Webmail: I’ve tried Yahoo, Hotmail (Windows Live), Gmail, Mail.com, Lycos, and AOL webmails. They all work pretty much the same except for Gmail, which has a totally different operational model. All are free services, so you can sign up for an account and try them out. Gmail is the only one that allows you to send and receive from Outlook or other e-mail clients without paying for the privilege. Just sign up for the free Gmail account and go the Help section to see how easy it is. The others can be set up in Outlook only if you pay a fee of anywhere from $9.99 a year to $19.99 a year.

The biggest drawback for webmail, in my opinion, is the fact that your info is not on your computer. If your ISP goes down, you can’t get to your messages until it comes back. The biggest drawback, though, also offers a perk. I use one of my webmail accounts to store backups of my drafts of writing projects in the works. If I should lose the file or if my computer totally crashes, my Word documents are safely stored in an archive file in my webmail account (free backup). I do use other backup methods, but this is quick and easy for work in progress.

Originally, I went exclusively to webmail e-mail addresses because I live in a peculiar spot for Internet service, and I changed services almost once a year for a while. Each time I changed, I would have to change my e-mail address on all my accounts and send out that dreaded message telling everyone to change my e-mail address in their address books. Now that use webmail addresses only, it doesn’t matter what ISP I use. I never have to change my e-mail address again.

Outlook: I prefer Outlook when I have a lot going on, because I can work on messages offline and go online for sending/receiving. If you have a dependable high-speed connection, this might not matter so much to you, but I’ve never had an Internet service provider that was 100% dependable. It’s easier to keep your files organized and search for messages. Also, recently, I downloaded an update for my browser which caused a major conflict with my firewall. The result was very slow performance on webmail until I was able to solve the problem. I could still work on my e-mail in Outlook and send it independent of my browser during this time.

If you use e-mail addresses provided by your ISP, you can probably choose to use their webmail or set up in Outlook. I stopped using my e-mails provided by my hosting service because a friend of mine had her e-mail hijacked and her Web site was shut down for a long period of time while she was proving she was not the person doing the questionable stuff with her e-mail address and domain name. That’s the one and only reason I stopped using my domain name’s address, but there is also the possibility at some point that I would want to drop my hosting account. At that point, I would lose my e-mail addresses anyway.

I chose Gmail for most messages, mainly because I could use it Outlook without paying for that feature. However, I recently discovered that Hotmail (Windows Live) accounts can be synched with Outlook 2003 or 2007 if you own the Microsoft Office package. I recently purchased MS Office Small Business 2007, and I was able to set up my Hotmail (Windows Live) account in Outlook 2007 using a free download called Outlook Connector.

Now, I use my Gmail account for my writing projects and for my work with Kentucky Christian Writers Conference while I reserve my Hotmail account for personal messages. It takes a little effort to get it set up, but, when I need to concentrate on work, I check only the Gmail messages. When I have time to do personal messages, I go to the Hotmail folder without having to access the webmail. It’s great. I highly recommend that, if you have MS Office in one of the newer versions and a Hotmail or Windows Live webmail account, you get the Outlook Connector. You can still use the webmail when you want.

I used a Christmas gift card to buy the Bamboo Fun because a friend told me he got one as a Christmas gift. The cheaper Bamboo does everything the Bamboo Fun does except that it does not have an accompanying mouse. I chose the more expensive model because I needed a new mouse anyway.

This is one of those situations where what works for most people does not work for everyone. I use my mouse with my left hand, but I write with my right hand. I intended to use the mouse with left hand and pen tablet with right hand. Picture it. I’m sitting at my desk with both hands going…vroom, vroom! Well, you can’t do that with the Bamboo mouse because the mouse has to rest on the pen tablet. You can’t use the pen and the mouse at the same time. The good news is that the mouse does not require batteries. The bad news is that it isn’t as agile as my regular mouse, so I should have gotten the regular Bamboo. I can use my other mouse with left hand and the Bamboo pen with right hand, but that means two mouse pad spaces on my work area.

The pen tablet feature works with Corel Painter which comes with the package. I insert here my signature done with Corel Painter and saved as jpg.

I can insert this image in any document I want, which is a neat feature. I thought that I would be able to use the pen feature on all Word 2007 documents as in a tablet notebook computer. I think it works automatically with Windows Vista. However, to use the pen feature in Office 2007 while running Windows XP Professional, you have to purchase additional software called JustWrite. The free download is good for 30 days. Then it’s $29.95 for the license.

I have not figured out how to use the pen feature with Outlook 2007. I’m not even sure it’s possible if you run Vista. I can, however, insert my signature jpg above in my e-mail messages.

Included in the Bamboo Fun package is photo editing software which I have not experimented with at all. Maybe I can find time to tinker with that and let you know what I think.

So—-is the Bamboo Fun worth the $80 or $100 (depending on which model you choose)? I’m not sure yet. Since I haven’t even tried the photo editing features, perhaps I shouldn’t make a final judgment on whether this was a wise purchase. However, right now, I have to decide whether to pay the extra $30 for JustWrite in order to use it with MS Office. I have two days to decide.

I hope my observations are helpful to someone else who’s considering purchasing Bamboo. I welcome comments from others who’ve used this product.

I switched a couple of weeks ago, and, so far, Firefox is fine. I do think it’s a little faster than IE. The bookmark process is different, so I had a bit of a learning curve there. On IE7, I used the Favorites menu feeds feature to track my RSS feeds. I didn’t immediately find a similar feature on Mozilla, so I just transferred all my feeds to Google Reader. If you have Gmail, you don’t need a new password to use Reader.

I spent my Christmas cash on MS Office 2007 Small Business, so I now have the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Outlook. Another learning curve! I still haven’t found all my favorite commands on Word. I tried importing my RSS feeds into Outlook, but I didn’t like it as much as I like Google Reader. The updating process seemed to slow down my e-mail delivery. With Google Reader, I can stay logged in as long as I’m online and check periodically for updates.

Also, I got a Bamboo Fun input device for Christmas. I’ve installed it and fiddled around with it some, but I’m still really in the dark as to what this gadget will do for me. More on that later, I guess.