In collaboration with AT&T Corp, Apple Computer Inc, Motorola Inc, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, and Philips Electronics NV, Sony Corp has launched a portable digital assistant called the Magic Link PIC 1000; the PIC stands for Personal Intelligent Communicator (CI No 2,510). The personal digital assistant will carry out all of the usual functions such as sending and receiving electronic mail, logging appointments, checking stock quotes and paying bills but it has a user interface that is just a bit different. The Magic Cap interface from General Magic Corp has a virtual desk, complete with telephone, Rolodex and data book.
Object-oriented
Less frequently used features can be found in the hallway, which is represented by doors, and a downtown area, represented by buildings. One building stands for the PersonaLink messaging centre and another for connecting to the America Online Inc information service. The network has built-in intelligence that enables a message to find the recipient even if the sender has no address. Telescript software provides the intellegence within the network and is written in General Magic’s object-oriented remote programming language. Its Telescript technology simplifies the task of distributed application development by abstracting the underlying complexity of communication such as naming, addressing, routing, and security and then transforming it into a system independent language. Sony’s digital assistant will page users when they receive electronic mail, it can also be programmed to send a facsimile message to the person you are mailing if the electronic mail is not picked up. Users can also write their own rules, such as Page me if my company’s stock hits $50. Manufactured in Japan by Sony for its American unit Sony Electronics, the Magic Link is the first commercial product to use the Magic Cap operating system. The AT&T PersonaLink Services on which it is designed to be used has smart messaging capabilities including text, digital ink, sound, and animations, and is designed to host a variety of service providers, from personal newspapers to travel services to electronic shopping. Developed by General Magic, the company that was also responsible for the development of AT&T’s PersonaLink messaging software, TeleScript, the Magic Cap software can be operated by touch-screen menus that use icons to represent basic commands. It also has a digital ink feature that captures an image of the users handwriting and then transmits it, rather like writing a note on a peice of paper and then faxing it. The digital assistant cannot, however, translate handwriting into computer text although Magic Cap has been designed for this enhancement to future models.
By Krishna Roy
To create computer text you can either use the separate 6 by 10 keyboard, press the screen icons or use the pen provided. The price for the basic product, which weighs 1.2 lbs, is $1,000. A pager card for receiving brief text message wirelessly costs an extra $250, additional memory costs $220, and a rechargeable Lthium ion battery is $70. Advanced Resources Partners, software developers using General Magic’s Magic Cap and Telescript technologies have planned to release Mobile MLS software for the digital assistant. The software will enable estate agents to access property information from the Multiple Listings Services while they are on the move. The property listings that can then be downloaded and used on the Magic Link. Mobile Products Inc will distribute the software, which will cost roughly $50 per month through a purchase plan based on a price of $1,275 for the hardware and software. Aha! Software also plans to release its InkWriter software for use with the digital assistant. Based on the company’s SmartInk technology, InkWriter enables users to write in electronic ink on the digital assistant and then edit their handwriting with a word processor, using the digital assistant’s pen. The software will allow you to edit and organise keyed-in text and move handwritten documents back and forth between Magic Cap-based comm
unicators and Windows-based computers. Scheduled to ship within the next 60 days in the US, InkWriter for Magic Cap will cost $130. Skytel Corp has also announced that its wireless messaging services will be available for Sony’s Magic Link. Wireless services are being provided as a result of an agreement between SkyTel and Sony Electronics Inc. Using Sony’s Magic Link Pager Card, a wireless communications card, on the SkyTel network enables users to receive text messages, electronic mail, facsimile and voice mail notification, news and information updates wirelessly across the US. SkyTel enables transmission of a variety of message types.
SkyFax
Short text messages can be sent to all subscribers directly from a computer using a modem or via an operator using an 800 – toll-free – number. Users can also use a variety of SkyTel’s services including SkyQuote, the company’s stock-tracking service and SkyFax, a system based on a store-and-forward facsimile service that notifies users when they receive facsimiles and enables them to route the message to the machine most convenient for them. America Online Inc has agreed to provide a customised edition of its pre-loaded software for Magic Link. Subscribers to SkyTel will also have access to AT&T’s PersonaLink Market Square Service an electronic shopping mall with stores and information services, by the end of this year. Up until March 1995 PersonaLink Services will cost $10 per month for a basic service package that includes unlimited use of electronic messaging via PersonaLink Services. Thereafter bills will be based on individual’s use of the various service available. Magic Link will be a direct competitor to Apple Computer Inc’s Newton, and to a personal communicator called Envoy that Motorola hopes to begin shipping by early next year. Matsushita and Philips also plan to bring out their own digital assistants. AT&T is not promising to bring its PersonaLink to Europe.
