The most common data format for embedded information in images is EXIF – Exchangeable Image File Format. You can research the background and history of Exif on Wikipedia. Exif records information such as the make and model of the camera used, orientation, firmware or software running, date and time, detailed lens info and exposure settings. If your camera has a GPS chip or if ti can be used to “geo-tag” pictures then EXIF data will also include the latitude and longitude information. Using this someone can locate exactly where the picture was taken.

There are several applications which can be used to read such EXIF data from image files once they have been transferred to a computer. One of them is EXIF Reader application by Japanese developer Ryuuji Yoshimoto. The Reader application is a small executable which is simple to use – click Open on the top left and point to an image on your PC. Instantly it retrieves all the EXIF data it can from it. Besides EXIF the application can also interpret TIFF, Photoshop and CCDRAW from major manufacturers.

If downloading an application to read EXIF data from images is not your preference you can rely on Firefox browser add-on – Exif Viewer which does as the name suggests. Developed by Alan Raskin the add-on was created out of necessity to auto-orient images on a website. Using the addon you don’t have to download an image from a website to snoop on its EXIF data. Just click Tools -> Exif Viewer which will launch a new window asking you for the location of the image. Notice it has options for local or remote meaning you can read data from files on your system or on a website. Once you have the image selected click Display Exif Data which will be displayed in the bottom frame.

10. Mataram Theme

Mataram theme had the right idea of how to make a magazine theme, but the design failed to impress. It has good features such as easy video display option and several level deep commenting capability – but the text-heavy will fail to impress today’s image-hungry viewer. If it’s any consolation the home page will load fast.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

9. Technical Speech Theme

Technical Speech theme is exactly how the name sounds. It has a polarising sparse-image design and you will either love it or hate it. The dynamic sidebars and menu design is impressive – but the 404 error received when I went to the author’s page and theme page does not bode well for theme’s support for future WordPress versions.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

8. Sirup Theme

Sirup is a colorful magazine style theme if you like the blog header and post titles being highlighted. The CSS-only theme loads fast and options available would be useful to the most novice WordPress user. If you are just experimenting or learning about magazine themes Sirup would be a good choice.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

7. MyMag Theme

myMag theme has a smooth slideshow effect based on Javascript which is visible prominently on the home page. A very interesting feature is the news ticker located at the bottom of the page which scrolls through articles.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

6. Albizia Theme

Don’t let the difficult name throw you off – Albizia is a feature rich magazine style WordPress theme. The options can be configured from the theme control panel with little to no HTML or CSS knowledge.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

5. Vina Theme

Vina is a “standard” or rather “go-to” theme if you are looking for implementing magazine style on your blog. It has a classic look with its grid-based design and the shadow effect gives the auto-grabbed thumbnails a nice backdrop.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

4. Nature Theme

The Nature theme has several features which are generally only available for paid themes. Features such as out-of-the-box recent comments and posts along with a distinguished layout make this theme stand out.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

3. Magazine Basic

Don’t let “basic” in the name fool you. This theme packs a punch full of theme options, widgets and sidebars. But if you need an extra kick try out the Magazine Pro theme.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

2. Traction Theme

Traction succeeds in showing off content in a clean magazine theme which is packed with features. The carousel feature which cycles through featured posts is an excellent implementation of design and code and pushes this theme to the second spot on my list.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

1. Arras Theme

Arras theme snags the top spot on this list of magazine themes because of the variety it offers. If 10 blogs were all running the Arras theme they can be customized as 10 very unique looking sites.

Theme Page | Theme Demo | Theme Download

Over time computers have become fast, efficient and a storehouse of knowledge, documents, pictures and media. In fact if something were to happen to our computers we generally pay hundreds of dollars to recover the data that was on it. Physical hard drives crash all too often and when you need it the most. That is why all IT professionals understand the need for backups. But most backup software is expensive; require some knowledge and experience to set up and also requires additional hardware (such as an external hard drive) to backup computer data. In most cases people with limited computer experience give up due to the complexities of setting up a backup. Out of this necessity Mozy has carved out a market for themselves.

Mozy online backup hits all the right buttons – it has a web based intuitive interface to control your account, simple and easy to use software and a free version with 2GB space. In case you have more than 2GB backup data then they also have an affordable subscription. It is this combination of features and affordable pricing that exploded Mozy’s growth. Just ask the million customers that have already signed up. And many more are enjoying the peace of mind.

How Does Mozy Work?

Mozy has a simple process to backup your data. There is a small program that you download and runs on your computer with an easy to use interface. This is used to select which files and folders you would like to backup. The program then encrypts all files and backs them up over your internet connection. This process is secure and painless. The backup process can even be automatically scheduled to run at specific times (such as 4AM everyday) so as not to interrupt your work.

• Security: For the technical crowd, the data is transferred over the internet over SSL which is the same encryption used to protect your credit card information when buying something online. On Mozy’s servers your data is protected by 448-bit blowfish encryption to prevent unauthorized access.
• Bandwidth: The Mozy application can be configured to use only a certain amount of bandwidth without affecting your computer’s performance. It will also give you an estimate of the amount of data you have selected to backup and how long it will take with each setting. You can also configure Mozy to only use very little bandwidth between 9AM and 5PM and use more after 5PM.
• Advanced Settings: There are a few very advanced settings in the application which allow you to define only certain sets of files in a folder to be backed up. Such as all files with the word “Alice” or all pictures with the name “Birthday” in it should be backed up.
• Virtual Drive: Another very nice feature is the ability to add Mozy as a virtual drive on your computer. This basically means you can copy (or cut) and paste any files or folders directly on to the Mozy virtual drive and it will be copied over to Mozy’s servers. This is especially helpful if you do not prefer to use the backup utility.
• Restore Files: In order to restore files from Mozy to your computer simply select which files and folders you would like to restore and where you would like to save them on your computer. Mozy does the rest. It will instantly start downloading all your files securely to your computer. If you would like to restore a single file to a previous version simply right click on the file and click Restore to bring up more options. All changes to files backed up with Mozy will be automatically saved for the past 30days. This means, if you writing a new chapter for your book every week then all the changes are chronologically saved and can be recovered independent of each other. In case you lost your computer Mozy has a step-by-step utility which will restore all files as it appears on the Mozy backups on to your new computer.

How Do You Know Mozy Is Safe?

Mozy is trusted by more than a million customers who use it to store their most important documents, pictures, financial papers and anything else that you can store on your computer. It is used by individuals and businesses alike to save their most important files. To give you an idea of the amount of data already being backed up by Mozy take a look at the comparison with the Library of Congress.

What if you backup a lot of data with Mozy and then decide it is not the best fit for you? Well, Mozy is one of the few places which let you delete your account online without any hassle with a couple of clicks. There are no long queues and no one will try to persuade you on the phone to upgrade your plan. Within 24 hours all your data will be completely deleted from Mozy.

Home Users VS. Business Customers

There is a difference between MozyHome and MozyPro subscriptions. The Home is overall designed for laptops and desktops at home. The Pro plan is mainly for servers, databases, file shares, centralized backup management for multiple servers and 24hour phone support. This is a very logical distinction between the Home and Business customers and should not have any confusion.

The pricing is also different for MozyPro. Unlike the flat $4.95 for MozyHome, the Pro version costs $3.95 + $0.50/GB per month for workstations and $6.95 + $0.50/GB per month for servers.

What’s The Catch?

The only catch with Mozy is the 2GB limit for its free accounts. Many users will never need to go over that limit. But if you have lots of videos and tens of thousands of pictures then you will need to get the $4.95 unlimited plan. And by unlimited I really do mean unlimited – there are no restrictions for disk space or the number of files or folders.

Verdict

Backups are an essential component of the computer world. Computers and hard drives fail at an alarming rate and there are very few easy to use, affordable backup solutions for average home computer users. Mozy has the backup infrastructure and 24×7 support available to provide enterprise level data backup for the regular computer user. It is feature-rich, easy to use, affordable and free. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and preferred backup solution for anyone with a computer. Get a free account now!

DeskAway Features

DeskAway is a truly one-product-does-all software. An overview of the features is best way to determine if it will suit the needs of members and contributors of any project. In most cases DeskAway has more features than any project will need. It is a simple to use, intuitive product which requires limited training and will start paying you back minutes after you being using it. Here is a brief list of the features of DeskAway. I am providing this only as a quick reference and, frankly, this list does not do justice to the software. Take a look at the product tour to get a feel of what DeskAway is capable of.

DeskAway Features

What Makes DeskAway Unique?

Project management software is inherently complicated due to the various activities that are being tracked. DeskAway has done a great job of documenting their product and the video tutorials gives the users first hand experience. The videos include most of the product features including Dashboard overview, project listing, milestones, to do lists, tracking issues that crop up during the project. DeskAway even manages to pack in a user time tracking system, document management system, simple contact list and messaging platform. The last few features are very unique as most companies have to pay more for time sheet, content management and messaging. Along with most of the videos DeskAway team have included a “More…” link which takes you to a product feature page. There are feature specific information along with screenshots, links to videos and case studies. This will give the customers a better understanding of what they can do with that feature.

DeskAway - Timesheet Feature

To give an idea of the video tutorials I am including the Daskboard Overview video below. I would highly recommend checking out more product videos before deciding on the use of the software.

Click to Play - Video Overview of DeskAway Dashboard

Cost

DeskAway is a well rounded and impressive offering. Their sales pitch is even stronger now that they are offering free access. DeskAway can be used for free to manage 3 projects with 5 different users. This option would give most project managers the opportunity to test the product before paying for it. However the free plan is limited with 25MB file sharing limit, number of documents limited to 10 and restricted repoting functionality. The paid DeskAway plans vary from $10/month to $99/month with discounts for yearly contracts. I would suggest starting out with the free option to test the product and then upgrading to the appropiate plan.

Verdict

DeskAway is a sure way to make project management easier and user friendly. The software automatically keeps track of all the little things and takes the burden off the members and project manager who can concentrate on their work. If you need further convincing check out the Case Studies which showcase DeskAway’s accomplishments in various settings. This is a HIGHLY RECOMENDED product and it is definitely worth checking out.

DeskAway - Organize, Manage and Track

Technical Details

OpenX download is a 30MB package which includes everything you want from a mature advertising management solution. The huge PHP script might look like an over sized and complicated setup. But the size is caused by template data and performance statistics gathering and reporting scripts. The statistics and reporting data that is collected is not a substitute to Google Analytics, but it is enough to make OpenX valuable. In fact, my reason behind installing OpenX was to do some split-testing and collect hard numbers on various affiliate offers.

OpenX and Private Ad Sales

Another benefit of using OpenX is private ad-sales. With OpenX you automate the process. You can assign weights to all campaign banners according to costs or any other metric and use them in rotation. For high paid campaigns you set it to show permanently for the advertising duration. After the ad term is over OpenX will automatically take it out of rotation and fill in the spot with house ads or AdSense, depending on its configuration.

Bad Side of OpenX

Support for OpenX is one of the most lacking aspects. The open-source community is helpful and supportive. Any help that you need is restricted to Googling the error messages and trolling through the OpenX (previously known as OpenAds) support forums. The OpenX Forums are a great source for troubleshooting. But it can be a difficult place to locate your exact problem and hopefully find a solution. During my experience with OpenX I ran into a couple of error which is more like bugs. I saw a couple of open forum posts on the exact same error. But only one of them was answered. I will discuss the specifics of the error and resolution in a later post. But before installing OpenX understand that it has a high learning curve. It is not like WordPress, following tutorial steps will only take you so far.

Adobe Photoshop Express allows users to upload up to 2GB of photos on to one account. Categorize the images in galleries and present the galleries in cool templates. Editing features include – crop, rotate, auto correct, red-eye removal, changing brightness, contrast, focus and sharpness. It also allows you to include a few effects in one click. Some of the effects such as pop color and tint will give your pictures a bit of professional feel without any of the image editing headaches.

Photoshop Express might be backed by huge investments and several brilliant programmers. But like all other programs it needs time to reach its potential. Till that time I will continue to use Picnik.

Features & Benefits

The obvious benefit is that you don’t have to jump back and forth between the window showing the video and your conversation. Another benefit of this feature is that you can scroll the video with your friend. Previously, if you were only interested in a specific portion of the video then you had to tell your friend to scroll to the specific time. For example, in a 15minutes long video something interesting might happen at exactly 7minute and 40second. Then you had to find out the time and then tell your messaging buddy. Now you can simply scroll through and show any exciting parts inside the messaging window. If you send and receive videos with your friends a lot then try out this feature and save time and effort.

Mozilla Messaging looks to simplify email messaging. The Mozilla team backed by the Mozilla Foundations already simplified web-browsing with the Firefox browser. Can they repeat their success by creating effortless email management? Some of the questions posed by Mozilla Messaging shows that they are on the right track.

What if…

• Getting lots of email was helpful, not overwhelming? Could it even be fun?
• Finding out what’s important or new was obvious?
• It was easy to broadcast, and keep the personal private?
• Software could take into account how people communicate, rather than requiring people to understand how it works?

The open-source email project is currently working on Thuderbird. But that is not the sole focus of the Messaging group. The project will undoubtedly revolve around the Thunderbird client. But their goal is to manage email communication and make everyone’s lives easier. There have no major announcements from the group or its founders since its press release. But several influential organizations are paying close attention to the development of Mozilla Messaging. Wired magazine thinks Mozilla Messaging will give Thunderbird a much needed boost by developing ”a much more varied product which handles e-mail, RSS feeds, calendaring, multi-protocol chat, contact management and possibly even SMS and VoIP”. I am looking forward to that combo as well.