News and Events

PCMCIA Offers Resource Guide

The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) has released the first edition of the PCMCIA Resource Reference Book (April, 1992), a compilation of products and services offered by PCMCIA member companies. The publication, which sells for $7.50 and is available from the PCMCIA association, includes company name/address/phone/fax and descriptions of the provided service/product.

The April ’92 edition of the book contains reference to 70 companies, all of which support the PCMCIA spec in one way or another. The resource guide will be updated quarterly on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year. For more information, contact:

PCMCIA
1030G East Duane Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
408-720-0107

Lattice Offers Custom Programming

Lattice, Inc., a long standing language and compiler vendor, is moving into the pen-based computer arena, offering custom application development for pen systems. In addition, Lattice has developed an application called PenPoll, which is primarily designed for taking polls, surveys, or questionnaires. Lattice is also marketing a library of C functions for asynchronous communications in conjunction with Grid’s PenRight software development environment. For more information, contact:

Lattice, Inc.
3010 Woodcreek Drive
Downers Grove, IL 60515
708-769-4060

Poqet Now Fujitsu

Poqet Computer Corp. is now called Fujitsu Personal Systems. The newly named company has also announced discounts on software developer kits for prospective PoqetPad application developers. The development kit includes the Nestor handwriting recognition software and Nestor PenShell for $1995, a 33% discount. Fujitsu also offers the PenRight development environment from Grid Systems. Contact:

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

PenMagic Ships Numero

PenMagic announced immediate availability of its Numero “financial work processor” software for PenPoint. As we have reported previously, Numero is an interesting and practical application of pen technology. Numero costs $399 and runs on all PenPoint hardware platforms. A development toolkit is also available to qualified PenPoint developers. Contact:

PenMagic Software
310-260 West Esplanade
North Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V7M 3G7
604-988-9982

Upcoming Conferences

Digital Consulting holds its Downsizing Expo in San Francisco, August 25-27 (conference on downsizing computer systems). September 21-23, 1992, DCI holds Pen-Based Expo in Los Angeles. For more information, call 508-470-3870.

Fall Comdex is November 16-20, 1992. Call the Interface Group at 617-449-6600.

In addition, Japan Entry will be sponsoring another Japan-U.S. marketing conference at Fall Comdex with emphasis on pen computing, personal digital assistants, and wireless communications. For more information, contact Japan Entry at 508-352-7788.

January 25-29, 1993, Boston University’s PenExpo will be held in San Francisco. Call 508-649-9731 for more information.

The 1993 CeBIT exposition in Germany promises to have many new pen related products. March 24-31, Hannover, Germany. Call Hannover Fairs USA, 609-987-1202.

NEC Picks CIC Handwriting

NEC has agreed to license Communication Intelligence Corp.’s (CIC) handwriting recognition and signature verification software, as well as CIC’s PenDOS operating environment. Separately, CIC has announced a Japanese version of PenDOS. Contact:

Communication Intelligence Corp.
275 Shoreline Dr.
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
415-802-7888

Microsoft Extends Pens to the Desktop

Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows for Pen Computing extensions for desktop computers. This allows desktop Windows users to install the pen extensions on their computers so that they can use “pen aware” peripherals such as digitizing tablets. A host of manufacturers, including Calcomp, Wacom, Acecad, Inforite, Summagraphics, and others, offer digitizing tablets that support Windows for Pens. Contact Microsoft at 206-882-8080.

Microsoft and Intel offer 386SL Evaluation Kit

Intel and Microsoft have introduced a “subnotebook and tablet” evaluation kit for testing the new low-voltage 386 SL (see article on 3.3 volt systems in this issue) and Windows for Pens installed in ROM. The kit includes Microsoft’s Advanced Power Management and Flash File System software, and a host of options for testing peripherals such as PCMCIA cards, fax modems, and so forth. The kit starts at $5750 and is supposed to be available as we go to print. Contact:

Intel Literature Package #08P01
P.O. Box 7641
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-7641
1-800-548-4725
or Microsoft OEM Sales at 206-936-9100

Grid’s PenRight on NCR, Microslate, and SuperScript

Grid Systems has announced the availability of its PenRight software development environment on NCR 3125, Microslate, and SuperScript pen systems. Contact Grid Systems at 510-656-4700.

SunDisk Joins Forces with Matsushita

SunDisk Corp. announced a manufacturing agreement with Matsushita Electronics to produce 4 Mbit and 8 Mbit Flash EEPROM chips for SunDisk’s solid state mass storage systems, which range from 10 to 40 Mbytes. The 8 Mbit EEPROM “utilizes a very small patented cell on an 0.8 micron process,” according to SunDisk. Contact SunDisk at 408-562-0500.

RAM Mobile Data and AT&T Go Wireless

AT&T and RAM Mobile Data have formed a joint development venture to provide wireless electronic mail services to AT&T Mail customers. The deal allows AT&T’s EasyLink global messaging service to link up with RAM Mobile Data’s radio networks. As noted elsewhere in this issue, AT&T’s communications capabilities will become an important factor in the company’s mobile computing efforts. For more information, contact AT&T at 201-331-4141 or RAM Mobile Data at 908-602-5603.

Pen Mortgage Application Introduced

ADVS Pen Computing Systems has introduced a system called Mortgage Master for executing loan applications by pen computer. The system is bundled with the NCR 3125 and allows loan officers to fill in loan application forms on the computer and to transmit and receive credit information so that preliminary approval can be accomplished before the meeting is concluded. For more information, contact:

ADVS Pen Computing Systems
155 East Ohio St., Suite 304
Chicago, IL 60611
312-951-5553

RF Data Offers New Encryption Software

RF Data Network Systems is offering a new encryption software package for protecting radio data transmitted via public or private networks. Since Motorola has opened up the specification of their proprietary radio network architecture, third party developer may be interested in using off-the-shelf encryption software for their applications. Contact RF Data at 708-325-9300.

HyperPAD for Pen Computers on Fujitsu, CIC

Brightbill-Roberts is offering a pen version of its HyperPAD development tool for MS-DOS. HyperPAD for Pen Computers offers pen extensions to the PADtalk scripting language for developing DOS-based applications. HyperPAD is available for the Fujitsu PoqetPad directly from Fujitsu (see Fujitsu contact information elsewhere on this page) and directly from Brightbill-Roberts. HyperPAD also supports CIC’s PenDOS environment. Contact Brightbill-Roberts at 315-457-3220.

ARDIS Moving to 19.2 kbps

Motorola’s Mobile Data Division will provide the ARDIS radio network with a new network layer operating at 19,200 bits per second (19.2 kbps). Currently, the ARDIS network operates at 4.8 kbps. Over the next five years, ARDIS plans to install over 900 new base stations supporting the new high speed protocol. In the meantime, users will be able to switch transparently from 19.2 to 4.8 kbps, depending on what is supported in the local area. Washington D.C., New York, and San Francisco will be the first cities to receive the new high speed base stations with some 30 other cities to follow. Contact Motorola Land Mobile Products at 708-397-1000 for more information.