&Else... September 2002

01 ViewFontX finds the character in X

02 Bridge the Digital Divide Using Video CD's

03 Nose bleed image processing speed

04 Ultimate wordsmith site? Maybe...

05 American Centuries: Views from New England

06 Easy video for the web... or otherwise

07 Art Directors Toolkit gets PANTONE Colors

08 The Book Of Visual Studio .NET: A Guide for Developers

09 Yalong ebook reader

10 Disney To Use Linux For Animation

11 Get The Entire Backfile of New York Times

12 Some Librarys Moving Away from Books

13 TCL Dev Kit Now Available

14 Free Photograph Resource for Teachers

15 Tacky Shirts Teach OSX

16 And now, something completely useless...

 

ViewFontX finds the character in X

Ever wondered how to type a certain character from a font? Well, wonder no more with this handy utility! The well known Mac developer John V. Holder has released ViewFontX allowing you to view most every character (in any size, font and style you select) of your installed fonts, using a grid, list or text view. This small application shows the exact keystrokes to type each character. You can also print these handy tables for quick reference. This is a must have utility and only $5 shareware! It requires OSX 10.x or higher. For a full description of any of John's other fine software, or to grab a copy of ViewFontX, zip on over to his web site
Thanks to our good friend John V. Holder for sending this in for the DTP: Publishing, printing, output department. For more info go to: http://www.johnvholder.com/   [top]

Bridge the Digital Divide Using Video CD's

It's been years since Phil Shapiro contributed to the network, but this month he has authored an article explaining how and why video cd's could be useful for distributing instruction of all kinds -- at a minimum of cost. Phil's work is always welcome, and well worth reading. Rather than publish the article here, we'll just send you over to his place...
Special thanks to Phil Shapiro for sending this one in. Read it all at: http://www.his.com/pshapiro/videocds.html   [top]

Nose bleed image processing speed

If you're thinking about buying a Mac, now is the time. Apple has rolled out their new Power Mac G4 line featuring dual PowerPC G4 processors! At $1,699 (US) dual 1.25 GHz Xserveª high-performance architecture will zoom you to image processing you never knew existed! With the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card and an enhanced enclosure (increased storage up to nearly half a terabyte) the new Power Macs are now the fastest desktop workstations for creative professionals available anywhere.
http://www.apple.com/   [top]

Ultimate wordsmith site? Maybe...

yourDictionary is billing itself as "The world's most comprehensive and authoritative language community portal" ... with every resource needed for language study and improvement in more than 250 languages. Includes online dictionaries, thesaurus, translator -- research til you drop.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/   [top]

American Centuries: Views from New England

Getting ready for Thanksgiving events or festivities. This reference site features 1,800 objects & documents from Memorial Hall Museum and Library, located in Old Deerfield, MA. The site includes instructional units (everyday life in a New England town); a mini-encyclopedia of important people, places, and events in New England; and interactive web activities (scavenger hunt). One exhibit looks at family life, land, Native Americans, African Americans, and newcomers at 3 turns of the century: 1700, 1800, & 1900.
http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/   [top]

Easy video for the web... or otherwise

Flix is the easiest, most affordable way to create video for the web, presentations & CDs. It comes in several configurations, including Flix Pro, as well as Standard and Lite editions. Wildform has also released a Flix SDK. Flix Pro ($149) is a powerful, full-featured video encoding solution that enables anyone to immediately create and deploy professional caliber video. It encodes almost every type of video, audio and image file, outputs all types of Flash video and has multiple functions that enable users to implement advanced Flash features without needing to know any Flash, such as automatically outputting customized players. Flix is also available in two consumer versions - the Lite and Standard editions. Flix Lite ($29) is extremely easy to use and offers all the basic features required to encode and deploy Flash video. Flix Standard ($89) combines the ease of Flix Lite with the superior image quality of 2-pass VBR compression and several additional time saving features. The Flix SDK, or software developer's kit, includes everything required to create robust client and server applications with complete Flix Pro functionality.
Contact: Colby Devitt at colby@wildform.com or check out their web site at: http://www.wildform.com/   [top]

Art Directors Toolkit gets PANTONE Colors

It's hard to envision an "art director's" product without Pantone colors, so Code Line has released a major update to its popular "Art Directors Toolkit" -- and added PMS colors as well. Art Directors Toolkit is a software application that incorporates several utilities custom made for graphic designers and creative professionals. Art Directors Toolkit is currently available for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.
For direct info, contact Matheau Dakoske at matheau@code-line.com or get it all at: http://www.code-line.com/software/news/2002-07-08-adt3.html   [top]

The Book Of Visual Studio .NET: A Guide for Developers

Microsoft's goal with .NET is to turn the Internet into the next operating system, and Visual Studio .NET will be a key tool for implementing that vision. Of course, this paradigm shift is not easy for many developers.
The Book of Visual Studio .NET is a comprehensive and straightforward guide through the maze of tools and technologies that are Visual Studio .NET: from ASP.NET to VB.NET to XML Web Services.
      The Book of Visual Studio .NET shows readers how to:
* Integrate multiple .NET technologies including ASP.NET, ADO.NET, VB .NET, and XML Web Services
* Solve common developmental issues concerning cross language integration, cross platform communication, installation, and versioning
* Use designers, database and monitoring tools to aid in rapid application development
* Access data using a variety of techniques and promote application scalability
* and a lot more
      If you're interested in taking part in this new facet of the internet...
Janet del Mundo for forwarding this lead! Check it out... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1886411697/ref=ase_thedesignpublish   [top]

Yalong ebook reader

Yalong ebook Reader is a pretty cool ebook reader which will load text files or pictures and display the contents on side-by-side pages just like an open book. (Supports TXT, TEXT, HTML,YBK,BMP,JPG,GIF and RTF files) You can resize the book, adjust the margins, change the text and paper colors and flip the pages like a read book. It will automatically bookmark every file you open and will also let you pick any font installed in your system. You can set the text size because it automatically reformats the text or pictures to fit the page you will never suffer from panning fever or scrolling madness. As a nice little bonus, it will display a book cover if you put it in the same path as the book itself. It now includes background paper textures - easier on the eyes. You can create your own novels or albums -- and best of all, play music when you read them!
PC: Windows all versions
Thanks to Huapeng Sima for sending this in. File it under Home Education: learning, improvement, resources, etc. Check it out at: http://vip.6to23.com/CDJNUAA/YALONG/index.html   [top]

Disney To Use Linux For Animation

If you ever had any doubts about Linux becoming an industry standard, consider it a moot point. According to a recent NY Times article, the Walt Disney Company's animation division plans to use GNU Linux running on Hewlett-Packard workstations and data-serving computers for future digital animation work. Disney joins studios and special-effects companies like DreamWorks SKG, Pixar Animation Studios, Industrial Light and Magic, and Digital Domain in committing to Linux, an open-source variant of the Unix operating system. In most cases, Linux replaces proprietary versions of Unix, long used for animation.
From the New York Times, 18 June 2002... registration will be required if you plan to read the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/18/technology/18LINU.html   [top]

Get The Entire Backfile of New York Times

ProQuest Information and Learning announced that it has completely digitized every backfile issue (1851-1999) of "The New York Times," including all stories, editorials, photos, and ads. The effort was part of the company's Historical Newspapers program. Content can be searched by keyword and other parameters, or users can flip through pages just as would be done with a printed version. The work covered almost three million pages of text and makes the content available to library or education subscribers to ProQuest.
Thanks to: Mark Sanders, list Mom of GCC-L & GRAPHIC COMM CENTRAL Services of Virginia Tech http://teched.vt.edu/gcc/html/Listserv.html
Thanks to: Mark Sanders , list Mom of GCC-L & GRAPHIC COMM CENTRAL Services of Virginia Tech, for sending this one in. Get the full story at: http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/wnd020722.htm   [top]

Some Librarys Moving Away from Books

Many libraries, particularly those on college campuses, increasingly face the question of whether technology will replace books as their primary means of distributing information. Some institutions such as the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities have thoroughly renovated their libraries, moving stacks to the basement and installing computer labs and other technology resources in the main areas of the building. Many colleges and universities similarly are updating their libraries with network access, multimedia facilities, and wireless technology. Critics of this trend worry that a focus on technology and tools will replace genuine learning. Many defend books as being as useful and relevant as computers and information technology. Some institutions try to address the concerns of both groups, preserving a focus on books while adding technology to their facilities.
(This news abstract was posted to the Graphic Comm Central news list at Virginia Tech, on 8 July 2002)
For the full story go to:http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i44/44a03101.htm   [top]

TCL Dev Kit Now Available

ActiveState Corp. has announced the Tcl Dev Kit 2.0, ActiveState's major update to the Tcl toolkit The Tcl Dev Kit 2.0 extends the functionality of the original TclPro tool set with tool UIs, and provides rapid development and delivery of Tcl applications on the HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, and Windows platforms. It's a powerful suite of application development tools, similar to those enjoyed by the thousands of Perl programmers using ActiveState's Perl Dev Kit. Key new enhancements to the Tcl Dev Kit are tool UIs added to the Wrapper and Compiler, making the options for these tools clearer and more manageable. As well, the debugging coverage option ensures code is thoroughly tested, and hotspot profiling helps identify performance bottlenecks. The Tcl Dev Kit is available for $295. It is also provided as part of ActiveState's complete Tcl programming bundle, ASPN Tcl, for $495. The ASPN Tcl bundle also contains: a Tcl-enabled version of ActiveState's Komodo IDE for open languages, online access to Tcl resources including the Tcl Cookbook, interactive tools, and ASPN's comprehensive programming resources.
Thanks to Lori Pike for sending this one in. Go to: http://www.activestate.com/Products/Tcl_Dev_Kit/   [top]

Free Photograph Resource for Teachers

Susan Amirian has opened a free resource for students and teachers for fall. While they are not well catalogued, the images provide a resource for photographs of many countries around the world between 1965 and 1970. These are images that were donated to our resource center and were scanned by students and put into a Web based databank. Because it is a university site, it is also free of advertising. (something we all appreciate immensely)
Thanks to: Susan Amirian, Director, Curriculum Resource Center, Montclair State University, NJ Director, Curriculum Resource Center, Montclair State University, NJ http://www.montclair.edu/crc/elbert/   [top]

Tacky Shirts Teach OSX

Out at Macworld I had the opportunity to take a look at Bob LeVitus's new project "Tacky Shirt" training. He and some friends (Mac community luminaries Andy Ihnatko, John Welch, and Shawn King) are building new set of 4 DVDs covering 16 hours of Mac OS X instruction. Each of the 64 lessons is 15 minutes long. The full set is only $49.95 and those who preorder get a free TackyShirt t-shirt. If you're taking the plunge into OSX, you'll find this collection not only entertaining, but highly beneficial as well.
For details contact Pamala Mielnicki, Pamala@tackyshirt.com or, zoom on over to: http://www.tackyshirt.com   [top]

And now, something completely useless...

Got some time to kill? Read the fascinating story about the invention of the potato chip.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story007.htm   [top]

...have fun
Fred Showker

&Else!   is a department of DT&G: The Electronic Journal of Design, Typography & Graphics   -- Contents Copyright (c) 2002, Reproduction or reuse of parts or all of this manuscript without prior written permission is expressly forbidden. The Design & Publishing Center   is part of the Graphic Design Network at http://www.graphic-design.net -- DT&G   is the original ezine, in continuous publication online since 1990, by Showker Graphic Arts & Design, a Virginia based design, consulting and training facility since 1972.   News bursts seen in &Else!   are provided by: The News Serve Network part of The Graphic Design Network   For copyright and trademark information see our Legal Disclaimer page   To contact the Design & Publishing Center Editorial, Advertising or New Products departments, use our Contact page.