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David Busch’s Canon EOS 7D Guide to Digital SLR Photography
by David D. Busch
(3)
Publication Date: July 26, 2010

Buy new: $29.99 $19.79
22 used & new from $17.49

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Technical Details
- ISBN13: 9781435456914
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Product Description
Welcome to the Canon EOS 7D, Canon’s new digital SLR that is loaded with professional features at an affordable price. DAVID BUSCH’S CANON EOS 7D GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY shows readers how to make the most of their camera’s robust feature set, including 18 megapixel resolution, blazing fast automatic focus, the real-time preview system Live View, and full HD movie-making capabilities, to take outstanding photos and videos. They’ll learn how, when, and, most importantly, why to use all the cool features and functions of their camera to take eye-popping photographs. Introductory chapters will help them get comfortable with the basics of their camera before you dive right into exploring creative ways to apply the Canon EOS 7D’s exposure modes, focus controls, and electronic flash options. This book is chock full of hands-on tips for choosing lenses, flash units, and software products to use with their new camera. Beautiful, full-color images illustrate where the essential buttons and dials are, so they’ll quickly learn how to their Canon EOS 7D, and use it well.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

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Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera
by Bryan Peterson
(3)
Release Date: August 10, 2010

Buy new: $25.99 $17.15
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Technical Details
- ISBN13: 9780817439392
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Product Description

With more than 350,000 copies sold, Understanding Exposure has demystified the complex concepts of exposure for countless photographers. Now updated with current technologies, more than one hundred new images, and an all-new chapter, this new edition will inspire you more than ever to free yourself from “auto” and create the pictures you truly want.

In his trademark easy-to-understand style, author Bryan Peterson explains the relationship between aperture and shutter speed, including how to achieve successful exposures in seemingly difficult situations. You’ll learn:

• Which aperture gives you the greatest contrast and sharpness, and when to use it 
• Which apertures guarantee the background remains an out-of-focus tone 
• Which one aperture—when combined with the right lens—creates an area of sharpness from three feet to infinity 
• How to creatively use shutter speed to either freeze an action or imply motion 
• Where to take a meter reading when shooting a sunset, snow, or a city at dusk

With new information on white balance, flash, HDR, and more, this updated classic will inspire you to stop guessing and take control of your settings for better photos anytime, anywhere, and with any camera.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

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The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
by Scott Kelby
(4)
Publication Date: August 8, 2010

Buy new: $54.99 $32.16
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Product Description
Are you ready for an amazing new version of The Photoshop Book that breaks all the rules?

Scott Kelby, Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine—and the best-selling Photoshop author in the world today—once again takes this book to a whole new level as he uncovers more of the latest, most important, and most useful new Adobe Photoshop CS5 techniques for digital photographers.

This major update to his award-winning, record-breaking book does something for digital photographers that’s never been done before—it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly “how to do it.” It’s not a bunch of theory; it doesn’t challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure it out on your own. Instead, Scott shows you step by step the exact techniques used by today’s cutting-edge digital photographers, and best of all, he shows you flat-out exactly which settings to use, when to use them, and why. That’s why the previous editions of this book are widely used as the official study guide in photography courses at colleges and universities around the world.

Learn how the pros do it
Each year, Scott trains thousands of professional photographers how to use Photoshop, and almost without exception they have the same questions, the same problems, and the same challenges—and that’s exactly what he covers in this book. You’ll learn:

• The sharpening techniques the pros really use.
• The pros’ tricks for fixing the most common digital photo problems fast!
• The step-by-step setup for getting what comes out of your printer to match exactly what you see onscreen.
• A whole chapter on how to process HDR (High Dynamic Range) images using CS5’s new Merge to HDR Pro.
• How to master CS5’s new Content-Aware Fill.
• How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat.
• How to process RAW images like a pro (plus how to take advantage of all the new Camera Raw features in CS5!).
• How to use the included gray card to make color correction just a matter of three clicks.
• How to show your work like a pro!
• A host of shortcuts, workarounds, and slick “insider” tricks to send your productivity through the roof!

Plus, Scott includes a special bonus chapter with his own CS5 workflow, from start to finish, and each chapter ends with a Photoshop Killer Tips section, packed with time-saving, job-saving tips that make all the difference. If you’re a digital photographer, and if you’re ready to learn all the “tricks of the trade”—the same ones that today’s leading pros use to correct, edit, sharpen, retouch, and present their work—then you’re holding the book that will do just that.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

SPACE.com – The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight, promising
dazzling fireball displays to lucky skywatchers, but the cosmic rain of space
rocks hasn’t endangered space station astronauts during their spacewalk repairs
this week, a NASA scientist says. In fact, the meteor shower may give the
astronauts a show too.

More info

Popularity: 3% [?]

The plot in the made-for-TV story at Hewlett-Packard continues to unfold as a key aide to ex-CEO Mike Hurd has resigned. Fortune magazine reported Wednesday that Caprice Fimbres McIlvaine, who was head of internal communications at the company, has left. Her resignation, reported Wednesday, was effective Aug. 9.

Her departure follows Hurd’s by three days, and Fortune said McIlvaine was the “key conduit” in hiring Jodie Fisher. Fisher is a former actress who became a marketing contractor at HP and has sued Hurd for sexual harassment. The magazine cited “two people with knowledge” of McIlvaine.

Fisher Now a Branch Manager

McIlvaine was an aide with many of the responsibilities of a chief of staff. She traveled to the same away-from-headquarters customer meetings as Hurd, and her duties included being the key person for travel arrangements. Some observers have noted that travel arrangements for such occasions are usually conducted by staff outside the CEO’s office.

McIlvaine, 37, posted the title of CEO program manager in an online profile. She was the organizer of the CEO Summits, where HP met with top customers, where Hurd spoke, and where Fisher acted as a company greeter.

None of the parties in question — McIlvaine, Fisher or Hurd — has commented on this latest development.

Fisher, meanwhile, has taken a job as a branch manager at a New Jersey staffing agency which her mother manages, according to The Wall Street Journal. Her mother, Polly McDonald, is the founder and president of Flanders, N.J.-based TeleSearch Staffing Solutions. McDonald said she advised her daughter to continue with the sexual-harassment suit against Hurd when Fisher asked for her advice.

‘Needed Work’

Fisher is living in New Jersey with her 12-year-old son, and her mother said the new job is simply because she “needed work like a lot of people these days.”

Hurd was asked to resign… Read more

Popularity: 3% [?]

If your Android phone already seems more like a personal assistant, wait until you have the ability to give it orders. Google’s Android 2.2 now features Voice Search with Voice Actions, an app that enables smartphones to set reminders and alarms, take dictation for and send e-mails or texts, browse the Internet, get directions, or search for music.

The actions are carried out by tapping the microphone button or holding the search button and using commands such as “note to self,” “listen to” “go to,” “navigate to,” or “map of.”

Android phones have had the ability to search through Google via voice commands for about two years. And while voice dialing for programmed contacts is nothing new, Voice Actions will actually look up a number for you, then dial it after you check that it’s what you were looking for.

Smart Brunch

“Let’s say I want to get some food at my favorite brunch place but I don’t have the number,” says Mike LeBeau, the lead engineer for Voice Actions in a promotional video. LeBeau, wearing a bright blue Android T-shirt, then speaks the name of a Brooklyn bakery into his phone and it dials the number.

“Voice Actions uses the magic of Google Maps to find businesses fast,” LeBeau says.

Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group, who has tried the app, reports that Froyo devices — those using the latest Android operating system — are well suited for voice applications. “Google is working very hard to differentiate by incorporating more speech directly into the [operating system] for common tasks,” he said.

Voice Actions is already available on the Motorola Droid 2 handsets released by Verizon Wireless on Thursday and on the Nexus One, which is no longer being sold, and it will likely spread like wildfire as more phones get the Android 2.2 upgrade over the… Read more

Popularity: 2% [?]

Google has denied a report that it’s working with Verizon Communications to allow faster delivery of paid online content. The New York Times said such an agreement would undercut the concept of Net neutrality and suggested it could lead to tiered service with higher costs for premium delivery.

Net neutrality has been the focus of battles between Comcast and other Internet providers and the Federal Communications Commission. Following a court ruling that gave the FCC limited authority to regulate broadband restrictions imposed by Internet providers, the FCC has been seeking to reclassify broadband service as a “telecommunications service” but only apply part of the rules. Providers have opposed that move.

While Google said, “We have not had any conversations with Verizon about paying for carriage of Google or YouTube traffic,” it did not challenge a Wall Street Journal story that said the companies are working on a legislative model to prevent delays or blocking of Internet traffic.

While broadband providers want the right to regulate traffic on their networks, they have also said prioritized traffic could lead to higher costs. That could be particularly true for Google’s YouTube, which generates high traffic.

If Google and Verizon are indeed working on a plan to pay for priority content delivery, private-interest groups are certain to object.

Meantime, wireless carriers are preparing for a faster Internet and an expected explosion in traffic by scrapping unlimited mobile data plans and setting prices for levels of service. AT&T, for example, now charges $15 a month for 200MB of data and $25 for 2GB. Subscribers who exceed those caps will be charged overage fees. Details

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wireless Internet provider Clearwire, which pioneered the 4G WiMAX network with its partner, Sprint Nextel, will hedge its bets by branching out into another 4G technology, LTE. Long Term Evolution is the standard that will soon provide 4G coverage for Verizon Wireless and AT&T’s network as well as markets around the world.

Clearwire announced Wednesday that it will begin testing a new network in Phoenix, Ariz., with Huawei Technologies, the infrastructure provider that deployed the first commercial LTE network in Europe. Clearwire now uses the same spectrum band and flexible base-station platform in the United States.

‘Technology Agnostic’

Clearwire isn’t giving up on WiMAX. The Kirkland, Wash.-based company, which describes itself as “technology agnostic,” is still committed to WiMAX for its current 4G plan. But with a growing number of LTE devices expected to be available in coming years — Samsung and MetroPCS last week won approval for the first LTE phone — Clearwire wants to conduct technical trials to see how it could have the best of both worlds.

“WiMAX provides us with unique advantages to meet the needs of our customers today,” said Dr. John Saw, Clearwire’s chief technology officer. “Ultimately, consumers don’t care about technical acronyms, but they do care about quality and affordable Internet services that work where and when they want, and that’s what we’re focused on delivering.”

Clearwire’s plan shows how tech companies may adapt to the rapidly changing wireless landscape by covering as many bases as they can, creating bridges between current and future technologies.

“WiMAX is certainly getting broad adoption internationally where there isn’t any underlying broadband like in the U.S. and Europe,” said analyst Gerry Purdy of MobilTrax. “As far as Clearwire, they will continue to use WiMAX and partner with Sprint. Look at the Sprint Overdrive [a mobile hot-spot device released in April] as a… Details

Popularity: 3% [?]

Asking Ask.com may now result in answers, not just links. On Tuesday, the search engine launched a new version that it described as “the first step in a multi-pronged strategy” to provide answers to users’ questions, either from content on the web or from “previously unpublished knowledge shared by any of the millions of Ask.com users.”

The company, an operating business of the IAC network of sites, said this functionality allows it to combine its proprietary search technology with the Ask.com community.

‘Largest Q&A Database on the Web’

Ask.com President Doug Leeds said that, “with 87 million monthly users and more than a decade of Q&A experience, Ask.com is uniquely positioned to answer the long tail of questions that are impossible for search engines alone to address.”

The new answer service was formerly an invitation-only beta. The company said “subjective and complex questions” that stump traditional search engines are directed to the Ask user community, utilizing Q&A matching technology which routes questions to appropriate possible answerers, based on interests and expertise. Each question will be returned with any possible answers from web content as well as Ask.com member responses.

The newest version of Ask.com includes proprietary semantic search technologies that display the most relevant answers at the top of the page, so no click-through is required to read a short answer. The search engine also includes what Ask.com described as the “largest Q&A database on the web,” with more than 500 million questions and answers indexed, and the ability to mine hundreds of thousands of sources for specific question-and-answer pairs.

Formerly AskJeeves.com

There is also a revamped user interface, which features highlights of the most popular questions, as well as auto-suggestion of questions when users start typing into the search field.

The company is reverting to its origins as AskJeeves.com, in which conversational questions were the promoted… Details

Popularity: 2% [?]

Forget about mobile devices for a moment. Apple on Tuesday updated its iMac lineup just in time for the back-to-school rush. A new 21.5-inch 3.06-GHz Intel Core i3 iMac has a suggested retail price of $1,199.

The latest iMacs come with dual-core Intel Core i3 and i5, and quad-core Core i5 and i7 processors. The processors are equipped with an integrated memory controller to access system memory directly, Apple said.

Evolution of the Mouse

Optional is a new Magic Trackpad, a multi-touch mouse-like device that lets users scroll up and down a page, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with fingers, and swipe three fingers to flip through web pages or photos. The trackpad is made from aluminum and glass and sells for $69.

Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, said the refresh reminds people that Apple is still in the computer business. He called the timing of the refresh “important” because it gets the 27-inch stuff into the stores before back-to-school purchases are done, so they can tap into both the school and holiday seasons.

“The multi-touch track pad is really interesting,” he said. “It’s the first step in Apple evolving beyond the mouse, which was really synonymous with Macintosh from day one, in order to enable better multi-touch experiences without having to go to things like a touchscreen.”

New Mac Pros

Apple also unveiled a new Mac Pro line with up to 12 processing cores. The new machines feature quad-core and six-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics, and as option for up to four 512GB solid-state drives (SSD). Prices start at $2,500.

“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. With up to 12 cores, he said, the Mac Pro outperforms Apple’s previous… Read more

Popularity: 1% [?]