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Full Day InDesign Seminar, Ticket Discounts Until March 8th
By Janet Dodrill
InDesign Secrets Live, 2010 Tour: Cleveland, Thursday, April 08, 2010 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (ET), Cleveland, OH, idoh.eventbrite.com. Ticket sale before March 8, 2010 $99, group of 3 $89 each, after March 8th $129 each. Location: Cleveland Marriott Downtown, 127 Public Sq., Cleveland, OH 44114. Learn top 10 techniques and workflow essentials. Get free magazine subscription, plug-ins, and tips e-book.
InDesign Secrets Live, 2010 Tour: Cleveland, Thursday, April 08, 2010 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (ET), Cleveland, OH, idoh.eventbrite.com. Ticket sale before March 8, 2010 $99, group of 3 $89 each, after March 8th $129 each. Location: Cleveland Marriott Downtown, 127 Public Sq., Cleveland, OH 44114. Learn top 10 techniques and workflow essentials. Get free magazine subscription, plug-ins, and tips e-book.
"Google SketchUp Cookbook Practical Recipes and Essential Techniques" reviewed by Henry Lee
A profoundly straight-forward and informative guide to quickly mastering and getting the most out of Google’s SketchUp. Bonnie Roskes years of experience in design and education are readily apparent in how the book is organized and presented. Like it’s title’s namesake: it is literally a volume of practical recipes that anyone can follow easily and without getting bogged down in techno babble and irrelevant details.
The book’s usefulness cannot be underestimated and was perfect for both novices and advance users alike. The simple to follow tutorials for solving and learning the many amazing abilities of SketchUp made learning as easy as making pie.
The color graphics liberally included throughout her book provide are useful and perfect for the visually driven users of SketchUp (a common sense detail clearly lacking in some other How-To Guides for SketchUp). As a bonus; in this digital age, O’Reilly has thoughtfully included a complete online version of this book through their Safari Books Online service for which the purchaser can access.
The book’s usefulness cannot be underestimated and was perfect for both novices and advance users alike. The simple to follow tutorials for solving and learning the many amazing abilities of SketchUp made learning as easy as making pie.
The color graphics liberally included throughout her book provide are useful and perfect for the visually driven users of SketchUp (a common sense detail clearly lacking in some other How-To Guides for SketchUp). As a bonus; in this digital age, O’Reilly has thoughtfully included a complete online version of this book through their Safari Books Online service for which the purchaser can access.
The title can be found at http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596155100. CDPUG members get discounts of 35 - 45% when using the code DSUG when checking out.
Reviewed by Henry Lee
CDPUG eZine Co-Editor
Greater Cleveland PC Users Group Aggregates Useful Google Videos separated by the User Group involved
Jim Evans has updated a page on the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group site that shows useful Google Videos nicely organized by the User Group that presented the Google Chronicles topic.
Check out www.gcpcug.org/googlechronicles for the useful links.
"Google Voice for Dummies" Book Review by Spike Radway
"Google Voice for Dummies" by Bud E. Smith and Chris Dannen and published by Wiley Publishing was my main source of information in preparing for my presentation portion of the January 28, 2010 CDPUG (www.cdpug.org) Google Chronicles meeting. I found the book very helpful in exploring the nuances of Google Voice that you would not get from the instructional videos on YouTube, and the help screens on Google Voice web site.
The book has a 2010 copyright, and is amazingly current with the latest developments for Google Voice and includes the issues with the iPhone and App Store. The forward of the title is by two founding members of the Google Voice team, and it is obvious when reading the book that the authors had close access to information from Google. This adds to the depth of the book and the value of the information in it. The authors also have a blog www.gvdaily.com for Google Voice news.
The 312 page book is organized into five sections. Part 1 is Setting Up Google Voice; Part 2 is Maximizing Your Voice; Part 3 is Maximizing your Handset; Part 4 is Playing Well with Others; and Part 5 is The Part of Tens. I read the book straight through, though from the way it is written, it would also be useful to just skip around to the sections of significant interest . Key components of Google Voice are repeated as they relate in each section, and the redundancy helped me out in getting a grasp of the services Google Voice has to offer.
I learned a few key things from the explanations of Google Voice in the book. First, Google Voice works best if it is used as your primary phone number and all of you calls go through it. It can be used partially, but then you only get the partial benefits of the service. Also, Google Voice can plan nicely with Skype for overseas calls. It works differently than Skype and can have clearer call quality. There's a chapter on the iPhone which I appreciated. And the issue of free cell minutes and the use of Google Voice was discussed. I hadn't thought of that when focused on the features of Google Voice.
As a volume user of cell minutes, and the long time user of Smart Phones, starting with the Palm Treo 600 and now an iPhone 3Gs, I appreciate what Google Voice can do and the nuances and complications of integrating a phone with your work and personal life. This book explains the subtleties quite nicely. The issues can be a bit involved, so I recommend that this book not be a bedtime reading on your night stand. Alert thought can be involved for many of the ideas.
I can easily say that this title is the best Google Voice book out there. That wouldn't be hard since at this point in time, it's the only Google Voice book available. But even if other titles arrive, I would recommend the book, and found it quite useful. I'd give it five spikes out of five.
Spike Radway
CDPUG Program Director
Google Chronicles. Links to info from the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group portion of the Google Chronicles.
Here are links to content covered during the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group portion of the Google Chronicles. Thanks to Jim Evans for supplying this.
Spike
Useful Google Voice Videos
These are the Google Voice Videos that I didn't have time to show during my presentation. They explain one component at a time and are quite helpful.
Spike
Useful Google Links - Background Info. From Spike's Presentation of Google Voice
These are some useful links for learning about Google and Google Voice. I found them quite helpful.
Spike
Nearly HALF of Passwords People Use Are Easily Hackable
A short news article from Fox News Technology, originally from NewsCorp Australian Papers, provides the top 10 most common internet passwords and notes that of about 32 million records analyzed, almost 50 percent of people use passwords susceptible to brute force attacks (people using programs to more or less try to guess the passwords).
The top ten most common passwords, according to this article are:
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou *
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
See
The top ten most common passwords, according to this article are:
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou *
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
* Note: this list was sourced from the RockYou website.
See
Bad Photoshopping embarrasses university
Rember the old puzzle in Highlights magazine where you had to look at two images and try to find the difference?
The University of Wisconsin used some bad judgement, worse photoshop technique and some really bad luck to get in trouble trying to worship at the alter of political correctness. See Snopes Article
The University of Wisconsin used some bad judgement, worse photoshop technique and some really bad luck to get in trouble trying to worship at the alter of political correctness. See Snopes Article
HDR Photograpy Book Review
"HDR Photography" by Pete Carr and Robert Correll, ISBN 978-0-470-41299-2, 2009 Wiley Publishing