LINK COMPUTER TO CELL PHONE

My cell phone died. And although it was under warranty, I still lost something valuable. I lost all the names and phone numbers it contained. Now I like to think of myself as "Mr. Backup" when it comes to my computer. I regularly backup all the precious data stored on my hard drives. I also record all of my other important data such as credit card numbers, insurance information, vehicle registration numbers and more. I really thought I had it all saved just in case. But I never considered backing up my cell phone's address book. I have since restored most of them but I know there's a few I'm missing and for the life of me, I just can't remember what they were. I suppose I'll eventually get an irate call from someone wondering why I never call them anymore. Live and learn.

Since then, I've typed all of my cell phone names and numbers into a document so I can look them up again when necessary. Having to manually reenter all of that information using the cell phone's tiny little keypad took me hours and was an experience I'd rather not have to face again. Fortunately there's now a way to safely store your cell phone's address book into your computer. QuickLink Mobile Phonebook from SmithMicro is a little utility program that lets you transfer your cell phone's address book complete with names and phone numbers to and from the computer. You can also transfer the cell phone info to and from your PDA.

Running QuickLink displays a spreadsheet grid that displays columns that correspond to the address book fields in your particular make and model cell phone. Typically you will see a column for Name, Home Number and Work Number. Some cell phones offer specialty features such as letting you assign a particular ring type to a name entry and QuickLink supports those features as well. Data is transferred via a cell phone's USB or serial port data cable. You may have to order one from the manufacturer if it was not included with your phone.

QuickLink lets you edit, delete and add new entries. It also lets you import entries from Outlook and Outlook Express into QuickLink to be transferred to the cell phone. At this time, QuickLink only supports around six manufacturer brands and only a few of their models. However SmithMicro is constantly updating the number of supported phones. To see which makes and models QuickLink supports, go to their web site. If you don't see your cell phone listed there, the company asks you send them an email to let them know the brand and model you'd like to see added to the list.

Works with Windows 95 or higher including Windows XP. $29.95. QuickLink Mobile Phonebook is only available by download at the SmithMicro web site.

This backup looks behind you

"Backing up without a mirror could have dire consequences." This is most certainly true if one is speaking about an automobile. It also has some computing validity in that the term "mirror" refers to a backup hard drive that duplicates or reflects everything stored on your main hard drive. But the folks at Think Geek have come up with a third meaning with their C.H.I.M.P. monitor mirror. It's a little 3 inch convex mirror housed in a semicircular black or clear plastic case. Using the included Velcro, it attaches to your computer screen and acts pretty much like an automobile's side view mirror. So why in the heck would you care to attach a mirror to your computer monitor? To see what's looming up behind you, like your boss so you can quickly shut down that game of Solitaire before he gets there. You'll be amazed at how wide an area you can see with this little convex mirror. But don't become too confident. Because objects in this mirror may be closer than they appear. $10.99.