Power PIM's New Personality
by: Jonathan Blackwood
Maybe I just think like ECCO--or maybe it thinks like me. From the start, I was an ECCO fan. I thought it was the easiest and most powerful PIM around, with its interface based on a nested folders paradigm and outlining tools in every module. I found this way of working intuitive. Others found it incomprehensible.
With version 3.0, NetManage, ECCO's new owner, seeks to bridge the gap between those who liked the old ECCO's way of doing things and those who found it intimidating. After examining the new ECCO, I'd say that, in large measure, the company has succeeded.
Gone is the quirky terminology. Outlines are now Notepads and they even look like notepads. Yet the outlining tools are still there. The typical user might not ever come face to face with those nested folders that tended to confuse so many people. But ECCO junkies will find the folders in the View menu. When you open the Folder window, it takes its place on the left side of the screen, looking very much like the folders in Microsoft Mail or Windows 95 Explorer.
The revamped interface is colorful and intuitive. The PhoneBook module, for example, now looks like a Rolodex. Similarly, the Calendar resembles a datebook. Named tabs at the bottom of the screen help you navigate between the Calendar, PhoneBook and Notepads. Tool tips, those pop-up identifiers for buttons and icons, make their first appearance in ECCO as well.
A unique feature that's been around since version 2.0 is file synchronization. With it, you can resolve differences between different versions of your Ecco working file on your desktop system and your notebook, or among workgroup members' versions. To accomplish this sleight of hand, ECCO creates a duplicate of the original (or Master) file, known as a Replica in ECCO jargon. Both the Master and the Replica track all the changes made since the files were last synchronized. As powerful as this feature is, it was difficult to understand in version 2.0. With 3.0, the process is easy. You can set it to automatically synchronize your files at regular intervals, via diskette, e-mail or even the Internet. And since only the changes are sent, the resulting synchronization file is quite small.
A new Correspondence Manager captures an address from the PhoneBook, fires up Word, WordPerfect or Ami Pro, and begins a letter to the specified contact. This functionality is in addition to the enhanced Shooter applet. Shooter spends most of the time as an icon at the top left of the Windows active screen, regardless of the application. Clicking on the arrow lets you move information back and forth quickly between ECCO and any other application. It's handy, for example, for e-mailing a contact's name, address and phone number to a colleague. A new capability is the ability to search for and retrieve an address from ECCO while in another application.
NetManage has added new group scheduling features. Cross-server group scheduling via real-time, TCP/IP access lets you see other users' conflicting appointments even if they're in a remote location. An Internet Address Book with more than 2,000 addresses is another notable addition. If you use NetManage's Internet Chameleon, ECCO will parse the HTTP address out of a location from which Shooter has gathered information, and drop it into the Internet Address Book.
The richness of ECCO's folder architecture, combined with its new simple interface, add up to an ease of use that novices will welcome. But the power is still there, so as you make the transition from novice to expert, you won't be disappointed.
--Info File--
ECCO PRO 3.0
Price: $175
In Brief: ECCO 3.0 is a powerful and usable program that aims for a wider audience, while extending its versatility for workgroups through group scheduling and file synchronization.
Disk Space: 11MB
System Resources: 13%
RAM: 4MB (8MB recommended)
NetManage
408-973-7171, fax 408-257-6405
It's Cool--in Many Ways
by: Jim Forbes
In the now-crowded Pentium-notebook field, it takes a combination of high performance, light weight, long battery life, a great screen and good ergonomics to stand out. The AST Ascentia 950N meets these criteria. The best part of the package, however, is the wide variety of available configurations. This means it's possible to purchase a base system for about $3,500.
Although the unit I tested was a preproduction system, it was constructed from production-level components. The Ascentia 950N is available with a choice of 10.4-inch screens--either a dual-scan (DSTN) or an active-matrix (TFT) model. It uses a Cirrus Logic SVGA video controller with 1MB of video memory that is capable of generating displays of 800x600 pixels at 256 colors on the DSTN screen and 64,000 colors at the same resolution on AST's TFT screen.
If you plan on using the Ascentia 950N for portable presentations, choose the active-matrix screen over the dual-scan version. The excellent video performance results from a graphics accelerator and VL-bus architecture.
I/O opportunities abound: two PCMCIA Type II slots, an external video port, one parallel and two serial ports, an infrared port and a PS/2-style connector for external keyboard or mouse. A docking station port and the standard complement of audio connections round out the possibilities.
The 950N comes standard with 8MB of RAM, expandable to 40MB. The notebook uses lithium ion batteries. Over a four-week period, I found this provided up to 2.75 hours on the system's internal battery using the advanced power-setting feature. A second charged lithium ion battery can be loaded simultaneously to extend battery operation even further.
This notebook is one cool customer--unlike some other Pentium notebooks I've seen, one of which generated enough heat to blister a tabletop. The 950N vents the heat away from the logic board with a heat pipe, which should help extend the life of key components and which provides the added benefit of no moving parts.
The ergonomics are excellent. There's an 82-key keyboard and a SmartPoint track stick. The keyboard has an integrated palm rest, which includes the controls for the SmartPoint. I liked the feel of its quiet keyboard and SmartPoint's responsiveness. Most users will find controls for its screen, audio and internal 3.5-inch disk drive are in logical and comfortable locations.
The Ascentia 950N's sound capabilities include an integrated speaker and an embedded Sound Blaster audio chip. As notebooks go, the sound was quite good, suitable for a presentation to a small--perhaps "intimate" would be a better word choice--group of people.
The total travel weight for a 950N equipped with a TFT screen, a single lithium ion battery and recharger is just under 7 pounds--not bad for a Pentium. It measures 1.8 by 11.5 by 8.5 inches.
Running WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune 2.0 benchmarks, the processor cranked out 80.8MIPS and 16.3MFLOPS. The video score was 5.7 Mpixels per second and its hard disk throughput, 3.9MB per second. Unlike many of the notebooks I've reviewed, this machine required little intervention for optimum results. Remember, this is a preproduction model--you can expect to get much better video and hard disk results in the final, shipping product. This will be a terrific machine for running Windows 95.
As you might expect, the 950N will be shipping with Windows 95 by the time you read this.
AST is one of a handful of companies that have paid attention to the needs of road warriors. This machine definitely rates a thumbs-up, and has the right stuff to be noticed.
--Info File--
AST Ascentia 950N
Price: Depending on configuration, $3,499 to $5,499
In Brief: The AST Ascentia 950N offers strong performance at a reasonable price.
AST Research
800-876-4278, 714-727-4141
Vroom with a View
by: Sara G. Stephens
I've desecrated a sacred office ritual: what I refer to as the extended version of the weekly teleconference. The two parties resolve to reconvene when some critical (though unavailable) document is found, printed and faxed to whomever needs it. Meanwhile, the one waiting for the fax invariably gets distracted with phone calls, meetings and so on while waiting. What could have been resolved in a few minutes ends up taking hours.
It's a tradition that has survived the test of time and technology at my office--until we got our beta VoiceView-enabled Boca modems.
I installed one in my machine and another in that of a business associate who works across town. Installation was easy, thanks to the bundled ComCheck program, which identified device allocations and recommended a comm port and IRQ setting based on my configuration. Such thoughtful design is probably what makes free tech support a feasible option for companies like Boca.
Based on the Rockwell chip set, the half-card 14.4-Kb-per-second Boca Multimedia Voice Modem with VoiceView supports Group 3 fax, uses the V.32bis transmission protocol and is capable of 57.6Kbps throughput.
It comes with SofNet's FaxWorks communications software, a set of communications tools resembling the collections some other competitors have offered over the last few months: quick dials, address books, terminal emulators, fax on demand and even voice mail (FaxWorks supports more than 1,000 boxes).
But SofNet knocks a little extra mileage out of its voice-mail feature by repackaging it under another button called Message Retrieval, which lets you record password- protected messages in specific mailboxes. By giving clients a box/user ID and password, you can leave continuous voice updates (of test results, project status or whatever) that they can retrieve over the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also works with fax messages--even fax on demand.
What sets this modem apart from the pack is its support of VoiceView, a new technology from Radish Communications that lets you interrupt a phone conversation to transmit a file to the person on the other end of the line. Once the file's been transmitted, your voice call is automatically resumed.
The modem comes with TalkShop, the drivers that let you take advantage of this novelty. When you click on this icon in Program Manager, a screen appears with icons representing businesses that have opted to provide various services to TalkShop owners.
One of them is Blockbuster, a national video and audio franchise that uses TalkShop to play audio clips of new releases. I clicked on this icon, but instead of hearing the latest Smashing Pumpkins release, was greeted by an auto attendant telling me that Blockbuster had nothing online yet.
Still, the concept has potential. I can think of several types of merchants--a florist, for example--with whom it would make sense to talk on the phone about pricing and service, stop to receive a file (like a picture of the bouquet you want to send), then resume the call to place the order.
VoiceView further redeems itself with the bread-and-butter features listed in a bar along the screen's left side. The most important icon in this bar is marked Outgoing Files. Imagine this conversation:
"I disagree, Bob," you say. "Our figures don't support this kind of investment at present." Click on the Outgoing Files icon to see a File-Manager-like view of your drive's contents. In midconversation, you can highlight a file--even a binary spreadsheet--and click Send. At the other end, TalkShop automatically launches the necessary app and up pops your file.
When I was done with business for the day, I called my crosstown business associate, clicked the VoiceView Games button and launched into a friendly bout of Salvo--a simplified electronic version of Battleship. What better way to establish closure in a weekly teleconference? In fact, I think it has potential for a rousing new company ritual.
--Info File--
Boca Research Multimedia Voice Modem
Price: $154
In Brief: The high-speed Boca Multimedia Voice Modem, with its bundled set of communications software, distances itself from the pack by being the first VoiceView-certified modem on the market.
Disk Space: 3.44MB
System Resources: 10%
RAM: 4MB
Boca Research
407-997-6227, fax 407-997-0918
32-Bit CAD for 2-D, 3-D Designs
by: Ranjit S. Sahai
Roll back to the early '80s and Cadkey was there. One of the first PC-based CAD packages, it was traditionally targeted to the mechanical design market, such as the aerospace and automobile industries.
Cadkey's success is well-earned. Given its longevity, it's no surprise that the first Windows version has a comprehensive feature set for both 2-D drafting and 3-D modeling, along with all the trappings of a modern Windows application--status bar, toolbar, settings window and floating palettes. But it needs some usability improvements. I tested Cadkey, a 32-bit application, on Windows NT.
Like most Windows applications, Cadkey has a toolbar below the menu bar. Under the toolbar, Cadkey has a Conversation Bar where you can enter input data when prompted, such as the radius of aApplication Menu window, or the main tool palette, can float or you can dock it along an edge. Instead of grouping tools by type and placing them in separate palettes, Cadkey consolidates them into a single palette that includes a set of five buttons. You click on the palette's Create button to display drawing tools, the Detail button for dimensioning and notation tools, and the Modify button for entity modification tools. Clicking on the XForm button gives you transformation tools and the Layout button switches to the layout mode.
To draw a line, you first click on the Create button to access your drawing tools. Next you click on the Line icon to display a subpalette of all available line drawing commands. The 15 available line drawing tools--such as line by points, line parallel to existing, line at a specific angle and line tangent to arc--reveal Cadkey's breadth of commands.
Cadkey's feature set is impressive. It includes a rendering module, called Picture It, that lets you visualize 3-D models by adding shading to them for a more realistic appearance. The Layout mode lets you place multiple views of a model--plan, isometric, side and elevation--on a single sheet for printing or plotting. The software supports IGES, .DXF, .DWG and CADL file formats and TrueType fonts. You can have multiple resizable and overlapping views that are handy when creating 3-D models. Cadkey also provides mass properties of 3-D models, and offers stereolithography (STL) output. It does not support a digitizing tablet, and it can't reference external files.
Cadkey boasts high-end features at an affordable price, but its interface needs improvement. Specifically, the program should provide better dynamic feedback and eliminate the procedural nature of its commands. For example, after identifying the center for adynamicnot track along with the cursor until you identify its perimeter point. The procedural commands require that you respond to prompts in the Conversation Bar and enter data one parameter at a time, a tedious process. It would be much more convenient if all parameters were displayed simultaneously, with default values filled in and ready for any necessary editing.
Whether you wish to create a simple 2-D drawing or a rendered 3-D model, Cadkey has the requisite tools. It also features the Cadkey Advanced Design Language (CADL) so you can create scripts using any text editor. This program offers a powerful feature set, but the steps and methods required to access those features need some fine-tuning.
---Info File---
Cadkey
Price: $795
In Brief: Cadkey is a capable 2-D/3-D CAD program with many high-end features, but its interface is awkward at times.
Disk Space: 14MB
System Resources: NA
RAM: 8MB
Cadkey
800-394-2231, 203-298-8888
Four-Part Harmony
by: Hailey Lynne McKeefry
I've just heard that I could get all the office equipment I need in one machine and it's music to my ears. The Lexmark Medley certainly plays a whole series of tunes by combining a color printer, a fax machine, a copier and a scanner.
The Medley comes in three variations: the 4c, which includes color and monochrome ink car-tridges; the 4x, which is color capable and comes with a handset; and the 4sx, which comes standard with color and monochrome ink cartridges, a handset and a battery back-up. I looked at the 4x with the color capability enabled.
The compact unit, which looks more like a fax machine than a printer, measures 12 by 17.3 by 15.4 inches and weighs a mere 17.7 pounds. The front panel has several sets of buttons--including a 10-key keypad, a set of 14 quick-dial buttons and a control panel--as well as an LCD readout. I found that the control layout, which divided the various controls into separate sections, was harmonious and intuitive. The paper tray at the back of the unit holds about 150 sheets of card stock, legal paper or letter paper.
The overture to my business activities is printing. The unit comes with both black and color ink cartridges, which are snapped into place as needed. A well, located under the printer's cover, holds the spare cartridge when it is not in use.
Changing cartridges was a fairly straightforward process. Instructions on the LCD panel led me through setting the cartridge as color or mono and new or used (information the printer uses to count the number of copies that have been printed in order to warn of impending ink outages). An LED indicator on the printer's panel lit up to indicate that the color cartridge was in use. However, the unit did not always sense the ink cartridge was correctly seated in the housing.
When printing, I needed to switch between the color and the monochrome print driver in the Printers settings in Control Panel. There is also a driver for fax operations. The Medley print speeds were more adagio than allegro at about three pages per minute in monochrome draft mode. Speeds dropped to a still slower tempo for color, producing a page in from 2.5 to 7 minutes.
The 600x300dpi output was good. Although it tended to bleed a little, the result was definitely of high enough quality for business correspondence. The monochrome cartridge produced black type that was decidedly gray to the eyes of someone used to laser output. The color mode provided vibrant color output, but the dithered black tended to look a little gray or red.
The CCITT Group 3 fax function allowed me to transmit at six seconds per page in any of three modes (fine, super fine and standard). You can store up to 64 speed-dial numbers--including 14 one-touch selections--in memory. Danka's FAXsynergy software is included.
The scanning function provides 300x300dpi resolution. I saved images as TIFF, .PCX or .BMP files. The TWAIN-compliant scanner provides 256 levels of gray scale, so that scanned photos and charts looked good.
The finale to this Medley is the copy function, which provides both single and collated copies. While definitely not fast or efficient enough for making large numbers of copies, the unit is up to the task of making occasional quick copies. When I copied a text page, the results were quite clear. Just as with a regular copier, handwritten pages and narrow lines--like those on a spreadsheet-- had a tendency to fade a little.
The Medley provides a balanced selection of business features and may be a good choice for the home-office worker who doesn't want to clutter up limited space with a myriad of machines. While probably not the choice for heavy-duty copying or printing, the combination of four functions for well under $1,000 will put this machine on your hit parade if you want this sort of flexibility in a single device.
--Info File--
Lexmark Medley
Price: $849 to $899 (street)
In Brief: The Lexmark Medley puts a color printer and several other office machines on your desktop for much less than it would cost to buy the machines separately.
Lexmark International
800-358-5835, 606-232-2000
Paper Chase Database
by: Ron Bel Bruno
Tracking digital information is easy with a database. But the information you receive often rides atop a piece of paper--maybe a newspaper clip, or a fax or a letter received through the mail. Recollect Gold is a document storage and retrieval program that can help you fit paper-based information into the neat little digital universe of a database.
Recollect Gold is a slick, seamless package that comprises two key components: an OCR module and a database with Boolean and fuzzy search capabilities. This application is an omnivore--you can feed it news clippings, faxes, digital files or just about anything on paper. It scours each document, diligently indexing all its unique words for inclusion into a fully searchable database.
I adhere religiously to a policy of randomness, even in my PC-based note taking, but I've welcomed Recollect Gold's ability to organize my digital chaos. I put documents from several word processors into the program's virtual data-hopper. The documents were research notes that included dozens of randomly typed names and phone numbers.
Adding these documents to Recollect Gold's database was an easy point- and-click affair. I clicked on a directory, selected all its files, clicked on Import and watched Recollect Gold crunch my precious names, numbers, notes, articles and ruminations into new data order. Updating a database is no problem either. Just go back into the Import module, reselect the desired directory, click on Update and away you go.
I then asked Recollect Gold to help me put my fingers on specific information using its Turbo Search function. You can do simple word or phrase searches or use the program's Boolean support for more complex compound searches. Its fuzzy search capabilities help compensate for OCR inaccuracies and spelling errors. When Turbo Search finishes its work, it yields the results in its Search Hit Grid. This area includes a text listing of all the files containing the requested information, as well as thumbnail visuals of each file (when applicable).
Just being able to get to and see all my once-scattered data was rewarding enough, but I was even more impressed with the program's file-viewing and annotation capabilities. Using the pop-up toolbox, you can highlight key portions of text, add pointers for emphasis or "stick" up to 16 pages of virtual Post-It notes on a document. And keeping in vogue with today's hyperlink-mania, Recollect Gold lets you link one document in your knowledge base to another.
Navigating Recollect Gold's streamlined environment is a pleasure. The software has a sly way of avoiding that Microsoft toolbox-upon-toolbox look. In edit mode, for example, it drops an inconspicuous suite of floating icons on the screen. Once you're done, they're gone. I used the simple icon-driven tools to highlight text areas and attach Post-It notes to files that were in my database.
Recollect Gold isn't about to set any speed records (it took close to a minute for it to search 10MB of files on a 66MHz 486DX2 with 4MB of RAM). MindWorks says the program will run with 4MB of RAM, but recommends 8MB for optimal operation.
Recollect Gold offers compatibility with most popular word processing and spreadsheet programs, in addition to various flavors of ASCII and the Microsoft .RTF format. It also recognizes the growing presence of graphics within those documents, offering compatibility with most standard graphics-file formats. The package includes TIFF compatibility, which is especially important for faxes.
Those feeling snowed under by both paper and digital media can turn to Recollect Gold. It's an attractive and extremely flexible approach to managing widely disparate data in a consistent format.
--Info File--
Recollect Gold
Price: $449
In Brief: Recollect Gold combines OCR and a database, creating a versatile document storage and retrieval system.
Disk Space: 20MB
System Resources: 1%
RAM: 4MB, (8MB recommended)
MindWorks Corp.
800-396-MIND, 408-730-2100
Spin CDs at Breakneck Speed
by: John Perry
The MultiSpin, NEC's multiplatform six-speed CD-ROM drive, manages mounds of music and mass data masterfully. Perhaps "transparently" is more accurate, since the MultiSpin's MusicSensor feature detects Red Book files--the data format for music CDs--and shifts speed on the fly. The unit transfers Red Book audio files at 150KB per second, and standard digital data as fast as 900KBps. These changes appear as "1X" to "6X" displayed on the front LCD panel. (Audio files must be transferred at a standard rate to avoid that Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks sound.)
The mean access time is only 145ms. NEC says that the MultiSpin will automatically adjust the speed--read that "downshift"--as called for by either an application or the integrity of the medium. I used a CD with audio and data files that stalled this speed shifter, but returning to work was as easy as double-clicking the Play button on the front panel.
The MultiSpin 6Xe is very well made. You'll be able to maintain these 6X speeds for a long time, since the MultiSpin has double dust doors protecting the interior and a two- year warranty covering everything.
MultiSpin can put a quick spin on your stereo capabilities as well. In the front, there's a standard CD-player control panel with Auto Repeat, Stop, Play, Repeat and Advance track selections. You can pipe the music out of the back to a sound board, directly to amplified speakers or out of the front headphone jack. It also sports a spin-dial volume control for the headphone jack. The manual describes in detail the best way to wire any sound system, should that be your desire.
To keep costs down, NEC has opted to provide tech support through a BBS. That's not a real problem, since the installation of the MultiSpin is so effortless. The installation and operating instructions were so clear they made a Hamburger Helper recipe look complicated. The MultiSpin with Plug and Play lets you enjoy data and tunes on your PC today.
There are other six-speed drives on the market, and many are worth your consideration. This NEC model should be on your short list.
--Info File--
NEC MultiSpin 6Xe
Price: External, $599; internal, $499
NEC Technologies
800-632-4636, 708-860-9500
Many Megahertz, Few Bucks
by: Jim Forbes
Gateway 2000 has grown from a mom-and-pop operation into a billion-dollar company in a little more than five years. Its advance is due to an uncanny ability to provide world-class value at a down-home price. The P5-100 Family PC system is a case in point.
This system offers good performance, has a basic configuration that rivals most top-of-the-line systems and, at $2,499, is competitively priced. As you would expect, the P5-100 has a PCI bus, 8MB of EDO memory, a 1GB enhanced IDE hard disk, a 100MHz Pentium processor, and 256KB of pipeline-burst, synchronous level 2 cache. If that's not enough, there's also a 64-bit graphics card with 2MB of DRAM, a quad-speed CD-ROM drive with a three-disc changer, a 17-inch Vivitron monitor, keyboard, mouse and 14.4Kbps modem.
This Gateway provides a terrific out-of-the-box experience. Setup took less than 15 minutes, including the time spent stowing the boxes. This system has three open PCI slots and one open ISA slot. Performance was excellent for a 100MHz Pentium. Our WINDOWS Magazine Wintune 2.0 benchmarks clocked this system at 107.7 MIPS and 21.8 MFLOPS. Its ATI video subsystem cranked out 11.7 million pixels per second. The hard disk, Western Digital's new Caviar 31000, had a throughput of 18.3MB per second. This is the perfect machine for the buyer with champagne taste and a beer budget.
--Info File--
Gateway 2000 P5-100 Family PC
Price: As reviewed, $2,899; with 15-inch Vivitron monitor, $2,499
Gateway 2000
800-846-2000, 605-232-2000
Mind Your Own Business Cards
by: Hailey Lynne McKeefry
I've always envied TV detectives like Rockford or Magnum who could whip out a business card for every occasion. I don't know where they got those cards, but if they had MyProfessionalBusinessCards, they could've churned them out in minutes.
At startup, the program prompts for name, company, address and phone number. There's also room to add an extra phone number, fax number and e-mail address. This information becomes the default, so when I picked a card design, my information was plugged in.
MyProfessionalBusinessCards comes with about 100 preprinted stock designs and about 50 printable designs for perforated stock. The kit includes BeaverPrints, Avery, Image Street, PaperDirect and
ImagePlus stock samples. After selecting a design, you can rearrange the text and then print using any one of 16 horizontal and vertical text styles. Card elements are conveniently grouped so that they're easy to move and resize.
Liven up your card with graphics by choosing from the program's 100 clip-art images or your own in .WMF, .PCX, .BMP, .GIF, TIFF, .DIB, .TGA, .EPS, .REL, .DCX, .JPG, .WPG and .IMG formats. If you have an artistic flair, use the drawing tools to add lines, rectangles and ellipses. The preprinted stock has a professional look, so it's not necessary to dabble with design.
Card stock costs about $9.95 per 200 cards. Although it's a tad flimsier than that used for commercially printed cards, it's definitely usable. The toughest part of creating great-looking business cards was choosing my title. How does Empress of the Universe sound?
---Info file---
MyProfessional BusinessCards
Price: $49.95
Disk Space: 6MB
System Resources: 10%
RAM: 4MB
MySoftware Co.
800-325-3508, 415-473-3600