The tab (Xerox:1996b) is about the size of a pager and weighs 7 oz. It includes a display, three buttons, a touch panel and a peizo-electric speaker, in an ergonomic package that can be rotated for right- or left-handed use. It communicates at 19.2 Kbaud with a transceiver (Xerox:1996c) located on the ceiling.
It's function is similar to a Post-it Note, and after looking around a typical office, several applications for the TAB suggest themselves. Instead of having multiple windows open on a workstation display, the contents of each window could be moved to a TAB. Like paper, the TABS could then be arranged on a desk and sorted. To take the project to another location, the user could just carry all the associated TABs. A project manager could have a tab focused on an employee's project, keeping 'tabs' on the progress of his work.
Other uses of the TAB include the 'weather' button, which downloads the latest weather information from the Internet and the 'e-mail' button, which allows the user to scan, reply to, or save his e-mail. Other papers (Fitzmaurice:1993) refer to the possible use of a palm-top computer as a porthole. The tab would serve as a window into another object or place. For example, the tab could be held up to a city on a map and details about the demographics of the city could be displayed on the tab. In a library, a tab could guide a user to a desired book, even if the book was sitting on a re-shelving cart or mis-shelved. An active badge on the spine of the book could blink or beep to distinguish itself. The tab could then be pointed at the spine of the book, and the table of contents would be displayed on the tab.
A tab, or any other device could also be a window onto a remote location. The Ontario Telepresence project (University of Toronto:1996) at the University of Toronto developed an application where snapshots are taken and sent regularly to subscribers. This provides background awareness of other people, or remote offices.
Copyright © 1996 Ingrid E. Burbey, All Rights Reserved
Ingrid Burbey
<74001.1443@compuserve.com>
Last modified: Wed Dec 11 1996