Scribbles

Scribbles

EO, Inc.—The last act for EO came and went swiftly and with little emotion. Following closely behind its announcement to close its doors, EO went through a public auction to liquidate its assets on September 13th in Santa Clara, California.

The auction offered collectors a chance to finally get their hands on an EO 440, with the first machine auctioned fetching a modest $150. Perhaps more interesting was EO’s eclectic collection of Japanese pen-based computers in an assortment of shapes and sizes.

Silicon Valley enthusiasts are now wagering on how long it takes for these EO’s to appear at the giant Foothill College Electronics Flea Market, a local event which has the incredible ability to rejuvenate just about any scrap of computing history.

Wacom Technology.—The price of digitizing tablets continue to drop, offering to boost the desktop pen computing market. The most recent addition from Wacom lists at $199, and is dubbed the ArtPad Graphics Tablet.

The pressure sensitive tablet, which measures 4″ x 5″, uses a cordless pen that operates without batteries. Of course, the software must be aware of pressure sensitivity in order to take advantage of this feature.

Xircom Inc.—As a local area network topology, Token Ring is somewhat less popular than the pervasive Ethernet. However, it remains an important standard that is at home in many large IBM installations.

Understanding this, Xircom has started volume shipments if its new PCMCIA CreditCard Token Ring Adapter IIps. The card includes a Windows-based installation program and adds support for Windows NT and Windows for Workgroups.

3Com Corporation—Also along the PCMCIA front, 3Com has announced its own PCMCIA Token Ring Adapter called TokenLink III. The unit includes support for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) enabling it to be managed equally well as other components on the network.

U.K. Cellular Market—In a switch that bodes well for future wireless markets everywhere, the Financial Times (London) recently reported that new cellular phone connections are outnumbering new connections to the conventional wired phone network

According to the Financial Times, there are approximately 2.6 million subscribers to the United Kingdom’s four cellular networks. The current growth rate is increasing at a healthy clip of more than 50 per cent a year.

Nextel Communications, Inc.—With AT&T’s $12.6 billion acquisition of McCaw Cellular Communications completed, MCI Communications felt compelled to break off plans to invest $1.3 billion in the high-flying Nextel Communications.

This leaves MCI without a clear wireless strategy at a time when wireless is gaining both market and mind-share among the general population. Nextel is a leader in the field of specialized mobile radio, and planned to use the MCI investment to create a nationwide alternative to the cellular network.