With Computer Columnist Sue Braiden

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email: sue@ediblecomputer.com website: http://www.tinman.org/sue

CBC Radio Dispatch   . . .   Consumer Computing with Sue Braiden   . . .   1550 am Windsor   .   88.1 fm Chatham   .   90.3 fm Sarnia

... VISIT THE VIRTUAL STUDIO

What would you attempt if you knew you couldn't fail?

The question's a great little thermometer for measuring your heart's true desires. Wouldn't it be great if there was an equally simple resource for bringing them to life?

Look no further than the net. Whether you're itching to jump into a new job, create a new you, or dive into an adventure, the web's got lots of idea generators and rocket fuel to power those dreams, and today's show is dedicated to helping you find them.

Tune in on Monday, January 12th when computer columnist Sue Braiden shares some ideas about the best websites and software to help you keep your resolutions in 2004.

You can blame it on the Babylonians. They started the whole thing about 4,000 years ago. New Years is said to be the oldest celebration of all, right down to the cliché resolutions. learn more here:   http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm I don't know if the Babylonians had as much trouble keeping their resolutions as I have of keeping mine, but I'll bet they needed a little prodding too. While I was still in London I shackled myself to the time-honoured method of "action inspired by guilt". I got together once a week with a few friends over coffee to share goals and compare notes on progress. Knowing that at least once a week I was going to be held accountable by someone else, and maybe even shamed into getting my hiney in gear if only the night before, the coffee clatch worked well. But my guilty little chain gang was minus one link when I moved to Windsor 6 years ago, and I'm now turning to a high-tech substitute to help keep me honest: myGoals.com        www.mygoals.com Whether your goals are part of the Top Ten (start a new business, quit smoking, lose ten pounds, go back to school, spend more time with your family or write the "great Canadian novel" ...) or something a little more outrageous (I'm looking to chase twisters, have my music recorded by a symphony, and other simple, pragmatic stuff like that ;) , this handy new website promises an effective, timely prod via customized Goalplans and emailed task reminders that arrive precisely when you should be working on the next task. The first 10 days of goal-chasing are free. Then it costs US$5.95 a month (or you can get 12 months for $49.95 instead of $71.40, saving $21.45). The way I look at it, it's cheaper than my coffee clatch (breakfast out, parking tickets, gas), and I can tap into a set of resources designed to help me tackle the exact goal I have in mind. The downside? Well, a coffee buddy was a bit more effective at management by guilt since I wouldn't dare have deleted one of them from my inbox if I just didn't feel like listening ;) My 50 Things to Do in My Lifetime        www.my50.co.uk Looking for a simple place to start without spending a dime? Check out My 50 Things to Do in My Lifetime. Make a list of what you want to do. Set deadlines. Check out their suggestions if you find yourself uninspired. A few other resources to keep you from breaking those resolutions: Resolution Reminders        www.hiaspire.com/newyear        * find a "Resolution Buddy" to help you stay on track How to Keep Your New Years Resolutions        www.how-to-keep-your-new-years-resolution.com And if you're just looking to replace the helpful advice that a coffee clatch friend might otherwise give you (minus the guilty look and wagging finger), try: A Better Approach to New Years Resolutions -- and Any Resolution!        www.willingness.com/html/articles/resolutions.html Get the Creative Juices Flowing ... Maybe you need a little mental aerobics to get you in the mood for those big life changes? WhatAGreatIdea.com is one of the most innovative approaches I've ever scene to stimulating creativity. Get curious. Create a battle plan. Watch Chic TV and do some mind stretching or brain exercises in the shower. Then head over and grab a handful of Innovation Tools. Articles on creativity, mind mapping and free brainstorming emails are just a few of the things that you'll find at this active and highly creative online community. Got it all figured out? Inspired to move mountains? Time to create a personal mission statement for free at Franklin-Covey, and then download their planning software below ... Downloads for Your Desktop Computer FranklinCovey PlanPlus for Microsoft Outlook 2.0 Publisher: FranklinCovey Cost: Free to try; $79.95 to buy 7 Part Affirmation Course 3.1 Publisher: AffirmWare Cost: Free GoalMaker 3.0 Publisher: GoalMaker Cost: Free to try. $79.95 to buy. Progress Planner Personal 1.7 Publisher: ezBusiness Systems Cost: Free to Try. $29.99 to buy. OptimizeMe 1.1 Publisher: johncode Cost: Free to try. $19.90 to buy. Dietmaster 2000 Publisher: Lifestyle Technologies Cost: Free to try. $24.95 to buy. DietPower Publisher: DietPower, Inc. Cost: Free to try. $50.00 to buy. Eatometer Publisher: Terzon Systems Cost: Free to try; $14.99 to buy Crosstrainer 5.0 Publisher: Innovative Logic Cost: Free to try. $49.95 to buy. Downloads for Your Handheld Computer MySpotter - Virtual Personal Trainer (for PalmOS) Publisher: Maximum Performance Solutions Cost: Basic Edition - Free. Standard Edition - $29.95. Lifebalance 3.2.2 - Mobile Edition (for PalmOS) Publisher: Llamagraphics Cost: Free to try. $39.95 to buy (also available for Windows and Mac) Pocket Personal Trainer (for Pocket PC) Publisher: BigMan Software Cost: Free to try. $11.50 to buy. Goal Master 2.9 (for PalmOS) Publisher: WestWare Cost: Free to try. $8.00 to buy. eDiet Manager (for PalmOS) Publisher: Mobile Systems Cost: Free to try. $19.95 to buy. Diet and Exercise Assistant (for Palm, Pocket PC & Windows) Publisher: Keyoe Cost: Free to try. $19.95 to buy. Weight-By-Date Mobile (for Palm, Pocket PC & Windows) Publisher: ProVariant Software Cost: Free to try. $19.95 to buy. A New You If you're looking for a fun way to try a "new you" on for size, why not treat yourself a "virtual makeover"?   With Your Own Photo: EZface Virtual Mirror Clairol's Try It On Studio Beauty Riot Instant Makeover   With Their Model Photos: Substance's Makeover-o-Matic Revlon's Virtual Makeover Give Your Lungs a Makeover ... While I'm not crazy about linking to a cigarette site, Phillip Morris has some excellent resources ... Quit Smoking Youth Smoking Prevention Parent Resource Center A New Job Stuck in the rut and looking for a better fit? Here are some of the best virtual head-hunter sites on the net:   Canadian-Based: Monster.ca Workopolis.ca CareerClick HotJobs.ca   Canadian-based: Job Shark Actual Jobs Kelly Services   Global: Emoonlighter.com (formerly Guru) Elance MediaBistro (for writers) A New Adventure Adventure Divas        www.adventuredivas.com Got wanderlust? Looking for something out of this world and right off the map? Plan your pilgrimage or be inspired by someone else's at AdventureDivas.com. Global Online Adventure Learning Site (GOALS)        www.goals.com Explorers of all ages are invited to join the folks at GOALS on a growing list of educational adventures with an emphasis on science, technology and nature. Their adventures and acronym 'GOALS' are intended to inspire readers to establish and strive for goals of their own. SoYouWanna.com        www.SoYouWanna.com So ya wanna be a rock star? or an astrophysicist? or get on "The Real World" with Carson Daly? If you're looking for an adventure, this site teaches you how to do all the things nobody taught you in school, and then some! HUBBY'S PICK > > > My hubby, Stephen Blakney, suggests the following online resources for men: Men's Health: "The Belly Off Club" http://www.menshealth.com/cda/channel/0,6915,s1-4-0-0-0,00.html Complementing "Men's Health" magazine, this website companion includes stories from "real" guys (you can submit your own), practical tips, meal plans, message boards, "Ask-the-Expert", and email reminders for your personalized plan. You can try out the "Men's Health Personal Trainer" program free of charge for 10 days. It's an online subscription plan, starting at US$5.95 per month, and includes customized diet and workout plans, and interactive workout software and animated exercise demos. Happy New Year! with a renewed commitment to the Great White North ... gentle listener :) Well, it's another new year of consumer computing, and that means more innovative products, some handy new gadgets, and a slew of companies emerging and departing. In order to celebrate the launch into 2004, you can look forward to a new "look and feel" for the "Edible Computer" website soon! Have some ideas about the things that you think would be most useful? Particular topics? A better way of getting around? I invite you to visit the Listeners' Picks forum to tell me about it. One of the big changes in 2004 will be a renewed focus on Canadian-based innovation! (Click here to read more about why I think this is important, and how you can participate). I'm always looking for stories to share about great new Canadian consumer computing products and services, and people who are showing breakthrough innovation in the way that they use their computers. Know of someone I should be covering? Drop me a line and let me know who they are, and what they're up to at the Am I Looking for You? forums. I'm always grateful for your feedback. I want your experience as a listener, and as a visitor to the website, to make your journey as a computer consumer easier and more valuable. Have a terrific Monday morning, and let's keep talking!

What Did We Talk About During the Last Few Shows? Monday, December 29th, 2003 Using Your Computer to Make a Music Video listen to show in Streaming Audio: Hi-Fi   (DSL/Cable modems) Lo-Fi   (dial-up modems) http://markhewer.com A few years ago I began my search for local music artists who were using their computers to produce, promote and profit from their work, and was amazed by the sheer volume of talent I uncovered. But there was one artist who stood out because of his sheer drive and innovation: Windsor artist, Mark Hewer. Mark not only uses his computer and the internet to market himself like nobody's business, he uses them to launch and polish grand collaborations with other music artists around the world. In addition to his own prolific work, he has a number of compositions and performances he was a part of creating with people he has never met. Never satisfied to rest on the status quo, Mark's added a new notch to his musical belt: this month he's released a music video, the result of a trans-atlantic collaboration that included a "Bono-esque" vocalist from Germany. The result is a polished, cinematic production that Hewer believes may be the first of it's kind. If you missed the show on Monday, December 29th when I sat down with Mark Hewer to learn more about how a local business man launches a music career through the net, and conjures up a global music video with music video with other artists he's never met, you can still catch it here. VIDEO: "Swayed" (click to watch) ARTIST: Burn/Hewer/Iorio LABEL: BURN PRODUCTION Monday, December 15th, 2003 A Very Apple Christmas It's the last computer column before Christmas. Still looking for the perfect family computer to put under the tree or give during Hannuakah or Kwanzaa this year? It's an "all Apple" line-up! My picks? Family computer of choice: the "iMac". Easy to use; minimal problems; stocked with lots of practical multimedia tools that let you do everything from make home movies to burn your own DVDs. Many of our kids are started off on Macs in the classroom as early as Junior Kindergarten. Great for home offices because of powerful industry-standard media and publishing tools. Terrific choice for helping with anything from homework to multimedia family project. Favourite gadget: the "iPod" personal music player. Fast, easy music storage. Simple access to computer. Capable of storing thousands of your favourite songs. Great performance and reliability. A little pricey at just under $450, but the best bet for portable music this year. I'll be inviting special guest, Paul Rousseau, an Executive Committee member of "AppleSPICE", the Windsor & Essex County Macintosh Users Group. AppleSPICE is one of the oldest Apple UGs in Canada, and has been helping the local Apple/MAC community since 1983. So if listeners are looking for a little help deciding what and where to buy, and then with managing all this new stuff once they've got it, this is the man to turn to! What do they do at AppleSPICE? Review new products, share tips, offer resources and tutorials through a monthly newsletter and at our website: homepage.mac.com/applespicemug Their annual membership fee is $35.00. This covers your entire family, and includes Club CDs, special events and monthly door prizes. Visitors are always welcome. The first meeting is free. After that they ask non-members to kick in $5.00 to cover the pizza and pop that they serve at each meeting. It's a good time to be talking with Paul and the folks at AppleSPICE, because they're having our annual holiday "Garage Sale" tomorrow (Tuesday December 16), and our listeners are welcome to come out and join them. Members will be digging out hardware, peripherals, software and so on to bring in to sell, swap or just give away. It's a good time to come out to meet people who are already using Apple/Mac and ask them about their experiences. They meet on the 3rd Tuesday each month from 7:30 until 9:30 p.m. at the Optimist Community Centre at 1075 Ypres in Windsor. Listeners will find a brand new forum open this morning at the "Edible Computer" site. It's dedicated entirely to the Apple/Mac community. If you have any questions or ideas to share with us here at CBC Radio, or with Paul Rousseau, join us at the new forum. Monday, December 1, 2003 Hollywood-in-a-Box listen to show in Streaming Audio: Hi-Fi   (DSL/Cable modems) Lo-Fi   (dial-up modems) Thinking about buying a home computer this Christmas for your creative teen? Gavin Booth calls today's home computers "Hollywood-in-a-Box" for students and young film makers, and even used his own to help make a full length feature film right here in Essex County. Tune in to this week's Computer Column on Monday, December 1st when Booth talks to computer columnist Sue Braiden about how he used his PC to launch a film career that now has him working with Grammy award winning Detroit music artist Eminem, and hosting an online screenplay writing contest in 2004. click here to learn more ... Monday, November 17, 2003 CitiStat: A Chance for Citizens to Tap Into Public Service from their Home Computer? During the recent city election Mayor-Elect Eddie Francis promised to implement a program called "CitiStat". He said it was a key strategy in his commitment to delivering a more open and accountable public service. It was the topic of much debate in the weeks leading up to the election, and lingering confusion about exactly what this program does. Why does Mr. Francis think applying an American-based model is going to work here in Windsor, and exactly what is it going to cost us when he does? click here to learn more ... Monday, November 3, 2003 Turning Your Knowledge Into Cash: Are You the Next Online Professor? So you've been laid off, you're bored with your job, you've retired, or you're just plain ready for a change. Maybe it's time to cash in on that noggin' of yours! With online learning booming on the internet, and a host of virtual campuses looking to connect their tools with your know-how, a brand new career may be as close as your home PC. If you missed this show on Monday, November 3rd, you can still check out the website to learn more about how you can cash in on your "knowledge collateral". Want to know which electronic campuses are inviting you to teach? Which ones have the best tools? The best opportunities to earn a profit from your special brand of knowledge? From raising ferrets to raising the Titanic -- whatever your talent or skill, there's a market, and I'm going to help you find it. click here to learn more ... Monday, October 20, 2003 Flash Mobs ... Social menace or future champion of collective community action? From PDAs to cellphones with text messaging, as the latest round of gadgets hits critical mass in the consumer computing market, a fountain of innovative social applications seems to spontaneously erupt. The latest trend? "Flash mobs" -- gangs of pranksters whose collective action is fuelled by a variety of mobile computing gadgets. Are "Flash mobs" to mobile computing what Napster was to "peer-to-peer networks"? Social menace or future champion of collective community action? Tune in on Monday, October 20th to learn more about how this latest trend in consumer computing is taking hold in wired communities in the U.S., and is beginning to catch on globally. Suddenly feel the urge to join one of these secret societies on one of their next clandestine events, or simply learn more about what they've been up to? Here are the online hangouts of some of the more notorious "Flash Mobs" ... Flashmob.info http://www.flashmob.info cheesebikini.com http://www.cheesebikini.com Rheingold and company's smartmobs.com http://www.smartmobs.com Rather just talk about it? Social menace or future champion of some collective community action? You be the judge over in the "Edible Computer listener forums". I'm inviting listeners to share their own ideas about the kind of future innovation that the "flash mobs" trend might lead to. MORE PAST FEATURES ... Monday, October 6, 2003 This is one fashion trend you definitely DID NOT see at the Emmy's last week: "wearable" computers ... XyberNaut.com Monday, September 22, 2003 Throw away your business cards and burn a mittful of mini-CDs. It's a memorable yet cost-effective way to reach out and touch someone ... Missed my shows on dealing with the latest round of viruses and tools to stop them in their tracks and clean up after them when they're gone? You can still help yourself to the tips and the tools by clicking on the links above.