IN THE LOOP

Lately we’ve been getting lots of link requests from people using the LinkedIn.com business networking service. And no wonder: there are over 14 million users.

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HIGH TECH SPAM FILTERS

What’s different about OnlyMyEmail.com is that it’s a spam filtering service that obliterates the spam. Unlike other spam filters, the entire message is examined for content, not just a search for key words that might be objectionable.

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INTERNUTS

Show you’re friends where you’ve been on a world map, or take a walking tour.

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KID GAMES

We looked at Net Jet, a new $25 game device from toy maker Hasbro and Tiger Electronics. It’s a hand-held game controller that plugs into any USB slot on a Windows computer. Games come on small flash drives that plug into the controller, much like memory cards plugging into a digital camera.

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FREE SPYCATCHER

SpyBot Search and Destroy is out in a new version that adds a spy shield to block incoming bad guys and keep the decks clear. And as before, it’s free.

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ONE MOVIE, ONE TAKE

The new Canon camcorder that comes out in October will contain a 40-gigabyte hard drive, letting the shooter store 15 hours of standard video or 5.5 hours in high definition. With a whole lot of planning you could theoretically shoot an entire movie in one run.

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THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

There is a truncated free version of the best-selling game Peggle at the maker’s Web site, PopCap.com orMSN.com. It’s an action-filled pinball game that has been downloaded more than 5 million times.

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MEET THE PLAYERS

Most computer game players are not teenagers, but are, in fact, well into their adult years. Here are some of the numbers…

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BOOKS

“FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual” by Susan Prosser and Geoff Coffey; $35 from MissingManuals.com.

FileMaker Pro is an insanely popular database program, not least because it works the same on either Windows or Mac machines. It’s powerful enough to manage a substantial business or a small country.

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DOUBLE MONITORS

We’ve become quite taken with using two monitors. We mean two at once.

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