formats

In the annals of computer history, no two keystroke combinations have done more to boost worker productivity than Ctrl-C to copy to the clipboard whatever you've selected on the screen, and Ctrl-V to paste the contents of the clipboard to wherever you've placed the cursor.

What often follows the paste is the laborious process of reformatting the pasted material to match the look of the destination document. Microsoft Word lets you apply the formatting of the destination document when you paste, but by default Ctrl-V retains the original formatting of the pasted text.

Back in 2007 I described … Read more

Topping my list of Microsoft Excel pet peeves is the program's automatic conversion of two numbers on either side of a hyphen into the date and month the numbers correspond to, such as "1-1" becoming "01-Jan."

The change occurs even when you choose any of the options available when you select Paste Special. I have looked high and low for a way to disable this setting in Excel, to no avail.

You can make the change for an entire worksheet by clicking the small box above 1 and to the left of A in the … Read more

Apple's TextEdit program is a basic text editor included with OS X, which like WordPad for Windows can be used to quickly create text documents in plain text (.txt) or in rich text (RTF) formats. Similar to Preview for image files, TextEdit is commonly used as a starting point for opening various supported file types in order to preview them and make small edits to their contents. This helps when you need to quickly edit scripts and HTML code, or system configuration files.

TextEdit is not only useful for quickly editing code (which is primarily stored in basic text … Read more

Hasselblad has lowered the price of its high-end medium-format cameras from the upper stratosphere to the lower stratosphere.

The 60-megapixel HD4-60's list price is now $30,995, down $9,000, the company said Friday. And the HDR-200MS, a "multishot" model can combine four 50-megapixel shots into one higher-quality image to compensate for image sensor shortcomings, was cut $8,000 to $35,995.

Lower down the line, but geared and priced for professional photographers, the HD4-31 with a 35-90mm lens is down $3,595 to $15,995.

Hasselblad specializes in medium-format cameras, which in an earlier era meant … Read more

Get ready, MP3s: Rocker Neil Young and his electric-powered Lincoln Continental are coming for you.

According to "Rolling Stone," Young has applied for a series of trademarks on what appears to be potential names for a new high-definition audio format that the musician is creating.

The project appears to be the result of Young's long-standing dissatisfaction with the quality of MP3s.

"They might sound like great song titles, but '21st Century Record Player,' 'Earth Storage,' and 'Thanks for Listening' aren't new Neil Young tunes," "the magazine wrote. "They're trademarks that the … Read more

Trying to find new markets for its high-end photo gear, Phase One today announced camera systems for aerial photography and for reproducing artwork.

Both cameras use the company's big, expensive, medium-format image sensors, but the camera bodies are modified compared to what it sells to its more typical customers, photographers taking fashion and product photos. For one thing, they're made with rugged aluminum bodies to better withstand industrial conditions; for another, they drop the reflex mirror and viewfinder of ordinary cameras.

The iXR is geared for reproducing artwork or machine-vision needs; it can be controlled via live view … Read more

Microsoft is targeting a host of improvements for SkyDrive, potentially giving iCloud and similar services some healthy competition.

The next version, dubbed SkyDrive Wave 5, could lead the way, with several features revealed by blogging site LiveSide.net.

Tipped off about "new features that are said to be coming to SkyDrive soon," the site detailed such items as support for the OpenDocument format and the ability to store and manage BitLocker recovery keys on SkyDrive.

A new URL-shortening service will provide links to your shared files, while you'll be able to share those files directly with your … Read more

If you've ever copied and pasted text from a Skype call or conversation, you've probably noticed that Skype adds a time stamp and some quotation texts to whatever it is you copied. This can be handy for showing someone else exactly who said something and when, but it becomes rather tedious when copying a string to be entered into, say, a search box. If this bothers you, then you're in luck. This additional information is completely optional (albeit on by default) and can be easily disabled from within Skype. Read on to learn how.

Step 1: Open … Read more

While the LP revival is still in full swing you rarely hear about the other 12-inch, grooved vinyl record format, the RCA VideoDisc.

It was a grooved, carbon-loaded PVC disc. The grooves were 48 times smaller than an LP groove, but they were still tracked with a diamond "needle"! That was possible because unlike an LP's zigzag grooves the CED's grooves were hills and dales. That difference also minimized groove wear, so the discs could be played hundreds of times. VHS and Beta tapes would wear out faster than that. The VideoDisc also had stereo soundtracks.… Read more