Psychiatric News March 18, 2005
Volume 40 Number 6
© 2005 American Psychiatric Association
p. 27
More on Getting the Most From E-Mail
John Luo, M.D.
John Luo, M.D., is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UCLA
Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital in Los Angeles and president of the
American Association for Technology in Psychiatry.
With wireless Internet access, you can access your e-mail from your laptop
computer or even your personal digital assistant (PDA) with a wireless
networking adapter. Nowadays, both of these devices have this adapter built
in, but if yours does not, there are numerous companies who make one to fit
your laptop computer or PDA.
Most wireless Internet access is available for a charge at different
locations such as Starbucks, hotels, airports, and restaurants, but a few
locations offer this service for free.
Internet access is also possible through most cellular phone services. You
will need a cable to connect your phone to your computer. If your phone and
computer have Bluetooth technology, a cable is not necessary. For some of
these services, you must have a dial-up account and special software. Be aware
that some cellular phone companies charge extra for this data transmission.
Check with your cellular phone company for specific requirements and
instructions on Internet access.
Many cellular phone companies offer 3G (third-generation networks) for
e-mail and Internet access. 3G refers to higher-speed protocols that permit
faster data transmission necessary for multimedia. Specific wireless devices
such as the Palm Treo, Danger Sidekick, and Research in Motion BlackBerry are
designed to be both a mobile phone and e-mail device. A lower-cost alternative
to 3G services is to use wireless access protocol (WAP) to get your e-mail on
your mobile phone. This service provides the ability to read your mail on the
phone, although some people may find the text too small to read. Sending
e-mail is rather difficult due to the lack of a keyboard. In addition, many
mobile phone carriers can also deliver Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail to your phone
via short message service (SMS) for a small charge per message.
One problem with e-mail accounts is that people change them with their jobs
or when they subscribe to a different Internet service provider. Sending a
mass e-mail message is one way to communicate a change, but there are a few
alternatives. The following provide free services to register your old e-mail
and new e-mail addresses.
Your colleagues, patients, and friends can search here for an updated
address. However, these services are not well known, even though they are
free. Most also provide e-mail forwarding for a modest charge.
Return Path, at
<www.returnpath.net>,
also provides the above service, but with a twist. Once your old and new
e-mail addresses are entered into the database, your colleagues and friends
can search for the information. However, your new e-mail address will not be
released without your permission. In addition, you can notify people about the
address change with a message when you upload your address book.
If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, you should consider using
Plaxo 2.0, an add-in program that can be found at
<www.plaxo.com>.
This service helps you maintain current contact information in your e-mail
client address book. You can send a message to the whole address book or just
certain people asking them to update their information while providing your
latest contact information. By having this add-in program on a computer at
home and work, you can keep your contacts synchronized, in addition to your
calendar, notes, and tasks.
Now that you have more advanced knowledge of e-mail, please do not hesitate
to send an e-mail from your cellular phone if you have questions or ideas for
further topics to me at
jsluo{at}mednet.ucla.edu.
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