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Internet World, Part 2 Update
Mike Cane (mikecane@email.com)
October 8, 1999
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These are additional observations and insights gleaned from Internet World.
Please note that I have never endeavored to report about *every* Springboard
(two physical-data sensor Springboards, two voice recording Springboards,
and a GPS Springboard are among the ones I have chosen to skip); I will
leave such comprehensiveness to other writers.
CORRECTION: Due to a misunderstanding or miscommunication or buffer
collision (on my part, no doubt), I mistakenly reported that a
Bluetooth-enabled Visor can communicate with another Bluetooth-enabled Visor
up to 150 feet away. NOT SO! It is a maximum of THIRTY FEET! Apologies to
Widcomm and to every PalmOS fanatic who was looking forward to something
that probably won't be available until the next century!
RED ALERT! Something is not being told to us in VisorLand! I spoke to The
Man Himself, Jeff Hawkins no less!, and even *he* equivocated about the
possibility of PalmOS 3.1 being upgraded to PalmOS 3.3 in the Visor! When I
put it to him straight, whether or not it could be upgraded even via a .PRC
file, he was uncomfortable and could not supply a simple Yes or No.
Analysis: Perhaps he truly doesn't know, or perhaps he already knows that
*Palm* only intends 3.3 to be in Flash. What this means to you: Do not
expect PalmOS 3.3 to ever be in your Visor. Should you be overly concerned?
I don't think so. I still intend to get the "Batman Black" model.
COLORS: A Handspring rep told me that Blue and "Ice" are the most popular
colors so far. Seems to me that iMac owners are stuffing the ballot box.
PEANUT PRESS: The next edition of their Reader will support graphics! In
fact, they intend to publish books on Springboard modules that will contain
graphics. Depending on the graphic, it will either be inline or scrollable
-- and when it is scrollable, there will be a Zoom Out feature for an
overall view, and tapping on a location will Zoom In to that area. Note
that all materials published on Springboard modules by Peanut Press cannot
be copied or moved into the Visor internal RAM. Not only that, there is no
way to print them out, either (probably not a problem for those who are
already used to "Palm reading.")
MESAVIEW: They have published electronic books for the two dedicated readers
out there and are now moving into VisorLand. Their Springboard modules
will be 2-megs worth of collections of Classics from authors such as
Shakespeare, Jack London, Plato, H.G. Wells, and others. They have licensed
AportisDoc as their ebook reader program. In addition, they are moving into
publishing original manuscripts (interested authors should contact
publisher@mesaview.com).
STYLUS UPDATE: I asked for and was given a second Visor stylus -- this time,
it came with a strong warning from the Handspring rep: "Don't try to put it
in your Palm unit!" Huh! I wonder where they heard that from?
INNOGEAR: The InfoMitt Springboard Pager will only function when it is
*inside* the Visor. It does not contain its own power source. When I
mentioned to Innogear's Chief Engineer that people wanted it to work outside
the unit, he said with -- warranted! -- exasperation, "It's just a $49
pager!" (I don't understand why the Paging Fanatics just don't keep their
regular pager. But then, I am prejudiced against pagers, cellphones, and
still cannot see why I would want or need Bluetooth!) Then Marcus,
Innogear's Chief Engineer, nearly caused me to pass out in response to my
non-serious comment about the "Six Pack." I said that he should have tried
to get the MP3 player into it too -- and he replied that he had actually
thought about doing just that! Bob Fullerton, Innogear's CEO & President,
would have told me about some of their upcoming products, but he caught
himself when he realized he was talking to the person who had just spread
word of their "Six Pack" all over the web! I expect Innogear to create
Springboard modules that will inspire lust in us.
OS ALERT! When I was giving Hawkins the third degree about PalmOS 3.3, he
let slip that a Springboard module can be used to override the PalmOS within
the Visor. Next to me, a true codehead piped up with "Linux!" Putting this
together with Linus Torvalds' statement yesterday that Linux will soon be on
a handheld, I think we can look forward to a vendor putting out a Linux
Springboard module. Let's hope that Bill Gates doesn't get the idea to put
WinCE on a Springboard! On the other hand, didn't Jean Paul Gassee's Be
company say that the BeOS also would be available for handhelds?
SPRINGBOARDS: Another thing I mentioned to Jeff Hawkins (ah, to have had a
half hour to gripe at him!) was the inability to enter physics equations
into the PalmOS. Einstein's famous "E equals Em Cee squared" must be
entered as "E=mc^2" due to the lack of superscript functionality. Hawkins
said he did not create a machine for physicists, just the general public.
It came to me later that perhaps this is where a Springboard module would
fit in. Perhaps the market for people to enter physics equations into their
Palms/Visors really is a small one (could it be thus?). Even a small amount
of piracy would render creating a "physics writer" program a wasted effort.
But not if the software is ensured of being copy protected by being on a
Springboard module! If, say, just 2,000-5,000 copies are sold (I am being
pessimistic here; doesn't everyone else want to enter quantum physics
equations into their Palms?), that is *definitely* 2,000-5,000 copies that
have been *sold*; not 20 copies sold with 1,980-4,980 copies passed around
for free! The Springboard could make "niche software" publishing for PalmOS
possible.
THE OCR CAUSE: This is my personal lust. I want to be able to scan
materials from books, magazines, and newspapers at home, the public library
(especially there -- the copy machines seem to be leftovers from the USSR!),
research libraries, and at offices (not to mention trade shows!). And I
want to be able to do this with a PalmOS unit (be it a Palm or a Visor or a
TRG). I am not alone in this need, for I have come across a newspaper
columnist who raved about Hewlett Packard's portable CapShare OCR device,
and other Palm owners on the web who have expressed the same desire. There
are no longer handheld scanners being produced for desktops or notebooks;
even the single-sheet Visioneer unit seems to have disappeared. But think
of it -- college students have to go through books (often books that cannot
be removed on loan, from research libraries) for thesis materials,
businesspeople often come across interesting printed information they just
*know* they should carry with them, and all of us sooner or later come
across some paragraph or short item we'd like to keep (often we clip it out
on paper!). It is my belief that the Visor's Springboard slot makes the
market for palmheld OCR a reality. I spoke to Innogear's Chief Engineer
about this and he was intrigued by it. If *you* have an interest in a
Springboard OCR module, do The OCR Cause a favor and drop an email to
Innogear! Let them know there is a market for such a thing. If they don't
listen, someone will! (If I was either an electronics engineer or a
codehead, you can bet your life I'd be out there right now schmoozing
Vulture Capitalists to raise money for such a device!)
FINAL NOTE: Something to think about is the possibility of a color-enabled
PalmOS unit within a year or two. Something for Visor owners to ponder is
that all of the Springboard modules produced before that time will have only
"black and white" software on them! Lesson? If you bought it today, expect
to buy it *again* later. (Even with that in mind, I will buy a "Batman
Black" Visor Deluxe!)
 Click here to post your Comments Mike Cane's Visor Report, Part 2.
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