Simon

Simon

1. New Testament

a. a relative of Jesus, who may have been identical with Simon Zelotes (Matthew 13:55)

b. a Christian of Joppa with whom Peter stayed (Acts of the Apostles 9:43)

2. John (Allsebrook), 1st Viscount Simon. 1873--1954, British statesman and lawyer. He was Liberal home secretary (1915--16) and, as a leader of the National Liberals, foreign secretary (1931--35), home secretary (1935--37), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1937--40), Lord Chancellor (1940--45)

3. (Marvin) Neil. born 1927, US dramatist and librettist, whose plays include Barefoot in the Park (1963), California Suite (1976), Biloxi Blues (1985), Lost in Yonkers (1990), and London Suite (1995): many have been made into films

4. Paul. born 1942, US pop singer and songwriter. His albums include: with Art Garfunkel (born 1941), The Sounds of Silence (1966), and Bridge over Troubled Water (1970); and, solo, Graceland (1986), The Rhythm of the Saints (1990), and You're The One (2000)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

personal communicator

A concept for a handheld mobile device that was co-created by Toronto engineer Robert J. Fraser in 1991. The personal communicator was conceived to provide always-on, wireless connectivity to a nationwide network for information retrieval and transactions as well as calendar synchronization, messaging and email. Contacts and to-do lists were also envisioned.

Humble Beginnings
At least two devices with the personal communicator moniker appeared within a couple years. AT&T offered the EO in 1993, and IBM, in conjunction with BellSouth, introduced the Simon in 1994. Apple's Newton was introduced in the same time frame, but had only a fax/modem and infrared communications. All of these handhelds were underpowered for the tasks at hand and never took off.

An Eventual Reality
The functionality in Fraser's device did materialize a decade later when the Internet became ubiquitous and devices such as the BlackBerry emerged. After the turn of the century, wireless PDAs using cellular networks (true personal communicators) became a reality and eventually evolved into the smartphone. See PDA and smartphone.

A Cellphone Personal Communicator

In 1989, as part of its MicroTAC line, Motorola introduced the Digital Cellular Personal Communicator, which was only a cellphone. See flip phone.

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