Apple Reviews

I bought this reader a few weeks ago at Fry's for $14.99. My boyfriend and I were taking a two-week trip and wanted to be able to periodically download photos from our cameras and burn them to discs.

Easy enough, you say? Wrong! This p.os. was a complete waste of money. We literally had to hold it in place while it was plugged in just to keep the connection from failing. And since returning from said trip, the reader has completely died and won't work at all.

And the worst part is that because I bought at Fry's (which, in case you've been living under a rock and hadn't heard, is synonomous with "really bad customer service") returning it is almost more trouble than it's worth. Either way, whether I take it back or not, the next reader I buy won't be a SIIG.

I bought this SIIG CompactFlash reader because I previously purchased a SIIG SmartMedia reader and had no problems with it. With the CompactFlash reader I had a bit of trouble installing the drivers but it was most likely user error. I jumped the gun and plugged the reader in before installing the drivers like the directions suggest. After a bit of jockeying around I was able to fix my mistake. Had I followed directions the install should have been easy.

I like the SIIG readers because:

1) They're small and can be plugged directly into a USB port without a cable. This might be useful if you're traveling and want to plug into a laptop. The size is only 3" x 2" x 3/8" so it's very portable. They also come with a USB cable which I have plugged into the USB port of my desktop at home. The nice thing about the included cable is that it's basically an extension cable when the CF reader isn't plugged in. I plug various USB devices into it when needed which is much easier than crawling under my desk to plug something in.

2) They're fairly inexpensive. This was the least expensive CompactFlash reader that I found at my local electronics store. You might be able to find cheaper but it's always worth it to pay a bit more for something that works.

3) They work. Although I had some problems installing this one I've never had a problem with my SmartMedia reader. I don't anticipate having any problems with my Compact Flash reader now either.

If you don't need a multi reader device and want something small and portable this is the reader for you.

Shake has been used on so many feature films - including the last six Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects - and is required courseware at so many major film schools worldwide, that listing its credits would require several pages.

Superior workflow
Shake 3 uses an intuitive, tree-based compositing model that gives artists access to any part of the composite at any time. This flexible, nonlinear workflow allows users to make critical creative and technical decisions at any point in the compositing process.

Unique effects technology
Shake 3 includes-production proven visual effects tools such as layering, tracking, rotoscoping, painting and color correction. Built-in keying capabilities include Photron's Primatte and CFC's Keylight, two industry-leading professional keyers. For additional flexibility, Shake supports third-party plug-ins such as The Foundry, GenArts, Ultimatte and more.

Powerful compositing engine
The resolution-independent, hybrid scan line/tile-based render engine allows composites to contain standard-definition (SD), high-definition (HD) and film images simultaneously. Artists can choose to process operations at 8-, 16-, or 32-bit (float) color resolution, enabling HDR images to be composited with greater fidelity while maintaining overall performance.

Here is a list of movies that shake was used in:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
X2
Matrix Revolution
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers-Gollum

Ice Age
Anna and the King
Fight Club
The Prince of Egypt

Here are some quotes from industries best composite companies:
Tippett. "Projects that took an hour per frame to render now render in a minute per frame."

Digital Filmworks. Shake helps to recreate the splendor of 1860s Malaysia in "Anna and the King."

Asylum. Shake compositing software has been in use at Asylum Visual Effects since its inception.

Gray Matter. Shake compositing software created striking visual effects in "Fight Club."

R!OT. Providing full-service digital production for film, television and interactive projects.

Black Logic. Black Logic continues to use Shake compositing software for various types of jobs from broadcast to film.

Digital.Art.Media. "Shake allows us to quickly set up key frames under the client's direction."

Millfilm. "Shake enabled us to quickly and easily put together scripts to rough composite our layers together."

DKP. "This project would never have been completed the way the client wanted without Shake's speed."

Dreamworks SKG. Shake was used for numerous tasks and scene creation in the making of "The Prince of Egypt."

Image Savant. Shake was used on "Fight Club" to manipulate extremely high resolution scans of 8x10 camera negatives.

Oddworld Inhabitants. "Shake allows us to run numerous processes on large numbers of high quality graphic images."