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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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1991-10-04
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[***][8/7/84][***]
REBIRTH OF THE PCJR:
Hoping to revive IBM's youngest member, the company unveiled a new typewriter-
style keyboard and optional memory expansion attachments for the PCjr. The
new keyboards are standard with the PCjr; owners of the old keyboards can
get replacements free of charge. The optional memory expansion--which upgrades
the memory from 64K to 128K, with additional expansion to 512K possible--is
only available for the "enhanced PCjr" which lists for $999. The basic 64K
PCjr price remains the same--$599. Other optional accessories, only available
for the "enhanced PCjr", include a Power Expansion Attachment, a Speech
Attachment (which contains 196 built-in words and can record speech thru a
microphone input), a "ColorPaint" cartridge program (similar to a Koala Pad),
and a cartridge or diskette-based "Andrew Tobias Managing Your Money" program
for financial management. In addition, IBM announced that the Lotus-1-2-3
integrated software will be available for the PCjr as a snap-on ROM
cartridge, priced at $495. IBM also used the press conference (7/31) to
promote its "Writing to Read" system, a complete hardware, software and book
package for a classroom which IBM tested over the last 2 years in 225 schools.
The reading and writing system, which costs just under $16,000, has been
endorsed by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J. The multi-
faceted news conference has sparked new life for the PCjr--especially as
a viable educational tool. The memory expansion also permits the machine
to run most of the programs written for IBM's PC. IBM will top off the
week's excitement by holding another major news conference August 14 in
Dallas. Speculation has it the announcement will include unveiling of the
"Popcorn"--said to be a system that can handle up to eight computers in a
small local area network.
----
CONTACT: JILL LISCOM
IBM
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA
305-241-7623
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
OSBORNE SETBACK:
According to a report published in the Business Journal (San Jose), Adam
Osborne's new venture, Paperback Software, is running into trouble getting
financial backing. Osborne is reportedly thinking of shelving his new
company for up to nine months. Designed to be a "middleman" between
independent software developers and major distribution outlets, Paperback
Software needs $2 million in venture capital to get the presses rolling.
"It's selling, but it has taken a little longer to place, that's all,"
Osborne reportedly told reporter Mike Brennan. Several bookstore chains
including B Dalton and Waldenbooks report they're ready to sell Osborne's
product once they get it. Apparently investors are wary of putting their
money into the venture following the demise of Osborne's original company.
----
CONTACT: PAPERBACK SOFTWARE
BERKELEY, CA.
415-644-2116
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
MORE ON KAYPRO:
Following the departure of three top-ranking Kaypro executives within the
last two weeks, three more have taken their place. John Hentrich (Director
of Finance), Dave Castellini (Vertical Marketing Manager) and John Haehl
(Director of Materiel) joined the company during the end of July. The
shakeup follows rumors that Kaypro is in some financial difficulty. One
supplier to Kaypro feeling the pinch is Drivetec, a Milpitas, Ca. disk drive
manufacturer. Kaypro made a big cut in a floppy drive order from Drivetec.
The timing couldn't have been worse. Drivetec had lined up $10 million
in venture capital; half of it was lost following the news. In addition,
10% of the firm's 156 employees were laid off.
----
CONTACT: MARGARET PHANES
KAYPRO
SOLANO BEACH, CA.
619-259-4509
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
VISI-CRUNCH:
VisiCorp, once a shining star among software firms, threw out the baby with
the bathwater last week, selling off its biggest R&D effort, the product
that was supposed to return it to profitability. The "Visi On" software
series was sold to Control Data Corp. for a reported $2.5 million dollars.
VisiCorp can still publish and market the product but Control
Data has the rights and is legally, the author of "Visi On" software.
Says John Kiefer of InfoCorp, "VisiCorp clearly needs the cash." A VisiCorp
spokeswoman calls the company's financial situation "stable" and says the
company will now focus more on software publishing rather than development.
----
CONTACT: VISICORP
SAN JOSE, CA.
408-649-3896
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
SOFTWARE RATING:
"Software Digest Rating Newsletter" came up with some revelations in its
recent survey of software users. Ten people test twenty software packages
each month. The results of the test include: Visicorp's "Visi Plot" doesn't
work with a plotter!! Software To Go's "OmniFile" does in four seconds what
Applied Software Technology's "Versa Form" does in three hours and 40 minutes.
"Powertext" from Beaman Porter, Inc. is so difficult to learn that the
average user may spend a day just figuring out how to print a page. Sorcim's
"Supercalc" was considered the best integrated package on the market. And
the programs "Intecalc" from Intesoft/Schuchardt Software Systems and "Report
Manager" from Datamension are practically the same programs--the difference is
price. The latter costs $495, the former costs $295.
----
CONTACT: SOFTWARE DIGEST
WYNNEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
MAIL WARS:
Federal Express plans to spend $1.2 BILLION over the next ten years to
expand its mail service--a project that includes the launching of three
space satellites. "ZapMail" is the beginning of its project, once code-
named "Gemini". Other plans include installing 50-thousand transmitter
terminals in customers' offices, beginning this fall. Meanwhile, Western
Union is expanding its "Easylink" electronic mail delivery service. In
spending $115 million by the end of the year, Western Union is aiming to
sign up double the 65,000 people now using the service. As for its
"Airfone" ground-to-jet telephone service, that's on schedule, according
to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The "Airfone" has been successfully
tested and will be available on long-distance flights in a few months.
No charges for the credit-card activated phone service have been disclosed.
----
CONTACT: WESTERN UNION
UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NEW JERSEY
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
GM METAMORPHOSIS:
One month after buying Electronic Data Systems of Dallas, GM is buying
portions of three robotic vision manufacturers--Automatix Inc. of Billerica,
Ma., View Engineering Inc. of Simi Valley, Ca., and Diffracto Ltd. of Windsor,
Ontario. In its move to go head-to-head with Japan's robotic assembly lines,
GM's partial acquisition of these companies means more of their technology
will migrate to the factory floor. All three companies previously GM
suppliers and are considered among the best in the robotic vision industry.
----
[***][8/7/84][***]
BRIEFS--
THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY is celebrating passage of a Senate bill which
reduces fines against firms convicted of anti-trust violations. If signed
by President Reagan, the bill would open the door to more collaborative
efforts between high tech companies.
-
SOURCES SAY IBM is preparing to enter the drive market next year. They say
IBM/JAPAN is preparing half-height 5.25-inch Winchester disk drives for
sale in the U.S.
-
WARNER'S co-chief operating officer and chief executive at ATARI is expected
to leave the company soon. Emanuel "Manny" Gerard, 51, ran Atari prior to
the appointment of James Morgan. Gerard is believed headed for Hasbro, the
toy-maker.
-
STRANGE BUT TRUE DEPARTMENT..Candy Wozniak, wife of Apple's Steve Wozniak,
was arrested for scalping tickets at the Olympics. Undercover officers in
Los Angeles say she was selling two gymnastics tickets for $200 each. The
tickets are worth $95 each. Mrs. Wozniak had another $11,000 worth of tickets
on her person, according to the police. Steve Wozniak donated $100,000 to
the Olympics. No word on why all this happened...
-
FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN has surfaced in Los Angeles as a
legal counsel to a firm with many high-tech clients. He's working for
Reavis and McGrath and will be involved with overseas high-tech manufacturers
seeking to set up shop in the U.S.
-
WHEN THE WHALE SWIMS AWAY...the little fish are lost. That's why INTERMETRICS
of Cambridge, Ma., is struggling to find new customers following IBM's decision
to quit buying its software. No word was given for the IBM cut from an
undisclosed software project but it caused Intermetrics to consider layoffs.
IBM accounts for 17% of the company's revenues.
-
DIGITAL RESEARCH has laid off 13 employees following a reorganization,
according to a company spokesman. Dave Grabel says the company's consumer
division is in question. The consumer division markets "Owlcat", "Vidalink",
"Personal CP/M" and "Dr. Logo".
-
DYNABYTE, whose president is calling the computer market "meaner than Hell"
has filed for bankruptcy. The Milpitas, Ca. computer-maker and service
company recalled a quarter of its machines in 1982 due to defects; it's
never recovered financially.
-
APPLE COMPUTER is now expected to make its next major product splash in
October or November. Among the products touted for introduction are the
AppleBus (LAN network) and the "Fat Mac" with 512K.
-
TANDON CORPORATION of Chatsworth, Ca. has filed a $150 million lawsuit against
former employees Felix Markhovsky and Michael Anisimov, and two companies, charr
own disk drives.
-
VISA U.S.A. has fingered 407 merchants, saying they're responsible for an
unusually high number of fraudulent credit card transactions. The dragnet
was made possible by the first computerized report that pinpoints the
source of large numbers of fraudulent claims. Spokesmen say the targeted
firms include a "fantasy telephone" service and a restaurant in Milan, Italy.
-
COMMODORE and the Federal Trade Commission have reached agreement on a
dispute over Commodore's ad claims. The complaint was filed in August 1982
when Commodore's ad boasted that the "64" could run a number of CP/M
packages with its plug-in Z-80 cartridge. The cartridge wasn't available
until summer of 1983. The outcome of the agreement is that Commodore must
"put up or shut up" until products are available. The decision is expected
to affect every computer-maker, many of whom frequently advertise products
not on the market.
-
SECRETARIES are becoming a vanishing species according to a report issued
by Gottfried Consultants, Inc. of Los Angeles. Ira Gottfied estimates that
within 10 years, half of today's 3-million secretarial jobs will be turned
over to computers. That's the bad news. The good news is that secretaries
with computer skills may get a title change and a pay boost, instead called
"administrative assistants" or "executive assistants."
-
ONLINE DATABASE SERVICES will grow 21% a year for the next five years--this
from Creative Strategies, International, a market research firm in San
Jose. Its report, titled "Online Database Services" costs $1,600 and
while forcasting a rosy future, also warns that problems need to be addressed.
Among them--system security and government control of information. In all,
some 2,225 databases currently exist worldwide.
-
THE CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD is expected to require all airlines with
computerized reservation services to list flights in order of times and
service, without bias to the host airline's flights. The CAB gave final
approval to the regulation (7/31) which will take effect this fall. United
and American Airlines own the largest computer reservation services which
are used by 80-percent of the nation's travel agents.
-