Diablo Blue

The Newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC Users Group

December 4, 2008 MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Gadgets! Gadgets! Gadgets!
Presenters: DVPC Members

The holidays are coming up Real Soon Now. So this month's DVPC meeting subject is... Gadgets! Members of the DVPC Board of Directors, most of whom are gadget freaks, will show a plethora of their favorite computer and electronic gadgets.

We're inviting DVPC members who have neat gadgets that they'd like to show at the December meeting to bring them along.

This month's meeting will be fun, interesting, and may give you some ideas for gift giving (or requesting!). We'll see you on Thursday, December 4, at Diablo Valley College.

NOTE: Diablo Valley College has parking permit dispensers that take dollar bills as well as nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar coins, and will at some time in the future take credit cards. Note that these parking permit dispensers do not make change.

NOTE: There will be no DVPC meeting in January — the first Thursday in January is New Years Day. Have a great New Years holiday! See you at the December meeting, then at the February meeting.

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Where and When We Meet

DVPC monthly meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Diablo Valley College In Pleasant Hill, California, on the Main Campus located at 321 Golf Club Road. We meet in room H109 in the Humanities Building. See the campus map on the About DVPC page for driving directions, parking information, and how to get to room H109. Remember: there's a $2.00 parking fee, payable at the ticket machines in each lot. These ticket machines take dollar bills and quarters, but do not give change so be sure to bring correct bills and/or quarters to buy your parking ticket. Place the ticket face up on the driver's side of your dashboard.

We have a Networking Table from 6:30 to 7:00; if you have something to sell or trade, need technical help, or just want to exchange views, visit the Networking Table. The regular monthly meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with Random Access where you can ask questions or report on technical problems, followed by a presentation by our guest speaker. Also, as usual, we'll have SIG news and some of our usual great door prizes.

Driving Directions:
680 Northbound:
Exit at Willow Pass Road
At the end of the exit ramp turn left onto Willow Pass Road
Continue on Willow Pass Road to the second signal and
turn right onto Contra Costa Blvd.

680 Southbound:
Exit at Concord Ave.
At the end of the exit ramp turn left on Contra Costa Blvd.

Direction into the Campus:
Continue on Contra Costa Blvd. to the signal at Golf Club Road and turn into Golf Club Road. At the second entrance into the campus turn left then immediately right to parking lot 7. Turn left into lot 7. Park (but don't use parking spaces that are reserved for faculty and staff only), then purchase a parking permit (see Parking Fees below) and put it on your dashboard. Click on this link (www.dvpc.org/about.html) to see:
> a detailed DVC map showing parking and our meeting room
> a map for driving to DVC
> an aerial view of the DVC campus

Parking fees:
On the Pleasant Hill campus parking permits are $2.00 per day. You can purchase permits at the parking permit machines marked with a red star on the maps on the DVPC website. Parking permit machines take nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar coins. Note that these parking permit dispensers do not make change. DVC parking permits are required Monday through Friday at all times that classes are in session. That includes the times that DVPC meetings are held! Do not park in metered or faculty/staff spaces.

You need to purchase a parking permit and place it face up on your dashboard so it is clearly visible through the windshield. If you attend classes at DVC and have a campus parking permit, you can use it when you attend DVPC meetings.

Some members park (for free) in the College Park High School lot across Viking Drive from the DVC campus. Do so at your own risk!

Parking violations:
Be sure to purchase a parking permit! Fines range from $35 for parking in a regular space without a permit, to over $275 for illegally parking in a space reserved for the handicapped.

Parking alternatives:
Some members carpool and share the parking fee; they park at Sun Valley Mall, have dinner at one of the many restaurants in the mall, then take one car to the meeting. Some members park in the lots in front of College Park High School, which is across Viking Drive from DVC. Remember: if you decide to use any of these parking alternatives, you do so at your own risk!

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Diablo Blue Password Access
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

You will need the monthly password to access the current issue of the newsletter. If you are a paid-up member of DVPC you'll receive an email message, usually on the Weekend prior to the meeting, with the password.

As each month's issue is uploaded, it's placed in a password protected folder on dvpc.org. When you click on the link to go to the newsletter, a dialog box will be displayed asking for the password from the email message. The password is case-sensitive; either copy it from the email message or make sure you type it correctly.

As we add the current month's newsletter, the password on the prior month's newsletter will be removed so anyone coming to the DVPC website can access older issues of Diablo Blue.

If you have any problems accessing a password protected newsletter, please email webbie@dvpc.org.

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Watch for Updates!
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

With our new method of producing and publishing the monthly Diablo Blue newsletter, we can easily add updates to each month's issue. If an article is updated,the word Updated will be added in red

When we add a new article "mid-month" the entire entry will be shown in red in the Table of Contents.

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DVPC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
by Tom Krauss, DVPC

When it comes to communication, or more accurately the ability of someone to communicate with me, I have always agreed with Jerry Brown that “less is more”. No one has ever phoned me to tell me that I won anything. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have “won” numerous three day, two night trips to Las Vegas and similar exotic destinations. But the California Lottery has yet to call me. Nor have I had a response from any of those “you-don’t-need-to-buy-to-enter” contests. The IRS has not called to tell there’s been a big mistake and ask where to send the check.

No, 99.999% of my incoming, unanticipated calls have been to call attention to unexpected, unwanted and unpleasant events.

I never liked faxing. In the early years of the fax considerable time was spent standing by the machine and trying to figure out if your information had truly been sent, and if so, had it been received? Pagers initially delivering a certain sense of self-importance, but the novelty quickly wore off. The good thing about a pager is you had a few minutes to find a quite corner away from the juke box and the bartender before returning the call.

But cell phones have removed the last vestige of privacy. These days there are no secretaries to blame when you say you never got the message. True, you can do what my sons do: look to see who is calling and then ignore them.  I’ve watched them do this to their friend, and I know they do it to me. But I am of the old school. A ringing phone still brings a tingle of anticipation: maybe it’s someone interesting or important! When I was growing up the entire family felt that stirring of excitement when the phone rang and we all hurried to be the one to answer it. Well, early in my life my father managed to contain his excitement, but the rest of us scrambled for the ringing bell. And sadly, this is a habit I can not break. It just seems wrong not to hurry to answer the phone, even when I know I can wait and let the answering machine take the call and give me a sneak preview of who it is.

So I avoided cell phones as they proliferated.  Eventually my company got one for me to use.  But when I got home at night the cell phone was retired.  On occasion I would use it for a personal call, but that was very rare.

I finally landed in a job which did not require a cell phone of me. But by this time I had reached a point of dependency wherein I am sorry to say that I feel a need to have a phone with me. I have not succumbed completely, however. My primary motivation is the perceived need to be able to phone others. I am still reluctant to give out my personal number. Although the ringing of my cell still kindles a sense of anticipation, I know that the call will not be important. But I answer anyway, as quickly as I can.

So, after that introduction, let me say that the first topic discussed at the meeting was extra, add-on antennae for cell phones. Yawn.

We spent a fair amount of time on the topic of meeting location, since DVC administration apparently is unable to control the instructors, and the instructors can’t read a schedule and see that the room they are signing up for is already booked. It was decided to survey our membership and ask him if he would like a change of venue: free parking offset by a different meeting night. I can’t wait till we get his response.

I have some other, inconsequential notes. At this point I don’t really remember why Barry volunteered that he had an instructional video for clog dancing. Perhaps that will be our featured presentation at a future meeting.

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O'Reilly News for User Groups
by Marsee Henon, O'Reilly

Get 35% off from O'Reilly, No Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing, Pragmatic Bookshelf, Rocky Nook, SitePoint, or YoungJin books you purchase directly from O'Reilly. Just use code "DSUG" when ordering online or by phone 800-998-9938.

Free ground shipping on orders of $29.95 or more. See details.

Did you know you can request a free book or PDF to review for your group? Ask your group leader for more information.

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Almost Everyone Needs a Little Help with Word 2007
by Linda Gonse, Orange County IBM PC Users’ Group, California

Bear with me while I quote John Dvorak from his August 2008 PC Magazine column, then I will tell you what my point is.

Regarding Vista, he said: “Vista isn’t completely unusable; it’s simply hard to use. Menus have been reorganized for no apparent reason, features of XP appear to be missing or need to be turned on from some remote directory, and basic functions are now obfuscated.

“In a nutshell, Vista manages to be more complicated than XP, performs more poorly than XP, and is more expensive than XP.”

Now, substitute Word 2007 for Vista and Word 2003 for XP and my point is made. Compared with Word 2003, Word 2007 is an involuntary learning experience for anyone already proficient in Word and productive with one or more of the features. To name a couple I use often, are: Mail Merge, tables, labels, and fields. But, first users have to discover where basics like Help, Save As, Print and Close are.

To say Word 2007 has a steep learning curve may not scare everyone. But, to say it has a steep learning curve for experienced Word users should scare everyone, as well as be a cause for serious concern.

Unfortunately, I didn’t fully understand how an Office 2007 upgrade for Office 2003 functioned. If you haven’t taken the step, yet, let me caution you. The upgrade wipes out Office 2003 and you cannot downgrade. I believe this step was automatically taken by the installation. Perhaps with a full version, you would be given a choice to install the newer version into another directory, leaving the older version intact.

The first thing you notice when you open Word 2007 is the highly touted “ribbon.” Nine tabs take the place of menu items across the top of the window. The tabs do not have
the same names as the old menu items. In fact, a couple of the tab categories—Home, References and Add-Ins—are enigmatic. And as they say on “Dancing With The Stars,” the tabs “are in no particular order.”

Clicking on a tab opens a segmented toolbar of options across the top of the window that relate to that tab’s category. Although you may want to add to or rearrange the commands on the Ribbon or change or remove a command or group on the Ribbon — as you might have done with the menu and toolbar of earlier Word versions — you cannot.

And, you can forget about being able to revert to Word’s old style toolbars and menus. But, Microsoft helpfully advises that if you are fluent in XML programming code, you can add tabs to the Ribbon.

In Photoshop, the ribbon concept is intuitive and natural, and actually speeds up productivity. In Word, it can be chaotic and time-wasting.

Now, that you have this background in mind, you will better understand the images and steps that follow which is a short tutorial for simplifying Word 2007. My suggestion for anyone using the new Word version is to first set it up to make the features you need easy to locate.

With that in mind, I’ll show you how to create a custom toolbar for the tasks that you need to perform most often. It will help to take the aggravation and time-wasting practice of hunting around and calling on Help to figure out where things are and how to use them.

Incidentally, speaking of Help, here’s a tip. When you need to turn to Help, don’t look for a tab or menu item. Just as in the old days of DOS, you must press the F1 key to make it appear!

In the upper left corner of the Word window is a round Windows logo, called the Microsoft Office Button. It will remind you of the Start button in Windows. Click on this button, it is a kind of command center temporarily until you get Word customized the way you want it. Or, it’s possible you may prefer to use it, rather than the Quick Access Toolbar. (Nah.)

The Quick Access Toolbar is just to the right of the Microsoft Office Button. It can be likened to the Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows. (Do you see a pattern here?)

When you first open Word, the Quick Access Toolbar is empty. Click on the down arrow a slight distance away from the Microsoft Office Button. A dropdown list appears, similar to the ones you saw at the end of toolbars in Word 2003. It contains many of the general commands that you might use frequently.

Click on the commands that you want to be on the Quick Launch, er… Quick Access Toolbar. The icons will be added to the bar and available to you with one click.

It’s almost too easy isn’t it? Well, keep in mind that with this Word version, whatever effort you save in one area, you are going to earn by working harder somewhere else.

You may want to fill in the basic commands on the Quick Access Toolbar with different commands not on the dropdown list. In that case, right click on the down arrow for the dropdown menu and go to More Commands… at the bottom. There are five categories, so click through them to see what they offer. You’ll be surprised. In each category, there are dozens of commands for just about any task and circumstance.

When you find a command you want to use, click to select it in the left window (see screenshot below) and click on the Add button with the arrows to move it to the right window.

Alternatively, you can click on the Microsoft Office Button. At the bottom of the dialog box, click on Word Options. Then, in the list that appears on the left, click on Customize.

A familiar box with a double window will open. It is the same box that you can open from the down arrow next to the Quick Access Toolbar.

My Quick Access Toolbar has several preset command buttons and one macro that I recorded (to add the pathname to the bottom of documents). Without intentionally doing so, I nearly recreated the Standard Toolbar offered in earlier versions of Word.

The commands that I found useful to add were Open, Blank Page, Save, Undo, Redo, Page Setup, Print Preview, Print, Show/Hide, PathName (the macro), and Close.

Although a couple of the commands are available by clicking on the Microsoft Office Button, it is still faster and less distracting to have them at the top of the window and only one click away, rather two or more.

 

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (editor (at) orcopug.org).

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Danger: Music Download!
by Mike Morris, Editor-in-Charge, Front Range PC Users Group, Colorado

DANGER! Music Download!

"On September 8, 2003, the recording industry sued 261 American music fans for sharing songs...."

That partial quote is from an Electronic Frontier Foundation article (http://www.eff.org/wp/riaa-v-people-years-later) that provides an in-depth description of RIAA (Recording Industry of America) activities, with many references. Lawsuits filed by the RIAA over the past five years have resulted in severe financial hardship to individuals that were targets of RIAA legal action — and some of those defendants claimed that they were not aware that they had violated the law.

Legal consequences for anyone caught in a violation of copyright infringement laws have now increased.

On October 13th, 2008, a new law, the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act was signed that provides new federal enforcement powers and higher penalties for copyright infringement.

For details, see this CNET news story:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10064527-38.html.

Briefly, (from the CNET story© — used with permission from CBS Interactive, Inc., copyright 2008, all rights reserved) "...the law consolidates federal efforts to combat copyright infringement under a new White House cabinet position, the intellectual property enforcement coordinator, who will be appointed by the president. ...The law also steepens penalties for intellectual-property infringement, and increases resources for the Department of Justice to coordinate for federal and state efforts against counterfeiting and piracy. The so-called Pro-IP Act passed unanimously in the Senate last month and received strong bipartisan support in the House."

We often forget that under our legal system, ignorance of the law is no defense.  For those readers with family members, friends and acquaintances that are casual computer users, now may be the time for a reminder that, however tempting, free music downloads may result in serious legal problems. And, for any member of those same groups that use the internet as their primary source of music, that reminder may be an absolute necessity.

To paraphrase a different warning, "free music downloads may be injurious to your financial health." You, your family, friends and acquaintances all need to be informed consumers before downloading "free" music or sharing music files.

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (twriterext (at) gmail.com).

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Microsoft Photosynth Panoramic Image Creator
by Ira Wilsker, APCUG Advisor; Columnist, The Examiner, Beaumont TX

Many of us take a lot of digital photographs. I have hundreds of digital photos from two recent weddings; others may have vacation photos, family photos, scenic images, or other content. Would it not be interesting if a collection of photos with some degree of commonality could be seamlessly “stitched” together creating a 3-D panoramic view of the subject? For example, if I took the wedding pictures of my daughter’s recent wedding, the images could automatically be merged into a single three dimensional, easily navigable image of the entire wedding ceremony and reception. The panoramic image can be manipulated, rotated, zoomed, and viewed from any direction. If I can do this with wedding pictures, imagine what you can do with landscapes, theme parks, or other images. This new service from Microsoft, known as Photosynth (photosynth.net) is currently free, but does have several provisos, one of which is that all images created will be considered as “public”, and can be viewed by anyone on the Photosynth website.

Photosynth is graphics intensive, and may not run on older computers lacking adequate video power and capabilities. It will run on Windows XP (SP 2 or SP3), and on Vista.  Mac users can use Photosynth if running Boot Camp. Images are displayed on a browser, and Internet Explorer 7 as well as Firefox 2 and 3 are supported. 256mb of memory is the absolute minimum to run Photosynth, and 1gb is recommended. In order to function, Photosynth installs two programs to the computer. One is a web browser plug-in (both IE and Firefox compatible), and an application aptly named “Photosynth” which is used to create panoramic images. Install of both programs is fast and easy, and is accomplished with a single download. Since the actual processing is done by Microsoft, the images (or parts of them) are uploaded to Microsoft by the Photosynth software, which requires a broadband connection. Microsoft has posted a warning, “All synths are public. Your photos will be visible to everyone on the Internet. In order to create images, it is necessary to sign up online; users who have a Windows Live ID can use it for Photosynth access.

Photosynth performs two material functions; it reconstructs the scene or object from several two-dimensional digital photographs, and then examines the images for similarities, and mathematically use that information to estimate the real shape of the object, and the vantage point the photos were taken from. Using the digital data, the three dimensional space is created, and the merged photos can be easily navigated as if they were a single photograph. Microsoft’s new “Seadragon” technology delivers only the required pixels to the browser, making the loading of images that may have included hundreds of individual photos a fast and pleasing experience.

On the main page for Photosynth (photosynth.net) are dozens of samples of the output than can be created. Some of the examples are the Sphinx, composed of 239 photos taken by National Geographic; a walk around Eton College, 427 photos; The Taj Mahal, 179 National Geographic photos; the Space Shuttle, 246 photos; and many others. It is important to note that this computing power and service is available for free to all of us who are willing to make our images public. The “Recently Synthed” link shows the most recently created scenes (many dated today, as I type this), which include street scenes, still life, sunsets, Hawaiian scenery, Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Championship — 2008, backyards, portraits, kittens (cute), athletic events, and other topics. It is a lot of fun just browsing these synths and seeing what others are doing and what the system can do for digital images.

The potential applications for Photosynth are almost endless. It could be used by real estate agents to easily create an interactive three dimensional view of a house or an apartment; industries could use it for training purposes; products can be promoted via 3D images that allow the viewer to explore the details of a product; likewise car dealers and manufacturers could easily create interactive views of any cars in inventory.  Criminalists (as in CSI) could easily create 3D crime scene images; the potential uses are unimaginable.

If you are willing to release your image to the public (in the current iteration), and would like to create interactive 3D panoramic photos from your digital photos, then Photosynth would be a great place to experiment. At present the service is free, only requiring a Windows Live ID registration. If you have any interesting photos of the same subject, try synthing them.

 
Synth1

 

 
Synth3

 

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (Iwilsker (at) apcug.net).

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Password Protection
by Sandy Berger, Compukiss.com

When technology is good, it is very, very good, but when it is bad it can be truly atrocious. So it is with the hacking of Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account. The bad guys are out there using technology for their own advantage. Whether they are serious hackers who want information for devious purposes or young students who just want to show their technological prowess, this theft shows that everyone is vulnerable.
The recent hijacking of Sarah Palin’s email account is also a great example of how a hacker can gain access to an email account and how email accounts need to be better protected against such penetration.

We currently rely on passwords to protect most of our online activity. Professional hackers often use “password crackers” to guess passwords. Anyone can easily find these hacker tools on the Internet. They can even be purchases on CD. There are wordlists for common passwords and dictionary combinations of possible passwords in a variety of different languages. These tools are all aimed at giving a person all the technical tools that they need to guess passwords.

In Sarah Palin’s case, however, the perpetrator didn’t even have to use tools like this. A hacker identifying himself as "Rubico" claims to have been able to change the password on Sarah Palin’s Yahoo Mail account quite easily.  All he had to do was use her email name to log into the Yahoo Mail’s interface and select the option to reset the password. Yahoo then asked him to provide her birth date and zip code, which have become public knowledge. He then had to answer her self-chosen security question which was where she met her husband. After several television interviews of Sarah and her husband, the answer to that question also became public knowledge.

Sarah Palin was thrown into the public arena quite quickly, but even those of us who are not public figures may find that their passwords and answers to security questions can be easily guessed. Do you use the name of your spouse, children, pet, favorite sport, birthday, or wedding date as your password? Have you entered security questions like place of birth or favorite color that are easy to guess?

Privacy as we knew it before the Internet is now a thing of the past. With the Internet, more of our lives are online than most of us realize. Many people use blogging as a past time and post information on MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking websites. Once posted, all of that information is publicly known. And the Internet is archived, so even when you remove current information, previously posted information can still be found in Internet archives.  That information can be used to guess passwords and access personal information.

So here are a few ground rules that may help keep your private information a little safer online:

  1. Use passwords that are not easy to guess and cannot be easily cracked. (Look for more on how to choose good passwords in next week’s column.)
  2. Choose a security question that others will not be able to guess the answer to. Or answer the security question with an answer that you create which is not necessarily the true answer.
  3. Use unique passwords, especially for important services and websites like banking sites and email.
  4. Keep your passwords private. Don’t leave them on a sticky note on your computer screen or keep them in an unencrypted file on your computer.
  5. Change your passwords often.
  6. Do not change your password by clicking on a link in an email from someone claiming to be a system administrator, bank representative, or other seemingly reputable party. They may not be who they say they are. When you want to change your password, always type in the address yourself so you know you are at the real website rather than a bogus one.
  7. Use one credit card for all online purchases. This will limit your financial exposure.
  8. Keep your operating system up-to-date.
  9. Use a good anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.
  10. Consider using an encrypted password manager program.

Check the Compu-KISS website at www.compukiss.com for more information on choosing good passwords.

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (sandy (at) compukiss.com).

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PowerDirector 7 Ultra Software Review
by Terry Currier, Vice President & Editor, WINdows usERS, California

I’ve used several video editing programs over the years, but I still like using CyberLink’s PowerDirector. Yes, there are more powerful programs that can do more, but I feel that the PowerDirector’s interface is just easier to work with, and it’s faster. If I have not used it for a long period of time I can still figure things out without having to bring up Help.
They have a new Vista-like interface with PowerDirector 7. I like the new dark background, it’s easier on the eyes than the previous bright white. One of the more interesting things CyberLink did was create a website (http://directorzone.cyberlink.com/) where users can share customized DVD menus, templates, frames, static and motion objects. There are hundreds for people to choose from. You can also search for and import media directly into your media library from Flickr or Freesound. It can work with video in either 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio.

PowerDirector 7 will allow you to import video from an HDD camcorder; the edited file can be burned to a disc or back to a hard disk drive camcorder. If you have the Ultra version you can import AVCHD format. I had no problem with taking in my Canon HF100 raw AVCHD and working directly on it. If you have a Blu-ray drive Ultra will also work with it.

The picture-in-picture (PiP) feature is something you may not think to use, but once you do you will realize how much fun it can be. I’m starting to import old VHS tapes of my kids. It was interesting to have the high school band practicing their marching in the main screen and have a PiP of the march in competition.

With the new PowerDirector 7 you can have up to six PiP. You can modify the size of the PiP, degree of transparency of the overlapping clip, as well as its position, motion and other properties using the PiP Designer. So for my grandson’s birthday party I can put in the video I took and on the corners have the 200 still pictures showing in four PiP (he’s really cute.)

The Slideshow Designer has been enhanced with more styles to choose from. They say you can synchronize photos with the beat of the music and have full creative control over the design in slideshows. I did not do that, but I was really impressed with the Slideshow creation. Easy to do, add music to the background, pan and zoom in Magic Motion, or add a style. It will help you create soundtracks that fit perfectly within the length of a video clip or photo slideshow.

PhotoNow will let you edit images (stills.) You can resize, crop, rotate, remove red eye, adjust color, brightness and more. They show you the original and new image side by side so you can decide how it compares.

Magic Cut helps you fit a video clip to a specific time by automatically cutting out unnecessary portions and keeping only the best moments. The Magic Cut feature uses video technology to locate and keep the most interesting moments, while discarding sections of lesser importance. Great for the times when you have to get that 70 minutes of video down to 60. I did try it and thought it worked pretty good. You still want to check to make sure everything you need is in it.

In the Title Designer you can move the title to any part of the screen, change font, change the color, blur it, make it transparent (percentage), or change the gradient direction. As I said you can download many different DVD menus, or it is not that hard to create your own. One of my favorite things is to create a short video of up to 90 seconds and have it be the background for the DVD menu. When burning to a DVD in the past version they had a feature called Smart Fit which supposedly helped to make your video fit onto a DVD. Most of the time it would not work for me. Well, now in 7 they fixed it.

The Voice-Over Recording Room contains controls for recording a narration from a microphone while watching the video clip the voice-over it is destined to accompany. You can control the position and volume of the recording.

Magic Fix will help smooth shaky video and clarifies blurry footage (don’t expect miracles on a bad video.) With the previous version using Magic Clean users could only apply one improvement method at a time - Lighting and Color Adjustment, White Balance and Backlight Compensation. With 7 you can apply all at the same time.

Is it perfect – well no video editing software is. When burning a DVD, the program default is to add background music that goes with the different templates. Excuse me, if I wanted it I would put it in. Also the template has the title put in as “My Videos” for each page you have. More chapters means you will have more buttons and therefore more pages. You can edit and put in whatever you want. If I put in Soccer 1993 on the first page I feel it should put that same title on all the pages. Instead I have to edit each page (and remove the background music from each) to change the title.

Besides burning the video to a DVD you can save the video you worked on to a good variety of choices. These include AVI, MPEG-1, 2 and 4, with full control over codec settings. Streaming options are WMV, RealVideo and QuickTime. If you want you can write your videos back to DV or HDV tape. The Production Wizard will link directly into your YouTube account, encoding and uploading straight to the Web.

PowerDirector Ultra is $119.95 while the Deluxe version is $69.95. If you do not have a camcorder that outputs to AVCHD or Blu-ray, you only need the Deluxe. You can download a 30 day trial version from the CyberlLink website www.cyberlink.com.

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (winnersug (at) aol.com).

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Pinnacle Studio 12 Software Review
by Beth Pickering, Sonoma Valley Computer Group, California

I would love to compare video editing programs and declare Pinnacle Studio 12 the easiest one to use, but to be honest... this is the only video editing I have ever done. To be precise: I had a borrowed laptop I had never used before, a few unrelated video clips (not mine), a few pictures (not mine), less than 24 hours to make a demo movie for my presentation, and a history of attracting glitches.

Because Studio 12 is supposed to be easy for a beginner to use I decided to go out of my comfort zone and put this software to the ultimate test: Like many users, I skipped reading the instructions. I have to admit to a little help. I had seen a live demo at a convention and watched some very short informational clips on www.pinnaclesys.com.
The hardest thing I had to do was choosing the options I wanted to use. The closest I got to a glitch was that the video card in my borrowed computer wouldn’t support “Magic Bullet Looks”.

Starting with a “Montage,” I began my quest. I already knew image editing had to be done on the main timeline and that any type of image could be (Graphic 1) used. The numbers showed what image went where. Moving the images around was as easy
as drag and drop. “Undo” and “delete” were also handy. Mixing sections from different Montage themes didn’t cause and problems. Leaving Montage boxes empty didn’t either. The playback only showed an appropriately numbered space. With just a click of a button you can review your creation full screen. When you are editing that particular
section of the orange bar turns green.

There are hundreds of transitions on hand. Picking a category brings up a screen with thumbnail “A/B” boxes. Clicking on one activates the A to B transition so you can see how it looks. After deciding which one to use, you simply drag and drop it into place on the timeline. The other features use thumbnails of the image you are editing (Graphic 2) to show what the final look will be. All you have to do is select the one you want. As you become more skilled you can alter the feature itself. Some (like “Magic Bullet Looks”) have visible boxes to adjust (see above) while others (see Boris Graffiti below) (Graphic 3) have an advanced mode to select. There are prompts where you can enter text and examples to see what it will look like. Any font that is on your computer can be used. Correcting red eye and removing the black bars so your images fill the movie frame can be done with the click of a button. It is possible to interweave up to 18 video tracks in minutes.

Pinnacle Studio 12 has two dedicated sound tracks - one for special sounds and the other for background music. You can import songs to use as is, or you can add them to “Scorefitter” – your own original background music composer. It is as easy to use as the image editors. Several choices have been pre-loaded in the software. You simply pick a style, (Graphic 4) pick a song, pick a version and listen to the result. If you don’t like it, you just start over. The length can be changed by dragging the beginning or ending points. The “song” can be changed at anytime by using the “accept changes” button. also easy. You select the media, then the drop down box choices, and click the “Create” button.

Graphic (5)
I didn’t do it, but I understand that outputting is also easy. You select the media, then the drop down box choices, and click the “Create” button.

My experience with Pinnacle Studio 12 was effortless and fun. Users with no experience can easily make professional looking movies while knowledgeable editors can tweak their movies to an all time high.

Graphic 1

Graphic 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic 2

Graphic 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic 3

Graphic 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic 4

Graphic 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic 5

Graphic 5

 

 

 

 

 

 



This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (bethpick (at) emailx.net).

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Electronic Waste — Where to Dispose of It
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

Here's a list of ewaste donation sites in Central Contra County County. If you know or learn of others, please let me know with the location, hours, and website URL. Be sure to check the websites to determine what they will accept. We've included sites where you can recycle single-use and rechargeable batteries

Computers and Electronics

Hauling Pros Recycling Center
www.dumpmytv.com
73A South Buchanan Circle
(on the left behind S&S Roofing)
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-682-8987
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Rapid Recycle
www.rapidrecycle.net
110 Second Ave., South B-1
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-671-8008
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

E-Waste Events
www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/cd/recycle/options/e-waste.htm
See website for dates, times, and locations of events

Recycle for Breast Cancer
www.recycleforbreastcancer.org/dropoffanytime.htm
31 Beta Court, Suite C
San Ramon, CA 94583
800-315-9580
7 days a week excluding holidays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
A completed donation form is requested at the time of donation; this form can be downloaded from their website

e-Recycle OnUs
www.erecycleonus.com
1271 Boulevard Way
(at back left corner past East Bay Art and CTA)
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
925-934-1515
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Electronic Waste Management
www.noewaste.com
E-Waste recycling events at Diablo Valley College
321 Golf Club Road
(in DVC overflow parking lot across from north side of main campus)
Pleasant Hill, CA
866-335-3373
First Saturday of every month (except holidays)
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where to recycle Batteries

Single-Use Household Batteries
Longs Drugs
www.longs.com
Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville, Lafayette,
Moraga, Orinda, Walnut Creek, San Ramon
Right Aid Drugstore
www.rightaid.com
Orinda, Walnut Creek
Radio Shack
www.radioshack.com
Danville, Walnut Creek
Check websites for store hours

Rechargeable Batteries
Right Aid Drugstore
www.rightaid.com
1997 Tice Valley Boulevard
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
925-932-0568
7 days a week
Check website for store hours


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Photoshop Elements SIG Meeting Program
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

The next Adobe Photoshop Elements SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, January 15, 2000 at 7 p.m. at the home of Peggy Johnson in Concord, CA.

There will be no December, 2008 Photoshop Elements SIG meeting because of the Christmas holidays.

We cover and discuss the Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements software programs, along with other photo and video manipulation programs. As usual, check out the Elements SIG pages at www.bkbrown.net for all the latest news, information and tutorials.

The Photoshop Elements SIG usually meets on the third Thursday of each month; note that this may change during some months due to scheduling comflicts! Be sure to check back here for updates.

Please email Peggy for further information and/or directions.

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Windows SIG Meeting Program
by Walt Parsons, DVPC

The Windows SIG meeting will be held on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. We'll discuss that favorite topic, To Be Announced.

The Windows SIG meetings are held in the Community Room at the Concord Police Station. See the detailed directions on the DVPC SIG News page.

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Today's Dilbert Cartoon
by Scott Adams

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©2007 Diablo Valley PC Users Group — All Rights Reserved