Publication Date: January 28th 2004
ISSN 1445-1360
In this issue you will read:
Editorial: January 28th 2004
Software Review: Picasa 1.6
Definition: Technophile
Project Step Up: A Dilemma
Quotable: Whitney Young said...
Web Site Review: Ofoto
The Great Australian Joke
G'Day Blokes and Sheilas! Well I just realized that this is issue number fifty for NetBloke. A small milestone that has taken a lot longer to get to than I had originally planned. In this issue I shall reflect a little here but keep up with new exciting things in the content section. Firstly let me acknowledge that Monday the 26th of January was Australia Day. Currently classed as an expatriate I did the best I could to celebrate the day. Now let me take a look back at NetBloke and life in general over the past three years. Let me reminisce in bullet form for effect and so I don't ramble to much.
Picasa is marketed as the "Number One Digital Camera Picture Organizer" and "The software that SHOULD have come with your camera".
It seems to be a sizable download and took a few minutes to download on a DSL connection. However it made up for this with a quick and smooth install.
The first nice thing I noticed was that the program scanned my entire drive for images after asking me. The interface is nice and clean. All the basics for editing a photo are there. A slideshow option competes with a similar "Timeline" option which freaked me out a little by using a picture of me as a background.
If I had bothered to give my images meaningful names I would have been able to easily search for them within the program. The import tool also seems to work well with my camera.
Most importantly in my opinion is the integration with Picasa's photo-lab. This took a couple of seconds as the "assistant" loaded. Again the interface was slick, while the pricing looks to be on the mark. The downside is you must select the images you want to be able to order before you launch the Online Assistant.
What is the big name behind Picasa? Well it appears to be IdeaLab! (http://www.idealab.com/) an old favorite of mine to watch during the Internet boom days.
All up I think this is a great program. However I think it would only become my choice if they dropped the price tag and made their money off the Photo-Lab. Having said that if you primarily want an organizer for your digital photos that allows you to clean them up a little this may be for you. With a 15 day trial you really can not go wrong. It lets you be the ultimate judge!
Name: Picasa
License: Trialware - 15 day trial, $29 to buy
Version Reviewed: 1.6
Supported Operating Systems : 98/Me/2000/XP
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To varying degrees you could probably all call yourselves technophiles. However it is probably only the geekiest of us who are well rounded technophiles. With our love of technology, that is sometimes so overwhelming and passionate that it sends our bank balance spiraling downwards and has our array of tech gear cluttering our homes.
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I am left with a bit of a tough decision this week. Unfortunately I do not believe that anything but the hard-drive, CD-Rom and Floppy are savable on the old machine. I am left with the dilemma of making a workable system trash, or keeping it as a workable giveaway to someone in need. In essence the parts I am salvaging off it are probably only going to save me fifty dollars for similar speced parts.
I believe I shall salvage the parts but rebuild the original old machine once I have the funds to totally upgrade the new machine.
So now I must seek out some new parts. I want to keep costs to a minimum so this should be interesting. One way I can keep costs down is to get a new motherboard that has onboard video. Although I won't be able to play high end games on the machine, in the future I could stick a AGP Video card in the available slot to boost the graphics capabilities.
The parts I shall seek include a motherboard, memory, and processor.
NEXT WEEK: The New Components
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The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.
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Ofoto is Kodak's online photo processing and accessory store. Regardless of whether you use a film or digital camera this site is for you. Film users can send in their film for free digitization, with Ofoto graciously sending you back your negatives. You can then browse your pictures online and select only the photos that turned out.
Digital users can use a piece of software that is free on the site to upload their digital albums for sharing or so that they can order prints.
Now on top of having choices on the size of prints you can even have the photos framed, made into reminder cards, calendars or the like. It really is a one stop shop. Your friends can also order prints of your photos, quick and easy!
Prices are reasonable and when you sign up for their newsletter you normally get special offers on a weekly basis.
So go ahead and share your photos or order the prints you love now at Ofoto.
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The Three-Legged Chook
A motorist was driving quietly along the road when, suddenly, his eyes goggled as, believe it or not, he saw a three-legged chook running beside him. The curious chicken suddenly made a right hand turn, and headed up a side track towards a nearby farm house. Intrigued the motorist decided to follow the chook. At the end of the track he met a farmer leaning on a gate.
The motorist said, "You probably won't believe this, but I reckon I saw a three-legged chook running this way."
The farmer was nonchalant in response. "Yep, we breed them here mate."
"But why?" asked the motorist.
"Well, you see, I like a leg, my wife likes a leg, and our son likes a leg."
"And what do they taste like?"
"Dunno", replied the farmer, "no one can catch the little buggers!"
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