Short Cuts: Roaming Around the Mobile Computing Industry

Short Cuts

Wireless Woodstock ’94

While forced to sludge through mud and wade through thousands of people, reporters covering the Woodstock ’94 music festival for America Online’s Woodstock Online forum were offered one grace—the use of an AirCommunicator.

The AirCommunicator, manufactured by Sunnyvale, California-based Air Communications, Inc., is a self-contained cellular fax, modem, and telephone. Reporters operating on the scene were able to use the communication device to bypass the near mayhem at public phones installed at the concert location.

The reporters used the AirCommunicator to file stories from their notebook computers, compiled using a range of input devices including digital cameras and digital audio recorders. Using the cellular network, stories made it back to readers on the Woodstock forum often in near real-time.

The AirCommunicator is designed for this type of action, being optimized for use over the regular cellular network. Using the device, a person can send and receive faxes, perform file transfer, and access email. The device call also be used as a normal cellular telephone for voice conversations.

Where a land line is available, the AirCommunicator also enables people to use any of the device’s communication features over the lower-cost wired telephone system.

The AirCommunicator features a 14.4 Kbps modem, enabling reliable data transfer rates to reach 57.6 Kbps. Air Communications claims to achieve this using its proprietary AirSpeed technology, which dynamically monitors and adjusts communications based on the connection.

The device is also equipped with a power conservation system that provides up to two hours of continuous data transmission, and up to 15 hours of standby time.

The AirCommunicator for Windows is available for $1595 in the U.S. and $2495 in Canada. A Macintosh version is scheduled for release later in 1994. For more information, please contact Air Communications at (800) 247-3282.

Multipoint Pen Computing

While getting the lion’s share of attention recently, stylus-based computing is hardly restricted to portable or handheld devices. In fact, some of the most interesting applications center on using distinctly non-portable devices to enhance collaborative work across multiple sites.

LiveWorks, Inc., a Xerox Company, recently announced that it will distribute the VIS-A-VIS Data Bridge software. The software, produced by a company of the same name, enables users of LiveWorks’ LiveBoard 3 system to perform multipoint conferencing. LiveBoard 3, featured in the June 1994 issue of this newsletter, is a computer whiteboard system featuring Windows-based software called MeetingBoard 3.0.

The system enables users in either single or multiple locations to share and exchange ideas using a common drawing and viewing surface. Using pen input, users can create, store, retrieve, annotate, and print images in a collaborative environment.

Using the VIS-A-VIS Data Bridge software, users at up to 31 different locations can work on the same LiveBoard document. VIS-A-VIS Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Canada, and uses multipoint technology developed by Bell-Northern Research.

For more information, please contact Denise Boucher of LiveWorks at (408) 324-2258, or Wendy Sexsmith of VIS-A-VIS at (416) 350-1418.

QuickMail to the Newton

QuickMail users on the Macintosh have long had the ability to exchange electronic mail with a number of public and commercial messaging services. Starting now, users of CE Software, Inc.’s messaging product will also be able to send messages directly to Newton PDAs.

The Newton-based software, dubbed EnRoute, enables users with a Newton compatible modem to access their LAN-based QuickMail mailboxes, and send and retrieve messages directly from their PDA. Using the modem connected to a phone line, users dial into the QuickMail Server and access their mail like any other QuickMail user.

By enabling dial-in access, EnRoute users can keep in contact with their office environment while on the road, and through gateways and bridges, to any other electronic mail network connected to the QuickMail server.

In addition to providing the facilities for message creation and retrieval, EnRoute also leverages the built-in Names database within each Newton to organize email addresses. Users can also customize the program to suit their style of message retrieval.

EnRoute is available immediately and has a suggested retail price of $129. For more information, please contact CE Software at (800) 523-7638.

PCMCIA for PCI-based Computers

Mobile computers are handy, however, moving data to and from them is still more of a chore than anything else. Part of the problem is that while one set of standards have emerged on the desktop, a completely new and unrelated standard, PCMCIA, has been established for mobile computers.

Several companies have introduced products to bridge these two platforms. Recently, Folsom, California-based Cardwell International Corporation introduced the CardBay-PCI, a PCMCIA-compliant card bay for PCI Local Bus-based desktop computer systems.

The CardBay-PCI is designed to be mounted in a drive bay of a PCI Local Bus personal computer. The system, intended for use by OEM and system integrators, can support up to four PCMCIA sockets enabling the use of PCMCIA 2.0+ Type I, II, and III cards.

This means that a person can add a wide range of cards to their desktop system, including SRAM, Flash, and ATA Flash memory, along with I/O cards, hard disk, and communication cards. Designers have the option of integrating the system into the rear of the PC to use networking or fax modem cards.

CardBay-PCI works with standard PCMCIA system software, as well as Cardwell’s CardMaster, a Windows/DOS-based graphical interface for plug-and-play operation.

The CardBay-PCI is available to system integrators and OEMs at $105 per 100-units. For more information, please contact Edward O’Connell of Cardwell International Corp. at (916) 985-1884.

CStar Makes the Pen a Friend

Developing software is a costly and risky proposition on any platform, perhaps even more so on the emerging PDA systems. Designers are always looking for a way to minimize their exposure, and leverage their work onto new systems and opportunities.

One way to do this is to adopt a higher-level tool that moves you one step away from the hardware, reducing the time to bring an application to market, while enabling it to run on multiple platforms. A new upgrade by Birkenhead, U.K.-based C-Star Software offers one path down this trail.

The software, entitled Penfriend, is a simple yet powerful tool for creating forms-based applications on PDAs and other pen-based computers. Penfriend enables you to design an application that is mostly independent of the target platform, selecting a target machine from a configuration list to design forms that match the screen size of a particular device.

To run the application on the target computer, you need to purchase and install the Penfriend Run Time module for the specific device. Run time modules are currently available for the Amstrad PenPad, the Casio Zoomer, the Fujitsu Poqet Pad, and machines supporting CIC’s PenDOS or PenRight! Corporation’s PenRight! environment.

Aside from the specific run time modules, Penfriend also consists of a PC-based Host package that enables designers to create the application forms on a standard desktop PC. Each form is identified using a unique name and can be up to 99 pages in length.

Each page, by itself, can include a range of elements, including pictures, logos, data entry fields, and fixed text in various font sizes. The data entry fields can accept text, numbers, choice lists, and electronic ink, among others.

For more information, please contact C-Star at +44 (0)51 666 1104, or +44 (0)51 647 5292 (fax).