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CAPTURE THE INTERNET FOREVER

How many times have you bookmarked a web page location or try and save a web site screen only to find that part or all of it is missing when you return at a later time? Using your browser to take a "snapshot" of a page usually misses many of the images, sounds and animations. There are several reasons why a web site can partially or completely disappear. When a web site address changes or when the system on which a site resides is temporarily down comprise two of the more common reasons a page you try and return to or capture isn't there anymore. These occurrences are completely out of your control and have nothing to do with your computer nor its software. Another common reason relates directly to the ability of your web browser. It seems that many of the elements that comprise a web site simply can't be stored by your web browser. Examples include sound files, graphics images and animations created by Flash and ShockWave. When your browser is confronted with something it can't download and store, it merely retains the address of the files and their location on the web page. If the site changes since your last visit or if you are not connected to the Internet, all you get are "broken" symbols indicating that the files cannot be displayed.

Fortunately, GOTO-Software has something that will successfully capture everything even with any of the above scenarios. MemoWeb 3 is a program that seamless integrates with your browser and acts as the ultimate Web collector. It's capable of capturing and storing to your hard disk most every type of file including MP3, pictures, and animations. MemoWeb 3 presents you with a collection of thumbnail images on which you can click to show a full screen display. And since you don't have to be online to view the captured pages, you can even burn everything to a CD to be played back on another computer, even one that's not connected to the Internet.

MemoWeb 3 is a free product and can be downloaded from the GOTO-Software web site. A professional version adds other abilities as well as storing more images. $39.95. Requires Windows.

www.goto-software.com

USB hard drive and scanner

Olivision has released a 20, 30 and 40 gigabyte external hard drive that connects to the USB port. The MegaBank Storage System offers many of the conveniences USB affords to a device. These include being Hot Swappable which means you can attach and remove it to the computer while the computer is turned on, Plug and Play, and in this case works on any PC or Macintosh with a USB port (not all USB devices work on both platforms). And because it's an external device with its own case, you can add and remove the drive without having to open the computer's case. One caveat is that USB provides a relatively slow computer connection compared to SCSI and Firewire. And although USB is fine for low speed peripherals like printer, it can be insufficient for applications such as streaming video that demand a high speed connection to the hard disk drive. But for most common applications such as word processing or even listening to MP3 files, the USB speed should prove to be sufficient. The 20, 30 and 40 gigabyte models are priced at $219, $259 and $319 respectively.

Also from the same company is their TravelScan Pro portable USB scanner. Weighing only 12 ounces and about the size of a roll of paper towel's core, it will accept anything from a legal size page down to a business card. The 300 dots-per-inch unit scans in 24 bit color and comes with OCR, image management and photo processing software. The scanner draws its minimal power requirements from the USB port and therefore requires no power cable nor batteries. Although it's a USB device, it's a Windows only product. $99.

www.olivision.com