Scribbles

PDA Developers Conference East—The recently completed conference held in Nashua, NH and sponsored by Creative Digital Inc., was by almost all accounts a success. The conference featured a series of technical and market related sessions and tutorials, which drew and entertained an audience of programmers from around the world.

The most interesting (and refreshing) aspect of the conference was the overall positive outlook exhibited by a group of people committed to developing some of tomorrow’s great products. While there was a healthy dose of skepticism in the air, the overall can-do attitude has been rarely seen since the early conferences of 1992 and 1993. The PDA Developers Conference instantly became one of the must-attend conferences for next year.

Motorola—In what is becoming the growing support of the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital cellular technology, Motorola’s Cellular Infrastructure Group (CIG) announced that it will demo its CDMA technology in Brazil beginning in September.

The four month demonstration will take place in the city of Ribeirao Preto located in Sao Paulo state. The local telephone operator, CETERP, plans to adopt digital technology to increase the capacity of its existing cellular system based on AMPS analog technology.

SanDisk Corporation—No, that isn’t a typo. The company that is almost synonymous with flash disk storage products has finally given in to its significantly bigger Silicon Valley neighbor, Sun Microsystems, and changed its name.

Sun was concerned that some people may think that SunDisk was somehow affiliated with the maker of UNIX servers and workstations. The former SunDisk is trying to put the name change in good light by pointing out that the SanD in SanDisk stands for the silicon that forms the backbone of the computing industry.

Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc.—Hoping to grab a bigger share of the growing market for PC Card peripherals, Fujitsu Microelectronics recently formed a PC Card Business Unit to develop and market the credit card-sized products in the US.

The business unit will share office space with its parent in San Jose, California, and will concentrate on supplying local area network, multimedia, and other communication cards.

LiveWorks Inc.—With corporate travel budgets continuing to decrease, tools that help people collaborate remotely are becoming the in thing. LiveWorks, a Xerox company based in San Jose, California, recently updated its LiveBoard interactive meeting system, a hardware and software system designed to enhance group collaboration.

Using LiveBoard, people can perform document and video conferencing using a shared whiteboard. New features include support for OLE 2.0, which enables people to display, share, and update any Microsoft Windows application directly using the LiveBoard.

LiveBoard also includes a patented infrared pen with which users can add handwritten information and prioritize and rearrange it using the system’s new idea organizer.

Sierra Wireless Inc.—The Richmond, British Columbia developer of wireless data modems announced that it is entering the expert consulting and design services business, covering a wide range of wireless data solutions. Dubbed the Wireless Services Group (WSG) and headed by Dr. Norman Toms, the service will help companies who are interested in deploying mobile or wireless computing technologies.

Creative Digital Inc.—The publishers of PDA Developers magazine announced the availability of ViewFrame 1.1, a program that helps developers debug Newton programs. ViewFrame is an extensible object browser and modifier that works on all Newton MessagePads.

Using ViewFrame, you can perform most of the operations of the Newton Toolkit inspector, plus some additional features, without connecting to a Macintosh. ViewFrame 1.1 is available for US $90. Users of the 1.0 version can upgrade for US $25. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile—The new wireless company, representing the combination of the cellular businesses of the Bell Atlantic Corporation and the NYNEX Corporation, just made it easier (and less expensive) for customers to roam by reducing the associated charges to 59 cents per minute and eliminating all daily roaming surcharges throughout its entire coverage area on the US east coast.

The combined joint venture, effective July 1st of this year, serves three million customers spread across several states from Maine to South Carolina, including the largest cellular market in the US—New York—and the most powerful, Washington DC.

Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.—The company behind the processor that powers Apple’s Newton PDA recently signed an agreement with European Silicon Structures (ES2) enabling ES2 to acquire rights to the ARM7 DMI 32-bit RISC processor as an embedded core. ARM used the partnership agreement to illustrate its rapid ascension to the ranks of an industry standard RISC architecture.

Kalidor Europe—The Upland, California-based manufacturer of rugged pen-based computers has, through its parent company ALPS Electric Ltd., opened a new business division known as Kalidor Europe. Based in Cork, Ireland, the new division will oversee the company’s development, marketing, support, and hopefully growth, within the European market. ❑