Bits of organization clear clutter
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`Tech Review
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`organization
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`Dots, Snippets streamline'yaur time on the Net
`
`Swch By Fp:i
`the WGb
`Ti
`
`the stte
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`POIN®REsn ar
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`rd~t '. Baig, USA TODAY
`
`I'm a ot
`person Y
`neatest
`de
`
`Thelastt~ ~ on one save the tol eof
`p my desk
`Y
`was during the Eisenhower administration.
`OK, I exaggerate. But I need all the help I can
`get organizing the piles around me.
`
`Pd rather be more orderly on the Internet, too.
`For all the Net's riches, it can he a royal pain
`in the rear. There's too much happening, and
`accessing even the simplest stuff - a quickie
`stock quote or weather forecast - takes too
`long. Sure, I can bookmark favorite sites or
`customize a portal page. But those involve
`surfing from site to site. What if I'm not in the
`mood, or simply don't have the time? Why
`must I be exposed to a full Web page each
`time I want to digest a slice of the material on
`display?
`
`Inside Tech
`Talk Tech
`F
`tflps
`Web Column
`Hot Sites
`Tech News
`Tech Investor
`Tech Reviews
`Answer Desk
`Game Zone
`Daily Digest
`Shareware Shelf
`Web Potholes
`Web Resources
`Consumer Sites
`Tech Front.
`
`.jFor other a} Lunuis by
`Edward lick here.
`
`More Tech columnisrs:
`
`i
`
`I
`
`I
`
`I
`
`e TaniaraHolmez :
`4j.n
`• Lri Jc~l~a
`+ Trim l(ort 3.ndo
`ar y_
`e 1'iEv'
`+ Baru'Medth
`® RobinR sUi
`e Bruce Sehwartz.
`• Toel Smith
`• Elizabeth Weise
`~, Bolan aukey
`
`Several start-ups - L)oDots, iWare, NetSanity,
`Snippets.coni and Win fire among them -
`narrow the distance between you and Net
`content you crave in a hurry. Some of these
`companies have unleashed browser companions, or toolbars that run
`along the edge of your Netscape or Internet Explorer browser, Others
`offer approaches that work completely outside the browser.
`
`Marketplace
`Hardware
`Accessories
`Software One of the most appealing, solutions is in the latter camp, and it puts a
`new spin on the term "dot-com." DoDots, started by Stanford alumni
`and twin brothers George and John Kembell, is built around small,
`
`Print Edition
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`http://www.usatoday.corn/life/cyber/coarch/cced00fthtm
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`Confidential — Outside Attorneys' Eyes Only
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`5/15/00
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`DODOTS0026099
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`Bits of organization clear clutter
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`discrete windows known as Dots. Think of them as bite-size Net
`applications that sit on, your desktop. But you need not type Web
`addresses to get to them. Dots can hold your daily schedule, pictures or
`restaurant reviews; the typical Dot contains about one-tenth of the
`contents found on a full page. You can resize Dots, turn them on or off,
`and drag them around the screen. The first Dots went "live" last month,
`though the program is in its pre-release stages.
`
`The Kembells, who have a consumer packaging background, extend
`the packaging metaphor to the Web. "Before Dots, companies were
`Resources
`putting everything on the Internet in the same way - big pages," John
`E-mail Kenibell says. "That's like putting everything a store sells in the same
`box."
`Site mAp
`Feedback
`About us
`,tabs at USA
`TODAY
`
`To use DoDots, download a free HomeDot at the DoDots site, The
`HomeDot is the first thing you'll see when you subsequently click on.
`the DoDots icon and log in. With it, you can store and categorize Dots
`you collect around the Web, found at the DoDots home page and
`partner sites. You also can click a Get button in the HomeDot to find
`available Dots.
`
`Free premiums
`USA TODAY
`Update
`
`The idea is to connect the Dots to the tasks that brought you to the PC.
`Soft are While I typed this column in Microsoft Word, for example, I accessed
`a Merriam-Webster thesaurus and dictionary Dot. Burned by the
`ILOVEYOU virus last week, I checked the latest "love bug" news by
`perusing stories in a ZDNet Dot. For more detail, I clicked on a link
`and jumped to the ZDNet site.
`
`_
`
`.
`.
`
`You can e-mail Dots to friends, who can view them if they've
`downloaded the 1-iomeDot. Online merchants can send you Dots with
`branded product pitches. Most promising is the ability to group active
`Dots into packs that can "talk" to one another. You might play MP3
`music files in one Dot, display an album cover or lyrics in another, and
`open another Dot to buy concert tickets.
`
`I have a few quibbles. You can get Dots only from the 20 companies
`DoDots has partner deals with, though more are on the way. I'd like to
`be able to make a Dot out of any site. You also can't print from Dots
`yet.
`
`If Dots don't do, Snippets might. Snippets version 2.0, out Wednesday,
`is a free, downloadable toolbar with side-by-side thumbnail icons
`called snippets. Individual Snippets represent dynamic slices of the
`Web, parsed from the company's partners. An advantage over DoDots
`is that the always-visible Snippets use graphics and color to convey
`information. You'll see local temperature on the Snippet representing
`weather, provided incidentally by Yahoo! A thumbnail version of the
`Yahoo! weather satellite photo is visible on a separate weather Snippet.
`Financial Snippets (from Go.conm) display stock: quotes and charts.
`When you click on any of these small icons, a window pops up with
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`http://NN,ww.usatoday. com/life/cyber/ccarch/ceedOOO.htm
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`Confidential — Outside Attorneys' Eyes Only
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`5/15/00
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`DODOTS0026100
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`Bits of organization clear clutter
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`more detail (earnings per share, a more complete weather forecast).
`When you click again, you'll move to the complete Web pages of the
`information providers.
`
`As with DoDots, I displayed Snippets for
`Merriam-Webster and ZDNet. My Snippets
`drawer, as it's called, also included icons for
`Dilbert cartoons, the Letterman Top Ten list and
`USA TODAY.
`
`To add or delete Snippets on the toolbar is a
`cinch. You can hide the Snippets drawer if you
`want to devote the full screen to other purposes.
`One nice feature: If a favored site isn't among
`Snippets' partners, you can add a bookmark
`Snippet and type the Web address you want to
`access.
`
`You can receive visual alerts (a glyph, grayed-
`out Snippet) when stock prices hiccup, auction
`bids are updated, or other content is revised. And you can schedule
`when Snippets are updated or even shown - for example, displaying
`stock prices only on weekdays.
`
`Now the nits: You can display the toolbar at the top or bottom of your
`screen but can't drag the bar elsewhere. Nor can you change the size of
`individual Snippets or lift the icons off the drawer to place them
`anywhere you want. Another downer: The preview version I tried froze
`a few times.
`
`Taking scraps from, the Web makes sense on the PC. But increasingly
`you'll view fragments on an array of hand-held devices.. NetSanity,
`which offers a free browser companion, the SmartBar, plans "digital
`pebbles" for mobile phones and personal digital assistants this summer.
`
`Choosing Dots, pebbles or Snippets is a matter of taste. But whether
`used on a desktop computer or a portable device, it's neatness that
`counts.
`
`Bottom line
`
`DoDots (3 out of 4; www.dodots.corn)
`Pro: Bite-size information. Dots can be resized, dragged anywhere
`around the desktop and e-mailed. Plus, separate Dots can work
`together.
`Con: Relatively few partners so far. Can't create Dots for your own
`sites.
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`http://www.usatoday.comllife/cyber/ccarchlcced000.htm
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`Confidential — Outside Attorneys' Eyes Only
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`5/15100
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`Bits of organization clear clutter
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`Snippets (3, ~v vw.snip pLs.c am)
`Pro: Clever toolbar conveys a lot of i lifor ;mation before you click on.
`anything.
`Con: No way to drag icons off the toolbar. A little buggy.
`
`Edward C. Baig covers technology for USA TODAY.
`
`Copyright C 2000, USA TODAY. All rights rested.
`
`Frr~rrt >age News Sports1 Monev, Life, Weather, Ma&cett i
`0 Copyright 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
`
`http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/cearch/ccedOOO.htm
`
`Confidential — Outside Attorneys' Eyes Only
`
`5/15/00
`
`DODOTS0026102
`
`