Phone Setter A utility to correct a couple of problems with the way phones are listed, as far as desktop computer PIMs (Personal Information Managers) are concerned.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑWhat does it do? (Don't you hate programs that don't include this in the documentation? I sure do. What are we supposed to do, guess what "VtMplan.pkg" is supposed to do based on its filename?) Your Newton is the most sophisticated and adaptable names database that exists, apart from stuff that costs so much that you'll never see it. While desktop computers have their advantages, I have never seen a PIM that matches the Newton. And yet, when you're sitting at your Mac, you may dial someone using the modem or send them eMail or something. So desktop computer PIMs have their place. As of this writing, no PIM program allows you to have more than one phone number for a particular classÑ "Home" and "Work" are the two biggies. That little MessagePad in your coat pocket can handle four "Work" numbers for any one person or company without even blinking. If someone has a number for which you don't want to set a particular location, you can always use the nonspecific "Phone." Desktop PIMs will not even see this coming, and discard it like yesterday's newspaper. While NOS 2.0 and later MessagePads default to "Home" for the phone number, previous systems (like the MP100) didn't, preferring the less specific "Phone." If you're like I am and have "legacy" data from years of Newton use, or if you just use "Phone" thinking that it was fine and dandy, then you may be in for a rude shock when exporting to a PIM. So if you have to change your method of record-keeping to adapt to one or another PIM, you'll need to change a lot of the settings in your Names file. (And excuse me very much, but weren't computers supposed to adapt to us, not the other way around? No wonder Windows and Pilots succeeded; people assume they're at the mercy of their computer systems. Argh.) You can either go down the list looking for numbers set to "Phone" or multiple "Work" numbersÉ or you can use Phone Setter.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑInstalling You can install this package using the Newton Connection Utility, the Newton Backup Utility, or another package utility (such as LunaTech ResearchÕs PDA Package Downloader). The program will exist happily on either internal memory or a memory card. It can be deleted by scrubbing it out (NOS 2.0 or later) or going to "Prefs:Memory" and removing the package (NOS 1.3 and earlier). When deleted, it will leave no entries in your System soup or anywhere else. This utility is something that you probably will not keep around. Why bother? Just keep it on a floppy, and occasionally re-install it to fix the phone numbers that were created in the meantime. It's small enough.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑUsing the package Upon tapping the icon, you will see a list of phone numbers and names with diamonds on the left side. At first, you'll see numbers that [1] are set to "Phone" or [2] have more than one "Home," "Work," or another class of phone number. If you have a lot of them, you can use the arrow buttons to scroll. You can fix them by tapping the diamond and choosing one of the classes of phone numbers from the popup list. Note that this might put a phone number into the [2] category, but that's life. Two buttons are lined up across the status bar. The "i" button is the standard info button. It's compatable with Thorsten Lange's excellent i++ menu program. next to it is a button labelled "Best Guess." "Best Guess" looks at the kind of name that the phone number is associated with. If it's a person, the number is set to "Home;" if it's a company, the number is set to "Work." No other classes are considered, and this doesn't change numbers which have already been set to one or the otherÑ only the unspecified "Phone" numbers. Unfortunately (due largely to memory constraints) Best Guess doesn't check to see whether you already have a Work or Home phone for that company or person. So it might be a good idea to close the window and run the program again to verify that there are no conflicts.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑTalking about PIMsÉ I used to use Now Contact and Now Up-To-Date. However, one of the biggest jokes in computerdom is that the version of import/export filter supplied with Newton Connection Utilities was meant for version 3.5 of those programsÑ which was ancient history by the time NCU was released. And the filters won't work with v3.6.5, which was the last version released before Now went out of business. I'm currently asking Qualcomm about updates from 3.6.5 to 3.5. More as this develops. Now Synch? Not even Pilot people find it useful. Its biggest sin is that it doesn't do eMail addresses, but it also fails on repeat meetings, messes up some settings, and it doesn't do anything that the NCU filters can't do. Plus it adds considerable quantities of data to the entries in your Names soup (admittedly in the proper manner). Hey, ten out of ten points for effort, guys, but zero for substance. (I'm working from memory here; I deleted this waste of disk space ages ago.) The successor to Now Contact/Up-To-Date, Eudora Planner, is currently in beta. They'd better do a lot of work before releasing it. Get this: You have to log into a server running on your own computer as a background application using a client program, just to get a bloody phone number! Besides, it takes up more space in memory than some 3D rendering programs. This is bloatware of the highest degree. I can't see an individual using it; perhaps a moderate- to large-sized company might, but anyone whose biggest contact management task is to let all the bowling league members know that the tournament is on Sunday should avoid it like the plague. Anyway, large companies are probably already using Lotus Notes or something like that. Chronos Consultant has some good features, but Newton synchronization isn't one of them. I like the speech capability and the large number of smart options, but if it doesn't do Newton I can't see switching to it. On the other hand, if you can live with having to type your entries into the PIM instead of using a cable, thie definitely bears looking into. One of the developers told me that Newton integration was planned, but when Apple stopped supporting Newton they couldn't justify spending the time and money working on it. (There's a lot of that going around.) The winner in synchronicity is ClockWork, which is also one of the best calendar management programs to boot. It's got many of the features of the others, a nice clean interface which still allows for some sophisticated operations, and best of all it's completely Newton-savvy. Alas, there's not a comparable contact manager. If Century Soft ever releases one, I'm there, man. Heck, I may even write a contact manager myself.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑShareware fee Absolutely free. I wrote this to fix an annoying thing about synchronization with the desktop computer PIMs I've tried to use. If you find it useful, check out my other Newton programs! Most are freeware, a couple of them are shareware; if you feel like giving me money you can always register one of those.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑDistribution Phone Setter may be distributed freely, as long as [1] this ReadMe file is included and [2] no fee is charged for its distribution. Online services which charge a reasonable hourly rate but do not charge extra for downloads may place it in their libraries. Distributors of CD-ROMs and other software libraries may include it if prior permission is given; write to the author for details. The author has also released a number of other small but useful pieces of shareware and freeware. TheyÕre uploaded regularly to the usual sites. I can be reached at Saint John Morrison PO Box 7352 Philadelphia PA 19101 email web ftp ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑCopyrights Apple, the Apple Logo and Newton are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. MessagePad is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Now Contact, Now Up-To-Date, and Eudora Planner are trademarks of Qualcomm, Inc. Chronos Consultant is a trademark of Chronos Inc. ClockWork is a trademark of Century Software. Although Phone Setter may be copied and distributed freely and used without charge, I retain the copyright on it; it is ©1998 St. John Morrison. All rights reserved.ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑVersion Infov1Initial public release.