Aug. 1, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc. has
announced that its Palm(TM) Desktop 4.1 is now available for free
downloading. Palm emphasizes that this software is freely
downloadable and useful for people, even if they do not currently use
a Palm OS device.
[2002/08/04]
Previously Posted:
In case you were wondering what Sharp has been up to lately, the
answer is, in a word, "Linux." First, to put this in
perspective, the Zaurus SL-5500 available in the US is actually
better than any product that Sharp has sold in Japan. That is
surprising but true. In Japan, the top of the line was the Zaurus
MI-E21 which appears to be the same unit, but with only 32MB SDRAM
compared to 64MB in the SL-5500. Recently Sharp introduced a new
device which might either be looked at as a specialty unit or a
new top - of - line, the MI-E25DC which incorporates a digital
camera in the back of the unit. But otherwise it is the same as
the MI-E21, including the original 32MB SDRAM.
On July 12, 2002, Sharp introduced is newest Zaurus SL-A300. This unit is a new direction for the Zaurus product line. It looks much more like the lower priced Pocket PC 2002 and Palm devices. It does not have the built-in full QWERTY keypad of the previous Zaurus devices, and even the regular function keys are in a more common looking arrangement. It still retains a 64K colour reflective display screen, but only comes with an SD/MMC card slot (no Compact Flash slot like previous Zaurus units). However, it finally gets 64MB of SDRAM memory. The processor is an XScale PX2100 running at 200 MHz (not really faster than the older SL-5500, but perhaps a bit more energy efficient). According to Sharp it is 113 * 69.4 * 12.5 mm. I couldn't find the weight. But unlike the earliest Zaurus products, Sharp is featuring the Linux software prominently in its advertising materials.
Apparently my information above is incorrect in some areas. I have read a posting in the "comp.sys.handhelds" newsgroup which contradicts my information about the MI-E21 (and MI-E25DC) in some important ways. The message stated that the CPU in these units is a Hitachi processor and that the OS is proprietary.
If I am correct, then that's ok. However, if I am
wrong, then I must apologize to all. I did make an effort to confirm
the matter of the OS and had some reason to believe that it was,
though not stated, based on Linux. However, it was a rushed effort
and it is well known that my Japanese is somewhere between weak and
non-existant. As for the CPU, I have "a feeling" that the
fellow who contracted me is correct about it being a Hitachi CPU. In
the jumble of memories I have tracing the history of the "eZaurus"
line in Japan, (yes, this series is "eZaurus" in Japan and
not "Zaurus") I do recall something about the Hitachi
processor. But I do not think I heard it mentioned specifically for
the MI-E21. On the other hand, as I write this (still in a rush
unfortunately), I do not think I have any solid information
contradicting it. Hopefully, I will get a chance to look into it
further in the future.
[2002/07/17] revised [2002/07/31]
July 31, 2002, Business Wire reports that MIPS
Technologies, Inc. has announced that the updated version of
Microsoft Windows CE .NET version 4.1 includes support for MIPS(R) 32
and 64 - bit architectures.
[2002/07/31]
July 31, 2002, Business Wire reports that DDH
Software, Inc. has announced that it has launched its "HanDBase
Sync Exchange" which is available for users of Palm OS or Pocket
PC devices. Three versions are available: "Sync Exchange for
Microsoft Access", "Sync Exchange for FilemakerPro
(Macintosh)" and "Sync Exchange for ODBC". HandDBase
Professional has an introductory price of $39.99 US and includes
exchange for either Access or FilemakerPro (Macintosh). HanDBase
Enterprise includes Sync Exchange for ODBC for $99.99 US.
DDH Software, Inc.
http://www.handbase.com/
[2002/07/31]
July 30, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced the availability of its Windows(R) CE .NET
version 4.1 update. Features include support for IPv6, Speech API
(SAPI) 5.0, support for viewing Microsoft(R) Word, PowerPoint(R),
Excel and Adobe Acrobat files, "performance improvements to Web
browsing", remote display protocol (RDP) and Windows Media(TM)
Technologies.
[2002/07/31]
July 29, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Palm
Canada has announced reductions in suggested retail sales prices.
(All Prices following are in Canadian dollars)
Palm m105 was $229, now $169
Palm m125 was $299, now $269
Palm m130 was $449, now $399
Palm m500 was $499, now $299
[2002/07/31]
July 24, 2002, PR Newswire reports that IPWireless,
Inc. has announced that it is working with Wireless House of Sweden
to develop a PCMCIA broadband (3G) modem targetted for early 2003.
IPWireless, Inc.
http://www.ipwireless.com/
[2002/07/28]
July 22, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba
of Canada ISG has launched 4 new models of its Satellite Pro(TM) 6100
laptop computer series featuring 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9 GHz versions
of Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 processors. Prices range from $2,949
- $4,299 Cdn.
[2002/07/24]
Nothing worth reporting for the last few days. --
JO]
[2002/07/21]
July 17, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm Digital
Media has unveiled new versions of its Palm(TM) Reader eBook
application for Windows and Mac computers, allowing Palm's eBooks to
be read on these desktop platforms. The application software is
freely available.
Palm Digital Media
http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/
[2002/07/17]
July 17, 2002, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has
announced its first dual band D-Link AirPro DI-764 IEEE
802.11a/802.11b router which features higher speed 22Mbps 802.11b, 4
10/100 Fast Ethernet ports and simple interfacing. It will be
available in August at a MSRP $499 US.
[2002/07/17]
July 17, 2002, Business Wire reports that Fujitsu PC Corporation
has announced price reductions for its LifeBook(R) Series
laptop computer. Prices now start at $1,499 US.
Fujitsu PC Corporation
http://www.fujitsupc.com/
[2002/07/17]
July 15, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD has
announced the introduction of its "mobile AMD Athlon(TM)
XP 1800+" CPU built using 0.13 micron technology. Concurrently,
according to AMD, HP and ACER Europe are introducing new laptop
computers based on the new processor.
[2002/07/17]
I decided that I wanted to move a large amount of work from Arranger on the Handspring Visor to a Palm DOC file. Arranger's "export" function might have a bug in it. I think the order of the items was wrong. Then again, I might be wrong about that. Regardless, when Arranger exports the data, it is important to check the exported data and edit it because "linked items" are not fully exported. Arranger only exports the title of the linked item. Also, it will look strange seeing all the data in various items concatenated, making them run together.
In order to work quickly, I decided to edit the DOC file in BigDoc on my laptop. So I was checking the original Arranger items on the Visor and deleting them as I was editing the DOC file on the laptop. Near the beginning of the work, I selected the menu item to load the DOC file back to the Visor.
After about 2 hours of mind numbing work work, I deleted the last of the items from Arranger and decided to synch everything. Unfortunately, although I saved the DOC file, I didn't go to the menu again to set it to load the file. I thought that since I had already done that, the current saved DOC file would be loaded to the Visor. Apparently, this isn't done. Most of the 2 hours of work was lost in the synch. Moreover, the Arranger data that was deleted was "gone" too.
This was very dangerous. Luckily, because I'm accustomed to such problems, on occasion I do a complete re-backup of the Palm data to another location on my computer. So I was able to recover the Arranger databases. Although I lost today's work, I still have the underlying files so I can do it again. Most people will not have done this and will lose the Arranger files. The main fault was "BigDoc" which should automatically update the synchronization setting to the last saved version.
Arranger might have been partly at fault because
it is not as well designed as it could have been. First, if it could
handle multiple files, then "exporting" the data would be
less important. In this case, I would still be exporting the data
because I'm completely removing it from the Visor for other reasons,
but there have been cases where I have moved data out of Arranger to
DOC files to reduce the "backup" time. Second, if it would
have exported directly to a DOC file in the first place, that might
have saved me some time, reducing the amount of work that I could
have lost. In this case, I actually didn't lose that work because I
had set it to synch the file right after I had finished importing it
into the DOC file. But I did take some time cutting the "Memo"
items that Arranger created and pasting them into "BigDoc".
[2002/07/17]
July 12, 2002, PR Newswire reports that the US
District Court for the District of Delaware has granted Palm and
Handspring's request for summary judgement, finding that they have
not infringed NCR's patent for a "portable personal terminal."
[There were 2 separate announcements but they are the same case. --
JO]
[2002/07/14]
July 11, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Handspring, Inc. has
announced that its Treo 90 handheld computer is now available in
Canadian retail stores at a suggested price of $479 Cdn. Its features
include 16MB RAM, SD/MMC card slot, a colour transflective STN
display, LiIon rechargeable battery, QWERTY keypad and Palm OS 4.1.1H.
It is 10.8 * 7.1 * 1.6 cm and weighs 4 oz.
[2002/07/14]
July 10, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Genmark Automation, Inc. has
introduced its EZTeach "Intelligent Teach Pendant Terminal"
based on Pocket PC technology, for programming industrial computers.
[2002/7/14]
July 9, 2002, PR Newswire reports that PatientKeeper,
Inc. has announced the release of PatientKeeper version 3.0 medical
software.
[2002/07/10]
July 9, 2002, Business Wire reports that Panasonic
Computer Solutions Company has announced that its Toughbook(R) 01
ruggedized handheld computer now has a GPS option provided by Sokkia
Corporation.
Sokkai Corporation [surveying and
measuring instruments] http://www.sokkai.com/
[2002/07/10]
I am very annoyed. After having great difficulty
accessing Canadian Corporate News today, I still ended up with no
news worthy of reporting. I have no idea why accessing CCN is so slow
lately, but at the same time of day I had no problem accessing my
other news sources, so it was not a local problem, nor a general
network problem. I hope they do better in the future.
[2002/07/07]
July 1, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Kingston(R)
Technology Company, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of
a 128MB MultiMediaCard (MMC). The manufacturer's suggested retail
price is $116.00 US.
[2002/07/03]
July 1, 2002, Business Wire reports that Symbol
Technologies, Inc. and Socket Communications, Inc. have announced
that they have agreed to work together on 802.11b wireless LAN cards
for Pocket PCs and mobile bar code scanning products.
Socket Communications, Inc.
http://www.socketcom.com/
[2002/07/03]
July 1, 2002, PR Newswire reports that aJile Systems
has announced the availability of a reference design for a pure Java
wireless mobile device (aJ-100WRP) which combines the functionality
of a mobile telephone, PDA and game device, based on aJile's Java
bytecode processor.
[2002/07/03]
June 27, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Franklin
Electronic Publishers, Inc. has announced that the coming release of
Mobipocket Reader 4.4 with Franklin Thesaurus will feature
integration of the Thesaurus into the reader. An upgrade will be
available to a "Pro" version which will also feature
Franklin's "Merriam-Webster's Vest Pocket Dictionary."
Mobipocket software
http://www.Mobipocket.com/
[2002/06/30]
June 26, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that
Electrovaya, Inc. has announced that its Patented Lithium Ion Super
Polymer battery in its PowerPad series products uses Lithium Iron
Phosphate postive electrodes allowing it to have what the company
claims is the highest energy density for a rechargeable battery.
Electrovaya, Inc.
rechargeable batteries http://www.electrovaya.com/
[2002/06/30]
June 26, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Handspring,
Inc. has announced that its Treo 90 (colour display, 16MB memory, SD
and MMC card) is now available in US retail stores for about $299.
US.
[2002/06/26]
June 26, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that ACCESS
has announced that PalmSource Inc. has licensed its NetFront(TM) ver.
3.0 technology for Palm OS 5 browsing.
[2002/06/26]
June 25, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
America Information Systems Inc. has announced plans to converge data
and voice through all levels of wireless mobile roaming through its
Mobility Communications System (MCS) which is being built on its
Internet Technology Supporting Universal Mobile Operation (ITSUMO).
Toshiba is targeting 2003 Q2 for launch of MCS.
[2002/06/26]
June 24, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Sony
Electronics has announced its new CLIE(TM) PEG-T665C which will be
available in retail stores in the US in July for around $400 US. It
features a 66 MHz processor, 16MB memory, Palm OS v. 4.1, a 320 * 320
colour display, and can be used as a universal remote control device
with coverage up to about 15 feet.
[2002/06/26]
[Sorry, nothing noteworthy for the past few days.
-- JO]
[2002/06/19]
There are many things hindering the Internet, but the one thing that could kill its chances for the near term, it is the poor quality of ISP service. I've noticed this for years. The last couple of days were typical of the worst practices of ISPs. I used Pathcom particularly heavily on Tuesday because I needed a download. It should not have taken more than around 40 minutes. It took around 4 hours. A quick check using 'tracert' indicated that the problem was local. So today I used Sympatico to research for this website. It was roughly as slow as Pathway was yesterday. Again, a quick check with 'tracert' showed that the problem was probably local. I checked with someone on Rogers' and he claimed that service was fine. Again, this indicates that the there was nothing particularly wrong "out there." It was just problems within the two ISPs. It is, unfortunately, common in this industry to "over sell" services. The companies keep signing more users despite the fact that their facilities are already overloaded. I believe AOL got sued for such practices years ago. I don't know how that law suit turned out. Maybe it's time I looked into it.
Is this a "Mobile" issue? Actually, yes.
The current strategy promoted by mobile data device vendors is to
rely on the Internet, and wireless access to it, to create value for
newer products. If ISPs over- book services so that data cannot be
retrieved in a timely fashion, then that whole approach becomes
worthless. Unfortunately, current business practices seem to indicate
that this problem will continue for now.
[2002/06/19]
June 19, 2002, Business Wire reports that SMC
Networks has announced its latest SMC7004VWBR "Barricade"
series wireless router will feature many enhancements aimed at
security such as Virtual Private Network pass-through support and
Denial of Service protection, along with its 802.11b connectivity
featuring 64/128-bit WEP encryption. It will be available June 14 at
$149.99 US.
[2002/06/19]
June 19, 2002, Business Wire reports that Sharp
Microelectronics has announced that its DC2C1BZ001 BlueTooth(TM)
Compact Flash card will be available in North America. [Dates and
prices were not given. -- JO]
[2002/06/19]
June 17, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Pocket PC
files and nREACH have announced a distribution agreement which will
bring Pocket PC films data products to Airports and retailers
throughout the US through nREACH's Mobile Content Kiosk(TM). Data
will be delivered on "media card" or "disc".
[2002/06/19]
June 17, 2002, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. and AlphaSmart have announced the unveiling of AlphaSmart's
PalmOS based educational product "Dana" which is a laptop
size product based on PalmOS. It will be available from AlphaSmart's
website in the Summer, 2002.
[2002/06/19]
June 18, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba
has announced a number of new laptop configurations. (I am omitting
details. It is a fairly typical set of upgrades. See their website.
-- JO]
[2002/06/19]
June 17, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba
of Canada ISG has introduced its e740 Pocket PC which includes
integrated 802.11b Wireless LAN and a 400 MHz Intel(R) PXA250 CPU. It
also has CompactFlash II and Secure Digital(TM) expansion slots
giving good expandability. The device is immediately available at
prices starting at $949.00 Cdn.
[2002/06/19]
June 13, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Network
Associates, Inc. AVERT has announced that it has found a virus it is
calling "W32/Perrun" which they are calling a ".JPG"
virus. In fact, it is a 2 part virus system with a Visual BASIC
executeable. It arrives as an 11,780 byte portable executable ("PE")
file with an ".EXE" currently called "EXTRK.EXE"
which is an extractor component (5,636 bytes). The system registry
key is modified as follows:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open\command "(Default)"
= (current directory)\EXTR<.EXE %1
McAfee antivirus
software has been updated to handle this virus system.
[2002/06/16]
June 12, 2002, PR Newswire reports that TheraSense,
Inc. has announced that it has received FDA clearance to market its
"FreeStyle Tracker(TM) Diabetes Management System which works
with a Handspring(TM) Visor(TM) handheld computer. The kits will be
available by June 14, 2002. Prices were not announced.
TheraSense,
Inc. http://www.therasense.com/
[2002/06/12]
June 12, 2002, The Open Mobile Alliance has announced
its formation. Its stated goals are ". . . to foster worldwide
growth in the mobile services market." It expects to achieve
this through development of open standards in the wireless industry.
The Open Mobile Alliance
http://www.openmobilealliance.org/
[2002/06/12]
June 11, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that C-COM
Satellite Systems Inc. has announced the completion of development
its iNetVu(TM) Mobile 74 antenna, which is a proprietary 2 way
satellite antenna that allows stationary vehicles to maintain high
speed (1 Mbps) connections for Internet use. The antenna was
developed in conjunction with the University of Waterloo. The company
intends to mass produce and market the antenna by Q4 this year.
[2002/06/12]
June 11, 2002, Business Wire reports that The CDMA
Development Group has claimed that there are more than 10 million
CDMA2000 subscribers worldwide and that this accounts for more than
98% of the total number of 3G users.
CDMA Development Group
http://www.cdg.org/
[2002/06/12]
June 11, 2002, Business Wire reports that Fujitsu PC
Corporation has announced that its latest LifeBook(R) P2000 laptop
computer is powered by a Transmeta Corporation 867MHz Crusoe TM5800
CPU. The estimated street price is $1,499 US. [It is not clearly
stated, but it appears to be immediately available. -- JO]
Fujitsu PC Corporation
http://www.fujitsupc.com/
[2002/06/12]
June 10, 2002, NEC Solutions America has introduced
its Versa(R) E120 DayLite(TM) laptop computer which is intended for
outdoor use, having an "illuminated reflective display" and
very long battery life.
NEC
Solutions America Mobile Solutions
http://www.necsolutions-am.com/mobilesolutions/
[2002/06/12]
June 6, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that LG
Electronics Canada, Inc. has announced the release of its TM-520
which is currently exclusively available through Telus Mobility for
use on Telus' 1xRTT high-speed (up to 144 Kbps) network service. It
is immediately available for $249.00 Cdn.
[2002/06/09]
June 6, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Semotus
Solutions has announced the launch of its J2ME based Equity Market
Pro (EMPro) real-time financial data application for professional
equity traders. The software is mainly aimed at the RIM(TM) 5810
device which operates on GPRS networks.
Semotus
Solutions (RIM financial application) http://www.semotus.com/
[2002/06/09]
June 6, 2002, Business Wire reports that SMC Networks
has announced that it has partnered with Boingo Wireless and will
include Boingo's Wi-Fi software with its 802.11b wireless PC cards.
[2002/06/09]
June 4, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Thales
Navigation and Ashtech(R) have announced the availability of its
Magellan GPS Companion(TM) for Palm m500 Series Handhelds.
[Price was not given in the announcement. -- JO]
[2002/06/05]
May 30, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Pocket PC Films has
announced that it has a multi-year license with Generic Media
to use Generic's "gMovie Player" to include the player on
CD-ROMs, making Pocket PC Films' data available to Palm OS
device users.
Pocket PC Films
http://www.pocketpcfilms.com/
[2002/06/02]
May 30, 2002, Business Wire reports that Casio and Sierra Wireless
have announced that the companies are offering bundles in North
America and Europe which include Sierra Wireless' AirCard 555
CDMA 1X and AirCard 750 GSM/GPRS network cards with Casio's
Pocket Manager BE-300. [Prices and availability were not give
in the announcement. -- JO]
[2002/06/02]
May 30, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba Corporation has
announced that it has increased its minority interest in Audiovox
Communications Corporation up to 25% to increase Toshiba's
interest in the CDMA wireless market.
[2002/06/02]
May 28, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Handspring, Inc. has
introduced its Treo 270 wireless communicator which adds
full colour support, a backlit keyboard and longer battery
life. The list price is $699 US. It measures 4.2" * 2.8"
* 0.82", weighs 5.4 oz. and comes with 16MB memory and a
lithium-ion battery. The current model only supports GSM
but includes an upgrade for GPRS in its price. It is
immediately available.
[2002/05/29]
May 28, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Handspring, Inc. has
also introduced a new "low price" version colour display
Treo, its "90" model which only costs $299 US including
16MB memory and SD and MMC card expansion.
[2002/05/29]
May 28, 2002, Business Wire reports that Legacy Electronics
claims that using low power Infineon Technology memory chips
in its latest SODIMM SDRAM modules it's "Cool-ROM(TM)"
units can save battery power.
Legacy Electronics http://www.legacyelectronics.com/files/56S5DS40-1HAG.pdf
[2002/05/29]
Unfortunately, Canadian Corporate News' site was not
working properly when I was updating this page. I
hope to check it again later this week. The site
recommended contacting Microsoft if problems occur.
This might be because it is using Microsoft software.
[2002/05/26]
May 23, 2002, PR Newswire reports that "[A]n
independent study of enterprise deployment [of Palm OS
and Pocket PC devices] . . . conducted by The
Gantry Group LLC of Concord, Mass., shows that
Palm OS platform delivers a 41 percent annual cost
savings to enterprises. . . ."
Palm v.
Microsoft cost study http://www.palm.com/enterprise/
[2002/05/26]
May 23, 2002, Business Wire reports that according to the
Synergy Research Group, worldwide Wireless LAN sales grew
3% in Q1, 2002 over the prior quarter with sales reaching
$450 US. Enterprise sales were down sequentially 12% but
up 6% year over year. SOHO/home WLAN equipment sales were
up 16% quarter to quarter but up 145% year over year.
According to the report, SOHO/home sales represented almost
55% of the total WLAN market.
[2002/05/26]
May 20 and 23, 2002, Business Wire reports that Intermec Technologies Corp. has introduced its 700 Color mobile computer which features the X-Scale PXA250 CPU in a Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 based handheld computer. [Price and availability were not announced. -- JO]
Further information in an announcement on the 23rd:
The Intel(R) PXA250 CPU runs at 400 MHz. The screen
is '[a] 3.8" (97mm) reflective TFT display.' The unit
also integrates 802.11b Wifi, Bluetooth(R) and either
GSM/GPRS or CDMA 1XRTT, thus covering 3 ranges of
wireless in each device.
Intermec Technologies
Corp. http://www.intermec.com/
[2002/05/22] updated [2002/05/23]
I have found out that if you break or lose a stylus from
a Sony product, you might have problems obtaining a replacement.
Unlike Palm and some other companies which have ensured
that such accessories are easily available to consumers,
stores carrying Sony handhelds apparently are not carrying
replacements, and ordering them from Sony, in at least once
case, costs over $20 Cdn. for a single stylus. If this is
going to be typical Sony practice, I may end up advising
people to avoid Sony in the future.
[2002/05/26]
May 20, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Handspring, Inc.
has announced price reductions. Examples are the
Visor Neo reduced to $149 US and Visor Pro reduced
to $199 US.
[2002/05/22]
May 20, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Apple has announced
an updated version of its iBook laptop computer which features
a 700 MHz PowerPC G3 CPU with more on-chip Level-2 cache
and an upgraded ATI graphics chipset. The new versions are
immediately available at prices starting at $1,199 US.
[2002/05/22]
May 17, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Mobility Electronics,
Inc. has announced a clip which attaches a Palm device (m5xx
series, m130 or m705) to a video projector or monitor for
immediate viewing.
Mobility Electronics,
Inc. http://www.mobilityelectronics.com/
[2002/05/19]
May 15, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Novatel Wireless, Inc.
and Sprint (USA) have announced plans to co-brand and
jointly market Novatel's PCS Connection Card(TM) (Merlin
C201(TM)). Speeds up to 144 kbps are possible with average
speeds of 50 - 70 kbps expected over Sprint's CDMA based
network. Pricing has not been announced. The card and
services will be available "later this summer."
[2002/05/15]
May 15, 2002, Business Wire reports that Socket Communications, Inc.
has announced an enhanced Bluetooth Connection Kit for Pocket PC
devices or other Windows CE 3.x devices enabling connection to
mobile hones by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, NTT, DoComo and Sony
working on GSM/GPRS, CDMA, PHS and cdmaONE networks via a
CompactFlash Bluetooth card.
[2002/05/15]
May 13, 2002, Business Wire reports that Insignia Solutions
has announced that Toshiba has included its Jeode PDA Edition
(JVM) implimentation on its GENIO e550G Pocket PC 2002 device
which is intended for the Japanese market.
[2002/05/15]
May 10, 2002, Silicon Motion has announced that OQO
will use its Lynx3DM graphics computer in its XP
"ultra portable" computer. The computer measures
4.1" x 2.9" x 0.9" and weighs less than 9 oz.
Silicon Motion
http://www.siliconmotion.com/
OQO Corporation
ultra portable computer http://www.oqo.com/
[2002/05/12]
May 9, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Roadside Telematics Corporation has announced that it has partnered with CUE Corporation to deliver emergency roadside medical messaging over local wireless networks using "802.11 and Bluetooth technology [sic]." [It appears from the rest of the announcement that the companies are using IEEE 802.11b and not 802.11a. -- JO]
Roadside
Telematics Corporation http://www.roadsidetelematics.com/
[2002/05/12]
May 9, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Good Technology Inc.
ahs announced that its "GoodLink(TM) wireless corporate
messaging system is now available and supports RIM products
as well as its own "Good(TM) G100" wireless messaging device.
Good Technology http://www.good.com/
[2002/05/12]
There have been a number of announcements lately for
wireless networking, particularly regarding 802.11a
products, due to the NetWorld+Interop 2002 Las Vegas
show. Check out your favorite product sources and
you will probably find something to read about.
I suggest SMC, D-Link (dlink.com), Cisco and Nortel
Networks for starters.
Networld+Interop 2002 http://www.key3media.com/interop/lv2002/media/index.php
[2002/05/08]
May 8, 2002, PR Newswire reports that ARM and Lynux Works
have announced that LynuxWorks' BlueCat(TM) 4.0 Linux
and VisualLynux(TM) Integrated Development Environment
will be packaged withthe ARM920T(TM) core-based Integrator(TM)
Porting Platform. The kit is available immedately at
$18,000 US.
[2002/05/08]
May 7, 2002, Thomson Medical Economics has announced that its
"mobilePDR(TM)" is a free handheld version of the PDR available
for both the Palm(R) OS and Pocket PC platforms.
The Thomson Corporation (mobile PDR
for Palm and PocketPC) http://www.PDR.net/
[2002/05/08]
May 6, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba of
Canada Information Systems Group has introduced its
Toshiba e310 Pocket PC. The company notes that this
is the first computing product beyond notebooks launched
by Toshiba in Canada in 17 years. It measures 125 mm
* 80 mm * 12 mm and weighs 140 grams, and has a screen
capable of "65,000 colour". The suggested price is
$649 Cdn. and it is immediately available.
[2002/05/08]
May 6, 2002, Nokia has announced that its new A036 public
wireless LAN should cut roll-out costs for operators by 25%.
[2002/05/08]
May 3, 2002, PR Newswire reports that D-Link claims that
its DWL-810 Ethernet to WiFi Wireless Bridge converts any
Ethernet enabled network resource into an IEEE 802.11b
wireless network resource. [Availability and price
were not included in the announcement. -- JO]
[2002/05/05]
May 2, 2002, Business Wire reports that Bachmann Software has
announced that its FilePoint Pro simplifies handling of
Microsoft Office and PDF files for users of PalmOS devices.
The software is immediately available at $49.99.
Bachmann Software
& Services http://www.bachmannsoftware.com/
[2002/05/05]
May 1, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Mazingo is now
distributing audio dramas by Timberwolf Press for listening on
Windows CE devices. [Some information taken from Website.
JO]
Mazingo Network (Windows CE
content distributor) http://www.mazingo.net/
[2002/05/05]
May 1, 2002, PR Newswire reports that LSI Logic Corporation
has announced that it has licensed ARM's ARM1026EJ-S(TM)
processor core and the Jazelle(TM) ARM7EJ-S(TM) core.
The company intends to implement these cores in its
Gflx(TM) 0.11 micron (drawn) and G90(TM) 90 nanometer
(drawn) process technologies.
[2002/05/01]
Apr. 30, 2002, Business Wire reports that the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) has issed Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1
and Mobile SVG Profiles as W3C Candidate REcommendations.
The Mobile SVG Profiles in particular are intended to bring
vector graphics to handheld devices.
[2002/05/01]
Apr. 29, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD has
announced that it has licenced the MIPS64(TM) architecture as
an addition to its current MIPS32(TM) based product line.
[2002/05/01]
Apr. 26, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Symantec's
Security Response hs upgraded its warning regarding the
W32.Klez virus which is spread as an email attachment
and particularly spreads through "unpatched" versions of
Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express
[2002/04/28]
Apr. 25, 2002, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has claimed
that its new D-LinkAir Pro DWL-6000AP Dual Band Wireless
Access Point is the industry's first fully integrated
IEEE 802.11a/802.11b dual band wireless access point device.
It allows up to 54 Mbps connectivity on 802.11a and 11 Mbps
connectivity on 802.11b devices. It incorporates 2 mini-PCI
slots. The new device will be available in June at $499 US.
D-Link http://www.dlink.com/
[2002/04/28]
Apr. 24, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that 724 Solutions has
announced availability of its Mobile Internet Gateway which
is aimed at 2.5G and 3G networks. Based on Tandem Cmoputer's
development work, 724 claims benchmarks up to 10,000
transactions per second.
724 Solutions Inc. http://www.724.com/
[2002/04/28]
Apr. 24, 2002, Business Wire reports that Perseus Development
Corporation has announced the release of its Perseus MobileForms
information collection software system, for use with
Palm-Powered(TM) devices, for the market research field.
Perseus Development
Corporation (Palm based survey software) http://www.perseus.com/
[2002/04/24]
Apr. 24, 2002, Business Wire reports that IBM has introduced
its latest ThinkPad T30 model which incorporates its new
UltraNav mouse pointer system has TrackPoint and touch pad
characteristics. The new model will be available May 8, 2002
with prices starting at 2,499 US.
[2002/04/24]
Apr. 23, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Intel Corporation
has introduced 3 new mobile processors. These are 1.8, 1.5 and
1.4 GHz. versionf of Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M.
According to Intel, more than 30 new laptops will be produced
with these processors, at prices starting at $1,999 Cdn.
Prices are $637 US, $268 US and $198 US respectively in 1,000
unit quantities.
[2002/04/24]
Apr. 22, 2002, Toshiba Computer System Group has announced that
it has added its new Toshiba Pocket PC e310 to its line of
handheld computers. The new product is priced at $399 US and
features 64K colours and an SD expansion slot. It is
immediately available.
Toshiba Computer Systems
Group (Pocket PC) http://www.csd.toshiba.com/
[2002/04/24]
Apr. 22, 2002, Business Wire reports that GTRAN Wireless'
DotSurfer(TM) 5000 Modem Card supports both Wi-Fi (802.11b)
and CDMA2000 1X on a single card. [NOTE: Price, availability
and even the card format are not given in the announcement.
One wonders if they actually want people to buy it. -- JO]
[2002/04/24]
Apr. 19, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Central
Command, Inc. has warned that the Internet Worm/Klez.G
mass mailing virus is a growing problem on
the Internet. It exploits a hole in "unpatched"
versions of Microsoft Outlook Express or Outlook.
It attaches random files to outgoing mail, posing
a serious security problem.
[2002/04/21]
Apr. 15, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Mobility
Electronics, Inc. has announced the availability
of software upgrades for its EasiDock(R) 1000EV and
EasiDoc 5000 products. EasiDock v. 3.02 features
hot docking and undocking with Microsoft Windows
XP and 2000.
[2002/04/17]
Apr. 15, 2002, Business Wire reports that Pumatech, Inc. has
announced the availability of Satellite Forms(TM) MobileApp
Designer 5.0 software which is part of the Satellite Forms
software system. The latest version of Satellite Forms
allows for development for Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 devices
as well as PalmOS.
[2002/04/17]
Apr. 17, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba Computer
Systems Group has unveiled its Portege(R) 4010 Series
which features a 933MHz Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) III
Processor-M. The base price is $2,199 US. [Availability
was not specified. -- JO]
[2002/04/17]
Apr. 17, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD
has announced the coming of its 0.13 micron version
mobile AMD Athlon XP processor. The new version processor
is pin compatible with the older 0.18 part and operates
with a 266MHz front-side bus option. A low power version
in a new "micro Pin Grid Array" (uPGA) is currently
sampling. 1400+ and 1500+ versions began sampling in
Q1 2002 with 1600+ and 1700+ versions available later
this quarter. Prices start at $190 US for the 1400+ version
in 1,000-unit quantities.
[2002/04/17]
Apr. 12, 2002, Business Wire reports that SMC Networks has
announced the launch of its EZ Connect(TM) 11 Mbps Wireless
Compact Flash Card Kit. The kit includes a Type II Compact
Flash card (SMC2642W) and a Compact Flash to PCMCIA adapter.
Maximum transmission distance is 700 feet and 64- or 128- bit
WEP encryption is supported. Supported OSes include Microsoft(R)
Pocket PC 2002, Window(R) 98/ME/NT/2000/XP. The kit will
be available in May in retail stores at a street price of
about $132 US.
[2002/04/14]
Apr. 10, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Summus, Inc. (USA)
has announced that it has ported its "exego(TM)" application
to the Microsoft PocketPC platform which allows sharing
data with BREW(TM)-enabled mobile phones.
Summus, Inc (software)
http://www.summus.com/
[2002/04/10]
Apr. 8, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation has announced 2 new Expansion Packs for its
iPAQ Pocket PC Series devices. The new PC Card Expansion
Pack Plus ($150 US) and CompactFlash Expansion Pack Plus
($100 US) respectively use Type II PC Card or CompactFlash
cards. Both use the new Cover Pack design and incorporate
removeable rechargeable Li-Ion battery packs (920 mAh) with
1840 mAh batteries optionally available.
[2002/04/10]
Apr. 8, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba of
Canada Information Systems Group has introduced its
Tecra(R) 9100 which features the Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R)
4 Processor- M (top speed is 1.7GHz). The suggested list
price starts at $4,749 Cdn and it is immediately available.
[2002/04/10]
Apr. 8, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD has
announced its latest Au1100 (MIPS32 based) processor for
the mobile market. Performance ranges from 333 MHz (at
under 200 mW) to 400 MHz (at 250 mW) and to 500 MHz (at
500 mW).
Alchemy Semiconductor,
Inc. (AMD) http://www.alchemysemi.com/
[2002/04/10]
Apr. 5, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Linux Labs
has announced that it has released a new Web
browser "Vagabond(TM)" in beta form for Palm OS.
Its features include support for HTML, WAP, i-mode,
cookies and SSL.
Linux Labs
(Vagabond Web Browser for Palm OS) http://www.linuxlabs.com/
[2002/04/07]
Apr. 4, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Pentax Technologies
Corporation has introduced its DSmobile USB portable colour
scanner which measures 11", weighs less than 12 oz. and
costs less than $99 US.
Pentax Technologies
Corporation http://www.pentaxtech.com/
[2002/04/07]
Apr. 4, 2002, Business Wire reports that Kasten Chase has
acquired the DataGator(TM) )encryption/security software
for Palm OS) assets from the receivers of JAWZ Canada Inc.,
and has contracted many of the development team. The
product will be continued and as part of Kasten Chase'
"Assurence SecureData" product line.
[2002/04/07]
Apr. 2, 2002, Business Wire reports that VOCAL Technologies,
Ltd., has announced tha availability of a proprietary mode
of operation combining asymmetrical use of Low Density
Parity Check (LDPC) Codes and Turbo codes resulting in
battery life increase of 4X.
VOCAL Technologies, Ltd.
http://www.vocal.com/
[2002/04/03]
Mar. 27, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Sun Microsystems,
Inc. has announced its two new "Java(TM) Virtual Machine"
developments (code named Project Monty) Connected Limited
Device Configuration (CLDC) and Connected Device Configuration
(CDC)/Dynamic Compiler. Performance is expected to improve
to about 10 times higher than existing VMs. The work is
in collaboration with ARM and Symbian.
[2002/03/31]
Mar. 25, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced the immediate availability of its
Desktop Software 4.0 for Mac. The free downloadable
software adds Mac OS X support, superior synchronization
with vCard and vCal support and multiple languages.
[2002/03/27]
Mar. 25, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that iPass(R)
Inc., has announced that over 450 Wayport, Inc.(R) high-speed
Wi-Fi (802.11b) locations in airports and hotels are now
integrated into the iPass Global Broadband Roaming network.
iPass claims over 14,000 wireless and wired broadband and
dialed access points worldwide.
iPass(R) Inc.
http://www.ipass.com/
[2002/03/27]
Mar. 22, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Central Command
has announced the discovery of an Internet worm
which it has named "Worm/MyLife.B". The virus incorporates
a cartoon image of former President Bill Clinton. The
company rates the virus as "fast spreading" with "Medium"
risk.
[2002/03/24]
Mar. 19, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm has
announced the availability of its Bluetooth SD card
purchaseable through its website for $129 US.
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 19, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp.
has announced the availability of its DirectPlay(R) API
for Pocket PC 2002. This free download for developers
enables applications including games, to connect and
interoperate over wired and wireless networks.
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 19, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Rayovac Corp. has
announced the development of a patent pending "In-Cell
Charge Control" (I-C3) rechargeable NiMH battery cell
which shortens recharge time to 15 min. or less.
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 19, 2002, Business Wire reports that Rogers(TM) AT&T(R)
and Sierra Wireless have announced that Rogers will support
the Sierra Wireless AirCard 750 for GSM/GPRS in Canada.
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 18, 2002, Business Wire reports that Nokia has announced
that is Nokia D311 GPRS WLAN PC card supports 802.11b WLAN
and GPRS connectivity. It will be available Q3 2002. The
Type II/III card is supported on Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000,
XP, CE 3.0 and Linux.
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 18, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Audiovox Communications
Corporation has launched its newest Windows Powered Pocket PC
"Thera(TM)" which features "fully-integrated CDMA 2002 1X"
support, which will be distributed by Verizon Wireless this
spring.
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 18, 2002, Business Wire reports that Philips and Sun
have demonstrated an MPEG-4 player on Java(TM) 2 Platform,
Micro Edition (J2ME(TM))
[2002/03/20]
Mar. 15, 2002, Business Wire reports that Thales Navigation
has announced that its Magellan GPS Companion for the Palm m500
will be available Spring 2002. According to Thales, the
main breakthough is that the battery life is up to 12 hours
which Thales claims is 5x the battery life of competing products.
[2002/03/17]
Mar. 14, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that Olympia
International Holdings has announced that its "Data-phone"
cordless phone based on NewLogic Bluetooth chip technology
supported integrated voice and data transmission over public
phone systems and other Bluetooth enabled devices. Production
is planned for July 2002.
[2002/03/17]
Mar. 13, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD has
announced plans to begin shipping 0.13 micron process
Athlon "Thoroughbred" CPUs by the end of this month.
According to Siegle "Our closest competitor's most recently
announced processor on 0.13 micron technology is nearly 83
percent larger than AMD's 0.13 process solution." AMD
expects to migrate all "Athlon" processors to 0.13 by
the end of the year, with 0.13 "silicon-on-insulator"
"Hammer" devices by the end of the year.
[While this does not directly speak to mobile CPUs, the
announcement, and past AMD practices, seems to imply that the
mobile versions will occur within the general timeframe. It
does seem to leave open the migration of Duron and mobile
Duron processor. -- JO]
[2002/03/17]
Mar. 13, 2002, Canadian Corporate Newsw reports that AMD
has introduced its "mobile AMD Athlon 4 1600+" CPU for
laptop computers. Price and availability information were
not given in the announcement for this 0.18-micron device.
[2002/03/13]
Mar. 13, 2002, Business Wire reports that Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation and Toshiba Corporation have announced that
they have agreed to collaborate in the development of
3G mobile phones.
[2002/03/13]
Mar. 12, 2002, PR Newswire reports that ACCESS Co., Ltd. has released a new version of its AVE-TCP(TM), (IPv4/IPv6 dual TCP/IP protocol stack) and AVE-SSL(TM) (an SSL/TLS-compliant security protocol stack) optimized for small handheld devices. Support is included for WAP 2.0, and may include ACCESS' microbrowser 2.5G/3G.
In a separate announcement on the same day, ACCESS
announced that its microbrowser is available on Symbian OS
for the TI OMAP(TM) platform.
ACCESS CO., Ltd.
(software) http://www.access.co.jp/english/
[2002/03/13]
Unfortunately, Canadian Corporate News was not working when
I was updating this file. It is a slow period, so I don't
think I missed anything, but I'll try to check it again
later in the week.
[2002/03/10]
Mar. 8, 2002, Business Wire reports that SanDisk Corporation
has announced that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has filed
a Patent infringement suit against SanDisk based on US Patents
5473563, 5514889, 5546341, and 5642309.
[2002/03/10]
Mar. 7, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Tiqit
Computers will unveil its "eightythree" an X86
based handheld computer at CeBIT. The form factor
is 5.4" * 4" * 1.1" and weight is about 20 oz.
It is based on a National Semiconductor Geode
266-300 MHz CPU.
Tiny ubiQuitous Technology
http://www.tiqit.com/
[2002/03/10]
Mar. 6, 2002, Business Wire reports that Symbian has
announced that the Sony Ericsson P800 multimedia smartphone
using Symbian OS v. 7.0 and UIQ interface will ship
in Q3, 2002.
[2002/03/06]
Mar. 5, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba of
Canada ISG has launched its Portege(R) 2000 laptop
computer which features a magnesium-alloy case (0.6"
thick) and weighs 2.6 lbs. Prices start at $3499 Cdn.
and they are immediately available.
[2002/03/06]
Mar. 5, 2002, Business Wire reports that Handspring, Inc. has
announced that its Visor Platinum is immediately available
again for a limited time. The price is $169 US.
[2002/03/06]
Mar. 5, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Certicom has
announced that Palm's new i705 wireless handheld
was developed using Certicom's Security Builder(R)
toolkit and "Elliptic Curve Cryptography".
[2002/03/06]
Mar. 4, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Palm has introduced its m130 and m515 handheld computers:
m130 - 8MB RAM - colour screens with 65,000 colours - rechargeable battery - $449 Cdn. m515 - 16MB RAM - colour screens with 65,000 colours (new, brighter screen) - $649 Cdn.
Both are immediately available in most countries.
[2002/03/06]
Mar. 4, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Acer America
Corporation has announced the addition of its
TravelMate 630 laptop computers featuring Mobile
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor-M.
[2002/03/06]
Mar. 4, 2002, Business Wire reports that Sharp
Systems of America has announced general availability
of its new PC-UM20 ultra-light laptop computer $1,699
US.
[2002/03/06]
Feb. 27, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Dolch Computer
Systems has announced that its FlexPAC P4 industrial
portable computer features an Intel Pentium 4 in a
multi-slot portable package.
[2002/03/03]
On Mar. 1, 2002, I retired my original Sony B1207 CDMA
handset. I have replaced it with a later version of
the same handset that I obtained second hand. Having
used it since the Fall of 1997 (about 4 1/2 years) it
has given good service. In fact, the circuitry and
battery are still working. The only problem is that
after many drops, the case is cracked the looseness
is causing erratic functioning.
[2002/03/03]
Feb. 27, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Legend Holding
Limited has announced that it has selected TI's OMAP(TM)
processors for its 2.5G and 3G handheld Internet
devices.
[2002/02/27]
Feb. 26, 2002, Business Wire reports that Sharp Microelectronics
of the Americas has announced the availability of a 3.5"
High-Reflective Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display
(HR-TFT LCD) LQ035Q2DD54. Contrast ratio is 8:1 with 6-bit
digital colour and power consumption of less than 56 mW.
[2002/02/27]
Feb. 26, 2002, PR Newswire report that Wasabi Systems
has announced "its support for the Intel IOP321 I/O processor
based on the XScale(TM) core.
Wasabi Systems
(NetBSD for Intel XScale) http://www.wasabisystems.com/
[2002/02/27]
Feb. 25, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Sprint PCS and
Samsung Telecommunications America have launched the
SPH-a400 GPS enabled handset in the US market. It is
available now at Sprint Stores for $199.99 US.
[2002/02/27]
Feb. 25, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Trident Microsystems,
Inc. has announced that it is delivering its CyberBLADE XP2
family 200 MHz discrete XP2 chip and support chips for
notebook computers.
Trident Microsystems,
Inc. http://www.tridentmicro.com/
[2002/02/27]
Feb. 22, 2002, Business Wire reports that SplashData
has announced that its "SplashShopper(TM)" is a shopping
list manager. It is immediately available for $9.95 US.
The price will double on Feb. 28, 2002.
SplashShopper
http://www.splashdata.com/
[2002/02/24]
Feb. 19, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that Alcatel,
Compaq and Packet Video have jointed to demonstrate music video
charts and clips over GPRS enabled Pocket PC devices such
as the Compaq iPaq Pocket PC.
[2002/02/24]
On Feb. 21, 2002, I received the two rebate cheques
for the SMC LAN products. I'm still waiting for the
HP camera rebate. But it doesn't change my opinion
of mail-in rebates. I'd rather have an in-store
discount, even for a little less of a saving.
[2002/02/23]
On Nov. 15, 2001, I mailed in a rebate applications to
Future Shop for an SMC network kit ($40 Cdn. rebate) and
another for an SMC 10/100 LAN PC-Card ($30 Cdn. rebate).
On Dec. 31, I sent in a rebate application for an HP PS-315
camera ($20 Cdn. rebate). As of Feb. 20, 2002, none of
these have arrived. Even if they do, I'll have had to
keep track of all this paperwork in the meantime. I
think in most cases, I'd prefer a $20 discount over a
$30 mail-in rebate.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 20, 2002, Business Wire reports that EarthLink has
announced that its "EarthLink Wireless Email and Internet
Service" is now available on select Palm OS and Pocket PC
handheld devices.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 20, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Colligo
Networks, Inc. has announced that Palm, Inc. has
licensed two of its Bluetooth based "Portable
Collaborative Networking" (PCN) applications --
its BlueChat (private messaging and chat application)
and BlueBoard (shared real-time imaging software).
Palm's Bluetooth card and the software are expected
to begin distribution on Mar. 4, 2002.
Colligo Networks
(Palm bluetooth software) http://www.colligo.com/
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 20, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp.
has announced the availability of its Mobile Information
Server 2002 Enterprise Edition.
Microsoft
Mobile Information Server 2002 Enterprise Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/miserver/
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 20, 2002, PR Newswire reports that iAnywhere Solutions,
Inc. and Sharp Electronics Corp. have announced special
promotions, pricing and technical information are available
for their developers to promote Java development on
the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 20, 2002, Business Wire reports that Symbian has
announcedits UIQ user interface for Symbian OS 7.0.
It focuses on "peer-to-peer messaging, including
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)." Also announced
was Symbian OS v. 7.0 which enables 2.5G and 3G
mobile phones.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 20, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that Columbia University School of
Nursing has selected Palm(TM) handheld computers
"an initiative designed to promote evidence-based,
error-free patient care in nursing." The school
is providing Palm devices for student nurses for
use in documenting patient care. The basic platform
used is the Palm m500 with ePocrates databases.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 19, 2002, PR Newsiwre reports that Openwave Systems Inc.
and Mitsubishi Electric Telecom have announced the availability
of "the first colour, M-Services compliant mobile phone, the
Trium Eclipse, with multimedia download capabilities and
GPRS." The Trium Eclipse has a 120 * 143 * 256 colour display.
Mitsubishi
Electric Telecom http://www.mitsubishi-telecom.com/
Openwave Systems Inc.
http://www.openwave.com/
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 19, 2002, Business Wire reports that Pretec Electronics
Corp. has announced that it will demonstrate its new
"CompactGPRS(TM)" card GPRS/GSM CompactFlash card working
with Microsoft Pocket PC devices. The company claims speeds
roughly twice as fast as 56K land-line modems and 10 times
faster than GSM data. The device has also been demonstrated
with Sharp's SL-5000 Linux based PDA.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 19, 2002, Business Wire reports that Novatel Wireless
has announced the development of its Merlin G300(TM)
Series tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS Type II PC Cards.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 19, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Voice Signal(TM)
Technologies, Inc. claims to have a breakthrough
technology for voice control of handheld devices, expanding
vocabulary and eliminating training.
Voice Signal
Technologies, Inc. http://www.voicesignal.com/
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 18, 2002, Business Wire reports that Sierra Wireless
has announced that its AirCard(R) GPRS/GSM Type II PC Card
is a tri-band device supporting speeds up to 56 Kbps.
[2002/02/20]
Feb. 14, 2002, Business Wire reports that 26,000 units of
Samsung's A300 mobile phones were stolen from Samsung's
warehouse in Hayes (west London, England) last week.
About 2/3 are still unrecovered. There is a reward for
the return of the remaining units.
[2002/02/16]
I am pleased to present the Moving Target Awards for 2001.
I am particularly pleased to have additional comments
on these awards by Emru Townsend who is a fellow product
evaluator with many years and column inches of experience.
2001 Awards
[2002/02/16]
Feb. 13, 2002, Business Wire reports that the Wireless
Village initiative has announced the release of its
"Wireless Village version 1.0" specification for
enabling the interoperability of mible instant messaging
and presence services (IMPS).
Wireless
Village http://www.wireless-village.org/
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 13, 2002, PR Newswire reports that RF Solutions, Inc.
has claimed that its new FRS P5910 is the worlds first
dual-band power amplifier capable of supporting 802.11a,
b and g. It is suitable for both "orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing" (OFDM) and "direct sequence spread
spectrum" (DSSS).
RF Solutions, Inc.
http://www.rf-solutions.com/
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 13, 2002, Business Wire reports that Red-M(TM) has
announced that it will showcase its "portable office"
at the 3GSM Congress (Feb. 19-22). It combines a number
of wireless technologies including GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth
and 802.11.
Red-M (portable office)
http://www.red-m.com/
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 12, 2002, Business Wire reports that Sony
Electronics has introduced new models of its
SuperSlim Pro(TM) line of VAIO(R) R505 laptop
computers. The new R505DS and R505DL will be
available next month.
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 12, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
America Information Systems Inc. (TAIS) has announced
plans to sell a Pocket PC PDA based on the Intel(R)
PXA250 Applications Processor which is based on
the Intel XScale(TM) core running at 400MHz. The
new device will be available in Q2 2002. Price
was not announced.
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 12, 2002, Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has announced its unaudited Q4 2001 results:
Microcell Telecommunications Inc.
Three months Twelve months
ended ended
Dec. 31 Dec. 31
2001 2000 2001 2000
Revenues 145,822 123,079 560,837 428,813
EBIDA (before
restructuring
charges) 13,332 (43,231) (9,803) (112,332)
...
Monthly average
retail revenue
per user (ARPU)
Postpaid $59.42 $56.38 $60.56 $56.69
Prepaid $18.47 $24.61 $20.99 $27.14
Blended $40.14 $41.47 $41.14 $43.55
Cost of
acquisition
of a retail
subscriber $262 $374 $321 $388
Net retail
subscriber
additions
Postpaid 51,814 38,169 169,880 119,770
Prepaid 48,535 96,485 116,803 218,270
Total 100,349 134,654 286,683 338,040
Churn rate 2.8% 2.3% 2.6% 2.2%
Total Retail
Subscribers
at end of
period
Postpaid 637,698 467,818 637,698 467,818
Prepaid 571,512 454,709 571,512 454,709
Total 1,209,210 922,527 1,209,210 922,527
(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except for
pre-share data).
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 11, 2002, Business Wire reports that Handspring, Inc.
has announced that its Treo Communicator which combines
a mobile phone and Palm OS organizer is now available
in the US in 2 versions for $399 US when bought with
a service plan from Cingular Wireless. The Treo 180
comes with a built-in QWERTY keyboard and the Treo 180g
uses Graffiti handwriting software. The device is
4.3 * 2.7 * 0.7" and weighs 5.2 oz. and will support
GPRS via user installable software this coming summer.
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 11, 2002, PR Newswire reports that IXI Mobile,
Inc. and GVC has announced the availability of the
first Personal Mobile Gateway and 2 new Bluetooth-enabled
devices. The two devices are a "Sleek Handset" (Bluetooth
phone) and "Sleek Messenger" (Bluetooth messaging device).
[Prices and availability were not announced. -- JO]
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 11, 2002, PR Newswire reports that IXI Mobile, Inc.
has introduced its mobile communcations software and
reference designs. Its "Personal Mobile Gateway" (PMG)
is a micro router and server for Bluetooth devices
and forms the core of "Personal Area Networking"
(PAN). Aside from the micro router PMG includes a micro
server and applications server. It bridges the cellular
network and connects to SMS, voice and IP.
IXI Mobile, Inc. (Bluetooth
Personal Area Networking) http://www.ixi.com/
[2002/02/11]
Feb. 11, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Newbury Networks, Inc.
has announced the availability of its LocaleManager(TM) and
LocaleServer(TM) which it claims are "the industry's first
and only software solutions for managing and deploying
location-enabled networks and applications" over 802.11
based Wireless LANs.
Newbury Networks,
Inc. (location-enabled 802.11 WLANs
http://www.newburynetworks.com/
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 11, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Evolutionary Robotics,
Inc. has announced the availability of its "Evolution Robotics
Software Platform which it expects to become the dominant open
software platform for personal robotics. It will be available
for Linux in March.
[2002/02/13]
Feb. 7, 2002, Business Wire reports that Yambay Technologies
Pty. Ltd. has announced that it is launching with Motient
Corp., Yambay's MACH(TM) Wireless Platform (Enterprise
Edition) on the Motient(TM) network. The system brings
wireless push with acknowledged delivery. The first target
platform is Palm OS.
Yambay Technologies Pty.
Ltd. (enterprise wireless push) http://www.yambay.com/
[2002/02/10]
Feb. 7, 2002, Business Wire reports that Intergraph Mapping
and GIS Solutions has announced IntelliWhere OnDemand vector-based
mapping software will be available in April, 2002.
IntelliWhere vector
mapping for Windows CE http://www.intelliwhere.com/
[2002/02/10]
Feb. 6, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Sun Microsystems, Inc.
has announced the immediate release of its Java(TM) 2 Platform,
Standard Edition (J2SE(TM)) version 1.4. [While this product
is mainly aimed at "enterprise" use, all Jave 2 are closely
related. -- JO]
Java 2 SE 1.4
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/
[2002/02/10]
Feb. 6, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that AMD has announced
that it is sponsoring Ferrari's F-1 racing team. Ferrari
will use AMD based PCs for its team computers. [There is
no announcement whether it would use AMD parts in on-board
computer systems, which would be "mobile" computing. -- JO]
[2002/02/10]
Feb. 6, 2002, PR Newswire reports that OmniVision Technologies,
Inc. has announced that it will provide CameraChip modules
for Hyundai Curitel's cell phones. The technology offers
resolutions up to 1.3 mega-pixel.
[2002/02/10]
Feb. 6, 2002, PR Newswire reports that NVIDIA(R) Corporation
has announced that Toshiba is using NVIDIA's GeForce4(TM) 440
Go mobile GPU in Toshiba's Satellite 5005-S507 laptop
computer.
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 6, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Three-Five Systems,
Inc. has announced it has added new 32,000 colour STN
(passive) LCD displays as standard products in its line.
According to the company "the CSTN modules incorporate
advanced color drive schemes and sophisticated internal
cell structures to provide the additional viewing dimension
that color adds."
Three-Five Systems, Inc.
http://www.threefive.com/
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 6, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba has announced
what it claims is the industry's first 9.5mm 5400 RPM drive
family, including 20GB, 30GB and 40GB capacities, using
an areal density of 34.7 gigabits per square inch.
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 6, 2002, Business Wire reports that Kontiki Delivery
Network will support Palm, Handspring, Sony and other
handheld devices with its digital media delivery services.
Kontiki Delivery Network
[PalmOS] http://www.kontiki.com/
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 5, 2002, Business Wire reports that MIPS Technologies,
Inc. has announced that AMD has become a MIPS licensee with
its acquisition of Alchemy Semiconductor.
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 5, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Motorola has announced
that Sega and Metrowerks (a Motorola company) will develop an
API for "next-generation Palm Powered devices" which will be
integrated into CodeWarrior(TM) for the PalmOS platform.
Also, ". . . Motorola plans to optimize the hardware capabilities
that accelerate SEGA 3D games applications on its DragonBall
platform. . . " [It's not clear whether the announcement
means that both the 66MHz MC68000 based DragonBall Super VZ
and the 200MHz ARM based DragonBall MX1 devices will have
circuitry revisions to add 3D graphics. -- JO]
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 5, 2002, Business Wire reports that MARGI Systems
has announced a partnership with HandEra. From March 1, 2002,
MARGI's Presenter-to-Go will be available for HandEra
products based on MARGI's type II CompactFlash module.
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 5, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm announced that
its Palm OS 5 beta (for ARM processors) would be "previewed"
on Feb. 5, 2002. Attendees at the PalmSource Conference
(Feb. 5 - 8) would receive the software and associated support
files on CD-ROM and the software would be downloadable via
the Internet. "In addition to running on powerful ARM-
compliant processors, Palm OS 5 will focus on enhanced
performance, data security, multimedia and compatibility
with existing Palm OS software programs."
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 4, 2002, PR Newswire reports that FileMaker has
unveiled FileMaker Mobile 2 Companion for Palm OS which
synchronizes with FileMaker Pro 5.5 v2 databased.
Priced at $49 US, the software will ship on May 2002.
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 4, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Parascript(R)'s
Pen&Internet(TM) division has announced that a beta
version of its riteMail(TM) electronic ink and mail
software is immediately downloadable from its website.
Parascript riteMail beta
http://www.ritemail.net/
[2002/02/06]
After a year of having to use Microsoft Internet
Explorer to use PR Newswire's website, today I
found that the company's latest website revision
is usable with a Netscape browser. I don't know
why it took over a year for this to be done.
I think it might actually be better to use than
Business Wire, but there has been a substantial
reorganization of the data, so I have not really
come to such a decision yet.
[2002/02/06]
Feb. 1, 2002, PR Newswire reports that AmbiCom has
announced worldwide availability of its Air2Net
Bluetooth Type I CompactFlash card. The suggested
retail price is $109 US including a Type II PC-Card
adapter. It can be used with Windows CE 3.0, Pocket
PC, Pocket PC 2002, XP, 2000, ME and 98SE.
AmbiCom http://www.ambicom.com/
[2002/02/03]
Jan. 31, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Dolch Computer Systems has
announced its new 6 slot version of its FlexPAC(TM) products.
The name denotes room and connections for 6 full size PCI or ISA
cards.
Dolch Computer Systems
http://www.dolchPR.com/
[2002/02/03]
Jan. 31, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Microcell
Solutions Inc. and 01 Communique have announced that Fido
customers can use 01 Communique's "I'm InTouch(TM)"
service to access email, files and calendar date on home
or office computers via GPRS. The rates are $7.50 per
month or $75 per year (Cdn) above Fido's GPRS rates.
[2002/02/03]
Jan. 31, 2002, Business Wire reports that Bachmann Software
has introduced its "PrintBoyCE" whichs allows Pocket PC
devices to print via infrared, 802.11b or Bluetooth. The
software is available online for $39.99 US. PalmOS
users can use PrintBoy(TM) Deluxe 3.0 which supports
margins and paper size.
[2002/02/03]
Jan. 30, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that
AMD has introduced 1.1 GHz and 1.2 GHz mobile AMD
Duron(TM) processors. Prices are $130 and $160
each in quantities of 1,000 units. [It is
unclear in the announcement whether this is US
or Cdn. -- JO]
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 30, 2002, Business Wire reports that GiveMePower
Corporation claims that its PowerCAD CE(TM) is
the world's first 2 and 3D CAD system for Windows
CE(R) based computers. 3 CE versions were announced:
PowerCAD CE Viewer(TM) $99 US, PowerCAD CE Classic(TM)
$249 US and PowerCAD CE Pro(TM) $495 US. Supported
file formats include standard DWG, DXF and FLX. A free
60-day trial version is downloadable.
GiveMePower
Corporation http://www.givemepower.com/
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 30, 2002, Alorie Gilbert writes for CNET
News.com that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
which researches nuclear weapons and other US national
defense technologies has disabled 2 wireless LANs
because security experts have warned that information
is often unprotected and easily intercepted.
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 29, 2002, Business Wire reports that PenRight!
Corporation has announced the availability of its
MobileBuilder 2.1 update of its crossplatform
(PalmOS and Windows CE) mobile application development
system.
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 29, 2002, PR Newswire reports that ScanSoft, Inc.
has announced the immediate release of Dragon PDsay(TM)
which adds voice control and speech output capabilities
to Microsoft(R) Windows(R) CE- based Pocket PC devices.
The prices is $39.99 US.
ScanSoft
vox support for Pocket PC http://www.ScanSoft.com/PDsay/
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 29, 2002, Business Wire reports that PocketMed has
announced the release of its PocketBilling version 2.0
for PocketPC, bringing the software cross platform from
PalmOS. The software cost $49.99 US and there is a 30-day
trial version downloadable.
PocketMed
http://www.pocketmed.org/
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 28, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Palm has introduced
its i705 wireless handheld device which includes AOL
Instant Messaging service. Wireless connectivity is
via Mobitex-based packet data network (Cingular Wireless).
The main computer spec is Palm OS(R) v.4.1 on a 33MHz
Motorola Dragonball VZ CPU with 4MB Flash memory and
8MB RAM, a rechargeable lithium polymer battery, USB
hot synch, 4.65" * 3.06" * 0.61", and weight of 5.9 oz.
The device will be available in the US this week at an
estimated street price of $449 US.
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 28, 2002, Canada Newswire reports that Toshiba of Canada ISG has introduced its Satellite 5000-X1Z and 1900-OFS laptop computers with advanced multimedia technology and 1800-VF1 and 1800-HV9 lower cost laptops. All are immediately available at the following price ranges:
Satellite 5000-X1Z prices start at $2,999 Cdn. Satellite 1900-OFS prices start at $2,799 Cdn. Satellite 1800-VF1 prices start at $1,899 Cdn. Satellite 1800-HV9 prices start at $2,399 Cdn.
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 28, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD
has introduced its mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 4 processor
1500+. According to AMD, the Compaq Presario 700 laptop
computer will be immediately available using this
CPU. The processors are made in Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany
using 0.18-micron copper process.
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 28, 2002, Business Wire reports that Socket Communications,
Inc. has announced the release of its Type I CompactFlash format
In-Hand Scan Xtreme PDF417 laser bar code scanner for Pocket PCs
and other Windows CE based handheld computers. The device
operates on the lower 3.3V standard.
[2002/01/30]
Jan. 24, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Lineo(R), Inc. has
announced that it has developed a port of the Real-Time
Application Interface to the MIPS family of processors
and has released generic MIPS support to the open source
RTAI development group.
Real-Time Applications Interface (Linux)
http://www.aero.polimi.it/projects/rtai/
[2002/01/27]
Jan 24, 2002, Canadian Corporate News reports that Nextel
Communications, Inc., Research in Motion Limited and Motorola, Inc.
have annouced that they have agreed to develp a new
"Nextel/Blackberry(TM)" handheld device with both voice
and data capabilities, to work on Motorola's iDEN(R) digital
wireless network technology.
[2002/01/27]
I'm in the process of decommissioning my Samsung Notemaster 486S/25N laptop computer. I have about 20MB of data left to reassign, and then decide what to do with the computer itself. It's not in the best shape. The hard drive might have been damaged. I'm not sure. The floppy drive is going bad. It was my first substantial move into mobile computing -- or more accurately, it's immediate predecessor was, since it was actually my second unit of the same type. The original unit "introduced" me to the major mobile technology concern of being stolen.
If I consider hours of use, I probably spend about equal time using pocket computers as I do using desk computers and laptop computers. If I separate the time using my laptop from my desk computers, I probably spend about 2/3rds of my time using mobile technology as opposed to fixed technology. Some people would consider that a misleading statistic since I usually use my laptop computer at a stationary location, but in fact, due to space limitations, it would be impractical for me to use a desk computer in its place, so even if mobility is not absolutely necessary, the characteristics of its mobile nature provide a substantial advantage for its use.
For the last few years, since I replaced it as my main laptop with my Compaq 1130, it has been used as a print-out computer. In fact, it was only used to print out black and white pages since it was far too slow to support colour print-out. Some time in the coming week that role will no longer be necessary. I will be connecting my printer to a printer server and at least 2 computers, and possible 4 or more computers, will be doing their own printing.
Back when I bought my first Samsung many people were skeptical about the value of mobile computers -- even laptops. How could merely being mobile be of significant value? To an extent, that skepticism remains. Today I talked to someone who recently started using a Palm device and he was surprised at the revolutionary effect of simply having a ToDo list manager "with you at all times." I've told people this before many times, but you can't really grasp it until you've used one. Moreover, having a cheap "disposable" unit removes the incentive to "leave it behind -- in a safe place." But it's being better understood now.
This is a time of transition for me in many ways. There
is a lot I'd like to say about the changes I'm involved
in, but unfortunately, I can't right now. I can only say
that mobile technology will probably continue to provide
substantial advantages for me in my activities. The
Samsung was a part of the proof of that concept for me.
I have little nostalgia for the "bad old days" and I
don't expect to miss the Samsung, but I'm glad I bought
it when I did.
[2002/01/27]
Jan. 23, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Lexar Media Inc.
has announced it will begin shipping what it claims
is "the industry's first speed-rated 1-Gigabyte capacity
CompactFlash Type II card by January 31, 2002. The
16X-speed 1GB Professional Series card clocks a sustained
write speed of 2.4MB per second and has a suggested list
price of $1,199." [US dollars]
[2002/01/23]
Jan. 22, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Handango Software has
announced the availability of Handango Form(TM) is now
available for BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds(TM), with
compatible with versions for Microsoft's Pocket PC
and Palm OS(R) to become available in this quarter.
Handango Software
http://www.handangosoftware.com/
[2002/01/23]
Jan. 22, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Hawker Energy Products
Inc. has announced the introduction of its new PowerSafe G
family of reformulated sealed lead-calcium 6-volt and 12-volt
rechargeable batteries.
[2002/01/23]
Jan. 21, 2002, Business Wire reports that Intel Corporation
has announced seven new mobile processors which use 0.13-micron
fabrication process, completing the company's transition to
the new technology for its mobile '86 processor line.
The processor lineup now includes the 1.06 GHz Mobile Intel(R)
Celeron(R) processor priced at $107 US (in quantities of 1K
units), a 650 MHz "Ultra Low Voltage Mobile Intel(R) Celeron(R)
processor at 1.1 V. and ranges upward to an 866 MHz version
"Low Voltage Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) III processor-M"
priced at $316 US (in quantities of 1K units).
[2002/01/23]
Jan. 21, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba claims that
its latest Portege(R) 2000 portable computer is the world's
thinnest at 0.6" holding its 2.6 lbs. The new model will
be available in early February at about $2,199 US.
[2002/01/23]
Jan. 15, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that XWAVE
has announced that it has delivered its "remote office
and dispatch system" (ROADS) and wireless network
infrastructure to the Cornwall Community Police Service.
xwave http://www.xwave.com/
[2002/01/20]
Jan. 16, 2002, Business Wire reports that Toshiba Storage
Device Division (SDD) has announced its 1.8" embedded hard
disk drives (HDDs) are available in 10GB and 20GB capacities.
The drives are 54mm wide and 78.5mm deep and weigh 51 g. or
62 g respectively and will ship in early March and early
February respectively. Prices were not in the announcement.
[2002/01/16]
Jan. 15, 2002, Business Wire reports that Sony has introduced
two new Palm OS based products. The CLIE(TM) PEG-T615C
is a slim colour device featuring 16MB memory, PalmOS 4.1,
Sony's 320 * 320 TFT display, Memory Stick slot, Jog Dial(TM)
and bundled software for $400 US in the US, later this month.
The monochrome CLIE PEG-S360 features 16MB of memory, PalmOS 4.0,
Media Stick(R) slot, Jog Dial(TM) and bundled software for
$200 US and will be available in the US in February.
[2002/01/16]
Jan. 14, 2002, FieldCentrix(R) has announced that it has
brought its FX Mobile(R) wireless field service software to
PalmOS(TM), Pocket PC(TM) and Research in Motion operating
systems. The list price is $1,250 US per seat. Palm and
Pocket PC versions will be available in Feb. 2002 with
RIM support shortly after.
FieldCentrix(R)
http://www.fieldcentrix.com/
[2002/01/16]
Jan. 14, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that NetMotion(R)
Wireless Inc. has announced that it is extending its
NetMotion Mobility(TM) software to Microsoft Windows XP
and Pocket PC 2002. The company claims that it brings
"true application session persistence" to these platforms,
allowing uninterrupted roaming without loss of application
sessions.
[2002/01/16]
Jan. 11, 2002, Business Wire reports that Dassault Systemes
and IBM have announced that the IBM ThinkPad(R) A30p has
been certified for Dassault's CATIA Version 5 3D application.
IBM is the first hardware vendor to been given this
certification. The Thinkpad A30p features ATI Mobility
Radeon graphics.
[2001/01/13]
Jan. 9, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Pendragon Software
has announced the release of Pendragon Forms(TM) 3.2 which
features data storage through the Virtual File System
API to storage card devices.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 9, 2002, Business Wire reports that Guidance Software
has announced the immediate availability of "EndCase(R)
version 3.18" which features the ability to "acquire and
preview the physical memory of any Palm OS(R) handheld
device" for investigative purposes.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 8, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Sharp Electronics
Corporation has announced that its Linux(R)/Java(TM) ARM
based Zaurus(TM) SL-5500 Personal Mobile Tool will be available
to consumers in the US in the first quarter 2002.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 8, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Casio, Inc. has
announced an upgrade for its CASSIOPEIA Pocket Manager
BE-300 to Windows CE .NET which includes Pocket Internet
Explorer and Windows Media Player. The upgrade will
be available on CD-ROM for $29 US.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 8, 2002, Business Wire reports that ATI Technologies has
introduced its IMAGEON(TM) 100 display co-processor for
handheld devices. The device offers increased processing
capability for display of MPEG4 and JPEG data with low
power requirements. Samples are currently available with
mass production due in Feb. 2002.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 7, 2002, the CompactFlash Association (CFA) has announced
that semiconductors used in electronic systems including
CompactFlash(TM) and CF I/O cards would be irreparably damaged
if subjected to the 55 kGy electron beam irradiation process
being used by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to sanitize mail
since Oct. 2001. Other goods also damaged by this process
include pharmaceuticals, contact lenses, biological samples
and photographic film.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 7, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Thales Navigation
has introduced its latest Magellan GPS Companion(TM) for
Palm(TM) m500 series handheld computers featuring Rand
McNally StreetFinder(R) Deluxe Travel Navigation Software
and Magellan NAV Companion(TM) software. According to
the companies, "this is the only GPS attachment and
navigation software package able to calculate and download
a route to a Palm handheld and provide audio-prompted,
turn-by-turn GPS guidance on a moving map."
Thales
Navigation (Magellan) http://www.thalesnavigation.com/
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 7, 2002, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba of Canada,
Information Systems Group has announced the launch of its
Satellite Pro 6000 Series laptop computers which feature
Secure Digital (SD) Media technology and optional wireless LAN.
The computers are available immediately at prices starting
at $2,849 Cdn.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 7, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that
WebTech Wireless Inc. has announced the commercial
availability of its WebTech Connector i1000, which
it claims is the first ruggedized wireless modem
for the GSM/GPRS network. The device can be used
with PDAs, laptop computers and other devices.
Current data rates are 30 - 56 kbps. The device
is immediately available [price was not give in
the announcement. -- JO]
WebTech Wireless Inc. http://www.webtechwireless.com/
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 7, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Aperto
Networks has announced that it has received regulatory
approval of its "end-to-end PacketWave(TM) multiservice
platform" from Industry Canada for operation in the 3.5
GHz band, and has begun shipment to Canadian wireless
providers. The company notes that it had received Industry
Canada aprroval for its 5 GHz band equipment last year.
According to the company "The 3.5 GHz spectrum is emerging
as a global band for fixed broadband wireless access, with
spectrum allocations already complete in many countries
and more to follow . . . ."
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 7, 2002, PR Newswire reports that Apple has announced
its latest iBook laptop computers featuring 14" active TFT
screens, at prices starting at $1,199 US with a 12.1" screen.
[2002/01/09]
Jan. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Texas Instruments
has announced that it has launched its Voyage(TM) 200 personal
learning tool (PLT) which features the functionality of
its previous TI-92 Plus but with increased Flash memory
(2.7 MB) and a new shape. The retail price is $200 US.
but availability is not clear in the announcement.
[2002/01/06]
Jan. 2, 2002, Business Wire reports that Microvision, Inc.
has announced that it has begun shipping its Nomad(TM)
Personal Display System to customers.
Microvision http://www.mvis.com/
[2002/01/02]
Jan. 2, 2002, Business Wire reports that Qualcomm has announced that operators in North America have begun receiving volume shipments of "third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X products, based on the QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies (QCT) MSM5105(TM) Mobile Station Modem (MSM(TM)) chipset, system software and integrated applications software." Data rates supported range up to 153 kbps.
Jan. 1, 2002, Business Wire reports that Symantec has warned
of the W32.Maldal.D@mm virus which is spread through EMail with
the subject line "ZaCker". The virus deletes various files
including antivirus software and spreads through by using the
Outlook address book.
[2002/01/02]
Dec. 31, 2001, PR Newswire reports that New Horizons
Technologies International has announced that it will
launch its "Cyclone(R)" recyclable, rechargeable
"Next Generation Disposable Cell Phone(R)" at the
2002 ICES. The show starts on Jan. 8, 2002.
[2002/01/02]
[Not much happened last week. Nothing noteworthy in this industry. In case you missed it, I'm posting my announcement of candidates for the Moving Target Awards for 2001. This announcement was sent via the Newsgroups On Dec. 18, 2001. -- JO]
Newsgroups: comp.sys.palmtops,comp.sys.handhelds,comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Moving Target Award Candidates 2001
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 23:23:12 GMT
As is usual, I will NOT give awards for 2001 until 2001 is over. Realistically though, with only two weeks left in the year, the following list is unlikely to change.
As in previous years, these are awards for "products and achievements," but the focus is on "commercial products". To qualify as a commercial product, it should have been available to end users within 2001. Otherwise it may qualify as an "achievement" if the achievement could be adequately verified in 2001.
Something available in 2001 is still a product even if no customers actually bought them. It might be called a "failed" product, but it was still a product.
These are products and services available in the world at large, but with preferences to North America, Canada, Ontario and Toronto -- where this Webzine is produced. Products do not have to be "new" in 2001. If a product is the best, that's what counts. If nobody has produced anything better after a year or more, then even more credit should go to those who created it.
The Moving Target Jim Omura, 2001/12/18.
As in previous years, there is no "best laptop" award. The usual reason still applies. For the most part, comparing the major Windows brands, you pretty much get what you pay for.
Sony finally came to Canada and the Clie PEG-S320, a competitor to Palm's m500, at $299 Cdn (under $200 US) revolutionized the industry specifically due to its price point.
Compaq repeats because of minor changes to the H3800 series which should correct problems. The Sharp is mentioned below, as a Linux product. The Casio BE-300 is the cheapest multimedia pocket device with colour screen. The Bookman has a unique form factor.
The following awards are for individual pieces of products. I consider them achievements worthy of awards, regardless of the rest of the products they comprise.
There is no doubt that the NEC VR-4131 is the best processor in current use in the pocket computer field. With its double issue superscalar pipline design, the 200MHz version is the most powerful processor in current use outright and the lower 166MHz speed version has significant power saving.
Don't confuse this with the rocker switches used on PocketPC devices. The Sony wheel is like the scroll wheels that are now popular on desk computer mice. The fact that even Microsoft uses scroll wheels on mice instead of rocker switches like the PocketPC devices shows that it's recognized as a clearly valuable input method.
The screen on the Sony PEG-N710/N760 is a outstanding colour screen with its daylight usability, 320 * 320 resolution and 64K colours. But right now, it's only available at a very high price. Hopefully that situation will change in the near future.
While the dropping of Flash memory prices has been dramatic, particularly in 2001, the real impact will be felt in 2002. It doesn't make wireless irrelevant, but it reduces the need for remote storage access. When you consider that the Palm devices have proven themselves to be useful with less than 8MB of memory for storage, it's strange to think that next year, we'll probably be buying 100 - 200 MB Flash devices for under $100 Cdn.
The Agenda VR3 was the first Linux based pocket computer. It has achieved some limited succcess. I might yet test one myself, but that won't be till 2002.
Sharp has already been selling a Linux based pocket computer in
Japan. I have no sales figures or reviews for this product. It
is, of course, the SL-5000 series device which we will see in
North America next year.
[2001/12/30]
No relevant news so far this week, which is no surprise. I expect the same could be true for the rest of this week. -- JO
I'm a bit late with my holiday greetings this year, but
may you have a happy and prosperous new year in 2002. My
expectations for the computer industry in general in the
coming year are actually quite positive. So I feel that
my best wishes for all of you have a good chance of being
fulfilled.
[2001/12/26]
Dec. 20, 2001, ATI Technologies Inc. has announced that its
Mobility(TM) Radeon(TM) 7500 graphics processor is now
shipping and is being used in Dell's Inspiron 8100 laptop
computer.
[2001/12/23]
Dec. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that SiPix, Inc. has
announced that its Pocket Printer A6 now fully supports
Pocket PC version 2.0 to 3.1 devices based on StrongARM,
Hitachi SH3 or MIPS processors. Other supported devices
include laptop computers (Pentium or higher, running
Windows 98, 98SE, ME 200 or XP) and PalmOS 3.0 - 4.1
devices (Infrared enabled and Hot Sync compatible).
The printer is thermal technology weighing 14 oz.
(including four AA batteries).
SiPix, Inc. (portable
printer) http://www.sipix.com/
[2001/12/19]
Dec. 17, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced
a 1 GHz mobile AMD Duron(TM) processor. Compaq Computer
Corporation is immediately offering the new CPU in its
Compaq 700 series laptop computers. The new CPU is priced
at $160 US each in quantities of 1,000 units.
[2001/12/19]
Dec. 12, 2001, Symantec Corp. has announced the release
of Symantec AntiVirus 2001 for Palm OS. It is included
with Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition or
by itself for $39.95 US. Current users can get a
$10 US rebate.
[2001/12/16]
Dec. 12, 2001, Business Wire reports that Symbian has
announced that it has ported its 2.5G enabled Symbian
OS version 6.1 to the Intel StrongARM SA-1110 CPU.
[2001/12/16]
Dec. 12, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation has announced their Evo Notebook N180 and
N160 laptop computers. The N180 is a "desktop
replacement" computer with prices starting at $1,599 US.
The N160 is a thinline design with prices starting
at $1,219 US.
[It is not clear in the announcements, but both
products seem to be immediately available. -- JO]
[2001/12/12]
Dec. 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Gateway, Inc.
has introduced its Solo(R) 1400 laptop computer which
features coverage of essential computer capabilities
at prices as low as $1,199 US. The new model
is immediately available.
[2001/12/12]
Dec. 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Gateway, Inc.
has introduced its Solor(R) 5350 laptop computer
for users requiring more portability. The case is
1.36". The computer is immediately available at
prices as low as $1,999 US.
[2001/12/12]
Dec. 11, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that QNX Software
Systems has announced a "Media Oriented Systems Transport"
("MOST") Software Kit for the QNX(R) realtime operating
system. According to QNX "MOST< a fiber-optic network
optimized for the automotive industry, is the European
standard for building multimedia networking products."
[2001/12/12]
Dec. 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Impulsesoft
Pvt. Ltd. has announced the release of it's WinCE(TM)
Bluetooth(TM) protocol stack which is a Bluetooth 1.1
compliant set for OEMs and ODMs.
[2001/12/12]
Dec. 7, 2001, PR Newswire reports that D-Link
has launched its new D-LinkAir DWL-A series IEEE
802.11a compliant series of wireless LAN
products, based on the Atheros AR5000 chip set.
Operating in the 5.2 GHz frequency band, it
does not conflict with 802.11b, Bluetooth and HomeRF
equipment. Security features include 1280bit
Encryption Key and 24-bit Initialization Vector.
The products will be available in small
pre-production quantities this month with
high production in Q1 2002. MSRP for the DWL-5000AP
access point is $439 US and $169 US for the DWL-A650
PC Card adapter.
[2001/12/12]
[Not much happened this week, and when I looked
at what I had, I decided to include a couple of short
articles instead. -- JO]
[2001/12/09]
Two notable price drops I've seen at the local Future Shop recently were the Casio BE-300 which has dropped to $299.99 Cdn and the Palm m125 which has also come down to $299.99 Cdn. (though the Palm m125 also includes a mail in rebate for a 16MB SD card). The $299.99 price is also current for the Sony PEG-S320 and the Handspring Visor Neo (which, like the Palm, includes a mail in rebate for a "module of your choice"), making it the action price for the season.
I'll take this opportunity to restate a couple of points I've made before. First, pen based pocket computers wear out. The touch sensor screens themselves wear out. The current products will probably last about 2 years of relatively heavy use -- for some people, even less. Repairing the devices is generally expensive, because by the time the screen has worn out, the rest of the case is also probably going "soggy" and the motherboard is starting to oxidize, and rechargable batteries are also probably deteriorating.
How do you make a pocket device last a really long time? Put it in your desk drawer and don't use it. But then, why did you buy it?
All this is the first reason to buy at the cheap end of the price scale: Pocket devices are "consumables."
The second point is that if you integrate one of these devices into your lifestyle, you can't live without it. Downtime is not acceptable. So if you are finding it useful, then you should buy a backup unit -- immediately. My personal pattern is to buy a new model and test it immediately, and then put it in storage. I use my oldest product daily (a Palm IIIx at this minute). When my current device fails, I can re-install my data and programs into my newer device and keep going.
Stated simply, "If you can't afford 2, then you can't afford 1."
Again, it is smarter to buy 2 $300 devices than 1 $800 device. Or you could buy a $300 device and a spare $500 device. If a salesman tell you you can buy two for the price of one, he might be joking. I'm not. It's a real documented advantage. Moreover, last year's big hit adavantage of integrating an MP-3 player is dead. I can buy MP-3 players for under $100 now, and they don't glitch like PocketPC's.
Put simply, this is why the $300 price is currently
where you should probably be buying. If it lasts 2
years, it will have costed about $0.50/day. Even
that much will shock some people who will remind you
that a paper address books costs a few dollars per
*year*. The data re-usability of a pocket device
can at least justify that much of an expense, but
not much more.
[2001/12/09]
When I've been asked about Windows CE, I've said on occasion that it tends to be a story of "2 steps forward and 1 - 1.5 steps back -- and maybe a step sideways in there too." No version of Windows CE has lived up to its hype in day - to - day usage. That thought came to me as I thought about writing this short comment on PalmOS 3.5.
Simply put, Palm OS upgrades have never claimed big jumps, and in the long run, they have generally shown more clear improvement from generation to generation than Windows CE. They have generally not had any real drawbacks compared to their predecessors. But when I moved to PalmOS 3.5 from 3.1, I was faced with a significant problem.
I've been having a lot more trouble with Graffiti input after this upgrade. The cause is not obvious. While Palm has tried to add a lot of new short-cut features, I don't know of any new characters or symbols, so I don't know why the digitizer response has been affected. I can say without doubt now, that the "d", "p" and "b" characters fail more often now, and I think the "c" and "l" characters might also be giving me more problems than before. Other problems such as "s", "e" and "c" swapping, and "o" and "g" and "q" swapping are still there, but I don't think are any worse.
Because of these problems, the shortcuts are also affected. I waste a lot more time trying to cancel dangerous errors in the shortcuts than I did before ("delete" instead of "paste") and I think I've even had accidental loss of data when I was in a hurry, though only once or twice.
I expect that the changes probably came from adjustments made to the software for the Palm m100 and m500 devices. I would guess that the input is better on those devices than my old technology Palm IIIx. I haven't heard negative comments from people who have upgraded by buying new devices, so for now, I'll assume this is probably the case. But it makes this latest upgrade disappointing, -- and more like the Windows CE upgrades have traditionally been.
I should add that I have used the new "Duplicate
Address" function and that it works well. This
alone would have made the upgrade worthwhile.
As time goes on, newer software will also need
the new system calls, making it likely that there
will eventually be more software that won't work
on pre-3.5 devices. But that won't really help
me much.
[2001/12/09]
Dec. 4, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Trend Micro has announced that a new "high-risk" virus has appeared which is being called "WORM_GONE.A" (aka "Gone.scr") which is capable of spreading through the ICQ messaging program as well as Microsoft Outlook. When spread through EMail the attachment is called "GONE.SCR"
"Subject: Hi. Message: How are you? When I saw this screen saver, I immediately thought about you I am in a harry, I promise you will love it!"
The company has an update to its antivirus software
to cover this virus.
[2001/12/05]
Dec. 3, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Linksys(R)
has announced the immediate availability of its Instant
Wireless(TM) Network CF Card (WCF11) for Pocket PC
and Windows CE devices. The software is unique
because it can connect directly to other wireless
PC's or other wireless PDAs without going through an
access point ("ad hoc" mode). The estimated street
price is $129 US.
Linksys http://www.linksys.com/
[2001/12/05]
Dec. 3, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Sharp Electronics
Corp. has announced that it is working with Aether Systems,
Inc. to develop a custom, corporate e-mail system for
its Zaurus SL-5500 which was announced on Dec. 3, 2001.
[2001/12/05]
Dec. 3, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD
has announced that it has developed a device with a
15 nanometer gate length (0.015 micron) which it claims
has the fastest switching speed reported -- 0.3-ps or 3.33
trillion switches per second. The company plans on
using this device for 30-nanometer process (0.03-micron)
which it expects to use by around 2009.
[2001/12/05]
Nov. 29, 2001, Business Wire reports that Elmic Systems
USA has announced the release of "mobile IP host
software that will allow mobile wireless devices
to move between IP networks yet maintain continuous
connectivity through a single IP address."
[My apologies for the long quote, but there wasn't
any better way to put it. - JO]
Elmic Systems USA
http://www.elmic.com/
[2001/12/02]
Nov. 27, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that
OnX Incorporated and the Transplant Research Group of
the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal) have announced
that the group is using wireless PDAs for patient
record retrieval and modification.
[2001/12/02]
Nov. 28, 2001, MARGI Systems has announced that its "Presenter-
To-Go" is available for Casio E-125, EG-800 and BE-300 devices
based on Compact Flash display technology. Software is
integrated as a virtual printer device in Windows applications
and is displayed on the Type II Compact Flash output device
with 1024 * 768 resolution. The product is currently available
with an introductory price of $249.00 US till Dec. 31, 2001
($299.00 US regular price).
[Some information taken from the company's website. -- JO]
MARGI Systems
http://www.margi.com/
[2001/11/28]
Nov. 28, 2001, Business Wire reports that Symbian Co., Ltd.
has announced that Fujitsu Limited has licensed Symbian OS
for 3G mobile phone handset.
[2001/11/28]
Nov. 26, 2001, Intel Corporation has announced the development
of a "depleted substrate transistor" and a new material called
"high k gate dielectric" which together reduce current leakage
and power consumption. "The new structure is being called
the Intel TeraHertz transistor. . ."
[2001/11/28]
Nov. 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has announced
that a free firmware upgrade is now available for its
D-Link Air DWL-1000AP Access Point which adds a 128-bit RC4
based extension of the WEP encryption and other security
enhancements and user interface.
D-Link (wireless LAN) http://www.dlink.com/products/wireless/dwl1000ap/
[2001/11/25]
Nov. 21, 2001, Business Wire reports that STMicroelectronics
has announced that Samsung's latest GT9000 laptop computer
features fingerprint biometric security developed by
STMicroelectronics.
STMicroelectronics (biometric
security) http://www.st.com/
[2001/11/25]
Nov. 19, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Cloakware
Corporation has announced the immediate availability of
it "Cloakware/Signature(TM)" password-replacement system
for "stylus-based" mobile devices. The system replaces
passwords with actual signature recognition.
Cloakware Corporation
http://www.cloakware.com/
[2001/11/21]
[Ironically, I've lost my copy of an article which
alerted me to the finalizing of the draft for the
802.11g wireless standard which takes wireless LAN to
the next level, supporting 22Mbps and, I believe, 56Mbps
data rates in the 2.4GHz frequency band. I'll try
to find this again. It can probably be found on
the IEEE website or the US FCC website. -- JO]
[2001/11/18]
Nov. 13, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that
Psion Tecklogix has announced it new netpad 1200 and
netpad 3500 are hand-held tablet computers which
feature scanning and "enhanced navigation capabilities."
[2001/11/14]
Nov. 13, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Audiovox
Communications Corporation has announced a 3G CDMA
handsets with GPS. The 9155GPX is a CDMA tri-mode
unit costing $299 US and features GPS and Bluetooth.
Audiovox Corporation
http://www.audiovox.com/
[2001/11/14]
Nov. 13, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Zarlink
Semiconductor and Cochlear Ltd. have announced Cochlear's
ESPrit(TM) 3G BTE speech processor chip is based on the
Babel 24 low-power analog-digital microchip and "works
with an internal implant to bring sound to people with
profound or severe hearing impairment."
Cochlear Ltd.
(speech chip for hearing impaired) http://www.cochlear.com/
[2001/11/14]
Nov. 12, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that AMD has
introduced 1.2 GHz mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 4 and 950MHz
mobile AMD Duron(TM) processors for the portable computing
industry. Both processors feature a 200 MHz front-side
bus. Compaq has announced plans to produce Presario 700
laptop computer featuring both processors starting Nov.
21, 2001. The 1.2 GHz AMD mobile Athlon 4 is priced at
$525 US each in quantities of 1,000 units and the 950 MHz
mobile AMD Duron processor is priced at $160 US each also
in quantities of 1,000 units.
[2001/11/14]
Nov. 8, in a press release sent across PR Newswire entitled
"New Operating System Is Creating Early Holiday Excitement,"
Microsoft claims that "Since its retail debut Oct. 25,
Microsoft Corp.'s newest operating system, Windows(R) XP,
is achieving high demand worldwide. So high that some
retailers are having trouble keeping store shelves stocked
with Windows XP." The truth is, that I was in one of
Toronto's biggest retailers' stores on the afternoon of
the introduction ("Future Shop") and there was no-one
buying Windows XP despite having probably the best price
in the city. The truth is, I have been in that branch
a couple of times since, and I haven't seen Windows XP sold
in that store at all. There is NO shortage of Windows XP
in boxes on shelves in that store, nor in 2 other stores
I've been in since that day. In fact, I haven't personally
seen even 1 copy of Windows XP sold yet. This kind of
distortion of the truth really bothers me.
[2001/11/11]
[Nothing of note. Comdex getting in the way. -- JO]
[2001/11/11]
I don't often comment beyond the computer industry, on this site, but in a sense, I've made the media an issue already today so I'll give this a little more space. Today was Rememberance Day, and the Canada and the US are in the process of fighting a war. Working at home these past few years, I've spent many Rememberance Days, taking a few minutes around 11:00 to watch ceremonies on Canadian TV. As usual, there were many specials on. Since I don't flip through channels that much while actually watching something, I don't know much about what happens on other channels. But as far as I could tell today, there was almost nothing on the US networks. I checked ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, around before and after 11:00 and there seemed to be almost no acknowledgement of Rememberance Day. The US stations might have shown a notice for a minute exactly at 11:00, but I don't know.
I'm not criticizing anyones' activities during the
time, but I thought it was odd, in the context of an
ongoing war, that the US stations didn't seem to be
interested in Rememberance Day, while Canadian stations,
have generally always made a substantial effort to cover
the ceremonies. I don't know what that tells me. It
is an odd difference in cultures.
[2001/11/11]
Nov. 6, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Avaya Inc.
has announced that Applied Global Technologies' "AGT
Dialer" will enable PalmOS devices to dial its Internet
Protocol based phones via infrared ports in the phones.
The program costs "$19.95" and runs on PalmOS 3.1 - 4.0.
[The currency is not clearly stated in the announcement.
-- JO]
Applied Global
Technologies (Avaya IP phone dialer) http://www.dialer.vtcmanager.com/
[2001/11/07]
Nov. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Fonix Corporation
has introduced its TimeTalk Alert which reads appointments
out using text-to-speech using a synthesized voice.
Fonix Corporation
http://www.fonix.com/
[2001/11/07]
]
Nov. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Cirque Corp. has
announced the availability of its PDA Pocket Keyboard(TM)
for $41.95 US.
Cirque Corp. (keyboard
for Visor Edge) http://www.cirque.com/
[2001/11/07]
Nov. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Fossil, Inc. has
announced its "Wrist PDA(TM)" and "Wrist PDA/PC(TM)"
which are wrist watches which can carry PDA software
downloaded from PalmOS or Pocket PC based devices via
infrared beaming. The watches have 190KB of available
memory. They will be available in early 2002 at a
suggested retail price of $145 US.
Fossil, Inc (PDA
linked wrist watches) http://www.fossil.com/
[2001/11/07]
Nov. 5, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Sharp will
display its "SL-5000D" Linux based handheld at Comdex
in the Trolltech booth and is accepting pre-orders from
developers. The software is based on Trolltech' products.
Sharp
Linux Based Handheld Developers Kits
http://www.developer.sharpsec.com/
[2001/11/07]
Nov. 2, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Texas Instruments
has announced a new touch screen controller with "I2C"
interface for PDAs. The device is immediately available
at $2.30 US each in 1,000 piece quantities.
[2001/11/04]
My last update on this page was on 2001/09/05.
This latest change consolidates my current advice
for purchasing handheld computers.
Handheld Computers
[2001/10/31]
Oct. 31, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that CSA International
and Compaq Cmputer Corporation of Houston, Texas have
announced a worldwide voluntary recall and replacement program
for approximately 1,400,000 AC adapters for some laptop
computers due to potential fire hazard from overheating.
The adapters came with Compaq Armada models M300, M700, E500,
V300, 100s, 3500, 110 and E500s, and Prosignia models 170
and 190, and the Notebook 100. The AC adapters have the
serial numbers PPP003SD, PPP003 and PP2012 (this latter only
for Armada 3500). See Compaq's Website for details.
Compaq Adapter Recall
http://www.compaq.com/products/notebooks/adapterrecall
[2001/10/31]
Oct. 31, 2001, PR Newswire reports that MELCO INC. has
announced that its new generation of "Buffalo wireless
LAN" (WLAN) AirStation 2x(TM) offers double the data
rate of 11Mbps AirStation(TM) models and is teh first
deployable 22Mbps product in the 2.4GHz band.
Buffalo
Technology (USA), Inc. http://www.buffalotech.com/
[2001/10/31]
Oct. 29, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Parachute Technologies
has announced that its Parachute(TM) III adapter allows Palm
III devices (excluding Palm IIIc) to use Type II PC Cards
including wireless connectivity cards. The device is
available for immediate delivery at $149 US.
Parachute
Technology http://www.parachutetech.com/
[2001/10/31]
I don't think I have to mention that Microsoft Windows XP became available on Oct. 25, 2001. Other "general purpose" OSes that became available recently include the latest version of Mandrake Linux, and Red Hat Linux 7.2. In the case of Windows XP, an number of computer manufacturers have announced products, particularly laptop computers available with the OS. I'm trying to weed out the "previously released" products and find truly new products to mention. Linux of course is loadable on an current laptop. In particular, as far as I can tell, Compaq's lineup seems to be repackaging, but I'm not sure about Toshiba, which might actually have a newer version (faster CPU?) in at least 1 product. If I confirm this, I'll post it later.
[2001/10/28]
Oct. 25, 2001, Business Wire reports that Casio and
Sierra Wireless have announced that they are working
together to bring CDMA and GPRS "AirCard" PC Card
wireless modem products to Casio's CASSIOPEIA Pocket
Manager BE-300 and Pocket PC E-200.
[2001/10/28]
Oct. 24, 2001, PR Newswire reports that KDS has announced
that it is shipping a new 1 GHz Valiant laptop with
Microsoft Windows XP. The price is $1399 US.
KDS (laptop computer)
http://www.kdsusa.com/
[2001/10/24]
Oct. 23, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Smith Micro
Software, Inc. has announced that its new QuickLink(R) Mobile
for Pocket PC will allow Internet connection through mobile
phones.
Smith Micro Software,
Inc. http://www.smithmicro.com/
[2001/10/24]
Oct. 23, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony of Canada
Ltd. has introduced the "Communication Linking Information
& Entertainment" (CLIE(TM)) device line to Canada beginning
with the PEG-N760C which features MP3 music playing, a
320 * 320 16-bit colour screen and the Sony Memory Stick
expansion system. Also introduced was the PEG-S320 which
features a 160 * 160 by 16 level grey scale display.
The N760C is priced at $799 Cdn. (MSRP) and will be
available at the end of October, 2001. The PEG-S320 has a
list price of $299 Cdn. Both will be available from
Sony's Canadian Sony Style website.
[Availability for the PEG-S320 was not clear. -- JO]
[2001/10/24]
Oct. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Kingston(R)
Technology Company, Inc. has announced the release of
its 128MB SecureDigitalCard (SD), immediately available
at $199.00 US MSRP.
[2001/10/24]
Oct. 21, 2001, Sumner Lemon writes for CNN.com that Acer has
developed its S10 Chinese language PalmOS based handheld
computer. Acer has exclusive writes to offer a Chinese
device for "many months." Features include multiple
Chinese input methods, trainable handwriting recognition,
the ability to run applications written to run on the
English version, built in microphone, audio recording,
MP3 player and 2 Memory Stick expansion slots. It
is 4.7" * 3" * 0.5", weighs 5 oz. and is based on the
Motorola 33-MHz DragonBall VZ CPU with 16MB of SDRAM, a 16
[level] grey scale screen and rechargeable lithium-ion
battery, and is priced at $390 US.
[The article does not state whether the device
is currently selling. -- JO]
[2001/10/21]
Oct. 18, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Smith Micro
Software, Inc. has announced that its new QuickLink(R) Mobile
for Palm OS(R) will allow Internet connection through mobile
phones.
Smith Micro Software,
Inc. http://www.smithmicro.com/
[2001/10/21]
Oct. 18, 2001, Sam Costello writes for CNN.com that a new
computer worm has been circulating in English and Spanish
versions that is contained in an attachment called
"Anthraxinfo.vbs" or "Anthraxjpg.vbs" which deletes .VBE
and .VBE files and re-sends itself to addresses in
the Outlook address book.
[2001/10/21]
Oct. 17, 2001, Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs has announced
in the Oct. 18th issue of "Nature" that they have created
organic (carbon based) transistors with single- molecule
channel length.
[2001/10/21]
Oct. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motient
Corporation has unveiled its MobileModem by Motient(TM)
for Palm V/Vx(TM), IBM(R) WorkPad(R) c3 PC Companion.
This wireless modem weighs 4.8 oz. and will be available
"this Fall."
[No price was given in the announcement. -- JO]
Motient Corporation
http://www.motient.com/
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that ARM has released
details of its PrimeXsys(TM) Wireless Platform which
will be based on the ARM926EJ-S(TM) CPU core.
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 17, 2001, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
have announced that they will unify their LCD and
next generation display businesses in a joint venture
company to be incorporated in April, 2002.
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Altair
Nanotechnologies Inc. has announced that work with
the J. Heyrovsky Institute and Ecole Polytechnique
Federal de Lausanne has resulted in a breakthrough
in storage battery technology using nanosized lithiated
titania for increased charge and discharge rates.
Altair
Nanotechnologies, Inc. http://www.altairnanotechnologies.com/
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has
introduced its latest Titanium PowerBook(R) G4 laptop
computer which now features a 667 MHz PowerPC G4 CPU
and a new system buss running at 133 MHz, and ATI
Mobility Radeon AGP 4X graphics. The new version
is immediately available at $2,199 US.
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has announced
that its latest iBook laptop computer will feature a 600MHz
PowerPC CPU running on a new system buss speed of 100 MHz.
Prices start at $1,299 US.
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 16, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Certicom
has announced that its "movianVPN" client software
available for pocket computers using Palm and Windows
for PocketPC 2002. The VPN security software is
downloadable and can be tried for 30 days. Individual
licenses are $29.95 per seat on an annual subscription
basis.
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 15, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba of
Canada Information Systems Group has unveiled its
latest Satellite(R) laptop computers, the 5000-Z59,
3000-Q65, 1800-1PK, and 1800-4K1. All are available
immediately at prices as low as $1,799 Cdn. for the
1800-1PK.
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 15, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Xplore Technologies(R)
Corp. has announced that its GeneSys(R) Maximus rugged mobile
computer line is now available with a 12.1" Active Matrix
Color Transflective LCD which allows it to be used outdoors
in full sunlight. The computer weighs about 5 lbs. and is
powered by an Intel(R) Pentium(R) III. The computer will
begin shipping in this quarter at prices starting at $5,895 US.
Xplore Technologies(R)
http://www.xploretech.com/
[2001/10/17]
Oct. 12, 2001, PR Newswire reports that CareCentric, Ic.
has announced the release of its Visit Assistant(TM)
for PDAs. [The platform, price and availability were
all missing from this announcement. JO]
CareCentric, Inc.
http://www.carecentric.com/
[2001/10/14]
Oct. 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Kingston(R)
Technology Company Inc. has announced the immediate
availability of its DDR PC1600 and DDR 2100 Small-Outline
DIMM (SO-DIMM) modules for OEM customers.
Kingston(R) Technology
Company Inc. http://www.kingston.com/
[2001/10/14]
Oct. 10, 2001, Business Wire reports that HandEra, Inc.
has announced plans to support Symbol's 802.11b
Wireless LAN Compact Flash device. Software
drivers for the HandEra 330 are currently in Beta
testing and are expected to be available around
mid-November 2001.
[2001/10/10]
Oct. 9, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that IBM has
introduced its latest ThinkPad laptop computers with
new security, management and wireless integration
features. The new "R Series" R30 starts at $1,999
Cdn., The new "A Series" A30 features integrated
802.11b LAN and Bluetooth, two modular bays, starting
at $2,499 Cdn. The improved "X Series" also offers
integrated wireless and security features at prices
starting from $3,799 Cdn. The latest "T Series"
has similar upgrades.
<[2001/10/10]
Oct. 8, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Eyring Corporation
has announced the release of its new prioritized multitasking
Real-Time OS for 32-bit x86 computers EYRX(R). The company
describes it as "compact, modular, scaleable, deterministic
and easily customizable. . . ." It is priced at under $2,000
US for a standard development package.
Eyring Corporation
http://www.eyring.com/
[2001/10/10]
Oct. 8, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that LXE Inc. has
announced its new MX3-CE series rugged mobiel computers.
Based on Windows CE and a 133MHz Intel SA-1110 CPU the
device has industrial oriented features such as glow-in-
the-dark phosphorescent keypads. [Price and availability
were not announced. -- JO]
LXE Inc. http://www.lxe.com/
[2001/10/10]
Oct. 5, 2001, Douglas F. Gray writes for CNN.com that HP's Jornada 560 series will feature more memory (Jornada 565 with 32MBRAM at $599 US and Jornada 568 with 64MB RAM at $649 US), longer battery life (removable batteries rate as giving up to 14 hrs.) and less weight (about 6 oz.) than the 540 series.
Also planning to announce devices are Compaq, Casio, Toshiba and Symbol. All will use the Intel 206MHz StrongARM processor.
The Compaq H3700 series is an upgrade of the H3600 series. The H3800 series features an SD card slot. All will support 64K colours and have better battery life. They will include IBM ViaVoice Mobility Suite which all some voice command capabilities. The H3700 series will be available from Thursday in North America (starting at $499 US) with the H3800 series coming in November starting at $599 US.
Symbols PPT2800 and PDT 8100 with colour screens
will feature barcode readers and are available now
with prices starting at $1,795 US.
Casio's E200 has 64MB RAM and slots for both SD and
Compact Flash, will be available in November at
prices starting at $599 US.
The Toshiba e570 will also feature both SD and
Compact Flash slots and will be available in
November at prices starting at $569 US, though
Toshiba warns of limited availability till Q1
2002.
[There are a number of annoucements which I'm not
going to cover at this time, primarily because I
ran out of time, due to Internet problems. Check
Microsoft's Website. -- JO]
Microsoft PocketPC 2002 Devices
http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/hardware/default.asp
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba
of Canada, Information Systems Group has announced
that its latest Tecra(R) 9000 and Portege(R)
4000 laptop computers have antennae embedded into
cases to support Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth(R)
wireless connectivity. The Tecra 9000 series starts
at $4,449.00 Cdn and the Portege 4000 series starts
at $3,979 Cdn. and both are immediately available.
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that ACD
Systems International Inc. has announced that
its ACDSee(TM) Mobile for Window(R) CE will
run on devices using Microsoft's newest Pocket
PC 2002 system.
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Emuzed
Inc. has announced that it has brought MPEG-4
streaming and playback to Microsoft Windows-Powered
Pocket PC 2002.
Emuzed Inc.
http://www.emuzed.com/
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that according
to Casio, a number of retails the Casio BE-300
has begun selling in US retailers.
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 3, 2001, Martyn Williams writes for IDG News
Service that Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has shown a
prototype of a PDA based on the Symbian OS. It has
a 320 * 240 "10 cm" display and an ARM CPU running
at 66MHz and an MMC card slot.
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that AudioVox Corporation
has announced that it will have a Pocke PC 2002 device
with 32MB SDRAM, 32MB of Flash memory and an Intel(R)
StrongARM 206MHz CPU, CF card and SD card slots, a 64K
colour reflective TFT display and special connectivity
to an Audiovox CDM-9100 phone handset. The company
intends to sell their device through wireless carriers.
No price or availability date was announced.
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Voice Signal Technologies,
Inc. has announced its "Embedded Large Vocabulary Interface
System" (ELVIS) software which brings speech recognition
based dictation to Pocket PC 2002 devices, to be available
in Q4 2001. [NOTE: This is not a consumer product, it is
a development platform. -- JO]
[2001/10/07]
Oct. 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that F-Secure Corporation
has introduced its "F-Secure FileCrypto for Pocket PC
Enterprise Edition". The new version will be released
in Oct. [Price was not clear in the announcement. -- JO]
F-Secure Corporation
http://www.F-Secure.com/
[2001/10/07]
Yes, we're back to that again. Due to problems beyond
my control, I was unable to make use of some of my usual
news sources. I will try to recover lost data later.
JO
[2001/10/03]
Oct. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Philips Components
(Royal Philips Electronics) has introduced a new transflective
LCD display "colour adjusting" technology which the company
claims enhances luminance and colour saturation. ". . .
[A] corner of the pixel filter is made thinner than the rest
of it, allowing light to pass through the filter unimpeded
and without adding color."
Philips
Components http://www.components.philips.com/
[2001/10/03]
Oct. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that MobileBriefs has
announced a new technology suite based on Personalized Audio
Broadcast (PAB) technology, called "Media MobileSuite."
MobileBriefs Inc.
http://www.MobileBriefs.com/
[2001/10/03]
Oct. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Acer America has
announced its TravelMate 744LCF laptop computer featuring
a 1.20 GHz Intel Mobile Pentium(R) III, available beginning
in Oct. 2001. Prices start at $2899 US.
[2001/10/03]
Oct. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Kensington has announced
its PocketType portable keyboard for Handspring(TM) Visor(TM)
devices will be available in mid-October, 2001, for $49.99 US.
Kensington Technology
Group http://www.kensington.com/
[2001/10/03]
Sept. 28, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Analog Devices, Inc. has announced general sampling of the 16-bit ADSP-21535 Blackfin(TM) DSP which claims 600 million multiply accumulate operations per second (MMACS) at 300 MHz. Also announced was a $10 US version of its ADSP-21532 300MHz DSP (in quantities of 10,000) which will begin sampling in mid-2002.
The ADSP-21535 are available now at $34 US for the
ADSP-21535PKB-300 (300 MHz) in quantities of
10,000 and $27 US for the ADSP-21535PKB-200 (200
MHz) in quantities of 10,000.
[2001/09/30]
Sept. 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Dolch
Computer Systems has announced that its new
"FieldPAC(TM)" ruggedized portable computer
features a 6 hour battery life on a Pentium III
based computer.
Dolch Computer Systems
http://www.dolch.com
[2001/09/30]
Sept. 27, 2001, Reuters reports that Intel Corp.
has announced a plan to promote adoption of
internet based information and telecom systems
in cars. The Intel Telematics Design Center
will provide free Web-based support for designing
such products using Intel technology.
[2001/09/30]
Sept. 26, 2001, Alta Terra Ventures Corp. has announced
that it is launching its "BearOps Handheld Linx for
Linux" product which is a suite of tools to transfer
information from Palm and Handspring PDA units and
Texas Instruments calculators to most Linux operating
systems.
Alta Terra Ventures Corp.
BearOps Palm support for Linux http://www.bearops.com/
[2001/09/26]
Sept. 26, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Kingston(R)
Technology Company, Inc. has announced the immediate
availability of a 512MB CompactFlash card CF/512.
The suggested retail price of the card is $599.00 US.
All Kingston CompactFlash products come with a 5 year
warranty.
[2001/09/26]
Sept. 24, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq
Computer Corporation has announced its latest
Presario 700 and 2700 Notebook PC laptop computers.
Prices for the 700 start at $999 US and for the 2700
start at $1,299 US.
[2001/09/26]
Sept. 24, 2001, Business Wire reports that Nortel
Networks has announced that its Contivity VPN
will support remote access for users of
Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Solaris,
IBM-AIX and HP-UX with no VPN gateway upgrades
required.
[Details of its Linux support are not given in
the announcement, but if it is open source, then it
might be useable on handhelds. -- JO]
[2001/09/26]
Sept. 24, 2001, PR Newswire reports that AppForge, Inc.
has announced that its AppForge Professional Edition
version 2.0 began shipping Sept. 10, 2001 and includes
support for Compaq iPAQ and HP Jornada devices as well
as PalmOS. Prices are $699 for PalmOS only support,
$899 for PocketPC only support and $1,299 for the
Professional Bundle which includes PalmOS and PocketPC
support. A "lite" "Personal Edition" version for
hobbyists is available for $69.
[2001/09/26]
Some time recently Sony began selling its latest Clie PEG N760C device which features PalmOS V 4.1 supporting the full 64K colours on its 320 * 320 screen. The price is $499.99 US. There is as yet no upgrade for the 710C (which apparently is the same hardware device but with software that only supports 256 colours per pixel). The last software upgrade was Aug. 2, 2001.
The Sony PEGA-SA500 is apparently an adapter
that brings MPEG-3 playback capability to
the lower line Sony products (N610C and PEG-S300
and S320 models). The price is $129.99 US.
I found these on Sony's Website on Sept. 21,
2001, but I have yet to see them announced.
[2001/09/26]
Compact Flash has been a problem, partly due to changes in the specification, but I'd thought that all the problems were probably solved by now. However, recently I bought a new Apacer 96MB Compact Flash card, part number 91.28030.050 and ran into the following:
I tried putting the card into the Compaq Armada 1130 (Win 95) and it crashed the computer while booting. This has happened before with an 8MB Kodak Compact Flash card which is otherwise fine, so that wasn't new. Then I tried it in the Psion Series 5MX, which is notoriously finicky. The card was properly identified, which was promising. But when I tried to format it, the 5MX was very slow and then it failed (got stuck and timed out) at about 1/2 way. I then tried to format it with a Hewlett-Packard Jornada 540. The formatting was slow again, then it stopped and reported the card was 48MB (which corresponded roughly with the point where the Series 5MX failed).
Next, I tried to format it in the Kodak DC-215, which seems to be able to format anything. This ran successfully, though the format program seemed to run through twice. It resulted in a full 96MB format, but with 4KB clusters. I put it back in the Armada 1130 again to see if Windows 95 could format it again. This time it worked. I tried Scandisk first, and though it seemed to slow down at at least 1 point, it completed and reported the card had no errors. I then reformatted it again in the Armada 1130 which gave a format with 2KB clusters.
So the card seems to be working, but not reliably
in all my devices. I'm keeping the card, since I
can use it in some of my devices, but I would not
advise other people to try it unless, like me, one
has a number of devices and therefore, is almost
certainly able to make use of a product which
might be "marginal". In the future I'll probably
stick to the more reliable brands like Kingston
and SanDisk.
[2001/09/26]
After replacing the Palm IIIx with a new refurbished
unit and upgrading it to the same software level,
and weeks of use without problems, I've concluded that
the problem was purely a hardware problem. The
fact that it became apparent when I was starting to
use the repeating appointments with alarms was
merely a coincidence.
[2001/09/26]
I have run into a problem with the digitizer which might be the result of a bug in the appointment/alarm system. The description of the attempts to deal with the problem are in the order in which I tried them:
I'm using a Palm IIIx. A few months ago I upgraded to PalmOS 3.5.2, and have had no unusual problems. On Aug. 21, I created 3 appointments that repeated daily, with alarms. This is the first time I've made real use of the appointments since I bought the Palm IIIx so I don't know if the problems I'm describing were new to 3.5.2. Shortly after I created the appointments I began having problems. At first I thought it might be application specific, but later I found that the problem was occuring even on the menu level and with all applications.
Occasionally, the digitizer completely stops working. No screen taps or work at all. At first, I assumed that the digitizer function had completely crashed. The buttons all work -- including the power on/off.
Warm-booting did not fix the problem.
I turned off the alarms in the repeating appointments, but that did not solve the problem (though the problem might have not been quite as severe). I found that if I backed-up the Palm, it would work, and so I thought that backing-up was fixing the problem. Later I discovered that backing-up was not necessary. If I just turned off the Palm for a few minutes, everything was ok. The digitizer has needed re-calibration a few times too.
I'm keeping the 3 appointments in my calendar for now. I think I can live with the problem, if it doesn't get any worse.
Next, I upgraded to PalmOS 3.5.3 and have re-instated the alarms for all the appointments. The problem was still there. When the appointment alarms are on it is seems to be worse. In these cases, it appears that re-synching really is necessary to restore operation.
I turned off the alarms again. The problem was still there with the alarms off. This time it seemed to need a warm-boot, but even that didn't actually restore the digitizer. My main computer was not available, so I could not try a backup. After a long delay (possibly over 5 minutes) it recovered.
Next I tried removing one repeating appointment. At first it was still freezing. I warm booted and eventually digitizer active again. But after the warm-boot, the digitizer freezing stopped. It seems that the problem exists only with 3 (or possibly more) daily repeating appointments, but 1 or 2 are ok.
I reinstated the alarms for the 2 remaining repeating appointments to continue the testing. After about 24 hours since I re-instated the alarms, and some heavy use of the digitizer, I think it's safe to say that setting the alarm on for the two remaining daily repeating appointments has not made any difference. The key problem seems to be having the 3rd daily repeating appointment.
One last point: For those who criticize programmers
for not being able put out perfect programs, consider
that finding out this much about this bug took me
just a little over a week's worth of testing.
Granted, a good programmer with the source code and
a good set of programming tools to work with might
have fixed it as soon as the second day, which is
when I'd realized that the interaction was probably
between the appointment handling and the digitizer.
But a large part of fixing a bug is figuring out what
conditions cause a failure.
[2001/08/26]
Unfortunately, my belief that it was stable with
the alarms active was premature. Occasionally, with
the 2 daily repeating appointments including alarms,
the digitizer settings are thrown off and the
digitizer reads a screen tap about 1 text line higher
or lower that the actual location, which makes it
difficult for marking text for editing, or inserting
the cursor. When this happens, re-calibrating is a
sufficient correction. Later, it finally crashed
again, and this time, nothing I did got the digitizer
working. I eventually removed the batteries from the
unit and depleted the capacitor which keeps the data
when a battery is removed. Putting the batteries
back in did not solve it. There seems to be a
hardware problem. It could be that my use of the
repeating appointments and alarms was just a
coincidence. I'm going to have to get this Palm
IIIx repaired or replaced and start testing all
over again.
revised [2001/08/28]
Sept. 21, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc. has
announced that it will not launch its "i705"
wireless handheld device this year. According
to Reuters, Palm says that "the market is
still tiny for the pricey devices . . . and
a delay would not significantly hurt Palm's
bottom line."
[2001/09/23]
Sept. 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm Inc. has
unveiled its m125. Estimated street price is about
$249 US. The m125 features PalmOS 4.0, a 33 MHz
Dragonball VZ processor, Secure Digital/MultiMediaCArd
expansion slot, Palms "Universal Connector" and a
large array of included application software on
CD.
[2001/09/23]
Sept. 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba
America Electronic Components, Inc. has announced
a family of 64 megabit (Mb) Pseudo Static Random
Access Memory (PSRAM) with access times of 80 or
85 nanoseconds. Designated TC51W6416XB and
TC51W6417XB the devices operate with voltage
ranging from 2.5V - 3.1V and have a low standby
current of 100 microamperes and a deep power down
standby mode of 5 microamperes. The devices use
a page mode with a page read operation of 4 words.
Samples will be available in Oct. 2001 priced at
$42 US each with full production scheduled for
January 2002.
[2001/09/23]
Sept. 18, 2001, CNN reports that "Nimda" can spread through "a compromised Web page". It can be disguised as a .WAV file. [Ironically, I may have been saved by my "cheapness". The Windows computer I usually use doesn't have a sound card, so I generally don't get ".WAV" files. -- JO]
Sept. 18, 2001, AP reports that a new worm known as
"W32.Nimda" was spreading rapidly by Thursday attacking
servers. It attacks Microsoft's Internet Information
Services sfotware typically found on computers running
Microsoft Windows NT or 2000. It uses 16 known
vulnerabilities including a security hole left behind
by "Code Red II". It also travels via email where
a message is typically left blank but contains an
attachment called "README.EXE".
[2001/09/19] revised [2001/09/23]
Some time recently, Teletype announced that they
had introduced a Compact Flash GPS adapter. I
will try to get more details later for more details.
[2001/09/23]
Sept. 18, 2001, Leander Kahney writes for Wired News that
a number of robotics teams are assisting in search and
rescue in the New York World Trade Center disaster.
[2001/09/19]
Sept. 18, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that ACD Systems
International Inc. has announced that its ACDSee(TM)
Mobile for Windows(R) CE is now available. The price
for the image viewing software is $39.95 Cdn. and a 45
day free trial version can be downloaded from their website.
ACD Systems International
Inc. http://www.ACDSYSTEMS.com/
[2001/09/19]
Sept. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motorola has
announced its new i.250 chipset for 2.5 generation
GPRS handsets. The baseband processor IC includes
ARM(R) 7 TDMI and DSP567600 cores.
[2001/09/19]
Sept. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq has announced
its latest Presario 1200 laptop computers which feature
AMD Athlon 4(R) Mobile 1.1 GHz and AMD Duron(R) 900
MHz processors. Prices for 1.1 GHz models start at
$1,399 US.
[2001/09/19]
Sept. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that MobileBriefs
Personalized Audio Broadcast is now compatible with
Microsoft Pocket PC platforms. Audio data can be used
either by syncronizing or by streaming data.
MobileBriefs Inc.
http://www.MobileBriefs.com/
[2001/09/19]
On Sept. 15, 2001, I was in the local Compucentre
store and saw the Palm m125 box priced at $379.99
Cdn. I don't know if they had it out a day or
two early or whether it has been announced, but
it's a good time to release it, about 3 months
before Christmas.
[2001/09/16]
A long while back, Rogers made their last major channel packages and I decided that we didn't need to get their premium package. I decided to get the package just up from the base package. They have "threatened" to stop the extra channels for a long time. This past week, just after the New York attack, Rogers cuts off the extra cable channels. This is ironic because it was a week in which there was little on TV except for the disaster news coverage anyway. Still, I thought it over yet again and came to the conclusion that I'm probably better off without the extra channels.
Looking at it one way, this will force me to spend even
more time working. In reality though, I don't have that
much time to spend watching TV anyway. At this rate, I
should really return to a regular TV antenna and have
cable completely disconnected. Maybe that'll happen in
the near future. Ironically, below, I'll say a bit
about using handheld computers for video, which at this
point is neither for or against cable (since cable is one
method of obtaining high speed Internet), but may someday
determine the future of video media.
[2001/09/16]
Sept. 14, 2001, Michelle Delio writes for Wired News that
the American Red Cross in New York needs IT and communications
equipment, and personnel to assist in the recovery effort.
Among specifically mentioned equipment are "laptops,
network cards, printers and CD burners." For personnel,
a specific request has gone out for "Citrix server engineers
and Microsoft-certified consultants to help in setting
up systems that will assist rescue workers in communicating
and coordinating the recovery effort." Donations should
be sent to Joe Leo, assistant director of the American
Red Cross, New York, 150 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY,
10023, USA.
[2001/09/16]
Sept. 14, 2001, Reuters reports that Handspring Inc.
on Monday will unveil the "Visor Pro" which will
feature a rechargeable battery and 16MB of memory
at $299 US, and the "Visor Neo" entry-level handheld
with 8MB memory and replaceable batteries priced
at $199.
[2001/09/16]
Sept. 12, 2001, Reuters reports that Verizon reported
extensive damage to wireline telephone equipment near
the World Trade Center, including a four call processing
computers serving 200,000 telephone lines and 3 million
private data lines for the New York Stock Exchange
and other clients. Specific wireless infrastructure
damage includes:
- Verizon Wireless, 10 transmitters
- Cingular Wireless, 6 transmitters
- Sprint Corp., 4 cell sites in the Lower Manhattan
disaster area and temporary power failures at other
sites.
However, AT&T's wireline phone system which was under
the World Trade Center was essentially undamaged and
continued to work on backup batteries for a long time.
Verizon service for the Pentagon was relatively
undamaged also.
Many wireless companies have donated equipment to aid
the relief effort.
[2001/09/16]
Sept. 11, 2001, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and
Sony Corporation have announced that their respective
Boards have approved their equally owned Mobile Phone
Joint Venture which will be called "Sony Ericsson Mobile
Communications AB" and start operations Oct. 1, 2001.
[2001/09/16]
Sept. 10, 2001, PR Newswire reports that PocketMail
Inc. has announced its PocketMail Composer handheld
device is a personal organizer with keyboard which
can be used to compose email which can be sent via
any phone. The price is $99 US, not including email
service of $14.95 US per month.
PocketMail Inc.
http://www.pocketmail.com/
[2001/09/16]
Sept. 12, 2001, PR Newswire reports that AT&T has
announced that effective immediately it has added a
new class of service for its IP VPNs. The classes
are now "high priority, low priority and best
effort."
[2001/09/12]
Sept. 12, 2001, Business Wire reports that NextComm, Inc.
has announced the launch of its Key Hopping(TM) security
system for 802.11a and 802.11b Wireless LANs. According
to NextComm it is based on MD5 which is the same
technology used to secure credit card authentication
over the wireline Internet.
[2001/09/12]
Sept. 12, 2001, PR Newswire reports that the Mobile
Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) has announced the release
of its new industry-wide reference study "OpenRAN
Architecture in 3rd Generation Mobile Systems MTR-007".
Mobile Wireless Internet
Forum http://www.mwif.org/
[2001/09/12]
Sept. 10, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that
AOpen Inc. has announced that it has begun shipping the
first two models of its 1735 Series of BareBook(TM)
"white-box" laptop computers. Typical suggested
street prices are as low as $1,400 US, depending on
final configuration for the 1735D.
AOpen Inc. laptop http://www.aopen.com/products/nb/
[2001/09/12]
Starting Sept. 5, 2001, Future Shop reduced the price
of the Palm m500 to $499.99 Cdn. I believe this
is a general price reduction in Canada, but I haven't
had a confirmation yet.
[2001/09/12]
With the Toronto International Film Festival starting last week I thought I'd look into what was going on in multimedia lately. Casio started advertising multimedia for handhelds with its E-100 product. As of today, all the current Microsoft PocketPC devices, and the upper line Sony Clie 7xx devices advertise multimedia. For the most part, people have rightly limited their use of multimedia to the sound side, using pocket computers as MPEG3 players. Ironically, "next year" may be the year that video reaches some form of practicality. It's in the numbers.
This much fairly is simple. Most of you probably know more about MPEG than me, but I'll discuss a typical example. I don't have much MPEG (which has surprised people), so looking at my admittedly small collection I'll use Natalie Imbruglia's "Pidgeons and Crumbs" as an example -- because it's the longest file I found. Technically it's a bit odd because it's strongly separated stereo and not the "thickest" sound, but it's not outside the range of what is typical for ballad/pop music. The sample rate is 44.100 kHz with an MPEG bitrate of 153 kbps. I recorded it using SoundJam 2.0 with "joint stereo." The time is 5:21 and the file size is 6,153,243 bytes (a 5.8 MB file on disk). The final byte ratio is 19,168.981 bytes per second or 1,150,138.9 bytes per minute. This is the typical rule of thumb for high quality MPEG3 -- 1MB per minute.
But that's not the whole story. MPEG3 is a variable format. I have heard claims of "acceptable" results at much lower bitrates. I haven't done testing yet, but I find it believeable that bit rates as low as 70 kbps, particularly for monophonic recording could be quite acceptable for many people. As for newer compression methods such as Microsoft and the latest MPEG CODECs I think part of the equation has to be the impact on processor use, and I don't find any tests that prove to my satisfaction that I'd want to use anything more calculation intensive than current MPEG3. I'd rather have a slower running CPU and save battery power, if that's possible.
Formats are a current problem. Since this is the Film Festival week, I decided to look for movie and TV trailers. Unfortunately, almost everything I found was Apple QuickTime. There is currently no QuickTime support for any pocket computer. But what kind of file sizes are typical? Looking at Fox's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", feature movie trailer which runs 2 min and 16 sec. with a 240 * 180 pixel frame size and sound, the file length is 4,375,338 bytes giving a byte ratio of 32,171.603 bytes per second, or 1,930,296.2 bytes per minute. The quality level is acceptable on my Apple Macintosh Performa 6360 (16-bit colour). On the other hand, a trailer for Alliance Atlantis' TV show Earth Final Conflict "Sins of The Father" episode, has a run time of 30.27 sec. and a 160 * 120 pixel frame size and sound, with a file size of 2,559,734 bytes giving 84,563.396 bytes per second or 5,073,803.8 bytes per minute. Yet the video was flickery on my 160MHz PowerPC Mac. This is clearly because the video data format was "photo JPEG".
The following descriptions are according to PocketTV (and therefore might be biased), and I have not checked it for accuracy:
Software File Format
ActiveSky Proprietary
Player
Casio
MobileVideoPlayer Proprietary
MPEG-1 video
w/DPCM audio
DiVX Proprietary, based on
MPEG-4 version 1
video and MP3 audio
in an AVI Multiplex
Microsoft Proprietary, based on
Media Player 7.1 video with Microsoft
audio and ASF
Multiplexing
Packet Video Proprietary version
PVPlayer of MPEG-4
PocketMultimedia Proprietary
wavelet-based (?)
PocketTV Standard MPEG-1
Note: PocketTV doesn't say what makes Packet Video's format "proprietary."
MPEG-1 is probably a good format for current handhelds, keeping in mind that it is a variable compression format (which uses MPEG-3 audio). Thinking back, I remember the original Amiga (8 MHz 68000 but with special sound and graphics assisting chips) being able to display MPEG-1 CD material but CD-i players based on a similar 8 MHz 68070 CPU could not handle the same discs without an add-on accelerator. In retrospect, I expect the sound compression was probaby the deciding factor. At any rate, I believe that the Sony CLIE 7xx series devices with 33MHz 68000 and DSP co-processing should be adequate to handle this format (and perhaps slightly more complex formats as well), with up to 16-bit colour, and PocketTV claims acceptable results on current PocketPC devices.
PocketTV reports and recommends the following parameters for "all Pocket PC" devices:
240 * 180 with a total bitrate of about 350 - 500 Kbps, with audio in stereo or dual channel at 64 or 96 Kbps. They advise that "good preprocessing" is important as is a "regular frame pattern (e.g. 24 frames/sec . . . )." "Only the iPaq will play properly MPEG files encoded in SIF size (320x240 or 352x240)." [I think that a well written player for the Casio E-125 should be able to do this too. -- JO] According to PocketTV, a 24 fps 240 * 180 using 2 or 3 B-frames between P-frames using 250 - 400 Kbps, and mono or stereo sound using 44.1 KHz at 64 Kbps should give good results yielding more than 30 min. on a 128MB Compact Flash, and reducing the frame size down to 160 * 120 will yield up to 70 min. on a 128MB CompactFlash card (eg. 30 sec. Top Gun movie clip = 1MB at 256Kbps.).
So a 2 MB/min. file compression seems to
be a usable estimate.
[2001/09/11]
While I was working on the above piece about
multimedia, I happened to turn on the radio
to get a late morning news update and heard
about the aircraft crashing into the World
Trade Center in New York and the attack on
the Pentagon. I intended to adding more to
this article, but I can't finish it right now.
I don't know when I'll finish the article, but
it won't be for a while. My condolences go
out to all who have lost loved ones.
[2001/09/11]
Sept. 6, 2001, Hewlett-Packard has announced that it
has begun shipping its Jornada 565 and 568 handheld
computers which feature Microsoft(R) PocketPC 2002
Premium Edition. They feature "CompactFlash Type 1
extended" slot, a removable/rechargeable 14-hour
lithium-polymer battery, HP Safe Store and "an
additional 8MB of FlashROM for backing up vital data
and applications," a 16-bit front-lit TFT reflective
colour screen, Intel(R) StrongARM 206 MHz processor,
Certicom's MovianVPN and HP Chai and HP Microchai
software for Java(TM) support. Consumer sales are
expected to begin Oct. 4, 2001, with the 32MB
565 at $599 US and the 64MB 568 at $649 US.
HP Jornada 565/568 Announcement
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/06sept01a.htm
[2001/09/11]
Sept. 9, 2001, The Industry Standard reports that Microsoft
will unveil its "Pocket PC 2002" operating system on
Oct. 4, 2001. Improvements will include Microsoft's instant
messaging software, customizable startup page, ability to
view contacts organized by company names, handwriting
recognition "built into the operating system" (as opposed
to separately loaded), ability to send .WAV attachments
via email (for voice responses), spell checking in both
Word and Inbox, ability to beam messages to and from PalmOS
devices, "virtual private network" support (and features
to ease development of network based products), return to
full passwords (instead of 4 number PINs), but time limited,
a new book reader, and Media Player 8.
[2001/09/09]
Sept. 8, 2001, Farhad Manjoo writes for Wired News that at
Sept. 9, 2001, 01:46:40 UT, Unix operating systems will reach
1 billion seconds (since Jan. 1, 1970) and thus, the internal
clocks will wrap to "0". No significant problems are
anticipated.
[2001/09/09]
Sept. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc.,
Shinei International and Liquid Audio, Inc. have
announced a complete digital music package for
the Palm m100 and m105 devices. The system is based
on Shinei's Porteson MP3 player which can be used
stand-alone or with the Palm m100 or m105. It comes
with 32MB of memory for $149.99 US or 64MB of
memory for $199.99 US. It also takes SD or MMC
cards, comes with a USB interface and runs on 2
AAA batteries.
Shinei International
(electromechanical contract mfr.) http://www.shinei.com.sg/
[2001/09/09]
Sept. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that the MIDI
Manufacturing Association has announced its new
eXtensible Music Format (XMF) specification which
is designed for better use with internet and wireless
delivery.
MIDI Manufacturing Assocation
http://www.midi.org/
[2001/09/09]
Sept. 6, 2001, Reuters reports that Microsoft Corp.
launched its Pocket PC 2002 operating system on Sept.
6, 2001. Among the first products which will be
available in Oct. 2001, will be Hewlett-Packard's
HP Jornada 565 and 568 devices which will retail
at $599 and $649 US (less $50 rebate through to
the end of 2001).
[2001/09/09]
Sept. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Bluefish Wireless,
Inc. has introduced its Bluetooth and infrared enabled
"Access Point" which is capable of supporting up to 8 client
devices at once. The Access Point will be available in
the 4th quarter 2001 at $500 US. An accompanying server
using a 900MHz RF transceiver is available today for $1,200
US.
Bluefish Wireless,
Inc. http://www.bluefishUSA.com/
[2001/09/09]
Sept. 5, 2001, Agfa Monotype Corporation has announced
that it has licensed its patented Asian Compression
for TrueType(TM), which is a lossless compression for
Asian TrueType fonts, to Microsoft and that it will
be integrated into Microsoft's next version of Windows
CE (Talisker). Agfa claims compression up to 70%
without loss of display quality.
[2001/09/05]
Sept. 5, 2001, Business Wire reports that NewSoft has
announced the availability of its Presto! BizCard Reader
which is a small scanner with OCR software. The
scanner is capable of 600 dpi resolution. The product
is available for $149 US online at www.eperipherals.com
and will be in stores by October, 2001.
[2001/09/05]
Sept. 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motorola, Inc.
has announced the ruggedized i55sr handset for iDEN
systems which meets military standards for shock and
vibration resistance and features Java(TM) 2 Platform,
Micro Edition support. Prices are expected to
range from $129 - $227 US depending on service
provider.
[2001/09/05]
Sept. 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that MedicWare Inc. has
launched its MedicWare EMR 5.0 which features "real-time
wireless access to complete patient medical records using
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or notebook computer.
MedicWare Inc.
http://www.medicware.com/
[2001/09/05]
Sept. 5, 2001, Reuters reports that Sony Electronics
Inc. has unveiled its third generation Aibo entertainment
robots. This time there are two versions. The Latte
which is a light coloured robot and the Macaron which
is a dark colour robot, both cost about $850 US
each, but are a bit more capable than the 2nd generation
Aibo (ERS-210). Spoken command recognition is raised
from 50 to 75 and a new tonal language allows for it
to sing melodies.
Sony Aibo Robots
http://www.aibo.com/
[2001/09/05]
Sept. 4, 2001, Reuters reports that Motorola Inc.
has announced that it has developed a method of
using gallium arsenide on silicon wafers reducing
the cost of GA performance (which is about 40 times
faster) to silicon production costs (about 1/10th
the cost). Motorola also has rights to indium
phosphide and gallium nitride technologies. Chips
using the new gallium arenide technology might be
available as early 2002.
[2001/09/05]
On Sept. 4, 2001, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq announced plans to merge, with the resulting company mainly using the Hewlett-Packard name and upper management.
Historically, mergers like this have not been beneficial to the mobile computing market. In general, we've lost variety. Three previous mergers stand out. There were the Samsung buyout of AST, the NEC buyout of Packard-Bell and the Compaq buyout of DEC.
In the case of Samsung, AST was reduced from an innovator to a rebrander of Samsung, and then eventually absorbed, though the company name was eventually resurrected. AST was a leader in the wider/thinner format laptop computer movement which has continued to this day. Packard-Bell was a leader in lower priced laptops and though I don't feel they were significantly innovative, NEC never really pursued the lower price laptop market. On the other hand, perhaps the price gap makes the MobilePro-790 more viable, and I consider that a plus. When Compaq bought out DEC, DEC had just brought out a very highly considered line of innovative laptop products, which Compaq soon discontinued.
Also during that period, DEC had sold off its StrongARM to Intel. I don't think you can fault Compaq for that -- there might have been a three-way deal going on, but if so, I have no such information. But the StrongARM was already establishing itself as a leading product in the mobile field before Intel got it. At any rate, we were fortunate that this was not a loss for consumers -- only for shareholders who would probably like to undo that transaction.
As for the current merger, there is some "easy" predicting and some more difficult. The easy prediction is that the current Jornada 5xx series will be dumped. If this happens, it will be a very sad example of real loss to the consumer. One must keep in mind that all handheld products are very heavily compromised, so there has aways been a very wide range of decisions. Many of the HP choices were good -- not all, but many.
The hardware controls on the HP were generally better than the Compaq iPaq. I felt the buttons should have been a bit bigger, but the locations were well considered, and the side rocker switch was the best on any of the "PocketPC" devices. The screen switch properly recognized that the audio player function would be popular. By comparison, while the iPaq controls look like a good arrangement, the big cursor control button turns out to be clumsy. At best it's ignorable since the software always has screen controls. On the other hand, the reflected light TFT screen on the iPaq made it viable both indoors and outdoors. The differences were not that strong in either direction.
The bottom line is that both products were actually viable. I'm not exactly sure why the Compaq sales took off so far better than HP. There are some factors that are clearly significant, but the sales differential was huge -- far beyond the effect of the one or two most obvious factors.
The probable result of this merger will at least be to bring a more consistent line to market -- based on ARM technology. The Compaq iPaqs and the Jornada 720 should be the basis for that lineup. Hopefully there will be more. I felt that Jornada 800 series was dropped prematurely, and perhaps someday they will reconsider that form factor, which was close to the original HP Omnibook series subnotebooks.
Software-wise, things are less obvious and more
interesting. Unlike HP, Compaq is a leader in the
handheld-Linux field. The success of the Compaq iPaq
PocketPC device is a strong indication that the
Microsoft name is not that significant in the handheld
computer field. If the rest of the PocketPC field had
major sales gains like the Compaq, then you might point
to the Microsoft influence. But sales of Casio and HP
were at best, moderate by comparison. Moreover, the
desire for Linux was strong enough that a 3rd party has
already begun selling the Compaq with a Linux load in
Europe. The decisions regarding the iPaq's software
future are dependent on the resulting company's
management personnel and philosophy. It will be much
more significant than the general public is aware.
[2001/09/05]
Sept. 2, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc. has
introduced its "Palm(TM) Mobile Mentor(TM) software"
which consists of 3 CDs of "organization, productivity,
learning and teaching applications for educators, high
school students and college students." Each CD is
priced at $39.95 US. Orders are placeable through
"http://store.palm.com/" and is expected to ship on
Sept. 25, 2001.
[2001/09/02]
Aug. 31, 2001, Reuters reports that Sony Corp. has
announced that it has discontinued its "e Villa"
Internet appliance and is offering to buy them
back. The dedicated online service will end on
Sept. 13, 2001.
[I rarely include something so remote from the
mobile field, but the BeOS based device is apparently
being discontinued at least in part because of Palm's
purchase of BeOS. This is a surprise since Sony is
also a user of PalmOS, so the fact that both software
systems will be owned by Palm should not have been
an issue to Sony. -- JO]
[2001/09/02]
Aug. 30, 2001, Reuters reports that Sega Corp. and Synovial
Inc. have announced that Sega has licensed game content
to Synovial which has developed "Virtual Game Gear" for
Microsoft Pocket PC devices. According to Synovial, the
Virtual Games Gear software will be embedded into new
PocketPC computers sold later this year. Users will have
the option to buy additional game software. Sega says
that it is continuing to work on software for PalmOS,
but has not made further announcements regarding that
work.
[2001/09/02]
Aug. 29, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motorola, Inc. has
announced that its researchers have fabricated what it
claims is the industry's first "extreme ultraviolet" (EUV)
photomasks for use in manufacturing sub-micron ICs.
[2001/09/02]
Aug. 29, 2001, Business Wire reports that Intel(R)
Corporation has announced its AnyPoint(TM) Wireless
II Network family of products based on IEEE 802.11b
featuring data transfers up to 11 Mbps. The PC
card is available immediately for $129 US as well
as the USB model at $149 US. A consumer version
of the Intel Wireless Gateway will be available
in October.
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 29, 2001, BW HealthWire reports that Araccel AB has
announced the global release of its Araccel Evolution(TM)
Clinical Digital Assistant(TM) (CDA)(TM).
[The announcement is unclear, but this seems to
be a software package running on Compaq iPaq and
HP Jornada PocketPC's presumably linked through a
server. JO]
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 28, 2001, Reuters reports that Handspring has
reduced the Visor Phone again. Now, if bought with
a handheld device and then immediately activated
"through a compatible carrier" the Visor Phone
module is free. Existing customers can still buy
it for $49 US.
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 28, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Century Embedded
Technologies has announced its PIXIL(TM), a "commercial
ready embedded Linux operating environment and development
suite optimized for small footprint smart flat-panel
devices." PIXIL supports x86, PowerPC, StrongARM, MIPS
and SH. PIXIL features a full PIM suite and an Internet
browser.
Century Embedded
Technologies PIXIL suite
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 28, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Anycom(TM), Inc.
has announced that it has released what it claims is the
first commercially available Bluetooth Compact Flash
card in the US and Europe. The card is immediately
available globally for $199 US.
Anycom, Inc.
(Bluetooth Compact Flash card) http://www.anycom.com/
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 27, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc. has
named David Nagel, chief technology officer of AT&T
Corp. as president and chief executive officer of
its new Platform Solutions subsidiary, in charge of
Palm's software efforts.
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that AlphaSmart, Inc.
has licensed Palm OS(R) and is planning new products
on this platform while continuing to develop its own
AlphaSmart 3000 product line in the educational field.
AlphaSmart, Inc.
(mobile educational products) http://www.alphasmart.com/
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Gateway, Inc.
has introduced its new Gateway Solo(R) 9550 portable
computer featuring a Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) III
Processor-M at speeds up to 1.13GHz and a 15.7" screen.
Prices start at $1,799 US.
[2001/08/29]
Aug. 26, 2001, Business Wire reports that IBM has announced
that their research team has created and demonstrated the
world's first single molecule computer circuit -- a voltage
inverter, from a carbon nanotube. The team has found that
the circuit has a gain of 1.6 and the process is selectively
controllable and reversable which indicates that it might
have the potential to be commercially viable.
[2001/08/26]
Aug. 24, 2001, Reuters reports that Apple Computer In.c
has reduced the price of its Titanium PowerBook G4 laptop
computers. The 400MHz G4 is reduced from $2,599 US to
$2,199 US and the 500MHz version is reduced from $3,499
US to $2,999 US beginning Aug. 25, 2001.
[2001/08/26]
Aug. 22, 2001, Business Wire reports that Intel Corporation
and Compaq Computer Corporation have announced that they
will work together of wireless handheld communications
devices and applications based on the "Intel Personal
Internet Client Architecture" which will use the Compaq
iPaq PocketPC as a reference platform. According to
the announcement, the current focus is on "complex
multimedia applications."
[2001/08/26]
Aug. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that PacketVideo Corporation
and Texas Instruments Incorporate have announced that
they will create application development tools for TI's
OMAP(TM) platform and PacketVideo's PVPlatform(TM) for
streaming multimedia applications.
[2001/08/26]
Aug. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that PlayMedia, Inc.
has optimized its AMP(R) MP3 playback engine for Intel(R)
StrongARM and XScale(TM) platforms.
PlayMedia, Inc.
http://www.playmediasystems.com/
[2001/08/26]
Aug. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that BestNet Communications
Corp. has announced that it has begun a new conference calling
service for PalmOS users.
[I'm not sure what the benefit is or how the Palm
device fits into this service. I'm posting this on a
"benefit of the doubt" basis. -- JO]
BestNet Communications
Corp. http://www.bestnetcall.com/
[2001/08/26]
Aug. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that SiPix, Inc. has
announced that its Pocket Printer A6 now supports
Pocket PC devices when using FieldSoftware Products'
PrintPocketCE. The PrintPocketCE software costs
$39.95 US.
FieldSoftware
Products http://www.fieldsoftware.com/
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 22, 2001, Business Wire reports that QUALCOMM
Incorporated and Nortel Networks have announced that
they have succeeded in making the first successful
"end-to-end live third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X
Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) call." IS-835 Mobile IP
is necessary for data users "to roam uninterrupted
across 3G wireless packet networks" by maintaining
data connections between cells without maintaining
air links and only activating air links when needed
to move data. Supporting chipsets are now in production
and required software will be available in calendar
Q3 of 2001.
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 22, 2001, Reuters reports that Hewlett-Packard
will launch its "HP Chai-LX" platform to develop
Linux applications for small consumer devices like
stereos and cell phones.
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 21, 2001, Business Wire reports that Intel
Corporation and Symbian have announced that they are
working together to accelerate application development
on Intel's "Personal Internet Client Architecture"
(Intel PCA) and Symbian OS. Their current effort
is to port Symbian OS to Intel XScale(TM) which will
be the development path of StrongARM.
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 20, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD has
announced 1.1 GHz mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 4 and 900 MHz
mobile AMD Duron(TM) processors featuring PowerNow!(TM)
technology. The Athlon 4 processor is made using
AmD's 0.18-micron copper process technology and supports
a 200MHz front-side bus. On chip Level 1 cache is
128KB and Level 2 cache is 256KB. At the same time,
AMD also announced a non-mobile 1 GHz AMD Duron
processor based on the new "Morgan" core which has an
extended multimedia instruction set. The mobile CPUs
are being used in Compaq Presario 1200 laptop computers
available now, with other manufacturers to announce
products soon. The 1.1 GHz AMD mobile Athon 4 CPU costs
$425 US in quantities of 1,000 units, and the 900 MHz
AMD Duron processor is priced at $130 US in quantities
of 1,000 units.
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 20, 2001, Reuters reports that Handspring Inc. has
announced price cuts on Visor products. The Visor Edge
price drops from $399 US to $299 US. Other price drops
are: Visor 2MB reduced from $149 US to $129 US, the
Deluxe 8MB reduced from $199 US to $169 US, the Visor
Platinum reduced from $$249 US to $199 US. The Visor
Prism remains at $399 US.
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 20, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that xwave has
unveiled its "OnPatrol" product which allows police to
use RIM BlackBerry devices to access secured data.
[2001/08/22]
Aug. 17, 2001, BW HealthWire reports that Lexi-Comp, Inc.
has announced that its latest software for PalmOS devices
features a "Special Alerts" field which is being used
to deliver the most current medical announcements.
All products are available for free trial download at:
Lexi-Comp,
Inc. Free Trial software http://www.lexi.com/palmcenter.htm
[2001/08/19]
Aug. 16, 2001, Reuters reports that at a recent USENIX
Association symposium, Peter Zatko and Joe Grand have
pointed out that more and more sensitive data is being
stored on pocket computer devices, and particularly
PalmOS, which have poor security systems. Such
applications as "one-time password generation, storage
of medical records and confidential inventory tracking,"
are areas of risk. Connectivity through wireless
technology increases the threat of compromise.
[2001/08/19]
Aug. 16, 2001, Business Wire reports that Bachmann Software
has launched the commercial release of its FilePoint(TM)
software for Palm OS(R) handheld devices. FilePoint
brings the well known tree style file organization to
Palm devices. The retail cost of FilePoint is $19.95 US.
Bachmann Software
http://www.bachmannsoftware.com/
[2001/08/19]
Aug. 16, 2001, PR Newswire report that Motorola, Inc.
has unveiled its Talkabout T6400 radio transceiver which
combines both 14 FRS and 8 GMRS frequencies, each with
38 call codes, and offering "Eavesdrop Reducer" codes
which enhance privacy by selectably coded scrambling.
The suggested retail price is $109.99 US, not including
the US required FCC GMRS licence which is $85 US for
5 years use. The product will be available in the US
in Sept. 2001.
[I don't know the Canadian licensing requirements for
US GMRS frequencies. -- JO]
[2001/08/19]
Aug. 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc. is buying
the assets of Be Incorporated, and that Be's Jean-Louis
Gasse will be assisting the transfer as a temporary advisor,
and that Alan Kessler, general manager of Palm's Platform
Solutions Group is leaving Palm.
[2001/08/19]
Aug. 16, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Telesis has
announced the release of its OnAir MOBILE(TM) version 4.0
software which speeds email transfers of Microsoft
Outlook and Exchange messages.
[2001/08/19]
The upcoming Casio BE-300 will be the first pocket computer to use the NEC Vr-4131 CPU. I haven't checked out all the latest devices in detail, but as far as I know, this will be the first device to use a true "superscalar" RISC CPU. NEC snuck this one past me when they decided to use the Vr-4131 name. NEC already had a dual-issue superscalar core, but it used the Vr-5xxx name system for it. When I saw the Vr-41xx name, I assumed that they were still using a single pipeline design. I haven't seen the actual details yet, but in their preliminary product description, NEC describes the chip as having a "Two-way superscalar pipeline." Based on a 0.13-micron technology, the performance claims are striking:
The chip also features a new 4th energy saving mode.
Putting such a chip in its lower cost BE-300 device, with
Flash memory should give Casio a fresh start in the eyes
of the development community.
[2001/08/19]
Aug. 15, 2001, Business Wire reports that WideRay has
announced the availability of its Remote Application Server
for HTML and SQL driven applications, supporting Wide
Area wireless or small area Infrared and Bluetooth
connectivity. Client software is available for Palm and
WindowsCE PocketPC devices.
WideRay
http://www.wideray.com/
[2001/08/14]
Aug. 15, 2001, Business Wire reports that TUXIA and
STMicroelectronics have announced that STMicroelectronics
has chosen TUXIA's "TUXIA Appliance Synthesis
Technology" (TASTE(R)) Linux software line for its
STPC(R) family of x86 System-on-Chipc (SoC) microprocessors.
STMicroelectronics
http://www.st.com/
TUXIA(R) Linux
http://www.tuxia.com/
[2001/08/14]
Aug. 14, 2001, PR Newswire reports that iGo Corporation
has opened its Road Warrior(R) International Survival
Guide Website and Road Warrior(R) International Survival Guide Handbook.
iGo Corporation Road Warrior(R)
International Survival Guide http://www.igo.com/travel/
[2001/08/14]
Aug. 14, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Tegic
Communications and America Online, Inc. have announced the
release of version 5.1 of "T9(R) Text Input software" which
has the ability to add custom words, and adds support for
Bulgarian, Indonesian, Malay and Romanian.
Tegic Communications
http://www.T9.com/
[2001/08/15]
Aug. 13, 2001, Canada Newswire reports that Xybo Systems has
announced its WirelessContact Server which acts as an extension
to FrontRange Solutions' GoldMine and interfacing with any Internet-
enabled device, including RIM products, mobile phones, PDAs etc.
[It is not entirely clear in the announcement, but it
appears the product is immediately available. Pricing was
not announced. -- JO]
Xybo Systems (wireless extension
to GoldMine) http://www.xybo.com/
[2001/08/15]
On Aug. 14, 2001, I was in the local Future Shop
and I saw the Palm m500 priced at $599.99 with
a date noted Sept. 3, 2001. It was unclear whether
this was a sale by the store or a price drop by
Palm. I'll try to find out more later.
[2001/08/15]
Casio has recently begun selling its new E-750 product in Japan. This WindowsCE PocketPC device features a 200MHz version of the NEC Vr4131 CPU. While the styling has changed to a slightly smoother look giving it a familial relation to the EM-500, the layout of ports and controls appears to be the same as the E-1xx series devices. The screen also appears to be the same backlighted TFT screen used by the E-1xx series. One expects that the same device will eventually show up in North America with English software and possibly, a different name.
Notably, the current Japanese lineup also includes the
E-700 which is a Japanese version of the EM-500, the
E-800 which is the Japanese version of the EG-800
industrial unit available in North America, and the
E-707, which seems to be a wireless adapted version of
the EM-500/E-700 (with an antenna port).
Casio PocketPC In Japan http://www.casio.co.jp/pocketpc/
[2001/08/15]
Aug. 8, 2001, Reuters reports that Oracle Corp. has
"shipped an update of its 11i e-business software
that enables users to access its applications on
hand-held devices, Wb-enabled telephones and other
mobile device."
[2001/08/12]
Aug. 8, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Clickmarks has
announced the addition of its universal multilingual
support to its mobile data products. Its Mobile Habitat(TM)
is a portal infrastructure that is licensed to wireless
carriers. Its multilingual feature works on any WAP and
WML-compliant mobile client devices (including Palm
handhelds, Pocket PC's and EPOC devices) equipped with a
browser and graphics display abilities supporting GIF, JPEG,
WBMP, or PNG image formats.
Clickmarks
http://www.clickmarks.com/
[2001/08/12]
May 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that every full-time Visiting Nurse at VNA Home Health Systems in Santa Ana, California (a non-profit community-based organization) is receiving a PDA with special software. 35 Visiting Nurses are now using the devices with more to phased in over the next quarter. The software was written by the Visiting Nurse's Association's CEO, Jeneane Brian.
Aug. 8, 2001, PR Newswire reports that the VNAHHS
software is now getting international attention, citing
the International Mobile Informatics Conference in
Healthcare in Nova Scotia and a presentation to a
delegation of faculty from the Taiwanese National
University on Aug. 4, 2001, and notes that "Beta
teams are experiencing up to 50% reduction in time
spent on paperwork." Websites are:
Visiting Nurse's Association
Home Health Systems http://www.vnahhs.com/
RN Palm http://www.rnpalm.com/jeneane_brian.htm
[2001/05/20] updated [2001/08/12]
Aug. 7, 2001, Business Wire reports that SOTAS, Inc.
has announced that TELUS is now beginning to use its
SecureWave(TM) fraud management system. The installation
costs TELUS $4.2 million US.
[2001/08/12]
Aug. 8, 2001, Business Wire reports that AvantGo, Inc.
has announced that AvantGo is not shipping support for
the RIM BlackBerry. The products include AvantGo(R)
4.0 M-Business Server and Client for the RIM BlackBerry,
AvantGo 4.0 Application Alerts which includes graphics
and embedded interactive form support, and AvantGo
Mobile Sales(TM) Extensions for CRM.
[2001/08/08]
Aug. 7, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Lexar Media, Inc.
has announced the availability of its 512MB 12x USB-enabled
Type I CompactFlash(TM).
[Apparently the "12x" refers to 12 x regular speed,
or more precisely, 1.8MB/sec sustained write speed.
Price was not given in the announcement. -- JO]
Lexar Media, Inc.
http://www.digitalfilm.com/
[2001/08/08]
Aug. 7, 2001, Business Wire reports that Bell Canada
and Nortel Networks have announced a contract worth
about $180 million Canadian to expand Bell Mobility's
CDMA based PCS network west into Alberta and British
Columbia. The expansion will be fully 3G "out of the
box" supporting cdma2000 1XRTT and is expected to
be operational in major urban centers in early 2002.
Data rate targets are 384 kbps in the near term with
2 Mbps in the longer term.
[2001/08/08]
Aug. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Thales Navigation
has announced that the new Magellan Meridian(TM) series
GPS is the first such product line to use Secure Digital
Memory Card for storage. The new products will also
feature larger, grey scale screen. Sizes will be about
6.1" * 2.7" * 1.2" with weight of about 8 oz. The first
products will be available September 2001 with more to
follow in the Fall of 2001.
Thales
Navigation http://www.thales-navigation.com/
[2001/08/08]
Aug. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba America
Electronic Components, Inc. has announced the introduction
of a 128 Megabyte Secure Digital Memory Card, SD-M1280.
Sample cards are immediately available at $149 US "in OEM
quantities." Toshiba has also announced plans to follow
this product with a 256MB SD Memory Card in Q4 2001.
[2001/08/08]
On Aug. 3, 2001 I noticed that the price of the Casio
E-125 had dropped in the local Staples from $699.00 Cdn.
down to $599.00 Cdn. I called Casio Canada today and
found that Casio has lowered the price of the E-125
for competitive reasons. The E-125 is the only current
consumer handheld computer with hardware floating point
support which raises its performance in math intensive
applications well beyond even the 200MHz range ARM
based devices.
[2001/08/08]
Aug. 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Computer Associates
International, Inc. has found a new variant of the Code Red
virus. This version "manipulates system settings, and
installs and launches a Trojan version of Windows File
Explorer" which can "leave the infected computer open to
remote connections making it possible for files to be
accessed and stolen." The target systems are Microsoft
Windows 2000 running Microsoft Internet Information
Server (ISS).
Computer Associates
Virus Info http://ca.com/virusinfo/
[2001/08/05]
July 25, 2001, CNN reports that the "Sircam" virus is spreading in Europe. According to the article the virus may be attacking more email systems than just "Microsoft Outlook" (which is the only one specifically mentioned). This virus selects random files on a computer system and sends them to every name in a victim's address book. The virus is harder to identify because the message name changes to the file name sent. The file is found in "C:\recycled\SirC32.exe\" and appears as "SCam32.exe" in the Windows System directory.
Aug. 3, 2001, CNN.com reports that the Sircam virus is
still spreading and according to the news website "ForUm",
has caused the secret schedule of Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma and other political leaders to be made
public. Also, according to the article, the virus
"includes a time bomb, wet to go off on October 16, which
in rare instances, could destroy many or all computer
files."
[2001/07/25] updated [2001/08/05]
Aug. 3, 2001, Reuters reports that according to
Scott Fluhrer of Cisco Systems Inc. and Itsik Mantin
and Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute of Israel,
the security system used in IEEE 802.11b "Wi-Fi"
networks is even easier to break than was earlier
believed. WECA has already been recommending that
secondary security systems should be used. A new
report will be made on Aug. 16-17 at the Eighth
Annual Workshop on Selected Areas in Cryptography
in Toronto.
[2001/08/05]
Aug. 2, 2001, Reuters reports that Sprint PCS Group and
AirPrime Inc. have announced that Sprint will offer
AirPrime's "Digital Link" SpringBoard(TM) for Handspring
Visor handheld computer devices. The module will allow
the use of the Visor devices at cell phones similar to
the VisorPhone, but on Sprint's network.
What is not in the announcement is the fact that
Sprint PCS is a CDMA network. It is not clear from
this announcement, whether the "Digital Link" uses
CDMA technology. -- JO]
[2001/08/05]
Aug. 2, 2001, Reuters reports that Dell Computer Corp.
on Thursday announced that it has stopped offering Linux
pre-installed on personal computers, including laptops,
due to lack of demand.
[2001/08/05]
July 31, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Plaintree Systems
Inc. has released its WAVEBRIDGE(TM) 600 series optical
wireless link which provides network connections up to 100
and 155 Mbps. The device uses an International Electrotechnical
Commission Class 1 rated Light Emitting Diode (eye-safe under
all foreseeable conditions, including the use of binoculars
for alignment purposes).
[2001/08/05]
Aug. 1, 2001, Business Wire reports that MapQuest has
announced the release of Mobile MapQuest 3.0 for
Palm OS devices, and supporting wireless retrieval
of maps and travel routes.
MapQuest.com
http://www.mapquest.com/
[2001/08/01]
Aug. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp.
has announced the availability of Streets & Trips 2002
which the company claims has "comprehensive maps for
every ZIP code in the United States and Canada."
Some information is updateable via the Internet.
The price is $64.95 Cdn with a $15 Cdn rebate until
Dec. 31, 2003.
[2001/08/01]
Aug. 1, 2001, WAP Forum(TM) has announced that it has
released the WAP 2.0 specification which features
the WML 2.0 for public review. WML 2.0 is now an
XHTML architecture incorporating Cascading Style
Sheets.
WAP Forum
http://www.wapforum.org/
[2001/08/01]
Aug. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has
announced the launch of its D-Link Air DCF-650W
which is an 11 Mbps IEEE802.11b Compact Flash
Wireless Network Adaptor using 2.4 GHz Direct
Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) operating on 3.3V
DC in two different power consumption modes.
The device is compatible with Windows CE 3.0.
The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price is $199 US
and it is immediately available.
D-Link (Compact Flash
WLAN) http://www.dlink.com/
[2001/08/01]
Aug. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Intrinsyc Software,
Inc. has announced its Cerf(TM)PDA reference design which
the company is aiming at what they are calling the
"Embedded-Internet enterprise" market. The design is based
on the Intel(R) StrongArm-1110(TM) processor running
Windows CE and Linux. The specification features a 3.8"
STN colour display, 64MB SDRAM, 32MB Flash and many
configuration options. The design is compatible with
the upcoming Intel XScale(R) processor.
[2001/08/01]
July 31, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Neomar, Inc. claims
to have fixed security holes in Palm and RIM Blackberry
mobile devices via its Neomar Enterprise Server which creates
a secure link between the corporate network and the
handheld devices.
Neomar, Inc.
http://www.neomar.com/
[2001/08/01]
July 31, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Parachute
Technologies, LLC has introduced its Parachute(TM) PC Card
adapter for Palm devices. The Parachute III(TM) allows
Palm III owners to use PC Cards. The company is taking
orders with delivey expected in 6 - 8 weeks. The price is
$149.00 US. According to the company, the adapter works
with "the entire Palm III series (except the Palm IIIc)
including the IBM Workpad PC Companion."
Parachute Technologies, LLC http://www.parachutetech.com/
[2001/08/01]
July 30, 2001, Joe Wilcox writes for CNET News.com that
IBM's latest ThinkPad T23 includes network connectivity
on the motherboard (freeing up an extra mini-PCI slot
for an internal wirless card) and advanced security
hardware on the motherboard. Prices start at $2,279 US
and is available July 31, 2001.
[2001/08/01]
July 30, 2001, Reuters reports that Intel Corp. on Monday
introduced 5 laptop microprocessors. The new chips are
based on 0.13 micron process technology. The fastest is
a Pentium III running at 1.13 GHz.
[2001/08/01]
July 27, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc. is
reorganizing by forming a separate wholly owned unit
for its software group.
[2001/07/29]
July 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Casio, Inc.
has announced that The Stanford Center for Research
in Disease Prevention will use Cassiopeia E-125 Pocket
PC devices to conduct studies investigating how portable
technology can be used to motivate better health
behavior among people over 50.
[2001/07/29]
July 26, 2001, PR Newswire report that Portable Innovation
Technology, Ltd. have unveiled its PiDirect(TM) application
to be used with the MemPlug Springboard(TM) module. The
combination of the hardware and software will allow Handspring
Visor devices to run application programs and read-only
databases stored on the memory card. The program costs
$19.95 US for a single user license with an introductory
price of $9.95 US until Aug. 30, 2001.
Portable Innovation
Technology, Ltd. (MemPlug For Visor) http://www.memplug.com/
[2001/07/29]
July 26, 2001, Ian Fried writes that George Andre says
that he is testing a software emulator of a Palm III
that runs on Microsoft Windows PocketPC devices. He
projects a price of about $30 US. He claims speed
is roughly 70% of a Palm III, but it is an early version
and there is room for optimizing.
[The article doesn't say which PocketPC device the
software is being tested on. If it's the iPaq, then
similar software will probably be even slower on the
HP Jornada or Casio devices which run at slower CPU
speeds. -- JO]
[2001/07/29]
July 26, 2001, Ian Fried writes that according to Compaq,
their iPaq is the only device "ready" to upgrade to
Microsoft's next version of PocketPC software "Merlin"
which is due this fall. Merlin is still based on Windows
CE version 3.0 and Microsoft is characterizing it as
a "substantial upgrade." According to Fried, Compaq's
latest quarterly report claims the company shipped
450,000 iPaq handhelds in the quarter.
[2001/07/29]
July 25, 2001, Business World reports that Audible and Card Access have announced that the Audible Advisor(TM) Springboard(TM) module for the Handspring(TM) Visor(TM) is now available. The 16MB capacity card holds 4.4 hours of Internet delivered audio. The suggested price is $129.95 US, but an introductory price of $49.95 US is available for customers subscribing for 1 year at $12.95 US per month.
July 24, 2001, Ian Fried writing for CNET News.com
writes that the Audible Advisor has 16MB memory which
Audible claims will hold 4.5 hours of spoken audio.
By comparison, the SoundsGood digital-audio player
which costs $149 US has 64MB of memory. Microsoft is
an Audible investor. [I usually estimate 1 min.
of play time for 1MB for highest quality MP3 files.
But MP3 is capable of playing reduced fidelity files
which might give the equivalent playback time ratios.
I don't know if the SoundsGood can handle such files
-- JO]
Audible, Inc.
http://www.audible.com/
[2001/07/25]
updated [2001/07/29]
July 25, 2001, Business Wire reports that Infineon
Technologies has announced the availability of
sample quantities of it s1280Mbit Mobile-RAM
(very low power SDRAM) mounted in JEDEC standard
Fine-pitch Ball Grid Array packages. The initial
price is $15.00 US in small unit quantities.
Infineon Technologies AG (Mobile-RAM)
http://www.infineon.com/mobile-ram/
[2001/07/25]
July 25, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that ACD
Systems International Inc. has announced the introduction
of its "ACDSee Mobile" software supporting Palm OS(R).
The system converts over 40 image formats to a format
capable of being viewed on its software running on Palm
OS 3.3 or later. The price is $19.95 Cdn. with a
45 day downloadable trial version.
ACD Systems International Inc.
http://www.acdsystems.com/english/products/acdsee-mobile/
[2001/07/25]
July 24, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that key suppliers of ARM(R) core
devices (Intel, Motorola and TI) have joined the
"Palm OS(R) Ready Program" and will release
reference designs based on each company's ARM
based products.
[2001/07/25]
July 24, 2001, PR Newswire reports that MSN has announced
that it's wireless service MSN(R) Mobile 4.0 has been
been upgraded to allow operators to offere wireless access
to MSN Hotmail(R) and MSN Messenger Service.
[2001/07/25]
July 24, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Avaya Inc. has
announced that Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is using
Avaya's DEINITY(R) Wireless Business System to integrate
its communications systems including phone, pager and
emergency equipment for more than 300 physicians, nurses
and service technicians.
Avaya Inc. (wireless)
http://www.avaya.com/
[2001/07/25]
July 23, 2001, in separate announcements through PR
Newswire Gateway, Inc. has introduced two new laptop
computers:
Solo(R) 1200 is an economical laptop for students and SOHO
markets with a prices starting at $999 US.
Solo(R) 3450 is an ultralight laptop computer at prices
starting at $2,199 US.
[2001/07/25]
July 23, 2001, Hewlett-Packard Company has released its
Coolbase software development platform which enables
developers to crease mobile e-services for embedded
and personal systems.
[The details of this release are a bit unclear to
me but it was made at the "O'Reilly Open Source
Convention" and seems to imply that this is an open
source development kit targetted at "context-aware"
services. -- JO]
Hewlett-Packard
Coolbase Development System http://www.cooltown.com/dev/
[2001/07/25]
July 23, 2001, CNET News.com reports that Microsoft
has made source code for Windows CE 3.0 available
for downloading to people who sign up for Microsoft's
Passport service. There are restrictions on its use
and redistribution, and requirements for providing
personal information.
[2001/07/25]
July 20, 2001, PD-Rx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced
that the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy has approved
its RxWebPad FaxScript which is a software system running
on Windows CE devices and interfaces with the PDRx-Net
based computer system.
[2001/07/22]
July 19, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that NCR scheduled
a press demonstration of an Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
that dispenses cash by connecting with a mobile phone or
personal digital assistant (PDA).
NCR (mobile phone/ PDA
accessible ATM) http://www.ncr.com/
[2001/07/22]
July 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that EtherAge, Inc.
has announced its ClipKee keyboard QWERTY keyboard is
available for Palm V and Compaq iPaq WindowsCE devices.
A second version will include 802.11 wireless network
connectivity.
EtherAge, Inc.
(Palm/Compaq thumb keyboard) http://www.etherage.com/
[2001/07/22]
July 16, 2001, Reuters reports that Handspring Inc. has
announced new discounts for The VisorPhone Springboard
module when bought with 1 year phone service contracts.
The price effectively drops from $249 US down to $49 US.
Phone service contracts are provided by Cingular Wireless,
Powertel Inc. or Voicestream Wireless Corp. The
company sites poor sales for the product.
[2001/07/22]
July 18, 2001, Business Wire reports that Blue Nomad LLC
has announced the release of its WordSmith 2.0 word processor
which allows importing Windows format TrueType outline
fonts and supports bullet lists, full bookmarking, footnotes
end notes and comments, faster find and replace and other
improvements.
Blue Nomad LLC
(PalmOS software) http://www.bluenomad.com/
[2001/07/18]
July 18, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Empower Technologies
Inc. claims to have released the "first and only Palm compatible
Linux-based operating system for Palm IIIx and IIIxe." The
company claims that it's Linux DA O/S DB v1.0 is "faster,
more powerful and more robust" than Palm's software. A
demo version is available for download from the company's
website.
Empower Technologies
Inc. "Linux DA" http://www.linuxda.com/
[2001/07/18]
July 18, 2001, Business Wire reports that Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has announced its unaudited subscriber results for Q2 2001:
June 30, 2001
Gross activations
Fido 133,464
Churn Rate (after 1
month grace period) 2.3%
Net Additions Q2:
Postpaid: 45,576
Prepaid: 17,721
(Note: 18,794 customers
converted from postpaid to
prepaid. It is not stated
whether this is included in
the above numbers.)
Total Net additions 63,297
Total PCS customers:
Postpaid: 529,124
Prepaid: 513,039
Total combined: 1,042,163
[2001/07/18]
July 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Hop-On Wireless
has announced that its disposable cell phone is now in
production with an expected delivery date of mid-September
/ October.
Hop-On Wireless
disposable cell phone http://www.hop-onwireless.com/
[2001/07/18]
July 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that TELUS Mobility has announced its 2001 Q2 unaudited subscriber numbers:
(Numbers in thousands except churn)
June 30, 2001
Churn Rate (including
30 day guarantee period) 2.02%
Net Additions Q2:
Postpaid: 34.4
Prepaid: 41.0
Total Net additions 75.4
Total PCS customers:
Postpaid: 2,040.0
Prepaid: 292.3
Total combined 2,332.3
[2001/07/18]
July 16, 2001, Reuters reports that Nokia, Motorola and
Ericsson have agreed with the European Committee for
Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and will
be including SAR numbers in user manuals.
[2001/07/18]
July 16, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Toshiba
has unveiled it's Microsoft Pocket PC based Genio handheld
computer with plans to introduce products in Japan in August
2001 and later in North America. The first products shown
are based on a 206MHz Intel StrongARM CPU, 32MB memory, a
colour screen, support for both CompactFlash and Secure
Digital cards. The base version will be available in Japan
Aug. 20, 2001, at an estimated price of about $560 US. A
version containing an IBM 1GB Microdrive will follow at
the end of September for about $800 US.
[Checking Toshiba's website in Japan I found some more
specifications:
Genio e550: (first product)
- product number CETO100A
- 125 * 77.5 * 17.5 mm, 180 g.
- 240 * 320 * 65536 colour front-lighted TFT display,
- 32MB SDRAM
- 32MB Flash Memory
- Type II CompactFlash
-- JO]
[2001/07/18]
July 10, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Telenor of
Norway has announced purchase of CMG's Multimedia Messaging
system to move from plain text "short message service" (SMS)
to Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Delivery of MMS Center
(MMSC) is expected in 3rd quarter 2001.
CMG Wireless Data Solutions
http://www.cmgwds.com/
[2001/07/15]
[Following report contains some information from Casio's Website and prior notes. -- JO]
I went to COMDEX last week. Aside from reporters like me, very few other people attended. There was very little to see. Actually, even when it was bigger there was very little to see. There were, perhaps 3 fairly popular booths. One was Microsoft, one was a Linux booth, and the third was Palm's booth. Of these, I spent time at Palm's booth. I talked to another writer who noted that the word "pathetic" was the most commonly used to describe this event. In the end, I left early, which I would have anyway, since I'm very busy these days, and he wandered off looking for a party -- which I have doubts whether he found.
There's no doubt that the star attraction of the show
was the Kyocera QCP 6035 CDMA Smartphone which features
the functionality of a Palm Vx.
Kyocera
Wireless Corp. http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/
[2001/07/15]
I saw the Casio BE-300. The software reminded me of the old Casio/Tandy Zoomer, though the button arrangement now looks more like the new iPaq PocketPC. The buttons are not used to call up applications but are more general purpose navigation buttons. The literature available at the show was sparse but there were some interesting points.
First, there is a stereo earphone jack, but no "free standing" sound. I expect there is still a "beep" speaker, but there's no microphone. According to Casio's website, it has a 166MHz NEC VR4131 CPU capable of 280 MIPS (compared to the E-125 which uses a 150MHz VR4122 and the E-100/105/115 which used a 131MHz VR4121), 16MB RAM + 16MB Flash memory, 3.2" 320 * 240 * 32,768 colour STN display, a Li-ion rechargeable battery, a Type 2 slot. The literature emphasizes that an expansion allowing full size PC-Cards will be available. The unit size is close to TRG-Pro size (121 * 76 * 17.9 mm and 167 G without cover), and has a Palm III-like flip-lid.
But the biggest news is that the software is in Flash
memory -- not ROM. The literature emphasizes that you
can load the software you want. On the one hand, this
might be a hint that the usual Windows CE PocketPC suite
might become available as an "add-on", but one has to
wonder if they are preparing for the arrival of the Sharp
Linux Zaurus. Linux is currently the only popular
"replacement software" movement for handheld computers.
The Compaq iPaq has a strong Linux support community and
there has been a Linux load for the Casio E-100 series
devices for some time now. Casio's EG-800STD industrial
handheld also has Flash memory.
[2001/07/15]
July 11, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Psion PLC has
announced that it has decided to leave the consumer market
and "focus its future strategy on industrial and enterprise
markets through Psion Teklogix; innovative markets in digital
appliances through a restructured Psion Digital; and on its
strategic investment in Symbian." The only product line
mentioned as continuing in development is its "netBook
range of products for the education and corporate markets."
In particular, all Bluetooth products are cancelled.
[2001/07/11]
July 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that AlterEgo has announced
that it has released AlterEgo Designer(TM) Extension to
Macromedia Dreamweaver and Dreamweaver UltraDev, allowing
developers to target mobile users of WML, HDML, Palm HTML,
cHTML and other mobile markup clients.
AlterEgo
Designer(TM) Extension for Macromedia Dreamweaver
http://www.macromedia.com/exchange/
[2001/07/11]
July 11, 2001, Business Wire reports that flat panel display
(FPD) market research company DisplaySearch has, in its latest
Quarterly Worldwide Flat Panel Display Forecast Report,
stated that 2001 FPD revenues are expected to drop 5% year
over year to $22.8 billion US., due to a 10% drop in TFT LCD
revenues and an 18% drop in PMLCD revenues.
[2001/07/11]
July 11, 2001, Business Wire reports that Cutting Edge Software,
Inc. has announced a promotion for users of Palm m500 and m505
handheld computers. For a limited time, users of the m50x
devices can save 25% on the price of its Quickoffice(TM) suite,
which will cost $29.95 US. The offer ends Aug. 31, 2001.
[2001/07/11]
July 11, 2001, Reuters reports that NEC Corp. has said that
it expects to produce 0.10 micron technology chips by 2003.
Current industry production is moving from 0.18 to 0.13 micron.
Toshiba and Sony, in May, announced plans to develop 0.10
and 0.07 micron processes. IBM has targetted commercial
production of 0.10 in early 2003.
[2001/07/11]
July 10, PR Newswire reports that NeoMagic Corporation has
introduced its MiMagic "system - on - chip" (SoC) product
family. The MiMagic NMS7040 features a MIPS32 3Kc CPU core
with a 128-bit hardware BitBLT, a 256-bit wide memory bus
to 4MB embedded DRAM, on chip data bandwidth of 3.2 GB per
second. The NMS7041 adds 3D graphics acceleration capable
of 50M pixels per second. Development software is BlueCat
Linux from LynuxWorks and Qt/Embedded. Sampling will
begin "within weeks" in 329-pin PBGA package with full
production (in 23mm * 23mm micro BGA package) by the end of
the year at Infineon AG. Prices will be $35 US each for the
NMS7040 and $50 US each for the NMS7041 in quantities of
100 pieces.
NeoMagic Corporation
http://www.neomagic.com/
[2001/07/11]
July 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Kontrol Mobile Computing,
Inc. has announced it has started shipping its newest version
FieldWorks 8000 Rugged Portable Workstation, which features
a 750 MHz Intel Pentium III CPU, up to 256 MB of RAM and
up to 2 20GB removable hard drives.
Kontrol Mobile
Computing (rugged portable computers) http://www.kontrolmobile.com/
[2001/07/11]
July 9, 2001 PR Newswire reports that Fujitsu Microelectronics
has introduced stacked multi-chip packages incorporating
NAND Flash memory and Fast Cycle RAM for mobile information
terminals. The MB84VN23381EJ and MB84VN23391EJ MCP include
64Mbit NAND-type Flash memory and 16Mbit FCRAM with a static
RAM interface. Samples are now available in plastic BGA.
[Prices were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2001/07/11]
July 6, 2001, John Fontana writes for IDG that Microsoft
has moved its deadline for enrolling in its "Software
Assurance" licensing from Oct. 1, 2001, to Feb. 28, 2002.
Apparently, executives have claimed that they could not
afford the new licensing system this year.
[2001/07/11]
July 6, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that
Apple has recalled power adapters for PowerBook G3 laptop
computers shipped from May 1998 to March 2000. A free
replacement will be provided. The power adapters
can overheat and create a potential fire hazard.
570,000 units are affected. The model number is
M4402 and it is worth about $69 US.
[2001/07/08]
July 6, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that
Casio's BE300 uses Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 operating
system but runs Casio's apps over top instead of
the "Pocket PC" software suite in order to bring it
to market at its $300 US price point.
[2001/07/08]
July 6, 2001, High Speed Net Solutions, Inc., (Summus)
claims that its BlueFuel(TM) architecture (patent pending)
with its "Super-Fast Super-Thin(TM)" architecture will
be a more efficient way to deliver multimedia to mobile
devices. According to the company, processing requirements
are 5:1 less than MPEG4 and 5:1 over JPEG2000, and download
times are over 50:1 faster than JPEG or GIF.
[2001/07/08]
July 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Xi Graphics Inc.
has released graphics system software support for Linux and
Unix (Solaris 8) systems for the Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600
which uses the Trident XP graphics chip.
[2001/07/08]
July 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that LXE Inc. has announced
that its new VX1/VX2 series of rugged vehicle-mounted
computers based on Intel 486 technology offer enhancements
over the company's prior offerings.
LXE Inc. (rugged mobile computers)
http://www.lxe.com/
[2001/07/08]
July 3, 2001, Corey Grice writes for CNET News.com that
the major phone handset makers have formed the "Mobile
Games Interoperability Forum" which is an outgrowth of
the "Universal Mobile Games Platform group." The forum
is working with Metrowerks to create a software development
kit.
[2001/07/08]
July 3, 2001, Business Wire reports that Microcell
Solutions Inc. has announced that it has signed an
agreement with Novatel Wireless, Inc. to purchase
Movatel's Merlin G100(TM) Wireless PC Card Modem
for North American GSM/GPRS use. On Microcell's
GPRS service, the card will support speeds up to
53.6 kbps. and is usable with Windows 98, ME, 200
and Pocket PC computers with Type II PC-Card slots.
Microcell will sell the cards for $500 Cdn. with
usage plans costing $75 Cdn. monthly for 25MB, $100
Cdn. for 50 MB and $150 Cdn. for 100 MB. A PDA
oriented service $25 Cdn. for 2MB will be available
later this year. Cards can be reserved now by
calling Microcell's corporate sales.
[2001/07/04]
[The above report was changed after confirming
with Microcell's representatives that the data sizes
were megabytes (MB) and not megabits (Mb). -- JO]
[2001/07/05]
July 4, 2001, Sharon Gaudin writes for CNN.com
that Gibb Brower's suit against Sony and Motorola
in San Diego Ca. alleging cancer was caused by
his use of cell phones made by the two companies.
The case is ongoing.
[2001/07/04]
July 2, 2001, CNet News.com reports that a poll by Frost
& Sullivan shows that network managers and IT executives
at 120 large companies around the world found almost no
interest in buying Bluetooth products. Only 3 companies
in Europe were testing Bluetooth. Bluetooth was seen as
a wireless LAN technology. There are concerns about
security, interoperability and interference with other
wireless technologies. The article notes that the technology
has been under development for over 6 years.
[2001/07/04]
Regarding the security issue I reported earlier, I emailed Code Jedi prior to my posting and have since received a reply. Apparently, this security issue was a known issue. However, according to the author, it was noted in the FAQ. I checked the FAQ that was current when I downloaded the file and there is no mention of the issue in the FAQ itself. On the FAQ page there is a link to a "bugtrack.html" page so I checked there as well and still found no mention of the problem. Even if I assume that it is on some other page in the Website I'm still not sure how I feel about this.
If I'd wanted to be more thorough researching before I downloaded, I might have taken the time to read every page on the Website and found some warning about the issue somewhere. But then again, there is no indication that this is anything but what most people would consider a "current final version" so I don't expect significant bugs regardless of whether a "bugs" page is provided or not. Moreover, I don't really spend that much time "online" so to expect that I'm even going to see a "bugs" page that isn't included in the download is currently unrealistic.
At any rate, the author is probably going to get around
to dealing with it fairly soon (probably in version
1.6.x), so at that point I'll probably take another look
at it.
[2001/07/04]
I have recently been testing "ShadowPlan" version 1.5.6 on PalmOS 3.5.2 and I've found a serious security problem.
System: - Palm IIIx - PalmOS 3.5.2 Test: - Create an "address" item and mark it "Private", making it a "known private item" - In a Shadow list, create a link to the known private item - Set a password and select the "hidden" mode. - Open the Shadow list and you can still see the item, and open it.
NOTE: There are probably other similar or related security issues, but this much is serious enough to reject this program if this type of security is a concern to the user.
Correction:
- To "respect" the Palm security system, at no time should a hidden item be visible when the security is set to "hide" it. Either the link should be completely hidden or at the least, the contents of the linked item should not be accessed or displayed.
I also checked "Arranger 1.21" which is this program's major
competitor, and found that this problem does not occur
on Arranger.
[2001/07/01]
June 29, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Natural Machine
has announced a free download of its Verbal Operating
System(TM) which uses artificial intelligence, speech
recognition and "a personality."
Natural Machine
http://www.naturalmachine.com/
[2001/07/01]
June 28, 2001, John G. Spooner writes for Cnet News.com that Compaq is trying to develop its iPaq PocketPC device market with add-ons. According to Compaq's Cindy Box, wireless Internet access is the "most prevalent use" for current expansion packs. Compaq plans to introduce its own Bluetooth expansion pack in the third quarter which will also hold a CompactFlash slot, and a GSM/GPRS expansion pack for the 4th quarter. Other expansion packs by third parties include a GPS ("Pocket Co-pilot") from Navman, a bar-code scanner from Symbol Technologies, another CompactFlash pack called "Silver Slider", "Mstation" which is a mobile point-of-sale terminal with credit card reader and a CDMA based cell phone expansion pack.
Compaq has committed to produce its current form factor
through at least 2002.
[2001/07/01]
June 28, 2001, John G. Spooner writes for Cnet News.com
that Intel has introduced its "Tualatin" series Pentium
III-M mobile CPUs built using 0.13-micron process (down
from its current 0.18-micron process) which is Intel's
first use of copper interconnections. The first chips
are expected to run at 866MHz to 1.13GHz, but will not
debut until late in July.
[2001/07/01]
June 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that DDH Software, maker of the HandDBase relational Database for PalmOS devices, has announced that it will market a series of healthcare applications actually written by healthcare workers. The prices for the applications range from $12.95 - $495.99 and can be downloaded from DDH's website.
[I don't generally comment on announcements, but the company has attempted to cast professional programmers in a derogatory light, and asserts that these programs are inherently better, and I think is misleading in a way that is dangerous to the medical profession. Even if the current applications are superior to other similar offerings in their fields -- which I doubt, the real problem is what I call "long term commitment to upgrades."
What happens if Palm changes the OS in a way that doesn't
work with one of these apps? What if professional rules
and requirements change? Will a "practicing doctor" have
the time to provide timely upgrades? If not, then after
many years of use, will there be a significant problem
migrating stored data to new programs written by other
people? These are common problems with all software,
particularly programs written by small companies, but the
fact that the author wrote these programs as a "secondary
interest" makes me suspect that they might be riskier in
these concerns than normal. -- JO]
DDH Software,
Inc. (medical apps) http://ddhsoftware.com/medical.html
[2001/07/01]
June 25, 2001, Siera Wireless has announced on its Website
the AirPath 300 wireless Springboard modem for the Handspring(TM)
Visor(TM). The device uses the CDPD networks and has
its own Li-Ion battery, a hinged, detachable antenna.
[No price was given in the announcement. JO]
Sierra Wireless
http://www.sierrawireless.com/
[2001/06/27]
June 27, 2001, Nexian, on its Website has writes that it
will introduce its new product (presumably the HandyGPS
Pro) at 12:00 EST, June 29, 2001 on a Webcast featuring
Astronaut, Commander M. Scott Carpenter. According to
the company, the HandyGPS is "the world's most compact
and affordable GPS navigation module." Special offers
will be announced at that time. Announced features
include a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and optional
external extensible antenna.
Nexian (HandyGPS Pro)
http://www.nexian.com/
[2001/06/27]
June 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation has launched its Evo N200 laptop computer
and claims battery life up to 8 hours using 2 Li-Ion
batteries. The Evo is a "Legacy-Free" computer with
2 USB ports (no serial or parallel ports). Pricing
and availability have not been provided.
[2001/06/27]
June 27, 2001, Business Wire reports that the MultiMediaCard
Assocation (MMCA) has approved its 3.1 specification. A
copy can be bought for $500 US by non-members.
MultiMediaCard Association
http://www.mmca.org/
[2001/06/27]
June 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Philips Components
and WIDCOMM, Inc. have announced that they have jointly
developed a commercially available Bluetooth CompactFlash
card module for the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) CE operating
system.
[2001/06/27]
June 27, 2001, Pumatech, Inc., on its Website, has announced
that it will support Sharp's upcoming Java/Linux based handheld
computer with its Intellisync synchronization software.
[2001/06/27]
June 26, 2001, Pumatech, Inc. has announced the availability
of its Browse-it 3.0 server software which, combined with
the Browse-it client software, allows PalmOS based devices
to use the Web live or store off "snapshots" for later
viewing, and submit forms or request further pages for
later retrieval.
[Pricing and availability are unclear. Upon reading the
announcement, I downloaded "Browse-it" client software directly
from the company's Website and apparently received the 2.0.0
version. As is typical, your personal information is required
to download this software. -- JO]
[2001/06/27]
June 26, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motion Sense(TM)
Corporation has announced that its SDIO module for Palm(TM)
handhelds brings its new MoveIt!(TM) platform's motion
sensing capability to these devices.
Motion Sense Corporation
http://www.motionsense.com/
[2001/06/27]
June 25, 2001, Richard Shim and Ian Fried write for CNET News.com that Sony has announced 2 new CLIE series handheld computers. The PEG-S320 priced at $200 US is an entry level handheld and the PEG-N610C is a colour screen device priced at $400 US.
The PEG-N610C has a 320 * 320 * 16-bit colour screen, 8MB Flash and 8MB RAM (no MPEG player), USB, a 33MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ CPU and PalmOS 4.0.
The PEC-S320 has a 160 * 160 monochrome display, 4MB Flash and 8MB RAM, a 33MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ CPU, USB and PalmOS 4.0.
Both will be available in August, 2001.
[2001/06/27]
June 26, 2001, Melissa Riofrio writes for CNET Tech Trends
that Hewlett-Packard has announced new laptop computer
featuring AMD CPUs. The Pavilion n5470 has a 1GHz Mobile
Athlon 4 and will be priced at $2,199 US. Other versions
of the 5400 series will be available with AMD Mobile Athlon
4, Mobile Duron and Intel mobile Pentium III processors.
[2001/06/27]
June 25, 2001, Richard Shim and Ian Fried write for CNET
News.com that Casio has announced its Cassiopeia BE-300
which will use Microsoft's Windows CE 3.0, a 166MHz
NEC CPU, a 320 * 240 colour screen and a CompactFlash
slot for $300 US. [No information about availability
was given in the article. -- JO]
[2001/06/27]
June 25 2001, PR Newswire reports that Twin Paradox had
announced that its new SolarExpress USB 2.0 PC Card
supports transfer up to 480 Mbps.
Twin Paradox
http://www.twin-paradox.com/
[2001/06/27]
June 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Portable
Innovation Technology, Ltd. will demonstrate its
MemPlug(TM) Springboard(TM) for Handspring(TM)
Visor(TM) at PC Expo June 25-29, 2001. The MemPlug
SmartMedia Adaptor Springboard comes with seven
self-installing applications and a registered
gMovie Maker program.
[Prices and availability were not given
in the announcement. -- JO]
Portable Innovation
Technology http://www.pitech.com/
[2001/06/24]
June 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Generic Media has
announced gMovie(TM) Maker 2 and gMovie Player 2. The
Maker 2 software provides high quality compressed stereo
audio and uncompressed audio, and video data files.
The Player 2 is a freely downloadable program that plays
back the Maker 2 files including the Palm, Handspring(TM)
Visor, Sony CLIE(TM), IBM WorkPad and TRGpro(TM) devices.
High quality stereo audio is supported on those devices
enabling hardware, notably the Sony CLIE which comes with
the Player 2 software pre-installed. Playback from
removable storage is also supported. The software is
immediately available and the full price of Maker 2 is
$29.97 US with discounts for registered users of gMovie
Maker 1.
Generic Media
http://www.genericmedia.com/
[2001/06/20]
June 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Argogroup has announced
its UbiquinoX(TM) AnyMobile transcoding software will convert
content from DoCoMo's "i-mode" (CHTML) service to EZ Web (HDML)
and J-Sky (MML). The converter uses AI technology and does
not simply translate formatting codes.
[2001/06/20]
June 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft has announced
2 new sets of games for Windows CE Pocket PC devices. They are
the Microsoft Games PocketPak ($29.95 US) which includes "Fire
Drill," "Cubicle," "Stock Scramble," "Task Master" and "Killer
Commute"; and Microsoft Arcade PocketPak ($34.95 US) which includes
"Pac-Man," "Ms. Pac-Man" and "Dig-Dug." Both are immediately
available for downloading at http://www.pocketpc.com/.
[2001/06/20]
June 20, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Trolltech
and NeoMagic are collaborating to develop a platform for
handheld Internet gaming appliances. The platform will feature
NeoMagic's System-on-Chip, Lynuxworks' BlueCat Linux OS
and Trolltech's Qt/Embedded GUI framework and windowing
system.
Trolltech
http://www.trolltech.com/
NeoMagic Corporation
http://www.neomagic.com/
[2001/06/20]
June 19, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Toshiba of Canada
has released four new laptop computers. These are the Satellite
1800 S100 with 850MHz Intel(R) Celeron(TM) CPU ($1,799 Cdn.) and
S200 with 850MHz Intel Pentium(R) III CPU ($2,349 Cdn.),
Satellite 3000 H200 with 850MHz Intel Pentium(R) III CPU and
NVIDIA(R) Graphics Processing Unit and IEEE 1394 port ($3,349
Cdn.), and Satellite 2800 C500 with 1GHz Intel(R) Pentium(R)
III CPU ($3,899 Cdn.). All are immediately available.
[2000/06/20]
June 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Texas Instruments
has launched its TI-83 Plus Silver Edition handheld which
it claims is 2.5x faster than the TI-83 Plus. Based on an
advanced calculator keyboard form factor, the device adds
PIM software functionality and the ability to add more
programs via computer link. The device has 1.5MB Flash ROM
and "24K" available RAM. Price is $129.95 US.
[Some information was taken from TI's Website. Availability
was not clearly stated in the press release. -- JO]
TI-83 Plus Silver Edition http://education.ti.com/silveredition/
[2001/06/20]
June 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation has announced that it is preparing a GSM/GPRS
tri-band communication capability for the iPaq Pocket PC,
to be available "later this year."
[No pricing information was given. Compaq also announced
that it shipped it's 1 millionth iPaq Pocket PC. -- JO]
[2001/06/20]
June 19, 2001, Erich Luening writes for CNET News.com that
according to Allied Business Intelligence. ABI's survey
predicts that there will be 1.7 billion wireless subscribers
by the end of 2006 and about 500 million of them will be
using wireless Internet. Similarly, Gartner has recently
forecast 1/2 billion cell phone sales worldwide regardless
of the slowdown.
[2001/06/20]
June 18, 2001, PR Newswire reports that PTN Media and Michael
Jordan have announced the Michael Jordan editions of the
Palm(TM) m100 ($159 US) and m500 ($425 US) handheld computers.
Both are immediately available at:
Sports Authority
http://www.sportsauthority.com/
[2001/06/20]
June 18, 2001, PR Newswire reports that AppForge(TM) Software
Development Kit (SDK) allows single step development for
Win32(R), Pocket PC and PalmOS(R) using Microsoft Visual C++(R)
and AppForge 2.0 allows single step Visual Basic development
for Win32(R), Pocket PC and PalmOS(R) using Microsoft Visual
Basic.
AppForge, Inc.
http://www.appforge.com/
[2001/06/20]
June 18, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that
AOpen Inc. has announced that it plans to introduce
a new series of "white-box" laptop computers aimed
at the business market.
AOpen Inc.
http://www.AOpen.com/
[2001/06/20]
June 18, 2001, Reuters reports that Intel Corp. has reduced
prices on 3 versions of Mobile Celeron processors:
- 800 MHz from $170 US to $107 US (down 37%)
- 750 MHz from $134 US to $91 US (down 32%)
- 700 MHz from $96 US to $75 US (down 22%)
[2001/06/20]
Minimum Installation:
- PRC in main RAM 81,515 bytes
- PDB's (can be offloaded to storage cards)
- jdic1 - 4: 537,726 + 694,460 + 715,400
+ 576,200
- font16 & font24: 250,406 + 562,486
- kanjidic.pdb: 285,960
Total roughly 3.7 MB
Additional Name files:
PDB's
- jnamdic1 - 12 about 400,000 bytes each
Total about 4,490,000 bytes (can be
offloaded to storage cards)
Tested in Visor Platinum, loaded into
main RAM.
I'm not fluent in Japanese, but my involvement with small computers makes it important for me to keep abreast of developments in Japan. So I do need to read Japanese material. However, there aren't many people interested in Japanese support for English Palm devices, so I'll keep this short. Dokusha ("reader" in Japanese) is a program that can read some Japanese characters and translate it into English. It is also a free-standing tri-directional dictionary supporting all translations between English to Romanized Japanese, and Japanese characters (including both Kana and Kanji). Actually, that makes it a 4 way translater/ transliterator.
It is, from a programming point of view, a really good job. Unfortunately, it is a large effort built on the wrong underpinnings. On the one hand, the author, Andrew Brault, knows full well that the two most widely known and taught Romanization systems are the official "kunrei-shiki" and the most commonly known Hepburn systems. These are taught in the schools in Japan and I expect also, most school courses outside of Japan. Certainly they are the most common in English speaking countries. Instead he chose "wa-puro-", and in fact, it is a slightly modified version of "wa-puro-".
On the other hand, the character encoding support is mainly EUC with some support for "full-length" JIS and no support at all for Shift-JIS. According to Brault, "JIS codes are sometimes useful for exchanging Kanji between applications." I think this was the wrong choice. The question is what is the best encoding system for Palm users today, and in the future. I'll leave the future alone. There's probably more going on in Japan in this regard than I'm aware of. In fact, what is relevant might not even be the reality of what is actually most common in Japan at all. Since "Dokusha" is aimed at English speaking Palm users, one should ask what is going to be the most common source of material for those people?
First, Web pages are probably the largest source of digital reading material that English speaking people are likely to see. When I first started browsing Japanese sites, I had to manually set the character encoding, so I have a good idea what systems were used for many pages. From what I've seen over the years, Shift-JIS is the most commonly used encoding system used for Internet Web pages.
Moreover, specifically for Palm users who have not bought the actual Japanese PalmOS products, J-OS 1.9, which is also Shift-JIS based has been the most common Japanese text input system. I tried to obtain J-OS IV, but I haven't been able to yet, so I can't say what it supports, but I have also tried CJKOS 4.2 and that input system supports both Shift-JIS and EUC-JIS. So at bottom an English speaking Palm user is more likely to obtain files which are Shift-JIS than EUC right now.
So this program which seems useful as a translating system for English speaking people turns out to be one which will require a lot of translating by the user first -- either translating from the more common JIS to EUC character encoding, or from the Romanization system one has learned to a lesser known one for text entry.
Lastly, the dictionary searches are slow, even in a full
speed Visor Platinum. But I wouldn't have minded that if
the basics were right. In the end, it's a wonderful job of
programming, but not as useful as it could have been -- not
useful enough for me to keep loaded. In the common "4 star"
rating systems I'd give it " 1.5 - 2 stars".
[2001/06/20]
June 14, 2001, Business Wire reports that General Semiconductor,
Inc. has introduced its new SMF(TM) package which it claims
"offers the current and power handling capability of a power
package in an ultra-small package." According to the company
"The SMF(TM) matches the JEDEC DO-219 standard outline. In
addition to the small footprint, the package has a nominal
height of less than 1mm." The company expects the package
to be used in portable electronics and automotive applications.
General Semiconductor, Inc.
http://www.gensemi.com/
[2001/06/17]
June 14, 2001, Ian Fried writes that Palm will announce a
Michael Jordon special edition device on Monday. No details
were in his article.
[2001/06/17]
June 12, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that AT&T Global
Network Services has announced that it will offer Brightmail
Inc.'s Brightmail(TM) Anti-Spam Solution at no extra charge.
The system identifies and tags potential spam, then sends
a notice to the customer who choses how to deal with it.
[2001/06/17]
I was going through some old papers and I came across the original press release for Oct. 31, 1996 which involves 2 products of particular interest to me:
Newton MP-2000
This would come with a 160MHz StrongARM CPU, 8MB ROM and 5MB RAM
and sold for $1449.00 Cdn., delivery in Q1 1997.
Performa 6360
The Performa has a 160MHz PowerPC603e CPU, 16MB RAM, 1.6GBHD,
8X CD-ROM and 28.8Kb data/fax/voice modem (no monitor)
$2,499 Cdn. available from mid-November. I was hoping
eventually to get both of these. In the end, I would never
get around to buying the MP-2000, though I would eventually
buy a used Performa 6360.
The interesting thing is that arguably, neither product was a failure, yet both were dropped. The Performa 6360 horizontal form factor series was replaced by the 6400 vertical minitower which used the same motherboard. The 6400 actually did have some advantages over the 6360, but it was also more expensive.
But there is a more relevant point about the Newton MP-2000 and its predecessors. It's about size. Bill Gates has been running around telling people that tablet computers have a big future. Well, he's right. Of course they do. And as is common these days, it's been obvious to most of the forward thinking people in the industry for some time now. That's why there have already been so many attempts at it before. The success of the Palm size devices has set the groundwork for the success of all the future "tablet-like" products, of any size.
There were a number of deficiencies in the original Newtons and most of them were being addressed over time. Newton products never failed to grow in sales all through the life of the series, and more and more people were satisfied with the products. But the one knock that surprised me was that the Newton was "too big." It was a surprising complaint because the obvious question was always "too big for what?"
The complaint presumed that there is only one market for all such pen interfaced devices and that was the "pocket organizer" type use which the Palm devices eventually filled so nicely. But how could anyone fail to realize that there were always other markets? Even as far back as before the Newton was introduced, there was a growing industrial market where portable computers were selling at prices where the Newton could certainly be viable, even at lower volumes. To this day, there are still devices in the same size range as the original Newtons -- and larger, with or without touchscreens, being sold and used for a variety of applications.
Recently, PocketPC fans have been touting the use of the iPaq and HP Jornada size devices as book readers -- an application for which they are barely tolerable. I believe that book reading on handheld devices is an excellent, and yes, inevitable application. But it is better done on a larger device.
The fact is that sometimes bigger is better. The ability
to show a larger display can aid in visualization, or
simply require less fiddling around with paging and
scrolling controls. As time goes on, more and more form
factors will become available for the general public. As
the public finally gets around to trying them and finding
out that they can be useful, more of them will become
established in the consumer market. It's obvious. Maybe
that's why Gates is flogging them now. It's an easy call.
[2001/06/14]
June 13, 2001, Reuters reports that on Wednesday, the leading
mobile phone makes and operators "unveiled an industry-wide
initiative to create a common mobile Internet standard."
The "Mobile Services Initiative" [M-Services] was launched
by the GSM Association to provide an open software standard
to replace WAP. The software platform is based on a
no-royalty platform developed by Openwave. Initial backers
of the initiative include Nokia, Motorola, Telecom Italia
Mobile and France Telecom.
[2001/06/13]
June 12, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motorola, Inc.
has announced its first ARM based DragonBall product
the ARM920T core-based DragonBall MX1. Features include
on-chip USB, Multi-Media Accelerator, colour LCD controller,
A/D converter, Multi-Media Card/Secure Digital and Memory
Stick expansion card controllers. CPU core speeds will
be up to 200MHz.
[Relevant dates and prices were not provided in the
press release. -- JO]
[2001/06/13]
June 12, 2001, PR Newswire reports that ARM has announced
its ARM(R) VFP9-S(TM) vector floating-point coprocessor
for the ARM9E-S(TM) family of synthesizable microprocessor
cores.
[2001/06/13]
June 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Portable Innovation
Technology, Ltd. has announced that its MemPlug(TM) SmartMedia(TM)
Adaptor, a Springboard(TM) module for the HandSpring(TM) Visor(TM)
will be sold throughout the US in major retail stores at a
suggested price of $49.95 US. Built in applications and software
drivers are Flash updateable.
Portable
Innovation Technology, Ltd. http://www.portableinnovation.com/
[2001/06/13]
June 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Garmin International
Inc. has introduced its new GPS V. Based on the GPS III
Plus, the GPS V adds longer battery life, higher screen
resolution, WAAS capabilities, 19 megabytes of internal
memory and turn by turn navigation for drivers. GPS V
is expected to be available in 2001 Q3 with a suggested
retail price of $535.70 US.
[2001/06/13]
June 11 and 13, 2001, Business Wire reports that MIPS made a large number of announcements regarding licensees committing to produce new MIPS based products, as well as announcing "next generation" MIPS32(TM) 4KE(TM) (licensed by LSI Logic Corp.) and MIPS64(TM) 5Kf(TM) (licensed by Atmel Corp. and Texas Instruments, Inc.) cores. Also among the announcements was that NEC Electronics Inc. has introduced its VR5500 64-bit processor.
MIPS claims that at 1.4 Dhrystone MIPS/MHz, the 4KE core provides the highest Dhrystone MIPS/MHz performance in a synthesizeable 32-bit core. MIPS also claims that its MIPS16e(TM) code compression can reduce memory requirements by up to 40% and that "extensive clock gating significantly reduces power consumption."
Reference process: 0.13 micron Typical Performance: - 340 MHz integer - 475 Dhrystone MIPS (estimated) Worst Case: - 270 MHz integer and floating point - 375 Dhrystone MIPS (estimated) Power Consumption: 0.35 - 0.45 mW/MHz (core only) 0-64KB writeback data cache 0-64KB instruction cache
The 5Kf is claimed to be the industry's only 64-bit synthesizable core with integrated floating-point unit. The 5Kf has the following characteristics:
Reference process: 0.13 micron Typical Performance: - 390 MHz integer and floating point - 585 Dhrystone MIPS (estimated) - 780 MFLOPS Worst Case: - 310 MHz integer and floating point - 465 Dhrystone MIPS (estimated) - 620 MFLOPS Power Consumption: 1.3 - 1.5 mW/MHz (core only) 0-64KB writeback data cache 0-64KB instruction cache Memory management with translation lookaside buffer
The synthesizable 5Kf core will be available at the
end of June.
[2001/06/13]
June 10, 2001, Reuters reports that Intel Corp. has
announced that it has achieved the smallest possible
transistor using current technology -- a transistor
0.02 microns in size, which is about 3 atoms thick,
and the smallest transistor possible using current
technology. Current processors use 0.18 micron
transistors [with 0.13 micron devices coming into
production -- JO]. According to Moore's law current
technology will continue for roughly the next decade,
at which point something new will be needed to
continue the advances.
[2001/06/10]
June 8, 2001, Business Wire reports that SoftJoys Labs has
announced that it has succeeded in porting it own
implimentation of ITU-T H.323 version 3 protocol
to the Windows(TM) CE(TM) 3.0 environment. The H. 323
Terminal provides 2-way voice communication with any
other H. 323 Terminal or Gateway.
[2001/06/10]
June 8, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc.'s Japanese
unit has announced that a Bluetooth unit designed with
Toshiba Corp. will begin selling in Japan in Q3, 2001.
[2001/06/10]
June 7, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Electrofuel Inc.
has announced that it plans to produce an external laptop
lithium ion SuperPolymer battery pack to be called PowerPad
120, which will be 11 3/4" * 8 3/4" * 3/8" and weigh under
2 lbs., giving roughly 8 - 12 hours of use. The battey
pack will cost $399 US and be available July 2001.
[2001/06/10]
June 6, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com (with added material from company Websites), First International Computer, Inc. (FIC) has shown its first "PDA" which is a 206MHz StrongARM SA1110 based design with 32MB system memory and 16MB Flash memory, Type II Compact Flash expansion, 240 * 320 * 16K colours, reflective TFT LCD (3.6"), built in Bluetooth and IrDA, USB, Linux GTK GUI applications.
MiTac International showed a new Microsoft based handheld.
[No details at this time, even on Mitac's Website. -- JO]
First International Computer, Inc.
Linux, Bluetooth handheld computer http://www.fic.com.tw/
MiTac International
new Microsoft based handheld http://www.mitac.com/
[2001/06/10]
June 5, 2001, HandEra, Inc., according to its Website, has
announced that it has begun shipping its HandEra 330 which
was announced April 23, 2001. The device is priced at
$349.99 US and can be ordered through the company's Website.
HandEra, Inc.
http://www.handera.com/
[2001/06/10]
For those who haven't read my articles over the years, the title "the world changed yesterday, again. . . ." has been used before. I'd have to check back through my stacks but I believe I first used it around 1984, and I think it came shortly after I used the title "the world changed yesterday." It has become a running half-joke. It's only a half joke because in this industry, it really does seem like the world changes on certain events.
Yesterday I decided to update my Palm IIIx to PalmOS 3.5.2.
The problem with updating my Palm IIIx is that the update came on a CD-ROM and my "base station" computer for the Palm is my Compaq Armada 1130 -- which has no CD-ROM, only 48MB RAM and 2GB HD, and is running a somewhat flakey version of Windows 95 Release 2. I do have a "test rig" Windows 98 box which is a Compaq Deskpro 2000, but I haven't gotten around to networking them.
I started by looking at the contents of the CD-ROM on the Deskpro and I wasn't even sure how many files I'd have to move to the Armada. At this point I hadn't even installed Zip (the archive utility) on the Deskpro. Luckily, that was small enough to fit on a floppy, so I brought Zip over from my Armada via a floppy disk. Having installed that, I "Zip'd" a bunch of files from the CD-ROM and ended up with a 15MB file. In the end, this proved to be overkill, but as I say, at this point I had no idea what I'd need.
Now, this is a fairly large file. My first thought was to put together a null-modem cable and XModem it between the two computers directly. But first I'd have to sort through the cables. And I wasn't even sure if I had terminal programs on both computers, so I might have to re-do the installation of Windows on the Deskpro. It should work. On the other hand, a long time ago, I'd bought a refurbished Iomega Zip 100 parallel port drive for the laptop and never gotten around to installing it. It came with the wrong drivers (Windows NT specific), but I had already downloaded a driver to the laptop. I would have to download a driver again to the Deskpro.
[We will take a short break while I run off to a computer store, get rid of my old Toshiba P-321 printer and buy various bits and pieces for some other computers. I have more to do in a day than just this one problem.]
I've put off the installation of the Zip drive because adding system level changes often results in new problems. Every time I've looked at the box I was filled with lethargy and dread. In fact, there were no problems on either the Armada nor on the Deskpro. That much was a relief. The driver software kit I downloaded to the Deskpro was newer than the files I'd downloaded to the Armada, but that didn't make any difference. Both have worked properly so far. I copied the 15MB Zip file to a "Zip disc" and copied that to the Armada, and "unZip'd" the Zip file. If the word zip is getting annoying, don't blame me. . . .
Unfortunately, this is where things really start to go wrong. 2GB has been fairly roomy for me on the Armada, but some of my partitions were getting a bit tight. When trying to install the PalmOS upgrade, the "setup" program reported that I neeed another 10MB. But it didn't tell me where. My "temp" file is in a large partition, and the target partition was also fairly large. So I guess it was unpacking something in the C: partition. Fortunately, I bought Partition Magic a couple of years ago, specifically for this Armada. I spent about 2 hours doing maintenance work on the partitions.
[We will take another break while I have dinner and attend to personal matters.]
Finally late in the evening, I backed up the Palm and made an extra copy of the Palm folder on another drive. Then I installed the 3.5.0 upgrade which came on the CD-ROM. This also did not go entirely smoothly, but I'll leave that for another day. Having succeeded in that much, I went back to the internet with the Armada and downloaded the 3.5.2 upgrade and installed that. By the late evening, I had checked all my programs and a few of the data files I was carrying, and was satisfied that I'd completed a successful upgrade.
Finally, at the end of the day, I decided it was time to update my OS documentation. My last update was for Palm OS 3.3. I knew that documentation was available for 4.0. I downloaded the newest docs and tried to read them. But the version of Acrobat Reader I've been using in the Armada was 3.01. Luckily, version 4.05 comes with the PalmOS 3.5 upgrade, and was one of the files I'd brought over via the Zip disc, so I removed the old Acrobat and installed the new one -- which is already also not the latest version.
As you can see by this, I don't generally chase after
upgrades. But occasionally, I'm forced to. And that's
about all I want to say about it right now.
[2001/06/09]
Bitstream Claims New Technology Wireless Full HTML Browser
June 6, 2001 Business Wire reports that Bitstream Inc. has
announced the development of its "ThunderHawk" Web
browser for wireless devices supports "full" web (HTML)
pages instead of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) or cHTML
(Compact HTML), maintaining full text legibility but without
"excessive scrolling." Bitstream has filed 12 preliminary
patent applications. Bitstream claims to display full Web
pages on "small color LCD screens (320 x 240)."
[I don't like to rain on someone's parade this early --
when I haven't even seen the product, but frankly, it was
obviously possible to pull this off, even back when I was
using a Newton. Though Newton HTML browsers were never
that good, it was clearly a problem with Apple's poorly
thought out API and system software which discouraged
programming outside the API, rather than the 320 * 240
monochrome display. If they had pulled of the same claims
on a screen as small as 160 * 160, then that would be
really surprising.]
Bitstream Inc.
http://www.bitstream.com/
[2001/06/06]
June 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Three-Five Systems, Inc.
has announced that it has begun sampling its "paperwhite"
liquid crystal displays which they claim has high contrast
that more closely approximates the appearance of ink on paper.
Three-Five Systems, Inc.
http://www.threefive.com/
[2001/06/06]
June 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq has announced a variety of 3rd party products enhancing its iPaq Pocket PC devices:
According to Compaq, the Colorgraphic Voyager VGA PC Card can
be used in the iPaq PC Card Expansion Pack giving SuperVGA
(800 * 600 * 256 colour) video display capability. The
PC Card costs $195 US.
Compaq iPaq presentation platform
http://www.compaq.com/products/handhelds/presentation.html
Insignia Solutions announced the immediate availability
of its JeodeRuntime (Java virtual machine). The price
is $1995 US.
HandAndGo JeodeRuntime (Java) for iPaq Pocket PC
http://compaq.handandgo.com/JeodeRuntime
According to Compaq, Siebel Sales Handheld for Pocket PC
extends Siebel Systems' eBusiness Applications "to
the point of customer contact."
Siebel Sales Handheld for Pocket PC
http://www.compaq.com/products/handheld/siebel.html
[2001/06/06]
June 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Linksys(R) has announced
its HomeLink(R) PhoneLine 10M Integrated Network PC Card (model
# PCM200HA) for laptop computers. The Type II PC Card provides
up to 10Mbps connects through regular phone lines using a HomePNA
2.0-certified chipset. The card will be available in Q3 2001 at
an estimated street price of $69.99 US.
Linksys Group, Inc.
http://www.linksys.com/
[2001/06/06]
June 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that NEC Corporation has
announced that its new NL2432DR22-02B 3.5" (8.9 cm) high-image
quality reflective-type amorphous silicon thin-film transistor
colour LCD 320 * 240 * 260,000 colour display panel has a maximum
reflection ratio of more than 40% and a maximum contrast ratio
of 40:1, and power consumption of 25 miliwatts (mW). Sampling
will begin in Sept. 2001 with volume production of up to
10,000 units per month beginning soon after.
[2001/06/06]
June 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Philips Mobile Display
Systems has announced that its polymer-based organic light-emitting
diode (OLED) displays are now available for production for small
devices. A 102 * 65 * 16 level grey monochrome display consumes
90mW in graphics mode with 80% pixels on, 48mW in text mode with
50% pixels on, and 4mW in standby mode, and gives contrast of 1:>200
even in direct sunlight.
[2001/06/06]
June 5, 2001, Business Wire reports that 3Com Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company have announced that they are working together to embed Bluetooth into future HP Omnibook and Pavilion laptop computers and HP Deskjet 995c inkjet printer.
June 5, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Via
Technologies has launched its C3 processor (their earlier
products were named "Cyrix III" and evolved from the purchase
of Cyrix from National Semiconductor and IDT). The new
chip is being made using a 0.13-micron process and will
begin at 800 MHz.
[2001/06/06]
June 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Presenter, Inc. has
announced free, downloadable software that converts Microsoft
PowerPoint presentations to a form usable on a Casio, Compaq iPaq
and Hewlett-Packard Pocket PC devices.
Presenter, Inc. PowerPoint
converter for Pocket PC devices http://www.presenter.com/
[2001/06/06]
June 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation and QUALCOMM Incorporated have announced that
the will develop a CDMA 2000 1xEV for Compaq Evo c Series
laptop computers, providing up to 2.4 Mbps peak throughput
on 3G CDMA data services. Sampling is expected to begin
in Q4 2001 with commercial availability in Q2 2002.
[2001/06/06]
June 4, 2001, William Chang writes for Palm Infocenter that
on June 1, 2001, more details were released about Acer's PDA
plans. No model name has been announced, but a prototype was
shown with a colour display. Current plans are for PalmOS
4.0 (Chinese Edition), a Dragonball ZV 33 MHz., and a memory
slot (type not confirmed). Also, according to Chang, Acer has
stopped working on a Linux PDA.
Palm Infocenter re. Acer PalmOS PDA
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2002
[2001/06/06]
I haven't had time to confirm these items but both the Agenda
Linux based handheld computer and the Handera 330 PalmOS
handheld computer have apparently begun shipping within
the last couple of days.
[2001/06/06]
I have finally updated Arranger to version 1.21. This is essentiallly the first non-beta since 1.12 back in 1998 (actually there was a 1.20 version which apparently had a bug that was quickly found and corrected in 1.21).
Likewise, yesterday I got a call from Inmac that they received my Palm OS 3.5 update CD-ROM. I picked it up this afternoon and will probably install it shortly. There is a bit of irony here, since Palm has refused to help me fix my Palm IIIx/TRG Xtra Xtra Pro system. I have now removed the Xtra Xtra Pro card and the Palm IIIx is now limited to its original 2MB Flash/4MB RAM configuration. I am undecided whether to send the expansion card back to TRG to check if it's ok. If it is, I could theoretically pick up another Palm IIIx to keep on using it. Then again, with all the new handhelds coming out, that's getting to be a less likely route. Moreover, I am reluctant to build up too many 68K based Palm devices since we are expecting that there will be ARM based units out next year.
I should mention that after about a day of not having the Palm
IIIx, I decided to buy another PalmOS based device. So I
already now have 2 68K Palm units. I am not saying what the
new one is because I might be writing an article about it soon.
[2001/06/06]
Sharp To Use StrongARM In Linux Handheld
June 1, 2001, Reuters reports that Sharp Corp. has
announced that it will use the Intel StrongARM CPU
for its Linux based handheld computer which is
expected to be ready for market later this year.
According to the article, "Sharp, based in Osaka,
Japan, has until now used Hitachi Ltd. microprocessors
. . . ." And Sharp plans to demonstrate the device
at Sun Microsystem Inc.'s JavaOne conference on June
4, 2001.
[2001/06/03]
June 1, 2001, Reuters reports that Acer Inc. has announced
that it will use Palm Inc's operating system in handheld
computers up to 2005.
[2001/06/03]
May 31, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Changepoint
Corporation has announced that it has released its
Changepoint Palm(TM) Client which is compatible with
version 6.0 of its PSA software. The application
supports PalmOS version 3.1.
Changepoint
Corporation http://www.changepoint.com/
[2001/06/03]
May 31, 2001, Stephen Shankland writes for CNET News.com
that Sharp has announced that it will use Lineo's Embedix
version of Linux for its new handheld to be sold in
North America later this year.
[2001/06/03]
May 29, 2001, PR Newswire reports that ISMAP has
announced that it will use Texas Instruments Incorporated's
OMAP(TM) platform to develop a real-time mapping
engine for 2.5 and 3G mobile phones and wireless
Internet appliances by the end of 2001 Q3. The engine
would be used for location based services.
[2001/06/03]
May 4, 2001, Richard Shim writes in his article "Linux
makes a move into handhelds" for CNET News.com that IDC
analysts will be tracking Linux-based PDAs for the first
time. The article notes that there are 3 commercial
Linux distributions suitable for PDA type usage. These
are Trolltech, Century Software and Transvirtual.
Century
Software (Linux for handhelds) http://www.centurysoftware.com
Transvirtual
Technologies (Linux for handhelds) http://www.transvirtual.com/
Trolltech
(Linux for handhelds) http://www.trolltech.com/
[2001/06/03]
May 30, 2001, PR Newswire reports that QRS Diagnostics, LLC
and TeleVital, Inc. have announced that they have developed
a set of Web-enabled PC Card medical device systems which
allow real-time monitoring, assessment, analysis, retrieval,
and storage of physiological data over the Internet.
QRS Diagnostics LLC
http://www.QRSdiagnostics.com/
TeleVital, Inc.
http://www.televital.com/
[2001/05/30]
May 30, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba Corporation
has announced the development of a 2.85" full-colour polymer
organic light emitting diode (OLED) display supporting
0.318 * 0.318 mm pixel pitch (80 pixels per inch) and
260,000 colours and 64-level (6-bit) grey scale. Toshiba
is using an "ink-jet" to deposit the phosphors on a polymer
film. Toshiba expects to have a commercial product by April
2002, with target markets including cell phones and PDAs.
[2001/05/30]
May 30, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Triumverate Technologies,
Inc. has announced that it has released its "Mailbox Filter(TM)"
which works with desk or laptop computers running Windows(TM)
9x, NT and 2000 and is compatible with all Windows POP/SMTP
email programs including Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora Lite,
Eudora Pro and Netscape. A "full version" 30-day trial
can be downloaded.
Triumvirate Technologies,
Inc. (mail box filter program) http://www.mailboxfilter.com/
[2001/05/30]
May 29, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Adobe Systems
Incorporated has announced that the first official release
of Acrobat(R) Reader(R) for Palm OS(R). Best used with
files created with Acrobat 5.0, the software works with
PalmOS 3.1 or later, requiring Palm Desktop 3.0.1 200KB of
Palm device memory, and is freely downloadable. The current
release is for English language users of Windows 98, NT(R),
ME and 2000, with support for other languages and MacOS
users coming later.
Adobe Acrobat Reader http://www.adobe.com/acrobat/readstep.html
Info Re. versions of Acrobat For PalmOS
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforpalm.html
[2001/05/30]
May 27, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that
Danger Research is working on a design for a handheld computer
and pager device similar to the RIM Blackberry series, but
with support for full HTML and e-mail as well as instant
messaging. The company will not manufacture or market the
device but will license the design.
[2001/05/30]
Following up on my previous note about Canadian Corporate
News, the Website design has been substantially redesigned.
In fact, it's now "over designed." They've created a
page which bogs down my V.90 modem, 120MHz Pentium, 48MB
computer. Moreover, when I first tried it with Netscape
Communicator 4.7, it wouldn't work. This is the second
news source that has poorly tested scripting which doesn't
run on Communicator 4.7. The other is PR Newswire.
[2001/05/30]
As is becoming a common occurance, one of my news sources
was not available today. This time it was Canadian Corporate
News. I'll check it later in the week to see if I missed
anything.
[2001/05/27]
May 25, 2001, Mitch Wagner writes for InternetWeek that
Bluefish Wireless Inc. is planning to launch a system
for Palm users which will allow Internet access in
public places through infrared nodes. The nodes
themselves connect to a base station using 900MHz spread
spectrum radio, allowing the nodes to be compact
(7" * 7" * 1.5") and inexpensive ($200 US each), whereas
the base station is a preconfigured IBM NetVista PC
running Linux costing $700 US, or an adapting hardware
and software costing $350 US. Bluefish will set up
their own access points in Atlanta and Chicago airports.
[2001/05/27]
May 25, 2001, George V. Hulme writes for InformationWeek
that Microsoft Corp. security bulletin MS01-029 warns
that Windows Media Player versions 6.4 and 7.0 have
a vulnerability that potentially lets hackers run code.
Microsoft has a patch for version 6.4 and version 7.0
should be upgraded to version 7.1. Older and unsupported
versions of Media Player are not confirmed safe or
dangerous. The problem comes from Windows Media Player
Active Stream Redirector processor which has an
unchecked buffer which can overrun.
Windows Media Player Security Bulletin
http://microsoft.com/security/bulletin/MS01-029.asp
[2001/05/27]
May 25, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD and Transmeta
Corporation has announced that they have agreed that Transmeta
will use Transmeta will be able to use AMD's "x86-64(TM)"
and HyperTransport(TM) interconnect technologies.
[2001/05/27]
May 24, 2001, Business Wire reports that TELUS Mobility
and Samsung Telecommunications America have announced that
TELUS Mobility will offer Samsung's Uproar(TM) PCS phone
handset which includes dual-band/dual-mode operation and
an integrated MP3 player. Consumers will be able to
download MP3 audio files from a computer through a USB
cable to the Uproar handset for later play. The units
5 line display also supports internet use and personal
organizer functions. Samsung claims the unit has sufficient
Flash memory to hold over an hour of CD-quality music.
The unit is immediately available. [No price was
given in the press release. -- JO]
Samsung USA
http://www.samsungusa.com/
TELUS Mobility
http://www.telusmobility.com/
[2001/05/27]
May 23, 2001, Business Wire reports that TTP Communications
plc (TTPCom) has announced that it will develop synthesizable
Bluetooth(TM) for use with 32-bit MIPS Technologies, Inc. cores.
TTPCom believes this will provide a cheaper platform that
even a $5 US Bluetooth chip.
[2001/05/27]
May 23, 2001, Business Wire reports that NEC has announced
that it will use a 1 GHz AMD Athlon 4 processor in its
"La Vie G" series laptop computers which will be available
in Japan later this month, and Sony, Fujitsu and NEC have
announced laptop computers using 700 to 800 MHz versions of
AMD's Duron processors, all also to be available in Japan
later this month.
[2001/05/23]
May 23, 2001, PR Newswire reports that LG.Philips LCD Co.,
Ltd. has introduced its LC121S1 which it claims is the
first transflective 12.1" SVGA TFT-LCD module. The device
will be manufactured in Korea and is expected to be shipped
this June. The company claims contrast ratios of 30:1 in
transmissive mode (backlighted) and 5:1 in reflective
mode (no backlight).
LG.Philips LCD Co.,
Ltd. http://www.lgphilips-lcd.com/
[2001/05/23]
May 23, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motorola has
announced that it is licensing Sony's Memory Stick(R)
technology in order to integrate it into new versions of
its DragonBall product lines which will be introduced
throughout 2001 based on the 68K and ARM processor
cores.
[2001/05/23]
May 23, 2001, Reuters reports that Acer Inc. has said
that it will license Palm Inc.'s PalmOS software for
new handheld computer products. A further announcement
will be made on June 1, 2001. Acer currently supports
Microsoft's Windows CE.
[2001/05/23]
May 23, 2001, Reuters reports according to Microsoft's Ed
Suwanjindar, Pocket PC device sales are ". . . trending up
in a month-over-month situation," and ". . . [Pocket PC]
OEMs . . . are ramping production . . . ." According to
Microsoft, sales surpassed 1 million units in less than
a year since the April 2000 launch, and total sales have
reached 1.25 million. However, according to Reuters,
Palm's 13 million users make up "80 percent of the total
market for hand-helds."
[2001/05/23]
May 23, 2001, PR Newswire reports that "Advanced Medical
Electronics Corporation (AME) has received a $100,000 phase I
SBIR grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
to implement a Bluetooth wireless interface for portable
medical instrumentation used in emergency applications."
The first project will be the development of a portable
battery powered 12-lead electrocardiograph (ECG) with Bluetooth
connectivity.
Advanced Medical Electronics
Corp. http://www.ame-corp.com/
[2001/05/23]
May 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp. has
announced the immediate availability of Microsoft(R) Windows
Media(TM) 7.1 Player for Pocket PC which supports wireless
access to digital audio and video for Pocket PC users
(network cards, wireless network cards must be used, and
might require separate purchasing, as well as payment for
connection time fees).
Microsoft Windows Media(TM) 7.1 Player for Pocket PC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/
[2001/05/23]
May 22, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that WordLogic
Corporation has announced WordLogic(TM) software which uses
an adaptive predicting system to speed data entry. The
system is intended for wireless touchscreen devices.
WordLogic Corporation
http://www.wordlogic.net/
[2001/05/23]
May 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp. and
Intel Corporation have announced that they will collaborate
to optimize Windows Media(TM) audio, video and digital rights
management (DRM) software for the Intel(R) XScale(TM)
microarchitecture.
[2001/05/23]
May 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq has unveiled
its new Evo product line which includes both desk and
mobile computer products. Two mobile computer announced
were the Evo Notebook N400c ultra-light laptop with
prices starting at $2,299 US and the Evo Notebook N150
"affordable, lightweight" laptop with prices starting at
$1,449 US.
[2001/05/23]
May 21, 2001, Beth Bacheldor and Martin J. Garvey write for InformationWeek that IBM is still backing wireless computing with major product plans. In the near term IBM has introduced on May 21, an updated ThinkPad A Series which integrates an antenna within the notebook frame and 2 WorkPad handhelds with monochrome and colour displays. [NOTE: The article refers to these as based on "Palm Pilot IV", but there is no such thing. It is more likely that they are based on the "Palm VIIx" device, but I haven't checked it yet. -- JO]
The article also mentions among other things, that IBM will
have a way to administer all IBM servers "from PDAs, mobile
phones and other handhelds," and that "IBM and Mitsubishi
Electric Corp. are jointly developing low-power microchips
for third-generation mobile phones."
[2001/05/23]
May 21, 2001, Reuters reports that Intel Corp. has unveiled
a series of chips intended for laptop computer use including
a 750MHz mobile Pentium III which consumes less than 1 Watt
when running at 500MHz in "battery-saving" mode.
[2001/05/23]
May 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Magellan Corporation
has announced that it has shipped its first upgraded handheld
GPS devices which can now be accurate to better than 3 meters.
The MAP 330, 330M and 330X devices now come with factory
installed Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) technology
which increases accuracy in areas in the US. Support of
European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS)
similarly increases accuracy in Europe as will support for
the forthcoming Multifunctional Transport Satellite-based
Augmentation System (MSAS) in Asia. Current owners of
MAP 330 and 330M products can download software upgrades.
Magellan Corporation
http://www.magellangps.com/
[2001/05/23]
Where I live, May 21 was "Victoria's Day" which made the
past weekend a "long" one. For me it was "long" in other
ways. I decided to do some cleaning up. There were a few
changes that I made in this Website that took time but won't
be important to most readers. The most significant effort
was a partial update of the "Links" page. Making Websites
can be fun. Well, sometimes. . . .
[2001/05/23]
With the stream of new ideas and technologies in the computer field, it's no surprise that some of them are simply not good right from the beginning. Recording CD's, either CD-R (recordable once only) or CD-RW (rewritable), from a mobile computer perspective is one of those ideas. While a disc is not literally "burned", it does require a relatively large amount of energy to heat the disk either to write it or erase it. A hard drive access is comparatively energy efficient. Even with today's higher capacity Li-Ion batteries, it's not a good idea to try to write a CD-ROM unless you plug the computer into a wall socket.
But the convenience of having a CD-RW drive in a laptop is undeniable -- even if you can't use it literally on the run, so it's no surprise that they are growing in availability. In fact, combination DVD/CD-RW should start becoming widely available in laptops in the near future. Because of the problems with CD-RW, I've avoided the technology until this year, so many readers will know more about this than I do. If you are one of them, you can skip the rest of this report. I only have a couple of things to say, and they aren't "news".
First, if you have an old laptop with a CD-ROM and want to start using carrying data on home-made CD's, it might not work. Older CD-ROM drives can't read CD-RW discs or in some cases, even CD-R discs. Which can read what? I don't know, but I would suggest that anyone looking at a used laptop where this is an issue should try out a test disc before buying.
Second, in the case of desk computers, I was surprised to find out that the speed of the recording is tied to processor speed.
On February 19, I helped debug a CD-RW installation on a 300MHz Pentium II Windows 98 desk computer. The drive was an LG 12X writer. I didn't document the setup fully but we found that it would not record (I think it was an audio track) at the full 12X (which requires 350MHz). The fastest supported speed for the 300MHz box was 8x.
On May 16, I installed a Comstar 8/4/32 (Samtak/Panasonic CW-7586) drive into a Compaq Deskpro 2000 with Pentium 166 CPU and Windows 98 Version 2. The testing program reported that it had full speed support except for a limit of 4x for audio writing.
I expect similar speed scaling in laptop products.
There is at least one brand of external "parallel port"
CD-RW drive available. I don't know how well it works.
If I find out, I'll report it here.
[2001/05/23]
On May 19, 2001, Bruce Little wrote in his article "Central bank alters key inflation gauge" in the Globe and Mail, p. B3, that the Bank of Canada had changed the formulation of its "core CPI". The new definition includes 84% of the items in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) list of goods and services excluding fruit and vegetables, gasoline, fuel oil and natural gas, "intercity transportation", tobacco, mortgage interest and indirect taxes such as sales taxes, tobacco and gasoline taxes.
I have never looked into the CPI. I don't even know how it is defined. Is it literally the cost of survival, or does it look for a specific quality of life, or does it take a mean average of spending per capita?
I would be interested in finding out how the Bank of Canada counts computer and Internet costs. Does it look at average price spent on a computer or the cost of computing power? Does it weight the cost of the computer based on sales per capita? What about the cost of phone services? Is the Internet included?
I mentioned before that Axxent is no longer giving
discounts for annual prepayment of accounts. I have
looked in old magazines and I find that the discount
I had was about 20% per year. I was paying $199.95
for a years worth of service which otherwise costed
$19.95. Moreover, in theory, I could "carry forward"
unused monthly connection time. On the other hand, about
a year ago, services had been increased (up to 130 hours
per month) and server disc space had been increased.
So how do you count that? Was it inflation? It's
a very difficult concept.
[2001/05/23]
May 18, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Trimble
has introduced its AgGPS(R) 160 Portable Computer
which is primarily intended for the agriculture
industry. The device uses a version of Windows(R) CE.
The product is immediately available.
[No size or price was given in the press release.
I checked the Trimble website and got the following
addition information. The device is based on the Intel
StrongARM processor and comes with 32MB internal Flash
memory and 32MB SRAM. It has a 57-key keyboard (but
not in a normal QWERTY layout). The screen is 320 *
240 * 16 level grey. It weights about .995kg (2.2
lbs.)]
Trimble http://www.trimble.com/
[2001/05/20]
May 18, 2001, Reuters reports that Handspring Inc.
has announced that it has signed an agreement with
Hartco Corp. of Montreal to bring its products to
Hartco's CompuCenter and CompuSmart retail stores.
Handspring products are already in Canada in The
Business Depot Ltd.'s Staples, Business Depot and
Bureau en Gros stores.
[Actually, I usually see them in Future Shop.
-- JO]
[2001/05/20]
May 18, 2001, Wylie Wong writes for CNET News.com that the
US FCC has said that it is considering whether to allow
IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi), which is now limited to 11 Mbit/sec up
to as high as 54 Mbit/sec. The new standard would be called
IEEE 802.11g and would still use the 2.4GHz band over 3
channels whereas 802.11a (which operates in the higher speed
range) uses the 5GHz band, over 12 channels. The FCC has
also recently proposed a rule change to make Wi-Fi
compatible with Bluetooth. Currently, the two systems
can interfere with each other.
[2001/05/20]
May 15, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that the Saskatoon
Travelodge Hotel, Shaw Communications Inc. and 3Com have
announced that patrons of the hotel who use Windows(TM)
95, 98, NT and 2000 computers can obtain a 3Com 11Mbps
Wireless LAN PC Card and software from the hotel to
connect to the internet through Wireless LAN services
through Shaw.
[According to the announcement there are some other
hotels in Canada that provide such services too, but I
don't remember hearing about any before. JO]
[2001/05/20]
As I noted in my last update Canada NewsWire is not
working. I'm starting to wonder if it's shut down.
I haven't had any news from their Website since May 9,
2001. This is a minor loss since most of the major
items I got from that site were Canadian versions of
similar announcements from their related site in the
US, which is "PR Newswire". But sometimes there are
interesting items that I didn't see on the PR Newswire
site, so if it's gone, I will miss it.
[2001/05/16]
May 16, 2001, Business Wire reports that Trend Micro has
introduced its "PC-Cillin(R) for Wireless Version 2.0 for
Palm OS" anti-virus software which according to Trend
Micro is the first AV software to run automatically when
programs are launched (before they are executed) for the
most complete protection. Versions are also available for
Pocket PC and EPOC. The software is immediately available
and for a limited time, free.
[NOTE: Trend Micro requires personal information before
allowing downloading. Since such information has value,
it is not "free". With current concerns regarding privacy,
I may point this out for similar situations in the future.
Also, I downloaded files at about 10:30 on the day of this
press release and I don't think I got version 2.0. -- JO]
Trend Micro
AV software for Palm, WinCE PocketPC and EPOC
[2001/05/16]
May 16, 2001, Business World reports that Franklin Covey
Co. has announced that it is now selling "FranklinCovey
Planning Software Suite" in packages which include the
Handspring Visor Prism, Edge(TM) or Platinum computing
devices.
Franklin Covey
Co. http://www.franklincovey.com/
[2001/05/16]
May 16, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced
that it has developed a new "Mirror Bit(TM)" architecture
which holds twice the data of standard Flash but without
degredation of "endurance, performance or reliability."
The first products will be available in Q1 2002.
[2001/05/16]
May 16, 2001, Reuter reports that Toshiba Corp. and
IBM have decided to terminate joint production of LCD
displays at their joint venture Display Technologies Inc.
(DTI) before the end of the year due to lower profits
caused by falling prices due to competition from South
Korean manufacturers.
[2001/05/16]
May 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that TouchSystems and
eTurboTouch Technology have announced "Turbo T6" which
advances 5-wire analog resistive touchscreen technology
by adding a 6th wire which adds EMI (Electromagnetic
Interference) shielding. The companies claim that Turbo
T6 has a lifespan of greater than 50 million touches which
is nearly twice that of its closest competitor.
TouchSystems
http://www.touchsystems.com/
[2001/05/16]
May 15, 2001, Mitch Wagner writes for InternetWeek that
Microsoft Corp. has announced that it has agreed with
Handspring Inc. that MSN will be the default home page
for Handspring's Blazer Web browser for Handspring's
devices which run on the PalmOS. Blazer will be priced
at $19.95 by itself but will be bundled with the
Handspring VisorPhone module.
[2001/05/16]
May 15, 2001, Business Wire reports that IBM and
PatientKeeper Inc. have announced "a collaboration to
offer a mobile healthcare platform to hospitals and other
medical facilities . . . ." IBM will assess needs
(consult) and (implement) install backend systems and
provide on-site and Web-based training.
[2001/05/16]
May 14, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that on
May 14, 2001, Sonicblue (formerly S3) will begin shipping
its Transmeta Crusoe TM3200 based ProGear wireless
Internet tablet computer this week. Priced at about
$1,500 US depending on configuration, the initial
market of the Linux based product will be hospitals
and niche markets, but with hopes of a consumer version
later this year.
[2001/05/16]
May 14, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced
its new mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 4 and mobile AMD Duron(TM)
processors. Compaq has announced that it is using a
1GHz Athlon 4 in its Presario 1200 laptop computer series.
AMD claims up to 30% more battery life using its new
AMD PowerNow!(TM) technology. Current prices (single
piece in quantities of 1,000 units) for Athlon 4
are in US dollars: 1GHz $425, 950MHz $350, 900MHz
$270, 850MHz $240; and for Duron are: 850MHz $197 and
800MHz $170.
[2001/05/16]
May 14, 2001, Mitch Wagner writes in an article called
"Handhelds Nudge PCs" for InternetWeek that handheld
computers are displacing desk and laptop computers in
many business situations, siting inter alia, Sears
Roebuck & Co. deploying PalmOS based Symbol wireless
handheld computers, and noting differences in applications
and usage between handhelds and larger format computers.
Among other things, the article notes that according to
Rob Enderle of Giga Information Group, "The replacement
cycle on mobile computers is more geared to the fact that
they wear out, as opposed to the replacement cycle on
the desktop, where they become obsolete before they wear
out," and according to Wagner, "The life span for a
handheld computer is about two years."
[This fortuitously echos my own informal findings
regarding Palm IIIx deterioration which I have recently
noted. -- JO]
[2001/05/16]
This time it was Canada NewsWire that's broken. Their
Website seems to be crashed. There is no response.
[2001/05/13]
May 11, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Palm
has dropped the price of the VIIx in the US by $100 US
down to $199.00 US. According to the article, Palm sales
in April were down 20% from March. Also, many users have
dropped out of the service due to the high cost ($24.99 US
per month for limited use and $44.99 US for unlimited
access). Also noted is that only time frame for the
replacement for the Palm VIIx is "by the end of the year."
[2001/05/13]
May 11, 2001, Reuters reports that Hewlett-Packard has
asked Carenegie Mellon University to experiment with Linux
on its Jornada handheld products.
[The general view of the article is that HP is taking
a "middle ground" approach to Linux overall (including desk
computers, servers and throughout their markets) and not
really promoting Linux at this time. There is no indication
that HP is ready to jump into Linux on handhelds with an
actual product in the near term.]
[2001/05/13]
[The following is a repost from Apr. 12, 2001 with some additional information released May 11, 2001]
Apr. 12, 2001, Business Wire reports that Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has announced its unaudited subscriber numbers for the first quarter of 2001.
3 Months Ended 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2001 Mar. 31, 2000
Net subscriber additions
Retail 56,339
Non-affliated
Wholesale 6,428
- Retail and Wholesale 62,767 (Not Provided)
Total Subscribers
- gross Fido activations
121,724 (10% more than
same quarter 2000)
- Postpaid 483,548
- Prepaid 495,318
- Retail 978,866 654,309
- 17,501 migrated from
prepaid to postpaid
in the quarter
- Wholesale 21,058 3,466
Churn (after
30 day guarantee) 2.2%
(was 2.3% in last quarter)
[2001/04/18]
May 10, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that
Merrill Lynch analyst Virginia Syer Genereux has said
that Aether Systems has enough RIM 957's "to last the
next several quarters." But according to RIM's CEO
Jim Balsillie "The sector slowdown is mythical. We
didn't see a slowdown in demand. And as a result,
we're reiterating guidance for the quarter and the
year. . . ."
[2001/05/13]
May 8, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that OmniSky
has raised its prices for iPaq users for unlimited Internet
connect time to $59.95 US per month (or $54.95US/month with a
1 year contract) while Jornada and Palm users are charged
$29.95 to $39.95 US. According to OmniSky, iPaq users are
simply using the system more, viewing the iPaq as a true
laptop replacement.
[2001/05/13]
It's been a while since one of my news sources messed up,
so I was a bit surprised this time. But yes, it's happened
again. I'll try to recheck the problem site in another
couple of days in case I missed something significant.
[2001/05/09]
May 9, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Trend Micro
has announced that it has classified a new computer virus
it calls VBS_Homepage.A (aka VBS.VBSWG2.D@mm) as a
high risk worm virus. It propogates only through Microsoft
Outlook by sending itself as an email attachment to all
addresses in an address book.
Trend Micro
virus info http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/
[2001/05/09]
May 9, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Palm Canada
has announced that the Palm m505 which features a
16-bit colour screen is now available in stores
across Canada.
[2001/05/09]
May 8, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that JAWZ
Inc. has announced that its DataGator(TM) V2.1 security
software which encrypts all data on a PalmOS pocket
computer (PalmOS version 3.0 to 3.5) is now available.
JAWZ Inc. http://JAWZinc.com/
[2001/05/09]
May 8, 2001, Business Wire reports that Intel
Corporation has introduced the Xircom(R) SpringPort(TM)
Wireless Ethernet SpringBoard(TM) for the HandSpring
Visor. The device is IEEE 802.11b high-rate standard
compliant. The device is capable of 11Mbps data
transfers within 300 feet (90M). It will be
available in May for $299 US.
Xircom
(Intel) Wireless http://www.xircom.com/wireless/
[2001/05/09]
May 8, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD has
introduced its Am29PL320 asynchronous flash memory
device which features 32-bit wide access, page
access times as fast as 20 nanoseconds, random
access as fast as 60 nanoseconds and data
transfer rates as high as 133MB/sec. The device
is available now at $13.95 US each in quantities
of 10,000 pieces.
[The data capacity of a piece wasn't given in
the announcement. -- JO]
[2001/05/09]
May 8, 2001, Mitch Wagner writes for InternetWeek that
Microsoft Corp. has begun phasing out "perpetual licensing
for its biggest corporate customers." The details of the
time limited subscription licenses aren't given in the
article.
[I don't plan on following this in detail, but it
will be interesting to see if this trend continues down
to the consumer level which is where mobile devices
tend to be.]
[2001/05/09]
May 7, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Dell Computer Corporation has announced its Latitude(TM) C600 laptop computer which features a 1 GHz Intel(R) Mobile Pentium(R) III processor and a 14.1" SXGA+ screen. Prices start at $3,799 Cdn.
Also announced was a Latitude C600 laptop computer with
a 700 MHz Intel Celeron(TM) processor. Prices start at
$2,459 Cdn.
Dell Canada
Latitude computers http://www.dell.ca/latitude/
[2001/05/09]
May 7, 2001, Reuters reports that Toshiba has announced
that it will use the Transmeta Corp. Crusoe processor
in one model of its Libretto mobile computers.
[2001/05/09]
May 4, 2001, Jade Boyd writes for InternetWeek that AT&T Corp. (US) has announced that it plans to raise its prices for consumer broadband cable access $6 US per month, bringing monthly bills to $40 - $50 per month. According to the article, due to DLS provider bankruptcies, cable modem services currently account for 3/4 of all broadband Internet links [probably measuring only the US -- JO].
The articles also says that SBC Communications Inc. which is "the largest DSL provider with more than 900,000 customers" announced in February a similar increase from $40 to $50 US, and that EarthLink Inc. with 200,000 subscribers raised its prices last month.
But I don't think it's only the broadband prices that are rising. I just got my bill from Axxent and they have eliminated their annual rates, which give discounts for lump sum payments and the theoretical savings of "carried forward" time. I haven't been shopping around for the last couple of years, but I expect that there may be some similar raises at other ISPs. The industry began with wild attempts to grab market share with unrealistically low pricing, followed by consolidation. Now that competition has dropped, I expect a lot of the account prices have been reviewed and adjusted.
I think that many ISPs are poorly run in general -- not just that the services could be better, but that the people running them don't understand where the profit potentials really lie. I think they could provide better services and make more money doing it. Then again, as I say, it's been well over a year since I last "shopped around" so I could be wrong.
This has implications for the mobile industry. There is
a strong belief that pocket devices can boom with the
addition of wireless services. But the cost of wireless
services is far greater than people realize. Having
been recently burned by the "wired Internet" industry,
I expect venture capitalist to be more wary of funding
costly expansions of infrastructure to service wireless
devices. So for now, "mobile" growth is probably going
to limited to inherent value of mobility of stored
information and current data access facilities and rates.
[2001/05/09]
May 5, 2001, Scott Ard writes for CNET News.com that
according to the company's Website, Handspring has
dropped the price of the Visor Deluxe by $50 US
to $199 US and is including a leather case valued at
$24.95, and free shipping. Moreover, the Visor
Platinum has been reduced from $299 US down to $249
US through to June 17, 2001. The article notes
Palm's similar cuts in April.
[2001/05/06]
May 5, 2001, Steven Musil writes for CNET News.com that Dell Computer has recalled "284,000 [laptop computer] batteries due to a flaw that has caused at least one [laptop computer] to catch fire." The batteries are used in Dell's Inspiron 5000 and 5000(e) computers.
On May 3, 2001, Reuters reported that the computers
were sold between Jan. 2000 and March 2001, and notes
that this is completely independent of a similar
battery recall by Dell in October 2000 related to
Inspiron 3700 and 3800 series computers. The batteries
are being replaced for free.
[2001/05/06]
May 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Texas Instruments
has announced SDK "Plug-Ins" which support multimedia
applications for Symbian EPOC based devices built using
TI's OMAP hardware platform which includes TI's DSP
technology. MPEG4 is now supported and MP3 and speech
recognition are targetted for Q3, 2001.
[2001/05/06]
May 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that VIGILANTe has
announced that it's "SecureScan(TM)" now includes the
ability to test for a security problem in Windows 2000
which arises from "an uncheck buffer in the ISAPI
Extension that is installed by default in Windows 2000."
The problem allows hackers to run their own code or
"initiate a buffer overrun."
[2001/05/06]
May 3, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that when
discussing Research In Motion's data-only BlackBerry
GSM/GPRS version which will be available in Europe later
this year, RIM's chief financial officer Dennis Kavelman
noted that ". . . adding voice should be a snap." The
article goes on to say "RIM deserves to benefit from the
voice calls made over a BlackBerry, Kavelman said, but
has yet to work out the financial details with [British
Telecom]."
[The article also quotes Kavelman as saying that
compared to Palm "We don't have a RIM OS that is trying
to compete with Microsoft." This latter is not true.
The BlackBerry device does compete directly against
Windows CE/Pocket PC devices for market share. -- JO]
[2001/05/06]
Does the apparent surplus of computer manufacturing capacity point to substantially reduced prices? Compaq has called it a "price war", but is it only hype? I haven't had much time to think about this, but I thought I'd post a quick thought. First, there is a glut of computer parts, but mainly for desk computers.
I have no confirmation of a substantial overhang of parts or stock in the laptop field. While Palm and Handspring have talked of a weaker market, I have only seen a small number of stores with excess Palm IIIxe or Handspring Visor Deluxe. Furthermore, although HP has apparently had sales problems, I have to wonder how much was due to bad PR due to the "16-bit" colour screen issue, and that it is the weakest of the 3 WinCE "Pocket PC" devices. There seems to be no weakness in the Casio or Compaq iPaqs sales -- only supply shortages.
Looking at prices drops, I do not expect to see a substantial drop in profit margin from Dell and Compaq desk computer. I expect that price breaks in components will be passed on, and "cheaper" products may be made available with specs weaker than would have been expected. But if you consider that Dell was working with a roughly 20% profit margin before, then they can't drop prices very much before it makes no sense to be in the business at all. So expect that their products won't be any more of a bargain than anyone else. In fact, they really haven't been any better than Compaq, HP or even IBM for some time now. But do be wary of "support and service" declines particularly from Dell. Where else can they cut back to save cost?
As for laptop computers, the price point of products has traditionally related to the costs of screens. As screen prices have come down, the price points have dropped. Or conversely, sometimes desirable expensive screens have made even more expensive laptops viable. Since the softness in the desk computer market hasn't really been duplicated in the laptop market, don't expect huge changes in that respect. The only effect of significance is that the accelerated price drop in desk computer power will bring more sales back to desk computers from the laptop market. But I don't expect that to be a huge movement.
Through all this, the one business I would not want to be in is the "used desk computer" business. Those companies bought computers over the last 6 months that are suddenly going to be worth less than they paid, thanks to the surprise "reduced" price of the top end Pentium IV's and lower cost for other new components. Those companies will have to find new ways of making their computers worth buying. Perhaps they will move to increase service contracts (which will defray losses for a while), and some companies might try to bundling Linux as an added value service. But they will have to try something, as newer used products come online at lower than anticipated prices.
Lastly, don't expect this to last for long. In the mobile
field, what effect occurs may all be over in as little as 3
- 6 months.
[2001/05/06]
May 2, 2001, Sony has officially announced that its new
PEG-700 series device will be available in the US. The
new version Clie PEG-N710C can now be pre-ordered through
the Sony Style Website. The price is set at $499.99 US,
but no delivery date has been posted. The new device
retains the innovative 320 * 320 pixel reflective TFT
colour screen, 4MB Flash memory, 8MB main memory, but
with English PalmOS 3.5 software, and an 8MB Memory
Stick. MP3 audio is directly included. Power is supplied
by a Li-Polymer battery.
Sony Clie PEG-N710C
http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/clie/index.html
[2001/05/02]
May 2, 2001, Business Wire reports that AirSpeak, Inc.
has announced its FLAIR(TM) "handheld PC Access device."
The mobile unit has a 12-inch touch screen display which
duplicates the display on a desk computer.
AirSpeak, Inc.
http://www.airspeak.com/
[2001/05/02]
May 2, 2001, Business Wire reports that Red-M(TM) has
announced that it has completed "another Bluetooth network
installation, at the University Hospital (Univeritaetsklinik)
in Mainz, Germany . . ."
[I have some doubts about the long term viability of
wireless networking in hospital settings. The current
ban on cellphone usage in many hospitals may indicate that
someday, even this Bluetooth network may be considered too
risky. Also, I should warn people with slow computers that
I found the Red-M website difficult to use because there
was so much animation that my 120MHz Windows laptop was
unable to keep up with the display. I lost most control of
the computer until I aborted out of my browser. It was a
very annoying waste of time. I didn't have time to check
it out further. -- JO]
Red-M(TM)
http://www.red-m.com/
[2001/05/02]
May 2, 2001, Reuters reports that the HomeRF wireless
standard which is competing against Wi-Fi (802.11b which
runs at 11 Mbps) has bumped up from 1Mbps to 10Mbps.
when it was ratified two weeks ago, making it more
competitive, though for now, there are no products that
support the new speed.
[2001/05/02]
May 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation, Starbucks Coffee Company announced that
along with Microsoft, they will create high speed
wireless Internet access at Starbuck locations.
[2001/05/02]
Apr. 30, 2001, Robert Bryce writes for Interactive Week
that Wayne Reaud is suing Compaq Computer Corporation
over its handling of warranty issues regarding its Aero,
Presario, iPaq and handheld iPaq computers. Arch Currid
speaking for Compaq said "We feel our products work as
intended and we will defend them vigorously."
[2001/05/02]
May 1, 2001, Apple introduced its latest iBook which they claim
is "the lightest and smallest full-featured consumer and
educational" laptop computer available. Weight is 4.9 lbs.
The prices start at $1,999 Cdn. depending on configuration.
[2001/05/02]
Apr. 27, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Trimble has announced
its "GPS Pathfinder(R) Pocket" device which is a pocket-sized
Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for the mapping and
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) market. The device
weighs 5 oz.
[The announcement did not include size, price or date of
availability]
Trimble (GPS)
http://www.trimble.com/
[2001/04/29]
Apr. 27, 2001, IBM claims to have developed a new method
of controlled production of carbon nanotube transistor devices
which, eventually may replace current silicon based
microelectronics.
IBM Research (Carbon Nanotube transistors)
http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/press/Transistors/
[2001/04/29]
Apr. 26, 2001, Business Wire reports that Ericsson, Motorola
and Nokia have announced that they have established "Wireless
Village, the Mobile Instant Messaging and Presence (MPS)
initiative, to define and promote a set of universal
specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence
services and create a community of supporters."
Wireless Village
http://www.wireless-village.org/
[2001/04/29]
Apr. 25, 2001, Business Wire reports that BCE has released
its 2001 Q1 results. There was no separation of Bell
Mobility subscriber results in the announcement.
[2001/04/29]
This is a story that I haven't been following because I didn't
think it was mobile. According to the news releases on the
company website, on Mar. 1, 2001, AgeSpan, INc. announced
its "Personal Kiosk" which is a personal computer with an
easier to use voice interface and 12 * 12" colour screen.
At that time it was claimed to be aimed at seniors and the
code name was "Li'l Budd-e". By March 14, 2001, it was
announced that the product name was "Ginger" and that it
would be delivered on Apr. 1, 2001. In terms of physical
layout, it turns out that Ginger is essentially a big slate
format mobile computer. It uses a 500 MHz Intel Celeron
processor (probably a "Mobile" version) and has 128MB RAM,
a 10GB HD, 12.5" active touch screen, Windows 98 software,
HAL Voice software, and more.
Ginger Interactive,
Inc. href=http://www.gingerinteractive.com/
[2001/04/29]
As previously mentioned, the HandEra 330 was announced Apr. 23, 2001. The following are some of the available stats:
Size & weight: - 121 * 81 * 17mm - 167g w/AAA batteries - 153g w/Li-Ion batteries Processor & Memory: - 33MHz Motorola DragonBall-VZ(TM) - 8MB RAM - 2MB Flash Screen: - 240 * 320 * 16 level grey scale - "blue-green" backlight - active area 55 * 73mm - 360 deg. rotating display Sound: - built in microphone - Internal audio amp and speaker Storage: - CompactFlash(TM) Type I/II card slot - Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMediaCard slot Other I/O: - IrDA v1.2 port 115kbps - RS232 serial port (Palm III cradle?) - Jog wheel and aux button - LED power external power indicator Power: - 4AAA batteries - (optional Li-Ion rechargeable batteries)
[According to Reuters, Apr. 23, 2001, the HandEra
330 is expected to ship in the 2nd quarter (which ends
in June) and will cost $350 US. -- JO]
[2001/04/25]
Apr. 25, 2001, Reuters reports that according to Nokia,
on Thursday, Nokia, Motorola and Ericsson will announce their
"Mobile Electronic Transactions (MET) initiative which
is "aimed at ensuring wireless devices could be used
seamlessly and securely to make electronic transactions."
[2001/04/25]
Apr. 24, 2001, Reuters reports that Sony Corp. and Ericsson
agreed on Tuesday to form a new joint venture company to be
called "Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications" to develop
and market cell phone handsets. The agreement is due to
take effect in Oct. 2001.
[2001/04/24]
Apr. 20, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that HandEra
(formerly TRG Products) will announce its PalmOS based
HandEra 330 on Monday Apr. 23, 2001. The new handheld computer
will feature a 240 * 320 display, and both CompactFlash and
Secure Digital card sockets. Price is expected to be $350 US
including 8MB RAM, sound recording capability (with built in mic.)
with product available by the end of June, 2001.
[Information about Flash memory and processor speed was
given in the article. JO]
Handera
http://www.handera.com/
[2001/04/22]
Apr. 19, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Dell Canada has
introduced its Inspiron 2100 and 2500 series laptop computers.
The Inspiron 2100 starts at $2,999 Cdn. including a 700MHz
Intel Mobile Pentium III CPU. The Inspiron 2500 starts
at $1,599 Cdn. with a 600MHz Intel Mobile Celeron(TM) CPU.
[2001/04/22]
Apr. 18, 2001, PR Newswire reports that eMagin Corporation
has announced that it is accepting orders for a full-colour
active matrix organic light emitting diode (OLED) SVGA+
microdisplay Developer's Kit. The 0.62" diagonal has "over
1.5 million subpixel elements (600 x 3 x 852 pixels)."
eMagin Corporation
(OLED displays) http://www.emagin.com/
[2001/04/18]
Apr. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Pocketmultimedia(TM)
has introduced its "PockIt Recorder(TM) which will be
demonstrated at the National Association of Broadcasters
Show Apr. 23-26, 2001. Along with other related products,
and requiring a video signal tuner card, it allows
simultaneous recording and compression of content to
a proprietary (.PMM) format which can later be viewed
on a handheld computer. The minimum system requires
a 300MHz Intel Celeron CPU with MMX video playback
capability.
[Looking at their Website I found that the only target
device currently supported is the Compaq iPaq. -- JO]
Pocketmultimedia(TM)
http://www.pocketmultimedia.com/
[2001/04/18]
Apr. 16, 2001, Business Wire reports that Dell has announced
new versions of its Inspiron 8000 laptop computers which
use the Nvidia GeForce2 Go graphics at prices as low as
$2,118 US (900-MHz Intel Mobile Pentium III, 15" SXGA+
display, 64 MB RAM, 16 MB DDR Nvidia video graphics RAM,
24X CD-ROM, 10 GB HD and 56Kb modem).
[2001/04/18]
Apr. 12, 2001, David M. Ewalt writes for Information Week
that researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center
(SDSC) have identified several security flaws Alcatel
"Speed Touch" ADLS modems including a back door that
completely bypasses any passwords. Logging on under the
user name "expert" allows changing or deleting embedded
software. Similar problems might also be in other products
by Alcatel. The products are distributed in the US by SBC
Communications Inc. and Bell South.
[2001/04/15]
Apr. 11, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc. has lowered
prices on several of its products only a few weeks after
lowering the prices at the introduction of the m500 series
(Mar. 19, 2001). Palm Vx is now $299 US (down from $349
which was down from $399), the m100 was reduced to $129 US
(down from $149) and the IIIc has been lowered to $299 US
(down from $329).
[2001/04/15]
I've finally gotten around to writing up my awards for 2000.
Products and Achievements Awards for 2000
http://www.pathcom.com/~jimomura/awards2000.html
Apr. 11, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc. has announced
that Handspring Inc. has licensed PalmOS throught to 2009.
[2001/04/11]
Apr. 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer Corp.
has introduced its new Presario 800 series "ultraportable"
laptop computers at prices starting at $1,799 US
[2001/04/11]
Apr. 10, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Adobe has announced
that it has begun distribution of a Beta version of a PalmOS PDF
Acrobat(R) Reader(TM). The current Beta only runs on Windows 98
or later, or Windows NT or later, with Palm Desktop 3.0.1 or
higher and PalmOS 3.1 or higher. The program can be downloaded
for no charge, but requires completion of a form for
personal information.
[What is odd about this announcement is that it apparently
doesn't run on Window 95. I expect this was a mere oversight
in the announcement. It would be very surprising if this is
an actual technical limitation. -- JO]
Adobe Acrobat Reader PalmOS Beta
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/betareg.html
[2001/04/11]
Apr. 10, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Microsoft
is allowing "system integrators" access to Windows CE source
code although they do not allow changes to the code in products
that are released. Moreover, "Talisker" which is the next
major upgrade to Windows CE (after 3.0) is in "Beta 1" testing
and expected to be available at the end of this year.
[2001/04/11]
Apr. 10, 2001, QNX Software Systems has announced that QNX
RTOS, which currently runs on PowerPC, MIPS and x86 processors
has been ported to SH-4, ARM and StrongARM processors, with
XScale coming.
[2001/04/11]
Apr. 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Franklin Electronic
Publishers Inc. has announced that it has been awarded US Patent
6,205,540 for its "Processor with Enhanced Instruction Set".
The 32-bit RISC CPU is used in its eBookMan and other eBook
products. The eBookMan contains its EBK2 ASIC which contains
the patented 32 bit processor (24MHz) which features a hardware
multiplier, glueless interface to SDRAM, EPROM, ROM or NOR Flash,
real-time clock, LCD controller, USB inteface, MMC interface,
MMU, pulse width modulation stereo audio DAC module and
touchscreen interface. The current product range includes
the EBM-900 (8MB) at $129.95 US, EBM-901 (8MB w/backlighted
display) at $179.95 and the EBM-911 (16MB with backlighted
display) at $229.95. All com with a 240 * 200 display and
is expandable using MMC cards.
[2001/04/11]
Apr. 6, 2001, Business Wire reports that Motorola has Motorola
has developed its Accompli(TM) 008 handheld computer and phone
combination which incorporates a 320 * 240 greyscale screen
with a microbrowser and PDA style software with a 2.5G GSM/GPRS
phone.
[The annoucement, otherwise has sketchy detail and no
information regarding price and availability. I almost
decided to skip this item. -- JO]
[2001/04/08]
Apr. 6, 2001, Todd N. Lebor writes for Motley Fool that "wireless"
equity trading offers little benefit for equity investors or
even "traders".
[The article is an opinion piece with no claim of substantive
research, and its tone is exagerated, but I suspect it is
generally correct. -- JO]
[2001/04/08]
Apr. 5, 2001, Reuters reports that Telus Corp. has claimed
to have added 108,000 subscribers (a 19% increase over the
same period last year), a record number, in the first
quarter of 2001.
[2001/04/08]
Mar. 29, 2001, NewsAlert reports that Agenda Computing would
officially launch the consumer version of its Agenda VR3
handheld computer on April 3, 2001, at Comdex.
[I haven't found any mention of the launch having occurred.
I expect it did, but as I write this, I haven't confirm
it. -- JO]
[2001/04/08]
Apr. 4, 2001, Business Wire reports that Microcell
Connexions Inc. claims that it has completed its 2.5G
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) wireless data
implementation on its network across Canada, giving
it the first such working network in the Canadian and
US markets.
[2001/04/04]
Apr. 4, 2001, Business Wire reports that Handspring, Inc.
has announced that its GSM based VisorPhone Springboard is
now available in various consumer outlets in California,
Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee and
Georgia. The VisorPhone module costs $299 US when
purchased with service plan from Cingular Wireless. A
Visor handheld computer must be purchased separately.
[2001/04/04]
Apr. 4, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Rackspace Managed
Hosting has released sources to its "Alamo" software which
can assist in protecting against the Linux Trojan virus
"Knark" which hides files and is currently undetectable
in a running Linux system. The program is not a complete
solution to the problem but has been released for open
development.
Rackspace Managed
Hosting http://www.rackspace.com/
[2001/04/04]
Apr. 3, 2001, Reuters reports that Microsoft Corp. and
Hewlett-Packard Co. have agreed to drop claims that HP's
handheld computer came with "built-in" wireless Internet
with only a small admission that it required more, costly
hardware.
[The strangest thing about this ad problem was that the
Palm VII is essentially capable of doing what the Jornada
was claiming to be able to do -- access the Internet
wirelessly, albeit in a limited way. It is strange that
the settlement does not seem to require a complete
correction in this regard.]
[2001/04/04]
Apr. 2, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation has announced its new Compaq Armada 110
series laptop computers priced as low as $1,099 US
for small businesses.
[2001/04/04]
Apr. 2, 2001, Corey Grice writes for CNET News.com that
Globalstar Telecommunications has said that it might
seek Bankruptcy protection if further financing isn't
secured.
[2001/04/04]
Mar. 31, 2001, Stephen Labaton writes for The New York Times
in his article "Studies Find Scant Availability of Spectrum
for WIreless Internet" that 3 US government studies have
come to the conclusion in the article's title. Radio spectrum
is already overcrowded.
[2001/04/01]
Mar. 29, 2001, David Cassel writes for MBizCentral that
AvantGo has announced that it will release its 4.0
M-Business Server software on Friday Mar. 30, 2001.
Support includes GSM, GPRS, CDPD, CDMA, Mobitex, 802.11(B),
Bluetooth and will include 3G networks as they become
available. Various databases and data formats have been
added. Also, according to the articles, "AvantGo said it
has also improved the interface to streamline the
transition between being offline and connecting to a
network."
[2001/04/01]
Mar. 28, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Electric Fuel
Corporation has announced that its Instant Power(TM)
Chargers (supplementary power source kits) will be shipped
early in 2001 Q2. The product line includes kits for
Palm V, Compaq iPaq, Handspring Prism and Visor Phone.
Other planned products (available later) will include
HP Jornada and Casio Cassiopeia. The "charger kit"
including SmartCord will cost $19.95 US (MSRP) and Instant
Power Cartridges (Zinc-Air fuel cells) will cost $9.95 US
(MSRP).
Electric Fuel
Corp. (Zinc-Air fuel cells) http://www.electric-fuel.com/
[2001/03/28]
Mar. 28, 2001, Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc. has
introduced its Trium(TM) brand mobile and 3G phones to North
America. Models to be seen in North America include the
G320 and G360 GSM phones and T300 and T330 TDMA phones.
Mitsubishi Wireless
Communications Trium http://www.triumusa.com/
[2001/03/28]
Mar. 28, 2001, Reuters reports that the Iridium system, under
new ownership, will restart on Mar. 30, 2001.
[2001/03/28]
Mar. 28, 2001, Reuters reports that anti-virus company Central
Command has announced that it has found a new virus "W32.Winux"
which can infect Intel processor based Linux computers or
Windows (95, 98, ME, NT, 2000) computers. The virus infects
programs greater than 100 Kbytes.
Central Command antivirus
http://www.avx.com/
[2001/03/28]
Mar. 27, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Symantec Corp.
has announced Symantec AntiVirus for Palm OS is now available
to order online, and is also included in the new Norton
AntiVirus 2001 Professional Edition. The price for Symantec
AntiVirus for Palm OS is $59.95 Cdn. Current users of
Norton AntiVirus can get a $15.00 Cdn. mail-in rebate.
Symantec Corp
http://www.symantec.ca/
[2001/03/28]
Mar. 26, 2001, Reuters reports that Compaq Computer Corp. and
Trasmeta Corp. are working on "Tablet PCs". A number of other
companies have announced or acknowledged efforts in this
direction.
[2001/03/28]
Mar. 23, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Datacolor has
announced that its new "Mercury(TM) Color Measurement System"
uses advanced proprietary sensor technology uses PalmOS
technology in the spectrophotometer.
Datacolor
http://www.datacolor.com/
[2001/03/25]
Mar. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that PCMCIA has announced
the release of its CardBay(TM) standard which incorporates
the Universal Serial Bus (USB) into the PC Card format.
[2001/03/25]
Mar. 22, 2001, Cecily Barnes and Stephen Shankland write for CNET
News.com that IBM and Symbian have announced that they are
working together to integrate IBM's DB2 Everyplace, Lotus
Notes and mobile device management via Tivoli Systems with
Symbian based products such as the Nokia Communicator 9210.
[2001/03/25]
Mar. 21, 2001, Reuters reports that on Mar. 21, 2001, Hewlett- Packard Co. introduced its Jornada 525 PocketPC which comes with 16MB memory and a colour screen. Pricing is expected to be less than the 540 series Jornadas.
HP also introduced its Jornada 710 handheld PC. Both products
will be available in North America in early April, 2001.
[2001/03/25]
Mar. 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Glenayre Technologies
Inc. and Arch Wireless, Inc. have announced the "Arch Webster(TM)
300" which uses Glenayre's @ctiveLink(TM) Springboard(TM) for the
Handspring(TM) Visor(TM) Deluxe to allow use of Arch Wireless'
ReFLEX network (US) for full bidirectional messaging.
Arch Wireless, Inc. (ReFLEX
pager network) http://www.arch.com/
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft has announced
that its "Microsoft(R) SQL Server(TM) 2000 Windows(R) CE Edition"
(SQL Server CE) is now an installable application option in
Microsoft Platform Builder 3.0. It can be integrated into a
ROMable image for dedicated systems.
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 21, 2001, Business Wire reports that PacketVideo Corporation
and Sharp have announced that PacketVideo will integrate
its PVPlayer(TM) MPEG-4 playback software for use on Sharp's
Linux based handheld computers.
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has announced that
Nokia and RealNetworks(R) Inc. have announced that Mobile
RealPlayer(R) is now available for the Nokia 9210 Communicator
which is based on Symbian's EPOC OS.
RealNetworks Software
http://www.real.com/
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 20, 2001, Business Wire reports that PacketVideo Corporation
and Symbian have announced that PacketVideo has optimized
its PVPlayer(TM) MPEG-4 playback software for use on Symbian's
"mobile operating system."
PacketVideo Corporation
http://www.pv.com/
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that GTRAN, Inc. has introduced
its line of "DotSurfer(TM)" PCMCIA Type II data cards which
allow high speed data connection via CDMA and GPRS. DotSurfer(TM)
CDMA 1X is available in 800MHz, 1700MHz, 1900MHz and Dual Band
800/1900MHz supporting speeds up to 153Kbps. DotSurfer(TM)
GPRS is available in 1800MHz, 1900MHz and Dual Band 1800/1900MHz
and TriBand 900/1800/1900MHz supporting speeds up to 85Kbps.
Dr. Frank Lee, PhD (President and CEO of GTRAN) claims actual
speeds of 110Kbps - 144Kbps "in a mobile environment." Deployment
of product by CDMA carriers is expected in Q3, 2001.
GTRAN, Inc. (CDMA, GPRS PC-Cards)
http://www.gtran.com/
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 20, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Presenter, Inc. has
announced that its "iPresentation Mobile Playback Option"
allows playing back PowerPoint presentations on Windows CE
3.0 operating system for Pocket PC.
Presenter, Inc.
http://www.presenter.com/
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 20, 2001, Business Wire reports that AMD has introduced
its new Am29DL640 device which is a 64-Mb Flash memory
featuring "Flex Bank" architecture. This new technology
extends AMD's Patented "Simulatneous Read/Write" (SRW)
technology to multi-bank devices. The new device is
available now in TSOP or FBGA packages at $26.15 each
in quantities of 10,000.
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motorola, Inc. claims that
it has successfully transmitted the world's first live video
over its third generation Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
1xEV-DV system and high-speed data throughput of 4.8 Mbps.
The system uses a "64 quad amplitude modulation" (QAM) scheme
achieved over a CDMA radio frequency channel. According to
the announcement "[t]is is significant because it demonstrated
the potential to increase the 1xRTT data rate from its initial
capability of 144 kilobits per second to a potential of almost
5Mbis with enhancements to the CDMA 1x air interface." The
current data rates for 3G CDMA are 144 kbps using 1xRTT, and
2.4 Mbps using 1xEV-DO, neither of which has been fully deployed
yet. The 1xEV-DV is not currently an accepted standard.
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Socket Communications,
Inc. has announced its "In-Hand Scan Card" for Palm(TM)
M500 and M505 handheld computers. Based on a Symbol
Technologies scanning engine, the card is expected to be
available in Q4, 2001 at an estimated street price of $249 US.
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Socket Communications,
Inc. has announcea a snap-on attachment which allows the Palm(TM)
M500 and M505 handheld computers to use a mobile phone as
a modem for Internet access. The first versions of this
product will be available for Motorola StarTAC, Timeport, Talkabout
and V Series handsets, and a variety of Samsung products.
Socket expects that its "Digital Phone Connection" will be
available in Q2, 2001, at an estimated street price of $69 US.
[2001/03/21]
Mar. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc. has announced
its latest m500 and m505 handheld computers. The m500 features
and SD and MultiMediaCard slot and a Universal Connector for add-on
modules, a 33MHz Dragonball VZ CPU, 4MB Flash memory, 8MB RAM,
a vibrating alert and blinking LED, and a new lithium polymer
battery, and PalmOS 4.0 software, which includes, among many
enhancements, improved security and improved time zone support.
The m500 will be available in the US market in April 2001 at an
estimated street price of $399 US. The m505 adds a 16-bit colour
display and a backlighted Graffiti(R) writing area. The m505 will
be available in May, 2001, at an estimated street price of $449 US.
Effective today, the Palm Vx price has been reduced from $399 US
to $349 US.
[2001/03/21]
As has happened before, PR Newswire is not working, so I
was unable to complete my update. I'll try to check it
again later in the week.
[2001/03/18]
Mar. 16, 2001, Reuters reports that Intel Corp. is expected
to announce a 1 Gigahertz mobile Pentium III on Monday with
over 20 computers using it. The chip is made using an 0.18
micron process technology. Other chips to be announced
at the same time will be a 900 MHz Mobile Pentium III and
a 750 MHz Mobile Celeron processor.
[2001/03/18]
Mar. 15, 2001, Reuters reports that NCR Corp. has sued Palm
Inc. and Handspring Inc. for infringing its patents for a
"portable personal terminal" awarding in 1987.
[For an interesting perspective on the prior art regarding
this Patent, see "Mote In God's Eye", 1974, Pournelle,
Jerry -- JO]
[2001/03/18]
Mar. 13, 2001, Business Wire reports that Microcell has
announced that it will "deploy Wireless Enhanced 9-1-1 (Wireless
E9-1-1) capabilities on its Personal Communications Services
(PCS) network in the provinces of Alberta and British
Columbia." The system will forward the callers 10 digit
call back number and location of the cell site to the 911
call center. Microcell has asked the CRTC to make this
enhancement manditory across Canada for all local telephone
companies.
[2001/03/18]
Mar. 14, 2001, Reuters reports that Sony Corp. has unveiled
a new version PalmOS based Clie handheld computer which
includes audio playback, longer battery life and an
improved colour screen. The new version has a 320 * 320
pixel front lighted screen and plays digital audio files
from its memory stick storage device. Sales will commence
in Japan on Apr. 7, 2001 at an expected price of 50,000
yen ($418 US). No export sales plans were announced.
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 14, 2001, Business Wire reports that Electric
Pocket, Ltd.'s "BugMe! Messenger" application now integrates
with IDEO's eyemodule series digital cameras and any
Springboard module that is a modem (including the
VisorPhone(TM), allowing Handspring(TM) Visor(TM) users
to snap pictures and then send them to others via
e-mail. BugMe! Messenger works on a Visor Prism,
Platinum or Edge handheld computer and costs $39.95
US.
Electric Pocket,
Ltd. http://www.electricpocket.com/
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 14, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Garmin International
Inc. has announced GPS 76 and GPSMAP 76. The GPS 76 will be
priced at $250 US and GPSMAP 76 will be priced at $399 US.
Both will be available in April 2001. Displays are 180 * 240
pixels in 1.6" * 2.2" screens and they operate for 16 hours
on 2 AA batteries.
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 14, 2001, Yoshiko Hara, Paul Kallender and David
Lammers write for EE Times that IBM Corp., Sony Computer
Entertainment Inc. and Toshiba Corp. are working together
on an new broadband network processor code named "Cell".
The goal is to have the first products ready by 2004 or
2005 based on "10S" 100-nm (0.10-micron) process technology
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 14, 2001, PR Newswire reports that "HanDBase,
a leading Palm database application and MemoWare, a
leading Palm content site" have expanded their
product coverage to include the Microsoft Windows CE
based Pocket PC devices. According to Microsoft,
MemoWare is a source of eBook files including medical
drug databases and engineering specifications.
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 14, 2001, Michael Kalennos writes for CNET News.com that
according to market analysis company Context, European sales by
HP and Compaq for December, 2000 totaled 31% of the market
(compared to 18% "at the start of the year") while Palm dropped
from 59% in January 2000 to 55% in December 2000.
[The articles mentions Casio and the rest of the Pocket PC
sources as having little impact and notes Psion's losing
market share. I'm not sure whether Handspring and Sony have
entered the European market, so I have some doubts about
the significance of these numbers.]
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 14, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Wynd Communications
Corp. has announced that its WyndTell 2-way wireless messaging
service which is targetted at people with impaired hearing
will be available through the WebLink Wireless network in the
US using Motorola's Talkabout T900 2-way text communicator
beginning in April, 2001. The T900 will cost $179.95 US less
$80 US rebate, and service costs are as low as $14.95 US per
month.
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 12, 2001, Reuters reports that Handspring Inc. has announced
its Visor Edge handheld computer which will sell for $399 US. The
Edge comes with 8MB memory and a rechargeable battery, in a
slim metal case. But Springboard expansion requires an add-on
adapter.
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 12, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Kyberpass(R)
Corporation has announced that its "wireless security suite,
Kyberpass K2(TM) for the Palm OS, will enable Palm OS applications
to operate securely over standard TCP/IP networks using Public
Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology."
[2001/03/14]
Mar. 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer
Corporation has announced new iPAQ Pocket PC models,
the H3670 with 64MB RAM which will be available in early
April for $649 US, and the H3635 32MB version which comes
with a CompactFlash Expansion Pack, Expandable Carrying
Case and Peacemaker and ZIOGolf 2, priced at $599 US.
Both are powered by 206MHz Intel StrongARM processors
and use sidelit TFT colour screens.
[2001/03/11]
Mar. 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Network Associates'
McAfee has announced the availability of VirusScan Wireless
2.0, its antivirus software for the major mobile platforms
including Palm, Microsoft Pocket PC and Symbian EPOC.
For the Palm platform, virus scanning is "on-device" while
the other platforms are protected on connection nodes.
McAfee VirusScan
http://www.mcafeeb2b.com/
[2001/03/11]
Mar. 8, 2001, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard
Company's VeriFone has introduced its Omni 3600 e-payment
wireless terminal. Networks supported include Cingular
Interactive Intelligent Wireless Network(SM) (formerly
BellSouth Wireless Data), Mobitex and in Europe,
GSM.
Hewlett-Packard
VeriFone http://www.verifone.hp.com/
[2001/03/11]
Mar. 8, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Iomega Corporation
has announced its Iomega(R) PocketZip(TM) 100MB drive for
handheld devices. Media will retail for $10 US each.
Drives and discs will be available internationally in
2001 Q3.
[Drive price was not stated in the announcement.]
[2001/03/11]
Mar. 7, 2001, Business Wire reports that IS/Complete, Inc. that
its "PDA Restrictor(TM) is the only security program that
enhances the Palm OS security module and will not allow
unauthorized entry into the device." An enterprise is currently
available and a consumer version will be available later this
year.
[Price was not stated in the announcement.]
IS/Complete, Inc.
http://www.iscomplete.com/
[2001/03/11]
Mar. 7, 2001, Business Wire reports that Hypercom Corporation and
Apriva, Inc. have announced that Apriva will provide wireless
applications and connectivity for Hypercom's "epic(TM) ICE(TM)
4000" Internet enabled card payment terminal and Web appliance.
The ICE 4000 supports GSM, CDPD, Mobitex wireless technologies
in the 900MHz band and has memory options of 1.0 to 1.5 MB.
[Price and availability were not stated in the announcement.]
Apriva, Inc.
http://www.apriva.com/
Hypercom Corporation
http://www.hypercom.com/
[2001/03/11]
Mar. 7, 2001, Business Wire reports that Dell has announced
its Inspiron 2100 portable computer. This "ultra-portable"
laptop has a 1" thcik magnesium case and weighs less than
3.4 lbs. with a 4 cell battery. Prices start at $1,899 US.
[2001/03/07]
Mar. 7, 2001, PR Newswire reports that F-Secure has announced
release of a "second generation" anti-virus program and
service for PalmOS. Price is $25.00 US including 1 year of
update service.
F-Secure
http://www.F-Secure.com/
[2001/03/07]
Mar. 7, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Communications
Intelligence Corporation ("CIC") has announced the release of
its electronic signature development tool for the Java
platform called "iSign(TM)".
Communications Intelligence
Corporation ("CIC") http://www.cic.com/
[2001/03/07]
Mar. 6, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Palm Canada has begun
selling its new M105 device. The new model comes with 8MB RAM and
a serial cradle. The software on the M105 is not Flash upgradeable,
but it does come with the Palm's mobile internet kit. The estimated
street price for the M105 is $299 Can. and it is immediately
available in the Canada and the US with worldwide availability in
mid-March.
[According to other sources, the M105 comes with PalmOS
3.5.1 in ROM -- not Flash upgradeable. I haven't had a
chance to confirm these latter rumours yet. -- JO]
[2001/03/07]
Mar. 6, 2001, Business Wire reports that Sybari Software, Inc.
reports that a new Trojan virus "NakedWife" is spreading as
an Email worm. Email arrives titled "FW: Naked Wife" with an
attachment called "NakedWife.exe". If the attachment is run,
then a Shockwave Flash window opens and the the virus deletes
files in the Windows and System directories with DLL, INI, EXE,
BMP and COM extensions. The virus propogates through mass
mailing via Microsoft Outlook.
[2001/03/07]
Mar. 2, 2001, PR Newswire reports that SplashData, Inc. has
shipped its SplashPhoto image viewer for Palm OS. The
program runs on any Palm device with PalmOS 3.1 or later,
including colour devices. Images can be annotated,
categorized and beamed. The price is $19.95 US.
SplashData, Inc.
http://www.splashdata.com/
[2001/03/04]
Mar. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Generic Media has
announced "gMovie(TM) Maker" and "gMovie Player" for converting
and playing back movies for playback on PalmOS devices.
The conversion software runs on Mac or Windows computers.
Video, animation and still formats supported include AVID, DO,
MPEG-1, QuickTime, GIF, Macromedia Flash, FLU, BMP, JPEG,
Photoshop, PACT, PING, Tara and TIFF. The player is freely
downloadable and the Maker is priced at $29.97 US.
Generic Media
http://www.genericmedia.com/
[2001/03/04]
Mar. 1, 2001, Ericsson Business Innovation has announced
plans for "Bluetooth Local Infotainment Point" (BLIP(TM)).
BLIP is a stand-alone local platform for accessing the Internet
in public places. Ericsson plans to launch BLIP worldwide
in 2001.
Ericsson BLIP(TM) Press Announcement
http://www.ericsson.com/press/20010301-0030.html
[2001/03/04]
Feb. 27, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Palm
is expected to introduce its M105 at a price around $200 US.
At this price the M105 is expected to come with a cradle
and include 8MB RAM (instead of the cheaper cable that came
with the $149 US 2MB RAM M100). Palm representatives have
confirmed that the Palm IIIxe is no longer being produced
but have not commented on rumours of the M105. Fried
also mentions a few other rumoured products, such as the
"M505", but the M105 is expected to be announced very soon.
[2001/02/28]
Feb. 27, 2001, Business Wire reports that Dell has
introducted its Latitude L400 ultraportable computer.
Weighing as little as 3.4 lbs. it is only 1" thick and
has a magnesium alloy case.
[2001/02/28]
Feb. 26, 2001, Reuters reports that according to the Wall
Street Journal, Microsoft Corp. is being accused of false
advertising for the second time within a year. According
the the articles, the US Federal Trade Commission found
that ads used in 2000 "deceptively claimed features that
were unavailable unless buyers spent more for wireless
capability."
[The article is unclear in a few ways. For example,
was the FTC finding the 1st accusation of false advertising
or the 2nd accusation? I suggest at least looking at the
WSJ article, or perhaps even searching the FTC website.]
[2001/02/28]
Feb. 22, 2001, Reuters reports that Action Engine's "e-sistant"
software will work on Palm VIIx and eventually Microsoft's Pocket
PC systems (Windows CE) to process more on the local handheld
reducing the data requirements in wireless browsing. A
public beta is expected this spring.
[2001/02/25]
Feb. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Aladdin Systems, Inc.
has announced the shipment of its GoBar 2.5 for PalmOS devices.
GoBar 2.5 gives PalmOS a "drag and drop" interface which
is similar to desktop computers. The program has a time
limited introductory price of $9.95 US with a regular price
to be $14.95 US.
Aladdin Systems, Inc.
http://www.aladdinsys.com/
[2001/02/25]
Feb. 22, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Garmin Corporation
has unveiled its new NavTalk II GSM cellular phone for the
European market. The product is expected to ship in
the fourth quarter of 2001. No price was announced.
[2001/02/25]
Feb. 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Eatoni Ergonomics claims
to have developed a linguistically based text entry system for
cell phone keypads which covers 80% of current global "Short
Message System" (SMS) messages. 29 languages are currently
supported (mostly Roman based character set languages, and
Arabic), and Japanese is expected "soon." Also under development
are Basque, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian Bahasa, and Korean.
Eatoni Ergonomics, Inc.
http://www.eatoni.com/
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 21, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Get2Net has announced
that 10 Get2Net Netstation infrared ports, usable with handheld
computers, have been installed at Newark Airport, JFK Airport,
and the Jacob C. Javits Convention Center.
Get2Net
http://www.Get2Net.com/
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 20, 2001, Reuters reports that Hewlett-Packard Co. has announced
that is has partnered with an unnamed mobile phone maker "to allow
users of its handheld computers to make calls and read wireless
e-mail." No other details were given.
[I apologize for those of you who might be annoyed by this
"non-announcment." I almost didn't include it at all, but I
expect it will make the rounds in the industry because it
contains the words "wireless" and "handheld". -- JO]
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 20, 2001, Cecily Barnes writes for CNET News.com that Macromedia
has released a developer of a "Flash" player for devices using
Microsoft Windows CE based "PocketPC" software. Macromedia hopes
to regain some sales momentum to offset its slowing sales in
the PC market. Its Flash 5 player will also be available on
Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris platforms. The developer version
of Macromedia Flash is now available as a free download for most
PocketPC devices.
Macromedia Flash For PocketPC
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/pocketpc/download/
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 20, 2001, Reuters reports that according to PC Data,
Compaq Computer Corp.'s iPaq PocketPC sales rose to 4.1% of
the US handheld computer market in January 2001 from 2.0%
in December 2000. Microsoft Windows for Pocket PC products
overall rose to 20% of the market compared to 6% in
December 2000. Palm dropped from 65% in December to 60.5%
in January 2001. Handspring held 26.2% of the market in
the month.
[Note: The article, and most likely the study made no
comment on the effect of parts availability. It is likely
that the December sales figures were affected by poor
planning by the various Windows CE makers who were caught
short in December, and the January sales figures simply
give a truer picture of the interest and demand that was
in the marketplace during the overall period rather than
a gain in interest specifically in January.]
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 20, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Sensate Inc.
has announced that it has audio infrastructure software
for embedded and wireless systems based on Intel(R) StrongARM
and Intel XScale microarchitectures. Support is available
for Windows CE, with versions coming for Linux(TM), EPOC(TM),
and VxWorks(TM).
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 19, 2001, Reuters reports that Sharp Corp. is planning
to bring a line of Zaurus handheld computer products to
the US using the Linux operating system some time before
Christmas 2001. Japanese Zaurus products will still be
sold with Sharp's proprietary OS. Java will also be
supported in the new products.
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft will preview
its Stinger smart phone platform at 3G(SM) World Congress
on Feb. 20, 2001.
[2001/02/21]
Feb. 16, 2001, Brian McDonough writes for MBizCentral that
US Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J. has resubmitted his "Wireless
Telephone Spam Protection Act" to the US Congress as H.R.
113. The bill would give customers a mechanism to "opt-out"
and avoid receiving text messages or calls that are unwanted
sales pitches.
[2001/02/18]
Feb. 16, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Palm
and DoCoMo will be introducing an improved version of the
Palm VII in Japan at or before midyear with wireless Internet
services. This is not the anticipated replacement for the
Palm VII in the US (which we expect to be more similar in
style to a Palm V, and have an expansion slot).
[2001/02/18]
Feb. 14, 2001, Business Wire reports that Digital West
Marketing Inc. has announced plans to develop a business
of refurbishing handheld computers such as Palm and Windows
CE devices. According to the company, it has been repairing
Palm Inc. and Handspring Inc. devices on an independent
basis, but it is "assessing alliance potential" with Palm,
Handspring, Casio, HP, Diamond and Sony.
[2001/02/14]
Feb. 13, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Jeff Hawkins of Handspring,
Inc. presented two new 3rd party Springboard(TM) products for
use with the Handspring(TM) Visor(TM). The Presenter-to-Go(TM)
by MARGI Systems, Inc. allows use of PowerPoint presentations
through a Visor(TM) and INDEO's "eyemodule2(TM)" full-colour,
full-VGA (640 * 480 pixels) digital camera for the Visor(TM).
The eyemodule2 is immediately available at $199.95 US while the
Presenter-to-Go is expected to ship later in this quarter at
$299 US.
[2001/02/14]
Feb. 13, 2001, Reuters reports that NEC Corp. has said that it
is considering entering the handheld computer market with a
wireless product. No specifications were given, but the
company hopes to "enter the market this summer or autumn."
[2001/02/14]
Feb. 13, 2001, Reuters reports that Carl Yankowski has said
that Palm expects revenues from licensing and services to
eventually make up 1/4 of its revenues. Moreover, Palm is
"'constantly looking' at publicly spinning off its operating
system licensing business."
[2001/02/14]
Feb. 12, 2001, Stephen Shankland writes for CNET News.com that
on Feb. 12, Hewlett-Packard unveiled its MicrochaiVM ("MVM")
which is its Java clone for devices such as Qualcomm's cell phones.
While MVM is designed to conform to Java's "connected limited device
configuration" (CLDC), HP refuses to submit to Sun's certification
because it does not use Sun's sources.
[2001/02/14]
Feb. 12, 2001, Canadian Corporate News reports that Trend Micro
Inc. is warning computer users of a virus known as "Anna Kournikova"
or "VBS_Kalamar.A" which is a mass-mailer virus that uses Outlook
to spread itself as an attachment. The email subject line is
"Here you have, :o)", message text is "Hi: Check this!" and
the attachment is "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs".
[2001/02/14]
Feb. 11, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Kingston(R)
Technology Company, Inc. has announced its first
MultiMediaCard product. Its 32MB MultiMediaCard
is immediately available for $75 US. Even so,
Yankee Group senior analyst Francesca Mabarek believes
the industry is viable.
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 11, 2001, Reuters writes that satellite phones have
a questionable future with reports that Globalstar
Telecommunications Ltd. costing up to $7 US per minute,
cell phones currently already covering 90 percent of
the world's populated areas, and two-way radios meeting
most other needs.
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 10, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Lexar Media, Inc. has
announced the availability of its new 64MB MultiMediaCard.
According to Lexar, the card will be instores by early March,
2001. Price was not announced.
Lexar Media, Inc.
(memory cards) http://www.digitalfilm.com/
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 9, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Tyco Electronics
has announced the release of a double data rate ("DDR") SO
DIMM socket. The new socket accommodates 200 position DDR
SO DIMM modules (JEDEC MO224). Board space for the new
socket is about the same as present SO DIMM sockets, having
a low profile right angle connection. The announced price
is $5.25 each in quantities of 1000 pieces.
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that its "PhotoSuite Mobile Edition" allows users to store, view and beam photo and video files on colour and grey-scale PalmOS devices. Desktop support software is included.
[Aside from a limited free trial copy that was available on
ZDNet only from Feb. 8 - 10, 2001, no price and availability
information was given in the announcement.]
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 7, 2001, PR Newswire reports that ePocrates has launched
its "qID(TM)" infectious disease reference application
for PalmOS handheld computers.
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that NEC Electronics Inc.
announced that they would introduce its Vr4131(TM) 64-bit
MIPS family microprocessor based on 0.13 micro process.
NEC claims that at 200 MHz. the "dual-issue" superscalar
processor can deliver 340 Dhrystone MIPS using 220 mW on a
1.5V power supply. The chip includes 16 KB on chip
instruction cache and 16 KB data cache and a 100 MHz SDRAM
controller and PCI interface. It is pin compatible with
the Vr4122(TM). Volume production is scheduled for 2001
Q3 and the announced price is $25 each in quantities of
10K. The Vrc4173 system controller companion chip is
priced at $20 each in quantities of 10K.
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 5, 2001, Business Wire reports that Alchemy Semiconductor,
Inc.(TM), a fabless semiconductor company has announced that
it would show its Au1000(TM) 32-bit MIPS based microprocessor
at Microsoft Windows Embedded Developers Conference, Feb. 6 - 8,
2001. Versions include 400 MHz @ 0.5 W., 400 MHz @ 900 mW and
200 MHz @ 200 mW. Operating systems supporting the chips will
include Window(R) CE, Linux(R) and VxWorks(R). The 400 MHz
version will cost $39 US in quantities of 10K with limited
customer sampling in February and general sampling in Q2 of
2001.
[2001/02/11]
Feb. 8, 2001, Reuters writes that e-books are "hefty, pricey, and you don't want to drop one during a bath, making electronic books a tough sell even after several heavyweight technology companies have jumped into the untested market."
Actually, "e-books" are a data concept (though many makers of specialty e-book readers would like to try to convince people otherwise) and the 11 million PalmOS devices alone are all capable e-book readers. Moreover, all Windows CE devices (and possibly other devices I don't know about) currently come with specific e-book reader software included. And still moreover, many "application" programs for handheld computers are nothing more than device specific interactive "e-books" anyway.
"e-books" (including the hardware, programs and data files) are
already here. Significant reliance on them, however, is still
just starting.
[2001/02/11]
This time I'm going to "name names." PR Newswire seems to
have messed up completely. I was unable to use their Website.
The seem to have redone their software. Neither my current
version of Netscape Communicator nor my current version of
Microsoft Internet Explorer was able to use the new "search"
function. Unfortunately, PR Newswire has been a major
source of information. Without it, I don't know if it is
worth bothering to keep up this newspage. We'll see.
[2001/02/07]
Feb. 6, 2001, Ben Charny writes for CNET News.com that Howard
Gutowitz of Eatoni Ergonomics claims to have a program
that can enter text via a cell phone keypad with fewer
key presses than Tegic's T9 system. It uses a higher
degree of prediction.
[2001/02/07]
Feb. 6, 2001, Brian McDonough writes for TechWeb that
Dieceland Technologies Corp.'s Randi Altschul says that
she is hoping to ship the companies disposable cell
phones by the third quarter [presumably of 2001].
The cell phones will cost around $10 US for 60 min.
of limited "call out" service. A phone that will
also receive calls will cost a bit more. The company
is currently negotiating with carriers.
[2001/02/07]
Feb. 5, 2001, Reuters reports that researchers from
University of California at Berkeley and Zero-Knowledge
Systems have found flaws in 802.11 (Wi-Fi) wireless LAN
"Wired Equivalent Privacy" security system. Modified
equipment can be used to intercept and decrypt data, or
transmit potentially harmful data onto the network.
Companies using this technology include Cisco Systems
Inc., Apple Computer Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp.
Phil Belanger of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility
Alliance acknowledges the security gaps but says that
they can be circumvented with existing extra security
tools, already commonly used to protect wired networks.
UC Berkeley
(Wireless LAN Security Flaws) http://www.isaac.cs.berkeley.edu
[2001/02/07]
Feb. 2, 2001, PR Newswire reports that TELUS Corporation has announced its 2000 Q4 results and its first consolidated results since its acquisition of Clearnet in Oct. 2000.
3 Months Ended 3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2000 Dec. 31, 1999
Net subscriber additions
- Postpaid 166,100 143,500
- Prepaid 86,900 135,000
Total Subscribers
- Postpaid 2,156,200 1,695,300
- Prepaid 1,963,400 1,628,500
Churn (including
30 day guarantee) 1.95% 1.73%
[2001/02/07]
Jan. 19, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Telecommunication
Services Inc. (TSI) will provide General Packet Radio Service
Roaming Exchange (GRX) which allows General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS) users to roam throughout Canada and around
the world. Microcell is committed to providing GPRS across
Canada in 2001.
[2001/02/07]
[As has become a regular occurance over for some time, a
number of articles may have been lost due to problems at
the end of the month with one of my information sources.
Since this is a regular occurance, this may be the last
time I bother to post a notice about it. I will, as always,
try to find if there is anythings significant that I
missed.]
[2001/02/04]
Feb. 2, 2001, Paula Rooney writes for CMP's TechWeb that
according to Transmeta's Dan Quinlan, sources for Linus
Tovalds' Mobile Linux will be made available to the
public soon.
[2001/02/04]
Feb. 1, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Information Appliances
International, Inc. and Palm, Inc. have announced that
Palm Inc. will ship devices including the "APOS" language
overlay which supports Arabic, at no extra charge, to the
Middle East and North Africa.
Information Appliances
International, Inc. (Arabic Support for PalmOS)
http://www.ia-intl.com/
[2001/02/04]
Feb. 1, 2001, Business Wire reports that Advanced Recognition
Technologies Inc. has announced the release of its "simpliWrite
ver. 1.6" for PalmOS which is claimed to have major improvements
resulting in easier use.
Advanced Recognition
Technologies Inc. http://www.artcomp.com/
[2001/02/04]
Jan. 31, 2001, Reuters reports that the US FCC has said that
it will delay the March 6 auction of cell phone frequencies
to Sept. 12 in order to allow companies more time to assess
their needs.
[2001/02/04]
Jan. 30, 2001, John G. Spooner writes for CNet News.Com that
Intel is expected to ship its XScale development system
(with flat-panel screen and keyboards) in the next quarter.
The general model supported is Intel's "Personal Internet
Client Architecture" (PICA) which corresponds to Texas
Instruments "Open Multimedia Applications Platform" (OMAP).
Both are based on ARM CPUs.
[2001/02/04]
Jan. 31, 2001, Reuters reports that Nortel Networks has said
that its new Internet technology will allow service providers
to track customer Web surfing, eliminating the anonymity
of Web users. It is expected that the US Congress will
pass an Internet privacy bill this year, but currently, this
new technology is raising concerns regarding the right
to privacy.
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 31, 2001, Reuters reports that Sega Corp. has said that
it will develop games for Palm Inc.'s handheld computers by
the end of this year. Sega made this announcement along with
others, notably that Sega will discontinue its Dreamcast
videogame console.
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 30, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Magellan Corporation
has announced that its GPS Companion(TM) Springboard(TM)
module is now available for the Handspring(TM) Visor(TM).
[Price was not announced.]
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 30, 2001, Michael Kanellos writes for CNET News.com that on
"Tuesday" Intel will release a 500MHz Pentium III CPU and a 500MHz
Celeron CPU for the mobile market. Power consumption for the new
chips is about 1/2 Watt (average) which is roughly half the power
of Intel's current mobile CPUs. Some manufacturers will be
producing laptop computers based on the new chip without fans.
Kanellos describes the chips as having reached parity with the
Transmeta chips for power consumption whereas according to Intel,
a 600MHz Pentium III "will perform two or three times as fast as
the Transmeta." According to Transmeta though, the 500MHz chip
runs at 300MHz when a computer is unplugged and actually runs
at about double the MHz at the same power levels. According to
Kanellos, Intel expects to find additional power savings when
it switches from 0.18-micron process to 0.13-micron process with
copper around the middle of the year. The Pentium III uses
SpeedStep technology (reducing the speed from 500MHz down to
300MHz when run off batteries) but not the Celeron. Both use
"QuickStart" which reduces power consumption between keystrokes.
The 500MHz Pentium III costs $208 US each "in volume" and the
Celeron costs $118 US "in volume".
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 29, 2001, PR NewsWire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation
has announced that its new monochrome version iPAQ PocketPC H3100
Series is now available, as is a folding keyboard for all the iPAQ
handheld devices. The H3150 version includes a 15 level grey scale
screen and 16MB RAM, and is priced at $349 US.
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 29, 2001, Richard Shim writes for CNET News.com that Sonicblue
(formerly S3) has announced that its Diamond Mako handheld computer
will include AOL e-mail and instant messaging. The device is
essentially a Psion Revo rebranded.
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 29, 2001, Reuters reports that Motorola has separated from
Psion in its development of smartphone products. Motorola will
continue to develop its own EPOC based products for this market.
According to Psion, although they have lost market share in
unit sales to PalmOS devices, they shipped over 1/2 million
palmtop units in 2000, which is about 2/3's more than 1999.
According to the article though, Psion probably cannot afford
to develop the wireless PDA device, which was the goal of the
Motorola partnership, on its own and will need to look for
a partner to finance its completion.
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 29, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Franklin Electronic
Publishers, Inc. has announced that it has released its content
conversion developers' kit (CDK) for Franklin Reader at no
charge. The free CDK allows production of eBooks for use with
the eBookMan(R).
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 29, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Caldera Systems, Inc.
has announced that its Caldera(R) Volution(TM) Linux management
system can prevent the effects of the Ramen worm virus. The
worm attacks systems in default configurations exploiting several
network services. Suggested list price for Volution is $2995
US.
[2001/01/31]
Jan. 26, 2001, Richard Shim writes for CNET News.com that
on Monday, Toshiba will announce new laptop computers including
the Satellite 2805 which will probably be the first laptop
to have a CD/DVD/CD-rewritable drive. The new model will
be available in mid-February.
[2001/01/26]
Jan. 25, 2001, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that on Tuesday,
Compaq posted a downloadable upgrade for its iPaq PocketPC devices
which caused some units to crash. The upgrade was removed within
hours, but units with problems had to be returned to Compaq for
repair. According to Compaq, only a very small number of units
had problems and Compaq is working to find the problem and
correct it. The upgrade of the ROM software is itself minor.
[2001/01/28]
Jan. 24, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Research In Motion(R)
Limited has announced that IBM Global Services will add
RIM's BlackBerry systems to its full service supported
technologies.
[2001/01/24]
Jan. 24, 2001, Business Wire reports that Alaska Airlines has
begun "wirless check-in" service using web-enabled cell phones
and Palm Pilots.
Alaska Airlines
news releases http://www.newsroom.alaskaair.com/
[2001/01/24]
Jan. 19, 2001, Business Wire reports that Trend Micro Inc.
has announced that it is alerting its customers that
the W97M_ASSILEM.B (W97M/Melissa.W) virus is currently
spreading and has been missed by some older anti-virus
sofware due to a slightly changed file format.
[2001/01/21]
Jan. 19, 2001, Business Wire reports that Endeavors
Technology Inc. has announced that its "Magi(TM)" suite
of P2P software can allow the Compaq iPaq Pocket PC to
be used as an interactive mobile net server with devices
using compatible software.
Endeavors Technology
Inc. http://www.endtech.com/
[2001/01/21]
Jan. 16, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Zi Corporation has
announced a contract to implement eZiText(TM) for a handset
to be made by HiSense Group Corporation for the Chinese market.
[2001/01/21]
Jan. 17, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Mobli, Inc. has
announced that its new website has support for developers
as well as download areas for consumers. Mobli claims
to be a software publisher.
[I don't know how I'm going to handle this in the future.
At this time, it seems to me that Mobli is no more than
just another commercial download website. I don't feel
that these deserve mention on this website. But I can't
ignore that they function as well as any other small time
publishers, sometimes assisting in the distribution of
significant products.]
Mobli, Inc. (software
publisher) http://www.mobli.com/
[2001/01/17]
Jan. 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Audiovox Corporation has
announced that its subsidiary Audiovox Communications Corp.
will being shipping its CMP-3 dual mode CDMA handset with built
in MP-3 player and web browser in late January. The handset
supports 800MHz CDMA and AMPs
[2001/01/17]
Jan. 16, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Compaq has announced
enhancements to its Presario laptop computers including
availability of DVD/CDRW drives in some models of the 1800
series.
[2001/01/17]
Jan. 16, 2001, Reuters reports that Palm Inc. has lost its
Chief Technology Officer Bill Maggs who quit to pursue other
interests. Palm has not found a replacement yet.
[2001/01/17]
Jan. 15, 2001, Canada NewsWire reports that Research In Motion(R)
Limited has introduced its BlackBerry Enterprise Edition(TM) for
Lotus(R) Domino(TM) which integrates support for Lotus Notes and
Domino for the BlackBerry devices. Shipment is targetted for
February. Prices were unclear.
RIM BlackBerry
http://www.blackberry.net/
[2001/01/17]
Jan. 9, 2001, according to a Motorola press release, Motorola
introduced the Accompli(TM) Personal Communicator 009 to North
America at the 33rd Consumer Electronics Show. The folding pocketable
device [first shown Sept. 9, 2000 in China -- JO] is a
tri-band GSM and GPRS supporting device with a full QWERTY keyboard
and 256 colour screen. Sales are expected to begin in the second
half of 2001 at under $600 US.
Motorola Accompli 009
http://www.motorola.com/MIMS/MSPG/Products/Two-way/accompli009/
[2001/01/17]
Jan. 12, 2001, Reuters reports that International Business
Machines Corp. (IBM) has said that it will begin selling its
TransNote portable computer in February for around $3,000 US.
The TransNote features a "swiveling 10-inch touch screen and
full keyboard on the left, and an electronic slate on the
right that stores handwriting and transfers it to the
computer."
[2001/01/14]
Jan. 12, 2001, Ben Charny and Corey Grice write for CNET
News.com that there is a consensus in the wireless industry
as that growth is slowing, as indicated by the announcement
by Motorola that its sales forecasts have "dimmed" for the
year. The article quotes Dylan Brooks of Jupiter Research
and others pointing out that the industry is still growing,
but not at the rate of some of the most positive predictions.
Growth rate is down to around 45% instead of the 60% level
it was at over the past two years.
[2001/01/14]
Jan. 11, 2001, Rachel Konrad writes for CNET News.com that at
the 2001 North American Auto Show, Cadillac has provided a
beaming station for PalmOS devices to distribute 16KB of
specifications and advertising material. At a press preview,
roughly 200 people received the data (about 4% of the attending
journalists), but response was considered favourable.
[2001/01/14]
Jan. 11, 2001, Sean Yokomizo writes for TechWeb News that
according to Jerry Kaufman, president of Alexander Resources,
it is not clear "[W]hat is going to consume this bandwidth
that consumers will be willing to pay for?" According to
Kaufman, desirability of graphical content and video are
overrated and "he advocated the development of applications
that are more in line with realistic consumer usage and
payment models."
[2001/01/14]
Jan. 10, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Audiovox Electronics Corporation will add the following FRS products:
GMRGPS, combined two-way radio and GPS unit. "It features 7/38 channels
of FRS and 8/38 channels of GMRS. With 2 watts of power and . . . 5-mile
range. . . ."
"The Company will also be introducing an FRS-500 Series consisting
of the FR-500-2 three-channel unit in twin packs; FR-530-2, a 14-channel
model in twin packs; and FR-540, a 14 x 38 channel transceiver in
singles. There will also be two individual 14 channel units: the
FR-560FM with built-in FM radio; and the FR-550WB with built-in weather
band station."
Audiovox Corporation
http://www.audiovox.com/
[2001/01/14]
It has been a long time now since the Palm IIIx was replaced by the Palm IIIxe but they are probably going to be around for years. So the issue of expanding the Palm IIIx will be relevant for at least this year (2001). As you may recall, I first installed the Xtra Xtra Pro card in June, 2000, and in late October, 2000, I reported crashing that can occur if you drop the Palm IIIx. It has occurred again, and I think it's time for me to expand my comments on this problem.
The Palm IIIx uses fairly modern low power circuitry. I don't know the exact specs, but essentially, low voltages and low currents are used throughout. Thus, even the memory card buss is probably as low current as is possible. Any movement of the card relative to the buss will cause a crash. Palm uses a pretty good card mounting system that holds the memory cards very tightly, but it is still possible to move the cards in the buss enough to break the contact and cause a crash. The force necessary is high enough that the card generally works reliably. But a drop from a few feet is enough to move the card while it's in the buss. The rarity of such an event will be different for everyone. For me, it was so rare that it didn't happen until Oct. 2000, and then again in mid-December, 2000.
But how "tight" is the buss spec? I've never mentioned how many times one has to install the card in order for it to work, because I've never actually counted. In retrospect, I think I have usually had to re-install the card about a half-dozen times each time to get the card to work. That is to say, you install the card, put the case together, put in the batteries and try to start the Palm unit. Then, if it starts, go through the setup and try to run a couple of programs, to see if it's working. If it fails in anyway, take out the batteries and remove the card, blow out any dirt and start over again. More often then not, the Palm IIIx crashes due to the memory card, and you have to start over. Then, if it checks out ok, the screws are replaced and the data is restored. Then the unit is checked out again. If a new problem is found, then remove the batteries and start over again.
This time the problems started the day I took my Palm IIIx skiing, I think before Christmas, 2000. But it was mainly working, though going through batteries very quickly (Energizer Alkaline batteries burned down from "new" to empty within about 3-4 days). Today, (Jan. 12, 2001), after a series of crashes, I finally got around to re-installing the memory card. I've probably re-installed it about a dozen times today, and as I write this, at around 22:40, I think it's finally working reliably again.
At this time, I think I would generally recommend that if you can
get someone to upgrade a Palm IIIx to 8MB by replacing the built-in
RAM, that is the better way to expand it. Adding memory via this
type of card, even with an average "mean time between failure" of
around 3 months, is conversely not recommended. The difficulty of
reliably re-installing the card makes it inadvisable. The reasons
I have for not changing now are: 1. I'm not expecting to continue
to use my Palm IIIx as my main Palm device for much longer (I've
already decided on the replacement unit, but recent expenses have
pushed its purchase back, most likely, another 3 months), 2. I
intend to upgrade the Palm IIIx and then load a Japanese OS
conversion into Flash, which the Xtra Xtra Pro's 2MB extra Flash
memory should allow.
[2001/01/12]
After a couple of days of working with the Palm with and without the
Xtra Xtra Pro board, it seems that there is more wrong with the
Palm IIIx now than just the added memory board. I think that there
is a hairline crack somewhere. The digitizer goes wrong after I've
been out in cold weather for a while. It's not always the whole
digitizer either. Sometimes it's just the area of the "silk screen
buttons". Sometimes I have to reboot and run the "Prefs" program a
few times to get it all working correctly. It is definitely a worse
problem when using the memory board. I also changed the WriteRight
screen protector but that didn't make any difference (except the screen
is clearer).
[2001/01/14]
Jan. 11, 2001, Business Wire reports that Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has announced that it has gained 134,654 customers in Q4 of 2000.
2000
Q4 Year
Gross Activations 194,124 537,443
% increase
over 1999 20% 30%
Monthly Churn Rate 2.3% 2.25
(NOTE: It is unclear whether the "churn
rate" includes upgrading from Fidomatic to
post-paid Fido accounts.)
Total Customers
Dec. 31, 2000 922,527
Dec. 31, 1999 584,487
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, 2000, Patrick Ross writes for CNET News.com that
US Congress Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J. first introduced a
bill to make it a criminal act to send a solicitation
to a wireless device without express permission of the
recipient, at the end of the last Congress, and this
will be one of the first bills to be introduced for the
coming US Congress.
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, 2001, Business Wire reports that Mitsubishi Electric
Corp.'s new Windows CE based Trium Mondo which was launched in
Paris, France, will be shipped with PacketVideo's MPEG-4 playback
software.
PacketVideo Corp. http://www.pv.com/
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Motient Corporation
and Bell Mobility have agreed to allow mutual roaming for
each others Blackberry and eLink customers across the US-Canada
border, within their networks. Cross border roaming will have
an additional charge and will require registration for the
added service.
Bell Mobility
http://www.bellmobility.ca/
Motient Corporation
http://www.motient.com/
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, 2001, Business Wire reports that Advanced Recognition
Technologies Inc. (ART) has announced that Quanta has chosen
ART's voice recognition technology for cell phone products which
are currently being produced for distribution in the near future.
[No actual products were named, nor expected sales dates or
prices.]
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, PR Newswire reports that Thomson Multimedia has
announced that a new MP3 CODEC being developed called
"mp3PRO" which will provide 128kbps performance at
64kbps, reducing the size of MPEG files. The CODEC
is being developed by Coding Technologies.
Coding
Technologies http://www.codingtechnologies.de/
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, 2001, Integrated Software Solutions, Inc. has
announced that it is developing "PalmPOS(TM)" which is "a
Web-based software application that assists sales
associates in expediting credit card related customer
checkout. PalmPOS performs price lookup, scans coupons,
connects to the store credit network to validate credit
card transactions and prints customer receipts all on a
wireless hand-held device from anywhere on the sales floor."
[Sorry for the extensive quote, but it was as brief
as I could have written it.]
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 10, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba has announced
that it has developed room temperature functioning "single-electron
transistor" (SET) circuitry and is able to fabricate it in
a way that is compatible with conventional CMOSFET on a single
chip.
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has introduced
its Titanium PowerBook(R) G4 which features a 500 MHz PowerPC G4
processor with Velocity Engine(TM), 15.2" (diagonal) display
and slot-loading DVD drive. The new case is 1" thick Titanium
and the whole unit (with battery and DVD drive) can weigh 5.3 lbs.
depending on configuration.
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 9, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Garmin International Inc.
has announced 3 new handheld GPS units which use a new higher
resolution 160 * 288 pixel display. eTrex Venture costs $194.27
US, eTrex Legend costs $267.84 US and eTrex Vista costs
$374.99 US. All will be available in Jan. 2001.
Garmin Corp. http://www.garmin.com/
[2001/01/10]
Jan. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Palm, Inc. claims
advancements that allow secure transactions through infrared
connectivity.
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Garmin Corporation has
announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement
with Palm, Inc. whereby Garmin will produce handheld products
with Garmin GPS hardware and software incorporating Palm OS(R)
software.
Garmin Corporation
http://www.garmin.com/
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 6, 2001, Business Wire reports that Volan Design LLC
has unveiled its DataPlay USB player/recorders which
download, play and record music, e-books, games and images.
Volan Design LLC
http://www.volan.com/
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 6, 2001, PR Newswire reports that 6 new Windows(R) CE
based devices wre announced at 2001 International CES.
The ones that are most likely to be considered mobile
information technology are WebPads (AboCom X-Pilot,
Honeywell, Samsung IZZI), the Hitachi wearable Internet
appliance and the CyberbankPC-ePhone.
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 6, 2001, Business Wire reports that Siemens has
introduced its Gigaset 4600 SIMpad Mobile Internet Pad
based on the Windows CE OS. Using HomeRF, it can
connect to the Internet around the house.
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that Lineo, Inc. has announced
that the uClinux(TM) 2.4 kernel is now available. New features
include IrDA and USB support.
uClinux(TM) Kernel
http://cvs.uclinux.org/
Lineo, Inc. http://www.lineo.com/
uClinux(TM) Kernel
http://opensource.lineo.com/
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 5, 2001, PR Newswire reports that National Datacomputer, Inc. has unveiled its DC4CE(TM) handheld computer running Windows(R) CE for x86.
Processor 486 DX2-50 4MB RAM (up to 16MB) 320 * 200 * 16 grey levels backlight Keyboard: numerical with compact QWERTY
National Datacomputer, Inc.
http://www.ndcomputer.com/
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 4, 2001, Tischelle George writes for InformationWeek
that Palm, Inc. has allied with Sprint PCS whereby Palm
will develop smartphones for the Sprint PCS system and
Sprint PCS will allow connectivity through its network
wireless.
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 4, 2001, Reuters reports that a Palm handheld computer
(other than Palm V) can be used to control a new robot type
"PPRK" by Acroname.
[I checked the Website and the kit is priced at $259.00 in
rawest form or $299.00 in almost completed form. Apparently, it
was designed by Carnegie Mellon as a hobby/educational device.]
Acroname http://www.acroname.com/
[2001/01/07]
Jan. 3, 2001, PR Newswire reports that XM Satellite Radio
partners Sony Electronics, Pioneer Electronics and Alpine
Electronics of America will show a "full product line"
of retail radios for this service. Digital broadcast
using 100 channels will be available "coast to coast"
for $9.95 US per month, with few or no commercials.
XM Satellite Radio Inc.
http://www.xmradio.com/
[2001/01/03]
Jan. 2, 2001, Reuters reports that Apple Computer Inc. has
dropped some Mac prices on Jan. 1, 2001 to move inventory.
According to the article, MacConnection has reduced the
Powerbook $800 US to $2199 US "compared to a previous $200
rebate" which makes a total price drop of about $1,000 US.
[I expect price reductions such as this to be fairly
common in the industry in this quarter and as such, I will
not be mentioning most of them. Consider any postings I
make in this regard as being indicative of the current trend
in the industry.]
[2001/01/03]
Jan. 2, 2001, Business Wire reports that Motorola Inc. has
announced its MCM20027 SXGA (1280 * 1024) ImageMOS(TM)
process CMOS image sensor with analog and digital signal
processing "camera-on-a-chip". The chip features a
patented "pinned photo diode" and pixel design which
improves "fill factor versus die size." Light sensitivity
is 3 LUX at 10 fps. and it requires 250 mW (with a 100 uW
power-saving mode). Samples will be available in Jan.
2001 and the price will be $22 US each for quantities
of 10,000.
[2001/01/03]
Dec. 28, 2001, John Borland writes for CNET News.com that cell
phone relation to cancer is still inconclusive and that law
suits are still being files based allegations of cell phone
usage causing brain cancer.
[Without taking sides on the issue, I think it is important
to realize that the situation is changing even as the research
is being carried out. The frequencies of PCS phones are not
the same as the older cell phones -- they are usually in higher
frequency bands which makes the data inapplicable because certain
problems could be frequency specific, and they generally use less
power and therefore give out less radiation. On the other hand,
stats seem to show longer talk-time per month.]
[2001/01/03]
Dec. 29, 2000, PR Newswire reports that on Jan. 5, 2001, Cirque
Corporation will announce a new input method which it claims will
be affordable and convenient for PDA use.
[2001/01/01]
Dec. 29, 2000, Joia Shillingford writes for the Financial Times
FT.com that Psion has discovered power management problems with
some of its Revo devices. According to Psion, it is a battery
problem, but the article mentions memory as a possible problem.
"The Revo problem causes the screen to blank out soon after it
has been recharged . . ."
[2001/01/01]
Dec. 27, 2000, Ian Fried writes for CNET News.com that Delphi
plans to show its "Communiport Mobile Productivity Center" at
the "Consumer Electronics Show" in Las Vegas, Jan. 6, 2001.
This interface will allow drivers to retrieve information
from a Palm V or Vx.
[2001/01/01]
Dec. 21, 2000, Samsung announced PDA phone powered by an ARM 7
CPU and 240 * 120 * 4 grey level display, 8MB Flash memory and
8MB DRAM (110 mm * 49 mm * 23mm, 132 - 147 g). Price, availability
and software family were not announced.
Samsung PDA phone
http://www.samsung.com/news/samsung/2000/sec1221-20001222155308.html
[2001/01/01]
While I try to keep the content of this Webzine "pure", within the
limits of mobile information technology, the fact is, "there is a
world out there" and this field is only a small part of it. Occasionally
I have to mention stuff going on because the ripple affect is going to
eventually hit here. Sometimes you can see it in the distance. I'll
usually keep such reports fairly brief.
[1997/02/26]
This is a "semi-commercial" effort. I'm not getting paid to do this, but it's obvious that as a "writer" if I provide a good service it's probably going to help me in the long run with my work. So far, all the the links I've posted have been to information sources that are on the manufacturing side, to assist people to learn about this technology and industry in order to apply it in their businesses.
In general, I will not post links to sites that are only "local OEM/Retailers".
These are sites that build one-off systems from component subassemblies which
are largely completed. There are simply too many companies of this type
and because they are mainly of local regional interest, it generally offers
readers of this site no advantage to find them listed here. So far, the
only site I've linked that would be like an OEM/Retail site has been Widget,
but Widget is a well known international software developer as well as a
retailer.
[1997/01/16] revised [1997/02/14]