 Our PicksA Look Inside Pasocon Otasuke Book, PCComputing, and Nikkei Computer
by Yuh Nagano How do I put a digital image in a Word document? How do I create rarely used kanji on my PC? How do I get emails forwarded to my two accounts to just one account? Issued randomly, five to six times a year, Pasocon Otasuke Book is a beginner-level guidebook that covers such frequently asked questions that are often hard to dig out in those thick manuals that come with software. The 83rd issue focuses on software trouble on Windows 95, categorizing questions in six sections: Japanese input systems (ATOK11 and MSIME97), word processors (Word97 and Ichitaro Office8), spreadsheets (Excel 97 and Lotus 1-2-3 97), browsers (Netscape Communicator 4.03 and Explorer 4.01), and mailing software (Netscape Messenger and Outlook Express) and Nifty Manager 4.50. There is also some mention of later versions of each software. The magazine covers more than 200 questions, and answers are provided in both text and graphics. PCComputing is a middle-level monthly journal. In the June issue, it talks about ways to make your PC system physically monitor what's going on in the office. In short, a bugging/security device. How do you make sure that no one approaches your PC without permission? For such security reasons, there is software called eyeCATCHER, which turns CAM into a security camera. If there are changes in images captured by CAM, eyeCATCHER warns the user either by a sound, email, fax, or even phone. However, with the initial settings, the software gives warnings even if changes are slight, so it is best to lower the sensitivity of CAM a little bit in the beginning. Other software like SpyCam and WebShot work similarly. They upload captured images on a specified Webpage at a specified time, at a regular interval, so if you are a boss working out of the office you can keep an eye on your colleagues... a nasty device that might work perfectly but it doesn't guarantee that your rep will be as perfect! The magazine also introduces a number of other interesting software. For troubles regarding email transfer and network access, NetMedic is a tool that shows the transfer route of emails from your PC to destinations. Not only does it tell the network status, but also the overload on your CPU, and modem performances (bps.) There are also other software such as NetAnt and Etherboy which monitor packets on the network and visually show their transfer routes. In terms of security, this helps the user to make sure that sent or received emails are not in any way violated by others. Security also involves sound. The magazine talks about installing a microphone and soundboard on the monitoring PC, and how to edit the captured sound into audible files. It also looks at serious bugging devices sold in Akihabara, and those disguised as hubs. The latter is especially dangerous. Hubs, used to delegate LAN data to each destination, are usually located on individual desks and departments, not in the central computer room. This means that the invader does not have to worry about where to set up the bugging device, and where to get power from. The hub-bugging device can then snatch passing packets and send them at high frequencies to remote areas. There are also articles about TAs (terminal adapters) and Windows CE 2.0 mobile PCs, each comparing the user-friendliness of each model's functions. At the last of the magazine there is a step-by-step guide for laymen about how to make a DTM (desktop music) piece. The article ends with a list of useful DTM packages such as the Hello Music Series from Yamaha. If PCComputing's layout was more graphics-based, Nikkei Computer is a magazine of more text, for both business and technical readers. The May issue comes with a good deal of industry news covering both domestic and overseas industries, followed by an article about how to maximize the use of corporate information infrastructure and TCO (total cost of ownership.) Taking examples from four Japanese companies, Kirin Beer, Sumisho Joho System, Yanase, and Ricoh, the article looks at the best combination of hardware for corporate network use and ways to provoke interest in employees to use the systems and get feedback from them. Corporate information use ranges from exchanging emails, browsing the Internet, groupware use and schedule sharing, to the highest level of work flow management and data warehousing. Resources are not fully used either because there are no reasons to use them, they are too hard to use, or employees are not educated enough to utilize them. The magazine also covers an interview with Richard E. Belluzzo, the CEO of Silicon Graphics who talks about the meaning of Silicon Graphics' collaboration with Intel. Then there are 12 pages of lectures from members of prominent Japanese corporate bodies about the basics of Internet technology, Java, NT systems, and how best to incorporate NotePCs for network use. For example, Teruo Nakamura from Hitachi Software Engineering talks about 100% Pure Java, its definition, the company's involvement on various platforms, differences between Sun's Java and Microsoft's Visual J++ and how they have evolved. He says that Windows programmers who are proud of Microsoft will continue to support J++, whereas Windows programmers who dream about many possibilities of platform-free Java will support the "Write Once, Run Anywhere" concept of Sun's Java. Whether two Java worlds will emerge or not will, the author says, depends entirely on the tastes of these Windows programmers. Nikkei Computer's special report focuses on the future prediction of the domestic computer market between year 1998 and 2000. Based upon interviews and surveys by manufacturers, system integrators and surveillance companies, and the fact that in 1997 (between April 97 and March 98) the Japanese computer market (hardware, software and services) grew by 3% in comparison with the previous year, the magazine predicts the growth in 1998 to be \16.1 trillion (a year-on-year growth of 7%) and reaching nearly \19 trillion by year 2000. The driving force of this growth in hardware will lie in PCs and PC servers. According to the magazine, the software package market will grow by about 17% to 18 %, reaching \2 trillion by year 2000.
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