Electric autos charge ahead; High-voltage vehicles due this summer
March 15, 1990
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WASHINGTON - "Give it some gas," Jeffrey Woods instructs the driver of the van.
What he really means is press down on the accelerator. This is a prototype electric-powered van, but you wouldn't know it at first glance. Its body and chassis are the same as any GMC Vandura van. The difference is that it's powered by a 2,500-pound pack of 36 six-volt batteries built into the chassis - not a tank of gas.
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Portable PCs: They're everywhere; Laptops even unseating desktops
Apr. 16, 1990
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There's no place left on the planet Earth where you can't find a computer. They're in the rain forests of the Amazon. They're along the icy Ross Sea of the Antarctic. They're even in Luther's Bar-B-Q in Houston and in the carry-on luggage of actor Charlton Heston.
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Tests could ring in era of pocket-size phones
May 10, 1990
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The government is letting a small New York firm test a breakthrough technology that could one day offer you cheap, wallet-size phones to be used anywhere without changing your telephone number.
The Federal Communications Commission has given Millicom Inc. permission to build two "Personal Communications Networks" - in Houston and Orlando, Fla. If they ring true, PCNs could herald a new era in cheap mobile telephone service and provide stiff competition for the USA's giant, fast-growing cellular telephone companies.
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Bill Gates' new revolution; Microsoft rolls out Windows 3.0
May 21, 1990
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The personal computer industry is anticipating the arrival of a new product Tuesday as if it were a visit by the president. Or the pope.
Some are in awe, some are goofy with enthusiasm and others are dreading it. Says the usually stoic Thomas Galvin, an analyst with Smith Barney, Harris Upham && Co: "This is probably the most anticipated product in the history of the world. " Well, the computer world, anyway.
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The new wireless age; Technology putting world in our pockets
Aug. 13, 1990
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It's 1996. You're hiking through the middle of the Arizona desert. A wristwatch pager beeps you to call the office. So you pull out your pocket-size phone and call your secretary. The message: Your boss is flying into Phoenix. Get there fast.
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Smart home of future may be run by chips
Dec. 5, 1990
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Home, sweet intelligent home.
Two of Silicon Valley's most famous entrepreneurs have come up with computer chips that turn ordinary houses into sophisticated smart homes. The chips, called neuron chips, can be built into everything from appliances to heating systems.
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411 service lets computer do the dialing
Apr. 8, 1991
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If you hate fumbling for a pen or have a lousy memory or you're just too darn lazy to copy down phone numbers from directory assistance, you're in luck.
Southwestern Bell and Bell Atlantic, two of the regional Bells spun off by AT&&T in 1984, have started a service that automatically connects you to the number you want to call.
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H-P palmtop: 'Slick, slick product'
Apr. 19, 1991
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Hewlett-Packard Co. could resuscitate the palmtop computer business Tuesday when it debuts a 10-ounce model code-named "Jaguar."
H-P isn't talking. But experts say the Jaguar could be a hit because it's the first computer of its size built for Lotus 1-2-3. Lotus is the best-selling spreadsheet software used by 14 million business people. Analysts say Jaguar's $699 price tag is surprisingly low considering that Lotus 1-2-3 alone costs $349 to $399.
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Lotus launches assault; 1-2-3 upgrade, new software fill out arsenal
May 20, 1991
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - When it comes to promoting himself and his company, Jim Manzi concedes he's no match for Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, the boy wonder of personal computer software. But he won't concede much else.
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Talking to your computer; Technology frees many from pain
June 17, 1991
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Think twice about what you say. Your computer might be listening.
Computers that recognize human speech, popularized by the psychotic HAL in the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," are no longer just the stuff of science fiction. As we speak, computers are responding to dictation and spoken orders to buy and sell stocks. They're allowing journalists to write articles - and computer programmers to create software - without striking a key. Soon they'll be able to listen to your voice and automatically dial the phone for you.
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Latest stroke in PCs; Pen PCs are making big mark
June 21, 1991
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The pen is about to redraw the face of personal computing.
Starting Monday, a wave of radically different PCs - including models from NCR Corp. and tiny Tusk Inc. - begin to hit the market. These PCs can recognize words and numbers printed on their screens and instantly turn them into computerized text. The computers are said to be so simple to use - just put pen to computer screen - that they will appeal to even the PC-phobic.
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Apple polishes image with portable PC line
Oct. 22, 1991
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Apple Computer Inc. on Monday made its most ambitious product launch ever, unveiling a line of lightweight portable computers and its most powerful PC. One of the six new machines - the 5.1-pound PowerBook 100 - demonstrates how chummy the once-isolationist Apple has become.
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Retailing's rare bright spot: PC stores
Dec. 12, 1991
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Consumers are flocking to personal-computer stores this holiday season to snap up bargains brought on by a bloody PC price-cutting war.
"We'll do at least 50% more in sales this year than last," says Walter Manley, president of First Step Computers of Richmond, Va., an Apple retailer.
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AT&&T unveils VideoPhone; The future is now - at $1,499 a pop
Jan. 7, 1992
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AT&&T made good on a 28-year-old promise Monday. The company unveiled an affordable, practical desktop telephone that also transmits color television pictures.
First shown as a concept called PicturePhone at the 1964 World's Fair in New York, the VideoPhone was introduced in a New York-to-Washington demonstration. It will begin appearing in AT&&T Phone Center stores in May. Plunk down $1,499 and you can take VideoPhone home, plug it into your regular telephone wall jack and see Mom smile and wave when you call her for Mother's Day, provided Mom has one, too.
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Computer virus more fright than might; Michelangelo kept at bay by early detection
March 9, 1992
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We had a hard time contracting the Michelangelo virus Friday.
We tried. For two days last week, USA TODAY tried to obtain a copy of the dreaded personal-computer virus just to see whether it would live up to its lethal billing and wipe out all the information stored in a PC.
