The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released the 25th Anniversary Edition of its press freedom magazine “Dangerous Assignments”. For further info on other CPJ publications see this previous article. The magazine can be downloaded from the link below:
CPJ Dangerous Assignments Fall/Winter 2006 [PDF, 5.6mb]
I guessed I missed this one, but at September’s Photokina Canon announced two new media storage devices. The top-end model features a magnesium alloy body, 80 GB hard disk, 3.7-inch ultra-bright TFT screen, CompactFlash and SecureDigital card reader, USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection, RAW file support, and takes the Canon BP511A battery used in various EOS models such as the Canon EOS 5D, EOS 20D and EOS 30D.
Using the same batteries as those cameras will make it an attractive device for those owners, and if the build-quality is on a par to Canon’s high-end cameras, it will be pretty appealing all round. Full specs can be found via the links below.
Rob Galbraith article
DPReview article
LetsGoDigital article
Canon press release
According to this press release the new and catchily-named Thuraya SO-2510 satphone (at left) is now shipping. They’ve dubbed it “the world’s smallest and lightest satellite phone ever made”, although Globalstar have just come out with a pretty small one - the equally memorable GSP 7100.
Either way it looks pretty nice and can be found at retailers like GMPCS for around $800-$900. Probably more interesting is the Thuraya SG-2520 (at right) which should also be coming out sometime soon.
Macs seem less prevalent in the Middle East compared to Europe or the US it seems, but the level of Mac resources in the region appears to be increasing, as evidenced by the opening of a new AppleStore in Cairo, Egypt.
So for those of you who are Mac users in the region, here’s a list of some useful websites:
Apple:
Apple Middle-East
Apple Middle East - Where to Buy - Resellers
Apple Middle East - Where to Buy - Retailers
Apple Middle East - Services & Support
Arabic/English:
EmiratesMac - community website and Mac User Group
EmiratesMac IDX - prices watch in Dubai
Middle-Eastern Mac User Group
MiddleEastMac - search engine
Mac4Arabs
MacArabia.net
Farsi:
Iranian Mac User Group
PersianApple
Hebrew/English:
Apple Israel
Mac dot Plonter Community
IsraMac blog
Hebrew Mac User Group
If you know any others please leave a comment….
I’ve been meaning to write about this Photoshop tip since I read about it a few months ago in an issue of the PhotographyTech newsletter. It was one of those moments when you realise that despite using Photoshop almost every day for many years, there are still things to learn…
If you have an image with a horizon that isn’t quite horizontal, the usual method is to use the crop tool and rotate the crop.
Try this instead:
1. Select the Measure Tool (usually hidden under the eyedropper tool) in the tools palette.
2. Draw a line along the edge of the part of the image that you want to make horizontal.
3. Go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary, ignore whatever value has been entered into the “Angle” box, and just hit “OK”.
4. The image will now have been rotated so that the line you drew is a perfect horizontal, and all that’s left is to crop the black canvas out of the frame.
I still use the normal method most of the time - but do find this useful for pictures where you need an accurate horizontal or where you need to visualize the rotated image before cropping.
