PC INDUSTRY UNVEILS TABLET PC - Microsoft Corp. and a slew of
computer hardware and software companies last week announced the availability
of the Tablet PC, marking the beginning of what Microsoft chairman Bill Gates
called "an exciting new era of mobile computing." The Tablets, introduced by six
original equipment manufacturers, including Acer, Fujitsu PC Corp., HP, Motion
Computing Inc., Toshiba, and ViewSonic Inc., run a version of Windows XP that
integrates the power of pen computing with the portability of the laptop. For
on-screen reading applications, Gates announced Microsoft Reader for the Tablet
PC, the latest version of Microsoft's e-Reading application optimized for the Tablet.
Purchasers of the Tablet PC will be able to take advantage of a promotional offer:
a selection of free eBooks targeted to business professionals. (Syllabus News,
Resources, Trends, 15 Nov 02)

STUDIES PREDICT TABLET PCs OFF TO A SLOW START - The Gartner
Dataquest company predicts that in 2003 sales of tablet PCs will only reach about
425,000, or one% of all notebook computer sales. Leslie Fiering, Gartner vice
president said tablet computers in 2003 will appeal to "only the bravest." IDC
predicts slightly higher numbers, 575,000 for 2003 and one million for 2004.
Computers running the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system are
expected from companies including Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer, and Fujitsu.
According to Ken Dulaney of Gartner, buyers will be discouraged from buying
tablets because of price, lack of applications, and "clumsy hardware designs."
For the complete article see: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-964699.html
(ZDNet, 6 Nov 02)

SPEECH TECH PIONEERS SHARE VISIONS - Two pioneers in speech
technology predicted last week that speech would become a seamless part of the
computer datastream in the next decade. W. S. "Ozzie" Osborne, vice president
of Pervasive computing segments at IBM Corp., called the next age of computing
the "pervasive era," which will pull speech deep into the network. "Speech is
infiltrating everywhere as computers become transparent," said Osborne, speaking
at SpeechTEK last week. "Customer interface is the future. We will create
networks accommodating any device, any network, and any data. People won't
know they are using computers." Kai-Fu Lee, corporate vice president in
Microsoft's Natural Interactive Service Division, followed suit, saying, "Users
(will) articulate what they mean on any device, to any application or Web service
and have their intention interpreted and executed accurately." (Syllabus News,
Resources, Trends, 8 Nov 02)