Business ED SmdayMay72000 Standard-Examine- r FcRSOIIALTECOlOGY bells and whistles Microsoft’s latest can’t match Palms Despite a M0SS8ERG By WALTER TlwWalSWel Journal When the Palm Pilot computer was in 1996 called it “by far the best little computer I have ever seen and the only one 1 can imagine incorporating into my daily life” That’s still true today even as the old Pilot has morphed into a now whole line of hand-helsimply called Palms Others tried to replicate the Palm magic notably Microsoft and several of its hardware partners But they failed miserably it’s hard to make a hand-hel- d computer that’s a thing of beauty Jnside and out So like many others I carry an elegant efficient 1 ds yalmV 2 Now Microsoft and its partners are back for another try with s a redesigned line of These devices renamed “Pocket hand-held- much-improv- soft- ed ware and restyled hardware I’ve con- clusions First Microsoft and Hewlett-P- deserve credit for ackard hand-hel- d size Compromises An appliance like the Palm is device that doesn’t compromise in delivering a task-orient- Honors porate computer departments provements have achieved a first-payield of 98 percent and a 74 ss From ID delivery with an percent e inventory reduction of $15 million in 1999 The plant has received the “Wards Auto World 10 Best Engines” honor each of the past four years ' The Cydsa Policyd La Presa plant in Tlanepantia Mexico manufactures polyvinyl chloride resins for synthetic fibers toys surgical gloves vinyl planking bottles and rigid film Its im percent quality cost reduction over five years on-tim- Remote Delphi CMM of Matamo-ro- s Mexico produces instrument panels steering wheels interior grab handles and air bag module covers Using lean manufacturing CMM has achieved less than 200 returned parts per million while achieving 100 percent on-tidelivery The plant recorded 77 million hours without a case gy within its publication With the help of current partners ZapCode plans to test user application soon by issuing a demo version to specific geographic locations A primary success factor however is making the technology convenient while affordable Initially the cost of producing a scanner of this capability would have been nearly $4000 per unit - engi- neers has determined the reality of offering ZapScanners for under $100 to the private consumer Development and implementation however will require Zap-Coand its partners to give away scanners to early adopters within testing regions “It will be a challenging task to keep costs low while maintaining high quality and performance” he said Another future focus will be wireless communication systems “Our product really adds the convenience to Web browsing” said de Powell Similar technologies such as video teleconferencing and the Internet-base- d Palm Pilot have encountered struggles TThe average consumer has not adopted these systems because £the quality and convenience is mot there” said Powell “As a result they’ve fallen into a chasm” “We also believe that and business-to- -' consumer ordering will be a big Another development in the technology of ZapCode Products is the creation of sponsor buttons These buttons would be located on the upper portion of the pen-lik- e scanner and would be direct links to specific corporate sponsors distributing the uct The concept low individuals modify their own like a “favorites” browser prod- would also al- to create and buttons - much menu in a Web Several high-profiInternet sites such' as ESPNcom le Gate-wayco- for instant access During a recent presentation to a Utah State University marketing institutions class ZapCode demonstrated the concept of converging print media and the Internet Students reacted with enthusiasm and questioned when the technology would be available for purchase “It’s a wonderful tool that could be adapted to many different industries” said one student after trying the ZapScanner “I would love to own one” ZapCode hopes that consumers will recognize the need for the Internet tool “The effect on alone will be exciting in itself” said Powell “I can only imagine how it will advance into other technological areas” You can leave rie Saunders at a message for 625-424- Car- 5 er GUIDE TO LIVING IN WE TOP OF UTAH This valuable quarterly guide will be eagerly anticipated by over 150000 readers throughout Weber Morgan Box Elder and North Davis counties As an advertiser this is your opportunity to make the seniors in your market aware of the discounts special services and otters from your company Make sure you Jake advantage of this specially targeted publication) r®Si Standard-Examinew 2 m and CNNcom could place their names and link on the buttons for the consumers convenience Clicking on the sponsor buttons would not require scanning a bar code It would automatically take the user to the site Standard-Examin- 625-432- ay hit for us” said Powell “That’s the battle ground to win” 'From ID 'cessful adoption of the product 'through the cooperation of publishers and other partners For instance ZapScanners could be distributed with every yearly subscription to Time magazine The magazine then would be responsible for setting up the technolo- Call se who will presumably be attracted by the fact that like its predecessors it includes limited versions of Microsoft Word Excel and Outlook There are some nice features in the new Jornada The color screen is vivid even in daylight The menus have been simplified Synchronization with desktop PCs finally works reliably A single tap of the stylus now executes most functions It’s smaller and more stylish than its predeces- sors There’s a built-i- n digital music player and a program for reading books If you must use spreadsheets on a color handheld by all means buy a Pocket PC It’s now good enough for f er HMnnweeiiei Fof more Information oontect your Mfcereproentetfveor cal 624322 other programs And it has a pitiful battery life of just eight hours between charges - far less if you built-i- n use the much-toute- d music player The Palm V can go for about a month of normal use between charges Even when compared with Palm’s larger and costlier color model the Palm IIIc the Jornada is still about 25 percent heavier 10 percent costlier and much worse on battery life that Bad design For most people concerned with core organizer functions however the color Jornada is no match for the monochrome Palm V The Jornada costs nearly twice as much - $500 vs $279 It weighs more than twice as much - 9 ounces vs 4 ounces It’s longer and thicker It synchronizes out of the box with Microsoft Outlook while the Palm not only synchronizes perfectly with Outlook but with a whole host of The Jornada also betrays some bad design flaws For instance the little cover on the memory slot won’t stay dosed Much worse the stylus is almost impossible to retrieve quickly is easy to lose and is junky It’s a fiat flimsy thing that is jammed into a slot under the lid rather than a nice pen-lik- e tool that stows in the unit itself This is a fatal flaw It’s like making a laptop whose keyboard must be un hooked from inside a carrying bag every time you want to use it Of course you can improve on the Palm Microsoft could for instance have made a great handheld with integrated wireless Internet capability taking on the wireless Palm VII with say cheaper and faster built-i- n Internet service That would appeal to millions of users The Pocket PC which costs more than Palm’s wireless model does have a nice little Web browser but amazingly no built-i- n modem or online connectivity of any kind Instead Microsoft and its partners continue to try to jam a dedesktop PC into a hand-hel- d vice They’ve done a much better job of it this time around but it’s still not an appealing idea for most users Sometimes less really is more The Wall Street Journal rttSfa weekly technology column Yoircan reach the column writers and find past columns at pteckwsjcom Cooperatives People over profits Continued ds making great strides over their earlier truly awful designs How The work of ZapCode’s that and the device is strictly de- signed around the core functions Unlike the Palm the Pocket PC is a general-purpodevice -built to do many things with many compromises The software and hardware are made by separate companies It’s much more complicated than a Palm And like a PC it forces the user to think about techie stuff like processor speed memory size grams files and power management - things most Palm owners can largely ignore Where the Palm models appeal to a wide variety of nontechnical users the Pocket PC is more of a niche product It is squarely aimed at two main groups of users: techies and cor- - Jeen testing one of them an HP Jornada 545 for a couple of weeks and I’ve come to two power It’s inferior because it’s just not the same kind of simple focused product The Palm is a “digital appliance” the precursor of a whole new type of computer that is expected to outsell PCs in a few years The Pocket PC is just what it says it is - an effort to shnKk a desktop PC to a exactly the functionality it promises The hardware and software are designed as a seamless unit to perform the core organizer functions - calendar and address book to-d-o lists memos and all synchronized perfectly with similar applications on a PC The hallmarks are simplicity small size and low weight reliability and long battery life While the Palm can run thpu-sanof third-part- y programs hardly any of its users care about -- yCs” carry ever even the new design doesn’t touch the Palm models I wouldn’t consider trading my Palm V for the Jornada 545 and neither should most people The Pocket PC isn’t inferior to the Palm for lack of features or “It is a great movement” Edward Filene a Boston mer- chant and philanthropist said “It is worthy of great deeds deserving of great loyalty” Given Filene’s New England heritage one might suspect this type of patriotic overtone Only it wasn’t the land of the free and the brave he was referring to Instead Filene’s words glowing described one of the greatest financial concepts to ever come to hard working Americans the credit union But what makes credit unions so different from other financial institutions? To understand one must consider the origin of the credit union Its roots values and structure can be traced back to England in 1844 That’s when a unique business concept known as a cooperative emerged Central to the mission of a cooperative is to place services and benefits to its members above all else Or to put it in the modern parlance of today’s credit unions people are much more important than dollars So a cooperative is a business voluntarily owned by its member patrons and operated for them and by them on a or cost basis It is owned by the people who use it It is organized and incorporated to engage in economic activities with certain ideals of democracy social consciousness and human relations A cooperative provides services and benefits for its members in proportion to the use they make of their organization rather than earning profits for the shareholders as investors The hallmarks of the modern credit union are its democratic structure service to its members and social goals Membership in a credit union is voluntary and open to all those who are legally eligible to join and enjoy the services Members also have a vote and hence a say in the decisions of the credit union And this is without regard to the member’s amount of savings or volume of business In addition credit unions are charged with the responsibility to improve the economic and social well being of the members they serve Thus a full array of financial products and services are offered including the latest electronic products Credit unions also pursue social good through working to Improve the various communities they serve They do not exist just to provide financial services but to provide financial services for the purpose of Improving lives Financial services are the means Improvement Is the end So while a first responsibility may be toward the members part of being a ' movement cooperative means looking beyond Individual walls to the larger community and its needs and relevant Issues non-prof- it TERM Obviously either we need to stop offering such big - rates on Certificate Accounts or start buying bigger ads AMERICA FIRST CREDIT UNION To take advantage of this high rate drop by the branch nearest yon or call (800)999-396- 1 ACCURATE AS OF MAY 2 2000 RATE IS APPLICABLE TO REGULAR AND IRA A PENALTY MAY APPLY TO CHANGE A MINIMUM $500 DEPOSIT IS REOUIRED FOR EARLY WITHDRAWAL EXISTING CERTIFICATE ACCOUNTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO BUMP TO THIS SPECIAL RATE OFFER AND RATE AVAILABLE FOR A UMITEO TIME AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE THIS OFFER IS AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS OF AMERICA FIRST CREDIT UNION IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF WEBER DAVIS SALT LAKE BOX ‘ANNUM PERCENTAGE CERTIFICATES YIELD B AND IS SUBJECT ELDER OR UTAH COUNTY YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP MEMBERSHIP AND EUGIBIUTY REOUIRED "