Us West Reaches Out To Offer Cell Phone Package In Local Area

Cellular phones took another step toward the consumer mainstream in Spokane last week.

US West Cellular began selling cell phones, complete with activation kits, through retail stores such as Albertson’s, Al’s Auto Supply, Ernst Hardware, PayLess Drug Stores and Target on Thursday. Retail stores started selling the phones in Seattle last November and in Portland last month.

The phone kit, called TalkAlong, is a breakthrough for consumers, says US West’s Lisa Bowersock, because it is cheaper and easier to activate for casual users. It also eliminates the annual contract that has been standard in the cellular industry, she said.

When US West first sold the phones in Seattle, it was the first company in the nation to offer a mass-merchandise cellular package, Bowersock said. Competitors have followed with similar products.

TalkAlong customers activate their phones by calling a toll free number and following instructions in the activation kit. Charges must be billed to a credit card.

The cheapest service available, which covers only a designated area in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, is $19.95 per month plus 38 cents per minute after the first 15 minutes of use. For $24.95 per month, service is extended to anywhere that US West cellular calls can be made.

The cheapest current cellular package is $29.95 per month with 30 minutes of free calls anywhere service is available, and a 49-cent-per-minute charge for additional calls.

“The low-end user is the one who had to pay the highest price per minute,” said Mike Smith, Spokane-Coeur d’Alene territory manager for US West.

Have trouble keeping track of the children’s doctor’s appointments or your sister-in-law’s birthday?

FamilyInfo for Microsoft Windows reduces to simply answering a few questions on-screen the process of keeping track of such familial information.

Behind the scenes is a robust database designed to keep track of the minutiae of family life, and then use a computer’s power to search out information and sort it to simplify running a family or just being a member of one.

Once running, the program uses informal cartoon-type graphics to guide people through building their customized family database. As a parent enters the name of each child, the software pops up a cartoon-like screen in which the parent is asked for the child’s vital statistics, such as birthday, height, weight, pending medical appointments, etc.

The questioning leads through things such as names of doctors and dentists, sports participation, immunization types and dates, achievements, teachers, dental history and even a category called “hangouts” for each child.

The resulting lode of information at one’s fingertips will, at the least, make the enormously complex job of parenting a bit easier.

FamilyInfo sells for $20. For more information call FamilyWare Products Inc., 800-313-7333.

Casio’s new digital marvel, the QV-10, is a palm-size camera that takes color photos without film. Its computer memory stores up to 96 snapshots that can be downloaded to a Macintosh or Windows-based PC.

The QV-10 sports many state-of-the-art features, such as the use of “flash” memory, which retains information without power. Simply put, even if the four AA batteries run down, your pictures will be preserved.

As for the viewfinder, it doesn’t have one. You don’t have to peer through a tiny lens, because the back of the camera displays a color liquid crystal display screen.

Hold the camera in your right hand, at about the same distance as you would read a book, and you can pivot-tilt the lens with your left hand. This lets you keep the LCD screen at the optimal viewing angle. Press the “shutter” button (there’s not actually a shutter, so it’s totally quiet) and you freeze the image momentarily, while it’s stored.

You can easily review your pictures. Sliding a switch from “record” to “play” lets you display one image at a time on the screen. Pressing the “plus” or “minus” buttons lets you scroll to the next or previous picture. Pressing “mode” quarters the screen, to let you see four smaller images. Press again and you see nine tiny “thumbnail” pictures, so you can browse quickly to find the image you want.

For information, call Casio Electronics, (800) 435-7732 or (201) 361-5400.

, DataTimes