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[IMAGE]	[IMAGE] 	[IMAGE]	 [IMAGE]   May 31, 2001   [IMAGE]  --Steve Fox, editor in chief, CNET Networks     Dear readers, If you have a handheld--or are thinking of buying one--maybe it's time to ditch your Walkman. Because listening to music on a handheld device (except a Palm) has finally become practical . What's the problem with Palm? For some inexplicable reason, the world's most popular handheld has no stereo headphone jack. But for most other devices, digital music is a natural. Virtually anything you might want to hear is available in MP3 format, and one broadcaster has even started a wireless digital-music delivery system (something like radio for handhelds). So grab your handheld and tune in. Sounds like a great formula for a harmonious year.       This Week's Top 10   Problems with the new McDonald's wand       [IMAGE]   [IMAGE]   Software [IMAGE]  [IMAGE]  Banking on the Net  Does anything call up images of bricks and mortar more than banks do? You'd think these traditional temples would be the last things to go high tech, but online banks are springing up left and right. Can they manage your money as well as your local teller can? CNET's secret shopper opened checking accounts at three online banks and compared the results. See which bank, if any, takes the golden coin. In Software     Electronics [IMAGE] Music on your handheld  Why buy a separate MP3 player when you already carry around a PDA with the processing power to handle digital audio? Learn the best ways to listen to music--and to make your own--on your Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld. In Electronics   Wireless [IMAGE] The ultimate guide to wireless e-mail devices  In the first two parts of our three-part series, we told you about options for Palm OS and Pocket PC devices. Now, in the third and final part, we round up the most popular two-way pagers for wireless e-mail. In Wireless    Software [IMAGE] Office XP superguide  At long last, Office XP hits the shelves this week. What's new and improved? Is your PC up to the challenge? Should you bother to upgrade? Here's everything you need to know about the world's most popular office suite. In Software    Hardware [IMAGE] Apple iBook: snow-white and skinny  The snow-white, slim, crisp-looking iBook takes obvious cues from its much-lauded big brother, the PowerBook G4. Has this little brother behaved? Check our first take. In Hardware    Web Building [IMAGE] Steal this Flash  You don't have to reinvent the wheel to have fun with Flash. We lead you through the ethics, challenges, and practical considerations of customizing open source ActionScript as you build your own version of Pac-Man by altering our media files. In Web Building          problems with the new McDonald's payment system [IMAGE] Top Ten  [IMAGE]   [IMAGE] McDonald's is experimenting with a high-tech payment system: a plastic wand that patrons wave in front of an electronic sensor to pay for burgers and such. Currently being tested in Boise, Idaho, the system  deducts the appropriate charge from a customer's debit or credit card. We don't know if McWands will ever catch on, but we urge Ronald and friends to think carefully before charging ahead. New technologies often yield unintended consequences; witness the following:    10 Open sesame bun Avid Harry Potter fans keep waving wands over their burgers, incanting Latinate phrases such as "Super-sizius." 9 Your money or your burger Get mugged by the Hamburglar and find that your credit card has been debited for 500 Happy Meals. 8 Is that a wand in your pocket... Rash of employee firings stemming from inappropriate wand jokes. 7 No, not the "1812 Overture"! Prankster symphony conductors repeatedly crash the system. 6 Fuzzy magic Income tax equations thrown into disarray when federal government opts for construction of 200-ton wand to wave at national debt. 5 Drive-by wanding You're inadvertently charged for an order of Chicken McNuggets every time you pass a set of golden arches. 4 McDungeons and Dragons Role-playing gamers flock to the new system, only to cancel service when they discover the wands don't shoot fireballs. 3 Burned again Vigorous wand waving could overturn hot cups of coffee, resulting in immediate lawsuits. 2 Would you like spam with that? Wand transmits your demographic info to marketers, who bombard you with Clearasil and ThighMaster ads. 1 Over 10 billion slaughtered Militant vegetarian hackers reconfigure wand to automatically tabulate cow body count with every purchase.  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