-02-25
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal jury Thursday ruled Microsoft (MSFT) must pay $1.5 billion in patent-infringement damages to telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent in what patent attorneys call one of the biggest judgments ever.Microsoft says the patents involve converting audio into digital MP3 files on PCs. It plans to appeal.
The news came before markets closed. Shares of Microsoft closed 4 cents higher at $29.39 on Thursday. Alcatel-Lucent's U.S. shares were up 7 cents to $13.14.
"This verdict is completely unsupported by the law or facts," Tom Burt, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, said in a phone interview.
In 2002 and 2003, Lucent, which was acquired by Alcatel last year, filed 15 patent claims against computer makers Gateway (GTW) and Dell (DELL). Microsoft sued Lucent over the claims and was countersued by Lucent. A judge has tossed out two of Lucent's claims and set six trials to consider the remaining patent disputes.
Microsoft says it properly licensed the MP3 technology from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a German research company, for $16 million, in 1997 and 2004.
"We are concerned that this decision opens the door for Alcatel-Lucent to pursue action against hundreds of other companies who purchased the rights to use MP3 technology from Fraunhofer, the industry-recognized rightful licensor," Burt said in an earlier statement.
"We made strong arguments supporting our view, and we are pleased with the court's decision," said Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Joan Campion. She declined to discuss details of the decision.
The software giant, meanwhile, says damages were determined by multiplying Windows sales and average PC sales prices worldwide since May 2003.
The same federal court in San Diego will consider the next of the patent lawsuits, this time covering speech coding, in March and April, Microsoft said. Also at issue is video coding on both Microsoft's Xbox video game console and the Windows interface.
"This case could bode ill for the other five patent cases still in the pipeline," says Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
While the verdict is a public-relations blow to Microsoft, it isn't necessarily a financial one, patent attorneys and software analysts say.
Large jury verdicts on patent-infringement cases are typically appealed, and damages can be reduced significantly or reversed, says Jeff Berkowitz, a software-patent attorney.
"This thing is far from over," says analyst Matt Rosoff of Directions on Microsoft. He notes Microsoft successfully appealed a $521 million patent-infringement award in 2003 for Eolas Technologies, which developed a Web-browser patent. The case is still in court.
Source
Google sees video anti-piracy tools as priority
2007-02-25
SAN FRANCISCO — Google (GOOG), racing to head off a media industry backlash over its video website YouTube, will soon offer anti-piracy technologies to help all copyright holders thwart unauthorized video sharing, its chief executive said Wednesday."We are definitely committed to (offering copyright protection technologies)," Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said in an interview. "It is one of the company's highest priorities," he said.
"We just reviewed that (issue) about an hour ago," Schmidt told Reuters when asked what Google was doing to make anti-piracy technologies widely available to video owners. "It is going to roll out very soon ... It is not far away."
YouTube, which Google acquired late last year, plans to introduce technology to help media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users.
But, to date, the tools are only being offered as part of broader licensing talks, media industry insiders complain.
Schmidt declined to give a specific timeframe of weeks or months to cover all potential users, saying that any move would take time to cover all Google's services, including YouTube, and to be made available to all copyright holders wishing to use the anti-piracy technology.
"It is not some product you can just build and leave alone," Schmidt said. Protecting copyrighted material is likely to involve an endless cat-and-mouse game to keep pace with hackers bent on breaking such security tools.
MySpace, the popular Internet social network owned by News Corp. said last week it would offer its own version of copyright protection services for free. MySpace is YouTube's biggest rival.
YouTube's "proposition that they will only protect copyrighted content if there's a business deal in place is unacceptable," a spokesman for Viacom, owner of MTV Networks and Comedy Central, complained recently.
Schmidt said Google plans to make video anti-piracy tools generally available to copyright owners. "We have to do that," he said, but cautioned that, "It takes a while to roll this stuff out" on a wide basis.
Earlier this month, Viacom demanded YouTube remove more than 100,000 Viacom video clips from the site after the two sides failed to reach a distribution agreement.
In a prepared statement last week, YouTube said the process of identifying copyrighted material is not an automated process and required the cooperation of media company partners.
For instance, a clip of a TV show owned by one company might contain music produced by another, making the process of identifying ownership difficult.
"These matters are very complicated and we are working with our partners to identify and solve these problems," YouTube said in an e-mailed statement issued last week.
Wikipedia entry causes pro-golfer Fuzzy Zoeller to sue
2007-02-25
Prevented by law from suing Wikipedia, pro-golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is suing the owner of an IP address from where allegedly defamatory remarks were posted onto Wikipedia alleging that he abused drugs, alcohol and his family in what could set a precedent for online defamation cases.The offending paragraphs allegedly slandering Zoeller’s name were posted on December 20 2006, and have now been removed, but not before they were discovered, with Fuzzy Zoeller being named as ‘John Doe’ in the legal action that has subsequently been initiated to clear his name.
The IP address of the posts was traced back to education consulting firm Josef Silny & Associates of Miami, although Mr Silny says he is surprised that the complaint originated from his computer systems and doesn’t know who at his company might have made the offending Wikipedia posts.
Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit, although following previous instances where Wikipedia entries were defaced and edited with potentially defamatory information, with people previously affected by inaccurate Wikipedia entries including John Seigenthaler, a former assistant to Robert Kennedy, who was falsely accused of being a suspected participant in the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, along with US politicians who have had their Wikipedia entries besmirched.
Following these incidents, security was beefed up to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future. However despite the security upgrades which see some pages locked completely, users who earn the right to access files are still able to change pages that have remained unlocked, making the Wikipedia encyclopedia vulnerable to such defamation attacks or other inaccurate information.
According to the Associated Press, the following statement comes from paragraph 11 of the lawsuit and includes the alleged remarks: “Later (Mr. Doe) went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was ‘in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of Vicodin pills’.”
The statement continues that: “He further detailed the violent nature of his disease, recalling how he’d viciously beat his wife Dianne and their four children while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. He also admitted feigning a ruptured spinal disc in 1985 so as to be prescribed a multitude of prescription medication. He has since sought professional help and mended his fractured familial relationships. In May 2006, (Mr. Doe) said in a interview with Golf Digest magazine that he hadn’t beaten his wife in nearly five years.”
These paragraphs have now been removed from Zoeller’s Wikipedia entry, with Silny mystified and engaging a computer consultant to conduct an internal investigation, while Wikipedia claim not to have been informed of the case until it hit the media.
Zoeller was previously the subject of embarrassment over remarks towards Tiger Woods, which cost him endorsement deals at the time, with Wikipedia listing the reported comments from the 1997 Masters regarding the championship dinner as:“Tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it? ... or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve”, which was reported to have the potential of being construed as racially discriminatory.
Source
AMD launches chipset for Intel chips
2007-02-20
AND SO WE LIVED to see the day when AMD announced a chipset for Intel processors. It is an integrated chipset based on RS690 and its Xpress 1250 graphic core can run Vista aero glass just fine.The chipset supports Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D, Pentium Extreme Edition, Celeron, and Celeron D processors and Front Side Bus (FSB) speeds 533, 800, and 1066MHz. It can address up to 16GB memory and has 128-bit dual channel memory interface. It supports a bunch of video acceleration stuff, such as Enhanced MPEG-2 hardware decode acceleration, which claims to dramatically reduce CPU use without incurring the cost of a full MPEG-2 decoder and provide the basis for platforms with H.264 support.
The chipset supports DVI/HDMI outs, HDCP 1.1, multiple displays, 10 USB 2.0 ports, ATA Gen 2 PHY support at 3.0GHz, four ports SATA AHCI controller with support for NCQ and slumber modes and many, many other things.
Source
The Samsung ‘Feed Phone’
2007-02-20
I have to say - that post about the RSS-buttoned phone below is now officially the most popular post on my Wordpress blog EVER.Also, I think it’s funny when people say ‘I cant confirm this’, or ‘this could be a fake’ - I promise you this is not a fake.
I think this was one of the most important things I saw at 3GSM. This was also not the only phone I saw which had a an RSS application - but it was the only one with a dedicated button.
And no - I didn’t see any ‘My Atom’ apps. Or buttons with ‘Atom’ on it.
The only trouble I did see though, was a slight lack of knowledge about what to do with enclosures. And representing podcast.com, I have offered our assistance
Send a Gift of Love to your love: Leather Photo Albums
2007-02-20
No more 30 day wait and absolutely no to shipping cost! Be on time and never miss another birthday or anniversary again. At Kikijames.com, you can shop for your leather photo albums without the hassles of overseas shipment.
Kikijames.com is a stylish collection of leather goods. Our main goal is to provide our beloved internet shopper with an extensive list of gift ideas to send to their loved ones. We deal with number of quality products such as leather photo albums, leather journals, diaries, address books, guest books, wallets & purse photo albums. Once an order is received, our operations group sends out your order per your request date and delivery instructions.
"Kiki James is delighted to offer its business customers a corporate gifts service. Unlike competitor sites, we offer a wide array of gift ideas. We do not only sell leather journals, but we also have an extensive list of stationery items that your loved ones will surely enjoy, said Andy Boyd, Kikijames.com President."
Leather Photo Albums
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How to fight back against spam
2007-02-20
Spam Explodes, but You Can Fight Back
Changing the way you handle e-mail could reduce your junk-mail intake.
We're having a spam wave--more like a tsunami. After a lull in growth rates in late 2005, the volume of junk mail on the Internet at large began skyrocketing in 2006. IronPort, a leading antispam-technology company, says that 63 billion spam messages were sent in October 2006, more than double the number of messages dispatched in October 2005.
Experts attribute the global upswing in spam to technological innovations in the way the junk mail is sent. Spam-fighting software is good at rejecting mail from servers that are known to disseminate spam, but spammers are getting better at setting up botnets--networks composed of broadband-connected PCs that, unbeknownst to their owners, are used to send spam. PCs that are directly connected to a cable modem or a DSL modem are particularly at risk of being commandeered.
How do you keep your PC from being shanghaied into a botnet? Make sure you have a good firewall and a secure browser (Internet Explorer users should upgrade to IE 7, which has better defenses, or try an alternative browser like Firefox--see this month's Privacy Watch for more on browser security). If you're on a home network, your router should be protecting you from intruders; check your documentation to confirm that you're taking advantage of the firewall features included with most home routers these days.
Botnets aren't new, but spammers have become more adept at distributing and concealing them. The latest botnet software, which you can run afoul of simply by visiting a rigged Web page or by clicking on a spam message itself, remains inconspicuous by transmitting only a small volume of spam at any one time. Spam-filtering software has trouble distinguishing bot-generated mail from legitimate messages sent by the same computer.
Spam Fighters
As maddening as the situation may sound, there is some good news to report. Major ISPs and mail portals are improving spam filters almost as quickly as spammers can introduce new techniques. "Generally speaking, the experience of end users continues to improve," reports Richi Jennings, an e-mail security analyst working for Ferris Research.
Unfortunately, some other ambitious antispam efforts haven't proved to be terribly effective. Federal authorities have prosecuted a handful of businesses under the three-year-old CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act. But that law has no jurisdiction over spammers overseas, and its provisions are increasingly being ignored. In analyzing 10,000 randomly selected commercial e-mail messages, MX Logic found that less than 1 percent met the law's requirements that such messages include the sender's real street address and a way to opt out of subsequent mailings.
The jury is still out on whether sender-authentication technologies such as Microsoft's Sender ID and Yahoo's DomainKeys will succeed in fighting spam. Sender authentication works this way: Your bank registers the IP addresses of its mail servers. If you get an e-mail that purports to come from your bank but doesn't come from one of the registered addresses, the mail service will delete the message or will at least alert you.
By the end of 2006, according to Craig Spiezle, Microsoft's director of online safety strategy and planning, roughly 40 percent of all legitimate mail received by Hotmail users was being authenticated using Sender ID. But the system works only if major phishing-target sites participate. Another weakness of sender authentication is that some of the sites registering their addresses are actually phishing sites. For example, a phishing site with a domain name that's a misspelled version of a bank's name could publish its mail server information, and Sender ID would authenticate mail from the malicious site. You can see for yourself how well sender authentication works by forwarding your mail to a Hotmail account (to test Sender ID) or to a Yahoo mail account (to test DomainKeys).
Sound Off: Spam everywhere: How do you fight it?
GoodMail
AOL and Yahoo users, meanwhile, are getting some help in identifying mail that isn't spam through each company's partnership with a firm called GoodMail, which offers "legitimate" bulk e-mailers a service it calls "certified e-mail."
GoodMail chief executive Richard Gingras says that the company accepts only customers that have no history of sending spam. Mailings from GoodMail customers are routed through GoodMail's servers, which insert a unique cryptographic token into each message. Partner e-mail services recognize the token when they receive the message, and the mail appears in the user's inbox with a special icon and words like AOL Certified Mail. Gingras says the service addresses one side effect of phishing: Fearful of identity theft, people simply delete all mail claiming to come from any financial institution.
GoodMail charges its customers 0.25 cent per message and shares that revenue with its partner e-mail services. Critics say that the scheme simply affords wealthy bulk e-mailers easy access to the inboxes of people whose mail services use (and profit from) GoodMail. Gingras, however, says that GoodMail turns down three out of every four prospective customers because their record on spam isn't clean enough to satisfy his firm's standards.
If you haven't noticed much extra spam in your mailbox lately, you likely have your e-mail service to thank for it. Ferris Research's Jennings says that if more than 10 percent of mail in your inbox is illegitimate, you can probably do better.
I did, by setting up automatic forwarding of all my personal e-mail to Google's Gmail. Fortunately, my hosting company makes mail forwarding easy through its Web-based e-mail management tools. Most ISPs that offer e-mail based on POP3 or IMAP will have similar tools--I found EarthLink's tools, for example, by searching its Help for "e-mail forwarding."
Gmail cleaned an additional 30 messages per day from the forwarded mail, leaving only a handful of stragglers each day; in a week I found only one false positive in its spam folder. (If you do switch services, be extra diligent about checking the new service's spam folder for false positives in the first couple of weeks.)
I haven't tested other major e-mail services, but Jennings says they are all being very aggressive about keeping consumer inboxes clean--and are better equipped for the job than any desktop software. "It makes very little sense for consumers to be running software on their desktop that filters spam," Jennings notes, "[because] you still have to download the spam." Nevertheless, for users who are wedded to Outlook but want spam-filtering help, we have recommended Cloudmark Desktop and Sunbelt Software's IHateSpam in the past.
In the midst of the current spam wave, the usual caveats for reading e-mail safely still apply. When in doubt, don't open an e-mail message--especially if it includes an attachment. Don't click on links that promise to send you to a site where you have an account--type in the institution's URL in the address field of your browser. And consider using a free e-mail account for your e-commerce transactions.
Engaging in safe e-mail practices offers you the best hope of safe shelter from the worst fallout of the spam storm.
Video Conferencing
2007-02-19
When you think of video conferencing you probably picture a webcam perched on a computer or monitor recording your image and sending it out to the world. While webcams are most frequently used by online conference participants, it is also possible to get the work done with a digital video camera. Which webcam or digital video camera you opt for depends on your needs. Here are some points to consider when making your selection.
Webcams
Nowadays, web cams can be found for under $20 and go all the way up to $150. The difference between the high end cameras and the starter web cams are usually due to the quality of image that is put out.
First, take a look at the resolution of the camera. Ideally you should get a webcam that can produce at least a 640x480 resolution.
Then check how many frames per second the camera can handle. For video conferencing the ideal level is 30 frames per second (fps).
Finally, find out what kind of sensor the camera uses. The better web cams use CCD technology instead of CMOS. Also, remember that most webcams connect to computers with a USB cable.
Digital Video Cameras
For an even better result (sharper and faster images), you can use digital video cameras. These are the same devices that are used to record home movies, etc. Digital video cameras start as low as $250 and go up to thousands of dollars. In order to use a digital video camera, you need to make sure that the device supports a USB or a Firewire output and that it can be used as a webcam and connect you with online applications.
Whether you use a webcam or a digital video camera depends on the type of conferencing that you will be doing.
If youre meeting in a manner in which the quality of the video is not too important, then a lower end webcam will probably suffice. However, if you need quality video, then a higher end webcam, or even a digital video camera will be required.
If youll be in a conference room setting, in which you need to get more than one person on camera, a digital video camera with tilt/pan/zoom capabilities will work best.
Firewire digital video cameras provide images that are so nice that you can see the second hand of a watch sweep by. You can also see details of products and items that normal webcams simply cannot provide. This is because firewire handles the processing of video much better than USB does, allowing for smoother images and better quality.
When you are out shopping for webcams, take a look at Logitech products. They are one of the leaders in this field and have a wide variety of models. They offer great products at reasonable prices. For digital video cameras, Canon offers a good selection and devices of excellent quality.
So, consider your needs and your budget and then find a webcam or a digital video camera that is best for you.
Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 Now Shipping
2007-02-19
Adobe is now shipping its professional level digital photography application, Photoshop Lightroom 1.0. Photoshop Lightroom enables professional photographers to import, manage and present large volumes of digital photographs, helping photographers spend more time behind the lens and less time at the computer. With more than 500,000 photographers participating in the public beta program over the last 12 months, Photoshop Lightroom now includes a wealth of innovative features that streamline digital photography workflows. Recognizing the photography community for their efforts, Adobe is offering Photoshop Lightroom at a special introductory price of US $199 through April 30, 2007 at the Adobe Store. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of US $299.Photoshop Lightroom includes new functionality added since beta 4.1, with significant changes to the Library and Develop modules complementing improvements to the Slideshow, Print and Web components. While in the Library module, new advanced keywording tools help photographers filter through large collections, and an improved import dialogue with more flexible file handling allows more choice when determining file . The new Key Metadata Browser provides quick access to key information tags with an improved ranking and rating system that now incorporates color labels and a pick/reject system that sorts and locates photographs faster than ever. New to the Develop module, Virtual Copies and Snapshot tools help present multiple versions of the same image, providing the most choice to clients without the confusion of saving separate physical versions.
Additional tools added include a Hue, Saturation and Luminance targeted adjustment tool for precise and intuitive image edits. Clone and Healing features provide non-destructive edits to eliminate sensor dust across one or many images.
Photoshop Lightroom leverages Adobe Camera Raw technology and supports over 150 native raw file formats, in addition to JPEG and TIFF, bringing raw conversion into a single workflow experience. The latest camera models supported include the Nikon D40 and D80 and the Pentax K10D. This support means that photographers can use Lightroom with even the newest cameras on the market, knowing that the image files will be recognized today and in the future.
Upon import, files can be converted to the Digital Negative specification (DNG) or renamed and segmented by folder or date. DNG is an industry-wide initiative to create a universal file format for solving workflow and archiving issues. It aims to eliminate barriers to new camera adoption while giving professional photographers the confidence that their digital body of work is securely archived and will remain accessible as digital imaging technology evolves.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.4.3 or later and a 1GHz G4 or better, 768MB RAM and 1GB hard disk space.
Announcing the Official Launch Of Blog Daddyyankeegasoline.blogspot.com
2007-02-15
Announcing the Official Launch Of Blog Daddyyankeegasoline.blogspot.com
Simple Internet which already has quite an impressive array of online assets such as hghlook.com, weightlosshd.com and donomarlive.blogspot.com has announced the official launch of their Daddy Yankee weblog or “blog.” The company believes that the blog will be an excellent complement to its innovative motivated die hard fans lead subscription service.
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Best money market rates from Bankaholic.com
2007-02-14
Certificate of Deposit rates are an investment opportunity to generate long-term stable profits for non-risk takers. CDs are usually fixed rate which means user has to agree on the interest rates with the bank before investing the amount with them and the rate of CD remains constant until CD matures.
Best money market rates from Bankaholic.com
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Printer Inks
2007-02-12
The way printer inks work in a basic inkjet printer lies in the design of the inkjet heads. Printer inks can be delivered in a fixed-head ink cartridge or a disposable head ink cartridge. Both work differently and have an assortment of people who prefer one to the other. The fixed head design for printer inks was created in order for the consumer to be able to use the built in print head for the duration of the printer. The head does not need to be replaced every time people run out of printer inks. The cost to replace this type of ink usually results in cheap printer ink for most users. The only time that this type of ink cartridge head can be expensive is if the built in head becomes damaged or broken. Sometimes it might be necessary to replace the entire printer and cheap printer ink may no longer be an option.Printer inks that are delivered via disposable heads are the kind of ink cartridges that need to be replaced each time the cartridge runs out of ink. The entire cartridge needs to be replaced, not just part of it. Although some types of disposable heads can be expensive, it is possible to purchase cheap printer ink by looking online or buying in multiple replacement packs.
No matter what kind of printer and cartridge heads are used, sometimes buying printer inks is simply too expensive for the average household and possibly business. The need for cheap printer ink has become in demand over the past several years and a number of manufacturers have recognized this need. Sometimes a person simply needs to check their email box on the computer and they will find multiple cheap printer ink offers. While email boxes are often filled with unsolicited and unwanted email offers a cheap printer ink offer might be one to take a look at.
A cheap printer ink cartridge can provide any consumer with a significant amount of savings and can eliminate periods that they have to go without printer ink due to the expense. When making the decision to purchase cheap printer ink, many people might believe that they could be sacrificing the print quality that they are used to when they purchased more expensive ink cartridges. Buying cheap printer ink doesnt automatically mean that the printer ink will be of less quality. Unfortunately, consumers believe that the word cheap is one that should be connected to products that are of lesser quality and many people miss out on exceptional buys that could save them a good deal of money.
Cheap printer ink might be delivered in a recycled ink cartridge or by a generic ink manufacturer. Other cheap printer ink is less expensive simply because it was purchase in a large quantity or at wholesale and can be offered at a much lower price than other retailers do. Most cheap printer ink is simply the same ink that is sold to consumers at office supply stores at a discounted price.
Printer Ink Supplies
2007-02-12
Inks play a pivotal role in the normal operation of a printer. Without the ink, printouts are bound to be useless with the absence of the text or graphics that are supposed to be printed on the paper. Fortunately, there are inks available for the different types of printers. Furthermore, the supplies of printer inks are quite accessible. Knowing what ink you are using can help you decided whether to buy a new printer cartridge or a refillable one. In some cases, you may even be the one to refill your spent cartridge.Inkjet printers, which are ordinarily used by people having personal computers or by businesspersons in their operations, utilize four kinds of inks: the aqueous, the solvent, the dye sublimation, and the ultraviolet (UV)-curable.
Aqueous inks are ordinarily used for thermal inkjet printers. These are a combination of several dyes or pigments, which is then mixed with water and glycol. This mixture is hard to control when applied on the exterior of any medium. It is necessary for a special type of medium that is specifically coated for the mixture to be regulated.
Piezoelectric inkjets make us of the solvent inks, the dye sublimation inks as well as the UV-curable inks. The solvent inks have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as their primary ingredient and are commonly used for billboards as well as graphics on fleets. Solvent inks are very affordable. Dye sublimation inks are applicable for printing on fabrics, either directly or indirectly. The preferred fabric are those that are made mostly of polyester fibers. The sublimation dye is heated, which is then absorbed by the fibers creating whatever image is desired. The color is usually strong and the image achieved is durable. UV-curable inks, as the name implies, utilizes UV-light in order for the ink to dry immediately. This is the most expensive kind of ink among the four enumerated.
Whatever ink you may need to use, there are stores that keeps these products in stock. Before buying, determine first the printer you have and the ink that is appropriate to be used. Then proceed to the store that sells the ink that you need. The suppliers of printer ink are numerous so do not limit your choices.
Buying Printer Ink Online
2007-02-12
Buying things on the internet can save you a lot of money and printer ink is no different. Because they have less overhead than a traditional store, often with no physical to pay for, many internet retailers can sell for quite a bit less.The drawback to this, of course, is that you can't go and look or test something before you buy it. If you're buying the original brand of cartridges for your printer, this doesn't really matter since they will be the same no matter where you buy them.
If you're buying discount cartridges, however, there could be a big difference in print quality from one brand to another. Not being able to see a sample of the results ahead of time might make it harder to know which ones you can rely on.
The most important thing to check when buying your ink on the internet is what kind of guarantee they offer. Reliable ink companies will give you a full money-back guarantee in case you're not happy with the results.
The guarantee should cover you whether there is actually something wrong with the cartridge (eg. it won't print) or if you're simply not happy with the results.
Because print quality is partly a matter of taste, what some people consider perfectly fine might not meet your standards. If that's the case, you want to be sure you can return the ink and get your money back.
Another thing to watch for is compatibility information. Different brands and models of printers use slightly different types of ink, and you need to be sure your cartridges are compatible with your particular printer.
Many discount ink companies offer a generic "one-size-fits-all" ink that they claim will work in any printer. This just isn't possible, and these generic types of ink usually don't work very well in any printer.
The best companies have specific cartridges or refills for each brand and model, and they will make it clear which ones are compatible for any given cartridge.
You can get just as good results by buying your ink online - while saving a lot of money - but be sure to check the website against these tips so you'll get the results you want.
Personal Information on the Internet Could Put you In Danger
2007-02-12
There is already a lot being said about malware (Trojans, viruses, worms, etc.) and attempts to obtain your cash, personal identity, usernames and passwords through various frauds and phishing schemes. While this is crucial information to have, practically nothing is being written about the tremendous amount of personal information pouring onto the Internet through the careless use of blogs and photo album services. In these popular new Internet outlets there exists a dangerous opportunity for predatory criminals; bloggers may in fact be fueling the fire and opportunity that these monsters need to commit their crimes!- To reinforce my statement I would love to point out one shining example I stumbled across a week ago and illustrate how one particular blogger has put her entire family in jeopardy. In the interest of their safety however, I am not going to identify the particular blog. I will however, relate to you what I saw so that you may learn from her mistakes then take an objective look at your own online presence and determine if changes need to be made.
- The name of her site was something whimsical like “The Smith Family Blogosphere of Happiness” and the blog had its own URL- “TheSmithFamily.com.” This blogger was obviously dedicated! There were many pictures in the online photo album of blogger, her husband and beautiful children in various activities both at home and at school. She obviously put a lot of thought into the numerous blog entries about various subjects: family vacations; the usual ups and downs that she and her husband have at work and raising their children; how she felt about some issues in her community and anything else that seemed to cross her mind. It was a typical non-commercial blog.
- No big deal right? Wrong… in terms of personal security this blog was a nightmare.
- The first thing I noticed was that she identifies her last name in the title of her blog. A quick trip to the WHOIS database verified that her URL was registered publicly and identified the blogger by name, home address, private email address and home phone number.
- She did a good job at referencing her children in her blog posts as “the oldest boy,” “our youngest son,” or “my daughter” but she mistakenly names most of the picture’s filenames after them (i.e. janes_xmas.jpg, johns_new_bike.jpg or john_and_jim.jpg); anyone can tell who’s who and put a face to a name.
- Most horrifically, the kids are in athletic uniforms with the name of the school emblazoned across the front; knowing each child’s name, what they look like and the name of their school in conjunction with the address I obtained through the WHOIS record would allow me to find these particular children at school very easily.
- While she only references her husband by his first name it isn’t much of a stretch to put it with her last name to reveal his identity. She describes both of their positions at work and names their employers. I even found a post referencing a vacation they were all taking in Acapulco, Mexico in December. The post was written in October.
- I could have gained motor vehicle registration information (which includes full name, address, VIN, driver’s license number and date of birth) through the vehicle license plate information found in one particular picture. There are unscrupulous sellers on the Internet who will provide this information instantly to anyone with a credit card.
- In completing my cursory internet profile, I “Googled” the blogger’s name, which returned nothing except for the blog, but when I searched on the email address I obtained via the URL’s WHOIS registration, I found her eBay identity, an entire UseNet newsgroup identity (which I am MOST sure that she wishes to keep VERY private since she did a good job maintaining her anonymity there) and a few other interesting morsels of information too bizarre even to mention.
- It would not take the mental muscle of an evil genius to gather just a little bit of information to make this family’s , identity, and habits, readily discernable. What horror would befall them then if someone were so inclined to cause them harm?
- There are several things she should do differently. First, use good ol’ common sense, there is no greater substitute! Change the title and the URL address of her blog and remove her family’s last name. She can use a “proxy” or private registration service to maintain her URL with the registrar. She should use generic file names for her pictures that do not identify the people in them and obscure identifiers in the photos like the license plate and the school name on the uniforms too. She shouldn’t discuss the identity of her employer; if it is important, then refer to it in a generic manner such as “I work at an auto parts store.” She certainly should not be advertising when and where she will be vacationing in the future. Lastly, she should use a free (and anonymous) email address to post to newsgroups… especially when anyone may blush at the more than casual reference to her sexual inclinations.
- I realize that you cannot avoid all risk in life, but the bottom line is if you participate in the online world, you will have to bear the risk of a certain amount of exposure and be prepared to address the issues that are part and parcel with sharing personal information on the Internet. Additionally, I concede that this blog was without a commercial purpose; out of necessity one often has to share personal identifying information when running an online business. It simply goes along with the territory.
- I hope that you will take a critical look at your own online identity right now. Ask yourself, “Am I absolutely comfortable with what I have found?” If you are not, then resolve to do something about it today because someone else may stumble across your little corner of the Internet and decide to find you tomorrow. Unfortunately this is reality.
Study: Weak passwords really do help hackers
2007-02-11
Left online for 24 days to see how hackers would attack them, four Linux computers with weak passwords were hit by some 270,000 intrusion attempts -- about one attempt every 39 seconds, according to a study conducted by a researcher at the University of Maryland. Among the key findings: Weak passwords really do make hackers' jobs much easier. The study also found that improved selection of usernames and associated passwords can make a big difference in whether attackers get into someone's computer. The study was led by Michel Cukier, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and an affiliate of the university's Clark School Center for Risk and Reliability and Institute for Systems Research. His goal was to look at how hackers behave when they attack computer systems -- and what they do once they gain access.Wikipedia is running out of cash
2007-02-11
ONLINE encyclopaedia Wikipedia might have to close because it only has enough funding for another four months.Florence Devouard, chairwoman of the Wikimedia Foundation, told the Lift07 conference that the outfit might join the Everywhere Girl and disappear from the Interweb.
Wikipedia normally raises a $1 million a year, this year it has raised $1.1 million. But it claims that it needs $5 million a year to sustain operations.
Reflecting the consistency of that organ of knowledge, it seems that Devouard's comments have been hastily deleted and replaced by another spokesWikipedia denying that it was true.
Sandy Ordonez claimed that Devouard's comment was taken out of context and Wikipedia will not be closing any time soon.
She claimed that Devouard was simply referring to the ongoing, pressing needs for funds that Wikipedia, like most nonprofit organisations, face.
Nvidia screws Dell
2007-02-11
Part Two It's all about the marketing moneyWHY CAN'T DELL ship Vista with its XPS line of computers? We told you about the problem itself a while ago, but that didn't answer the obvious question of why it was happening.
First comes the question of when the drivers are coming for real? Since Nvidia won't answer our mails until it gets picked up by another site, we dug in on our own. Several people tell us to expect mostly closer to functional Vista drivers by the end of the month, maybe. A month late and counting, best case.
The real question though is if Alienware can ship Vista, broken drivers and all, why can't Dell? Answer, Microsoft money.
It seems that in order to qualify for Microsoft marketing funds, you need to meet certain criteria. The first is all drivers need to be WHQL certified or you can't qualify for ad money. Second, in order to meet Vista Premium certification and bear the mark of DRM infection, er, that black mark, you also need WHQL drivers. Nvidia can't deliver, so Dell is up the creek.
Dell basically has a nasty choice, to ship its flagship line without functioning hardware, without a Vista black mark, and without the associated kickback dollars or to ship it with XP. It may be a tough place to be, but it is not a tough decision once you get there.
So, will Nvidia come out with functional drivers? Will Dell get out of it's pickle and back on the MS money train? Will Lassie get to the ranch in time to save the teddy bear? Stay tuned for the next installment of this soap opera.
New AutoCad Blog Site Launching!
2007-02-10
Great new AutoCad Blog Site with tonned of AutoCad Info has been created, Gnharrod.com has a chat system that visitors can feel comfortable chatting with others. Autocad tutorials, blogs, videos and software download and just part of what visitors can expect at Gnharrod.com.
Tag: autocad, autocad 2007, autocad viewer, autocad lt, autocad 2006, autocad blocks, autocad tutorial, autocad software, autocad tutorials, autocad 2005
Aim-Smileys.net Takes Internet By Storm
2007-02-06
AIM smileys and free AIM smileys are taking the Internet by storm, Very exciting news a whole new set of Smileys available for download. ALIENS, The BORG, and NINJAS all created by the very talented Escopedo. If you think it is difficult to create your own Smileys, think again, he has written an informative tutorial on making your own custom Smileys located on the website.
The problem though is the lack of knowledge people have about the Internet, and they don’t know how to find AIM Smileys online. So what ends up happing is that fail or break-even. However consider yourself lucky, because you are in the right place at the right time my friend.
Tag: aim smileys,aim, smileys, themes, buddy, expressions, icons, smiley update, smileyupdate, aol, instant messenger, chat, will & grace, wonder woman, curious george, marvin the martian, batman, batgirl, birds of prey, charmed, xena, buffy, superstar, mojo jojo, jetsons, tuck, everlasting, avril lavigne, stitch, margaret cho
EBay targets auto sales growth with new service
2007-02-05
Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. on Monday rolled out a service for U.S. auto dealers intended to drive a tenfold increase in the inventory of cars available for purchase on its Web site.EBay is also testing a revamped version of its auto shopping Web site designed to make it easier for users to find a broader range of information on used cars -- including vehicles offered for sale by nearby dealers, executives said.
Under its new program, eBay will allow car dealers to upload listings of all of the used cars on their lots for a $1,000 per month subscription fee and a fee of $50 per sale.
Unlike its auction listings, the local used car listings from dealers show up with a fixed price.
The used car and truck business dwarfs new car sales in the United States and accounts for a larger share of earnings by the over 21,000 franchised car dealerships because of the higher margins used vehicles carry.
EBay is not alone in rolling out new Internet services intended to send more car shoppers to dealers.
Rival Autobytel Inc., one of the first companies to offer online car shopping, is also readying a new Web site that will charge dealers based on the number of sales prospects sent their way.
Last year, 42.5 million used vehicles were sold in the United States, according to CNW Marketing Research Inc. By contrast, there were 16.55 million new cars were sold.
Rob Chesney, senior director of eBay Motors, told reporters on the sidelines of the National Automobile Dealers Association he expected the new "local market" offering would take eBay's online auto listings into "the hundreds of thousands of cars" from "tens of thousands" now.
EBay now works with about 15,000 auto dealers in the United States and Chesney expected a "significant" number would sign up for the subscription-based local listing service.
EBay Motors reported annualized revenue of $14 billion for the fourth quarter of 2006, Chesney said.
EBay has been testing its new service with car dealers in four U.S. cities, including Chicago, since last summer.
EBay is also testing its new auto sales site and expects to offer it to users by the spring.
EBay representatives said they had designed the new site to try to keep more car shoppers on the Web site from their initial search to their purchase by providing more information, such as car reviews written by eBay users.
EBay's own research with auto shoppers had shown a number of those searching for cars had left the site to search for information elsewhere, company representatives said.
Marc Damon, the Internet sales manager at Fox Valley Ford in North Aurora, Illinois, said the eBay local listing program had driven business to the dealership, which had been selling 40 to 50 used cars per month.
"We're selling an extra 10-ish because of this," he said.
Do you have enough car insurance?
2007-02-02
Do you have enough car insurance?
What could make a bad car deal worse? A wreck that leaves you owing thousands on a car you don’t own anymore.
If you did everything wrong while acquiring your last vehicle, you may still be able to do at least one thing right. And that’s buying so-called “gap insurance.”
Gap insurance kicks in when the amount your insurer would pay for your totaled or stolen car falls short of what you still owe on the loan or lease.
Tag: auto insurance, car insurance, aa, aarp, admiral, american, antique car, arizona, home insurance, gap, agency
Almost 30 percent of Internet users tag online
2007-02-02
Almost 30 percent of Internet users tag online
Tagging, the emblematic activity of the “Web 2.0″ and social computing era, appears destined for mainstream status, a new study concludes.
Among U.S. Internet users, 28 percent have tagged online content like blog entries, photos, Web sites, video clips, and news articles, The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports in a study released Wednesday. On any particular day, 7 percent of users engage in this activity to categorize and label material they upload or find on the Web.
Justen Deal, a manager in Los Angeles who tags news articles on sites like Slashdot, believes that as the use of tagging increases, it will give blogging and the Web in general a significant boost by making content easier to organize and discover.
Tag: tag, tagging, web 2.0, social bookmark, digg, technorati, netscape, blog, blogger, posting, internet marketing, google, yahoo
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