NewtNews-118-29Oct96 (Part 3 of 3)
Steve Holden
** MORE CUSTOMIZED ALARMS?!? **
Armin von Werner <awe...@frsbog.enet.dec.com> is looking for an add-on
to the Stand Alarm Slip Snooze Times. Instead of the current '5, 9, 15
and 30 minutes' options, he'd like to customize them to also include:
hours, days, and months. This would be especially useful in managing
birthday alarms. Instead of having to create two alarms, one to get a
present and another to attend the party, you could create one alarm for
getting the present and then snooze it until the actual party.
** BETTER CHECKLIST INTEGRATION?!? **
Matthew Seigel <MBS...@aol.com> writes -- "I would like a way to connect
the outliner checklist to the calendar checklist. So that you could
schedule an item from your outline. And when one is checked off, the
other would also. I have found such connectivity between the names and
outline, but not outline and calendar. It was previously available with
the outliner from Portfolio software. If a developer is interested, I
have many more such ideas/needs along this direction."
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News Agent Summary
------------------
For more info about [Farcast] check out: <http://www.farcast.com>.
For more info about [iNews] contact INDIVIDUAL, Inc. at 800.414.1000.
** MOBILE **
Data General has a new line of handheld computers called the DataGenie
III/LR -- which offer "good" price, wireless LAN connectivity, long
battery life, and a light-but-rugged design. [iNews]
Franklin Electronic Publishers have announced that they will be
developing an electronic version of the reference book "Gahart
Intravenous Medications" -- regarded as the 'bible' of intravenous drug
handbooks for nursing students and practicing nurses." [iNews]
Compaq has officially announced that they will develop a "PC Companion"
using Microsoft's Windows CE operating system. They plan to have a
product on the market by the end of 1996. [iNews]
Andrew Seybold sent out a press release on 24Oct96 agreeing with Pacific
Bell execs who have been saying that the California telephone system
needs to be "reworked" to insure that voice and data communications
demands are satisfied for all parties involved. The big question will
be how much this "reworking" will cost the end-user. [Farcast]
Fujitsu <http://www.fpsi.fujitsu.com> and ADP Dealer Services have
announced the availability of a new turnkey solution for auto and truck
dealers called SuperAdvisor that uses Fujitsu Stylistic 500 pen
computer. [Farcast]
Geoworks reported revenues of $2,031,000 for their fiscal Q2'97, this is
up from $950,000 in fiscal Q2'96. Unfortunately, Geoworks still had a
net loss of $2,837,000, or $0.20 per share (last year it was a $0.21 per
share loss). Geoworks does expect a better financial short term future
though when Nokia official begins to ship their Nokia 9000 that runs
GEOS 3.0 in the United States. [Farcast]
Priority Call Management <http://www.prioritycall.com> has announced
that Cisco's very mobile salesforce and technical support personnel
(over 1,000) will be using Priority's ORYX voice messaging system for
tracking communications and conducting mobile business. [Farcast]
Texas Instruments <http://www.ti.com> has teamed with Fortune Magazine
to sponsor a new "Mobile workforce" seminar for MIS managers. They
will be held in Richmond, Cleveland, New York city, Boston, Minneapolis,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Hartford, Washington, D.C.,
Denver, and Dallas. For more info call: 800.348.4314. [Farcast]
** WIRELESS **
A recent survey by ZeroPoint in China found that nearly 34.6% of those
surveyed had a cellular phone, but only 3.6% had access to the Internet.
Of those on the Internet, less than half could remember the name of
their ISP. [Farcast].
The Southern and Western Mindanao regions of the Philippines are going
to get a $100 million worth of Motorola fixed wireless telephone
equipment in the near future. [iNews]
Cable and Wireless has teamed with NYNEX and Bell Canada in a bid to
create a new telecommunications service organization in the United
Kingdom. [iNews]
Singapore's MobileOne has begun operation of a new PCS network using
the 1.9-GHz bandwidth and Motorola's CDMA microcellular technology.
[iNews]
AT&T is working with Birla-AT&T Communications in India to bring
cellular services to the two of the largest economically developed
states -- Gujarat and Maharashtra. [Farcast]
Sprint will be using a fraud profiling system called "FraudBuster" by
Coral Systems for their upcoming PCS/GSM mobile comms network. [Farcast]
MCI is now providing local cellular services in the following Ohio
markets: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and Mansfield.
[Farcast]
Final Analysis <http://www.facs.com> has announced plans for a global
awareness program of mobile satellite systems. Over the next six months
a series of demos will take place in the following countries: Brazil,
Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Senegal,
Uruguay, and United States. [Farcast]
The shipping giant May Trucking has announced that they will be
purchasing over 1,000 OmniTRACS mobile communication units from QUALCOMM
<http://www.qualcomm.com/> to replace their existing system. [Farcast]
** APPLE **
Claris, a subsidiary of Apple, has announced revenue of $235.2 million
for their fiscal year ending 27Sep96. [iNews]
Apple is working with its software and hardware partners to donate and
install Mac OS systems in non-profit science and engineering
organizations in the United States. [iNews]
** MACINTOSH SOFTWARE **
Apple has announced the availability of Open Transport 1.1.1, an
enhanced version of Apple's standards-based networking and
communications system for the Mac OS via the following URL:
<http://devworld.apple.com/dev/opentransport/>.
Apple has released an upgrade to their GeoPort Telecom Adapter Kit that
enables 28.8-Kbps connectivity. [iNews]
Apple is now shipping the Korean Language Kit -- which enables users
to enter, edit, and print text in Korean or mix Korean with other
languages in the same document. The software will be sold via Claris
and cost US$139.
Cyno Technologies is now shipping their Internet standards based
MacRADIUS Authentication Server -- "an easy-to-use command center for
managing the authentication and configuration network users." [iNews]
Andrew Corporation <http://www.andrew.com> is now shipping a AS/400
client for the Mac OS called MacMidrange Access/400 Client. [iNews &
Farcast]
Adobe is now shipping PageMill 2.0 for the Macintosh. [iNews]
ATTO Technologies <http://www.attotech.com> has announced some new
ExpressRAID software that offers RAID Level O support for Mac OS
systems. They also have some new Mac OS savvy PCI boards that support
Ultra/WIDE SCSI-3 host adapters called the ExpressPCI-Pro Series.
[Farcast]
Books That Work <http://www.btw.com> is now shipping a Mac OS version of
their award-winning 3D Landscape 2.0. [Farcast]
Broderbund has announced that they will soon be releasing Family Tree
Maker for the Mac OS <http:// www.familytreemaker.com>. This software
has sold over 900,000 copies on the PC side. [Farcast]
DeltaPoint <http://www.deltapoint.com> has announced that they are
shipping a Mac OS version of their Web site creation and management tool
called "QuickSite." [Farcast]
** MACINTOSH HARDWARE **
Exponential Technology has finally announced their 533-MHz Exponential
X704 microprocessor that is part of the PowerPC family of processors.
The chip is expected to cost US$1000 a piece in large volumes. [iNews]
Apple is now shipping to their education customers the following systems
at 20-33% less than previous models: Power Macintosh 6400/200, and the
Power Macintosh 5260/120 and 5400/180. For more information check out:
<http://www.education.apple.com/>.
Apple has announced the release the new PowerBook 1400 line that can be
equipped with a CD-ROM. This PowerBook is powered by 117-MHz PowerPC 603e
microprocessor. [iNews]
Focus Enhancements has announced that they will soon have a 10-Mbps
Ethernet adapter called the " EtherLAN PB 1400-T" for the new PB1400.
[iNews]
On the printing front, Apple has a new Color StyleWriter 2500 PhotoGrade
Kit and a new Color LaserWriter 12/660 PS. [iNews]
Motorola has announced that they are now shipping in large volumes
225-MHz and 240-MHz PowerPC 603e microprocessors. [iNews]
Nikkei English News is reporting that Apple USA and Apple Europe have
new plans to sell the Performa 5420 model in their markets. The 5420
was originally designed just for the Japanese market. [iNews]
** OTHER **
SCO <http://www.sco.com> recently highlighted a newly installed critical
business servers system created for the retail store chain Michaels.
The system incorporates Point-Of-Sale (POS) servers at individual stores
networked via satellite to company headquarters in Texas. Transaction
processing times have gone from 8 seconds down to 1-4 seconds. [Farcast]
3Com <http://www.3Com.com> has a new comprehensive, NCSA Certified, IP
Firewall implementation for their NETBuilder router products. [Farcast]
PNY Electronics <http://www.pny.com> has announced that they recently
hired Apple's VP of US Retail Sales, Dennis Mull, to be their VP of
Worldwide Retail Sales. [Farcast]
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Guest Opinions
--------------
** BUILD A BETTER, SMALLER NEWTON **
Julian Kim <julia...@lw.com> writes:
"My concern [with the new Newtons] is that Apple appears to
be moving in two different directions, neither of which I
(as a professional who uses the Newton in a PC/DOS world)
find appealing. The first is the development of a
fuller-featured subnotebook-type Newton, complete with
keyboard. The market already is filled with crippled, small
computers (HP LX100/200 and OmniGo, Sharp Zaurus, Psion,
Casio models, etc.) that pretend to be small laptops. In my
opinion, a Newton will never take the place of a
full-featured laptop. Virtually everyone in the business
community who is in the market for a device like the Newton
already uses a PC/DOS laptop and is not going to change.
"The alternative is the Newton 2000 model, which looks like
the current MessagePad 130, but with the faster processor
and improved OS. While high on the gee-wiz factor (e.g.,
HTML browser), this model doesn't answer some serious
concerns with the Newton: size, weight, and, in particular,
cost. One source reports a US$1,000+ price tag. I cannot
imagine that Apple seriously believes that it can sell many
of these devices at this price. A US$500 gadget is one
thing; a US$1,000 gadget is another. Whatever happened to
the $300 PDA?
"Apple needs to focus on what, I believe, the Newton was
intended to be: a very small, portable, and easy to use
"life" organizer (date book, address book, notepad, expense
recorder, etc.). If it has connectively through fax, email,
etc. all the better. Frankly, the MP120/130 are too big and
expensive to really serve this purpose, but there many just
like me who have put up with these size and cost limitations
in order to benefit from undoubtedly cool technology. To
reach a larger market, Apple needs to make a smaller,
lighter, and cheaper Newton in a form factor similar to a
Palm Computing Pilot. I'm not advocating that Apple make a
better Pilot, but a better Newton, as Newtons were intended
to be."
Comments from the Editor
------------------------
** DEAR APPLE ... **
Congrats!! The MessagePad 2000 looks like an incredible MessagePad
upgrade. From a hardware standpoint, the features are definitely what
is needed for the MessagePad user. The built-in software application
focus though still bugs me, and hopefully will not be an avenue Apple
continues to pursue in the future. Leave this to 3rd party developers,
and the free marketplace. Of course for the MP2000 to be a true-blue,
awesome MessagePad upgrade, it has to fit into my back pocket and that
is still to be seen.
As far as the eMate, I have to at this point, just wish you the best of
luck, because I am not at all convinced that this is a market that
needs, wants, or will be able to afford the eMate. I guess only time
and extremely talented evangelists will tell.
** QUESTIONS TO BUG APPLE WITH **
I will be attending Apple's Newton Developer Conference next week,
please send me your top three Newton issues, and I will compile them and
try and track down answers. Send an email to: <newt...@pobox.com> with
the Subject: equal to -- "My Top Three Issues!"
** FREE WINDOWS NEWTON PROGRAMMING BOOK **
Are you a wantabe Windows Newton developer? Would you like to get a
free 1997 copy of Julie McKeehan and Neil Rhodes' "Programming for the
Newton using Windows" book with a CD-ROM that has a functional demo of
Windows Newton ToolKit? Then send me email at: <newt...@pobox.com>
with the subject "Free WNTK Book". I will announce the winner in the
next issue. Unfortunately I only have one copy, and hopefully I'll not
get into too much trouble giving it away.
** END OF NEWTNEWS?!? **
Sorry to get political on you, but I have to say after reading through
the California Proposition 211 documentation over the weekend, that I
will have to seriously consider not publishing NewtNews if this
Proposition passes. NewtNews could be easily sued for "securities" fraud
because someone purchased stock because of information published in
NewtNews, and then ended up losing money on the stock. For more
information, check out: <http://www.tafl.com>.
Administrivia
-------------
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This edition of NewtNews was written with the help of: dinner with Karl
Strauss and company at Karl Strauss' Beer Gardens in Sorrento Valley, and
hanging out on the home front doing semi-relaxing stuff.
Disclaimer: I am doing this on my own time, and on my own hardware
*********** and software not the government's or my employer's.
##################################################################
## Steve Holden, Systems Analyst, SAIC at NRaD ##
## [E]: <sho...@nosc.mil> [V]: 619.553.5187 [F]: 619.553.4732 ##
## I also publish NewtNews. Send me email for more info. ##
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