Friday, 9 August 2013

Optoma X303

Pros 3D capable. Portable. Moderate price. Good range of connection choices.

Cons Rainbow effect. Image quality suffers over a VGA connection. Bottom Line The Optoma X303 XGA data projector offers a good mix of moderate price, portability, connectivity, 3D capability, and image quality suitable for typical presentations.

By Tony Hoffman

The Optoma X303 provides a good set of connection choices and solid data image quality for a lower-priced business or classroom projector. Portability and 3D capability are among its other strengths.

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The X303 is a DLP-based data projector with XGA (1,024 by 768) native resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is rated at 3,000 lumens. This all-black projector is quite portable, measuring 4.6 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches, weighing 4.9 pounds, and coming with a soft carrying case. It has the same weight and dimensions as the Optoma S303, its SVGA counterpart.

It has a good selection of ports for a low-priced projector, including two VGA-in (which double as component video); monitor-out; serial; an RCA composite video jack; S-video; HDMI, 2 audio-in; 1 audio-out; and a USB type B port. It lacks a port that lets you run a presentation computer-free off of a USB thumb drive.

Data Image Quality
I tested the X303 from about eight feet away from our test screen, where it projected an image about 60 inches diagonal. The image stood up well to a fair amount of ambient light.

In our DisplayMate testing, the X303 showed data image quality suitable for typical business or classroom presentations. In text testing, type was a bit blurred at the two smallest sizes of white-on-black type, but still readable. There was slight yellow tinting in some white areas.

In testing over a VGA connection, some gray areas with hatched textures appeared greenish and showed pixel jitter. Its ability to display very light shades of gray was unusually poor. However, when I switched to an HDMI connection, the gray tint and pixel jitter disappeared, and it did a much better job with light grays.

The rainbow effect, in which little red-green-blue flashes appear in areas of high contrast—a common phenomenon in single-chip DLP projectors—was apparent in images that tend to bring it out. Still, in data images it's not likely to be an issue, even to people sensitive to it.

p>Video and Audio
The X303's video quality is suitable for relatively short clips as part of a presentation. Here, the rainbow effect in our test clips was apparent enough that it would be distracting to anyone sensitive to the effect. Some scenes appeared overly red.

The audio from the projector's single 2-watt speaker is of decent quality, though on the soft side, loud enough to fill a smallish room.

Other Issues
The X303 provides 3D support for DLP-Link. It doesn't come with any of the active-shutter 3D glasses that you need, though. Though the glasses have come down in price, with pairs selling in the $30-40 range, outfitting a classroom with them is still an expensive proposition.

The X303 has a better selection of ports than the Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+, a portable 2,600-lumen resolution data projector, and is slightly brighter, at least in white light. However, it lags the Epson 93+ in both data and video image quality, and its sound is much softer. One edge that it does have over the Epson 93+ is its 3D capability.

The X303 costs a bit more than the Optoma S303 while providing higher resolution. This could be an advantage in projecting smaller detail, though the S303 held its own in text testing. Otherwise their features are pretty much the same.

The X303 matches up pretty well with the BenQ MX518 as a lower-priced XGA business projector. They both have a good (and very similar) port selection, 3D capabilities, and are very portable (though the BenQ MX518 lacks a carrying case). Their data and video quality, though unspectacular, is suitable for typical business or classroom use, and their audio systems are on the soft side.

Though it lacks the bells and whistles of some higher-end models we've tested, the Optoma X303 has much to recommend it. It's quite portable, has ample connectivity choices, 3D capability, and image quality suitable for typical presentations. This budget-priced alternative should be a good fit for many schools and businesses.


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Chief Digital Officer: Hot new tech title or flash in the pan?

Computerworld - There's a new C-level executive -- the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) -- in the boardroom, charged with ensuring that companies' massive stores of digital content are being used effectively to connect with customers and drive revenue growth.

At first blush, an executive title that includes the word "digital" would seem to encroach on IT's territory. Not so, observers say -- but that doesn't mean tech leaders don't need to be prepared to work closely with a CDO somwhere down the line.

Gartner last year reported that the number of CDOs is rising steadily, predicting that by 2015, some 25% of companies will have one managing their digital goals, according to analyst Mark P. McDonald. (See also CDOs by the numbers.)

While media companies are at the forefront of this movement, McDonald says, all kinds of organizations are starting to see value in their digital assets and in how those assets can help grow revenue.

"I think everybody's asking themselves whether they need [a CDO] or should become one," McDonald enthuses. "Organizations are looking for some kind of innovation or growth, and digital technologies are providing the first source of technology-intensive growth that we've had in a decade."

While the CIO and the CDO are both concerned with digital information, their responsibilities diverge sharply.

"The role of IT in the past has been to procure and secure IT equipment for the company, lock [data] up and bolt it down," says Jason Brown, the CDO for trade show and event management company George Little Management. "Whereas with digital content, you want to get it out to the world so the rest of the world can see it and access it. I don't care about Exchange servers, Web servers or any of that stuff," continues Brown, who was hired in September 2011 as George Little's first-ever CDO, reporting to the company's CEO. (Previously he worked as a vice president of digital media for what is now events and media company UBM Canon.)

"I'm interested in building products that can be monetized," he says. "Companies need to look at their products and see areas where they can make money digitally." (For details, see Digital assets defined.)

Organizations including Sears, Starbucks, Harvard University, the City of New York and many others have hired CDOs, says David Mathison, founder of the Chief Digital Officer Club, where current and would-be CDOs can find training, job opportunities and more. Their goal? To improve efforts in digital content promotion, a motive shared by CDOs from Forbes, Columbia University and elsewhere, who described to Computerworld how they go about helping their companies take advantage of their large digital resources.

According to estimates from CDO Club founder David Mathison, the top three kinds of companies hiring CDOs today are advertising agencies, publishers and broadcasters, while the biggest growth is being seen in the non-profit sector and state and local governments.

"When I started tracking this two years ago, there were 75 CDOs worldwide in major organizations," says Mathison, who curated the first-ever CDO Summit last February. "Today there are hundreds -- more than 300 at most recent count."

Mathison started tracking CDOs in August 2011 while working at the search firm Chadick Ellig, and he has continued his analysis via conversations and interviews with corporate executives and by reviewing hundreds of resumes and online profiles.

That research, plus data from CDO Club members, indicates that salaries for a Chief Digital Officer range from $89,000 to $600,000, depending on the business sector and location, with the median falling between $250,000 and $300,000, he says.

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Denmark country profile

3 July 2013 Last updated at 08:10 GMT Map of Denmark The kingdom of Denmark has, despite its relatively small size, often punched above its weight internationally.

Vikings raiding from Denmark and the other Nordic nations changed the course of 9th- and 10th-century European history; in the Middle Ages, the Union of Kalmar united all of Scandinavia under Danish leadership.

In recent times, Denmark has been known for its modern economy and extensive welfare system, while enjoying an often difficult relationship with the European Union.

The Danes rejected the euro as the national currency in a referendum in September 2000. Analysts believe that Danish fears of loss of political independence and national sovereignty outweighed any economic arguments about the benefits of joining the eurozone.

Denmark's euroscepticism put it at odds with many of its European partners seven years previously when Danish voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty which proposed monetary union and a common European defence force. Denmark had to be granted opt-outs from these provisions before the treaty was approved in 1993.

Oresund Bridge The Oresund Bridge is Europe's longest road and rail bridge. It connects the Danish capital Copenhagen with Sweden Continue reading the main story Politics: Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's first female PM, took office after 2011 elections ended a decade of centre-right ruleEconomy: Denmark, an EU member, has rejected the euro but pegs the krone to the single currency. The economy is services-basedInternational: Denmark has backed key international peacekeeping efforts. Danish soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan

Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

The Social Democrats led a string of coalition governments for most of the second half of the last century in a country generally known for its liberal traditions.

Poul Schluter then became the first Danish prime minister from the Conservative People's Party in 1982, leading a centre-right coalition until 1993, when he was succeeded by the Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

A new centre-right coalition headed by Anders Fogh Rasmussen came to power in November 2001 promising tighter immigration controls.

A third successive centre-right Rasmussen, Lars Lokke, took over as prime minister in April 2009. His government, dependent as it is on the right-wing populist People's Party to push through legislation, has witnessed immigration and integration emerge as major issues of public debate.

Denmark's progressive tightening of its immigration laws has led to charges that its strict rules violate European norms.

The country has won plaudits for its healthy economy. Its employment levels are the envy of many industrialised countries and it accommodates a competitive economic edge as well as a generous social security system.

Danish television and cinema have won international recognition, not least for their willingness to experiment. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s the Dogme movement directors often used hand-held cameras to dynamic effect in a conscious reaction against high-tech, big-budget cinema.

Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-governing territories of Denmark.

Copenhagen sea front Seafarers from Denmark have spread the country's influence throughout the world

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ThinPrint Cloud Printer (for iPad)

Pros Free. Prints all standard document types. Works with Windows or Mac. Works with non-WiFi printers, as long as the network has a WiFi access point.

Cons Software must be installed on computer as well as iPad. Prints from iPad's camera roll, but not (directly) from photo galleries. Won?t let you print from many apps. No print options. Bottom Line Cortado ThinPrint Cloud Printer (for iPad) lets you turn any networked printer into a cloud printer, but prints from a limited selection of sources.

By Tony Hoffman

As popular as the iPad is, there is still a need for effective mobile printing solutions that support it. Cortado ThinPrint Cloud Printer (for iPad), free for personal use, in effect turns any printer on a Wi-Fi network, even non-wireless models, into a cloud printer, though it requires installing a utility on a computer on that network. ThinPrint supports printing from various apps and cloud-based services. If it works with the programs you need to print from, it could well be your solution of choice.

Interface
ThinPrint Cloud Printer has a minimalist interface, from which you can only print directly from your iPad's camera roll (and not from any of its photo albums). A line of text on the app's only screen reads Print From [[the Open In/Save As icon]]. It's not a button; you have to open a document in another app (say, GoodReader or DropBox), tap the Open In/Save As icon, and tap Open in ThinPrint Cloud Printer for it to print. (It sends the document to Cortado's ThinPrint cloud, where it's processed and returned for printing. It's similar in concept to Google Cloud Print, although the latter is geared largely to the Google ecosystem.) A virtual dial shows the status of print jobs (in percentage printed). There's a question-mark icon, which simply reveals that you need to install software on the computer connected to your printer for the app to print.

Functionality
The desktop client is called Cortado ThinPrint Connector, and you can use either a Windows or Mac version. You must register with Cortado, log in on the computer and your iPad, and you're ready to go. If there is more than one printer on your network, it will select the default printer, though you can change to another printer. The app then runs in the background, enabling printing as long as your computer is turned on.

If you want to print photos from your iPad's photo albums other than the camera roll, you can do so indirectly, by using an app such as GoodReader that can access the albums. You select a photo, download it to GoodReader, and open it in ThinPrint Cloud Printer; the printing will begin automatically.

The app will support printing from any app that lets you open a document in ThinPrint Cloud Printer. They consist mainly of productivity apps (on my iPad, Pages, GoodReader, FileApp, and Documents for Free were all supported) and cloud storage services such as Google Drive and DropBox. I was also able to print from a scan utility.

Compatibility
Many other apps and utilities that I tried lacked the option to print to ThinPrint; this was true of my iPad's email client; its Safari browser, and browser and search apps such as Bing, Google, and Chrome. It can't print from EverNote, or Flickr. Although I wasn't able to print from Gmail, I could save an email to Google Drive and print it out from there.

ThinPrint Cloud Printer may be best suited for use with the Cortado Workplace cloud desktop, the company's own free file management service, which comes with 2GB of cloud storage. You can upload documents and emails from your desktop to Cortado Workplace, tap on one, and by touching the eye icon, send it to print from the cloud printer. (You could print directly from Cortado Workplace, but in my case that proved problematic as it would not recognize the printer in Workplace, though it had no problem in printing to it with ThinPrint.)

Strengths and Weaknesses
Cortado ThinPrint Cloud Printer's strengths are that it allows you to print to any designated printer on your Wi-Fi network, regardless of whether the printer is either AirPrint or Wi-Fi compatible. It's platform-neutral; either a Windows PC or a Mac can anchor the network. It can print from various productivity apps and cloud-based services, including the company's own Cortado Workplace. And it's free for personal use. On the downside, there are many common apps, browsers, and document sources that it won't print from. It doesn't support scanning, offers no print options, and doesn't preview photos.

Competition
There are other potential solutions to printing from iPads. For $19.99, Presto (which was Fingerprint 2 when I reviewed it) in effect turns any printer on your network into an AirPrint printer, and offers the ability to print from many more apps and document sources than ThinPrint. Printopia does much the same, though only for Macs. Manufacturers offer their own print apps, many of them adding useful print features, and in some cases offering scanning as well.

That said, ThinPrint Cloud Printer lets you print to any selected printer on either a Mac or a Windows network. It's free. It's not a panacea, but works with many popular productivity and cloud storage apps. If you have an iPad but your network printer doesn't support Wi-Fi, it might be just the solution you need.


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EPA Building Named For Bill Clinton; He Says That's Fitting

Former President Bill Clinton hugs House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California as another Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, looks on at Wednesday's ceremony naming the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters for him.

Former President Bill Clinton hugs House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California as another Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, looks on at Wednesday's ceremony naming the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters for him.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

The environment may not come to mind when most people think about former President Bill Clinton, but on Wednesday he defended his legacy as the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., was renamed in his honor.

At a ceremony in the EPA complex, Clinton mentioned reading an article that questioned whether his was the right name to put on the building.

"I think it more than sort of fits — not for me, but for what we did. For what our administration did," Clinton said in remarks greeted by applause from a small crowd that included senators, a congressman and former members of his administration.

EPA/YouTube

A short clip from the comments former President Bill Clinton made on Wednesday at the renaming of the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in his honor.

Clinton cited actions his administration took that protected wild lands, coral reefs and old growth trees. He stressed that his EPA put in place rules to clean up exhaust from factories and vehicles and set the first air quality standards for soot.

"When I left office, there were 43 million more Americans breathing air that met federal standards, which means less asthma among young people and fewer senior citizens dying because of air pollution," Clinton said.

The former president credited the environmentalists on his team, including his Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, his EPA chief Carol Browner and his vice president, Al Gore (who was not among those at Wednesday's ceremony).

Judith Layzer, associate professor of environmental policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says that unlike Gore, President Clinton wasn't an environmentalist. But she says he stood up for the EPA in 1994. Congressional Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, wanted to eliminate regulations. Some wanted to do away with the agency.

"Instead of backing down — the way liberals often do and the way environmentalists sometimes do and the way Clinton sometimes did — he really reared up and said, you know, we are going to protect environmental laws we are not going to let Congress gut them," says Layzer.

But Clinton's record didn't please all those who consider themselves to be environmentalists. He supported trade deals, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement that were criticized for hurting the environment. Environmentalists feared factories would move to countries without pollution laws, and polluting industries would set up just across the border with Mexico.

And although Clinton signed the international climate change treaty called the Kyoto Protocol, he failed to send it to Congress to be ratified.

In his speech Wednesday, Clinton mentioned that the Senate had made its opposition to the treaty clear to him. "It is the only bill I ever lost in Congress before I sent it to them, and an astonishing example of bipartisan cooperation in the Senate, which voted against it 98 to nothing," Clinton said.

The building that's been renamed after President Clinton is one of a string of imposing structures with limestone facades near the National Mall. It sits next to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Clinton accepted his new honor in an ornate hall — with elaborately carved wooden ceiling and walls and crystal chandelier.

The former president also looked ahead during his remarks, saying that as he travels the world as an elder statesman, it is clear to him that these days leaders no longer have the option of ignoring climate change if they want to build jobs and strong economies.

"That is what the whole 21st century world is going to be about," he said.


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How to Make Nitrous Oxide or Laughing Gas

Nitrous Oxide or Laughing GasYou can make nitrous oxide or laughing gas quite easily in the lab or at home. However, there are reasons why you might want to forego the preparation unless you have chem lab experience. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is also known as laughing gas. It is a colorless sweet-smelling and sweet-tasting gas that is used in dentistry and surgery because inhaling the gas produces analgesic and anesthetic effects. The gas is also used to produce the engine output of automotive vehicles and as an oxidizer in rocketry. Nitrous oxide gets the name "laughing gas" because inhaling it produces euphoria. Joseph Priestley first synthesized nitrous oxide in 1772 by collecting the gas produced from sprinkling nitric acid over iron filings, however, nitrous oxide usually is produced using Humphry Davy's method of gently heating ammonium nitrate to decompose it into nitrous oxide and water vapor:

NH4NO3 (s) ? 2 H2O (g) + N2O (g)

The key here is gently heating the ammonium nitrate to between 170°C and 240°C, because higher temperatures may cause the ammonium nitrate to detonate. People have been doing this without incident for over 150 years, so they key is to be careful. Next, the hot gases are cooled to condense the water. The best way to do this is using a pneumatic trough, which involves a tube leading from the ammonium nitrate container that bubbles the gases up through water into a collection jar. This removes the water from the reaction as well as smoke from impurities in the ammonium nitrate. The gas in the collection jar is your nitrous oxide or laughing gas, plus lesser amounts of other nitrogen oxides, including nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide. Nitric oxide is oxidized to nitrous oxide upon exposure to oxygen, although acid and base treatments are used to remove impurities for commercial-scale production of nitrous oxide. How to Prepare Laughing Gas

More Details on Nitrous Oxide Preparation


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Is 'Fifty Shades' to blame for rise in handcuff emergencies?

The wildly-popular trilogy details the S&M-flavored love story of a recent college grad and a billionaire CEO.The wildly-popular trilogy details the S&M-flavored love story of a recent college grad and a billionaire CEO."Fifty Shades" could be behind rise in emergencies involving handcuffs, London firefighters sayThe city's firefighters have been called to 79 handcuff incidents in the past three yearsA U.S. congressman says prisoners in Guantanamo are also fans

London (CNN) -- The bestselling erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" may have done more than spice up readers' love lives.

Firefighters in London say it could be to blame for a rise in the emergency calls from people stuck in all kinds of awkward situations -- some involving handcuffs.

Read more: Explaining 'Fifty Shades' wild success

The wildly-popular trilogy details the S&M-flavored love story of a recent college grad and a billionaire CEO. It's also credited with boosting sales of sex toys, driving women to hook-up sites and fueling a craze over sexual domination.

So, it's not surprising there would be a downside.

In the past three years, London's fire crews have been called to 79 incidents involving people trapped in handcuffs.

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"I'm sure most people will be Fifty Shades of red by the time our crews arrive to free them."

Such red-faced moments are among more than 1,300 calls involving people being trapped "often in everyday household items" since 2010, the fire service said.

Such calls are not just awkward; they end up costing the taxpayer. London Fire Brigade puts the cost of these 1,300 calls at £377,000 ($580,000.)

But it's not just London where E L James' erotic fiction has been making an impact.

Virginia Representative Jim Moran said the trilogy is a hit in a camp housing high-value detainees within the Guantanamo Bay prison complex.

"Rather than the Quran, the book that is requested most by the (high-value detainees) is Fifty Shades of Grey. They've read the entire series in English, but we were willing to translate it," he said in an interview with The Huffington Post.

The insight into the prisoners' reading habits was provided by military officials showing a congressional delegation around Camp Seven, the Democrat said.

"I guess there's not much going on, these guys are going nowhere, so what the hell," he is quoted as saying.

The trilogy has sold more than 32 million copies in the United States alone since the first installment was published in 2011. With a film version due for release next year, London's firefighters may have to respond to many more calls.

So, the fire brigade has a word of advice to offer: Use a little common sense.

And if you try handcuffs, always keep the keys handy.

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