From the monthly archives:

February 2009

Book: Adobe Photoshop CS4 one-on-one

February 24, 2009

If you’re new to Photoshop, you know that some tasks involve a steep learning curve. And most of us who have been using it for years could still learn much more about it. Adobe Photoshop CS4 one-on-one by Photoshop expert Deke McClelland, published by O’Reilly Media, is a 500-page book that will teach you everything [...]

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Anonymity and Privacy

February 23, 2009

Some of the most interesting security debates involve anonymity and privacy.  Everyone seems to have a different idea about what those words mean.  For example, some people think anonymity is a binary thing – you’re either anonymous or you’re not.  But when I think of anonymity I think of two axis. The first is how [...]

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Book: The Photoshop CS4 Companion

February 17, 2009

The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers by Derrick Story focuses on those aspects of CS4 most important to the photographer. The result is a concise 190-page book that you really could carry around in your laptop bag. It covers important topics such as importing images, rating and keywording images, basic and advanced RAW image techniques, [...]

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Credit Card Insecurity

February 16, 2009

Another round of credit card number exposures and my wife’s bank proactively changing her card number due to an  ‘ongoing investigation’ reminded me that I haven’t written about credit card issues for a while. But please don’t click away — this isn’t going to be another ‘how you can protect yourself’ article. Security can be [...]

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Philips goLITE BLU

February 10, 2009

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Seasonal Affective Disorder and the Daybreak Duo sunrise simulator that now helps me start my day on a brighter note. Over the last few weeks I’ve also been testing another another product from Philips Home Health Care, the goLITE BLU. My previous article goes into the science behind [...]

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Evidence from a Black Box

February 9, 2009

A recent count case in Minnesota poses an interesting question. In summary, a man accused of impaired driving says he should be able to review the source code of the breathalyzer used to gather the evidence against him. On the surface, the man’s request seems reasonable. As I understand it, the primary evidence against him [...]

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Plustek OpticSlim M12 Plus Scanner

February 6, 2009

I hate carrying paper and I’d much prefer to scan and email documents rather than fax them. So, when I heard about Plustek’s new OpticSlim M12 Plus scanner, I was pumped. I own a flatbed scanner but placing one page at a time is such a pain that I often end up faxing documents to [...]

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Adobe Photoshop CS4

February 3, 2009

Adobe Photoshop has long been the defacto standard for professional photographers and serious amateurs alike. Adobe recently released Photoshop CS4, and it includes some great new features. For most users, the best way to make image adjustments in Photoshop is to use layers so that the adjustments are non-destructive. Photoshop CS4 makes that process faster [...]

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Bus Strike? Bad Weather? Work at home!

February 2, 2009

Businesses, transit users and those of us who drive to work all suffered during Ottawa’s transit strike.  However, we can learn valuable lessons about business continuity planning that are equally applicable to an influenza pandemic, severe storm or even a terrorist attack. There is a segment of our population who simply must get to work: [...]

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