Steve's Ravin' Reviews
~~Steve Mills
Happy Anniversary Linda and ABC. I truly hope
everyone appreciates the amount of work and care she puts into this ezine.
Here's my anniversary present - a Mills brain dump:
* The next big Internet thing - Blogs and RSS/XML feeds. Go back to last
month and look up
NewsDesk and see what the fuss is all about. You can take this one to
the bank.
* Biggest danger to the Internet - SPAM activists - I strongly believe this
- more dangerous than the spammers. I was an ISP and I can't tell you how
many times we had hell raised over legitimate and requested emails. False
positives in any Spam filter is the worst of all results. Programs like
Cloudmark are relying on idiots and zealots to create a filter using
collective wisdom - Do you think that has a chance?
* Baddest of the bad - Intuit. Their choice of copy protection was criminal.
Just wait till more people have to reload on a new computer. Personally, I
changed to Tax Cut. It's technically inferior, but much more user friendly.
Now if only someone, besides Billy's boys, would come up with a competitor
for Quicken.
* Good guys - The crew at
ecommerce templates. If you are building a web site, check these guys
out. They are located in Spain, so the time difference for those of us in
the U.S. can be a little cumbersome, but it's been a long time since I've
seen a product developed with more care and supported with greater passion.
If you're considering building a web site, check them out.
* Software, I use daily (and like) - Photocopier, NetCaptor, RoboForm,
MassDownloader, Task Plus, Copernic, Clipmate, Shooting Star, MusicMatch
Jukebox. See my reviews of them
here.
* Software, I use daily (and wish I had an alternative) - Outlook - That's
the list - at least the leading contender!
* Favorite new hardware - Sony DVD writer and external Firewire hard drive
* Hardware I want - High definition scanner, like the Epson 3200
* Something I wish would go away - The DMCA
Your suggestions are welcome and encouraged.
Take Care…..
Steve
steve@inil.com
Image Analyzer
Version: 1.14
Date: 4/17/2003
Author: MeeSoft
Web Site:
meesoft.logicnet.dk/
Freeware
Rating: 5 Geezers
EDITORS NOTE: I've had intermittent problems reaching this site,
so if this link doesn't work for you, keep trying or contact Steve at
steve@inil.com)
I've been into graphics stuff recently and there's some good stuff out
there. Adobe Photoshop Elements continues to be my workhorse in the
commercial arena, but I find more and more Freeware niche programs that are
very impressive. I'm sure you can create a terrific suite and never spend a
cent on software. I'm used to Elements and too darn old to change!
Image Analyzer gives you a wide range of tools to correct and improve
virtually any photo. Some features are:
* Automatic brightness, contrast, gamma and saturation adjustment
* Build-in conventional and adaptive filters for noise reduction, edge
extraction etc.
* Deconvolution for out-of-focus and motion blur compensation (see below)
* Easy red-eye removal
* User specified filters in spatial and frequency domain
* Resize, rotate, crop and warping of images
* Scanner, camera and printer support
* File format support:
Read/write BMP, ICO, CUR, WMF, EMF, JPEG, PNG, PCX and JPEG 2000 images
Read RAS, PNM, PGM, PPM, HIPS and Matlab files
* Morphological operations
* Color model conversion: RGB, CMY, HSI, Lab, YCbCr, YIQ and PCA
* Distance, Fourier and discrete cosine transformation
* Math expression module for creating and transforming images
* Advanced *pocket* calculator with equation solver
PDFproducer
Version: 1.2
Date: 2/6/2003
Author: Paras Chopra
Web Site:
naramcheez.netfirms.com
Freeware
Rating: 6 Geezers
I very rarely give 6 Geezers, but I believe it is justified here. This is a
program that does exactly what it is supposed to do.
PDFproducer converts plain text into PDF documents. It does not require
Acrobat to be installed on the system. It means that it does not use any
component of Acrobat to produce PDF files. As it is freeware you don't have
to pay anything for producing PDF documents. You can change the page size
also. It offers 90, 180, 260 and 360 degrees of rotation. It also offers a
choice of 3 fonts which you can use in PDF document and 3 types of
predefined paper sizes.
Grab this now!
IconArt
Version: 1.4
Date: 4/29/2003
Author: ConWare
Web Site: www.conware.org
Freeware
Rating: 5 Geezers
It's been a LONG time since I messed around with creating and modifying
icons, but when I was this program I couldn't resist. Boy, have they com a
long way. If you just want to have some fun or have a higher purpose for
creating and editing icons, you won't go wrong with this.
Some of the features:
* Web-based update program offering instant updates and icon packs
* Vastly improved support subsite accessible directly in IconArt
* FULL animated and static mouse cursor support
* Simple layout - Microsoft Paint style drawing tools.
* Detailed color pallet options
* Multiple color depth options for different applications
* Icon Assimilator - save multiple icon images in the same *.ico file
* Import images from picture or clipboard
* Capture icons from Dll or Exe files
* Assign icons to folders
* Add text
* Move, rotate and flip icons
* Scale image between grid sizes
* Full icon transparency
* Easy access to reference file
* Multi-size options
Final Thought:
"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare,
terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da
Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they
had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did they produce?
The cuckoo clock."
Orson Welles
<<<back to contents
Steve
Mills has been reviewing software in different capacities for many years.
He
has recently left his job with a search engine consulting firm and is
looking for a new adventure.
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