Moore Makes Back-to-Back Comebacks to Stay Alive U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA by Lea Andrews On the penultimate day of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, the final four on the winners’ side have come through, and on the one-loss side, Steve Moore came from behind two matches in a row to reach the final [...]

Past Champions Fall, Others Look for Repeats U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA by Lea Andrews As day five of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships draws to a close, some former champions are saving their dreams of repeats for next year, while others continue their march towards the finish line and the green jacket and [...]

Kathy Newman, 60, right, vents frustration Thursday during a computer lesson at Sacramento's Ethel M. Hart Senior Center. Instructor David Hatter, 31, standing, offers advice as Carol Scott, 71, left, and Newman's husband, John, 63, follow along. "I'm over my head already, just signing up for this," says Scott.

As their first class began Thursday morning at Sacramento's Ethel M. Hart Senior Center computer lab, three students listened carefully as the instructor introduced them to some basics.

"We're going to learn key words," said David Hatter, 31, as he used a laser pointer to direct their attention to his monitor, projected onto a screen in front of the class.

"This is your desktop. These are called icons. This is your background. Down here is your start button. Go ahead and feel free to click it."

And they did, taking their first brave steps into life online.

Older people are crossing into the frontier of the Internet at increasing numbers: The biggest rise in Internet use since 2005 occurred among the 70- to 75-year-old age group, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Forty-five percent of that group is now online.

People 55 and older make up 31 percent of the country's total adult population – and, according to the project, 24 percent of the online population.

Now retirees flock to classes taught by the public library and local senior centers. Top reason? The grandkids, for whom computer use is a way of life. Grandma and Grandpa are in touch, on task – and at a growing rate they're on social networking sites such as Facebook.

"My cousin's kids call me their aunt," said Maggie Jimenez, 64, an artist who lives in Land Park and has been on Facebook for six months. "I'm in contact with them on Facebook. And my friends' kids. I'm amazed how open some of them are.

"I have a niece coming up for a visit in a few weeks, after we started talking more and more on Facebook," she added. "But I can't get my husband on it. He's more of a dinosaur in terms of computers."

Jimenez has a distinct advantage: Before she retired, she taught middle school computer classes. She even built her own Web site, a showcase for her art, several years ago. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done," she said. "My husband would come in, and I'd be sitting there like a stone trying to figure things out."

Developing a basic comfort level with the virtual world takes a lot of time for many senior citizens, especially those who didn't use computers on the job before they retired.

In a real way, the computer literacy gap is the 21st century version of the generation gap.

"I started learning a year ago," said John Newman, 63, a retired Sacramento County maintenance worker enrolled in a Hart Senior Center class. "I was computer illiterate. Now I know how to turn it on. I look things up on the Internet, and I e-mail."

"From going from zilcho, he's really branching out," said his wife, Kathy, 60, who's also taking the class. "He's been trying. He sent his first e-mail all by himself, and he was all proud."

The Newmans want to publish an online newsletter for the historical society in the Florin area, where they live. Other seniors, said Hart Senior Center director Linda Hoschler, understand that challenging themselves to learn something new can help keep their memory sharp.

"We have someone who turned 100 last month, and he e-mails every day," she said.

Older people grasp the fact that the Internet can make a host of routine activities – finding recipes, researching health information, making travel reservations, buying clothes and books – much easier.

"The computer is how we're going to communicate," said Therese Schultz, executive director of the Senior Center of Elk Grove, which offers a range of computer classes. "You can go online and check your bank statement. That's one thing our seniors want to do. You can pay your SMUD bill."

Online, they can find genealogical links they never dreamed of; online, they can rekindle long-dormant friendships and reconnect with faraway relatives.

"I'm over my head already, just signing up for this," said Carol Scott, 71, a retired elementary school teacher taking a Hart Senior Center class. "But everybody said I needed to get a computer and do e-mail."

It starts with a click.

Seniors get acquainted with Windows Vista in a Hart center computer class. People 55 and older now make up 24 percent of U.S. online users, with the biggest jump among those between 70 and 75.

It wasn't exactly Black Friday, but a number of local PC users scooped up Microsoft Windows 7 computers and software after the new operating system's Thursday launch.

Francisco Austria, a graduate student at California State University, Sacramento, eyed a Windows 7-loaded Lenovo laptop computer Thursday morning at Best Buy on Arden Way.

"I'm in the market for a new laptop, and I'd heard about the Windows 7 (launch). It's a big day, so I'm here," Austria said.

"Customers have been anticipating this for a while," said Tone Lutz, an associate at Staples on Truxel Road in Natomas. "Computer sales definitely went up today," Lutz said.

Los Angeles-based retail analyst Mike Kraus of StoreTouch anticipates that advance praise for the new system after the problems that plagued the Vista operating system will boost sales through the holidays

– Darrell Smith

Players Advance and Fall at US Open 9-Ball U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA by Lea Andrews Charlie “The Korean Dragon” Williams, who found himself on the left side of the bracket of the 34th Annual U.S. Open Championships following an 11-9 loss to one of North Carolina’s finest, Keith Bennett, is still in the running after [...]

A computer loaded with Windows 7 software gets a tryout at a Best Buy store in Miami. Microsoft hopes to win back computer users who disliked the Vista system.

The big day was hours away, and Joshua Griffith was taking no chances.

The supervisor of Best Buy's Geek Squad in Natomas carted the stack of bright lime-green boxes to a wood cabinet on the sales floor, then stowed them under lock and key, safe and sound until today.

Microsoft Windows 7, the computer giant's newest operating system, launches today and retailers were preparing for a busy day.

"Our customers were telling us that they weren't buying new computers until Windows 7 came out," Griffith said. "We're expecting it to be a mini-Black Friday for computers."

The optimistic outlook is based on two main factors: First, Windows 7 is receiving widespread critical acceptance as a top-notch operating system; second, it's not Vista.

The problem-filled Vista operating system frustrated users and was panned by critics for, among other issues, sluggish startup speeds.

With the Windows 7 launch, Microsoft hopes to win back PC users like Tommie Ingram. The Sacramento furniture installer said he didn't put the much-maligned Vista on any of the three desktop computers and a laptop he owns.

"If you want to make money, you're going to have to improve," Ingram said. "If you want my money, you're going to have to improve."

Microsoft is listening to such customers, industry watchers say.

"It's the Vista that should've been," Steve Fox, editorial director of San Francisco-based industry journal PC World, said of Windows 7. "They've basically fixed it. … It's their first simplified release. They're exchanging flash for practicality. The best operating system is not obtrusive. It should be invisible."

Blue-shirted employees were gearing up Wednesday at Best Buy on North Freeway Road in Natomas, stowing away not only boxes of software, but dozens of preordered computers loaded with the new operating system that customers can pick up starting today.

"You get a new operating system every four years," said computer sales associate Westley Warren. "This is a big thing."

The chief improvements over Vista, say experts, are Windows 7's usability and a focus on function.

"The core engine is the same (as Vista), but they've greatly improved some of the features," said Milt Hull, president and self-described technical guru of Sacramento PC Users Group.

Hull, who works as a network engineer, said he is particularly pleased with features that make the new system operate faster and give easier access to files, music and applications.

The buzz over Windows 7 as an antidote to Vista could shake loose more sales, said Fox of PC World.

"I think there's a good bit of pent-up demand from people who want to get new systems," he said.

Though Fox doesn't anticipate a lines-around-the-store shopping frenzy, he said a stripped-down version of Windows 7 aboard netbooks could boost sales of the inexpensive, Web-browsing mini-laptop computers.

"I think you'd see a lot of people buying those because it's a great impulse buy," Fox said.

At Best Buy, Griffith is hoping the sales match the hype, especially in a retail sector hit hard by the economy.

"It's exciting. We're waiting to sell them. It's like Christmas," he said.

Joshua Griffith, supervisor of Best Buy's Geek Squad in Natomas, carts boxes of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system to a locked storage area. "Our customers were telling us that they weren't buying new computers until Windows 7 came out," Griffith said.

Rocket Shoots His Way Into Final 16 Winners U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA by Lea Andrews 1996 U.S. Open champion “Rocket” Rodney Morris is vying for a repeat at the 2009 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, arriving on the final 16 on the winners’ side following a tight match-up with Corey “The Prince of Pool” Deuel. [...]

Feijen Advances Over Hundal U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA by Lea Andrews Niels Feijen, who fell in round one to Ramil Gallego 11-8, blew past Curtis Coleman 11-0 to face Raj Hundal in a tight elimination-round match on day four of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships. Feijen is one of the field of [...]

Giant Slayers Take Over at the U.S. Open US Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA by Lea Andrews Day three of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships was the final day for some of the field of 216, while others, some of whom are responsible for the heavy hitters on the west side of the bracket, continue [...]