Well, we’re back to a little Q ‘n A as the questions are poring in. This REALLY helps keep the newsletter focused, giving you what you really want! Keep those questions coming.   Just a note: unless requested, questions will be answered in this newsletter in a 3-4 week time frame. If you need a faster response, there will be a small consultation fee of $15/e-mail response if so desired. You will receive a response within 48 hours. Enjoy, Clyde ************************ News You Can Use   Hp power cord recall for Deskjet + Photo Printer http://h30022.www3.hp.com/home1/   HP is issuing new power cords on many of its printers it sells. These include almost all Photo Printers (except for little one) and Deskjets for the last several months. Log on and see if you’re affected.   Blast from the Past   I was going through some old newsletters and found these gems I hadn’t seen in a while. For those of you who’ve been with me since ’98, you might recognize them; otherwise, enjoy for the first time!   E-mail signatures – loads of them – 3,794 to be exact   Coolsig - Find Great Email Signature Files! http://www.coolsig.com/   There are lots of fun signatures you can put at the end of your e-mail. Every major e-mail program (even AOL) has a place where you can put a “stored” signature. In Outlook, Outlook Express & Eudora, you can store unlimited signatures and send different ones every e-mail if you’d like.   Compare Phone Rates   Compare 10-10 phone rates and save on long distance! http://10-10phonerates.com/ Free Long Distance Phone Rates Comparison Shopping - ABTolls.com http://abtolls.com/   Give a little – just by clicking your mouse   The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World http://www.thehungersite.com/   Give free food, fund mammograms, help save the rainforests just by clicking your mouse. Save this as your home page, click 3 times (no, you won’t go back to Kansas), and you’ll do some good in the world – all for the price of 5 seconds of your attention.   FAQ Quicken vs. QuickBooks   To Quicken or to QuickBooks? Given that I have a small service-based business do you recommend I go with Quicken for Home and Business or Quickbooks? C.A., Mt. View, CA   A: It’s such a broad question; I’m going to have to give a broad answer. The best thing about QuickBooks over Quicken is that it allows for growth in your business, especially when it comes to quotations, estimates, inventory, and payroll. Quicken H&B offers limited functionality in payroll and no apparent support for quotations and estimates. The nice feature about Quicken H&B is that for a sole proprietorship, your whole financial picture is integrated. For a one person, sole proprietorship with no employees, no inventory and no need for estimates and bids, Quicken H&B should work out perfectly. If you plan on growing your business with employees, inventory, and projects, I’d stick with QuickBooks. For further reference go to: http://www.quickbooks.com/choosechart.html http://www.shopintuit.com/Store/CompareProducts-Printable.ASP?PriorityCode=5070000&BaseCode=QHBW2002 (if this link doesn’t work, go to shopintuit.com and click on “compare products” in lower left hand corner).   Website Client Spot Light A Fresh Look – One Day Decorating Service www.afreshlook.net   A new feature I’m going to be running – an added benefit of being a website design client – is occasionally spotlighting website design clients of ours.   Kit Davey, a wonderful person and excellent Interior Designer, has been turning rooms from “blah to beautiful in 8 hours of less” for 11 years. She came to us in July of 2000 with a well-organized plan for her website and we carried it out using the web design tools we know best! Kit chose a custom site and we ran with it. We are continually updating the information on her site to keep it “fresh!” See for yourself: www.afreshlook.net .   Kit, like myself, provides loads of services in different arenas. In addition to coming to your home or business, she has a FREE newsletter, FREE tips (on her site) and teaches inexpensive classes (see her website for schedule). She also does “Staging” and “Professional Organizing.” Her base of operations is in Northern California. Call or write her today!   Card Readers   Q: I’d like to hear about card readers. I need to be able to enter business card information quickly and have it upload to my Palm & to a database such as Outlook. Staples carries only one brand for $250.   I will research the Internet, though don't know what site to look at. Do you know anything about these?   How else do people keep track of all the potential clients?  I can't imagine typing all this in! L.K. Lafayette, CA   A: Card readers are a mixed blessing. The benefits of a card reader, which easily transfers your data from a business card to another program like Act!, Outlook, Lotus Notes, Palm Database and Goldmine, is that you don’t have to initially type in a card. You put the card in the scanner, check the scan, and transfer the data in the correct fields. The card scanner even comes with its own database if you don’t want to use another contact management program. The negative, in my experience, is that the only cards, which this scanner gets “perfect”, are white cards with black text. It seems to have a problem with cards with color of any kind. I’ve noticed there’s a new model that may have a better track record as it’s intended for color and stores cards in color. The only scanner models I’ve tried are the Corex models. You can read more about them here: : http://www.cardscan.com/products/overview.asp . The prices range from $145 (for B&W scanner) to $215 (for color scanner). If you already have a scanner, you will get all the functionality of the hardware product just by purchasing the software for around $60. Another benefit when using the software and a flatbed scanner is that you can do 3 cards at once. All in all, it’s amazing technology and you can find the software and hardware on-line and at retail outlets. If you’re not a touch typist and can’t hire someone to type cards in, this is a wonderful solution. Just make sure to check every card for accuracy.   How far is it from one location in the world to another location in the world? Say I want to know how far it is from Hamburg Germany (where my friend Thomas Lives) to Palo Alto, California.   A: The wonderful site “How far is it?” can help you out with this: http://www.indo.com/distance/ The cool thing is you can just enter a country or latitude and longitude measurements! (FYI: Germany to Palo Alto - 5549 miles (8930 km) (4822 nautical miles)) ************************ Hope you enjoyed the ride.... Clyde Lerner, In The Moment Computing Phone: 408.732.8500 E-mail comments/feedback to: http://www.itmcomputing.com/contact_computer.php This newsletter is a service of In The Moment Computing and is Copyright 2005 Clyde Lerner. All worldwide rights reserved. If forwarding, please forward all of e-mail, not any portion therein. To see past issues of This and That Computer Tips newsletter, please visit the web at: http://www.itmcomputing.com/newsletter.php and click on "Archives." Please note: Unless requested, questions pertaining to this newsletter will be answered in a 3-4 week time frame. If you need a faster response, there will be a small consultation fee of $15 per e-mail response. You will receive a reply within 48 hours. "Complete Computer Help (Networks, New Computer Installs, Software Training) for Individuals and Small Businesses" "Designing your Perfect Website, at an Affordable Cost, in a Timely Manner" Eliminate and Destroy unwanted email: http://spamarrest.com/affl?1337207 Send a greeting card through the Internet so recipient gets card in their postal mailbox: www.sendoutcards.com/7197 - let me walk you through how to send a card - it's easy. ©2002 In The Moment (ITM) Computing. All rights reserved.