The Cole Digest, July 19, 1995

Gentle Reader,

We're letting George Powell (a Cole Group associate who is also production manager of the San Francisco Examiner Sunday Magazine) give us a rundown of hot items espied at MacWorld Expo San Francisco. Last week's items included disk arrays and accelerator cards. Here are more Powell observations:

*Another not so new hardware aid in the struggle with RSI is the BAT Personal Keyboard from California's Infogrip Inc. Based on the chording principle that court reporters use, this keyboard substitute requires you to learn a new typing method, which can either be one- or two-handed.

These personal keyboards, which come in right- and left-handed models, were first released in 1991. The ChordEasy Software works with Mac, DOS and Windows operating systems, and according to the literature, takes about an hour to learn the chords for typing letters and numbers.

*From Iomega, the Bernoulli-principle storage company, comes another attempt to put a real dent in the SyQuest market. Although the Utah company won't be shipping its Zip drives until March, considering the price ($199), the weight (about a pound) and the size (100 megs on a 3.5-inch disk), it seems the perfect device for all those graphics and multimedia folks at home.

It's a SCSI device that uses a SCSI connector with 25 pins rather than the usual 50. And yes, there is a PC model as well. This device could be the beginning of another standard for service bureaus, and a reason to get some Iomega stock. The booth crowds were constantly asking if the demo Zip was for sale.

*Wondering where those PCMCIA card readers for the Macintosh are, so you can exchange information with a 500-series PowerBook? Wonder no more, because from Milpitas, Calif., comes Mass Microsystems' Minimasster, which can accept Type I, II and III cards. They appear on the Mac desktop as just another hard disk.

*And finally, there were two notable publication pagination wannabes, VivaPress Professional and UniQuorn. Viva comes from Germany, while UniQuorn has a British pedigree. Neither of these products is quite ready for full release, and each takes advantage of some of the new features of System 7.5, enabling them to do some things Quark either can't, or needs a slew of XTensions to accomplish. Limited demos of both left me wanting to see more when the products were more fully developed.

Thanks George.

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink subscribers every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1995, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted.

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