Ex Machina Announces PocketCall Intelligent Terminal Program for General Magic Platform
SAN FRANCISCO — January 6, 1994 — Users of personal communicators based on the Magic Cap ™ platform will be able to tap into thousands of on-line news, data and information services with PocketCall ™, a new communications application previewed by Ex Machina, Inc. of New York that will work over both wireless and standard telephone connections.
PocketCall is one of the first third-party communications applications for th personal communicators being built around the new platform from General Magic. It includes both full-featured terminal emulation for manual on-line use, as well as the ability to accept add-in modules providing comprehensive single-touch access to a host of existing electronic services. PocketCall, which will appear on the visually-oriented Magic Cap communicators as a new pavilion in Downtown, takes full advantage of the easy-to-use graphic interface that will debut on forthcoming devices from General Magic partners including Motorola and Sony.
"Magic Cap is a completely new approach to portable communications," commented David S. Rose, President and CEO of Ex Machina, at the launch of the new platform. "PocketCall takes advantage of the powerful building blocks that Magic Cap provides application developers, to intelligently assist the user in capturing, organizing and communicating information."
As a terminal program, PocketCall allows users of Magic Cap communicators to access thousands of existing on-line services, including news, weather, sports, airline schedules, financial quotes, home shopping and automatic check-paying. Through connections to major information providers such as Mead Data Central and Dialog Information Service, PocketCall users can retrieve information from databases ranging from Accounting and Tax News to Zoological Record. With its ability to emulate popular terminals including TTY, VT52, VT100 and ANSI, PocketCall enables the new breed of personal communicators to tie into existing corporate, academic and institutional computer systems. Once connected to a host service, a user can communicate with the remote system by simply touch-typing using an on-screen keyboard. Incoming information can be viewed on the communicator's screen or automatically saved into a file folder in the user's on-screen desk.
To speed on-line sessions, PocketCall provides instant touch-access to multiple sets of pre-stored words and phrases, allowing complete interaction with on-line information services without the need for any direct text entry. Using the innovative features available under Magic Cap, PocketCall supports the Magic Script programming tool, giving power-users and other software developers the ability to create customized communications applications.
"PocketCall is the perfect way to carry the power of Compuserve's special interest groups in your pocket," said Neil Shapiro, chief system operator of the Macintosh Forums on Compuserve. "Personal communicator users can look forward to joining many interesting discussions and interactions with other mobile users in this rapidly expanding on-line community."
The most innovative feature of PocketCall is its facility for accepting add-i modules tailored for many of the most popular database, corporate and consumer information systems. These PocketPacks ™ simplify and automate communications sessions, storing information about the content and structure of specific services, offering instant set up and minimizing on-line time. PocketPacks will initially be available for Compuserve Information Service, GENIE, Official Airlines Guide, Lexis/Nexis, Dialog Information Services, Dow Jones, MCI Mail and SprintMail, as well as for one-way wireless messaging through radio paging networks including SkyTel, MobileComm, PageNet and MobileMedia. Multiple PocketPacks can be used simultaneously, enabling sessions that encompass more than one service.
PocketCall brings to existing on-line services some of the features of Telescript, the new communications environment from General Magic that is built into the Magic Cap platform. Future releases of PocketCall will directly support Telescript-based services, substantially adding to the power and flexibility of the dedicated PocketPacks.
As the first in a new generation of communications assistants, PocketCall has been designed around a modular communications architecture and works out of the box with the 2400 BPS internal wireline modem that is included in the Magic Cap Minimum Functional Specification. It will also work with cellular wireless modems inserted into a PCMCIA card slot. Later releases will support multiple wireless communications options, including the Ardis and RAM two-way packet radio networks and the new Cellular Digital Packet Data standard.
PocketCall will be immediately available when hardware supporting the Magic Cap platform is introduced. It will be distributed on plug-in PCMCIA cards which do not require the user to download the program from another computer.
Ex Machina's PocketCall is the first communications application expressly designed for personal communicators and personal digital assistants. It is already shipping for devices based on the Newton technology platform from Apple Computer, and will be available for other mobile systems as well, taking advantage of the specific features and user interface of each system. All PocketPacks are completely cross-platform compatible, and will run unmodified on all devices.
Ex Machina, Inc., based in New York, NY, is a privately-held computer software company that develops and markets products merging mobile computing and wired and wireless remote communication technologies. It is a leader in wireless communications software products utilizing the nationwide radio paging infrastructure, and is one of the first software developers providing communications software for personal digital assistants and communicators. Among Ex Machina's products are Notify!, the wireless messaging server, Update!, the wireless in-box, and PocketCall, the intelligent communications assistant.
For sales and ordering information, Ex Machina, Inc., 45 East 89th Street, Suite No. 39-A, New York, NY 10128-1232 – (718) 965-0309 (800) 238-4738 – (718) 832-5465 fax.
Notify! and Update! are registered trademarks of Ex Machina, Inc. PocketCall and PocketPack are trademarks of Ex Machina, Inc. Magic Cap and Telescript are trademarks of General Magic, Inc. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Newton is a trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. All other product and service names used are U.S. trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Ex Machina, Inc.
David S. Rose, 718/965-0309 x 11 voice
or 718/832-5465 fax