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America Online subscribers can now check their e-mail using most third-party software, yet another sign of holes opening up in the Internet dial-up leader's walled garden.
That means Internet users accustomed to Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and other programs needn't use AOL's proprietary software or use Web-based interface to check their AOL electronic mail.
AOL quietly began supporting the open IMAP protocols April 5 and formally launched it last week.
"We've had members that have said, "I'm used to using Outlook at work or Eudora at my old ISP (Internet service provider), so why can't I do the same things?' " said Roy Ben-Yoseph, AOL's director of e-mail products.
Before, only AOL's main software, its AOL Communicator and the AOL-owned Netscape browsers supported AOL e-mail. Instructions for using IMAP are at AOL keywords "open mail access."
AOL also has been making more of its once-exclusive content available through its Web site. It has been shifting from its proprietary programming language, known as "Rainman," to the hypertext markup language that powers the World Wide Web.
Among other major e-mail providers, Yahoo also offers access through third-party software for a yearly fee. Yahoo uses the POP standard to do so.
Microsoft's Hotmail and MSN still limit access to the Web and Microsoft software such as Outlook and Outlook Express.
Argus puts LCD on $45 digital camera
Up to now, inexpensive digital cameras have generally been stripped of special features such as display screens, meaning the photographer had no way to see what sort of image had been captured until the picture was downloaded to a PC. Now the cost-conscious user can point, shoot and review with the Argus DC-1730, the first under-$50 digital camera with a liquid crystal display.
Developed by the Hartford Computer Group and sold by Argus, which helped popularize low-cost film photography in the 1930s, the DC-1730 has a full-color LCD screen on the back. This handy feature, standard issue on most digital cameras, allows the photographer to review a shot instantly and decide whether to keep it or delete it.
The camera, which costs $45 and is available at bricks-and-mortar Wal-Mart stores, fits easily into a pocket or into the palm of your hand. It snaps pictures at VGA resolution, a fraction of the resolution offered by costlier consumer-grade models, but fine for e-mailing snapshots and for decent 3- by 5-inch prints.
With 8 megabytes of memory, the DC-1730 can store up to 117 images, and it comes with a USB cable and photo-editing software. Although it has a built-in flash, it lacks other tools such as a zoom lens or adjustable focus; a $45 camera does have its limits.
SounderCover offers cell phone alibis
Gone are the days when sound effects for your phone calls had to be homemade, like holding your nose when you called in sick. Now owners of selected Nokia and Sony Ericsson cell phones can use a utility called SounderCover to add recorded background sounds to their phoned-in alibis. If you are lingering over a latte but want to say that a traffic jam is holding you up, for example, SounderCover can add the sounds of honking horns and screeching tires to your call.
SounderCover, developed by a software company called Simeda, provides nine background themes, including a thunderstorm, a dentist's office, factory machinery and a busy office. Samples of the sounds are available at www.simeda.com/soundercover.html
One popular sound, according to Simeda, is that of a phone that starts ringing 15 seconds into your conversation. For the ultimate conversation ender and sympathy generator, try the shrill whine of a dentist's drill. You also can create custom sounds, like the rattle of a tow truck winching up your car.
SounderCover, available by download, costs about $12. It works with Nokia models 3650, 3660, 7650 and 6600. A version for Sony Ericsson P800 and P900 models is scheduled for release next month.
Simeda chief executive Liviu Tofan said the product resulted from brainstorming on ways to add virtual background images to camera-cell phones. That project is still in the works and could result in alibis that look as convincing as they sound.
New remote comes with panic button for finding it
For owners of Radio Shack's new 6-in-1 Kameleon remote, the answer to "Honey? Where's the clicker?" is, "Beep beep beep beep beep."
This universal remote comes with a separate push-button remote finder, a device about the size of a candy bar that activates a beeper in the remote control.
The Kameleon has some other compelling features, especially its amenability to upgrades. If you purchase a new home theater component that the Kameleon does not recognize, Radio Shack's consumer help line can upload a new code over a land-line phone. Just press the phone's speaker to the remote's face plate while modem tones play over the line to capture the new code.
As its name implies, the unit can control up to six devices. The blue electro-luminescent face plate lights up to display the right controls for different devices. The generic button layouts can make it difficult to identify some functions. But at $80, it packs a lot of features.
While you may never lose the clicker, you do need to keep an eye on the locator button. Make sure you use the included Velcro to secure it where you can find it, or you may once again have to rummage through the sofa cushions.
Talkback about Personal Tech
Spyware is in the news. Readers with questions or comments about it and other tech news and issues of the day can post items for Times personal technology editor Dave Gussow at the Times Talkback site (www.sptimes.com/talkback)
- Compiled from staff and wire reports