Cool Tools archive

Those darn jets - and other notes
Day one of DemoMobile 2003 proved that mobile communications are still vulnerable to interference by Navy F-14 Tomcat jets. During a morning break, a flock of investors, demonstrators and reporters stepped into the warm late summer California sunshine and assumed the hunched posture typical of cell phone users. One could... September 19, 2003

No more cutting class
I saw an interesting demo from Langtree SkillsCenter that made me glad that I already finished all my schooling. The company demonstrated a system that lets teachers take attendance on mobile devices, along with a database of the students’ photos and other information (could be great for substitutes!). When a...

A couple of memorable demos
Explaining your company’s new technology in front of 410 people in six minutes is a pretty daunting task. The more complicated your technology, the tougher it can be to relate this during an early morning session. But a few companies demonstrating early Friday were able to do this by injecting...

A few "aha" moments
The best part of when I’m meeting with technology vendors is when I get that “aha” moment. It’s the moment when I figure out how their product or service will solve some problem for either the IT organization, the end user or companies in general. There’s a lot of “aha...

A “real” working Tablet
The Xybernaut demo was impressive. The guy comes out on stage with their new Xybernaut Atigo T Tablet PC and proceeds to drop it several times to show how rugged the device is. Xybernaut, known for its innovations in wearable computing, launched the new Atigo, which includes an embedded Windows... September 18, 2003

Throw a printer into your laptop bag
Brother International showed off its impressive Bluetooth portable printer, the MW140BT. The 0.70-inch thick printer weighs under 10 oz., and has the ability to print from Bluetooth-enabled devices at up to 4 pages per minute at 300 dots/inch resolution. The printer comes with cassettes that include a variety of different...

Mobility creates 'always on' people
DEMOmobile Executive Producer Chris Shipley introduced the concept of “always on” people during her keynote session to open the show. As technology improvements help people be connected to routers, servers and networks that are “always on,” Shipley argued that society in general will become “always on.” Mobile and wireless technology...

Mobilizing your applications easier
I had a good breakfast meeting with two of the founders of Aeroprise, which wants to help companies mobilize their enterprise applications quicker and easier. The Aeroprise Mobile Gateway (version 3.0 is launching at the show) includes features that lets end users, mainly in the field service or technician space,...

Initial thoughts from DEMOmobile
The show hasn’t officially started yet (it will about 90 minutes from now), but there’s still a lot of energy at the show. The opening cocktail party held Wednesday night was well attended, and I got to meet some of the vendors and get a sneak peek at what they...

Off to DEMOmobile!
Things have been pretty scarce on the Daily Dose as we prep for DEMOmobile to find the latest mobile cool stuff. For a preview, check out the news story in this week's Network World. Live reports from the show on Wednesday night, definitely by Thursday.... September 16, 2003