Tech for the rest of us: T.R. Reid's "The Chip."
The art of explaining technical matters is rarely mastered. Technical writers tend to assume that the audience has a basic understanding of (or interest in) the subject matter. This results in bone-dry reading that only members of the field can get through. Nontechnical writers tend to either shy away from or gloss over the important facts in an attempt to dumb down the material. Neither approach achieves clarity.
Because a happy medium is so rare, when I find a text that conveys the essence of a technical subject with clarity, I enjoy it as though I were reading a classic novel. Such is the case with T.R. Reid's "The Chip" (Random House, 2001), the story of how two extraordinary inventors hit upon the most important development of the 20th century at nearly the same time.
Both Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce hold patents to the integrated circuit, and both belong in the inventors' hall of fame with the likes of Edison, Ford, and Wright. "The Chip" not only tells their story, but it puts the inventions in the context of an industry built upon the microchip. The result is a book that would serve as a great introduction to modern electronics.
The book succeeds for two reasons. First, it tells a story the way a great novel would: with compelling characters, a fine plot, and attention to detail. Second, in explaining the details, it uses simple analogies from everyday life, thus breaking down a complex subject into its simplest terms. Its only wart is Chapter 9: DIM-I, which deviates from the master plan of telling a story and instead serves as a technical manual for a simple calculator. Chapter 9 illustrates the flaw of most technical writing as clearly as any manual could. But if the reader simply skips that chapter, the rest of the book makes for a fun and informative read. -James Mathewson
A drive that's driven: FotoShow's Digital Image Center.
The FotoShow Digital Image Center (Iomega, $130) is something of a digital Swiss Army knife. It has several capabilities, none of which it performs as well as dedicated tools. But its combination of talents may make it well worth the price for digital photographers.
The FotoShow is a 250MB USB Zip drive, coupled with an onboard PowerPC microprocessor, software, and circuitry to output pictures and sound to a TV (through included RCA audio/video cables or an optional S-video cable or RF converter). It also has slots for Type I/II CompactFlash cards (including IBM MicroDrives) and 3.3v SmartMedia cards, to allow transfer of images to inexpensive Zip disks. Such transfers can be done with only a power connection (a 12v car adapter is available), making the FotoShow a handy way to download images in the field or while on vacation--and view them on a motel TV, for instance. It can be connected to a computer and TV simultaneously, but unfortunately the TV display circuitry and software are disabled until the USB connection is broken.
When connected to a TV, the FotoShow is controlled with a simple IR remote and fairly straightforward onscreen menus; a thorough step-by-step manual quickly cleared up interface questions. Unfortunately, the only function of the audio connection is to provide sound cues as you navigate the interface; it's not possible to attach narration to a photo, for instance-a missed opportunity on FotoShow's part. Through the TV interface, the FotoShow allows one to organize images into "albums" (folders on the computer), perform simple editing, and create and run slide shows. Organization options include the ability to view images in several ways, ranging from a grid of thumbnails to a single full-screen image. One also can reorder images, move or copy them from one album to another, rename them, or delete them.
Editing options include rotation, red-eye removal, cropping, effects such as tinting or conversion to black and white, and Auto Fix (color correction similar to Auto Levels in Adobe Photoshop--Adobe had a hand in the software). All changes can be successively undone or saved to the original or a copy. Edit actions took up to a minute to complete on images from my 3-megapixel camera; serious editing should be done on a computer with other software and transferred to a Zip for display by the FotoShow. Once connected to a TV, the FotoShow will turn each folder into an album and do a one-time processing of the images for TV viewing and manipulation (also a lengthy process--a 42MB folder of 56 images took 16 minutes). The manual doesn't discuss printing at all, but modified, saved images can be printed from the Zip disk once the FotoShow is connected to a computer.
Slide show options include reordering images, simple background themes, a variety of fixed or random transitions between slides, and manual or timed presentation at various intervals. Business users can convert Microsoft PowerPoint presentations for display with the FotoShow.
At $130 (after a $299 introduction in late 2000), the FotoShow is now no more expensive than a standalone USB Zip 250. If you want to create slide shows for display on a TV and need a Zip drive, you can buy one capability and get the other essentially for free. -Ken Henningsen
