Issue 145 - July 25, 2001
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements ©2001
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Welcome to the 145th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN
consists mainly of news and tips. There is something for everyone,
and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something
for you.
You can reach me at mailto:editor@pcin.net with any suggestions
or comments. If you give me two or three issues, I know that
you will come back for more!
OPENING THOUGHTS
I received the products from FrontX to review. They make
expansion ports that fit into a drive bay at the front of
your computer. It seemed like a cool idea when I saw the site,
but it is even better than I thought. I'll have a review and
some pictures ready in a week or so.
I also received a package from PowerQuest with boxed copies
of DriveCopy 4.0, DriveImage 4.0, and PartitionMagic 6.0 to
review. This will keep me busy for a while.
Last week I included something that Mike, a subscriber, sent
me. It was a recommendation for WinMX, a file-sharing program.
Unfortunately I gave the wrong URL. The correct URL is http://www.WinMX.com/
Thanks to Barb for being the first one to point it out to
me.
The NEWS
Copy-protected CDs quietly slip into stores
"For the last several months, consumers in ordinary
record stores around the world have unwittingly been buying
CDs that include technology designed to discourage them
from making copies on their PCs.
According to Macrovision, the company that has provided
the technology to several major music labels, the test has
been going on for four to six months. Although it's not
disclosing just which titles have been loaded with the technology,
at least one has sold close to 100,000 copies, the company
said."
For more info:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6604222.html
Rogers Cable sued by customers
"Frustration with Rogers Communications Inc.'s erratic
high-speed Internet service and credit policy prompted five
past and current customers to file a $75-million class-action
lawsuit against the company's cable subsidiary Wednesday.
The five Toronto-area customers allege Rogers Cable Inc.
has failed to fulfill its agreement to provide its Rogers@Home
customers with unlimited connect time to the Internet in
exchange for a monthly service fee. The Toronto company
has admitted on numerous occasions that it has had service
problems but has failed to provide adequate credit to its
customers, the lawsuit claims."
For more info:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate?
tf=tgam/realtime/fullstory_print.html&cf=tgam/realtime/config-neutral&
articleDate=20010725&slug=wfroge&date=20010719
AOL-Amazon Contract Has Takeover Provision
"AOL Time Warner Inc. insisted on a contract provision
that would allow it to pursue a takeover of Amazon.com Inc.
as part of its agreement to invest $100 million in the giant
Internet retailer.
The provision, which was disclosed in an Amazon filing with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, permits AOL to suggest
an 'extraordinary transaction' with Seattle-based Amazon.com
as long as the talks can be kept confidential. AOL spokeswoman
Wendy Goldberg declined to comment. Amazon.com spokeswoman
Patty Smith also declined comment about the language and
whether Amazon, which has never made a profit, is considering
a buyout."
For more info:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/168310.html
PCIN POLL of the WEEK
Here are the responses from the last poll:
What speed is your primary connection to the Internet?
56 kbps: 45.16%
Cable: 30.11%
DSL: 18.28%
Other: 2.15%
33.6 kbps: 2.15%
Work Network/LAN: 1.08%
28.8 kbps: 1.08%
14.4 kbps: 0.00%
Total Votes: 93
Visit http://pcin.net/polls/
to participate in the new poll this week:
Which peripheral do you use the most?
MOBILE COMPUTING NEWS and NOTES
I don't know how many times I've been bored with nothing
to read; after exhausting all the joke & news sites on
my WAP phone, I wished I'd had something more to read.
Now Fictionwise.com will be offering wireless ebooks on 3G
phones. They'll be available on Microsoft's Stinger
smartphone platform, viewable with MS Reader. Believe
me, when you're stranded with nothing to do, this will be
a big relief....
Brought to you by Shawn Bremner and The Wireless Web ezine.
Sign up by sending a blank email to mailto:wirelessweb-subscribe@topica.com
FREEHELP FORUM
Visit the PCIN FreeHelp Forum to post your questions or answer
others. Each week I highlight a question, and where to go
to get the answer.
Question
As I bookmark items to "Favorites" in Internet
Explorer, the latest additions pile up at the bottom of
the list. I can move them individually into folders, no
problem, but I can't find a way to auto-alphabetize the
whole set. Possible?
Answer
I found my answer at the following site, which has proven
twice to be the perfect source of information:
http://www.boogiejack.com/computer015.html
I must also report that I found this site through this present
forum.
Visit http://www.pcin.net/cgi-bin/forum/index.cgi
and check out the Software Forum to post your suggestion,
or to post a question of your own.
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Support PCIN
http://pcin.net/donate.shtml
Some Useful Registry Tips (Now 43 Tips)
http://pcin.net/help/articles/registry.shtml
Updated 1998 and 1999 Archives
http://pcin.net/archive/1998/
http://pcin.net/archive/1999/
(The stories are old, but it is interesting to see how things
have changed in just a couple of years)
THE TIPS and OTHER STUFF
Cheap Trick of the Week
**Searching near and far**
Search engines on the Web are never as precise as you want,
which is why you end up with 108,295 hits when you plug
in a single term to look for.
Use multiple terms joined by AND, OR, NOT and NEAR to narrow
down the search.
In many search engines you use the word AND or a plus sign
(+) to indicate you want to find sites that use both words,
as in Bush + president.
Use the conjunction OR to get sites that contain either
of two words, as in Bush OR Gore.
The word NOT or a minus sign (-) indicates you want sites
that include one word but not the other, as in Bush NOT
Gore.
Employ the preposition NEAR to tell some search engines
to find sites with the words close together. You might use
president NEAR Bush to get a site about "President
George Bush", but rule out sites that include both
words appearing far apart, such as an item about how "President"
Bill Clinton once told Republicans to stop beating around
the "bush".
Get your own copy of "The Little Black Book of Cheap
Tricks: 2001" by visiting http://www.pcin.net/lbbct/
Streaming Music
A few weeks ago one of the Lockergnome newsletters featured
an 80s streaming radio station at Live365.com. Lisa is a
big fan of all-things 80s and so I checked it out. It was
very good, but there is so much more at the http://Live365.com/ web site. There are over 37,000
"stations". Some of these are real radio stations.
Most of them are streaming MP3s. You can sign up yourself
for a 365MB storage space, upload your MP3s, and then have
Live365.com stream them so anyone can listen. Some of the
streams require a fast Internet connection; others will
sound fine on a 33.6 kbps connection.
In case you are interested, here are my 3 favourite streams:
Dr. Horner's Classic Jazz Corner (Jazz) (I listened to this
today while I was preparing PCIN)
http://www.live365.com/stations/24152
Fresh & Smooth (Jazz)
http://www.live365.com/stations/10186
The Breakfast Club (80s)
http://www.live365.com/stations/11583
Wireless Public Networks
Subscriber Chris Empey sent me this:
"A listing of publicly accessible Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)
access points in the San Francisco Bay area has been set
up by Cliff Skolnick, a Bay area network Consultant. In
his listing at www.toaster.net are locations in the bay area
that have been volunteered by the owners providing free
wireless access using 802.11b wireless network products.
He also maintains a list of community based 802.11b networks
across the world. Each access point can service about
one city block using an AirPort base and an FCC approved
antenna, says Skolnick. (From the August 2001 issue of Wired
magazine, http://www.wired.com/wired)"
DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by PC Improvements. The opinions expressed
are those of the editor, Graham Wing. PC Improvements and
Graham Wing accept no responsibility for the results obtained
from trying the tips in this newsletter.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line,
you may have to cut and paste.
- You can only win one contest every 30 days.
- To subscribe another address or unsubscribe, please visit
http://www.pcin.net/
and follow the appropriate links.
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and be entered in a monthly draw.
- There are only 2 ways to get on the subscriber list.
You have either been subscribed by filling out a subscription
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Graham Wing can be reached at mailto:editor@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2001, PC Improvements and Graham Wing. All
rights reserved.
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