Nemesis Clean Design For Creative Designer (Portfolio)

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Nemesis is the Reponsive Wordpress theme built for creative freelance designer website. It comes with many cool features ex. Skin manager, Flexible portfolio contents (including stylish AJAX portfolio), customizable elements’s color, font and background image and patterns. There are also 100+ advanced shortcodes with Shortcode Generator support. You can also use 300+ custom fonts from Google Web Fonts. Demo http://themes.themegoods.com/nemesis_wp/ Features Responsive Design support Mac, PC, Tablet and M

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Daily Tip: BuddyPress 1.6 Will Require WordPress 3.4

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An important message for all of the BuddyPress-powered communities out there looking to upgrade to 1.6. Related posts: Daily Tip: CollabPress Now Supports BuddyPress CollabPress integrates project and task management into BuddyPress groups.... Daily Tip: New Free Blog Theme Matches Multisite Blogs to BuddyPress Bowe Frankema of BP-Tricks.com has released a free theme for... Daily Tip: BuddyPress.org is Undergoing Maintenance This Week The BuddyPress development team announced that BuddyPress.org will be h

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Triangle Magazine - WordPress Magazine Theme (Blog / Magazine)

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Triangle Magazine is responsive modern clean magazine/blog WordPress theme with built in review system, page builder, Breaking News section, sidebars manager, custom style manager, 9 custom widgets and much more. Comes with 2 custom post types: Reviews and Galleries. With review system you can easily create rating criterias and for each criteria you can add as many as you want fields like design,

Spotlight on Street Photography Blogs

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Public places, candid snapshots, fleeting moments captured. That’s what street photography is all about, and the following eight blogs do it beautifully: Jimmy on the Run 365 From the Archive Ãœber die Webbographie Sami Alramyan Without an H Perpetuum Mobile A Walk with My Camera Bones, Mugs & Harmony Feeling inspired? Create your own photoblog with [...]

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What are subpages and why would I use them?

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Subpages are a powerful tool for organizing a WordPress site with many useful plugins to enhance their use. Related posts: Daily Tip: Add a Sexy Navigation Widget to Your WordPress Site Get rid of that boring Pages widget and use a... Transient Love: How to give WordPress Transients a try WordPress transients may not be seen often, but here we... Featured WordPress Plugin: Admin Menu Page Tree View Admin Menu Page Tree View makes it easier to access...

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Mozilla announces Junior, a browser for iPad

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There's been a lot of speculation about what Mozilla might do when it comes to browsing on the iPad, but up until now their lips have been sealed on the subject. That changed at a recent presentation from Mozilla's Product Design Team, when they showed off Junior, a WebKit based browser the company is building 'from the ground up' for iPad.

Mozilla's Alex Limi called browsing on the iPad 'a miserable experience' when introducing Mozilla's novel take on tablet surfing, and Mozilla's approach looks like it could actually make it feel that way after you've given it a try.

Mozilla is calling their iOS browser Junior (despite using the Firefox logo, they're not calling it Firefox just yet), and it looks like a pretty impressive, clutter free experience. Ergonomics generally isn't something that browser makers have to worry about, but that changes with tablets; to make sure everything is comfortable. In the planning stage, they even considered trying to do an entirely gesture based browser, but decided that that could be more of a barrier than a feature.

Ultimately, the team decided to move the back and a '+' button down towards the bottom of the iPad, placing them on the left and right sides of the screen. Perfect, it just so happens, for navigating with your thumbs.

The + button is more than just a tabs button, though. Co-designer Trond Werner Hansen says that the button will open a new screen "that lets you do the three vital things when you want to go someplace new." Those three things, of course, a recent pages bar (which consists of visual screenshots of the pages, a bit like the approach to tabs found in older versions of iOS), an icon based bookmarks page, and a unified search/URL bar at the bottom of the screen, which looks a bit like Microsoft's approach in the Metro version of IE10.

Junior is still very much a work in progress - so much so that the team hasn't decided what all of the buttons will do. The back and + button can both be expanded to reveal six functions, but they haven't reached a final decision on what those functions will be. Still, it's a really original approach to navigation, and it looks like it could be the perfect fit for tablets.

Another cool feature set to come with Junior is accounts, which does basically what you'd expect. Using a fairly traditional interface, you can cycle though a number of different accounts, which can be password protected. Each of the accounts can keep their own bookmarks and security settings, which makes it easy for a family or work group to share an iPad.

There's no release date for Junior just yet, but we really can't wait to hear more about it. It looks like it just might redefine the whole browsing experience on tablets, if it turns out to be as intuitive as the demos would have us believe. Be sure to check out the demo above to see Junior in action.

Via: TUAW

Sources: Mozilla | The Verge

Error'd: Advantage Pricing

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"They must really want your marketing information," writes J.W. Koebel, "that steak sure costs a lot of you want to buy it anonymously."

 

"I was building a Silverlight project, when all of a sudden I get this message," wrote Fausto, "Thankfully, I have four cores, so I think I'll be OK."

 

"This shirt gives you super powers," writes Sachin, "and now its a steal on Amazon."

 

"Appearently," writes Jarrod, "it takes 26.5 miles to burn off just 30 calories from maca powder."

 

"I received this from Michigan State," writes Evan Schiewe, "it does not set them apart as a university I would like to attend. Spacemustbelmtedntheemalaswell."

 

"They just put in place yet another new project management system, this time developed by our outsourcing partners in Asia," Yoshi writes, "every day is my own personal Error'd (especially when you include the plethora of Engrish-laden dialogs), but I think this one explains it best. This isn't just bad UI; this took effort to achieve. And yes all messages, including successful ones, are marked with the warning icon."

 

"I was driving through a blizzard back to a suburb of Milwaukee when I saw this sign," wrote Kurt Lehrke, "I guess that's their way of saying that it's a variable time?"

 

RBS Bank joins the IT failures 'Hall of Shame'

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Most IT failures go unnoticed by the public - backend systems break, projects go over-budget, or perhaps a IT misses an internal deadline. Such was not the case with this week's IT failure at the UK-based Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which, incidentally, has a balance sheet the size of the UK economy.

Image credit: iStockPhoto

According to Reuters, a bad software upgrade made RBS' systems unable to process payments for both individual and business customers. The upgrade failure also hit systems from British bank NatWest and Ireland's Ulster Bank. The BBC describes what happened and explains the ripple effect that occurred when the RBS systems went down:

The bank says there was a failure in the computer system that carries out the overnight transfer of money between accounts.

So, even though payments had been made - such as a business paying wages to staff - this did not show up on their account balances. In turn this meant many customers could not make payments themselves, such as paying rent to their landlord.

The failure effectively caused a traffic jam in the system. It created a huge backlog in updating account balances, which the bank has been trying to clear for some days.

Customers of other banks have also been affected because some payments from RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers have not come through

In what must be an IT failures understatement of the year, RBS chief executive, Stephen Hester, commented:

It shouldn't have happened and we are very sorry

The BBC's Business Editor speculated that outsourcing arrangements interfered with the bank's ability to isolate and solve the problem:

As I understand it, one reason why RBS has not given much detailed information about why its services have been so badly disrupted is that so much of the operational responsibility for IT is outsourced - so there is a sensitive issue of where to attribute blame.

In my conversations with RBS bankers, there is an implication that outsourcing contributed to the problems - though they won't say whether this is an issue of basic competence or of the complexities of coordinating a rescue when a variety of parties are involved.

Adding to the confusion, Information Age reports that the problems were entirely self-made within RBS:

An RBS spokesperson said this morning that the technical fault, to her knowledge, had taken place on RBS' own systems, and not those of a supplier or outsourcer.

Although the problem upgrade occurred on Tuesday night and was fixed by Friday, downstream effects will continue through this week. This IT failure continues to have dramatic negative impact on bank customers, many of whom do not have access to their own money.

Also read:
ZDNet UK: Natwest, RBS customers hit by balance glitch
BusinessWeek: RBS Systems Failure Unlikely to Be Resolved Until Monday
London Evening Standard: NatWest chaos heads into weekend
Irish Times: Angry customers seek answers
BBC: Ulster Bank 'needs week to clear IT failure backlog'
The Telegraph: NatWest computer glitch 'fixed but backlog remains'?
NatWest: Helpful Banking

A comment thread, containing thousands of messages, on the bank's online customer service forum describes travelers stranded abroad, home purchase closings that did not go through, and similar stories of difficulty due to customers not having access to funds. Ireland's Minister for Social Protection said that up to 30,000 people did not receive social welfare payments, even though funds had been withdrawn from government accounts. To assist customers, RBS opened 1200 bank branches on Sunday.

A SHAMEFUL PERFORMANCE

Although IT failures happen, this impact of this one is huge by any standard and several important questions remain unanswered:

• What actually happened? Was this an outsource problem, an in-house problem, or maybe the RBS technology organization is so complex that it's impossible to isolate exact cause.
• How can one of the world's largest banks roll out an upgrade without sufficient testing? No matter how you look at it, the upgrade created unexpected issues upon deployment. That's why we test, test, and test again, even though it appears RBS did not test enough.
• Why the long and difficult recovery? Presumably, a bank this size has worked out its business continuity and recovery plans with a level of efficiency only possible for a huge organization. Or maybe not.
• What accountability does the government hold over banks that evince such apparently poor IT processes as this? IT failures do not just happen randomly or in a vacuum. I suspect process and technology issues will emerge as warning signs that management and technical workers ignored.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This IT failure is sad for RBS and far worse for its customers. I urge the UK government to conduct a detailed review of RBS management, business, and technical processes with respect to all aspects of IT. It appears that RDS did not follow important standard practices in areas such as testing and business continuity planning.

Government regulators should hold RBS to account with stiff fines and other punishments as appropriate. Regulators should treat this IT failure with the same severity and determination they would bring to operational failures in any other part of a major bank.

Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700

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The New Apple iPad ($499, 4.5 stars) started the resolution race, and it looks like Asus is the first to market with an Android contender—the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 ($499/32GB, $599/64GB). We first heard about this tablet back at Mobile World Congress, and though it doesn't quite match the iPad pixel-for-pixel, its 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution is still pretty impressive. Aside from the screen, the TF700 looks and feels a lot like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 ($499, 4 stars), but inside are slightly more powerful components, from a faster-clocked processor to an improved camera. While this is certainly a major step forward for Android tablets, there just aren't enough apps that take full advantage of the high-resolution screen.

Design, Features, and Camera
Much like Apple's own high-resolution tablet, the TF700 is nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor. The TF700 measures 10.35 by 7.11 by 0.33 inches (HWD) and 1.31 pounds, making it nearly identical to the TF201 (10.35 by 7.11 by 0.32 inches, 1.28 pounds). It's thinner and lighter than the new iPad (7.3 by 9.5 by 0.37 inches, 1.46 pounds). The aluminum frame feels solidly built, with the same concentric textured rings shared between all Asus tablets. There's a slight taper along the left and right edges, which gives the tablet a wedge-like appearance. On the backside, instead of a single piece of aluminum, a thin strip at the top is made from plastic—likely a revision to address any GPS signal issues. The TF700 will be available in two colors: Amethyst Gray and Champagne Gold. The ports and buttons have been moved around; the Power and Volume buttons are now both on the top edge, with the headphone jack, micro HDMI, and microSD card slot found on the left. The bottom edge houses the proprietary connector for charging, syncing, and docking with the optional keyboard dock ($149). The TF700 is compatible with the keyboard dock for the TF201, but not the dock for the Asus Transformer Pad TF300 ($379, 4 stars).  

This is a Wi-Fi only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks (only at 2.4GHz), and it also features Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. Bluetooth headsets connected fine and GPS was fast and accurate.The $499 base model comes with 32GB of internal storage, which is double that of the $499 new iPad, and you can upgrade to 64GB for $599. The 64GB iPad will run you $699. We tested the 64GB model and found that it only accepted microSD cards up to 16GB.

The camera has been upgraded from the TF201, and now features an f/2.2 aperture as opposed to the f/2.4. It's the same 8-megapixel camera found in the TF300, but with an LED flash. There's also a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Images taken with the rear camera looked good, with crisp details, accurate colors, and proper focus. Indoors, however, details were still a bit too soft for my taste. The low-light performance was acceptable, with little image noise, but some dark spots looked too dark and lost details in the shadows. Images taken with the front-facing camera were very grainy and the quality was unsuitable for anything but video chats, where quality is less of a factor. Video using the rear camera is captured at 1080p resolution and held steady at 30 frames per second both indoors and outdoors, which is an improvement over previous models that dropped frame rates indoors. The quality itself is largely the same though, and the footage is still too wobbly.

Software, Display, and Performance
The Infinity TF700 features the same Android 4.0.3 "Ice Cream Sandwich" build as the TF201 and TF300. There are some minor cosmetic changes, but the main thing you'll notice is Asus's customized quick setting panel in the notification bar, which give you access to common settings like Wi-Fi, performance modes, and screen brightness. For a more in depth look head over to the TF201 review or our hands-on with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime with Ice Cream Sandwich. There's also the usual pre-loaded software, ranging from Netflix and Kindle apps to Asus's own cloud storage and e-book reader apps.

The marquee feature here is the 10.1-inch 1,920-by-1,200-pixel IPS+ display, and it doesn't disappoint. It's not quite as densely packed as the 2,048-by-1,536-pixel Retina display, but the 224 pixels per inch is fairly close to the iPad's 264 pixels per inch. You likely won't notice the difference at normal viewing distances. The display itself is covered by Corning's new Gorilla Glass 2, which is thinner than the original and supposedly offers better touch responsiveness, but I didn't notice any difference. Much like the Transformer Prime TF201, the Infinity TF700 has a Super IPS+ mode that jacks the brightness up to 600 nits. Apple doesn't list an exact brightness for its displays, but the TF700 is much brighter than the iPad—so much so that I found myself checking to make sure the iPad was in fact set at max brightness. Viewing angle is solid and colors look pleasantly saturated in both normal and Super IPS+ modes.

The new screen enhances text so Web browsing and emails look great, but few apps have been optimized for the high-res display. The problem lies not with the TF700, but rather with the Android apps themselves. Text elements and pictures with high enough resolution look incredibly sharp and detailed, but many games don't take advantage of the new screen. Riptide GP and Shadowgun, two games optimized for the Tegra 3 processor, look the same on the TF700 and the low-cost TF300. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and most apps scale very well to the higher resolution. In some cases, apps do look better. For example, the birds in Angry Birds Space look clear and detailed when fully zoomed out, making the same rendered birds on the TF300 look like pixelated blobs.

The question is, will developers begin to optimize apps for the high resolution displays? They have yet to optimize many games for even standard resolution Android tablets, so I remain skeptical. The Google Play app market pales in comparison with the over 200,000 tablet-oriented apps in the Apple App Store. Most Android apps are made to run on smaller phone screens, and generally look bad on 10-inch tablets, with far too much wasted space. There are options like the Tablified Market ($1.49, 4 stars), which offers around 1,500 apps, and Nvidia's Tegra Zone, which features a few dozen apps specifically made to take advantage of Tegra processors.

Generation Y: Are we a BYOD policy nightmare?

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Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies are fast becoming a trend entrenched in the fabric of modern business practices.

Before, it was a fairly casual occurrence. Employees would usually have a personal mobile device with them when they attended work, either stowed away in a bag or for taking calls when slinking out of office cubicles with sallow lighting for lunch.

However, with the inclusion of high data allowances and improvements to Internet access, mobiles that were once only for individual use became smartphones and tablets that linked work and personal lives together.

Businesses realized this trend could be used to advantage; saving them from investing in the expensive process of mass-distribution smartphones and tablets that many employees are now expected to be equipped with — allowing flexible schedules and on-call contact.

This can be problematic. Once the personal becomes meshed with the corporate, logistical concerns begin to seep through the cracks of a trend which can save businesses money — but may also cause them a loss of profit and headaches in turn.

Why? Simply put, a lack of control over devices used to handle business-related activities. A number of different platforms, applications and storage lockers — and more importantly, the question of security.

Generation Y members, who are either already in the workplace or attempting to enter it, are a particular group that has caused concern, according to new research.

Those in the twenty-something bracket expect to be able to use their own devices at work, and a third would ignore security policies if they barred the use of personal mobile devices in the workplace.

More than half of the 3,800 employees involved in the survey conducted on behalf of Fortinet, view BYOD as a "right" rather than a "privilege".

Almost 75 percent of those surveyed actively use personal mobile devices in the workplace. The primary driver for this behaviour appears to be the need to stay connected — being able to access their favourite applications, social media and private exchanges, even within allotted working hours.

35 percent stated they couldn't go a day without checking their social media networks, and 47 percent wouldn't be able to manage 24 hours without sending a text.

The Gen Y's addiction to connection — if it exists — can be exploited by businesses worldwide, especially considering they will be the next group to take the reins in leadership, developmental and management roles. Many of them understand the nature of digital networks better than their older counterparts, and this is an area which can be used to expand and increase profitability by tapping into new markets and improving customer relations.

However, this doesn't mean their ability to talk of of deeper-rooted issues that impact businesses is so fluent. More than applying a business framework to the Internet, concerns including security, copyright and adhering to protocol are not quite as important to a generation styled as more 'individual' and demanding than others.

Awareness may not keep them from breaking the rules for personal benefit. But, it isn't all doom and gloom. The research also discovered another interesting attribute of Gen Y — they may break the rules to suit personal preferences, but this inclination for individual action also breaches the realms of responsibility.

66 percent considered themselves, and not the company, to be responsible for personal devices they use for work purposes, whereas only 22 percent believe the corporation should be held responsible.

If the majority of twenty-somethings feel devices are their concern, why not utilize this in BYOD policy, in order to make the ever-insistent group take responsibility formally — and any content or activity that takes place through them — rather than trying to stamp out the trend?

Patrice Perche, Fortinet vice president of international sales and support said:

"The survey clearly reveals the great challenge faced by organizations to reconcile security and BYOD. While users want and expect to use their own devices for work, mostly for personal convenience, they do not want to hand over responsibility for security on their own devices to the organization.

Organizations cannot rely on a single technology to address the security challenges of BYOD. The most effective network security strategy requires granular control over users and applications, not just devices."

Businesses need to keep in mind this sense of entitlement, if they are to maintain a firm grip on the ways their employees work, and how corporate information is used, transferred and stored.

In the same manner as recent research showed the huge amount of free file-sharing programs used to share corporate documents by BYOD employees, if Gen Y have little regard for security policy, who knows where sensitive information may end up?

Image credit: Jeremy Keith

Related:

• How students can snag investors for new businesses
• How free file sharing services are used by BYOD employees
• Is there an employment gap between employers and students?
• Are Generation Y 'careless' in their use of Wi-Fi?
• Should CEOs embrace Gen-Y to keep them?

Autumn style Categories List in Thesis Footer

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What if you have too many categories in your blog, How will you show them by drop down list or by picking some popular once and putting their links in Sidebar. Before this tutorial I have written tutorial about How to add widgetized footer in thesis.So In this post i explain, how to show categories in Footer and I created one special footer for you all that is Autumn style Categories which looks like this
and you can also have live view here on this page here. How to add Autumn style Category List in Footer of Thesis ThemeTo add this you need to Login to your WordPress Dashboard, than go to custom file editor and choose custom functions.php file to edit but wait do you know any error in custom functions.php file can cause a permanent damage to your site so try to use any FTP client for editing custom functions.php.
copy the below code and paste it in custom functions.php

function categorylist() { ?>
<div id="container">
<div id="foot">
<h2>Blog Categories</h2>
<!-- <span>Information Covered on the Blog</span> -->
<ul id="cats">
<?php wp_list_cats('sort_column=id&hide_empty=0&optioncount=0&hierarchical=0'); ?>
</ul>
<div>
<? }
add_action('thesis_hook_after_html', 'categorylist');
remove_action('thesis_hook_footer', 'thesis_attribution');
remove_action('thesis_hook_footer', 'thesis_admin_link');

/* END category list customization */

Now after adding the above code in custom functions.php add the below code in custom.css to style up the List with colors.

#foot { background:url("http://gotricky.com/Raj-Sharma/wp-content/themes/thesis_18/custom/images/tree-t.jpg"); border: 0.3em solid #BFBFBF; color: #2D6351; font-size: 12px; margin: 20px auto; overflow: hidden; padding: 1.5em; }  #foot a { color: #000000;  text-decoration: none; }  #foot a:hover { color: #198DC9; }  #foot h2{color: #2D6351; font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; font-variant:small-caps; margin:10px 0 10px 15px;} #foot h3 {color:#fff;font-size:18px;font-variant:small-caps;font-weight:bold;text-transform:none;}         #cats { list-style-type: none; width: auto;  margin-top: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 10px 0 7px 20px; }  #cats a:hover { color: #333; text-decoration: underline; }  #cats a { color: #333;  font-size: 15px; padding: 2px 5px;  }  #cats li { float: left; line-height: 1.8em; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0 2px 5px 0; width: 165px; }    /* END customization of footer */

Video for this Post will soon be added with new updates on the same post.

Prepping for Shapeshifting Class

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©2012 linda germain
animal totems Prep for kids class

I had some fun in the studio today.  I am teaching a class at Lynn Arts during school vacation week - Shapeshifting - native american art in conjunction with the current exhibit at PEM.  This project is going to be a totem pole of animal totems that are based on the birth dates of each child.  I wonder what my tribe will be like.  These animals are painted on recycled cereal boxes and then stacked.  So fun to Play.

Artist Books and Gelatin Printing

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©2012 Linda Germain
Gelatin Prints and some book forms

Today I went into Boston to the Athenaeum to see the Artists' Books Exhibit. What a wonderful space to just be with books.  The exhibit show cases books from the Athenaeum's collection.  Inspiring!  I came home and played with a single page book form.  I followed the instructions in Book + Art by Dorothy Simpson Krause.  I am going to exhibit several of my artist books at the Sage Art Gallery, in March.  I am excited about putting this show together.  Must Run!  Happy Printing.

Two fun Gelatin Print Workshops @ the Artists playground

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©2012 linda germain Gelatin Printing - stencils and stamping

©2012 linda germain -  Talking about the possibilities

©2012 linda germain - Newsprint pick up on a gelatin plate 

Well we had to great days playing with gelatin printmaking @ the artists playground.  We had creatives ranging in age from 12 to 62.  Everyone had fun and experimented with tools, materials, papers, inks and plates.  Many participants tried the Gelli Plate and loved it.  We went through a 500 sheet ream of paper, we used tissue paper and book pages. Of course I was too busy to get pictures but Karen Wihbey shared a few of her prints on her blog.  Hopefully more pictures to come.

Thermo FAX Fun with Linda Dunn

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Thermo fax screens and experiments

Today I went to the fabulous fiber studio at Western Ave Studios in Lowell.  Linda Branch Dunn took us on a Thermo fax adventure.  WE got to print on fiber or fabric and make screens from our own images too.  Oh my goodness - I think I have a new addiction.  I managed to make about 20 small screens.   I finished all the edges with duct tape when I got back to my studio.  I used all the tape I had in the house.  What a perfect first day of april.  Happy Printing.

Go Bananas for Mail Chimp

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It is certainly no secret that frequent, regular communication with families is important to the success of your students.  I know plenty of teachers who spend countless hours typing up weekly or monthly newsletters, and decorating them with lovely clipart images or even class pictures.  Then they dutifully copy enough for every family and have their students put them carefully into their backpacks so that their parents will be sure to get them. The trouble is, there really isn't any way of knowing when, or even if the parents read those beautifully designed, carefully-worded newsletters at all.  So now what?


Posting important information to a class web page is helpful, I suppose.  Still, you have no way of know who's actually reading the information.  Wouldn't it be great to know exactly who is taking the time to read your literary endeavors?  Get yourself a Mail Chimp and know for sure.


Create a free account at MailChimp.com and you can easily send professional looking email newsletters and reminders, and get detailed reports as to how many of your recipients are opening the messages.


Mail Chimp has loads of pre-formatted templates from which to choose, all of which can be used as is, or customized with logos and color combinations of your choice.  Import recipient information from your online address book or an Excel spreadsheet, and choose to send your emails to your entire list, or a specific segment of your list.  Your newsletters can include images and text, of course, and can be personalized by merging "subscriber" information into the body of your message.  How much nicer would it be for parents to see news addressed to Dear Mr. & Mrs. Jones, as opposed to Dear Parent(s)?


Once complete, your emails can be scheduled to go out on a specific date and time, after which you can check reports to see exactly which recipients have opened your communication, and whether or not they've checked out any links you may have provided.  The point?  Well, we all know the importance of documenting . . . just about everything that involves communication with parents, right?  Mail Chimp reports provide important documentation of your efforts to communicate.  And, more importantly, give you the information you need, to know who you may need to reach out to more personally.


Check out this sample Mail Chimp email http://tinyurl.com/mail-chimp-demo, and then try creating one of your own.  Perhaps you can send a nice end of the year message of thanks to parents, with links for summer activities and even a year-end online slideshow.  Or, just get your feet wet so that you can begin next year with an informational newsletter introducing yourself to your new students and their families.  Go on.  Get a little feedback from your first message, and you'll go bananas for Mail Chimp.Listen to this post, or download mp3

Play with Purpose

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It won't be long now.  In just a matter of weeks, many of us will be sending our students off for a summer of sun and fun . . . and forgetting how to reduce fractions.  Wouldn't it be nice if your students wanted to practice some of their math and language skills over the summer so you wouldn't need to spend so much of the new school year getting them back up to speed?  Now is the time to get them hooked on the fun games at Arcademic Skill Builders, Lure of the Labyrinth, TypeRacer and more.


Sign up for a free teacher account at http://plus.arcademics.com/register and you can create accounts for your students, and assign activities (games) specific to each of your student's needs.  There are games for a wide variety of math topics, as well as some language arts, geography and typing games, and while most games are designed for K-6 students, a "plus" account will allow you to customize games with your own material for older students as well.  Some games are for individual players only, while others will allow up to 12 players to compete.  Use the grouping feature of your teacher account to make sure that students of like abilities can compete against one another.  Students earn achievement points, and can print certificates at their discretion after the completion of each game.  In the meantime, you can view reports of time spent, and accomplishments by student, or by activity.

Need something a little more challenging for your pre-algebra students?  Introduce them to Lure of the Labyrinth.  This formidable maze game will keep your students engaged for hours . . . days . . . even weeks (I've not yet had a student who didn't like it).  While this site has the familiar look and feel of a just-for-fun video game, students must complete challenging math puzzles to earn coins needed to help them through the maze.  Organize your students into teams, and they can communicate through the site to help each other with the maze, the math and more.

And, just because it is definitely a favorite of my students, let me also recommend TypeRacer.com as a fun way of keeping up keyboarding speed and accuracy.  Users will type paragraphs from songs or novels, and compete to finish typing the text before their fellow racers.  Compete against random opponents, or share a specific race URL with a friend and race against each other.

Let's face it--summer is a time for having fun.  Let's make sure that some of that fun is academically productive.  Do you have an educational game to recommend?  Please let me know, and I'll add it to the custom Google Search Engine below.  Together we can compile a searchable list of resources that will ensure our students enjoy a summer that is both fun and productive.

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Jux--Easy as 1, 2, 3!

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You know what they say.  "A picture is worth a thousand words."  But suppose the message you intend to deliver requires a thousand and one, or two, or twenty words.  Now you need an effective way to combine pictures and words.  Not to worry--just think Jux.

If you're looking for a way to share a photo summary of a wonderful school year with your students and their parents, consider one of the many possibilities at jux.com.  The Jux website makes creating and sharing beautiful, impactful photo stories as easy as 1, 2, 3.  And, while many websites (like your school site, perhaps) have restrictions when it comes to sharing large photographs, the motto at Jux seems to be "the bigger, the better".  How wonderful to see your lovely class photos full screen, in all their glory, the way they should be!

Choose from a number of ways to share your photographs that can be embedded in a class web page or blog, and shared with families, or view on your big screen whiteboard.  Whether you choose to create a single captioned image, an entire slideshow,  or (my favorite) a countdown set of instructions, Jux makes the process quite simple and provides a number of ways your finished project can be shared.  Take a look at the sample slideshow below (be sure to view in full screen, if you can), or visit the Jux website and explore the projects that have been shared on the site.  This is one website that will make viewing your photos a real visual feast!

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E2BN is GR8!

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Have you discovered the treasure trove that is e2bn.org?  E2BN is the East of England Broadband Network, part of a regional broadband consortia whose purpose is to "help raise standards in teaching and learning by the use of broadband technology."  To that end, they provide a wealth of useful online tools for classroom use, as well as picture and audio galleries, along with plenty of information and resources for teachers.

I recently shared their website, Myths and Legends (http://myths.e2bn.org) with my 4th graders.  After a brief introduction to the tools of this animated story creator site, my students eagerly dove in and before long the room was completely (almost eerily) silent, with each little mind busy creating wonderful stories inspired by the graphics on the site.  I've since heard students tell me that the site was "awesome," "cool," and one that "I will definitely use over the summer."  High praise, indeed, from a 4th grader, don't you think?

With literally hundreds of graphics and sound effects, and the possibility of up to 90 pages of illustrated text, students can easily create amazing stories with the tools provided by the site.  Additional pictures and sounds can also be imported, or students can use the record feature to create their own audio accents.

Now, your students will need an account to use the site, and in order to get an account teachers need to be sure their school is registered.  Visit http://myths.e2bn.org/story_creator/register to complete the registration process.  According to the site, registration approval may take up to 5 days, but it seems that they tend to actually work much more quickly than that.  Once your registration is approved, you will be able to quickly create as many student accounts as you need by uploading student names, along with username and password information from a spreadsheet.

Need more convincing that the e2bn website is worth bookmarking?  Check out http://discoverybox.e2bn.org/ (formerly Museum Box).  This site has inspired one of my favorite end of the school "year-in-review" projects.  The site was modeled after the actions of Thomas Clarkson, who campainged against slavery by carrying a box of artifacts with him that illustrated his arguments.  Along those lines, the Discovery Box website enables students to create a virtual box of artifacts on the topic of their choice.  Each Discovery Box can hold layer upon layer of text, images, video and sounds.  I've found it to be a wonderful way for students to document what they've learned throughout the school year.  In addition to adding clipart images to represent things they've learned, students can link documents they've created during the year, pictures of themselves and their friends from that year, and even add a short video commentary.  Students love the options, and I love that it makes them actually think about all the things they've accomplished during the school year.

There is much to explore at the e2bn Teaching and Learning website (http://www.e2bn.org/tandl), and the handy subject grid they provide makes finding resources appropriate for your subject and/or age group quick and easy.  Thanks, East of England Broadband Network, for sharing such an amazing collection of classroom resources!  And, on behalf of my 4th grade students, thanks for providing activities that are "so awesome" they don't even realize they're learning.Listen to this post, or download mp3

Scribble Maps

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Have you seen one of those "you know you're a teacher when  . . . " lists?  The statements are generally pretty funny, rather poignant, and remarkably true of most teachers I know.  (If you haven't seen a list of teacherisms, check out http://pinterest.com/jeanniepartin/you-know-you-are-a-teacher-when/ or http://www.adprima.com/teacherwit.htm and see if you don't find yourself chuckling.)

Here's my contribution to the list:  You know you're a teacher when many of your summer travel photos become not only a slideshow, but a history or geography or computer lesson for your students as well.  (Yes, I'm guilty.)

If you're planning a trip this summer, think about chronicling your trip on scribblemaps.com.  Whether you intend to share your comments, pics and flicks with family and friends, or your future students, Scribble Maps provides a fun and easy way to share the details of your travels.  Here's how to get started:

Go to http://scribblemaps.com and click on the green Create Map button in the upper left corner of the page.  (No account is needed, even though you'll want to save your map to the site.  You'll be given an access code when you save, that will enable you to get back to your map to view or edit.)



Use the search bar below the tools at the upper left of your screen to zoom in to a particular destination.  Add a place marker using the tool just to the right of the text tool.  You can add a title and description to the marker, and by clicking on Advanced Editing at the bottom of the box, you will access the tools you need to embed an image (via URL) or video (via YouTube) into the place marker.

Add a place marker for each stop on your journey, and use the line or shape tools to trace your route, add dates or comments, or whatever is needed to put your photos into context.

When you're finished working, save your map either by going to the Menu on the left side of the tool bar, or by clicking Get Widget/Embed.

The site will generate the map id, and you provide a title and description for your creation.  You can then share your map through Facebook or Google Maps, by emailing a link to your friends, or by embedding the scrollable, searchable map in your blog or wiki.

The next time you visit Scribble Maps, you will be able to continue work on your map by choosing Load from the main menu, and entering your map id.  Or, if you're using the same computer you used when saving your map, you can load it by choosing it from the Recent Maps menu you'll see when you are at the Scribble Maps home page.

So, fellow teachers, safe travels to all of you who will be hitting the road this summer.  Enjoy a well deserved break, but don't forget that come August (or September, or whenever you return to school) someone is sure to ask how you spent your summer.  Imagine how impressed they'll be when you share every detail that's suitable for sharing, complete with pics and flicks, on your very own Scribble Map.Listen to this post, or download mp3

Samsung Galaxy S III (Sprint)

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The new flagship smartphone from the world's number-one mobile phone company, Samsung's Galaxy S III ($199.99 with contract) is literally a huge achievement. If you love big phones with lots of options, the GS3 will deliver state-of-the-art performance with bonus sharing and media features that you're likely to continue discovering a year from now. Sprint subscribers now have two solid choices: The Galaxy S III ties with the HTC EVO 4G LTE ($199, 4 stars) as our Editors' Choice for touch-screen smartphones on Sprint.

Editors' Note: The Samsung Galaxy S III models on all four major carriers are extremely similar, so we're sharing a lot of material between our various reviews. That said, we're testing each device separately, so read the review for your carrier of choice.

Physical Design
All of the new Galaxy S III models look the same, except for the carrier logo on the back panel. Each is available in dark blue or white (AT&T also has a red option coming this summer), and they're some of the biggest phones we've ever handled. At 5.4 by 2.8 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and 4.7 ounces, the GS3 is slightly bigger than the already-large HTC One X ($199, 4.5 stars), although it's still noticeably smaller and lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Note phone/tablet hybrid ($299, 3 stars).  That said, this is not a phone for folks with small hands.

I'm not a fan of the huge phone. But I've given up on panning them because every time I suggest these handsets are too big, I get pummeled by comments from people who adore them. Huge phones are the thing. I accept it.

The all-plastic body feels a little less high-end than the exotic materials of the HTC One series, but the phone is solidly built, and light despite its size. The front of the phone is dominated by the 4.8-inch, 1280-by-720-pixel Super AMOLED HD screen. Yes, it's PenTile, which can sometimes look slightly pixelated. But, no, you probably won't notice. Below the screen, there's a physical Home button, as well as light-up Back and Multitasking buttons that start out invisible, so you have to memorize where they are or change a setting to keep them illuminated. The 8-megapixel camera is on the back panel, which, thanks to its reflective finish, doubles as a pocket mirror. 

The default Automatic Brightness setting makes the screen too dim. Kill it and pump up the brightness and it's fine, even outdoors. It's not as bright as the One X's Super LCD 2 display, but it's fine.

Unlike the competing HTC One X, the S III has a removable 2100mAh battery. Taking off the back cover also reveals the microSD card slot, which supports cards up to 64GB.

Call Quality and Internet
Are you willing for Sprint to pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today? The EVO 4G LTE promises spectacular call quality with HD Voice…sometime in 2013, once Sprint gets the network running. But the GS3 lets you tweak your call quality now.

Default call quality is good. Volume is on the high end of average, with no distortion from loud inputs. The speakerphone isn't quite loud enough to use outdoors, but it's fine for the car or a boardroom. The microphone does a good job of cancelling background noise. Bluetooth headsets work fine with Samsung's S-Voice voice dialing system.

But as with so many things here, call quality gets richer if you burrow down into the GS3's menus. A Volume Boost button throws the phone into a super-loud, quasi-speakerphone mode for noisy areas, but that's just the start. Deep within the settings, there's an option to set custom call EQ. The phone plays you a sequence of quiet high and low tones and you tell it which ones you can hear, and then it EQ's calls accordingly. This is pretty radical stuff. I prefer my calls sharp, with more high-end, and the GS3 delivers.

On data though, the Sprint GS3 is crippled. All new Sprint phones are. Although the phones support speedy LTE, Sprint has steadfastly refused to give us a rollout timetable for its new LTE network, leaving its high-end smartphones on the slowest 3G network in America. We tested Sprint LTE, and it's competitive with AT&T and Verizon, but none of this matters a whit if Sprint won't tell us when anyone is getting it. 

This is why Sprint's Galaxy S III is getting a slightly lower rating than the other major carrier models. Sprint needs to get its act together. We will not give a Sprint phone a 4.5-star rating until the carrier gives its subscribers more information about LTE coverage.

You'll have better luck getting your Internet via Wi-Fi on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC are also onboard, and Google Wallet is preloaded.

Our battery test didn't complete because we ran out of time. But that's good; we just about ran down the battery with an 8 hour, 35 minute call. This phone has solid battery life, and considering the battery is removable, you can carry a spare. That's something you can't do with the EVO 4G LTE.

Software and Performance
The Galaxy S III runs Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" with a whole lot of exclusive Samsung extensions. Performance was excellent in my tests. The Qualcomm S4 chip running at 1.5GHz is the fastest one we've seen in smartphones so far, and it's able to take on any app challenge you throw at it, including games on the HD screen. Our benchmark tests proved this, although they were within the margin of error when compared with the One X. Both phones are very fast.

Exclusive new features include S-Beam, the ability to transfer files by tapping two phones together and using a combination of NFC and Wi-Fi Direct; S-Voice, Samsung's answer to Apple's Siri; TecTiles, NFC-enabled accessory tags that can change the settings on your phone, and lots of sharing and tagging options in the camera, such as the ability to automatically tag your friends' faces, and the ability for multiple GS3s within a few feet of each other to automatically share all of their photos.

Many of these features work well, but they're almost all buried. The interface is something of a scavenger hunt. Take Smart Stay, a neat new feature which detects your face and keeps the screen from going black while you're looking at it. I love it! But it's not on by default, and the only way to turn it on is by going to the Display area under Settings. S-Beam is similarly buried, under the Wireless menu.

Pantech Swift (AT&T)

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If you're looking for a messaging phone on AT&T, chances are you're going to wind up with one from Pantech. Right now, for instance, there's the Pantech Link II ($9.99, 3 stars), the Pantech Pursuit II ($29.99, 3 stars), and the Pantech Ease ($49.99, 2.5 stars). Now add to that the Pantech Swift ($69.99 with a two-year contract), which, luckily, is the best of the bunch. Its keyboard is only decent and its processor is too slow, but it's still one of your top picks for a messaging phone on AT&T that isn't a smartphone.

Design and Call Quality
The Swift measures 4.3 by 2.2 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weigh a hefty 6.3 ounces, though it didn't actually feel that heavy. The back is made from an ever so slightly rubberized black plastic, while a ring of purple plastic surrounds the sliding display. At 2.8-inches and 320-by-240-pixel resolution, the capacitive touch screen looks fine, though text is a little jagged. The screen itself seems responsive, though the processor makes most actions feel slow (more on that below).

When closed, there's just one button beneath the display that serves as a home key. The screen slides out into a slightly angled position, which makes it comfortable to see and access the Swift's four-row QWERTY keyboard. The keys are made of the same black plastic that lines the display, with purple accents and white lettering. They're a little flat, which makes it easy to press the wrong one, though I grew used to it over time. This certainly isn't the best keyboard I've tested, but you'll be able to send messages quickly and easily. And there's no good way to type without it, since the touch screen only gives you the option for a number pad-style keyboard.

The Pantech Swift is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and dual-band HSPA 7.2 (850/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi. Voice quality is average. Voices sound thin and fuzzy in the phone's earpiece. Calls made with the phone feature very good noise cancellation, though voices have a slightly muted quality. Calls sounded good through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars), but there is no voice dialing, Bluetooth or otherwise. The speakerphone sounds fine but is not loud enough to use outside. Battery life was good at 6 hours and 49 minutes of talk time.

User Interface, Processor, and Apps
The Swift has a nice, bright, touch-based user interface. There are three customizable home screens you can swipe between, and it's easy to add additional apps or shortcuts. A strip of shortcuts at the bottom of the screen gives you quick access to the phone dialer, contacts, messages, and applications. The app menu features three pages of large, colorfully animated app icons. And for a messaging phone, the Swift handles text messages with aplomb—the menu is attractive and messages are threaded, so they show up in a conversational view.

UI aside, Pantech must have been ironic in naming this phone, because at times the Swift can feel remarkably slow. The phone is powered by a 600MHz Qualcomm QSX6270 processor, which is clearly not strong enough to run the phone's software smoothly. It can take upwards of five to 10 seconds to open apps, and at times I thought the phone had froze, only for the app to open a moment later. Swiping between each of the three home screens is first met with a delay, then followed by a noticeably choppy animation. While I like the phone's interface, you're going to have to be patient if you want to use it.

The Swift has an email app with access to AIM, AOL, AT&T, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts. The Opera Mini 5.1 browser works well to deliver WAP and HTML pages. AT&T Navigator is preinstalled for voice-enabled GPS directions. But that costs $9.99 per month, and if you want to use the Web browser, a data plan costs $15 per month (or $10 per month when you also have unlimited messaging). For those prices, you're better off with even a low-end smartphone, so I'd only stick with the Swift (as well as feature phones on AT&T in general) if you're looking strictly to talk and text.

Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
For multimedia files, there's 185MB of free internal memory, along with an empty microSD card slot. My 32 and 64GB SanDisk cards worked fine. The phone is able to play AAC, MP3, WAV, and WMA music files, and sound quality was great through both wired earbuds and Altec Lansing BackBeat Bluetooth headphones ($129.99, 3.5 stars). The music player is attractive, and displays album art spinning around like a record when it's available. Unfortunately, video support is not nearly as good. The Swift is only able to play H.264 and MPEG4 videos at resolutions up to 320 by 240.

The Swift's 2-megapixel camera lacks an LED flash and auto-focus. Shutter speeds are agonizingly slow, and photo quality is poor. Pictures taken with the Swift look either smudged, blurry, grainy, or sometimes a combination of all three at once. The video camera is just as bad. It records 320-by-240-pixel videos at a completely unusable seven frames per second indoors, and a still-poor 14 frames per second outside.

The Swift is the best of Pantech's feature phone offerings for AT&T, but it's merely an average phone by anyone's standards. The Samsung Evergreen ($69.99, 3 stars) has comparable features to the Swift, and is also worth a look if you're interested in a phone purely for messaging. The Samsung Flight II ($39.99, 2.5 stars) has a nicer keyboard, but poor call quality. Really, though, if you think you want more, you're better off with a comparably priced smartphone like the LG Nitro HD ($49.99, 4.5 stars). That will get you a large, beautiful display, fast 4G LTE internet speeds, access to hundreds of thousands of apps, and much greater multimedia capabilities.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 6 hours 49 minutes

More Cell Phone Reviews:
?   Samsung Galaxy S III (Sprint)
?   Samsung Galaxy S III (AT&T)
?   Pantech Swift (AT&T)
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Xerox ColorQube 8700/X

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The Xerox ColorQube 8700/X ($2,799 direct, 3.5 stars) is the latest color printer to utilize the company's solid ink technology. The 8700/X—a multifunction printer (MFP)—doesn't offer the phenomenally low ink costs for color printing that Xerox claims for the single-function ColorQube 8870DN  ($2,499 direct, 3.5 stars) but adds copying, scanning, and faxing capability for not too much more than you'd pay for the 8870DN. It also has a secret weapon: in its PostScript driver are some advanced color-correction features, including Color by Words, which lets you make color changes in plain language during the printing process.

As a solid-ink printer, the 8700/X utilizes blocks of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow ink. The printer melts the ink, and then prints by spraying the ink on a drum and rolling paper against the drum to transfer the ink to the paper. Solid ink printers are considered laser class, as they are generally similar to lasers in speed. One downside is that you're best off keeping the printer on all the time; it takes power to melt the ink and a long time for the machine to warm up when turned on, plus it uses up ink in the startup process.

The ColorQube can print, scan (to email, to a USB thumb drive, to a Folder on the computer or over the network, to Internet Fax, and more), copy, and fax.  It includes a 50-sheet duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF) for copying, scanning, or faxing multi-page two-sided documents.

The blue-and-white ColorQube 8700/X is both cubic (23.8 by 23.4 by 24.2 inches, HWD) and massive (102 pounds); it took 3 people for us to move it into place on our test bench. It has a standard paper capacity of 650 sheets, split between a 525-sheet main tray and 100-sheet multipurpose tray—commensurate with its 120,000-page maximum monthly duty cycle—and an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper is standard. In addition, an 1800-page tray ($1,249) and up to two additional 525-page trays ($299 each) can be added, for a maximum paper capacity of 3,475 sheets. An optional finisher (with stacker and sorter) is available for $699.

Other standard features include an 80GB hard drive; and a 7-inch color touch-screen LCD for controlling network and MFP functions.

Xerox offers two other models in the ColorQube 8700 series. The ColorQube 8700/S ($2,500 street) is the same as the 8700/X but lacks fax capability, while the 8700/XF ($5,000 street) expands on the 8700/X by including all the paper tray options plus finisher, saving $350 over buying them all as separate options.

Testing

The ColorQube 8700/X offers USB 2.0 and Ethernet (including Gigabit Ethernet) connectivity, with optional WiFi capability ($219). I tested it on a wired network with drivers installed on a computer running Windows Vista. During installation, one dialog lets you choose printer drivers. PostScript is pre-checked and as listed as the recommended driver. You can also add PCL 5, PCL 6, and XPS drivers, though PostScript still installs as the default driver. You don't want to uncheck PostScript, as it has a color-control feature unique to select Xerox printers.

All the 8700/X's drivers have 2-sided printing (duplexing) set as the default. This provides paper savings, and one can always switch to 1-sided (simplex) printing when desired. In testing, we try to imitate the user experience as best possible, which means most of our testing is done using default settings. Thus, we did our official testing of the 8700/X's print speed in duplex mode (as we have with Canon lasers since that company switched to duplex printing as its default last year). Duplex speeds tend to be somewhat slower than simplex for the same multi-page documents, so I also tested the 8700/X in simplex mode for comparison.

Printing Speed

I timed the 8700/X on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), at an effective 4.3 pages per minute (ppm) in duplex mode; it tested at 5.3 ppm when I switched to simplex. Either way, it's a bit on the slow side for its 44-page-per-minute rating (for both color and monochrome) that's based on printing text documents without graphics or photos. The Editors' Choice Lexmark X548dte ($1,599 direct, 4 stars) finished the same tests at an effective 7.0 ppm (in simplex mode) despite a rated speed of only 25 pages per minute, while the Brother MFC-9970CDW ($700 street, 4 stars), rated at 30 ppm, ran through the tests, once again in simplex, at 6.6 ppm.

Output Quality

The 8700/X's text quality was average, making it suitable for anything short of demanding desktop publishing applications using very small fonts.  Graphics quality was slightly above average for a color laser, good enough for standard business uses including PowerPoint handouts, as well as basic marketing materials.

Following our standard test procedures, I conducted our photo tests using the high resolution and automatic color settings in the 8700/X's PostScript driver. Photo quality was slightly sub-par for a color laser. The main issue was dithering—visible dot patterns in some images, often in the form of spurious flecks of color (resembling noise in a digital camera image). For instance, the blue sky in one test image appeared speckled with purple, even when held at arm's length.

Color by Words

I also did considerable ad-hoc testing of the driver's custom color features: Color Correction, Color Adjustment, and especially Color by Words. Color Adjustment lets you choose between a range of color profiles such as sRGB Display, Black and White, Commercial, or Euroscale Press. Color Correction utilizes sliders to let you tweak lightness, contrast, saturation, and color cast (hue).

Color by Words lets you choose adjustments to color in plain language from a drop-down menu. One specifies three things: the color to be changed (from individual colors to "all colors", "all sky-blue colors", "all foliage-green colors", or "all skin-tone colors"; the amount of change, from "much less" to "completely"; and what it's to be changed to (for example, "bright", "hazy", "warm", or a particular color). For instance, you could specify changes to "Make all foliage-green colors bright".

Photo colors using the driver's automatic color setting were reasonably true, so no real adjustment was necessary, but I did try a variety of changes. Indeed it can make color changes, from subtle to dramatic, and by and large it did well. However, I did not find a way to get rid of the color speckling in the bright areas without affecting unwanted changes to the rest of the print.

The Xerox ColorQube 8700/X is a formidable solid-ink color MFP that makes it easy for users to tweak colors during the printing process. While it doesn't provide the savings in running costs that some Xerox solid-ink printers have, it has a lower initial cost. This MFP is well worth consideration by businesses seeking easy and precise control over color in the printing process.

However, impressive as Color by Words is, even that wasn't enough to resolve a basic problem that cropped up in its photo printing. Although the Editors' Choice Lexmark X548dte lacks the ColorCube's color control, it is faster, produces high-quality graphics and photos (making it suitable for printing marketing materials), and costs $1,100 less than the ColorQube.

More Multi-function Printer Reviews:

?   Xerox ColorQube 8700/X
?   HP Officejet 150 Mobile All-in-One
?   Epson WorkForce WF-7520
?   Kodak ESP 3.2 All-in-One Printer
?   Samsung SCX-5639FR
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