Intuos5 touch Large is a professional quality graphics tablet, It is approximately 102.4 square inches of active working area.   Whether you are a photographer, illustrator, cartoonist, designer, or someone who wants professional results on your artwork, the Intuos5 lets you alternate between using multi-touch gestures with your fingers to position and navigate your artwork and the pressure-sensitive pen to sketch, paint, retouch, and edit.  The tablet is available for use here at the Skokie Public Library, it can be checked out at the Computer Commons desk.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you want to convert an audio file from WAV format to MP3 format?  Do you want to convert a PDF file to a DOC format? Or do you want to convert video from AVI format to MP4 format?  Online-Convert.com is a free online file conversion tool.   This very useful website supports a lot of different source formats for conversions.  Check it out.

The super speedy Universal Serial Bus Three (USB 3) may be coming to a computer near you!

Already found on some external backup hardisks, smart phone and tablet devices will soon be sporting the 10-times-faster USB 3 ports, which are also possibly destined for new laptops, netbooks, and Windows 8 machines. Other mobile devices may also implement USB 3, but manufacturers want to make the port smaller first.

USB 3.0 is Coming

Atomic Learning is now becoming Atomic Training!  Remote (offsite) access will now be allowed, with your SPL card number and last name, but lessons will be available for only 35 applications.

Also, library patron’s ability to remote access Lynda.com will expire at the end of June.  At that time Lynda will be restricted to in-library use only, and only on specific computers (TBD).

Here are the programs included in the new Atomic Training, in alphabetical order:
Access 2010, AutoCAD 2012, Dreamweaver CS5 (Mac), Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Facebook, Final Cut Pro X, Fireworks CS5 (Mac), Flash CS5 (Mac), Garageband ‘11 (Mac), Gmail, Google Docs, Google Earth 5, Google Sites, Illustrator CS5 (Mac), iMovie 11, InDesign CS5.5 (PC), iPad/iPad2, Outlook 2010, Photoshop CS5 (Mac), Photoshop CS5 (PC), Photoshop Elements 9 (Mac), PowerPoint 2010, Premiere Elements 9 (PC), Premiere Pro  CS5 (Mac), Publisher 2007, SharePoint Server, Windows 7, Windows Live Movie Maker 2011, Word 2010, Word 2007      

And there will also be four online workshops available:
Facebook for Students, Google Custom Search, Podcasting and Vodcasting, Searching the Web

Siri is a personal assistant made for the iPhone 4GS.  This great feature can answer questions, make reminders, text, send emails, find directions and more.

Apple claims that Siri has the capability to understand what you say. For example if you ask ”Where is the nearest burger joint?” it will reply, ”I found a number of hamburger restaurants around you.” Siri will then display the list on the screen.

Sounds too good to be true? Siri has trouble distingushing some accents and the system has  recently been overloaded so that it will ask you to try again later. Still, it has been favorably embraced and even has potential to give people who are visually impaired the ablilty to use an iPhone.

Stay tuned to next month’s blog post to see what you can do for your iPhone in our Digital Media Lab!

Part 3: HTTP Versus HTTPS

When doing online banking or making online purchases or payments, one quick way to check whether you’re on a secure website connection, is to look at the web address in the top browser window.  Does the URL start with http (hypertext transfer protocol), or https?  Https (hypertext transfer protocol secure) adds an additional level of security, beyond http, with SSL (secure sockets layer).

Https provides this extra encryption layer to create a secure channel for your communication, even if your side is insecure.  This prevents eavesdropping by third parties.  While not infallible, https is used by banks and credit card payment websites.  Always check for https before entering sensitive information into a website.

For more information check out these short articles:
BizTech: HTTP vs. HTTPS
WiseGEEK: What is the Difference Between http and https?
Digital Purview: HTTP vs. HTTPS

Part 3: HTTP Versus HTTPS

When doing online banking or making online purchases or payments, one quick way to check whether you’re on a secure website connection, is to look at the web address in the top browser window.  Does the URL start with http (hypertext transfer protocol), or https?  Https (hypertext transfer protocol secure) adds an additional level of security, beyond http, with SSL (secure sockets layer).

Https provides this extra encryption layer to create a secure channel for your communication, even if your side is insecure.  This prevents eavesdropping by third parties.  While not infallible, https is used by banks and credit card payment websites.  Always check for https before entering sensitive information into a website.

For more information check out these short articles:
BizTech: HTTP vs. HTTPS
WiseGEEK: What is the Difference Between http and https?
Digital Purview: HTTP vs. HTTPS

Part 2: Email Account Security

At some point you may have wondered, which free email accounts provide the best online security?

If the most popular free email providers want to stay in business, they need to offer strong security to keep your email private and safe. This includes spam filtering, virus cleaning, and phishing protection, as well as a request to you, the customer, to create a strong password and security question.

The latest versions of Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail (Windows Live), and FastMail are rated very high for security; to see independent website ratings (and other info) for free Email providers, check out these links:

- Free email providers rated
- Check your email security now
- Super secure free email providers

As new owners are finding out the hard way, there is no easy way to transfer content -in document, video or photo form- to the new tablets that are appearing daily in the Computer Departments of our favorite big box stores. The iPad has no USB port or chip slot. You have to buy an extra accessory, use another computer or an iCloud connection. And the Cloud only works with documents created in Apple’s iWork software.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is equally handicapped sans USB port or SD card slot. And the complex Android software is quite unfriendly when trying to accept stuff from a Mac. Among the high-end models, the new Sony Tablet stands pretty much alone in actually having an SD card slot that allows you view its content.

So here comes this slim, convenient device from Kingston called the Wi-Drive. It’s an extra lump of storage, primarily for iPads and Apple devices. Drag and drop a bunch of stuff from your Mac or PC, keep it in your pocket, and up to three iPads, iPhones or iPods can view or download it’s contents via wi-fi for the four hour life of the Wi-Drive’s battery. It comes in 16GB and 32GB variations. What will they think of next?

Part 1: Password and Login Security 

Find a small sampling of the world’s worst, most easily guessed passwords (below), according to a Forbes magazine article by David Coursey, and lists compiled by SplashData and Imperva, two productivity and security websites.

Is YOURS on the list? Don’t tell anyone, just change it quick!

To come up with a much more secure password, experts (and reformed hackers) recommend that you do the following:

1. Password should contain at least eight characters
2. Password should contain a mix of four different types of characters– upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters such as !@#$%^&*,;” If there is only one letter or special character, it should not be the first or last character
3. It should not be a name, a slang word, or any word in the dictionary. Should not include any part of your name or e-mail address
4. Security guru Bruce Schneir recommends turning a sentence into a password. Example: “Now I lay me down to sleep” might become nilmDOWN2s, a 10-character password that won’t be found in any dictionary
5. It’s OK to write down a HINT about your password, and keep in your wallet. Just don’t also include a list of the sites that password works with. Try to use a different password for every site, or least develop a set of passwords that you use at different sites.

password
123456
12345678
qwerty
abc123
monkey
letmein
dragon
baseball
111111
michael
123123
iloveyou
trustno1