Welcome
Our customers told us they were interested in receiving an IT newsletter from ECS, so we decided to create one. Welcome to the very first edition of Monthly Monitor, which will be a monthly IT related newsletter. What we hope to do with this newsletter, is provide a useful array of IT tips, tricks, technical information and industry news. Customer input is going to be vital to the ongoing development of the newsletter, as really we want this to reflect what you want. So please, if you have any feedback or suggestions don’t be afraid to let us know. In the meantime, enjoy our first issue.
Welcome
Monthly Tip
Spotlight - Memory Sticks
New Website Launch
Fact Sheets Available
In the News
Feedback
Monthly Tip
Automatic Mail Check in Outlook - One of the many great new features in Microsoft Outlook XP and 2003 is the ability for Outlook to receive mail automatically. The setting can be found under Tools -> Options -> Mail Setup ->Send & Receive. Here you can set the option for Outlook to check for new mail every x number of minutes.
Spotlight
USB Memory Sticks - USB Memory Sticks have taken off in popularity recently and it’s easy to see why. At present there is no quicker or easier way to conveniently carry important files, documents and images electronically than with a Memory Stick. It is exactly the same as carrying around a floppy disk, except there is a lot more storage on offer.
New players however, need to be aware that the “plug-and-play” functionality we have come to expect from such devices, generally only works on Windows 2000 systems and above.
As with the way of mobile phones, you can pick up a Memory Stick in many shapes, sizes and colours. The most common shape on offer is similar to that in the picture below. Depending on brand, a 128MB Memory Stick can cost between $80 to $100 – not a bad investment for the convenience.
New Website Launch
ECS launched a new website in early December, the aim of which is to provide useful tools and information rather than just details of our products and services. This newsletter is part of the new approach, with the other being the Fact Sheets section. If you have any suggestions about what we can do to provide better value to you, please let us know.
Fact Sheets Available
As mentioned, we have also begun a Fact Sheets section on the site. We hope to provide some everyday information in these Fact Sheets that will help our customers further understand IT in their environment and in general. You can access the current list of Fact Sheets here.
In the News
Electronic Books - Sony and Matsushita, the two largest consumer electronic companies in Japan, claim to have created the first handheld device that reads like a book. Sony's device uses electronic ink to temporarily "print" words on a screen rather than projecting them. It's Sony Librie lets the reader view 10,000 pages with four AAA batteries, and has the ability to store 20 books in memory. Will this finally be the death knell for books as we know?
Commodore Revival - For those who remember the Commodore 64 back in the 1980s, hold on to your hat because the brand could be making a comeback. A US-based company Yeahronimo who are known for providing music and video downloads is planning to use the brand to increase awareness of their services.
Text Messaging for Tsunami Victims - Italian mobile phones users raised approx 11 million euros for tsunami victims by a text messaging donation scheme. The country's four mobile phone operators and main television stations had sponsored the scheme whereby Italians could contribute one euro every time they sent a text message to a special number.
Napster Lists on Nasdaq - Napster, the name once synonymous with music piracy, has become a respectable company with it's listing on the Nasdaq exchange. Napster was purchased by music software maker Roxio in 2002 and converted into a fee-based website that allows subscribers to download music files legally.