Look Beneath the Surface

The newest Windows tablet, the Microsoft Surface, was released approximately a week and a half ago. This exciting new tablet device was the first such device to be released with Windows RT (a version of Windows 8 specifically designed for tablets using ARM technology), and as such generated a large amount of public speculation regarding its nature, functionality, and malleability. Approximately 90% of computer users utilize Windows as their operating system of choice, making the dual release of this new OS/tablet quite a big deal. The tablet is offered in two different sizes: 32GB and 64GB.

However, as with all devices with removable storage, the 32GB/64GB label is not all that it seems. Many of these supposed “free gigabytes” are actually taken up by various tools and built-in software. The 32GB Surface is in fact 29GB in binary that is used in computer storage informational systems. 5GB of the initial 29GB is space that is reserved for Windows recovery tools. Another 8GB is used to support the OS, Microsoft Office, and the pre-loaded apps that come with the tablet, leaving the user with only 16GB of the originally stated 32GB.

If a user is looking for storage space, Microsoft recommends using Cloud storage (SkyDrive), microSD cards (up to 64GB), a USB flash drive, or an external hard drive.

In short, beware if you are planning on purchasing this sleek and shiny new automaton, as it may be less desirable than you may have originally believed.

Properly Donating

In light of the recent hurricane, Delaware was shown mercy when it came to damage and strife that could have been dealt. Many people in the greater New York City area as well as those who inhabit the Jersey Shore region were not so fortunate. Gov. Chris Christie and President Obama toured the aftermath on Thursday and the President promised the full support of the United States government. The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg even canceled the annual New York City Marathon, which is rumored to produce more then 300 million dollars of revenue for the city. Getting to the actual point of this post is where to go to ensure that any donation you wish to make goes to the people who actually need it. It was a huge problem after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, that many shell corporations were set up to swindle people out of their funds. The best and most trusted way to donate is through the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. With vast improvements in multimedia, the Red Cross has made it so simple to donate. The most traditional way is to visit there website, which will be at the bottom of this post. Simply enter your information into their secure site, and give whatever amount you are capable of. Then, as I was watching a basketball game the other night, I saw a way to simply text a pledge for 10 dollars to the Red Cross. They partnered with all cell phone carriers, and they simply add a 10 dollar charge to your next months bill. Finally the American Red Cross recently developed an application for the iphone, so you can make a donation straight from your phone. With the Red Cross' multimedia integration it is now even easier to help the people of New York and the Jersey Shore get back on their feet.

http://www.redcross.org/

Invasion of the Tablets

During the month of October both Google and Apple released details of their newest tablets. Apple with the iPad mini and Google with their  new set of Nexus 7 and 10. The new tablets from both sides seem very impressive with exceptional displays and speeds. I've come to wonder if libraries would convert to renting out or offering more tablets in the library with all the books that it has on the shelves. I think it would be very helpful to students who need to look up a page or chapter in a book  faster than trying to find the book. Also if they need copies it would just be a simple print job instead of attempting to use a copier. If the library would consider purchasing more tablets which should they choose? Here is a list of possible tablets along with some of their features.

iPad (Library owns 4 of these so far)
Fast running speed
Good display
itunes store (widest variety of apps, movies, games etc)

Google Nexus:
Exceptional Display
Fastest processor
Multiple account access
Android OS

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Photoshop and also comes with tablet pen
Polaris Office (basically Word, Excel, and Powerpoint)

Do you think it would be a good idea for the library to own and offer more tablets for student use?

What Lens Would You Pick?

With the introduction of the new Zoom Lens Kit to the Multimedia Center, I thought a blog post on different types of lenses compatible with the DSLR cameras we have would be beneficial.  Standard lenses are commonly used for documentary and street photography, where photographers need to move quickly and capture an interesting point of action.  A wide-angle lens is most commonly used for photographing landscapes, architecture and large groups of people.  A medium telephoto lens is used mostly for portrait photography.  This type of lens is ideal for framing the head and shoulders.  Zoom lenses make it easier to achieve a variety of compositions or perspectives.  This advantage is often critical for dynamic subject matter, such as photojournalism.  A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion for a quirky photograph.

Overall, different lenses can give you a plethora of artistic options when it comes to photography.  Knowing which lenses work best for the type of shot you want to achieve will give you professional results you cant get without exploring the options of lenses available.  

Separating vocals and instrumental from an audio track.

Ever wanted to separate the vocals and instrumentals in a song for karaoke or mixing purposes? There is a pretty quick and easy way to do this through Audacity. The link below is a tutorial for this process and there are other videos like it on Youtube. The simplicity of this method can risk sound quality as a result and some tweaking may have to be done to enhance the clarity of the modified audio track. Also, remember to make appropriate use of copyrighted and creative commons material.

iPad Mini... Is It Worth It?

The Student Multimedia Design Center has a couple iPads (1st generation) that have become available for students to check out and use. Some of you may have already tried them out, and as many of you may know by now, the new iPad Mini and iPad "4" (4th generation) will be released tomorrow. With  iPad 4 (which I will refer to from here on out as just the iPad)  only $170 more expensive, is it worth the lower cost for a smaller size? Let's compare the two and find out!

So Apple came up with the iPad mini as a way to compete with smaller sized tablets such as the Nook and the Kindle, which both have versions that are currently around 7 and 9 inches. The iPad is at 9.5 inches and the mini will weigh in around 8 inches. So, not too much of a size difference.

Now looking at the mini and the iPad side to side lets look at all aspects and see if you get more bang for your buck from one over the other.

Capacity
 The mini and the iPad both come in the same 3 standard sizes of 16Gb, 32Gb, and 64Gb.

Price
The mini costs $329, $429, or $529 (with respect to the sizes above) and the iPad comes in at $499, $599, and $699.

Size
The mini will come in (in inches) at 7.87 x 5.3 x 0.28 while the iPad will be 9.50 x 7.31 x 0.37.

Display
As for the display, the regular iPad has a retina display while the mini does not.

For those of you who don't know quite exactly what the retina display is, it is what apple refers to if their product has such a high pixel density that the human eye can not see the individual pixels from a normal viewing distance, thus providing a clearer sharper image.

Chip
The mini runs on dual-core A5 chip, while the iPad runs on a dual-core A6x chip with quad-core graphics.

This means that the iPad has an easier time running and displaying higher quality graphics, and Apple actually claims that it will at least double its graphic and processing speeds compared to the A5.

Camera, Battery, and Siri
Both versions have the same Facetime HD and iSight cameras and both allow 1080p video recording. Both have the same battery life, and both have voice assistant Siri, so no competition here.


Ok now that that's over, lets see if the iPad is worth the extra money. Strictly speaking in screen size and lets say the 64GB price, if you were to take no other factors into account, with a mini you are paying about $67 per diagonal inch. For the iPad you are going to pay about $72 per diagonal inch.
-So only about a $10 extra for screen size.

So for $170 more you get an increased sized, retina display, and also the A6x processor. For me personally, I would choose the full sized iPad. The A6x processor would be worth the price for me and also the clearer display is a big plus when watching movies, playing games, or really viewing anything. Maybe, the iPad is too big for some people in which case, the mini is a good choice. However, I believe that if size is not important when choosing a tablet then the full sized iPad is the way to go. 

Need more storage space online? Join the "Great Space Race!"

     Dropbox (not to be confused with UD's Dropbox) is one of the leading cloud storage hosting services on the internet. Many students, professors, and business groups already use the service. When a user first signs up for Dropbox they get a limited amount of allocated storage on the cloud and with the more people you invite to your shared folders the more space you accrue. Additionally you can pay for extra space and benefits.

     Right now Dropbox is hosting a competition called the Great Space Race. This competition requires you to have a Dropbox account set up on a .edu email address, and will grant extra storage to that account for two years. If you already signed up with an @udel.edu email address all you have to do is visit the Great Space Race Dropbox page, once signed in, to verify your University email account. Our University has already reached the 3GB checkpoint, so if you verifiy your udel.edu Dropbox account or create a new one you will automatically get an extra 3GB of storage. There are 3 more checkpoints obtainable if more people sign up, 8GB, 15GB, and 25GB. The more people to sign up, the more possible storage!