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cogle is a company Gwhu h at tirst might seem like your regular dotâ€"com Internet company that actually survived Their wildly popula search engine a hirp www google.com has garnered them count less fans and even some detractors who are worned that the company may become a monopoly some _ But their Internet search engine is not the only good currently forged by Google. But from their beginning, the company‘s founders have strived to build a comâ€" pany that "does no evil". One of their latest releasâ€" es is a free image manageâ€" ment program called Picasa. 1 know I‘ve mentioned image editing software in a previous article, but this one is worth the mention. Google acquired Picasa last summer and soon after offered it as free program. Now, with the release of version 2.0, they are providâ€" ing us with a set of features for editing, organizing and ctherwise handling the flood of images that flow from a digital camera. Immediately after installing Picasa, it offers to take a peek at your hard drive to find all of the images. This was a quick process on the system I was using, as it only found about half a dozen images. That was until 1 decided to put the program through its paces and popped in a backup CD with over 700 images on it. Running Windows XP, I was presented with the familiar "what should 1 do with this disc" dialog box with a new entry allowing lay Just think of the time and money you will save .... Our JOB DEVELOPMENT SPECIALISTS will screen and refer qualified candidates in a timely manner, and provide ongoing followâ€"up and support services to ensure complete satisfaction. This service is EASY TO USE, and will compliment your current recruitment practices. You can review a selection of preâ€"screened candidates to meet your specific hiring needs, ensuring a suitable fit for a broad range of positions â€" manufacturing, administrative and customer service. Employers may also be eligible to access a Wage Subsidy Program, made available by the Government o#f Clipada, by hiring candidates through VP4 Job Development Services. Contact one of our Job Development Specialists for more details at: Vocational Pathways Inc. (VP!I) is operating a successful Job Development Service that is effectively meeting the hiring needs of employers in the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Region. This is a FREE SERVICE, funded by the Government of Canada. NO COST RECRUITMENT VOCATIONAL PATHWAYS INC. Managing your images af al 279 Weber Street North, Unit 19 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8 instant processing with Picasa. It took about 15 minutes to copy all of the images and import them into the softâ€" ware, but I was using a sysâ€" tem that was about five years old. On my desktop system, I found that importing images already on the hard drive is much faster. One of the immediate benefits this Picasa will preâ€" sent to home and business users alike is the ability to label pictures. Arbitrary labels can be created and assigned to photos as a simâ€" ple form of categorization. Each label is presented in the interface similar to a folder and photos can conâ€" tain more than one label. 519.885.7864 MICHAEL HIEMSTRA Home users might setup labels like "Landscape", "Vacation"‘, "Family", and "Nature". Business users might use labels to match their merâ€" chandise categories or client files. To help you filter out pictures on your system that you normally wouldn‘t be interested in, such as images installed with the software on your system, Picasa is configure by default to ignore smaller images, and gives the option to turn a blind eye to any image you choose. Sharing photos with Picasa is an easy process with the "Gift CD" feature. Simply select a folder or label and click a button. To save space or get more images on a disc, Picasa can resize pictures on the fly and a few more clicks will butn the CD for you. The disc will have a selfâ€" contained slideshow viewer that won‘t require any softâ€" ware. If you have photos to share with your Internet connected friends and famiâ€" ly, Picasa also integrates with some of Google‘s onâ€" line offerings (eâ€"mail and blogs}. Picasa also has feaâ€" tures for regular back up of the files. While there may not be a Canada lot of tricks in Picasa‘s bag. the ones that are offered are fast and effective. There are some stanâ€" dards like sharpen, sepia and B&W, but also some that I haven‘t seen in other programs. For instance. "warmify" tones down the blues in an image and brings out the earthy tones, at least from what this hardly artistic eye can see. One feature I liked was the collage feature which takes a set of photos and randomly places them in a simulated pile, allowing you to save the collection in a new image file. You can also update indiâ€" vidual photos by applying graduated tints, blurred surâ€" roundings or B&W around a focal point. Other commoan fixes available are redâ€"eye reducâ€" tion and cropping. Picasa offers a fine way to manage your digital photos and images with a slick and usable interface. I‘m certainly going to Continued on page 20 BSk‘s . loaded 2001 OLDS ALERO _ wwrw.vollmotors.com _ 630 Hespeler Rd., Hwy. 24, Cambridge ‘9.995 A Better Mattress...for a Better Price www.royalmattress.com _ NEW KITCHENER LOCATION 1151 Victoria Street North $1,000, Mattress Fac SALE ENDS SUNDAY! Manutacturing Comfortable Sieep Products since 1967 (near Swiss Chalet) 742â€"0678 4X4 15k‘s batance 0f warranty