2 0 0 9 J A N U A R Y I S S U E

–––––

QWERTY Keyboard fans!

- Nokia E63 Review

Want to scare your friends?

- Make-a-screamer tutorial!

Want to know where to get an

affordable 2GB thumbdrive?

- SANDISK Cruzer Micro 2GB (USB2.0) Flash

Drive

2

Fresh from the Editor’s desk

Sherry Freak-E L-Z SHwee Boboshi Freak cdckjn

K.W.

Welcome to 2010! Thanks for clicking on the link to the January

issue of TechbyteX. This is the first issue after the major

reformation; the new TechbyteX team is now formed by a new

leadership and a team of capable members. We have decided on

a mission: To create a widely read magazine that suits the

needs of its audience. This issue’s featured article is about

copyrights, please read on to find out more. Also, do not miss out

on the reviews written by many talented budding writers. Please

write in to us if you want us to make any reviews or tutorials.

Also, if you want to make any comments about mobile phones,

homework and more, email us. Please continue to read our

future issues, which would promise to provide more interesting

articles for your reading pleasure. Next issue, we will be talking

about the new rule of handphones in school.

Our email: xmstechbytex@ymail.com

The editor signing off,

Freak-E

Editor says, “

”

3

Introduction

Freak-E:

Freakishly crazy and

horrifying at times.

Best to avoid all

contact at all costs.

Sherry:

Very athletic girl.

Causes trouble when

bored. Loves Anime

and stories.

L-Z:

Often quoted: I LOVE

CHINA!

SHwee:

Obsessively watches

Taiwan drama and

gets actively involved

*giggles*.

commodo cons

equat. Duis aute

irure dolor in

reprehenderit in

voluptate velit

esse molestaie

aborum Et harumd

dereud facilis

est. Interdum

at.

Nihil

Imper Vitae et, nunc

phasellus

phasellus, donec

dolor, id elit

donec phasellus

ac pede, quam

amet. Eget nibh

lorem ipsum

dolor sit amet,

consec maecenas

ac, nullam duis

elit, ligula.

LOVE THE TECHBYTEX TEAM

Anime-Freak:

As the name

suggests, she is

an anime-freak.

Do not get close

to her; she will

send you into an

anime world,

never to return

to the human

world again.

Boboshi:

Loves typing fast.

Insanely obsessed with

games which project

violence and sadistic

influences.

Quote: “KILL, DIE

STUPID! DIE!”

“Yes, I broke my last

fast-typing record!”

Cdckjn:

“I may be a teacher,

but I am the wildest

of all. I speak fluent

hokkien and loves

sarcasm, you will get

a taste of it when

you read my review

on LG GD 900

Crystal.”

Ros:

Facebook addict

and texting

addict, can’t pull

her away from

facebook nor her

handphone.

4

Contents

Editor’s note----------------------------------------------------------

Introduction of the team-----------------------------------------

Copyrights myth-----------------------------------------------------

LG GD900 Crystal Review ----------------------------------------

Nokia E63 Review---------------------------------------------------

XiaXue’s blog---------------------------------------------------------

Make-a-screamer Tutorial ---------------------------------------

Wind Effect Photoshop Tutorial--------------------------------

AFFORDABLE Thumbdrive ---------------------------------------

Blogskin of the Month--------------------------------------------

Pg 2

Pg 3

Pg 5

Pg 6

Pg 7

Pg 8

Pg 9

Pg 10

Pg 11

Pg 12

5

Copyrights myth-busting

Technology has made many things available by just one click of the mouse.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the

authors of “original works of authorship”. Copyright law secures for the creator of a creative effort the

exclusive right to control who can make copies, or make works derived from the original work. To know

more, visit http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf or http://www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html.

Disclaimer: I will advise you to choose the latter if you prefer not to have a headache. In case you are

thinking that copyright can only be claimed like if you have patent for the work, this is not true: the

copyright in the work of authorship immediately (automatically) becomes the property of the author who

created the work.

Please note:

These days, almost all things are copyrighted the moment they are written, and no

copyright notice is required.

Copyright is still violated whether you charged money or not, only damages are

affected by that.

Postings to the net are not granted to the public domain, and don't grant you any

permission to do further copying except perhaps the sort of copying the poster

might have expected in the ordinary flow of the net.

Fair use is a complex doctrine meant to allow certain valuable social purposes. Ask

yourself why you are republishing what you are posting and why you couldn't have

just rewritten it in your own words.

Copyright is not lost because you don't defend it; that's a concept from trademark

law. The ownership of names is also from trademark law, so don't say somebody

has a name copyrighted.

Fan fiction and other work derived from copyrighted works is a copyright violation.

Copyright law is mostly civil law where the special rights of criminal defendants

you hear so much about don't apply. Watch out, however, as new laws are moving

copyright violation into the criminal realm.

Don't rationalize that you are helping the copyright holder; often it's not that hard

to ask permission.

Posting E-mail is technically a violation, but revealing facts from E-mail you got

isn't, and for almost all typical E-mail, nobody could wring any damages from you

for posting it. The law doesn't do much to protect works with no commercial

value.

Written by: FREAK-E

6

User-friendliness (only partial-transparency)

Design(killer look) (sleek design)

Value-for-$$ ($298 only)

User-interface (Gesture shortcut)

Written by cdckjn (a teacher- I will

pretend not to see the phone

when you use it in class – it is

“transparent” ma!)

When I was told to write a short article about this “new, transparent”

phone; I was confused. Why was I confused? Because who in the

world would want a transparent phone? Well, apparently LG, the

Korean phone company has decided to manufacture such a phone. It

is the LG GD900 Crystal. It is touted to be the world’s first transparent

phone.

Well it is only the keypad area of the phone that is transparent. Not

only that, the transparent keypad area is equipped with a touch

screen where you can use “Gesture Shortcut” to command 9 unique

multi-tasking features just by “drawing” the designated finger

movements on the Touchpad.

The phone also comes with an eye-popping 8mega-pixel camera,

which can beat most compact digital cameras. Wi-Fi capability means

that you can also use this phone to surf the Internet. The large 3.0

inch WVGA (800x400) LCD screen will enable you to do basic email-

checking on the go. This phone can support up to 16Gb external

memory, together with DivX and MP3 playback will allow you endless

hours of entertainment on the go – battery life is said to be lasting up

to 300 hours (on standby mode).

Well, my take on this phone; unless the COOL factor is something that

you seek; else you could do with something else. It is not much of a

technological advancement other than it has the “swee” factor

(Hokkien for pretty). Retailing at $298 with a 2year Classic plan, the

phone is not really “attractive” enough for me – (pardon the pun).

However, if you are a student with a shoe-string budget but have

always wanted a phone with a killer look – then I will think that you

will likely to be the one carrying this transparent phone in school.

Perhaps you will hope that your teacher will not be able to see you

using the phone in class!

7

It comes in boring Ultramarine Blue (look so uncle), and the sexy

Ruby Red colour. There's now an easy way to stay connected

with the Nokia E63. The phone enables you to check important

emails for work or communicating with friends conveniently on

the go. Additionally, make Internet bookings whenever you need

to, wherever you are. Sharing your media has never been more

fun! While choosing the colour to buy, when in doubt, choose

red, the most chio, striking and alluring colour.

Tired of constantly having to jab your phone’s keypad when not

using predictive text? Feeling frustrated over unrecognised

words, resulting in you having to type out the full spelling of the

word while in predictive text mode? Irritated from letting those

setbacks affect your otherwise high-speed typing? Here comes

Calvary. E63 possess a full QWERTY keyboard, which enables you

to stop all that jabbing and the temper throwing. Unleash your

full potential of high-speed texting.

As the model name suggests, the E63 model is equipped with

both Wi-Fi and 3G, choose the fastest and yet most cost

effective way of web browsing, instant messaging, and of course,

sending emails.

New cell phone arrivals often come with full keyboards, at

affordable prices, thus starting the trend for phones for full

QWERTY keyboard. Nokia E63 is one of those.

This phone is definitely for professionals; (Not including the

profession “students”) people, who are constantly on the go but

need to surf the net, check mails, tweet, and more. It is also

quite suitable for teenagers (and/or dorks) with a good sense of

fashion, who need to have Internet on their hands, constantly

outside but need to be still in touch with the cyber world at all

times.

Written by:

FREAK-E

User-interface

Design

Camera

Overall

8

In this issue, I am going to write a review on

http://www.xiaxue.blogspot.com , the blogger is none

other than XiaXue. I am sure that this name is extremely

familiar with the teenage community. However, XiaXue’s

real name is actually Wendy Cheng Yan Yan (you may

already know that). To know more about her blogging

style and tips you can pick up to draw crowds to your

blog, read on.

In her blog, she blogs about her personal life. Her posts

include much-seen happenings in Singapore and much-

controversial topics. One may think she is an extremist, I

see her as a great debater, one who holds to her stand

firmly. Her blog has received much attention, criticisms

and more awards. Some recent awards include Asia-

Pacific Blog Awards: Most influential blog and best

original blog design.

XiaXue has good Photoshopping skills; therefore, it is

profitable to learn a tip or two from her “Guide to life”

videos.

This blog has been rated V-17(Vulgarities-17{NC-16/M-

18}) by the Techbytex team. This rating was given

because of the vulgarities/language she uses in her blog

posts, the content and pictures she posts are sometimes

proves too much for teenagers. If you scroll down her

blog now, you will find that she just posted a lot of

“pornographic” pictures. We would like to warn all

readers to discern carefully for yourself. Disclaimer: we

have no intention of promoting pornographic pictures to

the eyes of students; we strongly encourage students to

discern for themselves.

This blog’s content is not for kids and definitely not for

the decent and weak-hearted. However, we know that

you would not care.

So start accessing her blog and read more about her

This is the print screen of her blog. I shall

not judge her blog design.

Written by: Freak-E

FREAK-E

9

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Turn on Adobe Flash CS3.

Select Create New > Flash File (Actionscript 2.0).

>Note: Do not select Actionscript 3.0 as the scripting used in 2.0 and 3.0 are different and Actionscript 2.0

is a lot more effective at creating simple things like a screamer.

On the tool panel to the left, hold left click on the square tool until the submenu

appears and select the oval tool. After that, draw a circle in the middle of the

stage.

Use the text field function and create one beside the circle. Then, type in some

text to entice people into falling for your screamer. Tip : Try to use words that will

cause people to turn up their volumes!

Written by: BOBOSHI

1

2

3

4

1 2

1

3 4

SCREAMER TIME!

10

Highlight the entire circle and hit F8, which brings you to the symbol

creation screen. Choose button and click Ok. Now, your circle should be in a

light blue box.

Select your symbol and hit F9. This should bring out your Actionscripting

screen.

Then, put in these codes :

on(release){

gotoAndPlay(2);

}

Next, click an empty space and press F9, and type in stop();

Close the actionscripting screen and right click on the 2nd frame in the

timeline.

Then, select create blank keyframe and create a frame at about frame

20.

5

6

7

8

9

5 6

7 8

11

Insert a screaming sound clip (you can find one on the internet) and a

creepy image onto your 2nd frame, and insert a scary image, and you’re

done!

10

9 10

Written by: L-Z

12

Wind blow effect (Photoshop)

1. Create a new file and follow the

properties shown in the figure below

2. After click the key T, the figure shown

below will appear and follow the

properties

3. Click at an appropriate location on the

image. Then, a text input box will pop-up,

enter the text and set the properties as

shown below.

4. After finished the set up, click ok.

5. Select the menu Filter, click ‘Stylize’

then click ‘Wind’, the Wind filter setting

box with pop up.

6. There are 3 types of wind: Wind, Blast,

and Stagger And set Direction (wind) is

the left to the right, or right to the left.

Here we have chosen Wind from the left

key. When you have finished what you

need to do, click the OK button.

7. Wind effects shown in the figure.

Written by: L-Z

13

Product Features

This thumb drive offers 2GB capacity for all students who need information on the go. This is a

sweet spot, a good combination of both speed and file size. The thumb drive has high-speed USB

2.0 interface and is also backward compatible with USB 1.1. For people who often misplace their

thumb drive connector covers, this is a good one, no more covers, all you need to do is to retract

the connector to prevent damage. It measures 2.25"L x 0.8"W x 0.3"D for true pocket portability,

good news to all who have small pockets, small pockets are now no longer a problem :D . This

handy tool is U3 Smart enabled with CruzerSync synchronization tool, Signup Shield password

manager, SKYPE VoIP software and AVAST virus scan U3 programs preloaded (Windows 2000

and XP only). Ready Boost is also enabled to make computers running Windows Vista faster by

using a USB drive as temporary storage. Say Goodbye to slow speed, and embrace the speed

provided by technology.

SANDISK Cruzer Micro 2GB (USB2.0) Flash Drive

What is it?

A small, portable flash memory card that plugs

into a computer’s USB port and functions as a

portable hard drive. Easy to use and carry. USB

flash drives have less storage capacity than an

external hard drive, but they are smaller and

more durable because they do not contain any

internal moving parts.

Written by: L-Z

14

Written by: FREAK-E

This is a whole new column where we introduce wonderfully created blogskins for all avid

bloggers who like to customize/personalise their own blogskins but do not have the HTML

ability/knowledge to do so.

This issue, we are introducing 2 skins, both made by very talented creators.

The title of one of them is: -/lil.babe-[88] You And I

http://www.blogskins.com/info/305784

It was the SOTD on Blogskins.com on October 30th 2009.

On Blogskins.com, it says that this skin has:

Lifetime rating of 4.90 stars

Downloaded 352 times so far

38 downloads from unique logged-in users

38 people consider this skin a favorite

The 2nd skin is titled: Blogger Template [angelicgrace #09]

This is how this skin looks like:

http://www.blogskins.com/info/301306

It was SOTD on Blogskins.com on October 3rd 2009.

On Blogskins.com, it says that this skin has:

Lifetime rating of 4.93 stars

Downloaded 584 times so far

132 downloads from unique logged-in users 46 people consider this skin a favorite

15

Copyright Myths:

Special thanks to http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html, whose owner graciously allowed use w/o permission

XiaXue's blog

http://www.xiaxue.blogspot.com

L-Z (thumbdrive)

http://sg.hardwarezone.com/priceguide/info.php?cid=17&id=15511

http://images.tigerdirect.com/itemdetails/S153-3246/S153-3246-box-dr.jpg

http://store.vintek.net/images/cruzer_micro_skin.jpg

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/supermediastore/skypeu3usb.gif

Media Club I.T. Department