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A MEMBER OF THE ZATZ MAGAZINE NETWORK |
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January 14, 2004 |
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Safeguard your precious photos
This week's news |
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THIS WEEK'S POWERTIP
Safeguard your precious photos
By David Gewirtz
So, you think you had a good holiday season, do you? Maybe you got a digital camera, or maybe you just took a ton of pictures. If you're like most folks, you copied those pictures into a folder on your hard disk.
Well, guess what. Hard disks fail.
Yep, they do. I've lost data because I didn't backup often enough and lots of other people have as well. But now, we're not just talking about precious accounting data, we're talking about pictures of your precious. If you don't back up your digital camera pictures, you could be putting some priceless memories at risk.
Fortunately, doing a Windows-based backup is easy, especially if you're using Windows XP. First, you need a CD or DVD burner. If you don't have at least a CD burner, go buy one. With burners under $50, you no longer have any excuse. I should know. I bought my first 1X burner back in the day for well over $2,000. Now, 24X burners are less than a night out at Bennigan's.
I'm serious about this. Having a CD burner is a great way to do backups. If you don't want to install one inside your box, get a USB2 or Firewire-based burner. These simply plug into the front or back of your machine; no need to open the box. These are a bit more expensive, but isn't it worth a few dinners out to save Junior's first baseball game or the time you caught a shot of Bob actually walking into a wall? Of course it is.
Next up, buy yourself a pile of CDR blanks. Yes, you could get CD rewritable blanks, but at about 20 cents a disk for CDR's, rewriting isn't that important; isn't it more important to just keep a few extra backups? It is. Trust me on this.
Most CD burners come with Ahead's Nero or Roxio's Easy CD Creator. But Windows XP itself comes with a very easy tool integrated right into the operating system. Let's say you have a pile of pictures in a folder named something like 100NIKON (or even more descriptive). Just pop a blank CD-ROM in your burner (you did get one, didn't you?). You'll see a window similar to that of Figure A.
FIGURE A
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Here's a blank, open window, waiting for files. Click picture for a larger image.
By the way, if the window doesn't open automatically, just navigate to My Computer and double click on the CD burner's drive letter. Mine is G. This window works just like a folder. Drag and drop the files you want to burn into the window, as shwon in Figure B.
FIGURE B
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Drag and drop the files you want to back onto the CD burner's window. Click picture for a larger image.
Once you've dragged all the files and folders you want (up to about 700MB) into your burner's window, you'll see files with an interesting little down-arrow icon, as shown in Figure C.
FIGURE C
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When files have this icon, they're ready to be burned to CD.
The icon indicates that the file is a temporary file and is ready to be burned to CD. All that's left is to press the pretty little "Write these files to CD" button, shown in Figure D.
FIGURE D
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Click "Write these files to CD" to write these files to CD. Click picture for a larger image.
Your burner will chug and churn for a little while, and eventually spit out a copied CD. Make sure you label it and store it away safely. In fact, it's a good idea to make a second copy that you can store away from your home, in case of fire or some other catastrophe.
Do this NOW.
David Gewirtz is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines and the author of The Flexible Enterprise and Lotus Notes Revealed! He can be reached via email at address@hidden. You can see David's photographic artwork at his personal Web site, http://www.Gewirtz.com.
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CONNECTED PHOTOGRAPHER NEWS CENTER
This week's news
Want to get the very latest photography news? The Connected Photographer News Center is updated every day with news of product releases, industry info, tips, techniques, and pointers to great photography resources on the Web. Here's this week's news:
Adobe's anti-counterfeiting
The anti-counterfeiting measures incorporated in the latest version of Photoshop don't really amount to much, but Adobe is confident they were right to include them. The system is designed to reject any attempt to access a currency image and forward the user to a web site about international counterfeiting laws.
Cameras beat phones
Digital cameras remains the mainstay for serious digital photography, beating out phones that incorporate a digital camera. The phones are seen as a good solution for quick, on the spot shots, but for vacations and other important events, people still turn to a camera with a good flash.
Spirit's photo tech
The technology behind the photos of the Martian landscape taken by the Spirit rover is surprisingly simple. NASA learned that it's more prudent to spend your money on the lense, not the megapixels.
Kodak nixes film cameras
Eastman Kodak Corporation has announced that they will no longer produce reloadable film cameras for use in the US, Canada and Europe. They will also mothball the APS format, but continue to make single, one-time use, disposable cameras for these markets.
Sony DSC-T1 review
In another review from Steve's DigiCams, he takes a look at the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1. This pint-sized digital camera offers many of the features available in full-size cameras and packs them into a stylish metal shell no bigger than a deck of cards.
Fujifilm UK recalls S7000's
Fujifilm's UK division has announced a recall of FinePix S7000 Zoom digital cameras. Some of the early models, produced before December 15, 2003 were apt to experience rapid battery drain when used with certain CompactFlash cards. The internal modifications have already been made to units produced after December 15 and any affected cameras will be repaired/replaced free of charge.
Are OLEDS the future?
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes could be the future in high-tech gadgets. The secret is a luminous screen that has no backlight, uses less power, and is capable of more vibrant colors. The devices could be used in things like PDAs, cameras and notebook computers.
Fujifilm's new sensor
This product report at Popular Science details the new Super CCD SR sensor from Fujifilm. The sensor is a new innovation for digital cameras that combines both large and small pictures to more realistically duplicate the results of high-quality film. The sensor is currently available on Fuji's FinePix F700.
Spirit's Martian panorama
Cornell Labs has produced a panoramic shot of the Martian landscape taken at Spirit's landing site. The shot was created by compiling 225 shots that Spirit took over a period of three days. The image shows Mars' trademark reddish-brown soil, rocks and distant hills. Amazing. Just friggin' amazing.
Toshiba's speedy SD cards
New speed records for data transfer have been set with Toshiba's new High Speed SD cards. The new memory cards, initially available in 128 MB and 256 MB models, boast write speeds of 5 MB per second, trumping the current 1 MB per second standard.
Employers ban camera phones
USA Today reports that many major employers are banning camera phones in an effort to preserve personal privacy and company security. Companies are concerned the small cameras included in some models of mobile phones could be used for corporate espionage.
New HD disc format
CRN's Edward Moltzen reports on the new Blu-Ray disc format due out in 2004. According to the article, the new optical disc format designed for higher data rates, such as HDTV and Broadband Internet, is supported by HP and Dell and can hold approximately four hours of HD video on one disc. Start saving your pennies. We've got more new toys to buy.
New Audiovox camera-phone with built-in flash
In Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, Audiovox unveiled their new CDM-8910 mobile handset with a built-in digital camera and flash. The phone has a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with macro function, is Java-capable, and data capable with a USB interface.
SanDisk's 2GB memory stick
On January 8, 2004 in Las Vegas, SanDisk introduced its new 2 GB Memory Stick Pro, the largest memory stick available. The high capacity cards are designed to meet consumers' growing need for more available storage in variety of portable devices such as cameras and PDAs.
Toshiba's mini 2GB drive
Toshiba has released its new postage-stamp sized miniature hard disk drives to be available in 2.0 GB and 4.0 GB capacities. They are designed to increase the possibilities of the next generation of PDAs, digital cameras, camcorders, and digital music players.
Inside cheap DVD players
The Seattle Times has a fascinating story about how the ultra-cheap DVD players we've been seeing at Wal-Mart and other large retailers are able to be so inexpensive. Things I didn't know: according to the article, all DVD players are made in China (I'm not sure I believe that some other asian countries aren't in the game), cheap DVD players are often produced without paying royalties on patents (saving $10-15/unit), and to get these produced at these low prices, slave-like labor needs to be used. So, do we buy or not? Read the article. The author's as conflicted as I am.
Eastman Kodak announces two new cameras
Eastman Kodak Company announced two additions to its EASYSHARE digital photography system, the KODAK EASYSHARE LS743 and LS753 zoom digital cameras. The new cameras are loaded with features, including extensive scene and color modes, TV-resolution (VGA) movie capture and playback capability, multiple sound themes, and a SD card/MultiMediaCard memory expansion slot.
Picture Services Network launches new service
The Picture Services Network (PSN) has launched a service to enable digital photography users to locate and connect to digital imaging service providers nearby with any camera, through any Web browser, to any photofinisher participating in PSN.
Epson introduces Livingstation
CNET News.com reports that Epson, the maker of photographic printers and commercial video projectors, introduced a line of televisions called Livingstation with a special feature: not only can these HDTV-ready models display still photos, but they can also produce high-quality prints of each shot, directly from inside the unit.
Gates opens CES
Bill Gates opened up the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas by introducing technology that allows users to take their Windows Media Center PCs and any digital photos, music and video running on the platform, and display them on TVs or other entertainment devices. The Globe and Mail reports that the devices would hook up to a TV and connect to the Media Center PC through a wired or wireless computer network.
Digital camera for Tungsten devices
Veo introduced a 1.3 megapixel camera designed to utilize Secure Digital IO(SDIO) card slots on select Tungsten handheld devices from palmOne. The Photo Traveler 130S is equipped with a true 1.3 megapixel sensor and standardized JPEG encoding, which allows users to transfer photos between devices or print 3"x5" photos directly from their handheld.
Industry leaders discuss 2004
The digital imaging market will explode in 2004, but the technologies need to overcome a number of hurdles to become more widely accepted. PC World reports that's according to industry executives who participated in a panel discussion Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Personal Media Player: Photo Edition
PortalPlayer announced a new development platform -- the Personal Media Player: Photo Edition. The development platform includes a system-on-chip (SOC), Firmware Development Kit (FDK) and Software Development Kit (SDK) for customers to quickly bring to market a new category of products called Personal Media Players. These battery-powered, hard-disk-drive-based devices will allow end users to capture, store, play and display their music, album art, and photo collections on a single device that fits in their pockets.
SnapStream introduces two products
SnapStream Media announced two new products: the Beyond Media software for photos, music, DVD and videos and the Firefly PC remote control. The upcoming Beyond Media product is designed to complement the company's Beyond TV personal video recording (PVR) software, bringing digital photography, digital music, DVDs and digital videos into the living room.
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Copyright © 2003, ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
Connected Photographer Magazine is an independent publication of ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Connected Photographer, Computing Unplugged, the ZATZ name, and the ZATZ logo are trademarks or service marks of ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises. All other brands and product names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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