Software: Jot this

By | November 24, 2011
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 Jot+ Notes, one of those programs that never go out of style, is today into its third version. Jot+ Notes is a note/cardfile program with an added dimension: each note can have sub-notes, which in turn can have their own sub-notes, until you end up with a hierarchical tree or outline of notes. Sounds complicated? It’s not.
 
 
It’s very simple, and great for any loosely structured information — stuff that’s too important to just leave in a text file, but too vague to put in , say, Outlook. It’s good for address books (it even has an Autodial function), diaries/journals, Internet links/bookmarks, e-books, or just random notes.
 
A few of the many improvements in Jot+ Notes 3.0:
  • Improved editor, with more formatting options, plus support for embedded objects and images.
  • Plugins, to extend Jot+ Notes even further.
  • Enhanced import/export, with new XML support and enhanced HTML and CSV support.
  • Modern user interface, with colorful icons, configurable toolbars, configurable keyboard shortcuts, and XP theme support.
  • Note titles can be displayed in different styles with a choice of icon from a large library.
  • Notefile compression reduces notefile size by up to 90%.
Jot+ costs $30, or $9 (or free) for upgrades from previous versions, depending on when you bought it. I’ve checked the program out, and it’s good, very good. Gripes? It would replace my address book entirely if only it came with a version I could run on my Palm/Pocket PC.
 

Software: PaperMaster Pro – worth the wait?

By | November 24, 2011
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 It’s been nearly five years some folk have been waiting, but it looks like PaperMaster, a great program for scanning and organizing your paperwork, is back.
 
PaperMaster is back
PaperMaster — the last full version was 98, to give you some idea how long this software’s been hibernating — was pretty good. It look liked a filing cabinet, and let you scan and store more or less anything you could squeeze through your scanner. The company was sold to j2, which is basically an Internet faxing service and which were very, very quiet about the software until last year, when in response to public interest (well me, and a couple of other people) they released PaperMaster2002, an upgrade for existing licensed users of PaperMaster98 “who have migrated or are planning to migrate to the Microsoft® Windows 2000, XP, or ME operating system”.
 
That version wasn’t cheap — $150 — and didn’t do much apart from resolve a few of the features of PaperMaster98 that wouldn’t work under XP (unless you happened to stumble across some tweaks that fans had posted to websites). Earlier this year, when I complained about the cost of what was basically a minor upgrade, j2 told me “the PaperMaster upgrade was completed primarily for a few select users who were figuratively beating down j2 Global’s door to get the new product. The cost of the upgrade was a result of j2 Global investing significant resources to complete an upgrade designed for limited distribution. Based on customer response, j2 Global’s PaperMaster users seem to be fine with the price”. Not what I heard, but there you go.
 
Anyway, Pro is here. Nearly. You can pre-order and get 15% off the retail price of $199 (once again, not cheap). Still, it sounds as if it has some serious features: 
  •    Create PDFs from any office application or scan
  •    Organize fast and easy
  •    Find anything in seconds
  •    Get powerful OCR – Never re-type any document
  •    Fax easier via the Internet with built-in eFax®
All of which sound useful. I’ll review it once I’ve got hold of a copy. Earlier release date was set for today, so that could be soon. If you’re in a hurry, see my recent review of PaperPort, which does much the same thing.
 

Update: Aliencamel gets another hump

By | November 24, 2011
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 Newly arrived anti-spam service Aliencamel, which I mentioned in an earlier column, tell me they’ve beefed up their service by ‘double scanning’ every email with virus engines from RAV and Kapersky. Aliencamel’s spam technology uses server-based whitelists — allowing email from such addresses to get through — and blacklists — blocking out ‘bad’ email senders — and a spam-filter ranking system from SpamAssassin, letting you select what emails actually reach your inbox. It’s definitely worth a try. I’m still using POP File which adopts a different approach and is free, but some users have found it fiddly to set up with some email accounts. Aliencamel cost $16 for a half-year subscription.
 

Box: New to Newsfeeds

By | November 24, 2011
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 New to Newsfeeds? RSS for beginners
 
How do I get started reading newsfeeds? Newzcrawler and Feedreader, both mentioned in the main article, are the best programs to start with. Feedreader is still in development, but felt pretty stable to me. To add a Really Simple Syndication, or RSS feed, just paste in the link [more on this in a bit] and it should start showing up immediately. Newzcrawler even lets you send stuff from other people’s feeds to your own blog, or on-line journal, or RSS feed. Each program adds the feeds in a slightly different way, but in most cases you’ll be asked to copy a link [the Web site address that appears at the top of your browser] into the newsreader. These links usually end in a full stop, then three letters: RSS, RDF or XML (don’t worry which; they all do the same thing).

This sounds scary. If all this is a bit daunting, try Serence’s KlipFolio (www.serence.com), which is a bit more polished — though still free to the end-user. Now into its second version, it supports Korean and Chinese language Klips. Download the software and then browse the various Klips on offer. An Outlook user? Try NewsGator (www.newsgator.com) which folds all your RSS feeds into an Outlook folder. Or if you’re brave, check out clevercactus (www.clevercactus.com), which is an Outlook-style personal organizer with RSS built in. Here’s a provisional list of newsreaders: www.hebig.org/blogs/archives/main/000877.php

How do I find interesting feeds? A couple of places to start: Feedster (www.feedster.com) is the Google of the RSS/blog world. Another option is Syndic8 (http://www.syndic8.com/), a more select, and searchable, list of feeds. You’ll notice a lot of sites offer their own feeds so you don’t have to go hunting for them. Can’t find a feed for a site you’re interested in? Check out MyRSS (http://myrss.com/) which allows you to build a custom feed for any site, even if it doesn’t have a feed. It’s pretty straightforward, too.

How do I set up my own newsfeed? First you need material, which means setting up a blog. That’s easy enough: my favourites are Weblogger (www.weblogger.com) or Blogger (www.blogger.com). Once you’ve set up a blog, both sites offer simple options to add an RSS feed automatically. That’s it. If you’re a company thinking of setting up a feed, you may want to talk to the pros. The coding is quite simple, but there are ways to add your logo, and other corporate stuff, to ensure some quality control.

Tell me more? Can’t, sorry, I’ve run out of space. Here’s where you can find out more about the whole thing, however:www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.shtml