Blackboard Learning Management System by Steven Ross

Learning management systems, or LMSs, are powerful systems created for the effective management of all business and organizational computer software and educational functions. Utilized throughout all types of businesses and organizations, learning management systems are vastly becoming a necessary resource in today's business, organizational, and education economies.

A LMS is customized toward a particular business or organization's needs and once implemented, proves to be an invaluable resource for success and long-term growth. History has told us, mismanagement in any organization often leads to failure.

One industry witnessing great amounts of success with learning management systems is the education industry. One of the leading companies providing a LMS within the education industry is Blackboard Worldwide with their Blackboard learning management system.

The Blackboard learning management system is a leading-edge, interactive education management system without equal. Offered as a group of software applications geared toward an enhanced online teaching and learning experience, the Blackboard learning management system is rapidly becoming the top choice in a LMS for many educational facilities such as Northwestern University.

A few of the reasons the Blackboard learning management system is so successful can be summed up as follows:

Web-Based Instruction:

The ability to create powerful learning materials by using internet 2.0 technology is allowing both instructors and students to teach and learn in a virtual environment like never before. Web applications such as streaming video and other web-based interactive programs make it seem as though the classroom is right in front of you.

Such environments are extremely conducive to focused teaching and learning. There may be other students in the 'classroom', but the feel of a one-on-one teaching experience makes the Blackboard learning management system seem personal.

By utilizing the power and reach of the internet, students are now able to use the Blackboard learning management system to interact not only with their instructor, but other students as well. Capabilities such as these often encourage students to better interact with the course work, and participate in a more active manner all while building comfortable relationships.

For instructors, the Blackboard learning management system offers many benefits as well. Not only can they create exciting and new interactive instructional material, the Blackboard learning management system has built-in student assessment and evaluation capabilities. This allows both student and instructor to interact conference-style without the distractions associated with a live classroom setting. In short, the student and teacher are more at ease during the learning and knowledge-building process.

In summary:

The Blackboard learning management system is a powerful ally for students and teachers alike. The lessons are easily prepared and the students are more at ease, which often leads to a more positive learning environment.

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Fax Machines by Canon Australia

What are fax machines?

Fax machines are devices that allow you to send and receive text over a phone line. An optical scanner inside the fax machine scans the document and digitizes the image. The image is converted into a grid of black and white dots. This pattern of dots is sent through the phone line as a series of audio tones. The recipient's fax machine "hears" these tones and translates them back into the original image. The image is then automatically printed out by the fax machine's printer.

How can fax machines help me?

Despite all of the new computer and Internet technology, fax machines remain the quickest and easiest way to transmit hard copy to hard copy. The alternative method of scanning the hard copy, saving it to your computer, attaching it to an email and sending it to the recipient is much more time consuming. Instead of four or five steps, a fax machine accomplishes this task in only one.

Also, there are times when emailing a scanned copy of a signed document is not considered acceptable. In many cases a signature must be sent by fax or mail. Sending a fax takes only a couple of minutes, whereas a document placed in the mail can take days to arrive.

Fax machines are also a secure method of transmitting sensitive or private information. There is always some risk involved in sharing personal or financial information via the Internet. A fax transmission, however, cannot be "hacked" like a website or email account can.

Owning your own fax machine is also convenient. Some transactions, such as negotiating the purchase of a new home, requires you to send and receive faxes. Employers often request that applicants fax their resume to be considered for a position. If you don't own a fax machine, you'll have to go to an office supply store and pay to send the fax. In situations where a fax must be sent back and forth numerous times, as is the case when negotiating a contract, this solution is simply impractical.

What are the different types of fax machines?

One type of fax machine is known as a multifunction fax machine. A multifunction fax machine is actually several devices combined into one piece of equipment. In addition to faxing, the device can also be used to copy, scan and/or print. Multifunction fax machines offer many benefits. You are able to save space in your office by replacing three or four pieces of equipment with a single machine. A multifunction fax machine can also save you money. Purchasing a multifunction fax machine is typically less expensive than buying each device separately.

Another popular type is the bubblejet fax machine. These are fax machines that utilise bubblejet ink transfer technology for printing out faxes. Bubblejet printing results in very high quality prints. Top-of-the-line ink transfer technology is essential for fax machines. Faxes virtually always contain important information, and it is critical that the text be crisp and easy to read. Bubblejet technology eliminates the grainy appearance that fax printouts tend to have.

This article is brought to you by Canon Australia - Fax Machines for the home and office.

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Lens Aperture Tips by Canon Australia

Introduction The aperture-priority auto exposure mode on your digital SLR camera gives you amazing control over the look and feel of your photos. Learning how to set the aperture to achieve certain effects is well worth your time.When you read about lens aperture, you'll see numbers such as "f/2.8" and "f/11." These numbers refer to the size of the aperture. Typically the numbers will range from f/2.8 to f/22, with f/2.8 being the largest and f/22 the smallest. When you move up or down from one aperture to the next, you either double or halve the amount of light entering your camera. For instance, going from f/5.6 to f/8 would "stop down" the lens, halving the amount of light. Going from f/16 to f/11, on the other hand, would double the amount of light. Isolating your subject from the background

Sometimes a busy or colourful background can take the eye's focus away from the subject of the photograph. To isolate your subject from a distracting background, follow these three simple steps:

1.Select aperture-priority mode (A). Then, manually adjust the lens aperture to f/4 or f/5.6. If your subject is in the distance and you're shooting with a telephoto lens, set the aperture to f/8.

2.Shoot the picture.

3.Review the picture on your Digital SLR cameras LCD screen. Zoom in on an area of the picture where the subject overlaps the background. Does the subject appear sharp against a blurred background? If so, you've achieved your desired results. If only part of your subject is sharp, re-shoot the picture with a smaller aperture. If the background is not blurred enough, try opening the lens aperture by one stop.

Achieving an all-around sharp photo

Much of the time we want each element of the photo in sharp focus, both the subject and the background. To take a picture where every detail is crisp and defined, set the aperture to f/11 or smaller. A wide angle lens is particularly helpful for achieving this effect. For portraits of people in which you want the background sharp as well, stop the lens down to f/8 or smaller.

When you're photographing people, there's always a chance of blurring because of subject movement. A higher ISO setting helps prevent blurring caused by subject movement and camera shake. You should also compensate for the small lens aperture by using a slower shutter speed.

Another thing to watch out for when using a small lens aperture is distracting or unappealing elements in the photo. For example, you may not notice the electrical wire in the background, but it will come into sharp focus with the small lens aperture. Keep this factor in mind when composing your shots.

Taking close-ups

Close-ups are one of the most challenging shots for photographers. To take professional-looking close-up shots, it is important that you choose the correct lens aperture. When taking close-ups, it can be difficult to cover the entire subject while still managing to blur the background. Try these tips for capturing the ideal close-up:

1.The less background in the shot, the less potential distraction from the subject. Aim to fill the frame with as much of the subject as possible.

2.Take your time composing the shot. Using a tripod will help you with fine-tuning.

3.Don't be afraid to experiment. Review each shot with the playback zoom control. If you're unhappy with the picture, just keep trying until you get it right.

This article is brought to you by Canon Australia - Providing helpful photography tips for your Digital SLR Camera.

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How Fax Machines Work by Canon New Zealand

What is a fax machine?

A fax machine is an electronic device that uses a telephone line to send and receive documents. It is a way to instantly send a document to an individual in a remote location. Fax machines can be used to send text, images, drawings and photographs.

Fax is short for facsimile, derived from the Latin phrase "fac simile," which means "make similar." On the most basic level, a fax machine consists of three main parts. There is an optical scanner used to digitize the images on the document, a printer for printing out the faxes received and a telephone.

How do fax machines work?

Fax machines are an impressive piece of technology, especially considering how long they have been around. A fax machine does the seemingly impossible �" transfer a document over a telephone line.

The process starts by feeding a document into the fax machine. A scanner located within the machine uses a light beam to scan the document and convert it into a digital image. The image is divided up into a grid composed of dots. The dots are either black or white, depending on whether it is "on" or "off." Each dot in the grid represents a bit with a value of either zero or one. A dot that is "off" has a value of zero, and dots that are "on" have a value of one.

This data is then transferred over the phone line to the fax machine of the intended recipient. As it travels over the telephone line, the pattern of dots is converted into audio tones that the receiving fax machine hears. The fax machine on the receiving end translates the tones into a reproduction of the original document which is then printed out.

What is the latest fax machine technology?

Although the basic function has remained the same, a number of advances have been made in the area of fax machine technology.

Much of this new technology is focused on making fax machines more simple and convenient to use. For example, some fax machines are capable of storing up to 100 numbers, eliminating the need to look up or memorize fax numbers. Some feature a directory search function so you can easily find the number you need amongst those stored in the machine. Speed dialing is also available, enabling the user to fax documents with one touch of a button.

The latest fax machines can also help you save time and office space. You can now purchase a fax machine that is one component of a multi-function device featuring copying, scanning and printing as well. Other time-savers include automatic redialing, so you no longer have to manually attempt to resend a document if you receive a busy signal.

Other types of newly integrated technology were developed to address the problems that fax machines have posed in the past. For instance, ink or paper may run out in the middle of receiving a fax. The transmission would have to be interrupted, and the fax would likely have to be resent. If the recipient was not nearby, they would not know about the problem in time to fix it. To prevent lost faxes, today's fax machines feature a memory capable of storing hundreds of pages which can then be printed out at a later time.

Conclusion

These are only a few of the ways that the modern fax machine is a big improvement over those of the past. Even with the importance of the Internet in business communications, the fax machine still has a place. As long as there's a demand for this impressive machine, technological advancements will continue to be made.

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A Good Adware Spyware Scanner Remover Protects You from Malware Downloads by Andrew Bicknell

In today's world the internet has made life much more convenient with one exception; Adware, Spyware, and Malware. These nasty little programs get downloaded by unsuspecting internet surfers and proceed to create all sorts of annoying, frustrating and dangerous computer problems that leave most people wanting to scream. Fortunately if you install and use a good adware spyware scanner remover you will be protected from these nasty bugs.There are some misconceptions that need to be addressed when it comes to spyware and adware. Many people think these types of malware programs only really affect businesses and servers. This type of thinking gets many people in trouble because home computers are more vulnerable to infestation because most lack the layers of security found in most business settings.

You also need to be aware that most spyware and adware does not come from where you might think. In many cases it is hidden in the most innocuous of websites and downloads. This points to the fact that some form of adware spyware scanner is important for anyone who surfs the web on a regular basis.

Spyware and adware is different then your everyday computer virus. They are not designed to be as malicious as viruses are because they are created to serve a purpose, which is to spy on your web browsing habits, send back information about your computer usage, and inundate you with advertisements that pop-up randomly while you are using your computer.

But it is important to understand that while these malware programs are not necessarily designed to overtly cause damage to your computer they do create performance problems as they compete for computing resources with your other programs. They use up processing power, memory resources, and even graphics resources as they do there dirty work behind the scenes.

You also need to be cognizant that certain types of spyware can put your personal information at risk by tracking key strokes which exposes passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers, and other personal information that gets sent back their masters.

This type of malware is a constant threat for anyone with a computer, and in particular computers hooked up to the World Wide Web. This points to the fact that anyone who wishes to protect their computer and personal information from these programs needs a dedicated adware spyware scanner remover.

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Great Features of Adobe Photoshop by Christa Kowalczyk

Adobe Photoshop is an image editing software. You can edit and manipulate images in a breeze with this powerful software. Whether you are a graphic artist, web developer or a photographer, this is a tool, which can surely help you do the job with less time and effort.

Adobe Photoshop is the leading graphic application used in digital image editing, web graphics, prints and other multi media requirement. Photoshop is widely-used by millions of graphic artists, web developers, photographers, as well as ordinary people. Because of the popularity of the software, it has been accepted as a print industry standard.

Most likely, posters, magazine covers, book covers, brochures, and ads have all been created or edited with Photoshop. With the powerful tools that Photoshop offers, there are a lot of features that can be used to create, even the most complex digital art in a breeze.

One of the great features of Photoshop is that it consists of a user-friendly interface that is very easy to navigate. Tools are organized into groups of palettes, which you can customize according to your working preference. It also comes with shortcut keys that you can use to quickly apply commands or switch on or off a group of tools.

In addition, Photoshop comes with a sub program called Adobe ImageReady. This added program is basically used to create graphics and is enhanced for web design purposes that greatly reduce the file size in making a certain website faster to load. GIF files can be reduced as small as 10 to 50% with its compression abilities. The software is also capable of making animated graphics or GIF. With Adobe ImageReady, you can design interactive JavaScript rollover without the need of writing any programming code. Simply slice the image and link rollovers and create different variations of slices.

All products of Adobe Systems support layer effects. When working with Photoshop and ImageReady, you can easily apply effects to an image or text like drops shadows, inner and outer bevels and other layering effects. A great advantage of working with layers is that you can preserve the original state of an image while manipulating another version of it through another layer. You can add as many layers as you want depending on your needs. These layers are independent of each other, meaning, if you edit one layer for instance a layer of text, it does not affect any other layers.

Photo editing or photo manipulation is a difficult task without the right tool. But with the use of Photoshop, you can easily edit a photo in lesser time and little effort. Photoshop comes with powerful tools that can be utilized to perform photo-editing tasks.

You can crop or resize pictures without losing the quality of an image. Also, you can easily remove the background with an eraser tool. With Adobe Photoshop, it is easy to select precise parts of an image with the use of the magic wand and lasso tools. The software also comes with tools like: brightness and contrast, color balance, hue and saturation, levels, curves, and many more which are useful in enhancing or changing the color of an image.

Also the software comes with a variety of built in plug-ins that can be used to apply variations to your designs. Some of these plug-ins are custom brushes, filters, effects, and many more.

Adobe Photoshop is integrated with the other softwares of Adobe Systems. Photoshop shares the same user interface like in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects. With the integration you can work seamlessly and produce great work results.

This software has also the capability to utilize color models such as lab, RGB, CMYK, binary bitmap, grayscale, and duotone. It also supports vector and raster formats such as: .PNG, .EPS, .GIF, Fireworks, .JPEG and lots more.

The latest version of Photoshop is the Photoshop CS3. The latest version offers additional enhanced features. Some features include the application of non-destructive filters and the new selection tools such as the Quick Selection and Refine Edge.

With all the great features that Photoshop offers, you can do any work of graphics that you can imagine. You can create outstanding graphics without limiting your boundaries.

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Top 5 Gaming Laptops: Quick Roundup by Titus Hoskins

For a great gaming laptop you need high performance processors, dedicated graphics cards and a lot of system memory. These days top gaming laptops are using dual or even quad processors and hooking up two or more graphics GPUs thru SLI configurations to get the ultimate gaming performance.

Most gamers look for Nvidia and ATI as their choice of Graphics Cards which uses dedicated memory (RAM) and pulls additional system RAM when needed thru HyperMemory (ATI) or Turbocache (Nvidia). You need at least 2 Gigs of RAM, although most high end laptops now come with 4 or more Gigs of RAM. Note: 32-bit Operating Systems ONLY recognizes up to 3GB of RAM, while you need 64-bit systems to take full advantage of 4GB of RAM.

Sound and visuals are very important to gamers so you have to check for superior display qualities and top sound systems. So look for display technologies like CrystalBrite (Acer) or X-Black (Sony) for better viewing. Also look for high resolution (native 1,920 x 1,200) screens, 64 bit systems, DirectX 10 Graphics, Blu-ray or HD playback...

With all these considerations in mind, here's a short list of a few top gaming laptops you should consider if you're in the market. Keep in mind, although prices are coming down, be prepared to pay top dollar for all that high-end gaming hardware, especially if you're looking at the more popular well-known brands. Also please note stated prices are rough estimates at the time of writing; so check each manufacturer's online site for exact prices and configurations.

1. Alienware Area-51 m17x ($4,749)

Alienware has always been the established leader for superior gaming machines. Unfortunately, while they make some of the best gaming rigs, you will have to pay for all that performance and for all that style. Many believe Alienware is too overpriced for what you get. However, if money is no object, Alienware should be your first consideration for a gaming laptop.

Currently, one of their fastest machines is the Area-51 m17x which sports some impressive specs:

CPU: Intel® Core® 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)

Memory: 4GB†Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz 2 x 2048MB

Hard Drive: 250GB (250GB x 2) 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection

Graphics: 512MB NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 3600M

OS: Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Ultimate with Service Pack 1 Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology Weight: 10.5 lbs

But don't expect long battery life as gaming laptops are usually power-hungry creatures that burn up your power source very quickly. While still mobile, this laptop serves more as a desktop replacement than a portable laptop, same said for most of the gaming laptops here. However, you won't look any cooler than when you're lugging this rig around, not that looks should count but they often do. Shallow world.

2. Rock Xtreme 780 X9100 (£2300 British Pounds or $4,210 USD)

Offering some serious competition to the Area-51 m15x is the Rock Xtreme 780 X9100. This is the follow-up to the very high ranked Xtreme 770 which you may also consider. The 780 sports the new Intel® Core2 Extreme processor and the latest gaming technologies.

CPU: Up to Intel® Core® 2 Extreme processor X9100 (2 x 3.06GHz) 6MB Level 2 Cache

Memory: Up to 4GB DDR3 1066Mhz RAM

Hard Drive: Up to 320Gb 7200rpm SATA

Graphics: NVIDIA 9800M GTX 1GB GDR3

OS: Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Home Premium

Display: 17" WUXGA+ X-Glass TFT Screen (1920 x 1200) Weight: 8.4 lbs

You should know Rock (Rockdirect) is a leading UK laptop manufacturer and was recently acquired by the Stone Group. It should be business as usual since the Stone Group is also a leading hardware specialist and laptop manufacturer. Rock has a solid reputation for bringing the latest innovative notebook technology to customers. Perhaps better suited for European buyers with its "3 Year pan-European Collect & Return Warranty" - although gamers this side of the pond shouldn't necessarily rule out getting a rock.

3. Gateway P-7811FX ($1,449)

The Gateway P-7811FX is an inexpensive alternative to all the pricey gaming laptops you might be considering. If you're looking for a good gaming machine, yet want to stay within a limited budget, this laptop may have your name on it.

CPU: 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400

Memory: 4GB, 667MHz DDR3

Hard Drive: 200GB 7200rpm

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS

OS: Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Premium (64-bit) Display: 17.1 inches HD-friendly 1920x1200. Weight: 9.0 lbs

This gaming laptop offers great value for your money and well worth your consideration, especially if you're on a tight budget.

4. Sager NP9262 ($5879)

In case you want to go in the other direction and break the bank, the Sager NP9262 maybe calling your name. Built on the Clevo D900C / D901C (Worlds 1st Quad Core Laptop) the NP9262 sports some very impressive gaming specs.

CPU: Intel® Core® 2 Quad Processor Q9650 / 12MB L2 Cache, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB

Memory: 8GB memory available on NP9262 with 64bit edition of Windows VISTA

Hard Drive: 320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive + other HD choices

Graphics: Dual Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory in SLI mode

OS: Windows® Vista® ULTIMATE 32/64-Bit Edition Display: 17" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA LCD with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1200) Weight: 11.55 lb

5. Dell XPS M1730 ($4,000)

Some gamers wouldn't be caught dead mentioning Dell and gaming laptops in the same breath. There's no accounting for gaming snobbery or brand name bias. However, Dell which now owns Alienware and some of that style must be rubbing off since the XPS M1730 is one of the most striking gaming laptops you can buy; looks do count and this one leaves all takers in the dust. If you can get over the idea of having a Dell in the first place, the XPS M1730 also sports some very impressive gaming specs.

CPU: 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900

Memory: 2GB of 667MHz

Hard Drive: 400GB (2x200) at 7,200rpm

Graphics: Dual 256MB Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT in SLI (scalable link interface)

OS: Windows Vista® Home Premium Display: 17 inches 1,920x1,200 resolution Weight: 11.1 lbs

These are just some of the top gaming laptops on the market. Any one of these rigs will give you half decent gaming. There are probably a lot more cheaper gaming laptops out there and it does pay to shop around. And as you probably already noticed these gaming rigs are geared around Intel and Nvidia, but you shouldn't rule out AMD and/or ATI based systems. For Mac lovers, you should look at the Apple MacBook Pro - and remember you can also run Windows to play games!

Furthermore, one of the major drawbacks of going with any gaming laptop (rather than a PC) is that there is very little room for expansion... you need a system that can be easily upgraded mainly because by the time you buy it, your system will probably be out of date. That's a bit exaggerated, but it is always a good idea to go with a gaming system that you can easily upgrade when the need arises or as you can afford it.

Also some gamers dislike Vista as an Operating System for gaming and quickly switch back to Windows XP. This is simply done, however some current laptops/PCs won't accept XP so check this out BEFORE you buy your machine.

In addition, if some of these gaming rigs look very similar, you should know that Clevo is the ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) based in Taiwan that sells barebones and computer components to all these boutique brand OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Falcon, Sager, M-TECH, Rock... Clevo is considered by many gamers to produce the top laptops in regards to superior quality and build. A prudent gaming laptop buyer would always cross-reference these Clevo products in order to find the best deal.

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