System Requirements: 386/20 (386/33 recommended), 640 x 480 SuperVGA with 256 colors (65,536 recommended), CD ROM drive with minimum of 150KB/sec transfer rate, 4MB RAM, 8-bit Windows compatible sound card (16-bit recommended), 15MB hard disk space, Windows 3.1 and mouse
The Personal Daily PlanIt is a unique multimedia planner program on CD-ROM, from Media Vision, that may be the last planner you ever purchase. Offering color photographs, video and stereo sound, it could improve the way you plan your daily life. The program requires an IBM compatible computer with Windows 3.1, and installation takes about five minutes. Once installed, it does not require the CD-ROM disc to function. And as an added feature, you may run the planner completely by voice commands using a program called Talk-To Plus, which is included on the disc.
It's different than your average planner. After you run the program, a greeting message and movie appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, and below that, a color photograph is displayed, which changes for each day of the month. There are three planner versions, retailing for $59.95, with over 430 photographs in each: PlanIt Earth displays wildlife photographs, PlanIt Paradise has photos of women wearing fashionable swimwear and PlanIt Adrenaline gives you pictures with a sports theme.
With Daily PlanIt, you can schedule meetings and appointments, and set alarms to go off at some future date and time as a reminder. And as expected, you can enter names, telephone numbers and addresses. But, what is unexpected is the ability to record voice messages using a microphone connected to your sound card. It's a nice added feature that will definitely save you typing.
Now, recording a voice message is simple, but setting an alarm is more difficult and somewhat confusing. I had to follow at least twelve steps before the process was complete. And eventually I mastered it, but not without frustration. Of course, once you figure it out, the next time it's easy.
If you're wondering how you get your alarms if you're not running the planner? Well, good question. Fortunately, Daily PlanIt allows you to run other Windows applications while it's monitoring the alarms you set. So, you won't miss an appointment while working in your word processor or spreadsheet. Daily PlanIt is waiting and watching in the background.
Also included, but not really necessary for a planner, are several entertainment programs that you run at the click of a button on the planner. You can access Isaac Asimov Trivia, Motivational Messages, Famous Birthdays, Joke of the Day, Humorous Quotes, a Slideshow Viewer and Today's Fortune Cookie. And though the programs may be amusing, I feel that they're completely unnecessary.
I found the voice recognition program, Talk-To Plus, intriguing, and it may have a practical use. It allows voice control of Windows, including most functions of Daily PlanIt. But, it's not for me. I'd rather type and mouse through Windows than talk to the computer. I often work late at night, and voice commands could disturb my wife and daughter. --Howard Berenbon
