EARTHTIME
from Starfish Software
is a PC clock setting utility that uses your Internet access to access
a time standard. The program also includes a time between cities utility
and a metric conversion utility. The program is available for downloading
from the Starfish webpage on the Internet at http://www.starfishsoftware.com.
I was not able to find it for sale locally. EARTHTIME lists at $19.95.
The company also has some Internet utilities at the site that look rather
interesting. I downloaded a few to check them out.
My evaluation package consisted of a sheet of instructions and two 3.5-inch floppies. One floppy is for a stand alone installation and the other will add the program as a plug-in to your Netscape Navigator 2.0 or better. The program requires a 386 PC or better running Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51, 6 Megs of ram, a mouse, 2 Megs of hard drive space, and Internet access if you want to synchronize your PC clock.
I installed the program as a stand alone as I don't always bring up Netscape when I am on the Internet. You can access the program from the "Program line" from "Start" or from a shortcut icon on your desktop. Once installed you can customize the program and change most of the program settings. You can change which city is your home location and select 7 other cities to display on the world map clock display from a list of over 400 cities. You have your choice of any of 60 time standards to get your time signals from. I selected the closest one to San Antonio, to cut down on the time lag across the phone lines.
Other features of the program are a time difference chart and a metric conversion utility.
With the time difference chart you can select any two cities from their list of over 400 cities around the world and get the time difference between them at a glance. The program also includes information about the cities such as population, currency, time zone, language, etc.
The metric conversion utility includes all the common conversions for converting measurements and a lot of conversions that the average person will never have a use for. I can't remember ever having to convert any dynamic or kinematic viscosity measurements and I don't expect to have to in the future. As an electrical engineer, the only fluids I normally encounter are either in glasses or bottles and as long as I can get the fluids out of the containers I don' t worry about their viscosity. This utility could be a lifesaver if you have a use for it.
I enjoyed the world time map display. I started looking at it and really got confused when I tried to see where Tuesday was changing into Wednesday. With the aid of the map I was able to remove one of my long held misconceptions. I had always thought that time was centered on the Greenwich Observatory in England and I had never thought very much about the international dateline before. Now I realize that the new day starts out in the Ocean at the international dateline and not at the international time standard in England. The day and night display tracks with time. It would be enhanced if a horizontal scrollbar showing the days and a line for the international date line were added to the map.
As an engineer, my ears always perk up when anyone mentions absolutes, particularly when you are measuring something. The only absolute measurement that I am aware of has to do with temperature. Absolute zero is defined as the temperature at which all molecular motion stops, but it is a hypothetical concept that can't be reached. The EARTHTIME package claims to "Synchronize Your System Clock to Absolutely Accurate Time".
I ran an experiment and set my PC clock 5 times in a row, with the following results: 1st) correction -6 seconds, 2nd) correction +1 second, 3rd) correction +6 seconds, 4th) correction 0 seconds, 5th) correction -3 seconds. This does not look like "Absolutely Accurate Time" to me. There are other clock setting programs on the market that do a better job of setting your PC clock. Some of them include tracking charts so that you can see the adjustments made to your clock in a graphical format and track them automatically over time. This is much more useful information for the engineering type. Some of these programs also include a display that shows the time in other cities.
The instruction sheet does list several phone numbers for tech support and a fax back number. Priority support will cost $2 per minute charged to either your credit card or your telephone bill. Their webpage has an e-mail address for sales but none for tech support. I sent a query to Starfish about an e-mail address for tech support and my question was answered by their service group. They are looking into getting a tech support e-mail address. They do have a BBS in Scotts Valley, CA for downloading files and documents.
Overall, I can say that I like the program except for its' claim for "Absolutely Accurate Time". The program could be enhanced with a few additions, but I do like the world time map display. The program remains on my system so far and I do correct my PC clock at least once a week.
Robert D. Fuller, W6TVJ, is a B.S.E.E. with over 25 years of
computer electronics experience and holds an Extra Class FCC amateur radio
license.