Fifty Years of Technology Gone?

Technology has come a long way in the past fifty years. And if I told you something about all the great technology that came about in the past fifty years I could go on forever!
But instead lets focus on some of the great technology we've enjoyed for approximately fifty years, and has also disappeared much too soon due to replacement of even newer technology.
Let's begin back around the late 1960's and into the 1970's with the development of the simple 8 track cassette which was the new technology for listening to music at the time. Now in order to listen to 8 Track Cassettes you just had to have an 8 Track Player to do so, and if you did you were all set to enjoy some music.
Personally I'm old enough today to have been around in that marvelous period of time to have seen the success and down fall of the great 8 Track Cassettes. I actually still have some of my old 8 Tracks from back then, but unfortunately I'm not able to listen to them since I do not have an 8 Track Player to do so. Now there was also a 4 Track Cassette at the time which was actually developed shortly before the 8 Track was but was short lived primarily because it only had two tracks meaning that when you wanted to listen to a different song you simply would push a button on the player to change the track on it. But with the 8 Track you actually had four tracks which gave you more of a selection of songs to choose from which was much more popular with people who bought them.
Now before long smaller Cassettes also for listening to music were on the market, they were more compact then the 8 Track Cassettes were. So now we had both 8 Track Cassettes and the compact smaller Cassettes to enjoy for our music entertainment, but it seemed before you could say "8 Track Cassettes" they we're gone! And now leaving us with only the smaller Cassettes to listen to and to enjoy.
So the only other format to play music at that time was the standard Photograph Record Player which of course had been around for many years prior. But as time went on once again Cassettes now were no longer available as well. So now you would no longer have to worry about tapes breaking or coming out of the cartridges with both 8 Tracks and Cassettes, but now they were both gone. While we still had the Photograph Record to enjoy music until the next big technology came along, but what would it be?
And that next big technology that allowed us to listen to music that sounded better than ever was the Compact Disc (CD), and this format was no longer a tape but a disc. I personally can still remember at the time when the local record stores took all of the photograph records off their selves in the store and replaced them all with Compact Disc's (CD), that was impressive for me because that was a major change from Records that I grew up with and had enjoyed playing for years but were no longer available, it had all changed now to CD's.
Now you had to of course change your players from the standard Record Player to the CD Player in order to enjoy your music, but probably the biggest benefit to changing this technology from records to CD's was they simply sounded much better by eliminating the "pops" that records typically would have. Now today we still have CD's, but with all the other means that people have to enjoy music off the internet the CD's are just not as popular as they had been in the past, and perhaps the day may not be far off before it will also become difficult to find them as well.
Now what about the technology that brought us the Video Cassette Recorder (VCR)? Well first with the Video Cassette Recorder basically there was two different types of tapes that were available to use on your VCR. First was the Beta Cassette, then their was the VHS Cassette. You can still purchase the VHS Cassette even though it may be difficult to do so. But as for the Beta you no longer can find them due to the simple fact that the Beta Cassette was simply much smaller than the VHS Cassette and as a result less storage space to record what you wanted.
The Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) was nice because you could record your favorite tv show and play them back and watch them anytime you choose to do so. At the time I personally recorded and purchased so many Cassette's that it had grown into a large Video Cassette Library that I in fact still have in addition to my VCR. But guess what! Beta and VHS were both tapes as were the 8 Tracks and the small Cassettes, and that is now old technology, and you may recall what happened to them, YES... they were replaced with the new technology just as the Video Cassette Recorder was.
Now what new technology was next? What great technology replaced the Video Cassette Recorder? The answer is the DVD Player! and is still a current technology enjoyed today and again has no tape, because it is simply a disc. Does this sound familiar? Of course, 8 Track Tape technology changing to CD's, and now with Video Tapes on the VCR changing the technology to DVD's.
So when it comes to enjoying music as well as enjoying watching movies all this technology may be only the beginning. And to fairly discuss all technology advances would require something short of writing a book. So since I'm focusing on just the technology in which I have discussed which was a large part of my life as I grew up, and knowing that so many young people were not around years ago to have experienced that technology as I did, but I sincerely hope that everyone will find it as exciting as I do, and will follow the continuous changes of technology as related to music and movie entertainment.
And now we can only wait for the next great technology change that gives us something we've never experienced before, in the mean time continue to follow the forever changes in technology.

Sometimes it may feel as though technology moves too fast, especially if we enjoy and love our technology that we are currently using. But when old technology is replaced with new technology it usually means that the old technology is no longer available, so what do you do then? look http://rahmanthamrin.blogspot.com

By William H. Hebda 

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Impressive Technology

Photopolymer Plates
The process is a simple theory, photopolymer properties alter under exposure to UV light. A similar technology exists in the coating on aluminium lithographic printing plates, both are exposed to UV light through a film (positive or negative) and in the case of 'positive' litho plates the exposed area is washed away but in the case of photopolymer the unexposed material is washed away while the exposed portion is hardened, therefore film negatives are used. Photopolymer is available in a variety of forms and thicknesses with different features, the principle feature for letterpress is the 'shore hardness' which can range from low 20's to around 85 for certain steel backed plates, the harder plates (60 upwards) being suitable for deeper impression work. There are certain issues to keep in mind - every part of the processing cycle is important and any variable makes a difference. Each plate type according to it's own specification will require different exposure times, washout times and temperatures, oven temperatures for drying and post exposure and drying times. It sounds complicated but it is surprisingly straight forward.
The Process
A film negative is made of the desired image or design to be printed or 'letterpressed'. A portion of photopolymer plate is cut corresponding to the image size then placed in the exposure tray. The film negative is overlayed ensuring the film (emulsion side down) is in good contact with no air bubbles or pockets between the film and plate which will cause UV leakage and a blurred image. The vacuum blanket is rolled over the film and plate, drawer closed and the exposure time begins starting the vacuum and UV lights. After exposure the plate is placed in the washout unit for several minutes (depending on plate type) in water around 20ºc. Soft brushes rotate to wash away waste material and the plate is immediately dehydrated to remove excess water and placed in the drying unit for the appropriate time at a temperature between 60ºc and 80ºc. After initial drying is complete plates are post exposed to UV light without the vacuum (as no film is used at this point) and placed once more in to the dryer, the second drying time is important to ensure the plates are properly 'detacked'. The plate is now finished and can be mounted on double sided adhesive ready to place on a precision ground metal base on the press, the whole process taking around 30 - 40 minutes. For letterpress the preferred plates are 'foil' (meaning plastic) backed rather than steel backed which are difficult to cut and work with, particularly for multi-colour work. Of the foil backed plates available the KF range by Toyobo is one of the most popular and widely used and particularly the KF95 (0.95mm plate) and the KF152 (1.52mm plate). It has to be remembered that the deeper plates like the KF152 need extra exposure time so the UV can penetrate to the floor of the plate and properly cure or harden the polymer. Failure to do this can result in weak plates that don't last the print run with fine details gradually disappearing from the inked impression. The plate must then be packed behind to compensate but this is problematic and not desirable. Even in well made plates there are limits to the degree of fine detail achievable in a photopolymer plate, lines below 0.3 pt may well not hold through the production process.
Developments
Important developments in technology have made the polymer plate system more feasible in recent years at both entry level and for large lithographic businesses both enjoying advancements towards a more 'computer to plate' (CTP) process. In lithography this is a slightly different process using a variation of the photopolymer plate system known as Flexography which focuses more on accurate halftones required by modern presses. For both Flexography and Photopolymer for Letterpress, CTP has been forwarded by the development of new polyester based films. Developments in laser films do not seem to be successful for this kind of high end work but inkjet films achieve consistent industry standard results with DMAX >4 though it is necessary to use a software RIP to achieve this. The success of the polyester films lies in the greater accuracy of modern inkjet printers (the minimum requirement would be an appliance like the Epson 4900 which is still a relatively modest investment) and in the science of the film product. We've tested a variety but endorse the Folex product Reprojet P HD available on 30 meter rolls or cut sheets. The film works not by holding sufficient ink to be a dense black and thus reach the DMAX target but rather by the filament within the structure of the film working with the ink to deflect light and cut it out from the polymer. We have found in testing that exposure times greater than required can result in UV leakage (particularly if the ink is too light) but then plate makers should be working to the guide times specified by plate manufacturers so this is not an issue. The film will hold a remarkable amount of ink which combined with the film's properties give excellent results. Trying to print film without a RIP like Waasatch, Filmgate or EFI just using the Epson onboard drivers will result in floating (ink literally floating on the surface) and wastage. These RIP's are and added expense to small print shops but there is a cheaper option in Accurip which we've tested running at droplet size 13 out of 15 and the results are excellent. We've also used EFI and are about to test Waasatch. Any of these RIP's perform the important task of taking control of the way ink is laid down as well as the amount whereas onboard printer drivers will put the ink down, in simple terms, too much too quickly.
Rising Demand
With the resurging interest in letterpress and particularly the artform side of this printing process, photpolymer plates have been in increasing demand in the UK and in particular plates that allow a deeper impression in to thick paper for the luxury stationery market. Although polymer plates have been available for a while the KF152 for deep impression work has not been distributed in the UK in recent times. There is now a distributor and Lyme Bay Press are providing KF152 plates as the sole distributor and a plate making service as well as technical support for those with printing problems, encouraging new growth in the letterpress community.
Conclusion
It may seem a little odd that Europe seems to be at the front of this technology, one normally thinks of Japan or the USA for innovation but for once legislation may have been a help rather than a hindrance. Europe has increased it's expectations of industry meeting environmental requirements in a way which is forcing improvements in the workplace. Traditional film making uses chemicals which are hazardous in use and difficult to dispose of, perhaps this has increased the demand for earlier film products to improve. Many litho printers (us included) will have used laser plates at one time or another for simple short run one colour jobs, it's quick and easy, printed straight from the desktop. The problems are damping issues which make these plates difficult to run but now it's possible to develop positive metal plates using inkjet film. Each year the report from DRUPA is the progress the printing industry is making in CTP. There are now printers which inkjet metal plates directly, though the investment is significant the time saving element is very desirable. There is much talk about the 'digital presses' which can inkjet 11,000 sheets per hour with ultra sharp dots. The inevitable question is the cost per impression which still means the digital route has not eclipsed the traditional press but it will come. To get back on target, our conclusion has been after vigorous research and testing, recent developments have made it possible to produce Litho standard Flexographic or Letterpress Photopolymer plates of a very high standard through CTP processes at a very affordable rate both in terms of initial investment and production, sufficient to make this a viable commercial interest.

KF152 Photopolymer Plates UK
Chase Base Plate Mounting

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By Bruce Maurward  

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Photo Editing Sites That Can Come In Handy

It's not like I am totally a computer freak or anything, but every time I am on my computer, I try doing or learning things I really enjoy or like. One of such things is photo editing. Now let me mention one thing very clearly, I am definitely not a 'geniously brilliant' person when it comes to computer stuff ( and I don't think I even want to be one:p) but I do all these stuff just for fun and do as long as I feel interest for these. To put in simpler words, my hobby for something remains as hobby until it becomes stress.
One thing to mention is that when I am talking of things like editing or gif or stuff like that, most of the time I do not include Photoshop on the list. Don't get me wrong, it's just I know PS does wonders ( once you know how to make it do so) and it's probably the best so far for editing and things like that for beginners as well as experts. But as a learner, I had hard times doing the same things I wanted because of not having a PS as I mentioned in my previous post. This is the very reason that even after I've started using PS I try finding out newer software and things till this date that can pretty much live up to the expectations of a learner or someone not having access to one.Okay, so I would like to share some of the photo editors here that are some of my favorites till now.
1. PicMonkey
Picmonkey is so far on my favorite photo editor's list. Those who have used Picnik already know the features it offered. Well Picmonkey does offer almost the same. However it doesn't have seasonal features unlike Picnik. That means you cannot have special editing options for Halloween, or St. Patrick's Day etc. Apart from that, for me it is just excellent.
2. Ipiccy
After Picmonkey, this is my second favorite site. This is just a wonderful site for editing and stuff. Very much like Picnik or Picmonkey, this site offers more features in addition. Even the view is very much Picnik-ish so I think you'll love it once you get used to it.
3. Lunapic
This is an awesome site for not only editing but other stuff as well. You yourself can have a look at the home page to see what features it offers. This is my favorite site too, specially because you have a image blending option available. If you follow the instruction appropriately, you can successfully create wonderful blended images. If you don't have PS or don't yet know how to use it to blend photos, then I suggest you to give this site a try.
4. Pixlr
If you have finished editing photos as a beginner and want to do a little bit more then just adding effects or frames or stuff, then this is really a very good place for that. As you will notice, there are three options in the home page and you can choose to edit using any of the options you prefer. The 'Advanced' one looks like a paint window but you can do a lot more than just painting and cropping things there. 'Efficient' one also provides you with a lot of options to select in order to edit, modify or blend pictures. One good thing here is that you can customize most of the effects and settings according to your wish. The last option, 'Playful' one is quite similar to Picmonkey, only with some extra effects and frames to use.
5. Free Online Photo Editor
It's a pretty good site for editing as well. The feature I specially like here is the Glitter Text option. There are other sites for this too but somehow I find this more interesting and easy to use, once you are habituated to it.
There are millions of other sites that lets you do editing and things like that. But just do a little surfing before you sign up or install any unknown software.

This is an article on photo editing. Find more articles on editing and things like this on Muna's Blog http://thoughtsuntoldnafsa.blogspot.com/

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By Muna M Nafsa  

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How to Enjoy Free TV Channels Through an SW-21 Switch

A lot of people have already discovered free TV viewing through installing satellite systems in their homes. However, as it is in man's nature to want something more than what they already have, it is expected for some of those already enjoying satellite TV to do something to enhance their TV viewing. If you are one of these and you wish to add on another satellite antenna to your system, then you will also need a sw-21 switch.
Get Yourself an SW-21 Switch
This device is very important if you have more than one satellite dish because it is what helps in making your reception clearer. It is what combines the feeds from both your satellite antennas before sending it to your free to air or FTA receiver. With this combiner equipment, you will be able to get the best quality reception from multiple locations of satellites.
Set It Up Into Your Satellite System
The combiner is placed between the LNB ports of your satellite dishes and your FTA receiver with the use of coaxial cables. So, all you need to be able to set up and have the sw-21 switch working are three lengths of coaxial cables plus your satellite dishes and your receiver. The first two coaxial cables will be attached between your satellite antenna's LNB ports and the "to dish" jacks of the switch. The other one will run from the "receiver" jack of your switch right into the "satellite in" jack of you FTA receiver.
Research If Unsure About the Set Up
If you are still not confident about how all these work together, you can also ask the person you bought your switch from. If you also purchased it online, your seller will most probably have a 24-hour customer service number that you can call so all your concerns can be given answer. You could also do some research online to see if what you are doing is right. There are many reliable sources on the Internet when it comes to setting up satellite systems, including adding on a combiner.
Sit Back and Enjoy Some Free TV
Once you have everything in place, you can start enjoying free TV viewing with the best reception you can get from different satellite locations. This means not only getting almost 300 free to air channels, but also getting them with a clearer and high-definition quality with the help of your sw-21 switch. This will perfectly complement your home theatre system and will complete your total TV viewing pleasure.

Although working as a writer, Tara Marie L Mosqueda is a certified couch potato and TV junkie during her free time. To enjoy free TV, she has set up a satellite system in her home using the services and products of http://www.oceansatellite.net. If you are looking for equipment such as a sw-21 switch to complete your satellite system, you could try to visit the site.

By Tara Marie L Mosqueda 

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Gingerly, iPad Into The Crowd

 By Larry M. Elkin

I was a skeptic when Apple introduced the iPad in the spring of 2010. It was immediately clear that this would be a hot-selling item, but tablet computers were not new and had never been more than a niche product.
So I wondered what, exactly, most people would do with the new gadget. I thought there was a pretty good chance those sleek new machines would end up gathering dust like so many old boom boxes, unable to match the power of fully equipped computers or the convenience of ever-more-capable smart phones.
I am not going to say, "I hate to say I told you so... " First of all, I have enough chutzpah to write an opinion column, and you can rest assured that despite their denials, opinion columnists love to say "I told you so." It's called attribution bias. When we're right, it proves how smart we are. When we're wrong, it proves that the world has gone crazy. (Remember this principle the next time you hear someone predict what the stock market will do in the next six months.)
The second and major reason I am not going to say "I told you so" is that the world has gone crazy over the iPad. Some 55 million devices were sold through the end of 2011, according to Time. It seems entirely possible that Apple will sell that many again in 2012 - bringing the total well over 100 million devices by the end of this year.
They can't all be gathering dust in our closets. We don't have enough closet space.
My wife owns one of those iPads. She got it not long after I wrote my column questioning what to do with it. My wife happens to be the executive in charge of marketing at my firm. The main reason for buying the device, or so we told ourselves, was that it would let her familiarize herself with the hardware platform and the various applications for it, so we would understand how to use tablets in our business.
As it turned out, the iPad was very good for playing various Scrabble-type games. My wife is a word-game barracuda. She's got around five games going simultaneously pretty much all the time, and she has a fleet of machines - two laptops, a smartphone and her iPad - to help her keep up.
Lately I have started borrowing her iPad. I was working at our home in New York recently when a storm knocked out our cable company's internet service. The iPad's 3G internet service on AT&T's network allowed me to log back on to my office computer and resume my work. The connection was slower, and it was not easy to work without my accustomed keyboard, but I was able to stay productive during a three-hour outage that otherwise would have forced me offline.
More often, I use the iPad as a substitute for my latest defunct Kindle e-reader. I have a Kindle subscription to The Wall Street Journal, which is convenient because I travel frequently and would get little use from a daily newspaper delivery. I like to read The Journal while I spend my customary daily hour on the elliptical machine in an endless battle against the bodily effects of travel and age.
I like technology, but I usually refrain from change just for the sake of change. If something works for me, I tend to stay with it. So when the iPad came out, I saw no reason to stop using my Kindle, which worked.
Except that the Kindle stopped working. And so did another, and another. I'm not a heavy or heavy-handed user, but my devices kept breaking. First, the selector button on the large-screen Kindle DX literally broke in half. This is the button that acts like a joystick, allowing the user to move the cursor and select items off the menu. For a long time I tried just squeezing the fractured halves together, as I was in no hurry to inject glue into my out-of-warranty machine, but eventually I gave up and moved to another device.
That one developed a crack near the USB port into which the charger is plugged. I became an expert at jiggling the charger cord and balancing the apparatus ever-so-carefully, but that got tiresome and eventually stopped working, too.
The next Kindle, which another family member had had for some time but never used, just died. It simply refused to wake up one day, like a body that had reached the end of its biological time clock. There are steps one should take in that situation. I took them without results. Finally I administered the last rites and contemplated getting yet another Kindle.
I can still get the "Kindle keyboard," as the older-fashioned machines are now known, or I could get the newer Kindle Fire - which is a tablet modeled very much along the lines of the iPad, but with less software flexibility. It's just a question of whose ecosystem I prefer to join, Apple's or Amazon's. As a heavy Apple user in the rest of my computing life, I am not in a big hurry to make my life more complicated while still ending up with the same class of device.
So I am experimenting with the Kindle app on my wife's iPad. I can get my Journal, and it's easier to read on the tablet's bigger, brighter, higher-contrast color screen. I find it is not a problem to turn pages with my finger, even when I am exercising. I do not have Amazon's free
The transition is not without cost. I particularly liked the Kindle's ability to save a Journal article in a "clippings" file with just a simple command. I used the clippings file to store stories that might be the nucleus of a future commentary column. The iPad app for the Kindle does not support clippings. It allows user-selected highlights to be stored, but I haven't got the hang yet of highlighting and storing things while I pump away on the elliptical.
But the bottom line is that, even as I type this column on my laptop's QWERTY keyboard (like the one on the Royal 440 manual typewriter on which I learned touch-typing more than 40 years ago), I have to recognize that keyboards are going away. They are vanishing from smartphones, as Blackberry maker RIM is discovering to its corporate sorrow. They are vanished from tablets, and the day is probably coming when most computers will incorporate touch screens and voice recognition, with vestigial keyboards that will eventually wither away.
Maybe I was right all along, and 100 million iPad buyers are wrong. It doesn't matter. Since we can't fit all those iPads in our closets, we're just going to have to use them. I might as well get used to it.

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