| Pendle.Net -> News -> Internet (Latest) -> Internet: 03Dec1998 |
Internet Story: 03 Dec 1998
 |
|
Palm VII Well I told you about portable/mobile internet devices a few days ago. Yesterday saw the announcement by 3COM of the new Palm VII, a wireless version of their popular PalmPilot machines. The device will transmit/receive data at 8Kbits per second over cellular networks (at the moment there's only one, in the US, we expect to see more next year). Unfortunately it's not going to let you browse the web (not with that tidily screen and slow access rate). You will, however, be able to do simple things like read/send email and get "Web Clippings". This is a new model of internet access that requires service providers to supply information in this specific form. Twenty-two large US information providers have committed to this so far, including news, stocks, weather, travel info. 3COM intend to have users subscribe to their Palm.Net network for a monthly fee of around $10. They have not announced any plans for the UK yet. The Yankee Group, another US research firm, has predicted that in the USA there will be nearly 7M wireless/mobile data users in 1999 growing to more than 21M in 2002.
RIO
I also told you about the RIO PMP300 on the same day. Well it looks like it may go on sale here in
the UK. Dixons could have the units on sale by
the middle of the month for about £200. These devices are capable of downloading up
to 74 minutes of CD quality music from the Internet into their 32Mb of flash RAM. A
single AA battery should provide about 12 hours of playback time, as there are no moving
parts. As you may expect, the music industry is up in arms about this. They
are currently trying to ban the sale of these devices as they see profit margins being
eroded. See the BBC News
article for more details...
Andrew Stringer, © Pendle.Net Ltd, 1998