Importance of Pixels in Choosing Digital Camera

      At this time of year, many of us are out there looking for christmas presents.  One of the top electronic items that are purchased for christmas presents are digital cameras.  There are a few things that you look for when purchasing digital cameras and more importantly pixels.  
     What is a pixel?  A pixel is very small rectangle of material that changes its characteristic when briefly exposed to light.  When millions of them are applied to a flat rigid surface, they become "film" in the digital camera.  Almost immediately, the camera's built-in computer reads the information, clears the sensors so that it is ready to accept another image, and then processes the data, creating a photo file, so that image can be viewed on the camera's LCD screen and saved for further future use.
     Are all Pixels the same? No, there are two major factors that need to be looked at: (1) material used to make the pixel and (2)  the size of each pixel.
     But here is the bottom line.  Camera manufacturers and sellers have sensitized us to pixel count as some sort of categorical measure of a digital camera's capabilities; that is wrong! While an 8MP point & shoot, pocketable camera may be capable of making many photos suitable for such as illustration on a Web site, an 8MP sensor in something such as the Canon Rebel series, or Sony D-SLRs, will, under similar conditions, make significantly superior images. Indeed, a 10MP sensor, in something such as a Canon EOS-1Ds (which has the largest available CMOS sensor) is capable of making photos dramatically better than those made similarly, but using a 20MP sensor in a pocketable camera (if such was possible). So you see, the number of pixels isn't as important as you might have thought it was.

Google Chrome - What is it all about?

Chrome is the newest internet browser from Google.  So not only  can you use google for all your popular searches, not they have created their own browser.  A beta version was released this past tuesday for mac.  it is lacking some features that it counterpart on windows has, such as bookmark sync, bookmark manager, and office capability.  But I assume these will be coming soon for the mac version.  I have read numerous article on the mac version of chrome and I will hold off testing it until it has more features.

CyberMonday: Did you shop at the most visited sites?

A new concept or at least a concept that has been out since there has been such an increase  in online shipping.  We have BlackFriday for all the  brick and mortar stores, where you can go an get all your great deals.  But now we have CyberMonday for all the online stores.  Yikes!  What will be next. Will we have special names for each day of the week after Thanksgiving.  But the numbers are out.  Drum Roll Please!
 Amazon was the top online store on CyberMonday. Amazon has been the top store for the last four years The sales for CyberMonday only totaled $887 million.  Well lets continue to do our online shopping.  It definitely beats standing in line.

Top 10 reasons to buy Windows 7

1. Get quicker access to all of your stuff—usePin and Jump Lists to keep the programs and files you use the most right at your fingertips.
2. Manage open windows more easily—resize and arrange windows simply by dragging their borders to the edge of your screen.
3. Quickly find what you're looking for—use Windows Search to find a specific file, program, or e-mail in a few seconds.
4. Share files and printers among multiple PCs—from one Windows 7-based PC to another, you can share files, music, photos, and even printers across your home network.
5. Stay entertained effortlessly—with Windows Media Center you get one place to enjoy your photos and music, watch and record live TV, and watch free Internet TV.
6. Easily create and share movies—create great looking movies and slideshows and share them on YouTube in minutes.
7. Connect to networks easily—view and connect to any available wireless network in as few as three clicks.
8. Do more and wait less—improvements that can accelerate sleep and resume and make your PC more responsive help you get more done.
9. Touch and tap rather than point and click—Windows 7 makes PCs with touch screens easier and more intuitive to use.
10. Manage devices more easily—manage printers, cameras, music players, and other devicesfrom a single, consistent, place.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/top-ten-reasons.aspx 

The 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7

1. Get to know Windows 7 on a first-name basis.

Obviously, the first step is to gain personal experience. And that means more than just puttering around in the lab. Install Windows 7 on every workstation in your organization and on the machine you use at home for remote-access trouble calls. Force yourself to find ways to make everything work.

2. Learn Windows PowerShell.

It's safe to say that the single most important skill a Windows administrator will need in the coming years is proficiency with Windows PowerShell. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 both have Windows PowerShell version 2 baked into the operating system and it's enabled by default. You should plan on installing Windows PowerShell v2 on your remaining servers and desktops so that you can use one script technology to manage your entire fleet. (Note that you won't be able to install PowerShell v2 on Exchange 2007 servers or workstations. These machines require PowerShell v1.1. But even v1.1 gives you access to a wide range of functionality.)

3. Plow through licensing.

If your organization didn't deploy Vista, you may not be familiar with the latest volume-activation requirements in Windows. If you're an admin in an enterprise with more than 25 desktops and/or five servers, if your organization takes advantage of a volume-license program such as an Enterprise Agreement or Select Agreement, and if you purchase Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate (or you upgrade to those versions as part of Software Assurance), you should do the following: Print out a short stack of Volume Activation documents from tinyurl.com/volact, pour yourself a few ounces of a bold Tuscan wine and start studying.

4. Focus on strategic improvements.

Once you're familiar with system administration using Windows 7 tools and you've set up the technology to activate your desktops, it's time to start planning for deployment to end users. The most important thing to do at this point—and I know you don't want to hear this—is to hold a meeting.

5. Expand the deployment scope.

Some of the best features in Windows 7 may require a few changes to your infrastructure. For example: High on my list of favorite features is the combination of Federated Search and Libraries in the new Explorer shell. These work together to provide a centralized and flexible view of distributed data.

6. Prepare for distributed security.

During your initial strategy meeting, set aside time to discuss how you want to handle the many distributed security features in Windows 7. You'll want to determine a course of action early in the project because those decisions will have a substantial impact on your test matrix.

7. Virtualize your desktops.

Imagine this: You've spent a few weeks or months designing your standard Windows 7 desktop image. You've worked hard to resolve technical issues and you've found ways to quickly move applications and user data between machines, reducing the migration's impact. (The User State Migration Tool, part of the Automated Installation Kit, is a good place to start for this kind of work. For a walkthrough demo, visit tinyurl.com/usmtwt.) Your field technicians are trained. The help-desk team is mollified with all the guidance you've posted on its SharePoint site. You're finally ready to start the rollout.

8. Evaluate enterprise features.

VHD boot, along with BitLocker and AppLocker, fall into a class of features that require Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate. The Enterprise SKU can only be obtained via a volume license agreement. If you own Enterprise or Ultimate, you should consider deploying a few additional features to improve security and streamline operations.

9. Build compatibility safety nets.

One issue that you should definitely hash out at your meeting of big brains is whether your organization is ready to deploy 64-bit desktops. New machines deployed as part of a refresh cycle are virtually certain to be 64-bit capable. You're probably putting at least 2GB of RAM into them at today's RAM prices, more likely 4GB if you were able to convince Finance to approve the slightly higher unit costs. The machines are likely to have dual-core processors, possibly even quad-core, with enough video memory to support Aero. These machines will perform very well with a 64-bit OS.

10. Remove your users' local-admin rights.

If you haven't already pried away your users' local-admin rights, now is the time. Yes, I know it's hard. Laptop users are especially difficult to wean because the help desk can't walk them through complicated fixes over the phone. But there's also that "shadow" IT organization—department gurus and admin wannabes who find applications that meet certain tactical needs, then scurry around with thumb drives installing the apps with no regard for interoperability testing. And don't even get me started on the kind of trash that average users install on their machines when they have local-admin rights. It's amazing how the most unsophisticated user, incapable of so much as a password reset without help-desk support, can find a way to install complex multi-tiered client-server front-end applications if the reward involves shopping or sports.

You Can Be Heroes—for More Than One Day

It's going to take a lot of work to prepare for and deploy Windows 7, but it helps that users really want the new OS. Those who have tried it like the new interface. They appreciate the fit and finish, the responsiveness and the new features.

The opportunity to be popular as a system administrator doesn't come along very often. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. You should, too. Good luck with your Windows 7 deployment. Let me know how it turns out.

By: Bill Boswell (billb@microsoft.com) is a senior consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services in the Phoenix, Ariz., office. Bill's current assignment is serving as an IT Architecture and Planning (ITAP) advisor for a major airline.

The New Apple "Magic Mouse" is for real!

The new "Magic Mouse" is amazing!  It truly enhances your computer experience. In the past, your computer mouse had a singular purpose that is to click.  But, today with the "Magic Mouse" you can do the following:

• scroll right, left, up, down with swiping your fingers  on the mouse
• zoom in and out by just moving your fingers on top of the mouse

This mouse has a definite advantage for those who work with graphics.
As I have starting using the "Magic Mouse",  I have decided that I will never go back to a normal mouse.