Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

The Premium Movie Channel Paradigm Could Soon Face Extinc...

The article sent shockwaves throughout Wall Street, as the stock prices for both TiVo and Netflix shot up. Last September, a Newsweek article reported that TiVo and Netflix might be getting together to produce a true form of video-on-demand (VOD). Last week, a Netflix official fueled this speculation by dropping hints about a potential joint venture. TiVo, the original and premier provider of d. . .

Simple Instructions For New Webmasters

Web development is moving so fast that it is very difficult for the amateur or beginner to master even the basics. Some businesses, especially the larger ones, obviously pay a specialist company to build a website for them, or to employ their own IT consultants. This makes good business sense.However, for the small, home-based business it is a different story. Most people can perhaps afford. . .

A lot of Beepen and Tooten But No Booten?

You start your computer and all you get is a blank screen and some beeping noise. You panic because you think you have some very serious computer problems. Actually, your concern is justified. The reason your computer is beeping is because it has a serious problem that prevents it from communicating via its standard output, the screen. But don't lose hope, here are some troubleshooting steps yo. . .

What is Groupware?

Vince Lombardi once said that, “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” If this is the case, then what do we need to do in order to insure success in our companies? How can we combine the efforts of each individual as Mr. Lombardi said was so key to the success of a particular organization? While there are many possible solutions to thes. . .

How To Reduce Computer Problems?

How can I prevent Computer problems? This is a question that people have asked me many times. The entire process of reducing Computer problems can be bundled under the banner of Computer Preventive Maintenance. Use this article as a computer maintenance tutorial.So what you should do as part of preventive maintenance? Use a good anti virus program. This is the most important piece of work in pr. . .

Internet Addiction!

The Internet is fast becoming just another part of everyday life, much like the TV and the computer itself. What started as something amazing, exciting, and often out of reach, has become commonplace and freely available. Technology is advancing at an amazing rate. I can remember when 56k connections were the new exciting fad that everyone just had to have, and now you’re almost abnormal if you. . .

The CD Mastering Process

Feel free to download the entire manual detailing the mastering process from Har-Bal complete with pictures of all the tools needed to create a great sounding mastered cd .http://hdqtrz.com/Files/Har-Bal_Mastering_Process.pdfPlease remember that you can experiment with different presets in Waves LMB. If you want light limiting use the "Adaptive Multi Electro Mastering" preset and follow the sam. . .

Top 10 tips for Safe Internet Shopping

Over £5 billion pounds was spent on online shopping in 2004. The Internet was the fastest growing retail sector last year, attracting one in four shoppers. The growth rate for the online market was 27.4 per cent, six times better than for the traditional retail market. This looks set to rise as more and more people look for more convenient ways of shopping. It’s easy to search for a product and. . .

Internet Marketing Without a Big-Picture Strategy Dances ...

Stop Tracking the Illusive "Magic Bullet"It seems like everyone is beating the drum for one Internet marketing method or another. And in the process they create plenty of hype and conflicting messages.Website owners are left to wonder whom to believe when it comes to impressing the search engines. Which approach can deliver the "magic bullet" they've been promised? Is it time to jump to the nex. . .

Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting

Bandwidth explained:Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you are allowed to have for a hosting package i.e. Let’s say you have a web page that is 48KB in size, now each time a user opens your site and goes to that page S/he downloads 48 KB of information on to their computer. If a 100 users view that page one time each then there has been a total of 4800 KB of data transferred from the. . .

Reviving Old Computer Games

Remember the good old days of gaming, when there were only 5 pixels in the protagonist and your imagination could turn them into a heroic figure of Schwarzenegger proportions? When the enemies and the heroes were distinguished by colour and you only needed one button on the joystick? Well times have changed and technology has moved on. Pulling my old Commodore 64 or Atari out of the back of the. . .

BIGSQUID : Emerging to RFID Enterprise Solution

About RFIDRadio frequency identification or RFID, is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. There are several methods of identification, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the chip and the antenna together are c. . .

The Future of Video Games

I’ve recently been thinking about where video games could be going in the future. I’m hoping to work in the game industry one day after I’ve finished university study and I’ve been wondering about it a lot. What do I want to see happen in the future? Well I may not have too many answers right now, but I have come up with a few ideas that I think may come into ‘play’ in the not too distant futur. . .

How Podcasting is Used

Although podcasting is new, it is well on its way to becoming a mainstream communication medium. Podcasting, simply put, is audio files that are delivered via RSS. Many people believe that podcasting is solely for the distribution of music files, but really, nothing could be further from the truth. This emerging method of audio file distribution has opened an array of marketing and communicatio. . .

Solitaire RULES Half Life DROOLS

It's a popularity contest.Solitaire is hip, cool, and way more popular than Half Life 2. Don't believe me right? Well, the numbers don't lie. According to two of the biggest search tracking tools on the web (Wordtracker and Overture) more people are looking to play Solitaire then Half Life 2. Almost twice as many. Wordtracker says that every day 5,031 people searched for Solitaire, while only 3. . .

Save On Printing Cost With Two Inks

If you’re familiar with black and white photos on magazines, you might be confused whether it is really a black and white image. Sometimes you’ll notice that the color is closer to brown or pale yellow.There’s an easy way to create this effect, the duotone process.Duotone, from the word duo, means two colors. This is often used in making monochromatic print. It is done by adding a color tint to. . .

Photoshop and Illustrator - How Good Does It Get?

Which is the better program – Photoshop or Illustrator? Many of us are still entertaining hazy notions about the two programs. It is high time to distinguish the two - which is which really? To boot, Adobe Photoshop is a bitmap image processing and manipulation program. It is well matched with creating, transforming and outputting digital images of a photographic nature which share common pixel. . .

Book Review: The Elements Of Graphic Design

Graphic design is a very broad field and to master it is a very challenging escapade. We can have a good grasp of graphic design by understanding the basic elements and principles which make effective design and page layout. Graphic design is a course of combining texts and graphics in order to develop an interactive work of art. Designers achieve their purpose by utilizing the elements and pri. . .

Using Photoshop and Illustrator

Unless you have tons of money to burn, every consumer wants to be as smart as possible when buying their goods. We want value for our money. If there’s a cheaper alternative that can deliver the same results, of course we would rather have that!Same thing goes with graphic designers and professional photographers who use digital imaging applications. One particular issue that has been quite a. . .

Outlook... Not Just for Email! Using Your Outlook Contacts

If you use Outlook for your email, chances are you have a number, possibly a large number, of email addresses stored in the Contacts section. You've probably discovered that you can address messages to one or more of your contacts several different ways with just a click of the mouse. But if this is the only way you use your Contacts, you're not using the feature to its full capacity. Here are . . .

iPhoto 5 Magnified

Want a user-friendly, efficient and versatile digital imaging software that allows you to be creative and produce professional projects? Then you’ll definitely love iPhoto 5. It has the standard functions one can expect from an image editing application – the Red-Eye button for well, red eyes, the Retouch Brush for removing blemishes and other unwanted “dirt,” freehand Crop Tool to capture on. . .

Healing Brush and Patch On The Spotlight

Want a better way to edit your image? Photoshop offers you better tools you can use to remove flaws on your image.Images are not that perfect, but the graphics world does not have a room for imperfections. So, computer graphics programs have tried and are still trying to create special tools that will help users in editing their work.Image imperfections refer to flaws, such as blemishes, scratc. . .

2005 - Enter the Laptop

It's a fact. Notebook computers have leapt into the global sales arena with the force and flexibility of Bruce Lee, effortlessly dispatching their desktop competitors with nothing more than a dynamic one-inch sonoma punch.With wi-fi technology blossoming around us, the demand for laptops is only set to increase. The ability to play games, or casually surf the internet in wireless coffee shops a. . .

Silhouettes Creation Using Adobe Photoshop

Do you want your image to have that commercial look? If you want to learn how to make a stunning background like what you always see on posters, follow these simple steps.When you read a magazine, try to focus on the ad pages. Can you see cigarette ad with valleys and lakes for a background? Or a waterfall that was set behind a bar of soap? These images are called silhouetted images. When you s. . .

Review: Corel Paint IX

It has been said that Corel Painter IX is the world’s most powerful Natural-Media painting and illustration software. Corel allows commercial designers, photographers and professional artists to hone their talents and techniques in creating their masterpiece. Corel Painter IX is an extremely stylish painting and illustration application which is designed to seize the complex distinction of trad. . .

Choosing The Right Paper For Printing Jobs

Choosing the right paper for a printing job is a very complicated undertaking. It should not be that way though. You have overwhelming options. All you have to do is to be specific. Paper influences all the aspects of a print project, together with overall perception, reproduction quality, durability and mailing cost. Choose defectively, and you can spoil an otherwise great project. To be speci. . .

Creating Painted Effects with illustrator 7.0

Newer versions of the software program Illustrator gave us useful features to dig in. Still, no matter how happy we are about the new features, time after time, in the process of making our designs more creative and innovative, we turn on old tricks of the program. Creating painted effects using Illustrator is an old trick. Now and again, you’ll find this trick useful.So, we give you some tips . . .

Image Pro 9: Powered Desktop Publishing Program

Microsoft provided software carrying two CDs--- Digital Image Suite 9 and the Digital Image Pro 9. It comes with wizards that walk you through the process, and tutorials that help you get started right away. The software also includes thousands of design templates for creating projects for home, business, and even the kids. What makes the two applications different is the integration of the Di. . .

The Quickest Way I Know To Secure Your PC-Safety In 7 Eas...

Can You Prevent Spyware, Worms, Trojans, Viruses, ... To Work When You Switch Your Pc On ? I Can And I Do It On A Pro-active Basis. Surfing Means More And More To Stay Invisible, To Be Clean From The Inside And To Prevent Installment Of Malicious Software (So Preventing Unwanted Communication From Inside To Outside And From Outside To Inside). How do you stay invisible while surfing? Of course. . .

IT Skills and Certification

With the ever increasingly changing IT workplace many IT managers are looking for more than certification from their prospective and current employees. However, we may not all like it, but it’s a sad fact that in today’s IT market, certification is still essential. Professionals with years of experience are failing to get their preferred jobs if they haven’t got the relevant qualifications. Obv. . .

Compare Dish Network vs. Direct TV

Do you need help in deciding which satellite company is better? Dish Network and Direct TV are the most popular satellite tv systems in the USA. WE have set out and compared Dish Network vs. Direct TV to help you decide on what satellite provider is best for you..Dish Network 1. You get more digital channels for the same price, you get all the free features such as TiVo, up to 4 tv connections,. . .

The Do's of Banner Designing

Banners are effective media materials that can make or break a company's ad campaign. For web sites, along with the corporate logo, the banner speaks of your message and what you want to achieve for your corporate image and identity.To help you with your banner design, we have compiled the following tips and suggestions that have made other web sites effective in terms of the amount of visitors. . .

Print Shop Deluxe Empowering Users To Do Publishing

Professional and business-looking cards have become so tedious that I have been trying to get other programs to help me create cards and albums without feeling that it's a lot of work for me.Broderbund's "The Print Shop" has been doing that for its clients, particularly users who need a quick, easy and affordable way to do basic publishing activities.Now comes another version of the popular Pri. . .

Fusing Traditional and Technical Illustrations

The following is an excerpt from the tips and techniques provided by a designer using Photoshop 4. He based his techniques from a current project of creating illustrations for a story of a mythical city in a magazine. According to the designer, what is exciting about using computers is that artists and designers like him are now able to fuse present technology with traditional art. They are abl. . .

How To Create Your Logo (Part 1)

For a businessman, image is everything. Big companies invest a lot to have an attractive, dynamic, eye-catching image to brand their identity. These eye-catching visuals are commonly known as logos.A logo is a name, symbol or trademark of a company or organization, made up of text or symbols arranged to convey a distinct and unique message. It leaves a greater and lengthier impact than words al. . .

How To Create Your Logo (Part 2)

When deciding the logo that best describe your company and business, there are many choices to consider. Whether you choose to use text or symbols, or both, it's how your audience react to your logo that is important.Here are a few suggestions on how you could make your logo work for you:• The logo should be compatible with your image. Your logo should be compatible to the image you want to pro. . .

Getting Good Picture Results

There was this guy who owns a state-of-the-art, high-end digital SLR. Since it was my first time to meet him, I initially thought that he could be a photographer, hobbyist or by profession, when he brandished the hi-tech gear. This initial impression only lasted until I saw one of his shots – man, there was no composition! What waste of money – unless of course, he manages to get acquainted wit. . .

Microsoft Great Plains 8.0 - Microsoft RMS 1,2 Multi-Stor...

Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS) are originally developed by different software vendors, who had no idea that in the remote future (now) these two applications will be owned by Microsoft and will need to be tightly integrated. Current integration between the two is not an easy thing. At this time MBS has RMS integration on the General Ledger and Pu. . .

Internet Distribution: The Future of Entertainment

A friend and I were having a discussion recently. I asked him what he thought the next method of distribution for films and music would be. My thoughts were that we would have to come up with some new method that was convenient, sturdy and didn't involve compression (as CDs and DVDs do, thereby limiting the picture and sound quality, although not very much). He simply said that it wasn't going . . .

Dating Site Review: Udate

Udatians often complain about the slowness of Udate's messenger "whispers", but it’s always been one of my favorite dating places! I've simply had the best luck connecting with this format...and the old twin site kiss.com.Kiss.com was absorbed into match.com, touted for a while as the "New kiss.com". I mention this because for a while Kiss and Udate were identical style sites with different mem. . .

22 Questions to Ask Before You Use Any Shopping Cart System

Many seasoned professional speakers agree that you can make more money selling your knowledge in the form of products than you can speaking.You can use traditional methods to sell products such as direct mail, catalogs and advertising. However, if you have a great online presence, the entire world is your marketplace at a fraction of the cost of most traditional methods. To easily sell to this . . .

Smartphones - Beyond Voice to Information and Entertainment

Smartphones are poised to become the information center and entertainment device of choice. Increasing adoption and usage of smartphones bodes well not only for smartphone makers but also for the wireless industry as a whole.Investments in shares of wireless technology companies and wireless service providers have been particularly profitable in the post-dot com era. The wireless industry is in. . .

5 Ways To Make Your Adwords Ads Outshine Your Competitors'

Google Adwords is a very good place to promote your business on the Internet. It allows you to target for specific keywords, allowing you to to promote right product to the right audiences. However, as more and more players promote their ads on Adwords, it becomes very hard to get your ads noticed. Here's are 5 ways how to make your ads outshine your competitors': 1- Use the keyword in your ad . . .

Online Pests: Free Sample Trolls

Bobbi of Montreal, Canada was known in certain online crafting forums as the ultimate free sample troll. You were a crafting nonentity if you hadn’t received a sample request from Bobbi. In March 2004, I became an honorary member as the notorious Canadian finally paid me a visit. It was a simple missive with a subject heading that read: “samples.” Uh oh, that free sample troll, I thought. Yup, . . .

Microsoft CRM Integration with Oracle – overview for prog...

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is very good budget alternative to Siebel and actually be-loved by Microsoft-oriented IT department system. Considering the fact that in many cases Microsoft CRM should somehow fit into and cooperate with existing legacy business applications, integration question maybe the first to place. We saw multiple cases when company uses Lotus Notes/Domino, and replac. . .

Microsoft CRM Integration with Navision – overview for p...

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is very good budget alternative to Siebel and actually be-loved by Microsoft-oriented IT department system. Considering the fact that in many cases Microsoft CRM should somehow fit into and cooperate with existing legacy business applications, integration question maybe the first to place. It is probably good to mention that Microsoft Navision has its own CRM . . .

Your Affiliate Web Site Is Built – Now What?

When I first got my web site built, I thought I finally I had a presence on-line. Wrong! I soon found out that I needed someone to host my site, and I needed a domain name. This, I found, was my moment of utter confusion. And my first thought was – “What have I gotten myself into!?” I realized I needed the following questions answered before I could even begin my on-line journey. What do I need. . .

Remove Rogue Desktop Icons Created By Spyware

If you have used a Windows machine for a while, whether it's Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 98, you're sure to have noticed desktop icons appearing from out of nowhere. How can icons mysteriously emerge on your Windows desktop? When you buy a computer, many vendors place icons to selected products and services on your desktop, such as links to high-speed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) . . .

How to Organize Your Digital Photos

If you’re like me, you may have taken tons and tons of digital photos with your trusty digital camera, but never took the time to organize them. It’s certainly not a good idea to have thousands of photos lying in your hard drive totally disorganized. For one thing, it’s going to be very tough to find a specific photo for viewing purposes.So what can you do to put those photos into some semblanc. . .

Time to Redefine Telecom

Telecommunication, according to Wikipedia, is the extension of communication over a distance. In practice, it also recognizes that something may be lost in the process; hence the term 'telecommunication' covers all forms of distance and/or conversion of the original communications, including radio, telegraphy, television, telephony, data communication and computer networking.While defining tele. . .