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Technology Today
May
2001
You
know, I thought traveling with a computer would get easier as this new
technology grows but it really doesn’t. Having just recently returned from a
trip, I needed a few things with me while traveling to get some work done. I
needed the laptop for email, internet access, to write a report and to do some
research. I took my PDA, the Casio E115, one of the new Windows Pocket PC
because it holds all my calendar, contact list, schedule, and maps to who I was
visiting, and when traveling, it is much easier to carry it when needing to make
phone calls than is the laptop. The cellular, sorry, digital telephone, was also
part of the travel group so that I could keep in touch when out and about.
Let’s see, did I miss anything? I did leave the desktop home but from what I
see in Florida at some of the retirement communities, many snow birds actually
travel with their desktops. So what did I do wrong here. I keep hearing about
these new phones and PDAs that are supposed to free us all up from all this
baggage, but it still doesn’t seem like I can. Now I realize that I am using
old technology here; my laptop is now 18 months old, my PDA is 8 months old, and
I am nearly ashamed to confess, my digital Sprint phone is over two years old so
it doesn’t handle the web at all. My
problem is what I want to get done still just doesn’t work that well on a
phone or PDA. When writing articles, I really prefer to do it on a real
keyboard. When surfing the internet, I still also prefer to see it on a wide
screen, preferably of about 19 inches and at a high speed. And I would prefer
not to have to pay any high access charges for the phone calls while surfing or
getting my email. Now
before I get carried away with what I don’t want to do, let me tell you what I
do like about the PDA I have and the current crop of them. They actually have
screens that are colorful, bright, and can be read in most lighting conditions.
Except for outdoors, and inside a car on a sunny day but that is another soapbox
of mine to stay off for a few minutes. I
actually don’t mind reading news articles and stories on the PDA. Microsoft
along with a number of companies have come out with some pretty good ebook
reading software and with the new color bright screens, it is not at all
difficult to read a book on the PDA. I still prefer to read a paperback on an
airplane but the PDA was a good close second, doesn’t take up any space, and
the screen is bright enough and readable enough. Other things I like about PDAs are the file storage capacity
with the add on Compact Flash memory cards, the built in applications are good,
and it is good for graphics, music, and maps that I download from Microsoft’s
Streets 2001. I
have gotten used to working with the maping, calendar, and contact list on my
PDA to the point where it works quite well. I did have to switch to using
Outlook on my computer which I wasn’t too pleased with doing but Microsoft is
actually improving it so I can struggle with that. I still use Eudora from
Qualcomm for my email package on my desktop and laptop as they make it much
easier to transfer the contact list, and email messages from one computer to
another. And that is one reason I don’t do email on my PDA, that and the fact
I really don’t want to spend the money at this time for either a modem for the
PDA or a connection to the digital phone. I
have gotten pretty used to the character recognition software on the Casio and
it actually works pretty well for the very short one line messages and calendar
events that I put in there. I will even put in a contact or two but still prefer
to do that on the desktop and then sync it up to the PDA. And
speaking of synchronization, despite what they tell you, it still doesn’t work
all that well. My thought for this trip was to copy my Outlook calendar,
schedule, and contacts from my desktop to the laptop computer, and then while
traveling, sync the PDA to the laptop for file changes, calendar changes, and
the like. Well, that didn’t go over well at all. Seems like the sync program
(Microsoft’s Active Sync 3.1) would allow me to tell the PDA that I have a
second device to sync to, but then decided that everything on both the laptop
and PDA needed to be re-synchronized again. Try that over a serial cable and you
better be prepared to spend several hours while it does all that. Another reason
to be sure that the PDA you buy has a USB connection available to it. The data
files were identical but it appears that since the file dates were different,
the Active Synch program decided that everything had to be redone again from
scratch. Forget it, next trip, I will sync to the desktop to make sure
everything is up to date, and then while traveling, just keep everything new on
the PDA. As
to the new digital phones, If you were at the ICS meeting recently to see the
wireless web on the Sprint phones, you can see how exciting and fun this
technology can get to be but you know, I want to get some work done.
Yes there will be a segment of the market that wants all the web stuff on
the phone and will do their email to and from it, but you know, I can’t
imagine it being that large of a market. What would get my attention would be
maybe the email could be read to me over the phone and maybe I could reply to it
the same way. Same for some of the web based news services but then it would all
have to be interactive, you have to be able to interrupt it to tell it to repeat
part or all of it. Part of the problem is the fact you have to still punch
buttons while trying to listen to the conversation or message and that just
doesn’t work very well. Think people are distracted now in their cars with
their phones, imagine if they started getting all this information that way as
well while driving. So
It looks like I will still be stuck taking all four devices with me on my trips.
What I would like is some better synchronization software to make connecting to
the PDA and the laptop easier and I do wish Casio had come out with a USB cable
for my unit. As to the phone, what I need to decide is how much I am willing to
spend for the privilege of having internet access as well as long distance, and
what ever other features they push at the moment. Personally, I still just
prefer to use the phone for talking. Part of this comes from my dislike of the
tiny monochrome screens you find on the phones. It took me a long time to find a
PDA with a good screen and maybe will even take longer to get a new phone. Short
Takes Biolink
Umatch Mouse In
my ever increasing paranoia about computer hacking and security, I came across a
pretty neat product called the Biolink Umatch Mouse. A one touch computer
security system and so far in my testing, has been really up to delivering on
what they promised. It is from Biolink Technologies out of Florida,
www.biolinkusa.com, and consists of the Biolink Umatch mouse, drivers and
software, and the Biolink authentication software. What this system does after
you install it is to turn the mouse into a thumb print scanner. And what a
scanner. According to the company, they use a proprietary means of scanning the
thumb print to the point of it actually knowing that the thumb is a living thumb
attached to the person being scanned. The best part is that you never have to
worry about the password on the system and as you know, Windows passwords are
pretty worthless to begin with but this system will not allow a user to even
start into Windows without being scanned. Another benefit is the Biolink Vault
software package that allows you to encrypt files on your computer into a sort
of electronic vault. The vault is opened and unlocked when you scan into using
the computer and when you shut it down (or at any other time you choose,) it
relocks the vault so that even if someone came in and bypassed Windows, your
locked files are still secure. It
also works with the screen saver in Windows so that if you go away from the
computer, just fire up the screen saver and your files and system is locked out
until you go back and scan in again. I
was really impressed with the package. The mouse is a very sturdy well built
mouse and actually is quite heavy. The software, easy to install and setup and
the passwords hook right into your Windows system. What you do is setup an
emergency password in case the mouse doesn’t work or is not recognized to
allow you into Windows but for the most part, you start up the computer and the
mouse scanner comes on and waits for your thumbprint before continuing. I tested
it on a Windows98 system with no problems at all and once setup, is very
transparent to normal use. My
only quibbles with the system is that you cannot use another mouse with the
system. I had just purchased one of the new Microsoft Optical Intellimouse and
am very pleased with it and really didn’t want to change. I would have
preferred to use the mouse as a stand alone scanner but that doesn’t work.
If they would come up with a stand alone scanner (preferably USB
connected), then I think they would have the perfect answer for desktop users. Robert
Sanborn -------------------------------------Robert
Sanborn is an Independent Personal Computer Consultant, and the Program Chairman
for the Indianapolis Computer Society. Reach him through the net at robert@sanbornsoftware.com |
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