Product Potpourri: The latest and best from COMDEXAuthor(s): JIM MEYERSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 79, No. 3 (MARCH 1993), p. 86Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27832883 .

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W?W IN RE TECHNOLOGY

Product Potpourri The latest and best from COMDEX

BY JIM MEYER I did it for you. Four days in the

pit of the largest trade show in the United States, COMDEX Las Vegas. Walking through miles of computer monitors and glassy-eyed technicians. Enduring a litany of product specifica tions and hype from over 1,000 booths. Having my flesh pressed by a dozen Elvis impersonators who had just parachuted into a casino lot (The Flying Elvii). And, while crushed among the 115,000 other attendees, sustaining a series of puncture wounds from repeated jabs of me chanical pencils breaking through pocket protectors.

Out of the ordeal comes the lowdown on the hottest new products lawyers may find interesting from technology labs and computer com

panies around the world. Most immediately practical

for the law office: Hewlett Packard has done it again. The HP LaserJet 4 is faster, better and cheaper than its predecessor. At 600 dpi resolution, it provides the crispest image outside of a print shop. The machine prints eight pages per minute, has 2 MB standard memory, 45 typefaces and two built-in paper trays (one holds envelopes). At a street price around $1,500, your documents will look like a million. This deal can't be beat.

Most immediately impracti cal for the law office (but you'll want one anyway): DigiTV (800/366 7288, $495). Watch the ball game, CNN or a stock ticker on your PC monitor, full-screen or minimized in a window while working. Video tuner resolution is twice that of TV moni tors. Discontinue use if you start watching Oprah or Donahue.

Most versatile computer sys tem: Powerbook Duo (800/538-9696). Apple's Powerbook 230?a 4-pound notebook computer with plenty of horsepower?is half of a tag team that includes an available docking station. As easy as putting in a VCR tape, the dock allows attachment of a

large monitor, keyboard, cards, etc. No cables, no hassle, the Duo pro vides the best of portable and desk top computing. Currently around $2,600 (docking station priced sepa rately at $1,080), prices may be

Jim Meyer is a free-lance writer in Santa Cruz, Calif., who specializes in technology-related issues.

discounted by some dealers. Best buy, bare bones net

work computer: Dell Computer's 333s/L (800/289-3355) includes a 33MHz, i386SX CPU, 2 MB RAM, 50

MB hard drive, and one diskette drive. Tbtal price: $810 (without monitor). Options include monitors at $199; factory-installed network interface cards, $89; DOS 5.0, Win dows 3.1 and a mouse for $150. If you aren't ready for a 486 or are install ing a network, it's hard to beat this price from a reliable company with good tech support.

Coolest notebook: GRID Con vertible. Yet another revolutionary computer, the Convertible (800/934 4743, $2,995) is solidly designed, ruggedly built, and made to travel. This 386 computer with a 125MB hard drive runs Windows like a

champ. GRID replaces the mouse with an easier-to-use stylus. It also functions as a data entry device that allows you to print directly on the screen. Sophisticated software con verts your printing to text.

Handiest small business soft ware: DescriptionsWrite Now! ($149) and PoliciesWrite Now! ($295) from KnowledgePoint (800/727-1133). They take users through a series of Q & A and show how to write clear, compre hensive job descriptions and em

ployee handbooks that comply with

TIP OF THE MONTH If you run Microsoft's Windows,

there's a great undocumented diagnostic program that comes free with the software. Called MSD, it gives you all sorts of information about how die computer is set up. To get in, exit Windows and type MSD from a C:/ prompt Explore around. The information available probably will exceed your ability to understand it, but you'll get to know your PC better. MSD could prove particularly valuable when phoning tech support staffs.

new federal regulations. Slickest gizmo: The Mini-Vac

(818/244-6777, $20) is a tiny hand vacuum perfect for cleaning dust and debris from hard-to-reach computer components like keyboards, disk drives and CPU interiors. Regular use will extend the life of your computer investment.

Hottest multimedia product: VideoBlaster. If your firm is among the growing number leveraging the persuasive power of computer-gener ated presentations, the VideoBlaster (Creative Labs, 800/998-5227, $500), imports clips or stills generated by a camera, camcorder, TV videotape, or laserdisc into a PC for editing and integrating the images into seamless

A-V displays. It is bundled with Microsoft's Video for Windows and other nifty accessories.

Trends with Impact Integrated communications

packages. Powerful, affordable, easy to-use portable computers with desk top docking stations, similar to the Powerbook Duo, but including relia ble cellular modem and fax capabil ity. Available now in a few machines, the technology should be widely availa ble in 1994 for $2,000 to $4,000.

Multimedia. Our TV genera tion matures and expects Hollywood style production values in court rooms, settlement conferences and client presentations. Expect the trend to get higher, bigger, better and faster during, the next decade.

Speech recognition pro grams. Dictate into your computer and get back documents. Print, open and save by verbal command. Re search in this field has made tremen dous progress recently and is two years from mass-market applications.

Image and data storage. In tegrated systems that scan, store and quickly retrieve all inputted data-text, photos, videotape, anima tion, speech. The most minute recol lection is accessible immediately by powerful search engines. You can have mass quantities of digitized information at your fingertips?and I mean mass quantities.

Wrist radio. Miniature inte gration of messaging, phone, video and computer communications. You may need the arm of a Schwarze negger right now, but this product will be the size of a Swatch watch before the end of the century.

86 ABA JOURNAL / MARCH 1993 photo of comdex las vegas by the interface group inc.

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