How to Select Your Next Laptop Computer
By Bob Knopf
When
we become full-fledged digital communicators, just any computer
won’t do the job. For writers and photographers on the go, a
dependable laptop computer lets us keep our offices open while
we’re on the road.
A
laptop computer suitable for professional communicators ranges
in price from $750 to $5,000. Plan to spend $1,500-$3,600 with
discounts and accessories.
To
select a laptop, examine your needs. I use a laptop to write
features, press releases and books; to manage databases; to
manipulate digital photos and to give PowerPoint presentations.
My laptop must quickly open, hold and work with multiple 250-350
megabyte (MB) files. I do research online and need connectivity.
Since I interact with clients who use PCs and since I need the
latest software support, I use a PC, not a MAC. Your needs may
not be as stringent, but if you want a high-performance laptop,
the following should meet your needs, too.
If any
of the terms below seem Greek to you, spend a few hours online
or peruse some current computer magazines to gain familiarity
with features and accessories. I’ve listed brands that I use,
not to sell product, but as aids. My laptop is a Dell Inspiron
E1705. Other companies, such as Gateway and Hewlett-Packard,
offer great laptops and accessories.
Here’s
what you want:
Monitor.
If you don’t need ultra-small size, get a 17-inch monitor
(measured diagonally). If you need small, go with a 15-inch
monitor to reduce size and weight. I use a 17-inch monitor
because I like to work simultaneously on two projects or two
parts of a project side by side on the same screen. For this,
get an Ultra Sharp Widescreen VUXGA.
Warranty.
Get the best offered, usually three to five years with no limit
calling, at-home service and 24/7 technical support. I also get
the “Complete Care” protection package, so if I drop the
computer, spill coffee on it or my dog chews it apart, it will
be repaired or replaced at no (or minimal) charge. This is a
business computer, and extended warranties and damage protection
are sound investments at reasonable cost.
Software:
My operating system is Windows XP Professional Media Player.
(Make sure your new laptop is Vista capable, since Microsoft
(MS) will introduce this new operating system in 2007.) I get
Media Player because I hook up to TVs and other audio-visual
equipment for PowerPoint presentations and need to work with a
variety of sound systems. Most users will find Windows XP
Professional suitable. Buy anti-virus, firewall and spam
software: PC-cillin Internet Security, Norton Internet Security
or similar. I use MS Office suite, which contains Outlook,
PowerPoint, Excel, Business Mgr and Publisher. I like MS Streets
& Trips 2006 and have a GPS locator (purchased with the software
so I know exactly where I am).
Performance/Capabilities.
Get a dual-core processor, 100 gigabyte (GB) or larger SATA hard
drive running at 7,200 rpm. The faster rpm is usually more
important than a larger drive size. Memory is important. Get 2
GB, DDR2 667 megahertz (MHz), 2 Dimm; video card: 256 MB ATI
Mobility Radeon X 1,400 Hyper Memory. An 8x DVD+/-RW drive lets
you copy CDs and DVDs. A SoundBlaster Advanced Audio Sound card
allows you to enjoy CDs and DVDs as you travel. Integrated
10/100 Network Card and Modem and Bluetooth or other wireless
capabilities let you cruise online.
Key
Accessories:
You need accessories, so budget these, too. First, purchase a
good-quality padded case with plenty of pockets. A portable
surge protector (3x3x1-inch in size) is a must. Extra battery:
Buy the highest power/longevity possible for both your primary
and second batteries. Battery charger: Get a charger that will
charge batteries in your car/truck (12V DC), on an airplane and
using 120/220 (household) AC. A Logitech Bluetooth cordless
(V270) desk mouse can be used in place of a touch pad when your
carpel tunnel syndrome acts up. A four-port Hi-Speed USB 2.0
Pocket Hub lets you connect to an array of printers and other
equipment. A GPS locator to use with MS Streets & Trips 2006
tells you where you are and gives distances, times and
directions to most locations. Be sure to get a restart/restore
CD with the op system and key files and a USB drive 2 GB or
larger (3/4x3x5/8 inches) to transfer files to any computer with
a USB port. If you give computer presentations, get a
radio-controlled “presenter” (Logitech cordless 2.4 GHz or a
Bluetooth cordless).
A
computer with these features will enable you to remain
productive at elk camp and also will meet your needs at the
office.
Bob Knopf, an OWAA
member since 1981, currently serves OWAA’s board of directors
and chairs OWAA’s New Media Committee. Visit
www.americaoutdoors.com or
www.outdoormarketing.com.
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Photoshop Speed Test
How Fast Is
Your Computer?
By Michael Furtman
How
fast can your computer process images in Photoshop?
An
unofficial, standard test found on photography forums is simple
to run and can give you insight into whether you need to tweak
your system or consider a new one. To run the test, follow these
simple instructions:
1.
Click
this image and save it to your desktop. It is 87.6
kilobytes.
2.
Make sure no other programs are open and running.
3.
Open the image in Photoshop and resize “Width” to 2,000 pixels;
“Height” will change automatically. Click “OK.”
4. Go
to the Filter menu and select “Blur” then “Radial Blur."
5. Set
“Amount” to 100. Then select “Spin” and “Best.”
6. Be
ready with the stopwatch. Click “OK” along with start button of
your stopwatch.
7.
Record the time it takes to complete the process.
What
was your time? If it exceeds 80 seconds or so, you might want to
seriously consider getting a new computer if your work involves
a lot of digital editing. A reasonable score is 40-60 seconds.
Top-end computers with dual-core processors (which Photoshop
loves!) could yield a score of 20-30 seconds.
My
time, on my two-year-old 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 Dell desktop, was 78
seconds, which is why I built a new computer. With the new AMD
Athalon X2 3800+ dual-core processor, my time dropped to 23
seconds. If you process a lot of images, saving this much time
can be significant!
After
you perform the test,
drop me an e-mail
with your time and type of computer (processor and amount of
RAM). We’ll post the results in an upcoming Tech-E-Letter.
Please put “speed test” in the subject line.
Michael Furtman
chairs OWAA's Technology Committee. He lives in Duluth, Minn.,
where he is a book author, freelance writer and still
photographer. Visit his
Web site
to learn more.
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Privacy Rights
Invasion of
Privacy Applies to Internet Use
By Bill Powell
OWAA Legal Counsel
In
1816 Lord Byron won a suit against someone who had published bad poetry using his name. These days, this is called
“false light in the public eye” – invasion of privacy.
“Invasion of privacy” as a legal wrong (tort) for which suit can
be brought has evolved to have several different forms.
A
claim of the type Lord Byron won is closely similar to
defamation and is available for things like signing someone up
as a supporter of something or as a candidate for an office, or
entering him or her in a contest, or filing a suit in his or her
name without permission. Presenting someone in public in a false
and misleading way is the essence of this kind of claim. It’s a
claim for damage to reputation.
Appropriating the image or identity of someone for commercial
gain is sometimes classified as a separate form of the tort.
Recently a model won a large sum because the coffee brand
Taster’s Choice used his photograph on their labels without his
permission. There wasn’t anything false about the use; the
company just didn’t have permission to use his picture
commercially. Every time you buy something with Albert
Einstein’s image or a quotation from him on it, the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem is supposed to receive a little bit of
the price, because he left the rights to his image to it when he
died.
A
legal prohibition has evolved against private or governmental
intrusion into matters about which people have a reasonable
expectation of privacy. When the government is involved, such as
in wiretapping or regulating access to contraceptives or
abortions, the prohibition is said to be derived from the
Constitution. When private, nongovernmental actors are involved,
such as paparazzi or ordinary citizens, it’s mostly a matter of
case law. The rules focus on whether it’s reasonable to expect
privacy under the circumstances. When out in public, it’s
perfectly legal for anyone to observe, photograph or record you
and to use what they learn or take in this way, at least if they
don’t breach some other legal standard in doing so.
There
is an ongoing debate about whether any Internet use carries a
reasonable expectation of privacy because of the wide use of
“cookies,” the ease of hacking and the existence of multiple
copies of everything at various locations.
Public
disclosure of private facts is another form of this tort. It is
very similar to defamation, but here falsity is not required for
there to be liability. The classic case was brought by a former
prostitute who had been accused years before of murder. She sued
a newspaper that ran a story about her current whereabouts and
her current life, and she won a judgment.
By
law, you can’t damage the reputation of a dead person, so
neither defamation nor any invasion of privacy claim that is
based on reputation damage can be won on behalf of someone who
is deceased.
In our
current technology-driven world, given the way e-mail and the
Internet work, any use of the Internet qualifies as publicity
for purposes of privacy law, in my opinion. Although some
limited protection against liability for defamation by use of
the Internet exists under federal law, no such protection
applies to any form of invasion of privacy.
My
advice is to refrain from using another’s name, image or
identity to promote something or claim that person’s support
without his or her permission.
Don’t
use electronic means or any other means to acquire or use
information that you can expect someone to want to keep private,
unless some other journalistic rule prevails. Don’t pass along
rumor or “urban myth” stuff, because it could be actionable as
invasion of privacy. Remember that e-mail probably is not
private.
Bill Powell is OWAA’s
legal counsel and recipient of 2005’s Ham Brown Award. He
practices law in Columbia, Mo. This article originally was
published in the
August 2006 issue of
Outdoors Unlimited.
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Delivering the Goods
Use the
Internet to Produce Better Radio
By Paul Lepisto
Manufacturers will tell you that a product is of no value if
it’s not available to the consumer. The same thing can be said
of radio shows. You can produce a quality program, but if no one
hears it, what good is it?
There
are many ways to deliver radio shows today. At Tony Dean
Outdoors, we use a combination. We produce three weeks of shows
(18 three-minute episodes) at a time, running Monday through
Saturday year-round. We still snail mail to a few of our
stations, but the majority of the stations we air on take the
show off our
Web site. They click on the “audio clips” icon on our home
page, and the shows pop up on the screen for them to download as
MP3 files. We have the shows loaded by Thursday prior to the
Monday start of that run; this allows the stations time to
download the programs before they air.
Our
stations log on to our Web site and download our shows when and
how they want them. This is a great convenience to us as
producers and station personnel because the programs are there
and ready for them to take at their convenience. Some take all
18 shows at once, and others take one show every day, right
before airtime. Stations like this because they control when and
how they take the shows. Whatever works for them works for us.
It benefits us because we don’t have to dub a copy, stuff it in
an envelope, stamp it and drop it off at the post office. Plus,
we no longer have to worry about the mail arriving on time for
the first program to air or having a tape damaged in the mail
and needing to send a replacement.
Today,
radio stations are taking more and more of their syndicated
programs off the Internet. It’s faster and easier for them, and
it saves the producer time and money. The price of tapes and
postage go up every year. We still have a handful of stations
that don’t take our shows off the Internet, but that list gets
smaller each year. We see the day in the very near future where
every one of our affiliates will obtain radio programs off our
Web site.
If
you’re a producer of a syndicated show or thinking of getting
into syndication, take a serious look at delivering programs via
the Internet. It will save you time, money and hassle. Is the
system perfect? No, but nothing is. As technology advances, the
way we do things changes and improves. There may be new wrinkles
ahead in this method, but for now it works for us and for our
stations.
A
final benefit of this process is that many of our guests want to
hear the show they are on. In the past, that required having to
make a dub and mail it to them. Now all I do is e-mail them the
day that their show will air and instructions on how to access
the shows on our Web site. Our guests can dial it up and hear
the program on their computer even if they miss the actual
airdate. We also have a station list and airtimes on our site,
so guests can see when and where the show will run. This has
greatly reduced the number of dubs we have to make and our
mailing costs. It saves us time and money and increases our
profits from our radio show. Best of all, it gets the product to
the consumers, our “Dakota Backroads” radio audience.
An
OWAA member since 1992,
Paul Lepisto is an
award-winning producer for “Dakota Backroads” radio and lives in
Pierre, S.D. Lepisto’s article is a contribution on behalf of
OWAA’s Radio Section and was originally published in the
February 2006 issue of
Outdoors Unlimited.
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Have a tech question?
OWAA’s Technology Committee will answer it.
Filing Tips for
Freelancers
We
have 50-70 articles published every year. Some are sold multiple
times. Handling the images and knowing which ones we sent with
each piece is confusing.
Most
modern computers have large hard drives, up to 150 gigabytes.
Storage is not a problem. Now, when we prepare an article for a
particular publication, we create a folder in that magazine’s
file containing everything pertinent to that story: the text,
images, captions, sidebars, etc.
We
simply open the folder, and everything is apparent. It saves a
lot of work, especially locating the correct images, when
reselling articles.
Martin Freed and Ruta
Vaskys
Padding a Tripod or Monopod on the Cheap
Foam
water-pipe insulation slit down the side fits easily over a
tripod or monopod’s legs and is simple to trim to length, around
hinges, etc.
Wrap
black fabric 1-inch electrical tape around the length of each
collapsed, foam-covered leg (the upper portion) on the tripod or
monopod.
My
cost for padding both tripod and monopod was about $15. The
padding protects fragile items when you stow gear for a trip,
insulates hands when temperatures drop and is more comfortable
to handle and carry.
Cheap,
too.
Cliff Keeler
Calculating
Freelance Photo Rates
While most magazines have established photo payment rates,
occasionally you will get a call from a publication,
organization or corporation asking how much you charge for its
use of your photo.
You can't – or shouldn't – pull a number out of the air. The
price you ask for your image should be based on tangibles such
as the magazine's circulation, image placement and image size.
The same is true for images sold to an organization or
corporation for use in a report or brochure. You need to
know how large the image will be when published and the number
of brochures or reports to be printed.
But then what? How much do you charge? Here are two handy
(and free!) online sources for calculating those prices:
EP Editorial Estimator calculates an industry standard price
to quote, based on the magazine's circulation, image placement
and image size. It even computes exchange rates in case you're
working with a foreign publisher.
Stock Photography Price Calculator is much the same, but it
also calculates pricing for brochures, advertising, Web sites
and more.
Give them a try. There's always room for negotiation, but
you should start your quote based on professional industry
standards.
Michael Furtman
Eliminate Those
Pesky 'Error Reports'
Are
you tired of Microsoft programs crashing? Who isn’t? Even more
tiresome, however, are those pop-ups requesting that you report
errors to Microsoft when a program crashes! Here’s how to
disable Microsoft’s “error reporting” program:
1.
Click “Start,” then right-click “My Computer” and select
“Properties.”
2.
Select the “Advanced” tab then click “Error Reporting.”
3.
Select “Disable Error Reporting” then click “OK.”
Katie McKalip
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U.S. National
Parks Net
Just because
summer is over doesn’t mean your outdoor adventures have to end,
too. Many of the national parks in the United States remain open
year-round, offering sights and sounds that you can see only
during the off season.
This
Web site is a comprehensive guide to the major national
parks in the country. Basic information is just the beginning –
lists of flora and fauna, historical data and local guide
directories help you make the most of your trip. Enjoy an
American treasure!
USDA Forest
Service
Late summer and
early fall mark forest fire season. If you are affected by fires
or merely are interested in places that are, the
USDA Forest
Service Web site provides information about forest fire
prevention and containment. The site also is the primary
resource for anyone interested in the care of the country’s more
than 190 million acres of national forests. Find out about
travel opportunities in national forests or learn the true story
that inspired the Forest Service’s famous mascot – Smokey Bear.
American Trails
What
better way to spend a Saturday than biking or hiking a forest
bright with fall foliage? Whether you prefer an afternoon stroll
along a local river or a weekend trek through the Smokey
Mountains,
this Web
site can help you explore your options. The site is
sponsored by American Trails, an organization dedicated to the
preservation and promotion of the nation’s network of trails,
and it contains extensive links that are organized by state.
They include hiking, biking and equestrian trails as well as
information on state parks and local events.
Go Camping America
From
the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds,
this
Web site provides all the information necessary to planning
a great camping trip. Like the American Trails site, campsites,
tourist and outdoor recreation information are arranged by
state. Local attraction links allow you to preview a location
before visiting. From dinosaurs in Bozeman, Mont., to pirates
and witches in Salem, Mass., to swamp tours in New Orleans, this
Web site will help you create an exciting and original
vacation.
compiled by Sarah Bigelow
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Lost
as an infant in an old-growth forest, Dr. P.C. Woodknot (a.k.a. John Hong) was raised
by a vegetarian wolf commune until age 10. Discovered by a band of barefoot hikers and
returned to the awkward bosom of humankind, he grew up in an organic, high-tech household,
and the rest, as we all know, is histrionic. If you have a question for Dr. Woodknot,
submit it via the Tech-E-Letter
feedback form.
Jump-starting a Stalled Computer
Dear Dr. Woodknot,
I just
installed a new software package on my computer and think I made
a big mistake. The computer runs really slow at what seems like
random times. It regularly freezes or locks up, and the only
thing I can do is turn off the power. One time I figured I would
just leave it alone all night and see if it would “unfreeze,”
but no dice. I've even tried the standard Windows Uninstall in
the Windows Control Panel, but no luck, and I still have folders
and files from this software left on my computer. When I try to
delete them I get some rubbish about the files still being in
use. So what can I do, Doc – both to fix my computer and avoid
this sort of thing in the future?
Signed,
Frozen and Frustrated
Dr. Woodknot replies:
Dear
FroFru,
This
is a tough one. The simplest thing to do is to back up your
personal documents, pictures and the like from this computer and
then wipe the slate clean by reinstalling Windows. Of course,
you then will have to reinstall all the software you use. If you
keep your personal files in just one or a few folders, this
backup process will be easier.
Or try
using the “Windows Services” feature to turn off the parts of
the software you just installed. The hard part about this is
knowing what to turn off and what to leave alone. So the best
way to start is to just change suspicious items to “Manual”
instead of “Disable.” Be warned: You should back up your
personal files before attempting this. To get to “Services,”
first go to “Control Panel” then “Administrative Tools.”
To
avoid this problem in the future, search Google www.google.com
before installing a new software package. This applies both to
applications software and operating systems software like
Microsoft Service Packs. Just because a new Service Pack comes
out doesn’t mean you should run out, download it and install it.
Instead, wait a while and then search the Internet to see what
other people have experienced.
And if
you have another PC available, consider installing new software
on it first and see if any problems arise.
Signed,
Dr. Something New Something Blew
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Questions/Comments:
Let the editor know what you
think of OWAA’s Tech-E-Letter.
Editorial Guidelines for OWAA’s Tech-E-Letter: OWAA welcomes your submissions of features
(500 words or fewer), tips (150 words or fewer) and emerging news (50 words or fewer).
E-mail your articles or story ideas to Tech-E-Letter Editor Katie McKalip.
Technology Committee:
Chair: Michael Furtman
Members: Christopher Batin,
Les Booth,
Martin Freed,
John Hong,
Cliff Keeler,
Jim Low,
Bob Knopf, Katie McKalip,
Kory Mitchell, Tom Opre,
Chase Swift,
Randy Zellers
OWAA Staff:
Executive Director, Kevin Rhoades
Tech-E-Letter, OU Editor, Katie McKalip
Member Services/Office Manager, Terri Roberts
Intern, Merrilyne Lundahl
Subscribe a friend to OWAA’s Tech-E-Letter.
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