NewtNews-130-11Feb97

====================



by Steve Holden <newtnews@pobox.com>.  This is a weekly freeware

newsletter that focuses on the Apple Newton and related technologies.

NewtNews Copyright 1994-97 Steve Holden.  All rights reserved.  See the

Administrivia at end for details and FAQ info.



This issue of NewtNews is sponsored in part by:



 + PDA Panache is your single source for stylus solutions - ORDERS:

   800.270.7196 - FAX: 516.467.6329 - <http://www.pdapanache.com>



 + WinSlurp from Rare White Tiger Creations - Available via WWW at:

   <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/heringermr/winslurp.htm>.



 + PDA & HANDHELD DIRECT - Putting Technology in the Palm of Your Hand!

   800-279-4PDA 219-882-5228 [F]:219-845-0578 <http://www.pdadirect.com>



 + TeleType GPS and moving map for the Newton - Never get lost again -

   <http://www.teletype.com/gps/> - <TeleTypeGPS@teletype.com>



 + INFORMED FILLER FOR NEWTON - Custom Electronic Forms Integrated With

   Your Desktop - Shana Corp - <info@shana.com> - <http://www.shana.com>



 + PowerMedia presents 'Arcade Game Pack' - Birds With Lances, Rocks

   In Space, Frogs vs. Cars - US$29.95 - <http://www.powermedia.com/~pmi>



 + VITAMIN A MENU EDITOR - Stand Alone has released it's custom and caret

   menu editor and creator! - Demo at: <http://www.standalone.com/newton>



 + X-Port, KwikMenu, NewtPaint, Quicknames Pro, proCALC Ex - Newton 2.0

   solutions - <sales@landware.com> - <http://www.landware.com>



 + RidgeNet - ARA, SLIP, PPP access to the Internet from Ridgecrest, CA.

   <http://owens.ridgecrest.ca.us/RidgeNET/RidgeNETWelcome.html>





Table of Contents

-----------------

 1. Top News

 2. Information from Email

 3. Information from the Internet

 4. Review of Top Weekly Magazine Headlines

 5. Top Weekly Magazine Stories Of Interest

 6. Other PDA News

 7. Edupage, 03Feb96 thru 09Feb97

 8. INNOVATION, 03FEB97

 9. Dear Newton Developer

10. Other Sources of Information

11. News Agent Summary

12. Advertising Notes

13. Product and Service Information

14. Guest Opinions

15. Comments from the Editor

16. Administrivia





Top News

--------



** A MESSAGE FROM THE NEWTON SYSTEMS GROUP **



[EDITOR: I forwarded the actual message to the NewtNews listserver and

many of you who subscribe via email were already able to read the

complete message.]



Mr. Sandy Benett, Vice President, Newton Systems Group sent out a message

late last week on Friday, 07Feb97 to Newton Developers and Customers.  In

summary:



    - Apple is not shutting-down the Newton division

    - Apple is committed to their current products and

      to their developers and customers who have

      supported these products

    - Apple will ship the MP2K and the eMate 300

    - Apple's Newton continues to participate in

      industry events: Demo '97, HIMMS, MacWorld Tokyo,

      FETC, and CEBIT

    - Apple has a complete line of print advertising

      already scheduled for the eMate 300 in education

      publications, and MP2K ads in Mac, Windows, and

      other tech industry magazines

    - Apple plans to continue to revamp their Newton

      website

    - Development of future Newton-based products has

      not stopped.



To read the complete text of the message check out the following Apple

site at: <http://www.newton.apple.com/newton/message_Feb.7.97.html>.



[EDITOR: If you are attending any of the above conferences please let me

know.   I'd like to find some attendees to send NewtNews reports about

what is going on at these shows.]



** GETTING YOUR OPINION ABOUT THE NEWTON TO APPLE **



John Catlin <john@theonly.com> & Edward Martin <Edmartin@marsoftware.com>

both suggest that those interested in letting Apple management know about

your Newton opinions, should do so, by send a specific and brief email

message to: <webmaster@newton.apple.com>. [EDITOR: Please do not spam

this address.]



MacCentral (an excellent daily Macintosh ezine) was running a Newton poll

last week at: <http://www.maccentral.com/news/0297/feb05.shtml#vote>.  In

summary, 2416 people voted, with 62% wanting to keep the Newton at Apple

with little overt changes; 17.6% wanted Apple to make a much smaller

Newton (thus changing the focus of the current group); 18% wanted Apple

to try to move the Newton technology to third-parties; and 2.4% wanted

Apple to discontinue the Newton completely.  You can check out the

complete results via the following URL:

<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0297/feb10.shtml>.



** NCU 1.0 BETA 5 POSTED **



Debra Kuck <newton@web-quest.com> reports that you should be able to find

very soon the Macintosh and Windows versions of Newton Connection Utility

1.0 beta 5 at: <http://newton.info.apple.com/newton/solutions/ncu.html>.

Bug reports, comments, etc. ... should be sent to the following email

account: <newton@web-quest.com>.



** VT100 AND TELNET BETA TESTING **



As we go to press, we have learned of a new open beta of a Newton 2.0

VT100 and Telent (using NIE) client.  You can get more information at:

<http://www.scrawlsoft.com>.





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  The New WriteRight Screen Enhancements protect your screen from

  scratches, reduce glare and improve your handwriting recognition by

  simulating the feel of writing on paper. WriteRights are available for

  all Newtons in packs of: 4-for $11.95, 8-for $18.95, and 12-for $24.95.

  Mention NewtNews and receive 10% off our 12-pack. For more info:

  415-929-1002 <Info@ConceptKitchen.com> <http://www.ConceptKitchen.com>

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$



$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  AvailWorks 3.0 - New version adds a text layer with spell-check, find

  and replace, and support for multiple page documents.  AvailWorks

  integrates text processing, powerful tables, dynamic business charts

  and graphs, and drawing and page layout tools into one convenient package

  for the Newton.  From PelicanWare at $79.95+S&H.  For more info:

  <info@pelicanware.com>. To order 800.655.6398 or visit resellers.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Information from Email

----------------------



** CDW TAKING MP2K ORDERS **



O'Grady's Power Page <http://www.ogrady.com/> reports that Newton vendor

CDW <http://www.cdw.com/> is offering a 'special offer' to PowerPage

readers who want to pre-order MessagePad 2000s.  For more information

call Bruce Modell at: 800-400-4239 x.8219 or email him at:

<BRUCMOD@cdw.com>. [EDITOR:  I conversed with Bruce over email last week.

He said that we would give NewtNews readers the same deal.]



** CLUBPDA LIST SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT **



Jarrod McKitterick <JARRODM@pacbus.com> reports that ClubPDA is now

running a list-server to keep people informed of the latest in the PDA

world.  This is expected to be a low traffic list with less than 10

messages a week.  The messages will include product announcements,

product information, product availability, and ClubPDA special deals on

products related to: Apple Newton, US Robotics Pilot, Sony MagicLink,

Sharp Zaurus, Psion, and Windows CE (Casio, Compaq, HP, NEC, and

Philips).  For more information check out: <http://www.clubpda.com/>.



** EXPLORE AZERBAIJAN WITH YOUR NEWTON **



Jeff Iverson <j5rson@prairie.lakes.com> has announced a new

'HyperTextBook' for the Newton called "Explore Azerbaijan with your

Newton."  Azerbaijan, a republic in the Transcaucasus region of western

Asia, is bordered on the north by Russia, on the northwest by Georgia, on

the east by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Iran, and on the west by

Armenia. Formerly a republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

(USSR), the republic includes the regions known under the Soviets as the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet

Socialist Republic (ASSR), which is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan

by a mountainous strip in Armenia.  This book is US$19 shareware.  For

more info: <http://prairie.lakes.com/~j5rson/business/ebooks.html>.



** FORMIT RELEASED **



Chris Heimark <CHeSSy@webleap.com> reports the official release of FormIt

for Newton & Macintosh.  This system was designed to let a Newton user

design a stationary form for data collection and to allow for easy data

upload to a Macintosh desktop system (a Windows version should be

completed by May97).  You can get more information about this product

via: <http://www.webleap.com>.



** NEWTON RUMORS **



Don Crabb's Gossip of the Day for 04Feb97 focused on the then latest news

about Apple.  The blurb did have several Newton mentions.  Don did go out

on a limb and say the Newton division would be sold sometime this week

(10-16Feb97).  For more info check out: <http://www.tipworld.com>.



It should also be noted that Lee Gomes, staff reporter for The Wall Street

Journal also had an article with Newton mentions on 05Feb97.  The article

was called "Apple Unveils Reorganization, But Analysts Are Unimpressed"

and the Newton mention was again linked to Apple "studying the sale of

its slow-selling Newton hand-held computer."



** MP2K PART OF CONCEPT CAR **



There is a very interesting MP2K mention being circulated by the PR

Newswire and an article in reference to this 'unique' use of an MP2K in

the March 1997 Car & Driver on page 27.  Ford Motor Company's new Mercury

L'Attitude  -- a new concept family wagon with many sport utility aspects

was recently featured at the 1997 Chicago Auto Show.  One of many new

cutting edge innovations is the integration of a "portable Apple Newton

MessagePad 2000 computer housed in the front console."  This enables the

L'Attitude to be email, fax, and Internet ready along with being able to

access maps, routes, and trip logging.  Since the MP2K is mobile a

"driver [can stay] in touch [while doing] activities such as hiking and

camping."



[EDITOR:  Thanks to Mark Khoury <mark_k@netcom.ca> for the pointer to the

Car & Driver Newton mention.]



** NEW SUBMARINE GAME! **



Bob Verduzco <bob@iambic.com> has announced the version 1.0 release of a

new game for the Newton called Sub Patrol by iambic Software.  In Sub

Patrol you command one of three surface ships, two destroyers or a patrol

boat. An increasingly aggressive enemy traverses the waters beneath your

ship launching torpedoes to the surface.  Accumulate points by sinking

enemy subs and progress through higher levels of difficulty where you

accumulate more weapons.  For a limited time you can order Sub Patrol for

a special price of US$$29.95 and get free shipping and handling.  For

more information or to order check out: <http://www.iambic.com>.



** NEWTON NEWS FROM RUSSIA **



Alexander Fuzeev <fuzeev@maccentre.ru> reported some recent news from the

Russian company MacCentre.  They have a new Newton KeyPlug Lite that lets

you connect a low energy consumption keyboards (ie. Cherry keyboard) and

Newton KeyPlug Pro for connection to standard IBM-compatible keyboards.

Another unique built-in NotePad dictionary of Russian-English idioms

dictionary for doing business correspondence.  For more information check

out: <http://www.newton.ru>.



** NEWTON USED IN WILDLIFE TRACKING **



Etienne Posthumus <EtienneP@sni.co.za> reports that there was a recent

South African national television program called 'Carte Blanche' that

examined a wildlife tracking project used in the Karoo desert.  This

project uses Newtons to track animals using software that was developed

by the Computer Science Department at the University of Cape Town.  The

interface on the Newton is so 'good' that even 'illiterate Bushmen

trackers' can use the system.  For more information about the actual

Newton project check out the following World Wide Web site at:

<http://www.cs.uct.ac.za/~jedge/html/project/TrackFrames.html>.  For more

information about the TV program please checkout the following site at:

<http://www.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/main.html>, and choose 'The

Programme' then 'The Week That Was' and finally look at 'Hi-Tech Tracker'.



** NEW VERSION OF NT PROJECT POSTED **



Tom Unkefer <nomadict@ix.netcom.com> reports that the latest beta of NT

Project version 1.0b2 for the Newton is now available on the Nomadic

Technologies WWW page at: <http://www.nomadict.com>.  NT Project is a new

complete project management and scheduling solution.



** MEDICAL APPLICATION UPDATED **



Rick Adams <jradams@kagi.com> reports that JRAd Consulting has released a

free update to Palmedic, version 1.1 -- a patient management software

package.  This software is ideal for the medical student who wishes to

remain organized on rounds.  A demo version of Palmedic has been posted

to: <http://marlin.utmb.edu/~jradams/>.  It should be noted, that if you

are a full time student, you can purchase the software direct from Rick

for a 20% discount.



** NEW MEDICAL REFERENCE PRODUCT **



K2 Consultants <k2@skyscape.com> and Mosby-Year Book have announced a new

medical product called Ferri -- an ART compatible medical reference of

"The Practical Guide to the Medical Patient" by Ferri.  ART references

'books' offer: advanced compression, graphing, graphics, searching,

hypertext links, and extensive table of contents.  The SRP is US$60 or

US$89.95 bundled with Archimedes Medical Calculator.  To order check out:

<http://www.1stopsoft.com/newmed.htm>.



** JAPANESE NEWTON SHOP IN THE RIGHT LOCATION **



Bob Kawaratani <bobk@gol.com> took the information about the new Newton

Shop's location in last weeks NewtNews and visited the new store in the

Shinjuku area.  Bob report that the store is pretty small, but it is in a

great location with the following stores: Yodobashi Camera, Softmap, and

T-Zone close by.  It is also well stocked with Newton software and

accessories "attractively displayed."



** WHICH HANDHELD COMPUTER IS BEST? **



Ziff-Davis magazines has announced a new review of 'six leading of the

newest PDAs' including Windows CE machines via the following URL:

<http://www5.zdnet.com/products/content/grids/handheld.html>.





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  GET AMIGO NOW!  Did you know you can order AMIGO the premier 8000+ word

  English/Spanish Dictionary Reference Tool and Translation program for

  the Newton over the Web at: <http://www.unboxed.com>?   Did you know

  that the price online is $5 less than the snail mail price and it comes

  with a full year of upgrades?  Don't delay, this Fall there will be a

  new version and a price increase.  More info: ACCSYS <rkaplan@well.com>

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$



$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  TeleType GPS is software for the Newton which displays your location

  while driving or flying. The software includes a moving map which shows

  you where you are in relation to cities and towns. It is controlled by

  the Garmin 30 TracPack, a powerful yet small Global Positioning System

  (GPS) antenna.  Never get lost again. Email: <TeleTypeGPS@teletype.com>

  or WWW to: <http://www.teletype.com/gps/> for more information.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Information from the Internet

-----------------------------



** ASTRONOMICAL TIME UTILITY **



Richard Parker <rwp@primenet.com> has announced the version 1.0 release

of Sidereal -- a Newton utility that automatically computes and displays

the local mean sidereal (astronomical) time based upon the home location

that is set in the Time Zones application, and the time from the Newton's

internal clock.  This utility is US$5 shareware.  For more information

check out: <http://www.primenet.com/~rwp/rezco/index.html>.



** SUPER HERO CREATION TOOL **



Richard Parker <rwp@primenet.com> also recently announced the version 1.0

release of Champions -- a Newton 2.0 utility that assists in the

onerous process of creating characters for the Hero System Champions

role-playing game system.  This utility is freeware.  For more info check

out: <http://www.primenet.com/~rwp/rezco/index.html>.



** BUTTON BAR ARTICLE AVAILABLE FOR FTP **



Mike Engber <engber@apple.com> suggests that those Newton developers who

would like to learn more information about the new Newton 2.1 button bar

and screen orientations check out the following document recently posted

at: <ftp://ftp.apple.com/pub/engber/newt/articles/BehindBars.rtf>.



** UPDATE ON FREE NEWTON SOUNDS **



Robert Bruce <rbruce@tactile.com> reports that many Web browser folks had

problems downloading the free sounds posted to Tactile Systems WWW pages

last week.  The following pointer should work better:

<http://rainbow.rmi.net/~rbruce/tactile/sounds.html>.



** NEWTON RESEARCH PROJECT UPDATED **



Mike Pinkerton <mpinkert@cc.gatech.edu> has updated his thesis pages that

are now called LlamaShare -- a project that makes use of several key

Apple technologies (OpenDoc and Newtons) in studying the user-interfaces

(UI) and applications for using information stored on mobile devices in

desktop environments.  For more information, including several screen

shots, check out: <http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/llamashare/index.html>.



** MODERATOR FOR COMP.SYS.NEWTON.MISC **



Mike Nowak <mnowak@umich.edu> has announced that the new moderator of the

USENET newsgroup comp.sys.newton.announce will be Michael Kaufman who is

currently moderator of two other groups comp.sys.psion.announce and

comp.sys.psion.reviews.  If you'd like to make a submission please send

your message to: <psion@acm.org>.  Admin requests can be forwarded

directly to: <kaufman@mcs.com>.



** MORE UPDATES FROM SERG KOREN **



Serg Koren <archimag@netaxs.com> has recently released:



    - Newt'sPaper 02/09/97-1:

      <http://www.netaxs.com/~archimag/Newton/MyStuff/NewtsPaper.html>

    - Newt'sWeather 02/09/97-1

      <http://www.netaxs.com/~archimag/Newton/MyStuff/NewtsWeather.html>

    - open beta on Newt'sBrot:

      <http://www.netaxs.com/~archimag/Newton/MyStuff/NewtsBrot.html>



The first product, Newt'sPaper, is a full fledged NNTP newsreader for the

Newton for those running Newton Internet Enabler (NIE) on their Newton.

This new version has several bug fixes and the first release of the

Newt'sPaper electronic book manual.



Newt'sWeather, the second product listed above, is a NIE enabled weather

report client that has a host of cities pre-programmed in it for easy

access.  This version adds support for major cities in Europe, Asia,

Africa, and Australia.



The third product released is the US$15 shareware Newt'sBrot 1.0 -- a

Mandelbrot fractal analysis application that is ideal for studying

fractal mathematics and for generating digital images.



** NEWTON REFERENCE, VOL. 3  UPDATED **



Clay Irving <clay@panix.com> reports the latest release of Volume 3 of

the Newton Reference via: <http://www.panix.com/~clay/newton/>.  This

version is now database-enabled and has an improved reference links for

information about the MP120, MP130, and the MP2K.



** AVAILABILITY OF THE EMATE?!? **



Several posts from several different Newton developers on the USENET

newsgroup comp.sys.newton.misc seem to confirmed the news that initially

the availability of the eMate 300 will be restricted to those in the

Education Channel.  It appears that 'parents' wishing to purchase an

eMate for their child may be able to do so via the school's Apple sales

representative.



** SNUG POINTER **



Stanford Newton User Group <snug@pobox.com> reminds NewtNews readers that

they meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month.  Their next meetings

will be 11Feb97 and 25Feb97.  The location for the meeting is:



    Printer's Inc Bookstore Cafe

    310 California Ave

    Palo Alto, California



For more information check out: <http://pobox.com/~snug/>.



** SOLVED -- NIE 1.1 CONNECTION TO LANROVER **



Joel Dunn <joel_dunn@unc.edu> reported on comp.sys.newton.misc that he

recently got NIE 1.1, GoFetch, and the Shiva LanRover to work together

using PAP/CHAP.  If you are having similar problems using the above

hardware, send J



** NEW VERSION OF NT PROJECT POSTED **



Tom Unkefer <nomadict@ix.netcom.com> reports that the latest beta of NT

Project version 1.0b2 for the Newton is now available on the Nomadic

Technologies WWW page at: <http://www.nomadict.com>.  NT Project is a new

complete project management and scheduling solution.



** MEDICAL APPLICATION UPDATED **



Rick Adams <jradams@kagi.com> reports that JRAd Consulting has released a

free update to Palmedic, version 1.1 -- a patient management software

package.  This software is ideal for the medical student who wishes to

remain organized on rounds.  A demo version of Palmedic has been posted

to: <http://marlin.utmb.edu/~jradams/>.  It should be noted, that if you

are a full time student, you can purchase the software direct from Rick

for a 20% discount.



** NEW MEDICAL REFERENCE PRODUCT **



K2 Consultants <k2@skyscape.com> and Mosby-Year Book have announced a new

medical product called Ferri -- an ART compatible medical reference of

"The Practical Guide to the Medical Patient" by Ferri.  ART references

'books' offer: advanced compression, graphing, graphics, searching,

hypertext links, and extensive table of contents.  The SRP is US$60 or

US$89.95 bundled with Archimedes Medical Calculator.  To order check out:

<http://www.1stopsoft.com/newmed.htm>.



** JAPANESE NEWTON SHOP IN THE RIGHT LOCATION **



Bob Kawaratani <bobk@gol.com> took the information about the new Newton

Shop's location in last weeks NewtNews and visited the new store in the

Shinjuku area.  Bob report that the store is pretty small, but it is in a

great location with the following stores: Yodobashi Camera, Softmap, and

T-Zone close by.  It is also well stocked with Newton software and

accessories "attractively displayed."



** WHICH HANDHELD COMPUTER IS BEST? **



Ziff-Davis magazines has announced a new review of 'six leading of the

newest PDAs' including Windows CE machines via the following URL:

<http://www5.zdnet.com/products/content/grids/handheld.html>.





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  GET AMIGO NOW!  Did you know you can order AMIGO the premier 8000+ word

  English/Spanish Dictionary Reference Tool and Translation program for

  the Newton over the Web at: <http://www.unboxed.com>?   Did you know

  that the price online is $5 less than the snail mail price and it comes

  with a full year of upgrades?  Don't delay, this Fall there will be a

  new version and a price increase.  More info: ACCSYS <rkaplan@well.com>

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$



$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  TeleType GPS is software for the Newton which displays your location

  while driving or flying. The software includes a moving map which shows

  you where you are in relation to cities and towns. It is controlled by

  the Garmin 30 TracPack, a powerful yet small Global Positioning System

  (GPS) antenna.  Never get lost again. Email: <TeleTypeGPS@teletype.com>

  or WWW to: <http://www.teletype.com/gps/> for more information.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Information from the Internet

-----------------------------



** ASTRONOMICAL TIME UTILITY **



Richard Parker <rwp@primenet.com> has announced the version 1.0 release

of Sidereal -- a Newton utility that automatically computes and displays

the local mean sidereal (astronomical) time based upon the home location

that is set in the Time Zones application, and the time from the Newton's

internal clock.  This utility is US$5 shareware.  For more information

check out: <http://www.primenet.com/~rwp/rezco/index.html>.



** SUPER HERO CREATION TOOL **



Richard Parker <rwp@primenet.com> also recently announced the version 1.0

release of Champions -- a Newton 2.0 utility that assists in the

onerous process of creating characters for the Hero System Champions

role-playing game system.  This utility is freeware.  For more info check

out: <http:Apple MPs - Mfg Lifetime Guarantee

     4MB $128 (#41071)  8MB $224 (#41073)  10MB $274 (#41074)

   - Revelar Connection Utilities $53.95 - Windows (#10070) Mac OS (#10071)

   - King James Bible for Newton $34.95 (#10260) Archimedes $39.95 (#62030)

   - FreeStyle Handwriting Recognition $39.95 (#10151)

   - MessagePad Wireless Communications Case $73.95 (#31150)

  To receive special pricing please mention source code [#151]

  To order call 800-279-4732 or 219-882-5228 or fax 219-845-0578

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Review of Top Weekly Magazine Headlines

---------------------------------------



** JUST NEWS **



    - Be, Inc. is no longer building BeBox hardware and will

      instead focus all energy on software and OS development

    - Apple to focus on single Power Mac family of products

    - IBM and Motorola plan to have 300-MHz PowerPC chips in

      systems by end of Q2'97



** MAJOR TRENDS **



    - Major laptop players to challenge midrange desktops

    - Digital signatures and certificate technology continues

      to mature

    - Apple, CI Labs, Object Management Group (OMG), and IBM

      offer Sun 'JavaDoc'

    - Intel keeps processor chip prices high as demand increases



** MINOR TRENDS **



    - Total Cost of Ownership (TC0) vs. Total Benefit of

      Ownership (TBO)

    - IBM plans to use Pentium Pro chips only in server

      products

    - NT 4.0 Server woes: security, remote access services

    - SQL standards? -- SQL3 may be fractionalized by vendors



** NOISE **



    - Some ISPs want to offer 'rent' application services

    - Microprocessor shipping date: more pie in the sky?!?

    - 'The Channel' and VARs unhappy with Office 97 pricing



** WEB POINTERS **



    - Web Week: <http://www.webweek.com>

    - MacWeek: <http://www.macweek.com>

    - InfoWorld: <http://www.infoworld.com>

    - Computer Reseller News: <http://www.crn.com>

    - PC Week: <http://www.pcweek.com>





Top Weekly Magazine Stories Of Interest

---------------------------------------



** NEW WIRELESS DEVICES **



Mark Moore has an article entitled "Latest Two-Way Devices Widen Wireless

Capabilities: Next generation two-way pagers are pouring the foundation

for electronic commerce of the future" on page 41 of PC Week published on

03Feb97.  Focus: Wireless Access' new US$399 SkyTel-savvy AccessLink

NB-PCS pager <http://www.waccess.com>; and Motorola's not yet released

US$399 PageWriter <http://www.mot.com>.  SkyTel's SkyWriter service costs

US$34.99 for 100 messages <http://www.skytel.com>.



** MORE PAGING NEWS **



Paging Network <http://www.pagenet.com> has recently enabled one-way

email paging for some of their 700,000 alphanumberic pager subscribers.

The service is currently free, is called e-Worx, includes message

filtering, and includes some services with CNN Interactive. [PC Week,

03Feb97, page 84]



RAM Mobile <http://www.ram-wireless.com> has a new two-way 'packet radio'

pager coming soon called Inter@ctive that will includes QWERTY-style

external keyboard.  The device has been co-developed with Intel and

Research in Motion.  [PC Week, 03Feb97, page 84]



April Streeter examines the state of paging with a Mac OS focus on page

29 of MacWeek published on 03Feb97.  The article is called "Alphanumeric

paging poised for big growth."  Products highlighted include: Ex Machina,

Mark/Space Softworks, InfoRad, and Desktop Paging Software.  The article

includes a side-blurb called "Two-way communications try to tango" with a

picture of Russ Eddy at Zydeco Foods using a Newton and talking on a cell

phone.



** WIRELESS NET ANALYSIS **



PC Week published on 03Feb97 has several wireless pointer articles worth

a browse if you are interested.  Paul Korzeniowski <paulkorzen@aol.com>

tackles the subject "Wireless WANs Unfit for Net" on page 71.  An article

called "Buyer's Guide: Wireless LANs are now more promising" by Kristina

Sullivan on page 73.  And there is also a case study by Kristina Sullivan

that focuses on "U.S. Military Stores Get Wireless Charge: WaveLAN brings

flexibility, savings to U.S. Army-Air Force Exchange Service sites" on

page 73.



** WANT TO BE A CELLULAR PROVIDER?!? **



If you are interested in being a cellular provider, time is running out.

There is a picture on page 34 of InfoWorld published on 03Feb97 that

highlights the locations in the United States where cellular licenses are

still available.  The FCC is in the process of auctioning off these Rural

Statistical Area (RSA) licenses at the moment.



** METRICOM TRIES TO GROW **



Ken Presti examines the current 'recruiting effort' by Metricom to sign

up Richochet technology resellers in metropolitan areas on page 1 of

Computer Reseller News published on 03Feb97.  The primary focus appears

to be to partner with corporate VARs and integrators using a product

called Richochet Gateway.  This system integrates several wireless

transceivers and a SPARC-based workstation to handle up to 500

simultaneous LAN connections with no modem bank at speeds between

14.4-28.8-Kbps. It should be noted that Metricom will be facing strong

competition soon from Bill Gates and Craig McCaw's Teledisc Corporation

and RadioMail both of which are using cellular digital packet data

(CDPD).





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

   WinSlurp! - Rare White Tiger Creations provides Newton Book publishing

   services and is NOW offering WinSlurp. A windows front-end to Slurpee

   which supports transferring notes back and forth between the Newton

   notepad and the PC desktop.  Available for downloading from this URL:

   <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/heringermr/winslurp.htm>.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$



$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

   PowerMedia is your source for all the latest cutting edge Newton apps:

     + Super NotePad: Quick access arrows, encryption, tags, filters, etc.

     + DateMan 3.0: Complete agenda and contact management.

     + Stationary Construction Kit: Build your very own custom stationary.

   Commercially available at your favorite Newton retailer.  Or check out

   online demos via the following site: <http://www.powermedia.com/~pmi>.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Other PDA News

--------------



[EDITOR: News collected via snail mail, major publications, USENET

newsgroups, email, and the WWW.]



** PSION **



Daniel Pfund <pfund3@uni2a.unige.ch> reports that the 2nd meeting of the

Psion Club Series3 Suisse-Romand will take place on the 15Feb97.  For

more information: <http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/8130/>.



Eric Nichols <enichols@enichols.erols.com> has posted v1.04 of his Gold

Caddie game for the Psion to comp.binaries.psion and to the following WWW

page at: <http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/5820/gc.html>.



Ajai Khattri <ajai@nwt.com> reports that those interested in Psion Siena

IR print drivers check out: <ftp://ftp.nwt.com/siena/drivers/>.  Those

wanting similar drivers for Psion Series 3c to JetEye printer adapter

should check out: <ftp://ftp.nwt.com/s3c/drivers>.



** PILOT **



The rumors continue to trickle in on the possibility of new U.S.

Robotics' Pilots coming soon.  It looks like two products will be coming:

Pilot Personal and Pilot Professional.  Both of these will come with: new

ROMs; new Palm OS enhancements; same form factor but better manufacturing

and plastic; backlighting; and networking features.  The Professional

will come with more memory, a TCP/IP stack, and an email client.  There

is also talk of a 14.4 modem the same size as the Pilot that attaches to

the unit.  [EDITOR: An announcement could come very soon.]



Little Wing Software Development <Marketing@LWSD.com> has announced that

their pilotClock -- a multi-function alarm clock, stopwatch and timer

program for the U.S. Robotics "Pilot" PDA has been certified as "Pilot

Compatible".  For more information check out: <http://www.lwsd.com>.



Bill Roy <bill@palmeta.com> reports the release of the desktop to Pilot

HotSync solution called Palmeta Mail v1.5.  This new version lets you

sync your Pilot in/out email boxes with your desktop PCs outbox.  For

more information check out: <http://www.palmeta.com>.



Mobix Communications is reportedly nearly done completing a porting of

their Mobitex SDK library -- MobiCell/RT -- to the Pilot platform.  This

SDK will allow you to write applications that use the Mobitex wireless

network which in the United States is operated by RAM Mobile Data.  For

more direct information check out: <http://www.mobix.co.il>.  Those

interested in more general information are urged to read:

    - Ericsson: <http://www.ericsson.se/ERM/mobitex/intro>

    - RAM Mobile Data: <http://www.ram-wireless.com>

    - Bell South Mobile Data: <http://www.data-mobile.com>



Olivier Meirhaeghe <olivier.meirhaeghe@smartcode.fr> reports that

SmartCode Software is now shipping version 1.0 of their POP/SMTP/PPP

Internet email client for the Pilot called "HandStamp".  For more

information check out: <http://www.smartcodesoft.com>.



Brenda Christensen <brenda_christensen@goldminesw.com> reports that the

new version 3.2 of GoldMine for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 supports

data synchronization with the U.S. Robotics's Pilot and the Timex Data

Watch.  This new version also supports alpha-numeric messaging.  For more

information check out: <http://www.goldminesw.com>.



** WINDOWS CE **



PC Week published on 03Feb96 has a short blurb about HP's future Windows

CE device on page 3.  The unit is expected to be called the HP 300LX and

will offer a 80-column, 640 x 240 pixel LCD screen.  No shipping date

mentioned in the blurb.  The blurb did mention a new 'enhanced' version

of the HP200 LX will be available soon for US$599, and will be marketed

towards Windows 3.1 and DOS PC users.



Ken Landau <kl@landware.com> reports the release of EncloseIt for Windows

CE.  This new product lets you attach any Windows CE file to an email

message using uuencode.  For more information check out the following

URL: <http://www.landware.com>.



Several different programming specific threads on comp.sys.handheld have

highlighted the fact that Windows CE is not Windows 95.  Specifically you

can't just compile Windows 3.1 or 95 applications for Windows CE.  There

are also no current support for Microsoft Foundation Classes.  Many

current developers are also urging potentially new Windows CE developers

to do their development on Windows NT 4.0 systems.



** MAGIC CAP **



Network World published on 03Feb97 has a small blurb in their Net Buzz

column on page 78 about the recent layoff news at General Magic.  The

article does mention that General Magic stock is trading at under $2 a

share.  There is also an interesting quote from a venture capitalist on

what went wrong at General Magic -- "From Day One, the founders couldn't

agree on a cohesive strategy, so the company was all over the map.  It

never had a focus, or a direction."



** OTHER **



Rich Belgard <belgard@umunhum.stanford.edu> has created a non-Japanese

version of Personaware Scheduler for those IBM PC110 users out there.

You can download the file from the following anonymous FTP site at:

<FTP://members.aol.com/RichB89600/CITY1S.TXT>.



Mark <MCSpear@msn.com> reported on comp.sys.palmtop that the following

site has several pictures and specifications on Japanese palmtops not

available in the United States.



In the search of a small travel PC Card savvy modem?  Rony Van Hove

<hove@dlep1.itg.ti.Com> suggested on several of the handheld specific

newsgroups to check out Option International at: <http://www.option.com>.





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

   This space for rent.  For more info: <newtnews@pobox.com>.  Thanks.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Edupage, 03Feb96 thru 09Feb97

-----------------------------



** NETSCAPE'S NAVIO PLANS **



Netscape's Navio division, a joint venture with seven electronics and

computer companies, including Nintendo and Sony, will soon see its TV

Navigator software incorporated into Zenith Electronics television sets.

The company has ambitious plans to launch a new product every three

months, with possibilities including a phone browser that connects to

global telephone directories, a gas pump that includes a readout showing

local traffic conditions, and a ticker that runs on your TV set showing

the current prices of your stock portfolio.  "It will take about two more

years to start in full swing," says Netscape chairman James Clark.

(Business Week 10 Feb 97)



** NINTENDO AND SONY IN CLOSE GAME **



Nintendo has caught up to Sony in the market for next-generation video

game players, with each company selling between 1.3 million and 1.4

million of their newest players in the U.S. during the 4th quarter.

During the same period, Sega sold between 500,000 and 600,000 comparable

units.  The Nintendo product in this competition is the Nintendo 64

system based on the 3D graphics chips from Silicon Graphics.  (Wall

Street Journal 3 Feb 97)



** THE EYES HAVE HAD IT **



Tenax Software Engineering has come up with a new tool for managing

information overload -- its Cornix Java applet allows you to read Web

pages with "ease and comfort at speeds of up to 1,000 words per minute."

The Cornix applet displays the text of a Web page one word at a time in

100-point type (almost 1-1/2 inches high), eliminating the side-to-side

eye scanning that can cause eye fatigue.  Tenax reports that most people

double their reading speed almost as soon as they start using Cornix,

with average person, reading about 240 words per minute, increasing to

nearly 500 wpm. Tenax claims some enthusiastic readers have even reached

"warp" speeds of 8,000 or so wpm.  (Information Week 27 Jan 97)



** LOOK OUT -- HERE COME MORE DOMAIN NAMES! **



The Internet Society's International Ad Hoc Committee has mandated the

creation of seven new Internet domain names, including ".firm" for

businesses, ".store" for retailers, ".web" for businesses related to the

Web, ".rec" for entities dealing in recreational activities, ".info" for

purveyors of information, and ".nom" for users desiring personal

nomenclature.  Adding to the confusion, there will now be 28 new

companies registering addresses, a huge leap from one -- Network

Solutions Inc. -- which has handled all Internet domain registrations up

until now, under contract to the National Science Foundation.  "Network

Solutions had a monopoly; this creates competition," says Donald Heath,

president of the Internet Society.  The new names should be in place by

the end of the year, says Heath.  (Wall Street Journal 6 Feb 97)



** APPLE:  OUT OF THE SAND AND OFF WITH THE GLOVES **



Apple CEO Gil Amelio told company shareholders:  "As most of you know,

I've dealt with troubled companies before. I am well acquainted with what

it takes to bring them back to health. When I joined Apple, I said the

journey back would take about three years. Today, we're about a third of

the way there. We're working hard to move faster, but unfortunately there

are no shortcuts, no magic bullets."  He's asked Apple employee to do

three things: "Manage the fundamentals to keep us on a firm business

footing; focus on the strategic core of our business so we concentrate

our efforts where we can make a difference and win;  and attack the

competition. We're taking our heads out of the sand.  We're taking the

gloves off. And we're ready for action."  (San Jose Mercury News Center 6

Feb 97)



** NEXT-GENERATION MEMORY CHIPS FROM NEC **



Calling its new 4-gigabit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip the

largest yet developed, NEC says the new chip can store more than 4

billion bits of information -- enough to hold 47 minutes of full-motion

video, or 256 times the capacity of the 16-megabit DRAM chip now commonly

used.  NEC says it will begin selling the 4-billion bit chips around

2000.  (New York Times 7 Feb 97)



** HAYES HAS A DEAL FOR YOU **



Hayes Microcomputer Products is offering current modem users a trade-in

on a new 56-Kbps device for just $99.  To take advantage of the offer,

users must register on Hayes' Web site, <http://www.hayes.com>, and they

will be contacted when the 56-Kbps models are ready.  Users who mail

their old modems to Hayes along with $114 (which includes $15 for

shipping and handling), will receive a K56Flex-based modem, normally a

$200 value. (MacWeek 10 Feb 97)





INNOVATION, 03FEB97

-------------------



** TRENDS: THE NEXT KILLER APP -- RICH E-MAIL **



The last killer application?  E-mail.  The next killer application?

E-mail. Out of the labs and soon to change the world comes "rich e-mail"

that carries video, interactive forms and hyperlinks.  With Netscape and

Microsoft both moving quickly (an early example, called InBox Direct, can

be found on Netscape's Web site), a new way of life is about to be

experienced by workers, customers and friends.  Finally, we may be in

sight of the paperless office, when it's routinely possible for all forms

to be managed and routed electronically.  Electronic billing will become

commonplace very soon, when "one of those MBAs at your local utility will

realize how much money his company can save by sending bills

electronically to customers with PCs."  Of course, personal

communications will be changed radically, both for the good (allowing

Grandma to see digital photos of the kids) and for the bad (forcing you

to sift through junk messages in stereophonic sounds). But everyone will

want rich e-mail, and "everyone" is another way of saying "mass market."

(J. William Gurley, "E-Mail Gets Rich,"  Fortune 17 Feb 97 p146)



** STRATEGIES: CHANGE GOES FROM INSIDE OUT **



John Kotter of Harvard Business School says that strategy is not enough

-- it's a necessary but not a sufficient condition for achieving an

organization's success, and in some cases accounts for only 10% of the

work. The other 90%?  That's all the work necessary to bring the strategy

alive, which involves the entire organization.  Using terms like

"strategy formulation" and "strategy implementation" is dangerous,

because it implies that one group of people makes the big decisions and

that what everyone else does is somehow non-strategic, when in fact what

everyone else does is crucial to making the strategy successful.  And you

help them do that by delegating managerial responsibilities to lower

levels in the organization, and encouraging people to be creative people

in discharging those responsibilities.  "Successful change tends to work

from the inside out. That probably applies to individuals, too.

Successful leaders usually start by changing themselves, not others,

which gives them more credibility when they begin to talk to their

employees."  ("A Conversation With John P. Kotter,"  Strategy &

Leadership Jan/Feb 97 p18)



** INNOVATIONS: TRUEPOSITION PINPOINTS CELL PHONE CALLS **



The FCC has given cell phone operators until October, 2001 to come up

with a way to geographically pinpoint the origin of wireless 911 calls,

but Associated Group has a plan that could be implemented much more

quickly. Their TruePosition idea calls for adding special receivers to

thousands of cell sites around the country that would give 911 calls

special treatment. Rather than being picked up by just one tower, a 911

call would be handled by three or more towers.  Atomic clocks at each

tower would track the time it takes for the call to reach the

TruePosition receivers.  Computers at the call-processing centers could

then triangulate the data to create an electronic map for rescue workers.

The Associated Group says the technology has already been tested, and

could be installed nationwide well before the 2001 deadline.  (Business

Week 3 Feb 97)



** MORE INFO ON INNOVATION **



Innovation is published weekly, with individual subscriptions available

at $15 a year. Topics are organized under the following headers:

TRENDS, STRATEGIES, and INNOVATIONS.  For a six-week free trial

subscription to Innovation, please send an email message to

<innovation-trial@newsscan.com> and in the subject line type the word:

'subscribe'.  You can also use the trial registration form on their Web

site at: <http://www.newsscan.com>.  For more info, send email to:

<gehl@newsscan.com> or <douglas@newsscan.com>





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  NEED A NEWTON PROGRAMMER? NewtNews has a list of over 40 Internet based

  Newton programmers who are interested in working on vertical or

  horizontal market solutions.  Please send email to: <newtnews@pobox.com>

  if you would like the list or would like to be added to the list.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





Dear Newton Developer

---------------------



** FAX UTILITY **



Todd Zabel <TEZabel@compuserve.com> is looking for a Newton FAX utility

that lets you specify the margins so that text in a FAX formatted and

properly wrapped to be about 4" wide by 4" tall, instead of 8.5" by 11"

without having to use hard carriage returns.  This utility should also

work with printing.



** TEXT EMOTICONS PALETTE **



Steve Deyo and his Newton at: <sdeyo@aol.com> would like a popup palette

that would let him have access to text emoticons [ :-), ;-), ;-(, etc.]

whereever he wished.





Other Sources of Information

----------------------------



** SPRINT NEWS **



Brent Cunningham has a 'Corporate Profile' of Sprint in an article

entitled "Sprint bets big on wireless technology: US$10 billion network

to provide digital services in 65 markets by year's end" on page 30 of

InfoWorld published 03Feb97.  Other Sprint market focus areas: Global One

alliance, and local phone service & long-distance phone service in the

United States.



Sprint reported that earnings rose by US$245 million over last quarter in

their final financial Q4'96.  Total revenue for the year was US$3.62

billion up from US$3.34 billion.  [Farcast]



Sprint and Universal Studios recently teamed up to provide multimedia

networking to the creation of new movie "Dante's Peak."  The system is

called 'Drums' -- a virtual production study that enables remote

filmakers to participate in videoconferencing and collaboration even

though decision makers may be thousands of miles apart.  [Farcast]



** BIG NEWTON PICTURE **



The main Associated Press article that was circulated to most of the

Business Pages in the USA and Worldwide about Apple's future layoffs and

the possibility of shedding unprofitable businesses included an

'optional' big picture of what appears to be a MessagePad 130, two

Styluses, a Motorola Paging card, a Newton case, and a MP110/120/130

Newton charging station.  The article was written by Catalina Ortiz. [San

Diego Union-Tribune, 04Feb97, C-2]



** UPCOMING PDA CONFERENCES **



The following are being sponsored by PDA, Inc.:



    - Forum for Handheld Computing in Healthcare; 20-30May97;

      Boston, MA

    - Utility Industry Handheld & PDA Forum; 20-22Aug97; St.

      Louis, MI

    - Handheld & PDA Expo and Forum; Feb98; San Francisco, CA



For more information: <info@wmsltd.com> or call: 415.252.8008.



** TECH MAGAZINE LOOKS AT ... **



Computer Technology Review published in Winter 1996 has some interesting

information on:



    - Disk Drives for Mobile Computers, page 6

    - Computers, Telephones ... People Do Business

      On Internet Time, page 28

    - Integrating The IDE FlashChip Into An

      Embedded System, page 42



For more information about this publication send an email message to:

<circulation@wwpi.com>.



** WIRELESS CONTINUES TO MATURE, PRESENTS OPPORTUNITY **



Mary Thyfault has an indepth article about the recent enterprise wireless

opportunities awaiting IS departments in an article entitled "Easier

Wireless Links: New products cut cost and complexity" on page 66 of

Information Week published on 03Feb97.  This article has a great deal of

Windows CE mentions, industry analyst quotes, and news.  The article does

mention that a wireless Windows CE device will cost around US$1500 when

all is said and done.



** NEW STORAGE PC CARD **



M-Systems <http://www.m-sys.com> has a new Series 2000 Flash PC card that

offers up to 128-MBs of storage and a transfer rate of 13.3 Mbps between

the disk controller and host.  No word if this device works with current

or future Newton hardware.  You can get more information by calling:

408.654.5820. [Information Week, 03Feb97, page 82]



** WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF BUSINESS? **



The latest Red Herring published on March 1997 has some interesting

articles on:



    - "AT&T: The Worst Tech Company Ever" by Jonathan

      Burke

    - "Apple: Can Jobs Save Its Skin?" by Editorial

      Staff and John Sculley

    - Focus on CISCO CEO John Chambers in "Routing the

      competition" written by Luc Hatlestad

    - INDUSTRY BRIEF: Networking -- with details on

      Fore Systems, Cascade Communications, and

      Concord Communications

    - Focus on Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki in "Cheerful

      guerrilla" by Alex Gove



This edition also comes with a supplement that called "H!TS" that focuses

on 'Successful Business on the Web'.  Some interesting articles:



    - Q&A with "Idea Man" Bill Gross

    - "Playboy's new feat: Chrstie Hefner hops on the Web"



** VERY GOOD AGENT REFERENCE **



Timothy Finin <finin@cs.umbc.edu> has recently released another excellent

issues of his UMBC AgentNews webletter.  You can check out the latest

issue at: <http://www.cs.umbc.edu/agents/agentnews/1997/02/>.  This

edition has pointers to more information about: emerging agent standards;

IBM's new Java aglets; filtering tools; meta-search agents; and upcoming

conferences.





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  To much info in NewtNews for you?  Does all the Macintosh information

  make you want to puke?  Then maybe you should check out NewtNews-Savvy.

  For $20 you get 52 issues of just lean and mean Newton/PDA/Wireless

  information directly to your inbox of choice.  Send an email message

  with the subject containing 'NewtNews-Savvy' to <newtnews@pobox.com>

  and you'll get a sample issue and an order form.  Thanks for reading!

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$



$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  If you are too cheap to pay $20 for weekly Newton/PDA/Wireless info,

  then check out the freeware-monthly-Acrobat-savvy-version of NewtNews

  called NewtNews Pro at: <http://members.aol.com/nnpro/newton.html>.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





News Agent Summary

------------------



** HANDHELD **



Microsoft has announced that they will phase out development of Windows

NT for PowerPC machines.  In the same press release, Microsoft did

announce that they continue to working closely with IBM and Motorola to

port their Windows CE operating system to the PowerPC microprocessor.

[Farcast]



AMD <http://www.amd.com> has announced that Everybook, a leather-bound

handheld electronic book, will use their Elan SC4000 microcontroller that

will manage the systems: integrated circuit board, dual active-matrix LCD

screens, a dual screen controller, a PC Card port, storage card

interface, a high- speed modem and battery power consumption.  Everybook

is being designed by JFK Associates: <http://www.jfkinc.com>. [Farcast]



Geoworks has announced new alliances with "two leading providers of

Internet-based content and services: ITN <http://www.itn.net> and

M.A.I.D. <http://www.maid.com>". [iNews & Farcast]



Nikkei English News reports that Sharp has put together a corporate

salesforce to try to sell their Color Zaurus MI-10 PDA to corporate

customers.  The goal for the MI-10 is to account for 200,000 units sold

in fiscal 1997. [iNews]



Pygmy Computer Systems has announced that they are now selling their

Zaurus Mail Server that lets Zaurus users securely access Microsoft

Exchange. [iNews]



Simple Technology's lates memory modules and PC Cards have been

'compatibility approved' to run on Windows CE devices. [iNews]



Liris Interactive and Franklin Electronic Publishers have announced an

agreement to work together to build French electronic publishing devices.

[iNews]



** MOBILE **



Socket Communications <http://www.socketcom.com> recent financial news

was mixed.  Revenue was up by 1% over last year, but the company posted

another net loss for the year (around US$3.3 million).  There was flat

demand for their PageCard product but strong demand for their Ethernet PC

Card. [Farcast]



Teklogix International has announced a multi-million dollar wireless data

communication system contract has been signed with Scandinavian

transportation company DFDS Transport.  The system will allow mobile

users to instantly collect, send and receive information from a IBM

RS/6000 servers using TCP/IP connectivity.  [Farcast]



ARIS <http://www.ariscorp.com> has announced using Oracle Mobile Agents

successfully to complete a wireless mobile computing system for the

Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) diesel fuel program.  [Farcast]



Cargo Center Copenhagen (CCC) has awarded Unisys with a contract to

deliver a mobile data solution to CCC's ground handling agent system. The

primary handheld device to be used in this solution is reportedly a

Symbol Technologies' barcode scanner.  For more information check out:

<http://www.corp.unisys.com/trans>.  [Farcast]



SPS Technologies Corporation <http://www.miras.com> has a new 2-MB PC

Card memory card data storage system that plugs into their MIRAS based

GPS and sensor data system that monitors a vehicle.  Using this MIRAS

system gives a company complete data about route, vehicle diagnostics,

and time based information.  The system should be integrated with

cellular, or CDPD by the end of Q1'97.  [Farcast]



** WIRELESS **



Nevada Bell Mobile Services is now offering GSM enabled PCS networking

services -- including voice, data, and pager.  Costs start at under $20 a

month with 20 minutes of 'free' airtime and 40 cents a minute flat per

minute rate after 'free airtime'  Costs peak at just under $90 and offer

300 minutes of 'free airtime' with a flat per minute rate of 20 cents a

minute. [Farcast]



Ericsson has turned on their first Downbanded Cellular system (IS-136

TDMA using the Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) frequency band) for

Hawaiian Wireless in Oahu. [Farcast]



Pace Micro Technology has announced that they will be teaming with

Hitachi Europe to build a 'new' PC Card that will be able to access

satellite data broadcasting.  [Farcast]



PageMart Wireless recently reported their number of wireless subscribers

has increased by 50% over last fiscal year to 1.86 million. [Farcast]



Alcatel <http://www.adn.alcatel.com> has won a major contract in Greece

to provide frame relay and X.25 networks along with some wireless

connectivity.  No cost information was available.  [Farcast]



NCR Corporation has a new wireless price management system called "NCR

DecisionNet" that is "designed to provide consumers clearly labeled

product prices and 100% pricing accuracy throughout a store."  [Farcast]



India's Punjab Wireless has announced a new joint venture with Motorola

to offer radio trunking services in 15 Indian cities including Delhi.

[iNews]



Pilipino Telephone Corporation in the Philippines has awarded Motorola a

US$40 million contract to supply CDMA infrastructure equipment for their

MOBILINE network.  In related news, Motorola also won a US$15 million

contract to expand a Beijing Telecommunications Administration's GSM

network in Beijing, China. [iNews]



Motorola's UK GSM division expects to add 300 new jobs (20% increase) to

their "Swindon-based mobile communications manufacturing facility."

[iNews]



** APPLE **



Apple new restructuring includes the return of Steve Jobs and Steve

Wozniak to a Gil Amelio advisory board.  Expect big changes in the

consolidation of oper analyst quotes, and news.  The article does

mention that a wireless Windows CE device will cost around US$1500 when

all is said and done.



** NEW STORAGE PC CARD **



M-Systems <http://www.m-sys.com> has a new Series 2000 Flash PC card that

offers up to 128-MBs of storage and a transfer rate of 13.3 Mbps between

the disk controller and host.  No word if this device works with current

or future Newton hardware.  You can get more information by calling:

408.654.5820. [Information Week, 03Feb97, page 82]



** WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF BUSINESS? **



The latest Red Herring published on March 1997 has some interesting

articles on:



    - "AT&T: The Worst Tech Company Ever" by Jonathan

      Burke

    - "Apple: Can Jobs Save Its Skin?" by Editorial

      Staff and John Sculley

    - Focus on CISCO CEO John Chambers in "Routing the

      competition" written by Luc Hatlestad

    - INDUSTRY BRIEF: Networking -- with details on

      Fore Systems, Cascade Communications, and

      Concord Communications

    - Focus on Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki in "Cheerful

      guerrilla" by Alex Gove



This edition also comes with a supplement that called "H!TS" that focuses

on 'Successful Business on the Web'.  Some interesting articles:



    - Q&A with "Idea Man" Bill Gross

    - "Playboy's new feat: Chrstie Hefner hops on the Web"



** VERY GOOD AGENT REFERENCE **



Timothy Finin <finin@cs.umbc.edu> has recently released another excellent

issues of his UMBC AgentNews webletter.  You can check out the latest

issue at: <http://www.cs.umbc.edu/agents/agentnews/1997/02/>.  This

edition has pointers to more information about: emerging agent standards;

IBM's new Java aglets; filtering tools; meta-search agents; and upcoming

conferences.





$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  To much info in NewtNews for you?  Does all the Macintosh information

  make you want to puke?  Then maybe you should check out NewtNews-Savvy.

  For $20 you get 52 issues of just lean and mean Newton/PDA/Wireless

  information directly to your inbox of choice.  Send an email message

  with the subject containing 'NewtNews-Savvy' to <newtnews@pobox.com>

  and you'll get a sample issue and an order form.  Thanks for reading!

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$



$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$

  If you are too cheap to pay $20 for weekly Newton/PDA/Wireless info,

  then check out the freeware-monthly-Acrobat-savvy-version of NewtNews

  called NewtNews Pro at: <http://members.aol.com/nnpro/newton.html>.

$-----------$------------$------------$------------$-----------$-----------$





News Agent Summary

------------------



** HANDHELD **



Microsoft has announced that they will phase out development of Windows

NT for PowerPC machines.  In the same press release, Microsoft did

announce that they continue to working closely with IBM and Motorola to

port their Windows CE operating system to the PowerPC microprocessor.

[Farcast]



AMD <http://www.amd.com> has announced that Everybook, a leather-bound

handheld electronic book, will use their Elan SC4000 microcontroller that

will manage the systems: integrated circuit board, dual active-matrix LCD

screens, a dual screen controller, a PC Card port, storage card

interface, a high- speed modem and battery power consumption.  Everybook

is being designed by JFK Associates: <http://www.jfkinc.com>. [Farcast]



Geoworks has announced new alliances with "two leading providers of

Internet-based content and services: ITN <http://www.itn.net> and

M.A.I.D. <http://www.maid.com>". [iNews & Farcast]



Nikkei English News reports that Sharp has put together a corporate

salesforce to try to sell their Color Zaurus MI-10 PDA to corporate

customers.  The goal for the MI-10 is to account for 200,000 units sold

in fiscal 1997. [iNews]



Pygmy Computer Systems has announced that they are now selling their

Zaurus Mail Server that lets Zaurus uage to: Joakim

Jardenberg <joakim@infinit.se> or check out the following URL:

<http://www.forest.net/advanced/securitychallenge.html>.



IDT Corporation is now shipping their beta of version 1.0 of Net2Phone

for Mac OS users.  For more info: <http://www.net2phone.com>.  [Farcast]



** INTERNET **



InfoWorld magazine has choosen Red Hat LINUX 4.0 as the "Best Desktop

Operating System of 1996". [iNews]



Future Diba-powered devices <http://www.diba.com> will be able to access

WorldPages' directory and mapping services <http://www.worldpages.com>

according to a recent press release. [Farcast]



The next iteration of Oracle's <http://www.oracle.com> Web Developer

Suite is expected to support not only Java components but also Microsoft

ActiveX. [Farcast]



Avalan Technology has been selected by Caldera to offer their complete

line of OpenLinux and OpenDos products throughout Europe, the Middle

East, and Africa. [iNews]



** OTHER **



Thinking Machine's has a new version of their scalable data mining

solution called Darwin that supports Sun's new Starfire server.  [iNews]



Symantec <http://www.symantec.com> is busy putting the final touches on

some advanced systems that can detect new and unknown viruses posted to

the Internet.  One system, Bloodhound, searches though the WWW looking

for viruses, and when it finds one it notifies the Symantec AntiVirus

Research Center to spin-up to find an antidote. [Farcast]



Texas Instruments has a new digital signal microprocessor (DSP) chip that

can 'blaze' through 1.6 billion instructions per second.  For more info:

<Wide Web at: http://www.ti.com/sc/C6x>. [Farcast]



Bandai has another 'smash hit electronic game' on their hands.  The

'taking care a chicken game' called Tamagocchi sells for US$16.30 and has

sold over 500,000 games since its recent introduction.  Demand is very

high for the game among high-school girls, and the Bandai Tamagocchi Web

site reportedly currently generating a million hits a week since the game

was released.  [Farcast]





Advertising Notes

-----------------



If you are interested in advertising in NewtNews please send email to:

<newtnews@pobox.com>.  NewtNews is freeware because of the advertisers

that support this effort, and we appreciate their support.



When you purchase products from NewtNews vendors please mention that you

heard about their product in NewtNews.





Product and Service Information

-------------------------------



* ChessPad 2.0 turns the Newton into a digital chess book and a portable

chess set. It contains 28 fully-annotated games played by the greatest

players of all time, 100 brilliant winning combinations by Morphy, Tal,

Fischer, and Kasparov, and 100 chess problems.  ChessPad can also import

games in Portable Game Notation format. Only $39.95. Clear Lake Research

713.663.7513 <DavidL62@aol.com> <http://members.aol.com/clrsch/chesspad.html>



* STAND ALONE offers a variety of Newton applications for Newton 2.0:

   - PACKAGE POPUP: instant access to all your packages, launch

      with a tap, automatically thaw and re-freeze. $15.

   - SECURE-A-NEWT: Password protect folders in your NotePad, Names,

      and Extras Drawer. Protect your info from prying eyes. $20.

   - KEYMAN: Adds function keys, a multi-function calculator, and a

      new keyboard designed for one-fingered typing. $20.

   - NOTEMAN: Instant access to the NotePad from any package. $10.

   - BACKGAMMON: The classic board game, brought to Newton. $20.

   - SUPER SORTER: Fast, Usable list management, featuring fully

      expandable and customizable list creation and editing. $20

For information about any of these or other Stand Alone products,

contact us at: <info@standalone.com>, or (312) 262-5150. Also check

out our Web site at: <http://www.standalone.com/newton>.



* NEW! 7th Volume of the Totally Incomplete PDA CD-ROM for Newton! This

CD-ROM from AMUG CD, Inc. contains over 1800 packages, and 590 megs in

Mac and PC format. 2.0 & 1.x Packages can be downloaded directly from the

CD to your MessagePad. Maximize your Newton experience! $29 + S/H. Call

AMUG 602.497-2244, or email <sales@amug.org> to order! See our Newton CD

web page at <http://cdrom.amug.org/>.



* BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY PACKAGES FROM PELICANWARE

   All packages for Newton 2.0 OS - Upgrades also available.

 - QUICKFIGURE PRO 3.0: Spreadsheet application  $59.95

 - NEWTCASE 3.0: The Ultimate Utility Suite  $49.95

 - NOTION 1.5: High Performance List Manager  $59.95

 - AVAILWORKS 2.0: Text, spreadsheets, drawing, and graphing $79.95.

All from PELICANWARE.  For more details email: <info@pelicanware.com>,

vox: 503-221-1148, fax: 503-221-8709, or <http://www.pelicanware.com>.



* CATAMOUNT SOFTWARE offers the following:

   - POCKETMONEY assists you in balancing your checking, savings,

       credit card and loan accounts. Export and import transactions

       to Quicken, MYM and other desktop based program.

   - NAMIGATOR gives rapid access to Names. I know, I have over 3000.

   - MPG helps you keep your vehicle records in order. Track fuel

       economy, record mileage for tax purposes, schedule repeating

       vehicle maintenance items for multiple vehicles.

   - SILK makes your MP130 GLOW. Floating silk screen palette so

       the built-in buttons can be seen in the dark.

For more information call 802-863-5256, email <info@catamount.com>, or

visit our web site <http://www.catamount.com>.



* NEW BILLS TO PAY PRO 3.5.5 Rated 5 out of 5 by Gecko Magazine! Now

available in German! For NOS 2.0. Includes support for stationery,

enhanced overview, and new printing options! Easily track bills and

expenses; create budget projections; and set alarms to remind you of

bills. Send bill info to Pocket Quicken or Pocket Money. $39.95+S&H MAR

Software at: <info@marsoftware.com> or <http://www.marsoftware.com>.



* Newt Development Environment: develop object-oriented applications in

NewtonScript on the Newton (shareware: $49.50; tools, examples, support).

* Newt's Cape: create Newton books with text, graphics, tables, links,

and forms from HTML (via web browsing or Notepad) (shareware: $38.50;

tools, examples, support). For details, software, and registration info:

<http://www.netaxs.com/~weyer/newton/releases.html> or <weyer@netaxs.com>



* PDA Panache is your single source for stylus solutions. Our stylus

upgrades for your MessagePad are the ultimate in writing comfort and

control. Screen-safe writing tip guaranteed for life.

 - Telescoping styli for all Newtons in Black-Chrome, Gold & Sterling.

 - The "Duo" multi-function stylus/ball pen or pencil combo. With

   "EasyView" orange tip.

 - The "Beacon" LED lighted-tip stylus. Functional, slim and  elegant.

 - Low-cost Stick Styli. Custom Stylus Solutions for VARs/OEMs.

More info or Visa/MasterCard orders at: 800.270.7196, FAX: 516.467.6329,

Int'l: 516.467.4042, or visit our Web site: <http://www.pdapanache.com>



* INFORMED FILLER FOR NEWTON is your mobile data collection solution for

Inspection forms, Health Care forms ... in fact, for any forms you use!

Design custom forms on your Macintosh with Informed Designer (included).

Then, fill out your forms on the Newton quickly and accurately using

automatic defaults, choice lists, calculations and signatures.  Finally,

send completed forms directly to Informed Manager on your desktop for

further processing.  For a limited time when you mention this ad, you'll

receive both Informed Filler for Newton AND Informed Manager (for

desktop integration) for $99US (SRP $390US).  Contact Shana Corp. at:

800.386.7244, email: <info@shana.com> or WWW: <http://www.shana.com>



* MoreInfo 4.0 - This new version adds even more useful features to this

already essential product.  Version 4.0 now allows you to link together

any number of names, meetings, events, to dos, notes or calls all

through a single screen.  A powerful new "At a Glance" screen makes

managing your schedule effortless.  From SilverWARE at $69.95+S&H.  For

more info: <info@silverware.com> <http://www.silverware.com> 508.521.5262



* SOLUTIONS FROM LANDWARE. All work in the Newton 2.0 OS.

  - PROCALC EX: Programmable calc. w/ SAN & RPN, includes: proCALC 12c.

  - QUICKNAMES PRO: Rapid access to names and much more.

  - X-PORT: The 2.0 connection utility. Send/receive notes, contacts...

  - KWIKMENU: the Newton dashboard, includes GestureLaunch Lite.

  - NEWTPAINT: "MacPaint" on your Newton, w/zoom-in and screen shot.

  - SYNC+: Dates to Schedule+ 1.0 or 7.0

LandWare, 201-347-0031, <sales@landware.com>, <http://www.landware.com>



* Frustrated by the amount of time required to input long notes?  Looking

for a faster method?  GESTURE MOSAIC is a hybrid keyboard/recognition

system which enables the rapid (30-40+wpm) pen-based entry of text.  Now

updated for OS2.0, you can use it to quickly input text anywhere in your

Newton. FREEWARE versions are available at: <http://www.amtelcom.com/Mosaic>

For more information contact: <amtelmit@aol.com> or call: 800-696-6724.



Guest Opinions

--------------



** TAKE IT TO THE CAPTAIN **



    by David MacNeill <dmacneill@pencomputing.com>



    It was weird, like a bad dream.  The day I received my

    MessagePad 2000, the handheld computer of my dreams, was

    apparently the day Newton died.



    I should have known better than to waste my time reading

    such nonsense on the Internet when I was in such a good

    mood.  CNN had just reported that Gil Amelio had just said

    that Apple "may have missed the boat" with the Newton

    MessagePad.  Strangely, he also intimated that the eMate

    would definitely live.  I've got nothing but praise for the

    MessagePad's stout, keyboard-equipped sibling, but the eMate

    is a purpose-built variation on the original PDA theme.  I

    believe it cannot support the platform on its own.



    The CNN story fueled the recurring rumors that Apple was

    considering selling off the Newton to save the Macintosh.

    The strident upper-case howls of incredulity and outrage

    that paraded across my screen could almost be heard over the

    humming computers in the editorial office, where I sat alone

    that Friday afternoon.  One true believer after another

    begged Gil not to be so short-sighted as to throw away his

    company's last, best hope for future greatness.  I couldn't

    agree more.



    Backlight's on, somebody's home



    I looked at my shiny new MP2K, fresh batteries, jacked in,

    lit up, and newly filled with almost four years of personal

    information.  In short, ready to rock.  As I gave the nasty

    rumor some thought, I must admit that my first emotion was

    one of ironic relief.  I got mine!  Then reality quickly set

    in as I realized that wasn't going to do much for the

    millions of potential MP2K owners out there.  Too shallow,

    even for a gizmo-gonzo like me.  We're not talking about

    limited edition art prints here; this was the smart little

    device that is supposed to bring about the dream of

    ubiquitous, intimate computing.  No, being one of the lucky

    few to own one would be an empty thing, indeed. (I think

    I'll hang on to it, though, just in case.)



    Take it to the Captain



    Captain Amelio is wrong about the MessagePad.  The MP2K must

    live and evolve.  Apple has most certainly not missed the

    boat with the Newton.  They set the standards, invented the

    rules. Now they simply must show the leadership to continue

    the mission.  I am frankly sick of seeing great,

    life-enhancing technologies and products casually tossed

    overboard for short-sighted reasons.  This is no time to

    abandon ship just when it is about to come in.



    David MacNeill

    Executive Editor

    Pen Computing Magazine





Comments from the Editor

------------------------



** RANDOM THOUGHTS ON LAST WEEK **



Last week was very interesting.  Most of the user community was up in

arms because Apple was reportedly placing their Newton support in

question. On the other side of the fence though, many in the developer

community were quietly celebrating the possibility that the Newton System

Group could be 'spun-off' into an independent company or sold to "one of

many who wish to play in the handheld market."  An 'independent' NSG

could make the Newton better by: more aggressive pursuit of licensees,

more R&D resources, and removal of the Apple logo on the Newton (which to

many could increase sales even if Apple kept the Newton).  IMHO, it was

very interesting on how the two very important Newton communities

reacted.



I did hear privately from several of Apple's NSG employees.  Most were

concerned about how the press were spinning this and that.  The other

main concern was that they all hoped that this new 'negative energy'

didn't disrupt to many of their current coworkers from all the hard work

that they still have on their plates.



It should also be noted that the one thing any perspective Newton

purchaser should know is -- trying to move the 'foot soldiers' in the NSG

out of Cupertino, California could be a very bad idea.



** SUPPLEMENT NEXT WEEK **



Next week is a much needed supplement issue of NewtNews.  Look for

several very good reviews in this issue.  Don't forget that Friday is St.

Valentine's Day.





Administrivia

-------------



NewtNews Copyright 1994-97 Steve Holden.  All rights reserved.

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This edition of NewtNews was written with the help of: ushering Eugene

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***********  and software not the government's or my employer's.





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