Monthly Archives: April 2008

21 Ways to Shoot Better Photographs

Written by Patrick This article is from 10e20 Blog

Do you want to sharpen your creative picture taking instincts? Do you want to combine new ideas with your current projects and techniques? These techniques will be better executed with digital cameras and meant as some direction or guidelines to taking ‘better‘ pictures. You are your cameras best viewfinder!

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Why digital as opposed to film you say? You don’t have to buy tons of film if you are learning new ideas and trying different things and also you see the results right away.

That being said some of these photos were taken with Polaroid film. Polaroid has such an expressiveness to the colors and creates unique one of a kind images every time. The film is expensive but worth it. Once you get some basics down, experiment with film.

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1. PerspectiveAnsel Adams once said, “A good photo is knowing where to stand.” Explore your surroundings and take multiple shots from various angles. Look for vantage points that capitalize on the best available light, ones that have the least. Shoot from far away, get close, even closer, lie on the ground, use a ladder. Hold the camera above your head, tilt it at crazy angles. Stand right next to your subject, move with it or even walk around it. The main idea is to investigate normal and radical perspectives.
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2. Unequal Space- Vary the amount of distant between your main subject and the pictures edge. This makes for a more attractive composition and flow for the viewers eye to move around.
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3. Framing- Try to use various elements to form a visual ‘frame‘ around another element. This helps to direct the viewers eye and lead to the more important elements. Here are some examples from the Natural Framing Flickr pool.
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4. Horizon Line- Place the positioning of the horizon line above or below the center of your subjects.

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5. Cropping- Dead center is usually not the most interesting shot. Cropping tightly, or aggressively, into the subject creates dynamic visual space between the subject and the edges as well as dramatic imagery.

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6. Intentional Empty Space- Just like Unequal Space but more dramatic. Sometimes less is best.

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7. Shape- Simple geometric shapes are familiar and the basics of every form. Simple shapes can create order and sense within an image. Look out for interesting shapes and patterns in everyday objects.

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8. Lines and Curves- A painting professor I once had said that every curve was made up of tiny straight lines, this stayed with me. A curve is both relative to and different from a line. Find something you see everyday and breakdown your composition into lines, curves and shapes.

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9. Visual Texture- This can be made up of anything that densely fills the image. Look out for ‘Harmoniously Organized‘ texture like a close up of a man-made pattern. ‘Harmoniously Disorganized‘ such as a field of wheat or blades of grass on a lawn. ‘Chaotic‘ like a garbage dump.

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10. Depth- Draw the viewers eye in and back through an image. Consider various points of view that amplify depth like a pathway in the woods or lines on the road.

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11. Spin- Add some movement to an image by shaking the camera or moving around to add some motion blur to subjects that are standing still or stationary. Try this awesome spinning technique provided by Photojojo that makes for the coolest shots of kids having fun!

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12. Motion Shots- Shoot subjects that move to fast for the human eye to follow and see clearly. The technical aspects of shooting motion are easy: a fast shutter speed (or the action or sports setting) will freeze motion, a slow one will introduce motion blur. Also, check out this French photographers work with this idea…hang on!

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13. 360 Panoramic- Taking shots individually as you turn your body around. Later you can stitch these together in Photoshop. Feeling like pushing it further? Try creating your own planet aka “Polar Panoramas”– now that is cool! Click thumbnail to view full image.

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14. Composites- Using the same technique as the panoramic but with this just shoot freely without any order or grid. When you have your images downloaded to your computer later put them all into one Photoshop document and compose the scene. Check out the Panography photo pool on Flickr for some creative inspirations. Click thumbnail to view full image.

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15. Beautiful Decay- Expand your definition of beautiful and look for worn down subjects either man-made or natural. Ugly can be beautiful.

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16. Clouds- Clouds have endless variations and possibilities. All you need to do is stop and take pictures of them and you will see the beauty. Point straight up and shoot!

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17. Shadows/Reflections- They can transform an ordinary object in something artful or abstract. Teach yourself to notice not just the subjects,but the shadows and reflections they cast.

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18. Light Painting- Using a longer exposure setting place your camera on a tripod and grab yourself a small pen light or flash light and ‘draw‘ with the light or shot your subject in the dark and use a ‘bulb‘ setting for a long exposure and use a flashlight to ‘paint‘ in the light. Another variation of this would be to hold your camera and move it around the light source or simply set your cameras self-timer mose and just before it clicks toss the $350 camera into the air, just be sure to catch it. Check out these creative light painting photographers and what they are doing with the technique. Here is the Camera Toss Flickr pool. here is their groups description:

This is a “technique” group, and the technique here is regarded by some as insanity. For we are the reckless folks on flickr that enjoy the abstract, chance, generative, physical photography that results from throwing our cameras into the air (most often at night in front of varied light sources).

It is about trading risk for reward in the pursuit of art. It is not about being a photographer, it is about enabling the photography that happens naturally when you let go of the process, give up control, and add a hell of alot more variables. It is about physics, gravity, angular momentum, acceleration, direction, chaos, and timing… most of which you have tenuous control of at best!

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19. Light Direction- By exploring various points to light a subject with artificial or natural light, you can get the best possible image. Bounce light off of the ceiling, point the light right at the subject or from the side. Create a silhouetted effect and point the light at the backdrop, called backlighting, or experiment with alternative light sources like candles.

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20. Night Shots- Working with relatively low lit situations can be tricky but also very rewarding. The semi-abstract look of night shots can be great at evoking mood and emotion. I took this shot at dusk with a toy Holga camera with a blue filter. Photojojo has some great tips for taking some “Sparkling Firework Photos”.

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21. Intentional Overexposure/Underexposure- Add some style and visual impact to your shot by either overexposing or underexposing the image. Use the cameras flash at close range or by pass the flash altogether.

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50 (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos

Collected by smashingmagazine

Photography is a very powerful medium and a very difficult craft. Excellent photos don’t only display some facts – they tell stories, awake feelings and manage to share with the audience the emotions a photographer experienced when clicking the shot button. Taking excellent pictures is damn hard as you need to find a perfect perspective and consider the perfect timing. To achieve brilliant photography you need practice and patience. However, it is worth it: the results can be truly stunning.

Below you’ll find 50 brilliant photos and stunning pictures – some pictures tell stories, some are incredibly beautiful, some are funny and some are very sad.

All pictures are copyright of their respective owners. Please explore the further work of the photographers by browsing through their work. We’ve tried to cover different themes so that everybody will find something interesting and spectacular for himself / herself. All screenshots are linked und lead to the pages from which they’ve been taken.

(Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos

1. Water and a Girl
Beautiful composition, excellent scenery, amazing play of colors.

Mind-Blowing Photos - water

2. The Ball is Coming!
Analogue shot with Seagull 6×6 (Chinese clone of Rolleiflex), made in 1983. “The gulfball is suspended on a fishing line in front of the camera. It was a stormy day. So I had to shoot 5 or 6 films for getting one image with the ball in the center position AND a light reflection on the golf club.”

Mind-Blowing Photos - Hey Tina! When you see this: Call me! I'm not angry with you any longer ....

3. Sky
The sky is reflected in a drop of water. Beautiful scenery.

Mind-Blowing Photos - : Sky

4. Returning to the same ocean
Beautiful sand textures, beautiful composition and somehow a very sad story hidden behind the image.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Returning to the same ocean.

5. Tree
A colorful tree from a different perspective.

Mind-Blowing Photos - FFFFOUND!

6. Gizmo
How adorable is that?

Mind-Blowing Photos - Gizmo

7. Glittery Ball
“The reflection in this water droplet, it looks like the glitter is stuck to the water, but NO, it is reflections from the glitter on the feather.”

Mind-Blowing Photos - Glittery Ball

8. Yaw? Weeeee
You probably shouldn’t try this in your local trains. Such pictures are unforgettable.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Yaw? Weeeee

9. Leap of Faith
What does being one step away from falling into the abyss feel like?

Mind-Blowing Photos - Leap of Faith

10. Astronaut Self-shot Over Earth
Could this be the best self-shot ever? It’s truly out of this world.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Astronaut Self-shot Over Earth

11. Autumn in red
Pure beauty. No words are necessary.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Autumn in red

12. FlickrMeeting – Genova – G3
Blue baloon, a small detail, gives the picture an incredible power.

Mind-Blowing Photos - FlickrMeeting - Genova - G3 - [Ghe semmu + DieciCento + Milanoue!!W ]

13. Sea in the sea
Incredible scenery. Apparently, the shot was made on the boat in the middle of the sea.

Mind-Blowing Photos - FFFFOUND!

14. If I was an old building…
“If I was an old building I would want to be by the ocean. Till’ the end of times”. Photographed at the old fishing piers of the Texas Bolivar Peninsula.

Mind-Blowing Photos - If I was an old building..... by `foureyes on deviantART

15. Bee the Cat
“It’s hard to get the right exposure, with them being white, and with the fact they don’t stay still unless they’re sleeping.”

Mind-Blowing Photos - bee

16. Passing the Golden Gate Bridge

Mind-Blowing Photos - Passing the Golden Gate Bridge

17. Glow
Smoke from a leaf pile.

Mind-Blowing Photos - g l o w by Haneck - DPChallenge

18. Swimming pool
Taking a look at the swimming pool. From a quite different perspective.

Mind-Blowing Photos - FFFFOUND!

19. Reflect
A reflection from the louvre’s pyramid.

Mind-Blowing Photos - reflect

20. Time To Go Home…
“Tthe way the birds are lined up makes the composition extraordinary fantastic.”

Mind-Blowing Photos - Time To Go Home...

21. Seagull on a sign
This seagull seems to have its own personal understanding of human’s rules.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Seagull on a sign

22. Marshmellow girl
A beautiful composition.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

23. Refashioned Dahlia
Photo taken at Duncan Garden in Spokane, WA.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Refashioned Dahlia

24. Bird and Meat

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

25. Water drop
A photo taken at the exact right time. Available as a desktop wallpaper in various resolutions.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Another 17 Fantastic Free Wallpaper Images | Crestock.com Blog

26. Mt. Fuji

Mind-Blowing Photos - Mt. Fuji

27. Two ways at looking at a fish

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

28. Blessed fog
A shot of Grande Madre di Dio in Torino, Italy.

Mind-Blowing Photos - blessed fog

29. Family of bugs

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

30. Pigeon Point Lighthouse
“Once per year at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse they shut down the weak insipid modern (presumably electric) light and switch over the the 5 kerosene lamps and fresnel lens of the original, as it was 135 years ago.”

Mind-Blowing Photos - Pigeon Point Lighthouse

31. Fire Shot
Location: Changa Beach, Coquimbo.

Mind-Blowing Photos - FIRE SHOT

32. A conversation
Fox, bird and snow. This picture is titled “Good afternoon, my name is chikiricuatro”.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

33. Shanghai – Acrobatic
Picture taken during an acrobatic show in a Shanghainese theatre.

Mind-Blowing Photos - CHINA - Shanghai - Acrobatic

34. Northern lights as seen from space

Mind-Blowing Photos - Digg - Northern lights as seen from space (Pic)

35. Red October Rise
Sunrise over Bogie Lake, Michigan.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Red October Rise

36. Crystal clarity

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

37. Skier’s Paradise
“Climbing partner at 17,000? on Denali carrying his skis down to around 16,200? where he will be able to ski down the rest of the way to base camp at 7200?.”

Mind-Blowing Photos - Skier's Paradise

38. Bird and Water

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

39. Photograph Taken at the Exact Right Time

Mind-Blowing Photos - Sawse - Stir it Up! » Blog Archive » 25 Photographs Taken at the Exact Right Time

40. All alone.
This shot is taken on a Norway’s cliff Prekestolen (also known as Preacher’s Pulpit).

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

41. Looking out of the window

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

42. Above the clouds
The shot taken during the flight from Vienna to Frankfurt, approaching Frankfurt.

Mind-Blowing Photos - above the clouds

43. The Waves

Mind-Blowing Photos - teahupoo_1.jpg (JPEG-Grafik, 1280x821 Pixel)

44. The Waves. One more time.

Mind-Blowing Photos - FFFFOUND!

45. Cockfight
Taken by Jan Sochor.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Cockfight – Photo Essay – Jan Sochor

46. Polar lights
Öxarárfoss in Iceland – Aurora Borealis taken by Arnar Valdimarsson.

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

47. Concentration

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

48. Cat and deer

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

49. Here floats a bubble in the air…

Mind-Blowing Photos - he floats a bubble in the air...

50. A girl portrait

Mind-Blowing Photos - Photo

Sources and Resources

You’ll find many more excellent photos, illustrations and pictures on the following sites:

  • Pixdaus.com
    A social community dedicated to sharing photos. Pixdaus is a place where anyone can post his pictures, photos and others rate it. If it’s cool it gets to the main page and more people can enjoy it.
  • Ffffound.com
    Image bookmarking. An invitation-based service.

The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment

Written by Content Consumer

Is Ubuntu usable enough for a non-tech-savvy girlfriend yet?

Introduction

I’ve toyed with Linux since 2002, when I first installed Mandrake. With the latest release of Ubuntu, I was interested to see how far Linux had come since then in terms of being used easily by the mainstream. So, I tricked my grudging girlfriend Erin into sitting down at a brand new Ubuntu 8.04 installation and performing some basic tasks. It’s surprising how many seemingly simple things become complicated and even out of reach for someone without a knowledge of Linux. There are a lot of little things that could be done to make the experience a lot more friendly for non-computer-literate people – some of them easy to implement, others not at all. I’ve toyed with Linux since 2002, when I first installed Mandrake. With the latest release of Ubuntu, I was interested to see how far Linux had come since then in terms of being used easily by the mainstream. So, I tricked my grudging girlfriend Erin into sitting down at a brand new Ubuntu 8.04 installation and performing some basic tasks. It’s surprising how many seemingly simple things become complicated and even out of reach for someone without a knowledge of Linux. There are a lot of little things that could be done to make the experience a lot more friendly for non-computer-literate people – some of them easy to implement, others not at all.

Erin was impressed with the heron

Erin’s knowledge of computers is limited to word processors, spreadsheets, Photoshop and a reasonable amount of browsing on the Web. Fairly standard stuff for a university philosophy student. All I did to the system (before leaving Erin at the log-in screen) was to install it and create a user account for her. She had no problems logging in, and loved the stylised heron background. Then I gave her one by one the tasks I’d set her. I didn’t give her any help at all. Erin’s knowledge of computers is limited to word processors, spreadsheets, Photoshop and a reasonable amount of browsing on the Web. Fairly standard stuff for a university philosophy student. All I did to the system (before leaving Erin at the log-in screen ) Was to install it and create a user account for her. She had no problems logging in, and loved the stylised heron background. Then I gave her one by one the tasks I’d set her. I didn’t give her any help at all.

First task: Tell me what the capital of Bosnia is. First task: Tell me what the capital of Bosnia is.

As soon as she heard this, Erin grinned, rolled her eyes and said “easy!” Her eyes found the Firefox shortcut at the top of the screen, and very soon Wikipedia told her Sarajevo. A good start, the task was completed with absolutely no trouble at all. As soon as she heard this, Erin grinned, rolled her eyes and said “easy!” Her eyes found the Firefox shortcut at the top of the screen, and very soon Wikipedia told her Sarajevo. A good start, the task was completed with absolutely no trouble at all.

Second task: Watch a video on YouTube. Second task: Watch a video on YouTube.

(note: this is a problem specifically with YouTube – it detects whether or not you have Flash using JavaScript and then puts a link to Adobe’s webpage instead of displaying the plugin. Firefox’s standard behaviour is to ask you to install it in an automated fashion. Just bad luck I happened to choose YouTube!) (note: this is a problem specifically with YouTube – it detects whether or not you have Flash using JavaScript and then puts a link to Adobe’s webpage instead of displaying the plugin. Firefox’s standard behaviour is to ask you to install it in an automated fashion. Just bad luck I happened to choose YouTube!)

This proved more problematic. Erin went to YouTube and searched for a Beatles video, and seemed to assume that it would work straight away. When it told her that she needed a plug-in she groaned, but clicked the link they gave her. It took her to the official Flash plug-in page, and gave her the option of downloading a gzipped tarball, an RPM or a YUM. This proved more problematic. Erin went to YouTube and searched for a Beatles video, and seemed to assume that it would work straight away. When it told her that she needed a plug-in she groaned, but clicked the link they gave her. It took her to the official Flash plug-in page, and gave her the option of downloading a gzipped tarball, an RPM or a YUM.

Flash Download Page

Because she’s using Ubuntu, the RPM and the YUM are going to be of no use – not that she knows this. Erin tried the .tar.gz, and it downloaded to her home folder. It opened in the archive manager, and she extracted it to the default. Then, she was lost. She tried double-clicking the file, and Ubuntu just asked her what she’d like to do with it. The option “run” results in it crashing. No clue was given to her that she should open up a terminal and type ‘./flashplayer-installer’. To be fair, there are links to installation instructions, but the average person acclimatised to Windows is not expecting to have to read complex information before installing a program – all they need to do is double click it. Obviously her attempts with the RPM and the YUM went nowhere. Frustrated, Erin conceded defeat. Because she’s using Ubuntu, the RPM and the YUM are going to be of no use – not that she knows this. Erin tried the. Tar.gz, and it downloaded to her home folder. It opened in the archive manager, and she extracted it to the default. Then, she was lost. She tried double-clicking the file, and Ubuntu just asked her what she’d like to do with it. The option “run” results in it crashing. No clue was given to her that she should open up a terminal and type ‘. / flashplayer-installer’. To be fair, there are links to installation instructions, but the average person acclimatised to Windows is not expecting to have to read complex information before installing a program — All they need to do is double click it. Obviously her attempts with the RPM and the YUM went nowhere. Frustrated, Erin conceded defeat.

Flash Installer Dialog

There are other ways to install flash on Ubuntu, such as by using the inbuilt package manager. Why doesn’t Firefox tell her to do this, or do it automatically like Rhythmbox does with codecs? Ubuntu ship Firefox with their own special modifications, couldn’t this be one of them? There are other ways to install flash on Ubuntu, such as by using the inbuilt package manager. Why doesn’t Firefox tell her to do this, or do it automatically like Rhythmbox does with codecs? Ubuntu ship Firefox with their own special modifications, couldn ‘T this be one of them?

Third task: Download a Spice Girls Album Third task: Download a Spice Girls Album

Erin’s first reaction was to go to the Applications menu, and look first in the Sound & Video folder, and then in Internet. I presumed that she was looking for some kind of Limewire equivalent. Erin has downloaded music using uTorrent before in Windows, so she went and got utorrent.exe from their website. It downloaded, and she double clicked it. It asked her if she wanted to open it with an application, and, confused, she tried to open the executable with itself. Erin’s first reaction was to go to the Applications menu, and look first in the Sound & Video folder, and then in Internet. I presumed that she was looking for some kind of Limewire equivalent. Erin has downloaded music using uTorrent before in Windows , So she went and got utorrent.exe from their website. It downloaded, and she double clicked it. It asked her if she wanted to open it with an application, and, confused, she tried to open the executable with itself.

When this didn’t work, she sat frowning for a while before heading to ScrapeTorrent (where I’d shown her to get torrents months and months ago.) She downloaded a Spice Girls torrent and it asked her if she wanted to open it with “Transmission”. She hesitated, then clicked yes. It started downloading immediately to her Desktop. She sat back, folded her arms and gave me a self-satisfied smirk. When this didn’t work, she sat frowning for a while before heading to ScrapeTorrent (where I’d shown her to get torrents months and months ago.) She downloaded a Spice Girls torrent and it asked her if she wanted to open it with “Transmission”. She hesitated, then clicked yes. It started downloading immediately to her Desktop. She sat back, folded her arms and gave me a self-satisfied smirk.

Open Torrent Dialog

The only problem I see here is the name of Transmission in the menu. I imagine that her problems would’ve been reduced if only they listed “Transmission BitTorrent Client” instead. How on earth is a user supposed to know what Transmission is? The icon certainly doesn’t help. They do this with “Firefox Web Browser”, so why not Transmission? Weird. They could even just put “file-sharing client”, and when it loads up for the first time a wizard can help the user understand what BitTorrent is and how it works. The only problem I see here is the name of Transmission in the menu. I imagine that her problems would’ve been reduced if only they listed “Transmission BitTorrent Client” instead. How on earth is a user supposed to know what Transmission is? The icon certainly doesn’t help. They do this with “Firefox Web Browser”, so why not Transmission? Weird. They could even just put “file-sharing client”, and when it loads up for the first time a wizard can help the user understand what BitTorrent is and how it works.

Fourth task: Draw me a little picture and save it in three formats. Fourth task: Draw me a little picture and save it in three formats.

Erin’s done a fair bit of photoshopping before, and from her attitude I could tell she thought it’d be easy. She went to the Graphics menu in Applications and selected “OpenOffice.org Drawing”, which makes sense for anyone uninitiated. However, I think she was expecting a simple Paint-esque program. Instead, she had opened an unfamiliar vector-based illustrator. It took her a long time just to find the buttons to make a line, or change colours. Eventually she made the picture and saved it as three formats. Because she went to “Save As…” instead of “Export…” she could only save it in strange and unfamiliar formats such as odg, otg, sxg. I could tell that she was perplexed as to why she couldn’t just save it in the formats she was used to. Erin’s done a fair bit of photoshopping before, and from her attitude I could tell she thought it’d be easy. She went to the Graphics menu in Applications and selected “OpenOffice.org Drawing”, which makes sense for anyone uninitiated. However, I think she was expecting a simple Paint-esque program. Instead, she had opened an unfamiliar vector-based illustrator. It took her a long time just to find the buttons to make a line, or change colours. Eventually she made the picture and saved it as three formats. Because she went to “Save As…” instead of “Export…” she could only save it in strange and unfamiliar formats such as odg, otg, sxg. I could tell that she was perplexed as to why she couldn’t just save it in the formats she was used to.

Obviously not having experience with a vector-based illustrator was Erin’s downfall in this task – but, then, how many people have used one? I don’t understand why there isn’ta program like KDE’s KPaint for Gnome/Ubuntu. (Also, why is OpenOffice.org Drawing installed in the Base package? Seems pretty unnecessary – if only because I don’t know anyone who uses a program like it.) Obviously not having experience with a vector-based illustrator was Erin’s downfall in this task – but, then, how many people have used one? I don’t understand why there isn’ta program like KDE’s KPaint for Gnome / Ubuntu . (Also, why is OpenOffice.org Drawing installed in the Base package? Seems pretty unnecessary – if only because I don’t know anyone who uses a program like it.)

Fifth Task: Burn an album from my music collection. Fifth Task: Burn an album from my music collection.

Erin knows that my music collection is on the same computer that she is using, in Windows. Before trying to find it, though, she looked for a CD burning program in the Sound & Video menu and found it with “Brasero Disc Burning”. Thankfully it wasn’t just called Brasero. I was impressed with the way it opened straight up to a screen with four big buttons, each with the common tasks anyone would want to do. Erin had no problems working out which button to push, and then it asked her which files to add. Erin knows that my music collection is on the same computer that she is using, in Windows. Before trying to find it, though, she looked for a CD burning program in the Sound & Video menu and found it with “Brasero Disc Burning”. Thankfully it wasn’t just called Brasero. I was impressed with the way it opened straight up to a screen with four big buttons, each with the common tasks anyone would want to do. Erin had no problems working out which button to push, and then it asked her which files to add.

Brasero \ 's Welcome Screen

Erin looked in her Music folder (created by default in Ubuntu), and her home folder and the desktop. She avoided the “492.8GB Media”, which is my Windows partition, and the many strange and unhelpfully-named folders in “Filesystem” could only have scared her. She minimised Brasero and went to the “Places” menu for the first time, launching the search program. She tried searching for music in her home directory and music folder, but found nothing, and didn’t try “Filesystem” or “492.8GB Media”. She also told me later that she thought it was stupid that you couldn’t specify which type of file you want to find. Nevertheless, she was unable to burn an album from my music collection. Erin looked in her Music folder (created by default in Ubuntu), and her home folder and the desktop. She avoided the “492.8GB Media”, which is my Windows partition, and the many strange and unhelpfully-named folders in “Filesystem” could only have scared her. She minimised Brasero and went to the “Places” menu for the first time, launching the search program. She tried searching for music in her home directory and music folder, but found nothing, and didn’t try ” Filesystem “or” 492.8GB Media “. She also told me later that she thought it was stupid that you couldn’t specify which type of file you want to find. Nevertheless, she was unable to burn an album from my music collection.

Search Dialog

No problems with Brasero, their team did well for making it so user-friendly. However, Ubuntu really should be make more clear where the computer’s other partitions are. It should detect if there are Windows installations on the machine and provide well-named shortcuts to them. If this had been done, there wouldn’t’ve been any trouble. Also, the search function should, instead of “Filesystem”, have a “Whole Computer” option. How is someone not experienced with Linux supposed to know that folders like “etc”, “dev” and “mnt” contain all the workings and files on the machine? No problems with Brasero, their team did well for making it so user-friendly. However, Ubuntu really should be make more clear where the computer’s other partitions are. It should detect if there are Windows installations on the machine and provide well – named shortcuts to them. If this had been done, there wouldn’t’ve been any trouble. Also, the search function should, instead of “Filesystem”, have a “Whole Computer” option. How is someone not experienced with Linux supposed to know that folders like “etc”, “dev” and “mnt” contain all the workings and files on the machine?

Sixth Task: Change the speed of the mouse Sixth Task: Change the speed of the mouse

No issues here, Erin found “System ? Preferences ? Mouse” within a few seconds and the slider bar was right there. Easy. No issues here, Erin found “System ? Preferences ? Mouse” within a few seconds and the slider bar was right there. Easy.

Seventh Task: Change the theme of the computer. Seventh Task: Change the theme of the computer.

Again, very simple. Though she moved down to the Ts to find “Theme” first, she saw “Appearance” soon after and changed the theme to Mist. Couldn’t be simpler. Again, very simple. Though she moved down to the Ts to find “Theme” first, she saw “Appearance” soon after and changed the theme to Mist. Couldn’t be simpler.

Eighth Task: Find a picture on the Intenet and set it as the desktop background Eighth Task: Find a picture on the Intenet and set it as the desktop background

Went straight away to a website with background images, and grabbed one. Instead of just clicking the “Set as Desktop Background” option in the right-click menu, she saved the image to her home folder and then changed the background from the Appearance menu she’d found earlier. No problems. Went straight away to a website with background images, and grabbed one. Instead of just clicking the “Set as Desktop Background” option in the right-click menu, she saved the image to her home folder and then changed the background from the Appearance menu she’d found earlier. No problems.

Ninth Task: Change screen resolution. Ninth Task: Change screen resolution.

This was easy from the Preferences menu under Screen Resolution, and she changed it to the smallest size available: 720×400. However, she clicked “Keep settings” straight away, and couldn’t work out how to get it back because the screen was too small to display the entire height of the Screen Resolution menu. Eventually I had to do it for her by tabbing through the options. This was easy from the Preferences menu under Screen Resolution, and she changed it to the smallest size available: 720 × 400. However, she clicked “Keep settings” straight away, and couldn’t work out how to get it back because the screen was too small to display the entire height of the Screen Resolution menu. Eventually I had to do it for her by tabbing through the options.

Messed Up Screen Res

This is pretty ridiculous – you can’t make it shorter and you can’t move it up past the top of the screen. There’s no way I can see of being able to change the resolution using that menu when you’re on a small resoltion – without tabbing to invisible options that you don’t know are there. Maybe I’m just missing something, I’d be happy to be enlightened. This is pretty ridiculous – you can’t make it shorter and you can’t move it up past the top of the screen. There’s no way I can see of being able to change the resolution using that menu when you’re on a small resoltion – without tabbing to invisible options that you don’t know are there. Maybe I’m just missing something, I’d be happy to be enlightened.

Tenth Task: Photoshop a picture of her face onto my body Tenth Task: Photoshop a picture of her face onto my body

She opened Firefox, went to Facebook and found pictures of her and me. So far so good. Then, she opened up GIMP (which had “Image Editor” after it in the menu). Her multiple attempts to maximise each of the purposefully small windows showed that she was confused with the change from Photoshop’s one main window to GIMP’s scattered one. After she worked out what was going on, she just copied and pasted the images straight from Facebook. From there, it was easy, because GIMP has the same icons and functionality as photoshop does for cutting out and pasting parts of a photo. I had to stop her when she started finding out how to match our skin tones: “How can I make my skin colour more like yours, all pasty and yellow?” She opened Firefox, went to Facebook and found pictures of her and me. So far so good. Then, she opened up GIMP (which had “Image Editor” after it in the menu). Her multiple attempts to maximise each of the purposefully small windows showed that she was confused with the change from Photoshop’s one main window to GIMP’s scattered one. After she worked out what was going on, she just copied and pasted the images straight from Facebook. From there, it was easy, because GIMP has the same icons and functionality as photoshop does for cutting out and pasting parts of a photo. I had to stop her when she started finding out how to match our skin tones: “How can I make my skin colour more like yours, all pasty and yellow? “

Erin \ 's head on my body

I don’t understand why GIMP doesn’t just layout its windows like photoshop does. It wouldn’t lose usability, surely, and it would help the transition of first-time-users immensely. I don’t understand why GIMP doesn’t just layout its windows like photoshop does. It wouldn’t lose usability, surely, and it would help the transition of first-time-users immensely.

Eleventh Task: Log onto MSN Eleventh Task: Log onto MSN

She went straight to the Internet category of Applications, but was uncertain about “Pidgin Instant Messenger”. She asked “Does it have to be MSN?”. I said, “not really”, and so she opened up Pidgin. It asked her to add an account, and gave her a drop-down box of IM protocols along with inputs for “Screen name” and “Local alias”. She went straight to the Internet category of Applications, but was uncertain about “Pidgin Instant Messenger”. She asked “Does it have to be MSN?”. I said, “not really”, and so she opened up Pidgin. It asked her to add an account, and gave her a drop-down box of IM protocols along with inputs for “Screen name” and “Local alias”.

Pidgin Account Adding Screen

Because Erin’s only experience with IM clients has been the official MSN ones, she didn’t understand what a multi-protocol one could do. She thought that “adding” an account was creating a new one on the network. Also, she understandably didn’t know what “AIM” was, which is what the protocol menu defaulted to. Moreover, MSN doesn’t use the term “screen name”, so she obviously wouldn’t associate it with her normal login. Because Erin’s only experience with IM clients has been the official MSN ones, she didn’t understand what a multi-protocol one could do. She thought that “adding” an account was creating a new one on the network. Also, she understandably didn’t know what “AIM” was, which is what the protocol menu defaulted to. Moreover, MSN doesn’t use the term “screen name”, so she obviously wouldn’t associate it with her normal login.

So, she tried to sign-on using a made up username and password, and obviously it failed. She then went back to the add screen and found the MSN protocol. However, she put her login under local alias instead of screen name, but she fixed this the second time around after it didn’t work. Then she was online, able to tell her friends about how much she hated Linux. So, she tried to sign-on using a made up username and password, and obviously it failed. She then went back to the add screen and found the MSN protocol. However, she put her login under local alias instead of screen name, but she fixed this the second time around after it didn’t work. Then she was online, able to tell her friends about how much she hated Linux.

The problems Erin had could easily be solved by some sort of first-time welcome screen that explained what Pidgin is, what it does, and asking if she’d like to add and log into existing MSN, etc. accounts. Perhaps changing “screen name” to something more appropriate based on which protocol is selected would be helpful. Also, why does local alias seem like a necessary piece of information required to create an account? Seems like it confuses more than aids a new user. The problems Erin had could easily be solved by some sort of first-time welcome screen that explained what Pidgin is, what it does, and asking if she’d like to add and log into existing MSN, etc. Accounts. Perhaps changing “screen name “to something more appropriate based on which protocol is selected would be helpful. Also, why does local alias seem like a necessary piece of information required to create an account? Seems like it confuses more than aids a new user.

When Erin tried to quit Pidgin, she pressed the X in the top right, and it went to the notification area. When I told Erin that she hadn’t quit it properly, she tried to quit it by clicking in the lower-left hand side of the screen, where she’d usually find her MSN icon in Windows. She just changed desktops, of course, but eventually she found it in the top-right. When you first close Pidgin it should tell you that you haven’t really quit it and that it’s just going to the notification area and what it will look like. When Erin tried to quit Pidgin, she pressed the X in the top right, and it went to the notification area. When I told Erin that she hadn’t quit it properly, she tried to quit it by clicking in the lower-left hand side of the screen, where she’d usually find her MSN icon in Windows. She just changed desktops, of course, but eventually she found it in the top-right. When you first close Pidgin it should tell you that you haven’t really quit it and that it’s just going to the notification area and what it will look like.

Twelfth Task: Install Skype Twelfth Task: Install Skype

Erin went straight away to skype.com. I think she was wary after her experience with Flash, but Skype have a great download page for Linux, where it lists different packages for the more popular distros. Ubuntu was at the top, and Erin saved the .deb file to the default location. When it was done, it opened with the Package Install and there was a big button saying “Install”. She clicked it, and it installed. Perfect. Erin went straight away to skype.com. I think she was wary after her experience with Flash, but Skype have a great download page for Linux, where it lists different packages for the more popular distros. Ubuntu was at the top, and Erin saved the. deb file to the default location. When it was done, it opened with the Package Install and there was a big button saying “Install”. She clicked it, and it installed. Perfect.

The only problem was, she didn’t know where it went. She looked in her home folder, the desktop and the menus up the top. For some weird reason she didn’t look in “Internet”, where it had popped up. Regardless, after a package is installed, if it’s available in the menu it should say where it is. Or, copy Windows’ “new programs have been installed” bubble that comes out of the Start Menu. Either thing would’ve solved this problem. The only problem was, she didn’t know where it went. She looked in her home folder, the desktop and the menus up the top. For some weird reason she didn’t look in “Internet”, where it had popped up. Regardless, after a package is installed, if it’s available in the menu it should say where it is. Or, copy Windows’ “new programs have been installed” bubble that comes out of the Start Menu. Either thing would’ve solved this problem.

Conclusion Conclusion

The main issue with the desktop experience is that the geeky programmers and designers assume too much from the average user. They assume the user knows about the way in which programs are installed, or how the file system is set out. The average user will not go out of their way to google for help or even read the associated documentation that comes with Ubuntu and its default software. The little information pop-ups and guided wizards are critical to explaining how the user can accomplish the basic tasks they most probably are trying to do. The main issue with the desktop experience is that the geeky programmers and designers assume too much from the average user. They assume the user knows about the way in which programs are installed, or how the file system is set out. The average user will not go out of their way to google for help or even read the associated documentation that comes with Ubuntu and its default software. The little information pop-ups and guided wizards are critical to explaining how the user can accomplish the basic tasks they most probably are trying to do.

I’d love to see a welcome screen for the first time you open up your desktop, with little videos explaining a few key concepts to how Linux and Ubuntu work. Maybe it could ask “What do you want to do?” and then explain how they could do this. I’d love to see a welcome screen for the first time you open up your desktop, with little videos explaining a few key concepts to how Linux and Ubuntu work. Maybe it could ask “What do you want to do?” And then explain how they could do this.

Linux won’t truly be ready for the desktop until someone computer illiterate can sit down at a the computer and with little effort do what they want to do. Erin’s intelligent, quick to learn and is reasonably well-acquainted with modern technology. If she had as much trouble as she did, what chance to the elderly or at least the middle-aged stand? Linux won’t truly be ready for the desktop until someone computer illiterate can sit down at a the computer and with little effort do what they want to do. Erin’s intelligent, quick to learn and is reasonably well-acquainted with modern technology. If she had as much trouble as she did, what chance to the elderly or at least the middle-aged stand?

The best images ever (NSFW) view!

Unmotivational Posters

You know the kind… here are some that turn the concept on its head (warning, some images are not safe for work)… scroll down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Killer PC Games playable on Ubuntu: Hardy Heron

Written by Sunsu This article is from vgpro

This is a short list of 5 PC games that you can play on the upcoming Ubuntu release: Hardy Heron. Although these games may have some features disabled, they definitely are evidence of how far Linux gaming really has come. Some of the listed games run using Wine, whereas with others Wine is not needed. Links to some valuable Ubuntu gaming resources are given at the end.

1) World of Warcraft v2.4.X

World of Warcraft requires Wine to run and has a PLATINUM rating. Voice Chat, Anti-Aliasing, Texture Filtering, Fullscreen switch, and gxrestart/reloadui all work perfectly. Some users report that a registry tweak is necessary , but with the latest Wine release (v0.9.60) its pretty much plug-n-play.

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/world_of_warcraft_the_burning_crusade/48_large.png

2) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.4

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.4 requires Wine to run and has an overall silver rating at WineHQ. One user even rated it at Gold. Wine does require a patch for the game to run correctly. EDIT* Some Wine veterans tell me that this can get slightly complicated. However, I decided to include this game because it is basically the bleeding edge of new games with high quality graphics. This game just shows how far Wine and Ubuntu have come! *EDIT One minor flaw is that multiplayer support does not work on punkbuster enabled servers. Attempts to get punkbuster to work in Wine in the past have been all but hopeless.

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/call_of_duty_4_modern_warfare/6_large.png

3) Unreal Tournament 2004

Unreal Tournament 2004 works right out of the box. Wine is not needed. Installing is as simple as making sure your graphics drivers are up to date and typing: sudo sh /media/cdrom0/linux-installer.sh. With UT2004 comes a host of full modifications also available for play. One example is Alien Swarm. Alien Swarm is a total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 created by Black Cat Games and initially released on May 28, 2004. If you’ve played UT2004 in the past, but never played Alien Swarm, its definitely worth a try!

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/unreal_tournament_2004/9_large.png

4) Day of Defeat: Source

Day of Defeat was originally a modification for Half-Life, but Valve released a new version based on the Source engine. This game requires Wine to play, but has a Platinum rating, so it involves little or no hassle. Another thing to note here is that Most of the other games based on the Source engine (Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source) are also playable with Platinum ratings using Wine.

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/day_of_defeat_source/2_large.png

5) Guild Wars All Versions

The best thing about Guild Wars is that it is a high quality MMORPG that has no subscription costs! Guild Wars takes the best elements of today’s massively multiplayer online games and combines them with a new mission-based design that eliminates some of the more tedious aspects of those games. This game requires Wine to play, but once again has a platinum rating, so no headaches involved!

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/guild_wars/36_large.png

Valuable Resources for Ubuntu Gamers




Notes
Hope this was useful for everyone, and please feel free to post links to things I missed!

*ADDITION* Eve Online
One Digg user (agisten) has noted that I have failed in an Epic fashion for forgetting Eve Online! I must admit that it was a big oversight. Eve Online is an MMORPG that can be played natively on Linux (no wine required).

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/eve_online_the_second_genesis/3_large.png


*ADDITION* Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Digg user (35263526) has noted that I have failed to include Enemy Territory: Quake Wars! ETQW is a first-person shooter video game that can run natively on Linux, and is the follow-up to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (no wine required on this one either).

http://www.vgpro.com/media/screenshots/pc/enemy_territory_quake_wars/5_large.png

The 5 Best Mass Transit Systems in the World

Written by Environmental Graffiti

As we all put our thinking caps on for this “save the environment” thing, and Americans begin to scream under the weight of rising fuel costs, one of the best ways around leaving a giant carbon footprint, or paying an arm and a leg, is to take the bus. Or the train. Or a subway.


Image from Wolmot

After all, why take a car? CNN filmed people paying for gas yesterday like it was news!

So, without further ado here are the five best places for you to be shacked up on this planet if you want to have somebody else take you from place to place.

5. Chicago

The huge Chicago Transit Authority covers the Windy City as well as 40 suburbs and operates 24 hours a day, moving 1.6 Million people daily. With over 144 stations for the elevated train, not much of the city is out of range for the famed “el.” There are even commuter rail spurs that go as far away as South Bend, Indiana. Nice.


Image from swanksalot

4. Paris

The Paris Metro boasts being both the second-most heavily trafficked subway system in the world, carrying 4.5 Million people every day, and having more stations closer to one another than any other system- 245 stations in 41 square kilometers. You might want to bring a book to escape from the sardine can.


Image from ancama_99

3. London

London, which features the oldest subway system in the world, moves 3.4 million people every day on the tube alone, but that’s only part of the story. Transport for London, the comprehensive system administered from the mayor’s office, operates light and commuter rail and buses, and offers comprehensive trip and traffic information in real-time on their website.Traveling on the tube is not a particularly pleasant experience, but is by far the most efficient way to get round.


Image from Kayodeak

2. New York

One in every three mass transit users in the entire United States, uses the New York system or if you like, 4.5 Million people a day. They’re so effective as a matter of fact, that New York is the only city in the U.S. where more than half of the households don’t own a car. Up to 75% of the population of Manhattan is without four-wheeled transport. Now that’s a statistic to beat.


Image from smoothdude

1. Hong Kong

For sheer volume, Hong Kong is the most effective system in the world: 90% of all traveling is done by mass transit. The 7 million daily riders have access to something known as an “octopus card” which is accepted as currency not just to move them around the city, but also at parking meters, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants. Looking towards the future, shouldn’t all cities be copying this system?


Image from medwin

5 Appliances That Might Be Smarter Than You Are

Written by Kyle Roderick This article is come from Popular Mechanics

Before long, RFID tags in the kitchen will be reminding you when it’s time to buy more milk and eggs. Hitting the market now, however, are brilliant everyday home appliances that can perform next-gen tasks with everything from anti-snoring tech to remote-control flushing.

The Brainiac Dishwasher (pictured above) /// $799-$899

Using its SmartDispense technology, GE’s Profile suds machine spits out detergent on the fly, crunching the numbers so you don’t have to squeeze a blob yourself-or waste any Cascade for a smaller load. With a 45-fluid-ounce bottle of liquid or gel in tow, the dishwasher calibrates for soil level, size of load, water temperature and water hardness (which you can also test against your home pressure thanks to an included test kit).

The Robo Toilet /// $2000




Toto’s Neorest 600 is a toilet/bidet combo that makes the Jetsons look like the Flintstones. After you’re done with the heated seat, activate the quiet Cyclone Flushing engine, then let the Washlet air deodorizer and SanaGloss bowl cleaner finish the job for you. And since it’s rigged with sensors, you can regulate pressure and temperature with front-and-back aerated water spray, step back for an auto flush on your way out the door and close the lid-all by wireless remote. Just make sure you wash your hands first.

The Modded Mattress /// $20,000-$50,000




While you may need to be making seven figures to justify owning a bed with an integrated 1080p LCD projector, four pop-up subwoofers and 1.5-terabyte solid-state hard drive, there is a breakthrough amidst all the technophile gluttony: Leggett & Platt’s Starry Night Sleep Technology bed will come loaded with military-grade anti-snoring capabilities when it goes on sale next year. Using a vibration-detection system, Starry Night adjusts the angle of your position in bed to open nasal passages-then leaves you where your sinuses are as comfy as you are on a coil-rigged, preheated mattress.

The Zen Clock /// $49.95




Sure, you’ve been reading about luxury alarm clocks in seat-back SkyMall catalogs for more than a decade. But how many clocks offer a slow buildup of ambient light, four different scents and six packets of nature sounds instead of a snooze button? Thirty minutes before your set time, Hammacher Schlemmer’s Peaceful Progression Wake-up Clock’s lights start glowing, with its warmth triggering the preloaded aroma beads. Just when you get used to that Ocean Surf soundtrack, the buzzer finally sounds.

The Intelligent Toothbrush /// $21.47 (Three-Pack)




The dop-kit-on-a-brush hasn’t quite arrived, but Radius’s Intelligent toothbrush at least annoys you enough to make sure you give a good scrub before bed. Two architects developed a new ergonomic design for the 3080 onboard bristles, but it’s the 2-minute timer that ensures thorough cleaning, beeping once before flashing every 30 seconds, up to two minutes. And so much for your old dentist’s three-month rule: After 180 uses, the Intelligent’s light changes to red-time to swap in a new brush head.

16 Lies Mothers Tell Their Kids

Written by MothersDayCentral.com

1. “Stop cracking your knuckles…it will give you arthritis!”

child watching tvFor some odd reason, young boys love cracking their knuckles. Whether it’s the sound of the crack or the feeling it makes, we feel relieved when one cracks a knuckle. After getting all that finger stress out, Mom smacked you upside the head, reminding you of the extreme arthritis you’d get because of all that cracking.

A study of 300 people who had bad habits of cracking their knuckles did not find any evidence that doing so leads to arthritis. Some of these individuals did lose strength in their hands and also had soft tissue damage. The “cracking” noise you hear when you crack a knuckle is merely a release of nitrogen gas that is constantly building up in your fingers. Arthritis is usually a symptom that you feel later in life and is usually inherited from your parents.


2. “If you shave your facial hair, it will come back thicker.”

child watching tvOne of the most important times in a young man’s life is the first sight of facial hair growth. A teen can sometimes grow a beard in their early years while others try to catch up to their more-manly brethren. Mommy doesn’t want her little boy to grow up to quickly, and devised the reverse psychology technique of telling you that shaving would make your beard come back fuller. So you shaved constantly and mom had a boy for a little while longer.

Shaving your hair has nothing to do with the growth of new hair. If it did, wouldn’t your balding father would be spending extra time shaving his head? The reasons for thinking this way relates to the thickness of new hair as opposed to the older, thinner hair that you most recently shaved off. In addition, hair is only alive in the scalp, so cutting it off does nothing to affect its growth.


3. “Watching TV too close will hurt your eyes and make you go blind!”

child watching tvThe first things you did after school involved plopping your little butt down in front of the TV and catching some cartoons. G.I.Joe, Transformers, & My Little Pony- all of these wonderful programs kept us at bay for hours. We kept our eyes glued to the action – all at the risk of going blind, something mom loved to point out.

If you were watching the television your Grandmom had as a child, then maybe it could happen. Very early television sets did emit a form of radiation, which causes all kinds of problems.Other than that extreme case, there’s really nothing wrong with sitting closer to the TV then if you were farther away. It can put a strain on your eyes, but the notion of going blind is simply untrue.


4. “It’s cold outside – if you don’t bundle up you’re going to get sick!”

child watching tvWhen was the last time you saw an adult who was happy that it was cold and snowing outside? The upside of cold weather included snowball fights, Christmas, and missing days from school. The downside? Catching a cold, supposedly. Mom always had us put on multiple layers of clothing. Was mom just being too over protective of her freezing young ones or just a little crazy?

This old wives tale is a rather obvious one to debunk once some simple understanding of how common colds work in the first place. Colds are the result of a simple virus that we get from breathing in from the air. People stay inside more during winter, with all the doors and windows shut. This makes for a drop in fresh air circulation, creating more opportunities for you to breathe in those pesky cold viruses.


5. “Make sure to clean behind your ears – if not, potatoes will start growing there!”

child watching tvTaking a bath was on the most hated list of things to do, right up there with cleaning your room and going to bed early. Mom knew this, as she spent years dragging you into the water and forcing that Johnson’s & Johnson’s baby shampoo all over your noggin. When it was time to wash ourselves, the “potato ears” were just frightening enough to keep them squeaky clean.

Mom grew up with the potato threat to get her bum in the bath, and she passed it onto you to do the same. And if we didn’t wash behind our ears? Then you probably smelled funny and were made fun of a lot, but there were never any potatoes.


6. “If you swallow a watermelon seed, if will grow inside your stomach!”

child watching tvKids love watermelon, meticulously picking out the seeds as they ate the favorite summertime treat. Everyone remembers the time that one got through – what did we do? We ran to mom to tell her what happened and that we were scared of the watermelon that would eventually grow inside of us.

Luckily, mother’s warning was merely a way for us to make sure we didn’t choke on any of the seeds, as little ones tend to do from time to time. Other small complications could arise from swallowing seeds, such as one being lodged in the appendix or damaging an intestine, but these would just be rare occasions.


7. “Don’t swallow that gum – it will stay in your stomach for seven years!”

child watching tvWhen it came time for us to be allowed to chew gum, mother only did so with the strict knowledge that swallowing that gum would hurt our little tummies for years to come. Then came the day when you simply forgot about the Juicy Juice that you were chomping down on one minute and before you know it, down the hatch it went.

Wrong again mom! Accidentally swallowing gum every once and awhile is not going to turn your stomach into Bubble-Yum. Gum is made up of two major components, sugar and a type of plastic. Your body breaks down the sugars and the plastic gum ends up in your stool. There’s really no way gum can “get stuck” inside your belly.


8. “You’re too young to start drinking coffee – it will stunt your growth.”

child watching tvWhen you are a kid, the notion of being grown up seems so cool, which just proves how innocence and stupidity go hand and hand. Every parent started their day off with a nice fresh cup of joe. As you wanted something that made you feel more grown up, mom was there to mention coffee would stunt your growth. Back to coco we went, because being short was like being a kid forever!

Coffee has never been responsible for stunting anyone’s growth. The reason behind the lie used by parents is to deter their teenagers from drinking coffee because of it’s other side effects. Caffeine is the most addictive drug in the world, and mom knows that. Having a lot can create anxious teens with too much energy.


9. “Eating your carrots will improve your eyesight enough to see in the dark.”

child watching tvThe white lies that mom threw at us were to make sure we stayed safe. Now carrots, on the other hand, were something that she encouraged us to eat – because, eating them would make our eyesight better. Already we had come to terms with going blind from sitting too close to the TV, so if there was a way to reverse its affects by eating carrots, then we were all over it.

The reality of carrot intake actually improving our eyesight to the levels of being able to see in the dark are ridiculous. The myth probably started when one mother found out that Vitamin A is one needed to maintain healthy eyesight, with carrots of course being rich in the vitamin. Of course, no amount of carrots could be eaten to actually improve our vision.


10. “Stop playing with that toad – you’ll just get warts on your hand!”

child watching tvWhile we had a dog or cat growing up, what was even cooler was getting to play with animals that you didn’t see on a regular basis. And when it came to animals in the backyard, finding a frog or toad jumping around was a rare occasion, resulting in chasing it down and giving it the mason jar treatment. Until we learned about the warts.

No, mom, you can’t get warts from playing with a toad. Warts, in fact, are very similar to colds – they are caused from a virus that infects the underlying layers of skin and are passed from one person to another via direct contact. The myth that the toad is responsible probably arises from the wart-like growths that toads have to camouflage them in their environment. Another reason has to do with people who are allergic to certain types of toads, and have developed wart-like rashes.


11. “Wait an hour after eating to get in the swimming pool, or you’ll get a cramp and die!”

child watching tvSplashing around in the pool was all day affair. Once the hot dogs and hamburgers were gone, it was back to the pool for any unfinished water business. Then mom warned that if we jumped in the water too soon, it might be our last time. All of a sudden that pool of refreshing water turned into a pool of fire.

During digestion of food, more blood is sent to help in the process, with less left around to tend to our muscles. It is possible to get a cramp if you’re using those muscles more than your body can handle. Drowning because of cramp is just another of mother’s exaggerations.


12. “If you keep making that face, it might freeze and stay that way forever!”

child watching tvOne if the earliest forms of making fun of your classmates was using your facial expressions. Flashing a tongue, crossing our eyes, pushing our nose up – all of these things either made some unsuspecting friend cry to mommy. That is, until mom caught on and let us know that those crazy faces could end up becoming permanent.

Mom completely lied when she told you that your face could freeze just because you were sticking your tongue out at others. Usually a child with complications or loss of control of facial muscles has these symptoms from conditions they are born with, sadly. Other diseases, such as Parkinson and Huntington’s disease can affect these muscles, but are not developed until later in life.


13. “You’re going to poke someone’s eye out with that!”

child watching tvGrowing up, whatever resembled a lightsaber from Star Wars probably at some point got used as a weapon. Whether it was a toy, a broom handle, or even the cardboard from a roll of wrapping paper, Mom would always warn us about “poking someone’s eye out” which either scared us enough to stop or made us swing even harder.

Playing with toy swords and brooms could result in a number of injuries, but probably wouldn’t result in the “poking” of one’s eye out. It is possible that the eye could be severely damaged in the process, but an eyeball flying out of the socket is not going to happen without pulling it out with your fingers.


14. “Eating too many spicy foods will give you ulcers.”

child watching tvTeenage boys tend to enjoy spicier foods. You have young men everywhere seeking out the spiciest things around in the hopes that they can brave the heat to sit at the table with the “big boys” like Dad and Uncle Ron. “Bring on the wings, the salsa, the jalapeno”, you say. And mom chimes back with, ” and “don’t forget the ulcers!”

Eating spicy food does not have anything to do with causing ulcers. The work conducted by Australians Robert Warren and Barry Marshall ended up in the awarding of the Nobel Prize, who concluded that stomach ulcers are actually developed by a strand of bacteria known as helicobacter pylori.


15. “Get down from there – you’re going to fall and crack your head open!”

child watching tvThanks to all the comic books that were read as a child, it’s no shocker that many a young gal or lad were caught climbing trees like Spiderman. Mom of course shouted for you to come down before you “cracked your head open”. The mere thought of your head spilling out its insides like Humpty Dumpty sealed the deal.

It’s probable you could obtain hundred other possible head injuries; everything from a minor concussion to traumatic brain damage could have occurred. However, other than landing on a well placed axe, your chances of breaking your skull open were small.


16. “If you keep playing with it, it will fall off someday.”

child watching tvOut of all the lies that mom mentioned to us over the years, perhaps none was taken more seriously by adolescent boys then the possibility of it it “falling off”. How dare mother get involved in the first place – she didn’t have one, so how could she know for sure? Then the epiphany kicked in – of course, that’s why she didn’t have one! She knows because it happened to her!

The most frightening mom myth turned out to be the biggest lie of them all! Of course mom had to do something about the situation – her little boy was finally growing up to be man, something every mother has to deal with at some point. However, health professionals will tell you that, no mater how much you “play” with it, it’s never going to fall off!

11 of the Dumbest Business Decisions Ever

This article is come from Neatorama. The following is from Uncle John’s All-Purpose Extra Strength Bathroom Reader.

We’ve all made mistakes … but probably not big mistakes like making snot beer, saying no to The Beatles, or turning down the patent for the telephone. In fact, here are some of the biggest business blunders in history:

Turning Down The Beatles

SHOULD WE SIGN THEM UP?


The Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 (Source: Wikipedia)

Executives: Mike Smith and Dick Rowe, executives in charge of evaluating new talent for the London office of Decca Records.

Background: On December 13, 1961, Mike Smith traveled to Liverpool to watch a local rock ‘n’ roll band perform. He decided they had talent, and invited them to audition on New Year’s Day 1962. The group made the trip to London and spent two hours playing 15 different songs at the Decca studios. Then they went home and waited for an answer.

They waited for weeks.

Decision: Finally, Rowe told the band’s manager that the label wasn’t interested, because they sounded too much like a popular group called The Shadows. In one of the most famous of all rejection lines, he said: “Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don’t like your boys’ sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished.”

Impact: The group was The Beatles, of course. They eventually signed with EMI Records, started a trend back to guitar bands, and ultimately became the most popular band of all time. Ironically, “within two years, EMI’s production facilities became so stretched that Decca helped them out in a reciprocal arrangement, to cope with the unprecedented demand for Beatles records.”

Turning Down E.T.

SHOULD WE LET THAT DIRECTOR USE OUR CANDY IN HIS FILM?

Executives: John and Forrest Mars, the owners of Mars Inc., makers of M&M’s

Background: In 1981, Universal Studios called Mars and asked for permission to use M&M’s in a new film they were making. This was (and is) a fairly common practice. Product placement deals provide filmmakers with some extra cash or promotion opportunities. In this case, the director was looking for a cross-promotion. He’d use the M&M’s, and Mars could help promote the movie.

Decision: The Mars brothers said “No.”

Impact: The film was E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Stephen Spielberg. The M&M’s were needed for a crucial scene: Eliott, the little boy who befriended the alien, uses candies to lure E.T. into his house.

Instead, Universal Studios went to Hershey’s and cut a deal to use a new product called Reese’s Pieces. Initial sales of Reese’s Pieces had been light. But when E.T. became a top-grossing film – generating tremendous publicity for “E.T.’s favorite candy” – sales exploded. They tripled within two weeks and continued climbing for months afterward. “It was the biggest marketing coup in history,” says Jack Dowd, the Hershey’s executive who approved the movie tie-in. “We got immediate recognition for our product. We would normally have to pay 15 or 20 million bucks for it.”

Selling M*A*S*H For Peanuts

HOW DO WE COME UP WITH SOME QUICK CASH?

Executives: Executives of 20th Century Fox’s TV division (pre-Murdoch)

Background: No one at Fox expected much from M*A*S*H when it debuted on TV in 1972. Execs simply wanted to make a cheap series by using the M*A*S*H movie set again – so it was a surprise when it became Fox’s only hit show. Three years later, the company was hard up for cash. When the M*A*S*H ratings started to slip after two of its stars left, Fox execs panicked.

Decision: They decided to raise cash by selling the syndication rights to the first seven seasons of M*A*S*H on a futures basis: local TV stations could pay in 1975 for shows they couldn’t broadcast until October 1979 – four years away. Fox made no guarantees that the should would still be popular; $13,000 per episodes was non-refundable. But enough local stations took the deal so that Fox made $25 million. They celebrated …

Impact: … but prematurely. When M*A*S*H finally aired in syndication in 1979, it was still popular (in fact, it ranked #3 that year). It became one of the most successful syndicated shows ever, second only to “I Love Lucy.” Each of the original 168 episodes grossed over $1 million for local TV stations; Fox got nothing.

What Use is the Telephone, the Electrical Toy?

SHOULD WE BUY THIS INVENTION?

Executive: William Orton, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876.

Background: In 1876, Western Union had a monopoly on the telegraph, the world’s most advanced communications technology. This made it one of America’s richest and most powerful companies, “with $41 million in capital and the pocketbooks of the financial world behind it.” So when Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a wealthy Bostonian, approached Orton with an offer to sell the patent for a new invention Hubbard had helped to fund, Orton treated it as a joke. Hubbard was asking for $100,000!

Decision: Orton bypassed Hubbard and drafted a response directly to the inventor. “Mr. Bell,” he wrote, “after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities… What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”

Impact: The invention, the telephone, would have been perfect for Western Union. The company had a nationwide network of telegraph wires in place, and the inventor, 29-year-old Alexander Graham Bell, had shown that his telephone worked quite well on telegraph lines. All the company had to do was hook telephones up to its existing lines and it would have had the world’s first nationwide telephone network in a matter of months.

Instead, Bell kept the patent and in a few decades his telephone company, “renamed American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), had become the largest corporation in America … The Bell patent – offered to Orton for a measly $100,000 – became the single most valuable patent in history.”

Ironically, less than two years of turning Bell down, Orton realized the magnitude of his mistake and spent millions of dollars challenging Bell’s patents while attempting to build his own telephone network (which he was ultimate forced to hand over to Bell.) Instead of going down in history as one of the architects of the telephone age, he is instead remember for having made one of the worst decisions in American business history.

Let’s Make Snot Beer!

HOW DO WE COMPETE WITH BUDWEISER?

Executive: Robert Uihlein, Jr., head of the Schlitz Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Background: in the 1970s, Schlitz was America’s #2 beer, behind Budweiser. It had been #1 until 1957 and has pursued Bud ever since. In the 1970s, Uihlein came up with a strategy to compete against Anheuser-Busch. He figured that if he could cut the cost of ingredients used in his beer and speed up the brewing process at the same time, he could brew more beer in the same amount of time for less money … and earn higher profits.

Decision: Uihlein cut the amount of time it took to brew Schlitz from 40 days to 15, and replaced much of the barley malt in the beer with corn syrup – which was cheaper. He also switched from one type of foam stabilizer to another to get around new labeling laws that would have required the original stabilizer to be disclosed on the label.

Impact: Uihlein got what he wanted: a cheaper, more profitable beer that made a lot of money … at first. But it tasted terrible, and tended to break down so quickly as the cheap ingredients bonded together and sank to the bottom of the can – forming a substance that “looked disconcertingly like mucus.” Philip Van Munchings writes in Beer Blast:

Suddenly Schlitz found itself shipping out a great deal of apparently snot-ridden beer. The brewery knew about it pretty quickly and made a command decision – to do nothing … Uihlein declined a costly recall for months, wagering that not much of the beer would be subjected to the kinds of temperatures at which most haze forms. He lost the bet, sales plummeted … and Schlitz began a long steady slide from the top three.

Schlitz finally caved in and recalled 10 million cans of the snot beer. But their reputation was ruined and sales never recovered. In 1981, they shut down their Milwaukee brewing plant; the following year the company was purchased by rival Stroh’s. One former mayor of Milwaukee compared the brewery’s fortunes to the sinking of the Titanic, asking “How could that big of a business go under so fast?”

Model T is Forever!

SHOULD WE INTRODUCE A NEW CAR?


Ford Model T (Photo: State Library of Victoria)

Executive: Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company

Background: When Henry Ford first marketed the Model
T in 1908, it was a state-of-the-art automobile. “There were cheaper cars on the market,” writes Robert Lacey in Ford: The Men and Their Machine, “but no one could offer the same combination of innovation and reliability.” Over the years, the price went down dramatically … and as the first truly affordable quality automobile, the Model T revolutionized American culture.

Decision: The Model T was the only car that the Ford Motor Co. made. As the auto industry grew and competition got stiffer, everyone in the company – from Ford’s employees to his family – pushed him to update the design. Lacey writes:

The first serious suggestions that the Model T might benefit from some major updating had been made when the car was only four years old. In 1912 Henry Ford had taken [his family] on their first visit to Europe, and on his return he discovered that his [chief aides] had prepared a surprise for him. [They] had labored to produce a new, low-slung version of the Model T, and the prototype stood in the middle of the factory floor, its gleaming red lacquer-work polished to a high sheen.

“He had his hands in his pockets,” remembered one eyewitness, “and he walked around the car three or four times, looking at it very closely … Finally, he got to the left-hand side of the car that was facing me, and he takes his hands out, gets hold of the door, and bang! He ripped the door right off! God! How the man done it, I don’t know!”

Ford proceeded to destroy the whole car with his bare hands. It was a message to everyone around him not to mess with his prize creation. Lacey concludes: “The Model T had been the making of Henry Ford, lifting him from being any other Detroit automobile maker to becoming car maker to the world. It had yielded him untold riches and power and pleasure, and it was scarcely surprising that he should feel attached to it. But as the years went by, it became clear that Henry Ford had developed a fixation with his masterpiece which was almost unhealthy.”

Ford had made his choice clear. In 1925, after more than 15 years on the market, the Model T was pretty much the same car it had been when it debuted. It still had the same noisy, underpowered four-cylinder engine, obsolete “planetary” transmission, and horse-buggy suspension that it had in the very beginning. Sure, Ford made a few concessions to the changing times, such as balloon tires, an electric starter, and a gas pedal on the floor. And by the early 1920s, the Model T was available in a variety of colors beyond Ford black. But the Model T was still … a Model T. “You can paint up a barn,” one hurting New York Ford dealer complained, “but it will still be a barn and not a parlor.”

Impact: While Ford rested on his laurels for a decade and a half, his competitors continued to innovate. Four-cylinder engines gave way to more powerful six-cylinder engines with manual clutch-and-gearshift transmissions. These new cars were powerful enough to travel at high speeds made possible by the country’s new paved highways. Ford’s “Tin Lizzie,” designed in an era of dirt roads, was not.

Automobile buyers took notice and began trading up; Ford’s market share slid to 57% of U.S. automobile sales in 1923 down to 45% in 1925, and to 34% in 1926, as companies like Dodge and General Motors steadily gained ground. By the time Ford finally announced, that a replacement for the Model T was in the works in May 1927, the company had already lost the battle. That year, Chevrolet sold more cars than Ford for the first time. Ford regained first place in 1929 thanks to strong sales of its new Model A, but Chevrolet passed it again the following year and never looked back. “From 1930 onwards,” Robert Lacey writes, “the once-proud Ford Motor Company had to be content with second place.”

MORE BAD BUSINESS DECISIONS

ROSS PEROT

In 1979, Perot employed some of his well-known business acumen and foresaw that Bill Gates was on his way to building Microsoft into a great company. So he offered to buy him out. Gates says Perot offered between $6 million and $15 million; Perot says that Gates wanted $40 million to $60 million. Whatever the numbers were, the two couldn’t come to terms, and Perot walked away empty-handed. Today Microsoft is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

In 1979, the Washington Post offered the Chronicle the opportunity to syndicate a series of articles that two reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were writing about a break-in at the Democratic headquarters at Washington, D.C.’s Watergate Hotel. Owner Charles Thieriot said no. “There will be no West Coast interest in the story,” he explained. Thus, his rival, the San Francisco Examiner, was able to purchase the rights to the hottest news story of the decade for $500.

W.T. GRANT CO.


Photo: Historic Columbus Indiana

In the mid-1970s, executives at the W.T. Grant variety store chain, one of the nation’s largest retailers, decided that the best way to increase sales was to increase the number of customers … by offering credit. It put tremendous “negative incentive” pressure on store managers to issue credit. Employees who didn’t meet their credit quotas risked complete humiliation. They had pies thrown in their faces, were forced to push peanuts across the floor with their noses, and were sent through hotel lobbies wearing only diapers. Eager to avoid such total embarrassment, store managers gave credit “to anyone who breathed,” including untold thousands of customers who were bad risks. W.T. Grant racked up $800 million worth of bad debts before it finally collapsed in 1977.

ABC-TV


Cast of The Cosby Show (source: Wikipedia)

In 1984, Bill Cosby gave ABC-TV first shot at buying a sitcom he’d created – and would star in – about an upscale black family. But ABC turned him down, apparently “believing the show lacked bite and that viewers wouldn’t watch an unrealistic portrayal of blacks as wealthy, well-educated professionals.”

So Cosby sold his show to NBC instead. What happened? Nothing much – The Cosby Show remained #1 show for four straight years, was a rating winner throughout its eight-year run, lifted NBC from its 10-year status as a last-place network to first place, resurrected TV comedy, and became the most profitable series ever broadcast.

DIGITAL RESEARCH

IBM once hired Microsoft founder Bill Gates to come up with the operating software for a new computer that IBM was rushing to market … and Gates turned to a company called Digital Research. He set up a meeting between owner Gary Kildall and IBM … but Kildall couldn’t make the meeting and sent his wife, Dorothy McEwen, instead. McEwen, who handled contract negotiations for Digital Research, felt that the contract IBM was offering would allow the company to incorporate features from Digital’s software into its own proprietary software – which would then compete against Digital. So she turned the contract down. Bill Gates went elsewhere, eventually coming up with a program called DOS, the software that put Microsoft on the map.

20+ Vista Features that Harvest User Data for Microsoft

Written by Marius Oiaga

Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft – From your machine!

Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.

Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft’s end user data harvest via Vista.

Reading Between the EULA Lines

Together with Windows Vista, Microsoft also provides a set of Internet-based services, for which it has reserved full control, including alteration and cancellation at any given time. The Internet-based services in Vista “coincidentally” connect to Microsoft and to “service provider
computer systems.” Depending on the specific service, users may or may not receive a separate notification of the fact that their data is being collected and shared. The only way to prevent this is to know the specific services and features involved and to either switch them off or not use them.

The alternative? Well, it’s written in the Vista license agreement. “By using these features, you consent to the transmission of this information. Microsoft does not use the information to identify or contact you.”

The Redmond company emphasized numerous times the fact that all information collected is not used to identify or contact users. But could it? Oh yes! All you have to know is that Microsoft could come knocking on your door as soon as you boot Windows Vista for the first time if you consider the system’s computer information harvested. Microsoft will get your “Internet protocol address, the type of operating system, browser and name and version of the software you are using, and the language code of the device where you installed the software.” But all they really need is your IP address.

What’s Covered in the Vista License?

Windows Update, Web Content, Digital Certificates, Auto Root Update, Windows Media Digital Rights Management, Windows Media Player, Malicious Software Removal/Clean On Upgrade, Network Connectivity Status Icon, Windows Time Service, and the IPv6 Network Address Translation (NAT) Traversal service (Teredo) are the features and services that collect and deliver data to Microsoft from Windows Vista. By using any of these items, you agree to share your information with the Redmond Company. Microsoft says that users have the possibility to disable or not use the features and services altogether. But at the same time Windows update is crucial to the security of Windows Vista, so turning it off is not really an option, is it?

Windows Vista will contact Microsoft to get the right hardware drivers, to provide web-based “clip art, templates, training, assistance and Appshelp,” to access digital software certificates designed “confirm
the identity of Internet users sending X.509 standard encrypted information” and to refresh the catalog with trusted certificate authorities. Of course that the Windows Vista Digital Rights Management could not miss from a list of services that contact Microsoft on a regular basis. If you want access to protected content, you will also have to let the Windows Media Digital Rights Management talk home. Windows Media Player in Vista for example, will look for codecs, new versions and local online music services.

The Malicious Software Removal tool will report straight to Microsoft with both the findings of your computer scan, but also any potential errors. Also, in an effort to enable the transition to IPv6 from IPv4, “by default standard Internet Protocol information will be sent to the Teredo service at
Microsoft at regular intervals.”

Had Enough? I Didn’t Think So!

Microsoft has an additional collection of 47 Windows Vista features and services that collect user data. However, not all phone home and report to Microsoft. Although the data collection process is generalized across the list, user information is also processed and kept on the local machine, leaving just approximately 50% of the items to both harvest data and contact Microsoft. Still, Microsoft underlined the fact that the list provided under the Windows Vista Privacy Statement is by no means exhaustive, nor does it apply to all the company’s websites, services and products.

Activation, Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Device Manager, Driver Protection, Dynamic Update, Event Viewer, File Association Web Service, Games Folder, Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition, Input Method Editor (IME), Installation Improvement Program, Internet Printing, Internet Protocol version 6 Network Address Translation Traversal, Network Awareness (somewhat), Parental Controls, Peer Name Resolution Service, Plug and Play, Plug and Play Extensions, Program Compatibility Assistant, Program Properties-Compatibility Tab, Program Compatibility Wizard, Properties, Registration, Rights Management Services (RMS) Client, Update Root Certificates, Windows Control Panel, Windows Help, Windows Mail (only with Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail) and Windows Problem Reporting are the main features and services in Windows Vista that collect and transmit user data to Microsoft.

This extensive enumeration is not a complete illustration of all the sources in Windows Vista that Microsoft uses to gather end user data. However, it is more than sufficient to raise serious issues regarding user privacy. The Redmond company has adopted a very transparent position when it comes to the information being collected from its users. But privacy, much in the same manner as virtualization, is not mature enough and not sufficiently enforced through legislation. Microsoft itself is one of the principal contributors to the creation of a universal user privacy model.

The activation process will give the company product key information together with a “hardware hash, which is a non-unique number generated from the computer’s hardware configuration” but no personal information. The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is optional, and designed to improve software quality. Via the Device Manager, Microsoft has access to all the information related to your system configuration in order to provide the adequate drivers. Similarly, Dynamic Update offers your computer’s hardware info to Microsoft for compatible drivers.

Event Viewer data is collected every time the users access the Event Log Online Help link. By using the File Association Web Service, Microsoft will receive a list with the file name extensions. Metadata related to the games that you have installed in Vista also finds its way to Microsoft. The Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition will only report to Microsoft if the user expressly desires it to. Through IME Word Registration, Microsoft will receive Word registration reports. Users have to choose to participate in the Installation Improvement Program before any data is sent over at Microsof.

Ever used a print server hosted by Microsoft? Then the company collected your data through Internet Printing. Network Awareness is in a league of its own. It does not premeditatedly store of send directly information to Microsoft, but it makes data available to other services involving network connectivity, and that do access the Redmond company. Via Parental Controls, not only you but also Microsoft will monitor all the visited URLs of your offspring.

Hashes of your Peer Name tied to your IP address are published and periodically refreshed on a Microsoft server, courtesy of the Peer Name Resolution Service. Every time you install a Plug and Play device, you tell Microsoft about it in order to get the necessary device drivers. The same is the case for PnP-X enabled device, only that Windows Update is more actively involved in this case.

The Program Compatibility Assistant is designed to work together with the Microsoft Error Reporting Service, to highlight to Microsoft potential incompatibility errors. For every example of compatibility settings via the Compatibility tab, Microsoft receives an error report. The Program Compatibility Wizard deals with similar issues related to application incompatibility. File properties are sent to Microsoft only with the item that they are associated with.

You can also volunteer your name, email address, country and even address to Microsoft through the registration process. A service such as the Rights Management Services (RMS) Client can only function in conjunction with your email address.

All the queries entered into the Search box included in the Windows Vista Control Panel will be sent to Microsoft with your consent. The Help Experience Improvement Program also collects and sends information to Microsoft. As does Windows Mail when the users access Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail. And the Windows Problem Reporting is a service with a self explanatory name.

But is this all? Not even by a long shot. Windows Genuine Advantage, Windows Defender, Support Services, Windows Media Center and Internet Explorer 7 all collect and transmit user data to Microsoft. Don’t want them to? Then simply turn them off, or use alternative programs when possible or stop using some services altogether. Otherwise, when your consent is demanded, you can opt for NO.

What Happens to My Data?

Only God and Microsoft know the answer to that. And I have a feeling that God is going right now “Hey, don’t get me involved in this! I have enough trouble as it is trying to find out the release date for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Seven!”

Generally speaking, Microsoft is indeed transparent – up to a point – about how it will handle the data collected from your Vista machine. “The personal information we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates to provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized, and may also be used to request additional information on feedback that you provide about the product or service that you are using; to provide important notifications regarding the software; to improve the product or service, for example bug and survey form inquiries; or to provide you with advance notice of events or to tell you about new product releases,” reads a fragment of the Windows Vista Privacy Statement.

But could Microsoft turn the data it has collected against you? Of course, what did you think? “Microsoft may disclose personal information about you if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on Microsoft; (b) protect and defend the rights of Microsoft (including enforcement of our agreements); or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, users of Microsoft software or services, or members of the public,” reveals another excerpt.

And you thought that it was just you… and your Windows Vista. Looks like a love triangle to me… with Microsoft in the mix.