How do PDA uses differ from laptop computers? The following are some
ideas of ways PDA's can be used. The hardware is available. Some
programs need to be written, and in some case "infra-structure" are
not quite in place. But they are all practical.
[1997/01/31]
With the years of sales of Infrared technology pocket organizers and
handheld computers behind us and the expectation of substantial sales
this year, it's about time that some of the organizers of computer
conferences "got with it" and used the technology to speed up registration
for conferences and events. While it may not be practical to attempt
full registration by these devices, it is possible with current technology
to at least beam "basic" information from these devices into infrared
ported computers to assist registration. The "Versit Personal Data
Interchange Specification" standard was intended for this, but even without
"Versit" standard business cards, at the very least, a "MacWorld"
convention should allow Newton business card beaming for this purpose. I
haven't heard of any effort by MacWorld organizers to do this. I'll be
interested in whether any conference organizers try it.
Versit standards group
[1996/12/30]
One thing that we've known for some time now is that PDAs are heavily used as "readers". If you check the major online systems like America Online, Compuserve and Genie you will find large libraries of downloadable files, but unlike download areas for desktop computers, a substantial part of that is digital "books." It is obvious that digital newspapers will eventually be a big part of PDA usage. I don't know if the Net will be the main system of delivery of digital newspapers. There are other possibilities, but no matter what method or methods of delivery are used, there is no doubt that for most people, receiving news in a PDA makes more sense than loading it into a desktop computer, or even current laptop computers, none of which are designed to be used in the middle of activities.
Unfortunately, the popular PDAs and handheld computers are not well
suited to this application (sorry Newton fans). A good product for this
use should be usable with only one hand. I can stand in a subway and
read a book by flipping pages with my thumb. I should be able to do
that on a PDA. That means buttons instead of "pen" interfaces, at least
for simple nagivation through a book. The only products I've seen
that might have done the job are the old Casio Z-7000, which is all
but gone from the market, and was generally too slow to be comfortably
usable in general, and a small Norand product I've seen for the
industrial market which is quite expensive. However, it would be
better for developers to work with what is currently available in
the popular products now, and get the programs and infrastructure
underway than to wait for better suited products. There are many
products available that will at least be better than a desktop computer.
Norand PenKey 6100
[1997/01/10]
PointCast is one of a couple of Net based news services. The current
PointCast Canada version uses their custom software which only runs on
Windows (3.1 and later). Mac software is being developed and a Beta
version for PowerPC is downloadable from their US site.
PointCast Canada
PointCast US (Mac Beta software)
[1997/01/10]
I previously called "Headliner" a "news service." This is incorrect.
It is in a sense the main competitor to "PointCast" (mentioned previously)
but more than just another version of the same idea, Headliner is
not tied to any news providers or URLs. I still haven't had a chance to
try Headliner yet, but apparently it extracts the text contents of
any Web pages you want on any update schedule you want.
The current Beta version is "free", but it's tied to Windows 95 technology.
Lanacom Headliner
[1997/01/12]
With the focus on "Virtual Web/PDA applications" it is appropriate to
mention NetHopper by Allpen Software, Inc., which is a Web browser for
Newton PDA's. This text-only browser has been available for a long time
now. I had browsers like NetHopper specifically in mind when I designed
the "Toronto Prices Project." The limitation of dealing with a Website
in PDA's which have limited memory resources is the main reason there are
no graphics on most pages in either The Moving Target or The Toronto
Prices Project. If you look at the sourcecode for these pages you will
find very little waste.
AllPen Software, Inc.
[1996/01/06]
The reason I haven't had much to say about the Newton newsgroups
is because I don't read them as much as I read the FirstClass
network discussions on Newton issues. I like the FirstClass
network because it's about the right size. There are fewer
messages. It's a fairly big network and there are enough
knowledgeable people, but it's not as big as the Internet. It's
big enough to have a good chance of getting questions answered and
to keep in touch with what's going on in the Newton community. If
you check around for lists of your local BBSes, you'll probably find
one that's based on FirstClass and that's tied to the "One Net"
network.
SoftArc Inc.
In keeping with my recent theme of using PDA's as "offline
readers", there is a Newton client for FirstClass called "FirstClass
Retriever+" by Black Labs, Inc. I don't have a URL for Black
Labs., but I have the following EMail address:
sales@blacklabs.com
[1997/01/15]