An electronic organizer (or electric organizer) is a small calculator-sized computer, often with an built-in

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

application and other functions such as an address book and calendar, replacing paper-based

personal organizer A personal organizer, also known as a datebook, date log, daybook, day planner, personal analog assistant, book planner, year planner, or agenda (from Latin ''agenda'' – things to do), is a portable book or binder designed for personal manage ...

s. Typically, it has a small

alphanumeric Alphanumericals or alphanumeric characters are any collection of number characters and letters in a certain language. Sometimes such characters may be mistaken one for the other. Merriam-Webster suggests that the term "alphanumeric" may often ...

keypad and an LCD screen of one, two, or three lines. They were very popular especially with businessmen during the 1990s, but because of the advent of

personal digital assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a multi-purpose mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. Following a boom in the 1990s and 2000s, PDAs were mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of more highly capable smar ...

s and palmtop PCs in the 1990s, as well as

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s in the 2010s, all of which have a larger set of features, electronic organizers are mostly seen today for research purposes. One of the leading research topics being the study of how electronics can help people with mental disabilities use this type of equipment to aid their daily life. Electronic organizers have more recently been used to support people with Alzheimer's disease to have a visual representation of a schedule.

History

The electronic diary or organizer was first patented by Indian businessman Satyanarayan Pitroda in 1975.

Casio digital diary

Casio digital diaries were produced by Casio in the early and mid 1990s, but have since been entirely superseded by mobile phones and PDAs.

Other electronic organizers

While Casio was a major role player in the field of electronic organizers there were many different ideas, patent requests, and manufacturers of electronic organizers. Rolodex, widely known for their index card holders in the 1980s, Sharp Electronics, mostly known for their printers and audio visual equipment, and lastly Royal electronics were all large contributors to the electronic organizer in its heyday.

Features

* Telephone directory * Schedule keeper: Keep track of appointments. * Memo function: Store text data such as price lists, airplane schedules, and more. * To do list: Keep track of daily tasks, checking off items as you complete them. * World time: Find out the current time in virtually any location on the globe. * Secret memory area: The secret memory area keeps personal data private. Once a password is registered, data is locked away until the password is used to access the secret area. * Alarm * Metric conversion function: Conversion between metric units and another measurement unit. * Currency conversion function * Game: Some machines included a game such as Poker or Blackjack.

References

External links