Wednesday, December 26, 2007

CD Duplication Or Replication


To do cd and dvd duplication, one usually first creates a disk image with a full file system designed for the optical disc, and then burns the image to the disc. The disc image is a single file, built and stored on the hard drive, which contains the entire information to be contained on the disc. Many programs create the disc image and burn in one bundled operation, so that end-users often do not know the distinction. However, a useful motivation for learning this distinction is that creating the disc image is an "expensive" (time-consuming) process. Most disc writing applications will silently delete this image from the "temporary directory" in which it was built unless users instruct the disc burning application to preserve the image, which can then be used for creating further copies of the same image without the need to rebuild the image each time.

There are also packet-writing applications that do not require writing the entire disc at once, but allow writing parts at a time, allowing the disc to be used in the same way as rewritable media such as floppy disk. There exist many optical disc authoring technologies for optimizing the authoring process and preventing errors. Discs writeable only once whose burn failed are colloquially termed coasters since that is almost all they are good for, as well being primitive frisbees. Some operating systems are aware of disc images as a filesystem type, and can mount these images so that they appear as actual mounted discs. This feature can be useful for testing a disc image after authoring but before writing to the disc media.

However, cd replication is different and doing it involves different tasks. To do so, a glass master from a client original master need to be created, a nickel stamper also need to be created from that glass master. Afterwards, the molding of clear optical-grade polycarbonate substrates (clear discs) is injected from that stamper. Finally, the metallizing and lacquering of those substrates is done in order to produce compact discs and DVDs.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

DVD Duplication - What You Should Know


Have you been trying to get a grasp of DBD duplication and just what it is really all about? Well, you're not alone as many people have to same questions. While it is most often thought of as simply copying a DVD, in actuality duplication is more involved. Here is a look at some of the basics of DVD duplication.When you go about duplicating a CD or DVD you are actually copying the optical media from the master onto the new disk.Most people only want to copy or duplicate a new movie from a master disk, but others use duplication in business proposals or other means.There are several different types of DVD disks available and not all are suitable for every case. You'll need to know the differences before planning any DVD duplication.One good thing about duplicating a DVD is that the quality of the new copy will be as good as the master. Unlike cassette tapes from years past, DVD's are designed in a way to optimize quality. It's kind of like sending a forwarded email from one computer to another.There are also DVD duplication companies available to help do the process for you if you wish. They have the equipment and software to do a professional job in any situation.Finding a duplicating company is as simple as doing a search online. Just be sure to check them out a bit and how long they have been in business. Not all companies are the same. A DVD duplication company is ideal for business proposals and marketing materials. Whether it is 10 DVD's or 1,000, you can find companies that will provide you with top quality work at very reasonable rates.DVD duplication is a great way to save time and preserves quality for your project. By understanding the facts and educating yourself you will be able to make your best decision on what route to take.

Friday, December 14, 2007

The Evolution of the Adult Content Genre


The adult industry has been losing the stigma that has been attached to it for so long. It has become a mode of general entertainment. Porn has been existent and is probably as old as civilization itself, starting from the early erotic art of the Roman Empire.

Base reliefs on buildings and on various artifacts depicting images of copulation and other sexual acts have been excavated and serve as proof that the concept of porn is not something new. Though it is difficult to pinpoint an exact period as to when it all started, the modern understanding of porn started during the early nineteenth century, when the Victorians unearthed erotic artifacts from the ruins of Pompeii and suppressed them from being exhibited in public.

This was done in order to not allow the 'obscenities to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to particular immoral influences.' The established nature of the porn industry is the not the result of an unimpeded journey. However, the adult industry has battled many odds and emerged strong. The estimated net value of all forms of adult material, including those which are available online, was somewhere between $2.6 billion and $3.9 billion in the United States alone in 2001.

This industry has also been a major deciding factor in establishing the video format wars in the early 70's between Betamax and VHS, and has consequently staked its part in the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format debates.

Of course, in such a strong industry, an underground offshoot is bound to develop. As a result, we are now seeing the rise of a lot of amateur porn. Besides the usual print and video formats, the Internet has played a major role in serving this end, since practically everything is leaked and posted on the Internet and is available to almost anyone with basic browsing knowledge.

The adult industry has broken cultural taboo barriers and is challenging well established norms of the current status quo by crossing over to media which has only recently become accessible to almost any willing individual.

Nowadays, there is a movement towards various niches in the genre for adult content. Thus, there is a tendency to catering to varying audience tastes now. You may type a search word related to porn on a search website and get an exhaustive list of links featuring every variation of the sexual act, whether it is concerned with fetishes, interracial sex, sex between all combinations of sexual orientation, and various other subtypes which defy labeling.

A lot of porn has become increasingly mainstream. Now a lot of soft-porn content is available which caters to a wider variety of audiences. These depictions usually are successful in straddling legal boundaries and restrictions, provided that they comply with regulated requirements, such as keeping material which are too explicit from being obtained by minors.

Probably the best indicator that the adult industry has fully matured has been the legalization of the sex industry in countries such as Holland. Similar measures have been observed elsewhere, particularly in the United States and Europe in the form of red light districts. Even though various factions have been opposing the industry of adult content, this industry has been growing in leaps and bounds.

Teeja Hivsbob

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Violence In Media


In the news, we hear and see an increasing number of reports about violence among children. This goes from rude fights on the playground to armed incidents in schools that result in injuries or even casualties.

Now asking ourselves where this behaviour is originated, we quickly come to media as a scapegoat: TV violence, computer games and the Internet. Often we lack overview of what our children experience while dealing with these influences.

And there lies the root problem. Various scientist groups have tried to prove the influence of visual violence on children's behaviour. There has been proof and counter-proof - so what we can conclude from this is that the connection between observed violence and violent behaviour depends on more circumstances than can be applied in a experimental environment. (links)

An observation that we can make ourselves is that children tend to imitate behaviour. Aside from what's experienced in media, they're influenced by their parents, their friends and idols.

If we are realistic, we have to admit that as soon as our children start going to school, we lose overview on their experiences and are often astonished or shocked about the new ideas they're coming up with. Now here comes the parent's part. The fact that our children are going to school doesn't mean they're grown-up and their character is stabilized. Trend and group force are strong against the learned attitudes and behaviour patterns from childhood, so we need to stay in touch with our children and try to understand what's on their minds.

It's far too easy to say that a child's violent behaviour is caused by media. That's only an excuse, because this way parents don't have to blame themselves for neglecting their duty of education.

For sure there is a negative influence of visually explicit violence to a child's mind. But what influence it is, if our child is considering it "cool", following possibly their friends' attitude towards it, or if it's scared or even repelled, that's up to us to teach. Parents have to guide their children with their experiences, and that includes violence, no matter where experienced.

So take your time to share the experience, show real interest and add your opinion. Avoid prohibition as much as possible, because that will just make it much more interesting. For example, if you ban your child from seeing a popular, violent cartoon series, it will probably see it anyway - with a friend or when you're not there. But with simply banning it, you stripped yourself of the chance to influence the conclusions your child will draw - surely it won't consult you afterwards regarding the forbidden.

And, as with all other things, be a paradigm - if you present verbal or even physical violence in your family, then you don't have to be surprised if your child copies that behaviour.

Brigitte Meier

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Reposition on New Media Article


Old media and new media

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media

Old media are, for example, typewriters, vinyl record albums and eight-track magnetic tapes.analog processes - ones which directly sample a continuous recording onto a physical medium, as opposed to new media which sample media as a numerical representation in binary code. These media involve

The distinction between "new media" and old media is often indistinct due to the homogeneity of the term, which can conflate media where computers are the transmission medium and media where digitisation occurs to facilitate a new way of distributing a pre-existing medium. Whereas the Internet clearly marks a departure in terms of user experience and possibility, transferring a betamax tape onto DVD involves a far less dramatic change as the content of the media remains either identical, or slightly enhanced through digital manipulation of - for example - colour.

The term 'new media' gained popular currency in the mid 1990s as part of a marketing pitch for the proliferation of interactive educational and entertainment CD-ROMs. One of the key features of this early new media was the implication that corporations, not individual creators, would control copyright. The term then became far more widely used as the mass consumer internet began to emerge from 1995 onwards. The term 'new media' can be traced back to the 70s when it was described more as an impact on cultural studies of different aspects such as economic as well as social, it is only within the last 25 years that the term has taken on a more advanced meaning.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Top Ways of Backing Up Business Data


business data is one of the most crucial forms of data that can reside on a computer. Loss of data can destroy a business completely especially when businesses are completely reliant on this data. It is for this reason that all business owners should carry out frequent backups of their data. These backups may take place on a daily or weekly basis depending on their schedules and what they feel comfortable with. With all the backup options that are available a business owner may easily feel very confused about which choice to make. Certain backup options function better than others but some are much easier to use than those that are usually referred to as convenient. If you own a business you would normally prefer a backup solution that offers you reliability as well as convenience. The rest of the article explores various data and backup options that are available to you and how you can implement them properly.

The primary option that can be used to back up data is hard disk imaging otherwise referred to as cloning which can easily be carried out with disk imaging software. Most people usually think of it as the best backup solution because its saves every little bit of data that you have stored on your hard drive. This is great because if you should have any need of restoring your data from scratch due to data loss you can get everything back. Furthermore it is also the quickest and easiest means of backing up your data especially for a person who doesn't really know that much about computers and can't spend a whole day just trying to back up their data.

Another solution for data backup is the remote online backup. What this means is that your data can easily be saved on a server that is quite secure and in a place that is far away from your current location. This is a great idea for so many reasons; the most important of these reasons is that it protects you from losing out in case a disaster occurs which may affect where you work or where you live. If you back up your files online you also achieve what you intend to achieve cheaply and affordably. Online backup companies also make use of various forms of professional hardware and software in order to ensure that you data is stored securely in a digital vault that is very secure.

One other business backup method you can use to secure business data are external storage devices. These devices are rather simple to use and are very useful too. External devices which are capable of data storage come in many different forms. Most of them are usually external hard drives and memory devices called memory sticks. Most people prefer to use memory sticks because they hold a lot more data and can plug into your USB port very easily. They also tend to hold larger amounts of data which is usually sufficient space for whatever it is that you have which requires backup and storage.

by Kelly Hunter

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Maps of Cyberspace


by Sam Vaknin

"Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts...A graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkablecomplexity. Lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding..." (William Gibson, "Neuromancer", 1984, page 51) At first sight, it appears to be a static, cluttered diagram with multicoloured, overlapping squares. Really, it is an extremely powerfulway of presenting the dynamics of the emerging e-publishing industry. R2 Consulting has constructed these eBook Industry Maps to "reflect the evolving business models among publishers, conversion houses, digital distribution companies, eBook vendors, online retailers, libraries, library vendors, authors, and many others. These maps are 3-dimensionaloffering viewers both a high-level orientation to the eBook landscape and an in-depth look at multiple eBook models and the partnerships that have formed within each one." Pass your mouse over any of the squares and a virtual floodgate opens - a universe of interconnected and hyperlinked names, a detailed atlas of who does what to whom. eBookMap.net is one example of a relatively novel approach to databases and web indexing. The metaphor of cyber-space comes alive in spatial, two and three dimensional map-like representations of the world of knowledge in Cybergeography's online "Atlas". Instead of endless, static and bi-chromatic lists of links - Cybergeography catalogues visual,recombinant vistas with a stunning palette, internal dynamics and an intuitively conveyed sense of inter-relatedness. Hyperlinks are incorporated in the topography and topology of these almost-neural maps. "These maps of Cyberspaces - cybermaps - help us visualise and comprehend the new digital landscapes beyond our computer screen, in the wires of the global communications networks and vast online information resources. The cybermaps, like maps of the real-world, help us navigate the new information landscapes, as well being objects of aesthetic interest. They have been created by 'cyber-explorers' of many different disciplines, and from all corners of the world. Some of the maps ... in the Atlas of Cyberspaces ... appear familiar, using the cartographicconventions of real-world maps, however, many of the maps are much more abstract representations of electronic spaces, using new metrics and grids." Navigating these maps is like navigating an inner, familiar, territory. They come in all shapes and modes: flow charts, quasi-geographical maps, 3-d simulator-like terrains and many others. The "web Stalker" is an experimental web browser which is equipped with mapping functions. The range of applicability is mind boggling. A (very) partial list: The Internet Genome Project - "open-source map of the major conceptual components of the Internet and how they relate to each other" Anatomy of a Linux System - Aimed to "...give viewers a concise and comprehensive look at the Linux universe' and at the heart of the poster is a gravity well graphic showing the core software components,surrounded by explanatory text" NewMedia 500 - The financial, strategic, and other inter-relationshipsand interactions between the leading 500 new (web) media firms Internet Industry Map - Ownership and alliances determine status, control, and access in the Internet industry. A revealing organizational chart. The Internet Weather Report measures Internet performance, latency periods and downtime based on a sample of 4000 domains. Real Time Geographic Visualization of WWW Traffic - a stunning, 3-d representation of web usage and traffic statistics the world over. WebBrain and Map.net provide a graphic rendition of the Open Directory Project. The thematic structure of the ODP is instantly discernible. The WebMap is a visual, multi-category directory which contains 2,000,000 web sites. The user can zoom in and out of sub-categories and "unlock" their contents. Maps help write fiction, trace a user's clickpath (replete with clickable web sites), capture Usenet and chat interactions (threads), plot search results (though Alta Vista discontinued its mapping service and Yahoo!3D is no more), bookmark web destinations, and navigate through complex sites. Different metaphors are used as interface. Web sites are represented as plots of land, stars (whose brightness corresponds to the web site's popularity ranking), amino-acids in DNA-like constellations,topographical maps of the ocean depths, buildings in an urban landscape, or other objects in a pastoral setting. Virtual Reality (VR) maps allow information to be simultaneously browsed by teams of collaborators, sometimes represented as avatars in a fully immersive environment. In many applications, the user is expected to fly amongst the data items in virtual landscapes. With the advent of sophisticated GUI's (Graphic UserInterfaces) and VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) - these maps may well show us the way to a more colourful and user-friendly future.

About the Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He is a columnist for Central Europe Review, United Press International (UPI) and eBookWeb and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com.