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May 2004 - Posts

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 10:50 PM

My last regular post here at Marc's Outlook

Marc's Outlook on Productivity is moving... after a fashion. I've been invited to join the Weblogs, Inc. Network to help develop two new blogs, The Office Weblog and The Tablet PC Weblog . These new blogs join Engadget , Mark Cuban's Blog Maverick , The
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 6:12 AM

Will GMail really offer a terabyte of storage? No.

Gizmodo and Bladam are both discussing a rumored bump in storage at Google's fledgling GMail service to one terabyte! Does anyone really need a terabyte for e-mail? If this comes to pass, the notion that Google has a bigger plan than just e-mail certainly
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 6:28 AM

Note Studio - a personal Wiki on your Palm and PC

Note Studio is a unique application for the Palm OS and Windows PCs (a Mac desktop version is forthcoming) that allows you to create a Wiki on your handheld. For the uninitiated, a Wiki is something like a web site - a set of pages with links that allow
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Monday, May 17, 2004 6:29 AM

UPDATES: Lookout and ContentSaver

Lookout has been updated to version 1.0.3 which should resolve the issue some users were reporting that caused their toolbar to vanish. Lookout will automatically fetch this update if you have the add-in installed. It does require rebuilding your index.
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Sunday, May 16, 2004 8:37 PM

LOOSE wire: Plaxo's Trojan Horse

Jeremy Wagstaff makes a pretty cogent argument that Plaxo's recent announcement that Yahoo! search will be built into their forthcoming version 2.0 toolbar shows that Plaxo's free business model was a classic Trojan Horse ploy. The idea that the new turf
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Sunday, May 16, 2004 6:44 AM

FileTargets - Powerful Copy and Send shell tool

I found FileTargets recently and, along with File-Ex , it has revolutionized my ability to mange files on my system. FileTargets is a shell extension that installs into the context menu you pull up when you right click on a file or folder on the desktop
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Saturday, May 15, 2004 7:05 AM

The coolest Honda commercial of all time

I got a link to this from a good buddy. I wish we got commercials like this here in the US. It's truly amazing to watch the cleverness of this "Rube Goldberg machine" idea -- especially when you know the back story. (requires Flash) Honda Commercial in
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Saturday, May 15, 2004 5:26 AM

Lookout update

Lookout has been updated to version 1.0.2 to address an issue discovered in the preview release that caused the automatic upgrade installation to fail. Lookout should alert you that this upgrade is available. If not, go get it at their website.
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Friday, May 14, 2004 7:58 AM

A steady stream of Yahoo! News

Yahoo! has been busy. Plaxo announced yesterday that the forthcoming version 2.0 of their contact management service will feature Yahoo! search in the Outlook and Outlook Express toolbars Plaxo installs. Now, Yahoo is addressing the GMail threat by announcing
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Friday, May 14, 2004 5:55 AM

Blogjet is now official

It's been a good week for long-time beta software projects going official. Yesterday, I reported that Lookout is now available in a 1.0 (preview) release and now I'm happy to report that Blogjet , an offline blog authoring tool I've written about a number
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 13, 2004 9:32 PM

Now Hear This: Lookout 1.0 has been released!

Woo hoo! Lookout has reached 1.0 (preview release) status. I learned this when Lookout asked me if I wanted to upgrade this evening. The upgrade (and required rebuild of the index) went quickly and smoothly. Pricing for Lookout has been announced as $29.95.
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 13, 2004 3:49 PM

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3 released

The newest version of Spybot Search & Destroy has been officially released and should be part of your PC security toolkit. In combination with Ad-Aware , Spybot S&D provides excellent protection from spyware, browser hijacking, key loggers, tracking cookies,
Posted by marc | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:44 PM

NewsGator Update - Recommended for all users

Greag Reinacker posted this notice to the NewsGator forums today. This is an important update that addresses a potential corruption of the subscriptions file. If you use NewsGator (and I know a lot of you do), get this update now. NewsGator 2.0 service
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 6:28 PM

Wondering what you can do with a Tablet PC?

I'm a big fan of Laptop Magazine . It's well written, nicely designed, and full of new gadgets every month. Techworthy, the publisher has a terrific newsletter that highlights features from their Laptop , PC Upgrade , and Tech Edge publications. I just
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 1:16 PM

Free guide to Microsoft Security Updates

The new Microsoft Security Newsletter has a well-done guide to the different ways Microsoft alerts users about security-related updates. Microsoft TechNet: ITPro Editorial Free Guide to Security Updates Jeffrey R. Jones Senior Director, Security Business
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 6:55 AM

Here's a great freeware startup manager

Another freeware gem found via Lockergnomes: Starter . This very nicely designed freeware tool displays all startup items on your system, broken down by where they "live" - Registry, Startup Items folder, or win.ini file and allows you to turn unnecessary
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Monday, May 10, 2004 10:12 PM

It's the little things...

A fun little thing... I'm Google-ing around and it just occured to me that I'm lying in bed, wirelessly surfing, and looking at an entire page of Google results on a single screen. This Toshiba Tablet PC's screen is amazing! Another little thing... a
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Monday, May 10, 2004 10:44 AM

Marc's Outlook is the Feedster "Feed of the Day"

I'm excited and proud to anounce that this blog has been selected as Feedster's Feed of the Day! I have placed a logo on the sidebar to celebrate. This is just the fifth month I've been blogging and I'm really gratified at the steady stream of feedback
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Sunday, May 09, 2004 8:56 AM

File-Ex improves Open & Save dialogs

One of my great frustrations is the difficulty I have with Windows Open and Save dialogs. They're too small by default and it's cumbersome to modify the default settings to get the display to remember the size, view, position, and other attributes I want.
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Saturday, May 08, 2004 10:21 PM

Just Got a New Tablet PC!

I've spent the last couple of days moving my system over to a new Toshiba Portege M205 Tablet PC. I haven't had a whole lot of time to investigate the many cool things bundled with the system yet but some immediate impressions have already been made:
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Friday, May 07, 2004 5:48 AM

Seth Godin's at it again

Seth Godin's new book Free Prize Inside will be released next week. It's a terrific sequel to Purple Cow - a small but powerful volume about how to make your rpoduct or service remarkable. Seth is offering a free e-book called Bull Market that acts as
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 06, 2004 6:52 PM

Great article on setting up WiFi at home

Today's Microsoft Insider newsletter has a great article on how to set up a home WiFi network with proper security that will support the laptop you bring home from the office. Using a Wireless Laptop at Work and at Home By Charlie Russel, Microsoft MVP
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 06, 2004 6:56 AM

Mossberg weighs in on GMail

I listen to the Wall St. Journal every morning on Audible.com . Thursdays are one of my favorite days because I get to hear Walt Mossberg's Personal Technology column. Regular readers know I think Mossberg is one of the best writers we have on technology
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 06, 2004 6:16 AM

A Nice Hot Key Utility - Free

Found this on LockerGnome. Hotkey Helper is a simple tool that helps you keep your hands on the keyboard. If you launch a certain program all the time, especially from the command prompt, this might be a good addition to your system. WPG Software Hotkey
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Wednesday, May 05, 2004 9:29 AM

Access files on your PC or network from your Palm

Handshigh Software has developed a Samba client for connected Palm OS devices that lets you access files on your PC, Mac, or UNIX computers. Windows machines require no configuration. Mac users simply turn on Windows File Sharing (which enables OS X's
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 6:45 PM

A few more search tools worth mentioning

The review of personal search tools has proven to be a popular topic and I want to thank all of the readers who have either posted comments or sent me e-mail suggesting additional tools I might include. Two clearly popular choices have emerged as well
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 5:44 AM

Scopeware has a new Vision of search

The final tool in this review is Scopeware Vision and it is the most ambitious and unique approach to solving the problem of finding stuff on your system I've encountered. Vision is ambitious because of its extensibility - there are modules to extend
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Monday, May 03, 2004 5:59 AM

FILEHand - a Google-like search for your desktop

The current state of the art in search technology is defined by Google. It is inarguably the most popular search engine on the web and has competitors scrambling to find a way to differentiate themselves. Yahoo! has been adding services (RSS feeds) and
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Sunday, May 02, 2004 7:59 AM

x1: A different approach to search

I read a lot of blogs, tech magazines, and newsletters. When a product starts developing a critical mass of attention, it usually doesn't take too long for me to recognize that that some serious good buzz is developing. As the idea for creating a review
Posted by marc | 0 Comments
Saturday, May 01, 2004 7:02 AM

Lookout - the search add-in for Outlook

If there is a search tool that has become so ingrained in my workflow that I can't imagine how I got anything done before installing it, it's Lookout . Regular readers of my blog know that I spend a good part of my day in Outlook. It's the first application
Posted by marc | 0 Comments