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/nb930604

Text File | 1993-06-04 | 68KB | 1,469 lines

(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00001)

Matsushita Turns To Taiwan For Cheaper PCs 06/04/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Matsushita Electric will import
DOS/V-based personal computers from its Taiwan plant and will sell
them in Japan. This comes during an increasingly bloody price
war among computer manufacturers, and is part of an effort by
Matsushita to cut prices, reduce its overhead, and stay on top
of the surging Japanese currency. This is the first time
Matsushita has turned to Taiwan for PCs.

Matsushita produces IBM-compatible personal computers at its
subsidiary called PCT in Taiwan. PCT is currently shipping
10,000 PCs to the European market per month. A new production
line was recently added which will enable the firm to produce
30,000 PCs per month. PCT will add even more lines to raise
production to 50,000 units per month.

Matsushita will import half-completed PCs from this Taiwanese firm,
and will complete them at its Kobe plant in Japan. It is
expected that these PCs will be equipped with either an 80386 or
an 80486 processor.

Matsushita has been producing and shipping other DOS/V-compatible
PCs at its Kobe plant in Japan.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930602/Press Contact: Matsushita
Electric, [phone], Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00002)

NASA Develops Public Domain GUI 06/04/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- With Apple System 7,
Microsoft Windows, Microsoft NT, Hewlett-Packard's New Wave,
IBM's OS/2, the ubiquitous X for Unix, and all the others,
certainly there must be enough graphical user interfaces (GUI)
available by now, right? Wrong, according to beta testers who
praise a homegrown NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) GUI designed to ease Internet access.

According to a report in the May 24 Government Computer News,
NASA Access Mechanism (catchy government-generated name) is a
well-liked public domain Unix GUI which NASA has had developed to
make it easier for the space agency's users to find their way
around the massive Internet network.

The GUI is still undergoing testing, but reports are that it will
be made available to other government agencies by this fall and
since the federal government paid for its development, NASA
Access Mechanism, also known as NAM is already owned by the
public and will eventually find its way out of the government and
into the mainstream, non-government market.

The public domain designation means that the software itself, and
probably the source code, will be made available for free or at
low (copying and delivery) cost and could be integrated into
other products.

(John McCormick/19930603/)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00003)

Japanese Silicon Valley Project 06/04/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- The Japanese version of
California's Silicon Valley is being planned by the Japanese
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). MITI has been
cooperating with local government and the Japan Personal Computer
Software Association to set up a major software development center
near Tokyo. About 30 firms plan to join this project.

The Japanese version of Silicon Valley will be located at Tochigi
Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. Major Japanese software makers
will build offices and development centers and overseas software
makers, such as Lotus and Novell, have also expressed an interest
in setting up shop there.

The Software Association is planning to create at this site
a network center to serve the needs of its members. The site
will also have a facility for testing new software as well
as a seminar house and learning center to train software
engineers. Actual building of the facilities will start
early next year.

The Personal Computer Association, MITI, and the local government
have created a steering committee. The Japanese government
will back up this project because it will help create jobs.
Total capitalization will be 1.5 billion yen ($14 million)
to be paid by the participating members. It is expected
that 1 billion yen ($9 million) will be paid by the Personal
Computer Association, MITI, and the local government. The remaining
0.5 billion yen ($5 million) will be paid by the members of the
Personal Computer Association and participating firms.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930603)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00004)

Sharp Develops 230MB 3.5-Inch Optical Disk 06/04/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Sharp has developed optical
disk technology able to store a whopping 230 megabytes of
data on a 3.5-inch optical disk. This is twice the amount of data
set under the standards of the International Standard
Organization (ISO). Sharp is already planning to produce
a commercial version of this disk this year.

Researchers created this 3.5-inch optical disk large scale
memory storage by drawing extra narrow tracks 1.4 microns
in width. Also, a new technology called ZCAV increases
the density of data storage.

Sharp has created manufacturing facilities to produce this
optical disk in quantity and says it will do so by the end
of this year.

Sharp is currently producing ISO-based 3.5-inch 128MB optical disks
and 650M 5.25-inch disks at its Shinjyo plant in Japan.
Sharp expects that the 230MB 3.5-inch optical disks will become the
future standard. In fact, four major firms -- IBM, Sony,
Matsushita and Philips -- are advocating the 230MB 3.5-inch optical
disk as the future standard.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930603/Press Contact: Sharp, +81-43-
299-8212, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00005)

Japan - DDI, Japan Telecom Grabbing Market Share 06/04/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Japan's two major telephone
firms, second in size only to NTT, each expect to acquire a
total of 10 million registered telephone users this fiscal year.

DDI and Japan Telecom each seek another 2 million registered
users of their telephones -- each currently has about 8
million users. The fourth largest phone company, Japan Kosoku
Tsushin, is hoping to grab 0.6 million users to get a total
of 4 million users this fiscal year.

NTT is trying to defend itself by lowering its long distance
phone fees by around 10 percent this fall. Other telecom firms
may follow suit.

Currently, the three phone firms, except NTT, charge
their customers registration fees. However this fall, the
Japanese Posts & Telecom Ministry will further deregulate the
telecom law, which will enable the three major telecom firms to
eliminate registration fees. This is good news for users
and can be good news for the three phone firms because they
will be able to more equitably compete with NTT.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930602/Press Contact: Japan Telecom,
 [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00006)

DOS/Windows Screen Capture Program 06/04/93
HOLLIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Inner Media
has announced a new software product that provides screen capture
capability for Windows and DOS-based programs.

The company says Collage Complete includes full support for screen
capture, thumbnail image cataloging, format conversions, image
editing, Windows 3.1 drag and drop, Twain scanner support, and
support for Kodak's Photo CD-ROM system.

The program provides screen capture for both Windows and DOS. Inner
Media says the Windows screen capture saves directly to a wide range
of industry standard formats in any type from black and white through
24-bit color. Supported formats include PCX, TIFF, GIF, Targa, BMP,
and JPEG. To save an image, the mouse is used to point and click
on a specific screen objects to be saved by type. There is also an
Express Capture feature, hot key support, and customizable automatic
image name sequencing. It will also capture drop-down menus and
selection bars, and the hot key is user selectable. For DOS users,
Collage Complete captures and saves to TIFF and PCX formats in color,
black and white, and dithered or true gray.

Once the image has been captured, it can be viewed at various levels
of magnification. Images can be cropped, combined, cleaned up, and
re-saved. Borders of any color can be added, as can text, boxes, and
other objects. The program also includes a batch feature that allows
several images to be modified and/or printed in a single operation.
Images can be moved from Collage Complete to other compatible
applications using drag and drop, and can be printed to the clipboard
or to a file.

The program has a suggested retail price of $199, but is priced at
$149 on an introductory basis. The program replaces Inner Media's
Collage Plus, so current owners of that program can upgrade for $59
by contacting Inner Media. Users of Collage Plus version 3.2 who
bought their software on or after April 1, 1993 can upgrade at no
cost. Collage Complete ships with both 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch program
disks, and the company offers volume and license deals.

(Jim Mallory/19930604/Press contact: Nancy Rosenberg, Inner Media,
Inc, 603-465-3216 or 800-962-2949; Reader contact: Inner Media, Inc,
603-465-3216, 800-962-2949, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00007)

Flight Simulator 5.0, New Scenery 06/04/93
REDMOND,WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Microsoft announced
this week a new version of its popular Flight Simulator game as well
as two new scenery products and a spaceflight and exploration
simulator.

The two new scenery packs provide the user with simulations of New
York and Paris, France as seen from the air, which Microsoft
describes as "geographically correct." The new scenery packs are
scheduled to ship later this summer, and will offer landmarks such as
the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. They are scheduled for
shipment in August 1993, and will each have a suggested retail price
of $49.95.

Flight Simulator, which in the earlier days of personal computers was
considered by many as the ultimate test of IBM-compatibility, offers
the user a graphic depiction of a pilot's cockpit view as he or she
flies a plane. The program includes not only the scenery but the look
and sounds found in real cockpits, including the control panel.
Scenery and time of day changes as the pilot wings over continents
and oceans.

New features in the upgrade include a new latitude and longitude
system that helps users locate their destinations and their current
position in flight; a "Land Me" feature which is designed to help
inexperienced pilots complete a flight successfully (without
crashing) while they observe the automated procedures the feature
invokes; and realistic sound effects for instrument use, approaching
objects, and even crashes.

Microsoft says the scenery expands in detail as the plane approaches
a specific area, and a new weather system feature gives users control
over the weather they will encounter in flight. You can also select
to encounter other air traffic en route, or even be visited by a fuel
track after landing, and night approaches have been made more
realistic with runway lights, building lights, and stars illuminating
the night sky.

The company also announced its newest simulation product, Microsoft
Space Simulator this week. The software makes use of published
geological and astronomical documents and data gathered from various
unmanned space flights like Voyager, Magellan, Viking, and Mariner as
well as input from NASA to achieve authentic space simulation. Space
Simulator, scheduled to ship this winter, will be priced at $64.95,
and needs a 386 or better PC, 550K of conventional memory and 256K of
expanded memory, 9MB of hard drive free space, and VGA or Super VGA
display, as well as a mouse, sound board, and joystick or flight
yoke.

Microsoft told Newsbytes Flight Simulator 5.0 will be available in
August of this year, at a suggested retail price of $64.95. System
requirements include a 386 or better IBM-compatible personal
computer, a minimum of 530 kilobytes (K) of free conventional memory
and at least 1 megabyte (M) of extended or expanded memory, a
high-density floppy drive, a hard drive with at least 9MB of free
disk space, an EGA video adapter with 256K of display memory and a
compatible monitor, or VGA or Super VGA video. Microsoft also
recommends a mouse, soundboard, and joystick.

(Jim Mallory/19930604/Press contact: Julie Larkin, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080; Reader contact: Microsoft Corporation,
800-226-9400 or 206-882-8080)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00008)

The Enabled Computer - Computers and Curbcuts 06/04/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- The Enabled Computer
by John McCormick.

I know that some people are tired of hearing from me about how
some computers are becoming less friendly to disabled users, but
for them, and especially for computer manufacturers and software
publishers, I have come up with a simple sensitivity exercise and
test to see how their favorite products stand up.

The next time you power up your computer, leave the monitor
turned off and see how well you do.

Another exercise is to try running some mouse-intensive software
without touching your mouse.

A few minutes is all it will take - then think about how easy a
computer is to use for a blind child or an adult with cerebral
palsy and whether a GUI makes it easier or harder.

If that is too abstract an example, try remembering that you (all
of us) are likely to have deteriorating vision as you grow older
and that as life expectancy gets longer we will all be working
well into our late sixties or seventies.

More on this later in the column, but first some sad news.

Although this column will continue to appear in Newsbytes
outlets, I am sad to report that it will not continue to be
published in Computer Monthly Magazine.

Editor-in-Chief Doug Kilarski, who encouraged me to begin this,
the only adaptive technology column in a mainstream computer
publication, kept his promise to keep the column alive as long as
possible, despite the fact that not one adaptive technology
company ever bought a single inch of ad space in the magazine.

Unfortunately, Computer Monthly has ceased carrying any outside
editorial, so all columns have been dropped. Don't send them a
nasty note; they have done a great service to the disabled
community and deserve praise for carrying the column for more
than two years, not criticism for eventually having to drop it.

On a happier note, our free Enabled Computer BBS (814-277-6337)
is rapidly gaining subscribers, many of whom are downloading
databases of adaptive technology products and some shareware
taken from the Internet. We even have a relatively strong
presence of overseas callers from as far away as New Zealand.

I want to remind readers that commercial systems (CIS, GEnie, and
Delphi), as well as many other private BBS systems, also carry
shareware for disabled computer users, so by all means try a
local board first to save phone costs, but The Enabled Computer
BBS does have some unusual files if you can't find them
elsewhere.

But back to the real topic of this column. The following piece is
from my forthcoming book, "Computers and the Americans with
Disabilities Act: A Manager's Guide," John A. McCormick, August
1993, Windcrest/McGraw Hill (#4422), ISBN 0-8306-4445-8
(paperback) $22.95, ISBN 0-8306-4444-X, 400 pages.

This is a guide for business managers and is not directed to end-
users, but I have a user-oriented book in the works, one that
includes both office and non-business products as well as
adaptive software and hardware for children.

The Importance of Planning

As far back as 1985, Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden, Ph.D. of the Trace
Research & Development Center at the Waisman Center of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, authored a white paper (posted
on The Enabled Computer BBS) about the importance of making
certain that no one be needlessly left out as we moved into the
computer revolution.

Computers are becoming ever more important in the private,
school, and work lives of all Americans and since it would be so
easy to make computers accessible to the disabled it is an
intensely distressing occurrence that computers are becoming less
accessible every day.

The Trace Center has been in the forefront of an effort to help
make sure that people with disabilities are not just able to
access specially modified computers through adaptive hardware and
software, but that all computers be built with easy access in
mind from the first.

This work began more than seven years ago but apparently without
significant success if we consider the fairly recent introduction
of a very unfriendly development in operating environments -
graphical user interfaces.

Dr. Vanderheiden's point is that, while we are still in the
initial phases of designing the tools which will become the
habitually accepted systems for information access, the nation
and the world need to guard against building unnecessary barriers
into these new tools.

He likens this to curbcuts, which cost little or no more than
installing a standard curb if they are done in the first place
but can be a significant expense for a small community if they
must be retrofitted.

A point to remember when considering any tiny increase in the
cost (if any) of a computer which is easier to access for the
disabled is that, just as with the curbcuts which are used a
hundred times over by baby carriages or deliverymen for every
wheelchair that passes their way, so too will more accessible
computers be easier for everyone to use in the long run.

What's my point in including this excerpt in The Enabled
Computer?

Simple -- although many individuals in the disabled community have
spoken out against graphical user interfaces, their use is
spreading, essentially making once-accessible computers
inaccessible to most blind and many mobility-impaired users.

I don't begrudge Mr. Gates's company making lots of money with
Windows or IBM's attempts to sell OS/2, but I do think that it
would be nice if they were to include more built-in features
which make it easier for third-party developers to produce
specialized software that make their products available to more
users.

Feel free to disagree, but before you write a nasty letter
pointing out that Windows is a "great" innovation that makes
computers easier to use try shutting off your monitor before
starting Windows and writing the note.

(John McCormick/19930604/)


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

Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 06/04/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

Government Computer News dated May 24 says that Zenith Data
Systems Desktop IV systems will come ready for heavy-duty office
work with Ethernet network cards and both TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and the Novell NetWare shell
already installed on 80486-SX and 80486-DX based microcomputers.
The other Desktop IV winner, GTSI of Chantilly, Virginia, will
ship Everex Systems' computers, but GTSI hasn't yet disclosed any
details about the computers which will be shipped under the
massive Department of Defense contract.

A new magazine, CD-ROM Today, hit the newsstands this week. This
thrice-yearly glossy from GP Publications (first issue dated
July/Summer) has 31 software reviews in its premiere issue and
will focus on what the editors call "Personal Multimedia."

Informationweek for May 31 says that corporate users have finally
corralled software vendors in the current buyer's market and can
actually start calling some of the shots instead of having to
take what is offered. Also in this issue is a list of the top 50
independent software vendors (by gross revenue), led, of course,
by Microsoft, with Computer Associates International and Oracle
a distant second and third.

June's Data Based Advisor takes a look at the vast array of add-
on packages for the popular FoxPro database, listing about 100
products from 57 different companies. Elsewhere, there is an
article about how things fare with the X3 standard, specifically
the ANSI X3J19 Technical Committee, which the magazine says "has
allowed itself to be pulled into big vendor internecine battles
by focusing on getting the big three vendors to sign a 'will not
sue over language' agreement."

(John McCormick/19930604/)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00010)

Japan, Taiwan, Thailand Top Software Pirates 06/04/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- The Business Software
Alliance has released its current estimates of just how much
software is being pirated in major countries. Japan ($3 billion),
Taiwan ($585 million), and Thailand ($181 million) rank as the
countries in the world where, percentage-wise, you are most
likely to find pirated software running on a computer. The
numbers in parentheses are the estimated yearly loss to
publishers, but, lest you think this is Asian-bashing, Singapore,
by comparison, is very law-abiding.

Japan is the top country for cash losses due to piracy, according
to the BSA report, but that is partially due to the number of
computers in the country. The actual percentage of software sold
in Japan which is thought to be pirated is a high 92 percent, but
that is actually far better than Thailand where virtually all
programs have been illegally copied and the chances of finding a
legitimate copy of a commercial program is only one in one
hundred.

Top pirate countries by dollar loss amounts are as follows, with
percentages in parentheses indicating how much of the installed
software is thought to be pirated: Japan (92 percent) $3.0
billion, United States (35 percent) $1.9 billion, France (73
percent) $1.2 billion, Germany (62 percent) $1.0 billion, United
Kingdom (54 percent) $685 million, Korea (82 percent) $648
million, Taiwan (93 percent) $585 million, Italy (86 percent)
$550 million, and Belgium/The Netherlands/Luxembourg (BeNeLux)
(66 percent) $419 million.

All in all, even with the reduction in European software piracy
reported earlier in Newsbytes, EC member countries account for
about $4.4 billion in losses to software publishers, but on the
average the percentage of pirated software sold in the EC is less
than 66 percent, comfortably below the world average of 72
percent, but high compared to the estimated 35 percent for the
US.

By contrast, Latin America, the US's largest potential market,
accounts for about $544 million in losses, with Mexico, at $206
million, counting for a large portion of that total.

The average Central and South American country comes in with an
81 percent piracy rate, which is only slightly worse when
weighted for the size of the market in each country.

Asia, by contrast, scores an almost identical 81.4 percent
average piracy rate, but only because of the remarkably low
numbers for the relatively tiny Singapore market. When adjusted
for the size of the market in each country, Asia shows a very
high average piracy rate for the total number of programs sold.

The BSA's current estimates place the total worldwide losses due
to software piracy at about $12 billion, with US-based
companies suffering nearly $9 billion of that total loss.

Losses, according to the BSA, aren't due so much to lack of
copyright laws as to lax enforcement of existing laws.

The Business Software Alliance is an anti-piracy trade
association consisting of the largest US software publishers.
Its main goal is to combat software copyright violations overseas
while a similar group, the Software Publishers Association,
mostly targets domestic (US) piracy and represents a much
larger number of publishers.

(John McCormick/19930604/Press Contact: BSA, 202-737-7060)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00011)

India - Citizen Focuses On Printer Production 06/04/93
BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Citizen Watch Company Ltd., Japan,
has advised its Indian partner, Madras-based TVS Electronics Ltd
(TVSE) to focus on market-oriented production to benefit from the
increasing domestic demand for dot matrix printers.

According to M. Tsutsui, director, printer division of Citizen,
India's strong middle class of 20 million households and rapid
growth in use of computers offers a very big market for printers.

Since the TVS group and TVSE have a strong marketing base, it should
be possible to increase their share of the market, he said. Tsutsui
was in India for the launches of the 100,001 AT printer of TVSE, and
the launch of a color printer.

He said Citizen will continue its association with TVSE and has
no plans to tie up with any other Indian firm. He did not comment
on indigenizing the manufacture of printer heads and motors, the
two high-precision items now imported by TVSE.

TVSE had a turnover of Rs 55 crore (around $18.4 million). Although
it was a late entrant in the printer field, the company claims
a 35 percent market share within just three years.

(C.T.Mahabharat/19930604)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEL)(00012)

Washington-Bangalore Video Conference 06/04/93
BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- India's Department of Electronics
(DoE) achieved a major milestone when it successfully organized
a video conference between the Software Technology Park at the
Electronics City near Bangalore and Washington, D.C., in the US.

Those who participated in the video conference included the DoE
secretary, N. Vittal and representatives from leading computer
companies in India: Wipro Infotech, Infosys Technologies and
BFL Software. Vittal described the event as "technologically unique."

Describing the facilities available at the park as excellent, many
company spokespersons said they were planning to install
video conferencing facilities.

According to G. S. Varadan, the director of the Bangalore software
technology park, the video conferencing facility will be available
on a regular basis soon. However, the facility will be available
only to the US and Europe.

Vittal said a number of computer companies have expressed interest
in availing the video conferencing facilities. According to Varadan,
the video conferencing facility offered by DoE is cheaper than a
similar scheme by the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (the government-owned
telecom company in charge of overseas calls). The DoE has already
tied-up with IDB Worldcom, and US telecom companies and British
Telecom to provide similar facilities.

(C.T.Mahabharat/19930604)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00013)

Caere Gets India Distributor 06/04/93
BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Sonata, the software division
of Indian Organic Chemicals Ltd., will sell the optical character
recognition (OCR) products of Caere Corp., of the US, in India.

The range includes Omnipage Direct, text recognition software
that could be used with a word processor, a spreadsheet, desktop
publishing, or a communication package. The main features
include the ability to recognize all non-stylized fonts from
6 to 72 points, automatic separation of graphics from text
and numbers, and the ability to read 11 European languages.

Omnipage Professional is meant for professionals needing advanced
document processing capabilities. It incorporates specialized OCR
features for quicker editing, special characters and a variety of
document types. The file formats it supports for scanned text are
ASCII, Excel, Macwrite, RTF, MS-Word and Wordperfect. It is claimed
that Omnipage Professional is the only OCR software to have an
interactive spellchecker specially designed for text recognition.

Other Caere products include Pagekeeper, an intelligent document
storage and retrieval software, and Image Assistant, a color image
processing software for power users, and Faxmaster, for sending,
receiving and compressing faxes.

The products are available both on IBM PCs and Apple Computer
Macintoshes. Omnipage direct is priced at Rs 65,000 (around $2,200)
and Omnipage Professional at Rs 85,000 (around $2900). Sonata has
already sold two copies of Omnipage to Centre for Development of
Telematics (CDOT). According to a Sonata spokesperson, the company
is evaluating the market for a color separator also from Caere.

(C.T.Mahabharat/19930604)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEL)(00014)

US Companies Keep Contracting In India 06/04/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Ten US computer manufacturers
have shown interest in meeting their component and raw materials
requirements from Indian companies, reveals the delegation
sponsored by Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology
(MAIT) on its return from the US. In 1992, the US offered a
contract manufacturing market worth $8 billion and this is
expected to grow by 15 percent this year.

AT&T, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, DEICO Electronics, C NET, P Com
and Cisco are some of the firms keen to partner with Indian firms
for this purpose. This development assumes that because of
liberalization, manufacturing of complete systems in India
has become unviable. Most hardware manufacturers, who have
spent a packet on their facilities, are now looking to contract
manufacturing, to redeem their plight.

The offer on contract manufacturing will include a reciprocal deal
under which Indian firms can market computers made by their US
partners. Domestic sales would be determined on the basis of a
quota, which would be proportionate to the size of contract
manufacturing order. Delhi-based Pertech Computers Ltd. (PCL)
recently formalized a Rs 150 crore contract manufacturing accord
with Dell Computers of the US for making motherboards for Dell's
PCs. PCL plans to sell Dell computers in India.

Besides contract and sub-contract manufacturing, other areas of
cooperation include strategic alliances, joint ventures and turnkey
assignments. Several countries based in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore,
China and Hong Kong are already big players in the contract
manufacturing arena.

The MAIT delegation went to the US to promote Indian IT capability
in niche areas such as contracting, networking, and downsizing.
For the first time, a consultant was hired there to arrange
one-to-one meetings with prospective business associates. In
all five companies were represented: Pertech Computers Ltd.,
CALS, Advanced Micronic Devices, Gebbs India and Lipi Data Systems.

(C.T.Mahabharat/19930604)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00015)

CRN Says Canadian Recession Ending 06/04/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Although the US
market is much larger and therefore the Canadians are often left
out of analysis of business cycles and market potentials, Canada
is actually a very large trading partner with the US and the
two-year-long recession in the northern computer market has had a
major impact on growth on either side of the border. The light
at the end of the tunnel may have appeared, as Computer Reseller
News reports that the Canadian market is recovering.

According to the piece, large reseller Merisel says its
Canadian business grew by 40 percent in the first quarter of
1993.

For several years the Canadian economy has been battered by
internal political turmoil, new taxes, and the general slowdown
of US and world economies, but this appears to be ending and
the pent up consumer and business demand for hot new computer
equipment is apparently starting to cause a surge in sales.

Of course this increased demand may find itself stymied by the
same supply problems which face resellers and value-added
resellers (VARs) in the US which have caused major delays in
shipments of IBM and Compaq systems.

(John McCormick/19930604/)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00016)

Some PCs Still In Short Supply 06/04/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Waiting for your
dealer to deliver a new business system? Well, if you have an IBM
or Compaq shop then you certainly aren't alone and the fault
doesn't lie with your supplier but with the supply. The shortage
of some high-line personal computers which Newsbytes reported
some time ago is apparently continuing.

When Newsbytes called a local authorized Apple dealer to enquire
about the availability of a popular new desktop modem it turned
out that he had one in stock, but was quite surprised to have it.

Although there is apparently some minor shortage of Apple
computers, the big problems come when you try to get an IBM or
Compaq desktop PC.

Notebooks are also in short supply and again this means Compaq
and IBM machines, but Apple notebooks are also hot items and
supply is apparently still falling short of demand.

Apple is probably in the best position to weather and even take
eventual advantage of this shortage problem because its
machines are unique. Few Apple Macintosh or PowerBook buyers are
likely to turn to MS-DOS clones when faced with a delay of a few
weeks, or even a month or more.

That isn't true of IBM and Compaq customers who are once again
discovering that less prestigious PC builders can put machines on
the office desks that run just like True Blue or Compaq models.
The supply problems could have a real impact on current and
future sales for the two majors, a problem which could extend far
into the future if more business buyers learn that a PC doesn't
have to be from one of the two top companies to be good.

According to The May 31 issue of Computer Reseller News, this PC
shortage may be spreading to some laser printer models, with the
newspaper reporting a major shortfall in Hewlett-Packard printers
and minor problems with Panasonic and Apple laser printer
supplies.

IBM's Lexmark spinoff line with its strong new 4039 models that
include full PostScript and PCL5 (H-P compatible) language
support and 600 dot-per-inch resolution combined with solid print
quality may be able to take advantage of the inability of
Hewlett-Packard to meet the demand for its printers.

When this Newsbytes bureau recently ordered a 4039 from USA Flex
(a major mail-order supplier) we were told that the company had a
number of the high-end 12R models in stock and indeed our unit
arrived in a few days, bearing out the fact that the claim wasn't
just sales hype and they actually did have IBM LaserPrinters in
stock.

(John McCormick/19930604/)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00017)

Dell Ships Pentium PCs To Australia 06/04/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- US PC manufacturer Dell
has introduced its first Intel Pentium-based server PC to Australia,
where it has been in business for four months. In addition
it has an upgrade card for earlier machines.

The Pentium server is based on the Dell XE server chassis. It has
around two times the performance of the fastest Dell 486 PC. The
entry level model has the 60 MHz processor, 230-megabyte hard disk,
8 MB of system memory, and a single disk drive for AUS$10800
(around US$7250). Upgrade cards for XE, SE and DE product lines
will be available for AUS$4500.

"One of our key goals at Dell is to continue offering our customers
additional value 'beyond the box' by keeping a balanced focus on
the total value equation," said Dell marketing manager, Denis Rowe.
"The focus for the Pentium product announcements is on providing
affordable solutions that not only address the current needs of
the growing market for high-performance server solutions, but
also offer long-term solutions that our customers count on as
those needs grow."

Claimed features of the XE system include: improved component
cooling; single-latch entry mechanism; improved interior layout;
input/output expansion card subsystem separated from the
motherboard for easier upgrades and maintenance; sliding, snap-in
diskette and hard drives and a wide range of expansion products.

(Paul Zucker/19930604/Contact Dell Computer on phone +61-2-439
3655)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00018)

 ****Digital Mobile Phones Have Serious Operational Flaws 06/04/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- An Australian telecommunications
analyst has revealed that digital mobile phones being used in
Australia and Europe have serious design flaws that lead to
interference with other services. He claims the problems are
well known but have always been "swept under the carpet."

Stewart Fist said that he spent three weeks contacting developers
and carriers around the world, yet few were willing to discuss
the problems. Eventually he realized that the problems were inherent
in the design and could not be corrected by simple modifications
to the equipment.

Many of the problems stem from the fact that digital mobile
phone systems work by transmitting short pulses of digital
information so that the audio content is effectively removed
from the transmission except to equipment which can convert the
digital signals back into analog. These short pulses of radio
frequency energy occur at audible frequencies and as such can
break through into nearby electronic equipment.

For instance, most modern hearing aids have pickup coils for
detecting public address signals or amplifying telephone calls.
These coils also detect digital mobile phone transmissions within
a range of around 10 meters, producing a buzzing sound in the
hearing aid. Even traditional analog mobile phones can suffer
interference from the digital phones.

(Paul Zucker/19930604)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00019)

Australia's Telecom Apologizes For Misleading Ads 06/04/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Telecom Australia today
placed two full-page ads in Australian daily papers to correct
statements made in an earlier ad campaign. They were headlined
"The Trade Practices Commission has directed Telecom to issue
this corrective advertisement."

Telecom and its new competitor Optus are locked in a massive
advertising campaign because of the unusual way the regulatory
body Austel has decreed that they can secure customers. At
present all long distance calls are routed through Telecom unless
the call is prefixed with "1" in which case they go through Optus.
Austel will progressively send ballot papers to all subscribers
over the next few months. They will be required to specify the
carrier of their choice and from then on they will have to dial
a four-digit prefix each time they want to use the other carrier.

Part of the campaign to influence decisions is the introduction
of various discount and preferred number rates. Optus successfully
argued that two recent Telecom ads which claimed Telecom calls
were cheaper than Optus were misleading. One implied that by
subscribing to one plan, a number of overseas destinations became
cheaper, while in fact a separate fee was necessary for each country
dialled.

The other ad compared rates but failed to include the cost of the
"flexi-plan" in the calculation and ignored the automatic discount
given to Optus customers whose calls exceed $30 per month.

The final paragraph of one ad says, "Telecom regrets that readers
may have been misled by the advertisement and advises that future
advertisements showing prices for long distance telephone calls
using any flexi-plan service will make it clear that customers
are required to pay the applicable access fee for that service
in addition to the charge for the call."

The second ad ends the paragraph with "any Flexi-Plan service
in comparison with a competitor's service will not convey a false
impression as to the cost of the call."

Meanwhile, Telecom has had another change of name this week.
When it combined with the overseas carrier OTC it was changed from
Telecom to the mellifluous AOTC (Australian Overseas
Telecommunications Commission) though it still traded as Telecom.
Now AOTC has been changed to Telstra Corporation Limited, though
it will still trade as Telecom.

(Paul Zucker/19930604)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020)

International Telecom Update 06/04/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- The world telecom
market woke up to a new situation with the announcement of a
joint-venture between MCI and British Telecom. But not everyone
got the wake-up call.

Certainly the BT-MCI deal, combined with AT&T's WorldSource
agreements, put pressure on companies like France Telecom and
Deutsche Telekom to link-up or be left out. The Germans and
French have been second and third, behind only ATT and ahead of
BT -- as international carriers, and set up a group called
Eunetcom in March aimed at finding global partners. The only US
player left on the table is Sprint. Then there's Unisource, with
Dutch, Swedish and Swiss PTTs, and Danish, Finnish and Norwegians
waiting in the wings. Unisource could move quicker after the
Dutch PTT, known as Koninklijke PTT Nederland, is privatized
next year. The Dutch need new opportunities to excite markets --
profits are currently flat.

Hold-outs on the European future remain Belgium and Italy.
Belgacom is just-now starting to shift through 20 partnership
applications for a joint-venture on GSM cellular phones. In
Italy, STET is trying to stop the freight train of liberalization
and privatization all by itself. Its managers fear that the
French move to the political right could lead to privatizing
France Telecom and leave it out in the cold. STET insists a 1998
date for opening the telecom market, which succeeded an original
1993 target, be maintained, saying it needs until then to get its
house in order. With managers and units all implicated in the
nation's widening political scandals, that may be true.

Elsewhere in Europe, the privatization of Greece's OTE moved
ahead as its general director, a critic of the move, quit.
Northern Telecom moved to get a piece of the resulting equipment
market following the Greek privatization move, signing a
collaboration agreement with Hellenic Aerospace Industry to push
its tender to OTE for digitizing the network and putting in a
NorTel switch-making plant.

While much attention is focused on Europe, it should now move to
Latin America, a fast-growing market with newly privatized
telecom units that could quickly be brought into the orbit of
any of the new worldwide consortia. Mexico's Telmex is controlled
by Southwestern Bell, Venezuela's CANTV by GTE, Argentina's
Telefonica and Chile's EnTel by Telefonica de Espana. Markets
throughout the continent rose, as Brazil's Telebras led the way.
An exception -- and there are always exceptions to Latin trends --
was Panama, where moves to privatize the economy have stalled.

In Asia, prospects remain equally bright. China's Guangdong
province became half-owner of Fonic Inc., which makes telecom
equipment. The US Embassy praised the economic prospects of
Malaysia, calling it a good market for telecom equipment sales.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930604)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00021)

AT&T's Big Week 06/04/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Despite MCI's tie-
up with British Telecom, AT&T remains the hottest property on the
world telecom board, and this week proved it.

The BT-MCI tie-up followed AT&T's own announcement of a group
called WorldSource, which included KDD and Singapore Telecom in
Asia, and is dedicated to the same goal -- putting all of a
multinational's telecom services under one umbrella. This week,
AT&T launched a modem for the Sega Genesis videogame
player and announced it is teaming up with Viacom, a major cable
programmer and smaller cable operator, to test video service
technology.

The Viacom system in Castro Valley, California will be getting a
whole host of interactive consumer services, just as larger
rivals TCI and Time Warner announce plans to install the
technology in all their systems. The deal puts Viacom on a par
with its rivals at low cost -- the test starts a year from now,
and runs 18 months. It gives AT&T the chance to develop products
and software for interactive cable it could then sell to, say,
TCI and Time Warner, among others. Featured will be the video
server, which offers movies on demand, and StarSight, an on-
screen programming guide which could compete with Microsoft's
Modular Windows. Viacom will also add interactivity to its many
cable networks, which include MTV, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, VH-
1, Showtime, and The Movie Channel.

AT&T's plan, according to interviews Chairman Robert Allen has
given at regular intervals all year, isn't to predict the future,
but to have its hands into every communication technology that
could become the future. Instead of trying to create and impose
technology, AT&T is just investing small sums in everything that
looks interesting, knowing that when something does hit, it's
covered.

In the wake of the week's news, brokers and analysts reiterated
buys on AT&T, now trading at a 52-week high of $62 per share, as
well as its chief rival, MCI. Its chief problem may be the large
number of bets it's taken. Moody's is now reviewing its debt with
an eye toward a possible downgrade, citing the BT-MCI tie-up. But
even that cloud has a silver lining -- AT&T now has higher hopes
it can gain more access to the UK market and, through it, the
rest of Europe.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930604/Press Contact: AT&T, Mark Siegel. 908-
221-8413)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00022)

Prodigy Pushes Into Cable 06/04/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Prodigy, which
has yet to turn a profit, is pushing ahead anyway toward offering
a version of its service on cable television.

Cable companies have been clammoring in recent months for an
interactive offering as they expand home shopping services --
with new entries like TV Macy's -- and as leading cable operators
like TCI and Time Warner set plans to offer up to 500 channels
and greater interactivity.

Prodigy is expected to make a formal announcement of its offering
at the National Cable Television Association show in San
Francisco next week. But the company has already made formal
press releases available. They indicate that Prodigy will offer
what amounts to an interactive cable channel, with
news, messaging and game-playing instead of movies.

Prodigy claims to have over 2 million enrolled households, but
recent figures from Jupiter Communications of New York indicate
it has just 1.23 million subscribers. That puts it
slightly ahead of CompuServe, with 1.125 million. GEnie was third
at 300,000, and America Online fourth. A large number of
"others," including The Well, StarText, The Sierra Network, USA
Today Sports Center, and US Videotel, had a total of 90,000
members among them.

Prodigy has never admitted to making a profit. In recent months
it has laid off over one-quarter of its staff, hiked its monthly
minimum price to $15, and set hourly charges on some services in
a bid to become profitable.

Now it says it will, in the words of its press statement, "open
its distributed interactive delivery network to third parties,"
and hopes to become a link between local cable operators and
producers of interactive programs, as well as develop its own
interactive TV service using new set-top converters from General
Instrument's Jerrold unit. What's interesting there is
speculation that the new GI boxes will be based on Intel 80386
chips and a version of Microsoft's Windows software called
Modular Windows. The new boxes could be delivered to consumers
by next spring. Scott Kurnit, executive vice president of
Prodigy, said in the press statement that "Prodigy believes there
is a large, untapped market today for two-way text and graphics
services delivered over cable to the TV," and most analysts
agree. Whether Prodigy will become profitable tapping into that
market, of course, remains to be seen.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930604/Press Contact: Prodigy Services, Steve
Hein, 914-993-8843)


(EDITORIAL)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00023)

Editorial - MCI, BT Turn World Upside Down 06/04/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- By Dana Blankenhorn.
For years British Telecom tried unsuccessfully to crack the US
market, while MCI unsuccessfully tried to compete overseas. Now
the two have teamed up, and the world has turned upside-down.

The link between BT, the fourth-largest international
communications carrier, and MCI, the sixth-largest, is designed
to compete with AT&T's WorldSource, a grouping which includes KDD
of Japan and Singapore Telecom and will offer one-stop shopping
for multinational companies. BT's own Syncordia group, based in
Atlanta, has tried to offer this service for two years, but has
found few customers so far. MCI and BT will probably base their
new joint venture in either Washington or London, although
Atlanta has not been completely ruled out.

What the link really does is put increasing pressure on European
networks, especially France Telecom and Deutsche Bundespost
Telekom, to compete now or be locked out of the world market. The
French and German PTTs are still state-owned, and while the
Germans are moving toward privatization and market
liberalization, the French -- even under a new conservative
government -- has yet to move toward selling its crown jewel.
Still, the two groups are second and third among the big
international carriers, and should have something to say.

The two European giants have this choice. They can link up with
the privatizing Dutch and Scandinavian companies in their
Unisource alliance. They can sign with BT-MCI. They can sign with
WorldSources. They can try to go it alone, go together, or, like
the Italians, try to put their heads in the sand and hope to wake
up in 1998. We'll watch and report.

BT and MCI, meanwhile, still have a big hole to fill if they're
to offer truly worldwide coverage. The hole is called Asia. AT&T
has tied up the Koreans, Japanese, Australians and even Singapore
in WorldSource. HongKong Telecom, the other major player, is
mainly owned by Cable & Wireless, a key BT rival. They could do
what AT&T is threatening to do in Europe -- build it themselves --
but that could be very expensive.

What's all this mean? To most of us, not much. These link-ups are
aimed mainly at offering the best possible service to large
companies, not to small operators who can still get decent
service from local providers. Calls among the world's phone
companies usually take place automatically -- it's not like you
couldn't call Australia before.

What this could mean, down the road, is more fast data services
over undersea cables between Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
That's something all phone and modem users could use. That could
expand the Internet into a truly world-girdling fast data
network, or it could lead to the creation of new online services.
Japan's networks, like PC-Van, Nifty-Serve and ASCII, have the
right idea here -- link up with everyone, and the business will
flow. With faster data services, 56,000 bits/second on up to T-1
speeds of 1.544 million bits/second, that international business
could be multimedia in no time.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930604)


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

Computer Associates Set To Launch "CA Simply Money" 06/04/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Computer Associates is preparing
to launch what it calls its first personal finance product for the
PC this coming Tuesday. Although shrouded in secrecy, Newsbytes has
discovered that the package is called CA Simply Money.

"The word on the streets is that it has that name and the general
suggestion is that it will be a Windows package, but I haven't heard
about pricing," Ian Yarlott, business unit manager with Intuit UK,
which offers the UK version of Quicken and Quicken for Windows.

Other sources in the UK software industry revealed that they were
aware of CA's planned foray into the personal finance market, but
drew a blank on product specifications and pricing.

Bob Jones, a spokesman for CA's New York office confirmed that a
finance product for the personal software market would be launched
on Tuesday next, but refused to elaborate. He told Newsbytes that,
initially at least, the package would be available in the US only.
CA UK, meanwhile, professed ignorance of the software.

(Steve Gold/19930604/Press Contact: Bob Jones - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00025)

IBM, Disney Announce PS/1s For The Entire Family 06/04/93
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- At the Consumer
Electronics Show in Chicago, IBM and Walt Disney Computer Software
Company have introduced a pair of PCs aimed at meeting the needs of
the whole family, right on down to the youngest member.

A company spokesperson told Newsbytes that the new PS/1s, which
come preloaded with 11 Disney software titles, represent the first
in a series of joint ventures to take place between IBM and Disney.
"This is no one-shot deal," he commented,

The spokesperson declined to divulge further details on the
upcoming collaborations at this time, but he did tell Newsbytes
that IBM will be unveiling a series of options for the PS/1s, to
include larger hard drives, at PC Expo in New York. The series
will be entitled Easy Options, he said.

As announced at CES, the PS/1s will each come standard with an
Intel 486SX 25 MHz processor, a 120 MB hard drive, 4 MB of RAM, and
a color SVGA monitor. One model will have three slots and three
drive bays, and the other will provide five slots and five bays.

In addition to the 11 Disney titles, each model will ship with MS-
DOS 6.0, Windows 3.1, Microsoft Works for Windows, Prodigy, and the
PS/1 edition of America Online, as well as several titles from IBM,
including PS/1 Club, PS/1 Connection, PS/1 Index, PS/1 Tutorial,
and PS/1 Fitness. PS/1 Fitness includes a virus checker.

Systems sold in the US will also come with the Disney Sound Source,
a stand-alone, battery-operated sound peripheral that connects to a
computer's printer or parallel port and provides voice, music, and
sound effects. The Sound Source works with software from other
developers in addition to Disney, and offers support for
Microsoft's WAV sound file standard and OLE (object linking and
embedding).

The spokesperson stressed that the Disney software offers something
for all ages, even up to adults. One title, Disney Animation
Studio, lets the user create animated characters. Another, called
Coaster, is for designing a roller coaster, and then taking an
online ride.

Mickey's 123's, Mickey's ABC's, and Mickey's Colors and Shapes are
targeted at the tot audience. Other Disney titles include Mickey's
Jigsaw Puzzle, Mickey's Crossword Puzzle, Mickey's Memory
Challenge, Follow the Reader, Aladdin Print Kit, and the Stunt
Island adventure game.

The new PCs are expected to become available in mid-July at
approximately 6,000 retail locations in the US, for street prices
starting at about $1,699. Worldwide availability will vary by
country.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930604/Press contacts: J. Ralph Hammock, IBM,
tel [phone]; Kirk Green, Walt Disney Computer Software, tel
818-973-4015)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00026)

 ****Zoomer Specifics 06/04/93
CHICAGO, ILLINIOS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Tandy and Casio
are again showing off Zoomer at the Consumer Electronics Show
in Chicago this week and America Online, Quicken, Motorola, and
Sundisk have all announced support for the new device. Zoomer
is a pen-based pocket computer that combines wireless
communication with graphically based-pen computing.

Both Casio and Tandy will each come out with their own brand of
Zoomer, but both devices will be compatible. Late September to
early October of this year is the projected release date for
Zoomer. Tandy has said its Z-550 Zoomer will be offered for
$699 while Casio is setting its manufacturers retail price
at $895, expecting the street price to be $700. Both
models will offer identical features.

At the first showing of Zoomer in January the two companies
were calling the unit a Personal Information Processor (PIP).
However, Casio and Tandy have dropped PIP and have adapted
Apple Computer's acronym for the unit calling it a Personal
Information Device (PDA).

As previously announced, a version of the Geoworks graphical
operating system will be the user interface to Zoomer. Geoworks
was chosen because of its low overhead in terms of computing
horsepower and its compatibility with the IBM personal computer
(PC) platform. Geoworks provides file management, printer
drivers, communication drivers, password capability, a launcher
menu to start applications, and pop-up on screen keyboards.

Zoomer will use an Intel-compatible central processing unit
(CPU) which the companies claim is being custom made for the
unit by Casio. The unit will have 1 megabyte of random access
memory (RAM) divided into 640 kilobytes (K) for the system and
384 K for RAM disk space. In addition, a 4 MB read-only memory
(ROM) contains the operating system and all the applications.

Casio is also making the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen
Zoomer uses. The screen is a monochrome reflective screen at
320 by 256 pixel resolution with a 0.3 millimeter (mm) dot
pitch. Zoomer itself measures 1-inch thick, 4.2 inches wide,
and 6.8 inches long and weighs 16 ounces (1 pound). The unit
offers 100 hours of use via three "AA" alkaline batteries and
an AC adapter will be available as well. Two lithium batteries
supply a power backup for the system's RAM. Zoomer will also
save where the user left off, presenting that place again when
turned back on.

A mini-serial port connection will be built in for data
transfer with PCs, printers, and modems. Also included will be
an infrared port for wireless communications, a speaker with
headphone jack, and a Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association (PCMCIA) 2.0 card slot for third-
party applications, storage, memory expansion, and hardware
like pagers and fax/modems.

Software for access to America Online will be built into the
unit, although an optional modem is required to access the
bulletin board service. Apple Computer announced similar access
to America Online for its first PDA, the Newton, so PDA users
with America Online access can exchange electronic messages
just as they can with their desktop computers.

A date book with a "to do" list manager and alarms, an address
book, and a notebook all developed by Palm Computing will be
included. In addition, a calculator, a home and world time
clock, a forms calculator, a translation dictionary for 26
languages, on-line help, a 50,000 word dictionary, a 100,000
word spell checker, and a 660,000 word thesaurus, all US
holidays, US city and state information, international city and
country information, area codes, travel information,
birthstones and flowers, Zodiac signs, and the US founding
documents will all be offered built-in, Tandy officials said.

Three games Pyramid, Solitaire, and Uki (like Othello) will be
built-in to Zoomer as well. An "A" and "B" button and arrow
keys are offered on the Zoomer unit, inviting other game
developers to offer games for Zoomer.

A version of the popular financial program Quicken, called
Pocket Quicken will be offered built into Zoomer. The program
will offer basic checking with credit card and cash account
tracking capabilities. Pocket Quicken is fully compatible with
the company's other Quicken products, company representatives
said.

Sundisk, a division of Sun Microsystems, announced it will
design flash mass storage PCMCIA Type II memory cards for the
Zoomer. The cards will be twenty megabytes (MB), and disk
compression software such as Stacker from Stac Electronics can
doubled the amount of data that can be stored on the cards to
forty MB. Sundisk flash cards also are available in two, five
and ten-MB capacities that all operate from a single five-volt
power supply. Sun, known for its SPARCstation reduced
instruction set computing (RISC) workstation computers,
announced earlier this year its intention to develop a PDA-type
device, but no further details have been forthcoming.

Data entry can be accomplished on the Zoomer by writing in
information that is then recognized and translated into text as
though typed, or an on-screen QWERTY-style keyboard can be used
to select characters one at a time with the pen. In addition,
text written in the user's own handwriting can be saved, called
"electronic ink." In a demonstration of Zoomer, the user made a
mistake while writing a note with the stylus and showed how,
instead of rewriting the entire text, the Zoomer could "back
up," deleting one keystroke at a time.

Optional accessories for Zoomer include a serial cable, a
communication interface, a replacement stylus, a deluxe stylus,
an AC adapter, a PCMCIA memory card, and a leather carrying
case.

In addition, Motorola announced it would work with Geoworks to
develop its Electronic Mail Broadcast to a Roaming Computer
(EMBARC) wireless communications compatibility for the Geos
operating system platform. Motorola is already known for its
wireless service products, including pocket pagers.

The two companies say the agreement could bring wireless
messages, data, and even file transfers to one or multiple
mobile computer users simultaneously and is especially aimed at
the new Zoomer PDA, which uses the Geos operating system.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930604/Press Contact: Mieke Henderson,
Tandy, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00027)

 ****Motorola Codex Claims New Modem Speed Record 06/04/93
WALLINGTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Motorola Codex, one
of the first modem manufacturers to get an interim V.Fast unit to
market late last year, has claimed that its 326XFast-SDC modem has
achieved speeds of 72,000 bits per second over the public switched
telephone network (PSTN).

V.Fast is an interim standard that is currently being agreed
(ratified) by the CCITT, the international telecoms regulatory body.
According to Bill Pechey, technical manager with Hayes Northern
Europe and a senior member of the CCITT study group on V.Fast,
modems with the complete V.Fast standard included should be released
before the end of the year.

The Motorola Codex unit is, therefore, very much an interim release,
but conforms as closely as possible to the V.Fast modem planned
model. Ray Wright, Motorola Codex's worldwide director of
transmission product marketing, said that the 326XFast-SDC modem is
capable of very high speeds. "This product brings together the speed
and reliability of digital links with the simplicity and general
availability of the PSTN," he said.

The new modem is part of Motorola Codex's range of network and
leased line modems. Currently, the 326XFast-SDC is being promoted as
a modem that supports leased line speeds over the PSTN. Pricing on
the modem has yet to be determined, but, according to the company,
it will be pitched competitively with other high-speed modems on the
market-place.

(Steve Gold/19930604/Press & Public Contact: Motorola Codex - Tel:
081-773-7632)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00028)

 ****Video Via Cellular Phones 06/04/93
ORLANDO, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- At a succession of
press briefings in an office building near its headquarters, a
group called Comacs Enterprises said it is now offering
licenses for a digital compression technology which will allow
the transmission of video through cellular phones.

Comacs President Oriana Schoneberg told Newsbytes that a reporter
in a war zone could use the technology, called Asynchronous
Halfwave Encoding And Decoding, or AHEAD, to transmit pictures
directly from a war zone using standard cellular phone
technology. In the Gulf War, for instance, TV reporters were
frustrated by censors manning the available satellite uplinks,
but coordinated their actions regularly using cellular phone
frequencies. The Comacs system could let them bypass those
gatekeepers in future conflicts.

Ms. Schoneberg said AHEAD will produce faster, clearer, cheaper
data transmissions as well as allow the delivery of video. She
said it was developed by a multinational group of 17 scientists
during a seven-year, $7 million research project. Any company
that manufacturers electronics can use the technology, which can
be adapted to several forms including a computer chip. Defense
contractors, intelligence organizations, major computer
manufacturers and NASA have all expressed interest in the
technology.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930604/Press Contact: Comacs Enterprises,
Oriana Schoneberg, 407-849-7799)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00029)

AT&T's The Edge Connects 2 Sega Units Via Phone Lines 06/04/93
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- If you have a
Sega, next summer you'll be able to buy a device to allow your
kids to play games Sega against their friends over the
telephone lines without leaving the house. The device is called
The Edge and it is the result of an agreement between Sega and
American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T).

AT&T describes The Edge as a low-cost communications platform
that will make multi-person video game play possible over
regular phone lines. Made up of a modem and a speaker phone,
The Edge will not only allow competitive play, but will
transmit voices over the same phone line as well so both
parties can talk to each other while they play. The Edge will
work by plugging into the game slot on the Sega, and then the
game cartridge and the modular phone line plugs into The Edge.

Robert Dobbins product manager of AT&T's interactive multimedia
products division said an additional feature of The Edge is
four slots on the front of the unit for memory cards. The
memory cards will allow game play to be saved and could also
allow for the purchase of new characters for favorite games
that can be added by adding a card. Dobbins said Electronic
Arts, Sega, Tengen and other Sega video game manufacturers are
looking into making their games "Edge compatible" so users can
take advantage of this new capability.

All this is heading toward networking the Sega units for
multiplayer games at some future point, Dobbins added. Sega has
already announced a deal with Time Warner to put its games on
cable television so users wouldn't need cartridges, but via an
add-on module could connect into the cable channel.

The Edge will be available no later than next summer and the
retail price is anticipated to be between $100 and $150.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930604/Press Contact: Robert Dobbins, AT&T,
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00030)

3DO Launch Delayed, 300+ Developers Signed Up 06/04/93
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 4 (NB) -- Despite promises
that the 3DO player would be available this summer, the company
says the release is "on track" for fall launch. However, 3DO
reports 302 software companies have signed license agreements
to develop software for the 3DO.

The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer attaches to the television set
and looks much like a video cassette recorder (VCR) that takes
compact discs (CDs). The unit is based on a reduced instruction
set computing (RISC) chip from ARM that is anticipated to offer
fifty times the graphics animation performance of traditional
personal computers and video game systems. Matsushita
demonstrated the first 3DO player, the Real 3DO, at the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago this week and will
market the player under the Panasonic label this fall.

Seventeen software companies showed thirty-five titles at the
CES, but only ten are expected to be available when the 3DO
player is this fall. However, 3DO says there will be twenty
titles by the holiday season and estimates 91 titles are
already in the works.

Even though it has released no products, 3DO boasts it has
raised $48 million in its initial public offering since it
first displayed prototype 3DO players at the CES show in
January.

The company has also announced it licensed the MPEG I video
compression scheme for use in the 3DO player from C-Cube. A
CL450 MPEG Video Decoder built into an expansion module will
allow the Interactive Multiplayer to playback up to 74 minutes
of high-quality, full-motion video from a single CD.

Paramount and Philips have already announced a deal where
Paramount will offer 72-minute theater length movies on the
Philips CD-I player, which also connects to a television. A
similar MPEG video decoder add-on device attached to the CD-I
player makes the movie play possible.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930604/Press Contact: Diane Hunt, 3DO, tel
415-574-6786)