OVER 2 YOU, 130 (13/05/03)

TYPE TUTOR

Can anyone recommend child-friendly "fun" software to teach my two young children aged 6 and 8 to touch type? Considering nearly all their work in future (at school, college and for the rest of their lives) will be done via keyboards, it dismays me to see them stooped over their desks, pecking and prodding away. If we don't nip it in the bud soon, they will develop a very poor technique.  I learned to touch-type aged 19, and have found it immensely helpful ever since. It would be useful if the learning came in the form of a game of some kind.

Neal Philo, St Annes, Lancashire.

Disney's Adventures in Typing with Timon And Pumbaa is a fun way to learn to type (http://disney.go.com/disneylearning/index.html). With lots of games it teaches correct fingering, and has different levels to work through. I cannot recommend it too highly. Both my husband and daughter have used it to learn to touch type, and I can't resist having a go occasionally (having been trained to type years ago) just to show I'm still faster than them!

Jane Farrell

I learnt to touch-type aged about twelve when my mother said she would buy me my very own portable typewriter if I did it. I did it, and she held true. You don't need "games" software to make something fun. I was fascinated by Mum's stories about learning to touch-type, having to wear an apron that attached to the top of the typewriter, hiding the keys and her hands. You can make something like that yourself to use at home. If you put "speed typing test" into Google, there are any number of sites that have free tests, and you can make it into a game. Show off to them first, and then see them learn how to beat you. If they can't beat you, then co-opt their mother as someone to be beaten. But don't push so hard that you put them off.
Jim Delaney, Bethnal Green

I can highly recommend the Mavis Beacon software for teaching kids to touch type. It is an excellent and easily the best typing tutor available and can be found for free on cover disks. I used it myself from the age of 6 for only 20 minutes a day and can now type, at the age of 16 at over 70 words per minute - useful for rattling off my GCSE coursework! Early versions come with a few games, such as racing cars, but later versions come with more and more games. It also adjusts what you type to try and get rid of your flaws, such as common typos and so forth. You can even choose what you type, if you start feeling bored - the file of jokes that comes with it is a particular favourite! This email, by the way, was typed up in virtually no time at all…
Alex Rea, via email

I cannot recommend too highly the Jump Ahead Typing CD-Rom from Knowledge Adventure, which is available at £9.99 from www.brainworks.co.uk. This is for children age 6 to 99 and teaches in a fun and progressive manner using games and exercises.  It certainly is not boring and children seem to love it. I, too, was dismayed at my daughter's typing ability and purchased this product when she was 7.  She is now 10 and an able touch-typist.  The I.T. teacher at school has been so impressed by my daughter's progress that the school has now adopted this programme to teach typing throughout the primary ages.

Jill Wade

THE NIMSLO DIMENSION

Recently I bought a Nimslo 3D camera at a local charity shop. I have been unable to find out anything about it at the library and the sales assistant in a well-known camera shop said he had never seen one of them before. Does anyone know anything about it? Can you still get films and have them developed? It doesn’t look very old and appears to be in good working order and I would dearly like to try it out.

James Ackerman, via email

Jerry Nims and Allen Lo invented the camera back in the late 70’s. Nims came to London to seek financing for his company and visited my colleagues and I at the merchant bank for which I worked at the time. The camera was somewhat cumbersome with four lenses, which took four photographs simultaneously on 35 mm film (as I recall).  The resultant pictures then had to be sent to the Nimslo laboratories where each 4-frame picture was combined into a single picture, which appeared to be three-dimensional.  The finished picture was like those trick pictures you sometimes get in cereal packets that change as you vary the angle at which they are viewed.

While a neat idea it did not seem likely to succeed in the competitive photographic market so, I am afraid, Nimslo never got any funding from us but I was aware that he did produce the Nimslo camera for a while

David Walters, Castle Village, Berkhamsted

Information on the Nimslo camera can be found at: http://www.stereoscopy.com/cameras/nimslo.html along with some links for even more info.You can indeed get films and have them developed - standard 35mm, and the camera's auto-exposure functions work with 100 and 400ASA film.

Bill Hardman

I had the loan of a Nimso camera in 1983 and remember having to send the film out to Atlanta to get it developed. I think the company went bust a year or two later. There are several websites under the heading Nimslo, which will give you more information.
James Calvocoressi, jamescalvo@yahoo.com

The Nimslo camera had four in line lenses, which gave four slightly displaced images on a standard 35mm film. The images were printed on a special paper and built up in behind a transparent lenticular film and as each was slightly displaced from the others, when combined in the final print in the correct order it gave a 3D effect. The result was a passable 3D picture without the need for a special viewer. However although you could use standard film, the printing process was expensive and I don't think too many people were keen on printing it. I seem to remember that the camera was well over £100 when first available but was soon being "flogged" off for a fraction of this within a very short time as getting images from it was both difficult and expensive.

Two interesting examples of this type of photograph being used commercially were the LP covers for the first printing of the Rolling Stones album "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (1967), which pictured the group and the Stranglers album "The Raven" (1979), which showed a striking image of a raven. Both were pressed in limited numbers, presumably because of the high cost involved.
Paul Pollak

EXCEL MORTGAGE

I believe there are functions within Microsoft Excel that deal with various mortgage calculations. Can anyone tell me the correct one to use for calculating how much is left outstanding after a certain period?
P. Mylam, via email

I've found the Egg mortgage calculator very useful.  Calculates monthly payments and adjust overpayments as well. To find out how much you still owe after say 15 years, enter in overpayments section first lump sum a high number and then the year (15).  It will then warn you that you only need to pay in X amount after 15 years.  This is the amount you have left. You’ll find it at:

http://new.egg.com/visitor/

0,2388,3_54988--View_1028,00.html

Tom Kan

SEEING THE TREES

I have to undertake a project, which involves going round a 40-acre site and recording the name, age and position of all of the trees. What I have in mind is some sort of hand held GPS system that permits "waypoint" logging with a reference code and then having recorded all of the trees (about 1500 I think) I then need to "download" or transfer the data to a suitable piece of software which will take the data and permit full display, editing and printing.
Can anyone help fill in the details?
Ric Ackland-Snow, via email

There are many methods of collecting the data for the type of tree survey you are proposing. I do not profess to be an expert in this field, however we have just completed exactly this operation with our trees at Sherborne Castle. We now have an accurate map, positioning all of all our trees, linked to an information database and in some instances photographs of the tree or other relevant features. This forms an important part of the management equipment necessary for looking after trees in public access areas. There are some useful bonuses for land managers using this kind of system:

* accurate measuring of any area.

* the ability to produce maps with new features edited on top.

In order to produce a truly accurate map quickly you will need to deploy a differential GPS device and data logger both of which can be hired. You will need an up to date PC and a mapping program. It will take you approximately two weeks to collect the data of 1000 trees depending on how detailed the survey is and how quick you are. You can see us in action in our garden section of our website www.sherbornecastle.com

Tim Stiles

CAN YOU HELP?

I am interested in government. When documenting laws, principles, policies and procedures it is very hard to make them clear so that people reading them will understand them and get the same meaning. The result is often a great waste of effort in executing the government's wishes. Is there such a thing as a program that will take a document and force its revision so it is as clear and unambiguous as possible? Brian Gilbert, Hampton, Middlesex

I would like to create an e-book. I have the text and illustrations to hand, and seek software that will enable me to create a "turning page" effect.

Ronald Reardon, via email

I suffer with AMD or ARMD which stands for Age related Macular Degeneration and wonder if any of your readers know of a suitable website where I could get advice? I am prepared to take part in research and would be grateful for the help.

D Golten, via email