Archive for January, 2008

With the popularity of last month’s blog post Free Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins and Effects, I wanted to make sure we did a follow up to this.

Now you have the tools to get the job done, but what good are these tools if you don’t know how to use them. We have compiled a list of popular FREE tutorials on how to master Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop is by far the leader in graphic design and photo editing. It is an advance software that has seemingly limitless possibilities. It may be difficult to use at first, but once you start learning you will be able to easily combine, blend, and invent new methods to help capture your photo.

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News of the GoldenEye XBLA being dumped is storming across the internet. Those who thought it was only a rumor that the game was being developed, found out that it existed when it was being halted.

According to 1UP, an XBLA version of Rare’s classic N64 shooter GoldenEye was being ported with the same graphics, sound. It was also noted as having multiplayer over XBLA.

The 2 months before completion project scrap was due to a disagreement between Microsoft and Nintendo on how to split proceeds.

This however does not mean Game Over for GoldenEye XBLA. Social Internet networks are trying to take a stand and complain to get the project started back up.

Here is comparison footage featuring GoldenEye XBLA

Great video that will show you an easy way to make fireballs. Great for parties, raves, and magic tricks.

THE END IS NEAR!

Of the month that is. Love it or hate it - we all respect it. Nuclear energy offers a memorizing display of force as seen in the video above. The most powerful and destructive force that man has ever been able to achieve so far. With countries and terrorist threatening to use this power for evil, where does this leave the nuclear future?

South Africa may offer insight and a staging point for the future revolution of nuclear energy. The continents only nuclear power plant is located on its southern tip in no man’s land of Cape Town. It is an obsolete, water cooled reactor that is run by the State. However Eskom is ready to change all that and become the world’s first pebble bed reactor.

Pebble bed reactor promises safer, cleaner, smaller and more affordable power than conventional nuclear power plants. They even say this style reactor is “meltdown-proof” and “walk-away safe.”

“It is physically impossible for it to suffer the kind of accident at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl,” Ferreira says.

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Lobster Vision is the forefront of a new technology being developed for Home Security by Physical Optics Corporation of Torrance, California.

The handheld device prototype called the LEXID (Lobster Eye X-ray Imaging Device) is based on the lobster’s ability to see through the dark murky waters of the deep sea and may help security officers see through wood, concrete and steal.

Rick Shie, senior vice president at Physical Optics Corporation said that the patented device, which radiates objects with tiny amounts of X-ray energy,

“Is modeled exactly after the lobster living in the deepest, darkest part of the ocean,”

A lobster’s eyes are made up of thousands of tiny square channels that focus by reflection, rather than by refraction (or the bending of light) as human eyes do.

This unique optical geometric design, which allows lobsters to see in the dimmest light, is being adapted into a “lobster-eye lens” that focuses the X-ray images so that the device can actually see through solid objects.

The Californian Company are still in the early stages of development however She says his company hopes to have the device perfected within a year so that Homeland Security agents can test it on the job.

I am sure everyone has heard about it, but what exactly does it meant to have your identity stolen and how much of a threat is it actually.

What is Identity Theft

Identity theft is a catch-all term for crimes involving illegal usage of another individual’s identity. The most common form of identity theft is credit card fraud. While the term is relatively new, the practice of stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be a different person is thousands of years old.

According to the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, identity theft is sub-divided into four categories:

* Financial Identity Theft (using another’s identity to obtain goods and services)
* Criminal Identity Theft (posing as another when apprehended for a crime)
* Identity Cloning (using another’s information to assume his or her identity in daily life)
* Business/Commercial Identity Theft (using another’s business name to obtain credit)

Identity theft may be used to facilitate crimes including illegal immigration, terrorism and espionage. Identity theft may also be a means of blackmail. There are also cases of identity cloning to attack payment systems, including medical insurance.

How Much of a Threat is Identity Theft to Me?

Surveys in the USA from 2003 to 2006 showed a decrease in the total number of victims but an increase in the total value of identity fraud to US$56.6 billion in 2006. The average fraud per person rose from $5,249 in 2003 to $6,383 in 2006.

Defense Link Article About Military Member Identity Theft Battle

The 2003 survey from the Identity Theft Resource Center found that :

* Only 15% of victims find out about the theft through proactive action taken by a business
* The average time spent by victims resolving the problem is about 40 hours
* 73% of respondents indicated the crime involved the thief acquiring a credit card
* The emotional impact is similar to that of victims of violent crimes

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Staying up to date with the latest software and applications can be expensive. Professional applications like Photoshop and Microsoft Office certainly don’t come cheap, even the Windows operating system required to run your PC is costly.

Many are unaware of expensive applications’ free open source and online alternatives.

Click To See The Battle Plan of The Software Wars

Open source products comprise the work of many collaborators. Each person works on small portions of a project, and anyone is welcome to contribute. The finished product is available freely for anyone to download or even modify.

After the jump is a list of fourteen free open source applications.

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SLEEP LAST NIGHT?

Bed a little lumpy…

Toss and turn any…

Wish the heat was higher…

Maybe the a/c wasn’t on…

Had to go to the john…

Need a drink of water…

:: :: :: ::
:: :: ::

Yes.. It is like that!

Count your blessings, pray for them,

Talk to your Creator

And the next time when …

The other car cuts you off and you must hit the brakes, or you have to park a little further from Walmart than you want to be, or you’re served slightly warm food at the restaurant, or you’re sitting and cursing the traffic in front of you, or the shower runs out of hot water,

Think of them…
Protecting your freedom!

The proud warriors of Baker Company wanted to do something to pay tribute to our fallen comrades. So since we are part of the only Marine Infantry Battalion left in Iraq the one way that we could think of doing that is by taking a picture of Baker Company saying the way we feel. It would be awesome if you could find a way to share this with our fellow countrymen.

I was wondering if there was any way to get this into your papers to let the world know that “WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN” and are proud to serve our country.”

Semper Fi

1stSgt Dave Jobe

The attached photo was forwarded from one of the last U.S. Marine companies in Iraq They would like to have it passed to as many people as possible, to let the folks back home know that they remember why they’re there and that they remember those who’ve been lost.

Below is a high resolution photo I stumbled across on the internet that shows before - during - after the tsunami that took place on December 26, 2004. I know many military member took part in the tsunami relief effort and seen first hand the destruction.

Click on the picture to enlarge - image opens in a new window

First introduced in 2005, the Rip Saw, an awesome all terrain vehicle is about to hit the market to the masses with a $200,000 price tag. The custom-built Unmanned Ground Vehicle can hit 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, has 80 mph top speed, and can maneuver over any surface or terrain a tank can.

The privately funded Rip Saw was first built by the Howe brothers for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Based on the original manned prototype, the newest version of the Rip Saw is now remote controlled. Though the Rip Saw didn’t win, its video certainly turned some heads, enough to find funding to build more than one.Check out the video of the original manned Rip Saw in action, watch as it drives through a barn as if it were a cardboard box….

A Japanese company recently unveiled a new device that will allow people “speak” through their ear so they can use their mobile telephones in noisy places.

The device - named “e-Mimi-kun” (good ear boy) - doubles as an earphone and a microphone by detecting air vibrations inside the ear, developer NS-ELEX Co. said.The ear piece and the accompanying device can be connected to a mobile phone, or wirelessly to a Bluetooth handset, so users no longer have to cover their mouths when speaking in a loud environment.

“Exterior noise is reduced six-fold by the ear piece, while a chip developed by Sanyo Electric for the accompanying device reduces sound levels ten-fold.”

NS-ELEX believes the product would be useful for people working in places such as factories, restaurants and amusement parks.

There isn’t really much left to comment on regarding this neat concept iMac, a picture really does say a thousand words. The concept design by Adam Benton is based on, “current Apple design trends, as well as the previous iMac incarnation” and pitches a 30 inch transparent screen which can be set to different levels of transparency and is totally transparent when switched off. The keyboard, also transparent is ergonomically designed with light sensitive illuminated keys and the whole set-up is of course wireless. No word yet on whether this design will go to production, we’ll just have to wait and see!

View Apple iMac Computers Financed

View Apple MacBook Pro Laptops Financed

Most computer users quickly get to grips with the software and applications that are used on a regular basis. However there is one application included in every version Windows that many people over look, the Task Manager.

The Task Manager’s purpose in life is to provide computer performance information along with details about currently running programs and processes. It also provides the ability to monitor your network traffic if you are connected to a network.

Savvy computer users will know that a couple of quick short cuts can take you to the task manager; Ctrl + Alt + Delete and Ctrl + Shift + ESC. The task manager can usually be accessed even when other programs have crashed, enabling the user to quit an application or process, or shutdown the PC.

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In Japan alone, there are more than 5 million people in total who see color differently from ordinary people, due to their genetic types or eye diseases.These days almost all images and texts are displayed in color, everything from newspapers to advertising billboards and ATM’s to Televisions would look rather unprofessional if they were not, bad news for people who are color blind.

However the development of a new technology called new Color Universal Design (CUD) is sure to help those who suffer from being able to distinguish colors properly.

The diagram above shows how people who are color blind may perceive an image. Eizo has incorporated this technology into a new 24”LCD aimed at people who are color blind. The FlexScan SX2461W-U monitor sports the new CUD technology that utilizes different color schemes, shapes and patterns in the colors to help people distinguish different colors where they otherwise would be unable.

The FlexScan monitor priced Â¥136,000 or approx $1,235 USD and supports full HD (1920×1200), with a contrast ratio of 850:1, and a brightness of 300cd/m2.

There have been a number of autonomous helicopters developed in the past that have proven their worth to the Military. Able only to performing mundane tasks such as surveillance, mine detection, and escort duty they certainly have still been beneficial, but no previous model will quite match a new ‘AutoCopter Gunship’ developed by Neural Robotics Incorporated, well at least not in fire power anyway.

That’s right; this fully autonomous helicopter is armed with AA-12 12-gauge shotgun the fires 300 rounds-per-minute. Thanks to the patented “intelligent neural network-based flight control algorithms” the copter is easy to control and can easily be switched to fully automated flight control, and because the AutoCopter utilizes a system that reduces recoil by 90 percent, the helicopter doesn’t go into an instant tailspin the second the gun is fired.The neural network-based algorithms really are intelligent; the system won’t allow the pilot to do anything stupid. If the AutoCopter flies out of RC range, it will turn around and come back within range and if it runs out of gasoline a parachute will automatically deploy and guide the AutoCopter back to the ground slowly and safely.

The AutoCopter has undergone successful testing and is ready to be used on the battle field. There is also talk of the AutoCopter being modified to shoot 3-inch FRAG-12 grenade rounds, either way the main objective is still the same.

“Seek out, locate, identify, and destroy/terminate the enemy with extreme prejudice at 300 rounds-per-minute.”