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/nb930730

Text File | 1993-07-30 | 81KB | 1,802 lines

(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00001)

UK Gets Its First "Green" Notebook PC 07/30/93
ELSTREE, HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Opti
International, a new name to the PC scene, has announced plans to
release the Chameleon Pro notebook, which it claims is the UK's
first "green" notebook, in keeping with the Energy Star campaign
announced in the US recently.

Based around Intel's 3.3-volt 80484SX chipset, the machine claims to
conform to all the latest European Commission (EC) guidelines on
energy efficient and conservationist machines. The case, manuals and
packaging are all manufactured from recycled materials and CFC free
materials are used in the machine's construction. Opti's European
sales manager, Martin Bailey, claims that the machine is the first
in Europe to be manufactured to the US Energy Star guidelines.

The main feature of the Chameleon Pro is its upgrade path. The base
system is a based on low-power (SL) version of the Intel 80486SX
chipset running at 25 megahertz (MHz), which can be upgraded to
DX33, DX2/50 or DX2/66 speeds. RAM can be upgraded from the standard
4MB to 8, 12 or 20MB as required.

Hard disk options start at 210MB, ranging to 300 and 500MB. Even the
display is upgradable, from monochrome to super twist nematic (STN)
dual scan color or thin film transistor (TFT) active matrix color.
Newsbytes notes that both color screens will not be available for
another six months, although Opti plans to offer a buy-back scheme
for the mono screens as users upgrade.

Albert Ingber, Opti's managing director, said that he wanted to
offer users the option to buy a base model machine, which at any
stage could be upgraded to whatever specification a particular job
required.

"With 32-bit operating systems such as Windows NT and OS/2 beginning
to become standard for many people, and notebooks becoming more
popular, large network users are looking to combine the two, even
using notebooks as servers," he said, adding that a notebook can be
viewed as a server with a built-in uninterruptible power supply.

PCMCIA type II and III card slots are available as standard options
on the Chameleon Pro, as are a wide range of card expansions,
including small computer systems interface (SCSI) II, a fax modem
and shortly a Soundblaster Pro-compatible type II card.

A docking station will also be available that has two industry
standard architecture (ISA) cards and a 5.25-inch drive bay for a
tape streamer or compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) drive.

So, how much does the Chameleon Pro cost? The standard specification
of a 486SX 25MHz SL machine with 4MB of RAM, a 120MB hard disk,
mono screen, PCMCIA II and II expansion slots, MS-DOS 6.0 and carry
case, is UKP 1,299. This price includes a carry case and mains
adapter charger unit.

(Steve Gold/19930720/Press & Public Contact: Opti International -
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00002)

Rank Xerox Desktop Laser Printer 07/30/93
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Rank Xerox has
unveiled the Xerox 4213-II, a high performance duplex desktop laser
printer that it claims is designed to provide the most cost-
effective and versatile printing for business users.

The machine is also claimed to be one of the most powerful network
printers on the market, support PCL5 and Postscript page description
languages. It can be configured to work with Ethernet, Token Ring
and Appletalk network interfaces, allowing it to support Netware,
LAN Manager, TCP/IP, Ethertalk and Tokentalk network protocols.

Interestingly, the new printer can print edge-to-edge, which is
highly unusual for a laser in this range. The printer can also
switch emulations via software commands. This, Xerox claims, is a
useful enhancement for multi-host installations.

Xerox also claims that the printer is the only mid-range unit of its
type that offers duplex (two sided) printing. In use, it runs at 13
pages per minute (ppm), working to 300 dots-per-inch (dpi) and can
cope with print volumes of 45,000 pages per month.

Pricing on the 4213-II starts at UKP 3,325. According to Chris
Burley, a spokesman for Rank Xerox, all toner, developer and
photoreceptor cartridges are customer-replaceable so as to optimize
printer uptime and minimize service call outs.

The printer comes with a three-year warranty, with the backup of
what Xerox calls its total customer satisfaction guarantee. This
scheme allows customers who feel that their machine is not being
maintained to their satisfaction, to ask for a replacement that the
company will supply at no extra cost, including the cost of
exchanging, to the user.

(Steve Gold/19930730/Press & Public Contact: Rank Xerox - Tel: 0895-
251133)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TOR)(00003)

Apple Canada Unveils Newton MessagePad 07/30/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Ending months of
anticipation, the first of Apple Computer's new Newton
product line is here. Apple Canada Inc., took the wraps off the
new personal digital assistant (PDA), just ahead of its expected
unveiling to the United States market at the MacWorld show
Monday.

Apple Canada also announced several alliances with communications
companies and information providers to offer services and
products to go with the Newton.

The first Newton, called the MessagePad, is a handheld device
that relies on a pen for input and control. It recognizes both
printing and cursive writing, though Apple Canada's demonstration
left some doubts about accuracy. In the demonstration, Greg
Dalzell, market development manager for personal interactive
electronics at Apple Canada, tried several times to enter
information in one Newton and it was wrongly interpreted. Finally
he switched to a different unit which performed better.

Apple officials said the MessagePad is 60 to 70-percent accurate
in translating writing or printing initially, and "learns" the
user's handwriting to become about 90-percent accurate over time.

A short-range infrared device allows Newtons to "beam"
information to each other, and optional wired and wireless data
and facsimile modems provide further communications features.

The Newton MessagePad contains the Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.
ARM 610 reduced instruction set computing (RISC) chip. Advanced
RISC Machines is based in Cambridge, England, and Apple is one of
its major shareholders.

The basic device has 640K bytes of random-access memory (RAM).
The software that makes it work is stored in four megabytes (MB)
of read-only memory (ROM). The MessagePad will run for about four
hours of continuous use on nickel-cadmium or alkaline batteries,
said Dalzell.

Weighing less than a pound, the MessagePad has a Personal
Computer Memory Card Interface Association (PCMCIA) type 2 card
slot for expansion options, which will include one and
two-megabyte storage cards and a Messaging Card that allows the
MessagePad to act as a pager. Apple also said it will offer an
external data and fax modem option.

Apple Canada officials exuded optimism about the Newton's future
success. Peter Jones, president of the subsidiary, said he
expects the Newton to account for at least 10 percent of Apple's
sales volume in Canada in its first year on the market.

It will not do much of that in the next two months, however. The
company said a very limited supply of the devices will be
available, in the Toronto area only, for the coming 60 days.

To help the Newton's sales along, Apple Canada also announced
partnerships with several Canadian companies.

Cantel Paging, a unit of the Cantel Inc. wireless communications
operation, will provide national alphanumeric paging services to
Newton owners. The deal will "reposition Cantel's services" into
the field of critical information distribution, said Tom Pirner,
vice-president and general manager of Cantel Paging.

WorldLinx, a Bell Canada subsidiary, will make available to
MessagePad owners access to The Net, its electronic mail and
database access service, which has about 80,000 subscribers,
according to Michael Neuman, WorldLinx president and chief
executive.

Southam Electronic Publishing, a unit of newspaper and magazine
publisher Southam Inc. of Toronto, is working on various
information services for the Newton product line. Huw Morgan,
director of marketing and operations, said these will probably
include a news headline service, and future possibilities include
electronic television listings and advertising.

Not to be outdone, The Globe and Mail, a national newspaper
published in Toronto, will offer Newton users the Report on
Business Canadian Company Information Card, a database of
financial and other data on major Canadian companies on a PCMCIA
card. Michael Ryan, general manager of the Globe Information
Services subsidiary of the newspaper, said this "will be the
first of many information products and services developed in
co-operation with Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics
division."

Dalzell said Apple is working with several other Canadian
developers.

The Canadian suggested retail price for the Newton MessagePad is
$899.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Franca Miraglia, Apple
Canada, 416-513-5511)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00004)

IBM Extends ValuePoint Line Downward 07/30/93
SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- If sheer volume of
product introductions counts for anything, the IBM Personal
Computer Co., should be gaining ground in the PC market. Not
satisfied with a string of product announcements in recent
months, the company has now launched new low-end models in its
ValuePoint line and cut prices across the rest of that product
group.

Also recognizing that new products do little good if you can't
deliver them -- a problem IBM has had with its ThinkPad notebook
computers and to a degree with ValuePoint models -- IBM chose
some different components for the new ValuePoints to avoid
putting pressure on the supplies it needs for other models.

The six new ValuePoint Si computers use Intel 25-megahertz
(MHz) 486SX and 33-MHz 486DX processors, and come with local-bus
graphics and an upgradable processor. They are offered with a
choice of 120-megabyte (MB) or 212-MB hard disks, or with no hard
disk, a setup meant mainly for use on a local-area network (LAN).

All the models also come with four MB of memory, upgradable to
64 MB, and those with hard drives come with IBM DOS 6.1 and
Microsoft Windows 3.1 preloaded. Buyers have a choice of IBM's
basic or enhanced keyboard.

The company has substituted several components to avoid putting
further strain on its supplies of parts for the rest of the
ValuePoint line. Liz Arends, a spokeswoman for IBM, said the Si
machines use a standard "black" processor socket instead of
Intel's Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket, which is designed for
easy upgrades. They also use Cirrus and Tseng Laboratories
graphics chips instead of the S3 chips used in other ValuePoints.
Third, Arends said, two different motherboard designs are used in
the new models.

While IBM is making these moves to avoid straining its parts
supply for the rest of the ValuePoint line, Arends denied there
are serious supply problems with the products. While not claiming
there are no shortages at all, Arends said, "we're almost there
with supply and demand."

Prices for the new ValuePoint Si models start at $899 for a
diskless 486SX-based machine. The cheapest model with a hard disk
is the same machine with a 120-MB disk, at $1,090. Prices range
up to $1,640 for the 33-MHz 486DX-based system with 212-MB drive
and enhanced keyboard.

Prices on other ValuePoint models have been cut by as much as 11
percent. No existing models are being dropped, Arends said.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Liz Arends, IBM,
914-766-3942)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00005)

Hummingbird Communications To Go Public 07/30/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Hummingbird
Communications Inc., a Toronto-based maker of X Window software
tools, plans to raise about C$41 million with an initial public
offering.

The X Window System is a standard for displaying graphic
applications across a network, used mainly with Unix-based
computers. Hummingbird's products include HCL-eXceed, HCL-eXceed
Plus, and HCL-eXceed/W, all X server software products. It also
offers X development tools. According to a share prospectus
obtained by Newsbytes, Hummingbird was founded in 1984 as a
consulting firm and launched its first software product in 1989.

In its prospectus, Hummingbird claims to have captured about 39
percent of X server software sales in 1992, making it the
market-share leader in that field.

Hummingbird prospectus says the company had net income of C$1.17
million on sales of C$3.46 million in its second quarter, ended
March 31. It forecasts net income of C$1.74 million in the third
quarter and C$2.11 million in the fourth.

In an offering underwritten by RBC Dominion Securities of
Toronto, Hummingbird is offering 2,562,500 common shares at a
price of C$16. The offering includes new shares as well as shares
to be sold by present shareholders. Net proceeds to the company
are anticipated to be C$25.3 million, and to the present
shareholders C$13.0 million.

The company said the Toronto Stock Exchange has conditionally
approved listing of Hummingbird's common shares provided the
company fulfills certain requirements by mid-October.

The company plans to use about C$5 million of the proceeds from
the share offering to redeem existing Series A and Series B
shares. Of the balance, up to $6 million, is to be spent on
expanding sales and marketing, including the possible opening of
new United States and European offices. Up to C$9 million is to
go for acquisition of new products, technologies, or businesses,
and up to C$5 million is to be used for research and development.
Whatever remains will go into working capital, the prospectus
says.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Bruce Rothney, RBC
Dominion Securities, 416-470-1203; Lorraine Neal, Hummingbird
Communications, 416-470-1203, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00006)

DRAM Shortage Hits Australian PC Makers 07/30/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- The phones are running
hot in the offices of Australian PC assemblers as clone
suppliers attempt to bargain their way around the mounting
shortage of DRAM memory chips.

Price pressure on the chips used in every computer has been
building all year as more and more users move to memory-hungry
software such as Microsoft Windows and its fat applications.
No PC operator wishing to stay competitive advertises a machine
with less than 4MB of memory and many users are requesting
8MB or more.

Neil Waterhouse, principal of Cam 1 Computer Wholesale, a small
Sydney PC assembly business, watched the local price of 1MB DRAM
jump US$7 following news of the explosion. He said the low point
for DRAM prices was in December 1992 when the chips wholesaled for
around US$24 in Australia. This rose to around US$40 in the middle
of this year when the Australian dollar suffered against the yen,
and a shortage mentality started to invade the market. The
wholesale price recently has been as high as US$75 a megabyte.

Waterhouse said this is largely the result of speculation, fuelled
by sharp operators in the market who had "dollar signs jumping out
in front of their eyes." Another local assembler said he had a
box with $50,000 worth of chips in it. "I dole it out as the
assembly line needs it, and at night I take it home and sleep on
it." He believes the price will continue to rise for a few weeks,
then stabilize as the profit-takers release their stocks.

(Computer Daily News/19930730/Contact CDN on fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00007)

Borland's Kahn Drops Out Of Australian Road Show 07/30/93
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Borland chief Philippe
Kahn was to have keynoted Borland's Australian roadshow next week,
but he has been replaced by Dr. Richard Schwartz, senior VP in
charge of technology.

When he was in Australia last year Kahn got into a verbal joust
with Microsoft and Lotus execs who were also visiting. He had
been scheduled to address a number of user group meetings.

Still, Schwartz is no lightweight in the industry - he was a
founder of Ansa Software, creator of Paradox. He will fulfill
Kahn's engagements, starting with a press briefing on Tuesday.

(Paul Zucker/19930730)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00008)

MCI Consortium Proposes Frequency Allocation Plan To FCC 07/30/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- According to a report
in today's Washington Post, MCI Communications has sent a letter
to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) suggesting that
the federal agency consider MCI's plan for a nationwide wireless
telecommunications system. MCI has formed a coalition of 150
telephone, cable, publishing and paging service providers to
lobby the FCC to restrict the entrance of existing cellular phone
provider's into this new arena.

Interestingly, this plan was announced just a few days before
Apple's Newton personal data assistant, which will provide an
optional cellular link, will be debuted.

The MCI plan calls on the federal licensing agency to auction
frequency assignments to two local and two national service
providers in each service area.

The move is of course opposed by the Cellular Telephone Industry
Association which calls it uncompetitive.

The FCC is currently looking at ways to raise money for the
federal government and to provide new business opportunities by
auctioning under-utilized radio frequencies currently occupied by
some military and emergency service providers.

With Apple and other companies rushing to promote personal data
assistants and other radio-linked hardware for individual and
business use, the present frequency assignments are not
sufficient to provide room for the expected customer demand for
services.

Personal data assistants or personal communications assistants
will feature communications features such as those now provided
by cellular telephones, beepers, real-time portable stock market
data displays, calendars, pocket computers, and e-mail.

(John McCormick/19930730/)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00009)

Taxi Cellular Pay Phones Tested In NYC 07/30/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Ever been stuck in a
taxicab in traffic and needed to contact a client to tell him or
her you would be a bit late? Well, passengers in 150 New York
City taxicabs won't face that problem if they have a credit card
with them because a Seattle, Washington-based cellular company is
proposing to put pay cellular telephones in the back seats of
taxicabs.

Cellular Technical Services Company is starting a pay cellular
phone service trial in New York City taxicabs to determine if the
service is both attractive to users and can be installed on a
cost-effective basis.

The 90-day pilot program will see 150 of the 3-watt CTS Rental
Phones installed where they can be accessed by rear-seat
passengers, but there is also a 911 emergency call button
accessible to the driver.

To use the telephone, a passenger passes a credit card through
the telephone's scanner which then uses the CTS proprietary Real-
Time Rental System software to approve the call instantly. This
auto credit verification software is, according to the company,
already in use in more than 4,000 rental car installations and is
scheduled for use in about 20,000 rental vehicles by 1994.

With about 12,000 licensed taxicabs operating in New York City
alone, there is a massive market to be tapped if the Cellular
Technical Services product is approved by the NYC Taxi and
Limousine Commission.

Of course, this service doesn't offer any way for the office to
reach a taxicab-bound executive, but the company is banking on
the idea that handheld personal cellular telephones have not yet
fully penetrated the entire market of users who might want to
make calls from a taxicab but don't already have their own
cellular telephones.

(John McCormick/19930730/Press Contact: Cellular Technical
Services, Michael McConnell, 206/727-6342)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00010)

Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 07/30/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

PC Magazine with an August cover date is a special portable
computing issue. Out of the 68 notebooks evaluated, Compaq's
Contura 4/25CX, two Gateway Nomad models, IBM's ThinkPad and the
TI TravelMate 4000 series all won "Editor's Choice" ratings.

IEEE Spectrum for August says that improvements in efficiency due
in part to information technology and automation advances have
contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs from
major multinational companies. According to the article, from
December 1991 to December 1992 there was a US job loss of 5.8-
percent in the computer industry, 1.6-percent in semiconductor
companies, and 10.6-percent in the defense/commercial guidance
system industry. The only bright spot was in the prepackaged
software market which expanded employment by 1.5-percent.

The July 26 issue of Communications Week reports that interest in
OSI or Open System Interconnection, a seven-layer protocol system
intended to insure data communications compatibility, is
increasing with the growing popularity of OSI-compatible
applications such as X.400 message handling and X.500 directory
services. New OSI interfaces like IBM's Multi Protocol Transport
Network and the X/Open Company's XTI are also enhancing the
interest in OSI.

(John McCormick/19930730/)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00011)

The Enabled Computer 07/30/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- The Enabled Computer
is a regular Newsbytes feature covering news and important
product information relating to high-technology aids for the
disabled.

The Enabled Computer by John McCormick

This begins a five-part report on my recent participation in the
ADA Expo '93 trade show and conference held earlier this week in
Washington, DC.

At the show I shared a booth with Maridean (Mari) Mansfield
Shepard, familiar to many of you as the founder of the
disABILITIES Information Services conference and database found
on GEnie. What you may not realize is that Mari and GEnie were
the pioneers in this area of providing coverage of interest to
the disabled on commercial BBS systems.

She and I had a great time both in Washington and at the booth,
talking with everyone from government agency buyers looking for
information on enabling technology and services to the other
booth sponsors, and I for one was very impressed with the strong
response we saw.

I was there both to discuss my forthcoming book on adaptive
technology and to give a talk on the problems facing companies
needing to locate new adaptive products, while Mari, in addition
to promoting the GEnie forum, was also speaking and moderating a
panel discussion.

In wandering around the venue, I once again saw the impressive
Dragon Systems' Dragon Dictate voice recognition system and got a
preview of the soon-to-be-released version, but I also received a
repeat of the usual excuses as to why the company doesn't send me
a review unit so I can really test it out and report how easy or
difficult it might be for my readers to actually use.

Russell Mark, special projects director for the San Antonio,
Texas-based Silent Network, stopped by for a chat but forgot to
give me any of the necessary information about what satellite and
transponder their monthly service is now carried on.

IBM was showing a sound-cue OS/2 operating environment for
visually impaired users, but the people presenting the system
seemed to be a lot more interested in talking with each other
than in demonstrating their product. They eventually got around
to telling me how long it took to develop, but the
representatives got a bit nasty when I asked what happened to the
superior system developed at another IBM office in Texas. The
other program had won a prize in last year's Johns Hopkins
National Search for Computing to Assist Persons With
Disabilities.

I never did get a business card or price for the
software/hardware combination. IBM was also showing VoiceType,
but that is just a relabeling of the Dragon Systems' Dragon
Dictate system.

Most of the other companies were very forthcoming, and some, such
as MCI and the Discover Card people, appeared to be there mostly
to show the flag and provide visible corporate support for the
efforts to promote employment of the disabled. This sort of
corporate support is very welcome, but it is certainly nothing
new for MCI which was also a major sponsor of the National
Search.

Actually, there was a fantastic new Philips TDD at the MCI Booth,
and MCI was also promoting its own videophone and relay services,
while Discover Card was demonstrating the Special Touch terminal
which lets visually impaired users manage credit card
transactions without assistance.

Prodigy was represented by John Williams's Assistive Technology
News, which was announcing that the new publication would be
placing information on disabilities services on Prodigy once a
month. That isn't much compared to the regular coverage on GEnie
or even the CIS and Delphi support for disabled users, but it is
a start from a service which has rejected all earlier attempts to
put such information online.

I want to mention Loomis, California-based HumanWare especially
because these folks were kind enough to loan Mari a replacement
ink-jet cartridge for her printer which was used to print out
sample disABILITIES sessions. HumanWare is well-known in the
adaptive technology field for providing talking computers and
Braille equipment both for visually impaired users and the
learning-disabled.

I also had a nice chat with Susan L. Lakso, president of
Chicopee, Massachusetts-based ABOVO Company, which was showing a
new handheld, battery-operated personal communication device.
The ABOVO PCD has a large-character display and can even be
linked to a remote display unit which can be seen at up to 20
feet. Data recorded on the PCD can be downloaded to a computer.

In a letter to the ADA Expo '93 attendees, President Clinton
said, "Our country doesn't have a person to waste, and we must
invest in each person's enormous potential by fully implementing
the ADA.

"We must improve employment opportunities by increasing special
education, professional training, and job training efforts; and
we must reduce the extraordinarily high unemployment rate among
Americans with disabilities as part of national adult education,
job training, and apprenticeship programs."

(John McCormick/19930730/)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(WAS)(00012)

Review of - The Family Doctor On CD-ROM For Mac, PC 07/30/93

Runs on: IBM version: MS-DOS-compatible with Dos 3.1 or later;
640K RAM; supports VGA graphics, but SVGA recommended, with 512K
color memory capable of 640x480x256 colors; CD-ROM drive with MS-
CDEX 2.0 or later. Macintosh version: System Software 6.0.5 or
newer; 2MB RAM; 8-bit color, 32-bit QuickDraw and color monitor
(for color display); CD-ROM drive with CD-ROM extensions.
For the Macintosh version, System Software 6.0.7 or newer; 2MB
RAM; 8-bit color for color display; CD-ROM drive with CD-ROM
extensions; ISO 9660 File/Foreign File Access.

From: Creative Multimedia Corporation, 514 NW 11th Avenue, Suite
203, Portland, OR 97209. 503-241-4351 voice or 503-241-4370 fax.

Price: $179 list (substantially discounted through mail order)

PUMA Rating: 3.875 on a scale 1=lowest to 4=highest

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Rick Bender

Summary: The Family Doctor is a good source for the answers to
common medical questions that families may have and which today's
busy doctors may not take the time to answer.

======

REVIEW

======

People want to remain healthy, and this CD-ROM contains 2,000
questions people just like myself have asked of Allan Bruckheim,
M.D., through his weekly syndicated column, "The Family Doctor."

The Family Doctor can help you diagnose and treat some common
ailments, such as canker sores, backaches, and swimmer's ear, but
its primary purpose is to educate you about their cause and
prevention. You can search through the database for health-
related issues by specific word, subject, author, or title, or
you can browse a list of specific topics with the "browse"
option. If you don't know quite where to begin, you can use the
"contents" option to peruse a broad, general category, such as
"Questions and Answers."

Topics covered in "Questions and Answers" include: tips on
breastfeeding (and other parenting tips), digestive problems with
aging, ways to stop smoking, dangers of snow shoveling, and many
more.

The Family Doctor on CD-ROM is very easy to use; all you have to
do is pick a word, subject, title, etc., and press Enter. The
menus guide you through the rest.

The graphics and colors are of excellent quality. The 300 or
more illustrations of human anatomy would be good memory aids for
a biology student, as would the series of diagrams on medical
procedures that is included under the "contents" heading. In
addition, the Macintosh version adds audio capabilities to the
already fine graphics and text descriptions to make this a very
good study aid even for early pre-med students.

For those not taking high school or college classes but still
wanting to increase their knowledge of medical terms, there is a
glossary of anatomical terms in understandable, non-jargon
language and a list of common prescription drugs, brand names,
ingredients, uses, side effects, interactions, and other such
information.

The Family Doctor on CD-ROM would be ideal for anyone wishing to
increase his/her medical/health knowledge and not have to look
through five different magazines, two medical encyclopedias, and
a dictionary to do so.

===========

PUMA RATING

===========

PERFORMANCE: 4 Fast and easy to use.

USEFULNESS: 3.5 Some uses limited by the vocabulary used, but
suitable for many home and school users.

MANUAL: 4 Sufficient for the easy-to-use program.

AVAILABILITY: 4 Mail order direct from Creative Multimedia
Corporation, Bureau of Electronic Publishing, or many other CD-
ROM dealers.

(Rick Bender/19930611/Press Contact: CMC, 503-241-4351 voice or
503-241-4370 fax)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(WAS)(00013)

Review of - USA Wars, Korea On CD-ROM For PC, Mac 07/30/93

Runs on: MS-DOS-compatible; CD-ROM player; 640K of RAM; MS-DOS
CD-ROM extension; MS-DOS 2.11 or higher. Macintosh version also
available.

From: Quanta Press Inc., 1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite 208C,
Minneapolis, MN 55414. 612-379-3956 voice or 612-623-4570 fax.

Price: $99

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

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Rick Bender

Summary: One of a series, USA Wars: Korea is a complete
presentation of the battles, personnel, and action which
comprised the Korean conflict during the years from 1951 to 1953.

======

REVIEW

======

In this CD-ROM presentation of the Korean War, objects, persons,
and individual battles have been indexed with the Textware
retrieval software. This database includes thousands of
references to the Korean war, including more than 1,000 digitized
photographs of weapons, people, and battle scenes.

You can very easily explore any word related to the war by typing
that word at the prompt and pressing Enter. A list of references
in an index card metaphor will appear, and you have the option of
viewing the cards, marking them to be compiled into a linked
file, and then either exporting them to an ASCII file or to a
printer. The card metaphor doesn't limit the amount of text
provided because the entire card seldom can be presented in full
on a single screen.

If you don't know exactly what to look for, you can use the
wildcard feature to look for variations of that word. For
example, to search for variations of the word "tact" (tactical,
tactic, or tactics) type "tact*" and then press Enter. The screen
will display all the cards containing any form of "tact" - in
this case, 113 cards.

You can also conduct a Boolean search for several words by just
typing your key word, then "and," "or," or "andnot," then the
second word; the screen will display all the cards which contain
the combined references. You can also use the F2 function key to
search for a key phrase - Sherman Tank, for example.

Once you get to the card, the simple push of a button will take
you instantly to the first appearance of your search word; in
this way, you can quickly determine whether the word in this
particular context will further your research, or whether you
should keep on looking.

A student of war history would love to spend hours just going
over the hundreds of battles and accounts of military life. The
digital photos are intriguing to look at and probably have a
quality better than the original photos without the originals'
relative fragility. As well as photos, maps of various battles
are represented under "map" entries.

The text itself is mostly accounts and descriptions rather than
statistics; the greatest strength of this CD-ROM is the instant
simultaneous access to all the records of the Korean War, not
statistics. USA Wars: Korea is especially useful if one were
going to write, say, a chapter in a history textbook, because
included with descriptions of the war effort are personal
accounts and interviews with Korean War veterans.

Research or remembrance of the Korean War effort can be done with
the USA Wars: Korea CD-ROM disc.

===========

PUMA RATING

===========

PERFORMANCE: 4 Good use of VGA capabilities.

USEFULNESS: 4 Good reference tool for historians and students.

MANUAL: 4 Simple and easy to follow.

AVAILABILITY: 4 Mail order direct from Quanta, Bureau of
Electronic Publishing, or many other CD-ROM dealers.

(Rick Bender/19930611/Press Contact: Mark Foster, Quanta Press,
612-379-3956 voice or 612-623-4570 fax)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00014)

Editorial -- CD-ROMs On The PC 07/30/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- By Paul Zucker. I've had a
CD-ROM drive in the Mac for quite a while now and I've been impressed
with it both as a delivery mechanism for large systems and as a source
of high-quality, high information content material ranging from
education software to raining videos. But, being a PC person at
heart, I felt long overdue for a CD drive on the old Whykickamookow
clone.

The murmur over recent months has said that anyone looking for a
new drive should insist on a double-speed, multi session Photo CD
drive. Basically that means that the drive is capable of reading
data at twice the normal rate (and this is important for applications
like video) and that it will read images from Kodak Photo CDs that
have more than one photo group. I also felt like moving up from
my old faithful mono sound card. In most countries it's cheaper
to buy a multimedia upgrade kit consisting of CD drive, sound
card and possibly a collection of CD-ROMs.

After looking around it came down to the Media Vision and the
Sound Blaster kits. The first uses a NEC drive with a SCSI
controller on the sound card. The second uses a Panasonic drive
with AT controller on the sound card.

For various reasons I bought the third. Installation involves
installing the CD drive, just like a disk drive, then the sound
card. There are various cables that run between devices, but the
entire hardware installation took just a few minutes. You can also
run the cable that normally goes to the PC speaker to the sound
card, so even the normal beeps and grunts come out in "hi-fi."

Software was just as easy - I ran the installation under DOS but
it found my Windows directory and did that too. Next time I ran
Windows it completed the sound card installation automatically.

The CD drive software was easy to install, too. In fact, I was playing
with the Multimedia Encyclopedia within 30 minutes of opening the
box. The kit also included a pair of powered loudspeakers and a
budget-quality microphone, so it wasn't long before I was playing
my favorite audio CDs through the PC and singing along, karaoke
style - a horrible thought.

The encyclopedia, and certain other disks I have subsequently tried,
installed Microsoft Video for Windows. (Not once has the installation
program recognized that it has already been done. On my machine
it produces a motion video screen that is about 16th the area of
the full screen. While hardly TV quality, it really is impressive
to see a standard PC running video.

Having loaded Corel Draw from a fist full of diskettes, I decided
to give the Corel CD a try. Believe me, installing from just one
disk is sheer luxury. And not only that, but I've used the minimal
installation which uses very little hard disk space, and runs
the programs from the CD.

My next adventure was a CD full of 1.5 gigabytes of shareware,
most of it is quite recent (1993). I did notice that is some cases
the compiler was a bit lax, sometimes putting the same program on the
disk in three or four differently named files. Now, if you'll
excuse me, I unpacked 2403 MIDI (music) files from the disk last
week and at 50 a day I still have a LOT to listen to!

(Paul Zucker/19930723)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00015)

America Online Sales Increase 07/30/93
VIENNA, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- With the end of its
fiscal year has come the announcement that independent commercial
online service America Online had an increase of 68-percent in
sales accompanied by a strong 38-percent increase in profits for
the fourth fiscal quarter ended June 30.

America Online also announced this week that leading computer
companies will begin pre-installing the company's access
software and that the online service has purchased the 100,000
square foot building which currently houses their operations.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1993, revenues increased 50
percent to $40,019,000 and fully taxed net income increased 39
percent to $3,077,000.

In addition to the $11.78 million in net revenues from service
revenues for the three months ended June 30, up from $7.37
million for the same period in 1992, the company's financial
report showed "other revenues" of $624 thousand up from only
$3,000 for the same quarter of the previous year.

America Online scored a major coup last year when it sold a
version of its complete online service software to Apple
Computer for use in a coming version of Applelink.

As he announced the financial results in a press release, Steve
Case, president and chief executive officer of America Online,
said, "This was a very successful quarter for the company. We more
than doubled our previous record - set in the March quarter - of
the number of new subscribers added."

IBM, Tandy, and Apple Computer have all recently agreed to
preinstall America Online software on their computers.

The company, which already uses about half of the Vienna,
Virginia building which house its headquarters, has spent $7.6
million to buy the facility because, according to senior vice
president and chief financial officer, Len Leader, it will lower
the company's ongoing facilities costs and provide the business
with better control over its office space.

(John McCormick/19930730/Press Contact: Jean Villanueva of
America Online, 703-883-1675)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00016)

Skytel, Reuters To Offer Headline Pager Service 07/30/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Skytel, the wireless
text messaging service, and Reuters, the worldwide news and
financial reporting company, have announced that they will
jointly provide a free twice-a-day headline news service to users
of Skytel's "SkyWord" text pagers. Four headline groups, covering
business, economic, political and general news, as well as stock
market indexes, will be sent at 12:30 pm and 5 pm weekdays.

The new service, called SkyNews, will be supplemented by
occasional breaking news headlines of major interest, and begins
later this month. It is positioned as a value-added service to
current and future SkyWord subscribers.

Basic SkyTel services are currently supplied to about 240-
thousand customers.

(John McCormick/19930730/Press Contact: Kathleen Baum, Burson-
Marsteller for SkyTel, 212-614-4239)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00017)

Wang Narrows Losses 07/30/93
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Wang
Laboratories Inc., nearing the first anniversary of its fall into
Chapter 11 protection under US bankruptcy law, has reported a
smaller fourth-quarter loss and may be showing signs of recovery.

Wang lost a total of $43.8 million in the fourth quarter,
including restructuring charges of $16.4 million and other
reorganization costs of $20.7 million. This compares to a net
loss of $333.7 million in the fourth quarter of last year,
including a $306.7-million restructuring charge, and to a loss in
this year's third quarter of $87.2 million.

More important than the net loss is the operating loss, said
Lewis Brentano, group vice-president for systems and applications
at industry-watcher InfoCorp. Wang's fourth-quarter operating
loss was $10.4 million, an improvement over last year's
$34.2-million fourth quarter deficit.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, Wang chalked up an operating
loss of $57.1 million, compared to an operating loss of $45.4
million last year. After restructuring and reorganization
charges, Wang had an annual net loss of $197.2 million, compared
with $356.6 million last year.

Revenues were $1,247 million in the year and $241.0 million in
the fourth quarter. This compares with $1,896.2 million in fiscal
1992 and $473.6 million in the year-ago quarter.

"Good news is always relative," Brentano said, but the results
are good news for Wang's backers and creditors. He said the
company's revenue this quarter is about where it should be, and
if Wang can continue as it is it will at least come close to
meeting its revenue targets in fiscal 1994.

The 1993 revenues do include some sales of older products whose
market is declining, Brentano noted, and one risk for Wang is
that these -- notably the proprietary VS minicomputers -- will
tail off faster than the company is projecting. However, he
added, Wang is only counting on its newer image processing
products to provide about 11 percent of revenues in the coming
year, and this could well turn out to be conservative.

Wang still has some work to do on its operating costs, Brentano
said, but he gives the company about a 60-percent chance of
meeting its targets in the coming year, and thinks there is only
about one chance in four Wang will lose money next year.

Wang has said it hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 protection this
fall.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Frank Ryan, Wang,
508967-7038; Ed Pignone, Wang, 508-967-4912)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00018)

Canada's BCE Reports C$520-Million Loss 07/30/93
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Canada's largest
company, BCE Inc., has lost C$520 million in its second quarter,
which ended June 30. Subsidiary Northern Telecom Inc., which took
a US$940-million writedown in the quarter, has to take most of
the blame.

BCE had total revenues of C$4,920 million in the quarter, down
1.1 percent from C$4,977 million in the same period last year.

The quarterly loss compares with C$246-million net earnings in
the second quarter of 1992.

For the first half of 1993, revenues were C$9,925 million, up 0.9
percent from $9,837 in the first half of 1992. The net loss was
C$346 million, compared to C$496 million in net income in the
first half of last year.

Officials said the second-quarter results were significantly hurt
by Northern Telecom's poor quarter and restructuring provisions.
Bell Canada, the telephone company serving Ontario and Quebec,
also suffered from declining long-distance revenues.

As Newsbytes reported earlier, Northern lost US$1.03 billion on
revenues of US$1.87 billion in the second quarter. This compares
with net earnings of US$69.1 million on revenues of US$1.95
billion in the second quarter of last year.

Northern said it expects a year-end loss for 1993, largely due to
a provision for cost-cutting measures, which Northern said will
cost it about US$282 million. The company will take a special
charge for that in 1993, and has also made a provision of US$158
million after tax for work on its software for central-office
switching equipment. Third, Northern is taking a US$500 million
write-down on goodwill related to STC plc, the British telecom
firm it bought in 1991.

Frederick Larkin, an investment analyst who follows Northern for
Warburg Inc. in Toronto, said that while the immediate news is
bad, he believes Northern is taking the right steps. The
cost-cutting measures will keep the company competitive, he said.
Just how soon Northern's fortunes rebound will depend largely on
its ability to boost sales of central office gear. Larkin said he
is not yet ready to speculate on Northern's financial prospects
in 1994.

BCE said its telecommunications business, including Northern and
Bell Canada, lost C$466 million in the second quarter, including
the special charges at Northern. This compares with net earnings
of $302 million in the second quarter of 1992. In the first six
months of 1993, the telecom businesses lost C$243 million,
compared with earnings of C$606 million in the same period last
year.

Bell Canada's contribution to BCE earnings in the second quarter
fell to 58 cents per common share from 75 cents per share in the
same period of 1992, officials said. In the first half, Bell's
input was C$1.07 per share versus C$1.47 in the year-earlier
period.

Bell Canada's net income in the second quarter was C$179 million,
down from C$231 million in the second quarter of 1992. For the
six months the figure was C$327 million, down from C$453 million
in the first half of last year. Bell took a C$86-million charge
in the first quarter of this year to pay for incentives to
employees to leave the company.

BCE's earnings were also adversely affected by its interest in a
non-telecommunications company, troubled Montreal Trustco. The
trust company was hurt by securities losses and by loan loss
provisions related to lending to the Toronto developer Olympia
and York, whose problems have sent reverberations through a
number of financial institutions.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Marcel Saint-Germain, BCE,
514-397-7090)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00019)

IBM Enters Stand-Alone Monitor Business 07/30/93
SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- You no longer have
to have an IBM personal computer to buy an IBM monitor. The
company, which formerly sold only monitors that worked with its
own systems, has announced a handful of new monitors that can be
used with any PC.

Formerly IBM's monitor sales were limited by its market share in
personal computers, said company spokesman Michael Corrado. Now
IBM can go after the entire market, he said.

The company said intends to offer a full line of multi-frequency
products compatible with other vendors' PCs.

IBM launched four new color monitors, designed and built by IBM
and all with energy-saving features that meet or exceed the US
Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. They also
comply with MPR-II, the Swedish guidelines for low
electromagnetic emissions, and meet the International
Organization for Standardization's (ISO) standard 9241-3 for
ergonomic design.

The 14 and 15-inch monitors are available in standard versions
called the 14V and 15V and premium models labelled the 14P and
15P. IBM said they support all popular display modes, including
VGA, XGA, and XGA2.

IBM also unveiled the Model 9504 21-inch monochrome monitor,
aimed at advanced imaging applications with 1,600-by-1,280
resolution and a 77-Hertz refresh rate. This monitor complies
with the MPR-II emissions guideline and ISO standard 9241-3.

The firm also announced the MM-1 Audio Option, which integrates a
full stereo system into the new monitors. The option comes with
speakers, amplifier, built-in microphone and accessory jacks, IBM
said.

In September, the 14P and 15P will also be made available as
touch-screen models 14PT and 15PT. The touch monitors will use
capacitive-overlay technology to provide precise fingertip
control, IBM said, and will be compatible with all multimedia
applications.

Corrado added that IBM plans this fall to launch 17-inch and
21-inch monitors meant to work with the Apple Computer Macintosh.

A three-year warranty on the 14P, 15P, 14PT and 15PT delivers
on-site service the first year and mail-in or carry-in service
for the next two. Extended service contracts are available. The
14V, 15V and MM-1 come with one-year, on-site warranties.

The 14V, 14P, 15V, 15P, and Model 9504 are available now through
resellers and IBM Direct, Corrado said. Touch-screen models will
be available in September.

List prices are: $520 for the 14V; $693 for the 15V; $633 for the
14P; $807 for the 15P; $13,67 for the 14PT; $1,593 for the 15PT;
$1,333 for the Model 9504; $187 for the MMM-1 Audio Option; and
$120 for a Lift-Tilt-Swivel Stand.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Michael Corrado, IBM,
914-766-3929)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00020)

IBM Rolls Out Pentium-Based Server 07/30/93
SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- IBM Personal
Computer Company has joined the growing number of computer vendors
offering machines based on Intel's new top-of-the-line
processor, the Pentium. IBM announced the PS/2 Server 95 560, a
Pentium-based server using a 60-megahertz (MHz) version of the
chip.

IBM said the Server 95 560 has various features needed in
data-intensive, high-performance computing, such as error
correction code (ECC) memory, 256K bytes of Level 2 write-back
cache to boost performance, a Small Computer System Interface
(SCSI-2) controller enabling data transfer rates between
peripherals as speeds as high as 20 megabytes (MB) per second,
eight expansion slots, five drive bays, and security features.

Standard equipment also includes 16 MB of ECC memory, expandable
to 128 MB. A one-gigabyte hard disk drive is standard and disk
storage can be expanded, a company spokesman said. The machine
also uses data streaming to speed the transfer of data between
the processor and storage devices.

It is IBM's first Pentium-based product, and not surprisingly,
the company said this will be the first of a number of servers
using the Pentium.

Security features include power-on and privileged-access
passwords, electronic diskette ejection, covers designed to show
tampering, and high-security locks. IBM said such features make
the machine well suited to commercial customers that need very
high levels of security, such as banks and other financial
services firms, or government agencies.

The PS/2 Server 95 560 will be available for ordering in
September, with a list price of $13,400, the spokesman said.

(Grant Buckler/19930730/Press Contact: Kevin Bourke, Brodeur and
Partners for IBM, 617-894-0003)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00021)

Compaq PCs To Automate Russian Phone Operations 07/30/93
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Compaq Computer announced
this week its personal computers will be used to automate the
phones in Moscow.

The company said the Moscow General Telephone Service has purchased
more than two hundred Compaq Deskpro/M and Compaq Prolinea PCs and
related options to automate the Russian city's telephone operations.
Compaq spokesperson Linda Parsons told Newsbytes the deal is worth
over US$1 million.

The desktop units will be integrated into the Moscow General
Telephone Service computer network beginning immediately. The
network will automate the phone company's entire accounting system,
enabling it to track actual telephone usage for the first time.
Currently users are charged a monthly flat fee, regardless of the
number of length of calls made.

The contract, which is being fulfilled by MBL Computerland, also
calls for the purchase of Novell Netware and SCO Unix operations
systems, also to be provided by Compaq. Parsons told Newsbytes the
system is also being installed by MBL Computerland in Moscow.

Compaq's European Senior VP Andreas Barth called the sale a
"significant strategic win" for the company. "Moscow, like the rest
of Eastern Europe, is rapidly embracing information technology, and
Compaq is determined to play an important role in this movement,"
Barth said.

Compaq initially entered the Eastern European market in June 1990
and now has resellers in the former Eastern Germany, Hungary,
Croatia and Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, the Czech and
Slovak Republics, the Baltic States, and Russia.

(Jim Mallory/19930730/Press contact: Linda Parsons, Compaq Computer
Corporation, 713-374-0484; Reader contact: Compaq Computer
Corporation, 800-345-1518, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00022)

 ****Gates Speaks Out On FTC Investigation 07/30/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation Chairman Bill Gates spoke out this week on the FTC probe
into his company's alleged anti-competitive practices, saying that
while the investigation had raised no troublesome issues, Novell
is trying to keep the inquiry open.

Gates told financial analysts Novell has been lobbying the FTC to
proceed with its investigation, saying Novell is seeking to promote
its own DR-DOS as a substitute for Microsoft's MS-DOS.
He said that even after a more than three-year investigation by the
FTC, "There has been nothing that has come up that causes us the
slightest concern." He said he does not expect Novell's objections
or any resulting actions to force Microsoft to change its business
practices, and told analysts Microsoft supports Novell products and
has included features in Windows NT and other Microsoft products to
ensure that they work well with Novell software. Windows NT is
Microsoft's new operating system scheduled to ship next month.

Microsoft and Novell compete in both the operating system and
networking markets, with Novell's Netware and DR-DOS going up
against Microsoft's LAN Manager and DOS. Microsoft reportedly tried
to buy Novell at one time.

Gates may be getting impatient with Novell's complaining, however.
Gates said the dispute between the two companies is not personal,
but told analysts, "They (Novell) are running around in the back room
politicking." He also hinted at his displeasure by saying, "Perhaps
you are getting the idea that we're disappointed by the way that
Novell is pursuing this."

Microsoft told the analysts it expects sales growth to stabilize
next year, and company officials hinted that prices would at least
remain stable, saying Microsoft pricing would be guided by its
desire to protect market share.

(Jim Mallory/19930730/Press and reader contact: Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882- 8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00023)

Aldus To Unveil Pagemaker 5 For Mac Next Week 07/30/93
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Aldus Corporation
says it will unveil Aldus Pagemaker 5.0 for Apple Computer's
Macintosh platform next week at the Macworld Expo trade show in
Boston.

When Aldus started shipping the Windows version of Pagemaker 5.0 in
mid-June, the company said the Mac version would ship in about 30
days.

Aldus also announced its second quarter financial results this week,
with revenue for the quarter up 17 percent at $45.6 million from
$38.9 million in the same period last year.

Net income didn't fare as well as revenue, reported at $0.2 million,
or $0.02 per share. For the same period last year Aldus reported a
net loss of $0.9 million ($).06 per share) last year. This year's
net income included a one-time pre-tax charge of $1.98 million, or
$0.10 per share related to the acquisition of After Hours Software.
That acquisition was announced last month. When that charge is
excluded, net earnings were $1.5 million, or $0.12 per share. The
company said revenues for the year to date were $87.2 million,
compared to $82.9 million for the first half of 1992.

Aldus Chief Financial Officer Bill McAleer said results were better
than anticipated primarily due to initial upgrade demand for the
Windows version of Pagemaker 5.0. "We have been encouraged by
customer response to the new version of Pagemaker and were able to
ship more upgrade orders than we expected."

(Jim Mallory/19930730/Press contact: Brad Stevens, Aldus
Corporation, 206- 628-2361)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00024)

Motorola Chip Powers New Apple Computers 07/30/93
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Motorola says the newest
Apple Computer Macintosh systems are powered by a Motorola 68040
microprocessor produced by Motorola's High Performance Microprocessor
Division.

Called the Macintosh Quadra 840AV and the Macintosh Centris 660AV,
Apple's newest Mac platforms combine telecommunications, video and
speech technologies into a single desktop computer.

Apple Computer calls the technology on which the new systems are
based "AV Technologies," designed to access voice mail, electronic
mail, and faxes from a single workstation. The computers can also be
used as a hands-free speaker phone and answering machine, and
participate in video conferencing. The systems recognize speech
commands for control and navigation.

The Quadra 840AV is powered by a Motorola 40 megahertz (MHz) 68040
chip that achieves 41.8 VAX MIPS (million instructions per second).
Motorola says Ingram Laboratories testing shows the Quadras operate
at 15 to 20 percent faster than 50MHz Intel 486-based systems.

The Centris 660AV runs on a 25MHz 68040. Motorola chips also power
other recently announced Apple systems, including the Powerbook
180c, a color version of the Powerbook 180. The Powerbook 180 and
180c both use a Motorola 33MHz 68030 chip.

(Jim Mallory/19930730/Press contact: Tom Starnes, Motorola,
512-891-2125)


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

IBM To Offer Info Warehouse Tools This Fall 07/30/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- This fall, IBM
will be announcing new end user and development tools for
Information Warehouse, the company's enterprise-wide framework for
storage and delivery of multivendor data, Newsbytes has learned.

At a press briefing in Boston, Christopher R. Arnold, director of
programming systems for IBM's Enterprise Data Solutions, told
Newsbytes that the upcoming products will include locator service
and copy management tools for data delivery, along with development
software based all the way from Cobol to fourth-generation language
(4GL).

The locator service tools will save time for users by telling them
whether data on a given subject exists in the warehouse, even
before a query is entered, said Arnold. "If you want to perform a
query on salary levels within the organization, you can look first
to see whether that information is on file," he illustrated.

The copy management tools will let multiple users work with the
same information simultaneously by providing copies of the core
data. "You could make copies of a particular file for all business
managers, for instance," Arnold commented. At the same time, the
core data will be safeguarded from harm.

All of the new Information Warehouse products will incorporate new
process management services, added Arnold. One function of the new
services will be to automatically convert Legacy data into industry
standard formats. The conversion will involve using the new copy
management tools to copy the Legacy data, he reported.

The new products and services will fill the few existing gaps in
IBM's Information Warehouse Framework, an architecture aimed at
solving the problems end users now face in accessing online data.

"Data access is becoming increasingly significant," remarked
Arnold. The change has been forged by technological factors -- such
as the boom in data, fax, voice and multimedia communications and
the evolution of the microprocessor -- as well as business
considerations, he said.

On the business side, the definition of the technology customer has
expanded from the MIS manager to all levels of the organization,
from CEOs to departmental end users. Meanwhile, the prevailing
"business equation" has been transformed from a low volume/high
margin formula to one of high volume and low margins, making fast
access to needed information more critical than ever.

IBM's Information Warehouse consists of four layers, said Arnold.
Connectivity and process management services are at the bottom,
followed in successive order by enterprise data, a layer of data
delivery and "object-oriented access" tools for access to data,
and an applications layer on top.

The applications layer is made up of applications development
software in addition to decision support, online transaction
processing, and systems management tools.

The connectivity services are intended to let users link up to
mainframe, midrange, and desktop computer systems, along with
network equipment, databases, and a plethora of other distributed
hardware and software, from outside vendors as well as from IBM.

Housed in the enterprise data layer, the databases include flat
files, hierarchical systems such as IBM's IMS, relational
database management systems (RDBMSes) like IBM's DB/2 2, and
the emerging category of object-oriented databases. The latest
version of DB/2 2, an edition for IBM RS 6000, will ship in August,
Arnold noted.

Object-oriented access, located along with data delivery in the
layer above enterprise, can be approached from either the RDBMS or
object database directions, he said. IBM is working on access
to RDBMSes internally, while engaging in joint development with
Cambridge, MA-based Object Design Inc., on object databases, he
elaborated.

The data delivery component of the Information Warehouse consists
of direct access, along with locator services and copy management.
The Information Warehouse uses Standard Query Language tools for
direct access. "SQL has come forward as the industry standard in
this area, providing a consistent API (applications programming
interface) for accessing relational data," he explained.

At the uppermost layer of the warehouse, OLTP is handled by
large numbers of multivendor software packages already on the
market, according to Arnold.

IBM is addressing the need for decision support tools with
its Personal Application System (PAS) software, and for systems
management with DataHub, a family of software products, announced
in May, that provides a common workstation control point and screen
appearance for multivendor software tools.

Also this fall, IBM will be releasing Version 3 of the PAS decision
support product, the director of programming systems informed
Newsbytes.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930730/Press contact: Barbara S. Cerf, IBM, tel
914-642-4664; Christine Bock, GCI Group for IBM, 714-587-6946)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00026)

Color Connections 6 To Start Sunday In Cambridge, MA 07/30/93
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- "Color
Connections 6," the latest edition of an annual conference, will
take place August 1 through 3 in Cambridge, leading into the August
3 to 6 timeframe of MacWorld Boston.

Sponsored by the Graphic Communications Association, the color
publishing event will feature three days worth of keynotes, panels,
and other discussions, with a focus this year on "workflow and
profit."

The conference will kick off early Sunday afternoon with a welcome
from Bob Schaffel, Color Connections 6 chair, and a keynote speech
by Apple Computer's Lisa Wellman, entitled "A Vision of Imaging for
Today and the Future."

Later in the conference, individual speakers will address subjects
ranging from "Macs in a PC Universe" to "Object-Oriented Database
Modeling for Graphics Management," and from "Re-engineering and
Process Analysis" to "ISDN and Networking for Image Applications."

Additional conference highlights will include roundtable
discussions on Photo CD, enterprise-wide color calibration, device-
independent workflow methods, and the "ultimate" color production
facility.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930730/Press and public contact: Graphic
Communications Association, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00027)

Atari Loses To Nintendo, But It's Not Over Yet 07/30/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Nintendo
says it has won in a jury verdict against Atari Games (a
separate entity from Atari, maker of computers) concerning
patents on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The real
issue here, according to analysts, is whether or not a hardware
maker can command control and revenue from the development of
compatible software for its hardware system -- an issue that
affects the entire computer industry.

In the vicious electronic games market, hardware manufacturers
Nintendo and Sega have both been accused of attempts to use US
patent law to prevent developers from distributing games
compatible with their systems. Nintendo did it by placing code
into the hardware that "locks out" a game. The firm only provides
the access code to developers who pay licensing fees and abide
by the hardware manufacturers rules. Sega did it by changing
its hardware so the message "Produced By or Under License From
Sega Enterprises Ltd" appeared automatically whenever the
proper code was accessed by a cartridge. Sega then sued
Accolade, which wouldn't pay the licensing fees, saying Accolade
was attempting to deceive consumers into believing the games
were licensed from Sega.

The licensing rules for developers include how many games may
be released a year. The agreements are usually nonnegotiable as
well -- a take it or leave it situation. Third party developers
cry these are monopolistic practices and the patent suits are
tricks to attempt to force developers into submission. The
hardware manufacturers argue their licensing rules are a way to
obtain quality control as game makers will put more effort into
a few games to make them really good if they can release fewer
games, and that will boost sales of the hardware systems.

What the developers usually do is reverse engineer the lock out
code, meaning they disassemble the hardware to find out how it
works, then come up with a way around it. Then the issue ends
up in court, where developers hope it will be decided in their
favor. The problem is, the courts haven't made a definitive
decision because the issue was settled out of court, as in the
Sega/Accolade case, or some other issue muddied the water.

In the Nintendo/Atari Games case, the other issue is that Atari is
accused of obtaining the patented code, from the 1989 Patent
No. 4,799,635 issued to Nintendo, by tricking the US Copyright
Office into releasing a copy.

An eight-person jury unanimously rejected Atari Games' defenses
that the '635 patent was invalid for reasons of "obviousness"
or for failure to disclose the "best mode" for practicing the
invention described in the patent, Nintendo said. The judge in
the case, Judge Fern Smith of the US District Court in San
Francisco, previously held that Atari Games had wrongfully
obtained this computer program from the US Copyright Office and
had used it to reverse engineer Nintendo's security system and
to manufacture compatible Atari Games cartridges for play on
NES.

In the Sega/Accolade case, the American Committee for
Interoperable Systems (ACIS) came out against Sega. Peter Choy,
chairman of ACIS and deputy general counsel of Sun Microsystems
said: "The life blood of the computer industry is the ability
of any competitor to make and distribute interoperable software
and hardware." The ACIS includes companies such as Chips and
Technologies, Phoenix Technologies, Seagate Technology, Zenith
Data Systems, and Sun Microsystems.

But the jury verdict isn't the end, according to Dennis Wood,
senior vice president of Atari Games. Wood said Atari plans to
appeal the jury decision and added that: "...this is only the
first of three scheduled trials between the parties. Today's
decision involves only Nintendo's patent and trademark claims.

"The second trial involves Atari Games' claims of patent
infringement by Nintendo of its US '114 patent. Atari Games
asserts that Nintendo infringed the '114 patent through
Nintendo's unauthorized use of Atari technology in all 32
million 8-bit NES hardware units and the majority of NES
software sold in the US since 1986." Atari sources said the
'114 patent is on the scrolling used in video games.

"The third trial will involve, among other things, Atari Games
claims that Nintendo improperly monopolized the US home video-
game market in the late 1980s and early 1990s." In addition,
Atari Games says the suit is over Nintendo's obsolete 8-bit
Nintendo Entertainment System for which it has not made or
distributed products in more than two years.

Woods' claims of monopoly are supported by other third party
developers. One developer, Michael Crick, claims Nintendo
definitely had a monopoly with nearly 80 percent of the market
during the time period of 1984 and 1988. A jury also said
Nintendo had a monopoly, but ruled in May of 1992 that the
monopoly did not harm Atari. Nintendo as been fined as much as
$25 million in a single year by the Federal Trade Commission
for anti-trust violations.

Other developers are fighting Nintendo. Paul Liu, chairman of
American Video Entertainment (AVE), told Newsbytes Nintendo
changed the internal design of its hardware so the machines
will no longer play his company's game cartridges. Liu is in
the process of suing Nintendo for $105 million.

Commenting on the jury verdict, Nintendo's Senior Vice
President Howard Lincoln said: "It's been a long fight and it
is not over yet. I have asked our attorneys to see whether
individuals at Atari Games and at Time Warner -- both present
and former officers and directors -- and at Time Warner itself
can be held liable for the misappropriation and use of the
Nintendo computer code from the US Copyright Office."

Atari Games and Atari Incorporated are affiliated, but Time
Warner has a substantial interest in privately held, Milpitas,
California-based Atari Games. Tengen, a subsidiary of Atari
Games, actually manufactures and distributes games for the NES
system. Nintendo of America, based in Redmond, Washington, is a
subsidiary of Nintendo Company Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, one of the
world's largest manufacturers and marketers of video games.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930730/Press Contact: David Ellis, Rogers &
Associates for Atari, tel [phone], fax [phone];
Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America, 206-861-2509)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00028)

Apple's US Intros Of New Speech-Capable Quadras 07/30/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Hoping to
take advantage of all those Macintosh users that need to voice
and speech capabilities in a system, Apple has introduced two new
Quadras - the 840AV and the Centris 660AV - that take advantage
of what the company is calling its new "AV Technologies"
capabilities.

According to Apple, the two new Quadras bring together
telecommunications, video, and speech technologies.

The company says that the new Quadras enable users to access
voice mail, electronic mail and faxes from a single location of
their desktop; use the computer as a hands-free speaker phone
and answering machine; utilize desktop videoconferencing
capabilities; and use speech for command, control and navigation.

The new Quadras feature a Motorola 68040 microprocessor, which
handles the general-purpose computing work, and an AT&T 3210
digital signal processor, which handles the specialized tasks and
real-time data, such as speech, audio and telephone.

Apple says that it intends to integrate the new AV Technologies
capabilities into future systems that use the PowerPC RISC
processor.

The AV Technologies capabilities includes the GeoPort software-
based telecommunications architecture that integrates data, fax
and voice telephony. The software is used with the $129 GeoPort
Telecom Adapter and associated software, which is sold separately,
in order for the user to connect to telephone services and support
phone calling and answering.

The new Quadras also allow for the display of full-motion video
from external sources, as well as the digitization and capture of
single frames as pictures and video sequences. The NTSC, PAL,
and SECAM video standards are supported, and composite and
S-video ports are provided.

The systems also come with Apple's PlainTalk speech technology,
which supports both speech recognition and text-to-speech
capabilities as a standard user interface extension. The company
says that the PlainTalk recognition system offers a speaker-
independent, continuous speech system for voice commands.

Using PlainTalk, standard menu commands can be manipulated.
Users can also create their own speech-activated commands, using
either AppleScript or QuickKeys as a scripting language.

The Quadra 840AV features a 40-megahertz (MHz) 68040 processor,
and a 66MHz AT&T 3210 DSP. The system comes with 8 megabytes
(MB) of DRAM, expandable to 128MB. Four standard expansion bays
are included for internal storage. The system also comes with
2MB of VRAM and supports 24-bit color on displays up to 16-inches,
and 16-bit color on 21-inch displays.

The Macintosh Centris 660AV features a 25MHz 68040 processor,
and a 55MHz AT&T 3210 DSP. Only one internal drive bay is provided,
and the 8MB of DRAM is expandable to just 68MB. The system offers
1MB of VRAM for supporting 16-bit color on displays up to 16-inches
and 8-bit color on 21-inch displays.

Both systems come standard with Ethernet and feature the NuBus 90.
Prices range from $4,069 for the Quadra 840AV with a 230MB drive,
to $5,119 for a system with 16MB of DRAM and a 500MB drive.
CD-ROM-equipped options start at $4,399 for the 8/230 version.
The Centris 660AV with a 230MB is priced at $2,489, while the
500MB version costs $3,139. CD-ROM versions start at $2,799
for the 8/230 version.

(Ian Stokell/19930730/Press Contact: Betty Taylor,
408-974-3983, Apple Computer)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00029)

Apple Intros Display With Built-in Stereo/Microphone 07/30/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Apple
Computer has introduced the AudioVision 14 Display designed to
enhance the telecommunications, speech and video technologies
of Macintosh computers. The display features integrated audio
and video capabilities and features built-in stereo speakers and
microphone.

The display is particularly intended for use with the company's
new Macintosh Quadra 840AV and Macintosh Centris 660AV, as
reported elsewhere by Newsbytes.

In announcing the new display, Don Strickland, vice president,
Imaging Systems Division, said: "By combining audio and video
capabilities, Apple has greatly enhanced the communications and
computing experience for Macintosh customers, particularly those
interested in teleconferencing and telecommuting, and in
multimedia authoring and interactive learning."

The display works with all Macintosh II, LC, Centris and Quadra
systems, as well as PowerBooks with video out.

The AudioVision 14 features a directional microphone embedded
in the front center bezel of the display. Apple says it has patents
pending for the placement of the integrated microphone and
speaker placement.

The AudioVision 14 is priced at $775 and provides flicker-free
performance and 640 by 480 pixel resolution in its 14-inch
Trinitron cathode ray tube (CRT).

A power saver mode that complies with the EPA's Energy Star
guidelines is also included. The company also says that the system
meets SWEDAC MPR-2 international guidelines for ELF/VLF
magnetic and electric emissions.

(Ian Stokell/19930730/Press Contact: Betty Taylor,
408-974-3983, Apple Computer)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00030)

 ****Newton Messagepads To Go On Sale Monday 07/30/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 30 (NB) -- Apple
Computer announced it will ship the Newton Messagepad personal
digital assistant (PDA) on Monday, August 2, the day of the
official launch of the product. Messagepads will be available
first from computer resellers in Boston and New York as well as
sold at the Macworld Expo in Boston next week.

By mid to late August, Apple says the Messagepad should be
available throughout the US in more than 2,000 retail
locations. Three versions of the PDA are being launched and
will range in price from $699 to $949, depending on the
retailers offing the unit.

The Newton Messagepad is 7.25 in. (184.75 mm) high by 4.50 in.
(114.3 mm) wide by 0.75 in. (19.05 mm) deep and weighs 0.9 lb.
(0.4 kg). It is powered by a Advanced RISC Machines reduced
instruction set computing (RISC) 610 processor running at 20
megahertz (MHz), has 4 megabytes of read-only memory (ROM), 640
kilobytes (K) of random access memory (RAM), and offers Apple's own
custom system application specific integrated circuits (ASIC).

The PDA has a low-power, reflective liquid crystal display
(LCD) display at a resolution of 336 by 240 picture elements
(pixels) covered by a transparent tablet with passive pen for
handwriting input. For communication and translation of data
between desktop machines the unit offers a Localtalk compatible
serial port; a single Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association (PCMCIA) 2 card slot; and a low-
power, half-duplex, infrared transceiver which can transfer
data from one Messagepad to another at 9600 baud from a
distance of no more than 1 meter.

Built-in applications include the capture and filing of notes,
sketches and other details, a calendar, alarms and reminders,
an address book, and the ability to "clean up" drawings and
diagrams by straightening lines and making circles round.

The Messagepad can also be turned into a pager with the new
Motorola Newton Messaging Card, a credit-card sized receiver
that can receive wireless messages, data and news services
virtually anywhere. Motorola says users can put the Messaging
Card in their pocket where it can receive and store messages
and then retrieve the messages by plugging the card into the
PCMCIA slot of the Messagepad. Upon receiving a message, the
card notifies the user with a beep or a flashing light.

The Messaging Card is 5.0 mm thick (.196 inches), with housing
on one end for a AAA battery and an internal antenna. It has
128K bytes of memory for incoming messages, a battery life of
approximately 21 days, and up to 512 addresses for the receipt
of multiple information services, including personal messages,
electronic mail, voice mail updates, and news alerts.

The card is an extension of the wireless communication capability
Motorola already announced with its Newsstream (Advanced
Information Receiver1/8TM) product that connects to DOS-based,
Hewlett-Packard, and Macintosh personal and mobile computers
via a cable or cradle to the RS-232 port. Pricing information
for the Newton Messaging Card was not yet available.

Applications for the Newton are being announced by more than 20
developers including: CE Software's Quickaccess product to
allow Newton users to send and receive mail from a mailbox on a
number of local area network (LAN)-based mail system
transports, including CE's own Quickmail, Novell's Netware MHS
and Apple's AOCE; Great Plains' Personal Time & Billing
software; Penmagic, which with Money Magazine and Apple Computer,
has developed Money Magazine Business Forms and Money Magazine
Financial Assistant; and Oracle's Glue technology described as
a Application Programming Interface (API) capable of connecting
databases, mail systems, and file systems across virtually all
platforms to link the Oracle7 cooperative server database and
Oracle Office messaging systems to the Newton Messagepad.

Over 1,500 developers have expressed interest in developing
products for the PDA, according to Apple. In addition, Apple's
Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) Publishing group,
Starcore, announced six titles ranging from financial
assistance to interactive city maps.

Apple is hoping the new PDA will catch on the way the IBM
personal computer (PC) did and to facilitate that it has
licensed the Newton technology to other manufacturers including
Sharp and Kyushu Matsushita Electric in Japan and Motorola in
the United States. Siemens/ROLM has also announced it will be
incorporating Newton technology in its forthcoming Notephone
product.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930730/Press Contact: Cindy McCaffrey,
Apple, tel [phone]; Public Contact, 800-769-2775; Mike
Keating, Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart for Motorola, tel [phone]-
2918)