Technically Easy

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  • Forum of Helpful Web Site Advice

    I attempt to provide useful advice on various technologies in use today on Technically Easy. There are many times that I find myself looking for answers to some of my technological questions on other Web sites.

    When I started this blog I was new to blogging and to some degree Web site management. There are many aspects to designing a Web site that I hadn’t thought about before. I have found a very helpful Web site that I’ll share with you in this post.

    Website Babble Forums

    The Web site is called Website Babble, and is a forums frequented by those who have experienced many of the pitfalls of Web site management. The administrator of the Web site is Lisa, who many know online. She has created a successful online business through her Web sites. This is what many of those who start Web sites strive to be like.

    In the past, I have registered to various forums and Web sites only to not login after the first time. I also found that on many of those forums it seems that asking certain questions gets you branded as a newbie or idiot.

    At Website Babble, it is a different experience. I find that you can pretty much ask any question related to Web sites and someone will provide friendly, useful advice that will hopefully answer your question.

    Similar to other forums, there are the regular contributors to the forum, which I try to be. The contributors are by no means the authoritative source on Web sites, but they have had various experiences in the past that could help others prevent a similar fate. Chances are if you are having problems with your Web site, one of the contributors have experienced the same problem and can provided a solution.

    Lisa has also been known to hold contests to those who provide helpful posts on the forum. Her contests award quality over quantity, so you don’t need to post the most to win one.

    The forum is free to join and post. You can include your Web site in your signature but not in your post as that is considered spam, which Lisa is very good at tracking and removing. Google has indexed some of the posts from the forums in its index, so chances are good that it will find the link to your site in you signature.

    I recommend that you join if you are new to anything Web site related. If you do register on Website Babble, keep an eye out for me. My ID is TechieGuy.

  • Different Methods of Connecting Multiple Computers to One Internet Connection

    One of my most popular posts is titled Connecting Multiple Computers to Broadband which explains how to connect a router to your modem to allow many computers to connect to your Internet connection. The post explained the simplest method of connection multiple computers, but there are other ways to connect multiple computers.

    I will explain several other methods that you can use to connect computers to one Internet connection.

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  • Data Archiving Method

    I have recently begun backing up my data such as photos (both digital and film), videos, and other files so that in case something happens, I will not lose my irreplaceable data. There is always much discussion on the best ways to archive data, and I have my way. Many may agree and disagree with my method, but this one works for me.

    In this post I will explain my method, as well as the reasons I chose to use the tools and storage devices.

    Organizing and Labelling the Data

    Before I begin to archive the data, I first organize the data, as well as set some labeling standards. The archival process is much easier once you have organized all your files, photos, and whatever else you will be archiving.

    If you plan to scan photos, slides, negatives, or other documents, you should separate them into groups, either by date or people. This will help you to keep certain items together within your archives.

    Once you have organized your data, you should create a labeling scheme to make it easier for you to find the data that you need. I have decided to backup my data on DVDs (I’ll explain why below), so each DVD is stored in a jewel case with a label assigned to the case. The label contains the following:

    1. Title – I provide a descriptive title to indicate the contents of the DVD.
    2. Years – I indicate the years covered by the data on the DVD. This helps to order the DVDs in chronological order, even if they weren’t burned in that order.
    3. Created Date – The date that I created the DVD. This will come in handy in the future to determine how old the DVD is, and whether I should create a new copy of the DVD.
    4. Catalog Name – This is a unique name that I give each DVD so I can organize them. I came up with a naming convention that indicates the type of data on the DVD.
    5. Family – This field contains the last name of the family represented by the data on the DVD. This helps to find data for a specific family name.

    I also decided to use coloured jewel cases that will help indicated the data on each DVD. For example, for photos I use a black jewel case, and videos will be stored in blue cases. You can easily purchase a box of coloured jewel cases for cheap.

    Once I have organized my data, and came up with a labeling scheme, the next step is to start determining how to store the data.

    Archiving Media

    This is probably the most debated point with regards to archiving data. Many people have their opinions about which media is best. Each media type has its pros and cons, so choose one that works for you.

    I have chosen to archive my data on single-layer DVD discs. I chose this method because they are relatively affordable, can hold a lot of data and can be easily stored. When I do make an archive disc, I always make two copies, so that if one becomes corrupted in the future, then I can retrieve my data from the copy.

    I have, however, not chosen just any DVD discs to use for archiving. I have chosen to use DVD+R discs from Taiyo Yuden. The DVD+R format has several benefits over the DVD-R specification, with one of the benefits being better error management. Taiyo Yuden discs are known as very reliable discs, so I chose them for my archives.

    Just in case you are wondering where you can purchase Taiyo Yuden discs, I discovered that very few stores, if any, carry them. I ordered mine online, as most people probably do. I only know of two online stores where you can order them for those living in Canada or the United States:

    If you know where else you can purchase these DVDs, I would like to know. Be careful, however, as many places offer DVDs that say they are Taiyo Yuden, when in fact they are fakes.

    I burn the DVD using Nero, using the catalog name as the DVD name, and perform a verification after each burn to ensure that the data was written without any issues. Once the burn has completed, I print the label, and then insert the label into the jewel case with the DVD. I write the catalog name on the DVD using a water-based CD marker.

    When I’m done with my burning, I move one of the copies offsite to prevent all my archives from being destroy if something were to happen to my home.

    Many people have discussed the life of a burned DVD, and whether their data will be available in 50 years. I think that as long as the data is readable after 5 years I should be good. I’ll probably move my data to the next generation of storage media, so won’t care if these DVDs can be read in 50 years.

    Summary

    In this post I have provided an overview of my method for archiving my data. I use a simple labeling system as well as DVD+R discs to organize and store my data. For more security, and piece of mind, I also always burn at least two copies of the data, just in case one is destroyed. Finally I move one of the copies offsite to losing all archives if something were to happen.

    You can choose to follow my method, or come up with your own. You should always create a system that works best for you.

  • The Blu-ray and HD DVD Format War

    Over the past year that has been more and more talk about the new high- definition DVD discs that are available. With each new movie released to DVD, I have noticed that both the regular DVD and high-definition form is available. There is one problem with the new high definition format: there are two competing standards.

    The two competing standards have set off talk about the Beta versus VHS many years ago. Many people are staying away from purchasing a high-definition DVD player until a winner is determined to avoid buying an obsolete format.

    In this post I will provide an overview of the high-definition formats to shed some light on the difference between the two.

    Note:

    The high-definition DVD format war is over. Toshiba has thrown in the towel on HD DVD, which now makes Blu-ray the standard.

    High-Definition

    All televisions sold today are usually widescreen LCD or Plasma high definition. High-definition refers to any video system with higher resolution than standard-definition video. Most high-definition televisions display video commonly in 1280×720 (720p) or 1920×1080 (1080i or 1080p) resolution.

    The problem with higher resolution is that it requires a lot more storage capacity to store the video. To account for the increase in storage capacity, several companies developed to competing standards that are meant as a successor to the DVD format. The formats are known as HD DVD and Blu-ray.

    HD DVD

    The HD DVD is designed to be the successor of the DVD and as such, uses the same underlying technology. The difference between the two is in the storage capacity. While a dual-layer DVD can store 8.5GB, a dual-layer HD DVD can store 30GB.

    Toshiba and NEC joinly developed the HD DVD standard and soon became supported by the DVD Forum on November, 19 2003 as the successor to the DVD.

    The first HD DVD player was released in Japan on March 31, 2006 and cost $934 US. Over the next 9 months, Toshiba reported that it had sold approximately 120,000 HD DVD players in the United States. At the same time Microsoft, which has adopted the HD DVD format as an optional upgrade kit for the Xbox 360, announced that it had sold 150,000 units of it’s upgrade kit.

    Since Microsoft has supported the HD DVD format, it’s newest operating system, Windows Vista, supports that format.

    Although it appears that the HD DVD format could be the choice for the world of high-definition, there is another competing format to consider, especially since it also had the backing of large corporations.

    Blu-ray

    The competing standard to the HD DVD format is called Blu-ray. It was developed by Sony back in the mid to late ‘90s and uses a blue laser to read the disc. Since the development of Blu-ray there has been a lot of talk among the big players in the industry, such as Sony, HP, Microsoft, to try an come up with a single standard for high definition. Talks eventually broke down, and in the end the various companies supported one of the two standards.

    The first Blue-ray players entered the market in June 2006, although they were beat to the market by the HD DVD players by a few months. The first Blu-ray disc titles were released that same month with the first dual layer discs being release that same year in November.

    The storage capacity of a Blu-ray disc is higher than a HD DVD disc. A dual-layer disc can hold 50GB of data as opposed to HD DVD’s 30GB. The Playstation 3, Sony’s gaming console, currently includes a Blu-ray drive so it can double as a player as well.

    The Winner

    Although it is too early to tell which format will merge victorious in the format war, it seems that the Blu-ray discs are outselling the HD DVD nearly 2 to 1. I am not in any hurry to recommend one format or the other as I will wait and see what happens.

    I believe that as long as the players for both formats are backward-compatible with existing DVDs, then they both could have a chance to win this battle. The average consumer won’t care about the technology, or the storage capacity of a disc. They only care about playing their existing DVDs, as consumers have just finished buying those to replace their VHS tapes.

    Maybe in the future the format war will be resolved the same way as the DVD-R and DVD+R format war: no winner, but one player/burner able to handle both formats.

    In this battle, only time will tell who will win.

  • DVD-R and DVD+R Explained

    I have recently began archiving my digital pictures and videos, and would eventually begin archiving film, slides and other photographs. The collection and space requirements will be quite large as there is much to back up. I have decided to archive it all to multiple DVD discs. This got me to thinking about which discs to use for my archiving. Obviously, I want good quality discs (please read How Long Will a CD-R last? for more details) but I then thought about the two competing DVD standards: DVD-R and DVD+R.

    I decided to research the two formats and determine which one I should choose for archiving. I explain my findings in this post.

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  • Introduction to Computer Components

    I have talked about computer components before in my post titled How to Buy a New Computer but it provided a quick overview on what to look for in a computer. I decided to go into more detail into some of the components that you will find in a typical computer.

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  • Digital Photo Workflow

    I have taken thousands of pictures with the two digital cameras I have owned in the past 5 years. I purchased my first camera in 2002 and quickly began learning how best to take pictures. The camera was a Canon G2 and I learned about and began using the RAW file format when taking pictures. I then acquired the Canon S3 IS but it unfortunately didn’t have a RAW file format, so I quickly learned to make do with taking pictures in the JPEG format.

    Although my file format has changed I still like to tweak my pictures. I do this because I am not the greatest of photographers so I like to make some quick edits to my pictures. In this post I will provide an overview of the workflow I use to make my pictures ready for printing.

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  • Taking Pictures Indoors Without a Flash

    I have taken many pictures indoors with a flash and without the use of a flash. I find that pictures taken without a flash always turn out better than when I have used the flash. I find that when I use a flash I get harsh shadows that contribute to a black background. A flash can also wash out much of the detail if the subject is too close.

    In this post I will explain how to take pictures indoors without the use of a flash. I’m not a professional photographer by any means, but I have learned a few things that I’m sure will help you.

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