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/nb120393

Text File | 1993-12-03 | 83KB | 1,884 lines

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00001)

Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 12/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

The IEEE Spectrum for December carries a head-to-head comparison
of the recent crop of 32- and 64-bit microprocessors with special
attention to the technology involved and takes a look at upcoming
developments.

Federal Computer Week dated November 29 says that President
Clinton's health care plan is sparking major concerns about data
security and the difficulties involved in connecting thousands of
computer systems together to share medical and billing data.

January's Macworld looks at the year's top Macintosh games and
rates "Lemmings for the Macintosh," Psygnosis Software and
"Diamonds 2.0," Varcon Systems as the best arcade entries with
Sierra On-Line taking top honors in the adventure category with
"King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow." For the other nine
top games see the article.

The November 29 issue of Computer Reseller News reports that IBM
will control distribution of its upcoming Power PCs so tightly
that wholesale distributors will likely be excluded from the
pipeline.

Government Computer News for the week of November 22 carries a
front page story indicating that a gigaflop computer system may
be harder to develop because software tools just aren't available
to take advantage of today's most advanced hardware, let alone
the next generation of computers being proposed in the High-
Performance Computing and Communications program.

(John McCormick/19931203/)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00002)

Japan - NEC Home Electronics Offers 32-bit Video Game Machine 12/03/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The scramble to release next-
generation video game machines that sport the latest sound, graphics,
and even video movies. The latest in the battle is NEC Home
Electronics which announced plans to compete with Nintendo, Sega,
Matsushita, and others in the 32-bit video game machine market.
NEC Home Electronics plans to release its powerful game player
by the end of 1994.

NEC Home Electronics is currently selling a video game machine
called the "Game Gear" but sales have not been overwhelming due
to technology improvements advanced by the competition.

NEC Home Electronics' 32-bit game machine will offer a
CD-ROM drive and an advanced color motion picture board, which
compresses and decompresses pictures extremely fast.
The new device will support full-color and full-screen mode, and
NEC claims the unit will be as powerful as Sega's 64-bit game
device, which is currently under development.

The price will be between 20,000 and 30,000 yen (around $250).
NEC Home Electronics wants to ship 500,000 units for the
first year.

The video game machine market is becoming extremely competitive.
Matsushita recently released an advanced game device in cooperation
with 3DO of California. Japan's Pioneer also released a laser
disk game machine. Sony has started development on a 32-bit game
machine jointly with Tokyo-based game software maker Capcorn.
Nintendo and Sega are also developing next-generation game
devices.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931202/Press Contact: NEC Home
Electronics, [phone], Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEL)(00003)

Digital-Apple Ending Relationship In India, Other Briefs 12/03/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- In our news roundup, Tata-IBM
rethink manufacturing of PS/2s, Digital India relationship with
Apple is tasting sour, and US Robotics enters India market.

Tata-IBM Rethinking Manufacturing

Tata Information Systems Ltd., the Tata-IBM joint venture, has
deferred its manufacturing plans. The PS/2s and PS/Value Points,
that were slated to roll out in September last, will "possibly"
come out in February, next year. The company is understood to be
evaluating what should be its manufacturing levels and where
should it do so. TISL chief Michael Klein has already said a
no-no to establishing an SMT line. In fact, the company has
lately been talking to several hardware manufacturers for using
their facilities on contract basis. The changes in duty structure
has turned the facilities of a many a company into burden.

While Digital Equipment India Ltd., IDM, PSI Data Systems,
Pertech Computers Ltd. have either started contract manufacturing,
or are looking for customers, others like HCL Hewlett-Packard
and Modi Olivetti are thinking of taking the export route.
Meanwhile, to strengthen its marketing arm, TISL is planning a
reshuffle in the top and middle management. It is rumoured that
Anal Jain, vice president, marketing would take up an overseas
IBM assignment, while Venky Raman, who used to head IBM's
Singapore offshore operations, would take charge of marketing
at TISL.

Digital India May Fade Out On Mac

As Wipro Infotech Ltd. is gearing up to distribute Apple Macintoshes,
Digital Equipment India Ltd. (DEIL) is slowly getting out of the
picture. In the last couple of months, the company got rid of its
LC II inventory. A senior executive of the company indicated that
DEIL may probably not sell Centris machines. While the
manufacturing agreement with Apple Computer still stands, there has
been no move from Apple to renew the order. As a DEIL spokesman
puts it, a renewal is likely only if Apple's volumes pick up
phenomenally. But then, it will be at least a couple of years
before Mac volumes can swell to the extent that it justifies
local manufacture. With DEIL making it clear that it would not
be a volume distributor of Macs, boosting volumes depends entirely
on Wipro Infotech. If the volumes go that high, Wipro would probably
want to undertake manufacture by itself. In other words, DEIL's
relationship with Mac is off for all practical purposes.

US Robotics Enters India

The growing popularity of networking in India and the opening
up of the value-added services is luring the world leaders in
internetworking equipment. The latest to enter has been US
Robotics Inc., that has made its product range available
through the Bombay-based Microsense Computers Pvt. Ltd.
While US Robotics is primarily a modem manufacturer, and has
an installed base of over 3 million modems worldwide, its
product range also includes network system products, and
communications software.

Microsense, which is already the distributor for Devlon, Canada
for the latter's range of hubs, bridges and routers, and Datarace,
USA, for its high-speed fax/data/voice multiplexers, have announced
a five-year warranty on all US Robotics' Sportster modems.

(C. T. Mahabharat/19931203)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00004)

Japan - Lotus, Microsoft, Just Systems Take Aim At Schools 12/03/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The Japanese public schools have
taken on a special lure for software manufacturers since PC
education became compulsory in Japan's junior high schools in
April.

Aiming at this market, Lotus will release a school bundle of
its Japanese version of Lotus 1-2-3 R2.4J this week. The package
includes 21 copies of the program. The price is 348,000 yen
($3,480) -- 70 percent cheaper than the regular price. Also,
Lotus has already released its "Academic Package" to
personal computer dealers in Japan. It offers eight different
software packages including Lotus 1-2-3 and AmiPro. Students and
teachers will be able to purchase these programs at a 44 to 66
percent discount if they show their school ID cards.

Microsoft Tokyo has also been selling an academic package in
Japan. The bundle offers 14 programs including Windows 3.1,
MS Word and MS Excel. The students and teachers are offered
the bundle at 50 percent off the price of buying them all
separately.

Shikoku-based Just System is a native Japanese company at
the forefront of the battle for the school software market.
Its best-selling Japanese word processor Ichitaro is
being sold in bundles of eleven units. So popular is this
bundle that Just System claims it has already sold a whopping
200,000 packages.

The Japanese Education Ministry is preparing to install more
personal computers in schools over the next few years.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931122/Press Contact: Lotus, Tokyo,
[phone], Fax, [phone], Microsoft, Tokyo, +81-3-
5454-8000)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(MSP)(00005)

DayMaker Organizer 3.0 Ships 12/03/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- DayMaker Organizer 3.0,
Pastel's personal organizer for the Macintosh, is being shipped.
Version 3.0, the company reports, was inspired by feedback from
many of the nearly 50,000 users of DayMaker whose experiences
helped refine the new product.

"The key to DayMaker Organizer's superiority is the natural
integration of contact and phone-call management to the most usable
calendar and to-do list program," said Hank Williams, president of
Pastel.

DayMaker Organizer 3.0 now allows users to manage contact information
and track phone calls in a structured format that includes fields
for name, company, address, phone numbers, and other contact-related
information. To instantly find any contact, or group of contacts,
type the first few letters of a first name, last name, or company
name. Users can view all of the "linked items" such as to-do's
and phone-calls associated with a person by selecting them from the
"contact view."

Users can manage phone calls by creating items linked to a specific
contact. These call items can be viewed in any calendar or to-do
list, and can be opened as floating Phone-Notes for tracking calls.
Users can keep notes, track call duration, and automatically
set up follow-up actions for each call. Automatic dialing is also
included and contacts can be dialed directly from anywhere in the
program.

DayMaker Organizer 3.0 also includes an on-line help system
with tutorial, a sample file with U.S. Holidays through 1997, and
over 100 useful 800 numbers.

DayMaker Organizer 3.0 lists for $149.95. Current DayMaker users
can upgrade for $29.95 plus $5.00 for shipping and handling.
After December 31, the upgrade price will be $39.95.
DayMaker users should send a check plus a copy of their
sales receipt or the cover of their DayMaker manual to: Pastel
Development, 113 Spring Street, New York, NY, 10012, or call
Pastel's order department at: [phone] in the US.

(Wendy Woods/19931202/Press Contact: Steve Schaffer, Director of
Marketing, Pastel Development, 212-941-7500 ext. 228)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00006)

Japan - Science Technology Databases Online 12/03/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Japan's major personal computer
networks, Nifty-serve and G-search, are each offering new
science and technology data in both English and Japanese.

Both Nifty-serve and G-search have linked with Japan Information
Center for Science and Technology and are providing its
database called JOIS online. The database has seven categories and
is claimed to be the largest science and technology-related database
in Japan.

G-search is a Tokyo-based database firm affiliated with
Fujitsu. Nifty-serve is also affiliated with Fujitsu, and is the
second largest personal computer network in Japan following NEC's
PC-VAN. It has a gateway with CompuServe.

Meanwhile, Nifty-serve has developed an interlink mail system
for both Nifty-serve and CompuServe users. In the past,
Nifty-serve users needed another ID to access CompuServe. However,
this barrier has been lifted and e-mail users on both Nifty-serve
and CompuServe can now exchange e-mail.

The e-mail can be sent from Nifty-serve to CompuServe very
easily. Nifty-serve users just type in "CIS>" to send their
mail to Compuserve, and the message is transmitted.
This connection is made via international protocol X.400.

Nifty-serve created a similar e-mail link with PC-VAN this
past April.

Nifty-serve claims to have over 560,000 registered members.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931203/Press Contact: Nifty, +81-3-
5471-4857, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00007)

 ****Macintosh Gets "Industrial Strength" Dev't Environment 12/03/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Uniface Corp.
has unveiled a Macintosh implementation of Uniface, a client-
server development environment, equipped with a central
repository and extensive database links, that is already
available for MS-Windows 3.1, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, OpenVMS, and
multiple varieties of Unix.

In announcing the product yesterday, at a briefing attended by
Newsbytes in Boston, Uniface Corp. and Apple officials said that
Uniface for the Macintosh will allow development of robust
business applications that support the native look-and-feel of
the Macintosh, while letting Macintosh users access enterprise
data.

Developers will also be able to build applications with Uniface
in other environments, and then deploy those applications for the
Mac without rewriting code, company executives told a packed-to-
capacity audience of journalists, analysts, and developers in the
Independence Room at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

"This product combines the power of Uniface with the graphical
standard and ease-of-use of the Macintosh," summed up Anu Shukla,
vice president of marketing for Uniface Corp.

Uniface Corp. decided to port its development environment to the
Macintosh for two main reasons, Shukla elaborated. First, many
of the company's Fortune 1000 customers have multivendor
computing environments that include "a lot of Macs."

Second, she explained, Uniface perceived an opportunity in the
Macintosh marketplace for a set of "industrial-strength, high-
end" development tools.

The new Macintosh edition of Uniface is the outcome of a joint
development agreement first announced in April, 1992, said George
Frazier, regional integration manager for Apple. "We're very
pleased with (Uniface Corp.'s) progress," he noted.

"Why are the tools from Uniface important to Apple?" Frazier
asked. "Apple needed a good crossplatform development
(platform). Now, mission-critical applications can be developed
on multiple desktops that support the native Macintosh interface,
instead of a generic interface or the lowest common denominator."

About 26 percent of Apple's worldwide revenues now come from the
business market, he asserted. Apple, he added, is strongly
committed to this segment, which is becoming characterized by a
transition from host-based systems to multivendor client-server
environments that include mobile as well as desktop computers.

Mark Hersey, chief Macintosh architect, and two other staffers
from Uniface Corp. showed the crowd a demo of how Uniface and the
new Macintosh version would come in handy at a hypothetical
establishment called "Unibank."

Viewers saw a graphical user interface equipped with such icons
as a piggybank and a pile of coins. Employees of Unibank could
query the database for information on accounts, investments and
the like by clicking on the icons. In one vignette, a Uniface
staffer playing the role of Donald Trump phoned the bank, and got
an instant answer as to the status of his loans.

Bank staff could also use the Uniface-created environment to call
up video clips. In another scenario, a rock musician phoned to
request a loan. To review the musician's qualifications, a loan
officer for Unibank accessed clips of the band's performance.

The need for a Mac edition of Uniface became apparent when one
bank employee asked another to conduct a query for him. He
couldn't do a query himself because the enterprise environment
wasn't easily extensible to his Mac, he said. "And I won't give
up my Mac!" he maintained. His colleague then suggested to him
that the new Uniface for the Macintosh would resolve the issue.

Another speaker, Irving Shapiro of Metamor Technology (formerly
ISA), reported on how his company has used Uniface to develop
real-life applications for a pair of multivendor environments.

One of these situations involved a Fortune 100 telecommunications
company requiring simultaneous storage of 150 million billing
transactions, along with access to these transactions from
Macintoshes, IBM-compatible PCs, and character-based terminals.

In the other application, doctors on a VAX-based network of 90
medical clinics needed to share access to medical records. The
doctors were using a mix of Macs, PCs, and X terminals, according
to Shapiro.

Metamor approached these projects like any other, basing the
selection of development tools on the needs posed by the specific
applications, he said. Uniface was chosen for the jobs as a
result of its central repository, and its support for multiple
operating systems, GUIs, and databases.

Hersey told the journalists, analysts, and developers that Uniface
incorporates middleware called PolyServer that provides networked
client-server applications with simultaneous access to 22
different relational and nonrelational databases. Uniface for
the Macintosh supports MacTCP and DECNet networking protocols
for connection to PolyServer on remote platforms.

The new Mac edition also supports local access to Oracle for the
Macintosh and sequential files, and Sybase Open Client for
connectivity to remote Sybase databases, he said.

A Central Model Repository stores reusable application logic,
business rules, and graphical objects. Another tool, the Model
Synchronizer, can be used to synchronize the model repository
with 16 CASE (computer-aided software engineering) tools.

A tool called Universal Presentation Interface supports the
Windows, OS/2 Workplace Shell, Motif, and Macintosh GUIs, as well
as character-based interfaces. Also in the toolset is an
Information Engineering & Design Facility for defining
application logic and business rules, creating printed reports,
and building screens, forms and windows.

Other tools include database-specific drivers and Uniface
Reporter, a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) facility for
allowing users to create their own reports within an application.

Hersey also said that Uniface for the Mac supports System 7
features like Apple and application menus, Balloon Help, and
standard keyboard shortcuts. Images and text can be cut, copied
and pasted through the Clipboard.

The Mac version also supports standard Macintosh window controls
and icons, and the Mac's native folder structure. Report
printing is managed by native Macintosh printing mechanisms. The
Required Apple Events Suite is supported, as well. The product
handles 3GL code as code resources.

For Uniface-specific commands, the developer employs a control
bar containing icons for Macintosh menus, next/previous mode,
insert/outstrike mode, detail editing, and a Uniface Universal
Gold editing function.

The Uniface Preference Editor is used for setting system and user
preferences, such as default system fonts, colors, and user
interface compatibility settings.

Uniface for the Macintosh is available in controlled release
immediately. General release is slated for the first quarter of
1994. The product will run on any 68030 or 68040 Macintosh with
4 megabytes of random access memory, 15 megabytes of available
disk space, and System 7.0.1 or higher. A single Macintosh
development license is priced at $4,400.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931203/Reader contact: Uniface Corp., tel
510-748-6145; Press contact: William Ryan, Niehaus Ryan Haller
Public Relations for Uniface, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00008)

Hong Kong - Mass Transit Picks Sybase, PowerBuilder 12/03/93
KOWLOON BAY, HONG KONG, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The Mass Transit
Railway Corporation (MTRC) has entered into a five-year
software bulk purchase agreement with HCL Leung & Associates
to facilitate new information systems development and migration
of existing systems to an open, client-server architecture.

The contract covers the provision of Sybase Inc's Sybase SQL
Server database management system and PowerSoft PowerBuilder
object-oriented development tools, together with consultancy
and training.

HCL Leung & Associates won the MTRC tender following an extensive
evaluation by the corporation of competing database systems and
development tools. Having made the critical software decisions
the MTRC is free to choose from a variety of open system hardware
platforms.

"The decision to migrate from our current proprietary, host-based
information architecture to an open, client-server configuration
is based on the need to provide a better service to our end-users
and through them to the travelling public," said HK Tsang, technical
systems and computer services manager of the MTRC.

"As a public corporation the MTR must maintain extremely high
operational standards. Adopting the client-server architecture
means that we will be able develop new applications more quickly,
delivering information to our users where they want it, when they
want it and in the form they want it."

The MTRC currently runs an extensive range of operational support and
management information systems on Digital Equipment VAX computers.
Over the next five years it plans to redevelop these systems and
create a range of new, distributed applications running on
Windows-based PC clients and Unix servers.

"The combination of SYBASE SQL Server and PowerBuilder provides the
best client-server application development platform available on
the market. We are also providing the most professional
client-server consultancy and training in Hong Kong," said Gary
Leung, managing director of HCL Leung & Associates.

"The MTRC runs one of the most effective mass transit networks
in the world. With the move to open, client-server computing it will
have an information system to match."

Tsang said the adoption of open systems was driven by a desire to
have greater software choice and because open systems hardware
provides better price/performance and lower maintenance cost.
"We also wanted to provide more user-friendly access to management
information and better integration with PC-based software tools,
so client-server architecture is a good choice," he said.

Although the MTRC has yet to decide on its new hardware, development
of new applications is already underway and one has already been
completed. According to Tsang, demand for station automation
systems are such that application development began before the
contract with HCL Leung was signed.

"Until now, the focus of our systems development has been to enhance
management information at the corporate level," said Tsang. "Between
now and 1995, however, we will be developing a new series of
applications to automate station administration procedures.

"We have already completed software development work on a system for
handling ticket sales, refunding faulty tickets and generating
station accounting reports. Implementation of this system awaits
the installation of networks at our 38 stations."

Among the applications due for development under the station
automation project are a lost property information system, a
station supplies administration system and an equipment
failure reporting and enquiry system. Migration of corporate-level
information systems such as accounting, personnel and maintenance
management is due to start in 1995.

(Keith Cameron/19931124/Press Contact: Laura Duggan, HCL,
852- 5762878)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(HKG)(00009)

Hongkong - CT Phone Usage Survey 12/03/93
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The Office of the
Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) reports CT Phone usage reached
107,367 in October - equivalent to around five percent of the
working population.

Coming just 17 months after the service was launched in Hong Kong,
this milestone means that CT2 telephones have far outpaced their
cellular cousins in speed of market penetration. In its first
year of operation, CT2 amassed more subscribers than cellular
telephony did in four years. It continues to grow at twice the
cellular market with 8,000-12,000 new subscribers signing up
each month.

"The OFTA figure confirms the widespread acceptance and use of
CT2 in Hong Kong," said Neil Montefiore, managing director of
Chevalier (Telepoint) Ltd. "Its rate of growth rivals that of the
Sony Walkman, one of the most successful products in consumer
marketing."

Montefiore said Hong Kong was an ideal market for CT2. He cited the
geography of the territory, its density of population and Hong Kong
people's readiness to try new technology as among the reasons for
CT2's dramatic acceptance. "With these underlying features the
market was primed for success," he said.

"The OFTA findings are actually very close to the performance we
predicted. It's particularly interesting to look at the demographics
behind the numbers. The typical user profile is shifting. Originally
CT2 was bought by young Chinese males but now it's being bought
by women and younger groups. It really is becoming a people's phone."

One of the first companies to offer a CT2 service in Hong Kong,
Chevalier Telepoint contends that healthy competition from two
other operators has helped to fuel substantial growth. "It also
puts the customer in the strongest position from a coverage, price,
and service standpoint," said Montefiore.

Chevalier (Telepoint) is a joint venture between Chevalier (OA)
International Holdings, a Hong Kong office automation and
telecommunications equipment supplier, and Telstra Corporation,
Australia's national and international telecommunications carrier.

With planned investment of HK$400 million, Chevalier (Telepoint)
is Hong Kong's only dedicated supplier of CT2 cordless telephone
networks. Founded in March 1991, the company employs 100 staff in
Hong Kong.

(Keith Cameron/19931124/Press Contact: Neil Montefiore, Chevalier,
852 - 828 1218)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00010)

More On AT&T Job Cut Plans 12/03/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Newsbytes
discussed AT&T's plans for its consumer long distance unit with
company spokesman Mark Siegel. He confirmed the firm will
probably cut staff next year in the division, but called reports
that 4,500 may lose their jobs "speculative."

"We have not formulated definitive plans for reducing the size of
the workforce," he said, but "obviously we have to be aggressive
about driving costs down in all areas of the business, and we're
doing that. We'll only use work force reduction as a last resort,
but will we have a need to reduce the workforce? Probably yes."
He said recent news reports on possible cutbacks were based on
"unnamed sources" who were misinformed.

Most of AT&T's cutbacks until now have involved operators, which
Siegel blamed on automation. "We've announced the elimination in
1992-93 of about 6,000 operator jobs. We anticipate more than
half of those will be placed elsewhere within AT&T, and based on
what we've seen so far that's proven to be the case." He said
that, if any other workers in the division are removed from it,
the company will make every effort to place them elsewhere in the
company.

This is not the only move AT&T has made to raise its share of the
long distance market, which continues to decline. Joseph Nachio
became president of the consumer long distance operation business
in August, replacing Merrill Tutton, who became president of AT&T
UK. And AT&T removed NW Ayer from the consumer long distance
account, replacing it with Foote Cone last month, although Ayer
will continue its work on the corporate "You Will" campaign.
Also, "We are moving away from the i Plan as an advertising tag
line, an element in marketing, because people had a hard time
understanding it. But that does not effect the services consumers
can get from us, or the offers we provide," Siegel said.

The company's problems in long distance are in contrast to its
recent string of successes in selling equipment, through its
Network Systems Unit. There, recent press reports indicate AT&T is
gaining market share, and now has over half the market, despite
its moves to compete directly with the companies it supplies.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931203/Press Contact: Mark Siegel, AT&T, 908-
221-8413)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00011)

This Month on Ziffnet 12/03/93
COLUMBUS, OHIO, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Ziffnet released
highlights of its service on CompuServe for December.

The chief highlight will be live appearances from top industry
leaders in its Executives Online forum. Included are executives
with Compton's New Media, who will discuss the impact of their
multimedia patents on the field during the week of December 6.

Also featured will be online appearances from Dave LeFevre of
WordPerfect, John Landry of Lotus, and Ken Whittington from
Central Point software. The fast-evolving world of electronic
books will be the focus of a round-table discussion hosted by
Robin Raskin of PC Magazine -- Ziffnet has published a number of
books online as ASCII text files.

The month's special download offer is Microsoft's MS-DOS v6.2,
with current users allowed to upgrade for free. Typing "go
dosupgrade" from any Ziffnet prompt will bring details of
Microsoft's new "stepup" upgrade with instructions for
downloading the file -- connect time charges do apply.

The service's Christmas present to CompuServe members is a free
test-drive of the service, without the $2.50 monthly membership
fee, although again connect time charges still apply. In
addition, those users will get a free download of an image
viewer which can read GIF or MPEG files. Those who sign-up for
the service during the month will also get their first month's
membership fees waived.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931203/Press Contact: Lisa Landa, Ziffnet,
617-252-5211; Customer Contact: ZiffNet 800/666-0330)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00012)

BellSouth Wants To Offer Wireless Long Distance 12/03/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- BellSouth asked US
District Judge Harold Greene to let it offer long distance
services on its wireless network before letting the AT&T merger
with McCaw go through.

In a filing before Greene's court December 2, the company
contended it would be harmed if the merger goes through without
the relief, and that the merger might in fact violate the 1982
Bell break-up decree overseen by Greene. But rather than stop
the merger, BellSouth's goal is regulatory parity with its rival,
a spokesman told Newsbytes.

John Schneidawind of BellSouth's Washington office said that Green
is "capable of letting us into long distance. They could give us
a waiver. Even without the filing, we've asked them for this
several times already."

Schneidawind said the filing made the case for his company using
an example in Florida, where McCaw provides statewide coverage.
It gives the example of a long-distance, in-state call between
local calling areas, or LATAs. If the merger goes through without
the waiver, AT&T will be able to take such a call on its own
network and treat it as a long distance call, perhaps even
pricing it as such. BellSouth, however, now has to take that call
over a competing network, and pay AT&T an access fee to link with
that network.

"What we're asking for in this filing is wireless relief,
in wireless long distance," Schneidawind concluded. "We just want
to compete with McCaw in wireless, and that's something Greene
can grant. We have other petitions in regular long distance, but
this addresses the inequities in the wireless market."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931203/Press Contact: BellSouth Washington,
John Schneidawind, 202-463-4183)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00013)

US Economy Surges -- New Jobs Up 12/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- As stock markets
around the world dance up and down, today's latest snapshot of
the US economy from the US Department of Commerce shows that
the business outlook picked up strongly in the third quarter,
generating more than 200,000 new non-farm jobs. Coupled with
other recent numbers, today's unexpectedly high new job number
paints a rosy view for computer sales despite lower chip order
levels.

Unemployment for October dropped to only 6.4 percent, the biggest
one-month drop in 10 years, while new jobs were created at a
strong 208,000 level. Leading Economic Indicators, a measure of
how well the economy is expected to do in the next six months, was
also up a relatively strong 0.5 percent for October, following on
a downward revised 0.2 percent growth for the LEI for September.

The detailed numbers showed that 30,000 of the new jobs were in
the high-paying manufacturing sector which had been very
depressed, while another 27,000 were added in the construction
sector. Another 152,000 new jobs were created in the service
sector which often includes lower-paid jobs.

Factory orders were also up a strong 1.2 percent for October, up
from a respectable 0.7 percent for September and housing was also
strong.

All this, combined with a recent surge in consumer confidence as
reported by the Conference Board, is good news for computer
makers and software publishers because no aspect of our economy
can grow without generating a corresponding increase in the
demand for computers.

Although one major chip maker has announced that it has
significantly lower new orders, the rest of the economy is
growing at a rapid pace. Industry observers blame the drop in
microchip orders on a fire last July that destroyed the Japanese
plant which supplied the world's chip makers with a critical
chemical. Computer makers apparently ordered heavily to stock up
in anticipation of possible shortages and although computer
production and orders are still strong, manufacturers are
bringing down inventories, resulting in lowered chip orders.

(John McCormick/19931203/)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00014)

GATT Talks Encouraging 12/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- As the deadline for
GATT (Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)
nears, the outlook is brightening that there may actually be a
world trade agreement, despite the obstacles imposed by French
negotiators who are supporting domestic farm subsidies.

GATT, at least the right GATT, is seen as important to US software
publishers because included in the current proposal is a world
intellectual properties agreement, one which noted author Pat
Choate has said is not very good in its present form.

(GATT), which has been going on for more than seven years, is
nearing what the US says is a final deadline as the "fast
track" authority to approve the agreement will expire on December
15, 1993. Therefore, it is important to note that French and US
negotiators appear to be coming close to an agreement that would
allow more than 100 countries to lower their trade
barriers.

The Clinton Administration has been applying pressures to
European countries ever since NAFTA, the North American Free
Trade Agreement, was ratified by the US Congress (Canada's
anti-NAFTA Prime Minister Jean Chretien agreed yesterday to
implement the agreement) and President Clinton met with Asian
political leaders to discuss possible Pacific trade agreements.

Earlier this week the White House let it be known that if Europe
did not agree to GATT by the December 15 deadline then the US
would look elsewhere, specifically to South America and Asia for
new trade agreements.

Pat Choate, advisor to former presidential candidate Ross Perot
and author of both an anti-NAFTA book and "Agents of Influence,"
which laid bare the major influence of foreign-paid lobbyists in
Washington, told viewers on yesterday's CNBC business program
that while GATT could be a major boost to the US and world
economies, some current provisions are very bad, but this time he
was apparently on the same side as the administration as a
Clinton representative agreed that GATT couldn't be accepted as
it stood on Monday.

One major problem with GATT, according to Mr. Choate is that the
new protection for intellectual properties (specifically computer
software) would only be phased in over a 10-year time frame, far
too slowly to offer US publishers any real protection.

The next major step toward GATT approval will come next Tuesday
when US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and EC Trade
Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan will present the latest negotiating
results at a meeting in Geneva.

(John McCormick/19931203/)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015)

Cox Cable Using Zenith Decoders 12/03/93
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Cox Cable, a unit
of Cox Enterprises, said it will use set-top decoders from Zenith
Electronics for its test of interactive television in Omaha,
Nebraska.

Omaha has long been seen as an excellent test markets for
products and services. US West plans to install high-capacity
interactive phone network in Omaha first, as well. Cox will
install the Zenith equipment in its Omaha network in stages,
starting next year, and it will include an interactive platform
from ICTV in Santa Clara, California, which uses video servers
from IBM, capable of storing thousands of movies, catalogs and
games.

It's a big win for Zenith, which also offers a high-speed cable
modem. Cox said its customers in Omaha will use the consumer-
friendly Zenith decoders with ICTV remote controls to interact
with the cable system. On-screen billing systems from New
Century Communications will also be used, as will an electronic
program guide and VCR from StarSight Telecast Inc.

Zenith and Cox officials were both in Anaheim for the Western
Cable Show, a major showcase for technology purchases by cable
companies, since it comes close to the end of the year, when
they're setting their capital budgets for the next year. Zenith
officials did not return calls from Newsbytes by press time.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931203/Press Contact: Zenith Electronics,
John Taylor, 708/391-8181)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00016)

25% Of North American Firms Report Database Breaches 12/03/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- About one quarter of
North American organizations responding to a recent survey have
seen their databases corrupted or tampered with over the past two
years. Ernst & Young, the consulting firm that did the study,
maintains organizations need to do better at making employees
aware of security issues.

Ernst & Young surveyed about 870 organizations in the United
States and Canada, said John Kearns, who coordinated the study.
These included a variety of businesses as well as government
agencies.

Hollywood films might lead one to think first of teenagers
breaking into corporate computers through the phone lines as the
major hazard, but Ernst & Young found that only about 23 percent
of the incidents involved an outsider penetrating the database.

The bigger threat was inside, with about 30 percent of reported
incidents involving malicious or greedy action by an employee.
These cases included fraud for personal gain as well as sabotage
by disgruntled staff, Kearns said.

Natural disasters accounted for about 25 percent of the cases,
and the balance were due to technical problems such as system
malfunctions or network failures.

The worst reported cases cost the affected organization as much
as $1 million, Kearns said.

The solution to the problem does not lie in better security
technology, Kearns said. "The technology is there to provide the
protection. It just isn't being used properly."

What organizations need to do is make employees more aware of
security issues and improve their procedures, he added. "I think
the first thing that needs to be done is for senior management to
send the appropriate signals to their employees to make it very
clear that information security is an important matter and will
be treated seriously within the company."

New employees need to be taught security policies and procedures
as part of their orientation, and organizations need a plan to
keep them aware of security issues, Kearns said.

He added that many organizations have a golden opportunity to
improve their security provisions as they re-engineer their
organizations around new information technology.

(Grant Buckler/19931203/Press Contact: John Kearns, Ernst &
Young, 416-943-3668)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00017)

Apple Cancels $20 Mil In Orders From VLSI 12/03/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- VLSI Technology
has announced it expects significantly lower earnings, especially
in the first half of 1994, due to Apple Computer's notice that it
will cancel $20 million in orders and reschedule shipments.

Over two-thirds of that $20 million in cancellations could occur
in the first half of 1994, cutting the company's earnings per
share by $.15. The company did say it expects to maintain its
strong relationship with Apple.

VLSI produces integrated circuit (IC) and application specific
products for use as components for personal computers (PCs) as
well as other communication, industrial, consumer, and military
applications. The company has been boasting about its increased
activity in the IBM and compatible PC market that pulled it out
of several quarters of red ink to show record second quarter 1993
revenues of $128 million.

The stock market is already beginning to react to the
announcement and VLSI stock (NASDAQ:VLSI) is down over 3 points
in this morning's trading from yesterday's close of 14 5/8.
Apple's stock (NASDAQ:AAPL) is down slightly as well from
yesterday's close of 31 and 3/4.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931203/Press Contact: John Batty, VLSI
Technology, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00018)

 ****Multimedia Trade Group Poised To Fight Compton's Claims 12/03/93
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The Interactive
Multimedia Association (IMA), populated by 260 organizations
involved in the multimedia industry, says it will support legal
efforts against the claims of Compton's Newmedia that it holds a
patent on multimedia. But more importantly, the IMA is concerned
over the issuance of such broad, non-technical multimedia patents
by the US Patent Office.

Philip Dodds, IMA director, said, "The Patent Office is issuing
extremely sweeping patents that are for basic computer and
multimedia processes that have been used for many years which are
obvious and not novel." One multimedia developer told Newsbytes:
"Next someone will be getting a patent for driving on the right
side of the street."

Compton's Newmedia announced at Comdex computer trade show it was
issued a patent number 5,241,671 for the "Multimedia search
system using a plurality of entry path means which indicate inter
relatedness of information." Compton's patent states: "...it is
contemplated that this invention can be used with any information
that can be stored in a database. While the present invention has
largely been described with reference to an encyclopedia, other
databases of published graphical or textual information could be
included."

The IMA asserts that Compton's claim that it invented multimedia
and wants royalty payments as a consequence stunned the
multimedia industry. Representatives from Compton's said the
patent isn't dependent on the delivery method for multimedia and
therefore covers not only software but interactive television and
graphical online services as well.

Evidently, the Compton's patent is not the first questionable
multimedia patent the US Patent Office has issued. Educational
multimedia software developer Optical Data Corporation (ODC) of
New Jersey received two patents in 1992, "Interactive method for
the effective conveyance of information in the form of visual
images" and "Curriculum planning and publishing methods." ODC
sent letters in early 1993 to several companies claiming patent
infringement as well as letters to three state education
superintendents to inform them other products could be
infringing.

Videodiscovery of Seattle, Washington, also an educational
multimedia publisher, filed a complaint in August 1993 against
ODC in the US District Court, Western District of Washington, in
Seattle. The complaint asked the two patents be declared invalid
based on the "obviousness" of the both. Last month, on the day
ODC was to answer in court, it issued a press release saying it
was donating the first "Interactive method..." patent to the
public and asked the Patent Office to re-examine the other rather
than have the validity of the second determined by legal
processes.

Joe Clark, chief executive officer of Videodiscovery maintains:
"It's obvious that the Office of Patents and Trademarks needs
more expertise and data in the area of software and multimedia as
shown by the awarding of these patents. These represent at best
nuisance patents and at the worst, a severe hindrance for the
growth of the multimedia industry."

One of the suggested answers to this dilemma is the suggestion
that Patent Office form an industry commission made up of those
in the field of multimedia to review pending patents.

The IMA is a leading multimedia trade group, headquartered in
Annapolis, Maryland. The group's board of directors and officers
include: Victoria Vance of Apple Computer, Sueanne Ambron of
Paramount Technology, Michael Braun from IBM, Nat Goldhaber
representing Kaleida Labs, Joe Clark of Videodiscovery, Robert
Harris from Philips, Hal Josephson of 3DO, Georgia McCabe
representing Eastman Kodak, and Robert Pearson from Sun
Microsystems.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931202/Press Contact: Philip Dodds, IMA, tel
410-626-1380, fax [phone]; David Kaufer, Kaufer Miller
Communications for the IMA, 206-450-9965)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00019)

Canada Gets First All-Digital Province 12/03/93
SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The
telephone network serving this small province is now entirely
digital, making New Brunswick the first Canadian province with
all-digital service and, telephone company officials believe, the
first province or state in North America with totally digital
service.

While it is hard for New Brunswick Telephone to be quite sure of
the North American first, company spokeswoman Sue Clack said, the
company and supplier Northern Telecom Ltd. believe that while
there may be all-digital phone companies in the United States,
the existence of small local telcos in some areas means there is
no state where all service is digital.

Telephone subscribers in the province are less likely to care
about firsts than about what the milestone means for their
telephone service, though. What it means is that the standard
telephone service in New Brunswick today includes touch-tone and
built-in voice messaging, and by early 1994 it will also include
the ability to return calls automatically when they are missed or
encounter a busy signal, plus three-way calling.

The all-digital network has taken 12 years to build and cost the
company about C$236 million, company officials said.

New Brunswick Telephone recently held a ceremony to take its last
analog phone switch out of service. At the ceremony, Frank
McKenna, premier of New Brunswick, said the fully digital network
will help the province become a center of high-technology
communications.

That description would be rather too grand for New Brunswick
today. However, the modern network may help to attract some
businesses. For example, MediTrust Pharmacy Inc., which plans to
run a string of multimedia kiosks that will let consumers order
prescription drugs for delivery, has located its national call
processing center in Saint John, Clack said.

The all-digital network will make it possible for the phone
company to offer services such as desktop videoconferencing to
customers, Clack said.

Like those across Canada, though, businesses in New Brunswick
still face high costs for many telecommunications services
compared to those in the United States. Helmut Becker, director
of computing services at Mount Allison University in Sackville,
New Brunswick, said recently the cost of high-capacity services
such as T1 lines is "killing us right now."

(Grant Buckler/19931203/Press Contact: Sue Clack, New Brunswick
Telephone, 506-694-2992 or 800-267-2057, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00020)

Bull Updates ISM Object-Oriented Net Management Tool 12/03/93
BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Bull
Worldwide Information Systems has launched Integrated System
Management (ISM) Version 2, a feature-rich update to a network
management tool that is designed to work with virtually any
network operating system.

In a meeting with Newsbytes at corporate offices in Billerica,
MA, officials told Newsbytes that the application programming
interface (API) that Bull developed for ISM has been adopted by
the Open Software Foundation (OSF) for implementation as the
industry standard API for network management.

ISM, a product first announced in April, 1992, is an open
framework for network management, said Margaret Landry, software
product manager, Systems & Network Management, and Gerry Crow,
marketing manager for Distributed Computing.

ISM Version 2, a product now in "early ship" and scheduled for
general availability by the end of the year, adds an integrated
network monitor, along with the ability to customize icons and
background filters and set alarms and thresholds.

ISM Trouble Ticket, a help desk capability based on Remedy's
Action Request System, and ISM Backup/Restore, a capability based
on Raxco's BACKUP.UNET, have also been integrated into the base
package.

Also new in Version 2 are plug-in application modules for
PC/workgroup management, hub management, software distribution,
router management, database management, user management, and
management of Bull's GCOS operating system.

The PC/Workgroup Management module provides agents and the other
capabilities needed for managing Microsoft LAN (local area
network) Manager as well as Bull's OpenTeam. OpenTeam
incorporates LAN Manager for Unix, NetWare for Unix, and NetBios
for Unix.

ISM Version 2 Set 2, which is scheduled for delivery in the first
quarter, will add a separate plug-in module for managing Novell
LAN NetWare.

ISM can also manage any device with an SNMP (Simple Network
Management Protocol) or CMIP agent, according to Crow.
The ISM Developer's Toolkit, another product from Bull, allows
for the development of SNMP and CMIP agents for devices that do
not already have such agents, as well as for customization of
existing ISM components and the creation of new network and
system management applications.

Due to its object-oriented architecture, though, ISM provides
much more sophisticated network management capabilities than
either SNMP or CMIP, he maintained.

SNMP, a "scalar" protocol based on numbers and letters, tends to
live up to its name, Crow told Newsbytes. "SNMP truly is
simple," he explained. Even so, SNMP has started to become a de
factor network management standard, he added.

CMIP is more intelligent, offering if/then reasoning, he
asserted. Generally speaking, CMIP is much less prevalent
network management protocol than SNMP, but the rival standard has
been gaining favor in the telecommunications field, Newsbytes was
told.

ISM is the smartest of all the protocols, because it takes into
account variables as well as procedures, or "the things that can
happen based on those variables," he explained.

Telephone companies that are Bull customers have found ISM to be
a more efficient means of network management than CMIP, according
to Crow.

ISM is sold bundled with Bull's DPX20 hardware platforms.
Pricing for turnkey hardware-and-software systems starts at
$25,000.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931203/Reader contact: Bull Worldwide
Information Systems, tel [phone]; Press contact: R.J.
Davisson, Bull, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00021)

Sony Rolls Out 50 Millionth CD-ROM Disc 12/03/93
TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- CD-ROM (compact
disc-read only memory) drives are rapidly becoming as commonplace as
the color monitor, a luxury once reserved for high-end PCs.

If you don't think that's true, some statistics released by Sony
Corporation may change your mind. The company says its Digital Audio
Disc Corporation recently produced its 50 millionth CD-ROM disc.

Sony first started turning out audio CDs for music at its Terre
Haute, Indiana plant in 1984 and began producing CD-ROMs in May
1986. Since then CD-ROM production has grown by more than 100
percent every year and is up more than 160 percent the past two
years.

Sony Electronic Publishing Company's Olaf Olafsson predicts the
market will continue at that explosive pace at least through the end
of the decade. "The international multimedia market has virtually
exploded in the past two years as CD-ROM - with its enormous
capacity for information, presentation and creativity - has become
widely accepted," says Olafsson.

Olafsson says five years ago there were only about 200 CD-ROM titles
available, while today there are more than 3,700. He expects the
number to jump to 6,000 by the end of 1994. One of the reasons for
the popularity of CD-ROMs is because of the massive amounts of data
that can be stored on a single disk. That has become more important
with the growing use of computers to create and store complex still
and motion video images, which take large amounts of storage space.

(Jim Mallory/19931203/Press and reader contact: Sony DADC,
812-462-8100)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00022)

Color Camera Stores Images On PCMCIA Media 12/03/93
LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Two California
companies say they have teamed up to produce a color digital camera
that can capture and store images on PCMCIA media.

Personal Computer Cameras Inc., says it has formed a strategic
partnership with Campbell, California-based Aura Associates to
produce the S-400 color digital camera and a family of patented
digital camera products.

The S-400 requires no special hardware or software interface, as is
the case with other digital cameras currently on the market. The
system uses a 1.8-inch, 63-megabyte PCMCIA hard drive developed by
Aura to store as many as 400 color images on a single removable
drive.

Once the images are captured, you simple remove the PCMCIA device
from the camera, insert it into the PCMCIA slot on your PC, and
perform any desired image editing.

The two companies say the S-400 will come to market at a price point
below $1,000 in production quantities and is expected to be in
retail stores by Christmas 1994. The device weighs about two
pounds.

(Jim Mallory/19931203/Press and Reader contact: PC Cameras Inc
510-606-1225 or Aura Associates, 408-252-2872)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00023)

Microsoft Announces Kid Productivity Software 12/03/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation, serious about its intent to make the consumer software
market its next growth area, says it will introduce two software
packages for children next week.

The rollout of Creative Writer and Fine Artist will be done in
Microsoft's usual high style, with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
renting a New York mansion that the company will fill with
demonstration computers and software. Gates will introduce the new
products.

Creative Writer is a word processing program for children age 8 to
12, while Fine Artist is a drawing program for the same age group.
The two applications join the Microsoft Home line of software for
consumers that was launched in October. Gates has said the home
market could become Microsoft's biggest business within five years.

Marketing Director Charlotte Guyman says the programs have been in
development for about two years, with programmers working with
hundreds of children, parents and teachers.

Neither $55 application comes with a printed manual, but they do
include animated characters who provide tips on writing and drawing
for the young users. The word processing program allows the kids to
add drawings and sound effects to their documents.

Microsoft says it will give away about 15,000 copies to schools and
will sponsor "family technology nights" at schools during which the
software will be available for sale. The participating schools will
get one free software package for every 10 sold.

Microsoft is expected to announce shortly agreements with several
banks to provide online financial services in conjunction with
Microsoft Money 3.0, the latest version of Microsoft's home finance
management package. Money 3.0 is being offered for $34.95 through
April 15, 1994.

(Jim Mallory/19931203/Press and reader contact: Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00024)

AmCoEx Index Of Used Computer Prices 12/03/93
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- By John Hastings.
During 1991, the Big Three computer makers, IBM, Apple Computer,
and Compaq, began cutting prices to compete with low-cost clones. At
that time, many predicted the demise of most of the clone makers.
While it is true that Tandy, Everex, and a few others have exited
the business, several have remained far longer than many predicted.
Why would anyone purchase a clone when they could buy a name brand
computer at a comparable price?

The survivors exist primarily because the Big Three cannot
manufacture enough computers to meet the demand. Some experts
believe this backlog of orders will disappear early next year due to
increased production facilities. Ample supplies of name brand
computers could be the death knell for the remaining clone makers.
The resulting oligopoly will surely result in higher prices and
better margins for the victors of the shake-out.

Many computer users feel they have no need for some new
technologies like voice synthesis and voice recognition. New
applications of these technologies may change their opinions. For
example, QVoice Inc. in Newton, N.J. has developed an inexpensive
voice security system. Based on voice recognition, it identifies the
voice of the appropriate user and allows access to the system. This
eliminates the need for password protection.

John Hastings is the president of the American Computer
Exchange. The American Computer Exchange matches buyers and sellers
of used microcomputers. For more information contact the American
Computer Exchange at [phone].

The AmCoEx Index of Used Computer Prices

The following prices are for November 29, 1993

                              Average   Average

                              Buyer's   Seller's

 Machine                      Bid       Ask       Close     Change($)

 IBM PS/2 Model 30/286 20MB   $300      $525      $325      **

 IBM PS/2 Model 50Z 30MB      300       650       350       -25

 IBM PS/2 Model 70 120MB      600       900       600       -50

 IBM PS/2 Model 80 70MB       550       850       575       **

 IBM ThinkPad 300             1250      1650      1200      -100

 IBM ThinkPad 700             1700      2400      1950      -100

 AST 286/12, 40MB             275       675       325       **

 AST 386/20, 80MB             550       950       625       -50

 Dell 325SX, 50MB             400       800       575       **

 Dell 386/20, 120MB           600       1000      650       -25

 Gateway 286/16, 40MB         250       550       325       +25

 Gateway 386SX/20, 80MB       500       950       625       **

 Gateway 386/25, 80MB         600       1000      700       -75

 Clone 286 40 MB              250       550       325       **

 Clone Notebook 286, 40 MB    350       750       500       -25

 Clone Notebook 386SX, 40 MB  500       950       700       -75

 Clone 386/SX 40MB, VGA       450       950       600       -25

 Clone 386/25 80MB, VGA       450       950       650       -50

 Clone 386/33 80MB, VGA       550       1050      750       -25

 Clone 486/25 120MB, VGA      800       1450      900       -50

 Compaq SLT/286 20MB          250       500       350       -50

 Compaq LTE 286 40MB          400       775       500       **

 Compaq Portable III 40MB     250       650       275       **

 Compaq Deskpro 286 40MB      250       650       300       **

 Compaq Deskpro 386/20e 100MB 600       900       700       -50

 Macintosh SE 20MB            350       650       400       -25

 Macintosh SE/30 40MB         450       800       550       **

 Macintosh II 40MB            500       950       600       -100

 Macintosh IIcx 80MB          600       1100      725       -50

 Macintosh IIci 80MB          700       1300      1000      -100

 PowerBook 100 4/20           600       1000      700       -50

 PowerBook 140 4/40           900       1400      1000      -75

 PowerBook 170 4/40           1100      1700      1475      +25

 LaserWriter IINT             700       1000      750       -25

 Toshiba 1200XE               300       650       350       +50

 Toshiba 1600                 300       600       300       **

 Toshiba 2200 SX 60MB         800       1300      875       -25

 Toshiba T-3100SX  100MB      500       900       600       -75

 Toshiba 5200 100MB           850       1250      1050      -100

 HP LaserJet II               400       850       625       +25

 HP LaserJet IIP              325       950       475       -25

 HP LaserJet III              750       1200      900       -25

The American Computer Exchange matches buyers and sellers of used
microcomputer equipment. For more information contact the American
Computer Exchange at [phone].

(AMCOEX/19931203)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(WAS)(00025)

Review of: Puddles To Pondwater, 12/03/93

Runs on: MS-DOS compatible 286 or faster PC with 4 megabytes (MB)
of free hard disk space, VGA, mouse, and 640 kilobytes (K) of
memory.

From: NIAD Corp., 85 River Rock Drive, Suite 200, Buffalo, NY
14207, phone [phone] or fax [phone].

Price: $60 (U.S.)

PUMA Rating: 3 on a scale 1=lowest to 4=highest

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: John McCormick

Summary: An ecology awareness game for kids ages 8-15 and their
parents which explores the effects of common pollutants such as
detergents, oil, paint thinners, and even road salt on various
animals, fish, and insects.

======

REVIEW

======

This game is designed to teach which pollutants are causing
problems in various parts of the world to nearly 100 different
creatures.  Along the way you learn a lot about nature and
how to damage it.

This is a game/education program for students from about second
grade to high school according to the publicist, but I would set
the appropriate age level at about 10-13 years old.

Installation takes about 15 minutes on a 16 megahertz 386 SX
because the program is obviously expanding or creating many
graphics files from the three 3.5-inch high-density floppy
diskettes.

A mouse is definitely not an option with this program - you
can't even begin installation without  an active mouse,
but the software will recognize a non-Microsoft mouse.

Despite the claim of "Stunning VGA Graphics"  they seemed pretty
tame on my system but that also means that there were no annoying
waits for high-quality images to build up. To the game's credit,
the images are better than many I have seen in "education"
software, but don't expect them to compete with  arcade games.

I also have some question about the age level because terms like
"carnivorous" and "larvae," frequently cited in the scenarios,
are not defined and will (unfortunately) prove beyond the
understanding of most children below the age of 10.

That isn't a problem if, as they should, parents use this
software with their young ones, but it is important to bear in
mind that this is primarily an educational program, quite
obviously designed for use in a school environment.

This review is written in pieces as I test the software (so I
don't forget anything) and I may have spoken too soon about mouse
compatibility because I found that my old Logitech 3-button mouse
would control the software but didn't generate any cursor on the
screen, making everything harder for me, but I have to assume
that a cursor would show up using the specified Microsoft-
compatible mouse.

Overall, I think this is a good program which provides a fine
introduction to problems of pollution but is only appropriate for
home educators or as an adjunct to formal class instruction.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The company sent along an "incentive" to review
their product, something which normally earns a quick toss in the
trash at this bureau office, but the software looked so relevant
that I broke my standing rule and went ahead with a review -
after giving away the bird feeder of course.

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

PUMA RATING

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

PERFORMANCE: 3 Hypertext links for complex terms or longer text
would be very useful.

USEFULNESS: 3 Better animation and more explanations would
improve the educational impact.

MANUAL: 3 Not great, but good enough.

AVAILABILITY: 3 You aren't likely to see this one in stores.

(John McCormick/19931201/Press Contact: Lucrezia Motta, Thetis
Marketing Group, 905-470-0868 or fax [phone])


(REVIEW)(APPLE)(SFO)(00026)

Review of - Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego 12/03/93

Runs on: Macintosh

From: Broderbund, 500 Redwood Blvd., Novato, CA94948 (415)
382-4700

Price: $49.95

PUMA rating: 3.5 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for NEWSBYTES by: Naor Wallach

Summary: Another in the famous line of Carmen Sandiego games.
This one concentrates on American history and has a new
crime fighting tool, new gang members, and sometimes funny
animated sequences. The digitized photographs are also interesting.

=======

REVIEW

=======

Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego continues the
popular Carmen Sandiego series. This time Broderbund is tackling
American history. As is usual with these games, the big box contains
six installation disks, an eight-page manual, a registration card,
a request card for Broderbund's latest software catalog, 16
cards that contain pictures and descriptions of Carmen's gang
members, and a clue book called "What Happened When."

The manual is made to look like an antique newspaper edition,
supposedly published in 1879. It does contain all of the
information required to install and operate the game on any of
the supported machines. Aside from that, the manual also has a
bit of background information that is mainly intended to put
you into the proper frame of mind to play the game.

The main piece of gear needed to play the game is the "What
Happened When" volume. This 1500-page volume is full of facts and
will be referred to here simply as "the book."

The player takes on the role of a brand new detective who just
joined the Acme detective agency. The initial startup routine
shows you some of Carmen's foul deeds and places you in front
of the agency's San Francisco offices. Upon entering the
building, one is in front of a secretary who is furiously
typing on her word processor. At this point, she is too
busy to do more than gesture at the visitor's book which
is on the table next to her. Once you click on that,
you can do one of two things -- either register yourself
as a new detective, or you identify yourself as a returning
detective who just took a break.

Once the program knows who you are, the secretary pays more
attention to you. Now I should warn you that in the beginning,
everyone at Acme has very little patience and time for you!
That is part of the charm of this game, and accounts for the
very sour grimace that one receives from her. A player starts in
the rank of Greenhorn and should expect some pretty shoddy
treatment. The Chief will not even look at you. Stretch,
your crime fighting sidekick (the dog), will actually growl at
you. As you progress through the ranks, your greeting will
change for the better. But you must prove yourself worthy
of better attention - it doesn't come free!

The Chief will arrange for you to get a Chronoskimmer 450SL.
This crime fighting gear and will be your constant
tool and it occupies the complete screen. One part is
touch-sensitive areas that are used to navigate through different
program options. The second is a row of four buttons labeled
Search, Evidence, Map, and Launch. The third region of the tool
contains a whole bunch of LEDs and lights that are mostly there
for entertainment purposes. There are also two small displays
that give you status information about your location and
time zone as well as how much time is left in your particular
case. Finally there is also a mail button used to retrieve
any mail that might come in for you while you are in the field.

Game play starts with an assignment. A player gets some information
about what happened and places you at the site of the crime.
The idea is to gain enough information about the crime's
perpetrator to get a warrant issued for his or her arrest.
The second task is the tracking down and capturing of the criminal.

You search the location of the crime by pressing the Search
button on your Chronoskimmer. In response, the tool will show
you three soft buttons that allow you to get information about
the next place to which the suspect went. This information is
not given out freely of course. You have to figure it out
from the clues.

This is where the book comes in. Let us say that the clue stated
something like "He went to see General Lee surrender at Appomatox."
The book will tell you that this event was the end of the Civil
War and happened in the south of the US. Once you have these
facts, you can press the map button. The display on the tool
changes to a map of the US with a row of buttons underneath.
The rows of buttons denote years in which these events
happened. Continuing with our example, the Civil War ended in
1865 so you would want to choose the range of years that included
that year. That would be the 1850-1875 range. Next, you need
to identify the Southern region of the United States and
finally, you need to press the Launch button. All of this
will get you to that region of the country at that time.

Once at that next location, one must search it. If it is the
right place and time, a small animation of one of Carmen's
henchmen appears. If it's the wrong place, a statement to that
effect is made. As you are playing against a clock here, it is
important that you not make too many mistaken side trips. Each
launch and each search causes you to expend some time. The
amount of time left is displayed on one of the Chronoskimmer's
displays.

Every so often a mail message will arrive. Within this
mail message you will find clues to the identity of the criminal.
Perhaps the color of their eyes, or their hair, or maybe their
favorite artist, athlete, or animal. This information is entered
into the Evidence area. When enough data has been collected
(normally three items), you can ask for a computation to occur.
This causes all the data to be compared to the agency's files
to see if any one specific member of Carmen's gang has been
uniquely identified.

There are three possible responses. The best one, of course, is
that a single gang member is identified and a warrant for their
arrest is issued. A second result may be that not enough data is
present which means that more than one member meets the criteria.
In this case, you must continue working on the case until more
data is collected. The last case is the most difficult one. This
is the case in which the data eliminates all of the potential
suspects. This is difficult since you must somehow decide which of
the data items that you collected is wrong and what to do about it.

Let us say that you have tracked the suspect through several
times and places. You will find yourself in a corridor, looking
at a door. Stretch will appear sniffing at the ground. Suddenly,
he will stop and start sniffing the air and barking. This means
that he has detected the smell of one of Carmen's gang members.
After you knock on the door, an eye will appear in the eye hole
(interestingly enough, this eye will be colored according to
which member of Carmen's gang is behind the door) and look you
over. After a bit, the eye hole will close and the door will
open. If you brought the right search warrant along, the
gang member will be arrested and you will be congratulated.
Otherwise, you will be reprimanded by the chief. When this is
all over you will be given a chance to tackle another case.

After every set of successful crime solutions, you are promoted.
This means that the people at the agency are nicer to you and
the cases that you are given get longer. After you have achieved
the rank of Scout, you will be given a chance to track down the
head cheese herself - Carmen Sandiego. When you have solved 80 cases,
your name gets inscribed in the Hall of Fame. After that, you can no
longer use that name. Should you want to play some more, you will
need to log in as a new Greenhorn and start all over again.

Carmen Sandiego is the premier game in this genre. Not only is
it the one that defined the whole genre, but it sports its own
TV show and is known far and wide. Consequently you can
imagine my surprise when I realized that I was getting very
bored with playing the game. The only reason that I completed
80 cases was so that I could see and report what happens
when one is placed in the Hall of Fame.

Problems with the game are that there was no difference in game
play - outside of number of locations and clues needed to catch
up with the criminal - between the initial level and the final,
supposedly most difficult, level. Secondly, game play is remarkable
monotonous. After a while, I noticed that most of the clues
were repeating themselves and I had very little need of the
book.

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

PUMA RATINGS

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

PERFORMANCE: 4 The game worked flawlessly. Performance is crisp and
when you get tired of certain aspects of its operation, they can
be changed or speeded up.

USEFULNESS: 3 The basic game premise is the same as all of the
others in the Carmen Sandiego line. The focus on American history
is the only difference.

MANUAL: 4 Relatively straightforward and logical.

AVAILABILITY: 3 Available from mail order and software stores.
Broderbund does not have a toll-free number for support.

(Naor Wallach/19931021/Karen Omholt, Broderbund Software)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00027)

Broderbund Says Revenues Down, But Earnings Up 12/03/93
NOVATO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Broderbund, known
for its Print Shop and Carmen Sandiego software programs, says
its net revenues will be below analysts expectations for its
fiscal first quarter of 1994. The quarter results will be
announced December 22, 1993 and the company says revenues will be
closer to $33 million compared to the $34 to $39 million
projected.

However, the bright side is earnings per share are expected to be
higher than anticipated. Earnings are expected to be
approximately 60 cents to 63 cents compared to analysts'
expectations of 55 cents to 63 cents per share, the company
added.

Broderbund officials told Newsbytes part of the reason for the
analysts' expectations are its first quarter of last year
results. That quarter is simply a tough act to follow, due to
Broderbund's sudden opportunity for expansion into the retail
channel that occurred then, company representatives told
Newsbytes.

Wall Street has reacted negatively to the announcement. The
company's stock (NASDAQ:BROD) was down in morning trading over 5
points from Thursday's close at 47 and 1/4. Some of that negative
reaction may be from financial news publications which have
reported that some software sales chains are reporting lower
sales in what is usually traditionally strong months. Both
Broderbund and Electronic Arts stock has fallen this week
since those reports were issued.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931203/Press Contact: Robin Linstrom,
Broderbund, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00028)

Siemens Nixdorf Belgium To Post 92/93 Profit 12/03/93
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- The Belgian subsidiary of
Siemens Nixdorf, the computer division of Germany's Siemens, has
announced it will post a profit for financial year 1992/93. The news
comes in stark contrast to the German operation, where accounts are
stained with red ink.

According to Siemens Nixdorf Belgium, the accounts -- which
Newsbytes understands have yet to be approved by the board of
directors -- show turnover approaching BFr 10 billion, although
profits are reported to be well below the BFr 302m posted in 1991-
92.

The Belgian subsidiary has also confirmed it has no plans to shed
any staff, as has happened with the German parent. The company
claims it will maintain its current Belgian workforce of 1,100,
despite plans to cut Siemens' worldwide workforce to 38,400 by
September of next year. Newsbytes notes that, in financial year
1990/91, the company's worldwide workforce was 51,600, an all-time
high for the group.

Siemens' plans to increase its market share outside the domestic
home market of Germany. According to figures released by Siemens, its
worldwide telecoms market share is around 2.5 percent, making it
eighth in the world telecoms arena.

In Europe, the figures look more rosy, with market share at around
seven percent, while in Belgium and German it has 11.5 and 20
percent, respectively, of the country telecoms markets.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931203/Press & Public Contact: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00029)

Chip Resin Supply Back On Stream 12/03/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- First the good news -- the resin
shortage that has caused the surge in chip prices since July is
over. The bad news is that DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip
prices will not fall as quickly as they went up.

This week has seen the Sumitomo Chemical Company's resin production
plant in Japan, which blew up on July 4, resume production.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the
current shortage will soon be alleviated.

The story at the sharp end of the industry in the UK is somewhat
different, however. Fergus Campbell, senior product specialist with
Datrontech, a major supplier of chip products to dealers in the UK,
said that the market has advanced since the July explosion.

"The problem is that supplies of the 4Mbit SIMMs have been cut back
as manufacturers move to 16Mbit. But 1Mbit users have migrated to
4Mbit SIMMs (single inline memory modules), meaning that the 4Mbit
chips are still in short supply," he told Newsbytes.

Datrontech's prices on 4Mbit SIMMs are currently just under UKP100.
Three months ago, they were at an all-time high of UKP145. A year
ago they were 70. Campbell said that it would be a long time before
the UKP70 price point was realized again.

Mike Lunch, general manager of Toshiba's Personal Systems division,
said that easing of shortages in DRAM supply, rather than a price
fall, was good news for the company, since it would allow memory
card supplies to get back up to volume.

"Although chip prices make up only a small part of our end user
pricing, DRAM shortages have caused up problems with memory cards
for our portables. These cards add value to our portables," he said.

(Steve Gold/19931203/Press Contact: Datrontech - Tel: +44-252=-
313155; Toshiba - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00030)

Conner Adds California Jobs, Reduces Need For Suppliers 12/03/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- On the heels of
layoffs and restructuring, Conner Peripherals is now adding to
its workforce. The company says it wants to reduce its dependence
on other suppliers for hard disk drive platters and is therefore
adding jobs to its expanded Milpitas, California plant.

Conner blamed increasing price pressure in the hard disk for
losses of $372 million in its last quarter and the restructuring
for closure of its manufacturing in Scotland. While layoffs have
been as high as 20 percent, Conner representatives said the
layoffs included the elimination of duplicate functions obtained
when the company finalized the purchase of tape drive
manufacturer Archive -- a purchase that set the company back
about $150 million.

In this current expansion, the company is adding 77,000 square
feet to its Milpitas production plant, more than doubling the
previous space of 55,000 square feet. Nearly three and a half
times more employees will be added to the initial number of 200
for an anticipated total of 700 in the coming months, company
officials maintain. Some 70 employees of the hundreds laid off
this year accepted jobs at the expanded site, just five miles
away from their previous work site.

The thin-film disks manufactured in clean room conditions at
the site will be for the 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch rigid disk drives,
Conner said. However, company officials said the disk drive
manufacturer doesn't plan to increase production of drives, but
is wanting to decrease the ratio of disks purchased from outside
suppliers to less than 50 percent.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931203/Press Contact: Mike Seither, Conner,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00031)

Canada's BCE To Buy Interest In Jones Intercable 12/03/93
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1993 DEC 3 (NB) -- Taking another step
to prepare for the telecommunications convergence that is widely
said to be just around the corner, BCE Inc., has announced plans
to buy a 30-percent interest in Jones Intercable, Inc., of
Englewood, Colorado.

BCE is Canada's largest company and the parent of Northern
Telecom Ltd., and the country's largest regional phone carrier,
Bell Canada. It also has interests in Mercury Communications Ltd.,
in the United Kingdom and Clear Communications Ltd., in New
Zealand.

Jones Intercable is one of the 10 largest cable television
operators in the United States, with the bulk of its operations
in California, Florida, Illinois, and the Washington, D.C. area.
It runs 55 cable systems in the US. Jones is also a major cable
operator in the United Kingdom, and has a 38-percent interest in
Mind Extension University, which runs The Education Network on
cable.

BCE and Jones have also been involved together for about 18
months in Encom, a British operation which provides cable and
telephone services to an area in Greater London with about
680,000 homes.

The deal says BCE, through its BCE Telecom International
(BCETI) unit, will buy about 10 million shares of Jones
Intercable's common stock for a total of US$275 million, giving
it a 30-percent stake in the Colorado firm. For another US$55
million, BCETI will get the option to purchase control of Jones
later. Third, the Canadian company has committed itself to take
part in future equity financings up to US$125 million, increasing
its total investment to US$400 million.

BCETI's investment is to come after Jones Intercable completes
the proposed purchase of Jones Spacelink, Ltd., another company
controlled by Glenn R. Jones, who controls Jones Intercable.

This is not BCE's only investment in cable television. BCETI
Cable Ltd., which is 80-percent owned by BCETI and 20-percent
owned by Cable & Wireless plc of the U.K., holds 30.8 percent of
Videotron Holdings Ltd., a joint venture with Montreal-based
Groupe Videotron that operates in London. BCETI Cable also owns
85 percent of Encom, the balance of which is held by Jones
Intercable and its affiliates.

(Grant Buckler/19931203/Press Contact: Derek Burney, BCE Telecom
International, 514-392-2300; Patrick Lombardi, Jones Intercable,
303-792-3111)