OuterNotes: Archive of Past Issues

Welcome to a special year-end edtition of OuterNotes. We'd like to recognize the best sites we've reviewed over the past year, based on our reviewers' subsequent experiences with said cited sites. We hope you'll find them remarkably useful (and eminently bookmarkable) as you begin a new year of content production.

If you have any questions about, or disagreements with, our ratings -- or know of a good article, site or gadget you'd like to bring to the attention of hundreds of traditional and online writers and editors -- just send an e-mail to gtrotta@outerforce.com.

We'd like to wish a safe and happy New Year's to all our readers and friends; please remember that "practice makes perfect" doesn't apply to drunken driving. After another holiday-inspired Tuesday hiatus, we'll be back next Friday with our first issue of the year 2001. If you're a recent subscriber, you can view our issue archive at http://www.trottamedia.com/outernotes/index.html
-- Gian Trotta, OuterNotes Editor

1. Best Job Listings: Mediabistro.com
2. Best Job-Matching Service: Staffwriters.com
3. Best Article on Writing: 'Online Sites Buck Dollar-a-Word Trend'
4. Best Editorial Resource: The Political Reporter's Roadmap
5. Best Specialized Writing Site: Children's Writer
6. Best Traditional Reference Site: LibrarySpot.com
7. Best Style Guide: Sun's Web Style Guide
8. Best Explanation of a Frightening Subject: The Editorium
9. Best Gadget: (tie)
   a. The Timex Data Link Watch
   b. Electrotek's Washable, Wearable Keyboards
   
10. Best Virtual Tool: FilePool.com
11. Best Software: Winshade Takes the Pane Out of Windows
12. Best Poll Response: Xmas Gets a Thorough Thumbs-Down

1. Mediabistro.com Serves Up Superior Job Listings
http://mediabistro.com/joblistings/

New York-based freelance writer Laurel Touby started her career at WorkingWoman magazine, moved on to Business Week and then struck out on her own with this site. Don't let the orange and lime-green graphics throw you off -- the job listings here for online and traditional publishers such as Consumer Reports, MTV Networks, Forbes Magazine, Travel Holiday, Billboard Magazine, Ziff-Davis and Playboy are of consistently high quality and quantity -- and a fair sprinkling of these sites are open to freelancers and telecommuters.
--Ron Taggirt

[Editor's OuterNote: It's a tough call here, but as Ron points out, "Ms. Touby's site just keeps getting better -- she's now posts incisive daily news items, and is offering to help broker a deal to get low-cost Lexis-Nexis access for freelancers." Honorable mentions here include the New York New Media Association and the eponymous duo of journalismjobs.com and craigslist.org.]

2. Top Job Placement Site: Staffwriters.com
http://www.staffwriters.com

Judging from the many high-quality listings here, there's still a lot of work for writers, editors, reporters, and wordsmiths despite the dot-com downturn. Staffwriters.com connects writers and editors with temporary and permanent positions in large, small, established, and start-up companies. The service, which was founded by former Newsday editor George Giokas, now has more than 4500 writers and editors in its database of freelancers and job seekers. And although the job listings load a tad slowly, the nearly 150 jobs listings from companies such as Sprint PCS, Plexus Software, Addison, and Dow Jones & Company) make this site worth waiting for (and quickly bookmarking) when it arrives.
--Melanie Barton Zoltán

[Editor's OuterNote: One of my former colleagues just got a great editing job through them; unlike other job databases, they staffwriters.com staff use their strong industry contacts to actively match candidates with jobs. Also, another matchmaking site -- Youcanworkfromanywhere.com -- deserves an honorable mention. As reviewer Debbie Cissell notes: "Its vast assortment of information available to help telecommuters is invaluable and easily accessed."]

3. Top Writing Article: Online Sites Buck the Dollar-a-Word Trend
http://www.greenmagazine.com/2000/09/000925a.asp

[Editor's OuterNote: Honorable mentions in this very tough category include: Debra Straw's ("The Dangers of Writing on Spec"); Ken Gordon's "Clipped: Six Tips To Give Editors What They Want" and Marsha Scarbrough's "Writers Guild's Guide to Surviving Hard Times".]

4. Best Editorial Resource: The Political Reporter's Roadmap Shines
http://www.reliableresources.org/roadmap/

In an attempt to help journalists find key sources for political stories, the Annenberg School for Communication has compiled this state-by-state listing of contact information (including e-mail addresses) for elected officials, political parties and the academic experts and political reporters who detail their doings. The listings for academic experts are especially useful, as they denote their particular areas of expertise such as public policy, Congress, Women and Politics; there's also a National Resource list that covers nationwide issues like the death penalty, internet voting and Social Security.
--Ron Taggirt

[Editor's OuterNote: "The best resource on the biggest story of the year," Ron noted. Other honorable mentions include http://www.content-exchange.com for its good articles on upcoming trends, and Profnet.com, a network of 12,000 experts ready to share their opinions for free. And speaking of specialists...]

5. Best Specialized Writing Site: Children's Writer
http://www.childrenswriter.com

[Editor's OuterNote: We'll have more sites about writing for (and by) children in a future issue. Stay tuned!]

6. Best Traditional Reference Site: LibrarySpot.com
http://www.LibrarySpot.com

StartSpot Mediaworks of Illinois describes its Library Spot as "an informational portal designed to make finding topical information on the Internet an easy and enjoyable experience." Your facility and felicity may vary, but there's no doubting the easy navigation to links to, and useful staff-written analyses of, the usual (e.g., encyclopedias, almanacs, government information and style guides) and some slightly more arcane Web based resources dealing with dead celebrities, obituary databases, image libraries, zip code analyzers and expert databases. Articles like "How Did the Graveyard Shift Get its name?", "What Are Celebrities Reading?" and "Where Can I Browse Op-ed columns?" turn a increase a good reference site's already broad appeal.
--Jody Yerges

7. Top Style Guide: Sun's Web Writing Guide
http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/

[Editor's OuterNote: Don't forget http://www.theslot.com -- Washington Post editor Bill Walsh's classic site to help copy editors stay on the straight and narrow.]

8. Best Demystification of a Frightening Subject: The Editorium
http://www.editorium.com

If you use Microsoft Word for complex editorial projects, you'll certainly benefit by exploring The Editorium, a site created by Jack M. Lyon to showcase his amazingly useful set of Word add-in programs. Topping the chart are FileCleaner, which lets you remove multiple spaces, multiple carriage returns and unwanted tab stops, and MegaReplacer, which lets you apply formatting changes to multiple Word documents in one fell swoop. Trial downloads are free, but if you wish to continue using them for more than 45 days, fees range from $34.95 to $39.95 per single-machine license. But they didn't win in this category for their software: the free weekly e-mail newsletter contains clear and useful instructions on how to master Word's complex functions.
--Steve Baldwin

[Editor's OuterNote: Let's just say that this is my second-favorite weekly newsletter:) More honorable mentions go to John Hewitt's "Handheld Writing: Using a PDA to Improve Your Productivity," (http://www.poewar.com/articles/pda.htm) Jennifer Jones' guide to web surfing via cell phones and David Conroy's guide to cell-phone radiation.

9. Best Gadget: (Tie)
a. Timex's Data Link Synchs and Swims
http://www.timex.com/bin/detail.tmx?item=802:69787 Personal Digital Assistants continue to shrink, but Timex has long offered an alternative: the $80.00 Data Link 150 watch, which (based on my own experience) is an underrated and indispensable tool you will turn to again and again. It's capable of storing up to 150 phone numbers, appointments, birthdays and anniversaries, several whimsical and attention-getting alarms, and a to-do list on its 31-character display. The downside? You can't input entries directly into the watch; instead, Timex's free software allows you to download the information from your PC (Macs are not supported) by holding the watch up to your monitor (laptop screens require a separate $30.00 adapter), and clicking your mouse. This may not be Dick Tracy's two-way wrist radio, but it's not your Dad's watch either. And how many PDAs are water-resistant to 30 meters?
--Max Kovins

[Editor's OuterNote: As Max says, "This is truly one of those items you use and then smack yourself in the forehead and say "How did I get along without this gadget for so long? I feel naked without it on." Stay tuned for another product that can cover many bases:]

b. Elektex's Washable, Wearable, Foldable Keyboard
http://www.elektex.com/elektex/applications.htm

Britain's Elektex Corp. is claiming to have revolutionized the input-device industry with a line of conductive-fiber technology keyboards with cushioned gel-keys that they promise will give manufacturers the ability to "dispense with fixed casings, rigid mountings and inflexible substrates opens up radically new possibilities in flexible, user-friendly interfacing." The first working models (they have a denim-like look) will be released in 2001 will be for use with devices such as palmtops, organizers, and mobile phones; PC capability is also promised. And yes, they also allow that the new devices will be wearable, washable and capable of being "rolled up and put in your pocket."
--Peggy LeTrent

Editor's OuterNote: "I am getting my washing machine ready," writes Peggy. "Elektex's fabric invention promises to revolutionize the keyboard market ... I believe this innovative material will open the door to gadget alternatives that only the imagination will limit. I replace my keyboard several times a year and am always looking into trying something new. I would love to see this company design a fabric mouse as well, as mine is never clean. It would be great to throw both keyboard and mouse in the machine once a week."]

If you have several documents to keep straight (or want to avoid those error messages from sending too-large files via e-mail), this site could work for you -- or your workgroup. FilePool is a free, quick, easy-to-use service that lets you securely share files, photos, MP3s, or even entire folders, via e-mail, contact managers, Web sites, instant messaging, or message boards. With FilePool, no matter where the data is located or moved to, it can be retrieved exactly as it was; FilePool's advanced technology references stored date by digital content instead of location. A free ezAttach Agent lets you work offline as well.
--Karin Call

[Editor's OuterNote: As Karin notes in her nomination letter: "Still my favorite useful service, this enormously popular free service has e-volved into an new URL, http://www.ezattach.com/, with one unfortunate limitation. The formerly unbounded file size is now capped at 10 MB. But it's still of great value as you can securely and permanently share any content without the threat of viruses or eating up hard drive space on your own computer.]

11. Best Software: Winshade Takes the Pane Out of Windows...
http://www.bluecarpet.com/

Macintosh users who have had to switch to Windows -- and PC users who want to get one of the MacOS's best features -- can download Blue Carpet Software's free Winshade.exe utility. It's an easily downloadable (538k .zip file) and installed app that lets you roll up any open Windows on your desktop by clicking (or double-clicking, if you prefer) anywhere on the blue title bar. You can also custom-configure right and middle buttons and hot keys to minimize and maximize, toggle between or overlay program windows. It may not sound like much, but the it saves the time spent squinting after and mousing over to Windows' miniscule minimize button, and the whooshing sound effects (you can match any action to any .wav file) have a charm of their own. And their ZDNet Shareware of the Year Award carries some weight also...
--Philip Stewart

[Editor's OuterNote: The "swoosh" noise is certainly addicting! Fun, useful and highly recommended for all multitaskers. And while we couldn't decide between three excellent word processors -- Notepad+, NoteTab and AbiWord -- that we recently reviewed, you can read the reviews on our archive page at http://www.trottamedia.com/outernotes/index.html]

11. Best OuterPoll Response: Why Xmas Gets a Thumbs-Down:

While we're still indebted to the anonymous savant who sent us a great explanation of the various spellings of Hanukkah (which we ran in the last issue), we wanted to follow up with an answer to our "Should Christmas ever be abbreviated to Xmas?" poll: "Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of our Lord and God, even Jesus Christ. (I might add that it is celebrated by many people today that are not Christians and they really do not know the reason for the celebration. To them, it is a time of sharing, giving and spending time with family or some other reason.) To us, Christians that is, we find Xmas very offensive! It is saying, "Scratch Christ Jesus off the list -- 'ex' him out," or at least that is the way I take it. Personally, I believe there should be another holiday, or name for Christmas for non-Christians. Sure, let them celebrate on the same day, but please do not "X" my God out of Christmas." Have an opinion on this issue? You can submit your thoughts at: here.

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Copyright 2000 by OuterNotes. All rights reserved. OuterNotes is a trademark of OuterForce Systems, Inc.

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