News and Events

News

Sun Microsystems has formed a separate company devoted to developing technology for personal communicators and handheld devices. Called FirstPerson, the company is headed by Wayne Rosing and reportedly has an initial staff of about 12 people. According to a recent article in the Wall St. Journal, the initial goal of the company is to develop and license software “that allows different types of digital devices to swap data and work together.” The company has not yet made any official disclosures regarding its technical direction or product plans.

FirstPerson
100 Hamilton Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94301
415-617-1441

AST Research has announced its first pen-based computer called the PenExec. The PenExec is the result of an alliance with Tandy Corp. and essentially is a re-labeled Grid Convertible. The machine uses the Intel 386SL 25MHz processor and comes with Slate’s Pen Essentials (reviewed in this issue). The PenExec is priced “under $3000” depending on configuration and options. For more information, contact:

AST Research
16215 Alton Parkway
P.O. Box 57005
Irvine, CA 92619-7005
714-727-4141
800-876-4278

Fujitsu Personal Systems (formerly Poqet) has added a new version of its handheld PoqetPad to the product line, called the PoqetPad Plus, which includes a pen interface. The PoqetPad weighs in at 1.6 pounds and can operate from 3 to 12 hours, according to Fujitsu. It includes an infrared serial link as well as RS-232 and TTL serial (for bar code readers) ports. The PoqetPad Plus is priced at about $1600 depending on configuration and options. Contact:

Fujitsu Personal Systems
5200 Patrick Henry Drive
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-982-9500

The IBM Personal Computer Company has announced a new version of the IBM ThinkPad, called the 710T. The new version has a new PCMCIA bus interface, longer battery life (3.3 to 4.1 hours according to PC Magazine benchmarks, which still isn’t long enough), and expanded operating system support “enabling access to both DOS and PenPoint application bases.” The 5.5 pound ThinkPad runs on the 25MHz 80486SLC processor and is priced from $3500. IBM has a developer and marketing support program for the ThinkPad. Contact your local IBM representative or call 800-426-9397 or 512-823-2851.

Communication Intelligence Corporation (CIC) has announced an agreement with IBM, making the IBM Personal Software Products division the sole distributor and licensor of CIC’s PenDOS and HandWriter Recognition system for PenDOS to other pen hardware manufacturers worldwide. CIC has also struck a deal with IBM to “integrate OEM versions of AS/400 products into CIC’s pen-based computer product line being designed for the China market.” Contact:

CIC
275 Shoreline Drive
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
415-802-7888

Thinque Systems Corporation has developed a pen-based “route accounting” program for Pen Windows. Written in C++, Route Traq 4.0 can be used for inventory management, order entry, invoicing, expense tracking, sales history and analysis, among other functions. For more information, contact:

Thinque Systems Corp.
11755 Victory Blvd. #250
North Hollywood, CA 91606
818-752-1350

Intel, Bell South, RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson G.E. have announced preliminary agreements to work together on “new products and new services for the rapidly emerging mobile computing market.” The goal is to introduce wireless and radio communications products based on Intel hardware. No contact information is available at this time.

Events

The Wireless Datacomm Conference sponsored by the Business Communications Review takes place May 18-20 in San Jose. Call 800-227-1234 or 708-986-1432 for more information.

Spring Comdex is May 24-27 in Atlanta. Call 617-449-6600 for more information.

SRI International’s Pocket Intelligence Forum is holding its next meeting on June 3 at the David Sarnoff Research center in Princeton, New Jersey. Key issues to be discussed include operating systems for PDAs and low-power wireless communications, among other topics. Current members of the forum include AMP, American Express, Boeing, Daimler Benz, Hitachi, IBM, Philips, Texas Instruments, and the U.S. Post Office. Call Mark Cummings at 415-859-3168 for more information.

Consumer Electronics Show is June 3-6 in Chicago. Call 202-457-8700.

The MicroSystems Forum, sponsored by Microprocessor Report, will be held June 14-17 in San Jose, CA. Among the topics of relevance to pen computing are wireless communications, low voltage components, power management techniques, mass storage for mobile systems, and operating systems for handheld devices. Our experience has been that this is one of the better industry conferences for those who need solid technical information. Highly recommended. For further information, call 800-527-0288 or 707-823-4004.

PC Expo will be held in New York June 29-July 1. Call 800-829-3976 or 201-346-1400.

PenExpo sponsored by Boston University will be held in Boston August 30-September 3. Call 508-649-4200 for more information.

Fed Micro ’93, the microcomputer conference and exposition for the federal government, is scheduled for August 31 to September 2. Call 800-638-8510 or 703-683-8500 for more information.

Downsizing Expo sponsored by DCI will be held in Toronto September 13-15. Call 508-470-3870 for more information.

The Mobile World Conference will be held in San Jose September 21-23, sponsored by DCI. Call 508-470-3870 for more information.

The CeBIT ’93 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, drew 660,000 visitors with some 5600 exhibitors, making it the biggest computer and communications trade show in the world. Next year’s CeBIT is scheduled for March 16-23, 1994. Call Hannover Fairs at 609-987-1202 for more information.

Note to our Subscribers To eliminate any confusion, we go to press with Pen-Based Computing at approximately the middle of every other month (February, April, June, August, October, and December). As always, we welcome article submissions for publication in Pen-Based Computing. Please submit articles in ASCII text format on MS-DOS 3-1/2 inch disks. We would also like to hear from you if you have suggestions for topics that you would like to see covered in the newsletter. Please call or fax us at 208-265-5286 or send e-mail to [email protected] or jerickson on MCI mail.