Easy PCs

May I have a Word with you?

2009-10-27T06:14:00.006+08:00

I'm reading a science publication of 2007 that has an advertisement for another publication, and I'm amused at 5:30 in the morning (Manila). The ad is an invitation to authors and says in part (note that all names in the next paragraph, and only the next paragraph, are fictitious):

Submissions: The editor welcomes submissions to Outlook on Soil Science (OSS). Notes for authors are available on the Lumos Website (www.lumos.publishing.com). Articles should be double-spaced, printed on one side of the paper and sent in triplicate, with a disk specifying the software used. Papers are refereed before publication. Please send submissions to Dr Phil E Buster, c/o Lumos Publishing House, 57 Lopez Avenue, Los Baños, Laguna, the Philippines. Dr Buster may also be contacted at editor@lumos.publishing.com.

At this point, the words 'an embarrassment of riches' comes to mind. I'm using a Core i7 PC ('The fastest processor on Earth') with a 19-inch Hanns-G LCD widescreen 'Go beyond' display. When I was Editor in Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, PJCS for the issues 2001 to 2008, I was mostly working at home and in 2007 I bought as a birthday gift (17 September) for myself a Core 2 Duo PC with a 17-inch LG monitor. Only a year ago and how times have changed!

At PJCS, while I also asked for printouts of papers submitted for publication (for the reviewers who were not PC-savvy), I did not ask for double-spaced printing and I did not encourage any other software for the text and tables except Microsoft Word. In any case, Microsoft Windows is now so far advanced it knows which software to use to open a file even if you don't!

I myself started in PJCS with Word 2002 and finished with Word 2003 as my desktop publishing program of choice, believe it or not. Was that a good decision? It was superb! I was supremely confident with the software; I had been using Microsoft Word since 1987. With Word 2002/Word 2003, I made that journal, from being late 2 years, up-to-date in 2006, and in the year after that, I made it ISI. Hurray for Word 2003!

Why didn't I end up using Word 2007, which was already available in November 2006? That's another story.

Beautiful Hanns-G, handsome ATI Radeon 4850

2009-10-25T23:18:00.000+08:00

When you have an Intel Core i7, 'the fastest processor on the planet,' what else would you like to have? I have a beautiful viewer, a 19-inch Hanns-G supplied with gorgeous images by an ATI Radeon 4850, not to mention good-looking shots by yours truly with a Canon Exilim Ex-S5 (10 MP). In terms of information technology, IT, I couldn't ask for anything more.

Hanns-G USA describes the Hanns-G monitor (hannsg.com/us) in these words:

The aesthetics of technology have been redefined, creating a perfect combination of the sensible with the sensual.

A sight to behold.

About the graphics card, I'll quote the AMD advertisement because I think it speaks with technical precision ('The future is fusion,' ati.md.com):

The ATI Radeon HD 4870, ATI Radeon HD 4850 and ATI Radeon HD 4830 GPUs bring the power of graphics ‘supercomputing’ to gamers, setting a new standard for visual computing. Redefine the way you play and take HD gaming to the extreme with best-in-class performance. With up to 1.2 teraFLOPS on tap, the TeraScale graphics engine delivers an immersive, cinematic gaming experience. Add this graphics card to your PC and watch Blu-ray movies and play HD content with incredible visual fidelity, or take your experience to another level with new multimedia capabilities. Do it all with break-through efficiency that doesn’t compromise performance.

'Setting a new standard for visual computing' - you have to see it to be awed by it. 'Redefine the way you play and take HD gaming to the extreme' - exquisite moves, rich, clean colors. 'TeraScale graphics engine delivers an immersive, cinematic gaming experience' - as if you're watching one of the best animated motion pictures. 'Doesn't compromise performance' - flawless, I must say.

My son Edwin, who plays games unlike his father, was the one who told me about this graphics card. I don't play games; or, rather, the game I play is to work fast and best and beat any other one-man band in writing, editing, desktop publishing using the PC. It's not easy, because I am very demanding; I have very high standards. I want the best from the best.

Moving pictures, 25 October 2009

2009-10-25T10:43:00.003+08:00

A few minutes ago, I learned something new about moving pictures, and I'd like to share it with you. By moving pictures, I mean I have been looking at each image I have shot, more than 15,000 of them, and moving out of folders the bad shots - nobody's perfect. About 10% of my photographs are bad, or not sharp; quite a few are the results of panic-button pressing.

What I have been doing was checking on Microsoft Picture Manager whether a photograph is blurred or too dark or whatever; after viewing, I click X of Picture Manager to quit, then move the image to a folder I have called XPhotos. The images that go in there I'm not going to delete them out of the hard disk; I'm going to use them as background or abstracts, with a little from my friend PhotoShop CS3.

What is the fastest way to move an image (or any file for that matter) from folder to folder? Make sure that the folders are in the same drive. My source folder (Frank's Shots) is in drive H, and so is my destination folder (XPhotos). You simply drag the file from one folder to the other and, voila! Great move. Been there, done that.

Nonetheless, I had been through viewing about 8,000 images when I thought, 'there must be an easier way to do this.' When I tried not quitting Picture Manager and just moved the image to the XPhotos, I was surprised to see that the image in my viewer frame changed! In other words, you can move a picture even if you don't exit from the software you're using to view it. I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium; I mention it because I don't know about other (lower) versions. So I cut down on the energy of my moves, including no longer moving up the cursor to the X of the open window of Picture Manager to close it, by about 50%. Lesson? It pays to try something new.

CD-R King of the PC accessories?

2009-10-24T20:03:00.002+08:00

I'm a photographer by confession, if not by profession; I illustrate the essays in my blogs with my own images as much as possible. Nothing beats working with an image you have to write an article with, or having an article to search for an image you know you have. Picasa 3 tells me I have at the moment a collection of more than 15,000 photos, no duplicates, all of 25 GBs.

I'm collecting more. Lately, my 2-year old Canon PowerShot A540 digicam had been refusing to connect by USB cable to my PC and so I couldn't see my shots to cut and paste from the memory card to the hard disk. Solution? A card reader. So I bought a blue device that calls itself USB 2.0 All-in-1 Card Reader (generic) and it worked perfectly. An hour or so ago, I bought this exact same blue USB 2.0 All-in-1 Card Reader that displays a brand name: CD-R King M Series. I bought it at the CD-R King's store at Robinson's Town Mall in Los Baños. Cheap.

Now, why do I need 2 card readers? I don't. I am going to give away the new one to the girls at the office where I have my other PC, a Core 2 Duo. They're using it for a book project sponsored by the UP Los Baños Alumni Association and I am the author. The card reader they were using wasn't working.

CD-R King advertises itself as 'Your one-stop media provider' (cdrking.com). I remember that it was selling its own 1.4 MB diskette during the pterodactyl age. Now CD-R King has these:

Batteries
Bluetooth
BluRay discs
cable accessories
cable ties
calculators
camera bags
card readers
CD cases
CD Disney
CD markers
CD storage
cleaning kits
computer lights
CPU cases
crimping tools
digital cameras
digital photo frames
dram module
DV cameras
DVD players
DVD+R dual layers
DVD+R series
DVD-R series
fan coolers
flash disks
floppy disks
FM modulators
furniture
gaming accessories
gel pad (mouse pad, wrist pad)
GPS navigator
hard disk enclosures
headsets
headsets (branded)
industrial products
ink King
iPod accessories
laser toners
LCD TV
memory cards
microphones
mouse pads
mp3 players
mp4 players
mp5 players
network devices
optical mouse
other products
paper
paper shredders
PC cameras
PCI cards
PCMCIA cards
portable hard disk
power charger
power supply
projectors
remote controls
screen protectors
security lock
skins
speakers
surveillance monitoring system
tapes
tripods
TV mountings
TV tuner
USB products
video cards
wrist pad

Now, why did I list all of them down? Really, the prices I saw of CD-R King products on display were reasonable: I also bought a mouse pad and a robotic laptop cooler. I like CD-R King's Vision: 'To provide every Filipino with the latest technology at an affordable price.'

And why are CD-R King products so cheap? The website explains: 'No flashy advertisement, no star endorser, no expensive POS system, no sexy staff uniforms, no credit card services, no expensive interior designing, no excessive packaging, no middleman.' CD-R King says, 'We purchase directly from source or factory.'

I think our PC vendors and media marketers can take a lesson or two from CD-R King. Not to mention the oil companies. You can succeed without squeezing blood from your customers.

At 69, I can't complain

2009-10-24T17:20:00.001+08:00

Right now, at home, I am all alone with my desktop of zodiac girls in a room that is 2.5 x 5 meters that has 1 Condura aircon (.5 hp), 4 personal computers (3 desktop PCs and 1 laptop), 3 printers, 2 legitimate copies of Microsoft Windows Vista, 1 legitimate copy of Microsoft Office 2007. Not that I'm counting.

The works! And why is that? Well, I'm a computer nerd (a 'single-minded enthusiast' - Microsoft Encarta Dictionary), computer wonk ('a student who works unduly hard or long' - Encarta), and computer geek ('somebody who is a proud or enthusiastic user of computers or other technology, sometimes to an excessive degree' - Encarta). I'm all that. The difference between me and all those clever nerds, canny wonks, and crafty geeks in the world? I'm Senior.

Actually, I'm a freelance writer, editor, desktop publisher, ghostwriter, reviser, adviser, photographer, author, blogger - and I need all those resources for all the works I have to do for me and for others. I also need all those equipment because I have 3 daughters and 1 son sharing all those PCs at anytime, including mid-day and midnight. I'm not complaining.