I can look back now and say that I should have been backing everything up. The reality is that in three out of four of those instances I was backing things up. I admit that the first time I had to learn the hard way, but the other times it was more a matter of my not backing things up as much as I should be. I have an external hard drive these days and I do weekly backups to make sure that I don’t lose anything. Still, it is possible that I could lose something. With this in mind, I am always on the lookout for the next best thing in computer safety.

The Rebit is considered to be ridiculously simple in terms of backup safety. The company contacted me for a review and it sounded so good that I couldn’t wait to try it out. I received a 320GB Rebit backup system with the ability to use it on multiple PCs. This is literally an out of the box solution. The instructions are like “plug it in.” The only other step once it is plugged in via the USB cord that is provided is to click Start Protecting this Computer with Rebit when the prompt asks you to make a choice after plugging it in.

That’s seriously all it takes. When you plug it in the first time your system does a complete copy over to the Rebit. This is going to take a while, but it’s done in the background so you shouldn’t even notice it going on. From there, any chances made to your computer are copied to the Rebit as they are made. This ensures that you never lose any sensitive data.

If you run more than one hard drive you might need another backup solution because Rebit only handles the main C drive. That being said, the average person isn’t running two internal hard drives so this isn’t going to be an issue for the average person. This is about the only complaint that I could think to bring up and it’s not even really a complaint. It’s more an observation that doesn’t even actually affect me or my buying decision. I know it will affect some people though so it’s worth the mention.

I am happy to say that I have not had to use my Rebit to restore anything, but if that time comes it’s seriously as easy as opening the Rebit and dragging the folders I need to the newly formatted system. Of course, if I didn’t reformat and only lost a file, thanks to the real time backup, I could just as easily retrieve that from Rebit, too. This fact alone makes it nearly invaluable to any serious computer user that works on their computer or uses it for school.

With this in mind, Rebit is fairly cost effective. They offer a number of options for every pocket book. You can get the complete systems in various sizes and for single PC or multi PC use. You can also buy just the software and hook it up to your own external hard drive and save a few bucks that way. The 320GB system runs about $100, which is nothing to complain about.

For the amount of security it offers and the relative ease in which it provides it, this product is a definite must have. You can check out the various Rebit products at the Rebit Website. We highly recommend you pick one up for yourself and any serious computer user on your gift giving list.

Technorati Tags: Rebit, Security, Computer, Software Review, External Hard Drive, Ridiculously Simple Backup, Holiday Review, Highly Recommended

Well, then geocities came up with a web design editor. My curiosity was peaked and so I used it to do all kinds of other crazy text effects and things that would now look rather gaudy to someone with a trained eye in design. Of course, I didn’t realize I was sacrificing my hand coding to an evil editor. It chewed my code up and spit it out in mangled form. I was depressed and vowed to avoid using a web design editor, no matter the cost.

Fast forward several years and I’m running multiple businesses. Some of them call for repetitious coding. Hand coding takes forever. It’s slow, but its accurate. Still, if only there was a way I could have saved time, I would have taken it. Around this time, the big two web design editors were by Macromedia and Microsoft. I could only stomach two minutes in the Microsoft program, also known as FrontPage. It added in all this unnecessary Microsoft coding and messed up my pages. I was told by a designer friend to try Dreamweaver, the other editor option. This was in the program’s early days. Still, my code was much cleaner in Dreamweaver than it was in other editors. Dreamweaver showed remarkable promise.

That brings us to today. I am now a loyal user of Dreamweaver. Now an Adobe product, I’m currently using Dreamweaver CS 4. As the program continues to grow and develop, I’ve realized how much time I can save using Dreamweaver. I still do part of my coding by hand, but Dreamweaver cuts the work out on things like making tables and setting up my CSS documents.

Dreamweaver has the potential to be incredibly newbie friendly due to it’s array of easy to use, easily labeled panels and tabs. I know that if I’d have had Dreamweaver around when I was learning to code, I wouldn’t have made nearly as many mistakes, coding wise. This program would have saved me an incredible amount of time!

When you look at something like Dreamweaver and compare it to a program like Photoshop, you aren’t going to be as likely to see the benefits of the changes in the upgrade quite as much in Dreamweaver. The program works so well now, on its own, that upgrades often include what I like to call “tweaks” as opposed to actual feature changes and inclusions. The next step Adobe is going to have to make is to have Dreamweaver construct vast layouts in one click, for a variety of webpage styles. Of course, that takes most of the fun out of designing.

What I’d like to see, in the next version, is more support for the coding that is done by programs like WordPress. For example, it’d be nice to be able to preview a WordPress theme in Dreamweaver’s visual/design panel before the theme goes up on the webpage or to have coding assistance for WordPress built into Dreamweaver. I’m not sure if this would be possible, but I could imagine how many bloggers would start using Dreamweaver (if they aren’t already) due to it’s support of WordPress. It’s one of the most popular, well used, pieces of open software, so while this would be an awesome edition to Dreamweaver, it’d be more like the icing on the cake than something that I require in order to use WordPress. It’d make my own life much easier, and it’d open up use of Dreamweaver to a larger audience, in my opinion.

Without the inclusion of extension features, like the one I just listed above, Dreamweaver CS4 is still rocking. It doesn’t eat my code. I love that about the software. I don’t have to go in and fix my code, because everything looks as clean as it would had I hand typed it. Dreamweaver also has helpful coding suggestions/hints for those who do hand coding. If I open a tag, Dreamweaver will close it for me wherever I want it closed. It’s just that easy and helpful. If you design websites and don’t use Dreamweaver then shame on you!

Release Information:
Dreamweaver CS 4 was released with other software in the Creative Suites 4 set on September 23, 2008. The CS4 software products can be downloaded individually, in upgrades (if you own past versions) or in sets with other CS4 products, on the Adobe website.

The following collections feature Adobe Dreamweaver CS4:

Adobe CS4 Design Premium – $1,799 – Upgrade – $599
Adobe CS4 Web Premium – $1,699 – Upgrade – $599
Adobe CS4 Master Collection – $2,499 Upgrade – $899

You can purchase Dreamweaver CS 4 on it’s own for $399 or upgrade to this version for $199. For all that Dreamweaver offers, and the upgrades to this version, I believe this price is fairly reasonable.

Price: 4 out of 5 stars

About the Developer:
Adobe is the name I trust above all others when it comes to software that is used for web site design, graphic design, animation and other forms of visual media. I have been using Adobe since the 90s. I remember the early days of Adobe. What is now obsolete in the world of design was revolutionary and Adobe was in the thick of it all. Having acquired products from Macromedia, such as Flash and Dreamweaver, Adobe has opened themselves up to become the definitive source for multimedia and design software.

Product Features:
For those who design webpages, but have never used Dreamweaver, you should. Dreamweaver is friendly to all coders regardless of experience level. The top panel of Dreamweaver features the option to click Design Mode, Split Mode, or Code Mode. Design Mode is the quintessential WYSIWYG editor. You can copy and click buttons in the other panels to do everything from insert images, to make intricate tables and website layouts. The Code Mode is for coders who prefer to do most of their coding by hand. Switching back to design mode allows for visual views of whatever is being written into the code. This mainly supports HTML, unless you have an extension that allows you to view coding such as PHP code.

Split view obviously combines both code and design modes. This is great if you’re trying to troubleshoot a coding problem. As you fix the problem the design reflects the changes. When you are in coding view, as you type, helpful codes pop up to allow you to save time and not have to type every single part of the code out. Dreamweaver’s visual view also supports calls to other created documents by Dreamweaver or hand coding.

For example, as you make changes to a CSS document that an HTML file you are working on in Dreamweaver is calling, you can actually see the CSS changes in the visual view for the HTML file. You have to save the CSS file for the changes to take effect though. Still, I don’t remember this working quite so well in past versions of Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver supports a wide variety of file types. Nearly any file type you could want to create for your website is supported. Supported types include HTML, PSP, JSP, CSS, XML, Javascript, Cold Fusion, Actionscript, ASP.Net (VB & #C), ASP VBscript, and I’ve even edited PERL code in Dreamweaver. Many of these types of code have syntax highlighting available. Of course, most of the things I’ve mentioned so far about Dreamweaver have been available in past versions. I should definitely spend some time on what’s new for Dreamweaver CS 4.

A lot of pretty cool changes have been made to Dreamweaver CS 4.

The change I like the most is to the Live View Feature. This allows for a live preview of web content that loads in half the time. You can preview and test web content easily and quickly with little to no wait time. It also loads directly through Dreamweaver CS 4. Before, you had to open these files up in an external browser such as Firefox or IE.

One new feature that I don’t use too much, but that I can see the advantage in using is the new Related Files Bar. You can use that to see the source code for your related CSS files, in a code based view, while looking at the main file the CSS file correlates with, in the design view of Dreamweaver CS4. As I mentioned before, you can update your CSS by hand or in Dreamweaver, save the file, and have the changes show up in the Design View for the file with which the CSS is connected. Additionally, Dreamweaver CS 4 allows for use of Code Navigator. This makes it easy to find the CSS source code that relates to the file on which you are currently working.

I also spoke about code hinting. That’s when you start to type in a part of a code, and then the rest of the code pops up, allowing you to select what code you want to type rather than having to type it all out, by hand. This feature has been enhanced even more than what is available in Dreamweaver CS 3. It’s the most useful tool, in my opinion. I use this more than any other in Dreamweaver CS 4. The support in this version has been increased specifically so you can write Javascript and Ajax coding with ease. I’ve also found that it is easier to write PHP and HTML coding from scratch, so some improvement seems to be available for all of the coding languages that are available.

You can now add dynamic data to your webpage without struggling to work with a database (which can be a major hassle) or fighting with XML. This is capable through Spry Data Sets, which recognize interactive data in simple HTML tables. I haven’t found much use for this feature, but if I’m adding dynamic content, I’m using something like Flash rather than coding it into my webpage in another way. That’s just my personal preference, though.

One of the coolest updates I’ve found is the integration of PSD file Smart Objects. I work a lot in Photoshop, especially since I like Photoshop CS 4 a lot more than past releases. Before, I’d have to save my PSD files into JPG or some other extension before loading into Dreamweaver. Well, not anymore. It’s now possible to upload the PSD file into any website that is being designed or tweaked in Dreamweaver CS 4. Then, if I update the image in Photoshop, it updates the changes in Dreamweaver. This also optimizes the images into a web-compatible format. Tres convenient!

CSS coding is enhanced. It’s so easy to put in CSS thanks to extended code hinting. You can also apply specific CSS rules to your files through the properties panel. This is a great function if you’re new to CSS, as each panel offers a helpful explanation of the CSS style.

Finally, Dreamweaver CS 4 offers support for Adobe AIR. This seems to be universal for most of the software packages in CS4.

Product: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Using the Product:
As I’ve mentioned throughout this entire review, this is pretty easy to use. You can hand code, if you want, though you certainly don’t have to. The easily labeled panels and tabbed bar at the top make for easy to use and follow directions when making everything from layouts to tables. Dreamweaver CS 4 even features a variety of pre-made templates that offer a specific layout for your website. Making a website is as easy as a few clicks and some cutting and pasting if you already have the text of the site written.

Functionality: 5 out of 5 stars
Ease of Use: 5 out of 5 stars
Newbie Friendly: 5 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line:
Dreamweaver CS 4 is the right step forward, by Adobe, from past versions of this software. With a variety of upgrades and software tweaks, you’d be crazy not to upgrade to this version. If you don’t own Dreamweaver already yet you design websites on a regular basis, then you need to purchase this invaluable, time saving tool. Newbies who wish to learn how to design websites can benefit greatly from using Dreamweaver CS 4. This version of the software is also much more compatible with the W3C’s Markup Validation Policies, making for the cleanest, most web friendly code by a web design editor available.

Reuseability: 5 out of 5 stars
Visually Pleasing: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.79 out of 5 stars

Technorati Tags: Adobe, Dreamweaver, CS 4, Software Review, website, design, coding, HTML, PHP, syntax, Adobe Air, PSD, Photoshop, compatible

I still used Photoshop, especially when it came to editing, resizing and
improving photos. That’s pretty much my entire purpose for using Photoshop these days. With this in mind, I wondered what the new Adobe Photoshop CS4 would have to offer someone like me. I don’t use Photoshop every day (unless you include using it to resize pictures), but when I do, I want to know that I have the best, most powerful software that I can use.

I was surprised by all of the changes Adobe has made to Photoshop CS 4. There are some really great improvements, especially when it comes to photo editing. It seems like many of the complaints I had with Photoshop were listened to and corrected. Now, nearly anyone, whether they are a professional photo editor or not, can use the point and click style of editing that Photoshop now offers.

Another improvement to Photoshop CS4 is the layout for the program. There seems to be a universal setup style for the layout of the majority of the products in the CS4 line. Panels line either side of the workspace, but unlike the CS3 release of Photoshop, I’m not as quick to minimize these panels. The auto adjustment panel is just one of the new sidebar offerings that are not just there for show. These panels are program necessities and nothing is easier than popping up a panel and clicking whatever adjustments need to be made.

Release Information:
Adobe Photoshop CS4 was released in a standard edition and extended edition, and in various CS4 packs, such as the Adobe CS4 Master Collection. All of the CS4 programs were released on October 15, 2008. The latest version of Adobe Photoshop is a vast improvement from the software I used in the early days of Adobe. It’s incredible to see the improvements in this version, having used one of the early versions of Photoshop.

While Photoshop may seem to be a bit expensive, what you get for the price you’ll pay is well worth it. The price for the standard version of Photoshop CS4 is $699. You can upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop for just $199. Of course, you can try before you buy with a free trial of the software available at Adobe.com. There are also a few different collections, which offer Photoshop as one of the main products. I received Adobe Photoshop in the Adobe CS4 Master Collection.

The following collections feature Adobe CS4:

Adobe CS4 Design Premium – $1,799 – Upgrade – $599
Adobe CS4 Web Premium – $1,699 – Upgrade – $599
Adobe CS4 Production Premium – $1,699 Upgrade – $599
Adobe CS4 Master Collection – $2,499 Upgrade – $899

There is also a Photoshop CS4 Extended version, which is available for $999 or a $349 upgrade.

Price: 4 out of 5 stars

About the Developer:
Adobe is, by far, the best developer of software for website design, graphic design and photo editing. Photoshop has been able to move above and beyond less professional offerings to become the definitive photo editing software. I know that many of the top graphic and web designers I know and work with use Photoshop. Going with Photoshop CS4 is the only answer. Past versions just don’t hold a candle to this enhanced version.

Product Features:
Where Photoshop CS4 shines the most is in its features. This isn’t just a fluff upgrade from CS3. The developers of Photoshop CS4 made some hardcore changes that users of past versions struggled with using, the hard way, previously. There are some new features that truly make photo editing much easier and some of these features are so stunning they’ll leaving you asking, “How’d they do that?!”

First, let’s talk about Content-Aware Scaling. This, hands down, has to be the very best feature of Photoshop CS4. Basically, if you’d like to resize an image or continue a background in an image, you no longer have to copy and paste and/or clone. The photo rescales itself, and it does so without blurring or distorting any part of the image. This feature allows for image recomposing so the central part of the image (the focal point – i.e. an individual person or item in the picture) remains relatively untouched. At the same time, backgrounds and less important parts of the image expand without contorting the focal image or the background. It’s pretty sweet to see this feature in action.

You can see my attempt at Content-Aware Scaling above. My nephew, Lil B, is driving in his car and I’ve made his car a bit beefier and the background has expanded in the second image. Like most features in any program, this doesn’t come without a few problems. I could only expand it so far with Content-Aware Scaling before Lil B and his car were affected. The pixels for the grass and trees also distort a bit too much if I force the image smaller. Using a mask can help to improve this by only scaling certain parts of the image. This is a feature you’ll definitely have to play around with a bit before you can perfect it.

What is cool about Content-Aware Scaling is the fact that I no longer have to crop out images, cut out parts of pictures just to move them around in the picture or copy and paste meticulously with the clone tool to expand an image. It’s truly made background enhancement much easier with less time spent cloning and more time spent perfecting the image. The above images could definitely do with some touch ups though and that comes in the form of the next feature I’d like to talk about.

The Adjustments panel was around in other versions of Photoshop, but never in such detail. Through the Adjustments panel, you can adjust various aspects of an image. In fact, you can select certain parts of an individual image and adjust just those parts. It’s that cool to use! You can adjust the Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, Exposure, Vibrance w/Saturation, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Black and White, Photo Filter, Channel Mixer, Invert, Posterize, Threshold, Gradient Map and Selective Color. There is also a selection of Presets for Levels, Curves, Selective Color and some of the other Adjustment Tools. I also like how the Curves Tool has a hand button you can press to set the curve on the actual image. It allows certain parts of the image to lighten and or darken without affecting the entire image.

The image below again features my nephew Lil B. The first image (the one on the bottom of this page) shows the picture my brother in law’s shoddy camera took. Then, my goal was to make the image less washed out and brighter. You can see that easily in the very last image I’m featuring in this review (on page two). I plan to play with this feature a bit more and use other tools that Photoshop offers, not in the Adjustments Panel, to further enhance the picture. However, I just wanted to give you an idea of what kind of things this panel can do for you and your photos.

In the past few years I’ve become a competent designer. Well…at least in my own mind. I’m a self-taught web designer. I started out in PSP (of all programs) though I hate to admit I ever used such a substandard program. It wasn’t long before I started using Photoshop. This was way back in 2002. I was new to Photoshop and while I was told that all of the “pros” were using the program, I found it to be much harder to learn than the previous programs I’d used.

Still, I was persistent. I wanted to use what the pros were using. In time and with a lot of help from tutorials (as well as other designers) I became quite proficient in Photoshop. From there, the next logical step was to learn Flash. I was absolutely fascinated with Flash. I started trying to learn Flash back in late 2002. I was obviously quite dependent on tutorials and assistance from other designers in these early days. Flash was in one of its earliest editions, but it was offering a revolutionary new approach to design and illustration. I definitely wanted in on the Flash bandwagon.

Sometime in 2003, I found an excellent Flash tutorial website, Cartoon Smart. The site was (and still is) run by a man named Justin Dike. For a fair price, I was able to receive easy to follow and in depth lessons in how to do many of the things I wanted to learn to do in Flash. Since 2003, I’ve been a loyal fan and customer of Justin’s. I highly recommend all of his tutorials, no matter your level of proficiency in Flash. While I know quite a bit more, and have become quite competent with Flash on my own, I still find Justin’s lessons invaluable. I often buy new lessons and modify what he teaches to suit my own designs and illustrations. Without him, I don’t feel I’d know Flash nearly as well as I do today.

When Flash CS4 Professional was being announced and I found out about all of the new features, I knew I had to have this program. I now use Flash, nearly exclusively as my primary program for website design, development and illustration. The ability to animate, draw, design and develop a wide variety of web friendly applications makes Flash CS4 the flexible, reliable and obvious solution for any web designer. I just happen to be one of the many Flash loyal people on this planet and with all of the really cool features that Adobe Flash CS4 is now offering I don’t see that changing anytime soon!

New Features:
There were several new features I was quite excited about after the release of Flash CS 4 Professional had been announced. The most exciting new features, for me, are object oriented animation, the Bones Tool (which allows for inverse kinematics), and the Deco and Spray Brush. The latter (Deco & Spray Brush) would either be really amazing to use, or a bit corny and not at all helpful. Unfortunately, as of now, I haven’t found much use for it, so I can’t exactly say whether it was worth being added to this upgrade, or not. I will say that it does have the potential to be worthwhile, in the right circumstances. I just haven’t found them.

I was putting my money on the entire Flash CS4 Professional edition being pretty amazing based on the videos of the new features I saw on the Adobe website. I can’t tell you how right I am. You’re just going to have to use this program to see just how amazing it truly is. While Flash (and all of the Adobe software packages) is expensive, I do believe this invaluable tool for designers will pay you back tenfold.

Let’s start by discussing Object Oriented Animation. Back in the good ol’ days, Flash required a series of steps to animate objects. If you didn’t follow the steps just so, your animation might appear bumpy, unrealistic and not at all like animation should look. Now, your object is set as a symbol, you right click, select Motion Tween, go to the ending keyframe, move the object from the start position to where you want it to stop and then the timeline is set for you. Adobe Flash determines the path the motion should take for the movement, ideally, and you just have to sit back and let the program do all the work for you. Pretty cool, eh?

To make things easier, you can adjust your animation without having to reanimate the layers and reset the motion tween. The object in motion features something called Bezier handles. Adjust those and you can adjust your animation. It’s pretty simple, and easy to use. It makes animating nearly any object a hundred times easier and then some! Of course, the addition of motion presets, which allows you to pop in presets for nearly any type of object saves designers even more time! To add to the motion features is a motion editor, which allows for more control over every aspect of individual tweens including, but not limited to rotation, scaling, easing control, transformation controls and color effects.

If this is still a bit confusing then you are going to want to check out Justin’s (Cartoon Smart) free lessons. This shows an example of how to use motion tweening on any object of your choosing. He also has a lesson on 3D object animation in Flash CS4. You can download both of these lessons for free at the Cartoon Smart Blog. Also, check out my own motion tween video below! This looks pretty nifty doesn’t it?

As if Flash animation couldn’t get any easier or more high tech, the addition of inverse kinematics has to be about the coolest feature of this new upgrade. You can take any chain like object and make it swing around. In the example I’ve included, I quickly drew a funky little cartoon guy. To show off what the Bones Tool can do, which controls inverse kinematics motion. In this case, I moved the funky man’s legs and arms.

Then I made him jump up and down using the object oriented animation motion tween method I mentioned above. I wanted to make him do the air splits and show off how his legs and arms can swing around individually. I should note that I only drew his arms with the intent to move them. After seeing how funny he looked, I decided to move his legs, too. So from the straight drawn legs, I was able to give them dynamic, realistic joints. This is DEFINITELY my favorite new feature of Flash CS4!

To see my animation, go to the next page.

Have I mentioned that I am not a fan of online gaming? I have, and rarely does a game come forward to change my stubborn opinions. However, the creators of "Massive Assault Network 2" have managed to do just that.

Without jumping ahead, I should begin with the download and install. These are always important aspects to me, because it sends a first impression to the buyer. The download size is average, and I was delighted to find the game downloaded in a respectful amount of time. The install went in a similar fashion, no hassle, no fuss.

Once installed, I searched through the list of options and found the game could be completely personalized to the player’s taste. Sound and graphics options were numerous allowing you to find a comfortable rendition of "M.A.N. 2". Not only can it be easy on the eyes, but easy on your computer as well.

I began the game by working through the tutorials. I was greeted by a male voice with a funny accent. Although they were tedious in nature, they did provide a glimpse into the inner-workings of the game. The tutorials focus on the basics, and you will need a firm grasp on these if you wish to succeed in this game.

After completing the tutorials, and creating a profile, I moved on to playing the game. Connecting to the server took approximately two seconds, which is worth mentioning because games I have played in the past have rarely met my expectations. Once connected I had my choice, I could challenge someone within the on-line community, or I could play one of the AI opponents. I opted first to play the AI.

“M.A.N. 2″ is a turn-based war strategy game. This means you are expected to recruit units, position them, and defeat your opponent with a series of moves and maneuvers. If you are a stranger to this type of game you may find it difficult at first. If you are somewhat experienced at these games, you still may find it difficult. The difficulty comes in the form of limitations. Some units can move more than others, some terrain hinders the movement of units. After each turn you are expected to recruit on an extremely limited budget. All these factors and others you will find for yourself, make the game difficult in nature, or should I say challenging?

Maybe challenging is a better word to describe "M.A.N. 2". It provokes the idea of chess for a new era. The challenge comes from limitation and advantage. It takes time and skill to master the arena, and when you are ready, you will find an on-line community waiting to accept your challenge. There was always a group of people on-line, eager to share a game. Friendly and helpful are two words that best describe the on-line community for "M.A.N. 2". They were always willing to give suggestions and point out what you may have done better. This makes for an interesting and exciting game to play.

Overall, “M.A.N. 2″ is a superbly crafted game. Graphics and sound were constructed in a manner that suits the users need, nothing was overdone. Nothing was underdone either, the middle ground was firmly established, and the experience I had with the game was enjoyable. You should bear in mind the game is not what I would call easy, it takes patience. If you have this quality, or seek to find it within yourself, then give “M.A.N. 2″ a try. It could be worth the time.

Technorati Tags: Massive Assault Network 2, Video Game, Online Game, PC Game, Play others, AI