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/1993/NB111993

Text File | 1993-11-19 | 74KB | 1,652 lines

(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00001)

Comdex - Low Priced GPS Debuts 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Couriers, truck
fleets, taxi fleets, and other auto-intensive businesses will
soon be able to get the services of a global positioning satellite,
or GPS system, for under $500 per vehicle.

Road Scholar will combine a Rockwell GPS receiver, which connects
to any PC with a PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Industry
Association) Type II slot, with its City Streets for Windows
program, a mapping product. With the combination, drivers will be
able to track their position and find alternate routes on their
rounds, while fleet managers will be able to make better use of
their resources.

Such systems have been around for years, and TV stations have
been among the first users, combining GPS data with maps to show
viewers exactly where the bad accident is and precisely where
their news trucks are en route to the scene.

But now, Keith Hendrick of Road Scholar told Newsbytes, virtually
any business will be able to pull off the same trick. "We have been
maps for the masses. Now we're going to be GPS for the masses."
Hendrick said he is already arranged for distribution through firms
like Ingram and Merisel, as well as leading retailers. City
Streets for Windows ships in January at $100, the Rockwell GPS
receivers a few months later at under $400 each.

Road Scholar is also looking to new applications for the system.
"You can take the software, take the card, and build what you
want. It has database import capabilities -- we use Q&A, but the
product will support anything."

(Dana Blankenhorn/199931119/Press Contact: Keith Hendrick,
Road Scholar, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00002)

Comdex - Polaroid Intros C5500i Scanner 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Polaroid is
releasing a new version of its color scanner designed for faster
throughput. The C5500HC is a successor to the C5500i shown at
Comdex a year ago.

Scott Wicker of Polaroid demonstrated the unit for Newsbytes.
There are versions for Windows-based PC and Macintoshes, and they
plug into the computer's SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
port. They can work directly with Adobe Photoshop, and handle
photos as large as four-inches by six-inches, roughly 10
centimeters (cm) by 17 cm.

Wicker took a Polaroid of a reporter's family and scanned it twice --
once in a preview mode at 125 dots-per-inch (dpi), again at 500 dpi.
The resulting files can vary widely in size -- at 125 dpi you have a
20-30 kilobyte (KB) file, while at 500 dpi you have a 12 megabyte
(MB) file. The entire operation, including using Photoshop to crop
the photo on-screen, took less than 30 seconds. The main
difference with the older unit is that there is a door which opens
for easy cleaning. The unit can also adjust easily to handle slides.

The unit also comes with a plastic carrier, standard, to allow
the scanning of thin, fragile or paper media as small as a few
square inches. Wicker said that, while Polaroid and Kodak are
known as fierce rivals, one of the key uses of the Polaroid
scanner is the creation of Kodak Photo CDs.

(Dana Blankenhorn/199931119/Press Contact: Polaroid, tel
617-577-2000, fax [phone]; Customer Contact: 575
Technology Square, Cambridge, Mass., 02139, 800-225-1618)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00003)

Comdex - Simon Wins Byte Magazine "Best Of Show" 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Simon, a cross
between a cellular phone and a PDA (personal digital assistant)
made by Mitsubishi, designed by IBM and distributed by BellSouth,
won the "Best of Show" Shelly award from Byte Magazine.

The Shellys are named for Interface Group Chairman Sheldon
Adelson, and go to products offering technical excellence.

Byte Editor-In-Chief Dennis Allen said in a press statement that,
"because it integrates phone, fax, and paging functions so well
with its software, Simon is indispensable for mobile
communications." The product was displayed at the IBM OEM
(original equipment manufacturer) booth in the Main Hall of the
Las Vegas Convention Center. Some, however, have criticized
the product because it uses a proprietary operating system.
Simon also won in the "Best Portable" category.

Another winner was Apple's Firewire, an implementation of a new
technology technically called the 1394 High Performance Serial
Bus. The magazine's editors said the new technology, which has
been implemented in silicon by Texas Instruments, could help
greatly improve consumer electronics products as well as
computers. Other companies which helped develop the technology
included Adaptec, Maxtor, AT&T's NCR unit, and Maxtor.

VRex Inc., won the "Rookie" award for its Micropol, a manufacturing
technology which puts a checkboard pattern of tiny polarizing
filters over a screen, providing three-dimensional (3-D) effects
without eyestrain using inexpensive glasses with oppositely-
polarized lenses.

Also, the Apple Quadra won for "Best System," combining Macintosh
and Windows technology in the same product. The DataPort
Multimedia Communicator from AT&T Paradyne won for "Best
Connectivity/Hardware." A PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory
Card Industry Association) removable hard disk storage system
from SyQuest, called the SQ1080, won for "Best Peripheral."

LinkWorks from Digital Equipment won for "Best Connectivity
Software." Austek's A1060, a graphics accelerator, won as the
"Best Multimedia Hardware," and Ultimedia Video IN/2 from IBM
won as "Best Multimedia Software." The QMS 2001 Knowledge
system, which combines computing, scanning, copying, faxing,
modeming and printing won as "Best Printer."

Microsoft Windows NT, which was essentially a technology
demonstration and did not ship until months after it was shown,
was the "Best in Show" winner at the Spring Comdex in Atlanta.

(Dana Blankenhorn/199931119)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00004)

Comdex - A CD-ROM Playground 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- The Multimedia
Showcase at Comdex was filled with new CD-ROM titles. David
Hoeh, director of international sales for Max Media, a distributor
with a booth at the show, estimated to Newsbytes there are now
3,500 titles, of which 850 or so are commercially viable.

These range all over the lot, from CDs for kids to adventure
games for teenagers to strictly adult-only titles. There were
even titles for distributing other titles like Rainbow
Technologies' VendorSystem, a software distribution system
under Apple Computer's new Software Dispatch program,
which lets customers try software before they buy it.

A number of companies offered whole catalogs of titles. Warner
New Media's catalog offered 18 new titles, including a jokes disk
called Funny, an interactive adventure called Hell Cab, as well
as titles from "Time" and "Sports Illustrated" magazine, and a
children's game called Word Tales.

The catalog from the CD-ROM Source offered four religious titles
alone, including all major versions of the Old and New Testaments,
and a disc which also includes 20 religious reference books with
concordances, the equivalent of 134,000 pages. The Tribune Co.'s
Compton's New Media unit, which caused controversy with its
multimedia patent, offered a catalog with over 100 titles.

Learning titles were very big. BayWare offered Power Japanese for
Windows, while PageWare by Advance offered a range of computer
training discs for MS-DOS, Macintosh, and OS/2 software. Allegro,
a long-time creator of floppy-disk titles, also began offering
software training on CD-ROM, as well as multimedia references,
and graphics for desktop publishing and presentations.

Kids were a major target market for this year's CD-ROM
publishers. MacMillan offered a Dictionary for Children and a CD-
ROM on firemen, from its explorer series. Media Vision offered
the Forever Growing Garden and Professor Gooseberry's I Can
Read Club. Knowledge Adventure introduced a series of adventure
disks, from dinosaurs to zoo animals to bugs, outer space and
Peter Rabbit. Older kids might like Will Vinton's Playmation, a
three-dimensional (3-D) motion picture studio on CD-ROM with
powerful rendering features and exclusive animation technology.

(Dana Blankenhorn/199931119/Customer Contact: Knowledge
Adventure, 818-542-4200; Warner New Media; 800-593-6334;
Compton's New Media, 800-216-6116; CD ROM Source,
800-346-2323; Ranbow Technologies, 714-454-2100; Will
Vinton's Playmation, 206-750-0042; Media Vision, 800-845-5870;
Macmillan New Media, 800-342-1338; Advance, 403-237-0426;
Allegro New Media, 800-424-1992; Bayware, 415-312-0980)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00005)

Comdex - New Company Offers Records Management 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Lots of
companies at Comdex/Fall are trumpeting the paperless office.
After Inc., is recognizing there will be no such thing any time
soon, and offering software to manage the paper instead.

Newly formed After is a Toronto-based joint venture between
Alumni Computer Inc., a supplier of software for legal firms,
and a records management company. It has launched at Comdex
a personal computer software package also called "After,"
intended to track paper files or other physical units.

"After" lets users store such information as the date when a file
was created, its location, and when it should be destroyed. It
also works with bar codes, allowing a user with a bar-code reader
to record movement of files quickly. After also supplies bar code
labels, and company technical support specialist Dean Polley said
these are more durable than bar codes printed with an ordinary
computer printer.

Users can also search for files by the name and other information
placed on the file label. In addition to storing the permanent
location of a file, After will store the temporary location when
a file has been taken out.

Priced at $99 for a single-user copy, After is available now
through retailers and direct from the company, Polley said. The
software is also available for networks.

(Grant Buckler/19931119/Press Contact: After Inc., tel
416-292-0893, fax [phone]; Public Contact: After Inc., 800-387-
9785)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00006)

Comdex - Jensen-Jones Intros Entry-Level PIM 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Thanks to the
growth of notebook computers and the multi-tasking capability of
software such as Microsoft Windows, personal information
managers (PIMs) are appealing to a larger market. Jensen-Jones
Inc., of Red Bank, New Jersey, is out to lure in first-time PIM
buyers with a simplified version of its Commence software.

Commence Startup, launched at Comdex/Fall, lacks some of the
features of the full-fledged Commence package, notably those
designed to make the package useful to work groups. But, said
Craig Jensen, president of the company, it will appeal to people
who have not used a PIM before and who mainly need to organize
personal, rather than group, information.

Commence is essentially the same software that IBM sold as
Current, Jensen said. IBM still sells the software as a front-end
for its OfficeVision office automation system, and it can
exchange data with Commence, according to Jensen.

More than half of sales of Commence are to people who use the
software in work groups, Jensen said.

The full version of Commence includes a synchronization
capability meant to simplify life for people who use the software
on two or more computers -- a desktop and a notebook, for
instance. It will keep track of what changes have been made in
one version of the software, and on request will write only the
changes to a diskette file for use in updating the other copy.

This feature is missing from Commence Startup, Jensen said. So
are the ability to import and export data, and support for work
groups. Startup also stores a more limited amount of information,
he said.

However, while Commence sells for $395, Startup will cost $49.95.
People who buy Commence Startup and later decide they need the
full version will be able to upgrade without having to re-enter
or re-format their data, Jensen added.

(Grant Buckler/19931118/Press Contact: Brenda Nichols, Parker
Nichols & Co. for Jensen-Jones, tel [phone], fax
508-369-2106; Public Contact: Jensen-Jones, 908-530-4666)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00007)

Comdex - IBM Licenses Object Technology 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- IBM announced
licensing agreements with five companies for its System Object
Model (SOM) and Distributed System Object Model (DSOM)
technology during Comdex/Fall. Deals were signed with Digitalk,
MetaWare Inc., Objective Inc., ParcPlace Systems, and Watcom
International Inc.

Cliff Reeves, director of the Object Technology Products group
at IBM, described the technology as a glue to bind together
object-oriented applications across networks.

Digitalk said it has licensed IBM's SOMobjects Kernel and
Workstation DSOM for OS/2 and AIX, and will be including them in
future products. The two companies said they are working together
on Digitalk's support for SOM and on advanced features of SOM. At
Comdex/Spring earlier this year, Digitalk showed its Parts
Assembly and Reuse Tool Set (PARTS) working with IBM's
SOMobjects Developer Toolkit.

MetaWare said it has started shipping beta-test copies of its
High C and C++ compilers for IBM's AIX 6000 variant of Unix and
for OS/2 2.1 that include SOM and DSOM support. The compilers
come with DirectToSOM support, which the vendor said will let
developers create SOM binaries by compiling standard C++ source
code.

Objective is working to incorporate SOM and DSOM support into its
product Macroscope, an object-oriented development environment.
At an IBM press conference during Comdex, Objective demonstrated
an application developed with Macroscope and SOM. The company
said it will release a MacroScope interface layer in the first
quarter of 1994 that will provide a generic message interface to
objects developed with SOM or DSOM. This will let MacroScope
developers send messages to invoke any facility created with SOM
or DSOM, company officials said.

ParcPlace said its VisualWorks application development
environment, which includes the Smalltalk object-oriented
language, will incorporate SOM and workstation DSOM support,
allowing Smalltalk developers to use objects created in C++ or
any other language that supports the IBM specifications.

Watcom International said it plans to use SOM in its development
tools, starting with its multiplatform C and C++ compilers in the
first quarter of next year. Later, the company said, it will put
SOM support into its VX-REXX visual development environment
and its Watcom SQL (structured query language) database
products.

(Grant Buckler/19931118/Press Contact: Bill Robbins, IBM,
512-823-1779)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00008)

Comdex - IBM Offers Special LAN Server For Multimedia 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Pointing out that
multimedia applications put special demands on local area
networks (LANs), IBM has launched a version of its LAN Server
operating system intended for multimedia use.

One of the key points about LAN Server Ultimedia is that it
recognizes that when a running multimedia application needs
video or audio data from a LAN server, it requires that data
immediately.

Wally Casey, director of marketing for Personal Software Products
at IBM, said multimedia is, "About to explode, but one of the
problems you have with that is that multimedia has an enormous
bandwidth."

At a press conference during Comdex/Fall, IBM demonstrated
full-motion video being displayed on two PCs, with the signal
coming from a network server. One PC was set up with the standard
version of LAN Server, while the other was equipped with LAN
Server Ultimedia. As other applications were started up to bring
the load on the network close to capacity, the video on the
standard LAN Server machine began slowing down and becoming
jerky. The video on the other PC did not.

John Albee, brand manager for Ultimedia products at IBM,
explained that LAN Server Ultimedia gives higher priority to
multimedia applications so the data they need in real time is
delivered fast enough to keep the presentation going.

Full-motion video displays require that the screen be rewritten
30 times every second. Some other products cope with the demands
on the network by "scaling" the video display to fewer frames per
second, but IBM said its software is the only offering that takes
the other approach -- guaranteeing the multimedia application the
bandwidth it needs.

The software supports Ethernet and Token Ring networks, and works
with client PCs running DOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS/2, company
officials said.

The software is due to be available in early December, at a list
price of $3,195 for the first server and $3,015 for each
additional server. LAN Server 3.0 Advanced is needed to run the
product.

(Grant Buckler/19931118/Press Contact: Deborah R. Wood,
IBM, 512-823-3258; Public Contact: IBM, 800-3IBM-OS2 or
800-887-7771)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00009)

Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 11/19/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

November 15's Telephony says that DARPA or the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency has selected Bell Atlantic Federal
Systems to manage a four-year, $12.7 million contract to build
and operate a high-speed data testbed linking DARPA, NASA, the
Defense Information Systems Agency, the Defense Intelligence
Agency, The NSA, and the Naval Research Laboratory.

Network World for November 15 says that SunNet Manager will get a
new core of object capabilities from NetLabs Inc. These will add
a distributed object-oriented manager, support for cooperative
management domains, and support for hundreds thousands of nodes.

Computerworld puts IBM's "humanized" PCs on the front page,
describing the new voice interface "conversational surrogate"
as a Max Headroom-like virtual person which will use facial
expressions to make its responses more user-friendly.

(John McCormick/19931119)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00010)

NIST Technology Program Guide On Internet 11/19/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- A new 116-page
"one-stop" industry guide to NIST (National Institute of Standards
and Technology) programs and services is now available either in
print or electronic form.

NIST, a division of the US Department of Commerce, helps set
standards and develop new technology both through its own work
and from coordinating and funding other research projects.

Cost-shared funding for commercially significant projects is one
major way that NIST works with US research and development
companies which are developing high-risk technologies. However,
to participate, companies need to know what projects are being
pursued and this information is contained in the free "Guide to
NIST."

Interested parties can obtain a copy of the report by sending a
self-addressed label to the NIST Public Affairs Division, A903
Administration Building, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. The
fax number is 301-926-1630.

The NIST report is also available electronically on the Internet
Gopher system. Instructions for locating the file are: key in
"telnetgopher.nist.gov", answer the log-in prompt with "gopher"
or, if logging in from a gopher client, use the gopher server as
"gopherserver.nist.gov" with port 70 (access information
supplied by NIST).

(John McCormick/19931119/Press Contact: NIST,
301-975-2762)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00011)

 ****Comdex - PowerPC, Workplace OS Central To IBM 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- If IBM is ever able
to unify its fragmented product line, it will probably be around
the company's PowerPC microprocessors and its forthcoming
Workplace OS operating system.

IBM was reportedly discussing products and strategy with some
1,800 customers, resellers, and other business contacts from
around the world at a series of breakfast meetings during
Comdex/Fall. The company also held a press briefing for
reporters.

"To achieve the full benefit of (the PowerPC architecture), it must
be able to pervade the entire IBM product line from the very bottom
to the very top," said James Cannavino, newly appointed senior
vice-president for strategy and development.

Later, Lee Reiswig, president of IBM's Personal Software
Products (PSP) division, said the company is, "Going to scale
Workplace OS as far as we can across the product line."

Specifically, Cannavino said the group that builds IBM's midrange
AS/400 computers is already planning a move to the PowerPC
architecture.

At the same time, Cannavino was careful to reassure users of the
company's current PCs that it will not soon abandon the Intel
processors that are the current personal computer standard. He was
also cautious in discussing plans for Workplace OS, a new operating
system that IBM is building around a micro-kernel developed in
cooperation with Carnegie-Mellon University, and AIX, its variant
of Unix.

IBM will continue developing those systems in parallel with
Workplace OS, a system that will be able to take on multiple OS
"personalities" and run software written for Unix, OS/2, Windows,
or Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh.

Cannavino said IBM is working to have Workplace OS ready for
release in 1994, but added "we will serve no wine before its time."
The first release will be for PowerPC systems, he said, "To
complement our existing Intel investment."

While Cannavino maintained Workplace OS will not replace OS/2 or
AIX -- and IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner echoed that message in a
video shown to customers and reporters -- Cannavino's comments
made clear that customers using either OS/2 or AIX will be able to
migrate to Workplace OS, and in the long term it could become the
upgrade path for both sets of users.

IBM is not standing still on OS/2, though. The company announced
OS/2 for Symmetric Multiprocessing (OS/2 SMP), a version of the
operating system that will run on multiple-processor systems.

Wally Casey, director of marketing for Personal Software
Products at IBM, said this will enter beta testing by year-end with
a number of independent software vendors. It will support as
many as 16 processors.

(Grant Buckler/19931116/Press Contact: Rob Crawley,
IBM, 512-823-1779)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00012)

Comdex - Toronto Firm Rebuilds PCs, Moving To Software 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A, 1993, NOV 19 (NB) -- LCC Computers
Inc., recycles computers. The Toronto-based company replaces
components -- processors, disk drives, memory, monitors -- to
upgrade obsolete systems so they can continue to be used.

Don Fetherstonhaugh, vice-president of sales for the Western
region at LCC, said his company was the first to offer this kind of
service, though it has a number of competitors now. Its ability to
do so is due in part to a new open-mindedness at IBM, which is now
willing to sell LCC motherboards and other components for use in
upgrading used IBM systems.

Launched in November, 1991, LCC has sold more than 7,000 of its
rebuilt computers, Fetherstonhaugh said. Sales were $2.9 million
in the first year, $12.6 million in the second year, and is shooting
for $22 million this year.

Fetherstonhaugh attributes the company's success so far to tough
economic times and the fact that many companies can no longer hand
down older PCs to those who formerly had none -- because the hand-
me-downs have trickled down through the whole organization.
"People are just getting tired of throwing stuff away," he said.

However, LCC is not relying entirely on rebuilding hardware. The
company is now moving into software, Fetherstonhaugh said,
developing a package that will let corporate microcomputer
managers keep track of the configurations of networked PCs and
monitor their performance. This software -- which can do such
things as track the amount of time each application package is
being run each day -- will help managers work out what personal
computers may need upgrading.

A DOS version of the software is available now, and an OS/2
version is under development, Fetherstonhaugh said.

The Canadian company is now doing a significant portion of its
business in the US, he added, though officials believe there is
still room for further growth here.

(Grant Buckler/19931116/Press Contact: LCC Computers,
800-265-3552)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00013)

Comdex - Leading Edge PCs Add VESA Local Bus 11/18/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 18 (NB) -- At Comdex,
Leading Edge has announced the addition of advanced features to
its WinTower 486 and WinPro 486e line of PCs that are aimed at
boosting performance for sophisticated multimedia applications
and graphics-intensive CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/
manufacturing) programs.

The WinTower minitower systems for networks and power users,
and the WinPro 486e desktop and multimedia systems, have all been
enhanced with VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association)
local bus capability. Further, the WinTower 486 now incorporates
VESA local bus Windows accelerator video and integrated IDE
(Integrated Drive Electronics) interface technologies, officials
said in making the announcement.

The updated systems are being offered in several configurations
based on Intel's 486SX/25, 486SX/33, 486DX/33, 486DX2/50, and
486DX2/66 megahertz (MHz) processors. The WinTower 486 is also
Pentium OverDrive ready, with a 238-pin upgrade socket.

Upcoming WinTower 486 models will be equipped with a VL-bus IDE
drive interface on the motherboard, designed to provide hard drive
data transfer rate improvements of up to 280 percent over standard
IDE controller technologies.

Other new features for WinTower will include two 32-bit VESA
expansion slots. One of the two VESA slots will house a Windows
accelerator Super VGA controller, aimed at improving video
performance, especially on Windows applications, by offloading
processing power from the central processing unit to the
graphics board.

The Windows accelerator video controller will support up to 16.8
million colors and bring graphics performance to as much as
20.4 million Winmarks, according to officials. The second VESA
slot will be available for custom configuration.

"The combination of the VESA local bus IDE interface and Windows
accelerator video controller will provide accelerated hard drive
throughput and enhanced graphics for the power desktop user,"
said Steve Elias, director of product development.

WinTower 486 is also useful as a cost-effective file server for
small- to medium-sized businesses, Elias maintained.

The enhanced WinTower 486 systems will feature four megabytes
(MB) of main memory, expandable to 64MB on the motherboard, plus
a ZIF (zero insertion force) socket for quick microprocessor
upgrades.

Other capabilities will include: 1MB of video RAM (expandable to
2MB), 64 kilobytes (KB) external cache (upgradable to 256KB),
flashBIOS for field upgrades, five drive bays, four 16-bit ISA
(Industry Standard Architecture) expansion slots, dual floppy
drives, one parallel port, two serial ports, and a mouse.

The updated WinPro 486e desktop and multimedia systems will
provide two VESA local bus sockets: one socket for the VL-bus
video card, providing up to 1024-by-768 resolution and 1MB
of video RAM (upgradable to 2 MB); and the second socket
available for custom configuration.

The WinPro systems will also supply 4 MB of main memory
(expandable to 32 MB), a 170MB hard drive, a 169-pin low insertion
force (LIF) socket for Intel OverDrive microprocessors, and
optional external cache up to 256KB.

The systems also offer dual floppy drives, four drive bays, four
16-bit expansion slots, one parallel port, two serial ports, one
mouse port, a 101-key keyboard, and a mouse.

To the capabilities offered by the WinPro 486e desktop systems, the
486e multimedia systems add a Philips LMS CD-ROM drive, a Media
Vision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 audio board, stereo speakers, and
headphones.

All Leading Edge systems are sold with pre-installed software,
including Microsoft Windows 3.1, MS-DOS 6.2, MS-Works for
Windows, MS-Money, MS-Productivity Pack, MS-Entertainment
Pack 4, and Leading Edgue Utilities Control Center.

Pricing on the updated systems is expected to start at $1,359 for
the WinTower 486, $1,059 for the Winpro 486e desktop systems,
and $1,649 for the Winpro 486e multimedia systems.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931118/Reader contact: Leading Edge, 508-
836-4800; Press Contacts: Susan Zephir, Leading Edge, 508-836-
4800 ext 1219; Amelie Gardella or Nick Berents, Copihorne &
Bellows for Leading Edge, 617-252-0606)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00014)

Comdex - Dealers Predict Larger Monitor Use 11/18/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 18 (NB) -- What do dealers
and resellers see in their "crystal balls" for monitors? The results
of a survey held on the opening day of Comdex are now in, and the
findings indicate a trend toward stronger sales of large monitors.

A vast majority of the more than 200 dealers and resellers
questioned in the Mitsubishi-sponsored study perceived a swing
toward the bigger computer screens (93 percent), and more than
half (56 percent) thought the movement to be most prevalent
from 14- to 17-inch monitors.

Dealers and resellers rated 14-inch models as the best selling
products at present, with 15- and 17-inch displays ranking
second and third, respectively.

"But we envision that in the near future, 17-inch models will
become the top-selling size, given the inclination towards bigger
monitors," stated Craig Sloss, product marketing manager for the
Display Products group.

In response to a question on which monitor features are most
important, high-resolution ranked first, followed by flicker-
free (high refresh rate) display and multiscan capability.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931118/Press contact: Alejandro
Hernandez, Mitsubishi News Bureau, 800-828-6372)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00015)

Comdex - Turn Any Computer Into A Pen-Based Computer 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- FTG Systems
says it can turn any computer into a pen-based computer. To prove
it, the company had a caricature artist sketching portraits of
Comdex attendees directly onto the surface of a standard
computer monitor using a graphics software package and its
Pendirect hardware.

FTG says it offers a variety of pen input devices for
connection to either an Apple Macintosh or IBM compatible
personal computer (PC). The hardware, in the form of a box the
size of a paperback book, simply plugs into the serial port of a
PC or the ADB port of a Macintosh. A light pen then connects to
the box. The user may use the pen directly on the computer
screen.

Tony Park, one of the artists, told Newsbytes the pen interface
worked well for him. When asked if he would like the computer
laying down with the monitor up instead of facing him on a
desktop, Park said either would be fine.

Those PC users interested in adding Microsoft's Pen Extensions
for Windows to their system can find Pendirect products with
the software included for less than $500. The company also
offers pens with different weights, appearance, and sensitivity,
including a pen that works like an artist's airbrush. Interface
boards for installation inside the PC that connect to the pens
are also available.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931119/Press Contact: Douglas Lippincott,
FTG Data Systems, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00016)

Comdex - An Overview 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 18 (NB) -- Comdex is always
filled with wonders and intrigue. This year was no exception. For
perspective, Newsbytes talked to some show veterans and
newcomers.

One of the newcomers is comedian Gallagher, who said the aim of
Comdex should be a "calm desk." This was echoed by IBM Personal
Computer Co. Vice President Joseph Formichelli, who said the
industry is just waking up to its responsibilities, not only to
the world but for the world its work has made. So he has coined the
term "natural computing." That means computers should be simple,
easy to buy, use, and service. They should also be comfortable --
meaning ergonomic and generating good feelings -- and their
makers should be responsible, recycle and be "good corporate
citizens."

Said Formichelli, "They'll be a big switch thrown and people will
understand it. You've got to design it into the products, into the
plants and into the companies."

This was the year Hollywood came to Comdex. Those who attended
the 7th Level reception spent the rest of the week comparing notes
on celebrities they had seen. A partial list included Penn Jillette
of "Penn and Teller," Linda Ronstadt, Quincy Jones, Steve Winwood,
and Shelley Duvall.

Visicalc creator, and current Slate Corp., vice president, Dan
Bricklin, said the trends come down to one term -- new media.
New Media encompasses anything beyond letters and numbers,
including desktop video, video art, CD-ROMs, even the best part
of pen computing. "The one thing people caught onto with pens is
electronic ink, and that's a New Medium," he explained.

Handwriting recognition may not have been ready for prime time,
but handwriting does offer "control and free form input, compared
to old types of data." The mass market now understands this as a
big business, and some analysts argue that computing will never
be the same.

(Dana Blankenhorn/199931118)


(REVIEW)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00017)

Review of - Forminco Personal Workstation, Model PW-1L 11/19/93

From: Forminco Inc., 9610-A Ignace., Brossard, Quebec, Canada,
J4Y 2R4 514. Telephone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]

Price: $249

PUMA Rating: 3.95 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Dana Blankenhorn

Summary: The best computer desk yet, designed with real users in
mind. But no one's perfect.

======

REVIEW

======

Let's admit some bias up-front. I loved the Forminco desk the
first time I saw it, at the Fall 1991 Comdex. The model shown
then was the company's biggest model, the Power Center, which
includes space for a printer, along with a Forminco chair, and a
footrest that doubles as a massager. Many Comdexers may also
remember the Forminco desk from the last Spring Comdex, when
IBM offered use of both the Personal Work Station and chair as
part of its "OS/2 Test Drive Center."

But when the review unit arrived, I kept my skeptic's hat on. As
with a lot of furniture these days, the Forminco desk comes from
UPS in a box, as pieces, and takes time to build. I was stymied
right away, when it turned out two of the main parts, which act
as the front and back end of the desk, were mislabeled. My wife,
who is far more mechanically-literate -- and more computer-
literate -- than I, figured that out in about three seconds. She
then did most of the assembly work, requiring only a Philips-head
screwdriver and some Allen wrenches which came with the unit.
She found the instructions straightforward, and the rest of the
pieces each to find and assemble. She did it while I slept, and I
found a nice note the next morning. "I didn't put the wheels on
'cause I couldn't tighten the four screws under the table top,"
she wrote. "Then you can read how to adjust this thing for you."
Jenni always gets a PUMA rating of 4.0 from me.

We next called in Tommy Bass, a Newsbytes reviewer, to finish
the work. He had no problem with the wheels. His problem came in
mounting the main computer unit onto the desk. He called
Forminco, and learned that there were two small pieces whose
assembly hadn't been documented because of improvements made in
the unit after the documents were printed. He found the customer
service people who helped him to be knowledgeable and friendly.
He also enjoyed their Quebecois accents -- he's from south
Georgia.

The second problem came when he followed the customer service
folks' directions. With the Forminco desk, the computer's main
box is mounted on its side, and lashed to the main desk. Tommy
found that the plate which holds the box on the bottom -- the
side opposite the floppy disks -- was narrower than the box
itself. This meant he needed my help while he lashed the top
using the "CPU (central processing unit) clamp assembly," the part
whose use hadn't been documented yet. Pulling the two clamps
apart far enough so they would be secure against the box and he
could turn a knob holding it fast took real strength. It was also
just a bit scary, since I had to hold my precious box on that short
lower plate while Tommy worked above me. When we brought this
up with Forminco, they took careful notes, and I think they may
change the design.

Once everything was done, I fell in love all over again. The
black metal is attractive. The design is very adjustable. As I
write this, my monitor sits on top of a MasterPiece Plus "power
station" which acts as a surge protector, next to my CD-ROM drive
and modem. There's plenty of room in front of the monitor for my
Far Side desk calendar and a few papers. I'm left-handed, and the
desk can be set-up that way, or right-handed. In my case, to the
left of the monitor I've placed my phone, a standard residential
desk-set, and there are Velcro strips to secure it. The phone is
now very convenient to my hand while I work. On the left of the
keyboard is a "Mouse Arena," with a wire holder for the mouse
cord. There's a tiny wrist-rest in front of the arena, and plenty
of room for my mouse to roam. The keyboard rest is also
adjustable, using a handle which sits just under the tabletop.
The keyboard can be put under the desk at the end of the day,
using a handle, and my 5-year old, Robin, has plenty of strength
to work it. She also found using the mouse on programs like
"Reader Rabbit 3" a pleasure, something that wasn't true with my
old desk.

You want your keyboard height to adjust in such a way that your
hands are not bent up as you work, but slide across the keyboard.
That's the best way to avoid carpal-tunnel syndrome. Since you
can adjust the keyboard during the day with the Forminco desk,
you now have no excuses. Another round utility area, to the right
of the keyboard, swings away from the CPU when you need to insert
floppies, and has enough space to hold a full-size notebook
comfortably. It can also hold coffee cups and soda cans away from
the computer, but close to the hand.

The best part of this desk is yet to come. If your company does a
lot of moves and changes, you really need this desk. For one
thing, it has wheels. For another, there's a cable spooler below
the tabletop around which you can wind all those extra wires
which go between parts of the computer. This means the floor
stays clean. When you need to move the computer, simply unplug
the phone and power from the wall, unplug the printer cable,
detach the network connection if you have one, and vamoose.

The only problem may be getting out a door, but removing the Mouse
Arena and utility area takes just a few moments, and the rest of
the desk slides through easily. What had been a two-hour job for
two people now takes one person two minutes. Plus, as we said,
your workers have more protection from carpal tunnel syndrome
and other hazards which can raise health-care costs.

Of course, everyone's set-up is different. I mentioned my
MasterPiece power center, and its position below the monitor.
This lifts the monitor to a position about level with my head,
from one about three inches below it. Since the tabletop itself is
not adjustable and I can't raise my current chair any higher,
this means I have a glare on the screen, near the top. I can cut
that glare by turning off my overhead light, but that won't work
at night -- I wouldn't be able to see the keyboard. The situation
now is no worse than it was before the desk came, but the point
is that the table-top itself is the one thing you can't adjust. A
higher chair would help, if I left the keyboard locked into its
highest position, but that's something I'll have to buy later.
Another answer is to sit-up straight and not slouch so much.

Forminco also offers answers. An optional Riser Monitor, which
retails at $79, attaches to the back of the desk and can give you
additional adjustment options. The company's EAC Chair, at $349,
goes up and down so you can get above the monitor situation.
There's also a bi-focal mount system, which unfortunately is only
available through the contract market so far, which lets you
mount the monitor below the surface of the desk. That's where a
lot of Big Cheeses want theirs these days.

One other minor quibble is that, since all the parts are metal
and the keyboard is attached to the tabletop, and because I tend
to pound pretty heavily on the keyboard and have a wood floor
without a carpet, the monitor bounces a bit when I type. Come to
think of it, so does the phone. This is no big deal, but it's
something you should be aware of.

Here's the bottom line, however. I get a lot of stuff in here for
review. There are very few things I'd gladly pay to keep after I
review them. Memo to Forminco -- send me a bill. And let me see
one of those chairs and footrests. I'm sold.

============

PUMA RATING

============

PERFORMANCE: 3.9. I have only minor quibbles, based on the
system I've chosen to use.

USEFULNESS: 4.0. You need a desk like this, especially if your
company does a lot of moves-and-changes. If your home-based
business is making money, remember this is a valid expense at
tax-time.

MANUAL: 3.9. The set-up directions are crystal-clear, but there
were a few pieces which changed and weren't documented.
Fortunately the company's customer service people came to the
rescue.

AVAILABILITY: 4.0. Forminco has an 800-number and a growing list
of re-sellers. Also it's available through IBM Direct, their new
mail-order operation.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931021/Press contact: Gayle Ferland,
Forminco, 514-444-9488)


(REVIEW)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00018)

Review of - "CEO - Building A $400 Million Company" 11/19/93

From: Written by Sandra Kurtzig with Tom Parker, W. W. Norton &
Company, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110. Book number:
ISBN 0-393-02963-8.

Price: $22.95 Hardcover.

PUMA Rating: (1 lowest, 4 highest) 4.0

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Linda Rohrbough

Summary: Sandra Kurtzig, the woman who took $2,000 and built
$400,000,000 ASK Computer, has written with Tom Parker one of
the most insightful, detailed, and personally encouraging
autobiographies I have ever read.

======

REVIEW

======

It's difficult to imagine that anyone who starts a $400 million
a year software company is ordinary, especially if it's a
woman. And yet that's the way Sandra Kurtzig, the woman who
started ASK Computer, views herself according to her
autobiography, CEO: Building a $400 Million Company From The
Ground Up.

I talked with Sandra, and besides having a personality that is
warm and unimposing, she's one of the most practical people
I've had the pleasure of meeting. When she offered to send me
her book, I took her up on it.

Sandra Kurtzig was a 24 year-old working wife when she
decided to start writing software in the spare bedroom of her
apartment. She was meeting a critical need companies had to
track their business via computer, and her software
tracked data such as orders, bills of materials, and inventory.
It was on that need that Sandra built ASK Computer, the
company she recently stepped out of altogether.

In an interview upon her resignation as chairman of the board
at ASK, I asked her what was most different in running a
small company from running a huge corporation. The constant
worrying and watching you have to do to keep from being sued
was her answer.

She also said that if you have a half-way compelling product,
you can sell it, even if you're a small company. The trick is
selling people on yourself. This book is the story of how
Sandra sold herself and her product.

I found the book as compelling as a good novel with
foreshadowing and a catch at the end of each chapter that kept
you turning to the next one. But I read it to compare myself to
Sandra, as I suppose most people do when they read
autobiographical material. What I discovered is Sandra is
ordinary, but in an extraordinary way.

It's almost become a cliche to talk about focus and hard work
making the difference, but it's obvious that Sandra's
determination and hard work had a lot to do with ASK's success.
She's also fearless -- not afraid to try and not afraid to be
uncomfortable or take risks. Sandra went as far as to set up
cots, actually sleeping at Hewlett-Packard when she was working
on an important system in the early years.

One of the most encouraging items to me in the book was
Sandra's description of when ASK went public. It wasn't her
brilliant maneuvering or timing that impressed me, it was her
fingernails. She said earlier in the book that she and her team
didn't understand the "dress for success" principles, but I
didn't understand what she meant until I read how her
investment banker took her aside and asked her to cut her long
red fingernails and paint them with clear polish before they
went on the road with her IPO.

When I read that, I suddenly understood why she'd been mistaken
for a secretary by men all through the book, having read the
dress for success materials myself. She cut her nails, though
she didn't want to, but I suddenly got a glimpse of something
new. Sandra Kurtzig made it warts and all. She didn't have to
be perfect to succeed and neither does anyone else. Sandra said
when she'd hear the phrase, "What's a nice girl like you doing
in a business like this?" she'd simply smile and think to
herself, "I'm going to get your business and your respect."

She used those qualities about herself that were different to
get herself and her products attention in a "man's" world. She
had a robot at a company function (it was remotely controlled
with a person behind it using a microphone to speak to guests)
follow the key person in a business deal around the room. In
the end, she simply instructed the person running the robot to
ask for his business. Did she get the account? Yes. But she
didn't make a big deal or an issue out of being a woman. She
just doggedly did what she instinctively knew to do.

I suppose the best example of Sandra's instincts is when she
went out to buy a sports car, as a symbol of her success. She
wore a jogging suit down to a dealer of exotic cars in Los
Gatos and chose the sleek red one that everyone was standing
around. It was a Ferrari. She drove the car, liked it and asked
how much. The dealer said she should make him an offer. Her
guesses were $100,000 or maybe $50,000 but she didn't know.
Did she guess? No -- she made a few calls, but when she couldn't
reach any of her knowledgeable friends, she went to the library
and called another Ferrari dealer.

The catch was the other Ferrari dealer said the same thing,
make me an offer. So Sandra said she didn't want to waste her
time or his and she wouldn't pay a penny over $60,000. The
dealer agreed. So she kept calling Ferrari dealers, lowering
her offer by $5,000 each time until a dealer said, "Lady, if
you can get someone to sell you a three-oh-eight GTSI for
$40,000, go for it."

She then walked back across the street to the Ferrari dealer
and offered $38,000. She said the man acted "aghast," like she
was taking advantage of his good nature. But after some
negotiations, she got her Ferrari and for less than $40,000.

Harvard Business School's Smaller Company Management Program
was one of Sandra's stops on her way to success when ASK was
eight years old, to fill in the gaps in her knowledge. She
started as the person with the smallest company and ended her
course of study as the person with the most successful company.

Sandra wasn't shy about getting information when she needed it
and she's not shy about sharing it in her book. The detail in
the book is great. If you've ever wondered about doing an IPO
or what a "red herring" is, this is definitely the book to read.

============

PUMA RATING

============

PERFORMANCE: 4.0. It reads like a novel, pulling the reader from
one chapter to the next, even though at the outset, the ending
is obvious.

USEFULNESS: 4.0. I found it personally encouraging, but it also
has a lot of detail on the making of a large company.

AVAILABILITY: 4.0. I understand Sandra's book is coming out in
paperback from the Harvard Business School Press in May of
1994. Until then it is only available in hardcover.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931110/Press Contact: Renate' Steiner,
ASK Group, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00019)

Comdex - SunSoft Ports Solaris x86 To Unisys U6000 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- At Comdex,
SunSoft announced plans to port Solaris 2 to IBM's Power PC
environment and Solaris x86 to the Intel processor-based Unisys
U6000 Series of Unix systems. In addition, SunSoft and Locus
Computing Corp. have agreed to provide the Merge PC compatibility
environment for the Solaris x86 and Interactive Unix environments.

Merge PC will let users run DOS and Windows 3.1 applications
under both Solaris and Interactive Unix, said John G. Felahi,
director of x86 product marketing, in an interview with
Newsbytes.

Solaris is now in version 2.3 on the Sparc platform, while
Solaris x86 for Intel processors is still in version 2.1, he told
Newsbytes. The first release of Solaris x86, announced in June
for Unixware, has already sold about 30,000 copies, according to
Felahi.

In the spring of 1994, SunSoft plans to deliver version 2.4 of
both Solaris for Sparc and Solaris x86 for Intel-based systems,
he added. The port of Solaris 2 to PowerPC will also come in
1994.

Solaris x86 version 2.4 will incorporate the enhancements made in
Solaris for Sparc 2.3, including improved database performance,
a new cache file system, increased security, and support for a
higher client/server ratio.

More than 500 third-party applications are scheduled to ship or
Solaris x86 by the end of the year, Newsbytes was told.

Solaris x86 and Solaris 2 for the PowerPC environment will also
run Microsoft Windows applications through SunSelect's Wabi, a
technology that uses a mixture of native execution and emulation.

IBM's PowerPC environment will run four other operating systems,
as well: AIX, Workplace OS, Windows NT, and Taligent. AIX will
also employ Wabi to run Windows applications on PowerPC.

Also on PowerPC, OS/2 will be supported natively via Workplace
OS. DOS applications will be supported on Workplace OS via the
same type of Multiple Virtual DOS Machines as on OS/2 2.1.

DOS applications will be supported on AIX via PC Sim, and
Macintosh applications using a Macintosh emulation technology
that is the result of a cooperative effort between Apple and IBM.
Windows NT support for DOS applications will be the same as for
all versions of NT.

Availability of Merge PC for Solaris x86 and Interactive Unix is
expected in the first quarter of 1994, Felahi told Newsbytes.
Merge PC will run Windows applications under OpenWindows via
X11 and will also operate DOS VGA applications in full-screen
mode. Merge PC will support Windows 3.0 and 3.1, MS-DOS 5.0,
and DR DOS 6.0.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931119/Press contact: Emily Wanderer
Cohen, Hi Tech Communications for SunSoft, 415-904-7000)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00020)

Comdex - FileWizard Manages Novell Network Storage 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Knozall
Systems says it is offering FileWizard, a product to help Novell
network administrators efficiently use existing storage space
as well as predicting when and how much storage will be needed
in the future. The company claims the product can reclaim 30
percent or more of server file space on any Novell network.

FileWizard performs a disk space analysis then allows the
network administrator to perform housekeeping functions, such
as deleting or archiving old files. The product also maintains
a history of file activity from which it predicts the future.

Bill Kroll, a representative for Knozall, told Newsbytes that,
"FileWizard can accurately forecast when any given file server
will be out of space based on the actual usage history." This
feature is useful for determining how much additional storage
space is needed on a network, so money is not wasted on too
little storage space, or too much.

The product also performs unattended and lists of files meeting
a certain criteria, such as those that have not been touched for
180 days, can be sent out to everyone on the network to give
notice that the files will be deleted on a certain date.

FileWizard retails for $495 in a single server version and goes
up to $2,195 for a corporate version. The Chandler, Arizona-
based company also offers scheduling software for automating
tasks on the network with its NLMAuto and MLMAuto Professional.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931119/Press Contact: Gail Lundell, Knozall
Systems, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00021)

 ****Clinton Approves Cray Supercomputer For China 11/19/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- As President Clinton
takes his win on NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement),
with him to use as leverage with Asiatic trading partners at the
Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conference being held in
Seattle, Washington, he is faced not just with Japan's trade
barriers, but with the US Administration's traditional human
rights stand, which angers Chinese officials.

However, another weapon in his armory is the approval for sale
by Cray Computer of a $10 million supercomputer to China.
After years of negotiation, Communist China has finally
won permission to purchase and install a powerful Cray
supercomputer which the government says will be used only
for weather prediction.

Successive US Presidents have opposed this sale because of
China's human rights violations, as well as concerns over whether
Chinese scientists and military would use the supercomputer for
chemical and/or nuclear weapons research -- the two other major
uses of such a computer besides weather forecasting.

The Clinton administration says that the sale provides for rigid
controls which will limit the use of the Cray computer to
meteorological studies. However, precise details of just how such
controls could be enforced once the computer is installed in China
were not provided.

Political observers point out that China continues to sell
advanced weapons technologies to third-world countries and that
there is little or no likelihood that the Communist government
will suddenly agree to stop such sales.

The US Department of Commerce also approved sale of a
supercomputer to Iraq, by way of a Brazilian intermediary, just
weeks before the start of Operation Desert Shield, which led to
armed conflict between US coalition forces and Iraq during
Operation Desert Storm.

(John McCormick/19931119)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00022)

AT&T Videophone To Be Used In Arizona Courts 11/19/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- The municipal (city)
courts in Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert, and Chandler Arizona
(the Greater Phoenix area) have selected the AT&T Videophone
2500 to provide an inexpensive substitute for, what they hope
will eventually become, a full teleconferencing network linking
courts, jails, and police stations.

The criminal justice system expects to experience significant
savings by having prisoners arrested and held in custody in one
of the Phoenix-area jurisdictions make their initial court
appearance by videophone rather than having to be transported
to every jurisdiction where he or she may face an outstanding
warrant.

Initially the videophones will be installed in each of the five
regional municipal courts, along with jails and police stations,
but plans call for an expansion of the system to other nearby
municipal courts, county jails, and even offices of Justices of
the Peace.

The Videophone 2500 is a full color, motion video picture phone
which operates over standard telephone lines and connects to
existing RJ-11 phone sockets. It draws power from standard
electrical outlets. Single units retail for $1,000 each.

(John McCormick/19931118/Press Contact: Ray Zardetto,
AT&T, 201-581-4342)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00023)

 ****COCOM Votes Itself Out Of Existence 11/19/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- As predicted previously by
Newsbytes, COCOM -- the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral
Export Controls -- has voted itself out of existence. The move has
immediately been welcomed by both Western and Eastern nations
alike.

Cocom, which was set up in 1949 (after World War II) to prevent
Eastern Bloc countries from gaining access to Western technology
goods, has had an increasingly lessening reason to exist in the last
few years after the end of the Cold War and the opening up of the
former Eastern Bloc to democracy. Over the last two years in
particular, COCOM has busied itself with actively promoting
exports to the East, rather than blocking them.

Analysts are divided on whether, overall, COCOM has achieved what it
set out to do. The advent of PC technology in the early 1980s meant
that Russians, Poles and other Eastern Bloc citizens were unable to
lay their hands on even an 8086/8-based PC from the West until
late in the decade.

The result was predictable. Russians gained access to PCs illegally
imported from the West and set up production lines to clone the
machines without permission. The so-called Red PC, seen in Russia
in the mid-1980s, was a classic example.

Western PC manufacturers were incensed at this cloning -- not only
were they deprived of what they saw as a legitimate export market
in the East, but they had to stand by and watch helplessly as their
technology was being virtually stolen. Western nations, because of
the Cold War, were unable to pursue the cloning companies due to
a lack of inter-country agreements on copyright.

Speaking in Moscow recently, Grigory Karasin, the Russian
Foreign Ministry administrator, said that he welcomed the abolition
of COCOM, but felt that it was a little late in the day for such
actions. He added that this was only the beginning of the Ministry's
lobbying plan for removal of all East/West trade barriers.

"Russia will insist on the immediate lifting of all restrictions on
export of commodities and dual technology to our country imposed
for ideological reasons," Karasin said in a prepared statement.

Officially, COCOM will take some time to disband, with the 17
countries that make up the technology control organization voting to
formally abolish the group on March 3, in line with COCOM rules of
the organization. In practice, however, the rules should be lifted
by the end of this year.

COCOM officials have said in the past that they hoped that COCOM
would diversify its field of operations so as to formally promote
high-tech exports to the former East, rather than hinder them.
Newsbytes notes that the majority of the 17 nations' governments
have voted to discontinue funding of COCOM from next March,
effectively squashing this plan.

Karasin said that Russia was still open to discussion on the
creation of a new organization to assist in high-tech exports, but
privately, has acknowledged that such an organization would be
difficult to fund.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931119)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00024)

Comdex - Good English's Text Style Checking For Windows 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Comdex has been
a great success, according to Richard Jones, managing director of
The Good English Company, a St Charles, Illinois-based company.

Jones, who is the MD of Absolute Research, the UK publishing
and consultancy house, launched his new firm, The Good English
Company, at Comdex. The firm offered a package called
Stylewriter onto the US market for the first time.

Stylewriter, a Windows-based PC application, claims to be a lot
more than a grammar checker. "It's a style checker that helps users
simplify and enhance their writing using proven techniques drawn
from educational sources in the UK," Jones told Newsbytes.

According to Jones, the $145 package is unique on both sides of the
Atlantic and, after selling the package in the UK and getting
excellent feedback, he decided to take the plunge and start selling
in the US as well.

"We've found Comdex to be excellent, both in terms of numbers
attending, but also in the quality of the attendees. Instead of
finding company staff coming to our stand, we've had MDs and key
decision markers walking up to our stand and asking about our
software," he said.

This, Jones added, has meant that The Good English Company expects
to more than break even on Comdex, despite the relatively high cost
of exhibiting at the show. "It's been a very good first foray for us
into the US market," he said.

(Steve Gold/19931119/Press & Public Contact: The Good English
Company, 800-819-9876)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00025)

Comdex - Printing Faxes On Printers The Easy Way 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Teledisk
Systems claims that its Faxpak unit, a device that adds fax
capabilities to a number of printers, has been greatly enhanced to
cover what the company claims is the widest number of printers
on the market today.

According to officials with the Sausalito, California-based company,
Faxpak is now compatible with the HP Deskjet and Canon Bubblejet
series of printers, as well as Epson and IBM nine- and 24-pin dot-
matrix printers. The existing support for HP and compatible lasers,
as well as the Canon Laser series, has also been enhanced.

Dan Claxton, president of Teledisk, said that Faxpak now makes it
a lot easier for computer users to enjoy plain paper fax facilities,
rather than put up with thermal paper that curls and fades.
"It's an affordable plain paper fax solution that uses an existing
high quality printer and lets users save time and money over
thermal fax output," he explained.

Claxton says that, since plain paper is a lot cheaper than thermal
paper and suffers from none of thermal's disadvantages, that the
Faxpak unit will quickly pay for itself, giving users all the
advantages of plain paper faxes at no cost, once the payback has
been achieved.

Faxpak sells for $299 and is a standalone fax modem with its own
power supply and 768 kilobytes (KB) of memory. This gives the unit
the ability to store up to 40 pages of faxes for when the host
printer is turned off. It is possible, for example, to use the Faxpak
on the road to receive faxes -- using the battery option -- and
then plug the unit into the nearest available printer when available.

Despite the relatively low price tag, Faxpak has an integral
voice/fax switch system that allows users to receive (as well as
make) voice calls on the same line. Officials with the company at
Comdex said that this also allows users to piggy-back the Faxpak
onto a line which already has a fax modem plugged in for outgoing
faxes.

Faxpak does not require a PC to operate, Newsbytes notes. Instead,
the unit either functions on a standalone basis, or plugged into a
compatible printers. Configuring the unit is done by keying in
commands from a touch tone phone.

(Steve Gold/19931119/Press & Public Contact: Teledisk
Systems, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00026)

Comdex - Interactive Lets PC Handle Calls 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Voice messaging systems
based on PC technology that function as an automated operator
facility are nothing new. But Interactive, a company showing its
wares at Comdex, claims that its Interactive Communicator is
cheaper and more effective than the competition.

Prototypes of the system were on show at Comdex. The system is a
PC-based voice-activated personal office communications system.
Using voice commands, the system can answer a phone, take
incoming messages and place outgoing calls, as well as
send/receive faxes and multimedia electronic mail (e-mail).

The essence of the system, according to Gary Kappenman, the
company's president, is that it offers voice e-mail on incoming
calls, as well as a host of other facilities, both from the caller
and callee's perspective. The system draws on the power of the
PC to make life easier for the user.

"We are leading the way for the PC to be the center of business
communication and expanding its capabilities as an information
creation device," he explained. "Our mission is to provide products
that enhance business communication," he added.

In use, the system accepts voice commands and speaks the results
of the actions (i.e. "send fax to John" would return a message
"would you like to call again" if the line were busy). The system
can be configured by the user to react under certain situations.

Not unexpectedly, Interactive Communicator requires a powerful
PC to work fully. The unit requires an 80486-based or better PC
running Windows and fitted with additional hardware and software.

Plans call for the system, which is as yet unpriced, to work
with a variety of hardware, meaning that users with existing
telecommunications hardware, such as fax boards and voice
recognition technology, do not need to abandon their existing
system.

(Steve Gold/19931119/Press & Public Contact: Interactive,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00027)

Comdex - Computerized Foreign Language Conversion 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Globalink has launched
a wide range of DOS, OS/2, Mac and Unix software at Comdex,
which is capable of translating French, German, Russian and
Spanish to and from English. The Power Translator software is
claimed to be faster, up to 60,000 words an hour, and more
efficient than competing products.

A spokesman for the company, on the show stand at Comdex,
told Newsbytes that one of the problems with language translation
software to date has been the inability to apply fuzzy logic
techniques to translation. Globalink's software, he said, gets round
this by applying known language skill routines to the translated
text file, looking for language idiosyncrasies.

"English is an idiosyncratic language and this makes it possible for
mistakes to occur that cannot be spotted by conventional software.
Our packages look for these potential problems and idiomatically
translate the text," he said.

William Gregory, Globalink's executive vice president, claims that
the company's software will greatly enhance a company's ability to
trade with foreign companies. "In may respects, language represents
the final hurdle to the globalization of business and societies. Our
technology makes it easy for everyone to clear that hurdle," he
explained.

In use, Globalink's software translates documents on a sentence-by-
sentence basis, rather than word-by-word. Despite this, the company
is honest enough to admit that its idiomatic translation routines
are only effective 90 percent of the time. Each version of the
software has 250,000-plus word and general dictionary and is
capable of sourcing and outputting text to/from several word
processors, as well as plain ASCII.

Newsbytes viewed the PC version of Power Translator in the
English/German version. The package runs under DOS (3.1 or later)
and requires at least 450 kilobytes (KB) of memory and 14
megabytes (MB) of hard disk space to function.

Pricing on the Globalink software depends on the platform and
operating system required, as well as the language and the number
of users. Example pricing on the Russian/English version for DOS
is $1,450.

Globalink is based in Fairfax, Virginia and offers support via a
toll-free number (1-800-255-5660) to the US and Canada. The
company has been producing translation software for several years,
but the range announced at Comdex is a new series, Newsbytes
understands.

(Steve Gold/19931119/Press & Public Contact: Globalink, tel
703-273-3866, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00028)

Comdex - Theos Intros Multi-User DOS 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- Theos Software
Corp., has announced that its has spun off its multi-user DOS
operating system software from its networking software. The
package, known as Theos DOS, will sell for $599 for up to five
users, with various site license deals available.

Brian Jackson, national accounts representative with the Walnut
Creek. Californian-based company, said that the idea behind this
version of DOS is to allow users to attach slave dumb terminals off
a high powered PC, rather than have users link low-cost (and low-
power) PCs together using a network.

"Theos DOS is very cost-effective for power users wanting to use a
multi-user DOS. The networking aspects of the operating system are
not proprietary, and support Novell, 3Com and Artisoft LANtastic
networks, meaning users can plug into those networks if required,"
he said.

Power requirements on the host PC are modest for low usage
situations, Newsbytes notes. Two users can use a 33 megahertz (MHz)
386-based PC with 4 megabytes (MB) of memory, while five users
bump up the system requires to a 25 MHz 486-based machine with
8MB of memory.

Up to 16 users can run on a 66 MHz 486-based PC fitted with 24MB of
memory. These system requirements, Newsbytes notes, are based on
a user expecting to get the equivalent performance of an 8 MHz 286-
based PC from the system. Increasing host system hardware
capabilities enhances the actual performance of the operating
system, as does a lower number of users running on the host system
at any one time.

Theos DOS is also compatible with Pentium-based PCs, and can
function across ISA (Industry Standard Architecture), EISA
(Extended ISA) or local bus architecture. The company claims that
the key to the compatibility of the operating system is that it
overlays MS or PC-DOS 3.1 or later, rather than starting from
scratch.

"This approach not only assures compatibility, but also allows users
to make cost-effective use of their existing DOS licenses," Jackson
explained to Newsbytes.

(Steve Gold/19931119/Press & Public Contact: Theos Software
Corporation, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00029)

Comdex - File Corruption Alert Software For NT 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- File Alert for
Windows, a software tool for detecting data corruption under
Windows NT, does more than just provide the functionality of
anti-virus software. The company claims the 32-bit application
software monitors for file corruption from a variety of sources
and offers instant notification at the first sign of problems.

File corruption can occur for a number of reasons, including
deliberate causes such as rogue computer programs like viruses,
or simply decay or failure of the hard disk drives, power
supply, or other hardware. The idea is to find data corruption
problems early, before they cause serious concerns.

Executive company officials say File Alert will not overrun the
system while protecting it. The product automatically runs in
the background at the lowest level of Windows NT priority
settings so it only uses time when the central processing unit
(CPU) would be idle anyway.

According to the company, when a file is seen to be corrupted,
the product not only notifies the system administrator, but also
creates and maintains a journal of any corrupted files it finds,
including a log of deleted files.

The product works with NT on Digital's Alpha AXP personal
computer (PC), Intel-based PCs, and those from MIPS. Retail
pricing for the product is $99.

Glendale, California-based Executive Systems has moved into the
Windows NT market from developing products for the VAX platform.
The firm is known for its VAX on-line disk defragmenter, Diskeeper.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931119/Press Contact: Executive Software,
Jobee Knight, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public
Contact, 800-829-4357)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00030)

Comdex - Dual Group Intros Upgradable SKD Notebook 11/19/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 19 (NB) -- The Dual Group
displayed its SKD Notebook, an upgradable notebook computer
with easily removed and replaced monitor, hard disk, and
central processing unit (CPU) components.

SKD reportedly plays off the acronym for the term "semi knocked
down," which is a way to refer to the level of assembly of
imported goods.

The SKD Notebook basic unit is a 486SX 25 megahertz (MHz)
computer with a monochrome monitor. Upgrades can be made to a
486DX 33 MHz, a 486DX2 50 MHz or a 486DX2 66 MHz CPU (central
processor unit) by simply sliding out one component and plugging
in another. The monitor can be upgraded in a similar manner from
the basic monochrome all the way up to active TFT (thin film
transistor) color.

Removable hard disks are a feature as well, and becoming more
popular industry wide. Epson also introduced a new notebook
computer with a removable hard disk drive. The advantages to
removable drives include the ability to get critical data out
of the notebook, should something happen to it, and put that
data into a new notebook. Also, several users can share a
notebook, each with their own hard disk drive.

Like most notebook computers, the SKD Notebook can be upgraded
from 4 to 20 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM).
Other options include the ability to add a Personal Computer
Memory Card Industry Association (PCMCIA) slot, a fax/modem,
local area network (LAN) capability, a Small Computer System
Interface (SCSI), a scanner interface, a second serial port, and
other components.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931119/Press Contact: Dual Group,
tel [phone], fax [phone])