Mailing Lists
MagicCap List
From: Shawn Jipp <sjipp@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 00:11:26 -0700
Subject: Magic Cap For Win95 To Ship Monday!
General Magic has new trick=20
By Alex Lash
October 3, 1996, 4:15 p.m. PT
=20
Hoping to shake off its recent
financial and boardroom troubles,
General Magic (GMGC) is releasing
on Monday its Magic Cap organizer
and communications software for
Windows 95 desktop machines.
=20
Magic Cap was originally designed=20
as an easy-to-use operating
system and visual desktop
environment for handheld
computers. General Magic will now
port it as an application to
Windows 95, hoping to lure
elementary PC users in small
businesses and homes to Magic
Cap's intuitive interface that
allows faxing, email, paging, and
Internet access all from one
interface that uses a desk as a
visual metaphor.
If a user wants to check an
address, she clicks on the
Rolodex. If she wants to send a
fax, she clicks on the fax
machine. The communications
software is centered around a
single message form.
A user decides if the message
will be a fax, email, or page and
sends it with the appropriate
"stamp." Stamps can also be used
to assign message priority, add
file attachments, or embed clip
art or animations. The recipient
must also have Magic Cap for
Windows to view the art and
animations.
Magic Cap for Windows supports
any Internet service provider as
well as America Online. However,
setup instructions for AOL,
Netcom, AT&T's WorldNet, and
UUNet Technologies are included
in the software package.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0
comes bundled with Magic Cap,
although it works with other
browsers.
The address field for messages is
tied to the Magic Cap organizer,
which can import data from other
organizers such Now Up-to-Date,
Ecco, and Schedule+. Incoming
messages can be filed in the
Magic Cap file cabinet but cannot
be saved to other document
formats.
Magic Cap also has a standard
calendar application that can
generate messages if a user wants
to inform multiple people about a
meeting, for example. Magic Cap
for Windows 95 will be available
next Monday at software retailers
for an estimated street price of
$49.
Copyright =A9 1996 CNET Inc. All rights=20
reserved.
///////Shawn Jipp
Personal Email=3Dsjipp@ix.netcom.com
Work Email=3Dapps@nanometrics.com
Home=3D(408)736-5477
Work=3D(408)746-1600 X109
From: Zalman Stern <zalman@NETCOM.COM>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 02:18:54 -0700
Subject: Re: Magic Cap devices
[Curt Steindler writes a number of things about my comments on Magic Cap.] I believe Curt has decided to put a religious slant on my position which is not warranted. I have never said I don't like Magic Cap nor have I even mentioned Newton in this thread. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else? I believe I made it clear that aggressive price curves are a good alternative to upgradeable hardware. Ufortunately, Magic Cap devices have not achieved that in the second generation. This is made obvious by Sony's decision to continue selling the PIC-1000 and PIC-2000 because the PIC-1000 is still needed to hit the low price point. The situation would perhaps be improved if there were a PIC-1000 class machine with MC 1.5, but I don't think there is. (The success of the PIC-1000 and its drop in price pretty much killed Panasonic's device so far as I can tell. But that was probably 1.0 based anyway.) Great software is almost always the result of a considerable amount of iterative refinement. (When was the last time you saw a 1.0 release that was even close to perfect? How about a 1.0 release for a completely new product domain?) My position is simply that the opportunities for evolution in Magic Cap are severely limited by the way the software is packaged in a device.
From: Scott Wood <swood@WWNET.COM>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 09:37:01 -0400
Subject: ISF Calibration?
To:Eddy J.Gurney Hi John Gannon asked me to e-mail you my thoughts on video calibration. I found out about this on the Internet. I had never heard of this until about 6 months ago. There were many postings about having this done to their sets and the great results they found. I posted quite a few times and tried to find someone who was not happy with having this done, I didn't find anyone who was unhappy with there set. I heard people saying that looking at their TV is like looking at a different TV. They could not believe the picture quality. As for my results, someone said that this produced a picture that was "more film like". I think that describes it best! The colors are much more balanced and life like. I had to turn my color down to get the flesh tones right. I didn't realize how many colors were not being seen on my TV until I had it calibrated. He improved the resolution of the set and I can really notice it now when I play a laser disc. I feel having this done is a requirement for any set. As for John, you can tell he has a love for what he is doing! Everyone that I have talked to about having the set calibrated spoke very highly of John. If you would like to talk to me please feel free to e-mail or call me, my phone number is 810.380.6483 Scott Wood
From: Wayne Sanderson <whsander@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 06:33:41 -0700
Subject: Re: Magic Cap devices
zalman writes: > Great software is almost always the result of a > considerable amount of > iterative refinement. (When was the last time you > saw a 1.0 release that > was even close to perfect? How about a 1.0 > release for a completely new > product domain?) My position is simply that the > opportunities for evolution > in Magic Cap are severely limited by the way the > software is packaged in a > device. Motorola's answer to this was to load the OS and ROM packages into internal flash ROM. The original Envoy will be upgradable for all future releases of the Magic Cap OS (should Motorola choose to keep making them available) and this system allows for the insertion of new software and the deletion of old. In the next upgrade, PersonaLink will undoubtedly be eliminated- The currently advertised upgrade lists Presto!Mail as being included as a demo(v1.0?), and Mail on the Run! in the full commercial version I believe. Sometime in the not too distant future Presto!Mail 1.5 and Presto!Links will probably be bundled into an available upgrade. The super backlit Envoy 150 screen is also available for a not too outrageous fee. Too bad Sony did not engineer a similar upgrade path into their devices. I realize that the Envoys were positioned as high end devices, but even the upgradable flash ROM scheme would have added negligible end cost and would have been worth the price.
From: Dave Courvoisier <COURVO@AOL.COM>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 16:05:18 -0400
Subject: Untitled
[This message may have contained graphics created by a Magic Cap device on America Online.] Greetings from Las Vegas, The phone earphone/microphone cable that I purchased withm y PIC-1000 does not fit into the "Magic Port" in the PIC-2000 that I traded it in for (a feature I didn't need use til now, a couple of months later). Now, it's worthless to me without some kind of adaptor....so guess what my next question is....? If there is no adaptor plug available, does Sony make the phone-link cable to fit the ML 2000? Thanks, "Courvo"
From: Dan Free <dharma@ARI.NET>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 16:29:11 -0400
Subject: Re: Untitled
All you need to use the PIC-2000 as a phone is a walkman style earphone. The device you have is needed only with the PIC-1000.
From: Greg Branche <gregb@RICOCHET.NET>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 13:55:46 -0700
Subject: PIC2000 phone cable