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Sunday, April 18, 2004

Random thought:

ACD See 6

If you have a digital camera, you need a way to sort, find, and display the images. A program such as ACD See (from ACD Systems) does all of this and much more.

Version 6 of ACD See is an aggressive update to version 5 and one that offers a variety of useful new features, but not without cost -- both in money and performance. If you don't own a previous version of ACD See, you'll pay $50 for the new version. Upgrades are just $30 from version 5.

The other part of the cost is noticeably slower operation for most functions. Still, the enhanced capabilities might make the performance hit a worthwhile tradeoff.

What's new

The performance problem is one that ACD programmers are aware of and a free update (to 6.03) that's now available provides faster start up and quicker browsing and viewing. The database function is also faster and thumbnail browsing and scrolling have been improved. The update adds support for Canon's raw image format, AOL's ART format, better memory management, and better support for EXIF information from your digital camera. So my objection to version 6's slower performance is hereby raised.

Version 6 adds a host of features that will be welcomed by those of us who are digital photography fans:

• The ability to burn photos to CD and DVD for archiving or sharing without having to use an external application. You can also add the ACD See image database information to your disc.
• Generate HTML slide shows for website, CD, or DVD.
• Use your own photos to create screen savers with transition effects.
• Print photos in standard print sizes (4x6 and 5x7) or make your own print size. While I know that a lot of people like to print their own, I find it more efficient, satisfying, and economical to use an on-line service to print images.
• Plugging in a digital source to a USB or Firewire port activates ACD See's Acquire Wizard. I've turned this feature off because it assumes that any digital device I plug in has images on it, and that's often not the case for me.
• Rate your photos. If you keep all your pictures, even the failures, you can use the rating system to separate the good from the bad.
• Use the new "image basket" to collect images from various locations to in any ACD See activity -- share, print, or edit, for example.
• Create a "virtual folder" that combines photos from multiple directories, CDs, or categories.
• Make batch changes to file resolution, size, appearance, or name. This is one of the most-used features around here. I often need to make thumbnail images of pictures and then rename them. With ACD See 6, this little 2-step dance takes just seconds.
• Sort files by any property (name, date, size, EXIF metadata, or database information.)
• Assign key words to files using a master key word. That way, all your pictures of Kaydee will be tagged as "Kaydee" instead of having some tagged as "Katie", others as "Katherine", and still more as "KSB".
• Use ACD See's "magnifying glass" view to examine the detail in a photo as you move the mouse pointer over it.
• Edit photos as you view them, without needing to open separate software. ACD See's editing capabilities are limited, but cover the basics that most photographers need.

Technology corner rating for ACD SEE 6
	9 CATS: After a shaky start with version 6.0, ACD Systems quickly fixed bugs in an earlier update version. Version 6.3 takes care of the performance issues and makes the application once again indispensable for any digital photo fan or anyone who works regularly with digital images.
How the Technology Corner rating system works.

For more information, visit the ACD See 6 page at the ACD Systems website. You can download a free trial version of the software and try it before you buy.

Are CDs big or little?

Someday all of our music files will probably be stored in computers and backed up to DVDs because CDs are just so big! As someone who still owns his fair share of large, bulky, fragile vinyl recordings, I'm taken aback by my claim that CDs are big. They're a small fraction of the size of an LP record and even the standard audio CD can hold more than a record. Convert the audio files to MP3, AAC, or Ogg-Vorbis and -- even if you use a high sampling rate -- you can put 100 or more tunes on a CD. Back the sampling off a bit, and you may get 1000 on a CD. So are they big or little?

In this regard, CDs are a lot like vinyl records. Individually, an album seems to weigh next to nothing. But try moving across town with 500 of the things and you'll realize just how heavy they are. The individual CD in a jewel case takes up very little room, but if you have 200 of them you'll need some sort of storage rack for them.

Or you could lay out the big bucks and get one of those 200-CD changers.

How big are those bucks?

Maybe a little historical perspective would be helpful here. I waited a long, long time to buy my first CD player. I wasn't an "early adopter" of this technology because the price seemed too high. I think the first player cost something like $200 or $250 and it held a single disk.

As I write, a JVC 200-CD changer (model XL-MC2000) is sitting across the room from me. This changer has a list price of $200 (a quick on-line price check shows that discount stores sell these units for $160 to $180).

You've heard similar stories from me about other high-tech items. The first CD players in computers were $600 items. Today, you can buy a simple CD player for under $30. Early laser printers cost $3500 and produced nothing but typewriter type; today you can find home laser printers for less than $500. Disk drives in the original IBM PCs added about $1000 to the price (for 10MB); today you can add a Seagate Barracuda 80GB, 7200 rpm, EIDE Ultra ATA/100 internal hard drive for about $85. This is just the way technology works. So now you can find a basic set-top DVD player for $50 and a changer that probably once would have sold for more than $1000 is now under $200.

Is it worth the upgrade?

Why a high-capacity changer is cool: It holds a lot of CDs so I don't have to find the CD I want in a rack (other side of the room), put the jewel case in a location that I will immediately forget, unload what's in the player, fruitlessly search for its jewel case (and finally decide to use the current CD's case for the old CD, which causes untold confusion), insert the new CD, and play it. Every hour or so, I don't have to repeat this process. That's why it's cool.

And it looks cool, with a striking red light that shines behind the automatic "garage door".

You may be a little bit ahead of me here. "What happens," you may be thinking, " to the jewel cases that no longer hold the 200 CDs that are in the JVC changer? And how do I remember that Dr Billy Taylor is in slot 133 and The Charlie Daniels Band is in slot 22, or that Carole King's "Really Rosie" is in 147 while a Barenaked Ladies CD is in 21? And," you go on, beginning to sound a little shrill, "how does this save me any space or reduce by confusion!?"

Let me tell you: JVC has an elegantly simple solution to these problems. It's a book that's about the size of a photographer's proof album and it holds the booklets from 200 CDs. You can dump the jewel cases (saves space) and flip through the book to find the CD you want (saves confusion). The booklet contains a front page on which you can list each CD and there's even a sheet of numbered sticker (1 through 200) that you can stick on the booklets so you don't have to count pages and multiply by 4 to figure out which CD is in which slot. Maybe other manufacturers of changers do this, too. If not, they should.

"Mid range" specifications

The specifications are as expected for mid-range CD players. You won't find the ability to play the new HDCDs in this price range (HDCD use 20 bits instead of 16 bits to produce a richer, fuller sound. While HDCDs can be played on regular CD players, you need a CD player with HCD playback to hear the improved sound. But unless your other sound components -- and your ears -- are absolutely pristine, you may not hear any difference.) For you, this may be important. For me, it's not.

But even mid-range players now come with an optical digital audio output that you can use if your amplifier has an optical input. It's impressive that this former high-end feature is now present on just about every CD player made.

The XL-MC2000 is significantly larger than players that hold fewer discs (they have to go somewhere!) but JVC has maintained the standard audio component width (a little over 17"). Before buying, though, make sure that you have enough height clearance to fit the player (nearly 8") and depth (a whopping 19"). This leads me to wonder (as Charles Kuralt once did) when a number begins to whop. (I think it was Kuralt who wondered that, but I may be misremembering.)

The player has a JVC high precision 3-beam laser pickup and uses 1-bit digital-to-analog conversion with an an 8-times oversampling digital filter. What this means in plain English: It sounds good.

Mix it up

And you can choose to listen to a disc at a time, all 200 discs, 32 discs or tracks that you program, random selections on a CD, or random selections on all CDs (in which case it's possible for Really Rosie to follow Dr Billy Williams and then be followed by the Barenaked Ladies and the Charlie Daniels Band. No sane radio station music director would ever allow a disc jockey to play a mix like this! Too eclectic.

The change, of course, comes with a remote control (the only thing that doesn't come with a remote control these days is a cat and that's only because they cannot be controlled), a 1-year warranty, all the cables you need (unless you want to use optical digital), batteries for the remote, and a pamphlet that describes how the unit works. This is useful if you've been sleeping in a cave for the past 15 years. Actually, you should at least read through the instructions, where you'll find that you will break the changer if you try to turn the disc holder by hand. (The fact that it won't easily move should give you a clue, but some people use the "big hammer" approach to everything they meet.) You'll also learn that it's a good idea to take your hand out of the changer before you close the door.

Unexpected benefit: When I had a 25-CD changer, I tended to listen to the same 25 CDs because it was too much trouble to put away 25 CDs and install 25 other CDs. With 200 CDs at my call, I'm listening to a lot of music that I didn't.

Technology corner rating for JVC XL-MC2000 200-CD CHANGER
	NINE CATS: This is one seriously cool player that gobbles up 200 CDs and makes them easily available. The book that holds the 200 CD booklets is a welcome and much appreciated feature, although the plastic page seams should be a little more sturdy -- they tear all too easily.
How the Technology Corner rating system works.

Nerdly News

Viruses and worms everywhere

Robert Vamosi, writing for CNET News.com said "Throughout this latest swarm of Netsky and Bagle computer viruses, I've been trying to dream up a way we can all work together to reduce the number of viruses and worms spread on the Internet. It's not easy. Most of our current computer security strategy is based on after-the-fact mitigation, and we don't focus enough resources on prevention. Sure, good networks are built on trust, but no matter how many firewalls and antivirus scanners you install, it takes only one Typhoid Mary computer to infect a whole network."

The article, available here, examines the current problem and recommends some ways that average users can help avoid the bad stuff that's out there.

Lots of Windows updates

If you haven't been to the Windows Update site this week and you don't have Windows Update turned on, you need to visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ now. Several patches were released this week that Microsoft says are updates for newly discovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/winapr04.asp

Here's the lowdown:

MS04-011 - Security Update for Microsoft Windows (835732) - CRITICAL

• This update resolves several newly-discovered vulnerabilities. Each vulnerability is documented in this bulletin in its own section.
• An attacker who successfully exploited the most severe of these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system, including installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts that have full privileges.
• Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately.
• Affects Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP (including 64-bit version), and Windows Server 2003)

MS04-012 - Cumulative Update for Microsoft RPC/DCOM (828741) - CRITICAL

• This update resolves several newly-discovered vulnerabilities in RPC/DCOM. Each vulnerability is documented in this bulletin in its own section.
• An attacker who successfully exploited the most severe of these vulnerabilities could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then take any action on the affected system, including installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts that have full privileges.
• Microsoft recommends customers apply the update immediately.
• Affects Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP (including 64-bit version), and Windows Server 2003)

MS04-013 - Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express (837009) - CRITICAL

• This is a cumulative update that includes the functionality of all the previously-released updates for Outlook Express 5.5 and Outlook Express 6. Additionally, it eliminates a new vulnerability that could allow an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability to access files and to take complete control of the affected system. This could occur even if Outlook Express is not used as the default e-mail reader on the system.
• Microsoft recommends that customers install this update immediately.
• Affects Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP (including 64-bit version), and Windows Server 2003)

MS04-014 - Vulnerability in the Microsoft Jet Database Engine Could Allow Code Execution (837001) - IMPORTANT

• A buffer overrun vulnerability exists in the Microsoft Jet Database Engine (Jet) that could allow remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system, including installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts that have full privileges.
• Microsoft recommends that customers install the update at the earliest opportunity.
• Affects Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP (including 64-bit version), and Windows Server 2003)

Additional warnings and notes

• Microsoft has provided information on how you can help protect your PC here. http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
• If you receive an e-mail that claims to be distributing a Microsoft security update, it is a hoax that may be distributing a virus. Microsoft does not distribute security updates via e-mail. You can learn more about Microsoft's software distribution policies here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/policy/swdist.mspx

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