October 13th, 2004 With the elections less than a month away, this October is an important one for all of us. The difference between the candidates is great and the election promises to be very close. On CEOExpress we provide a lively forum for members to pull and push on the issues of importance. If you haven't gotten involved in the forums, give it a try. On a personal note, as many of you know, by the time you read this, I'll be in China. I promise to share pictures and stories when I get back. (Yet another reason to join our forums!) October New and Notable: The CEOExpress RSS Center: So what is RSS? RSS stands for "Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication." RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news sites, including major news sites like the NYTimes, CNN, and ESPN, along with news-oriented community sites like CEOExpress and Microsoft development center. On many sites today, you will find an icon that says "XML" or "RSS" (the acronyms are interchangeable). These icons signify that the site is RSS capable and that you can have their updates automatically come to you, rather than your having to always go to that site. Essentially, RSS allows you, the end user, to choose to receive all of your news and information, updated automatically, and in a way that is perfectly organized for you. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at the CEOExpress RSS center that is now in its beta testing phase. The really great news is that CEOExpress members don't ever need to worry about what RSS is, we have done all the work for you and you can just use it. If you are a novice RSS user, you can start using the CEOExpress News (RSS) Center instantly--we have prepopulated it with a large number of great feeds for you to choose from and it is ready to go. You can use some of the more advanced features as you become more comfortable with the application. On the other hand, if you are an advanced user, then welcome to RSS Disneyland! There are so many customizable features, you will be busy for a long time. You can organize the center to your specific needs, add your own feeds, mail articles to colleagues and we even have a "clip articles" capability. Unlike RSS readers that reside on your computer's hard drive, the CEOExpress RSS center is online and can be accessed from anywhere. Within 60 days after the launch of our RSS Center, you will also be able to access it on your Blackberry, PDA or web enabled phone. Take my word for it, you will love your RSS center. If you are a seasoned RSS user, we'd love to have you join our beta test. Just send a note to Toby McGuire and we'll send you instructions sometime within the next week. For our CEOExpress Corporate private label customers, we will be adding the ability for you to add a custom RSS Center to your application specifically geared to your audience. You will be getting a notice shortly on this new feature. October Software Tip: This month's tip is not software per se, but a fabulous resource that I have found that provides a Beginners Guides: 101 Tips and Tweaks for Windows XP. This comprehensive guide provides some tips you might know already, and others that you might not want to use, but I suggest book marking the site, as you will need it one of these days and it is a fabulous resource. Speaking of Windows XP: I upgraded to Service Pack Two (SP2) last week and quickly uninstalled it. A number of my software programs stopped working with SP2 (including Mind Manager and my MP3 software). The software companies are scrambling to catch up. I am going to wait for a while, until all the software developers have updated their software to work with SP2. There are a great many more security features in SP2, which is causing the incompatibility with other software. If you have software that you can't live without (like Mind Manager), you might want to check with them before you upgrade to SP2 (it is a 92 mb upgrade). CEOExpress Gift Subscriptions at Half Price! You enjoy CEOExpress--now share it with a friend or colleague: Now through Election day, you can give a full year subscription for CEOExpressSelect to a friend or colleague for only $29.95. These are full subscriptions with concierge, our new expanded email, finance center, and all the new features we are adding to CEOExpressSelect this year. What a great benefit for your staff or a friend--a personal concierge service AND CEOExpress. We have specialized greetings to meet any occasion or sentiment. It only takes one minute. Click here to give a gift. Newsletter Archive: To refer to a previous newsletter, visit our Newsletter Archive, which can now be found on both the 'Customize Your Page' and 'Scratch Pad and Notes' pages. Patricia Pomerleau CEO CEOExpress Company LLC 617 482 1200 RSS Demo | CEOExpressSelect Demos | Archives | XP Beginners Guide