Monday, March 26, 2001

By Dan O'Brien, Staff writer

Dan O'Brien / Stars and Stripes A robot explains new technologies Thursday in the NTT DoCoMo booth at CeBIT 2001 in Hanover, Germany.

HANOVER, Germany — There’s a whole lot of beaming going on at CeBIT 2001.

The words "Can I beam you?" or "Please beam me" can be heard everywhere. It’s a testament to the popularity of the type of handheld computer known as the Personal Digital Assistant, or PDA.

Everyone at the annual information technology and office exhibition — which continues here through Wednesday — seems to have a PDA, and they are all gleefully swapping bits in a ritual that will someday no doubt find its way into the singles scene.

How it works is simple. Since most all newer PDAs come equipped with infrared transfer capabilities, users can exchange business cards, pictures or just about any other kind of data by placing two of the units close together and pressing a button. Within seconds, the data on one PDA has been transferred to the other.

The two biggest players in the PDA market, Palm Inc. and Handspring Inc., had hundreds of visitors at their CeBIT exhibition areas, all clamoring for a glimpse of the latest models.

"It’s irresistible," said Volker Jacob, public relations manager for Handspring, as he demonstrated the company’s latest model, the Visor Edge.

People jostled for a look as he described how the small computer can help organize people’s lives. "Oohs" and "ahs" could be heard as he took video and still pictures with the device.

Later, on a more serious note, he added: "We are extremely pleased to enjoy such strong customer acceptance of our products."

The Visor Edge is sleek and stylish, with a thickness of less than one-half inch. It runs on the Palm operating system and comes loaded with such standard PDA programs as a date book, to-do list, calendar and address book. It has 8 MB of memory, which will store approximately 12,000 addresses, 6,000 to-do items, 400 e-mail messages and 10 years of appointments. It has improved security features, a silent alarm and a USB connection for transferring data to or from a personal computer.

But what sets Handspring products apart from the crowd is its detachable Springboard slot, which allows other units, known as modules, to connect with the PDA. More than 45 of these modules are currently available. They include cameras, phones, MP3 players, games and more.

The modules snap onto the unit from the top. When no module is in use, a detachable cover snaps into the Springboard slot to protect the PDA’s approximately 4½-by-3-inch display screen.

The Visor Edge, which debuted at CeBIT 2001, is now on the market at a cost of approximately $400. Springboard modules, are not included.

Over at Palm, the buzz centered on the company’s new m500 series, which also debuted at CeBIT 2001. The monochrome m500 and 16-bit color m505 are also ultra-compact, slim, stylish and expandable. The units accept add-on peripherals (similar to the Springboard slot) via what’s known as a Secure Digital expansion slot and universal connector.

The Palm m500 series PDAs come with a 33MHz Motorola VZ processor, 4MB of upgradeable Flash ROM and 8MB of RAM. The line is expected to go on sale in mid-May and cost $399 for the m500, $450 for the m505.

PDAs are without a doubt the hottest product at this year’s CeBIT, a trade show that by design offers a glimpse into the future. So don’t be alarmed if someday someone looks you in the eyes and says, "I’d really like to beam you."

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