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Winter Of Our Feline Discontent: What the cat wants, the cat gets. But what DOES it want?
To Tell The Truth: There may be no honor among thieves, but can't we find it even in a few good men and women?
Should The Human Brain Retire?: We know that we cannot win forever. We know that machines will continue to improve. So why don't we let the human brain retire gracefully now, with honors?
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Published: Sep 16, 2005 01:41 PM
Fri - August 15, 2003
Review of SBook5: A fast, Flexible, And Free Companion To Apple's
Address Book
If spinning beach balls aren't your
thing, this blazingly fast AI-based database that can synch with Apple's address
book may be just what you're looking for.
Close
your eyes for a moment and imagine what the perfect address book software for
Mac OS X would look like.
It would be small so it could launch quickly. It would be fast enough to churn through large contact lists in the blink of an eye. It would interface with Apple's own Address Book software to take advantage of iSynch's ability to mirror data across PDAs and other Macs. And of course it would be free.
Now, open your eyes and direct your browser to download SBook5 because the address book of your dreams is mere seconds away from residence on your hard drive.
Based on software originally written for NeXT computers, Simson Garfinkel's SBook5 is a blazingly fast, artificial intelligence-based personal information manager. Translated into English, that means SBook can not only import Jaguar's Address Book but recognizes the different data types in an address and will automatically default to dial telephone numbers, launch an e-mail program or a web browser where appropriate. SBook5's expert systems automatically distinguish companies from people.
Where Address Book is slow and mandates use of pre-defined data fields, SBook5 is fast and allows free-form entry of addresses (or any other kind of information—it's not just a contact manager) by typing with rich text or through drag and drop. The software also provides Mac OS X Services for envelope printing and for creating new entries from text selected in other programs, such as Safari, even when Address Book is not open.
Finding contacts is just as easy. Type part of an entry in the data window (a name, an address, or a telephone extension, for example) and SBook5 instantly displays all entries that match. No spinning beach balls. No waiting to update the database. No kidding.
Boolean searching is also supported.
If you work in a multi-user office, you'll be delighted with SBook5's ability to provide multi-user access to files using AppleShare and two-way synchronizing with Apple's Address Book and the option to encrypt databases using the 128-bit Blowfish algorithm. It also exports vCards to the Apple iPod so you can take contact information with you on the go.
And have I mentioned often enough that it's FREE?
SBook5 makes a terrific addition to any Mac OS X system. But that doesn't mean that the software is perfect. Some users have reported problems with SBook5's telephone dialer. And its most obvious limitation—an inability to synchronize directly with PDAs—has never been corrected. You'll have to use synch SBook5 with Address Book and then use iSynch or Palm Desktop to update the handheld.
Overall rating: A-
Thoughtfulness of Design: A
Ease of Use: A
Interface: B+
Price: A
Pros: Fast, smart, well-conceived, and free.
Cons: Lack of a PDA conduit adds an extra step to synching contacts.
It would be small so it could launch quickly. It would be fast enough to churn through large contact lists in the blink of an eye. It would interface with Apple's own Address Book software to take advantage of iSynch's ability to mirror data across PDAs and other Macs. And of course it would be free.
Now, open your eyes and direct your browser to download SBook5 because the address book of your dreams is mere seconds away from residence on your hard drive.
Based on software originally written for NeXT computers, Simson Garfinkel's SBook5 is a blazingly fast, artificial intelligence-based personal information manager. Translated into English, that means SBook can not only import Jaguar's Address Book but recognizes the different data types in an address and will automatically default to dial telephone numbers, launch an e-mail program or a web browser where appropriate. SBook5's expert systems automatically distinguish companies from people.
Where Address Book is slow and mandates use of pre-defined data fields, SBook5 is fast and allows free-form entry of addresses (or any other kind of information—it's not just a contact manager) by typing with rich text or through drag and drop. The software also provides Mac OS X Services for envelope printing and for creating new entries from text selected in other programs, such as Safari, even when Address Book is not open.
Finding contacts is just as easy. Type part of an entry in the data window (a name, an address, or a telephone extension, for example) and SBook5 instantly displays all entries that match. No spinning beach balls. No waiting to update the database. No kidding.
Boolean searching is also supported.
If you work in a multi-user office, you'll be delighted with SBook5's ability to provide multi-user access to files using AppleShare and two-way synchronizing with Apple's Address Book and the option to encrypt databases using the 128-bit Blowfish algorithm. It also exports vCards to the Apple iPod so you can take contact information with you on the go.
And have I mentioned often enough that it's FREE?
SBook5 makes a terrific addition to any Mac OS X system. But that doesn't mean that the software is perfect. Some users have reported problems with SBook5's telephone dialer. And its most obvious limitation—an inability to synchronize directly with PDAs—has never been corrected. You'll have to use synch SBook5 with Address Book and then use iSynch or Palm Desktop to update the handheld.
Overall rating: A-
Thoughtfulness of Design: A
Ease of Use: A
Interface: B+
Price: A
Pros: Fast, smart, well-conceived, and free.
Cons: Lack of a PDA conduit adds an extra step to synching contacts.