Computers

September 13, 2006

Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt

Quotes/Notes from Harvey Mackay from his best seller, "Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt"

What matters with anything you intend to use is what you can do with it, not what you can get it for. If I had played it smart, I'd never owned the property, or Mackay Envelope, for that matter.

A dream is always a bargain, no matter what you pay for it.

I've kept notes on every out-of-town trip for as long as I can remember. Not the usual stuff about what hotel to stay at in each city, but much more detail than that. What floor to stay on and even what room to ask for. Will it be an ocean view or mountain view? Every hotel has it room overlooking a mine shaft or next to a dumbwaiter or that were skipped over in the last renovation.

Intellectuals - Paul Johnson

PR people are experts at papering over weaknesses and making them appear to be strengths.

"Would the number-three brain surgeon in the world retire?"

"I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work"

Failure is an attitude, not an outcome.

September 10, 2006

Tieng Viet

Want to have a little fun with Mac OS 10.4?

Create a new folder with the following file name:

Use the Charater Pallet to help you get the right charater set.

Now try to delete the folder.

You can't!

August 15, 2006

Epson Stylus CX7800

Just purchased an Epson Stylus CX7800, and the initial reaction is that its a very good printer. This printer is to replace my Epson Stylus 880 and Canon N650U scanner.

There's two reasons why I wanted to replace my old printer. First its about 7 years old, and second I wanted something that would allow my to scan images.

I have an old scanner and having a printer and scanner on my computer desk was taking up too much desk space.

Having an all in one unit is great because it means that its one cable to my computer, freeing up 2 USB slots. Before I had a printer, scanner and a Memory Card Reader connected to my Macintosh. Now the CX7800 does all with one USB cable and one power cord.

The only thing that recently noticed is that there isn't mention in the documentation that this is in fact a USB2 printer! That means that the built in memory card reader replaces any USB2 that I was using before. The computer instantly recognizes when I insert a card.

It was pretty easy to configure my Macintosh G4 with this printer, and scanning works great with Photoshop CS2. I still haven't been able to figure out how to do borderless printing from Photoshop or iPhoto. Hopefully that won't take too long to learn.

Printing does seem a little slow, but the quality is great! I need to configure disclabel so that I can print really awesome labels.

I selected the Epson CX7800 over others because I didn't need to have a fax machine. I don't send that many faxes and there is excellent fax capability built right into Mac OS 10.4.

At $140, its a good deal! It replaces a printer that cost me $99 in 2000 and a $45 scanner both bought a Frys in Campbell, California.

Download some Macintosh icons I created for the Epson Stylus CX7800

August 04, 2006

Photoshop Select Layer Tip

How to select all the Layers contents in Photoshop CS

In old versions of Photoshop it was pretty easy to select all the contents of a particular layer. I usually use this to put round corners on the selected image. In the latest Photoshop the process changed slightly.

Image Ready CS2

By Default Auto-Layer is enabled, which means that when you click an image it auto selects that layer. If you click on the Marquee Tool (M), then Right Click or Control-Click on a Mac, and then select "Load Selection" then the option to the right, such as "Layer 2 Transparancy"

Photoshop CS2

Using a Mac, Use the Command Key (Apple Key) and click on the Layer Icon in the Layer Palette.

July 20, 2006

Windows Update

Recently Microsoft did a security update which required a restart. They included this little popup to alert users to restart their systems. The only problem is that there are many servers that can't be restarted because they have databases or Webservers. So users will continue to see this dialog box, every once in a while, and have to click Restart Later.

On some systems the mouse moved to the Restart Now button, so it could be accidentally clicked. Great job Microsoft!!!