What You Need to Know about All Things PC
Volume 5 Number 26Click 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, December 12, 2002 - Vol. 5 No. 26 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ** 01. Letter from the Publisher ** 02. Finding a Job: The Application (by Lee Hudspeth) ** 03. Making a List... (by Al Gordon) ** 04. Featured Product - HP Deskjet 3820 Inkjet Printer (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth) ** 05. Featured Web Site - Headphone.com (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth) ** 06. Featured Drawing ** 07. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff ** 01. Letter from the Publisher If you or some children you know have a hankering to send a letter to Santa Clause this year, the U.S. Postal Service provides this address: Santa 123 Main Street North Pole, NY 12946 In the past few issues we have given prominent attention to our own electronic store TheNakedPCStore.com. That's because purchases made in our e-store help keep this newsletter free. Click here to browse the cool productivity-enhancing products available in our e-store, all of which make great gifts and stocking stuffers: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?publet1 Here are some testimonials from recent customers buying Fisher space pens, a popular recent addition to our e-store. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?publet2 "...the elegance of the pen itself is remarkable. I read your review in this week's The Naked PC and agree with you whole- heartedly, these pens are remarkable... I give Fisher high marks for producing a high quality product in an attractive package at a reasonable price." -- Robert M. "I think [my Fisher Space pen is] great! Mine ended up in the washing machine a while ago... came out soaking wet but still works great." -- Dennis T. In this issue Lee begins a series on the steps involved in finding a job, and how to put technology to use as a job-hunting tool. Al pens his annual "Useful Ways to Spend Your Money Guide," a must-read for the technology-minded gift giver (or receiver). While merchants around the world are busy competing for your holiday dollars, there's a small group of merchants giving away free gifts. Real, tangible gifts that will be arriving at people's door, absolutely free. No strings, either. You won't receive ads and you won't be added to a mailing list. Are they crazy? Not at all. It's their way of giving back, their way of saying "Thank you and Happy Holidays" to the Internet community. We were so impressed, we joined them. Go ahead... enter your name to win free gifts: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?publet3 We continue to be busy processing orders, shipping packages and boxes, and preparing copy for our holiday issues, so much so that we haven't selected last issue's drawing winner (but will have done so by the time you read this). "Congratulations" to one lucky subscriber who will have won a $25 store 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 -------------------------+++ >> "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 +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 02. Finding a Job: The Application (by Lee Hudspeth) This marks the beginning of a series I'm writing about finding a job. The first thing you should do if you discover yourself in the market for a new job--for whatever reason--is a thorough self-assessment and evaluation of life and career goals and objectives. Next, update your resume. Then, more or less in this order: cover letter, get in the networking groove, tell everyone you know, set goals, start pounding the pavement, review your progress regularly and... oh, yes, smile all the while. (I'll have more to say on these very important and intriguing job-hunt topics in future installments.) I've decided to begin with the stumbling block presented by what seems at first blush a trivial thing: The Application. Caveat: if you have worked in a Human Resources department, or done hiring as a business owner, or happen to have been in the job market recently, granted you'll know that the application is a little gateway everyone has to pass through, that means everybody. But it's a bit of a surprise at first if you approach the process thinking, "Hey, I've got my skills assessment done, resume polished, interview skills honed, here I come Ms. & Mr. Hiring Manager" and suddenly you're staring at a two-sided 8.5x11" piece of paper with lots of ridiculously miniscule boxes into which you have to painstakingly sandwich--by hand--your ENTIRE personal history. (Yes, there's a hint of cynicism here.) So I decided to come up with a system to minimize the pain of filling out a job application. Basically, I set out to answer every conceivable question a Human Resources department might want to know about my personal history (government clearances excepted, but I may work up to that too), and then I typed that up into a handy Word document that I carry into any job interview so I'm always ready. You really do not want to leave an interview having to say to the hiring manager, "Ahem, well, I actually don't know my high school's street address or phone number so I left those boxes blank and I'll call the information in soon, okay?" Sure, this is a perfectly reasonable situation to find yourself in, and it really doesn't define who you are as a person if you don't know that little historical tidbit about yourself, BUT... it really does matter because rule #1 of any interview situation is to do the best possible job at presenting yourself as The Ideal Candidate. Thus, logically, you don't want to make any mistakes or leave anything unanswered, so as the Scouts say, "Be prepared." It turns out that it wasn't hard and didn't take too long, and if you follow in my footsteps you'll be one step ahead of the game. Here's the list of questions I've encountered and have ready answers to. * Previous employer street addresses, contact names, contact phone numbers -- This includes military service and periods of self-employment. Test the phone number to make sure it's current, in case a hiring manager does a background check on you. You want to make that manager's task as easy and fruitful as possible in your case. You may as well go back 10 years, even though some applications only want details for employers in the past 5, some do go as far back as 10. While you're at it, it doesn't hurt to have the job title of the person who was your previous boss. Some employers ask questions like "What did you like best about this job?" and "What did you like least about this job?" Have short answers prepared so you don't have to wing this under pressure. * Schools attended, including street address and phone number -- This means high school and college, if these apply to you. Even if you didn't finish college, but have some credits, there will be space on the application to indicate your unit count so have those handy. If you earned a college degree, know the exact degree type and the moniker for your major. * References -- You may already have this data as an addendum to your resume, or in a separate document. Be sure you have current phone numbers for all your references. I suggest you have two personal and two professional references; in the former category many applications specify that these be people who have known you for at least five years. * Salary history -- On some applications this is optional material, but you should have the data available. There will be other standard questions but you'll know the answers cold, or they'll come directly from your resume. If you represent a company with IT management openings in the Southern California area (Los Angeles and surrounding counties), and think there may be a match between my skills and your requirements, I'd like to hear from you. (c) 2002, Lee Hudspeth You can reach Lee Hudspeth at: mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ "You Can Laugh At Money Worries - If You Follow This Simple Plan" Do you sometimes have more month than money? Ever wonder how to dig out of the hole of debt? Maybe someone you know is struggling. In today's uncertain times with tens of thousands being laid off, this is one step you can take now to make your future more certain. This proven multimedia course will show you everything you need. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?financial +++------------------------- sponsor -------------------------+++ ** 03. Making a List... (by Al Gordon) With just a few days left in the holiday shopping season, it's time for my annual "Useful Ways to Spend Your Money Guide." More details, links, and photos are on my supplemental page: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al1 First up, Microsoft has undertaken what it calls its biggest-ever launch of input device hardware, with a spiffed-up range of keyboards, mice, and wireless desktop packages. Microsoft's range of wireless hardware, in particular, has been expanded. Readers of this space will note that Logitech had beaten Bill's team to the punch on wireless hardware, so there is an element of catch- up here. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al2 Belated or not, however, the new offerings are slick. In the new lineup, the top-of-the-line devices are the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop ($69.99)... http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al3 ...and the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Pro ($88.94). http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al4 The former has a keyboard with a conventional, straight design while the latter uses the ergonomic, "natural" style keyboard. Both include an ambidextrous optical mouse. The color scheme is the currently fashionable black and silver look, and they make for a cool addition to your office. One thing I don't like: no LEDs for "caps lock" and so on, so there is no visual clue that you have hit a lock key by mistake. An interesting new feature, which also are offered with other new Microsoft keyboards, in a revised key mapping arrangement for the function keys. A company spokesperson said that research shows almost no one uses the function keys -- and judging from my friends' computer habits I see no reason to dispute it. The function keys in many cases are holdovers from the MS-DOS era. The new layout provides a good mix of features that reflect today's computing needs, such as "reply" and "forward" keys for e-mail. Of course, if you're like me and actually use the current function keys, you are going to be really thrown off by the fact that spell check is now F10 instead of F7. But there is an F Lock key that reverts the layout to the traditional style. I also like the Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse ($29.99). What you want for this purpose is a device that's small but fits comfortably in your hand, and this does. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al5 A printer would seem to be a little big to be a stocking stuffer, but Lexmark's X75 Printrio 3-in-1 caught my attention because of its $129 price tag. Printrio includes a flatbed scanner, and works as a copier, in addition to its color inkjet capabilities. Obviously, at this price point you have to compromise on speed and features. For example, instead of automatic color and brightness correction for printing digital photographs, you have to make your fixes manually. But at that price, this is a really good deal, and the X75 would be a good choice for a family room, dorm room, or as a second printer. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al6 We will be keeping an eye on Lexmark in the months ahead. The company was spun off from IBM in 1991 and while its products typically are regarded as good, they have not been class leaders. But the HP-Compaq merger has resulted in a Dell-Lexmark alliance aimed at a more direct challenge at HP printers. From our friends at Targus comes the Ultra Light Corporate Traveler With Removable Portfolio ($70.99). This marks Targus's first use of a protective portfolio for your notebook, a feature usually found in the more expensive brands of computer cases. What I liked about it is that it is compact in size but actually held all my stuff on a recent trip, including an oversized notebook. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al7 In the realm of a true stocking stuffer, Targus has a new International Mini Travel Pack ($25.99), which gives the international road warrior plug converters for telephone as well as power. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al8 Fellowes has added to its Body Glove cell phone case lineup with the Ion Universal series ($24.99). The case uses the very convenient horizontal approach to stashing a cell phone, which keeps it at belt level rather than digging into your hip. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al9 I have been looking for awhile to find soft plastic CD jewel case replacements that hold two disks, and Fellowes now offers them: the CD Transport 2 Jewel Cases ($4.99). A stocking stuffer for a CD Burning friend. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?al10 Happy holidays. (c) 2002 Al Gordon. You can reach Al Gordon at: mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.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. Featured Product - HP Deskjet 3820 Inkjet Printer (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth) If you need a reliable, small-footprint, quiet color printer, you don't have high paper volume, and you're on a budget, consider the HP DeskJet 3820 (suggested retail $99). This printer outputs 600 x 600 dpi for black and white, and 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi color using premium photo paper. Warning: it's not "fast" in any mode other than Draft resolution. For example, with b&w in Draft mode it prints up to 12 ppm (pages per minute) but only 2.5 ppm in Best mode; for color it rates 3 ppm and 0.25 ppm respectively. It accepts a variety of media: plain, inkjet, photo, and banner paper; envelopes; transparencies; labels; cards; HP premium media; and iron-on transfers. It supports USB and parallel (IEEE 1284 bi-directional high-speed) interfaces, and all current Windows operating systems (95 through XP but not WinNT 3.x), Mac OS 8.6, 9.0 and higher, and OS X. It comes with a good printer- interface software package that allows you to check the status of the printer as well as perform cartridge cleaning, printer calibration, testing, and configuration operations. A pet peeve of mine: ever notice how the perforated "pull to open" tabs on HP ink cartridge packaging boxes NEVER pull and open properly? Aaaargh. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?fprod ** 05. Featured Web Site - Headphone.com (reviewed by Lee Hudspeth) My colleague Al Gordon recently tipped me off to a great Web site if you're in the market for headphones. This informative and well-designed site--"obsessed headphone geeks at your service"-- offers product listings, product and buying advice, packaged systems (in their e-store), a discussion area, headphone-related links to other online resources, customer comments, a site-wide search engine, various articles on headphone (and other) topics written by the site's owners, and technical support. One important caution for any headphone user, taken here directly from the site's content, "People have a natural tendency to listen to music on headphones at much louder levels than they would on speakers. If you hope to avoid permanent hearing damage, it's important to be careful not to listen at extremely loud levels or to listen for too long at moderately loud levels... Generally speaking, when listening to headphones, you should only turn up the volume to the point at which the sound isn't too quiet." Sound advice. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?fsite ** 06. 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 free Photon II Micro-Light pocket flashlight in the color of their choice (or a $25 store credit; at our discretion the gift varies from drawing to drawing). But you have to enter to win. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?fdrawing ** 07. Newsworthy - a potpourri of current events and interesting stuff *-* Research firm Meta Group predicts that by late 2004 Microsoft may, for competitive reasons, port its software to Linux. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?news1 *-* An identity theft scam sent email asking recipients to log in to an eBay Web site that was in fact a fake. The site used the eBay logo and colors to emulate the real site in an attempt to get eBay customers to enter personal access information and credit card numbers. http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/526/tr.cgi?news2 Have you come across something newsworthy? Drop us a line: mailto:hottips@TheNakedPC.com **PLEASE SUPPORT THE NAKED PC BY VISITING OUR ADVERTISERS** +++----------------------- classifieds -----------------------+++ THE HOT TIP FOR PC USERS Computer Tips Compendium contains over 460 computer tips packaged as an electronic book-on-CD-ROM. 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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 +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ **NEED INK? SAVE 40-70% OVER RETAIL!** High Quality Inkjet Printer Cartridges, JetPaks, Refill Kits. Super Prices! Your Satisfaction IS Guaranteed. NEW! We now offer High Quality Remanufactured Toner Cartridges Save 30-40% * FREE Printer Utilities! * MaxPatch Ink Supplies http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/a/tr.cgi?maxpatch +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ 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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