Worldwide News & Product Reviews
“The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.”
by Charles Carr

Developing Marketable Skills in a Tough Economy

Even with unemployment rising, there are things you can do to become more marketable. Tom Lahoud, vice president of training and development at Enlightened Concepts, and maker of a family of teaching aids called Quick Reference Guides, explains that increasing your skill sets through training has numerous benefits whether you are currently employed or are looking for a job. Making an investment in yourself demonstrates a commitment to take on new challenges and increasing career development.

"By taking the time to learn new software programs or increase knowledge in a program, an employee or job seeker will contribute to a company's bottom line and become more marketable for opportunities," Lahoud says. "In today's extremely competitive job market, anything an employee or job candidate can do to stand out and to show the employer they are committed to growth is recommended."

To increase your skill sets in tough times, Lahoud recommends:

* Continue training by taking short and focused sessions.
* Identify an area you are not proficient in, such as Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables, and learn it as a way to do more in your job.
* Boost your resume with solid software-training knowledge.
* Use Web-based learning for flexibility and cost efficiency.

Check out the company's Quick Reference Guides for more information.

Five Tips for Faster Computing

Dealing with a slow, sluggish computer can be frustrating at the least, and may even end up costing hundreds of dollars to fix. Brad Furber, CEO of BluePhone Personal Tech Experts, writes, "The slowness experienced by a majority of computer users can be caused by a myriad of issues, and the first step in the resolution of these issues is to understand what factors are causing the computer to lose performance."

Some of the most common and frequent causes of low performance include:

• Too many programs or processes running
• Malicious processes running (viruses, spyware, malware)
• Inadequate RAM and processor speed
• Hard drive errors, capacity, or fragmentation issues
• A poorly maintained or corrupt Registry

Furber continues, "These may all seem daunting at first, but there are some relatively simple steps that you can take to not only prevent these issues, but increase the overall performance of your computer as well."

These five tips are easy to implement, and the tools required can be obtained for little, if any, out-of-pocket expenses:

1. Regularly run system-maintenance programs. System-maintenance programs will check your hard drive for errors or fragmentation, and will also remove unused files. This can go a long way toward preventing decreased computer performance.

2. Regularly check for viruses, spyware and malware. Viruses, spyware and malware can wreak havoc on your computer and drastically decrease its performance. Detecting and cleaning these malicious pieces of software is an essential part of the process to improve the performance of your computer.

3. Regularly check for Registry errors. The Registry is where all of the essential settings and other information that the computer and applications use to run is stored. Over time, as you use your computer and add and remove programs, problems arise in the Registry.

4. Simplify your computer's startup. Your computer can do only a certain amount of things at one time. Even though you may be actively using only one program, numerous programs may be running in the background without your knowledge.

5. Check the RAM. Sometimes the cause of a slow computer is simply a hardware problem. You may not have enough RAM. Making sure that your computer is equipped with enough RAM to handle the workload that you require is vital.

iRecord Pro—the Perfect A/V Recorder?

iRecord Pro is Streaming Networks Inc.'s sequel to the iRecord, a device that records video and/or audio directly to iPods and USB storage devices without involving a computer. iRecord earned a near-perfect rating—4.5 globes—in this column on January 19, 2007, because we thought iRecord was tops.

Guess what? iRecord Pro is even better.

Although slicing and dicing is beyond iRecord Pro's functionality purview, this device has just about every imaginable improvement upon iRecord's feature set. Functionality improvements include user-configurable playback resolutions—VGA (640x480) for iPod, 480x320 for iPod touch and iPhone, and D1 (720x480/576) for home entertainment systems—which are higher than iRecord's QVGA (320x240); support for recording to computers (Mac or Windows) and converting MPEG-2 files to H.264 format; a timer mechanism that records for 30, 60, 120, or 180 minutes and then automatically shuts off; and an enhanced version of iRecord Desktop software. Wow!

In addition to these improvements in functionality, iRecord Pro is physically distinctive from its predecessor—a silver accented, black plastic box measuring 5.5x3.75x1 inches, weighing 6 ounces and containing a 500MHz, five-slot VLIW media processor (NXP Semiconductors) with H.264/AVC encoder. The unit's interface is elegant—two buttons on top (on/off/pause/resume/timer and record/stop); one USB port on the left side and another on the right; ports on the back for S video, RCA and stereo (color-coded), and power; plus status and timer LED indicators on the front panel (see Figure 1).



Wait, there's more. Additional goodies that come in the package include a remote control about the size of an iPod nano and weighing a scant 0.6 ounces, power brick with adapters for 120 and 240 volts, and all the cables needed to get up and running—S-video, composite A/V, and USB. Considering all this standard equipment, iRecord Pro's $259.99 MSRP seems pretty reasonable compared to iRecord's $199.99.

One more thing: iRecord Desktop software for Mac or Windows, currently at version 2.0, provides access to iRecord Pro's configurable functionalities. This program's main window (see Figure 2) includes buttons for launching four modules—iRecord2PC/iRecord2Mac (controls and schedules recording to a computer and live streaming; configures recording resolution, filename and destination folder), iTranscode (converts MPEG2 video files to H.264 with multilingual support), iConfigure (provides additional customization options for recordings), and iRecord Firmware Updater (simplifies firmware updating). In addition, the main window has a button for opening iRecord Pro's user manual (PDF).



What I like most about iRecord Pro is its intuitively obvious ease-of-use—it just works straight out of the package. Simply follow the four steps illustrated in the single-sheet quick-start guide—connect A/V cables from a source (TV, camcorder, DVD, videocassette, game player) to iRecord Pro, plug in the power brick and press iRecord Pro's On/Off button, connect an iPod or USB storage device to iRecord Pro, then press the Record button. Alternatively, use the remote control that comes with a dime-size battery and has buttons for power on-off, recording timer, record video, record audio, pause, and stop. Additional instructions (e.g., for recording to a notebook computer) and further details are clearly and succinctly explained with ample illustrations in the English-only printed user's manual.

Does all of this gushing mean that iRecord Pro is flawless? I have only the following quibbles.

• Unlike iRecord, iRecord Pro is assembled in Taiwan rather the U.S.
• After connecting iRecord Pro to a Mac, an error alert displays that reads, "The disk you inserted is not readable." However, this is a feature of Mac OS X (autodetection of an unformatted disk) rather than a flaw in iRecord Pro, according to the user manual's FAQ section. The solution is to click the alert's Ignore button.
• When recording to a computer, iRecord Pro's record button does not initiate recording; instead, you must use iRecord2Mac or iRecord2PC. This is documented in the user manual's FAQ section.
• Compared to the absolutely silent iRecord, iRecord Pro sounds like a notebook computer; the moment you turn it on, the internal fans are clearly audible.
• The preview feature in iRecordDesktop 2 lags behind the video displayed on your TV screen.
• iRecordDesktop's folder, after installation on my Mac, had default permissions settings that required an administrator's authentication for any sort of modifications (such as copying or aliasing the user manual's PDF file).


Review contributed by Barry Fass-Holmes

Working with Adobe Illustrator CS3

I've been using Adobe Illustrator CS3 since it hit the market in 2007. Selling for around $600, Illustrator is Adobe's vector-based image editor, popular among graphic designers for both print and Web. Here's a look at how I use the software's latest and greatest features in my work and play.

Like other apps in the CS3 suite, Illustrator boasts a cleaner, sleeker interface than in previous versions. That gives me more room to focus on my work without multiple palettes and toolbars crowding the screen. I can dock and undock all the panels in Illustrator, making it easier to keep my workspace spick-and-span (see Figure 1). I can switch among various workspaces, thereby changing the size and availability of certain panels. Illustrator offers three default workspaces, and I've created my own for different tasks.



In previous versions of Illustrator, I had to create a layout for each specific type and size of document, such as business cards or brochures. Now the software offers predesigned templates or profiles for a variety of documents, so I no longer need to create them from scratch (see Figure 2). I can customize any profile and build my own, saving time when working on the same projects. I now use Illustrator to design my business cards and have used it for brochures and CD labels.



One of my challenges in Illustrator has been anchor points—the points along the outline of an image. You change the size, dimensions, and other attributes of an image by moving and manipulating its anchor points. In previous versions, the anchor points were so small I'd have trouble finding and seeing them. Now the anchor points in Illustrator CS3 grow larger when I hover over them with the Direct Selection tool, helping my poor, tired eyes.

Another handy editing feature is Isolation mode. Let's say I want to work on an object in my drawing without affecting other areas. As long as that object is in a specific group or sublayer, I can double-click on it and put it into Isolation mode. This dims all the other areas of my drawing, so I can freely tweak the selected object without altering anything else.

One of Illustrator's most exciting new features for any designer is Live Color. I use this tool to change the whole color scheme for an illustration. I simply select the object and choose the Live Color command. A dialog box pops up showing me all the current active colors in my artwork (see Figure 3). I can then modify any individual color, for example, change all light reds to dark reds or all blues to greens. Even better, I can change the color scheme for the entire object to something similar, complementary, monochromatic, or of a different contrast. I can create and customize my own color groups to apply to other objects. Live Color ensures that all the colors in my artwork blend well together no matter which scheme I choose.



A subfeature called Color Guides also helps me choose the right colors for my artwork. I select one or more colors in my illustration, and the software displays a palette of harmonious colors to use. I can then apply the new harmonious colors to any object in my illustration based on its current color.

I enjoy converting photographs into illustrations and giving them an Andy Warhol art-like appearance. I typically do this in Photoshop. But with the Live Trace feature in Illustrator, I can now transform photos into cool illustrations in just a couple of seconds. I simply select the photo, and Live Trace does the rest (see Figure 4). I can further tweak my new illustration using different preset styles, such as color, grayscale, comic art, and a hand-drawn sketch.



There's better integration between Illustrator CS3 and Flash than in previous versions. I can import or paste my art from Illustrator directly into Flash, and all paths, anchor points, layers, and other attributes stay intact. Since the drawing tools in Illustrator are still more powerful than those in Flash, this is a useful enhancement.

Whether I'm working, playing, or doing a bit of both, Illustrator remains my favorite drawing program. With its new and improved features, the software saves me a lot of time and effort. And that alone makes it a top tool for me.

Globes
Review contributed by Lance Whitney