PAD

The PAD, or Personal Assistance Device, is an invention of Empirical Industries. While there are various physical models of it, and its exact capabilities can vary widely, it typically serves as a handheld computer and messaging device.

History

The PAD was originally conceived as an internal company device, used solely by Empirical employees to access the Empirical intranet and coordinate with their colleagues when away from their less-mobile systems (such as the Empirical holodesk). The popularity and ease of use of the device, however, told Empirical that they had a potential winning product on their hands. In fairly short order, they had a wide range of products (at an equally wide range of prices) available for consumer use.

The PAD became the de facto standard in the power wielding world when Alothin took charge of the annual Tenkaichi Budoukai tournament and distributed them to all participating fighters as a means by which to organize and coordinate the tourney's fighting matches, as well as distribute announcements and make available the tourney rules.

Basic PAD Tablet Features

The original PAD tablet is about the size of a paperback novel, albeit much thinner. The vast majority of its front face is taken up by a touch-sensitive screen, surrounded by a narrow bezel, enabling it to display a considerable amount of information, as well as providing an easy form of interaction without requiring additional tools. The sides of the PAD have numerous ports to take a wide variety of peripheral devices. PADs always have some form of network capability built-in -- all of them have standard jacks for attaching to wired networks, as well as some form of wireless connectivity. Higher grade PADs used a mixed-mode wireless system, combining local wireless assets with cellular and satellite communication for maximum signal strength and bandwidth.

With its touch-sensitive screen, the PAD has an easy form of security -- fingerprint identification. In combination with stereotypical passwords, the PAD can automatically detect and analyze fingerprints as its screen is in use, enabling it to instantly identify its owner. Depending on the level of paranoia the owner has configured into it, this could result in nothing happening, all actions being logged (for later display by the owner, and revocation, if necessary), or the PAD simply shutting itself down.

The PAD's on-board battery life is impressive, capable of running for twelve hours continuous-use at full load and with the screen backlit. Reducing energy demand by reducing CPU power or disabling the backlight will extend this duration, of course. The PAD comes standard with a rechargeable battery and matching recharge cradle (auxiliary battery packs or alternate recharging mechanisms are available after purchase) that can recharge from dead to full in one hour.

The PAD comes pre-loaded with a fully-functional suite of productivity software, several simple games, messaging software, and a knowledge retrieval system. EIM (Empirical Industries Messenger) is a full-functioned instant messaging service, capable of communicating cross-medium to cell phones that support short message services, converting text-to-voice to transmit short messages as calls to cell phones that don't support short message services or voicemail systems, and even directly sending messages to email addresses in the case of contacts being offline. The knowledge retrieval system, originally designed for sharing information internally within the company, has been upgraded with a more robust security system, which has been further integrated into the overall PAD network hierarchy. Each PAD is registered and tagged in the system as possessing a basic security level that denotes which sorts of databases they can access, and can have additional flags activated on them as well. For instance, known power wielders (such as all those receiving PADs from participation in the Budoukai Tournament) had a flag indicating this activated. These flags are not, however, necessarily visible to other people. This is, however, how persons with appropriate privileges on the PAD network can mass message all linked power wielders (such as when Alothin alerted power wielders to the Chorus threat, or when the Compass Guard calls for citizen reinforcements).

PAD Phone

While much the same as the original PAD tablet, Empirical also released a slimmer and lighter version, intended for use as a cellular phone. Unlike most cell phones, however, it maintains that multiband communication systems of the original PAD tablet, enabling it to communicate not only via cell tower, but also via local wifi networks and satellite-based communication. As well, there are models that have even more complex and powerful communications access, but not all of them are available for public sale.

Given the smaller frame of the PAD Phone, its screen obviously cannot display as much information. However, the PAD operating system, E-OS, has been updated to operate in that screen size smoothly, so those accustomed to traditional PAD tablets are able to interact with their PAD Phones just as smoothly as they are with their tablet.

Alternate PAD Models

The most commonly seen alternate model to the basic PAD tablet is a larger-framed one, approximately the size of a clipboard. This is commonly used when the user needs a greater amount of information displayed constantly. The medical staff of Deius Castle, for instance, used this type of PAD to record patient information on, and it remains in common use by medical personnel throughout the hospitals of Cardinal.

As well as larger models, there also exist smaller models. Alothin has occasionally been seen to carry what appears to be a PAD approximately the size of a credit card. However, as it seems to entirely lack a screen or other visible means of input, it may be something so specialized that only he can use it. This is further indicated by the fact that no such model has been publicly released.

Upgrades

The PAD system is highly extensible, and customized PADs can be ordered directly from Empirical. These listed upgrades are some of the more commonly installed ones, but are far from the full extent of what is possible. This list also discludes obvious things, like expanded memory, computing power, or software packages. Additional software is available from an online store that is directly accessible through PAD tablets and phones alike, with a wide range of applications and games available for the devices.

• Global Positioning System: While Empirical has refused to explain how this works (given that it does not require the PAD to include a satellite communication system), this system is capable of identifying the PAD's position within a tenth of a meter. User security settings dictate who can remotely access this data -- it defaults to not permitting anyone to observe the data.
• Expanded Network Capability: Likewise, Empirical has been shy about revealing the workings of this upgrade, but it certainly lives up to its quoted specifications. They claim instantaneous communication with any likewise equipped Empirical device, including all backbone servers of the Empirical network, and it meets that claim. Notably, the package that it seems to be centred in is resistant to inquiry, being shielded against even psionic senses. Persons attempting to open the unit up (in violation of the license agreement) will find only a mess of fused electronics due to the tiny anti-tampering demolition charge included with it. It is, however, a little-known fact that when subject to dimensional disruptions, such as those that prevent teleportation, this system fails and the PAD falls back to its normal wireless communication systems. The anti-teleportation field on Deius Castle doesn't seem to affect this system, however.