A column about columns

Since this is an Internet feature, I think I’ll call this a meta-column.

I’m not one to coin a new term, but how else do you describe a posting in which you try to tie up all the loose ends from older postings? Print reporters like to label it a “follow-up,” broadcasters take a “second look” but online journalists, I think, do meta-columns.

A meta-column is a column about columns.

And goodness knows I’ve done plenty of ‘em. One a week for more than a year (that’s half an eternity in cyberspace.) So rather than testing your patience with a paragraph about the origins of the Greek root meta and all of its etymological implications, let’s get right to the action.

MacDrive A recent column about MacDrive asked readers if they could think of anything better to translate Macintosh-format files for the PC. As a matter of fact, some users wrote in to say there were better applications.

“There is actually a much better product,” noted reader Damiön La Bagh. “Check out Conversions Plus from DataViz. This is the one I use to effortlessly work with Mac files. It integrates into Windows so all you have to do is put in your Mac floppy, CD-ROM, ZIP or JAZ and you see at the top of your Windows Explorer. There is no need to convert anything because you just open the program that you want to open the file in, click “open” and find your file.”

Bernhardt Saini-Eidukat, who works for the department of Geosciences at North Dakota State University in Fargo, pointed out that “the latest file conventions of Word for Mac and PC are identical, so if you send an attachment from your Mac to your boss’ PC, they can read them with no problem – assuming there’s a .doc at the end of the file name.”

True, that’s how it ought to work. But it doesn’t always. The most my editors can handle, for example, is a document saved as rich text. As for the Conversions Plus product, it certainly merits a look, although after reading La Bagh’s note, I’m not sure I understand how it’s better than MacDrive. I’m going to get my hands on a copy and see what, if anything, is different.

Clik! My story on Iomega’s new Clik! drew some hostile responses from users who had apparently been burned by the company¹s products and now wanted the company to go down in flames.

“Actually, Iomega has a solid reputation for abandoning their installed base and for making defective hardware,” quipped Jim Kennicott of Park City, Utah.

Added another reader: “I have no faith whatsoever in Iomega after the way they handled the ZIP disk fiasco. The Clik! is the new version of the defunct Zip. The Zip held 100 MB of data, and acted and was attached the same way as the Clik! is. However, there was an engineering defect that caused the heads to come loose and crash into the cartridge, permanently destroying both the cartridge and the drive. All you heard was a ‘clicking’ noise; inserting another cartridge caused that one to be destroyed again, with the same clicking sound. Ironic that the new drive is called Clik!”

Yes, indeed. I wrote about the “Click of Death” last year, but I should point out that there have been no reports of the new Clik! wreaking havoc in the same way as its predecessor. Had I to write that particular column over, though, I probably would have been a little less effusive in my praise.

Speech recognition The column about speech recognition and translation provoked some e-mails about traveling abroad and the usefulness of knowing the language.

“Now I know what may be causing my computer to crash,” wrote B. Shaheed. “I recently installed Dragon Speaks. Ever since then, whenever I run my word-processing program – even when the speech recognition system is not engaged – my system produces a blue screen with umpteen numbers and threatens to shut down or shuts itself down automatically.”

Point of clarification: it was ViaVoice that singed my system, not Dragon. I’m not shocked that the speech-recognition program is creating problems. These are typically large programs that hog both processor and memory space. I would call Dragon’s tech support and get them to assist with this problem. It shouldn’t be happening. Reader Stephen Morgan of Crossville, Tenn., said translation programs are unneeded. “Here is my very low-tech way that I have traveled the world,” he wrote. “If you can memorize — or have a cheat sheet — of 50 words, you can say just about do anything. Some of the words and phrases are: ‘bathroom,’ ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘help’ and ‘anyone speak English?’”

eFax Finally, my recent criticism of eFax brought a lot of its fans out of the woodwork to defend the free service. Basically, I was unhappy with how long it took to deliver the document to my desktop.

“I have been using eFax since February and love the program,” countered Steve Turner. “I receive many, many faxes of four or five pages and have never experienced the sort of delay you describe. Furthermore, it seldom takes more than a few seconds for me to receive a fax that somebody has called me to tell me it’s on its way. Perhaps your mail server is the source of your problem.”

Heather Baldwin wondered, “Are we using the same eFax? I’ve had an e-fax number for a couple months now and have been totally impressed with how quickly faxes come to me, how easy they are to retrieve and how clear they are (if I print it out, it’s just as good as if it had come over a regular fax, regardless of whether there are charts, graphs, or scrawling handwriting). And half an hour to download? Are you sure that’s not just your computer?”

All right, all right. Maybe it is my computer.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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