Wired is reporting that Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins, the principals behind the development of the popular PalmPilot handheld computer, have secured funding from leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Benchmark Capital. John Doerr will represent KPCB on the board of directors and Bruce Dunlevie, an early investor in Dubinsky and Hawkins' former company, Palm Computing, Inc., will serve on the board representing Benchmark. The new company will be called Handspring, Inc. Interestingly, KPCB and John Doerr were also backers of GO Corporation, one of the earliest pioneers of pen computing. Handspring has secured a license for the Palm Computing platform from 3Com Corporation, and plans to build "consumer" handheld devices based on the PalmPilot OS with their first devices available by late 1999. Joining Dubinsky and Hawkins at the company will be Ed Colligan, former vice president of marketing for the Palm Computing division of 3Com. Colligan is becoming vice president of development and marketing at Handspring.
Jean Gareau and Jean Labross examine "Hands-On Development on Windows CE" starting on page 36 of the Nov98 edition of Embedded Systems Programming.
Stephan Manes has an article entitled "Windows Lite" in the "Technology: Digital Tools" column on page 248 of the Forbes published on 16Nov98. The article looks at the new class of Windows CE devices known as Handheld PC Professionals--specifically, the Sharp TriPad and the HP Jornada. Manes does have some "critical" comments and insights into Windows CE features and problems as an operating system, and with the bundled "built-in" Microsoft software packages.
Other Windows CE items of potential interest:
Hands High Software has a "supercharged" replacement for the built-in memo pad found on Palm Pilot devices called "MemoPLUS." This utility lets you attach drawings or start a drawing using templates. It also supports attaching alarms to a memo item, and includes support for English, German, Spanish, and French models.
DATUS has announced that they are shipping their "RouteFinder PNA handheld portable vehicle navigation system" to select OEMs, resellers, end-users, and members of the press. This "text-to-speech" device will be displayed and ready for demos at the Daewoo Telecom booth (#L216) in the Las Vegas Convention Center at the Comdex Las Vegas trade show 16-20Nov98. Distribution in the United States will be handled by Mobile Technology Sales, and the unit is expected to retail for just under US$1000 with "removable digital map data packs" selling for under US$350.
Newsbytes News Network is reporting that Teklogix has begun integrating "Lucent Technologies' WaveLAN wireless local area network (WLAN) radio technology (which is IEEE 802.11 compliant) into Teklogix 7040 wireless handheld devices."
NEWTON SIGHTINGS: Greg Moody notes that Disney World is still using MessagePad 2100s to collect entrance surveys. And Mike Pieronek saw a MessagePad 100 on the TV show Chicago Hope that ran on Wednesday night (04Nov98).
-Steve Holden (sholden@pencomputing.com)