It looks like a dictionary stuck between two thick bookends, but Compaq Computer Corp.'s newest business PC, the 10-lb. silver-and-gray iPaq, signals a coming revolution in corporate computer buying, where desktop hardware matters much less than software and network infrastructure. The nifty little iPaq is a brand-new class of computer - inexpensive but not cheap, thus easily affordable and replaceable. It's here today, and it's a bargain.
Taking full advantage of Active Directory's benefits requires an all-Win2K network. Since this simply won't happen soon in most IT shops, how can you (re)structure your net for maximum advantage?
About two years ago, I was introduced to a fascinating and, frankly, offbeat piece of software called The Brain, from The Brain LLC (formerly Natrificial Software Technologies Inc.) in Santa Monica, Calif. I used the product for a while and then stopped. Recently, I caught up with the product again, and it's just as intriguing now as it was then.
In today's grab bag of products, I look at two very different items. One, a backup device for notebooks, is so straightforward and useful that it should be an instant hit, especially for people who are always on the road. You plug it in and the backup process literally starts itself. The other - a digital video recorder - sounds good in theory but was fiendishly hard to get hooked up and working.
-- Digital rights management (DRM): The use of technology to prevent unauthorized use of digital files (in any format - sound, images, text, documents or data) and/or to identify the source of such use.
Umax Technologies Inc. in Fremont, Calif., has announced the first professional-grade scanner that can connect to a Macintosh computer or a PC via a dedicated IEEE 1394/FireWire connection.
Remember the home movie drill? You had to wait until dark, then drag out an awkward, heavy, two-armed machine. You tacked a white sheet up on the wall, or maybe you had a separate screen that sometimes you could set up without help. Everyone in the family gathered in that darkened room while your father carefully threaded and rethreaded film through a maze of gears and levers, cursing under his breath, until finally you were ready to show four minutes' worth of film, just back from the processor.
Until now, Lotus Notes pretty much had the groupware space sewn up. But with last week's announcement of Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft became a major player.
A few months ago, I reviewed 3Com Corp.'s then-new Palm IIIx and Palm V handheld personal digital assistants (PDA). I gave them high marks as organisers but really disliked using them as communications tools.