Keep in touch with e-mail while traveling -- with your telephone

By JIM BROOKS

Traveling, whether for business or pleasure, has its drawbacks.

Ten years ago, a few days out of town meant stopping the newspaper and having the post office hold your mail until you returned home.

These tasks have survived the test of time, and even expanded. Now you can add ``retrieve -- and read -- dozens of stored e-mail messages when you return home'' to the list.

And you don't have a choice but to sort through that backlog of e-mail. In just a few short years, it's become essential business tool. Who can afford to miss an important e-mail?

There's a way to reduce "vacation e-mail" syndrome -- with a visit to www.coolemail.com.

CoolEmail offers a unique service -- turning your e-mail into voicemail -- at no charge.

As a CoolEmail user, you have the ability to have a computer ``read'' your e-mail to you. You can generate a response e-mail if you wish by selecting a a pre-configured reply -- something short and sweet like ``I received your message and will follow-up soon'' -- or a custom message you enter by phone.

Each CoolEmail user calls in via a toll-free number and accesses his or her account by logging in with a unique PIN number.

It's really as easy as using a telephone -- no laptops, no personal information managers, no PDAs, no cables, cords or other distractions.

CoolEmail's Basic Plan gives users 15 minutes of toll-free access to their accounts per month. You can set the service up to check messages at more than one e-mail address -- without deleting the messages from those e-mail accounts. This means the e-mail will still be there when you return and check it from your home or office PC.

In addition, the service gives users their own unique ``CoolEmail.com'' e-mail address.

For those who travel a lot, CoolEmail's Plus Plan offers more toll-free access time and additional cool features like dictating new text e-mail messages, making notes to yourself or maintaining a contact list and more.

In my own tests, I found the Basic Plan works well. The computerized voice isn't as soothing as Majel Barret's (the wife of ``Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry who has provided the voice for computers in all the Trek series), but to its credit, the CoolEmail computerized voice was able to properly pronounce a slang-riddled test message I sent myself.

When reviewing messages via the telephone, CoolEmail reads the subject line, allowing you to skip over messages you don't want to read while you are vacationing or traveling out of town.

If e-mail is important to you, and you want to keep tabs on messages without the hassle of carting around a laptop, then CoolEmail may be the tool you've been looking for.

For more information, visit their www.coolemail.com on the Web.

WATCH IT. As a comic strip-reading kid, I grew up envious of Dick Tracey and his futuristic gadgets, including his 2-way wrist TV.

An alliance between game company Sega Enterprises and the Swiss watchmaker Swatch will bring Tracey's invention a little closer to reality.

The companies recently announced plans tocreate a new type of ``wired watch'' - a Net-connectable watch that would provide a wide range of services, using Sega's Dreamcast game console and a wireless-equipped Swatch Access watch.

The game console - which is already equipped with a modem - can download information from the Internet and then transfer it to memory chips built into the watch.

Information can't be displayed on the watch, but the data the watch stores can be downloaded to other Dreamcast terminals, or to other special adapters that will be built by Sega.

The uses for the new watch devices could include online purchases of tickets that would be redeemed at an event by downloading the data from the watch.

Sega plans a worldwide marketing push for the new watch in April and May. The watch will be priced in the $130 to $180 range.

While the Sega/Swatch unit doesn't Rival Dick Tracey's unit, it's a start. According to a Swatch press release late last year, the company is working to develop a watch that would feature e-mail, data applications, and other features.

NET THREAT. If a cable modem or DSL Internet connection is in your future plans in your office or home, the one aspect you don't want to overlook is security.

The software tools that helped create Internet attacks that took down major e-commerce players earlier this month have spawned similar tools that experts say can be aimed at users of Windows-based PCs.

While Carnegie Mellon's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is urging caution, the biggest problem with the new hacker tools seems to be on college campuses, where students can sometimes connect their computers to the Internet full time.

Next week's column will focus on security and some tools to help you know what's happening while your computer is online.

Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web.

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