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From: Shawn Jipp <A5193644654@ATTPLS.NET>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 06:38:22 +0000
Subject: BAMCUG #3
BAMCUG #3 Copyright 1996 by Shawn Jipp. Eleven non-GM employees and nine GM employees attended. Unfortunately both Steve Schramm and David Levy were not in attendance. Mark 'The Red' Harlan hosted the meeting on the GM side. I forget his exact title but he is definitely responsible for Magic Cap evangelism. Unfortunately Mark is NOT on the MAGICCAP mailing list and had no idea what our itinerary was supposed to be! I hope he considers getting on the list soon so as to see what the Magic Cap users (customers) themselves are saying, whether positive or negative about this operating system. MCW Beta V2.0 program volunteers and requirements: Only 100. No one knew why 100 was the 'magic' number. Even people at GM cannot get into the test program now. MCW platforms: Presently only Win 95. However, it will probably also run under NT 4.0. Win 3.1 is probably not ever going to happen. MC for Mac, perhaps, but it would take some effort. Various Internet providers. Feedback from the group (not a scientific test): Earthlink=Is good. No problems. Netcom=Some problems but pretty good. Inreach=Good. AT&T Worldnet=Pretty good. Sprynet=Ok. Needs a special script which is available in latest Presto upgrade. IDT=Terrible. Hooked=Connects reliably only about 40% of the time. The cable and speed tests: Josh ran his speed checker program on his Ricochet modem. Then he connected to a 14.4 land-line modem. Over a 2X increase in speed throughput. This is with his driver, not the Sony Wireless modem link. Then he tried my 28.8 modem. It didn't work! More on this in a future update as I am still working on this problem as a pet project. Offices or helpers: Rick Kalman volunteered to create a package containing all BAMCUG member telecards. Mike Matrix will write the Web page. Luke Derossi (in Pennsylvania) will create Web graphics. I will continue to write these meeting summaries. Next MC device not announced. GM cannot provide any info. (Deja vu). Apple is in process of selling their investment in General Magic. None of the other investors are. Q (mine): Why will MCW be more successful than Microsoft BOB was? A1: "BOB was a friendly front end without as much functionality as MCW." A2: "People can't do serious work with cartoon characters directing them." We were told that MCW is designed for the SOHO market (Small Office Home Office). Q: Someone asked why it was not possible to click on a telecard and directly start a message to that person. A: It may be implemented one day. It is on their internal wish list (mine too). An early prototype of the Panasonic Magic Cap device was passed around for us to look at. The test in Japan of both this device and a telescript service is called "Paseo". So far it is going well...especially when you consider that the Magic Cap on this device is all in English and not Japanese! I believe it is being sponsored by Nippon Telephone (one of the GM consortium companies). We found out that NT is even larger than AT&T and is one of the largest companies in the world. Then Mark took us on a tour of the General Magic facility. We covered all three floors. It was great. All meeting rooms have special names. Some of the names were Briar Rabbit, Jack Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, and Bugs Bunny. Other non-lupis names included Hocus, Pocus, and Oz. Interesting items seen: A complete weight room, ping-pong tables, a pachinco machine, espresso machines, a pool table, and what we were told was probably the first early prototype of the Sony Play Station to reach the U.S. I suppose all of this stuff is there to help stimulate creativity and imagination. The tour of the Human Interface Lab was very interesting. David Leffler is the manager of this lab. He explained to us about some of the methods used to test people's response to the software. They have tested people aged 8 to 80. They record all of the peoples reactions on video tapes (there were hundreds of tapes shelved in this room). They not only test responses to Magic Cap, but also to third party software. They then give the feedback to the third party developers. Nice. Two engineers were still there at 9:45 PM playing against each other on the Sony Playstation. Two other Japanese engineers were also there working out of an office with a "Little Japan" sign on the window. Unfortunately they would not let any of us into their hardware lab. We had to stand behind the threshold and peer into the room from a distance. There was something in there that they did not want us to see. Hmmm... Next month's BAMCUG meeting (4th Thursday=September 26th): Brenda Holloway from Sony New Technologies in Monterey has accepted my invitation to be the guest speaker for September. Brenda will be demonstrating the programs she has written along with something called "WEBFOOT" (a cyber version of Bigfoot?). In addition, there will be a 15 minute video tape shown by General Magic about the evolution of the Magic Cap operating system. And, last but not least, free General Magic t-shirts will be handed out! ***************************** Please feel free to copy and distribute this message in any manner that you wish. Posting on AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, GEnie and various Web sites would especially be appreciated. Thanks! ///////Shawn Jipp sjipp@ix.netcom.com *****************************
From: "Michael H. Phillips" <michael_phillips@USA.NET>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 08:38:03 -0400
Subject: TravelClock 1.2
Magic Cappers, There was a bug in version 1.1 of TravelClock if you set your snooze time to 15 or more minutes. The alarm would only ring once, then stop. That is fixed in version 1.2. http://www.tradingtech.com/~people/mphillips/magic.html Regards, Mike Phillips michael_phillips@usa.net
From: Scott Thomas <A5873644683@ATTPLS.NET>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 20:56:44 +0000
Subject: Re: Presto/coupon/Sony
Magic Cap Discussion List writes: > Has anyone that sent in the coupon to Sony for > Presto mail actually > received it ? > 4 days and counting. I must be at three weeks and counting. I even FedEx'd the coupon to Sony with a return FedEx coupon. I guess I'll be going off-line in three days unless the software shows up rsn. I'm to say the least disappointed in the delay in sending out the software, and the total lack of communication as P-Day approaches. Scott
From: brenda holloway <brendah@MBAY.NET>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 15:01:10 -0700
Subject: Minstrel & Downloads
I've changed my downloads page (http://www.mbay.net/~brendah/dloads/) around once again. I just learned how to write CGI scripts, so now my downloads page automagically scales itself to what your browser can handle; which means I don't have to use frames to do that trick. (Source code available, of course! Runs under Unix, though, not Magic Cap). Several people have told me that the version of Minstrel I had up there was old. It was! Sorry, fixed now. I'm working on adding this same sort of page into Sony's web pages so that we can have all our stuff in one place. You can check out a beta version of that at http://www.mbay.net/~brendah/cgi-bin/, and I'd appreciate any comments. brendah --- Brenda Holloway (brendah@mbay.net) ripples of a tossed stone Sony New Technologies, Monterey CA spread widening through the world http://www.mbay.net/~brendah/ lap against your shore
From: Joe Solem <JoeSolem@AOL.COM>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 19:05:34 -0400
Subject: Re: the coupon
Paul McHugh wrote:
>The rest of our units will just be
>used to send and retrieve e-mail a couple of hours (max) per month. I
>really don't want to pay NetCom $20 for that. Are there any choices.
>Also, I don't want to have to sign up from PC, just want them to give
>me an account. A provider that will allow different e-mail names under
>one account would be ideal. Anyone have any recommendations.
SpryNet has a $4.95/month option, but I believe you do have to set up
from a desktop. Here are their contact numbers. They are, I think, owned
by CompuServe, and seem to use the same local access numbers, with all
the pluses and minuses associated with them, i.e.: hard to connect in the
afternoon, but lots of local access numbers in America and the world.
To order software: 1 800 557-9614.
SPRYNET Billing & Service:
Services & Support on World Wide Web: http://www.sprynet.com/sos/
E-mail: service@sprynet.com
Fax: (206) 957-8754
Phone: (206) 957-8997
SPRYNET Technical Support:
Support on World Wide Web: http://support.spry.com
E-mail: macsupport@sprynet.com
Fax: (206) 957-8754
Phone: (206) 957-8998
I received this little note on August 27th in response to an inquiry
about the elusive and late coupon:
> Due to a delay in the Sony Fulfillment Center receiving the first
>shipment of Presto!Mail software, Sony is just sending the software out
>this week. If you have any questions about your order, please call Sony
>at 1-800-571-SONY. We apologize for the delay in receiving your
>software.
>
>Ron Ernst
>AT&T PersonaLink Services
I am still waiting for my coupon, too. In desperation I signed up with
CompuServe from my Mac, downloaded their Magic Cap app called "CompuServe
Companion", loaded it into the Magic Link with Magic Xchange (a lengthy
process since it comes in five separate packages), and am using that. It
works, but not well. As I was warned, it takes over 500k of memory, which
means all the desktop cats, customizations, and Scramble had to go. It
costs about $10 to download the software. Don't even try to do this
without at least a 1mb sram card; a 2mb card would be better. The
interface seems cluttered and complicated compared to PersonaLink, or
even AOL. There are also some nasty bugs and quirks. The news and weather
services seem to work pretty well, although since it's done on-line, with
that slow 2400 modem in the PIC-1000 it takes a while and therefore will
increase your on-line time (and charges). On the plus side, the network
is extensive, with lots of local access numbers, and an extensive
overseas network. All in all, I'd rather have PersonaLink. Even the
long-distance call needed to connect to AOL from here is starting to look
good. I hope some of you find this information helpful.
Joe Solem
From: Margaret Howe <margaret_howe@genmagic.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 17:27:07 -0700
Subject: Posted Message Mistake
Dear Magic Cap Discussion list, The message titled RE>BAMCUG #3 was mistakenly posted to the list instead of sent to the intended Magician. Sorry for cluttering the list. We, at Magic, are really excited that users groups like BAMCUG and others have organized themselves to support the Magic Cap Platform. Users groups depend on the energy of their members for their existence. We, at General Magic, hope to help these groups as much as we can while still focusing on our business of creating great Magic Cap and communication products. Margaret Howe Developer Doyenne General Magic
From: Mark Marshall <MaxLink644@AOL.COM>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 00:43:21 -0400
Subject: Re: Presto/coupon/Sony
[This message may have contained graphics created by a Magic Cap device on
America Online.]
From: Mark Marshall
Thursday, August 29, 1996 12:38 a.m.
To: Linkers
Dear Linkers,
Linkers writes:
> I guess I'll be going off-line in three
> days unless the software shows
> up rsn. I'm to say the least
> disappointed in the delay in sending
> out
> the software, and the total lack of
> communication as P-Day approaches.
Anybody from Sony reading this? Seems to me that, considering the loyalty of
us ML users, somebody oughta approve a little overtime to get these packages
out, particularly to people like Scott who will have their communications cut
completely.
From: Charlie F <A5123644606@ATTPLS.NET>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 04:38:39 +0000
Subject: Ditching ATTPLS
Dear Magic, I know I should have posted of this sooner, but have been to busy to do so until now. With the demise of ATTPLS, what is the best way to recover as much memory AND keep as much personalization as possible? Any neat ways to keep things that reside 'near' packages that are in rom/main ram? Like words added to the spell check, rules, etc? There are quite a few things that are stored 'near' and would be nice to selective back them up. Thoughts so far..Maybe use Textualizer to back up word lists? How about a step by step check list of things to back up? 1. Back up your link. 2. Move all appointments to a package on a ram card. 3. Move all name cards to a package on a ram card. NOTE an easy way to check to see where they are stored is PACK UP the package on your ram card. The items in the package will no longer be visible. 4. Make a hard copy of your rules. (fax the rule page?) 5. etc. Charlie F "Faith and doubt both are needed -- not as antagonists, but working side by side -- to take us around the unknown curve." - Lillian Smith, American author (1897-1966). --- NOTICE: This message originally included graphics and/or sounds which can only be received by AT&T PersonaLink(sm) subscribers. You received only the text portion(s) of the message. Please contact the sender for information that was deleted. To learn how to send and receive graphics, voice and text messages via AT&T PersonaLink Services, call 1-800-936-LINK.
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