In the US we'll be celebrating Independence day on July 4th while our friends up north will celebrate Canada Day on July 1. With this in mind I thought an article on photographing fireworks might be helpful.

Let's start with the easy stuff. Before the camera ever gets set up, you'll need to arrive early and scout out a good location. Find a place that should give you a good view, with no large light sources nearby (i.e. street, parking lot, headlights etc.) Big lights tend to "muddy" the scene and bleed into the photo.

Also, consider an alternate area that you can move to quickly to get a better angle, should your first location turn out to be less than desirable—you know, overrun with floodlight carrying kids or something. Oh, and make sure that your equipment isn't going to be in the way of other spectators.

Next, take extra supplies. Grab extra batteries, a small flashlight, all the memory cards you've got, and my personal favorite, bug spray (nothing like trying to shoot with a mosquito buzzin' in your ear).

The best fireworks photos are long exposures—usually 2 to 15 seconds. As such, you'll need a tripod of some sort. Doesn't have to be real fancy, just something to keep the camera still while you shoot. Sorry, no matter how steady you think you are, those types of exposures are not hand holdable. Oh, and if your camera has a cable release, bring that along too.

Lens - You'll probably want to shoot at a medium to wide angle focal length. This really depends on how far away you are from the fireworks and how big they get. The idea is to point your camera where you think their gonna be and shoot. If you have way too much sky once you start shooting, zoom in a little. If you're only getting pieces of the display, zoom out.

Quality - Set your camera to its highest quality setting. JPEGs produce "artifacts" which are much more evident when shooting between areas of light and dark (like with, umm, fireworks :-). Also, the higher quality may give you less "noise" and possibly better looking colors.

Flash - Shut it off. Even if it could reach it wouldn't help. All it's going to do is irritate the people around you and give snapshots of the backs of their heads.

ISO - This is your digital "film speed". Although it seems like you would want the fastest you can get, the reverse is true. You'll want to set this to the lowest setting you have - probably 100 or 200.

Why? Cuz I said so! :-)

Actually, the higher your ISO, the more "noise" the camera picks up during long exposures ("Noise" refers to the little random, off colored pixels you see in photos). And since noise is the most noticeable in dark areas, you want to keep it to a minimum.

Focus - This is a big issue for any camera shooting fireworks. If you try to rely on auto focus, you'll be lucky to get the shot before the explosion fades away. You need to manual set your focus at infinity (all the way out).

I know, I know, you have an auto focus camera, so how do you manually focus it? Three exciting possibilities exist for you:

First, you probably have a setting called "Landscape" mode, usually depicted by a mini mountain range. This focuses the camera at infinity. As long as it can be used in conjunction with a manual exposure, you're all set.

The second option is that you actually do have a primitive manual focus mode. Not all cameras will include this feature, and the ones that do kind of toss it in as an afterthought. However, it might be worth checking your instruction manual just to see if your camera can do it, and what types of digital gymnastics you'll need to perform in order to use it.

The last possibility is that your camera actually has a "fireworks" mode. If it does, it may not only help you with the focusing problem, but also the next issue:

Aperture and Shutter Speed - This is the hardest part, but I can give you some recommended settings.

If your camera has a manual mode (usually depicted with an "M" on the setting dial), choose that. Then set the aperture (lens opening) to between 8 and 16. The aperture controls how much light comes through the lens. The higher the number, the less light.

The next manual setting is the shutter speed. This controls how long the shutter is open. Start with 2 seconds and increase the time if you don't like the results (i.e. the fireworks look too dark). Be careful not to "burn out" the fireworks - you still want to see color - but don't let 'em get too dark either.

Note that the longer the exposure gets, the more "noise" you'll pick up. Experimentation is the name of the game here. One day, when I have an extra eight hours or so, I'll do a write up about how to use aperture and shutter speed :-)

If you've never shot in manual mode before, dig out your instruction manual and get reading. The settings I've given you here should work well - so understanding "how" to get it set right now is probably more important than "why" :-)

As for when to shoot, I usually try to click the shutter just as the explosion starts. Since you don't want the camera bouncing around on the tripod, squeeze the shot off slowly.

Also, remember that you're shooting with a digital camera here - check your images as you go and adjust camera angles, exposure time, etc along the way.

I'm glad you asked, because I was going to tell you all about this sometime soon anyway. Last week, MySpace announced some new restrictions they're going to be placing on their Web site to help with the issues of predation that has been overwhelming them for some time now.

Before I go any further, just in case some of you don't know, MySpace is one of the most popular social networks on the Internet today. You can go and create your own profile, talk with friends and family, meet new people, do some business networking, etc. All of this is attainable on this one site. You can read more about MySpace here.

The new restrictions that are being placed on the site mostly deal with how adults can contact younger MySpace members. I'm sure you've all heard in the news about several inappropriate contacts going on between adults and minors. Well, MySpace is determined to stop this from going any further. The Web site already has a restriction for kids who are 13 years of age and under. These individuals are not even allowed to set up an account. The site also only shows a small part of a profile for users registered as 14 and 15 year olds.

Now MySpace is not going to allow any user who is 18 years or older to contact a younger member unless they know their e-mail address or their full name. This information will be an indication that the two users already know each other. Otherwise, they will have no access to those profiles. On the other hand, users under 18 can still make contact.

This is a good start for restrictions on MySpace, but there are still some problems that could occur. MySpace obviously doesn't have any say in whether a user records their correct age in their profile. Therefore, any adult could still register under a younger age and they can still contact youths in the 14 to 17 age range. Unfortunately, there's not much MySpace can do about this issue, but they are trying to stop the madness.

As I mentioned above, some adults can still see partial areas of certain profiles. The reduced profiles include the member's gender, age and the city where they live. Full profiles then include hobbies, schools and any other personal information that an individual decides to put in. Therefore, the new rules could still cause some problems.

All in all, and I've said this before, MySpace is only intended for fun and for the most part, it is. Just make sure to keep your children and grandchildren safe if they happen to have a profile on MySpace. You can never be too careful, but with some safe watching, MySpace can be fun for all, without any more dreadful issues.

Microsoft late Tuesday updated a critical security patch to address the network connection trouble some people had with the first version of the fix.

The first patch, delivered in security bulletin MS06-025, was one of the dozen released by Microsoft on this month's Patch Tuesday. It repairs two high-risk security flaws in a Windows routing and remote access component that could allow an attacker to commandeer a vulnerable PC.

However, the fix can interfere with certain dial-up networking connections. Problems occur only with dial-up connections that use a terminal window, or dial-up scripting, Microsoft said. This type of connection may stop responding after the patch is applied, it added.

Microsoft had advised people who use those types of connections to not install the security update until it released a revised patch. That revision is now available.

While Microsoft was working on the updated fix, computer code that exploits the flaw in question was released on the Internet. That raises the urgency to patch and prompted Microsoft to issue a security advisory earlier this week. However, the company said it is not aware of any attacks using this exploit.

The MS06-025 update was one of a dozen security bulletins sent out by Microsoft two weeks ago. At least one patch came after the vulnerability it addressed had already been used in a cyberattack. Exploits for some other flaws have also been published, further increasing the urgency to patch. 

First, let's go over some examples. You may have even experienced these before. Maybe you have a document that is in an .htm (HTML) format, but you'd like to view it under a .txt (text) extension. Or maybe one of your friends e-mailed you a picture, but instead of it being a JPEG format like you're used to, it was sent as a GIF or maybe even as a PDF. So, how can you change these to the formats you want? It's pretty easy, so let's go!

First, you need to make sure your system is set up to allow file extension changes. To check this out, go to your Start menu, choose Run and type in "explorer" (without the quotes). Once the new window opens, go to the Tools menu and click on Folder Options. Next, choose the View tab and find the option that says "Hide extensions for known file types." Make sure this is unchecked. Now, you're all set.

Once you receive an item that you want to change, just right click on it and choose Rename. You can then rename the file with the new extension that you prefer. Once you're done, just hit Enter on your keyboard and it will be saved. Then you can just open the file again, but this time, it will be the way you want it.

Don't settle for other extension names, do it your way from now on!

Number two.
My JPEGs open up in my web browser, but I want them to open in the photo program I just installed. How can I make sure that files open where I want them to?
You seem to be suffering from file association anxiety? This is common for people who have files open in the wrong program or a file type that isn't associated with any program. Well, there is a solution!

1. Open Explorer ( right-click the Start button and select Explore ) and head to a file you would like to either associate with another program or get associated with a program for the first time.

2. Once you get to the file, hold down your SHIFT key and right-click it. You will be presented with a menu that gives you an option to Open With... . Select that.

Oh, if you're using XP, you may not even need to hold down the shift key to get this to work. XP usually give you an Open with item on the right-click menu with a sub-menu full of options. If you want to change the association, you'll need to select the Choose Program option.

XP Open With picture:

CDrom disappeared... evil gnomes to blame?
It's possible that evil gnomes have snuck into your computer and stolen the CDROM drive. Or sometimes they just loosen the wires, leave the drive in your computer, and then watch as the hilarity ensues. It could be a hardware issue, but more likely, it's a software problem. It's a known problem that certain CDROM or DVD software packages don't uninstall properly, and afterwards Windows cannot find the CDROM/DVD drive. Fortunately, that problem is pretty easy to fix.

But first, let's make sure that your CDROM drive is physically connected to the computer. Open My Computer, then click on View system information. When System Properties window appears, select the Hardware tab, then press the Device Manager button.

Click the "+" sign next to DVD/CD-ROM Drives. If your CDROM device is connected and has power, at least one entry should appear under that heading, as shown in this example. If you don't see a DVD/CD-ROM Drives heading, or nothing appears beneath it, you should open up your computer and check to see if both the power and data (ribbon) cables are securely connected to the CDROM drive. See photos for examples of the connectors and the back of a typical CDROM drive. With the computer turned OFF, remove the two cables from the connectors on the back of the drive, then reseat them firmly. Check the other end of the ribbon cable to make sure it's plugged firmly into the motherboard. Sometimes it helps to make grunting noises during this process. After restarting the computer, if the CDROM drive still doesn't show up on the My Computer or the Device Manager screen, it's probably defective.

Does the Device status area show an error message that refers to a missing or corrupted driver, or Code 19, Code 31, Code 32, Code 39 or Code 41? If your CDROM drive was working, you could re-install the driver software from the manufacturer's CDROM. So that option is obviously not going to work too well. But if you can find the website of your CDROM vendor, try to download and install the most recent driver software for your CDROM drive. Sometimes that (and a system restart) will resolve the problem with Windows not "seeing" the drive.

The System Restore feature built in to Windows XP may also help. Windows periodically takes regular snapshots of your Windows configuration, settings, and program files. If you can remember the most recent time when your computer was working correctly, System Restore will roll back all system changes to that point. For help using this feature, see my illustrated System Restore article.

If none of those procedures revive the drive, we must put on the surgical gloves and hack the Windows registry. Here's what you need to do:

   1. Click Start, then Run, then enter REGEDIT to open the Registry Editor
   2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class entry
   3. Under the Class entry, double click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
   4. In the right-hand pane, click ONCE to select the UpperFilters entry
   5. Make sure the UpperFilters entry is highlighted, press Delete, then Yes.
   6. In the right-hand pane, click ONCE to select the LowerFilters entry
   7. Make sure the LowerFilters entry is highlighted, press Delete, then Yes.
   8. Close the Registry Editor by clicking File, Exit.

Microsoft late Tuesday updated a critical security patch to address the network connection trouble some people had with the first version of the fix.

The first patch, delivered in security bulletin MS06-025, was one of the dozen released by Microsoft on this month's Patch Tuesday. It repairs two high-risk security flaws in a Windows routing and remote access component that could allow an attacker to commandeer a vulnerable PC.

However, the fix can interfere with certain dial-up networking connections. Problems occur only with dial-up connections that use a terminal window, or dial-up scripting, Microsoft said. This type of connection may stop responding after the patch is applied, it added.

Microsoft had advised people who use those types of connections to not install the security update until it released a revised patch. That revision is now available.

While Microsoft was working on the updated fix, computer code that exploits the flaw in question was released on the Internet. That raises the urgency to patch and prompted Microsoft to issue a security advisory earlier this week. However, the company said it is not aware of any attacks using this exploit.

The MS06-025 update was one of a dozen security bulletins sent out by Microsoft two weeks ago. At least one patch came after the vulnerability it addressed had already been used in a cyberattack. Exploits for some other flaws have also been published, further increasing the urgency to patch. 

Trend Micro, more commonly referred to as Housecall, offers free virus scans and in most cases can fix damage down by a virus or worm that your computer may have contacted.  The program works well.  The first time one uses the free program it is necessary to download a small program. Trend Micro walks you through the process.   Then the virus scans are quite simple for each return.  Go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/  then choose the link   "Scan without registering".  Follow the directions.

You should disable any anti virus program that you have running.  If you do not have a virus program I recommend that you use one of the programs offered above first and then download and install one of the free programs listed below or install any anti virus program you have purchased.

AVG Free
AVG Free Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product! Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high-level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements).
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

Avast
Avast has been "anti virusing" for quite awhile.  The following info comes from their download page:   Avast! Home is now free of charge for HOME users for NON-COMMERCIAL use. You can find more info here.
http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html
Note: This product is free for home non-commercial use after registration!
HINTS:   Click on the English Version Link and download the installation file.  Then click on the installation file and follow the directions.  You will need to return to the download page and click on the link to get the registration key.   It will be sent to you in an email after you provide some registration information.  This will give you 14 months of coverage including any updates which can be set to auto download.  You can reregister for additional free coverage at the end of the 14 months.
You will want to browse around and choose from the many options available for operation.  This process will take some time and digging.

Another good free program is:
http://www.free-av.com/
This one installs a bit easier than Avast.

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 - product description
Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.
Choose one of the sites to download from.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Ad-Aware Personal provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. This software is downloadable free of charge.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
 

Here are a few sites of many that can help you determine if an email is a hoax or real.

http://www.snopes.com/
http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp
http://kumite.com/myths/
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
http://www.scambusters.org/VirusHoaxes.html
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/
http://www.truthorfiction.com/
http://www.quatloos.com/

4th of July Site with fireworks, music, and KaBooms (No Flash necessary) Lots of popups though.
http://www.dobhran.com/greetings/GRjuly4.htm

Create your very own fireworks show!  (589k)   This one is fun.
Select a backdrop from a choice of city skylines including New York City, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and Little Rock. Then choose the color of the explosions, and shoot!
For further options click on the "options" bar at the bottom of the screen. For optimal viewing, PC users will need at least a 166-Megahertz Pentium, and Mac users should have at least a 160-Megahertz Power Mac. Don't forget to turn on your sound to hear the explosions and the 1812 Overture!
http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=humor&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.aristotle.net%2Fjuly4th%2Ffireworks%2Findex.html

Celebrity Fireworks Displays You May Have Missed
Flash animations relive the explosives of George W. Bush, the Osbournes, Martha Stewart, R. Kelly, and Winona Ryder. Presented by "MAD."
http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=humor&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warnerbros.com%2Fmadmagazine%2Fmed%2Fmadness070802.swf

Traveling?  Check the Weather Channel before packing.
The Weather Channel’s Web site offers a solution to the problem of knowing what to pack for your business or pleasure trip.   Before you travel, visit its travel tool.  Put in your departure city and your destination. Then, specify your travel dates.  You’ll get a weather forecast for your specified time. And tips on what to pack are offered with the requested forecast. For example, it might tell you to pack short sleeves and shorts or longjohns and wool socks.  It will suggest packing an umbrella when needed.
You can also check the weather for your airport. Or, you can check flight status. How 'bout all that?
http://www.weather.com/activities/travel/businesstraveler 
 
 
 

Fourth of July Festivities Celebrate Independence Day with classic American foods  from across the nation. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_4th_july  Backyard BBQ  Southern feasts  New England fare  Best summer cocktails

NASA Software May Aid in Tsunami Warnings
Iraqi tribal leader samples fresh water 
Warm Fire in northern Arizona as it continued to burn in the Kaibab National Forest on June 21, 2006. 06.23.06
NASA Satellites Image Wild Western Fires
More Life on Earth Features
Space Shuttle Discovery rests on the hardstand of Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center 06.29.06
Countdown Clock Running for Saturday Launch
International Space Station 06.28.06
Expedition Crew Prepares for Shuttle
A space shuttle lifts off amid a flurry of birds. 06.26.06
It's a Jungle Out There!
More Humans in Space Features global, natural color view of Saturn 06.27.06
Cassini at the Half
Pluto's moons, Nix and Hydra 06.23.06
A graphic showing stellar gas swirling into an accretion disk. 06.21.06
Clues to Black Hole Growth Beginning to Add Up