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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Thursday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week - 01/06/05 |
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What's your mentality for 2005 - paper
or digital? Do you
have a paper memory, or do you have a digital computer memory? If you have a paper memory, this is a
very busy time of the year for you. If you have a digital computer memory,
meaning you use a computer program for certain tasks, things are a lot
easier. I'm not
being judgmental; I'm just pointing out that if you have a personal computer,
which most people do, you can really save yourself a lot of time - at this
time of the year particularly - by using computer programs instead of the
traditional One of
the most common computer programs used is Microsoft Outlook, which most
computers come bundled with - meaning you get it free. Outlook is a good
selection of tools to do everyday tasks for business and personal items
– email, an address book or contact manager, a calendar, and a To - Do
list, so I'll use it in our paper/computer memory comparison. If you're
of the paper mentality, you've been busy putting up paper calendars, marking
key days like birthdays and special events, and transferring information from
your old calendars to your new 2003 ones. Regular meetings require a lot of
marking and writing - don't they? Let’s mark Friday January 7th
for that weekly department meeting – OK only 51 one more to go ......
sharpen that pencil ... If you
use Outlook, probably most of those birthdays and special events and meetings
are already in your computer and will just repeat themselves for 2005. For
example, once you enter someone’s birthday it will keep showing up each
year. For meetings and events you just set up the recurrence of the event and
they will appear automatically, weekly, monthly or whatever. With your
paper calendar, you have to look at it and flip the pages to see what's
coming up. With Outlook, it shows you your calendar all the time in a variety
of views which you can choose. You can even print out a paper calendar for any period
of time in a variety of formats,
if you want a paper copy. If you're
of the paper mentality, you've probably spent considerable time copying names
and addresses over to your new 2005 address book. If you use Outlook, there's
no work to do - it's all there - same as last year. In fact, you can even
print out your address book on paper - in several small address book formats
- if you so desire. If you
use a paper address book - does it have a line for email addresses, website
addresses, cell phone numbers, IM addresses? Some still don't. If you're
of the paper mentality, how do you handle your "Things to do or tasks
list". Still using that string around your finger, or do you have those
more modern yellow sticky notepads? With
Outlook you can have a To do list, assign priorities to tasks, have due
dates, and have it remind you about tasks; even show you the percentage
you've completed. With
paper, you probably write upcoming appointments down on your paper calendar
and maybe on slips of paper. If you need to change it - you scribble out the
old date and write in the new one somewhere. With
Outlook all your appointments are in your calendar. Your computer will remind
you in advance when an appointment is coming up. If you have to reschedule it
- you can just drag and drop it to the new day and time, without scribbling
or rewriting. I
recently went shopping with a friend of the paper mentality looking for one
of those combination calendar/addressbooks which fit
in a binder and used to be so popular before personal computers automated
these tasks. Several
stores said they had nothing like that, but one young sales woman did say
“Oh yeah, I remember my Grandma used one of those ...” So maybe
next year when you face all that paper pushing again, maybe you might
consider switching mentalities. From “We must preserve the old ways
...” to using that electronic computer which can do a much better job
for you. For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2005 MTA Micro Technology
Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html (509)624-7230 |
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