Title: Hard-Hearted Hannah Episode #: Season 2 Episode 6 Airing Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009 Airing Time and Channel: 9:00 P.M at HBO Channel Episode Summary: Hugo and Sookie embark on a dangerous mission to locate Godric. Meanwhile, Bill is shocked when a vampire from his distant, more violent past resurfaces in Dallas. In Bon Temps, Daphne presses Sam to get comfortable in his own skin(s); Hoyt continues his unlikely courtship of Jessica; Andy interrogates Lafayette about his disappearance; and Tara and Eggs take a detour while on a road trip. At the Light of Day camp, Jason faces difficult emotional and physical choices.
Release Date: August 7, 2009 Starring: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Byung Hun Lee, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Said Taghmaoui, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid Genre: Action, Adventure Plot Summary: Another must see movie this coming August 7, 2009, the GI Joe Rise of the Cobra. This is an extraordinary action-adventure movie from Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite G.I. JOE team uses the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment to fight the corrupt arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organization to prevent them from plunging the world into chaos. No full video available, see trailer below.
Kurkova Karolina one of Vicotria's Secret Models has just confirmed that she is pregnant with her first child but it was not confirmed who is the father, well let us just wait for more updates of this issue. See some undeniable photos below.
Almost all our PCs now a days are equipped with cd writers or dvd writers and blank cds and dvds are very affordable in the market that's why I either use cd or dvd as a means of storage of my pictures,songs, movies, data and others but I do believe only few of knows what are the differences of this blank dvds or cds since they came in different label as we buy it in store. So here are some of the explanation that might shed light to you
The difference between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD-RW explained
There's DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and even DVD-ROM! So what's the difference between all of these different names, aren't all DVDs the same? Well, it's not quite that simple.
Let's first start with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have RW. The "R" stands for readable, while the "W" stands for writeable.
The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only readable and can’t be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and writeable.
"R" discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. "RW" discs have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more expensive than the R discs, but you'll have to decide if the trade offs are worth the money.
Now, onto the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. As I just described above, DVD-R & DVD-RW are sister discs, the difference being one is writeable once, while the other is writeable multiple times. The same thing is true for DVD+R & DVD+RW. So the question is, what's the difference between the plus and minus?
In order to explain this we must take a trip back in time. When DVDs were first being developed, there was no industry standard. Multiple companies were competing to develop what they hoped would be the dominant form of the future.
The DVD-R DVD+R difference can easily be summarized by the following:
* The DVD-R/RW standard was developed by Pioneer, and is used primarily by Apple and Pioneer. These "minus" discs can only be written to in one layer on the discs surface. In addition, this format is supported by the DVD forum, but is in no way an industry standard. DVD-R/RW discs are cheaper than the "plus" format. * The DVD+R/RW format is supported by Philips, Dell, Sony, HP, and Mcft. These discs can be written to in multiple layers, giving them slightly better and more disc storage than the "minus" format. Because of this additional capacity, they are slightly more expensive than "minus" discs.
A couple final things to clear up is the difference between DVD-ROM and DVD+RW, or the other DVD formats I mentioned above. The DVD-ROM drive can only read DVDs, while the other DVD drives can read and write data to DVDs.
And naturally the DVD+RW CD+RW difference can be explained by the "DVD" or "CD" prefix. DVDs, on average, can store up to 4.7 GB of data, while a CD can only store about 700 MB of data, or about 15% of a DVD's capacity. While CDs are slightly cheaper, in my opinion, the benefits of DVDs are much greater.
So now that you've learned about the difference between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and even DVD-ROM, which one is right for you? The easiest way to determine which is more beneficial is to watch the industry trends. A few years ago all pre-built computers were shipping with DVD-ROM drives. Today, most PCs have a burnable DVD drive.
I feel that the benefits of having a burnable DVD drive far outweigh any additional costs. They store much more data, and they are ideal for storing your home movies to watch on your DVD player.
My advice is to look at DVD burners that support all of the major formats I've mentioned above, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW. While a DVD drive that supports all of these formats may be slightly more expensive, it will allow you to use any type of DVD disc to burn to, and you'll be protected from any industry shifts to one format or the other.
Error in Registry and Registry is corrupted are just some of the error messages we encounter in our personal computer and after seeing this errors question arise in our midst "What is this registry?, Where can I find this Registry?, How can I fix this Registry? and a lot more. So here are some explanation about windows registry also known as the backbone of our operating system.
The Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 95, 98, ME and NT/2000. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Registry.
The physical files that make up the registry are stored differently depending on your version of Windows; under Windows 95 & 98 it is contained in two hidden files in your Windows directory, called USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, for Windows Me there is an additional CLASSES.DAT file, while under Windows NT/2000 the files are contained seperately in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config directory. You can not edit these files directly, you must use a tool commonly known as a "Registry Editor" to make any changes (using registry editors will be discussed later in the article).
The Structure of The Registry The Registry has a hierarchal structure, although it looks complicated the structure is similar to the directory structure on your hard disk, with Regedit being similar to Windows Explorer.
Each main branch (denoted by a folder icon in the Registry Editor, see left) is called a Hive, and Hives contains Keys. Each key can contain other keys (sometimes referred to as sub-keys), as well as Values. The values contain the actual information stored in the Registry. There are three types of values; String, Binary, and DWORD - the use of these depends upon the context.
There are six main branches, each containing a specific portion of the information stored in the Registry. They are as follows:
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - This branch contains all of your file association mappings to support the drag-and-drop feature, OLE information, Windows shortcuts, and core aspects of the Windows user interface. * HKEY_CURRENT_USER - This branch links to the section of HKEY_USERS appropriate for the user currently logged onto the PC and contains information such as logon names, desktop settings, and Start menu settings. * HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - This branch contains computer specific information about the type of hardware, software, and other preferences on a given PC, this information is used for all users who log onto this computer. * HKEY_USERS - This branch contains individual preferences for each user of the computer, each user is represented by a SID sub-key located under the main branch. * HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG - This branch links to the section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE appropriate for the current hardware configuration. * HKEY_DYN_DATA - This branch points to the part of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, for use with the Plug-&-Play features of Windows, this section is dymanic and will change as devices are added and removed from the system.
Each registry value is stored as one of five main data types:
* REG_BINARY - This type stores the value as raw binary data. Most hardware component information is stored as binary data, and can be displayed in an editor in hexadecimal format. * REG_DWORD - This type represents the data by a four byte number and is commonly used for boolean values, such as "0" is disabled and "1" is enabled. Additionally many parameters for device driver and services are this type, and can be displayed in REGEDT32 in binary, hexadecimal and decimal format, or in REGEDIT in hexadecimal and decimal format. * REG_EXPAND_SZ - This type is an expandable data string that is string containing a variable to be replaced when called by an application. For example, for the following value, the string "%SystemRoot%" will replaced by the actual location of the directory containing the Windows NT system files. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32) * REG_MULTI_SZ - This type is a multiple string used to represent values that contain lists or multiple values, each entry is separated by a NULL character. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32) * REG_SZ - This type is a standard string, used to represent human readable text values.
Other data types not available through the standard registry editors include:
* REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in little-endian format. * REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in big-endian format. * REG_LINK - A Unicode symbolic link. Used internally; applications should not use this type. * REG_NONE - No defined value type. * REG_QWORD - A 64-bit number. * REG_QWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 64-bit number in little-endian format. * REG_RESOURCE_LIST - A device-driver resource list.
Editing The Registry
The Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) is included with most version of Windows (although you won't find it on the Start Menu) it enables you to view, search and edit the data within the Registry. There are several methods for starting the Registry Editor, the simplest is to click on the Start button, then select Run, and in the Open box type "regedit", and if the Registry Editor is installed it should now open and look like the image below.
An alternative Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) is available for use with Windows NT/2000, it includes some additional features not found in the standard version, including; the ability to view and modify security permissions, and being able to create and modify the extended string values REG_EXPAND_SZ & REG_MULTI_SZ.
Create a Shortcut to Regedit This can be done by simply right-clicking on a blank area of your desktop, selecting New, then Shortcut, then in the Command line box enter "regedit.exe" and click Next, enter a friendly name (e.g. 'Registry Editor') then click Finish and now you can double click on the new icon to launch the Registry Editor.
Using Regedit to modify your Registry Once you have started the Regedit you will notice that on the left side there is a tree with folders, and on the right the contents (values) of the currently selected folder.
Like Windows explorer, to expand a certain branch (see the structure of the registry section), click on the plus sign [+] to the left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by selecting New from the Edit menu, or by right-clicking your mouse. And you can rename any value and almost any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2 on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and choosing Delete.
Note: it is always a good idea to backup your registry before making any changes to it. It can be intimidating to a new user, and there is always the possibility of changing or deleting a critical setting causing you to have to reinstall the whole operating system. It's much better to be safe than sorry!
Importing and Exporting Registry Settings
A great feature of the Registry Editor is it's ability to import and export registry settings to a text file, this text file, identified by the .REG extension, can then be saved or shared with other people to easily modify local registry settings. You can see the layout of these text files by simply exporting a key to a file and opening it in Notepad, to do this using the Registry Editor select a key, then from the "Registry" menu choose "Export Registry File...", choose a filename and save. If you open this file in notepad you will see a file similar to the example below:
The layout is quite simple, REGEDIT4 indicated the file type and version, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] indicated the key the values are from, "SetupType"=dword:00000000 are the values themselves the portion after the "=" will vary depending on the type of value they are; DWORD, String or Binary.
So by simply editing this file to make the changes you want, it can then be easily distributed and all that need to be done is to double-click, or choose "Import" from the Registry menu, for the settings to be added to the system Registry.
Deleting keys or values using a REG file It is also possible to delete keys and values using REG files. To delete a key start by using the same format as the the REG file above, but place a "-" symbol in front of the key name you want to delete. For example to delete the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] key the reg file would look like this:
Quote:
REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
The format used to delete individual values is similar, but instead of a minus sign in front of the whole key, place it after the equal sign of the value. For example, to delete the value "SetupType" the file would look like:
Quote:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] "SetupType"=-
Use this feature with care, as deleting the wrong key or value could cause major problems within the registry, so remember to always make a backup first.
Regedit Command Line Options Regedit has a number of command line options to help automate it's use in either batch files or from the command prompt. Listed below are some of the options, please note the some of the functions are operating system specific.
* regedit.exe [options] [filename] [regpath] * [filename] Import .reg file into the registry * /s [filename] Silent import, i.e. hide confirmation box when importing files * /e [filename] [regpath] Export the registry to [filename] starting at [regpath] e.g. regedit /e file.reg HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT * /L:system Specify the location of the system.dat to use * /R:user Specify the location of the user.dat to use * /C [filename] Compress (Windows 98) * /D [regpath] Delete the specified key (Windows 98)
Maintaining the Registry
How can you backup and restore the Registry?
Windows 95 Microsoft included a utility on the Windows 95 CD-ROM that lets you create backups of the Registry on your computer. The Microsoft Configuration Backup program, CFGBACK.EXE, can be found in the \Other\Misc\Cfgback directory on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. This utility lets you create up to nine different backup copies of the Registry, which it stores, with the extension RBK, in your \Windows directory. If your system is set up for multiple users, CFGBACK.EXE won't back up the USER.DAT file.
After you have backed up your Registry, you can copy the RBK file onto a floppy disk for safekeeping. However, to restore from a backup, the RBK file must reside in the \Windows directory. Windows 95 stores the backups in compressed form, which you can then restore only by using the CFGBACK.EXE utility.
Windows 98 Microsoft Windows 98 automatically creates a backup copy of the registry every time Windows starts, in addition to this you can manually create a backup using the Registry Checker utility by running SCANREGW.EXE from Start | Run menu.
What to do if you get a Corrupted Registry Windows 95, 98 and NT all have a simple registry backup mechanism that is quite reliable, although you should never simply rely on it, remember to always make a backup first!
Windows 95 In the Windows directory there are several hidden files, four of these will be SYSTEM.DAT & USER.DAT, your current registry, and SYSTEM.DA0 & USER.DA0, a backup of your registry. Windows 9x has a nice reature in that every time it appears to start successfully it will copy the registry over these backup files, so just in case something goes wrong can can restore it to a known good state. To restore the registry follow these instruction: [list=1] * Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.
* Click Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode, then click Yes.
* Change to your Windows directory. For example, if your Windows directory is c:\windows, you would type the following:
cd c:\windows
* Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each one. (Note that SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 contain the number zero.)
Following this procedure will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer.
If all else fails, there is a file on your hard disk named SYSTEM.1ST that was created when Windows 95 was first successfully installed. If necessary you could also change the file attributes of this file from read-only and hidden to archive to copy the file to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT.
Windows NT On Windows NT you can use either the "Last Known Good" option or RDISK to restore to registry to a stable working configuration.
How can I clean out old data from the Registry? Although it's possible to manually go through the Registry and delete unwanted entries, Microsoft provides a tool to automate the process, the program is called RegClean. RegClean analyzes Windows Registry keys stored in a common location in the Windows Registry. It finds keys that contain erroneous values, it removes them from the Windows Registry after having recording those entries in the Undo.Reg file.
In our computerized world, everyday we stumble upon on this word BANDWITH but I do believe only few knows what this BANDWITH really means. So to those who wants some explanation about bandwith, this article might help you.
Most hosting companies offer a variety of bandwidth options in their plans. So exactly what is bandwidth as it relates to web hosting? Put simply, bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to occur between your web site and the rest of the internet. The amount of bandwidth a hosting company can provide is determined by their network connections, both internal to their data center and external to the public internet.
Network Connectivity
The internet, in the most simplest of terms, is a group of millions of computers connected by networks. These connections within the internet can be large or small depending upon the cabling and equipment that is used at a particular internet location. It is the size of each network connection that determines how much bandwidth is available. For example, if you use a DSL connection to connect to the internet, you have 1.54 Mega bits (Mb) of bandwidth. Bandwidth therefore is measured in bits (a single 0 or 1). Bits are grouped in bytes which form words, text, and other information that is transferred between your computer and the internet.
If you have a DSL connection to the internet, you have dedicated bandwidth between your computer and your internet provider. But your internet provider may have thousands of DSL connections to their location. All of these connection aggregate at your internet provider who then has their own dedicated connection to the internet (or multiple connections) which is much larger than your single connection. They must have enough bandwidth to serve your computing needs as well as all of their other customers. So while you have a 1.54Mb connection to your internet provider, your internet provider may have a 255Mb connection to the internet so it can accommodate your needs and up to 166 other users (255/1.54).
Traffic
A very simple analogy to use to understand bandwidth and traffic is to think of highways and cars. Bandwidth is the number of lanes on the highway and traffic is the number of cars on the highway. If you are the only car on a highway, you can travel very quickly. If you are stuck in the middle of rush hour, you may travel very slowly since all of the lanes are being used up.
Traffic is simply the number of bits that are transferred on network connections. It is easiest to understand traffic using examples. One Gigabyte is 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. To put this in perspective, it takes one byte to store one character. Imagine 100 file cabinets in a building, each of these cabinets holds 1000 folders. Each folder has 100 papers. Each paper contains 100 characters - A GB is all the characters in the building. An MP3 song is about 4MB, the same song in wav format is about 40MB, a full length movie can be 800MB to 1000MB (1000MB = 1GB).
If you were to transfer this MP3 song from a web site to your computer, you would create 4MB of traffic between the web site you are downloading from and your computer. Depending upon the network connection between the web site and the internet, the transfer may occur very quickly, or it could take time if other people are also downloading files at the same time. If, for example, the web site you download from has a 10MB connection to the internet, and you are the only person accessing that web site to download your MP3, your 4MB file will be the only traffic on that web site. However, if three people are all downloading that same MP at the same time, 12MB (3 x 4MB) of traffic has been created. Because in this example, the host only has 10MB of bandwidth, someone will have to wait. The network equipment at the hosting company will cycle through each person downloading the file and transfer a small portion at a time so each person's file transfer can take place, but the transfer for everyone downloading the file will be slower. If 100 people all came to the site and downloaded the MP3 at the same time, the transfers would be extremely slow. If the host wanted to decrease the time it took to download files simultaneously, it could increase the bandwidth of their internet connection (at a cost due to upgrading equipment).
Hosting Bandwidth
In the example above, we discussed traffic in terms of downloading an MP3 file. However, each time you visit a web site, you are creating traffic, because in order to view that web page on your computer, the web page is first downloaded to your computer (between the web site and you) which is then displayed using your browser software (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) . The page itself is simply a file that creates traffic just like the MP3 file in the example above (however, a web page is usually much smaller than a music file).
A web page may be very small or large depending upon the amount of text and the number and quality of images integrated within the web page. For example, the home page for CNN.com is about 200KB (200 Kilobytes = 200,000 bytes = 1,600,000 bits). This is typically large for a web page. In comparison, Yahoo's home page is about 70KB.
How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?
It depends (don't you hate that answer). But in truth, it does. Since bandwidth is a significant determinant of hosting plan prices, you should take time to determine just how much is right for you. Almost all hosting plans have bandwidth requirements measured in months, so you need to estimate the amount of bandwidth that will be required by your site on a monthly basis
If you do not intend to provide file download capability from your site, the formula for calculating bandwidth is fairly straightforward:
Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size x 31 x Fudge Factor
If you intend to allow people to download files from your site, your bandwidth calculation should be:
[(Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size) + (Average Daily File Downloads x Average File Size)] x 31 x Fudge Factor
Let us examine each item in the formula:
Average Daily Visitors - The number of people you expect to visit your site, on average, each day. Depending upon how you market your site, this number could be from 1 to 1,000,000.
Average Page Views - On average, the number of web pages you expect a person to view. If you have 50 web pages in your web site, an average person may only view 5 of those pages each time they visit.
Average Page Size - The average size of your web pages, in Kilobytes (KB). If you have already designed your site, you can calculate this directly.
Average Daily File Downloads - The number of downloads you expect to occur on your site. This is a function of the numbers of visitors and how many times a visitor downloads a file, on average, each day.
Average File Size - Average file size of files that are downloadable from your site. Similar to your web pages, if you already know which files can be downloaded, you can calculate this directly.
Fudge Factor - A number greater than 1. Using 1.5 would be safe, which assumes that your estimate is off by 50%. However, if you were very unsure, you could use 2 or 3 to ensure that your bandwidth requirements are more than met.
Usually, hosting plans offer bandwidth in terms of Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is why our formula takes daily averages and multiplies them by 31.
To those who are planning to buy digital camera for personal use or for business use, here are some simple tips that will help you in buying your ideal digital camera. Hope this article will be a help.
Megapixels When it comes to megapixels, the more the better. I recommend a minimum of 2, but 3 or 4 is great. We did a test to see if a camera with 2.3 megapixels (actually 1.92 - 1600 x 1200) could produce a good quality 8x10.
Turns out it can, if you have the right paper and printer. We used HP Premium Plus photo paper with an HP 970 series printer and made a fantastic 8 x 10. Remember, I was a professional photographer before I got into computing, so I know a good print when I see it :-)
The resolution at 8x10 (we had to crop in to make the picture proportional to 8x10) was only 150 DPI. Most printers would not make a real good 8x10 at that resolution, but this one did. So, if you want to be sure you can get good 8 x 10s, you may want to go with a 3 megapixel camera or better (that gives you around 200 DPI at 8x10 size, still not quite the optimum 300 DPI, but it looks good with the right printer).
Optical vs Digital Zoom You've probably noticed that most digital cameras have both a specification for digital and optical zoom. Pay the most attention to the optical zoom.
The optical zoom magnifies (zooms in) using glass. The digital zoom basically crops out the edge of the picture to make the subject appear closer, causing you to lose resolution or to get an interpolated resolution (i.e. the camera adds pixels). Neither of which help image quality.
Finally, make sure you get enough (optical) zoom. A 2x zoom isn't going to do much for you. A 3x is the average you'll find in most digital cameras will probably be good for most uses. More on lenses later.
Connection How does the camera connect to your computer? If you have a USB port in your computer, you'll want a camera that can connect via USB as opposed to a slow serial connection.
On the other hand, if your computer doesn't have a USB port, is there a serial connector available for the camera you're looking at? If so, is it a special order and how long does it take to get it?
Storage What does the camera use to store images with? If it uses a memory stick, make sure you consider buying additional sticks when you get your camera. A typical 8 meg memory stick that comes with a 2 megapixel camera only holds 5 or 6 images at the camera's best quality.
Some cameras use a 3.5 inch disk for storage. Be careful of these! Although it may sound like a good idea, a 3 megapixel camera at high resolution produces a 1 meg file (compressed!). That's only 1 picture per disk.
Here's a few more things to look out for when trying to make your digital camera purchase.
Picture Formats When you're trying to decide on which digital camera to get, check and see how many different picture formats it supports.
You want something that can produce both uncompressed (usually TIFF) and compressed (usually JPEG) images. I personally use the high quality JPEG setting on my camera for most of my shooting. TIFFs are just too big and the difference in quality is not ascertainable by mere mortals.
You also want to be able to shoot at a lower resolution than the camera's maximum. That way, If you're running short on memory, you can squeeze a few more shots on your memory stick.
Auxiliary Lens / Flash This was a biggie for me. While a 3x zoom may work for the "average" user, I needed something that allowed me to do some wide angle work as well as have a good telephoto lens.
So, the camera I purchased a few months back was a Nikon Coolpix 990 (note that this isn't the only camera that can accept lenses). It has auxiliary lenses that screw into the filter ring on the front of the lens. I now have an ultra-wide fisheye lens plus a nice telephoto.
In addition to lenses, I wanted a good flash. The flash that is built into most of these cameras gives you a top range of 15-20 feet - at best. I wanted a camera that could take a powerful auxiliary flash (again, the Nikon isn't the only camera that fits this requirement, but I liked it better than the rest). If you need more reach than the small built in flash can deliver, then make sure you can attach an external flash to any camera you consider.
As an added bonus, if you get a camera that can take an external flash, you can place that flash on a bracket and eliminate red-eye.
Flash Distance Speaking of flashes, make sure you check the distance the built in flash is good for. You don't want a camera with a wimpy flash that only travels a few feet (well, unless you can get an external flash for it as described above).
Battery Type This may not sound important, but it is. Anyone who owns a digital camera can tell you they eat batteries the way a sumo wrestler eats at a buffet.
Make sure the camera can run on regular (or rechargeable) "AA" type batteries. You don't want a camera that eats through expensive lithium batteries every 10 shots or so.
One thing to remember about digital cameras, they do eat through batteries. I recommend getting some Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable for it. I have some for mine and they have saved me a fortune.
Final Notes Choosing a digital camera isn't easy. There's a huge selection out there and only you can determine which features you need.
For instance, if you shoot wildlife photos, a small 3x zoom probably isn't going to cut it (unless you can attach auxiliary lenses to it). If you shoot lots of close-ups, make sure the camera has some sort of macro capability. If you shoot big group photos indoors, an external flash may be necessary.
My advice is to make a list of things you want to be able to do with the camera then go to somewhere that can help you make a good purchase decision.
Finally, buy the BEST camera you can possibly afford. Or wait until the price drops on one with the type of features you want.
Here are some of the computers terms that you may encounter in our highly computerized world.
ISO: A file that is created from an image of a CD. You can make an iso yourself with a program such as Adaptec Easy CD Creator, or you can burn an ISO file to a CD-R to create a copy of a CD.
Bin/cue files: These are also used to create an image of a CD. Most people burn these with CdrWin or Fireburner. The .bin file contains all the data for the cd, the .cue file is just a small file in text format telling the software exactly how to burn the data onto the CD.
MP3: This is a format used to compress music files. You can create your own by encoding .wav files ripped from audio CDs. There are many free players that will play mp3s for you (see the Winamp tutorial)
Ace files: These are used to compress/archive data. Use WinAce to decompress them, or to make your own. The normal format for ace files is to have .ace, .c01, .c01, etc.
Rar files: Another compression/archive format. This is most commonly used on iso or bin files in order to split them up into smaller files (15 MB is the norm). Winrar and many other utilities can decompress these. Rar files are usually in the format .rar, .r01, .r02, etc. But don't be surprised if you don't see a .rar file. Just open up winrar and point it to .r01. You also may see them packed as .001, .002, etc. (maybe with a .rar, maybe not)
Pub: This is an FTP that has left on anonymous access. Many are owned by large companies, so they have a lot of bandwidth. This makes it possible for one person to send files there and many people can download them at once =) These are found by scanning ranges of ips (see the FTP tutorial). Just remember, like the name says, these are public. Just because you upload something there or make directories with your name does not make it 'your pub'. At the same time, realize that if you come across a pub with another person/groups stuff on it that it may be in use to build other pubs from - so don't ruin it for many people by deleting stuff you find there. For more on this, go read some posts on our Bulletin Board.
Proxy: A system that is set up to forward packets... There are many different kinds, check out the proxy tutorial for more info. Basically, a proxy server helps cover up your tracks because you connect to remote computers through the proxy. Think of it as the condom of the Internet
SFV Files/ CRC Checks: SFV files contain information about files that they accompany. You can preform a CRC check on the files using a program such as WinSFV. This compares the information in the SFV file to the file itself. If the information doesn't match, then the file was probably messed up in transfer somehow.. try downloading it again, from a different source if possible.
0-Day: Latest software releases.
0-Sec: Same as above, although the period of time between ripping a game or application and it appearing on a warez site is even shorter.
Ace File: The first file in a series of compressed archives (the one you double click on to decompress all the files at once).
Active List: Similar to a mailing list, but uses ICQ to send instant messages to subscribers.
Alpha: Software receives this label when it is in the very early stages of development. Usually full of bugs, so don't touch it with a barge pole.
Anti-Leech: A system which uses cgi scripts to prevent people stealing links and then taking the credit for uploading the files.
Appz: Short for applications. For example Flash 5 or GoLie 5.5.
ASF File: The worst quality movie file format (still pretty good though), much smaller in size than dat or mpg.
Banner Site: Password and username restricted FTP site. To get the correct login details you must click on several banners.
Beta: An acronym for Business Software Alliance, an organisation who are responsible for enforcing anti-piracy litigation. Similar groups in charge of controlling software "theft" include the SIIA, SPA and ELSPA.
BSOD: Many people read about BSODs on bulletin boards and think that they're being insulted, but there is no need to get paranoid. It is actually an acronym for "Blue Screen Of Death". These can occur for a multitude of reasons (old Bill likes to keep us guessing!) and are the bane of PC user's lives.
Bulletin Board: A virtual meeting place on the web similar to a chat room except that it isn't in real time. One person leaves a message then others come along, read it and add a reply. Each new discussion is called a new topic or thread and has it's own link. Whenever a new topic is created the older topics are pushed one place downwards in the list. When someone replies to an older topic it is brought back to the top of the list.
C?? File: File extension that indicates that a file is part of an .ace or .rar series of compressed files.
Cgi Scripts: These are referrers which are used in url’s. When you click on a link with a ?cgi reference you are directed to a sponsor’s website or an anti-leech protected file.
Cookie: A tiny text file (usually less than 1kb), which is stored on your hard drive when you visit a web site. These are used to remember who you are so that you can access members only areas on the site without having to type in a password every time or to retain your personalised settings so that they are available the next time you visit.
Courier: Someone who is involved in the logistics of delivering new releases directly from the release groups themselves to FTP sites.
Crack: A tiny executable file that is used to transform a shareware program into the full version. Also used to remove any copy protection from the main executable of games (this will already have been done in "ripped" warez games).
CRC Error: These can occur when you try to decompress a file that has become corrupt during the downloading process, usually as a result of too much resuming.
Credits: The amount of data you are permitted to download from a ratio site. The more credits you have the more software you are allowed to download.
DAP: A quick way of referring to "Download Accelerator Plus", a free download manager that claims to speed up file transfers by up to three hundred per cent. It works by making multiple connections to the same file and is paid for by revolving advertising banners.Also supports resume. **EDITOR'S PICK**
DAT File: File format used for movies, identical in quality and size to mpg as far as I can tell.
DC: The lazy way of referring to the Dreamcast, Sega's latest console incarnation.
Decompression: Unpacking many files that have been stored in a single archive.
Distro: A concise means of referring to a distribution FTP site. These are huge storage areas which act as a springboard for the transfer of new releases. Their whereabouts are never public disclosed to aid their survival rate. You can think of them as the initial source from which warez emanates.
Direct Downloads Links to actual files rather than other warez sites or pages. These are usually gathered together from many different sites and put on one page for your convenience.
DivX: Movies ripped from a DVD using the DivX video codecs. Can be played back using Media Player.
DIZ File: Short for description. Very brief text file found in warez archives stating the title of the software, the number of files that makes up the set and the group who released it.
Download (or DL): Copying files from a web server or FTP site to your computer using a modem.
Emulator: An application that simulates another computer system or console using your PC.
FAQ: Stands for Frequently Asked Questions.
FAW: Abbreviation for "Files Anywhere", a popular, free web storage service.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): The method used to transfer files from one computer to another using a modem.
Flaming: A general net term for "verbally" attacking someone. This can be done via email, bulletin board, chat room or any medium which involves communication across the web.
Freedrive: Virtual hard drive storage area on the web. Free to join and anything and everything can be uploaded or downloaded.
Freeware: Unrestricted software that is downloaded from the net and is completely free to use. Often paid for using advertising.
FTP Client / Browser: A program used to access, upload and download data from FTP sites.
Fxp: The art of transferring data from one Ftp site to another using the connection speed of the slower of the two computers.
Gamez: Pretty self-explanatory this one.
Getright: One of the best download managers available.
Gold: A piece of software is said to have gone gold when the final version is complete and it is ready to ship to the public.
Gozilla: Another excellent download manager.
Hacking: Gaining access to a remote computer without the authorisation to do so. Usually for the purposes of stealing confidential information or the malicious destruction of data.
Hammering: Repeatedly trying to access an FTP site using an FTP client or download manager.
HTTP: Stands for "Hypertext Transfer Protocol". The method you use to view a web page. Always comes before the address of a website in your Url bar.
ICQ: Derives from the term "I Seek You" and is used for real time chat and transferring files over the internet.
IP Address: A series of numbers separated by dots used to identify your computer on the Internet.
IRC: Stands for "Instant Relay Chat". Used for real time chat and transferring files over the Internet.
ISO: An exact copy of an original CD, all the multimedia bits and pieces are uncut and therefore they are extremely large and awkward to download.
Java: Html scripts used to add functionality to or bring web pages alive. These include animation (such as the title graphic on my main page), menus, chat rooms, buttons, pop ups and so on.
Key Generator: A tiny executable program that is capable of creating a serial number from a specified username. These are specific to particular applications or utilities, so a serial number created with one key generator will only work for the program for which the key generator was developed.
Lamer: An annoying and overused general derogatory term used to insult/put down anyone and everything.
Leeching: Downloading files without giving anything back in return or copying other people’s links.
Mirror: An exact copy of a web site that is stored on a different server. Using multiple locations for warez sites allows the site to be accessed using a different address if the main site is deleted.
Modchip: Very common website sponsor found on warez sites. They don’t mind their banners being used on illegal software sites because their products are one of the “grey areas” of the law. Modchips are small pieces of electronic circuitry which allow copied games to be played on your Playstation. If a Playstation has been fitted with a Modchip it is said to have been "chipped".
MP3 File: Compressed music file format. Average track size is between 3 and 4 meg compared to 40-ish meg in wav format.
MPG File: The best quality and largest movie file format.
Multi Web Space Faker: A tool used to create lots of free web space accounts simultaneously.
Name Zero: An organisation that offers free website domain names. The main drawbacks are that you have to put up with a very bulky banner residing at the bottom of your page and the fact that you never actually own your chosen address.
NFO File: Short for info or information. Basic text file containing all the important details relating to a particular release, such as number of files, release date, copy protection system, installation instructions etc.
Nuked: A release is said to be nuked if it is completely unplayable. Usually when this happens another group re-releases the particular game, although fixes do sometimes follow on to rescue the game from trash can.
OEM: An acronym for Original Equipment Manufacturer. OEM software products are repackaged versions of the full retail product. They are often re-branded to suit the needs of the particular vender and are much more reasonable priced because they lack excessive packaging and a hard copy of the manual.
OST: Not strictly a warez term this one, but one that you are likely to come across while searching for MP3 music. It stands for original soundtrack (movie music).
Patch: We all know games and applications aren't perfect. When they are released we would hope that they have been thoroughly tested for bugs and incompatibility problems, but you can guarantee that many of these will still slip through the quality control net. Once the program is released to the general public, the bug reports start to flood in. A patch is a downloadable executive file which takes these reports into account and attempts to incorporate all the fixes for these known problems. A patch can resolve incompatibility problems, prevent crashes or improve the performance of a piece of software.
Piracy: The replication and distribution of videos or computer software.
Pop-ups: Irritating browser windows that open automatically when you visit a warez site. Usually contain voting portals or porn sites.
Port: A port is a term used when referring to FTP sites and is an essential extension of the address used to access them. If the port number of an FTP site isn't specified the default setting of 21 will automatically be used.
Pron: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away someone posted a request for porn on a bulletin board, only, because of a typing error what he ended up asking for was "pron". Since then this has become a bit of a running joke and so it is now deliberately misspelled.
Proxy: A third party server which acts as an anonymous go between whenever you request a web page or contact a remote server. The message from your computer is first sent through the proxy server before being relayed to the final destination so that it appears as though the request has come from the IP address of the proxy server rather than you. Used when you wish to maintain your privacy on the net or speed up your connection (much more detailed info on this subject in the "more tips" section).
Psx: A quick way of referring to the Sony Playstation.
Pub: A free for all FTP site where anonymous access is permitted.
Pub Scanner: Someone who scours the net for anonymous access FTP sites which permit the creation and deletion of files. These are then exploited by uploading software for others to share.
Pub Stealer: Someone who posts the IP address of a public FTP site which they themselves have not built. Some pub stealers justify this by claiming that the elitism of private FXP groups discriminates against those people who do not have access, yet others simply post other people's work to try to claim the credit for themselves. Either way though, pub stealers are despised by the FXP groups and praised by those who would otherwise not have access to them.
Rar File: The first file in a series of compressed archives (the one you double click on to decompress all the files at once). Usually decompressed using a program called Winrar.
Release Groups: A group of people who are involved in cracking and / or ripping software and then repackaging it into easily downloadable segments.
Ratio: Two numbers separated by a semi-colon. Indicates how much data you must upload to an FTP site before you are permitted to download anything.
Reg File: Tiny file that adds essential configuration details into the registry.
Resume: The ability to stop and start downloading / uploading a file whenever you choose without having to start from the beginning again.
Rip: Software that has had all the non-essential gubbins removed to reduce its size. Videos and music are always the first casualties.
Raped: A release is branded with this term if it has been damaged beyond repair during the ripping process.
RM File: Shorthand for Real Media, a file format used to encode video sequences, which can only be played back using the "Real Player". Video clips produced using this format are not of the highest quality, but do have the advantage of a small file size.
ROM: Games which are designed for other platforms, but are played on the PC using an emulator.
Serial: A valid username and password that is saved as a basic text file and is used to register a shareware program and therefore remove all the restrictions.
Shareware: Try before you buy software downloaded from the net.
Sponsor: To make some money webmasters can place adverts on their sites. Each time you click on these adverts or banners they get paid a few cents for bringing potential customers to the sponsors website.
Surfer Friendly (SF): Surfer friendly sites supposedly have no blind links, pop-ups or porn banners. Don't be fooled by this label though as some sites will tell you fibs to get you to visit them.
Sys Op: The person who has the responsibility for running the computer from which an FTP site has been established. When warez is uploaded to public FTP sites and then suddenly goes "Missing In Action" you can often lay the blame at the door of the Sys Op who has an obligation to make sure his/her server stays within the boundaries of the law (i.e. warez free).
Top List: Chart which lists in rank order the best warez sites. Worked out on the basis of votes.
Trading: Swapping warez, file for file via FTP, ICQ etc. Not usually approved of by the real warez community who believe that warez should be freely distributed. To put it simply, it is not the "warez way".
Trainer: A small, executable program which sits in your taskbar while you play a game. Hotkeys are associated with cheat commands so that when they are pressed you are given extra ammo, weapons, lives or the ability to toggle between invincible/mortal modes etc etc.
Trojans: Nasty virus like attachments which can be merged with executable files. These are tiny so are unlikely to arouse suspicion. When run they allow a hacker to access your computer and wreak havoc. Can occasionally be found in warez files.
UBB: Shorthand for Ultimate Bulletin Board, currently the most popular script used for creating warez bulletin boards.
UBB Hacks: This term falsely gives the impression that something destructive or malicious is involved, but when you hear people talking about a hack in the context of bulletin boards they are simply referring to code which helps to improve the functionality of a board. For example a "thread hack" would effect the way in which individual threads look and operate.
Undeletable Pub: An anonymous access, public FTP site where the permission attributes are set to allow uploads and downloads, but do not permit deletion.
Unzip: Unpacking or decompressing many files that have been stored in a single archive. Technically only used when talking about zip files.
Upload: Copying files from your computer to a web server or FTP site using a modem.
URL: Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". The web site address you type into your browser.
Voting: Members of the warez scene are very keen to reach the number one slot of top lists such as Voodoo, Top 60 etc. and will therefore encourage you to vote for their site to improve their position and get the credit they deserve (or not as the case may be!). Warez: Full version software that is uploaded to the internet and is available for free download.
Warez Board: Bulletin board used by the warez community to share links and discuss anything related to warez.
Winace: Another utility used for decompressing all the common archive formats. Not great in my opinion. See below for a better one.
Winrar: Utility used for decompressing .rar files and much more.
Winzip: An essential tool used to decompress warez files.
Zip: A common compression format used to store warez .
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