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Who's in the corner?
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| Sunday, February 16, 2003 |
Random thought:
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Learning how to use the toolsApplications are more complex than ever. That applies to word processors and spreadheets. It applies to games. It applies to graphics programs. Maybe it applies, in particular, to graphics programs. Back in the old days, a bitmap editing program allowed you to modify dots. Maybe you could paint with a brush. Maybe you could put a little text on the image. But that was about it. But take the latest from Adobe -- Photoshop 7 (see the review) has layers, objects, masking, a clone tool, the ability to smudge, dodge, burn, combine, change color, change brightness, change contrast. And that just scratches the surface. How are you to make sense of it? When Photoshop arrived, it came with a DVD that featured Deke McClelland in a "handyman's worshop" setting. The DVD had 3 or 4 basic lessons and I felt they were effective in explaining to me how to use some of the Photoshop tools. But that single DVD covered only the introductory features. So I was excited when "Deke McClelland's Total Training for Adobe Photoshop 7" arrived -- a total of 8 DVDs with a single CD included to hold the project files you'll use as you work your way through the series. The set I received included a note that explained the DVDs had an error in marking and that I could obtain new copies of the DVDs for free. Since there's a booklet that explains what's on each DVD, I didn't bother with the replacements. I'm sure that copies being sold now have resolved that small problem. Who is Deke McClelland?He could probably use the name "Mister Photoshop" except for Adobe's lawyers, who might object to his use of the name. He's the author of a shelf full of books about Photoshop (more than 50 books in print, worldwide). And he knows his way around a television studio, so his on-screen persona comes through. You'll spend about 26 hours with McClelland, plus whatever amount of time you want to take to go back and review. I still haven't managed to find the time to get through the entire series, but then I'm not someone who uses Photoshop every day. If I needed to turn myself into a Photoshop power user in a week, this is the product I'd use to do it. The 8 DVDs contain 14 programs that start with the basics and go all the way through the hard stuff -- printing and color management. Each of the programs is an hour or so long. Each is divided into 4 lessons that range from 10 to 40 minutes. And each of the lessons comes complete with scene markers, so you can hop from one to another when you want to review something Deke said. The first DVD, for example, included "What Photoshop can do", Getting ready", "The file browser," and "Workspace and navigation." This is the basic get-acquainted disk. As you watch, you see how Deve McClelland does things and how he communicates. You'll pick up a few basic skills, but you'll also see some of the program's more advanced features -- along with a hint that you'll learn how to do those things in future lessons. By the time you're midway through the course, you'll be learning about masking, blending, knock-outs, and drop outs. And your final series of lessons will cover color theory, color management, printing and packaging, and "actions", which is what Adobe calls scripting. This might be a good time to mention that the series is available on CDs, too, but I wouldn't recommend it. CDs hold much less information than DVDs. Considering you can buy a good DVD player for not much more than about $50 and a superb DVD player for around $100, go for the DVD version of the program and buy a DVD player if you don't already have one. The series costs $250, which may seem like a lot, but it's the fastest way I can think of to get up to speed on Photoshop 7 -- short of inviting Deke over for a beer and holding him hostage until you accomplished a mind meld. For more information, see http://www.totaltraining.com/ or call 1-888-368-6825. A Windows XP computer in your shirt pocket?What would you think of a computer that's about the size of a (large) deck of cards -- 4.1" x 2.9" x 0.9"? It weighs about 9 ounces and runs Windows XP Professional on a 1GHz Crusoe TM5800 processor from Transmeta Corporation. The screen is a built-in VGA color LCD touchscreen and the computer comes with 256MB of RAM, a 10GB hard drive, FireWire and USB for connectivity, audio ports, and 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless networking?
This would be OQO's "ultra-personal computer" and it would fit in your shirt pocket. If you could buy one. I first saw these devices nearly a year ago and, at that time, plans were to have units on sale by late 2002. Building prototypes is one thing; constructing devices that are rugged enough to work in the field and priced low enough for people to afford them has proven to be a problem. But the company continues to work on it. OQO plans to make a special enclosure with a keyboard and screen. Plug the tiny computer in and you have a standard notebook computer -- so it's three devices in one: palm-top, notebook, and desktop. Founded in 1999, OQO is based San Francisco. For more information (but not much) see the company's website. Nerdly NewsYahoo still looking for clues to the futureThe folks at Yahoo are trying to figure out how they'll make money in the future. On-line advertising isn't what it once was -- and some would say it wasn't that great in the first place. The Yahoo portal will have some premium services starting sometime later this year, mainly enhanced versions of things like e-mail and other services that Yahoo already offers. But there will be new services such as video for those who are just itching to watch movies on tiny computer screens. Yahoo offers its services via SBC Communications (nee, Ameritech [nee, Ohio Bell]) and has an agreement to do similar things with the BT Group (formerly British Telecom). I'm not one of the 200 million people per month who use Yahoo as their primary portal to the Internet -- in part because I've never seen the value in what Yahoo does. When I'm looking for something, I can generally find it faster without Yahoo getting in the way, although I do use the service as a last resort and occasionally I do find what I was looking for there. Yahoo is talking about a service for people with broadband from cable or phone companies. That's something else I've not been able to figure out. AOL has a similar offering: If you have a broadband connection, you can add AOL for another $10 per month. Why? You're already on the Internet. The Yahoo service would be similar, but would include spam filtering. People who want their ISP to help them filter spam may already have an account with Earthlink, though -- a service that is reputed to do a good job of whacking spam. AOL and MSN have competing services for those who already have broadband connections. Yahoo and the other two are all marketing stand-alone access in co-operative agreements with service providers. Yahoo claims to have more than 1 million subscribers via SBC and hopes to double that within the year. Total information awareness looks like a non-starterIt's the Democrats who have been the most vocal opponents of the federal government's plans to read all your e-mail, but few Republicans are willing to get out in front of the proposal and promote it. House and Senate negotiators met this week and agreed that TIA must not be used against American citizens. If the Pentagon wants to continue with the project, the committee members said, there will have to be more talks with Congress. TIA is the project that will be directed by Admiral John Poindexter, who was convicted of lying to Congress about weapons sales to Iran and illegal aid to Nicaraguan rebels. The conviction was later overturned on the grounds that Poindexter had been given immunity for the testimony in which he lied. Members of Congress are reported to be uneasy with Poindexter's appointment. The winners are ...Winners of the O'Reilly books (selected by an Excel spreadsheet random-number function) are ...
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Plug in a few external devices and you can export the video to a standard monitor, attach a mouse, and use a keyboard that's several times larger than the computer.
