E-mail on the Move Commercial Benefits—Spinoffs Check your pocket...you’ve got mail! Technology originally developed at NASA now lets users send and receive electronic mail (e-mail) through regular or cellular telephones using a small, hand-held unit. PocketScience™ Inc., of Santa Clara, California, is a privately held company founded in 1995, aimed at making mobile e-mail service not only affordable, but easy to use. The company is pursuing its mission by melding key technologies, expertise in consumer electronics and electronic messaging, and strategic partnerships. At its inception, PocketScience™ was a member of the NASA Ames Technology Commer- cialization Center. A new hand-held device uses technology origi- initial cost of the electronic device, gives nally developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labora- users access to e-mail services. tory. Through its involvement with Ames’ Technol- Users of the device compose their ogy Commercialization Center, PocketScience™ message, dial a nationwide toll-free was able to use space probe communications access number, then push one button technology and adapt it for advanced signal process- while holding the device against the ing on Earth. telephone handset to send and receive The idea behind the technology is to overcome PocketMail® by messages. No cables or special connectors are needed. the limitations of current mobile messaging solu- PocketScience™ is By employing burst packet communications, no tions and provide access to e-mail anywhere. a hand-held e-mail lengthy log-on is needed. The entire process usually PocketScience™ created its first offering, the device that uses can be completed in less than a minute. PocketMail® device. PocketMail® makes it possible technology Electronic mail has been on a spectacular growth to send and receive e-mail from anywhere in the originally developed curve. Its phenomenal climb as a major communica- world without turning on a computer. The device at NASA’s Jet tion tool is supported by research surveys. One study gives regular e-mail users a practical alternative to Propulsion suggests the number of e-mail users in the United laptop computers and wireless devices when trying Laboratory. States alone is expected to grow from 75 million in to send e-mail on the go. International travelers no 1998 to 135 million in 2001. And those users will longer have to be confronted with the nightmare of transmit, in the U.S., as many as 500 billion incompatible electric systems and telephone jacks messages in 2001. Another survey statistic is that while far from their home country. The mobile Internet users check their e-mail at least once a day, a messaging device also permits the transmission of habit that is on the rise from previous years. faxes. “With e-mail rapidly becoming a preferred way to The firm’s device operates by holding it against a stay in touch with friends, family, superiors, staff, or phone handset and pushing a button. Even under clients, it’s only natural that people will also want to the harshest conditions, the small, 9-ounce portable be able to access and respond to their e-mail while unit, can send and receive e-mail through most away from their homes and offices,” states a corpo- phones worldwide, including cellular, cordless, rate background paper developed by PocketScience™. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), office The first PocketMail®-enabled products have been and hotel PBX phones, and pay phones. In airport announced by JVC and Sharp Electronics. Several terminals, on busy street corners, and in other noisy other U.S. and international consumer electronics locales, the device functions by incorporating special manufacturers are currently evaluating PocketMail® modulation schemes, error-correction, data compres- technology for inclusion in their next generation of sion, and data communications protocols. The products. v technology is packaged to fit in a shirt pocket, runs on two AA batteries, and is about the size of a PocketScience™ is a trademark of PocketScience, Inc. calculator. A modest monthly charge, beyond the PocketMail® is a registered trademark of PocketScience, Inc. Consumer/Home/Recreation 57