Newton Press Releases

Interconnect direct serial cable on sale in US (5th April 1999)

UniDict for Mac and Newton (Japanese<>English dictionary) (Aug 28, 1998)

QuickFigure plug-in for UniCalc users (June 1, 1998)

GoFetch Registration problem fixed (May 9, 1998)

Enfour, Inc. (USA) address announced (May 9, 1998)

Check out the preview picts of Enfour's new IR pod (March 25, 1998)

Enfour Sticks by the Newton (March 6, 1998)

IrDA Pod for Desktops (February26, 1998)

New Localization Solution For Newton (February 25, 1998)

Enfour opens free ISP (January 12, 1998)

Interconnect direct serial cable on sale in US.

Enfour, Inc. announces the availability in the US of their direct Newton<>PC cables for MessagePad2x00 and eMate interconnect port. These slim-line, one-piece serial cables replace the need for the Newton Serial Adapter (dongles) and make for less to carry around (and lose). Only limited quantities available.

The US distributor is:

Ein Computing, Inc.
4400 MacArthur Blvd 5th Floor
NewportBeach, California 92660 U.S.A.
TEL: 949-955-4968
FAX: 949-955-4963
E-Mail: [email protected]

For pictures: http://www.enfour.com/newton/cables/

UniDict for MacOS and Newton

Enfour Media Laboratory, Pty. Ltd. announces the launch of "UniDict for Macintosh 1.0". UniDict is a multilingual dictionary search engine that will empower professional linguists and language students alike in a way they have never known before.

UniDict is available in Japan for 12,800 Yen (RRP).
Elsewhere for US$95 or AUD$120 -including Postage.

For details plus Education discounts and site licences
<http://www.enfour.co.jp/unidict/e/index.html>

Enfour Inc. has also release a J<>E Dictionary for Japanese Newtons.
<http://www.enfour.co.jp/newton/news/unidict.html> (in Japanese)

Read the full Press Release here.

UniCalc plug-in for QuickFigure

For users of UniCalc and QuickFigure here is a plug-in that adds a UniCalcPro menu item to the QuickFigure tools menu. It will open up UniCalc from inside QuickFigure for you. Download it for free from the UniCalc page.

GoFetch Registration Problems Solved

For Immediate Release

Tokyo, May 9th 1998: Due to moving offices and technical difficulties the issuing of GoFetch registration codes has been held up for over a month. The backlog of registrations has now been cleared and registrations via Kagi are now proceeding as normal. For any enquiries regarding GoFetch registrations send email to . Thank you for your patience and we all apologize for the problems we have caused our treasured users.

Enfour, Inc. created. New Address

For Immediate Release

San Francisco, May 9th 1998: Enfour Incorporated, a wholely owned subsiduary of Enfour, KK. of Tokyo, has been established as a Delaware corporation. It will be known in California as Enfour Investments, Inc., but for simplicity's sake the generic term 'Enfour" will be used. Enfour (USA) will distribute the Newton, PDA and Macintosh products of the other members of Enfour Group based in Australia and Japan.

Enfour's San Francisco office will open on June 1st at:
19 Heron Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: 415-823-7700 Fax: 415-252-1521 email:

Enfour Continues With Newton Development

For Immediate Release

Tokyo, March 6, 1998: Enfour Incorporated -- a Newton application and accessory maker based in Tokyo -- announced that they plan to continue to develop software and accessories for the Newton and support their users in Japan and abroad. Despite Apple's announcement of a halt to Newton development, Enfour will be redoubling its efforts to bring localized solutions to markets that require non-Roman script support. Enfour's product of a line of Newton accessories including cables, IR pods and AC Adapters will also go ahead as planned. Enfour has announced that they will release a localized version of the MP2100 on the 31st of March. There are no changes to this schedule.

Enfour has a strong belief that the NewtonOS will not be going away any time soon. It is the best programming environment around and is a mature and flexible platform. Enfour has made huge investments in the technology including development tools, Internet mailers, Asian script input methods, fonts and a kanji recognition engine. The Asian markets remain relatively untapped for handheld systems and the Japanese market is poised to accept the Newton as a mainstream device. Enfour's effort over the past few years is about to bear fruit. Enfour owes it to the users who have been kept waiting so long to release the products they need.

Although the shape and form is not clear there will be a future to the NewtonOS and Enfour plans to be a part of it.

Contact Information:

Richard Northcott PresidentEnfour Inc. (Japan) <http://www.enfour.co.jp/>

Enfour Announces An IrDA Module

For Immediate Release

Tokyo February 26: Enfour, Inc., a Newton software and accessory developer based in Tokyo, annouced today the availability of an IrDA 1.1 compatible infra-red module for the Macintosh. The pod is the size of a matchbox with a serial cable attached. It requires no power supply or batteries and allows users to connect to IrDA or ASK devices such as printers, digital cameras, LAN routers, or hand-held computers (including Newton devices). Enfour's pod comes with a ControlPanel to switch between the IrDA and ASK protocols.

Contact Info

Richard Northcott Enfour Inc. (Japan) <http://www.enfour.co.jp/>

Enfour, Inc. Shows New Localization Solution For Newton

For Immediate Release

Tokyo, February 20, 1997: Enfour shows a new internationalization solution for Newton at MacWorld Tokyo.

Enfour Incorporated -- a Newton application and accessory maker based in Tokyo -- opened a large booth devoted to Newton during last week's MacWorld Expo Tokyo. There they demonstrated for the first time a new Newton OS internationalization solution. Named NLK, it enables the Newton to support multiple interface localizations and input methods turning the Newton into a multilingual machine without changes to ROM.

NLK is a localization engine like no other. It is a realtime system, that leverages the Newton' object-orientated OS to the full and allows localization of the entire Newton interface as well as third-party applications while requiring a minimal amount of memory. Enfour has created localization and input systems for Japanese, Chinese, Russian and others in the past, but NLK will enable the rapid deployment of localized Newton solutions and applications for a flood of new languages. This will move the Newton OS into new markets and prove its Unicode advantage over other PDA and handheld systems. The creation of new localizations will require no programming experience by the translator.

Enfour will make available an API that will enable software developers to support new localizations in their Newton applications without recompiling or upgrades. NLK will also be the base on which Enfour bases upgrades to its existing language solutions. The first of which will ship in Japan at the end of March.

Enfour's booth at MacWorld Expo Tokyo received remarkable attention from users wishing to see the Newton MessagePad 2100 running Japanese. There was also large crowds at the various demo sessions by prominent figures in the mobile and Newton fields.

Newton has had a huge resurgence in Japan since December last year. Ever since Newton's early pioneering in the PDA field there have been numerous attempts to emulate its essence. This is especially so in Japan, where many makers have released units trying to grab a share of the booming market. But it has been the Newton that has stayed the distance and, with faster hardware, more memory and full Japanese support, the MessagePad and its sister the eMate have come through as clear winners as far as consistency and stability. It has been this persistence that has won over so many Japanese users. Through NLK, Enfour has promised to continue to provide high grade solutions for Asian script support and the after-market applications to back it up.

Contact Information:

Richard Northcott President
Enfour, Inc. Tokyo <http://www.enfour.com/>

Enfour opens free ISP for Newton users

Tokyo, Jan. 9, 1998 -- Enfour Inc., a Newton software and accessory maker based in Tokyo, has taken out a Type II telecommunications carrier licence with the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and begun a free Internet dialup service in Japan for users of its UniMail and GoFetch Newton mail solutions.

The service opens a Unix Shell access to the Internet for simple and fast Internet access for mobile users. Enfour provides two Unix Shell mail solutions: UniMail (an integrated package for Newton OS 1.x and 2.x); and GoFetch Shell (for OS 2.x only). Shell access offers fast linkup and doesn't require the memory overhead that an NIE PPP or SLIP link would. This makes Unix Shell an ideal option for mobile users, but since few Internet Service providers offer Shell access, Enfour has begun a Shell dialup service for free for users of its Japanese email packages. The service is called "neWtwork" and supports POTS, ISDN, and digital mobile connections, as well as PIAFS (used by the low-cost, 32Kps Personal Handy Phone standard that is popular in Japan). Users will need to provide their own mail service, but "neWtwork" also supports telnet and Lynx WWW browsing.

Contact:

Enfour Inc. (Japan) <http://www.enfour.co.jp/>
(03) 5411-7738