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2009 JANUARY ISSUE
Want to know where to get an affordable 2GB thumbdrive? QWERTY Keyboard fans!
- SANDISK Cruzer Micro 2GB (USB2.0) Flash Drive
- Nokia E63 Review
Want to scare your friends? - Make-a-screamer tutorial!
Fresh from the Editor’s desk
“
Editor says,
Welcome to 2010! Thanks for clicking on the link to the January
issue of TechbyteX. This is the first issue after the major reformation; the new TechbyteX team is now formed by a new leadership and a team of capable members. We have decided on a mission: To create a widely read magazine that suits the
needs of its audience. This issue’s featured article is about copyrights, please read on to find out more. Also, do not miss out on the reviews written by many talented budding writers. Please write in to us if you want us to make any reviews or tutorials. Also, if you want to make any comments about mobile phones, homework and more, email us. Please continue to read our future issues, which would promise to provide more interesting articles for your reading pleasure. Next issue, we will be talking about the new rule of handphones in school.
”
Our email: xmstechbytex@ymail.com The editor signing off, Freak-E
K.W. Freak-E
L-Z
Sherry
SHwee
Freak
Boboshi
cdckjn
2
Introduction Freak-E:
Sherry:
L-Z:
SHwee:
Freakishly crazy and
Very athletic girl.
Often quoted: I LOVE
Obsessively watches
horrifying at times.
Causes trouble when
CHINA!
Taiwan drama and
Best to avoid all
bored. Loves Anime
gets actively involved
contact at all costs.
and stories.
*giggles*.
LOVE THE TECHBYTEX TEAM
commodo cons
Anime-Freak:
Boboshi:
As the name
Loves typing fast.
equat. Duis aute Ros: irure dolor in “I may be a teacher, Facebook addict
suggests, she is
Insanely obsessed with
but I am the wildest reprehenderit and texting in
an anime-freak.
games which project
Do not get close
violence and sadistic
to her; she will
influences.
send you into an
Quote: “KILL, DIE
anime world,
STUPID! DIE!”
of all. I speak fluent voluptate addict, can’tvelit pull hokkien and loves her away from esse molestaie sarcasm, you will get facebook nor her aborum Et harumd handphone. a taste of it when dereud facilis you read my review
never to return
“Yes, I broke my last
to the human
fast-typing record!”
Cdckjn:
on LG GD 900 Crystal.”
est. Interdum at.
world again.
Nihil Imper Vitae et, nunc phasellus phasellus, donec dolor, id elit donec phasellus ac pede, quam amet. Eget nibh lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec maecenas 3 ac, nullam duis
Contents Editor’s note----------------------------------------------------------
Pg 2
Introduction of the team-----------------------------------------
Pg 3
Copyrights myth-----------------------------------------------------
Pg 5
LG GD900 Crystal Review ----------------------------------------
Pg 6
Nokia E63 Review---------------------------------------------------
Pg 7
XiaXue’s blog---------------------------------------------------------
Pg 8
Make-a-screamer Tutorial ---------------------------------------
Pg 9
Wind Effect Photoshop Tutorial--------------------------------
Pg 10
AFFORDABLE Thumbdrive ---------------------------------------
Pg 11
Blogskin of the Month--------------------------------------------
Pg 12
4
Copyrights myth-busting Technology has made many things available by just one click of the mouse. Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship”. Copyright law secures for the creator of a creative effort the exclusive right to control who can make copies, or make works derived from the original work. To know more, visit http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf or http://www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html. Disclaimer: I will advise you to choose the latter if you prefer not to have a headache. In case you are thinking that copyright can only be claimed like if you have patent for the work, this is not true: the copyright in the work of authorship immediately (automatically) becomes the property of the author who
Please note:
created the work.
These days, almost all things are copyrighted the moment they are written, and no copyright notice is required.
Copyright is still violated whether you charged money or not, only damages are affected by that.
Postings to the net are not granted to the public domain, and don't grant you any permission to do further copying except perhaps the sort of copying the poster might have expected in the ordinary flow of the net.
Fair use is a complex doctrine meant to allow certain valuable social purposes. Ask yourself why you are republishing what you are posting and why you couldn't have just rewritten it in your own words.
Copyright is not lost because you don't defend it; that's a concept from trademark law. The ownership of names is also from trademark law, so don't say somebody has a name copyrighted.
Fan fiction and other work derived from copyrighted works is a copyright violation.
Copyright law is mostly civil law where the special rights of criminal defendants you hear so much about don't apply. Watch out, however, as new laws are moving copyright violation into the criminal realm.
Don't rationalize that you are helping the copyright holder; often it's not that hard to ask permission.
Posting E-mail is technically a violation, but revealing facts from E-mail you got isn't, and for almost all typical E-mail, nobody could wring any damages from you for posting it. The law doesn't do much to protect works with no commercial value.
5 Written by: FREAK-E
When I was told to write a short article about this “new, transparent” phone; I was confused. Why was I confused? Because who in the world would want a transparent phone? Well, apparently LG, the Korean phone company has decided to manufacture such a phone. It is the LG GD900 Crystal. It is touted to be the world’s first transparent phone. Well it is only the keypad area of the phone that is transparent. Not only that, the transparent keypad area is equipped with a touch screen where you can use “Gesture Shortcut” to command 9 unique multi-tasking features just by “drawing” the designated finger movements on the Touchpad. The phone also comes with an eye-popping 8mega-pixel camera, which can beat most compact digital cameras. Wi-Fi capability means that you can also use this phone to surf the Internet. The large 3.0 inch WVGA (800x400) LCD screen will enable you to do basic emailchecking on the go. This phone can support up to 16Gb external memory, together with DivX and MP3 playback will allow you endless hours of entertainment on the go – battery life is said to be lasting up to 300 hours (on standby mode). Well, my take on this phone; unless the COOL factor is something that you seek; else you could do with something else. It is not much of a technological advancement other than it has the “swee” factor (Hokkien for pretty). Retailing at $298 with a 2year Classic plan, the phone is not really “attractive” enough for me – (pardon the pun). However, if you are a student with a shoe-string budget but have always User-friendliness wanted a phone with a killer look then I will think that you (only– partial-transparency) will likely to be the look) one carrying this transparent phone in school. Design(killer (sleek design) Perhaps you will hope that your teacher will not be able to see you Value-for-$$
using the phone in class! User-interface
($298 only)
(Gesture shortcut)
Written by cdckjn (a teacher- I will pretend not to see the phone when you use it in class – it is “transparent” ma!)
6
It comes in boring Ultramarine Blue (look so uncle), and the sexy Ruby Red colour. There's now an easy way to stay connected with the Nokia E63. The phone enables you to check important emails for work or communicating with friends conveniently on the go. Additionally, make Internet bookings whenever you need to, wherever you are. Sharing your media has never been more fun! While choosing the colour to buy, when in doubt, choose red, the most chio, striking and alluring colour. Tired of constantly having to jab your phone’s keypad when not using predictive text? Feeling frustrated over unrecognised words, resulting in you having to type out the full spelling of the word while in predictive text mode? Irritated from letting those setbacks affect your otherwise high-speed typing? Here comes Calvary. E63 possess a full QWERTY keyboard, which enables you to stop all that jabbing and the temper throwing. Unleash your full potential of high-speed texting. As the model name suggests, the E63 model is equipped with both Wi-Fi and 3G, choose the fastest and yet most cost effective way of web browsing, instant messaging, and of course, sending emails. New cell phone arrivals often come with full keyboards, at affordable prices, thus starting the trend for phones for full QWERTY keyboard. Nokia E63 is one of those. This phone is definitely for professionals; (Not including the profession “students”) people, who are constantly on the go but need to surf the net, check mails, tweet, and more. It is also quite suitable for teenagers (and/or dorks) with a good sense of fashion, who need to have Internet on their hands, constantly outside but need to be still in touch with the cyber world at all times. User-interface Design Camera Written by: FREAK-E
Overall 7
In this issue, I am going to write a review on http://www.xiaxue.blogspot.com , the blogger is none other than XiaXue. I am sure that this name is extremely familiar with the teenage community. However, XiaXue’s real name is actually Wendy Cheng Yan Yan (you may already know that). To know more about her blogging style and tips you can pick up to draw crowds to your blog, read on. In her blog, she blogs about her personal life. Her posts include much-seen happenings in Singapore and much-
This is the print screen of her blog. I shall not judge her blog design.
controversial topics. One may think she is an extremist, I see her as a great debater, one who holds to her stand firmly. Her blog has received much attention, criticisms and more awards. Some recent awards include AsiaPacific Blog Awards: Most influential blog and best original blog design. XiaXue has good Photoshopping skills; therefore, it is profitable to learn a tip or two from her “Guide to life” videos. This blog has been rated V-17(Vulgarities-17{NC-16/M18}) by the Techbytex team. This rating was given because of the vulgarities/language she uses in her blog posts, the content and pictures she posts are sometimes proves too much for teenagers. If you scroll down her blog now, you will find that she just posted a lot of “pornographic” pictures. We would like to warn all readers to discern carefully for yourself. Disclaimer: we have no intention of promoting pornographic pictures to the eyes of students; we strongly encourage students to discern for themselves. This blog’s content is not for kids and definitely not for the decent and weak-hearted. However, we know that
Written by: Freak-E
you would not care.
FREAK-E
8
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SCREAMER TIME! 1
2
Turn on Adobe Flash CS3. Select Create New > Flash File (Actionscript 2.0). >Note: Do not select Actionscript 3.0 as the scripting used in 2.0 and 3.0 are different and Actionscript 2.0 is a lot more effective at creating simple things like a screamer.
3
On the tool panel to the left, hold left click on the square tool until the submenu appears and select the oval tool. After that, draw a circle in the middle of the stage.
4
Use the text field function and create one beside the circle. Then, type in some text to entice people into falling for your screamer. Tip : Try to use words that will cause people to turn up their volumes!
1
2 1
3 Written by: BOBOSHI
4 9
Highlight the entire circle and hit F8, which brings you to the symbol creation screen. Choose button and click Ok. Now, your circle should be in a light blue box.
5
Select your symbol and hit F9. This should bring out your Actionscripting screen.
6
Then, put in these codes : on(release){ gotoAndPlay(2); } Next, click an empty space and press F9, and type in stop();
7
8
Close the actionscripting screen and right click on the 2nd frame in the timeline. Then, select create blank keyframe and create a frame at about frame
9
20.
5
7
6
8 10
10
Insert a screaming sound clip (you can find one on the internet) and a creepy image onto your 2nd frame, and insert a scary image, and you’re done!
9
10
Written by: L-Z 11
Wind blow effect (Photoshop) 1. Create a new file and follow the properties shown in the figure below 2. After click the key T, the figure shown below will appear and follow the properties 3. Click at an appropriate location on the image. Then, a text input box will pop-up, enter the text and set the properties as shown below. 4. After finished the set up, click ok. 5. Select the menu Filter, click ‘Stylize’ then click ‘Wind’, the Wind filter setting box with pop up. 6. There are 3 types of wind: Wind, Blast, and Stagger And set Direction (wind) is the left to the right, or right to the left. Here we have chosen Wind from the left key. When you have finished what you need to do, click the OK button. 7. Wind effects shown in the figure.
Written by: L-Z 12
SANDISK Cruzer Micro 2GB (USB2.0) Flash Drive What is it? A small, portable flash memory card that plugs into a computer’s USB port and functions as a portable hard drive. Easy to use and carry. USB flash drives have less storage capacity than an external hard drive, but they are smaller and more durable because they do not contain any internal moving parts.
Product Features This thumb drive offers 2GB capacity for all students who need information on the go. This is a sweet spot, a good combination of both speed and file size. The thumb drive has high-speed USB 2.0 interface and is also backward compatible with USB 1.1. For people who often misplace their thumb drive connector covers, this is a good one, no more covers, all you need to do is to retract the connector to prevent damage. It measures 2.25"L x 0.8"W x 0.3"D for true pocket portability, good news to all who have small pockets, small pockets are now no longer a problem :D . This handy tool is U3 Smart enabled with CruzerSync synchronization tool, Signup Shield password manager, SKYPE VoIP software and AVAST virus scan U3 programs preloaded (Windows 2000 and XP only). Ready Boost is also enabled to make computers running Windows Vista faster by using a USB drive as temporary storage. Say Goodbye to slow speed, and embrace the speed provided by technology.
Written by: L-Z
13
Written by: FREAK-E
This is a whole new column where we introduce wonderfully created blogskins for all avid bloggers who like to customize/personalise their own blogskins but do not have the HTML ability/knowledge to do so. This issue, we are introducing 2 skins, both made by very talented creators. The title of one of them is: -/lil.babe-[88] You And I http://www.blogskins.com/info/305784 It was the SOTD on Blogskins.com on October 30th 2009. On Blogskins.com, it says that this skin has: Lifetime rating of 4.90 stars Downloaded 352 times so far 38 downloads from unique logged-in users The 2nd skin is titled: Blogger Template [angelicgrace #09] 38 people consider this skin a favorite This is how this skin looks like: http://www.blogskins.com/info/301306 It was SOTD on Blogskins.com on October 3rd 2009. On Blogskins.com, it says that this skin has: Lifetime rating of 4.93 stars Downloaded 584 times so far 132 downloads from unique logged-in users 46 people consider this skin a favorite
14
Media Club I.T. Department
Copyright Myths: Special thanks to http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html, whose owner graciously allowed use w/o permission XiaXue's blog http://www.xiaxue.blogspot.com L-Z (thumbdrive) http://sg.hardwarezone.com/priceguide/info.php?cid=17&id=15511 http://images.tigerdirect.com/itemdetails/S153-3246/S153-3246-box-dr.jpg http://store.vintek.net/images/cruzer_micro_skin.jpg
15
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/supermediastore/skypeu3usb.gif