SIZABLE PC CURE-ALL AILS PLENTY ITSELF.Byline: Eugenia C. Daniels Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune Daily newspaper published in Chicago. The Tribune is one of the leading U.S. newspapers and long has been the dominant voice of the Midwest. Founded in 1847, it was bought in 1855 by six partners, including Joseph Medill (1823–99), who made the paper Corporate layoffs have been leaving survivors in two categories: the jobless worker who finances a home-based business venture with a severance package A severance package is pay and benefits an employee receives when they leave employment at a company. In addition to the employee's remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:
Source Innovations Inc. of Long Beach attempts to assist both these cutback cut·back n. 1. A decrease; a curtailment: "The political effects of food cutbacks could be devastating" New York Times. 2. survivors with an electronic desk pad that requires an initial investment of $3,250 (Windows only). Dubbed the Modula-Executive, this humongous (28-1/2 inches by 20 inches, and 1-inch deep), all-in-one peripheral attempts to provide the following: A built-in microphone. Those with voice recognition software (not included) can use the verbal dictation Verbal dictation describes a theory about how the Holy Spirit was involved with the people who first physically indited the Bible. According to this theory, the human role was a purely mechanical one: their individuality was by-passed whilst they wrote, and neither did their function. The voice recognition program also can be used in lieu of clicking and keyboarding (again, software not included). A built-in monitor with a touch screen that provides a handwriting recognition Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive intelligible handwritten input. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning (optical character recognition). program a la Apple's Newton. This software is included. A built-in mouse, keyboard and speakers to cut down on work-station clutter. Alas, all this wonderful stuff does not work, unless you jump through several hoops. I don't recommend this product. It is definitely not a plug-and-play peripheral, and no user should have to do so much fooling around to get a device to work - especially one that costs thousands of dollars. Let's start with the problems before the accompanying software was installed. None of the five computers I used recognized the keyboard or the mouse. Making matters more difficult was the fact that the keyboard plug was a 9-pin (round shape) and the mouse plug was a serial (rectangular shape). Since most newer peripherals use 9-pins for both keyboard and mouse, the average user would need an adapter for the serial mouse port or a spare serial on the PC. In the cases in which a PC had a spare serial, the Modula-Executive did not recognize the mouse. As for the 9-pin keyboard plug, it wasn't a snug fit, which may explain why none of the computers acknowledged the keyboard. This product is also not designed for durability. As two observers noted, the massive connector cable is not removable. Instead, it is permanently attached to the upper right side of the unit. Yes, the cable is flexible, but it is a matter of time before it wears out and snaps. One real disadvantage of the unwieldy cable connector is that Modula-Executive doesn't have an infrared option, though a plug is provided. Infrared allows you to place the desk pad any where in the room, just like the other remote-control devices in your home/office: TV, VCR VCR: see videocassette recorder. VCR in full videocassette recorder Electromechanical device that records, stores on a videotape cassette, and plays back on a TV set recorded images and sound. , stereo and today's fancy mice. The much smaller predecessors of the Modula-Executive that range from $500 to $800 offer the infrared option minus Modula-Executive's built-in mic, speakers and mouse. Instead these models have a touch screen, eliminating the need for a mouse. But Modula-Executive's "extras" are not worth the inconvenience nor do they justify the $3,250 price tag. So here we are stuck with a cable on the upper right side, which means you'll have reconfigure all your office furniture (or buy new stuff) so the cable connector reaches all the PC plugs. Your overhead office lighting would need to be downgraded to lessen the blinding screen glare. Source Innovations should have provided a set or two of legs that let you angle the unit to cut down on the glare. Another design anomaly is that Source Innovations put the keyboard above the touch screen. Only the most high-ranking execs would do little keyboarding. Besides, this weird layout completely ignores the home office user who would do a lot of keyboarding. So why not split the keyboard on either side of the touch screen? It would also better serve ergonomics. After I installed the touch screen drivers, the resolution plunged by 50 percent. I also was hoping the program would install drivers for the mouse, but I never got that to work. And it didn't help that the instruction manual is quite lacking and that none of the trouble-shooting suggestions worked. For example, the manual suggested that I delete my mouse drivers so as not to conflict with the touch screen drivers. But when I went into my Config.sys file I notice the Modula-Executive software deleted my CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). drivers! The software warned that it would change the Config.sys and the Autoexec.bat files, but it promised to make copies. They were nowhere to be found. The manual was also no help for the speakers and mic. Neither worked. Price cuts: Motorola has not only fallen in line with modem price cuts, but it is throwing in freebies as well. Ranging from $99-$225 for 14.4 and 28.8 speed modems, the Surfr series comes bundled with games, edutainment titles, on-line and Internet software (and the book "The Complete Internet Guide") and caller ID A telephone company service that sends the caller's telephone number between the first and second ring of the call. If the calling number is not blocked, the calling number is displayed on the handset or base station of the called party. . Call (800) 4-A-MODEM or dial up its Web site at http://www.mot.com/modems. On the screen: In continuation of last month's column on smart CD-ROMs, I offer two history games: "Wyatt Earp's Old West" (Grolier Interactive, Mac and Windows; $29.95 each) and two-disc "American Heritage American Heritage can refer to:
U.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. Interactive; $39.88). What makes them smart is they're hybrids that offer game play and history lessons, so maybe you can get the kids to lay off the Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat (commonly abbreviated as MK) is a popular series of fighting games created originally by the Midway Manufacturing Company. Mortal Kombat for a bit. I am seeing more of these history games on the market, so this should be of comfort to parents. "Wyatt Earp The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp " takes you through the era of this infamous character and exposes you to 44 topics that include culture, medicine, law and order, banking and an auction yard. You can find your way around the town with the help of the scruffy but friendly George, the signposts or a nicely laid-out map. Parents note the shooting gallery shooting gallery Substance abuse A place–eg, an abandoned building in an economically-depressed urban area–ie, a ghetto, where IV drug users congregate, purchase, inject–'shoot' heroin, cocaine, oxycodone or other drug. has a tinge of blood. Before you exit each topic, George has a question fer ya. Each correct answer yields a gold coin Gold coins are one of the oldest forms of money. The first gold coins in history were coined by the Lydian king Croesus in about 560 BC, not long after the first silver coins were minted by king Pheidon of Argos in about 700 BC. for the saloon's slot machine. "The Civil War" is not as involved as the Swfte title of a few years ago, so it shouldn't scare off non-Civil War buffs. While there is no blood, I recommend it for more mature kids because there is some strategy involved. Disc 1, which contains the strategy game, is bloodless blood·less adj. 1. Deficient in or lacking blood. 2. Pale and anemic in color: smiled with bloodless lips. 3. . Disc 2 gives you facts on such great figures of the time as Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion