Message-ID: <4502292.1075845159390.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 18:47:59 -0700 (PDT) From: cnet_digital_dispatch@one.digital.cnet.com To: shendri@ect.enron.com Subject: Time to ditch your Walkman? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-From: CNET Digital Dispatch @ENRON X-To: shendri@ECT.ENRON.COM X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Hendrickson, Scott\Hendrickson, Scott\Deleted Items X-Origin: HENDRICKSON-S X-FileName: Hendrickson, Scott.pst =09=09=09Digital Dispatch [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] = =09=09=09=09 [IMAGE]=09[IMAGE] =09[IMAGE]=09 [IMAGE] May 31, 2001 [IMAGE] --Steve F= ox, editor in chief, CNET Networks Dear readers, If you have a handheld= --or are thinking of buying one--maybe it's time to ditch your Walkman. Bec= ause listening to music on a handheld device (except a Palm) has finally be= come practical . What's the problem with Palm? For some inexplicable reason= , the world's most popular handheld has no stereo headphone jack. But for m= ost other devices, digital music is a natural. Virtually anything you might= want to hear is available in MP3 format, and one broadcaster has even star= ted a wireless digital-music delivery system (something like radio for hand= helds). So grab your handheld and tune in. Sounds like a great formula for = a harmonious year. This Week's Top 10 Problems with the new McDonal= d's wand [IMAGE] [IMAGE] Software [IMAGE] [IMAGE] Banking on th= e Net Does anything call up images of bricks and mortar more than banks do= ? You'd think these traditional temples would be the last things to go high= tech, but online banks are springing up left and right. Can they manage yo= ur money as well as your local teller can? CNET's secret shopper opened che= cking accounts at three online banks and compared the results. See which ba= nk, if any, takes the golden coin. In Software Electronics [IMAGE] Musi= c on your handheld Why buy a separate MP3 player when you already carry ar= ound a PDA with the processing power to handle digital audio? Learn the bes= t ways to listen to music--and to make your own--on your Palm OS and Pocket= PC handheld. In Electronics Wireless [IMAGE] The ultimate guide to wirel= ess e-mail devices In the first two parts of our three-part series, we tol= d you about options for Palm OS and Pocket PC devices. Now, in the third an= d final part, we round up the most popular two-way pagers for wireless e-ma= il. In Wireless Software [IMAGE] Office XP superguide At long last, Off= ice XP hits the shelves this week. What's new and improved? Is your PC up t= o the challenge? Should you bother to upgrade? Here's everything you need t= o know about the world's most popular office suite. In Software Hardware= [IMAGE] Apple iBook: snow-white and skinny The snow-white, slim, crisp-lo= oking iBook takes obvious cues from its much-lauded big brother, the PowerB= ook G4. Has this little brother behaved? Check our first take. In Hardware = Web Building [IMAGE] Steal this Flash You don't have to reinvent the wh= eel to have fun with Flash. We lead you through the ethics, challenges, and= practical considerations of customizing open source ActionScript as you bu= ild your own version of Pac-Man by altering our media files. In Web Buildin= g problems with the new McDonald's payment system [IMAGE] Top Ten = [IMAGE] [IMAGE] McDonald's is experimenting with a high-tech payment sys= tem: a plastic wand that patrons wave in front of an electronic sensor to p= ay for burgers and such. Currently being tested in Boise, Idaho, the system= deducts the appropriate charge from a customer's debit or credit card. We= don't know if McWands will ever catch on, but we urge Ronald and friends t= o think carefully before charging ahead. New technologies often yield unint= ended consequences; witness the following: 10 Open sesame bun Avid Harry= Potter fans keep waving wands over their burgers, incanting Latinate phras= es such as "Super-sizius." 9 Your money or your burger Get mugged by the Ha= mburglar and find that your credit card has been debited for 500 Happy Meal= s. 8 Is that a wand in your pocket... Rash of employee firings stemming fro= m inappropriate wand jokes. 7 No, not the "1812 Overture"! Prankster sympho= ny conductors repeatedly crash the system. 6 Fuzzy magic Income tax equatio= ns thrown into disarray when federal government opts for construction of 20= 0-ton wand to wave at national debt. 5 Drive-by wanding You're inadvertentl= y charged for an order of Chicken McNuggets every time you pass a set of go= lden arches. 4 McDungeons and Dragons Role-playing gamers flock to the new = system, only to cancel service when they discover the wands don't shoot fir= eballs. 3 Burned again Vigorous wand waving could overturn hot cups of coff= ee, resulting in immediate lawsuits. 2 Would you like spam with that? Wand = transmits your demographic info to marketers, who bombard you with Clearasi= l and ThighMaster ads. 1 Over 10 billion slaughtered Militant vegetarian ha= ckers reconfigure wand to automatically tabulate cow body count with every = purchase. 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Tech News News.com = Office XP: open for business Price pressure extends to new Palms Gatew= ay launches full assault in price war Wireless Web gets personal Amazon= sellers fuming over auction glitch More CNET News Top Downloads [IM= AGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] The Bat [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] Ashampoo WinOptimi= zer 2000 [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] MusicMatch Jukebox [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [= IMAGE] Cinema 4D XL (for the Mac) Editors' Choice IBM ThinkPad T20 not= ebook Editors' Choice In Hardware Sonicblue Rio 800 128MB MP3 player Ed= itors' Choice In Music Center Sony DCR-PC5 digital camcorder Editors' Ch= oice In Electronics Microsoft Publisher 2002 Editors' Choice In Softwar= e Progeny Debian 6.0 Editors' Choice In Linux Center Novatel Wireless M= erlin for Ricochet Editors' Choice In Wireless NetMechanic Editors' Cho= ice In Web Building =09[IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] =09 [IMAGE] = =09 [IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09 [IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09 Subscribe to other free newslette= rs News.com Daily Dispatch Web Building Newsletter All newslet= ters The e-mail address for your subscription is shendri@ECT.ENRON.COM. 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