Scribbles

Pen Computing—Just when popular criticism and sales figures are starting to get you down, the first indications of a bright future are starting to appear. The Wall Street Journal recently described how pen-based computers are popping up in unexpected workplaces.

The short front-page snippet noted that people ranging from first-grade teachers, to waitresses and nurses are using pen-based computers to keep track of information and eliminate the endless scraps of paper which a nurse referred to as “professional lint.”

While noting that the market for pen-based computers is still small at fewer than 200,000 units, the devices enable many people to increase their efficiency and organization.

Paging Network, Inc.—What does a wireless paging service provider do after winning three new nationwide narrowband PCS licenses at the recent FCC spectrum auction? Well, to Paging Network (PageNet), it means a new range of services including voice paging and advanced data transmission.

The first such service is dubbed VoiceNow, which enables certain pagers to become small, portable answering machines that can receive and play back voice messages. Future services may include bulk data transfer of complex data or images to mobile devices in the field.

Symbol Technologies, Inc.—As vertical pen-based applications proliferate, so too will the pen computer’s interaction with the ubiquitous bar code. Now, the traditional linear bar code is growing up and acquiring new sophistication by encoding up to a kilobyte of information using a two-dimensional symbology.

Already used in a range of applications, Symbol Technologies announced in early October that its two-dimensional bar code symbology—PDF417—has been selected by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, with the implied promise that our next trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles should be more efficient and perhaps even slightly more pleasant.

LiveWorks, Inc.—Demonstrating that interest in the pen is not confined to mobile devices, LiveWorks announced that it has signed four new distributors for its LiveBoard 3 shared computer whiteboard.

Two of the distributors, Visual Solutions, Inc. and T Line Services, are based in the United States, while Reflex and groupVision nordic are located in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia respectively.