ALL THINGS INTERNET

Yet Another Example of French “Superiority”

Recently the French Culture Ministry banned the word “e-mail” from all government ministries, publications, and Web sites.

In its place, the ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology wants the French to use the word “courriel,” which is a fusion of the words “courrier electronique” (electronic mail).

Courriel has been widely used in French-speaking Quebec, but some regard the new word as artificial and not reflecting reality. As one French ISP put it, “E-mail’s so assimilated now that no one thinks of it as American. Courriel would just be a new word to launch.”

New, One-Handed Keyboard from FrogPad Designed for Mobile Devices

Imagine using a one-handed keyboard that measures 5 by 3.75 inches and with 20 keys provides all of the functions of a standard QWERTY keyboard. The new keyboard from FrogPad is billed as a “breakthrough in keyboard technology” and as an “elegant solution for portability.”

FrogPad is designed for fast data entry and used with USB keyboard compatible PDA's, Pocket PCs, Tablet, and Wearable PC's. According to the FrogPad Web site, fifteen of the 20 keys are letter keys, which represent the letters that are used 86 percent of the time.

Obviously, there is a modest learning curve associated with such a radical departure from the ordinary, but once learned, using a FrogPad is supposedly fast and efficient.

Five E-mails You Should Never Send

The following advice was found on a Web site that’s worth bookmarking — BankRate.com.). This particular page is a feature column called “The Brazen Careerist,” which includes an archive of provocative ideas about career management.

This article says that writing an e-mail “is one of the most convenient ways to be impetuously stupid, so if you are writing an e-mail you wouldn't want your boss to read -- or the SEC or your grandma -- then don't send it.” The five e-mails you should never send are:

  1. The you’re-a-screw-up e-mail
  2. The I’m-a-screw-up e-mail
  3. The blind carbon copy e-mail
  4. The joke e-mail
  5. The Dear John e-mail

Click on the link above to find out why you shouldn’t send them.

— Steven Brightbill

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Sounding Line
August 2003

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