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What are Those Tablet PCs that Stock Traders Use?

Posted by Cliff on from the where-can-I-get-one-of-these dept.

Crash McBang asks: "Watching CNBC, I notice that shots of the NYSE trading floor show traders scribbling madly on what appear to be wireless tablet PCs. So what kind of hardware is this, and what are they scribbling?" I've been wait for tablet PCs for a long, LONG time. Hopefully they will be hitting the home market soon because they would be much more ideal for portable tasks where even laptops proove bulky and uncomfortble.

4 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fujitsu & Viewsonic by leviramsey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah, my dad does some inspection work for HUD. He uses one of those, running Win98 to do the inspection. All you'd need is a PCMCIA 802.11b card to make it wireless (he currently uploads his inspection results via dialup).

  2. We used these in the Navy by whoda · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was on a submarine, and we had these PC-tablets for some testing.
    They were made to replace the standard log-books that the Quartermasters used for the ships logs.

    I can't remember the manufacturer, but, there was a monochrome LCD, which attached to a small laptop like computer.

    There was a pen-like stylus which you could use on the screen to select and highlight items. Finger pressure didn't make it work.

    The screen swiveled and latched to make it look like it was a 'tablet' PC, BUT, you could re-orientate it, because there was a keyboard underneath.

    We had custom software developed by Johns Hopkins(Pretty sure it was them). It ran Microsoft Windows for Pen computing.

    The software we had was basically a break down of ships functions. You selected the items as necessary, and then it produced a 'log-book' entry, dated/timed, and stored it on a removable hard disk-drive that was classified, and I 'think' was also soft-encrypted. By 'soft', I mean we didn't have to load our actual crypto tapes into it daily. It was some sort of hardware encryption.

    At the end of patrol, these disk drives would be sent in with the rest of the logs.

    It was a very robust system, we had crashes, and goof-ups, but somehow, we never lost a log entry.
    If it died, we were told to put in one of the other disks, and that all the data was recoverable. And much to our astonishment, it was.

    We were using these back in 1995-6, and I'm not in anymore, so I can't give better details than this.

    OH YES, I did forget. The Microsoft Windows for Pen computing had Solitaire included, so you could look like you were standing an alert watch, but really be screwing off!

  3. trading handhelds by evocate · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Handhelds have been in use on various open-outcry exchanges for a long time. In Chicago, traders from various firms have been using handhelds with wireless IP since 1996. Applications on these handhelds calculate theoretical option prices, track positions, and record transactions. The biggest problems with them have been network reliability and battery life. Exchange floors tend to be pretty noisy as RF goes. And trading sessions last about 6.5 hours, so most handhelds need a battery change at least once a day. Some traders wear big battery packs on their belts to keep their handheld powered throughout the session.

    This line from Fujitsu seems to be a favorite with Chicago trading firms.

  4. Tablets on /. by Piquan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ironically, I saw this article while experimenting with my new tablet that I got from an ad on /. Runs Linux, has handwriting recognition, comes with dev tools, cost $600.

    Look up at the ads now and then! www.mira2go.com