CONTENTS:

1. Welcome & What's been happening
2. Ask the Doc...
3. Software Review
4. Web Sites of Interest
5. Y2K Watch
6. Book Review of the Month

1. WELCOME & WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING

Hello Friends!

Well, another month has passed and with it came more back trouble for me. I've been to see a lot of supposed knowledgeable people about it (and No, Ken I haven't been to an Orthopedic surgeon, yet) without any significant improvements :-(. Just getting through half a day seated at times is nigh on impossible<sigh>. Still, life goes on. 

Results of the last monthly free software draw:
What's the Postcode?:  Mathew Cunningham
TypingMaster: Everett Young

If you'd like to be in the running to win a copy of the SureThing CD Labeler (includes CD Labels, Software and Labeler!) this month all you have to do is send us an email with the word "FREEBIE" in the subject and you're in the draw! New subscribers automatically go into the draw.

Next month we'll have a brand new product for the prizes, stay tuned for more details then!

Other News
Both Repligator and AceReader won awards at the recent SIAF conference in Florida in the US. Great programs, great results! Check them out today...

TypingMaster, A touching approach to an age old problem
In the past, many less advanced typing tutor packages were able to provide only a limited amount of feedback on training progress. With its advanced "Learning Optimiser Technology(TM)", TypingMaster adapts the lesson and practice structure dynamically, so that each student's individual needs are met, rather than those of an arbitrary average.

Learning to type is easier than ever: TypingMaster teaches correct typing skills at the individual's own pace, using tutorials, exercises and instant feedback. Its fun user interface and built-in intelligence give continuous feedback on improvement and areas needing further work. Progress is rewarded with fun practice games that are both challenging and reinforce newly acquired skills.More details here: 

Well, another month has passed and with it came more back trouble for me. I've been to see a lot of supposed knowledgeable people about it (and No, Ken I haven't been to an Orthopedic surgeon, yet) without any significant improvements :-(. Just getting through half a day seated at times is nigh on impossible<sigh>. Still, life goes on. 

Boxer, Text Editor Extraordinaire
Boxer is a Windows 32bit (Win95+) text editor that combines powerful editing commands, extensive configurability, a consistent and logical interface, and speedy operation. Designed for web page developers, programmers, engineers, students and business people, Boxer provides a rich and versatile command set that can help simplify even the most difficult editing tasks. Boxer 99 features colour syntax highlighting, with source code for popular programming languages displayed--and printed--in user-defined colours. Users can modify the reserved words and syntax, allowing Boxer to display any language in any combination of colours and font styles. Plus much much more, including some features not found in any other editor! More details here 

ClipMagic
Maintenance Version 2.01 (free update) has been released. It fixes a couple of minor problems and adds preliminary Windows 2000 (based on latest beta) support. Product details here

Macro Scheduler
Version 5.1 (free update) has just been released. It features several new commands, modified and improved commands, and some general fixes. More details here

As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to drop us a line.

Regards,

Tim Jones
Aquarian Technologies

2. ASK THE DOC.

This month SimonH asks: "Is there some easy way I can share files between home and Uni?"

My first thought was to go looking at backup type utilities, one VERY good and simple one of which I found, and that author will subsequently be joining our lineup us this month. More details on their products in the next newsletter. But after a while this approach to sharing of files seemed to be limited in that I required you carry around Zip disks, CDRW/CDR CD's, floppies etc.

THEN, one of our Enriva Voyager users mentioned something he though readers would like to know about.

"I've just found this great site, it is http://www.xdrive.com and it's a free web based hard drive on the net. I've tried many others such as freedrive.com and others, but this one is the best. They give you 25mb's of space free but the real kicker is that you can download this little plugin that maps the drive they give you to windows. I tried it just now and set it up as X drive on my computer (you can give it any letter you want) and it works awesome. Naturally using Magellan Explorer I hoped it would work with it and sure enough it does. It's just like a drive on my system albeit a little slower cause it's going through the net. You can share files with friends on here instead of using email attachments etc."

Readers, please note that this site is still in "beta" so *be careful* about trusting this as your only secure backup option. For quickly sharing smallish files (read, less than a couple of MB) between one location and another I think it could well be an excellent option. Unfortunately, for me, their supplied software doesn't yet work with Windows NT, yet. Win95/98 work fine though. They do supply a web based interface as well which means you can access your X:drive from anywhere, anytime.

So... now Simon has the ability to have access to his assignments anywhere, anytime without the need to actually carry them around with him. This could be extended to all sorts of things such as storing sales promotion slides, work from the office that you might like to finish off one evening, or whatever else you can some up with. Let us know what uses you'd put it to...

Each Edition we select one of the requests to research and report back to everyone what we recommend. So save yourself some legwork (fingerwork?) and solve some computing ills at the same time - Ask the Doc soon.

3. SOFTWARE REVIEW

SureThing CD Labeler
"The Premier CD Labeling Software"
by MicroVision Development
http://www.surething.com

Recently, we started shipping some of our products on CD. Until now there'd been a hold up when it came to preparing the software packages to send out. Sure we could burn them easily enough, but labeling them was a problem. The software that came with the CD burner was pretty "ordinary" to say the least. We needed something that could quickly enable us to design and update labels, and preferably help make the process simple - yet still provide a professional look to the finished product.

I'd already looked at few other products that claimed to allow formatting lables. And, yes, they did what they stated - I guess, but I was left wanting something a bit easier, AND a bit smarter. Enter the scene, SureThing CD Labeler...

I've been using SureThing CD Labeler for a few weeks now, and am just as impressed today as I was the first time I used the product. The process to create a label so SIMPLE, even an adult could do it :-)

A quick example of what I'm talking about might help. Here's what I do to create a new CD label from scratch. We select File|New and this brings up the Label Wizard, we choose the product type that we want to create a label for, you see SureThing doesn't just create CD labels it can create floppy disks, Zip disks, Audio/Video tapes, CD Jewel case labels and more! CD Labels in this case, then we choose the Label stock we wish to use. If you have a special sheet of labels, don't worry, Just choose one close to the one you're using and change it later in the Page Setup. Note: SureThing comes with some labels, everything you need to get started is there in the box!

Next, we choose a background to apply to the label from the list of those supplied with SureThing. You can also use you own graphics if you so desire. I've found the professionally hand picked ones in the package VERY adequate for our needs so far. Then select to use "SmartDesigns". SmartDesigns are predefined groups of font, text and graphics already professional laid out to give you the best impression possible with your CD's. Click finish and Viola! Your new CD label is built. All that is left is for you to fill in the blanks with some relevant text. The last new Label I created took less than 2 minutes! That is 2 minutes in total, from start to ready to print!

A couple of points to remember: Once you've created the base format as above you don't have to stick with it. SureThing provides an easy to use group of drop down boxes at the bottom of the editing screen, from each of these you can select a different background, layout style and font style without upsetting any of you textual or graphical changes. You get to set how things will look, and get a feel for the overall effect without having to continually print out test labels.

Also, if you are using your own graphics, and you select view|Clip to Label to minimise the amount of wasted printing (remember that CD's are round, and most graphics are square so the area outside the circle, and inside the corners of the square is wasted) be aware that this may dramatically slow your printing down IF you happen to have a printer driver that can't handle this clipping effectively. e.g. on an Epson colour Stylus 600 it took the driver ~5 minutes to get to the stage of starting printing a high resolution single label. Turning off "clip to label" in this instance had it start printing almost as soon as I clicked Print.

SureThing is flexible enough to allow you to choose how many labels you wish to print, and I don't just mean number of pages. Printing odd numbers of labels is a breeze. Staring from the second or third label on a sheet - no trouble at all. You can also choose to just print certain parts of the sheet of labels. By that I mean that each label sheet usually comes with other defined areas that can be printed on such as the case spine. These are setup within SureThing the same way that the main label is, you just place the details you wish onto them, and come printing time you can elect to print them or leave them out on this print run. Excellent stuff!

The boxed software on CD comes complete with a printed user guide, some sample sheets of SureThing labels, and a very easy to use label applicator.

Maybe you want to create a one off special label for a compilation CD of your favorite songs, programs, games or whatever. With SureThing CD Labeler you just can't go wrong, it is so simple, quick, and produces professional results to boot.

It is priced at $US39.95 plus $5 S&H ($16 S&H outside US/Canada) and worth every penny of it if you have some labelling to do - remember it does other types of labels too! It's sibling, SureThing Office Labeler does all sorts of other labelling chores as well. More details at http://www.surething.com

I give it a 9.5 - As I said above, I use it. It can't (realistically) come any more highly recommended than that!

4. WEB SITES OF INTEREST

Nicole writes:
"Thanks for spending the time to put together your zine. I enjoy it very much. Maybe I can give something back. There's a cool site @ http://certifiedmail.com that tells you when your emails are read, and it's free. Keep up the great work!!!"

Thanks for the kind words (and the link), Nicole. AND a SPECIAL thanks to those readers who took the time to write in in the last month to say G'day, and thanks for this eZine/newsletter. It is those notes of thanks that make sitting here late at night each month worth the effort, so thank you once again. Oh, I also found out I wasn't the only one of late to have had some battles with the rain ;-)

CertifiedMail.com overcomes the problems associated with email, and is the choice of professionals for sending important documents. Its message tracking system lets you know your messages were opened. And since users receive your message through a browser interface, security and compatibility problems associated with e-mail attachments are eliminated.

CertifiedMail.com is ideal for sending contracts, sales brochures, and purchase confirmations. In addition, use it to confirm appointments, send party invitations and more. The possibilities are endless, and best of all, you can sign up for free!

The Love Bloat:
A slightly biased, hurrah for enormous software programs, filled with useless features, that don't run very fast. 

And by the same author...

Why bugs at all
Explains why/how bugs in software shouldn't exist.

PC = TV = Mixmaster?
Someday soon, all your appliances will talk to their friends on the Web.

V-GO UNCLUTTERS YOUR MIND
This free tool offers a graphical "Universal Password" for all your log-ons. v-Go manages your identities by storing all your various log-on and password combinations in an encrypted file on your computer, logging you in with a single, graphical, password instead.

That's right: Your v-Go universal password won't appear to be made up of letters and numbers, but rather of graphical elements. If you want your password to be chicken stew, choose the Make a Meal password window and drag a chicken an onion and a potato into a pot. If you'd rather your password be a straight flush, choose those cards from the Hand of Cards password window.

And, from the odd-ball department...
Welcome to Gerald Holmes'es Why Micorsoft rules my Univrese

Shareware Discussion Newsgroups
Don't forget the new Newsgroups setup especially for YOU! These are moderated groups (moderated by a fellow Australian, Scott Kane) so are free from flames, spam and other forms of abuse. For on topic, helpful and prompt help and advice on any matters to do with shareware software you really should consider having a read of the new moderated newsgroups at:

news://comp.software.shareware.users
news://comp.software.shareware.authors
news://comp.software.shareware.announce

5. Y2K WATCH

This month I decided to have a look at the lighter side of Y2K and what some people who have just had enough of endless forms and questions about the subject are doing about it.

http://www.hartscientific.com/y2k.htm
http://www.rolltowel.com/y2k.htm

You've gotta laugh sometimes >;-)

6. BOOK REVIEW

Pending...