Sidekick solves day-to-day blips

Starfish Software has revamped its Sidekick personal organiser and claims it is the first organiser designed specifically for Internet users.

Sidekick Internet schedules and co-ordinates group events and resources electronically, using Internet mail to transport information.

The company is targeting business users by providing a way to arrange schedules with individuals from other firms, and across company firewalls.

Philippe Kahn, Starfish chairman, said: 'Customers need a better way to schedule group events without being tied to proprietary, legacy, Lan-based systems.'

The personal organiser is based on an open Internet messaging peer-to-peer infrastructure. Users can select a time on the calendar and choose participants from a contact file, which is fully integrated with Internet email address books in products such as Navigator, Internet Explorer and Eudora.

The group activity is automatically added to the initiator's calendar and Sidekick Internet will email participants. Recipients can either accept, decline or send a free time report for rescheduling. Replies sent by other email systems will be collected by the organiser, who then reads and updates the schedules.

Other features include support for the US Robotics' Pilot handheld device using Starfish Truesync technology, built-in caller ID, Internet pager support for meeting reminders and the ability to launch Web sites from the contact file.

Priced at #69.99, the product is available through Gem Distribution, Ingram Micro, Metrologie and Merisel.