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Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June
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Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso
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1984
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1991-07-11
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[***][1/1/84][***]
HAPPY BIG BROTHER:
Here's a cheery thought to start off the year: the IRS is using
mailing lists to make sure we're all paying our taxes. Despite the
strenous objections of the Direct Marketing Association, the IRS
has obtained the names of two million people in Brooklyn, Wisconsin,
Indiana and Nevada and will, in this first "test project" compare
those names with tax returns. If you're on a list, but haven't
filed 1982 taxes, the IRS promises to catch you. If the sting is
successful, the feds will also employ it to track down tax
underpayers by 1985. The firm which provided the lists to the IRS
is listed below.
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CONTACT: INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
202-566-5000
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DUNHILL COMPANY
WASHINGTON, D.C.
202-331-7724
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[***][1/1/84][***]
FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY:
A federal crackdown is underway to trace faulty computer chips and
falsified testing data among firms which supply the Defense Department.
At least four firms are targets of the probe, including Fairchild Camera
and Equipment Company and National Semiconductor. The semiconductor
industry provides the Defense Dept. with more than one billion in
chips annually, and while nobody at the Pentagon says there have been
any recent problems, one Administration spokesman said, "People's
lives could be endangered." The feds claim to have found "irregularities"
and altered original documents representing at least one firm in the
investigation.
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CONTACT: INSPECTOR GENERAL JOSEPH SHERICK
DEFENSE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SERVICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
202-545-6700
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[***][1/1/84][***]
COLECO NEWS:
Coleco has announced an agreement with Honeywell Inc. to establish
a nationwide network of service centers for the Adam Computer.
The company says by the end of 1984, 35 service centers will be
in place, staffed with Honeywell service personell who've received
special training in Adam's hard and software. Also from Coleco:
news of a massive seasonal layoff at its Amsterdam, New York plant.
Hundreds are expected to be out of work indefinitely as the
company does its year-end inventory. Company spokesmen deny
the layoff is anything significant. "We do it every year,"
says vice president Mort Handel.
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CONTACT: COLECO INDUSTRIES
AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK
518-842-0010
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[***][1/1/84][***]
A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR:
It's still a relative free-for-all in the land of electronics, and
the American Electronics Association's latest count confirms it.
According to their survey of 2,123 members, more than 35% started their
firms after 1978, and more than half are less than ten years old.
A little more than half still have 100 or fewer employees.
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CONTACT: AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION
PALO ALTO, CA.
415-857-9300
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[***][1/1/84][***]
ACTIVISION SLIDES INTO THE NEW YEAR:
Analysts are still calling Activision one of the toughest video
game companies in the business, but that doesn't diminish the
company's three quarters of losses this year, the latest to
be announced next week. 100 of the company's 400 employees
have been laid-off and company execs say the game software glut
is to blame. Activision lost $8 million through October 1st.
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CONTACT: ACTIVISION
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA.
415-960-0410
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[***][1/1/84][***]
1983--YEAR OF THE TRADE SHOW:
Most computer and electronics show organizers say the glut of
trade shows last year will probably not be repeated this year.
Already one organizer, Raging Bear Productions, is cancelling
a trade show in Miami for February, claiming there are just
too many shows, and there's a lack of service at most of them.
Northeast Expositions Inc. held 12 trade shows last year; 1984
will see just six.
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CONTACT: RAGING BEAR PRODUCTIONS
CORTE MADERA, CALIFORNIA
415-924-1194
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[***][1/1/84][***]
CAD/CAM WAVE:
Look for sales of computer-aided-design and manufacturing packages
to grow by 45 to 50 percent this year. Two surveys found nearly
100 start-up companies have entered the market in the last few years.
They expect to service a growing demand for CAD/CAMs for mechanical,
architectural, mapping and electronics applications. IBM Corp. is
expected to become the biggest force in the industry and ranks with
Computervision Inc. of Bedford, Mass and Intergraph Corp. of
Huntsville, Alabama as the top sellers of CAD/CAM equipment.
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CONTACT: DATAQUEST, INC.
SAN JOSE, CA.
408-971-9000
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JERRY SHOTWELL/MERRILL LYNCH SECURITIES DIV.
NEW YORK, N.Y.
212-637-8146
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[***][1/1/84][***]
ELECTRONIC POST OFFICE:
Hibernia Bank must know something about saving money. The bank
cut the cost of mailing out its year-end tax forms to more
than 60-thousand customers by using the Post Office's E-COM service.
Hibernia estimates it saved 40% of its normal mailing costs by
using this 18-month old electronic mailing service. Next on the
bank's agenda is a customer database which will be used to send
mass mailings to its customers.
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CONTACT: HIBERNIA BANK
NEW ORLEANS, LA.
504-586-5552
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[***][1/1/84][***]
ELECTRONIC JUNK MAIL:
Not only should we be prepared to get junk mail in our electronic
mailboxes, but now on the telephone. The FCC says it's received
surprisingly few complaints about the recent proliferation of
automatic calling machines, which retail for between $3,000 and
$10,000 and are capable of dialing up a call a minute. Schools
are even using them to call the homes of truant children. Those who
use them claim they're cheaper than human callers, who can cost $25
an hour, on average, compared to the machine's overhead of $20 an hour.
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CONTACT: MURRAY ROMAN (telemarketing consultant)
NEW YORK, N.Y.
212-957-8520
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[***][1/1/84][***]
ELECTRONIC SUPERMARKET:
January 1 is the date for the nation's first computerized food shopping
service. Grocery Express in San Francisco goes online to anyone who
calls via computer, offering up its own shopping list, and promising
delivery the same day. Delivery charges are a mear $3 or so, which
sure beats the gas and effort required to lug 10 to 15 bags home in
your car.
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CONTACT: MICHAEL MEAGHER
GROCERY EXPRESS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
415-641-5460
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[***][1/1/84][***]
WARNING TO COMPUTER-KIDS:
An M.I.T. professor claims that kids can get "too much computer"
if Mom and Dad defer them to the CRT (once it was just the TV) instead
of giving them personalized attention. Saying kids can get "psychotic"
he insists that 3 or 4 out of every 1000 children get addicted to
computers, making those children more impersonal and withdrawn.
"They could be very dangerous people," says Seymour Pappert, but
he admits more research is needed.
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CONTACT: SEYMOUR PAPPERT, PROF. OF MATHEMATICS
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
CAMBRIDGE, MA.
617-253-4381
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