ON COMPUTERS | BY BOB AND JOY SCHWABACH
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SEEING DOUBLE
We've become quite taken with using two monitors. We mean two at once.
Using a small DualHead2Go box from Matrox (Matrox.com),
we connected
What we got was a display that stretched across both screens, literally
giving us the big picture. That was fun to look at, but the part we
thought more interesting and useful was being able to run different
programs on the two screens. We could use the mouse to drag any icon
from the desktop on one screen over to the other and open it there. Both
screens remained fully operational. You can also drag open programs from
one screen to the other.
Having two programs displayed at once lets you switch back and forth. A
writer or researcher can have a word processor on one screen and notes
or a browser on the other screen. You could work on one and watch the
stock market or a sports event on the other. You can use and learn a new
program while displaying the manual or an instructional video on the
other screen.
We just love this for the office. Even though it takes up more desk
space, what with the drop in monitor prices, it's not that expensive.
The two monitors we paid $1,000 each for a few years ago can now be had
for less than $200.
Gamers love dual monitor displays, once again for the big picture, and
that can be carried to three monitors, with a triple-head video
splitter, for a kind of
There are other ways to go here, and you can skip having to use a
junction box by buying a multi-socket video card that fits inside the
computer. But that computer must have an additional video slot to
accommodate the expansion, and not all do. There are cards that can
handle from two to 10 monitors, and prices run around $150 to $800. Who
would need 10 monitors connected to the same computer? you might ask.
It's very useful for distributing video to classrooms.
PROFESSIONAL LEVEL GRAPHICS
The new trueSpace 7.5 from Caligari (Caligari.com)
lets you create three-dimensional scenes, objects and characters that
can be used in ads, displays, games and videos. New features include
transparency and reflection functions. We played with it, and it is
awesome.
This is professional level software, so the price is $595, and the
learning curve is long. The program comes with instructional videos, but
you can still expect to
An interesting sidelight here is that Caligari has a recommendation
service for what it calls its Gold Ambassadors. These are individuals
and graphic design firms that have used Caligari to create some very
impressive art work. You can browse these examples by going to the
Caligari Web site and clicking on "Galleries" to the side of the home
page and "Newsletter" at the bottom. Be prepared to stay for a while
because this is quite a show. A monthly contest awards winners free
software and/or training sessions.
INTERNUTS
"Webbots, Spiders and Screen Scrapers" by Michael Schrenk; $40 from No
Starch Press (nostarch.com).
What have we done lately for programmers? Not much, we answered to
ourselves, so here's an unusual offering. Whenever we use a browser to
find something on the Internet, that browser uses a software agent,
often called a spider or a "bot" -- short for robot -- to go out and
search for key words or symbols. This book tells you how to write your
own search agents, using the PHP/Curl language. Among the agents
described are ones that can send and receive e-mail, unlock
password-protected Web sites, and automatically bid in online auctions.
By the way: Why are they called "spiders"? Because they travel the Web,
of course.
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two flat-screen monitors to Joy's main computer, running Windows Vista.
It also works with Windows XP, 2000 and Mac OSX. 
