Consumer Reports magazine has published what is really quite a good guide on digital photography that will help both the novice and experienced user wade through the confusing technical standards for cameras and software.

As a starter the magazine advises users who do a lot of shooting outdoors to look for a model with an optical zoom of 3x or more.

Also, users should look for cameras with a liquid-crystal display (LCD) that tilts or has an adjustable brightness function.

For casual snapshooters, the magazine recommends the Canon PowerShot A40, the Kodak EasyShare DX4330 and the Fujifilm FinePix 3800.

"The PowerShot A40 is a good value," the magazine says.

"For $250, you get a classic point-and-shoot camera with excellent battery life that produced excellent prints.

"f you want greater resolution for cropping and other editing, consider the 3.1- megapixel EasyShare DX4330.

"It's in the same price range, with excellent battery life.

"If you want a 6X zoom for greater flexibility in composing shots, consider the top-rated FinePix 3800, which had excellent print quality and good battery life."

Advanced amateurs willing to spend between $600 and $1,200 for a digital camera can try the Nikon Coolpix 5700, the Canon PowerShot G3, or the Olympus Camedia C-50 Zoom.

The three cameras all have manual controls and the resolution to make sharp 8x10 or larger prints.

"Although the Coolpix 5700 is expensive, its 8X zoom was the highest among the models tested, an asset for shooting distant subjects," the magazine said.

"The camera's only real weakness is the fair life it got from its proprietary batteries."

If you shoot a lot of photos it's best to bUy nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargable batteries, a rapid charger, high-capacity memory storage and a card reader for uploading photos to your computer. The next step is fixing or improving the look of your photos on the computer, which can be an easy or very frustrating task depending on the software you are able to afford.

I can tell you from experience that getting the digital print ready for printing can be very complicated given the technical variables involved.

Most digital cameras come with a software program that allows you to crop an image, fix colour and improve the contrast.

For those with money, programs such as Microsoft's Picture It! Digital Image Pro. 7.0 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 are easier to use.

Adobe's Photoshop 7.0 is the top of the lot, but be prepared to shell out a good chunk of your next paycheque on the program.

While you can now e-mail your photos to a professional photo lab for printing, many photographers like to print their own using inkjet printers.

Yes the photos can be good enough, although you may waste a lot of printing paper and expensive ink trying to get them looking good. The basic ratings for cameras, software, printers and paper are available on Consumer Reports' Internet site until May 2.

For the full guide you'll have to buy the May issue of the magazine or subscribe to the site: www.consumerreports.org.

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For travellers looking for up-to-date information on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) I recommend going to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Internet site. WHO has created a special information page noting where the latest outbreaks are occurring and issuing travel warnings.

WHO has recommended travellers defer all non-essential trips to Hong Kong and China's adjoining Guangdong province. The special page at the WHO site also contains medical advice and other useful information.

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A survey from ICSA labs found that it is took companies longer and cost them more to recover from cyber disasters in 2002 than in 2001.

The companies surveyed had more than 500 personal computers.

Disasters, which were defined as attacks on 25 or more computers, cost companies an average of $80,000 in 2002, up from $70,000 in 2001.

The average recovery time grew from 20 days in 2001 to 23 days in 2002.

The survey also found that instead of suffering from a major attack, companies are more likely to sustain a series of smaller attacks.

The survey should be a good indication to businesses that it is better to spend right now on that IT guy or on updating your technology rather than paying later in money, time and lost business.

The survey is available at: www.icsalabs.com.

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The daily front pages of about 50 newspapers worldwide can be viewed at Newseum.org, a US-based interactive "museum of news". Link: http://www.newseum.org. ****

Tech Tattle deals with issues in technology. Contact Ahmed at editor@offshoreon.com