Opening, Closing, and Hiding Forms with Visual Basic .NET

Having multiple forms as part of your Visual Basic .NET program may be nice, but when your Visual Basic .NET program runs, it normally displays one form. To make the other forms of your program appear (or disappear), you have to use BASIC code to tell your program, "Okay, now put this particular form on the screen and hide this other form out of sight."

Opening a form

Before you can open (or close) a form, you need to know the specific name of the form you want to open or close. The Solution Explorer window lists the names of all the forms that make up your Visual Basic .NET program, such as a form named frmMain.vb.

After you know the name of the form that you want to display, you need to use BASIC command to open the form, such as the following:

Dim oForm As FormName
oForm = New FormName()
oForm.Show()
oForm = Nothing

In case the above four lines of BASIC code look confusing, here's a quick explanation on what they do:

1. The first line tells Visual Basic .NET, "Define an object named oForm, which will represent the form that you want to open, which is called FormName." So, if you wanted to open a form named frmMain, you would type: Dim oForm As frmMain

(The oForm name is arbitrary and can be any name you choose. The "o" is just shorthand for saying this is an object.)

2. The second line tells Visual Basic .NET, "Create a new object named oForm, which represents the form represented by the name FormName." (The main difference between the first and second lines is that the first line just told Visual Basic .NET to get ready to create an object to represent your form while the second line actually creates that object to represent your form.)

3. The third line tells Visual Basic .NET, "Show the form represented by the object oForm."

4. The fourth line tells Visual Basic .NET, "Set the object named oForm to nothing to free up the memory that it was taking up."

It's important to set the object to Nothing to free up memory because if you open up too many forms without releasing the memory they use, the computer could run out of memory and cause your program to freeze or crash.

Hiding (and showing) a form

If you want to temporarily make a form disappear, you can use the magic Hide command, such as:

FormName.Hide()

After you've hidden a form, you'll eventually want to make it visible again by using the Show command, such as:

FormName.Show()

Closing a form

Hiding a form just tucks it out of sight, but the form is still loaded in the computer's memory. To clear a form out of memory, you need to use the Close command, such as:

FormName.Close()

To make your program end, you have to shut down all your forms. At least one form of your program needs to have an exit command such as an Exit button or a File --> Exit command available from a pull-down menu. The BASIC code to close the last form of your program looks like this:

Me.Close()

If you look at the BASIC code that Visual Basic .NET automatically creates for each form, you'll see a command that looks like this:

Form1 = Me

This command just tells Visual Basic .NET, "The word Me represents the current form. So instead of having to type the form's complete name, such as frmMainWindow, you can just type Me instead."

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/opening-closing-and-hiding-forms-with-visual-basic.html

Exploring the Pros and Cons of Designer Dogs

A designer dog is a dog whose parents were both purebred dogs of different breeds. For example, a Golden Doodle has one parent who is a purebred Golden Retriever, and another parent who is a purebred Poodle. His mother may have been the Poodle, and his father may have been the Golden Retriever — or vice versa. The designer dog was bred intentionally by a designer-dog breeder. A non-designer mixed-breed dog is a dog who was bred either intentionally or by accident. One or both of his parents were not purebred dogs.

Although breeders of designer dogs feel they're meeting the needs of a particular niche of people, purebred breeders and purebred dog clubs, such as the American Kennel Club, think the entire trend is dangerous to all dogs.

The pros

One of the advantages of designer dogs is the sheer number of varieties available. More than 200 different hybrid combinations exist, which means there is a designer dog for every taste. Most of these hybrids are small and designed to have good personality combined with adorability

Designer dogs are created to fit every need — from pocket-size dogs for easy travel to low-shed dogs for those with allergies. Many of these designer-dog creations are free of some of the traits that can make life difficult for the purebred dog. For example, some purebreds, like the Pug, have a very short snout, making breathing difficult. But the popular Puggle — the hybrid of a Pug and a Beagle — has a longer nose while still maintaining the Pug's wrinkled forehead and loopy gait.

Many hybrid breeders claim their dogs have hybrid vigor, a strength that comes from having parents of two different breeds. The offspring of two different breeds rarely inherit genetic defects, because the bloodlines aren't as close as those of purebreds. Purebred dogs often have inherited traits that can cause genetic defects. For example, many retriever breeds tend to have cataracts or epilepsy, many large-breed dogs have hip dysplasia, and many small-breed dogs are prone to dental problems. Mixed-breed dogs rarely inherit these genetic defects, because their genetics are more varied. (Incidentally, this is true of all mixed-breed dogs, not just designer dogs or hybrids.)

The cons

The major con of designer dogs is the price. Most designer dogs cost upwards of $700, whereas many purebred dogs begin at $250. (Of course, mixed breed dogs are widely available for adoption, typically at prices set by rescue groups or animal shelters.)

Although each designer dog was bred for specific appearance and traits, there's a good chance that some or all of them will not develop in the offspring. Mixing breeds is chancy, because the outcome is not absolute. Although purebred dog offspring will always mature to appear like the parent dogs, the hybrid offspring may appear more like one parent than the other, or have a personality more like one parent than the other. So, although you might be searching for a small Yorkipoo, the pup might grow up to be the size of a large Yorkshire Terrier instead of a Teacup Poodle.

As much as the breeders of designer dogs claim that mixing two breeds improves the offspring's overall health, that presumption is debatable. Although many of the puppies don't show symptoms of the recessive genetic dysfunctions commonly seen in purebred dogs, many other puppies do. In fact, a hybrid puppy can have the poor luck to inherit the worst physical and temperament traits of both parents.

There are no guarantees when you get a dog — purebred, hybrid, or mutt.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/exploring-the-pros-and-cons-of-designer-dogs.html

Free Software: Migrating Your Mail to Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a great (and free!) e-mail program that offers you much better security than programs like Microsoft Outlook. Because Thunderbird doesn't allow scripts to run automatically, attachments with worms or viruses can't run in Thunderbird. Using Thunderbird can help stop worms and viruses from attacking your computer and spreading on the Internet.

You can use Thunderbird's Import Wizard to migrate your mail from Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, Netscape, or Eudora. Otherwise, you can use a manual procedure to migrate your mail. Thunderbird uses a standard mail format that's used by many other mail clients, so migrating mail either manually or with the Import Wizard is not complicated.

Migrating from Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, or Netscape using the wizard

After you download and install Thunderbird, and start it in Windows for the first time, the Import Wizard appears, requesting that you choose the e-mail program that you want to import your settings, address book, and mail folders from: Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape 6 or 7, or Mozilla 1.x. Choose your former e-mail program, or choose Don't Import Anything.

If you want to import your e-mail anytime after you first start your program, choose Tools --> Import to bring up the Import Wizard.

If you're importing from Netscape 6 or Mozilla 1.x, importing when you first install the program is a good idea, because if you don't you'll need to do it manually. (This is not a problem with Outlook Express or Outlook. They can be imported at any time.)

If you get the message "Unable to import mailboxes, can't create proxy object for destination mailboxes," open the e-mail program that you're trying to import mail from and rename your folders so that they don't contain any special characters, such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, and ( ). Then try importing again.

Migrating from Eudora or Netscape Communicator using the wizard

Choose Tools --> Import to open the Import Wizard; click the application that you want to import mail from and click OK.

Migrating from other e-mail programs

Thunderbird reads files in standard Unix mailbox format (.mbx). To migrate your mail from other e-mail programs, follow these steps:

1. Export your mail, in your original e-mail program, into .mbx format.

2. Quit your old e-mail program and change the name of the file by deleting its extension. For example, change myMail.mbx to myMail. Delete the period, too, and any special characters in its name, if it has any, such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, and ( ).

3. Close Thunderbird if it is running.

4. Locate Thunderbird's Profile directory on the Desktop or in the Finder (Mac). See Table 1 for the most likely locations of the profile folder.

If your operating system is Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you need to enable Windows Explorer to see both hidden and system files in order to see the Documents and Settings folder.

5. Move the file in step 3 to the /Mail/Local Folders subdirectory of Thunderbird's Profile directory.

Now when you start Thunderbird, you can access your imported files.

Table 1: Location of Thunderbird Profile Directories

Operating system	Log In	Location
Windows 95	No	C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows 95	Yes	C:\Windows\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default
Windows 98	No	C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows 98	Yes	C:\Windows\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default
Windows ME	No	C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows ME	Yes	C:\Windows\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default
Windows 2000	—	C:\Documents and Settings\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows XP	—	C:\Documents and Settings\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows NT	—	C:\WINNT\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Mozilla\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Mac OS X	—	~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/ [random string] .default/
Linux	—	~/.thunderbird/ [random string] .default/

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/free-software-migrating-your-mail-to-thunderbird.html

What You Can’t Do on Facebook

Facebook is meant to represent real people and real associations; it’s also meant to be safe. Many of the rules of participation on Facebook exist to uphold those two goals. The rules here may change how you use Facebook, but probably won’t change whether you use it.

There are things you can’t do on Facebook other than those listed here. For example, you can’t send multiple unsolicited messages to people you’re not friends with; you can’t join the school network of a school you didn’t attend (or a workplace network of a company you don’t work for); and you can’t spin straw into gold.

• You can’t lie: Okay, you can, but you shouldn't, especially not about your basic information. Lying about your identity is a violation of the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and grounds for your Profile being disabled. Although many people try, Facebook doesn’t let anyone sign up with an obviously fake name like Marilyn Manson or Fakey McFakerson. Those who do make it past the name checks will likely find their account flagged and disabled.

  
  



• You can’t be twelve: Or younger. Seriously. Facebook takes very seriously the U.S. law that prohibits minors under the age of 13 from creating an online Profile for themselves. This rule is in place for the safety of minors, and it's a particular safety rule that Facebook takes extremely seriously. If you or someone you know on Facebook is under 13, deactivate (or make them deactivate) the account now. If you’re reported to the Facebook user operations team and they confirm that you are underage, your account will be disabled.

  
  



• You can’t troll or spam: On the Internet, trolling refers to posting deliberately offensive material to websites in order to get people upset. Spamming refers to sending out bulk promotional messages. If you do either of these things on Facebook, there’s a good chance your account will get shut down.

  
  

  The logic for this is that Facebook is about real people and real connections. It is one thing to message a mutual friend or the occasional stranger whose Profile implies being open to meeting new people if the two of you have matching interests. However, between Facebook’s automatic detection systems and user-generated reports, sending too many unsolicited messages is likely to get your account flagged and disabled.

  
  

  Similarly, Facebook aims to be a “trusted” environment for people to exchange ideas and information. If people deliberately disturb the peace with pornographic, hateful, or bullying content, that trust is pretty much broken.

  
  



• You can’t upload illegal content: Facebook Users live in virtually every country in the world, so Facebook is often obligated to respect the local laws for its users. Respecting these laws is something Facebook has to do regardless of its own position on pornography (where minors can see it), copyrighted material, hate speech, depictions of crimes, and other offensive content. However, doing so is also in line with Facebook’s value of being a safe, happy place for people 13 and older. Don’t confuse this with censorship; Facebook is all about freedom of speech and self-expression, but the moment that compromises anyone’s safety or breaks any law, disciplinary action is taken.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-you-cant-do-on-facebook.html

Study Your Business’s Strengths and Weaknesses

To move from where you are today in your strategic plan to where you want to go, you have to determine your strategic position, or where you stand today. This process is like taking your SUV into a mechanic for the annual tune-up. You get an assessment of what’s working, what’s not, what you need to fix, and what can wait.

Use the following steps to get started on your strategic position:

1. Break down your internal environment into capabilities, resources, and processes.

   
   

   By doing so, you have a place to start assessing your company. Without these categories, the task can seem a little daunting. This format ensures that you’re looking at your strengths and weaknesses holistically, instead of approaching them haphazardly.

   
   



2. Perform a quick survey of your company’s strengths and weaknesses.

   
   

   Your organization’s strengths encompass everything your company does well, including capabilities, skills, and resources, that you can leverage and draw on to execute plans and actions in your company.

   
   

   Weaknesses, conversely, encompass everything that’s holding your company back from achieving your goals or serving your customers. You can conduct this exercise from either a bottom-up (individuals to managers to executives) or a top-down process. Alternatively, you can choose to focus just on your SWOT development on one or more strategic issues that you identified at the beginning of the process.

   
   



3. Dig a little deeper to get more specific about each area.

   
   

   Capture all your thoughts and keep them in order. For example, jot down thoughts about your effective customer relationship processes under Strengths and problems with employee retention under Weaknesses.

   
   

As you answer the questions and track your ideas throughout this process, you have a good starting point to summarize and add to your key strengths and weaknesses. (Remember, these ideas can become the basis for goals in your strategic plan.) Consider this grid a running list of thoughts about your strategic position as you move through the process.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/study-your-businesss-strengths-and-weaknesses.html

Corporation Tax in the UK

Corporation tax, or CT, is paid by limited companies and other organisations, including clubs, societies and charities, on their taxable profits. The rate of CT payable depends on the level of the company or organisation’s taxable profits.

Between the small profits rate and the full rate is a sliding scale known as marginal rate relief. If a company’s taxable profits are more than the small profits rate but less than the full rate, the effective rate of CT payable rises gradually from the lower rate to the full rate, depending on the amount of taxable profit.

Rate	2009–10 and 2010–11
Full rate	28%
Small profits rate	21%

The small profits rate is payable by companies with taxable profits up to £300,000. The full rate is payable on taxable profits above £1.5 million.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/corporation-tax-in-the-uk.html

Mindfulness For Dummies (UK Edition)

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Discovering Key Attitudes to Nurture Mindfulness

Your attitude to life makes all the difference. Use these attitudes to develop your capacity to be mindful, enabling you to live a more mindful life:

• Curiosity – Become curious about your experience. How do you feel emotionally? What kind of thoughts are going through your head? What does your body feel like at the moment?

  
  



• Acceptance – Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation. Mindfulness is about accepting how you feel right now, rather than denying it. Acceptance first, change comes later.

  
  



• Kindness – Bring a sense of warm and caring compassion to your moment to moment experience. Be aware of your moment to moment experience with your heart as well as your head.

  
  



• Letting go – You don’t need to try and hold on to pleasant experiences and push away unpleasant experiences. Have a sense of a light touch to your experience.

  
  



• Non–judging – Observe whatever you are experiencing as it is, rather than classifying it into good or bad, like or dislike.

  
  



• Non–striving – Allow yourself to experience whatever your experience is rather than creating a goal for some other experience and then striving to attain that different experience.

  
  



• Patience – Change takes time. Foster your capacity to be patient.

  
  



• Trust – Have confidence in the practice of mindfulness and in your inner self to guide you.

  
  



• Beginner’s mind – Nurture your sense of being a beginner rather than an expert. ‘In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.’

  
  

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Trying a Short Mindfulness Meditation

Your capacity to be mindful is most powerfully developed through mindfulness meditation. One of the most popular mindfulness meditations is mindfulness of breath. This involves being mindfully aware of your breath. Follow these steps to try mindfulness meditation out for yourself:

1. Be aware of the sense of your own breathing. You don’t need to change the rate of your breath. Just feel the physical sensation of your breath entering and leaving the body.

   
   

   You can feel the breath in the nose, the throat, the chest or down in your belly. If possible, try and feel the breath in the belly as it’s more grounding and is more likely to make you feel relaxed.

   
   



2. When your mind wonders off into thoughts, bring your attention back. It is the nature of thoughts to take your attention away from whatever you want to focus on, and into thoughts about the past or future, worries or dreams. Don’t worry about it.

   
   

   As soon as you realise that you’ve been thinking about something else, notice what you were thinking about, and gently guide your attention back to your breath. You don’t need to criticise yourself.

   
   

That’s it. Mindfulness of breath is as simple as that. Bring a sense of the mindful attitudes to your experience such as curiosity, kindness and acceptance. You can do this exercise for as short as a minute, or as long as an hour.

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Understanding the Three Aspects of Mindfulness

Mindfulness has three different aspects that operate together seamlessly to bring about a state of mindful awareness. Print out and pin up this list to remind yourself of what these are.

• Intention – Your intention is what you hope to get from practising mindfulness. You may want stress reduction, greater emotional balance or to discover your true nature. The strength of your intention helps to motivate you to practise mindfulness on a daily basis, and shapes the quality of your mindful awareness.

  
  



• Attention – Mindfulness is about paying attention to your inner or outer experience. Your mindful attention is mainly developed through various different types of meditation – either formal, traditional, or informal – when talking, cleaning or driving, for example.

  
  



• Attitude – Mindfulness involves paying attention to certain attitudes, such as curiosity, acceptance and kindness.

  
  

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Using Mindfulness to Cope with Difficult Emotions

We all have bad days; some are worse than others. When emotions become overwhelming, you can use this RAIN formula to help manage your feelings in a mindful way:

• R – Recognise the emotion you’re feeling. Name the emotion in your mind if you can.

  
  



• A – Accept the experience you’re having. Yes you probably don’t like the feeling, but the reality is the emotion is here at the moment.

  
  



• I – Investigate. Become curious about your experience. Where do you feel the emotion in your body? What kind of thoughts are going through your mind?

  
  



• N – Non-identification. See the emotion as a passing event rather than who you actually are, just as different images are reflected in a mirror but are not the mirror. Different emotions arise and pass in you, but are not you, yourself. The most powerful step is non-identification. Have the attitude ‘anger is arising and will soon pass away’ or ‘sadness is coming up in me, and at some point will dissolve’.

  
  

Sometimes you just need to do one step, whereas at other times you may want to work through the whole formula. Practise using the formula whenever you can, so when things become challenging for you, you’ll find it easier to use.

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Discovering the Core, Formal Mindfulness Meditations

To deepen your mindful awareness, you need to practise a formal mindfulness meditation on a daily basis. Familiarise yourself with some of the following mediations. In time, you will become more mindful in your day to day life.

• Body Scan Meditation – This meditation involves spending about half an hour or so, becoming aware of each part of your body from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, in a mindful way. This meditation is usually practised lying down.

  
  



• Sitting Meditation – This involves being mindful of your chosen object of attention whilst in a sitting posture. You can be mindful of your breath, your body, sounds, thoughts, emotions, or practise choice-less awareness.

  
  



• Mindful Movement – Taking time to do some yoga or stretching in mindful way is a powerful way of developing your capacity to be mindful, whilst at the same time becoming stronger and more flexible. Walking slowly and mindfully is also considered a wonderful way to practise formal mindfulness meditation. You don’t need to be physically still to practise meditation.

  
  

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Learning about True Mindfulness

Mindfulness is more than a set of techniques to practice. Mindfulness is about questioning your identity and relationship to the world around you. By understanding who you are at a deeper level, you are less affected by negative emotions, thoughts or physical sensations – you’re tackling the root of the problem. For these reasons, it’s worth spending some time and effort to find out for yourself who you truly are. Try this:

• Notice that your thoughts come and go. You are aware of your thoughts. You are that which is aware of thoughts – not the thoughts themselves.

  
  



• Notice that your emotions come and go too. You are aware of the emotion rather than being the emotion itself. You are the observer of the emotion.

  
  



• Observe that although your attention moves from one thing to another, your sense of being aware is always present. You’re always aware of something. Awareness is always on, and completely effortless. You are that awareness itself.

  
  



• Reflect on the statement: ‘I cannot be that which I observe’. Just as your eye is not the book, because the eye is observing the book, so you are not your thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions because you are observing them. You are the witness of them. As the witness you are completely free of them.

  
  



• Be as you are. You cannot become yourself, for you already are yourself! So, just relax and be as you are – effortless awareness. Awareness is your natural state – what you always have been and always will be.

  
  

  One of the most famous sages of the 20th Century, Nisargadatta put is this way: “Discover all that you are not – body, feelings, thoughts, time, space, this or that – nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive.”

  
  

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Practising Day-to-Day, Informal Mindfulness

The great thing about mindfulness is that you can practise it any time. Informal mindfulness meditation is when you practise mindfulness without carving out a special time for it. Here are ten examples of informal mindfulness meditation:

• Mindful communication – When you are speaking or listening to someone else, become aware of the sound of your own voice, or the voice of the other person. Each time your mind wonders off into other thoughts, kindly guide your attention back to the conversation without criticising yourself if you can.

  
  



• Mindful walking – The next time you’re walking somewhere, notice the sense of touch between your feet and the ground. Observe how your weight seamlessly transfers from one foot to the other, almost effortlessly. Smell the roses. Be in the presence of the present moment.

  
  



• Mindful exercise – The next time you’re in the gym, going for a jog, swimming or playing a sport, become mindful of what’s going on. Focus your mindful attention on your own body, thoughts, emotions or the environment around you. Become curious about your experience.

  
  



• Mindful working – Whatever your work is, by paying more attention to what you’re doing, you’re bound to achieve better results. Try reducing the amount of effort you make to pay attention, and let the focus be effortless, relaxed and calm, as best you can.

  
  



• Mindful holidays – It’s easy to spend half your holiday thinking about the next holiday rather than actually being there. Feel the gentle warmth of the sun, put the camera down every now and then and connect with the scenery with your own eyes. Breathe the fresh air. Be grateful for having the time and money to go on holiday.

  
  



• Mindful waiting – You need to wait in a queue in shops, in your car, on public transport. Instead of becoming frustrated, practise some mindfulness of breath. When you’re in traffic, notice the colour of the sky or trees. When in a supermarket, feel the calming sensation of your own breath.

  
  



• Mindful listening to music – Get yourself comfortable, switch on your favourite piece of music and simply listen, moment by moment. As usual, after a while your mind will begin thinking of other things – just gently guide your mindful attention back to the sounds of the music. Be aware of both the sounds and the silence between the sounds. Notice how all sounds arise and fall back into the ever-present silence.

  
  



• Be accepting of others – Allow other people to be human and make mistakes. Be prepared to accept apologies and forgive others for their indiscretions.

  
  



• Stimulate your appetite for knowledge and experience – Stretch yourself by reading, studying and taking on new skills.

  
  



• Live in the moment – Pause to sniff those roses. Take a break from speculating about the future and sifting over the past. Instead, put the full weight of your attention into the here and now.

  
  

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dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/mindfulness-for-dummies-cheat-sheet-uk-edition.html

Digital Photography All-In-One For Dummies

Knowing your way around digital photography is easy once you’re familiar with the layout of a basic digital camera and a few digital photography terms.

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Basic Parts of a Digital Camera

Don’t let all of the controls on a digital camera scare you. Selecting the right camera to get you into digital photography is a snap. Here are the common components of a typical, non-SLR digital camera (not all cameras have the exact same features):

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Front view of a digital camera.

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Back view of a digital camera.




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Faking Your Way through Digital Photography

Do you clam up when the topic turns to digital photography? Here are some hot topics and cool terms to use if you want to sound like you are living on the leading edge of digital photography technology:

• Aperture priority: A camera control that lets you choose the lens opening, letting the camera’s exposure meter automatically determine the appropriate shutter speed.

  
  



• Calibration: Zeroing in components of your computer system (such as your monitor) to provide color that matches the original.

  
  



• CCD, CMOS: Two kinds of computer chips used as sensors to capture images in digital cameras.

  
  



• Compact Flash, Secure Digital, xD, Memory Stick: The four competing types of removable storage for digital cameras.

  
  



• Compression: A way of using software to squeeze an image down to a smaller, more manageable size. If you want to seem really cool, use the terms lossless compression (which doesn’t discard any information during the squishing process) and lossy compression (which does throw away some image information but makes smaller files).

  
  



• Depth of field: How much of your image is in focus at one time.

  
  



• Digicam: A cool term for a digital camera.

  
  



• Dye-sub: A kind of printer that produces extra-good hard copies of digital images.

  
  



• Interpolation: A process by which software pulls pixels out of thin air to produce an image with higher resolution. (Actually, it calculates the pixels based on those that already exist.)

  
  



• ISO: Shorthand for the speed equivalent of a digital sensor when compared to traditional film sensitivity, such as ISO 100 or ISO 200. (ISO is the International Organization for Standardization. To earn extra awe, point out that ISO is not an acronym but comes from the Greek word isos, meaning “equal.”)

  
  



• JPEG: An image file format used by most digital cameras to make images really small so more of them will fit in the camera. JPEG uses lossy compression.

  
  



• Megapixel: One million pixels; a measurement of the resolution of your camera’s sensor.

  
  



• Ppi: Picture elements (pixels) per inch; the more the better, especially when it comes time to make a print.

  
  



• RGB: Red/green/blue: the primary colors of light used by your digital camera to capture images.

  
  



• Resample: To change the size of an image by recalculating the pixels.

  
  



• Resolution: How sharp your camera, monitor, or scanner is.

  
  



• Shutter priority: A camera control that lets you set the length of the instant of time used to take the picture (the shorter the better when it comes to freezing action) and lets the camera’s exposure meter automatically determine the proper lens setting.

  
  

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dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/digital-photography-allinone-for-dummies-cheat-she.html

How to Get Customers to Your Business Web Site

The Internet is a big place, and getting bigger everyday. Having a business Web site does no good if nobody can find it. You need to promote your business's Web site through both online optimization for search engines and offline promotion if you expect to reap any rewards from it.

Online optimization

A search engine like Yahoo! and Google can comb the billions of Internet pages to find the information you need. One problem with search engines is that they’re so incredibly thorough. The simpler the search, the more millions of hits (sites that fit the search criteria) will be returned. Another problem is that no single search engine covers the entire Web.

Don’t worry about getting your site listed on more than eight or nine search engines. Each person may check one or maybe two of the major engines, so don’t bother with the little ones.

Each search engine ranks the sites using different criteria — and those criteria change often. the algorithms that the engines use to rank sites are highly secret, but some common elements never change. This ranking system is why finding a Web site developer who understands how to optimize your site for search engines is so important.

Search engine optimization (SEO), is a subject all its own. If you want to find out more — a lot more — about SEO, check out the Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies.

Offline promotion

You can do a lot offline to let people know you have a Web site, too. Put your URL on everything: brochures, business cards, direct mail, newspaper ads, radio and TV commercials, stationery, t-shirts, pens, tiepins, refrigerator magnets, your storefront sign, even your answering machine or voicemail message — in other words, everywhere you would put your phone number or street address.

Give people a reason to visit your site. Offer something free, such as information about an amazing diet or a free t-shirt. Most people who see your URL on a billboard won’t rush home to view your site unless something is in it for them. Offer convenience. Offer online ordering. Offer something.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-get-customers-to-your-business-web-site.html

Facebook FAQs

You might find you have new questions about Facebook often. Each year, Facebook modifies parts of the site, redesigns how certain pages look and feel, and adds features. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions:

• Is my computer infected with a virus? One of the main ways that people discover they've picked up a virus through Facebook is when a friend receives a message from them that looks like spam. If this situation happens to you, your first step should be to change your password by clicking the Forgot Your Password link from the log-in page, or going to Account Settings. Often, viruses hack an account and change the associated e-mail address or password to take control. If you can’t change your password, that’s probably what happened. If that’s the case, contact Facebook customer support immediately by going to the Security Help topic in the Help center: Finally, you should run a virus scan of your computer to help remove any malware that might have ended up on your computer as a result.

  
  



• Do people know when I look at their timelines? No. No. No. When people see stories about their friends pop up on their Home page, they sometimes get a little anxious that this means Facebook is tracking everything everyone does and publishing it to everyone else. That’s not true.

  
  



• I can’t remember my password. Can you reset it for me? No. Click the Forgot Your Password link on the login page to start the reset process, which entails Facebook sending a reset link to your e-mail account.

  
  



• My account got deactivated because it said I was sending too many messages. Why? When an account starts sending a lot of messages in quick succession, especially when those messages contain links, this looks a lot like spam to the system. In most cases, the person is warned first, but if the behavior continues, his account is disabled. The only way to have this action reversed is to write in through the Help pages and request reactivation. To write in, click Help Center from the Account menu — the white downward-facing arrow — from the blue bar on top. Search for an FAQ titled My Personal Facebook Account Is Disabled, and follow the instructions for contacting Facebook. This can sometimes take several days.

  
  



• What do I do with friend requests I don’t want to accept? There are a number of actions you can take:

  
  
  
  

  • Many people just leave the request sitting there forever.

    
    
  
  

  • Click Not Now.

    
    
  
  

  • If you don’t want to accept because you don’t want that person having access to your timeline, you can accept the request and then add him to a special restricted Friend List.

    
    
  
  

  • If you don’t want to accept because you don’t want to read about that person in your News Feed, no problem! Simply hit Accept. The first time she shows up in News Feed, hit the caron (downward-pointing triangle) at the upper-right of the story and choose Unsubscribe from <friend’s name> or Hide All by <friend’s name>. This action removes her from your News Feed for good until you choose to add her back.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Will Facebook start charging me to use the site? Another simple answer: No. This rumor is a particularly nasty one that makes the rounds every now and again via people’s statuses. There are several variations, but they always seem to involve asking you to repost the status that Facebook is shutting down/going to start charging/running out of names. Don’t fall victim to this ruse. Facebook has long maintained that it will always be free to users. Unless you’re advertising something, Facebook will always have space for you for free.

  
  



• How do I convince my friends to join Facebook? Most methods for persuasion involve showing (rather than telling) your friend the value by sending him links to the photos you post on Facebook, putting his e-mail address on the invite of Event and group invitations, or even sending him links and messages (again, by putting his e-mail address on the To line) from the Facebook Inbox.

  
  



• What if I Don’t want everyone knowing my business? You can be an extremely private person and still derive nearly all the same value out of Facebook as anyone else. All you have to do is learn how to use the Privacy controls and lock down all your information and access to your timeline, ensuring that only those you trust can see your info. From there, you can interact in all the same ways as anyone else without feeling like your privacy is being compromised.

  
  



• I heard Facebook owns everything I put on its site — true? In a legal sense, yes. You also own everything you put on Facebook, and whenever you delete any of your content, it will be deleted by Facebook. What Facebook doesn’t own (but you do) is the right to transfer ownership of any of your content to anyone else. So it’s completely illegal for anyone else to take your content from Facebook and use it for their own or any commercial use.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/facebook-faqs.html

How to Update Applications Software

If you don’t know how to perform software updates, you won’t benefit from application improvements, bug fixes, and new security defenses (including virus and malware attacks). Follow these instructions and get the new software versions online. These steps show how to manually update applications, but you can set up your computer to automatically update.

1. Check the File and Help menus for update instructions.

   
   

   You should be able to find the software version number also on the Help menu.

   
   



2. Choose Start→Programs→All Programs.

   
   



3. Look for the install directory of an application you want to update. Look for an update program option.

   
   



4. Point your Internet browser to the software manufacturer's Web site and look for update instructions.

   
   



5. Download a newer version than the version you’re running.

   
   



6. Install according to the software directions.

   
   



7. Run diagnostics and use a defragmentation utility, which differs depending on your operating system:

   
   

   Windows XP:

   
   
   
   

   1. Choose Start→All Programs.

      
      
   
   

   2. Select Accessories→System Tools.

      
      
   
   

   3. Click Disk Defragmenter.

      
      
   
   

   4. Select the drive you want to defragment.

      
      
   
   

   5. Click Defragment.

      
      
   
   
   
   

   Windows Vista or Windows 7:

   
   
   
   

   1. Choose Start→Control Panel.

      
      
   
   

   2. Click System and Security.

      
      
   
   

   3. Choose Defragment Your Hard Drive in the Administrative Tools section.

      
      
   
   

   4. Choose the drive you want to defragment.

      
      
   
   

   5. Click Defragment Disk.

      
      
   
   
   
   

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-update-applications-software.html

How to Postpone Reconciling a Quicken 2012 Credit Card Account

You can postpone reconciling a credit card account in Quicken 2012 by clicking the Finish Later button on the Reconcile screen. When you click this button, you abandon your reconciliation work. Transactions that you mark as cleared still show the c in the Clr text box. You still have an inexplicable difference between the credit card statement and your register.

Even so, postponing a reconciliation is usually better than forcing the cleared balance to equal the credit card statement balance. By postponing a reconciliation, you can hopefully find the problem or problems and fix them. Then you can restart the reconciliation and finish your work. (You restart a credit card reconciliation in the same way that you originally start one.)

When you finish, Quicken redisplays the Transactions tab. You may notice that when you mark credit card transactions as cleared, Quicken puts a c in the Clr column of the credit card register. When you finish reconciling the credit card account, Quicken changes all these cs to Rs.

None of what Quicken does here is magical. Quicken just makes this change to identify the transactions that have already been through the reconciliation process. (The c shows that a transaction has been marked as cleared. The R shows that a transaction has been reconciled.)

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-postpone-reconciling-a-quicken-2012-credit-.html

How to Take Sharp, Focused Point-and-Shoot Photographs

If you’re an artiste and a photographer, you may occasionally want a picture to be out of focus, but in everyday photography, a fuzzy photo is a no-no. Symptoms of this common photographic affliction and how to diagnose and cure it appear in the following list:

• Symptom: Something other than the main subject is sharp — usually the background.

  
  
  
  

  • Cause: Camera focused on the wrong thing.

    
    
  
  

  • Solution: Lock the focus on the main subject before shooting.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Symptom: Overall unsharpness, often with a glowing quality or a slight halo around light areas of the subject.

  
  
  
  

  • Cause: Smudge on the lens.

    
    
  
  

  • Solution: Clean the lens with lens cleaning tissue and solution.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Symptom: Overall unsharpness in nonflash pictures, sometimes with visible blur or streakiness.

  
  
  
  

  • Cause: Involuntary camera shake.

    
    
  
  

  • Solution: Use a faster film (ISO 400 or 800) or set fill-flash mode to force the flash to fire.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• *Symptom: The main subject is unsharp, but things right behind it are sharp.

  
  
  
  

  • Cause: Subject too close.

    
    
  
  

  • Solution: With autofocus models, make sure that the viewfinder’s focus-OK lamp glows steadily before shooting — and back up a little if it’s blinking. With non-autofocus (focus-free) models, stay at least four feet from the subject.

    
    
  
  
  
  

If none of these solutions helps, the problem may be with your lens or focusing system — and may require repair.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-take-sharp-focused-pointandshoot-photograph.html

Using Twitter in Your Web Marketing Campaign

Twitter is a microblogging service — as well as a social network — because its tweets (short messages sent by way of Twitter) started out as short journal entries about life to be shared with friends and business contacts.

Soon, however, tweets about what people were drinking during happy hour expanded to tweets about where to find low-price gas, commercial messages about special sales and discounts, breaking news about wildfires or traffic jams, and revolution in the streets of the Middle East.

Businesses can use Twitter to share time-dependent information with customers and prospects, factors to help you decide whether this social media channel has potential for your company, and tips for getting started.

Twitter is hard to imagine without seeing it. Take a look at the stream of tweets as seen on a computer screen for Olo Yogurt Studio in the following illustration. The left pane shows these elements:

• Twitter handle: Also called the username and designated as @address (in this case, @oloyogurt).

  
  



• Stream of tweets: Short posts displayed in reverse chronological order.

  
  



• Shortened URLs: Shortened links, which sometimes look like gibberish, are needed because of the limited number of characters in a tweet; Twitter and third-party sites, such as Bitly, generate shortened URLs for you.

  
  



• Hashtags: Starting with a #, hashtags enable users to sort and find tweets on a specific topic.

  
  

In the upper-right corner of the right pane, you see

• Profile: A short description of the company, followed by the domain name for its website

  
  



• Tweets: Number of tweets sent by this account

  
  



• Following: Number of people this account receives tweets from

  
  



• Followers: Number of people receiving tweets from this account

  
  



• Listed: Number of lists on which this account appears

  
  >

  >

  Credit: Used with permission by Olo Yogurt Studio, Albuquerque, NM>

  Olo Yogurt’s twitter feed displays a typical stream of tweets.
  
  

>
dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-twitter-in-your-web-marketing-campaign.html?cid=RSS_DUMMIES2_CONTENT

Slow Cooking Temperatures

Pick up a thermometer for a quick and easy way to determine if your meal is cooked to a safe temperature. Here’s a guide for using your slow cooker and cooking to a temperature that’s safe.

Food	Safe Cooking Temperature in Degrees F
Eggs	Cook until yolk and white are firm
Egg dishes	160
Ground Meat and Meat Mixtures
Turkey, chicken	165
Veal, beef, lamb, pork	160
Fresh Beef
Medium rare	145
Medium	160
Well done	170
Fresh Lamb
Medium rare	145
Medium	160
Well done	170
Fresh Pork
Medium	160
Well done	170
Poultry
Chicken, whole	180
Turkey, whole	180
Poultry breasts, roasted	170
Poultry thighs, wings	180
Ham
Fresh (uncured)	160
Precooked (ready to eat)	140

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/slow-cooking-temperatures.html

How to Access Junos Devices with SSH

Junos OS supports telnet access to Junos devices, but to be more protective with your login credentials, you want to use Secure Shell (SSH). SSH differs from Telnet in that it enables the exchange of data between you and your device over a secure channel. You must explicitly enable the encrypted SSH service on the device:

[edit]
system {
  services {
    ssh;
    telnet;
  }
}

After you enable SSH on the device, you can access the device through an encrypted session. Because this session is encrypted, you can now log in to the device remotely using the root login:

> ssh -l root router
root@device's password:
--- JUNOS 11.1I (JUNIPER) #3: 2011-07-30 02:18:17 UTC
root@device%

When you log into the device as root, you log in directly to the FreeBSD shell. To start the CLI, issue the cli command at the prompt.

A fairly simple way to help strengthen your device against attack is to limit the number of access sessions that can be attempted per minute. If you imagine an automated script trying thousands, or even millions, of login/password combinations, you can see how a hacker might try to gain access to your device. Use the rate-limit statement to limit the number of tries to something reasonable:

[edit]
system {
  services {
    ssh {
      rate-limit 15;
    }
    telnet {
      rate-limit 15;
    }
  }
}

Although Telnet is the old-school original remote access method and it may hold a fond place in your heart, when it comes to accessing devices, Telnet can be fairly insecure.

Traffic exchanged via a Telnet session isn’t encrypted, and no safeguards ensure that traffic being sent across a Telnet session is received by the end device and not intercepted somewhere between you and the machine you’re accessing. Unfortunately, this setup makes it fairly simple to sniff the traffic and steal logins and passwords.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-access-junos-devices-with-ssh.html

Getting to Know the Parts of an Excel 2007 Chart

1 of 12 in Series:
The Essentials of Working with Charts in Excel 2007

The typical chart (or graph) in Excel 2007 comprises several distinct parts, including the chart area, data series, axes, legend, plot area, gridlines, data markers, and more. The following list summarizes the parts of a typical chart, some of which appear in the illustration.

>

>

A typical column chart containing a variety of standard chart elements.

• Chart area: Everything inside the chart window, including all parts of the chart (labels, axes, data markers, tick marks, and other elements listed here).

  
  



• Data marker: A symbol on the chart that represents a single value in the worksheet. A data marker (or data point) may be a bar in a bar chart, a pie slice in a pie chart, or a line on a line chart. Data markers with the same shape or pattern represent a single data series in the chart.

  
  



• Chart data series: A group of related values, such as all the values in a single row in the chart. A chart can have just one data series (shown in a single bar or line), but it usually has several.

  
  



• Axis: A line that serves as a major reference for plotting data in a chart. In two-dimensional charts there are two axes — the x-axis (horizontal/category) and the y-axis (vertical/value). In most two-dimensional charts (except column charts), Excel plots categories (labels) along the x-axis and values (numbers) along the y-axis. Bar charts reverse the scheme, plotting values along the y-axis. Pie charts have no axes. Three-dimensional charts have an x-axis, a y-axis, and a z-axis. The x- and y-axes delineate the horizontal surface of the chart. The z-axis is the vertical axis, showing the depth of the third dimension in the chart.

  
  



• Tick mark: A small line intersecting an axis. A tick mark indicates a category, scale, or chart data series. A tick mark can have a label attached.

  
  



• Plot area: The area where Excel plots your data, including the axes and all markers that represent data points.

  
  



• Gridlines: Optional lines extending from the tick marks across the plot area, thus making it easier to view the data values represented by the tick marks.

  
  



• Chart text: A label or title that you add to the chart. Attached text is a title or label linked to an axis such as the Chart Title, Vertical Axis Title, and Horizontal Axis Title that you can’t move independently of the chart. Unattached text is text that you add with the Text Box command button on the Insert tab of the Ribbon.

  
  



• Legend: A key that identifies patterns, colors, or symbols associated with the markers of a chart data series. The legend shows the data series name corresponding to each data marker (such as the name of the blue columns in a column chart).

  
  

>
dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/getting-to-know-the-parts-of-an-excel-2007-chart.seriesId-77223.html

The Role of Vitamin D in Preventing Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most common deadly cancer among both men and women. Studies suggest that normal vitamin D levels may help prevent lung cancer. In the United States in 2009, about 220,000 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed. That same year, about 153,000 people died of lung cancer. People over age 65 are mostly affected.

It’s no secret that long-term exposure to smoke from cigarettes causes lung cancer. Of the 15 percent of lung cancer patients who haven’t been exposed to smoke, other factors, like exposure to radon gas, asbestos, and air pollution, are responsible.

Lung cancer signs and symptoms

Lung cancer is classified according to the type of cell involved. Two major types make up 97 percent of all lung cancers. Most lung cancers (80 percent) are non-small-cell lung cancers. The other 17 percent are small-cell lung cancers, which, despite being made up of small cells, produce a large tumor.

The small-cell cancers contain hormones that can cause abnormalities like high calcium from production of a hormone that mimics parathyroid hormone. Another hormone produced by small-cell cancers is antidiuretic hormone that results in low blood sodium and fluid overload.

Lung cancer has the following signs and symptoms:

• Constant cough

  
  



• Cough that produces blood

  
  



• Difficulty swallowing

  
  



• Hoarse voice

  
  



• Pain in the chest or abdomen

  
  



• Pneumonia

  
  



• Shortness of breath

  
  



• Spread to the brain, bones, liver, and kidney

  
  



• Weight loss and loss of appetite

  
  

Lung cancer diagnosis and treatment

A chest X-ray is the first study done to look for lung cancer. It may show the tumor and/or widening of the structures in the middle of the chest from the cancer’s spread to the lymph nodes there. The tumor then is biopsied to make a definitive diagnosis.

Treatment depends on the type of cell, the amount of spread, and the physical fitness of the patient. The treatments include surgical removal (if possible), chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Surgery can involve anything from removing part of the lobe of the lung in which the tumor is found, to removing an entire lung. As with other cancers, the tumor is staged based on how much spread has occurred at the time of diagnosis.

Prognosis for either type of lung cancer is poor. By the time the diagnosis is made, the cancer is usually advanced. It makes good sense to try to prevent lung cancer instead of treating it after it has occurred.

The single best lung cancer prevention advice is to reduce or stop smoking. Smoking has been reduced in the United States and throughout the world by laws prohibiting smoking in public places. If a person stops smoking before age 45, he is at low risk of developing cancer.

Vitamin D’s role in lung cancer

Several discoveries seem to point to a relationship between normal levels of vitamin D and the prevention of lung cancer. Some of the more significant findings include the following:

• Normal lung tissue, premalignant lung tissue, and malignant lung tissue all have the vitamin D receptor. For calcitriol to perform its anti-cancer work, it has to be able to bind to the appropriate tissue.

  
  



• There is an inverse association between the amount of exposure to ultraviolet B rays (the rays of sun that are responsible for triggering vitamin D production in your body) and the occurrence of lung cancer. The more exposure, the less common the cancer.

  
  



• Patients who have surgery for lung cancer during the summer, when ultraviolet B is at its height, have a better prognosis than those who have surgery in the winter.

  
  

What is missing to complete this story are studies that show that lung cells or lung cancer cells are influenced by calcitriol; that high serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are associated with low lung cancer risk; and that giving vitamin D supplements to people with low vitamin D status help them avoid lung cancer.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-role-of-vitamin-d-in-preventing-lung-cancer.html

How to Create Back-End Accounts in Joomla

Joomla has three levels of user permission groups for back-end functions in Joomla — Managers, Administrators, and Super Users. Assigning accounts to these permissions is done in Joomla’s User Manager.

First a quick overview of the different account levels:

• Managers can manage everything having to do with site content.

  
  



• Administrators can perform administrative functions.

  
  



• Super Users can do anything that’s possible to do on a Joomla site.

  
  

Create managers in Joomla

Managers are back-end content managers and can do anything related to the content of your site, such as writing articles, editing them, and publishing them — all from the back end. They can’t do the following, however:

• Manage users

  
  



• Install or uninstall modules

  
  



• Install or uninstall components

  
  



• Work with some components (as set by the super user)

  
  

These tasks are reserved for administrators and super users.

To add a new manager, click the New button in User Manager: Users to display the New User page; then fill in the user’s account information, making sure to add the user to the Manager group. When you finish, click the Save button.

Create administrators in Joomla

Administrators are near the top of the Joomla hierarchy. No one is higher than administrators except super users.

Administrators can manage other users (except super users); they can enable or disable user accounts; they can install or uninstall modules. They can’t do the following things, though:

• Add to or edit the Super User group

  
  



• Access the Global Configuration page

  
  



• Access the Mass Mail function to e-mail multiple users

  
  



• Manage, install, or uninstall templates

  
  

You add a new administrator the same way that you added a manager. Click the New button in User Manager: Users to display the New User page; then fill in the user’s account information, but this time add the user to the administrator group. Don’t forget to click the Save button when you finish.

Create super users in Joomla

Super users can do it all: publish and edit articles; set global configurations; install and uninstall modules, components, and templates; disable user accounts; create new accounts — and more. These administrators can do anything that a person can do in Joomla, either from the front end or the back end.

To create a super user, just click the New button in User Manager: Users, fill out the account information, and add the user to the Super User group.

With Joomla 1.6 there are no sacred cows so far as default categories go. Even the mighty Super User group can be deleted or altered to a specific end. If you wanted to, you could give the members of your Registered Users group the same privileges as your site’s Super Users. Probably not a good idea though.

You need at least one super user for every Joomla site, and when you create a new site, that’s you. The default super user account is given the username admin.

For security reasons, it’s a good idea to change the admin username once you have your site up and running. It’s an even better idea to create a second super user account and then delete the one that was created when you first installed your Joomla site.

Why? When Joomla creates that first super user account, it automatically gives the account a User ID of 42. Because all Joomla installations use 42 as the default User ID, there could be a risk of someone figuring out how to leverage this in order to gain access to your site’s back-end functions. So, do yourself a favor: set up a fresh super user account.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-create-backend-accounts-in-joomla.html

Understanding Collaboration as a Service in Cloud Computing

17 of 17 in Series:
The Essentials of Services in Cloud Computing

In the future, companies are likely to offer unified communications (an integration of telephony, instant messaging, and e-mail) as a service for cloud computing. Collaboration is one of the natural markets for cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS). There’s enough bandwidth and all companies are connecting to the Internet.

What companies are focused on collaboration as a service today? The following is a list to get you started:

• MicrosoftLive has made its first foray into collaboration as a service with its Meeting Live offering. Today Microsoft offers Meeting Live and live messaging services. In addition, Microsoft offers the ability to run its email server (Exchange as a Service). In the future, the company will have online versions of many of its collaborative applications.

  
  



• LotusLive is IBM’s collaborative environment that includes a set of tools including social networking, instant messaging, and the ability to share files and conduct online meetings. IBM is publishing interfaces to allow other collaborative tools to be integrated into the platform.

  
  



• GoogleApps from Google, which has as many as 1.5 million businesses that use its various collaborative applications including e-mail, document management, and instant messaging. It publishes APIs so third-party software developers can integrate with the platform.

  
  



• Cisco Webex Collaboration platform comes from Cisco (which bought Webex in 2007) and it has become the centerpiece of its collaboration SaaS platform. It will probably use this platform to add unified communications as a service.

  
  



• Zoho, an open-source collaboration platform, includes email, document management, project management, and invoice management. It offers APIs to its environment and has begun to integrate its collaboration tools with other companies, such as Microsoft. Zoho offers support for a fee.

  
  



• Citrix GotoMeeting offers an online meeting service as part of its larger suite of virtualization products.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-collaboration-as-a-service-in-cloud-.html

Recording a New Task on Your BlackBerry

Figure 1 Select New, and an empty Task screen appears.

3. Use the trackball to move to each field and enter information for your task.

Some fields are for text that you enter yourself, and some fields hold items you select from a menu specific for that field. In other words, for text fields, you have to type the stuff you want; but for nontext fields, you select the field, press the trackball again, and then select your choice from the selection that appears. (Pretty convenient, huh?)

To update a field from a list of choices, select that field and then press the trackball.

4. After filling in the relevant fields, press the menu key and then select Save.

Doing so saves your task, and you should see the task added to the Tasks list.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/recording-a-new-task-on-your-blackberry.html

Opening Up the Board with Open Chess Games

In chess, open games are defined by the moves 1.e4 e5. Many of these chess matches feature open files, ranks, or diagonals that facilitate piece movement. People who enjoy attacking early and often are typically drawn to open games.

Opening Name	Opening Moves
Alapin’s Opening	1.e4 e5 2.Ne2
Bishop’s Opening	1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
Damiano Defense	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6
Danish Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4
Evans Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
Elephant Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3
Falkbeer Counter-Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5
Four Knights Game	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6
Giuoco Piano	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
Göring Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3
Greco Counter Gambit (or Latvian Gambit)	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5
Hungarian Defense	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7
King’s Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.f4
Petroff Defense	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6
Philidor Defense	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6
Queen’s Pawn Counter-Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5
Ruy López	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5
Scandinavian Defense (or Center Counter Defense)	1.e4 d5
Scotch Gambit	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
Scotch Game	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4
Three Knights Game	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bb4
Two Knights Defense	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6
Vienna Game	1.e4 e5 2.Nc3

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/opening-up-the-board-with-open-chess-games.html

Shooting Your Marketing Video

You finished your script, and you're ready to commence production of your marketing video. But, if you've never been involved with a professional video or film shoot before, you may be overwhelmed or baffled about what elements need to come together, and in what order, to get your marketing video made.

Here's a list of the essentials you'll need to shoot your video:

• HD camcorder: Choose a major-brand camera that suits your price range and records to an SD card, flash drive, or internal hard drive. An external microphone jack will allow you to record better sound. Make sure you also have at least one extra battery, a charger, and extra recording media.

  
  



• Lighting: Make sure you have adequate light in your shooting locations. If the ambient light isn't enough, invest in a light kit or camera-mounted panel light.

  
  



• Sound: Consider upping the quality of your sound with a camera-mounted shotgun microphone, or a boom microphone plugged directly into your camera and operated by a crew member.

  
  



• Location: Choose a location that suits your script where you also have enough time and space to shoot your video with minimal interference. Make sure there's also a waiting area for your cast and room to store and charge your equipment. Remember — you can often barter free or cheap space with an offer of free publicity through your video.

  
  



• Props/costumes: Go through your script and make a list of every prop and costume you'll need. To avoid continuity errors, pay close attention to what your actors are wearing scene-to-scene.

  
  



• Cast: Cast the roles in your video with people who not only look believable, but can also speak and act well. Go with trained, experienced actors, if possible. Your local arts scene will likely offer up a community of actors that will suit your needs. Craigslist.com and Backstage.com are both great resources for casting.

  
  



• Crew: The most-essential crew positions are:

  
  
  
  

  • Director: in charge of all creative and technical aspects of production, calls "action" and "cut."

    
    
  
  

  • Producer: coordinates the overall production, keeps the shoot running on time and on budget.

    
    
  
  

  • Cameraperson: operates the camera, works with the director in setting up the shots.

    
    
  
  

  • Production Assistant: this position ranges from "go-fer" work to assisting in sound and lighting

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Scheduling: Once your cast, crew, and location are secure, schedule your shoot with ample time to get the footage you need. If you don't need your full cast all at the same time, stagger their arrival times.

  
  



• Shot list: Use your script and storyboard to create a list of every shot you need. Group the shots with the same location and cast members together to make the best use of time. Remember, most scripts are shot out of order.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/shooting-your-marketing-video.html

Choosing a Format for a Balance Sheet

Companies in the United States usually choose between two common formats for their balance sheets: the Account format or the Report format. The actual line items appearing in both formats are the same; the only difference is the way in which you lay out the information on the page. A third option, the Financial Position format, is more commonly used in Europe.

Account format

The Account format is a two-column layout with Assets on one side and Liabilities and Equity on the other side. Using the Account format, here’s a sample balance sheet.

Company X Balance Sheet As of May 31, 2011
Current Assets:		Current Liabilities:
Cash	$3,000	Accounts Payable	$2,200
Accounts Receivable	$1,000	Total Current Liabilities	$2,200
Inventory	$1,200	Long-Term Liabilities:
Total Current Assets	$5,200	Loans Payable	$29,150
Long-Term Assets:		Total Long-Term Liabilities	$29,150
Equipment	$5,050	Equity:
Furniture	$5,600	Capital	$5,000
Vehicles	$25,000	Retained Earnings	$4,500
Total Long-Term Assets	$35,650	Total Equity	$9,500
Total Assets	$40,850	Total Liabilities & Equity	$40,850

Report format

The Report format is a one-column layout showing assets first, then liabilities, and then equity. Using the Report Format, here’s the balance sheet for Company X:

Company X Balance Sheet As of May 31, 2011
Current Assets:
Cash		$3,000
Accounts Receivable		$1,000
Inventory		$1,200
Total Current Assets			$5,200
Long-Term Assets:
Equipment		$5,050
Furniture		$5,600
Vehicles		$25,000
Total Long-Term Assets			$35,650
Total Assets			$40,850
Current Liabilities:
Accounts Payable		$2,200
Total Current Liabilities			$2,200
Long-Term Liabilities:
Loans Payable		$29,150
Total Long-Term Liabilities			$29,150
Equity:
Capital		$5,000
Retained Earnings		$4,500
Total Equity			$9,500
Total Liabilities and Equity			$40,850

Financial Position format

The third type of balance sheet format, the Financial Position format, is rarely seen in the U.S., but is used commonly in the international markets, especially in Europe. This format doesn’t have an Equity section but includes two line items that don’t appear on the Account or Report formats:

• 
  

  Working Capital: Calculated by subtracting current assets from current liabilities. It’s a quick test to see whether or not a company has the money on hand to pay bills.

  
  


• 
  

  Net Assets: What’s left over for a company’s owners after all liabilities have been subtracted from total assets. (Note that Net Assets is the same number as Total Equity in the other two formats.)

  
  

Using the Financial Position format, here’s the balance sheet for Company X:

Company X Balance Sheet As of May 31, 2011
Current Assets:
Cash	$3,000
Accounts Receivable	$1,000
Inventory	$1,200
Total Current Assets		$5,200
Current Liabilities:
Accounts Payable	$2,200
Total Current Liabilities		$2,200
Working Capital		$3,000
Noncurrent Assets:
Equipment	$5,050
Furniture	$5,600
Vehicles	$25,000
Plus Noncurrent Assets:		$35,650
Total Assets less Current Liabilities	$38,650
Long-Term Liabilities:
Loans Payable	$29,150
Less Long-Term Liabilities		$29,150
Net Assets		$9,500

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/choosing-a-format-for-a-balance-sheet.html