Why it's best to bypass a computer's sound card

Stripped of its glossy exterior, the iPod is just a dumb little computer.

People get a lot of mileage out of it while often neglecting the iPod's sugar daddy, the PC or laptop. That's home to the library of songs that feeds the iPod and, maybe, a tiny pair of computer speakers.

But it can do much more. Anyone with a home theater or a two-channel sound system can turn the computer into a music server that puts an entire CD collection onto a massive hard drive, easily accessible, with album artwork and even lyrics. Done properly, the sound is astounding -- even better that conventional CD playback equipment costing thousands more than your computer.

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New dispatching software garners positive response

Time if of the essence in protecting and serving a city. An essential tool in The Colony's emergency response time received an upgrade when city's police and fire dispatch switched over to a new computer aided dispatch (CAD) software, Monday morning."This new software is really going to help the dispatching of police and fire departments," said Lise Rizzo, dispatch communications supervisor."It is going to be relieving us of several redundant tasks," Rizzo said. "Now, instead of the dispatcher having several computer windows open and entering data, the new software will be doing much of that work in the background. "The previous software was purchased in 2002, but it was in need of several major updates to keep up with the city's growth. However, the company that produced the software had gone out of business and no other companies could do the updates.