Mobile Computing

by Chuck Horowitz

On the Road Again

his would have been an August column, however, due to circumstances beyond my control (an automobile accident) it will now be a September column.

COMDEX/Spring 97 in Atlanta was full of new products with interesting possibilities for mobile computing. Most of these products were not introduced for mobile computing, but yours truly could see a great deal of potential.

Take the Concero Switchboard by Centrepoint Technologies, for example. This little item was introduced for the SOHO (small office/home office) market, but has potential for the Road Warrior.

The Concero will let you use your remote phone or pager as a “virtual” extension with all of the remote call features (advanced call forward, call announce, call bridge, and international call back). The caller will not know that the call has been forwar ded out of the office.

And then there’s Door-To-Door Co-Pilot by TravRoute Software. This is a combination of software and a GPS unit that will automatically pinpoint your location and calculate the quickest route to any address. That’s right, any address (after all, it is cal led Door-To-Door). The product has voice technology so that your hands can be free to drive. Of course, the GPS unit has to plug into a notebook computer.

Symantec Corporation (Cupertino, CA) has developed pcAnywhere CE for use with hand held computers. Any Windows CE device can transfer files and communicate with any desktop or notebook with Windows 95 or Windows NT. pcAnywhere CE will allow you to access files and launch applications just as you would do on your desktop or notebook. The program has tools that allow you to navigate the desktop or notebook easily and lessens the problems due to the difference in size between full screen desktops and notebooks and hand held computers. Symant ec can be contacted at 800-441-7234 or http://www.symantec.com.

Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA) now has Pocket Automap for the hand held computer. Running on Windows CE, the program puts a street map in your hand. There are maps of more than 40 cities in the United States that you can take with you. By entering a street address or name, you can ge t an instant and precise street map of the location you requested. You can download Pocket Automap Streets and more than 40 U.S. city maps from the Microsoft Web site at www.microsoft.com/automap/pstreets.

U.S. Robotics Mobile Communications Corporation (Skokie, IL) makes the Megahertz XJ1336, a V.34, 33.6 kbps PC Card modem, the first PC Card Modem upgradable to x2 (56 kbps). The card also features the XJACK connector, a pop-out RJ-11 jack for a standard telephone cord. I have heard that the XJACK is a problem if you have stacked Type II slots. The cord in the jack blocks the other card. U.S. Robotics can be reached at 801-320-7000 or www.usr.com/mobileuser.

Norand Corporation (Cedar Rapids, IA) has the PEN*KEY 6100, a hand held computer that weighs 22 ounces. It has a 386/33 MHz processor with 8 MB of Flash RAM and 16 MB of RAM. It’s a DOS based system that has either wired or wireless communications. Telephone them at 800-452-2757.

Prostar (City of Industry, CA) makes the 7200 notebook with a 200 MHz Pentium with MMX, 16 MB of RAM (expandable to 128 MB), a removable 1.44 Gigabyte hard drive (a 2.1 or 3.0 Gigabyte are options), a removable 3.5 inch floppy drive (exchangeable with a 2nd battery, a 2nd hard drive o r a magneto optical drive), 512 KB of Level 2 pipeline burst synchronous cache, 64-bit PCI local bus video, PCI local bus hard drive controller, 4 MB of video RAM, a 16X CD, a 13.3 inch XGA TFT screen (1024 x 768), two built-in stereo speakers and one mi crophone, 1 MB hardware wavetable memory (supports 3D surround sound), built-in Touchpad pointing device, two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA slots, 2 NiMH batteries (lithium ion are an option), wireless IrDA, two USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, a stand ard serial port, a parallel port (supports ECP/EPP), TV-out, a game/MIDI, keyboard, and CRT ports, a port replicator, phone jacks (line-in, line-out), Windows 95, a carry bag and an AC adapter. The price for this unit is $3,695. Prostar can be contacted at 800-576-1134 or http://www.pro-star.com.

Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member.