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Issue 230 - March 12, 2003
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2003
==== 2136 Subscribers in 60 Countries ====
Welcome to the 230th 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. If you give me two or three
issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with
any suggestions or comments.
Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
CONTENTS
OPENING THOUGHTS
Subscriber Alex Gray sent in a comment on search engines (I had a poll on this
a couple of weeks ago):
Just an observation when it comes to the search engines out there. There is
one search engine that has a feature I wish all of them did. When your search
results are displayed they are broken up into categories instead of one long
list making it very easy to find what you are looking for. The search engine
I refer to is at: www.vivisimo.com Run a search through it and tell me it isn't
a fantastic feature. I use several search engine's Google is one of the best
but would be even better with the features of Vivisimo.
Thanks for the comments. Remember... you can email you comments on almost any
technology related topic and we'll do our best to include them.
Graham editor@pcin.net
and Chris chris@pcin.net
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The NEWS
PGA Drives for Data
"Golf has always been a test of the players, their wits and their equipment.
Now it's also putting IBM's on-demand computing technology to the ultimate
test. The PGA Tour has launched TourCast, an interactive online application
that lets subscribers follow tournament action - every player, hole and
shot - in real time.
The data is gathered from the field on a real-time basis, and every stroke
made by every player is captured by a walking scorer and entered into a Palm
OS handheld device. That data is then transmitted by surveying-grade data
radio back to the on-site ShotLink trailer.
When everything is running smoothly and there are no problems with radio frequencies,
it takes about 2 seconds for the data to be transferred from the Palm OS device
to the main system, where it is processed and dispersed to clients such as
TourCast in about 7 seconds.
Some 36 portable laser machines are also involved in the data collection process.
For each of the 18 holes, there is one laser on the fairway to capture the
distance of a tee shot and one next to each green. The scanner is manually
operated, and data is entered and transmitted via a Palm OS device. The laser
captures the position of the golf ball to within 3 inches on the fairway and
within a centimeter on the green."
For more info:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,901566,00.asp
Santa Clara County OKs touch-screen voting
First in nation to also have paper printout
Santa Clara County took a historic step Tuesday toward creating a touch-
screen voting system that will issue a paper printout that computer experts
and voting advocates nationwide say is critical to ensuring honest and accurate
elections.
After heated debated, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to become the first
county in the nation to buy a touch-screen system that prints out a 'voter-verified'
paper record of each ballot. The board approved negotiating with Sequoia Voter
Systems of Oakland to create a $20 million touch-screen system for the county's
730,000 registered voters by the November local elections. The board also
requested a staff proposal for a pilot project to provide voters with paper
records confirming their votes. The county is petitioning the secretary of
state to approve the pilot project."
For more info:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/26/BA194506.DTL
Afghan Internet Domain Launches
"'Planting its flag in cyberspace,' Afghanistan will officially activate
its .af Internet domain name on Monday for Afghan e-mail addresses and Web
sites, officials and the United Nations said.
The effort, a joint collaboration between the U.N. Development Program and
the Afghan Ministry of Communications, marks a giant technological leap for
a country where the Internet was banned for years during the former Taliban
regime. But it is likely to be a long time before the average, impoverished
Afghan citizen will be able to afford to explore the new possibilities."
For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57978,00.html
Oregon bill mandates open source
"Oregon could become the first state to require that open-source software
be considered by its agencies as an alternative to any proprietary solution,
if a bill introduced this week passes muster.
The Open Source Software for Oregon Act would mandate that any state government
agency consider open-source software for all new software acquisitions and
make purchasing decisions based on a 'value-for-money basis.' Moreover, under
the act, state workers would have to avoid buying products that don't comply
with open standards."
For more info:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-991462.html
POLL of the WEEK
Last Week's Poll
Where do you find news online?
| TV Network News sites |
 |
14.04 % (16) |
| Cable News sites |
|
9.65 % (11) |
| Google News |
|
10.53 % (12) |
| Technology News sites |
|
2.63 % (3) |
| Other news collecting site |
|
33.33 % (38) |
| Email service |
|
11.40 % (13) |
| I do not read news online |
|
18.42 % (21) |
| Total votes: 114 |
|
|
This Week's Poll
You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/
PCIN.net FREEHELP
FORUM
Visit the PCIN.net FreeHelp Forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/
to post your questions or answer others.
Question
I'm not one for clutter, so my desktop has three icons on it: my computer,
network, and recycle.
I created a toolbar on my quicklaunch bar for the desktop so I can have quick
access to the contents of my recycle bin. (xp won't let me create a toolbar
for just the recycle bin.) when I pull up this popup menu that shows the contents
of my desktop, however, I see a link to "my documents" that isn't
there when I look at my desktop with all windows minimized.
I went into tweak UI and "my documents" is not selected as an item
on the desktop.
Response
I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that the TweakUI setting to not
show My Documents on my desktop just hides the icon. But it still an item
that goes on the desktop and therefore shows up on the quicklaunch toolbar.
To post a response, visit the General Software Help forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/index.php?board=3
and click on the "link to 'my documents' on desktop?" topic.
Visit http://PCIN.net/help/forum/
to post a question of your own.
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/lcfo.php
Some Useful Registry Tips - Now 171 Tips!
http://PCIN.net/help/articles/registry_tips.php
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/paragonhdm55.php
Object Desktop Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/objectdesktop.php
THE TIPS and OTHER
STUFF
Cycle Through Open Documents
Most people know that pressing ALT+TAB will cycle through open programs on
your computer. But did you know that CTRL+F6 cycles through open documents
in many different programs? You do now! This works in Word, Excel, and Photoshop,
to name a few.
View Properties Quickly
When you want to view the properties of something (a file, My Computer, Network
Neighbourhood, etc.), you need to right-click on it and then choose Properties.
You can do the same thing by holding CTRL+ALT while you double-click on the
icon.
Front X Update
A while ago I did a review for FrontX Computer Port Extension. You can read
the review at http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/frontx.php
Anyway, I recently received an email from Raymond Yap, Sales & Marketing
Manager, letting me know that they have several new modules for the product.
We take this oppurtunity to inform you that we have released the following
add-ons to our product range:
DUAL USB 2.0 - USD12.90
S-VIDEO - USD8.20
PS2 - USD7.80
DUAL USB 2.0 INTERNAL - USD12.50
IEEE 1394 INTERNAL - USD10.70
GAME PORT INTERNAL - USD5.70
HEADPHONE INTERNAL B1 - USD7.30
HEADPHONE INTERNAL B2 - USD7.10
HEADPHONE INTERNAL V1 - USD3.70
MICROPHONE INTERNAL - USD3.70
AUDIO-IN INTERNAL - USD3.70
PS2 INTERNAL - USD7.60
All prices quoted above include free shipping to international address.
Please note that :
a) With the release of DUAL USB, you can now fit a maximum of 4 USB ports
into our 5.25" FRONTX Casing.
b) We now have a wide range of internal ports that can be plugged onto the
motherboard headers like; USB, IEEE1394, game, audio etc. All new motherboards
now provide a full range of internal port headers, which cannot be fully
utilized due to the limitation of PC design, not anymore..... FRONTX is
a new breakthrough!!
c) Our internal Headphone Port works with motherboard that provides front
and back line-out headers, i.e. plugging of headphone at the front will
disconnect the speaker socket at the back.
d) Please check out our website for more details..... www.frontx.com
FrontX was a very practical product and with the new additions, will be even
better.
DISCLAIMER
and OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of
the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing
and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying
the tips in this newsletter.
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2003, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author
is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php
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