Tuesday Jan 28, 2003 Palm takes aim at RIM's wireless market

Small and medium businesses looking to outfit their employees with mobile devices have a number of new offerings to choose from in the already-crowded handheld computer market.

Palm Inc.'s Tungsten Mobile Information Management Solution is aimed at the mobile professional, while its Zire line is targeted to the more recreational user.

Expected to be on shelves this fall, the Tungsten (www.palm.com) will feature wireless access to e-mail, contacts, calendars, notes and tasks on Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, as well as wireless access to IMAP e-mail. The device also encrypts messages, enabling IT managers to make passwords mandatory, disable beaming, encrypt data, and take other security-related steps.

The Zire, a more basic device geared towards helping the consumer or SOHO user get organized, lets users store names, numbers, appointments and memos, and will be priced in the $170 range.

According to Michael Moskowitz, president of Palm Canada, more SMEs are equipping employees with mobile devices instead of laptop computers for a number of reasons.

'The total cost of ownership of mobile devices such as handhelds is about 20 per cent that of laptops, so owning those as part of your corporate management strategy is much less expensive,' says Moskowitz.

In a recent Gartner report, total cost of ownership (TCO) for handhelds was estimated in the neighbourhood of $3,000 (U.S.) per year; the more features a device has, the higher the cost.

As well, Moskowitz says, there are more than 200,000 software developers developing applications for the Palm operating system, so users don't have to continually reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

'A lot of applications are developed specifically for vertical markets and a lot of them can be customized.'

Also recently released, is the Java-based BlackBerry 6710 Wireless handheld for Rogers' GSM/GPRS network. The device, which has an integrated speakerphone, is based on Research in Motion's popular BlackBerry's handheld. The latest version features email, phone, Internet and two-way text messaging, and can be used on 900/1900 MHx networks in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Bell Mobility also recently introduced the Audiovox Thera, a Pocket PC PDA with a built-in wireless phone. The device, which uses Microsoft's PocketPC operating system, features an MP3 player, a digital vice recorder and an e-books reader.

According to research firm IDC, 'smart' devices - those combining a number of computer and voice capabilities - are the devices that will drive the handheld market in the future.

2002

Doing It All from US $200 to $600 nyt

see w-n on cell / mobile phones

Thursday Apr 18, 2002 cnn
Little-known company unveils tiny PC ..When the $1,000 Ultra-Personal, full Windows XP, Computer hits stores this fall or winter, it will operate as a wireless handheld computer, akin to a Palm, OQO Inc. said. Or it can be used as a "modular PC" that connects to a full-size keyboard, mouse and monitor to replace a desktop PC ...up to 1 gigahertz. It also bundles 256 megabytes of RAM, a 10 gigabyte hard drive, and two wireless networking connections. [IBM's MetaPad won't be ready for a few years. ] oqo.com

Sunday Mar 17, 2002 nytimes

CeBIT: Gadgets lift computing off desktop Germany (AP) -- A cloth keyboard for Palm handhelds that you can spill a drink on -- and laugh. Detachable screens that let Internet addicts wander the house. Personal digital assistants that can surf the Web in color and double as phones, cameras and video players.
This year's new gadgets at CeBIT, the world's biggest technology show, are all about taking computing off the desktop and onto the road -- or the couch

Wednesday Mar 13, 2002 cnn

A splash of mobile colour Telecoms firms have taken the wraps off mobile phones with colour screens and in-built cameras at the world's biggest technology fair. They are betting that millions of consumers will trade in their old handsets for new ones with snazzier features, and give the industry a desperately needed boost

Tuesday Mar 5, 2002 cnn

CELLPHONE SHIELDS ARE USELESS: U.S. FEDERAL AGENCY
Handheld computer makers Palm Inc. and Research in Motion each introduced new products Monday in a bid to better compete in a sluggish and crowded marketplace.
Palm, the world's leading supplier of personal digital assistants, or PDAs, unveiled two new models in its "m" series of products that sport color screens and more memory.

Friday Feb 1, 2002 nytimes
For Mail, a Palm That Gets It
...But the i705 improves upon the Palm VII in several key departments. It's much smaller and slimmer (3.1 by 4.7 by 0.6 inches), and an antenna is now built in — or, rather, built out. (Part of it, concealed inside a white sculptured plastic cap, peeks over the top of the silver case.)
The most striking advance, though, is what the geeks call "push" e-mail. To check for mail on most wireless palmtops, including the Palm VII, you have to lift the antenna, open the e-mail program and tap a Check E-Mail button. If you fail to check at the right moment, you might not get some important message until it's too ...
The i705, on the other hand, silently checks the airwaves every six seconds. (Despite this conscientiousness, the batteries last a week on a charge, or three days if you use it all day long.) When it finds incoming e-mail, it turns on automatically and begins to blink, beep or vibrate in any combination. It works like a charm.

Dec 22 2001 Promoting the future of phones
Adverts could help mobile phone operators pay for future third-generation networks and help tempt consumers into signing up for them.

December 6, 2001
Turn the handle and talk economist
Wind-up chargers are not only for sub-Saharan villages. Mobile-phone users in California could find them useful, too

Sunday Dec 2, 2001 CBC News is available now on PDAs, Palms and cellphones? cbc Have you heard that CBC News and Information is available now on PDAs, Palms and cellphones? Find out now how you can make CBC News your premier menu choice at the CBC Wireless Services site.
Working with wireless partners Bell Mobility, Rogers AT&T, Fido, Zero Gravity, AvantGo, and TELUS Mobility, CBC is offering Canadians access to national, international and business news, science and technology, sports and entertainment, through the convenience of mobile browser technology. CBC's wireless services provide content in the following areas:

Wednesday, November 21, 2001 Nokia phone can show pictures Teens targeted by device that can take photos and transmit them - Mobiles with cameras may be next teen craze
The new telephones have a built-in camera and Nokia hopes they will encourage users to send tiny colour pictures of holiday destinations or school playground scenes to each other. A cover slips down to uncover a small lens on the back of the telephone. The picture is displayed in colour on the screen, which is about twice the size of most models.

Wednesday, November 14, 2001 VoiceStream service will bring e-mail to cellphones
BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) - VoiceStream's cellular phone customers will be able to access e-mail, calendars and address lists or send America Online instant messages at a connection speed comparable to the average home modem hookup under a new service unveiled Wednesday.
Called iStream, the service lets users go online via their cell phone at speeds of around 40 kilobits per second - about the speed of a regular land line modem connection - using new wireless connection technology called General Packet Radio Services.
The move could give VoiceStream a slight edge over competitors who offer similar services but at much slower speeds. Wed 10/18/01 Trying Again to Mix Palm With Phone
...all-in-one communicator that lets us make phone calls, check e-mail, peek in on Web sites, keep track of appointments and play Lode Runner
..Now it has a rival: the $500 Samsung I300, arriving in Sprint stores this week. Its two big-ticket features are a color screen and, at 5 by 2.3 inches and bowed inward at the waist, the most svelte shape of any Palm phone.
..(4 hours of talk, 100 hours of standby). Caller ID, three-way calling and call waiting are all standard.
..). If you pine for the missing graphics, you can instead use the included Blazer browser, which requires 15 to 30 seconds of patience per Web page. (Internet calls cost the same as voice calls; as with most wireless devices,
this one's speed tops out at 14.4 kilobits per second.) Finally, the I300 can use any of the 600 so-called Web clipping programs (free from www.palm.net) that Palm originally invented for its wireless Palm VII. Each is a miniature version of some popular Web site (eBay (news/quote), Moviefone, Fodor's, and so on) that can grab information very quickly from the corresponding "real" site. ..See More Circuits

http://www.davidpogue.com/

Friday, October 5, 2001 Basics: With Cellphones, Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
Making calls, receiving calls, calling up voice mail -- all of these whittle away at the monthly allotment of free minutes. How do you manage your mobile time?

	SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL: Three palmtops that use the Pocket PC 2002 operating system: the highly expandable Toshiba Genio

4/Oct/2001 State of the Art: A New Crop of Palmtops With Roots
New hand-held computers that use Pocket PC 2002 software from Microsoft should make a big splash with some users. But beware, not everyone will love them.

ODAY is a big day for hand-held computing nuts. It marks the release of Pocket PC 2002, Microsoft (news/quote)'s next-generation operating system for pocket computers, as well as the debut of several palmtops that run it. Their makers — Compaq, Toshiba (news/quote) and Hewlett-Packard (news/quote) — have much to celebrate: they have succeeded in thinking small. But Microsoft continues to think big, which is not always a good thing in machines with three-inch screens.

Wed 8/29/01 Cell-phone makeoversBy: ANDY RIGA
After years of hyper growth, the Canadian cellular-phone industry is slowing down with customers proving uninterested in wireless-Internet services that let them surf at slow speeds to a small number of unexciting sites.
Now, cell-phone companies are busily upgrading their networks to make way for another type of technology - faster, always-on wireless Net connections for telephones, personal digital assistants and laptops. They hope to rekindle the love affair with wireless technologies, and squeeze more money out of existing customers.

August 9, 2001 STATE OF THE ART
Squeezing the Office Into a Palm
The Internet keeps you at the office even overseas; the laptop keeps you chained to your spreadsheets on the plane; the cell phone hunts you down at the restaurant or in the bathroom.
...Every new Palm m500 or m505 comes with a copy of Documents to Go 4.0 (www.dataviz.com), the latest version of a remarkable program that transfers Word and Excel files to a Palm, where you can create, read, edit and even format them. When you return to your desk and press the Palm's synchronization button, the changes you made on the road appear as though by magic in the original, desktop-bound versions of those documents and spreadsheets. (If you own an older Palm or Palm clone, you can also buy Documents to Go separately for $70; if you bought a m500 or m505 in the last 90 days, you can download the program from the DataViz site for even less.)
www.nytimes.com/2001/08/09/technology/circuits/16STAT.html?rd=hcmcp?p=03e3K03e2T477GC012000mC8ruC99H

Bluetooth tech.

Tue 8/14/01 Cell gets big speed boost By: VITO PILIECI Ottawa Citizen
At the end of this month, cellular- phone companies across the country will be kicking it up a notch by making their transmission speeds five times faster, finally providing the wireless Internet the public has been dreaming of.
The new infrastructure and increased speeds, made possible by next-generation cellular networks, allows consumers to check in electronically at a hotel, exchange digital pictures and stream movies and music from the palm of their hands.
"I know some stock brokers would kill for it, but they're weird." ...Current cellular technologies allow people to send data at 14.4 kilobits per second, the new 2.5-generation (2.5G) networks will allow speeds more than five times faster. ...to check E-mail or get instant messages on a handheld device. [which can take the sercer BCE 3 hours to deliver]
Microcell [Fido] already offers 2.5G cellular speeds, but phones and personal digital assistants that can use those speeds will not be available until the end of August. Just in time for Rogers Wireless and Bell Canada to fire up their networks. ... Bluetooth is an industry standard that allows two wireless devices to speak with one another and exchange data.

November 12, 2001 MICROCELL LOSSES WIDEN AS COSTS GROW cbc Shares of cellphone operator Microcell, the corporate name behind the Fido brand, fell Monday after it posted a wider third-quarter net loss on higher operating expenses.

Posted by: Nick Owens, Date: 2001-07-09 I have looked at induction loops etc. for audio assistance in halls/meetings. I would like a system with a jack plug on one end and a number of hearing-aid type earpieces on the other for basic one-way audio transmission. Has anyone considered a Bluetooth solution? Many thanks nicko@icsplc.co.uk
This is as near to a cell phone as part of ones hearing aid as we have found so far.

a subscription to a Rogers AT&T Wireless service plan. Wireless Web service is only $3 per month in addition to Your Plan's monthly service fees, and just 15¢ per minute for Internet access

• Real-time access to valuable content. Receive financial news, sports, traffic and weather reports, lottery numbers, horoscopes, and more.
• Chat online with wireless Instant Messaging. We'll let you know if your friends are online so you can chat back and forth in real-time.
• Consolidate your Internet e-mail** accounts. Conveniently check all your e-mail accounts from your Wireless Web service, including your Yahoo, AOL and MSN accounts.
• Get online anywhere, anytime. Use your Wireless Web service anywhere in Canada on the Rogers AT&T Wireless Digital PCS network.
• We are sorry but in Montréal there is no service up and ready for us to waist our time on. Wait year or two.

With AT&T Digital PocketNet® service, you get unlimited access to featured Wireless Web sites without using your monthly calling plan minutes. You can catch up on the latest news, stocks, weather, and more on your wireless Internet-ready phone. And, for an additional monthly fee ($7 to $15us Per Mo) , you get e-mail and a wireless personal organizer — all in the palm of your hand.

HP Jornada has most of What We Want but! Take a tour

First Look:
Sanyo Delivers Function in
High Style
Technology-demanding hipsters will love the Web-enabled Sanyo Sprint PCS SCP-6000 phone.

Cover Story: The 20th Anniversary of the PC
It's been 20 years since IBM rolled out the first PC. We celebrate the past two decades of computing and look at what may come.

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The Qbe (pronounced "cube") offers a whole new way of relating to computers. Here's why.

Desktop computers are powerful but stationary. Laptops are portable but clumsy. Palmtops allow you to work on the go, but don't have much power. The Qbe combines the best features of all these units into a single, mobile, lightweight workstation about the size of a clipboard. From (Refurbished) $1375.00us to $3000us new Pentium® II 400MHz, 96MB - 256MB, CD-ROM, Windows® 98 SE, Digital Camera (included)
With the Qbe, you'll never be at a loss for how to get data in or out. It comes with: USB, PS/2, RJ/11 (modem), RJ/45 (network), IEEE-1394 (Firewire®), IrDA, audio (headphone and microphone), pen, ICM; and (finally) a docking port.
PacketVideo is wireless video creating a new broadcast medium. & Cellular TV Two-Way Wrist Communicator. A video clip encoded with PacketVideo technology is scalable to different bit-rates and broadcast environments without re-encoding.
deliver personalized, on demand and multicast video programming to cell phones, pocketPCs, PDAs, web pads, laptop computers and other wireless consumer electronic devices. PacketVideo is also developing an integrated suite of applications to deliver targeted advertising, ad serving and data mining, instant e-commerce, user generated community and two way video communications.

See more on W-N Hope some day' wish List

Dean Lebaron | on Cell Phone Guns | understand_terror.pdf

Fri 8/10/01 7:01 AM Goodbye to CRT, say hello to LCD
For a device so key to the high-tech boom, the computer monitor's core technology is pretty darn old. The funnel-shaped cathode ray tube has evolved little since Karl Ferdinand Braun invented it in 1897. But the CRT is finally showing its age. ...National Safety Council estimates the U.S. will be awash in 500 million defunct computers - and monitors - by 2007. ...prices dropping, the psychological price barrier of $350 U.S...Flat-panel monitor sales increased 88 per cent last year and will jump 110 per cent this year to 13 million units
see also W-N Wish List & Andy Nulman Wed Night #1013

W-N on Napster & A/V

Rex Murphy

There may be more obnoxious agencies of human misery and torment than the cellphone. But they are few: Rex