Coppermine

This has got to be the best free photo gallery software around. Its opensource and installs on your  webserver. An example can be seen on my nj surfing club website: http://www.njsurfingclub.com/njgallery/njimages/

Coppermine installs easily and its upgrades are easy assuming you do not have many mods. It comes pre-installed with around 7-10 themes. Creating your own theme is very easy with some basic html, php, and css programming.

Coppermine can be found here: http://coppermine-gallery.net/

Best size HDTV or monitor for multiplayer gaming?

Well most of us think: Bigger=better. However, this is simply not true for a lot of games – specifically first person shooters (FPS) such as halo and call of duty where the multiplayer is king. This can be seen during the major league gaming (MLG) tournaments where the players use 22 inch tvs, not huge 60 inch ones. So why are smaller tvs better for gaming? Its simple, on a 50-60 inch tv you cannot monitor and look around the whole screen as quickly as you can on a smaller tv. Thus the gaming pros at mlg are using 22 inch tvs to play their games. So it appears that the industry standard is 22 inches. I currently use a 32 inch but sit about 6 feet away from the screen. Remember that mlg players sit close to the screen/monitor. So if your looking for that new gaming tv, remember bigger doesnt = better, especially if you like the multiplayer games where you need to be able to see the whole screen and move around quickly. Visit headphonage for reviews of the best gaming headphones available in the market.

And if you dont believe me: Try to play halo/call of duty on a 60 inch, then move to a 22 inch to see the difference for yourself. Ive done it and its a big difference.

iPhone 4 Released

Well apple announced the iphone 4. It includes some very cool video features such as

video conferencing

a 5mp camera with 5x digital zoom (boo – we want optical zoom)

imovie app

netflix app

And All of these cool features come just in time for att wireless’s new pay as you go data plan. Yes thats right, everyone who buys the iPhone 4 will have to pay $15 for 200mb of data use, $24 for 2gb, and $10 for each gigabyte. So how easy is it to go over? Well considering one movie might be 500mb-1gb, 2-3 movies could put you right over your limit. Good job ATT – you have proven that your network is terrible. People who currently have their unlimited plans can keep them for now, but when their contract is up, they will be on the new plan. I honestly cant see anyone joining att now that data is not unlimited.

Apples June 2010 Announcement

So what are your predictions for apples big announcement in June?

Mine are….

iphone 4gs with video camera

faster/better att service

and the big one….iphone coming to verizon this fall!?! – who knows but speculation is out there. We do know that att had exclusive rights until 2012 but that contract might be null and void now. We will find out in the next 2-3 weeks. We do know that apple is working a cdma iphone that would work with verizon among other companies and that verizon is rumored to be launching an ad campaign for the iphone later this summer. however these are all rumors and verizon is currently pushing droid.

What is multimedia?

Such a common word in our vocabulary yet so many people do not know the definition so here it goes….

Multimedia refers to a combination of both verbal (text, narration, audio) and non-verbal (pictures, images, graphs, icons) representations used in a media environment. They can be used for communication and/or learning.

What is opensource?

What is opensource software?

Opensource software is FREE software. It is free software that not only can you install and own, but you can modify it because the developers make the source code available. This means that anyone can change any part of the software they do not like. So for instance take your web browser. Lets say that you wish your web browser would keep track of how much time you spent online. If it was an opensource web browser, you could develop a program, called a mod or app, that kept track of your time online. You could then submit that app to the opensource company so that they could offer it for free to other people who might like to use it. Opensource is awesome and is a great business model. But how do opensource companies make money? Service. Thats how. What are some examples of opensource software packages: open office (replaces word/powerpoint), firefox (web browser), and gimp (replaces photoshop). I encourage you to check them out.

Time Compressed Instruction

What is time-compressed instruction?

Time compressed instruction is audio that has been increased in speed, yet has preserved its quality.

What are the advantages of time-compressed instruction?

My research has shown that you can compress audio/narration up to 25% and still retain high level learning and problem solving skills as long as images are used in conjunction with the narration. This could save 25% of training time if done right, which is a significant time-savings.

What are examples of time compressed instruction?

Normal speech – 0% compression

Compressed at 25%

Compressed at 50%

How do I compress speech?

Check out my video on using a free program called audacity to do it. All you need to do is change the tempo speed. At 33% tempo change, time is compressed 25%

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFk4b1itOjQ]

Editing Text in dreamweaver

This video shows you how to edit text in dreamweaver and how to use the internal CSS to change the size/color

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13n7vuenqno]

Beginning Dreamweaver

This tutorial walks through the initial stages of opening up dreamweaver

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLVL9mX7XVk]