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Friday 4 February 2005

Newsletter Issue 91, February 2005


Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 91, February 2005
Hi guys,
Did you realise that there was a Code of Conduct for Camera Phones? Neither did I. Check it out below.
Are you having trouble with organising your images? Then MS Picture Manager Part 1 might solve that problem for you at no cost. 
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

Code of Conduct for Camera Phones

Did you know that there was a Code of Conduct for Camera phones? I didn't, either. But it makes sense when you think about the ubiquity of the cellphone in our lives, and how people could sneakily take photos of you getting changed at the pool while they were apparently just innocently talking on the phone.
To get back to the Code of Conduct. This was published by the US Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in an effort to "defuse growing efforts to restrict the use of mobile phones equipped with digital cameras" and to balance the ease of digital imaging with privacy, safety, legal and intellectual property concerns.
The code says (and I quote):
  1. Camera phones should not be used where photographic equipment is typically banned, for example: museums, movie theaters, and live performances. Users should look for signs posted in public places. which indicate whether photographic equipment is banned.
  2. Camera phones should not be used in public areas considered “private” by those who use them, for example: bathrooms, changing rooms, and gym locker rooms.
  3. Camera phones should not be used without authorization to record and/or transfer confidential information. This may apply within a corporate, government or educational environment.
  4. Camera phones should not be used to take photos of individuals without their knowledge and consent.
  5. Discretion is advised when using your camera phone to take photos of individuals under the age of 18.
  6. Safety is paramount when operating a motor vehicle. Users should refrain from using the camera or video function of a wireless phone when driving.
  7. Camera phone users should always respect the privacy of others. Photography of individuals without their consent, when and where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, may be prohibited by law.
Of the estimated 2 billion phones in circulation by 2008, Camera phones are predicted to top 656 million of those, totally decimating the dedicated camera market (no wonder Sony are getting heavily into phone technology).
But if you do succumb to consumer pressure and buy a camera phone, don't take it to Saudi Arabia. In 2002 Saudi became the first - and to date, the only - country to make camera phones illegal, and while they are talking about allowing them despite having ethical and religious objections to them (it's too expensive to have camera-less phones made especially for the Saudi market) they haven't legalised them just yet. 


MS Picture Manager Part 1

Got a new digital camera? A fortnight after getting it, you'll have discovered that photos tend to multiply. Quickly. And if you don't rename them & sort them as you go, you will have folders full of images with useful names like DSC00001.jpg.
What you need is some software to manage the images so that you DON'T have to rename them all, and can group them while you decide whether you want to keep them.
So you need an image management tool. And if you are running Office 2003, you already have one; Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
However, first you need to FIND MS Picture Manager; and if you didn't know it was there, you would never find it. Go to the Start button, then to All Programs | Microsoft Office | Microsoft Office Tools and select Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
Once you launch the programme, the first thing that you need to do is to search for the images that you want to catalogue, by:
  • Search the whole C:/ drive to find all images, choose File, Locate Pictures and select C:/, or
  • Search My Documents to find all your saved images, choose File, Locate Pictures and select the My Documents folder to search, or
  • If you want the programme just take care of your My Pictures folder, chose File, Add Picture Shortcut and select My Pictures as the parent folder
Now that you have your images in the software, you can customise how you view them. By using the slider at the bottom of the pane, you can view as a Filmstrip, in Single picture view or as thumbnails.
But this software doesn't only allow you to view your images. You can rotate them 90° (rotate buttons) and AutoCorrect problem images (AutoCorrect button). You can use the task pane options (View, Task pane or click the Edit Pictures button) to adjust individual problems:
  • Contrast and Brightness option: adjust contrast, brightness & midtones
  • Colour option: auto enhance or adjust hue, saturation & amount
  • Crop option: resize image aspect ratios to common sizes (4 x 6, 5 x 7) for typical photo printing papers & set to Portrait or Landscape
  • Rotate and Flip option: rotate by single degrees to straighten an image
  • Red Eye Removal option: select red eyes & remove (very good tool)
  • Resize Settings option: Resize the image to suit any pixel size or ratio
  • Compress Picture option: optimize the image for email or printing
In the next newsletter, we will look at some other aspects of this software.


Lost Your Margins in Word?

Have you suddenly lost the header and footer from your default Word blank document in print layout view?
What has probably happened is that your options have glitched, turning the setting for showing white space between pages off.
So to restore your headers and footers and to show the white space between pages, you need to:
  1. On the View menu, click Print Layout.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the View tab. Under Print and Web Layout options, select the White space between pages (Print view only) check box.
Should be all OK again. Yay!

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you;
  • IMAP, Internet Message Access Protocol. More modern than POP3, allows you to check your mail box from multiple locations & not have to worry about permanently downloading messages as you don't delete mail from the server.
  • POP3, Post Office Protocol version 3. Assumes you will only check your mail from one PC always & deletes messages from the server after download.

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Short+Hot Keys... and now tips
Over the next few newsletters, we are going to look at all you can do in Outlook. This time we focus on what you can do with the home & end keys, Alt, Shift & Ctrl;
  • Outlook "Go to the last day of the current week; use within the Date Navigator" Alt & End
  • Outlook "Go to the first day of the current week when using general keys for moving around in day/week/month view" Alt & Home
  • Outlook "Move to the end of an item while in Print Preview or display (without selecting) the last item on the timeline (if items are not grouped) or the last item in a group or move to the last card in the list " Ctrl & End
  • Outlook "Move every item in a selection to the top or bottom of a specified list or display (without selecting) the first item on the timeline (if items are not grouped) or the first item in the group when working in Timeline mode of Outlook or go to the first card in a list" Ctrl & Home
  • Outlook "Go to the end of a line, item or entry or select the last command on the menu or submenu or go to the last day of the week when working in day/week/month view or go to the last item in a Table, last card in a list or last group on the timeline when a group on the timeline is selected or select the time that ends your work day when working in day/week/month view or change the duration of the selected block of time when working in day/week/month view" End
  • Outlook "Go to the first item or move to the beginning of an item, line or entry or select the first command on the menu or submenu or in day/week/month view, go to the first day of the week or select the first card in the list or first group on a timeline with grouped items or (if items are not grouped) the first item on the timeline or move to the beginning of a selected item when working in Print Preview" Home
  • Outlook "Select from the insertion point to the end of the entry (or text box entry) or extend the selection to the last card in the list" Shift & End
  • Outlook "Select from the insertion point to the beginning of the entry (or text box entry) or extend the selection to the first card in a list or change the duration of the selected block of time when working in day/week/month view" Shift & Home

Hot Linx
Got sore shoulders? Tendonitis playing up? Then invest $70 in an piece of ergonomic software  genius from Kiwi company, Workpace, at http://www.workpace.com/ORDER 
Have a problem finding your files on your PC? Then check out the MSN Toolbar Suite review at http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/msn_toolbar_suite_preview.asp or download the beta at http://beta.toolbar.msn.com/
Want to know who the patron saint is of a certain day? Then look no further, this site is for you at http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/month00.htm?GXHC_GX_jst=8258c07850ea6165
                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

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