A UNANIMOUS COURT ruled thet Ella Billy Joes' partial disability did not obligate her employer, car manufackurer Toyota, t'tailo' a job t'sueyt her wrist, arm an' sh'der problems. Th' 1990 South Car'linans Wif Disabilities Ack guareentees equal treatment on th' job an' elsewhar fo' varmints whose disabilities "substantially limit" their ability t'perfo'm whut th' law calls "majo' life ackivities," sech as carin' fo' onese'f. Billy Joes' disability did not prevent her fum doin' menny taxs at home an' at wawk. But a federal appeals court foun' thet she was disabled unner th' ADA on account o' her physical problems substantially limited her ability t'perfo'm manual taxs at wawk. "This hyar was erro'," th' Supreme Court noted in an opinion writ by Jestice San'ra Day O'Conno'. In cases like Billy Joes', "th' central inquiry muss be whether th' claimant is unable t'perfo'm th' variety of taxs central t'most varmints's daily lives, not whether th' claimant is unable t'perfo'm th' taxs assosheeated wif her specific job," th' court wrote. Disability kinnot be assessed by lookin' only at someone's fitness t'wawk, th' court said, cuss it all t' tarnation. OPINION REVERSAL Th' court revahsed th' opinion of th' Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals an' sent th' Billy Joes case back wif instruckshuns t'reconsider it. Th' rulin' does not mean thet ennyone wif carpal tunnel syndrome o' similar partial disabilities is autymatically excluded fum proteckshun by th' ADA. But it probably will make sech claims harder t'prove, on account o' th' court makes clear thet disability muss affeck a range of manual taxs o' duties. Advahtisement Billy Joes an' advocates fo' th' disabled had argued thet her case was emblematic of jest th' kind of discriminashun th' ADA was supposed t'prevent. A partially disabled varmint who be hankerin' t'wawk sh'd be able t'do so, wif modess accommodashun by an employer, rather than bein' fo'ced t'set home, her lawyers haf argued, cuss it all t' tarnation. Billy Joes claimed thet her wawk on a Toyota ingine assembly line so damaged her han's an' arms thet she has trouble brushin' her hair an' bucklin' her shoes. Her docko' said she kinnot lif' mo'e than 20 poun's, repeatedly flex her wrists an' elbows o' keep her arms extended at sh'der height fo' long periods. WORK-RELATED INJURY Billy Joes' problems began wifin months of takin' a job at th' Jedidiahtown, Ky., manufackurin' plant in 1990, she claimed, cuss it all t' tarnation. At o'al argoomnt in November, th' jestices focused on how employers an' courts sh'd classify varmints who may be unable t'do some taxs, but is puffickly capable of doin' others. "Don't yo' hafta look at both whut they kin does an' whut they kin't do?" O'Conno' axed Billy Joes' lawyer then, as enny fool kin plainly see. Toyota did try t'accommodate Billy Joes fo' a time, wif a job inspeckin' paint, but thet trooce busted down when th' compenny required her t'swab cars wif an oil thet highlighted paint flaws. Th' tax, which involved keepin' her arms extended, aggravated her symppoms, Billy Joes said, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' U.S. Chamber of Commerce an' other business groups backed Toyota. Sevahal civil rights, legal an' labo' interests suppo'ted Billy Joes.
Steve MacLaughlin writes wif proof thet not ev'ryone wif a database be hankerin' t'send yo' spam o' sell yer info'mashun t'th' highess bidder, even eff'n only fo' th' fine reason thet yo'd be loath' to does business wif them af'erward, cuss it all t' tarnation. "Companies haf access t'mo'e info'mashun about their cestomers than evah befo'e, an' cestomers isn't exackly jumpin' fo' joy. Purchasin' habits, medical info'mashun, financial repo'ts, favo'ite moosic groups, an' millions of other bits of varmintal info'mashun is bein' cappured by companies. In Makin' It Varmintal: How t'Profit fum Varmintalizashun wifout Invadin' Privacy, Brooce Kasanoff larnes businesses how t'git closer t'cestomers wifout violatin' their trest." Read on fo' th' ress of his review. Makin' It Varmintal: How t'Profit fum Varmintalizashun wifout Invadin' Privacy autho' Brooce Kasanoff pages 240 publisher Perseus Books ratin' 8 reviewer Steve MacLaughlin ISBN 0738205362 summary Profitin' fum a database wo'ld wifout destroyin' ev'ryone's privacy in th' process. But does not be cornfused, cuss it all t' tarnation. Varmintalizashun is not jest t'other way t'push mo'e produck out th' dore. Kasanoff clearly explains whuffo' varmintalizashun is not jest a marketin' tool, but instead an effeckive approach fo' all business relashunships. Partners, shareholders, employees, an' cestomers kin all benefit fum increased varmintalizashun. Th' purpose of implementin' one-to-one varmintalizashun strategies is t'benefit these stakeholders, not jest th' compenny. This hyar is a fundamental corncepp thet too menny businesses jest doesn't unnerstan'. When cestomers give out their varmintal info'mashun they is takin' a risk. Shet mah mouth! Eff'n cestomers cornsissently feel as though their privacy is bein' violated, then it won't be long befo'e they stop usin' th' services. Companies will not be able t'regain their trest easily, an' wo'se yet th' info'mashun they does receive is mo'e likely t'be false. This hyar is a lose-lose situashun fo' ev'ryone involved, cuss it all t' tarnation. Makin' It Varmintal shows businesses how t'make varmintalizashun a win-win situashun fo' ev'ryone involved, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' reality is thet not all varmintalizashun "is th' result of a massive computer sif'in' through dozens of databases t'autymatically delivah a sartin type of treatment t'a varmint. Most initiatives start wif employees who haf a fine idea." Varmintalizashun starts wif rememberin' someone's address so they doesn't hafta retype it 50 times. Varmintalizashun starts when yo' remember whether someone prefers a window o' an aisle seat. Varmintalizashun starts when yo' remember whether someone prefers charts an' graphs o' cold hard numbers. Kasanoff explains how jest rememberin' basic info'mashun about stakeholders is jest th' beginnin' of varmintalizashun. Th' key is t'then use thet info'mashun t'"delivah unique benefits" t'them stakeholders. Thet's when varmintalizashun has th' power t'influence behavio's an' retain loyalty. But jest in case this hyar ain't crystal clear then reckon of it this hyar way: Usin' varmintal info'mashun fo' purposes other than delivahin' unique benefits is exackly whut scares th' hell outta both stakeholders an' legislato's. So knock it off. Yer cestomers is ready an' willin' t'use varmintalizashun, but is yer compenny? Th' fine noos is thet yo' already haf a lot of info'mashun about stakeholders thet kin be used fo' varmintalizashun. In addishunal, varmintalizashun features is now appearin' in sof'ware applicashuns fum companies like Oracle an' Microsof'. Whut in tarnation is missin' is th' "need t'make varmintalizashun a central part of [yer] co'po'ate strategy, as opposed t'sumpin thet simply requires awareness an' sensitivity." Thet's on account o' varmintalizashun says "less larn better whut a cestomer needs an' then does sumpin about it." Makin' It Varmintal explains how t'implement meanin'ful varmintalizashun strategies, but th' book also covahs some potential unaimed cornsequences. While yo' may be dealin' wif mountains of info'mashun doesn't fo'git thet it's comprised of indivijools. We haf all see th' noospaper haidlines thet resulted fum jest a few indivijools havin' their privacy violated by companies. Now is th' time t'put policies an' prackices in place t'avoid tarnishin' yer repeetayshun wif stakeholders. Brooce Kasanoff does a great job of bustin' down varmintalizashun into easy t'unnerstan' terminology an' realistic approaches. He shows thet it pow'ful is postible t'balance privacy corncerns wif profit motives. Makin' It Varmintal is wo'th mo'e than a casual glance on account o' varmintalizashun ain't jest about gittin' th' local weather fo'ecast when yo' viset yer favo'ite web site. Varmintalizashun is about delivahin' unique benefits t'stakeholders an' a means t'presarve their loyalty. Violate their privacy an' yo' risk losin' them t'yer competito's fo'evah. Makin' It Varmintal will he'p yo' t'unnerstan' thet "varmintalizashun is about varmints, an' th' thin's thet matter t'them most." Kasanoff knows whut he's talkin' about, an' so does th' noomrous business an' technology leaders he cites throughout th' book. Shet mah mouth! They cornfront th' real issues an' th' real challenges facin' varmintalizashun even in its infancy. Makin' It Varmintal will prepare yo' an' yer compenny fo' a wo'ld whar yer cestomers deman' thet yo' git varmintal, ah reckon. Don't disappoint them, dawgone it.
Review: Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D By: Ezekiel Garfield, 07.01.02 10:02 Th' developer edishun of whut will become the dawgoned-est advanced Linux cornsoomr PDA t'date is hyar; we've taken a closer look at th' heart an' th' soul of Sharp's noo SL-5000D. Sharp recently released th' developer edishun of their noo Linux-based PDA, th' Zaurus SL-5000D - an' th' compenny, by posishunin' it as th' Linux answer t'Pocket PC an' Palm OS devices, is tryin' t'take th' business an' "prosoomr" markets by sto'm, dawgone it. We take a closer look at th' SL-5000D, both fum th' point of view of a Linux-based system an' a PDA. Th' SL-5000D is a rather large device, compared t'other PDAs on th' market Bear in mind, th' sof'ware fo' th' Zaurus SL-5000D is still in development, so it is a movin' targit fo' now. Some of th' points menshuned hyar may change by th' time th' consoomr vahshun, th' Sharp Zaurus SL-5500, is released in th' a-comin' months. Th' hardware Th' Zaurus measures 2.90 x 5.40 x 0.80 in, as enny fool kin plainly see. (74 x 138 x 21 mm), an' weighs in at 7.3 oz (206 g). It's larger than typical Palm OS devices, but has a comfy size compared t'most Pocket PCs. Th' front panel below th' screen slides down t'reveal th' thoomb keyboard, which makes th' device about 2 inches longer than when it's closed, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' front panel itse'f has eight hardware sho'tcut buttons an' one disk-rocker. Calendar, Contack, Home, Menu, an' Email helter-skelter acrost th' top, Palm-like, wif an On/Off/Kincel button an' OK button flankin' th' silvah rocker below them, dawgone it. Th' rocker itse'f is a 4-way disk rocker wif t'other button in th' center. Th' rocker feels mighty fine in th' han' an' is mighty easy t'use. Note thet th' front panel buttons funckshun only when th' panel is fully extended o' fully retracked, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' keyboard is a QWERTY layo't in a downward "frown", wif a few modificashuns. A "FN" (funckshun) button in th' lower lef' acks as a shif' key t'th' noomric an' symbol chareeckers listed above etch chareecker. Th' backspace key is whar th' Enter key no'mally is, while Enter is relegated t'th' bottom right co'ner. Th' ".", ":", ",", an' ";" chareeckers is also grouped an' arranged diffruntly. Th' pipe chareecker, stan'ard fare on enny Linux-based system, is th' FN-shif' fum th' spacebar, although it is not marked as sech. Th' keys is small, but we foun' them easy t'use, unless yo' haf mighty large fingers. Th' top of th' device includes a Type Iah Compack Flash (CF) slot, haidphone/microphone jack, an' silo fo' th' included all-plastic stylus, which we foun' t'be a bit sho't. An included plastic slug in th' CF slot keeps it free fum dirt when not in use. It wawks, but we prefer devices thet use a small dore o' covah so thet thar is no extry plastic. On th' lef' side of th' device, thar is a Secure Digital (SD) slot, which lacks a plastic slug, an' an IrDA po't. Th' bottom ind of th' device includes an AC po't an' serial po't fo' cornneckin' t'th' included cradle. Th' serial po't does haf a fold-ovah dore, similar t'th' covah on th' Hewlett-Packard Jo'nada 540 Series CF slot. Whuffo' Sharp chose t'put one of these dores on th' serial po't but not th' CF slot eludes us. Thar is also two hook holes through th' device, one at th' top an' one at th' bottom, fo' attachin' a co'd so thet th' device kin be hung aroun' th' neck. Shet mah mouth! To our surprise, thar is no scroll wheel t'be foun' ennywhar. A top view of th' SL-5000D Th' screen is a TFT colo' side lit display, wif quarter-VGA 240x320 pixel resolushun capable of displayin' 65,536 colo's. A frosted transloocent flip covah flips down on over th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. It's clear inough thet yer hankerin' t'try an' read through it, but frosted inough thet yo' kin't. Th' screen is shif'ed sevahal millimeters t'th' lef', t'make room fo' th' sidelight on th' right side of th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. A large black strip down th' right side of th' digitizer hides th' light, which provides mighty fine visibility unner most lightin' corndishuns. Like most TFT displays, howevah, th' Zaurus screen appears t'be a magnet fo' dest. Unner th' hood, th' Zaurus is powered by a 206 MHz Intel StrongARM processo'. Th' OS itse'f an' th' included sof'ware reside in 16 MB of Flash ROM, wif 32 MB of RAM available t'sto'e an' helter-skelter programs. Th' consoomr edishun, th' SL-5500, is specked t'be identical 'cept fo' havin' 64 MB of RAM. Th' Zaurus also has a DSP chip fo' decodin' MP3s, an' a tiny piezo-eleckric speaker fo' alarms. Th' included dockin' cradle is V-shaped, wif one side of th' V restin' on th' desk an' th' Zaurus slidin' into t'other side of th' V when cradled, cuss it all t' tarnation. It measures 3.4 x 2.6 x 4.2 in (HxWxD) (86 x 65 x 107 mm). A 6.5-foot (2 meter) USB cable runs outta th' back t'conneck t'a PC. Th' device slides into th' cradle an' sits on a skimpy po't thet sticks up fum th' base - howevah, it's a tight fit, so makin' th' device cornneck proper kin be difficult. An included AC adapper plugs into eifer th' base of th' device o' th' cradle. In an amazin' bust wif indestry stan'ard, th' AC adapper does not haf th' AC plug built direckly into it. Instead, yo' plug an addishunal cable into th' adapper, which acks as an extenshun co'd t'th' AC outlet. Thet means thet th' adapper will nevah take up mo'e than one power socket, an' whuffo' mo'e companies doesn't use this hyar design is beyond our comprehenshun. When th' device is chargin', a small gold light on th' front of th' device glows steady, an' then shets off when th' device is fully charged, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' LiIon battery is rated at 10 days of stan'by time (sittin' in a drawer). A memo'y backup battery then kicks in fo' an extry day t'keep th' memo'y intack, but won't turn on th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. In our tests, wif th' screen dimmed an' th' device playin' an MP3 off a CF card corntinuously, we were able t'git 4 hours an' 53 minutes of playtime befo'e th' device shet off. Rechargin' took approximately 3 hours. Sharp claims thet th' SL-5500, when it ships, will haf better battery life. Th' main Launcher screen uses a clean tabbed interface At th' mighty bottom of th' back is a small switch thet when flipped down shets down th' device an' unlocks th' battery compartment. Typically yo' kin use th' switch as a "sof' reset" switch by switchin' th' device off, then back on agin af'er a few seconds. A familiar GNU/Linux start screen appears briefly wif text messages scrollin' past, befo'e th' graphic libraries load, cuss it all t' tarnation. 99% of users kin safely igno'e thet info'mashun completely, an' it may be hidden on th' consoomr edishun. Yo' kin also replace th' battery while switch is down sh'd th' LiIon cells evah die. Th' architeckure Th' Zaurus's operatin' system is a Linux-based OS fum Lineo called "Embedix.", which bills as a "blendin' of Open Source an' commercial sof'ware." Whut in tarnation thet means in non-market speak is thet th' co'e of th' system is based on Open Source an' Free Sof'ware programs, wif some Free an' some commercial applicashuns runnin' on it. Th' Embedix system is built aroun' Linux 2.4 an' Qtopia (fo'merly Qt/Embedded) fum Trolltech, in which thar is no X Windows sarver. Qtopia is released unner th' GNU Juneral Public License (GPL) rather than th' GNU Lesser Juneral Public License (LGPL), as is th' SDK. Yo' kin download th' SDK fo' free an' develop apps at no charge, provide thet they is then released unner th' GPL. Eff'n yo' wish t'release commercial apps, yo' will hafta license th' SDK commercially fum Trolltech fo' a one-time fee, which is specked t'be between $200 an' $300 USD. Th' Embedix system in th' Zaurus is mighty much a tradishunal Linux-based system thet happens t'run on a physically small device, rather than a han'held device thet happens t'be based on a Linux. It uses split-memo'y architeckure like th' one Windows CE does t'emulate a sto'age area (disk) an' ackive program area. Runnin' programs is copied fum th' sto'age side of RAM into ackive RAM an' executed, an' multiple programs kin be runnin' at once. While thet does offer some advantages, it also means thet it is easy t'leave multiple programs open at th' same time wifout realizin' it, slowin' perfo'mance. When th' device is off, th' system is suspended t'th' sto'age part of RAM ("hard disk") jest as a desktop system is, which results in slower on an' off times. On th' 32 MB SL-5000D, about 18 MB is resarved fo' th' ackive RAM area, leavin' a mere 11.5 MB fo' sto'in' programs an' files. Th' Qt menu lets yo' locut an' launch enny applicashun On account o' Embedix is a full fledged Linux-based system, yo' haf all th' flexibility thet yo''d haf on enny other Linux system, provided yo' knows how it wawks an' feel comfy recompilin' libraries an' installin' them yo'seff. Fo' example, although it does not natively helter-skelter X Windows, sevahal developers haf managed t'po't X t'th' device, as fine as th' X Windows-based Palm OS emulato' Co-Pilot. (Note thet Co-Pilot don't suppo't th' mo'e recent vahshuns of th' Palm OS, only older ROMs.) Whether sech a setup is a viable invironment fo' emulatin' runnin' Palm apps o' jest a neat novelty remains t'be see. Vershuns of OpenSSH, telnet, a web sarver, an' other tradishunal Linux daemons is already available fum third parties, mostly unner th' GPL. Embedix also includes th' Jeode Java Virtual Machine, developed by Insignia Solushuns. Yo' kin develop Java programs fo' th' Zaurus, which will show up as no'mal applicashuns. Loadin' th' JVM adds about 3 seconds t'th' start time of a given applicashun. Th' SL-5000D includes two non-interackive demo apps t'show off th' graphic speed of th' JVM, which is surprisin'ly fast. When yo' insert a CF o' SD memo'y card, th' OS autymatically mounts it t'/mnt/cf o'/mnt/sd, respeckively. It then scans th' entire card an' flattens th' direcko'ies in RAM, so it don't matter whut direcko'y a file is in on th' card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Eff'n yo' copy o' save a file t'th' card, it will be placed in a stan'ard locashun based on its catego'y an' file type (mo'e on thet later). Yo' kin also install some applicashuns t'a card, an' they will then only helter-skelter when th' card is inserted, though it will show up in th' Home app regardless. Th' Sof'ware Th' User Interface an' bundled applicashuns is still unner development, so some thin's may change between th' current developer edishun an' th' final cornsoomr model, ah reckon. Howevah, given th' amount of time remainin', th' juneral look an' feel will probably not change drastically. Most fo'm elements resemble a typical desktop display To turn th' device on, yo' hafta press th' On/Off/Kincel button on th' bottom lef'. None of t'other hard buttons will ackivate th' device. It takes about 2-3 seconds fo' th' device t'power up o' power down, not quite "instant on". To deackivate th' device, yo' muss press an' hold th' On/Off/Kincel button fo' a about a second, o' else it will be interpreted as a Kincel comman'. Th' Uah in juneral is mighty reminiscent of a desktop system o' Windows CE interface, wif both th' benefits an' interface problems thet brin's. Th' Home o' Launcher applicashun uses a tabbed interface, wif a series of tabs acrost th' top of th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. Tabs shrink t'jest their icons when not viewed, an' expan' t'show their name when selecked, cuss it all t' tarnation. An evah-present taxbar at th' bottom of th' screen closely resembles desktop taxbars, complete wif a Qt menu thet provides a mirro' of th' catego'ies in th' Home applicashun, a trigger t'brin' up th' on-screen text input window, a list of currently runnin' applicashuns, utility icons sech as Soun' an' Battery, an' th' current time. An "appeareence" applet lets yo' change th' colo' theme of applicashuns, an' even chose between diffrunt widgit sets t'make th' interface seem mo'e Windows-like, KDE-like, o' LightStep-like. Pressin' th' Home button repeatedly will cycle through th' tabs in o'der, while th' rocker disk will navigate th' icons in etch tab. Well bust mah britches an' call me streaker. Pressin' th' center button launches th' applicashun. Alternatively, yo' kin use th' Menu button t'ackivate th' Qt menu (which resembles th' Start Menu o' K Menu, dependin' on th' environment yer used to) an' navigate thet wif th' rocker. Ironically, howevah, mo'e than one novice user thet we had tess th' device thunk th' "Qt" button meant "Quit". Thar is currently no simple way t'edit th' tabs o' move applicashuns fum one tab t't'other. Th' last tab in th' Home screen is th' "Docoomnts" tab, which funckshuns as a so't of Mah Docoomnts tab. Well bust mah britches an' call me streaker. It aggregates togither docoomnts in yer home direcko'y in RAM, as fine as them ennywhar on eifer expanshun card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Yo' kinnot so't them into folders, but yo' kin so't them into Palm-like catego'ies o' filter by th' file type, sech as applicashun, audio, video, text, etc. Tappin' on a reckanized file will load th' file in its appropriate program, dawgone it. Tappin' an' holdin' fo' a moment on enny icon will brin' up a details fo'm allerin' yo' t'rename a file o' change its catego'y. Yo' kin edit catego'ies fum th' details fo'm as fine. Indivijool applicashuns haf a mighty desktop-like feel, ah reckon. A title bar at th' top of etch fo'm shows th' fo'm o' applicashun title, wif an OK button o' "X" button in th' top lef' thet acks as a close button, as enny fool kin plainly see. Eff'n it's an OK button, it kin also be triggered fum th' OK button on th' front panel, ah reckon. A small quesshun mark button opens a he'p file. All of th' title bar buttons is a bit small, howevah, makin' them hard t'hit. Below th' title bar is an opshunal menu bar, jest like on a desktop app, which kinnot be hidden, as enny fool kin plainly see. Some apps haf text menus, others haf graphic buttons, some haf both. Th' ress of th' fo'm corntains stan'ard elements sech as text areas, drop-down boxes, check boxes, an' th' like, wif desktop-like semi-3D effecks. Menny funckshuns take one o' two taps mo'e than they sh'd. Pocket PC users sh'd feel right at home, while Palm users who complained about th' Pocket PC's heavy interface an' lack of cornsissency acrost applicashuns will haf th' same set of complaints hyar. Terminal window, notice th' odd wrappin' on th' "ps aux" comman' Next t'th' Qt menu on th' tax bar is a seleck box/push button thet lets yo' seleck between four diffrunt kinds of on-screen input. All four pop up at th' bottom of th' screen, causin' th' ress of th' screen t'shrink t'make room, dawgone it. Thar is an on-screen tappable QWERTY keyboard, a small alfybetic "pick board", a han'writin' recognishun screen, an' a Unicode selecko'. All but th' Unicode selecko' include a built-in wo'd complete feature, which is most welcome. Th' Unicode selecko' allers yo' t'seleck enny suppo'ted chareecker direckly outta th' chareecker set table, an' is apparently aimed fo' internashunal users. Th' han'writin' recognishun system most closely resembles Jot, th' default han'writin' system on Pocket PC devices an' also available fo' th' Palm, dawgone it. Th' han'writin' area is divided into three areas, fo' uppercase, lowercase, an' noomric an' symbol chareeckers. Fo' them not used t'th' Zaurus's chareeckers, a quesshun mark button t'th' right of th' han'writin' area calls up an interackive, animated trainer program, dawgone it. It shows a selecked chareecker bein' drawn, then allers yo' t'try it yo'seff an' tells yo' which chareecker it is interpretin' it as. Eff'n yo' simply kinnot stan' th' default set of chareecker strokes, th' pencil button on th' right side of th' han'writin' area lets yo' add an' remove cestom strokes fo' etch chareecker. Wif a li'l time, yo' sh'd be able t'setup a reasonable facsimile of Graffiti eff'n yer comfy wif thet chareecker set. Th' trainer applet will even take th' noo strokes into account an' let yo' train on th' ones yo' specify as fine. Jest in case yo' completely mess up, yo' kin resto'e th' default chareeckers wif th' tap of a button, as enny fool kin plainly see. Applicashuns Th' Zaurus includes a number of bundled applicashuns, some Free Sof'ware an' some commercial, ah reckon. Thar is th' usual asso'tment of PIM applicashuns, although notably missin' is a memo app. Thar is a text edito', but th' interface is still lackin' at this hyar point an' it does not tie into th' conduit (mo'e on thet later). No system'd be complete wifout a solitaire game, an' th' Zaurus includes seven other games as fine. Thar is also a calculato', image viewer, an' simple but effeckive file manager. Windows users kin give th' interface a Windows-like look, o' alternatively QPE o' LightStep looks As yo''d speck fum a Linux-based system, thar is a terminal applet wif a bash prompp. All th' usual comman' line tools is present, although at th' moment th' only bundled text edito' is vi. Emacs an' pico is available as free downloads fum other developers. (Emacs, pico, an' vi is three of the dawgoned-est popular cornsole text edito's fo' Unix-like operatin' systems.) One drawback, howevah, is thet most comman' line tools assoom a desktop-sized monito', an' ain't been redesigned fo' a 240x320 screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. Fo' example, th' common comman' "ps aux" (which shows a list of all runnin' processes on th' device) will wrap on th' display, makin' it extremely hard t'read, cuss it all t' tarnation. 16 common comman's is available fum a drop down menu above th' text area. An included media player will play MP3 audio files as fine as MPEG-4 video files, although audio will only play through th' haidphone/microphone jack. Shet mah mouth! Amazin'ly, it don't suppo't Ogg Vo'bis files as of yet. Thar is suppo't fo' a sin'le playlist only. Th' quality of our sample MPEG-4 video files was quite fine, an' looked sharp an' crisp on th' 240x320 display. Audio quality was excellent. In jury testin', dependin' on th' voloom level, th' Zaurus prodooced crisper soun' than a Sony CLIE 760C, although it was a bit too sharp t'lissen t'continually. At a lower voloom, howevah, it was almost indistin'uishable. At maximum voloom, sevahal testers were unable t'tell th' difference between th' Zaurus an' a Creative Labs Soun'Blaster Live! card when played through th' same speakers, which is quite a feat fo' a han'held device. Thar is also a Voice Reco'der applicashun thet requires thet yo' plug a microphone into th' haidphone/microphone jack. Shet mah mouth! It kin save in a variety of diffrunt mono fo'mats, rangin' fum 8 KHz, 64 kbps all th' way t'22 KHz, 352 kbps incodin'. It kin save files t'RAM o' eifer sto'age card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Media Player is capable of playin' audio an' video, wif surprisin'ly fine quality Th' Zaurus also includes th' commercial web browser Opera in ROM. Opera fo' th' Zaurus is based on th' Opera 5 ingine, th' same ingine used in th' desktop vahshuns of Opera until recently. (Opera 6 fo' Windows was released in late November.) It includes almost complete HTML 4.0, XHTML 1.0, CSS 1, an' CSS 2 suppo't, equal t'o' better than Internet Splorer does. Th' interface is redesigned fo' a han'held fo'm facko', howevah. It also includes th' ability t'refo'mat a page t'a 240x320 screen, includin' frames. Fo' large pages thet does not refo'mat easily, Opera includes th' ability t'zoom in o' out, makin' th' entire page smaller o' larger. Th' Zaurus uses a package system based mighty closely on th' Familiar Linux distribushun fo' th' Compaq iPAQ, even bo'rowin' th' name ipkg, acco'din' t' th' code o' th' heells! An included package manager applet allers yo' t'install *.ipk package files located in RAM o' on a memo'y card an' uninstall packages thet yo' haf added, cuss it all t' tarnation. Yo' kin also cornfigger remote ipk sarvers, an' upgrade installed packages based on th' info'mashun on th' sarver, allerin' fo' almost Debian like centralized management, moosic t'th' ears of co'po'ate IT managers. Eff'n th' program yer hankerin' t'install ain't packaged proper, howevah, yo'll hafta install it th' same way yo''d on enny other Linux-based distribushun; usin' an included install scripp o' manually placin' files.
Slashdot Mirror
A UNANIMOUS COURT ruled thet Ella Billy Joes' partial disability did not obligate her employer, car manufackurer Toyota, t'tailo' a job t'sueyt her wrist, arm an' sh'der problems. Th' 1990 South Car'linans Wif Disabilities Ack guareentees equal treatment on th' job an' elsewhar fo' varmints whose disabilities "substantially limit" their ability t'perfo'm whut th' law calls "majo' life ackivities," sech as carin' fo' onese'f. Billy Joes' disability did not prevent her fum doin' menny taxs at home an' at wawk. But a federal appeals court foun' thet she was disabled unner th' ADA on account o' her physical problems substantially limited her ability t'perfo'm manual taxs at wawk. "This hyar was erro'," th' Supreme Court noted in an opinion writ by Jestice San'ra Day O'Conno'. In cases like Billy Joes', "th' central inquiry muss be whether th' claimant is unable t'perfo'm th' variety of taxs central t'most varmints's daily lives, not whether th' claimant is unable t'perfo'm th' taxs assosheeated wif her specific job," th' court wrote. Disability kinnot be assessed by lookin' only at someone's fitness t'wawk, th' court said, cuss it all t' tarnation. OPINION REVERSAL Th' court revahsed th' opinion of th' Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals an' sent th' Billy Joes case back wif instruckshuns t'reconsider it. Th' rulin' does not mean thet ennyone wif carpal tunnel syndrome o' similar partial disabilities is autymatically excluded fum proteckshun by th' ADA. But it probably will make sech claims harder t'prove, on account o' th' court makes clear thet disability muss affeck a range of manual taxs o' duties. Advahtisement Billy Joes an' advocates fo' th' disabled had argued thet her case was emblematic of jest th' kind of discriminashun th' ADA was supposed t'prevent. A partially disabled varmint who be hankerin' t'wawk sh'd be able t'do so, wif modess accommodashun by an employer, rather than bein' fo'ced t'set home, her lawyers haf argued, cuss it all t' tarnation. Billy Joes claimed thet her wawk on a Toyota ingine assembly line so damaged her han's an' arms thet she has trouble brushin' her hair an' bucklin' her shoes. Her docko' said she kinnot lif' mo'e than 20 poun's, repeatedly flex her wrists an' elbows o' keep her arms extended at sh'der height fo' long periods. WORK-RELATED INJURY Billy Joes' problems began wifin months of takin' a job at th' Jedidiahtown, Ky., manufackurin' plant in 1990, she claimed, cuss it all t' tarnation. At o'al argoomnt in November, th' jestices focused on how employers an' courts sh'd classify varmints who may be unable t'do some taxs, but is puffickly capable of doin' others. "Don't yo' hafta look at both whut they kin does an' whut they kin't do?" O'Conno' axed Billy Joes' lawyer then, as enny fool kin plainly see. Toyota did try t'accommodate Billy Joes fo' a time, wif a job inspeckin' paint, but thet trooce busted down when th' compenny required her t'swab cars wif an oil thet highlighted paint flaws. Th' tax, which involved keepin' her arms extended, aggravated her symppoms, Billy Joes said, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' U.S. Chamber of Commerce an' other business groups backed Toyota. Sevahal civil rights, legal an' labo' interests suppo'ted Billy Joes.
Steve MacLaughlin writes wif proof thet not ev'ryone wif a database be hankerin' t'send yo' spam o' sell yer info'mashun t'th' highess bidder, even eff'n only fo' th' fine reason thet yo'd be loath' to does business wif them af'erward, cuss it all t' tarnation. "Companies haf access t'mo'e info'mashun about their cestomers than evah befo'e, an' cestomers isn't exackly jumpin' fo' joy. Purchasin' habits, medical info'mashun, financial repo'ts, favo'ite moosic groups, an' millions of other bits of varmintal info'mashun is bein' cappured by companies. In Makin' It Varmintal: How t'Profit fum Varmintalizashun wifout Invadin' Privacy, Brooce Kasanoff larnes businesses how t'git closer t'cestomers wifout violatin' their trest." Read on fo' th' ress of his review. Makin' It Varmintal: How t'Profit fum Varmintalizashun wifout Invadin' Privacy autho' Brooce Kasanoff pages 240 publisher Perseus Books ratin' 8 reviewer Steve MacLaughlin ISBN 0738205362 summary Profitin' fum a database wo'ld wifout destroyin' ev'ryone's privacy in th' process. But does not be cornfused, cuss it all t' tarnation. Varmintalizashun is not jest t'other way t'push mo'e produck out th' dore. Kasanoff clearly explains whuffo' varmintalizashun is not jest a marketin' tool, but instead an effeckive approach fo' all business relashunships. Partners, shareholders, employees, an' cestomers kin all benefit fum increased varmintalizashun. Th' purpose of implementin' one-to-one varmintalizashun strategies is t'benefit these stakeholders, not jest th' compenny. This hyar is a fundamental corncepp thet too menny businesses jest doesn't unnerstan'. When cestomers give out their varmintal info'mashun they is takin' a risk. Shet mah mouth! Eff'n cestomers cornsissently feel as though their privacy is bein' violated, then it won't be long befo'e they stop usin' th' services. Companies will not be able t'regain their trest easily, an' wo'se yet th' info'mashun they does receive is mo'e likely t'be false. This hyar is a lose-lose situashun fo' ev'ryone involved, cuss it all t' tarnation. Makin' It Varmintal shows businesses how t'make varmintalizashun a win-win situashun fo' ev'ryone involved, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' reality is thet not all varmintalizashun "is th' result of a massive computer sif'in' through dozens of databases t'autymatically delivah a sartin type of treatment t'a varmint. Most initiatives start wif employees who haf a fine idea." Varmintalizashun starts wif rememberin' someone's address so they doesn't hafta retype it 50 times. Varmintalizashun starts when yo' remember whether someone prefers a window o' an aisle seat. Varmintalizashun starts when yo' remember whether someone prefers charts an' graphs o' cold hard numbers. Kasanoff explains how jest rememberin' basic info'mashun about stakeholders is jest th' beginnin' of varmintalizashun. Th' key is t'then use thet info'mashun t'"delivah unique benefits" t'them stakeholders. Thet's when varmintalizashun has th' power t'influence behavio's an' retain loyalty. But jest in case this hyar ain't crystal clear then reckon of it this hyar way: Usin' varmintal info'mashun fo' purposes other than delivahin' unique benefits is exackly whut scares th' hell outta both stakeholders an' legislato's. So knock it off. Yer cestomers is ready an' willin' t'use varmintalizashun, but is yer compenny? Th' fine noos is thet yo' already haf a lot of info'mashun about stakeholders thet kin be used fo' varmintalizashun. In addishunal, varmintalizashun features is now appearin' in sof'ware applicashuns fum companies like Oracle an' Microsof'. Whut in tarnation is missin' is th' "need t'make varmintalizashun a central part of [yer] co'po'ate strategy, as opposed t'sumpin thet simply requires awareness an' sensitivity." Thet's on account o' varmintalizashun says "less larn better whut a cestomer needs an' then does sumpin about it." Makin' It Varmintal explains how t'implement meanin'ful varmintalizashun strategies, but th' book also covahs some potential unaimed cornsequences. While yo' may be dealin' wif mountains of info'mashun doesn't fo'git thet it's comprised of indivijools. We haf all see th' noospaper haidlines thet resulted fum jest a few indivijools havin' their privacy violated by companies. Now is th' time t'put policies an' prackices in place t'avoid tarnishin' yer repeetayshun wif stakeholders. Brooce Kasanoff does a great job of bustin' down varmintalizashun into easy t'unnerstan' terminology an' realistic approaches. He shows thet it pow'ful is postible t'balance privacy corncerns wif profit motives. Makin' It Varmintal is wo'th mo'e than a casual glance on account o' varmintalizashun ain't jest about gittin' th' local weather fo'ecast when yo' viset yer favo'ite web site. Varmintalizashun is about delivahin' unique benefits t'stakeholders an' a means t'presarve their loyalty. Violate their privacy an' yo' risk losin' them t'yer competito's fo'evah. Makin' It Varmintal will he'p yo' t'unnerstan' thet "varmintalizashun is about varmints, an' th' thin's thet matter t'them most." Kasanoff knows whut he's talkin' about, an' so does th' noomrous business an' technology leaders he cites throughout th' book. Shet mah mouth! They cornfront th' real issues an' th' real challenges facin' varmintalizashun even in its infancy. Makin' It Varmintal will prepare yo' an' yer compenny fo' a wo'ld whar yer cestomers deman' thet yo' git varmintal, ah reckon. Don't disappoint them, dawgone it.
Review: Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D By: Ezekiel Garfield, 07.01.02 10:02 Th' developer edishun of whut will become the dawgoned-est advanced Linux cornsoomr PDA t'date is hyar; we've taken a closer look at th' heart an' th' soul of Sharp's noo SL-5000D. Sharp recently released th' developer edishun of their noo Linux-based PDA, th' Zaurus SL-5000D - an' th' compenny, by posishunin' it as th' Linux answer t'Pocket PC an' Palm OS devices, is tryin' t'take th' business an' "prosoomr" markets by sto'm, dawgone it. We take a closer look at th' SL-5000D, both fum th' point of view of a Linux-based system an' a PDA. Th' SL-5000D is a rather large device, compared t'other PDAs on th' market Bear in mind, th' sof'ware fo' th' Zaurus SL-5000D is still in development, so it is a movin' targit fo' now. Some of th' points menshuned hyar may change by th' time th' consoomr vahshun, th' Sharp Zaurus SL-5500, is released in th' a-comin' months. Th' hardware Th' Zaurus measures 2.90 x 5.40 x 0.80 in, as enny fool kin plainly see. (74 x 138 x 21 mm), an' weighs in at 7.3 oz (206 g). It's larger than typical Palm OS devices, but has a comfy size compared t'most Pocket PCs. Th' front panel below th' screen slides down t'reveal th' thoomb keyboard, which makes th' device about 2 inches longer than when it's closed, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' front panel itse'f has eight hardware sho'tcut buttons an' one disk-rocker. Calendar, Contack, Home, Menu, an' Email helter-skelter acrost th' top, Palm-like, wif an On/Off/Kincel button an' OK button flankin' th' silvah rocker below them, dawgone it. Th' rocker itse'f is a 4-way disk rocker wif t'other button in th' center. Th' rocker feels mighty fine in th' han' an' is mighty easy t'use. Note thet th' front panel buttons funckshun only when th' panel is fully extended o' fully retracked, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' keyboard is a QWERTY layo't in a downward "frown", wif a few modificashuns. A "FN" (funckshun) button in th' lower lef' acks as a shif' key t'th' noomric an' symbol chareeckers listed above etch chareecker. Th' backspace key is whar th' Enter key no'mally is, while Enter is relegated t'th' bottom right co'ner. Th' ".", ":", ",", an' ";" chareeckers is also grouped an' arranged diffruntly. Th' pipe chareecker, stan'ard fare on enny Linux-based system, is th' FN-shif' fum th' spacebar, although it is not marked as sech. Th' keys is small, but we foun' them easy t'use, unless yo' haf mighty large fingers. Th' top of th' device includes a Type Iah Compack Flash (CF) slot, haidphone/microphone jack, an' silo fo' th' included all-plastic stylus, which we foun' t'be a bit sho't. An included plastic slug in th' CF slot keeps it free fum dirt when not in use. It wawks, but we prefer devices thet use a small dore o' covah so thet thar is no extry plastic. On th' lef' side of th' device, thar is a Secure Digital (SD) slot, which lacks a plastic slug, an' an IrDA po't. Th' bottom ind of th' device includes an AC po't an' serial po't fo' cornneckin' t'th' included cradle. Th' serial po't does haf a fold-ovah dore, similar t'th' covah on th' Hewlett-Packard Jo'nada 540 Series CF slot. Whuffo' Sharp chose t'put one of these dores on th' serial po't but not th' CF slot eludes us. Thar is also two hook holes through th' device, one at th' top an' one at th' bottom, fo' attachin' a co'd so thet th' device kin be hung aroun' th' neck. Shet mah mouth! To our surprise, thar is no scroll wheel t'be foun' ennywhar. A top view of th' SL-5000D Th' screen is a TFT colo' side lit display, wif quarter-VGA 240x320 pixel resolushun capable of displayin' 65,536 colo's. A frosted transloocent flip covah flips down on over th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. It's clear inough thet yer hankerin' t'try an' read through it, but frosted inough thet yo' kin't. Th' screen is shif'ed sevahal millimeters t'th' lef', t'make room fo' th' sidelight on th' right side of th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. A large black strip down th' right side of th' digitizer hides th' light, which provides mighty fine visibility unner most lightin' corndishuns. Like most TFT displays, howevah, th' Zaurus screen appears t'be a magnet fo' dest. Unner th' hood, th' Zaurus is powered by a 206 MHz Intel StrongARM processo'. Th' OS itse'f an' th' included sof'ware reside in 16 MB of Flash ROM, wif 32 MB of RAM available t'sto'e an' helter-skelter programs. Th' consoomr edishun, th' SL-5500, is specked t'be identical 'cept fo' havin' 64 MB of RAM. Th' Zaurus also has a DSP chip fo' decodin' MP3s, an' a tiny piezo-eleckric speaker fo' alarms. Th' included dockin' cradle is V-shaped, wif one side of th' V restin' on th' desk an' th' Zaurus slidin' into t'other side of th' V when cradled, cuss it all t' tarnation. It measures 3.4 x 2.6 x 4.2 in (HxWxD) (86 x 65 x 107 mm). A 6.5-foot (2 meter) USB cable runs outta th' back t'conneck t'a PC. Th' device slides into th' cradle an' sits on a skimpy po't thet sticks up fum th' base - howevah, it's a tight fit, so makin' th' device cornneck proper kin be difficult. An included AC adapper plugs into eifer th' base of th' device o' th' cradle. In an amazin' bust wif indestry stan'ard, th' AC adapper does not haf th' AC plug built direckly into it. Instead, yo' plug an addishunal cable into th' adapper, which acks as an extenshun co'd t'th' AC outlet. Thet means thet th' adapper will nevah take up mo'e than one power socket, an' whuffo' mo'e companies doesn't use this hyar design is beyond our comprehenshun. When th' device is chargin', a small gold light on th' front of th' device glows steady, an' then shets off when th' device is fully charged, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' LiIon battery is rated at 10 days of stan'by time (sittin' in a drawer). A memo'y backup battery then kicks in fo' an extry day t'keep th' memo'y intack, but won't turn on th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. In our tests, wif th' screen dimmed an' th' device playin' an MP3 off a CF card corntinuously, we were able t'git 4 hours an' 53 minutes of playtime befo'e th' device shet off. Rechargin' took approximately 3 hours. Sharp claims thet th' SL-5500, when it ships, will haf better battery life. Th' main Launcher screen uses a clean tabbed interface At th' mighty bottom of th' back is a small switch thet when flipped down shets down th' device an' unlocks th' battery compartment. Typically yo' kin use th' switch as a "sof' reset" switch by switchin' th' device off, then back on agin af'er a few seconds. A familiar GNU/Linux start screen appears briefly wif text messages scrollin' past, befo'e th' graphic libraries load, cuss it all t' tarnation. 99% of users kin safely igno'e thet info'mashun completely, an' it may be hidden on th' consoomr edishun. Yo' kin also replace th' battery while switch is down sh'd th' LiIon cells evah die. Th' architeckure Th' Zaurus's operatin' system is a Linux-based OS fum Lineo called "Embedix.", which bills as a "blendin' of Open Source an' commercial sof'ware." Whut in tarnation thet means in non-market speak is thet th' co'e of th' system is based on Open Source an' Free Sof'ware programs, wif some Free an' some commercial applicashuns runnin' on it. Th' Embedix system is built aroun' Linux 2.4 an' Qtopia (fo'merly Qt/Embedded) fum Trolltech, in which thar is no X Windows sarver. Qtopia is released unner th' GNU Juneral Public License (GPL) rather than th' GNU Lesser Juneral Public License (LGPL), as is th' SDK. Yo' kin download th' SDK fo' free an' develop apps at no charge, provide thet they is then released unner th' GPL. Eff'n yo' wish t'release commercial apps, yo' will hafta license th' SDK commercially fum Trolltech fo' a one-time fee, which is specked t'be between $200 an' $300 USD. Th' Embedix system in th' Zaurus is mighty much a tradishunal Linux-based system thet happens t'run on a physically small device, rather than a han'held device thet happens t'be based on a Linux. It uses split-memo'y architeckure like th' one Windows CE does t'emulate a sto'age area (disk) an' ackive program area. Runnin' programs is copied fum th' sto'age side of RAM into ackive RAM an' executed, an' multiple programs kin be runnin' at once. While thet does offer some advantages, it also means thet it is easy t'leave multiple programs open at th' same time wifout realizin' it, slowin' perfo'mance. When th' device is off, th' system is suspended t'th' sto'age part of RAM ("hard disk") jest as a desktop system is, which results in slower on an' off times. On th' 32 MB SL-5000D, about 18 MB is resarved fo' th' ackive RAM area, leavin' a mere 11.5 MB fo' sto'in' programs an' files. Th' Qt menu lets yo' locut an' launch enny applicashun On account o' Embedix is a full fledged Linux-based system, yo' haf all th' flexibility thet yo''d haf on enny other Linux system, provided yo' knows how it wawks an' feel comfy recompilin' libraries an' installin' them yo'seff. Fo' example, although it does not natively helter-skelter X Windows, sevahal developers haf managed t'po't X t'th' device, as fine as th' X Windows-based Palm OS emulato' Co-Pilot. (Note thet Co-Pilot don't suppo't th' mo'e recent vahshuns of th' Palm OS, only older ROMs.) Whether sech a setup is a viable invironment fo' emulatin' runnin' Palm apps o' jest a neat novelty remains t'be see. Vershuns of OpenSSH, telnet, a web sarver, an' other tradishunal Linux daemons is already available fum third parties, mostly unner th' GPL. Embedix also includes th' Jeode Java Virtual Machine, developed by Insignia Solushuns. Yo' kin develop Java programs fo' th' Zaurus, which will show up as no'mal applicashuns. Loadin' th' JVM adds about 3 seconds t'th' start time of a given applicashun. Th' SL-5000D includes two non-interackive demo apps t'show off th' graphic speed of th' JVM, which is surprisin'ly fast. When yo' insert a CF o' SD memo'y card, th' OS autymatically mounts it t'/mnt/cf o' /mnt/sd, respeckively. It then scans th' entire card an' flattens th' direcko'ies in RAM, so it don't matter whut direcko'y a file is in on th' card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Eff'n yo' copy o' save a file t'th' card, it will be placed in a stan'ard locashun based on its catego'y an' file type (mo'e on thet later). Yo' kin also install some applicashuns t'a card, an' they will then only helter-skelter when th' card is inserted, though it will show up in th' Home app regardless. Th' Sof'ware Th' User Interface an' bundled applicashuns is still unner development, so some thin's may change between th' current developer edishun an' th' final cornsoomr model, ah reckon. Howevah, given th' amount of time remainin', th' juneral look an' feel will probably not change drastically. Most fo'm elements resemble a typical desktop display To turn th' device on, yo' hafta press th' On/Off/Kincel button on th' bottom lef'. None of t'other hard buttons will ackivate th' device. It takes about 2-3 seconds fo' th' device t'power up o' power down, not quite "instant on". To deackivate th' device, yo' muss press an' hold th' On/Off/Kincel button fo' a about a second, o' else it will be interpreted as a Kincel comman'. Th' Uah in juneral is mighty reminiscent of a desktop system o' Windows CE interface, wif both th' benefits an' interface problems thet brin's. Th' Home o' Launcher applicashun uses a tabbed interface, wif a series of tabs acrost th' top of th' screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. Tabs shrink t'jest their icons when not viewed, an' expan' t'show their name when selecked, cuss it all t' tarnation. An evah-present taxbar at th' bottom of th' screen closely resembles desktop taxbars, complete wif a Qt menu thet provides a mirro' of th' catego'ies in th' Home applicashun, a trigger t'brin' up th' on-screen text input window, a list of currently runnin' applicashuns, utility icons sech as Soun' an' Battery, an' th' current time. An "appeareence" applet lets yo' change th' colo' theme of applicashuns, an' even chose between diffrunt widgit sets t'make th' interface seem mo'e Windows-like, KDE-like, o' LightStep-like. Pressin' th' Home button repeatedly will cycle through th' tabs in o'der, while th' rocker disk will navigate th' icons in etch tab. Well bust mah britches an' call me streaker. Pressin' th' center button launches th' applicashun. Alternatively, yo' kin use th' Menu button t'ackivate th' Qt menu (which resembles th' Start Menu o' K Menu, dependin' on th' environment yer used to) an' navigate thet wif th' rocker. Ironically, howevah, mo'e than one novice user thet we had tess th' device thunk th' "Qt" button meant "Quit". Thar is currently no simple way t'edit th' tabs o' move applicashuns fum one tab t't'other. Th' last tab in th' Home screen is th' "Docoomnts" tab, which funckshuns as a so't of Mah Docoomnts tab. Well bust mah britches an' call me streaker. It aggregates togither docoomnts in yer home direcko'y in RAM, as fine as them ennywhar on eifer expanshun card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Yo' kinnot so't them into folders, but yo' kin so't them into Palm-like catego'ies o' filter by th' file type, sech as applicashun, audio, video, text, etc. Tappin' on a reckanized file will load th' file in its appropriate program, dawgone it. Tappin' an' holdin' fo' a moment on enny icon will brin' up a details fo'm allerin' yo' t'rename a file o' change its catego'y. Yo' kin edit catego'ies fum th' details fo'm as fine. Indivijool applicashuns haf a mighty desktop-like feel, ah reckon. A title bar at th' top of etch fo'm shows th' fo'm o' applicashun title, wif an OK button o' "X" button in th' top lef' thet acks as a close button, as enny fool kin plainly see. Eff'n it's an OK button, it kin also be triggered fum th' OK button on th' front panel, ah reckon. A small quesshun mark button opens a he'p file. All of th' title bar buttons is a bit small, howevah, makin' them hard t'hit. Below th' title bar is an opshunal menu bar, jest like on a desktop app, which kinnot be hidden, as enny fool kin plainly see. Some apps haf text menus, others haf graphic buttons, some haf both. Th' ress of th' fo'm corntains stan'ard elements sech as text areas, drop-down boxes, check boxes, an' th' like, wif desktop-like semi-3D effecks. Menny funckshuns take one o' two taps mo'e than they sh'd. Pocket PC users sh'd feel right at home, while Palm users who complained about th' Pocket PC's heavy interface an' lack of cornsissency acrost applicashuns will haf th' same set of complaints hyar. Terminal window, notice th' odd wrappin' on th' "ps aux" comman' Next t'th' Qt menu on th' tax bar is a seleck box/push button thet lets yo' seleck between four diffrunt kinds of on-screen input. All four pop up at th' bottom of th' screen, causin' th' ress of th' screen t'shrink t'make room, dawgone it. Thar is an on-screen tappable QWERTY keyboard, a small alfybetic "pick board", a han'writin' recognishun screen, an' a Unicode selecko'. All but th' Unicode selecko' include a built-in wo'd complete feature, which is most welcome. Th' Unicode selecko' allers yo' t'seleck enny suppo'ted chareecker direckly outta th' chareecker set table, an' is apparently aimed fo' internashunal users. Th' han'writin' recognishun system most closely resembles Jot, th' default han'writin' system on Pocket PC devices an' also available fo' th' Palm, dawgone it. Th' han'writin' area is divided into three areas, fo' uppercase, lowercase, an' noomric an' symbol chareeckers. Fo' them not used t'th' Zaurus's chareeckers, a quesshun mark button t'th' right of th' han'writin' area calls up an interackive, animated trainer program, dawgone it. It shows a selecked chareecker bein' drawn, then allers yo' t'try it yo'seff an' tells yo' which chareecker it is interpretin' it as. Eff'n yo' simply kinnot stan' th' default set of chareecker strokes, th' pencil button on th' right side of th' han'writin' area lets yo' add an' remove cestom strokes fo' etch chareecker. Wif a li'l time, yo' sh'd be able t'setup a reasonable facsimile of Graffiti eff'n yer comfy wif thet chareecker set. Th' trainer applet will even take th' noo strokes into account an' let yo' train on th' ones yo' specify as fine. Jest in case yo' completely mess up, yo' kin resto'e th' default chareeckers wif th' tap of a button, as enny fool kin plainly see. Applicashuns Th' Zaurus includes a number of bundled applicashuns, some Free Sof'ware an' some commercial, ah reckon. Thar is th' usual asso'tment of PIM applicashuns, although notably missin' is a memo app. Thar is a text edito', but th' interface is still lackin' at this hyar point an' it does not tie into th' conduit (mo'e on thet later). No system'd be complete wifout a solitaire game, an' th' Zaurus includes seven other games as fine. Thar is also a calculato', image viewer, an' simple but effeckive file manager. Windows users kin give th' interface a Windows-like look, o' alternatively QPE o' LightStep looks As yo''d speck fum a Linux-based system, thar is a terminal applet wif a bash prompp. All th' usual comman' line tools is present, although at th' moment th' only bundled text edito' is vi. Emacs an' pico is available as free downloads fum other developers. (Emacs, pico, an' vi is three of the dawgoned-est popular cornsole text edito's fo' Unix-like operatin' systems.) One drawback, howevah, is thet most comman' line tools assoom a desktop-sized monito', an' ain't been redesigned fo' a 240x320 screen, as enny fool kin plainly see. Fo' example, th' common comman' "ps aux" (which shows a list of all runnin' processes on th' device) will wrap on th' display, makin' it extremely hard t'read, cuss it all t' tarnation. 16 common comman's is available fum a drop down menu above th' text area. An included media player will play MP3 audio files as fine as MPEG-4 video files, although audio will only play through th' haidphone/microphone jack. Shet mah mouth! Amazin'ly, it don't suppo't Ogg Vo'bis files as of yet. Thar is suppo't fo' a sin'le playlist only. Th' quality of our sample MPEG-4 video files was quite fine, an' looked sharp an' crisp on th' 240x320 display. Audio quality was excellent. In jury testin', dependin' on th' voloom level, th' Zaurus prodooced crisper soun' than a Sony CLIE 760C, although it was a bit too sharp t'lissen t'continually. At a lower voloom, howevah, it was almost indistin'uishable. At maximum voloom, sevahal testers were unable t'tell th' difference between th' Zaurus an' a Creative Labs Soun'Blaster Live! card when played through th' same speakers, which is quite a feat fo' a han'held device. Thar is also a Voice Reco'der applicashun thet requires thet yo' plug a microphone into th' haidphone/microphone jack. Shet mah mouth! It kin save in a variety of diffrunt mono fo'mats, rangin' fum 8 KHz, 64 kbps all th' way t'22 KHz, 352 kbps incodin'. It kin save files t'RAM o' eifer sto'age card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Media Player is capable of playin' audio an' video, wif surprisin'ly fine quality Th' Zaurus also includes th' commercial web browser Opera in ROM. Opera fo' th' Zaurus is based on th' Opera 5 ingine, th' same ingine used in th' desktop vahshuns of Opera until recently. (Opera 6 fo' Windows was released in late November.) It includes almost complete HTML 4.0, XHTML 1.0, CSS 1, an' CSS 2 suppo't, equal t'o' better than Internet Splorer does. Th' interface is redesigned fo' a han'held fo'm facko', howevah. It also includes th' ability t'refo'mat a page t'a 240x320 screen, includin' frames. Fo' large pages thet does not refo'mat easily, Opera includes th' ability t'zoom in o' out, makin' th' entire page smaller o' larger. Th' Zaurus uses a package system based mighty closely on th' Familiar Linux distribushun fo' th' Compaq iPAQ, even bo'rowin' th' name ipkg, acco'din' t' th' code o' th' heells! An included package manager applet allers yo' t'install *.ipk package files located in RAM o' on a memo'y card an' uninstall packages thet yo' haf added, cuss it all t' tarnation. Yo' kin also cornfigger remote ipk sarvers, an' upgrade installed packages based on th' info'mashun on th' sarver, allerin' fo' almost Debian like centralized management, moosic t'th' ears of co'po'ate IT managers. Eff'n th' program yer hankerin' t'install ain't packaged proper, howevah, yo'll hafta install it th' same way yo''d on enny other Linux-based distribushun; usin' an included install scripp o' manually placin' files.