Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/mac/Text/Mac Text/1986/V166

Text File | 1991-09-23 | 59KB | 1,238 lines

[***][8/05/86][***]
YOCAM CLIMBS THE APPLE TREE
Del Yocum, a man credited with doing most of the brainwork on
Apple's recent reorganization (which ultimately led to a leaner,
meaner, more profitable corporation) has been promoted to the
firm's highest position short of John Sculley's presidency.
Yocum was promoted from VP of product operations to chief
operating officer.  Said Sculley in the prepared announcement,
"With Apple now set on a clear...course for the future, this
was the right time to create this position...Del is a logical
and obvious choice for this job."  Said Del, his top priority
will be to make sure that Apple "remains the mst exciting place
to work in the microcomputer industry."  He also promised to
double R & D money at Apple, adding, "I don't want to just talk
innovation, I want to ship innovation."

On another note, September 19th is the date CALIFORNIA TECHNOLOGY
STOCK LETTER says Apple will unveil its new Apple II.  It
"should create some excitement for Christmas (but) the main
problem...is IBM clone competition.  You'll be able to buy a
loaded computer this Christmas for under $700."

[***][8/05/86][***]
NEXT'S FIRST PRODUCT
WriteNow will be the first product from Steve Jobs' Next, Inc. to go
on the market when it is shipped in September.  A word processing
program for the Macintosh, WriteNow originally came from Solaster,
a Seattle software firm which Jobs purchased last December.
Marketing the product for Next, Inc. will be T/Maker Co. of
Mountain View, Ca.  The Solaster program is the basis for software
which Jobs hopes to adapt to his educational workstation.

[***][8/05/86][***]
DEJA VU
The two founders of Corvus Systems have gone off to start their
own company, and all they'll say is that their consumer electronics
product will have something to do with a TV and VCR.  Much as
Steve Wozniak went off to produce a television peripheral,
Mark Hahn and Michael D'Addio have started Videonics Inc. in
Los Gatos.  Hahn is best known for co-inventing the Omninet
LAN and Corvus Mirror, a device which permits data backup on
videotape.  The exact nature of their new product is still a
mystery; all they're saying is that it's a peripheral for a
videotape recorder that will sell for $700-$1,000.  The
team aims to show it off at the Consumer Electronics Show in
January.

[***][8/05/86][***]
HEWLETT PACKARD TALKS
The latest product out of HP is called Office Talk, a $995
telephone manager for the Vectra and IBM/AT compatibles and
HP has purchased a minority interest in the company that
created it.  HP purchased "less than 10%" of Natural MicroSystems
of Natick, Ma.  The firm will also supply voice processing
hardware, software and application-development tools as an
OEM to HP.  The Office Talk product makes, answers, logs, and
forwards telephone calls, stores up to 500 names and phone
numbers in a directory database, has an appointments diary,
memo pad, and several other features that can be controlled
through voice or keyboard input.

CONTACT:  Charles Foskett, NATURAL MICROSYSTEMS, 617/655-0700
          Debra Kelley, HEWLETT PACKARD, 408/865-6473

[***][8/05/86][***]
NEW ZORK TIMES GETS ZONKED
Activision's subsidiary Infocom has just given up its fight to
keep the name of its newsletter "The New Zork Times."  It seems
megapublisher "New York Times," has been complaining that the "Zork"
newsletter's name and look (it was designed in a similar graphic
style to the Times) infringed on the New York daily's trademark
and copyright.  Not wanting to make waves, the Zork people had
a board meeting and their only dilemma was what to change the
name of the newsletter TO.  They chose "The Status Line" rather
than three astericks ("***").  NEWSBYTES votes for the three
astericks...and three dots to the Times' attorneys...

[***][8/05/86][***]
CHRISTMAS CHEER FROM ATARI
Atari and Hi Tech Expressions of Coconut Grove, Fla. are teaming
up to provide computers and software in pediatric wards of
hospitals in 10 US cities this Christmas.  Atari will donate
28 Atari 130 computers, along with printers and joysticks,
while Hi Tech Expressions, a division of Thoughtware, provides
its complete line of greeting-card and novelty software,
including PartyWare, HeartWare, and Jingle Disks.  Martha
Schriver of Hi Tech Expressions puts it this way, "We'll
take the party to the children."  The exact hospitals where
the computers and software will go has yet to be finalized.
Nice idea, eh?

CONTACT:  Martha Schriver, HI TECH EXPRESSIONS, 305/854-2318

[***][8/05/86][***]
CONROY LAPOINT GOES BANKRUPT
Said to be one of the industry's oldest mail-order houses,
Conroy LaPointe Inc. of Tigard, Oregon has filed for
Chapter 11 protection.  The chain also has three retail
stores, one in San Francisco's financial district.  A
spokeswoman for the firm says the bankruptcy of its distributor,
National Micro, was the chief reason for its own demise,
but that new managers are hoping to solve the firm's
financial problems.  Conroy LaPointe lists $3.4 million in
debt, assets of $3.1 million, and is owned by Oteh Group,
Inc., owner of Magnum Computer, a clone-maker which was just
slapped with a heavy fine by the FCC for making IBM-clones
which did not meet radio emission standards.

[***][8/05/86][***]
RASPBERRIES FOR COMPUTER RETAILERS, STUDY FINDS
An overwhelming majority (78 out of 80 respondents) in a new
survey commissioned by ComputerLand shows that most people
think shopping for a new computer is an unpleasant experience.
The study, conducted by ComputerLand's ad agency, Lewis
Browand and Associates, involved interviews with groups of
20 ComputerLand customers in San Francisco, Tampa, Chicago,
and Hartford.  The customers complained mostly of inconsiderate
salespeople who were only interested in closing a sale, not
just at ComputerLand stores, but at computer stores in general.
ComputerLand spokeswoman Marian Murphy says the study is
being used to construct a major October sales campaign aimed
at polishing up the retail chain's reputation.

CONTACT:  Marian Murphy, COMPUTERLAND CORPORATION, Hayward,
          Ca. 415/839-5230

[***][8/05/86][***]
BRIEFS --

THE FOURTH PERSONAL COMPUTER FAIRE returns to Brooks Hall and
the Civic Center in San Francisco September 25-27.  Mark your
calendars.  For more info, contact THE INTERFACE GROUP in
Needham, MA  617/449-6600

Chipmaker SEEQ TECHNOLOGY INC. of San Jose has laid off 150
of its 425 workers, blaming the layoffs on fierce price competition
among makers of EPROMS, its main product.

TANDEM COMPUTERS of Cupertino, Ca. has won a contract from Western
Airlines to supply a computer network that will link the airline's
offices to its headquarters in Los Angeles.

The AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION says turnover in the electronics
industry was at its lowest level in five years in 1985.  The
figures are based on a survey of 1,000 firms.  In 1985, 17.6
percent of employees within the firms changes jobs, compared to
20% in 1984.

ASHTON TATE and APPLE COMPUTER hold a press conference August 11
to announced a "major new software product for the Macintosh
computer."

BRODERBUND SOFTWARE has released an interesting new game called
"The Toy Shop."  It lets the user create working mechanical models,
customize the model with patterns, graphics and text, and print
the precision parts on any paper that can be used with their
printers.  Now available for Apple II, Macintosh and IBM PC, it
retails for between $60-$65.

[***][8/05/86][***]
BEST PR OF THE WEEK
Leave it to Jan Lewis (Palo Alto Research Group) and her associates
to come up with a product hook that journalists won't be able to
resist.  They're offering a free trip for two to Hawaii to the
winner of their "First Spreadsheet Disaster Recovery Contest."
All an entrant has to do is submit a spreadsheet which had a
common error in it.  The contest is in response to a suit just
filed against Lotus by a Florida construction company which
claims it underbid a contract by a quarter million dollars
because the spreadsheet program used to determine the bid had
an error in it.  So submit those spreadsheets!  Oh--and the
product hook?  Consumers Software, associated with Lewis' PARC,
is spearheading the contest.  It just so happens that they
make Spreadsheet Auditor, a spreadsheet error checking utility.
Says the company's Director of Marketing Paul Gallagher, "The
contest is open to all spreadsheet users.  They don't have to
use The Spreadsheet Auditor to be eligible, but finding
errors, making notes and printing spreadsheets and formulas
are much simpler with it!"

CONTACT:  (Send entries to) CONSUMERS SOFTWARE, 8315 Monterey
          Street, Suite A, Gilroy, Ca. 95020  408/848-3385


[***][8/05/86][***]
ANOTHER ATLANTA COMPUTER STORE BITES THE DUST
Rich's, an Atlanta-based unit of Federated Department Stores,
Cincinnati, OH, is losing its 3 computer stores. Computer Depot
of Eden Prairie, MN, which had been leasing space in Rich's, is
closing the outlets in 3 Rich's departments stores around Atlanta
as part of a plan to get out of Chapter 11.  Rich's hasn't
decided whether to go into the business itself, so, bye.

A Rich's spokesperson said the company will still take care of
those who bought computers in the old Computer Depot stores.

CONTACT: Ann Berg, RICHS, 45 Broad St., P.O. Box 4539, Atlanta,
         GA 30302 [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
TANDY'S NEW LINE FOR FALL
Tandy chairman John Roach is aiming an IBM PC AT compatible at
the IBM PC XT market. The Tandy 3000 HL uses an 80286 chip and
the basic box costs $1,699 with floppy drives (mix and match 3
drive slots yourself), there are 7 slots and a small footprint,
and you can go up to 40 megabytes on a hard disk. Or for $500
less you can go with an 8088 chip in the Tandy 1000 SX. For
another $400 less the Tandy 1000 EX is the same thing in a box
which looks like an Apple II. Or for $300, they'll sell you a
new version of their Color Computer with 128K which has been
quietly selling since 1980.

(Tandy's announcements are important because its huge chain of
stores establishes a retail floor price for the coming year. If
you're selling much below this, you likely haven't got a sales
floor.)

CONTACT: Fran McGehee, TANDY, 1800 One Tandy Center, Ft. Worth,
         TX 76102 [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
STB SYSTEMS CLAIMS TO BE FIRST TO ADD ON TO PC CONVERTIBLE
STB Systems Inc. of Richardson announced an add-on for the IBM PC
Convertible which brings the machine up to 640K using low-power
CMOS chips. The name, C-RAM 384. IBM has a board that brings the
machine up to 512K, STB said.

(The only surprise here is that it took so long. Anyone remember
when a bounty was placed by a board maker on the PC jr so he
could get boards out for it faster?)

CONTACT: Pam Harris, STB, 601 North Glenville, Richardson, TX
         75081 [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
FUTURE COMPUTING PLAYS GOOD HOUSEKEEPING FOR TANDY
Future Computing of Dallas, now owned by McGraw-Hill, had a page
in this season's Tandy press guide with the word TESTED in big,
red letters, the way TOP SECRET must be on good reading in
Washington. The release goes on to say that "Future Computing has
rated the system tested as being operationally compatible with
the IBM PC AT," although "Future Computing makes no
representation that it tested every possible factor relating to
the computer's ability to operate with named software." There are
also lists of the packages tested, and their vendors.

CONTACT: Pam Crosby, FUTURE COMPUTING, 8111 LBJ Freeway, Dallas,
         TX 75251 [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
COMPAQ KEEPS MAKING MORE MONEY
If Compaq Computer wanted to rub it in on its Houston neighbors,
it might headline earnings releases, "It's a Gusher!" For the
first half of 1986 the company announced net income of nearly $18
million, against $10.1 million a year ago, with a gross profit
margin in the second quarter of 41.9%, up from 31.5% a year ago.
Volume for the six months was $291 million.

(The humor here is that the company's offices are just a few
miles from some of the biggest U.S. oil finds of the early 20th
century and, of course, that the rest of the local economy is
in the toilet.)

CONTACT: Jeff Stives, COMPAQ, 20555 FM 149, Houston, TX 77070
         [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
NERDS NIGHT OUT: QUADRAM ROAD SHOW FOR MEMORY CARDS
Quadram people will troop through fancy hotels all around the
country for the next month doing seminars to tell anyone who
wants to know that their QuadEMS+ memory card works with both its
own and Intel-Lotus-Microsoft's competing EMS standard, and that
it doesn't have dip switches. Plus, you get PC DOS XM from
Digital Research absolutely free! (Pay attention, this is state-
of-the-art marketing here.)

CONTACT: QUADRAM, One Quad Way, Norcross, GA 30093 [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
LAWYER SUING LOTUS EXPECTS FIRM TO SETTLE
John Squitero, an attorney for Ft. Lauderdale construction firm
James A. Cummings Inc., expects Lotus Development Corp. to settle
a $250,000 suit he filed charging that a 1-2-3 bug caused his
client to submit a bid that was "too low" on a project.
(Full coverage of this story in NEWSBYTES-NORTHEAST.)

CONTACT: John Squitero, Katz, Barron, Squitero & Faust, 2699
         South Bayshore Dr., Suite 700A, Miami, FL 33133 (305)
         856-2444

[***][8/05/86][***]
PECAN BYTES --

SAMNA, Atlanta, announced a new version of its Word III software
for the Torus Tapestry network. Torus is based in the United
Kingdom. Its Samna+ program was also ported to the AT&T 3B2 under
Unix.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS Austin, TX, wants value-added resellers to come
flocking to it for "VAR Start V," which gives new outlets a 55%
discount on its Business Pro Xenix system when it's used for
software development purposes in-house. They'll also get a free
course on Xenix V. (Now how much would you pay?)

DATA ACCESS, Miami, announced its DataFlex database program is
now available for VAX/VMS and the UNIX V operating systems. It
was developed in 1981 to run under TurboDOS. (An old operating
system but a goodie.)

BLOC DEVELOPMENT, Miami Beach, FL, announced version 2.0 of its
FormTool form generator will ship September 15 and cost $95. It
replaces a version given away free with Quadram laser printers.

FORBES-ISM OF THE WEEK:

                  WE WANT NEW TOYS! WE'RE BORED!
               But you just got your IBM PC, dear.

[***][8/05/86][***]
AND FINALLY
Typewriters that talk back and complain about our spoken letters
are on the horizon, says International Resource Development,
Norwalk, CT.  The first step in that direction comes out late
this year, a "Talkwriter" which puts dictation directly onto a
printed page as you speak. (Including the "uh-huhs," "gosh darns"
and "wait a minutes," no doubt.)


[***][8/05/86][***]
TANDON FURLOUGHS 270, DISMISSES 225 OTHERS
Announcing late Friday that the company will post a "substantial
loss" for its third quarter, Tandon Corp. reported that it would
padlock one manufacturing plant and temporarily halt operations
at two others.  In the process, 225 workers at the firm's San
Jose disk-drive factory will be pink-slipped while 270 more in
Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley will be taking a six-week vacation
without pay.  Dan Wilkie, Tandon's president and CEO, said the
disk-drive and computer maker expects to incur losses at least
through December and possibly into March.  Wilkie also stated
that Tandon has been hurt by delays in setting up retail outlets
for its name-brand personal computer line.  IBM's recent price
cuts came at the worst possible time for Tandon, said Wilkie, a
former IBM executive.  He said the price reductions by Big Blue
were expected in the fall, not in the same month as Tandon's
roll-out of the PCX and PCA computer models.

CONTACT:  TANDON CORP., 20320 Prairie, Chatsworth, CA 91311
          [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
RESCUE PLAN FAILS, EAGLE LIQUIDATES
Unable to convince its major creditor to accept a desperate
scheme to reduce its debts, Eagle Computer announced that it
would be forced to liquidate.  Bank of America, Eagle's largest
single creditor, said it would forgive the troubled firm's $4.8-
million debt in exchange for a $600,000 note and a guarantee
that its holdings in Eagle would not be diluted.  Eagle
president Gary Kappenman countered with a plan of his own,
offering a $177,000 note along with Eagle stock, an amount equal
to the company's book value.  The bank rejected the deal, and
Kappenman decided to pink-slip the firm's remaining 13
employees, padlock the doors, and sell the furniture.  Overall,
Eagle owes about $7.2 million and will liquidate under Chapter 7
of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

CONTACT:  EAGLE COMPUTER, 7100 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove, CA
          92641   [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
MICRONETICS STILL SINKING, TRANSFERS FLAG TO NEW YORK
Anticipating a loss of over $7 million for its fiscal year,
National Micronetics reports that it will close its San Diego
headquarters and move to Kingston, N.Y.  The computer-component
maker also announced that it would sell its Semi Films division
once the move was complete.  Semi Films manufactures thin-film
resistor networks, and is being put on the block to "reduce debt
and provide working capital," according to the firm.  For the
record, National Micronetics has lost more than $50 million in
the last two years.  Perhaps that's one reason the firm also
announced that company co-founder Ned Buoymaster has resigned as
president.  He will stay on as chairman and CEO.

[***][8/05/86][***]
WESTERN DIGITAL PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF CLONE GAME
Perhaps the recent swarm of low-cost IBM-compatibles from the
Orient worries some manufacturers, but not Western Digital.  The
Irvine-based supplier of expansion boards and hard-disk
controller cards, you see, supplies both sides in the current
clone war.  "If the clones get more business, so do I," says
Western Digital's chairman Roger Johnson.  "And if IBM stomps
all over them, then I get more IBM business.  All I care about
is that more computers are sold."  Johnson's strategy seems to
be working famously.  Last week, the company announced sales of
$275.4 million for its fiscal year ended June 30.  That's up 58
percent from last year.  Borrowing an analogy from the
automotive industry, Johnson attributes Western Digital's
success to building products that are standard issue.
"Basically, we sell customized high-tech spark plugs," says
Johnson.  "We have a generic product that can meet many
applications.  We just have to develop the opportunities."

[***][8/05/86][***]
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORP. ON THE MOVE
In a flurry of press announcements, Computer Sciences Corp. of
El Segundo reports that it bought one company, finished
exchanging some of its own securities, and expects to hire
several dozen more employees later this year.  The new
acquisition is Computer Partners of Waltham, Mass., the stock
swap exchanges $33.6 million in convertible debentures for
common shares, and the new workers will be needed in Camarillo
for a new $24-million Navy contract.  And if that wasn't enough
for one week, the giant computer-services firm also announced
that first quarter profits were up 28 percent on a 25 percent
increase in revenues over last year.

[***][8/05/86][***]
CORPORATE "USERS' GROUP" SPONSOR IN THE CHIPS
Nothing succeeds like success, and there's a sucker born every
minute.  Two noble axioms probably framed in different locations
of the Office Technology Research Group in Pasadena.  The
company is, quite simply, a Fortune 500 "users' group," featuring
twice-a-year meetings, a newsletter, and even a small reference
library.  Members can answer each other's questions about
software problems, call each other on the telephone with advice,
and just share their experience with computers.  For that
"service," Office Technology Research rakes in annual dues of
$10,000 from each participating company.  Of course, this
meeting-of-the-megausers attracts the likes of ARCO, Bank of
America, Hughes Aircraft, Warner Lambert and Eastman Kodak.
"They help each other address the key issues of what happens
when they move technology into the office," says OTRG Executive
Director John Connell.  "That saves the membership fee several
times over."

[***][8/05/86][***]
BEACHBITS

>>>  Dataproducts of Woodland Hills reported on the results of
     its strict cost-control program last week.  The printer
     maker posted a $2.5-million profit in its first quarter
     ended June 28.  That's up from a $19.4-million loss last
     year.

>>>  C.Itoh Digital Products of Torrance is now shipping its
     seven-color ProWriter C-310 and C-315 matrix printers.  The
     new models can print color graphics up to 240 x 216 bpi,
     and support 1-2-3, Symphony, GEM and PC-Paint software
     packages, among others.  Prices range from $739 to $909 for
     the devices, depending on features.

>>>  Computer-monitor maker Thomson Consumer Products has moved
     into larger digs in Culver City from Marina del Rey.  The
     new building triples the size of the firm's manufacturing
     area.

>>>  Western Digital of Irvine says it has been on an
     acquisition safari, capturing ADSI of Pomona.  ADSI makes
     disk and tape controllers.  The terms of the takeover were
     not announced.



[***][8/05/86][***]
SUIT AGAINST LOTUS MAKES INDUSTRY NERVOUS
A suit filed against Lotus Development by a Florida construction
company is causing tremors in the personal computer software
industry. The suit, filed last October, claims that a defect in
the Symphony spreadsheet resulted in $254,000 in general and
administrative expenses not being added to a bid. The company
won the bid, and in the suit is asking Lotus to pay the
$254,000. Although Lotus officials at first refused comment,
they're now talking confidently about easily winning the suit. A
Lotus spokesperson said the construction company made a
fundamental error, and tried to make the spreadsheet do
something that it couldn't do--something that was clearly warned
against in the documentation.

Even though the suit won't go to trial until next February,
officials at some software companies are obviously worried that
the suit, whether won or lost by Lotus, could open the
litigation floodgates for the software industry, from which it's
been relatively immune. (For a lively discussion about the suit
and its implications, join the "LOTUS LAWSUIT" conference in
PARTI here on The Source.)

Meanwhile, the rumors mills are busily buzzing about Lotus'
unannounced "engineering and scientific word processor," which
is supposedly in final beta test and is being shown to potential
corporate customers. A Lotus insider told NEWSBYTES that the
product will be introduced within the next 60 days and has
"unique" features. Lotus apparently hasn't made a final decision
on the price. (It's at this point that we're supposed to say
that "Lotus declined comment on unannounced products;" but why
bother?)

CONTACT:  Lotus Development, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA
          02142, 617-577-8500

[***][8/05/86][***]
DEC EARNINGS WAY UP
You can't blame DEC executives for the Chesire-cat!smiles that
are routine throughout the company's headquarters this week. DEC
announced that earnings are up 138% this quarter -- to
$238.6 million, as opposed to $100.4 million for the same period
last year. The results came on sales of $2.176 billion, as DEC
bucked the industry "downturn" trend.

Meanwhile, DEC continues to take aggressive steps to keep the
trend going. The company cut memory prices 50% for its MicroVax
II systems, and announced new boards using something called the
"ZIP" (Zigzag Inline Package) to cram up to 8 megs of RAM on a
single board. At the same time, DEC created two new positions
designed to help the company further specialize in vertical
markets. They now have a Director of Financial Industry
Marketing and a Director of Media Industry Marketing.

Finally, about a year ago, DEC aggressively entered the
laserdisk (CD-ROM) market with a player and a series of twelve
CD-ROMs with scientific and professional databases.  But after a
series of apparent problems, DEC has quietly stopped selling the
disks and says it'll no longer be involved in the marketing of
information on laserdisk. Although they'll continue to sell
their laserdisk players for personal computers, DEC and the
companies that provided the information for the disks apparently
had some problems and misunderstandings, especially since DEC's
major business isn't publishing. A DEC spokesperson says that
now that CD-ROMs are slowly becoming generally available, they
no longer have to worry about their player customers having
access to the media.

CONTACT:  Digital Equipment Corporation, The Mill, Maynard, MA
          01754, 617-897-5111

[***][8/05/86][***]
WANG GOES AFTER LEGAL MARKET
Not to be outdone in the continually-growing-hot vertical
markets department, Wang Laboratories has made two moves to put
its collective corporate foot further into the legal industry's
door, especially since Wang claims that 40% of the nation's
largest law firms use Wang equipment.

First, Wang signed an agreement with a Midwest company to
jointly develop products for the legal industry. West Publishing
Company of St. Paul, MN and Wang say they plan to introduce
hardware and software systems for lawyers within the next year.
West Publishing has been supplying legal data for 110 years and
is best known currently for its WESTLAW database. Not
surprisingly, both companies say they're considering CD-ROM
technology.

Wang also acquired a minority stake in Custom Software Services
of Bellevue, WA -- which markets legal-industry software. A Wang
spokesperson wouldn't say how much they've invested in the
company.

CONTACT:  Wang Laboratories, One Industrial Ave., Lowell, MA
          01851, 617-459-5000

[***][8/05/86][***]
AT&T REDUCES COMPUTER PRICES AGAIN
Computer industry analysts (and many dealers) are in agreement
that AT&T hasn't exactly had rousing success in marketing its
line of personal computers. Several months ago, AT&T announced
major price cuts at both the retail and dealer level for both
the 6300 series and Unix PCs. This past week, AT&T cut prices
again, but this time for dealers only. The move is similar to
what IBM did recently for their computers. Besides cutting
dealer cost by up to 30%, the company also started an aggressive
three-part dealer promotion program which includes a large co-op
advertising program, an incentive program that gives dealers and
salespeople cash bonuses for selling AT&T computers, and a
financing plan for dealers. Whether dealers will pass the
savings along to their customers is a good question that was
sidestepped by several dealers contacted by NEWSBYTES. But it
might be a good time to make a deal.

[***][8/05/86][***]
SOUTHWESTERN BELL CALLS OFF BOSTON CELLULAR BUY
Remember? It wasn't long ago that the phone company was THE
PHONE COMPANY, a single seemingly-omniscient force. Well, things
have changed, and the now-independent Bell Operating Companies
are moving aggressively out of their geographic areas (e.g.,
Nynex's recent acquisition of the entire chain of IBM Product
Centers).  Earlier this month, Southwestern Bell announced that
it'd be moving into New England into direct competition with
Nynex by buying half of Cellular One, one of the Boston area's
cellular phone service. But on Thursday, Southwestern Bell said
it was pulling out of the purchase. A source close to the
situation said Southwestern Bell had problems with the terms of
the sale, and decided to pull out.

[***][8/05/86][***]
CULLINET SAYS LOSSES ON THE WAY
The number two supplier of mainframe software after IBM,
Westwood, MA-based Cullinet Software announced early this past
week that it "may" have losses for the next two quarters, with
financial results that won't meet previously-announced
expectations. Company President and CEO David Chapman said
problems are being caused by "softness in the IBM mainframe
market, reductions in capital spending, and general economic
uncertainty." Investors took Chapman at his word; Cullinet stock
fell 2-3/4 to 8-1/8 the next day, and closed the week at 8-1/4.

Meanwhile, the man who resigned as Cullinet president last March
after being passed over for the CEO position has been named
president of a Massachusetts AI developer. 38-year-old Robert
Goldman will head Artificial Intelligence Corporation of
Waltham, a seven-year-old company.

[***][8/05/86][***]
BOSTON'S COMPUTER MUSEUM IN TROUBLE?
With a "slumping economy making fund raising difficult," and
stiff competition from the Smithsonian Institution, the Boston
Computer Museum's board of directors this week met to discuss
ways of increasing the pace of raising the $10 million goal
they've set for 1989. Besides deciding to meet three times a
year instead of once, the board announced they're starting a
search for a new director to replace Gwen Bell, who's been
director since the museums's 1984 opening. Bell will stay with
the museum, but will pursue "long range thinking" as director of
exhibitions and collections. Although attendance at the downtown
Boston museum is up nearly 25% over last year, museum directors
are concerned about the direct competition coming from the
Smithsonian, which plans to open an exhibit entitled "The
Information Revolution" at the National Museum of American
History in 1989. The Smithsonian has announced that it's looking
for an Apple I, an IBM 701, and other vintage computers for the
exhibition, prompting a Boston Museum director to comment that
the two museums should "cooperate, not compete."

CONTACT:  The Computer Museum, 300 Congress St., Boston, MA
          02210, 617-426-2800

[***][8/05/86][***]
COMPUTER MALL FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE?
New Hampshire's two-store Computer Town chain has built a good
business in Salem and Nashua, two towns just over the border
from Massachusetts. Because of New Hampshire's lack of a sales
tax, Massachusetts residents and companies often flock north
across the border (even though Massachusetts revenue officials
insist that sales tax be paid on products purchased out of
state.) Last fall, Computer Town opened a store in its own
two-floor 35,000 square foot building. But even though they're
doing well, the downturn in the retailing industry means they
haven't needed the planned expansion space. What to do? How
about opening a computer mall? A Computer Town spokesperson says
the firm is looking to sign between 35 and 50 vendors and
value-added resellers to lease booth space in the building.
Those who sign up for space will pay $300 a month plus 5% of
their sales for a "booth." Although the spokesperson wouldn't
say how the process is proceeding, Computer Town hopes to open
its Computer Mall within the next couple months.

[***][8/05/86][***]
QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Things (at Lotus) have become severely corporate"

-- Todd Agulnick, 19-year-old Lotus employee, who was
        originally discovered and hired by Mitch Kapor
        when he was 13 years old (BOSTON GLOBE)



[***][8/05/86][***]
TI JAPAN BEEFS UP ASIC BUSINESS
According to a published report, Texas Instruments Japan has
announced a new plan to push a business for ASICs, such as custom
ICs, gate arrays, and standard cells.  TI Japan will quadruple
the number of the user-service personnel for ASIC in three years.
The company has currently been engaged mainly in DRAMs and TTLs.
The analysts say, TI Japan has changed its business policy in
order to target for an ASIC-oriented Japanese market.

Meanwhile, TI Japan will start producing a 32-bit AI processor
called "LISP Processor" at its Miura plant (Ibaraki pref., Japan)
in September.  The Miura plant is known as one of the most
productive factories of TI.

CONTACT: TI Japan, 4F Aoyama-Fuji Bldg., 3-6-12 Kita-Aoyama,
         Minato-ku, Tokyo 107
         (03-498-2111)

[***][8/05/86][***]
BRINGING UP LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS
Career Network Inc. (Tokyo) will start the first educational
course for machine language-translators, using a personal
computer network on August 4.  During this 16-week course, the
students learn about personal computers, telecommunications, and
the English-Japanese machine translation systems.  After the
course, the students will be given various jobs, such as post-
editing, developing better machine translation systems for
personal computers, etc.  The course seems very popular despite
the course fee of US$750. Currently, there're 700 to 800
applicants, including housewives, airline stewardesses, and
free-lance language translators.

As was already reported in NEWSBYTES-JAPAN, Career Network was
jointly created by an interpreting service company "Simul" and
a language translation system firm "BRAVICE." Japanese and
English are totally different languages, and their translation
work takes lots of skill, time, and energy. Meanwhile, the
demand of such language translation is quite high here.  So,
lots of people have been watching this project.

CONTACT: Career Network, Inc., Akasaka-Taisei Bldg., 1-1-18
         Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo        (03-505-0481)

[***][8/05/86][***]
NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Nippon Musen Corp. (Tokyo) have
jointly developed an automobile navigation system, which uses
a telecommunication satellite.  This system consists of a laser
disk drive unit, a 6-inch CRT display, various sensors, an
antenna controller, and a Global Positioning System Receiver.
With this system equipment, the driver will be able to
know the location of his/her car which is shown on a map of the
display.  The map scrolls as the car proceeds.  The error rate
of the car's location is said to be less than 100 to 30 meters.
The laser disk stores approximately 5,000 maps, which cover
the entire land of Japan.  The system is expected to be released
between US$3,125 and $3,750 in 1989.

CONTACT: Mitsubishi Electric, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku,
         Tokyo 100, Japan

[***][8/05/86][***]
INTERNATIONAL VIDEO-GRAPHICS SOFTWARE FAIR '86
The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry and
Osaka municipal government will hold a large-scale exhibition,
concerning video software and computer graphics in Osaka-Jyo
Hall (Osaka city) on October 24 to 29.  A variety of software
as well as hardware will be shown at the fair.  A symposium will
also be held with many noted lecturers at Hotel New-Otani in
Osaka.  Other attractions, such as a software contest, have been
planned by the authority.

[***][8/05/86][***]
JAPAN-U.S. SEMICONDUCTOR TALK
One-year negotiation between Japan and the U.S. over semi-
conductor issues reached a final stage on July 31.  The major
points of this five-year accord are as follows: (1) The Japanese
government establishes an organization to encourage imports from
overseas markets; (2) The Japanese government supervises the costs
of semiconductors; (3) The U.S. government stops investigation of
Japanese chip dumping issue.  The official accord is expected to
be signed by both governments this month.

[***][8/05/86][***]
<<< SUSHI BYTES >>>

SOFTWARE PIRACY CRACK DOWN -- News broke that two software
dealers in Japan were raided by police in violation of software
copyright law. "R" Corp. (Tokyo) and "A" Corp. (Nagoya) had
copied popular game programs and had been selling them cheaper.
This practice of piracy is still more rare here than in other Asian
countries, and it is expected to decrease further.

TELECOM JAPAN TO START SERVICE -- Telecom Japan Corp. has
entered the telephone business on August 1.  The company broke
NTT's 117-year monopoly on telephone business in Japan.  Two
more newcomers are expected to start the business in Japan
this fall.

YHP TO LOWER THE PRICES -- Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard (YHP, Tokyo)
has announced that it would lower the sales prices of HP's
products by 7 to 11 percent in early August.  This price
reduction is due to a rapid rise of the Japanese yen rate
against the U.S. dollar.  Believe it or not, YHP has reduced
the prices four times since last September.  As a result, the
total price reduction of such products will reach 35 to 40
percent on average, a report says.

NEC CANADA -- NEC will establish its sales firm in Canada to
start a business in October.  The new subsidiary will market
color TVs, VCRs, car phones, PBXs, optical telecom equipment,
etc.  According to a published report, the total sales of US$25
million is expected for the first fiscal year.


[***][8/05/86][***]
IT'S (ALMOST) OFFICIAL - AMSTRAD PC ON SEPTEMBER 2ND
After all the hullaballoo of recent weeks, "Computer Trade
Weekly" believes it has scooped the Amstrad soon-come PC.

In a headlining feature, CTW concentrates its revelations on
the impending low-price software packages that Amstrad is
tying up with several leading software houses, such as
Computer Associates (Supercalc 3), MicroPro (Wordstar) and
Borland (Reflex).  All of these packages and more, says the
magazine, will be coming out repackaged for the Amstrad
PC1512 (as the magazine calls the Amstrad PC clone), at
prices substantially less than they sell for at the moment.
Software pricing will be "between 50 and 70 pounds ($75 -
$105) in an attempt by Amstrad to persuade business
software publishers that their products will have to come
down in price to match the drop in hardware unit costs,"
says the magazine.  CTW goes on to say that Amstrad has
obtained the UK rights to the Accolade package, Mean 18, a
golf simulation package.  "Other Accolade IBM titles are
likely to follow," says the mag.

Where CTW really does reveal a few tasters is, however, in
the area of the new PC clone's pricing.  Mirroring the
pricing structure NEWSBYTES UK revealed several weeks ago,
CTW says that the initial entry level machine to the Amstrad
PC1512 range will be 399 pounds ($600) which will get you a
single floppy PC clone, running an 8Mhz 8086 cpu into 512K
RAM, and includes a monochrome monitor, mouse and MSDOS 3.2
in its price tag.  The other machine in the two machine
initial launch range will have twin floppies, although CTW
doesn't indicate the machine's price.

Again, mirroring NEWSBYTES UK's exclusive report of several
weeks ago, CTW reveals that two more machines are likely to
be launched by Amstrad at a later date.  One will include
the 299 pound ($450) PC clone with 256K RAM, single floppy
and monochrome monitor, we discussed in our 8th July issue.
Launch date for the PC1512 machine is September 2nd - the
day before the Personal Computer World Show due to be held
September 3rd through 7th at Olympia in London.

** STOP PRESS ** This week's "Microscope," which flipped
onto the NEWSBYTES UK doormat this Saturday morning,
confirms CTW's revelations, and adds that the PC1512 399
pound package will include full serial and parallel ports,
along with Gem and Gem-paint in its budget price.

Contact: Computer Trade Weekly, Specialist Retail Press Ltd,
         Business & Technology Centre, Bessemer Drive,
         Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2DX.
         Tel: [phone].

         Microscope, 14 Rathbone Place,
         London W1P 1DE.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/05/86][***]
COMMODORE LOWERS SHOW PROFILE
Commodore UK, smarting from the drubbing that Atari is
giving the Amiga with its best-selling ST range, still on
summer offer at 100's of pounds off, is toning down its
presence at the forthcoming PCW show (see lead story
involving Amstrad).  Possibly as result of the no-show of
the Amiga Sidecar (other than a token presence NEWSBYTES UK
believes) and the still no-UK appearance of the "new" 64C
computer, the company has elected to tone down its presence
at PCW to just the business halls - leaving the 68000 home
show to Atari (talk about a walkover)!

Contact: Personal Computer World Show, Montbuild Ltd.,
         11 Manchester Square, London W1M 5AB.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/05/86][***]
IBM DROPS EURO-PRICES BY 25%
Whilst the British PC market holds its breath and waits for
Amstrad to release its cheapie cheapie PC clone, IBM Europe
has announced a series of dramatic price reductions for its
complete range of PCs.  Entry level to big blue-land with
the PC-G (twin floppies and 256K RAM) will now set you back
a shade under 1,000 pounds ($1,500), compared with last
week's price of 1,450 pounds.  According to "Microscope,"
"the decision to drop prices was taken last week at a
meeting... in Switzerland."  No doubt the impending Amstrad
PC launch (see lead story) has something to do with the
decision!

[***][8/05/86][***]
TANDOORI SPECTRUMS CAUSE AMSTRAD CONCERN
What with this weeks news being dominated by the apparently
"official" leaks about the PC1512 from Amstrad, the low-end
home computing side of Amstrad is trying to claw more market
share, particularly in the area of overseas sales.  Sources
close to Amstrad inform NEWSBYTES UK that the company is
trying to trace the source of components that are allowing
an Indian company - Decibell Electronics - to manufacture
Sinclair Spectrums at knockdown prices for sale within the
Indian sub-continent.

The best-selling Spectrum, which has sold millions here in
the UK, has also been a hot seller throughout Europe and
several Middle-Eastern countries, and is the mainstay of
Sinclair, which was taken over by Amstrad earlier this year
when Sir Clive Sinclair was forced to abandon the company he
founded.

The Spectrum and its software sell in large quantities in
India, although, strangely, Amstrad has no formal licences
to manufacture in the country.  The company is,
according to several press sources, exploring the
possibility of such an agreement, which would effectively
block Decibell Electrinics from legally manufacturing the
Spectrum in India.

The interesting thing about the illicit manufacture and sale
of Spectrums in India is that several components in the
computers - the ULA in particular - can only have come from
sources within the UK, which is what Amstrad is trying to
track down.  If they succeed in locating which UK firm has
been selling Spectrum components via the back door, then
Decibell may well find themselves with several thousand
unfinished computers on their hands, as the ULA is virtually
unobtainable outside of the UK.

Contact: Contact: Amstrad Consumer Electronics, PO Box 462,
         Brentwood, Essex, CM14 4EE.
         Tel: Brentwood [phone].

[***][8/05/86][***]
THUMBS UP FOR THE 2.5 INCH MINI-DISC
Reports are filtering into NEWSBYTES UK HQ that Maxell is
readying itself for a worldwide push of a new 2.5 inch
hard-shelled mini-floppy disc capable of a formatted 1Mb
capacity (both sides).  Epson is understood to be
developing a disc drive for the new format with sources
close to Epson UK indicating that 3 major OEM deals will be
announced later this year.  Why the new format?  Maxell's UK
office says that the new disc cases are made completely from
plastic, with no metal used in the shutters and hub plates,
as is the case with the 3 and 3.5 inch formats.
Nevertheless, with the plethora of new disc sizes available
on many disc drives, NEWSBYTES UK thinks that *another* disc
format is the last thing the world needs!

Contact:  Maxell UK Ltd, 3a High Street, Rickmansworth,
          Herts., WD3 1HR.
          Tel: [phone].

==
[***][8/05/86][***]*
*  CHIP WARS: PEACE BREAKS OUT
*
*  U.S. AND JAPAN AGREE ON CHIPS
*  Japan agreed in Washington last Thursday to let U.S.
*  semiconductor manufacturers have greater access to the Japanese
*  market. In return, the U.S. government agreed to drop unfair
*  trade practice cases against Japanese manufacturers. The
*  agreement is the culmination of a year-long trade dispute. The
*  deal contains no specific quotas for U.S. chips going to Japan.
*  Instead, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
*  Industry will encourage Japanese companies to buy American. Japan
*  will establish a government organization to help chipmakers
*  tailor their product to the sophisticated Japanese market. Japan
*  also agrees to stop putting its chips into the U.S. market at
*  prices below the free market price. The U.S. government will
*  monitor sales of U.S. chips to Japan and may reimpose the trade
*  cases if Japan fails to live up to its promises.
*
*  President Reagan hailed the agreement as having "created a
*  climate in which the U.S. semiconductor industry should
*  substantially improve its sales position in Japan." The Commerce
*  Department estimates the agreement could double U.S. chip sales
*  in Japan from the current level of $800 million per year. Also,
*  the agreement should increase domestic sales for the U.S.
*  companies, by driving some of the lowest-priced Japanese chips
*  out of the market, say analysts.
*
*
*  CHIP MAKERS CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT JAPAN DEAL
*  Motorola, Inc., the big Schaumburg, Ill., semiconductor
*  manufacturer, called the agreement between Japan and the U.S. to
*  settle their long high-tech trade war "notable and welcome."
*  Motorola Chairman Robert Galvin said, "The Japanese have been
*  steadfastly earnest in finding a solution based on trust. The
*  stage is set for a more mutually beneficial trade and investment
*  relationship." Gary Arnold, the chief financial officer for
*  National Semiconductor, another major U.S. chip maker, told the
*  "Washington Post," "I would characterize the agreement as
*  positive, but not a solution; there will be a lot of problems in
*  its execution. This is not a panacea for the problems plaguing
*  the industry right now." Ralph Thomson, senior vice president of
*  the American Electronics Association, said, "U.S. companies now
*  have a market share opportunity, but not a market share
*  guarantee."
*
*
*  CHIP DEAL REACHES BEYOND WASHINGTON AND TOKYO
*  One part of the landmark agreement last Thursday between the U.S.
*  and Japan on microchip sales deals with possible chip dumping in
*  other countries. As part of the agreement, Japan and the U.S.
*  will work together to prevent dumping in third-country markets
*  such as West Germany, Brazil, and Taiwan. MITI will monitor
*  prices of semiconductor exports and stop any dumping that it
*  finds. Japan will also agree to provide information needed by the
*  U.S. in anti-dumping cases, a sore spot in the past.
*
*  Extending the agreement to third parties won praise from the
*  "Washington Post," which editorialized on Friday morning that
*  "The greatest achievement of this agreement is that it extends
*  the new rules worldwide to markets in other countries far beyond
*  the reach of American law. With that, it promises to remove a
*  genuinely dangerous point of friction between this country and
*  Japan. The negotiators on both sides have served their countries
*  well."
*
******************************************************************

[***][8/05/86][***]
COURT UPHOLDS JURY AWARD
A Maryland court has upheld a $35,000 judgment against a
Frederick, Md. software house, Omni Systems Co., and its owner,
Robert Kirkpatrick. Frederick County Community Medical Laboratory
sued Kirkpatrick for failing to deliver on some medical
laboratory software last year, then holding the lab's computer
equipment hostage in the dispute. A jury trial held in favor of
the lab, and Omni appealed to the Maryland Court of special
Appeals, which ruled last week that the jury award was valid.

[***][8/05/86][***]
NEWSNET ADDS A BUNCH
Newsnet, the Bryn Mawr, Pa. peddler of electronic newsletters,
has added two international publications, and three newsletter
that cover the government. "Kyodo English News Service" is a daily
from Kyodo News Service, the Japanese domestic news agency.
"International Industrial Opportunities" is a monthly compendium
of selected international news. "Antitrust FOIA Log" is an early
warning service summarizing all Freedom of Information Act
requests filed at the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust
Division. "Liability Week" covers the liability insurance crisis
sweeping the U.S. "National Bureau of Standards Bulletin" is a
monthly guide to the National Bureau of Standards, the nation's
physical sciences and engineering measurement laboratory.

CONTACT: NewsNet, Bryn Mawr, Pa., 800-345-1301.

[***][8/05/86][***]
BUSINESS INDEX: COMPUTER ADDS CATCHING UP
In last week's "Washington Business," computer display ads
nearly caught up with non-computer ads. Computer display
advertising for the week totaled 10.75 pages, while non-computer
ads ate up 11.25 pages. That means that computer advertising has
been holding up better during Washington's long, hot summer than
the financial services and auto leasing businesses that form the
staple of the non-computer advertising in the weekly tabloid
supplement to the "Washington Post." During the winter and
spring, non-computer ads typically outpaced computer ads by two
to one. The computer business index for the week was 207, about
normal for this summer period.

[***][8/05/86][***]
POWERBYTES

 $$$ Software AG of North America, a Reston, Va. software
company, reported profits of $8.5 million ($1.45 per share) for
the year ended May 31, up from $5.1 million (86 cents per share)
the year before. The company specializes in software applications
development and database management.

 $$$ Systemhouse Inc., of Arlington, Va., has won a major
contract to design, implement and maintain the Navy headquarters
planning, programming and budgeting system. The first year award
is valued at $8.9 million. Systemhouse bid the job in conjunction
with Digital Equipment Corp., whose VAX minicomputers will be
used in the system.


[***][8/05/86][***]
NABU NETWORK SIGNS OFF FOR GOOD
The Nabu Network, hailed in 1981 as a pioneering Canadian venture
in software distribution, has been shut down.  The system, which
distributed computer software through cable television
connections, never managed to build enough of a subscriber base
to break even.  The final blow came at the beginning of July when
the Ontario Ministry of Education refused to give Nabu provincial
money for a field trial of its system in Ottawa-area schools.

Nabu founder John Kelly, who says he lost C$500,000 of his own
money in the venture, formed Nabu Manufacturing Corp. by merging
seven Ottawa-area companies in the spring and summer of 1981.  He
got the Canadian computer industry's attention right away by
hiring Denzil J. Doyle away from his post as president of Digital
Equipment of Canada Ltd. to head the new firm (Doyle left Nabu in
1983 to become an independent consultant).  The original firm was
involved in a range of activities, manufacturing a personal
computer which was never successful in the marketplace and
operating the then-small Computer Innovations retail chain.

In 1984, Nabu Manufacturing was split into two companies: Nabu
Network (1984) Ltd., which has just ceased operations, and
Computer Innovations Distribution Inc., which went on to buy out
the Canadian operations of Computerland earlier this year and
become Canada's largest chain of computer retail stores.

[***][8/05/86][***]
BELL CANADA INTERESTED IN BUYING COMPUTERLAND?
If the latest rumor is true, the rest of the world might be
forgiven for thinking there's a Canadian conspiracy to take over
microcomputer retailing.  The word is that Bell Canada, the
telephone company for Canada's two largest provinces, is
interested in buying ComputerLand.  The owners of the U.S.-based
chain are ready to sell to the highest bidder, and Bell Canada is
seen here as a possible buyer.  A spokesman for Bell Canada, Mel
James, branded the rumor "speculative," but it makes a certain
amount of sense: since Bell reorganized its operations under a
holding company called Bell Canada Enterprises about four years
ago, it has been acquisitive.  One of its interests is a major
chunk of Computer Innovations Distribution, which owns all the
ComputerLand franchises in Canada.

[***][8/05/86][***]
COMPUTERLAND CANADA TO REALIGN STORES
When Computer Innovations Distribution Inc. took over
ComputerLand Canada, observers predicted there would be some
store closings.  There were locations where stores of the two
chains were close together, and other cases of stores that
weren't pulling their weight.  Sure enough, ComputerLand Canada
has announced a two-year "realignment" program that will involve
some openings and expansions as well as the closing of 16
locations that operate within Hudson's Bay Co. and Simpsons
department stores across the country.  The overall effect will be
to reduce the number of stores from 102 at the time of the merger
to 90.  According to ComputerLand Canada, the realignment will
cost about C$2 million and no jobs will be lost.

CONTACT: COMPUTER INNOVATIONS DISTRIBUTION INC., 3415 American
         Dr., Mississauga, ON L4V 1T4, [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
PC RETAILERS' REVENUES UP
Canadian PC retailers made C$1.18 billion in 1985, a 13.1 percent
rise over 1984.  Those figures come from the Toronto research
firm International Data Corp. (Canada) Ltd.  But the higher
revenues don't portend growth in the coming years.  IDC predicts
that the number of outlets will actually decline about 1.4
percent a year (see the previous item on ComputerLand store
closings for evidence of this).  Steven Freedman, manager of
market analysis at IDC Canada, says the period of severe
competition in the Canadian retail industry isn't over, and
dealers can expect tough times for another couple of years.
Things will be particularly difficult for small independents, he
says.

The IDC report noted that more than half of total Canadian
computer retailing revenues (52 percent, to be exact) came from
the province of Ontario in 1985.

CONTACT: INTERNATIONAL DATA CORP. (CANADA), 7 King St. E.,
         Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M5C 1A2, [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
NEWS TO ORDER
People who want to keep up with a particular field can now order
a personalized daily newscast.  Personalized Auto-Visual News of
Toronto is offering three-minute audio newscasts on a daily
basis, tailored to any field.  The firm uses computers to
monitor, cross-reference, sort and transmit information gathered
from newspapers, news services, broadcast outlets and other
publications, and says the resulting newscast is ideal for
organizations with voice-mail systems.

CONTACT: PERSONALIZED AUTO-VISUAL NEWS, 137 Major St., Toronto,
         ON M5S 2K9

[***][8/05/86][***]
NETWORK PRODUCT FOR MACINTOSH FROM WATERLOO
Watcom Products Inc., the company which markets a variety of
software and other computer products developed by researchers at
the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, will shortly release a
local-area network for the Apple Macintosh.  The Computer Systems
Group developed MacJANET for use on the Waterloo campus.  A
version of the JANET network has been used in an experiment at
the university in which students were provided with Hewlett-
Packard portable computers and access to university computing
facilities through JANET.  A prototype of MacJANET has been in
use on the campus since September of last year.

MacJANET supports a network consisting of one Macintosh file
server and a number of additional Macs as workstations, using the
built-in AppleTalk hardware.  The network will be available
starting September 1 at a cost of C$1,450 per network.  JANET,
by the way, stands for Just Another NETwork.

CONTACT: Janet Cater, WATCOM PRODUCTS INC., 415 Phillip St.
         Waterloo, ON N2L 3X2, [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
GOOD GROWTH PREDICTED FOR SOFTWARE AND SERVICES INDUSTRY
Canadian software revenues will grow by 29 percent a year for the
next few years, predicts The CADAPSO Report, an analysis of the
Canadian software and services industry just released by the
major association representing the industry.  The Canadian
Association of Data and Professional Service Organizations.  The
report also says that the Canadian computer software and services
industry currently has about C$1.8 billion in annual revenues and
employs about 28,000 people in some 2,200 firms.

The survey also came out in favor of freer trade with the United
States, an issue which is exciting lots of public debate in
Canada these days.  CADAPSO reports that 59 percent of the
companies it surveyed were in favor of freer trade, with 30
percent undecided and only 11 percent against.  Companies not
currently doing business in the U.S. mostly cited tariffs and
people problems as the reasons for staying out of that market.

CONTACT: CADAPSO, 280 Albert St., Suite 804, Ottawa, ON K1P 5G8
         [phone]

[***][8/05/86][***]
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE FOR THE WEST COAST
The Canadian and British Columbia governments have announced
plans for a centre to do computing and digital systems research
in the West-Coast province.  The British Columbia Advanced
Systems Foundation, a joint project of the provincial and federal
governments, B.C. universities, private institutes and industry,
will set up a centre to conduct research in computer science,
microelectronics, robotics and artificial intelligence.  The
project was jointly announced by the federal science minister,
Frank Oberle, and the provincial science minister, Patrick
McGeer.

[***][8/05/86][***]
BITS, EH?
-- The deals are getting smaller, but the consolidation of
Canadian computer retailers continues.  Now Micronic Computer
Centres Ltd., a three-store Toronto-area retail operation, has
been taken over by Parmic Inc. of Markham, Ont., a reseller of
IBM, Epson, Compaq, Apple and Hewlett-Packard equipment.

-- Bell-Northern Research of Ottawa has announced development of
a new automated test system, the Integrated Services Digital
Network - Test and Traffic Simulator, for testing and evaluation
of ISDN products and communications protocols.

-- SHL Systemhouse Ltd. of Ottawa has announced that its U.S.
subsidiary, Systemhouse Inc. of Arlington, VA, will supply the
U.S. military with US$55 million worth of hardware, software and
integration services for an ammunition control system.

-- Finally, an item of Canadian computrivia.  Part of the testing
of the Cray 2 supercomputer, conducted in January, involved
computing the value of pi to nearly 30 million places by two
different techniques.  Both techniques were developed by Jonathan
and Peter Borwein, brothers who are professors of mathematics at
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.