Open Source Software

If you are looking for alternatives to buying software, try going the open source route. For all things open source visit: SourceForge.net

SilverDocs Festival in DC -end of June

http://silverdocs.com/event/about-silverdocs/
Celebrating the art and business of documentary storytelling, the Conference creates a hothouse environment that connects filmmakers, educators, broadcasters, business leaders, distributors, private and public media, and funders from both established and emerging media markets.

Book Design

I was asked today for advice about book design. There are some great sites "out there" that give helpful hints for creating your codex. There are also sites that allow you to design and publish your very own work. Here are a few links:

http://www.blurb.com/
http://www.lulu.com/publish/books/?cid=us_home_nav_bk
http://www.bookdesignonline.com/

Fancy new disk drive. . . for 1956.

Well, in 1956 this first ever disk storage unit (hard drive) weighed 2,000lbs and had a 5MB storage capacity. . . now that's fancy. It is really amazing how far technology has come.

IBM 350 disk storage unit

[ http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_PH0350A.html ]

File Storage and File Sharing

There are a number of places "out there" where you can share and store computer files. Out of the many options, here are three that may be of interest because of their free space options:

Microsoft offers file storage and share capabilities through SkyDive and Windows Live--upto 25GB free. Check it out here.

Dropbox also has free file storage and sharing capabilities. They offer 2GB for free and you can purchase up to 100GB. See it here.

4Shared offers 10GB of free space and up to 100GB if you purchase. See it here.

Save Money on Printing Web Pages

Buying printer ink can be expensive. To limit how much you print from web pages HP has created a great little tool for selecting only the parts of a page you really want. The tool is called Smart Web Printing and is available for free from HPs website:

http://www.hp.com/global/us/en/consumer/digital_photography/free/software/smart-web-printing.html

The tool also has a handy interface for exporting to PDF.

Smart Web Printing is currently compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, Internet Explorer versions 6, 7, and , and Firefox (before version 3.6).

USB 3.0

In the world of technology things are always moving, growing, expanding, increasing . . . and, well, changing.

Data transfer rates are increasing with the introduction of USB 3.0, which is about 10x faster than USB 2.0. While this sounds significant, and it is, there are other things on the horizon that are even faster.

Intel is working on a new technology they are calling Light Peak. Utilizing optical cables, Light Peak will start with a bandwidth of approximately 10Gb/s with the potential for up to 100Gb/s within the near future. Now that's fast. . . !

Read more about USB 3.0 and Light Peak from the links below:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/186566/usb_30_finally_arrives.html

http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/15/intel-predicts-light-peak-to-replace-usb-3-0/