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Sunday, May 4, 2003

Random thought:

Chapura's magic Palm enhancer

Those of us who use Outlook's address book to feed a Palm device used to have to forget about some of Outlook's advanced features. Groups, for example. A person could be in just one group. So should I put Joe in the "radio" group? The "co-worker" group? The "friends" group? The "ham radio operator" group? In Outlook, I could assign someone to multiple groups, but only one of those got to the Palm. Or phone numbers. Just about everybody has more than two phone numbers these days: Home and office certainly. Fax. Mobile. Maybe an "emergency" number or a second phone line. Maybe a direct number at the office? Maybe a cottage in the woods. You could record a bunch of phone numbers in Outlook, but Palm ignored most of them.

And then (sing this to the tune of "Along Came Jones") along came Chapura. Not from out of nowhere did they come.* Chapura has been around since the early days of the Palm operating system. They're the ones who designed the conduit that allowed Palm users to synchronize their handheld devices with something other than the lame offering from Palm.

About a year ago, Chapura released Key Contacts and suddenly it became possible to assign people to multiple categories, even on the Palm, and the Palm was able to display about a bazillion phone numbers per person. And multiple addresses. Even the name of your little dog, Toto, too. If you have a dog named Toto.

Soon there will be something better than Key Contacts

In June, Chapura will release the Key Suite, which does for the rest of the Outlook applications what Key Contacts did for the address book. The product isn't shipping yet and isn't even on the Chapura website yet, but I talked with the company's CEO, Keith Ellenberg ...

REAL AUDIO Keith Ellenberg 4:30 q-with you on your handheld.

Key Suite will sell for $49.95. In June, you'll find information about it on the website.

*Who writes this stuff anyway?

Amusing incompetence

I shouldn't pick on Network Solutions. They're too easy; if Network Solutions ever finds itself in a gunfight, they'll be the ones to take a knife. I don't have to deal with Network Solutions much these days because most of the domains I'm responsible for are registered with Register.com. But this week I received an ominous message from Network Solutions.

The message began: "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the non-profit corporation responsible for accrediting domain name registrars. ICANN requires domain name registration customers to keep their account information current. ICANN mandates that outdated contact information can be grounds for domain name cancellation."

It included a URL and instructions that I should follow the URL (despite being a long URL, it just goes to the main entry page for Network Solutions). Then, to find out if my information is up to date, I needed to enter the domain name and perform a WhoIs search. But nowhere in the message was there a clue of any sort about which domain Network Solutions wanted me to check. Somewhere deep in the bowels of Network Solutions, there's probably a person who's quite proud of that Joseph Heller-like touch.

Realizing that I didn't have enough information to do what Network Solutions was asking me to do, I replied to the message and asked which domain it was that they wanted me to check. A day or two later, I received a reply from a real person who had a real number (Network Solutions doesn't believe in names). The number told me that the request really had come from Network Solutions and was, therefore, a valid request. Still no mention of which domain it is they want me to check.

So I asked again. Which domain is it that you want me to confirm the information for? The response: "At this time we do not have a list of accounts that are reflecting outdated information, you will need to validate your information for each of your accounts."

That's not a problem, though. Whenever a Network Solutions domain comes up for renewal, I move it to Register.com. Problem solved!

I bought a computer

In the past dozen years, I've built most of the computers I've owned. I buy the parts, read the manuals, assemble the pieces, troubleshoot the problems, and end up with a powerful computer that costs a good bit less than one I could buy. I've recommended the build-it-yourself approach and still feel that it's a good way to save money and an easy way to gain a sense of accomplishment. If you can read and follow instructions, building a computer isn't hard (if you buy good parts that come with real instructions.) But I may never build another computer.

Building a new system was on my schedule for later this year, but my desktop system began showing signs of imminent disk failure. Four times in less than 2 weeks, I had Registry corruption that forced me to use the Recovery Console and recover an older registry. The process involves a lot of steps, but it isn't difficult and I had the process down to no more than 20 minutes. I made even more regular backups. Copied critical files to network drives. But I was convinced that the computer wouldn't make it to September.

And I didn't have time to build one. The process takes a day or two of research. Once the parts are assembled, the construction part of the task generally requires two days (although I've had "problem" builds that took a week or more). I couldn't be without the computer for that long. And I couldn't take that long away from what I was working on.

So I looked at the big on-line merchants and priced the system I'd want if I built it myself. I'm told that mine was the scream heard 'round the block.

Other options?

• Install software on a second low-power machine that sits beside the main computer to run a few low-level tasks. That would be a temporary measure at best.
• Use just the notebook computer? Not enough disk space for the tasks I'm working on.
• Buy a low-end commercial machine. The best way I know to spend too much money is to try to cheap it out. When you buy the cheap one, you spend a lot of time trying to make it do what you want it to do and then you have to buy the better one when you conclude that the cheap one wasn't adequate.

Over the years I've also recommended independent computer sellers. These are organizations that build a computer to your specifications. Some specialize in AMD processors, some in Intel; a few offer both. They can provide run-of-the-mill main boards or mainboards designed to exacting standards. Plain video cards or top-of-the-line units. Small, slow disk drives or huge, fast disk drives. You decide.

One of the better respected shops in town has been around for more than a decade. TCR Systems in Pickerington has a good reputation. I'd never used them, but some friends had. My friends had always been satisfied, so I thought I'd give them a try. I gave TCR the specifications. They gave me a price. I accepted the price with a smile. Several days later, they presented me with the computer. This looks like it's the best-built computer I've ever owned.

Then I sat down and calculated what it would have cost me to build the exact same computer. As it turns out, I could have bought the parts for about $100 less than I paid for a finished system. That was $100 well spent considering my efforts in getting this new computer running consisted of:

1. Bringing it home.
2. Plugging it in.
3. Loading the software

Sometimes the best way to save money is to pay somebody to do what they do best.

Nerdly News

AOL protects users -- for a fee

America Online is now offering a virus protection service for its members.

The company's new management team said in December it would unveil a series of paid services as part of its effort to contend with a slump in dial-up subscribers and advertising.

AOL says the virus protection service is from McAfee. It's supposed to guard against known viruses and worms that are spread via the Internet as well as those that arrive by other means.

You'll pay $2.95 per month ($35.40 per year for the math challenged). Or you could just buy an application that runs on your computer for $30 per year. You could also use an excellent FREE antivirus program such as AVG Antivirus (www.grisoft.com) but AOL doesn't want you to know that.

AOL vice president of product marketing says "every month, about 250 new computer viruses are created, so up-to-date virus protection is critical." Of those 250 new viruses, approximately 1 will ever be seen "in the wild". Mr. Kimball didn't mention that.

AOL now has 4 fee-based services in addition to the overpriced dial-up service. AOL offers MusicNet for downloading music, voice mail, and "call alert", an application that lets you know when somebody's trying to call you and your phone is tied up because you're on the Internet.

Another AOL service: Free Money

AOL is also offering $10 off purchases at CompUSA if you sign up for a free 3-month membership. When I bought a USB hub for Kaydee's computer this week, they offered me the discount. "You just have to sign up," the cashier told me. "You don't actually have to use it." Fair enough. I sign up and AOL pays $10 of my purchase price; then I call to cancel the account.

With ideas like this, is it any wonder that AOL has been losing money?

The Melodic Apple

No, that's not the name of the service. Nor should it be. Apple is now offering the ability to download music for a fee. Selections are priced where just about everybody has said they should be priced -- $1 per selection.

Remember Napster? Music sales were high while Napster was in operation. Sales have fallen off now that Napster has been shut down? Is there a relationship? I don't know. The recording industry has released fewer new recordings this year. That might have something to do with the drop in sales.

Pressplay, Rhapsody, MusicNet, and MusicNow are music download services that have been created by the music industry. You'll pay up to $20 per month even if you don't download a single tune all month. Hmm. Interesting concept. And to listen to music that you have downloaded, you might have to be connected to the Internet. Strike two.

That $20 monthly fee? It's only for listening in most cases. If you want to create a CD from the music -- yep, you pay more. And most of the existing recording industry sources have a severely limited playlist -- about what you might find at Sunny 95.

Apple take a different tack. The iTunes Music Store at www.applemusic.com has an inventory of 200,000 songs and you can download any of them. Or all of them. For $1 each (99 cents if you want to be precise -- so if you download all 200,000 selections, you'll pay only $198,000.) No monthly fee. Buy an album and download it for $10. The download is legitimate -- same as if you'd bought the CD. Just priced lower because there's no CD involved. No packaging. No shipping. No warehousing. No breakage.

Why does it take Apple to come up with the obvious solution?

Almost the solution. The only problem is that the service won't work if you have a PC. "The iTunes Music Store is only available in the U.S. To get running all you need is a Mac with Mac OS X (version 10.2.5 or later recommended), and an Internet connection (DSL, Cable or a LAN-based connection recommended for streaming and downloading music)."

Strike one. But fortunately, I own a Mac.

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