What You Need to Know about All Things PC
Volume 5 Number 23Click here to return to the back issues page.Click here to return to the main newsletter page.
The Naked PC - http://www.TheNakedPC.com What You Need to Know about All Things PC Publisher: Lee Hudspeth and T.J. Lee Editor in Chief: Dan Butler Contributing Editor: Al Gordon This issue is for Thursday, November 14, 2002 - Vol. 5 No. 23 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ** 01. Letter from the Publisher ** 02. Online Resources for Saving for College (by Lee Hudspeth) ** 03. Thinking Inside the Box, Part V: Wrap-Up (by Al Gordon) ** 04. PIMs and Where We Are Today (by Dan Butler) ** 05. Featured Product - ScanSoft's OmniPage Pro 12 Office (reviewed by Al Gordon) ** 06. Featured Web Site - SEC Info (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth) ** 07. Featured Drawing ** 08. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff ** 01. Letter from the Publisher In this issue Lee cites helpful online resources for folks desiring to save for their children's or grandchildren's college tuition. Al wraps up his series about building a PC from the ground up. Dan talks about his favorite PIM and resources to help you get the most out of the tool. Speaking of getting the most out of something, "The Naked PC" has been acclaimed in a recent PC World review of free electronic bulletins, "Solid information on a wide range of slightly-ahead- of-the-curve topics, including new and developing technologies." Cool. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?publet1 The holiday season is approaching (for example, as of today there are a mere 40 shopping days until Christmas), and this is an opportunity for you to help us, since sales of products in our e- store TheNakedPCStore.com are what maintain this newsletter's free status. We're gearing up for the holiday shopping rush here. Every package we ship in the United States ships for FREE via the U.S. Postal Service, year round. Free shipping is great. However, many folks have become accustomed to having the option of using non- USPS carriers at the last minute for overnight or other expedited deliveries. As a small company that prides itself in direct involvement of the owners, we are only able to ship via the U.S. Postal Service, so we're suggesting you shop early in order to get gifts routed where you want them to go, and on time. We offer a plethora of personal productivity tools: ranging from e-books and software tools that will revolutionize how you use your PC, to the superbly crafted line of Fisher fountain pens, to Swiss-Tech tools-on-a-keychain, to Photon Micro-Lights the world's brightest pocket flashlight, and much more. Click here to take a stroll through our e-store: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?publet2 "Jolly good show" to TNPC subscriber Eileen W. who won our previous issue's drawing, a $25 TheNakedPCStore.com credit. It's fun and easy to enter, see this issue's Featured Drawing article. Reader support is what keeps The Naked PC free. You can help us by passing a copy on to co-workers and friends (no spam please). We make it easy for you to refer people to The Naked PC... check out our Refer page: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/refer/ +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ >> "That's the Handiest Thing Anyone Has Given Me..." With one of our handy space pens you'll never be without a reliable writing instrument again. They write just about anywhere and any angle - even upside down or in the rain. And the quality. Built to last and still look great. Rich P. said, "They're everything you wrote about them." Click here to find out more: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?spacepen +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 02. Online Resources for Saving for College (by Lee Hudspeth) If you have--or are planning to have--children or grandchildren and want to see to it that they have an opportunity to attend college, here are some helpful online resources to further that goal. One site you'll want to study early in your search is Savingforcollege.com. Here you can learn all about 529 plans, defined by the site's author/founder Joe Hurley as follows, "It's an investment plan operated by a state designed to help families save for future college costs. As long as the plan satisfies a few basic requirements, the federal tax law provides special tax benefits to you, the plan participant (Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code)." The site's FAQs explain the benefits in detail, clarify some misconceptions about state (public) universities and 529s, financial aid issues, refund issues, tax issues, transfer issues, and more. Other powerful features on this site include a tool for comparing 529s, college savings and financial aid calculators, info on Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (formerly known as Education IRAs or EdIRAs), a 529 "consultant finder," and a message board. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee1 Click here for more information on the latest edition of Hurley's book "The Best Way to Save for College: A Complete Guide to 529 Plans, 2002/2003." http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee2 If you're a Quicken user, and upgrade to (or buy) Quicken Financial Planner 2, that module includes costs on 1,700+ colleges and universities nationwide; Intuit states that these costs include tuition, room, and board as well as other costs. (I am not currently running Quicken for personal or evaluation purposes, so I can only report what the Intuit Web site has to say about Financial Planner 2 and college savings.) http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee3 My Dad ran across this particular Web site that includes, among many other tools, a college tuition calculator and several dozen other financial calculators. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee4 Here's another helpful site that has college-related financial calculators. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee5 This next site offers a CollegeQuest search engine that includes the ability to search by tuition, as well as other criteria like location, major, size, GPA, sports, and so on. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee6 If you have any favorite tools or resources you use when evaluating college savings plans or strategies, drop me a line. (c) 2002, Lee Hudspeth You can reach Lee Hudspeth at: mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ "Computer Tips Compendium" We've collected 460+ computer tips and packaged them as an electronic book in PDF format. The text of each and every tip is fully text searchable--find the tip you need, when you need it. We've gathered the BEST TIPS, tricks, and techniques all onto a single CD. You also get free access to the restricted Tips Section of The Naked PC Web site! Tips on finding the information you need on the Internet, settings shortcuts, problem fixes and workarounds, general PC and program-specific tips, all helping people like you use your computer even more productively. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?comptips +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 03. Thinking Inside the Box, Part V: Wrap-Up (by Al Gordon) Watching the evolution of computing technology often is like watching a major construction project: the amount of progress on any one day rarely is measurable, but as months go by, the landscape changes dramatically. As my PC "do-it-yourself" project has gone along, two major lessons have emerged: -- There is a reason why "off-the-shelf" systems from Dell, Gateway, and "white box" makers gain market share against "designed" systems from HP and IBM: the generic units work just fine. -- The definition of "document" and "computer" has changed dramatically over the years. In that respect, you do need to think outside the box. For details and pictures of the project, please see my supplemental page: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?al1 In the great battle of Red (Compaq) and Blue (Dell), Compaq's talking point always was the engineering that went into its components. A Compaq PC came with, for example, hard drives that were either made by Compaq or made to Compaq's specs by a parts supplier. As the PC price wars went along, the latter approach became more prevalent. But still Compaq attached a value to having a "Compaq" label on its components. Dell, Gateway and your friendly neighborhood PC maker simply put in a hard drive from, say, Quantum with a "Quantum" brand. Rarely did anyone suffer as a result, and as Windows--and device drivers--improved, the component approach was even less troublesome. In assembling my PC I was struck by the fact that I just put the components in place and they worked without hassle. I had no compatibility issues--at least none that I noticed. Actually, literally plugging everything in was much more of a hassle than anything that happened after all the wires were in place. This is good news for consumers because it means that the continuing move to lower cost generic components shows no sign of abating. Another key aspect of PC evolution is a re-definition of its purpose. When personal computers first became a mainstream business device, they were primarily replacements for typewriters and calculators. No one even thought that a PC might be a device for listening to music, watching TV, or burning CDs. (Gaming, on the other hand, was always part of the deal.) There is a tendency to consider multimedia kind of, well, you know, not really "businesslike," more a play toy than a tool. But where is it written that a document is something that's two- dimensional that can be transferable to dead trees? Audio and video are a compelling way to convey content. Today's PCs make doing so a snap and over time that will mean we communicate in ever more creative ways. (c) 2002, Al Gordon You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ Give a MICRO-LIGHT gift for CHRISTMAS! Micro-Lights are highly reliable with an incredibly bright light useful for any situation. This AMAZING flashlight is the size and weight of a quarter, easy to clip to your key chain, carry it in your purse or pocket and you won't know it's there. INSTANT LIGHT IN EMERGENCIES right at your fingertips, going up/down stairs, unlocking your car or house at night, unobtrusively check on sleeping kids at night... unlimited uses. The flashlight that's always there when you need it! Family, friends, clients, co- workers everywhere will appreciate this THOUGHTFUL GIFT. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?pocketflashlight +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 04. PIMs and Where We Are Today (by Dan Butler) I have a love hate relationship with Personal Information Manager (PIM) software. On the one hand I find them really handy. Then I go through a period where I'm not at the computer every day and everything falls apart. In this little series I'll talk about a few PIM's I use - and the ones I avoid. Keep in mind that I'm not the most time-oriented person on the planet. I haven't worn a watch for years and only recently started carrying a calendar again. I've looked at just about every PIM out there at one time or another. One tool I continue to return to is Ecco Pro. Why? It just lets me get in there and get things done quickly and flexibly. The only thing I have to watch for is making things too complex, something I have a real penchant for doing. The fact that it runs on my Linux box under Wine makes it that much nicer. The basic metaphor in Ecco is the outline. You enter your items as outlines and assign them to columns. Columns can be dates, lists, times, and just about anything else you want to specify. The key is you are not locked into how someone else's idea of how your information should be stored. And it's easy and quick to make different views of your information. You can download Ecco Pro for free now. It hasn't been updated in a few years, since 1997 to be exact, but Netmanage is making it available for free. If you decide to download be aware that Ecco has a fairly steep learning curve. Once you get the hang of it you'll have a fast flexible tool for handling your information and quick projects. Does Ecco sound like something you might want to try? Here is where to find it. The files and folders at this location will give you the entire Ecco distribution CD-ROM. Just download the directory with your favorite FTP program then burn it onto a CD- ROM. You can use your CD exactly as you would the original install CD: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?dan1 If you just want to try the program all you need is the file "Setup32.exe" from here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?dan2 The documentation, user notes, tutorials and tech notes are here: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?dan3 If you downloaded everything and burned a CD, you already have everything you need. After you play with the program a bit have a look at the EccoPro group at Yahoo!Groups (groups.yahoo.com). Especially helpful are the old back issues of Easy Ecco showing actual uses of the product. EccoRocks is a helpful Web site with pointers to more information: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?dan4 Next issue I'll tell you about a couple of other tools in my PIM toolbox. (c) 2002, Dan Butler You can reach Dan Butler at: mailto:danbutler@TheNakedPC.com ** 05. Featured Product - ScanSoft's OmniPage Pro 12 Office (reviewed by Al Gordon) ScanSoft's OmniPage OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software has been the best on the market for years. (Admittedly one way the Peabody, MA-based company stayed ahead of its major competitors was by buying them.) But its newest release, OmniPage Pro 12 Office, is really impressive. It is $185 as an upgrade: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?fprod Traditionally ScanSoft tends to be generous in its upgrade terms, which is good because the full version costs $560: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?fprod2 OCR is one of those computing products for which product testing is remarkably simple: input the document, look at the output, and keep track of how much hassle was required to get you from input to output. OmniPage 12 measures well all around. You can control the process manually, but its "1-2-3" interface usually does the job for you: (1) choose input source (scanned file or existing graphic), (2) recognize, (3) export. You can run the three steps separately or all three in a single click. Can't get much easier than that. Recognition was excellent with a wide range of documents--and was discernibly better than in predecessor versions. OmniPage previously has included the ability to turn Adobe Acrobat PDF files into editable Microsoft Office formatted documents, and 12 is nearly bulletproof at doing so. What I especially liked is that output now gives you multiple choices: "No Formatting", "Retain Fonts and Paragraphs" (but not columns), "True Page" (text is put into frames to duplicate the layout and spacing of the original), and "Flowing Page" (similar to True Page but using Word's column and indent settings instead of frames). "Retain Fonts and Paragraphs" and "Flowing Page" are new to version 12 and are a big help in getting the recognized material into easily editable form. And that is presumably is why you are buying OCR in the first place. ** 06. Featured Web Site - SEC Info (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth) Recently a colleague at a law firm where I'm on assignment asked me for some help locating a Web site that provides free downloads of annual corporate 10-K and related filings. He was having trouble with his searching so here's what I did. I like AltaVista, so I hopped on over there and used its Boolean search mode: ("10-k" OR "10k") AND free AND sec AND download He had been floundering because he was entering an overly general search of "annual report" and was getting 1.7 million hits to my search's refined 2,534 hits. I liked what I found at the second site in the hit list: SEC Info. Once I found the desired document (it was a whopping 84 pages long) I tipped my friend to a useful trick: if there aren't any navigational tools along a Web page's side margins, jump to the bottom of a page to look for additional options. Bingo. There we found four download formats to choose from: RTF, TXT, EDGAR ("Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval"), and XML. The site offers a mind-boggling number of documents (4.9 million), topics (30 million), pages (77 million), and links (1.7 billion). Happy sleuthing! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?fsite ** 07. Featured Drawing If you haven't entered one of our The Naked PC survey drawings before, here's how it works. You go to a Web page on our site, answer one survey question, and type in your email address. To encourage folks to participate, we conduct a drawing from the email addresses of each survey's participants and we give away something really useful. Now, obviously we already have your email address or you wouldn't be reading this, but this drawing for prizes will only include those folks who answer this issue's question (entering a prior drawing doesn't count for this one). We'll only use the email addresses we collect for the purpose of notifying who won the prize, nothing else. Before our next issue is published, we'll pick one entered name at random. The winner gets a $25 store credit at TheNakedPCStore.com. But you have to enter to win. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?fdrawing ** 08. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff *-* Picture this: powering your notebook or cell phone a few years from now with batteries that are methane-based (or use other gases like hydrogen) fuel cells or even an "atomic battery" with a potentially decades-long life that converts the energy in radioactive material into mechanical motion. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?news1 *-* Health problems related to computer use... People who spend five or more hours a day in front of a computer are susceptible to a host of health related problems. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?news2 *-* Mitch Kapor, of Lotus 1-2-3 and Agenda fame, is working on a new PIM (Personal Information Manager). Code named "Chandler" it seeks to bring a true integrated system to smaller businesses, 1 to 1,000 employees. The project is Open Source and will run on the three major platforms: Mac, Windows, and Unix. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?news3 Have you come across something newsworthy? Drop us a line: mailto:hottips@TheNakedPC.com **PLEASE SUPPORT THE NAKED PC BY VISITING OUR ADVERTISERS** +++----------------------- classifieds -----------------------+++ >> "How Many Ways Will You Use These Amazing Devices?" They're incredibly handy. When we first saw these amazing little devices we thought, "these will look cool hanging on my key ring." Then we started using them. WOW - every day we find more uses. How many will you find? http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?swisstech +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ >> THE MORE DEBTS YOU HAVE, >> THE FASTER YOU CAN PAY THEM OFF! Paying highest-interest debt first is the SLOWEST way out. You can laugh at money worries - if you follow this simple plan. 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Click here for more info: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?being +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ PUT MICROSOFT OFFICE TO WORK FOR YOU If you use Microsoft Office 97, 2000 or XP, you need a PRIME for Office Utilities CD. From the Publishers of The Naked PC newsletter, on one CD you get PRIME for Word, PRIME for Excel, and the amazingly useful PRIME DocLauncher for Office utilities. 100s of features, plus a free ebook! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?pcgcd3 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ Tweaki...for Power Users Designed for all Windows operating systems, Tweaki is your Swiss army knife of utilities. Implement security, lock down your Desktop, tweak Microsoft Office, optimize Windows--roughly 500 tweaks in all! Tweaki also comes with a built-in undo function that restores any tweaked setting the utility tracks, no matter how long ago you tweaked it! http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?tweaki +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ DISCLAIMER Personal computers are individual machines with performance that can vary with components, software, and operator ability. The Naked PC is not responsible for the manner in which the information presented is used or interpreted. Also, although we work hard to provide you with accurate Internet links in The Naked PC, we are not responsible for Internet links herein that represent sites owned and operated by third parties. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, performance, or availability of any such third-party sites. REDISTRIBUTION POLICY We encourage you to forward this newsletter to your friends, associates, and colleagues for their review and enjoyment. However, please do so only by sending it in full, thereby keeping the copyright and subscription information intact. We do request that, once they've reviewed an issue or two, they subscribe independently rather than continue to receive issues from you. This helps The Naked PC grow and prosper, thereby funding its continued publication. Also, if you wish to post this newsletter to a newsgroup or electronic discussion group, you may do so if you preserve the copyright and subscription information. Thanks. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe, surf on over to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/subscribe.html To make comments or suggestions, surf on over to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpfeedback.html or send email directly to: mailto:tnpc@TheNakedPC.com WEB BULLETIN BOARD Check out our 24x7 Web bulletin board. If you've got a technical question about PC issues, or suggestions of your own, this is the place to hang out: http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/annoyanceboard/ ADVERTISING To advertise in The Naked PC go to: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/tnpcadvertising.html Mail services provided by Blue Horizon Enterprises, one of the very few "Mom and Pop" operations left on the Web: http://www.bhorizon.com Copyright (c) 2002, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler. All Rights Reserved. The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. ISSN: 1522-4422 TNPC Hot Tips:
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