Wiz                    mouse and digitizing tablet in one
CalComp Moves from Output to Input with New Hybrid Device
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
CalComp has introduced the Wiz, a new gadget that's a hybrid of a
mouse and a digitizing tablet and works with a PC or a Mac.
 
The Wiz looks like a mouse except that it has a transparent
crosshair pointer at the front, which you use to align the Wiz
with locations on a special digitizing pad that you can customize
with templates for a variety of PC or Mac software applications.
 
It has three buttons that toggle forward and backward, allowing
six possible settings, four of which you can define. The Wiz can
also be configured for left- or righthand use. Using an
electromagnetic surface for the digitizing pad rather than an
electrostatic surface, Wiz has a resolution of 1000 dpi (dots per
inch), allowing precise pointing control.
 
Some 35 application templates are available, which allow you to
bypass the pulldown and popup menus typical of most graphical
interface applications. Instead, you have all the menu options
displayed right on the digitizing pad and you simply move the
crosshair pointer to the option you want and click on it. The Wiz
package comes with a Windows template in the PC version and a Mac
Finder/HyperCard template in the Mac version.
 
Some of the applications that CalComp reports work with the Wiz
are AutoCAD, Generic CADD, Claris Mac programs, Freelance Plus,
Harvard Graphics, VersaCAD, PageMaker, WordPerfect, and Excel.
 
Price: $249.
 
Contact: CalComp, 2411 W. La Palma Ave, Anaheim, CA 92801, (800)
225-2667, or (714) 821-2000.
 
                              --- Nick Baran
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
