Byline: By danny hakim section: Section B; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 1 Length

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: GLOBAL WARMING (90%); CLIMATOLOGY (90%); SHAREHOLDER MEETINGS (90%); TALKS & MEETINGS (90%); ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES (89%); FAMILY (89%); ENVIRONMENTALISM (89%); CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (77%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (76%); ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (75%); EMISSIONS (75%); PRESS CONFERENCES (72%); GLOBALIZATION (70%); SCIENCE NEWS (70%); SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (70%); PLANETS & ASTEROIDS (69%); RELIGION (60%)
COMPANY: EXXON MOBIL CORP (58%)
TICKER: XOM (NYSE) (58%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS325110 PETROCHEMICAL MANUFACTURING (87%); NAICS324110 PETROLEUM REFINERIES (87%); NAICS211111 CRUDE PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION (87%)
PERSON: JAY ROCKEFELLER (71%); REX W TILLERSON (56%); AL GORE (53%)
LOAD-DATE: May 31, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

716 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
May 30, 2008 Friday

Late Edition - Final

CORRECTIONS: FOR THE RECORD
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 58 words
The Entrepreneurial Edge column in Business Day on May 15, about the development of biomedical companies in Orange County, Calif., misidentified the developer of a stent used to prevent glaucoma. He is Dr. Rick Hill, an ophthalmologist formerly with the University of California, Irvine -- not Dr. Richard Little, who is still an ophthalmologist there.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: ENTREPRENEURSHIP (88%); EYE DISORDERS (86%); OPHTHALMOLOGY (86%); BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY (85%)
ORGANIZATION: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (57%)
GEOGRAPHIC: CALIFORNIA, USA (90%) UNITED STATES (90%)
LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Correction
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

717 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
May 30, 2008 Friday

Late Edition - Final

At Bear, an Apology Is Met With Silence
BYLINE: By LANDON THOMAS Jr.; Eric Dash contributed reporting
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 607 words
DROPPING the curtain on 85 years of Wall Street history, shareholders of Bear Stearns voted Thursday to support the troubled investment bank's controversial, government-backed merger with JPMorgan Chase.

The result, announced at a 10 a.m. meeting at Bear's headquarters at 383 Madison Avenue, marked the end of Bear as an independent firm. But the outcome reflected less an embrace of the deal by bruised investors than the stark reality that the $10-a-share price was the best option available.

More than two months after the terms were struck in mid-March, Bear Stearns, which opened in 1923, is now part of JPMorgan. The tally in support of the merger was 84 percent, Bear Stearns said. The deal will close Friday at midnight.

Outside Bear's glittering headquarters, now owned by JPMorgan, a carnival-like atmosphere -- laden with gallows humor -- prevailed. Former employees mingled in the street commiserating and scribbling comments on a large portrait of James E. Cayne, the former chief executive of Bear Stearns, whom many blame for the firm's fall. Entrepreneurs hawked T-shirts with pictures of Mr. Cayne playing a violin on the 19th hole of a golf course.

Inside the building, however, the mood was somber, if not tearful -- a stark contrast to the angry sentiments of Bear employees and shareholders in mid-March, most of whom felt that that Bear, known as the scrappiest firm on Wall Street, could have survived if it had been given earlier access to Federal reserves credit lines.

The new entity will be much leaner, reflecting the view of James S. Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan, that Wall Street will remain in a funk for some time. The deal bolsters JPMorgan's commodities and energy operations and will give it a stronger foothold in the prime brokerage business if it regains the many customers who fled Bear Stearns.

But Bear's balance sheet is rife with financial landmines, and with market conditions worsening, JPMorgan executives have cut hundreds of more jobs than they had anticipated. About 7,500 Bear Stearns bankers have lost their jobs, along with as many as 3,500 employees of JPMorgan.

Mr. Cayne, on his second to last day as chairman of Bear, presided over the meeting at the firm's auditorium, which was filled with more than 400 employees. Sitting next to him was Alan D. Schwartz, Bear's chief executive.

Mr. Cayne, who joined the firm in 1969 and lost more than $900 million in the firm's collapse, had been conspicuously absent in March, when Mr. Dimon presided over a stormy meeting in the same location.

The gathering was very much a Bear Stearns affair, with Mr. Dimon in Italy meeting clients and no other top JPMorgan operating executives attending. Mr. Cayne's presence was a powerful reminder to the Bear Stearns community that the fight was finished.

''I have no anger, only regret,'' Mr. Cayne said, as he departed from the script of his prepared remarks. ''Fourteen thousand families were affected. I personally apologize. I feel an enormous amount of pain and management feels an enormous amount of pain.''

The audience of Bear employees, directors and investors, many of whom Mr. Cayne has known for years and who lost large parts of their savings and fortunes, received his remarks in dead silence.

''That which does not kill you makes you stronger,'' he added. ''And at this point we are all like Hercules.''

Again, his words were met with silence.

''JPMorgan is a great organization,'' he concluded. ''There are better days ahead.''

And then the meeting, which lasted no more than 10 minutes, was over and Bear's employees headed quietly off to work.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS (90%); SHAREHOLDERS (90%); INVESTMENT BANKING (90%); TALKS & MEETINGS (89%); BANK FAILURES (89%); APPOINTMENTS (78%); LAYOFFS (78%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (76%); DISMISSALS (68%); MERGERS (89%)
COMPANY: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO (96%); BEAR STEARNS COS INC (92%)
TICKER: JPMC (BRU) (96%); JPM (NYSE) (96%); JPM (LSE) (96%); 8634 (TSE) (96%); BSC (NYSE) (92%)
INDUSTRY: SIC6022 STATE COMMERCIAL BANKS (96%); NAICS523110 INVESTMENT BANKING AND SECURITIES DEALING (92%); SIC6211 SECURITY BROKERS, DEALERS, & FLOTATION COMPANIES (92%); NAICS523110 INVESTMENT BANKING & SECURITIES DEALING (92%); NAICS551111 OFFICES OF BANK HOLDING COMPANIES (96%); NAICS523999 MISCELLANEOUS FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES (96%); NAICS522110 COMMERCIAL BANKING (96%)
PERSON: JAMES E CAYNE (83%); JIMMY CAYNE (83%)
LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: An unidentified employee wrote a comment on Thursday on a portrait of James Cayne, the firm's former chief, whom many workers blame for the firm's demise. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK LENNIHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

718 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
May 29, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; TODAY IN BUSINESS; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 550 words
SUGAR LAWSUIT Former U.S. Sugar employees are accusing insiders of scheming to enrich themselves by buying back workers' shares at artificially depressed prices.

'BACK TO BASICS' Faced with the fading prospect of another airline merger happening this year, large air carriers may be forced to find other palatable ways to cut service and staffing. [C1.]

THE OTHER GAS CRUNCH As shipments of liquefied natural gas to the United States slow to a trickle, storage tanks are empty and terminals sit idle. [C1.]

CROSSING BORDERS Israelis and Palestinians are working together on a Web-based virtual computer that lets users access their files from any computer with an Internet connection. [C1.]

SUBDUED TONE At the 2008 Robin Hood benefit this week, hedge fund managers donated $56.5 million to charity, 21 percent less than last year. [C1.]

RESCUE MISSION Three new products allow users to digitize memories -- in this case, photos, cassette tapes and vinyl records -- before they fade. State of the Art: David Pogue. [C1.]

LAYOFF PLANS American Axle & Manufacturing said it expected to save about $300 million a year under its new union contract, largely by eliminating about 2,000 union jobs. [C2.]

RESOLUTION FAILS Exxon Mobil rejected a resolution backed by members of the Rockefeller family to separate the chief executive and chairman jobs. [C3.]

HOLLYWOOD DEAL A union representing television actors reached a tentative three-year deal with production companies, putting pressure on the Screen Actors Guild to do the same. [C3.]

VIRTUAL MARKETING Electronic Arts made a deal with Ikea to allow players of the Sims 2 video game to decorate their simulated homes with Ikea furniture. Advertising. [C3.]

ADDRESSING FOOD CRISIS Ahead of a food summit in Rome, the United Nations suggested that countries might need to reconsider policies that encourage the production of biofuels. [C3.]

BUSINESS SPENDING SLIPS Although manufacturing orders, a crucial measure of business spending, fell 0.5 percent in April, the dip was less severe than economists had forecast. [C4.]

NEW TEACHING PHILOSOPHY Leadership educators have tapped into a desire by students and established entrepreneurs for more integration of their careers and personal lives. [C5.]

EADS INQUIRY French police detained the former co-chief executive of European Aeronautic Defense and Space, Noel Forgeard, left, for questioning about insider trading. Separately, the Airbus unit of EADS said orders for its A380 superjumbo would be a third lower than forecast. [C8.]

NO JOYSTICK REQUIRED Game designers and other programmers are jumping to add sensors to gadgets so that users can direct the machines with a nudge, a tilt or a shake. Basics. [C6.]

DHL REORGANIZATION Deutsche Post, the German mail and logistics group, said it would cut 1,500 jobs at its DHL unit in North America and hire a competitor, United Parcel Service, for its air-cargo services. [C7.]

TRADE DISPUTE Although the World Trade Organization is expected to rule soon in a battle between Airbus and Boeing over state subsidies, the two rivals continue to bicker. [C8.]

LOWER GAS PRICES As the average price of gasoline in New York hit a record $4.20 a gallon, the state gave some station owners the official go-ahead to charge by the half-gallon. [A24.]

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: LABOR UNIONS (90%); LAYOFFS (89%); AEROSPACE INDUSTRY (87%); FACTORY WORKERS (78%); INSIDER TRADING (78%); MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS (78%); AIR FREIGHT (77%); AIRLINES (77%); POSTAL SERVICE (76%); FACTORY ORDERS (76%); ECONOMIC NEWS (76%); LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (76%); COURIERS & PACKAGE SERVICES (76%); BIOFUELS (74%); DEFENSE INDUSTRY (73%); TEACHING & TEACHERS (72%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (72%); NATURAL GAS PRODUCTS (71%); TOYS & GAMES (71%); MOVIE INDUSTRY (70%); INTERNET & WWW (70%); MOVIE & VIDEO PRODUCTION (69%); NEW PRODUCTS (68%); UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTIONS (66%); POLICE FORCES (65%); COMPUTER GAMES (63%); ECONOMIC SURVEYS (61%); HEDGE FUNDS (54%); MERGERS (78%); 2008 GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS (74%); ACTORS & ACTRESSES (86%)
COMPANY: EUROPEAN AERONAUTIC DEFENCE & SPACE CO EADS NV (82%); AMERICAN AXLE & MANUFACTURING HOLDINGS INC (55%); EXXON MOBIL CORP (55%); STATE OF THE ART INC (55%); ELECTRONIC ARTS INC (54%); AIRBUS SAS (51%); DEUTSCHE POST AG (50%); UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC (50%)
ORGANIZATION: SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (54%)
TICKER: EAD (PAR) (82%); 0HEX (LSE) (82%); AXL (NYSE) (55%); XOM (NYSE) (55%); SOTA (NASDAQ) (55%); ERTS (NASDAQ) (54%); DPW (FRA) (50%); UPS (NYSE) (50%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS336411 AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING (82%); NAICS336414 GUIDED MISSILE & SPACE VEHICLE MANUFACTURING (82%); NAICS334511 SEARCH, DETECTION, NAVIGATION, GUIDANCE, AERONAUTICAL & NAUTICAL SYSTEM & INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURING (82%); NAICS336350 MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSMISSION AND POWER TRAIN PARTS MANUFACTURING (55%); SIC3714 MOTOR VEHICLE PARTS & ACCESSORIES (55%); NAICS325110 PETROCHEMICAL MANUFACTURING (55%); NAICS324110 PETROLEUM REFINERIES (55%); NAICS211111 CRUDE PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION (55%); NAICS511210 SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS (54%); SIC7372 PREPACKAGED SOFTWARE (54%); SIC3721 AIRCRAFT (51%); NAICS491110 POSTAL SERVICE (50%); SIC4215 COURIER SERVICES EX. BY AIR (50%); NAICS541614 PROCESS, PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION & LOGISTICS CONSULTING SERVICES (50%); NAICS488510 FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION ARRANGEMENT (50%); NAICS484121 GENERAL FREIGHT TRUCKING, LONG-DISTANCE, TRUCKLOAD (50%); NAICS336350 MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSMISSION & POWER TRAIN PARTS MANUFACTURING (55%)
GEOGRAPHIC: UNITED STATES (93%); PALESTINIAN TERRITORY (79%); FRANCE (79%); NORTH AMERICA (79%); ISRAEL (79%); GERMANY (66%)
LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Summary
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

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The New York Times
May 29, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Web Start-Up a Joint Israeli-Palestinian Venture
BYLINE: By DINA KRAFT
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1110 words
DATELINE: RAMALLAH, West Bank
Nibbling doughnuts and wrestling with computer code, the workers at G.ho.st, an Internet start-up here, are holding their weekly staff meeting -- with colleagues on the other side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.

They trade ideas through a video hookup that connects the West Bank office with one in Israel in the first joint technology venture of its kind between Israelis and Palestinians.

''Start with the optimistic parts, Mustafa,'' Gilad Parann-Nissany, an Israeli who is vice president for research and development, jokes with a Palestinian colleague who is giving a progress report. Both conference rooms break into laughter.

The goal of G.ho.st is not as lofty as peace, although its founders and employees do hope to encourage it. Instead G.ho.st wants to give users a free, Web-based virtual computer that lets them access their desktop and files from any computer with an Internet connection. G.ho.st, pronounced ''ghost,'' is short for Global Hosted Operating System.

''Ghosts go through walls,'' said Zvi Schreiber, the company's British-born Israeli chief executive, by way of explanation. A test version of the service is available now, and an official introduction is scheduled for Halloween.

The Palestinian office in Ramallah, with about 35 software developers, is responsible for most of the research and programming. A smaller Israeli team works about 13 miles away in the central Israeli town of Modiin.

The stretch of road separating the offices is broken up by checkpoints, watch towers and a barrier made of chain-link fence and, in some areas, soaring concrete walls, built by Israel with the stated goal of preventing the entry of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Palestinian employees need permits from the Israeli army to enter Israel and attend meetings in Modiin, and Israelis are forbidden by their own government from entering Palestinian cities.

When permits cannot be arranged but meetings in person are necessary, colleagues gather at a rundown coffee shop on a desert road frequented by camels and Bedouin shepherds near Jericho, an area legally open to both sides.

Dr. Schreiber, an entrepreneur who has already built and sold two other start-ups, said he wanted to create G.ho.st after seeing the power of software running on the Web. He said he thought it was time to merge his technological and commercial ambitions with his social ones and create a business with Palestinians.

''I felt the ultimate goal was to offer every human being a computing environment which is free, and which is not tied to any physical hardware but exists on the Web,'' he said. The idea, he said, was to create a home for all of a user's online files and storage in the form of a virtual PC.

Instead of creating its own Web-based software, the company taps into existing services like Google Docs, Zoho and Flickr and integrates them into a single online computing system.

G.ho.st also has a philanthropic component: a foundation that aims to establish community computer centers in Ramallah and in mixed Jewish-Arab towns in Israel. The foundation is headed by Noa Rothman, the granddaughter of Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister slain in 1995.

''It's the first time I met Palestinians of my generation face to face,'' said Ms. Rothman, 31, of her work with G.ho.st. She said she was moved by how easily everyone got along. ''It shows how on the people-to-people level you can really get things done.''

Investors have put $2.5 million into the company so far, a modest amount. Employing Palestinians means the money goes farther; salaries for Palestinian programmers are about a third of what they are in Israel.

But Dr. Schreiber, who initially teamed up with Tareq Maayah, a Palestinian businessman, to start the Ramallah office, insists this is not just another example of outsourcing.

''We are one team, employed by the same company, and everyone has shares in the company,'' he said.

At G.ho.st's offices in Ramallah, in a stone-faced building with black reflective glass perched on a hill in the city's business district, employees say they feel part of an intensive group effort to create something groundbreaking. Among them are top young Palestinian programmers and engineers, recruited in some cases directly from universities.

The chance to gain experience in creating a product for the international market -- a first for the small Palestinian technology community -- means politics take a backseat to business, said Yusef Ghandour, a project manager.

''It's good we are learning from the Israeli side now,'' Mr. Ghandour said. The Israelis, he said, ''are open to the external world, and there is lots of venture capital investment in Israel, and now we are bringing that to Palestine.''

The departure of educated young people mostly to neighboring Jordan and the Persian Gulf states is a major problem for the Palestinian economy and has been especially damaging to its technology industry. Since the Oslo peace process broke down in 2000, a wave of Israeli-Palestinian business ties have crumbled as well.

Political tensions make it somewhat unpopular for Palestinians to do business with Israelis, said Ala Alaeddin, chairman of the Palestinian Information Technology Association. He said the concept of a technology joint venture across the divide was unheard-of until G.ho.st opened its doors. A handful of Palestinian tech companies handle outsourced work for Israeli companies, but most focus on the local or Middle Eastern market.

''It's much easier to have outsourcing than a partnership,'' Mr. Alaeddin said. ''A joint venture is a long-term commitment, and you need both sides to be really confident that this kind of agreement will work.''

Benchmark Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with offices in Israel, invested $2 million in G.ho.st. Michael Eisenberg, a general partner at the firm, said Benchmark was ''in the business of risky investments,'' but that G.ho.st presented entirely new territory.

Recalling his discussions with Dr. Schreiber, Mr. Eisenberg said: ''Frankly, when he first told me about it I thought it was ambitious, maybe overly ambitious. But Zvi is a remarkable entrepreneur, and I started to feel he could actually pull this off.''

The video hookup runs continuously between the offices. Chatting in the Ramallah conference room, two Palestinian programmers wave hello to Israeli colleagues conferring over a laptop in the Modiin office.

''We are doing something across cultures and across two sides of a tough conflict,'' Dr. Schreiber said. ''I was prepared for the possibility that it might be difficult, but it hasn't been.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: STARTUPS (91%); INTERNET & WWW (91%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (78%); CONFERENCES & CONVENTIONS (78%); RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT (78%); SOFTWARE MAKERS (75%); COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEMS (73%); HALLOWEEN (67%); ARMIES (52%); BOMBS & EXPLOSIVES (50%); SUICIDE BOMBINGS (50%); COMPUTER SOFTWARE (90%)
GEOGRAPHIC: ISRAEL (99%); PALESTINIAN TERRITORY (94%)
LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: A wall separates G.ho.st.offices in the West Bank and Israel. (PHOTOGRAPHS BY RINA CASTELNUOVO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) (pg.C1)

Israeli employees, on the screen, talking with their Palestinian colleagues in Ramallah. (PHOTOGRAPH BY RINA CASTELNUOVO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) (pg.C7)

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

720 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
May 29, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Digital Life For Analog Keepsakes
BYLINE: By DAVID POGUE.

E-mail: [e-mail]

SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; STATE OF THE ART; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1275 words
Millions of baby boomers today live in fear of a diagnosis of AFLS.

AFLS -- Analog Format Loss Syndrome -- is the depressing realization that all your old photo prints, cassette tapes and vinyl records risk being lost to the dustbin of obsolete analog equipment. But with just a few changes, you can avoid becoming another AFLS statistic.

(O.K., spare me the indignant e-mail -- I realize that record players aren't yet obsolete. But there's still value in digitizing your records; otherwise, you can't listen to them in the car, while you jog or anyplace else you don't have a turntable handy.)

Where there's a problem, there's an entrepreneur to exploit it. Three new AFLS remedies have just hit the market: a photo converter from Hammacher Schlemmer, a cassette-tape converter from Ion and an LP-converting turntable, also from Ion.

All three purport to simplify turning the relics of your analog life into shiny new digital files. But not all of them improve on existing conversion technology.

Take the Hammacher Schlemmer Photograph-to-Digital-Picture Converter ($150), for example. It wins the award for the Longest Product Name Ever Reviewed in This Column. It's also in the running for Most Pointless.

The idea is clever: it's basically a digital camera inside a light box. You insert a photo print into a frame, slip that into the end of the plastic box (about 7 by 10 by 9 inches), press the button, and poof! The box takes a five-megapixel picture of your photo and deposits a JPEG file on your PC. The capture takes one second -- much faster than using a scanner.

The box comes with three trays, each engineered to hold a common photograph size: 3.5 by 5 inches, 4 by 6 inches or 5 by 7 inches. Unfortunately, if your photos are any other size or shape, the box is totally useless.

In preparing an 80th birthday slide show for my father, I discovered that few of his old photos fit the trays; a couple fell out of the tray and had to be fished out with tweezers. That's because, as I confirmed with Kodak, those standard photo sizes were not always standard. For example, 3.5 by 5 and 5 by 7 prints didn't become standard sizes until the 1940s, and 4 by 6 didn't catch on until the 1970s.

Worse, this box is a typical Windows-product hodgepodge: the hardware comes with unrelated, jury-rigged software from a totally different company. Installation is a headache, made worse by an incoherent and inaccurate user guide. (The company says that it intends to redo the manual.)

Once you're running ArcSoft, the photo-editing program, you open a confusing plug-in dialog box to begin importing photos. The software's menus refer to things like CRS Photo Scanner and TWAIN Compliant Devices -- the P-to-D-P C's actual name never even appears. And this thing is for technophobes?

The final insult is the horrible picture quality: Any hue lighter than, say, sky blue gets bleached into pure white, making your ''scans'' look like color Xeroxes with the settings wrong. (Hammacher Schlemmer says it hasn't received similar complaints and I must have gotten a defective unit.)

The bottom line: just get a scanner. For the same money or less, you get a machine that accommodates photos of any shape or size, is easier to figure out and doesn't take any more time than inserting and extracting each photo from the Hammacher's tray.

Ion's new LP Dock ($212 online) is far more successful. It's a full-blown turntable that converts record albums into MP3 files that play on, for example, an iPod.

In fact, the iPod is the key to distinguishing the LP Dock from its predecessor, the iTTUSB turntable (which costs $100 less): the LP Dock can pump the vinyl records directly into your iPod. You can slip a recent-model, full-size iPod right into a socket at the corner, where it gets recharged when it's not actually recording from the turntable.

Once the songs are on the iPod, they sit in a weird little menu called Voice Memos, named by date and time rather than song. Now you're supposed to sync the iPod with your Mac or PC. Only then can you name the songs, put them into playlists and so on.

The advantage of the iPod feature is that the LP Dock can spend most of its time as a regular record player, connected to your stereo system downstairs, rather than tethered to your computer upstairs.

However, the process is fussy, requires a lot of steps and is mightily time-consuming. The iPod doesn't know when one song has ended and the next has begun, so after each track, you're supposed to pause the turntable, choose a command called Stop and Save on the iPod and then restart the turntable for the next song. It's a lot of baby-sitting.

It's easier if you connect the LP Dock directly to your Mac or PC with its U.S.B. cable (as you do with the less expensive iTTUSB turntable). In this case, you run a supersimple importing program called EZ Vinyl Converter; at every track break, you just click a New Track button. Actually, the Windows version of the software detects track breaks automatically, and even tries to fill in the song names by consulting the Gracenote online database of recordings. The whole imported album is conveniently deposited in iTunes, ready for its new digital life.

But what about tapes? Meet the Tape2PC, a full-fledged dual-cassette player and recorder, also from Ion, with a U.S.B. jack in the back. It works exactly as described in the preceding paragraph: You connect the deck to your Mac or PC with a U.S.B. cable, run the simple software (now called EZ Tape Converter), click New Track at the end of each song and marvel as a tidy set of MP3 files appears in iTunes.

Over all, it works. There are three obstacles between you and digitizing nirvana, however. First, although you can dub one tape to another at double speed, converting tape to a digital file on your computer must be done in real time.

Second, the only way to adjust the recording level is to use a tiny knob on the back of the tape deck, which seems scientifically engineered to be as awkward a location as possible.

Finally -- and this is a big one -- why do you need a special tape deck at all? Why not just run the audio output from a regular tape deck into your computer's line input, and use some free or shareware recording program to record the signal? (You could make this argument for Ion's U.S.B. turntables, too, although recording from them to a computer generally requires buying another component -- a preamp.)

Ion argues that for the nongeek, finding the proper audio cable and audio software is too complicated. And sure enough, the EZ Converter software is the high point of Ion's tape deck and turntables. It doesn't get much easier than clicking Record, then clicking New Track after each song.

Both Ion products, however, also come with a far more complicated program called Audacity, which lets you do things like hand-splitting an album into separate tracks, manually excising audio pops and so on.

Both the tape deck and the turntable feel cheaply made, although they're fine for the price and the technophobic target audience. The audio quality is very good, right down to the faithful reproduction of those vinyl pops and tape hisses.

No matter how you decide to proceed, converting old photos and music is a big investment, either of time (baby-sitting the transfer using equipment like Ion's) or of money (sending your stuff to a commercial transfer house).

To avoid full-blown AFLS depression, try not to contemplate the likelihood that the hard drive that holds all your newly rescued music and photos -- or any hard drives at all -- will still be around 50 years from now.