Pictures With Their Pants on Fire

I chose to analyse the CBS New Years Eve photograph because I found it particularly interesting. I am interested in advertising and marketing and the tactics employed in this photoshop certainly deal with that concept. The picture originated on New Years Eve, December 2000. During a video clip of a CBS anchor reporting on the event, CBS photoshopped an NBC logo in the background out and replaced it with a CBS logo instead. This photo was manipulated in an attempt to not do any inadvertent advertising for a rival network, NBC. I do not believe the manipulation was harmful at all; however I can see how some people think it is. I personally feel that they are simply making their broadcast look slightly better, not making any permanent or significant changes. I understand that some people would be irritated that advertising space NBC bought was taken away by CBS on their broadcast but in my opinion it was CBS's broadcast so they have the right to do whatever they want with it.
Merry blogging,
Travis "You know you want me" Halff

CLT (Cool Legit Techplace)

Last class during Computer Skills we ventured to the depths of the Trinity University Library to visit the Center for Learning and Technology. What I saw and what I expected were completely different things. I did not expect the center to be equipped with Macs and PCs (both filled with software that can be very costly yet very useful), I did not expect for there to be specific areas designated to specific tasks such as editing film, and I certainly did not expect to find a fully equipped classroom available for students to use any time they need it. After reflecting on the uses of the CLT (which I have come to call the Cool Legit Techplace as I feel that describes it quite well) I can see how it would be an extremely useful asset with many of my classes, especially Computer Skills. The center has multiple computers, Macs and PCs, with Photoshop installed and ready to use. As we are just starting to deal with Photoshop in class, I predict that this center will become a very familiar location to me. It also is a quite place to do work and to use computers for projects in my other classes that may require specific software. I am very excited about all of the possible scenarios when I will get to use this useful, peaceful, and complete tech center.
See you in the CLT,
Travis "Computer Wizard" Halff

Copyright and Its Importance to the Art of Writing

Fellow computer enthusiasts, while I was not in class during the presentation about Copyright Violation, I read over the fabulous and marvelous Abby Talley's notes and feel that I have a fairly solid understanding of the lecture. I did not know very much at all about the details of Copyright and the violations that come with breaking it, until I read over Abby’s Pulitzer Prize worthy notes. Essentially, a Copyright is a right to make copies, a right recognized by the United States government. Copyright began in 1790 and says that anything that you write is copyrightable and stays that way for the your entire life plus 70 years. While I did not know much of the information about Copyright, the most interesting information to me was that colleges and universities that have computer networks are required by the Higher Education Oppurtunity Act to provide alternatives to illegal file sharing. I found this intriguing because it was a very direct and smart approach to the issues regarded Copyright and illegal file sharing. There is some controversy about the idea of copywriting things. Some people believe that it is putting too much of a restriction on writers, while others feel very strongly that it is a neccesary protection of author’s work. I believe that while it may cause some writers difficulty, it is a neccesary sanction. Without the fear of one’s work being copied, one is likely to feel completely unrestricted and free when it comes to their work. There is no fear of one’s time and efforts being discounted because their work is stolen.
Until next time,
Your Computer "Big Papa"
Travis


Copyright and Its Importance to the Art of Writing by Travis Halff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

My Trinity Network Diagram (all you will ever need to do anything you want on the internet)

Here is a diagram of how the internet works at Trinity University. I created it based off information that I got during a tour in Computer Technology Class. The tour was very interesting and seeing the actual objects (servers, wires and all) that made connecting to the internet at Trinity possible was really eye opening. One never thinks about how the internet works or why accessing the school drives is so easy and pain free but there is actually quite a bit (understatement of the year) behind it. I was very fortunate to be a part of the tour and by diagraming it all out I feel that I have a much better understanding of how we connect to the internet.

Sincerely,

Your blogger bro,

Travis

Travis' Top Tech Tip

Hello there fellow computer users! After listening to Joe Hatch talk to our class about computers I thought about all of the information he told us and I have decided that his tip about cleaning Macs with Thexlab will be the most useful longterm. I didn't know about Thexlab until he spoke to us about it and the though of cleaning my computer is quite excited as it has gotten rather slow recently! Thexlab is a website that cleans out your Mac's data sectors which will increase the startup speed of your applications and increase overall performance. While there is no particular software that cleans a Mac's cache, it is a good idea to go into your browsers menu and clean the cache yourself (there will usually be a button that erases it all) as this can free up quite a bit of space. So Mac users, remember to try out Thexlab, it will get rid of your computer's excess flab!
Sincerely,
Your main Mac (get it... its a play on man... Hilarious, I know)
Travis Halff

Hello, lets be friends!

Well hello there, my name is Travis Halff and I am from San Antonio, Texas. I was born January 21, 1991 and my email is thalff@trinity.edu . I went to Saint Mary’s Hall high school here in town and applied Early Decision to the University of Richmond. I went to the University of Richmond for a week, however I had to come back to San Antonio because I was having problems with my medical equipment. What medical equipment? Well now that I have drawn you in, I have Type 1 diabetes. I have had the disease since I was nine years old and have learned how to manage it over the years.

I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend Lauren, who goes to NYU, and we have been dating nearly 13 months. Other than spending time with my girlfriend, I enjoy playing tennis and basketball and am currently learning how to fence. I hope to one-day fence with swords similar to the ones used in James Bond (they electrocute you upon contact). I have a fondness for Gossip Girl and plan to model much of my adult life after that of Chuck Bass.

I’ve always been interested in computers and do not have many problems working with them. I am very interested in graphic design and was very glad to hear that it was the concentration of this class. I was in digital photography for three years at SMH and worked with Photoshop on a daily basis. I am not terribly familiar with Excel and I believe that I will have the most trouble with that. While I have not worked with Photoshop in over a year I am fairly confident that after I use it for a day or two I will be back to where I was.