I think it’s finally time to switch to analog. Funny, no? Usually you hear people going the other way around with things - from digital to analog. Well, all my life I’ve been going with digital watches. I’m addicted to Casio ever since they introduced their first calculator watch. But I figure now that I don’t really need these capabilities (cellphone, pda etc.) I may as well get a watch that looks more to my age :). But I figure just because the face of the watch is nice and elegant that doesn’t mean I can’t go with a cool high tech back end. I’ve been checking out the Casio watches selection at bluedial.com and I’m pretty sure I’ll go with the Casio WVQ120DA-2AV Men’s Atomic Executive Wave ceptor Solar Watch Blue Dial watch. What’s cool about the Wave captor watches is that they get their time automatically through radio signals sent from an atomic clock center. How can you beat that? It’s a nice classic looking watch with a nice young touch to it and even though the display is analog, it keeps time to the millisecond thanks to the atomic clock sync it performs numerous times throughout the day. It’s even powered by solar energy so you never have to change the battery or set the time.

Prices of HDTV’s have gone down drastically over the past year and a half and you can get high quality systems for pretty reasonable prices. But the cost of a high end HTDV system doesn’t just end with the price of the unit. In many cases people add hundreds of dollars on cables and peripherals to complete the system. But don’t think that you really have to spend a fortune in order to get high quality cables. Check out tca-inc.net – they offer extremely high quality HDMI Cables for as little as $30.

A digital camera makes it easier to edit, catalogue, print and share photos. This has become possible since it is able to electronically capture and store pictures as compared to traditional cameras that record images on to film. Through this capability, instant preview, download and image editing can be done on the computer. Unwanted shots can easily be deleted, thus eliminating the high cost and risk of film exposure.

Processing and printing are likewise as simple. There is a choice between saving the files to an SD Memory Card or CD-ROM and have them processed at the nearest photo center or buying an affordable and compact digital photo printer and have the photos printed in one’s home. Digital cameras are compatible with a number of devices like TVs and DVD recorders. Viewing the photos on a widescreen TV makes for an exceptional experience.

With the sudden popularity of digital photography, more and more people are turning towards editing software to create effects that look out of the ordinary. The tools of choice are Photoshop and the numerous third party plug-ins that everyone seems to use nowadays. Plug-ins provide effects that may supplement the filters and effects found in Photoshop.

Although there exists lots and lots of plugin designers, most are simply offering bells and whistles which you might not even get to really need at all. Here are some basic plug-ins for you to consider:

Andromeda offers several series of plug-ins foremost of which is called Scatterlight. It is a series of light diffusers and enhancers rolled into a convenient package.

Fred Miranda has a set of downloadable plug-ins and actions which may offer even better opportunities than the standard available on our options menu.

NIK is another tremendously popular plug-in, specially in the U.S.

Take a look at the picture to the right. Besides being a strange political situation with the president (or ex president) replacing places with his first lady, this picture also shows the power of a program called Morpheus Photo-Morpher. I actually created this picture (or Morph) where Bill is morphed into Hillary. You will notice that it’s not just a changing picture since various details of the image and even facial parts are slowly morphed into the next frame instead of just changing the image.

The outcome is really cool but is actually quite simple to do. Just visit Zoombli.com and download the Morpheus Photo-Morpher. It costs just $29.99 and you can make unlimited morphs. The way it works is you select two images you have on your computer. It is advised that they both have similar proportions but they don’t have to be the same size since the program knows how to compensate for this. You then go about selecting various points on the first image and mark the matching part of the second image (the part that is supposed to the the morphed version of that point). For instance, you can place a dot on each eye of the first image and then position the corresponding dots on the second image to the person’s eyes as well. The more dots you add, the better the morph will come out. I used about 20 different dots for the Clinton morph, I think it came out pretty good…. Don’t you?

It looks like trouble just isn’t ending for the Redmond giant. Not only is Microsoft slowly loosing market share to its long time nemesis Apple (Inc. not Computer…) but new statistics that have recently come out show a steady decline in the market share of their popular Internet Explorer web browser. Microsoft has seen a ten percent drop in market share to the increasingly popular mozilla firefox browser and for good reason. Mozilla Firefox offers a superb browsing experience which comes to play in an increased browsing speed, integrated popup blocker and a strong software infrastructure which is less vulnerable to spayware and adware than Internet Explorer.

One of the greatest benefits of Mozilla Firefox is its small footprint and simple installation. You can easily download mozilla firefox and install it as a second browser without disturbing or interfering with any other programs on your computer. Mozilla-firefox.com.au provides a mozilla firefox free download link for the latest version including the integrated Google search bar. Many people have been testing out Mozilla Firefox as a secondary browser but quickly got hooked and never turned back. Once you discover the enormous selection of toolbars and add-ons that are available for Firefox you will never turn back either.

Apparently there is another great feature to add to the list of iPod’s amazing features. It is impossible to scratch!

In contrast to the Nano which looked like a skating rink ten minutes after put into use, the iPod touch cannot be scratched by a safety pin, key or even razor.

It’s about time!

I’ll be honest, I don’t buy much software. Other than Windows (which came with my computer) and the Office suite, the only thing I bother paying for is an Antivirus program. I kind of switch on and off between McAfee and Norton Antivirus and typically decide on which to purchase when my yearly subscription expires. I find that there is plenty available in the form of freeware for most other types of programs. But a new cooperation between Google and Norton now offers consumers the option of downloading a free AntiVirus program, eliminating one more program that we have to pay for. You can find information on how to download Norton Security Scan as part of the Google Pack online at freeantivirusinfo.com.

It’s amazing how one company can have such a huge impact on the economy. But then again a company like eBay doesn’t come around everyday. I once read that the revenue of the deals that take place on eBay are equivalent to that of a small country. And the fact is that they really are like a small country since there are so many people who have made entire career and set up businesses completely based on the eBay selling platform.

There are so many success stories around eBay and an entire industry has been created around supporting these sales. There are numerous products nowadays making it either easier to sell on eBay or tools that can take your sales to new levels with statistical analysis and CRM capabilities. But the abundance of these products often makes it confusing to decide on a product and some of them are very expensive. A helpful article has been published on The Auction Software Review all about free eBay tools.

The article titled “Don’t pay for eBay selling tools!” claims there are enough great free tools available that there is no reason to pay for one. It’s worth reading.