Activity for January 9

Reviewed a program

Activity for January 8

Posted a comment

shelb's Profile

Member since April 18, 2007

  • Name

    shelb aaaaa

  • Location:

    Barbados

Favorite Files

Recent Posts

  1. Review - Google Chrome for Windows

    2.0.156.1 Beta (Jan 9, 2009)

    Chrome does not work with Adblock Plus. A browser that displays ads? Useless garbage. It is faster for Google Maps than Firefox though.

  2. Review - The GIMP

    2.6.4 (Jan 4, 2009)

    It IS the best free alternative to Photoshop if you have demanding tasks to do. For advanced retouching it is much better than any other free option. Very few free programs have the healing brush which GIMP has (only Krita does that I know of). If you are paid dozens of dollars an hour for your photo editing work, Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro will easily pay for itself in time saved. But if you are not a pro, you would have to be insane to buy Photoshop for $600.
    There are very few things you can do in Photoshop you can't with GIMP, but often Photoshop makes tasks easier and more efficient.

  3. Review - Paint.NET

    3.36 (Nov 29, 2008)

    Is there ANY free or affordable program that includes magnetic lasso? No- so it is irrelevant to mention it. Paint.net is a good balance between ease of use and features. GIMP is more powerful, but only a few % of people will be able to learn to use it. Picasa can't do much. If you need TWAIN it only takes a few seconds to scan/upload to Irfanview and then copy and paste into paint.NET.

  4. Review - VLC (VideoLAN) for Windows

    0.9.6 (Nov 21, 2008)

    Nice program, but be aware it is illegal to use in the United States and several other countries. It is able to decode many types of encoding that are covered by patents without paying the licensing fees. If you are using XP, all free DVD playback programs are illegal in the US. Vista includes the DVD codecs, so some free DVD programs are legal on Vista (the ones that use the Vista codec and don't include their own codec.)

    On XP, for MP3 playback, the fees for unlimited distribution are lower, so a few of the free programs are legal. Itunes has paid the fee and is legal to use for MP3 playback. Winamp has also paid the fee. Again, Vista includes the MP3 encoding and decoding codec, so any program on Vista that uses the Vista codec and does not include its own codec is legal.

  5. Review - Ubuntu

    8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 (Sep 12, 2008)

    Linux and Ubuntu run great for home users. Many video games are hard or impractical to get to run, but any other task is easily done in Ubuntu. Your computer will run twice as fast once you switch to Ubuntu, because you won't have to burden it with antivirus software. If you are one of the 10% of Windows users who are using a pirated copy, Ubuntu can relieve your conscience.

  6. Comment - Obama transition team suggests delaying DTV transition

    8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 (Jan 8, 2009 - 6:02 PM)

    Don't say that people buying new TVs when their old one stops working when analog goes away will be a good thing for the economy. Converter boxes and TVs are very low margin items, almost all the money spent on them is sent directly overseas to the Chinese manufacturers. Virtually none of it goes to help the economy in the US. It is much better for people to spend at local restaurants and for services like hair styling which benefit the local economy, but are typically the kind of expenses that people reduce when times are tight.

  7. Comment - CES 2009: Netbooks and notebooks from under $500 to over $5,000

    8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 (Dec 31, 2008 - 8:14 PM)

    Microsoft is only going to get one more chance to redeem themselves, Windows 7. If it isn't great, businesses are going to demand downgrade rights to XP and continued security patches. Some of those businesses will even switch to Linux if Windows 7 is really disappointing. There is NO WAY that Microsoft is going to risk sinking the whole company by releasing Windows 7 until it is awesome. That requires extensive testing, it cannot come out in 2009 as much as computer makers would like it to so they can get extra sales for back to school and Christmas 2009.

  8. Comment - AMD to terminate 100 more than planned

    8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 (Dec 30, 2008 - 6:28 PM)

    In the mid-range, for the same benchmark speed an Intel CPU is typically quite a bit more expensive than AMD. However, that same Intel CPU uses much less electricity under load than the comparable speed AMD CPU. Less heat produced means that everything in the computer will be more reliable (hard drives, power supply), and the energy cost savings can pay for the price difference over time, especially if your computer is under load constantly.

  9. Comment - CES Countdown #11: Are the desktop PC's days waning?

    8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 (Dec 23, 2008 - 11:35 PM)

    Wireless USB, gaming ability, and all the other things you mentioned are frivolous extras that almost nobody needs. No laptop will ever have expansion capabilities that make sense, prices for new laptops come down too fast for it ever to be justified to attempt upgrades.

    Any laptop can use a big monitor, and "seamless integration" is marketing wankspeak. The same mice can be used on macs or PCs, so why even mention them? The programs people use, a browser and a word processor, work totally fine on PCs.

    A great PC laptop costs $500, a great Macbook costs $1000. If you are an average Joe, unfortunately, the odds that you will destory your PC beyond repair with malware are pretty high. With a Mac, you would be safe.

    So, do you feel lucky? Can you outwit the malware? If so, save the $500 and buy a PC. But if you are not a tech expert, you are probably going to destroy that PC (even if you think you have antivirus software). You'd be a lot better off to buy the $1000 mac.

  10. Comment - In another tease, Sony promises to redefine the laptop

    8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 (Dec 22, 2008 - 12:17 PM)

    SSDs are a worthless fad. Compared to the weight of even a netbook, the weight difference doesn't matter. And measurements show that SSDs use MORE power than regular drives. Performance is better in some ways but worse in others. The only real benefit they have is ruggedness, but laptop hard drives are quite rugged already. Most laptops can be utterly destroyed by a drop and the hard drive will survive.