In Fremont, California, Cirrus Logic Inc has introduced a $45 chipset that it says can enhance a laptop computer with capabilitiesfor fax, electronic mail and voice answering machine. The new communicator is about the size of two postage stamps and is to be released in the first quarter of next year. Cirrus said three of the top 10 notebook makers are considering using the two-chip set. Some notebook computers have their own speakers, but a machine equipped with a Cirrus chip set could also replay messages through a standard telephone. A communicator-equipped notebook could take messages while its user was busy working.
