Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/pc/text/mac_text/1987/v186

Text File | 1991-10-04 | 35.4 KB | 750 lines

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APPLE IIGS FLAW UPDATE
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- As we reported last week, Apple Computer has
shipped an estimated 25,000 IIGS computers with flawed graphics
chips, according to "California Technology Stock Letter," which
calculates the flaws will ultimately cost Apple about $5 million
to correct.  NEWSBYTES contacted Steve Ruddock, who works on the
Apple account at Regis McKenna, Inc.  He explained that most users
may not even be aware of the flaw; it appears only as a flickering
effect on the screen when an "unusual" selection of colors appear.
"There is no damage to data or files or the operating system.  It is not
a problem in design but in implementation.  Soon we will have it
fixed."

However, Apple is debating what to do about the machines it has
already sold.  Ruddock says he expects some sort of repair will
be offered to owners who want to have their computer's flawed
chips replaced.

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MACWORLD EXPO IN SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- This city is gearing up for the onslaught
of Macintosh users, vendors, and developers, who will converge on
the Moscone Center January 8-10, coiocidentally the same dates as
the Consumer Electronics Show draws crowds in Las Vegas.  Unlike
last year's MacWorld Expo and Apple II World Expo, this one is not
aimed at the Apple II user at all.  Only Macintosh products will
highlight the conferences and exhibits, and there will be enough of
them to set a record.  The floor space at the Moscone Center is
reportedly sold out.   250 companies -- a 40% increase over last
year's exhibitors, plan to have booths.  We'll be watching Apple
very closely, as the new Macintoshes are so close you can smell
them.  Also appearing will be Ashton-Tate, Borland, Hayes, Microsoft,
Aldus, even Hewlett-Packard.

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3-D PRODUCT FOR ATARI AT C.E.S.
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas January 8-11 will be a new approach to 3-D viewing.  ANTIC
Software of San Francisco will demostrate "Stereo Tek" glasses
that provide 3-D viewing on the Atari ST.  Each "lense" of the
glasses is an electronic liquid crystal shutter which alternately
opens and closes as the ST screen refreshes.  Used with Antic
3-D software, the ST's monitor displays alternating right and
left eye views synchronized with the shutter.  The speed of the
scan is reportedly two and a half times faster than that of a
movie.

Software available includes "CAD 3-D, 2.0," written by Tom Hudson,
creator of the D.E.G.@. Elite paint package, which provides tools for
creating three dimensional objects or scenes and the ability to
manipulate those images to other angles.  This looks like one of
the more truly innovative products at C.E.S.

CONTACT:  Gary Yost, ANTIC, San Francisco, 415/957-0886
          Mark Halberstadt, MARK HALBERSTADT COMMUNICATIONS, Fairfield
          Iowa, 515/472-7325

[***][1/06/87][***]
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- Dataquest Inc., a market research firm, reports
1986 will stack up better against 1985, but still hasn't approached
the industry boom of 1984.  $18.3 billion in personal computer goods
were sold in the U.S. compared to $18 billion in 1985, according to
Norm DeWitt, director of PC industry services.  On Wall Street, the
Valley's best performers were Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer (nearly
doubling its share price), Tandem Computer, and Seagate Technologies.
The bad news is that 1987 will finally produce the U.S.'s first
high tech trade deficit.  In February, the Commerce Department is
expected to announce the U.S. imported $2 billion more in high tech
goods than it sold abroad.  The real shock is how quickly all this
came about.  In 1980, for example, the U.S. exported $26.7 billion
MORE in high tech goods than it imported.  How quickly times have
changed.

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OSBORNE AUTOPSY
SANTA CLARA, Ca. (NB) -- Yet another scandal has catapulted the
dissolved Osborne Computer Corporation back into the news.  A
group of its original investors is suing the auditing firm of
Arthur Young & Company, claiming the auditors failed to notify
executive officers at Osborne of the extent and magnitude of
the losses at the end of fiscal year 1982.  The suit bluntly
states that Arthur Young auditors for Osborne were in fact
responsible for the company's demise by failing to notify
company officers of the seriousness of its problems.  Arthur
Young's Alan Goddard, an audit partner, is reportedly unable
to comment because he hasn't seen the suit yet.  The investors
seek $25 million in their lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County
Superior Court.

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NOLAN'S NEWEST - TV SHOW CONTROLLED ROBOTS
SUNNYVALE, Ca. (NB) -- The irrepressible Nolan Bushnell has
won F.C.C. approval for a scheme which allows robot toys to animate
in response to a television program.  Bushnell's Axlon, in conjunction
with cartoon producers DIC Enterprises of Encino, Ca., has created
"TechForce" toys that are activated by an inaudible broadcast
signal aired during the cartoon program.  The $250 computer/robots, based
originally on a best-selling game from Hong Kong, will be appearing
this fall and signal a major breakthrough in television.  The
precendent-setting F.C.C decision could also enable the programming
of more "interactive video" that would not only pertain to children.

[***][1/06/87][***]
IN BRIEF --

INFOCORP, a market research firm in Cupertino, Ca. has been purchased
by rival Gartner Group.  No cash terms were disclosed. InfoCorp and
Gartner Group have been in competition since InfoCorp was founded
in 1982.

NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR says its second quarter, ending Dec. 14,
produced a $5.7 million loss.  That's far less than one year ago
when the Santa Clara-based chipmaker lost $38.3 million.

HEWLETT PACKARD has introduced its most powerful, handheld
calculator to date. The HP-28C technical professional calculator
is believed to be the first calculator capable of doing symbolic
mathematics.  The introduction coincides with the 15th anniversary of
the HP-35, the world's first handheld scientific calculator.

RUMOR CENTRAL REPORTS....John Dvorak says Atari will soon introduce
the lowest-priced complete desktop publishing package available.
For $2995, he says, you get an Atart 1040ST, hard disk, and laser
printer.  Laser printer?  That's the second time NEWSBYTES has
heard this rumor.

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AND FINALLY
"Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home" features a scene in which the venerable
old Scotty, having time travelled with the rest of the crew to the
year 1986, is about to show off a new polymer to a factory manager.
He goes over to a Macintosh and issues a command, "Computer, find me.."
An embarrassed Dr. McCoy hands him the mouse, whereupon Scotty
thinks it's a microphone, holds it up to his mouth and speaks into
it, "Computer..."  Corrected a third time to use the keyboard, Scotty
proceeds to create several molecular structure diagrams.  The
audience at the movie howled in delight over this little vignette.


[***][1/06/87][***]
WAYNE WOLF'S CRUSADE AGAINST BANKERS AND PIRATES *EXCLUSIVE*
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL (NB) -- Wayne Wolf says banks are cheating the
American people, and his Loan Ranger program is just the thing to
wise them up. For $99.95 you'll get a disk and a book. The disk
helps you figure out the costs of loans and leases, and the book
explains what's going on. "If I did the things the banks do on an
everyday basis, I'd be put in jail for fraud," he says. Mr. Wolf
even claims that banks "nationwide" have blacklisted him for
writing this program.

To protect his little money-maker, Wolf has created what he calls
a new form of "artificial intelligence" copy protection called
Smarty Arti, which controls access to programs by calling his
mainframe in Oakland Park, next to Ft. Lauderdale in south
Florida. There's $25,000 to anyone who breaks Smarty Arti, but to
play the game you have to buy the program.

CONTACT: PRIDE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CORP., 3575 Northwest 31st
         Ave., Oakland Park, FL 33309 [phone]

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ISC GOES PRIVATE
NORCROSS, GA (NB) -- It's all over but the kibbutzing.
Intelligent Systems, parent firm of Quadram, Princeton Graphics,
Peachtree Software, Datavue, and (most emphatically) Asher
Technologies, went private with the new year. The Master Limited
Partnership interests will still be traded on the American Stock
Exchange, however, and Bear Stearns, the firm's New York
investment bankers, can still search for a way to sell the
company in whole or in part, but the firm is now, technically, a
private company. To welcome the new day, the company's public
relations people didn't attend the climactic meeting, and could
not report to the press what went on there.

CONTACT: ISC [phone]

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HAYES, U.S. ROBOTICS SUIT MUCH ADO ABOUT NOT MUCH
ATLANTA, GA (NB) -- What happened is that Hayes licensed a
Bizcomp patent for an escape sequence in Hayes modems used in its
"AT" command set. They want everyone else to license the
technology when they produce "Hayes-compatible" modems. U.S.
Robotics Corp., Chicago, thinks this is unfair and is suing to
overturn those licensing fees, plus secure damages. But if you
own a modem, don't fret -- collecting the fees from you is
impractical. The mystery to Hayes' lawyers is why they're a party
to this at all. If U.S. Robotics doesn't like a patent or royalty
schedule, the lawyers wonder, why sue an existing licensee?

CONTACT: John Harris, Jones & Askew [phone]

[***][1/06/87][***]
DATA TAILOR WORTH SEEING AT MACWORLD IN SAN FRANCISCO
FT. WORTH, TX (NB -- If you're heading into San Francisco this
week for MacWorld, check out Trapeze, a spreadsheet which is
based on blocks of data instead of spreadsheet cells. Bill Towler
of developer Data Tailor explained that in a large spreadsheet,
"if you create a formula within a group of work and want to add
an element into that area you just stick it in there, and Data
Tailor automatically picks it up. In an ordinary spreadsheet you
have to change the formula in every cell." It's also useful for
number-crunchers who are born wordsmiths -- you can have a block
labeled expenses subtracted from one labeled income to create one
labelled profit.

CONTACT: DATA TAILOR 1300 South University, Suite 409, Ft. Worth,
         TX 76107 [phone]

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PECAN BYTES

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP., Houston, is paying off its convertible
debentures about 18 years early to reduce debt, just one more
example of the rich getting richer. They'll give you either
$1,083 plus interest cash or $1,000 in Compaq stock at $11.50 per
share. Offer expires January 19.

HARRIS CORP., Melbourne, FL, won a $9 million contract to
automate the Tennessee Valley Authority's power control grid.
Some Harris computers in Chattanooga will do the work.

MICROGRAFX INC., Richardson, TX, expanded its Windows Clip Art
Collection. Version 2.0, now available (for PC-compatibles)
includes more than 500 images and will be bundled with Windows
Draw, a drawing package formerly priced at $199. The new price:
$299.

WELCOM SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, Houston, is adding a risk analysis
accessory to its Open Plan project management package for IBM PCs
and compatibles called Opera. The $1,500 add-on to the $4,200
planning package lets you cost out everything you can imagine
going wrong on a potential project. (Could Mayor Kathy Whitmire
have used it to predict the oil bust?)

MSR INC., Atlanta, announced new authorizations from Microsoft
and Lotus (the latter covers only Atlanta) for its training
services, and added new courses in Paradox, R:Base 5000, Enable,
and dBase III Plus to its curriculum.

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AND FINALLY....
The Associated Press, reports that IBM is still listed among the
best places to work in the U.S. according to a "Fortune Magazine"
survey. "Forbes," meanwhile, listed Apple as one of the 10 most-
profitable companies in the U.S. over the last five years.
(Which would you rather work for?)

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IBM, MERRILL LYNCH BAIL OUT OF IMNET
NEW YORK (NB) -- International Business Machines Corp. and
Merrill Lynch & Co. last week pulled the plug on International
MarketNet, their joint attempt to provide high-powered stock
brokers with financial information through computers. The
partners said they were dropping the two-year-old project after
"a reassessment of financial viability." Critics complained that
the system was complicated to use and costly. When the
announcement was made that the venture was closing, the WALL
STREET JOURNAL reported that Imnet had only 50 users inside
Merrill Lynch and 50 outside. When Big Blue and Merrill Lynch
joined forces on Imnet in 1984, they said the first market would
be among Merrill Lynch's 10,000 account executives.

Imnet marks the third joint-venture failure for IBM in the past
two years. Satellite Business Systems, which IBM owned with Aetna
Life & Casualty Co., was losing $100 million a year when it was
sold to MCI in 1985. Last year, IBM withdrew from Trintex, a
videotex venture with Sears, Roebuck & Co. The JOURNAL quoted
analyst Bernell Wright of Link Resources that "IBM's ventures
have been ill conceived. They reflect more a compelling feeling
of need to be in a certain marketplace rather than some
understanding of how the market operates."

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VISUAL TO SELL OUT TO INVESTORS GROUP
LOWELL, Mass. (NB) -- Visual Technology Inc. has signed a letter
of intent to sell a controlling interest in the terminal and
workstation maker to a group of investors. The group will put up
as much as $9.3 million for Visual in return for senior preferred
stock convertible into common stock at a dime a share. Visual
officials refused to elaborate further. The company has been
having rough sailing during the computer market doldrums.
Separately, Visual announced that it has reached agreement with
its banks and secured lenders to reduce its debt by about $10
million.

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TAX LAW HAS COMPUTER CONSULTANTS WORRIED
WASHINGTON (NB) -- A minor provision of the tax law, which went
into effect this week, has independent computer consultants in a
tizzy. Under the new law, programmers, engineers and systems
analysts who work as independent contractors will face stiff
tests to determine if they truly are independent. If they fail,
then they must be treated as employees. "It's put the industry in
a panic," Comsys Inc. Vice President Howard Stein told the
WASHINGTON POST. Comsys, of Rockville, Md., matches computer
consultants with companies needing computer services.

If computer consultants must be treated as employees, the
companies must withhold income tax and Social Security payments,
pay unemployment and workers compensation, and offer company
benefits. The computer consultants will lose tax deductions for
use of their homes and cars. The determination that a consultant
is actually an employee could also trigger overtime pay
requirements for work beyond 40 hours per week. The Internal
Revenue Service says it will issue guidelines "real soon now" but
few in the computer industry believe that the IRS has much
flexibility in the matter. So the Independent Computer
Consultants Association has launched an effort to get the
provision of the new law repealed.

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CALIFORNIA DISK DRIVE MAKER BUYS MARYLAND COMPUTER FIRM
LANHAM, Md. (NB) -- U.S. Design Corp. will sell out to Maxtor
Corp. of California in a stock swap worth $15 million. Maxtor
makes high-capacity disk drives. U.S. Design buys the drives and
adds its proprietary technology for rapid retrieval and storage.
"This is a strategic move for both companies," said U.S. Design
Chairman William Anderson. "By combining the two technologies and
the two different businesses, it will greatly enhance the market
share of both." The combination of Maxtor drives and U.S. Design
software should enable the new company to sell disk drive
subsystems to the end user, analysts note. Under the deal, U.S.
Design shareholders will get one share of Maxtor common for each
6.73 shares of U.S. Design. U.S. Design has reported only one
profitable quarter since its inception in 1978. The company had
$8.6 million in revenue in 1985, with a $1.4 million loss. Maxtor
in 1986 reported $85 million in revenue and $10.6 million in
profits.

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MARYLAND COUNTY GETS THE JUMP ON FIBER OPTICS
FREDERICK, Md. (NB) -- Engineers began installing a state-of-the-
art fiber optic cable system in Frederick County, Md., late last
year, well ahead of similar installations scheduled for larger
places such as Baltimore, Columbia, and Montgomery County. As a
result, the 25,000 population city in rural Maryland expects to
make a strong pitch for high technology businesses to locate
there. "It's definitely a competitive advantage, and we plan to
use it," said Donald Date, director of the county economic
development agency. Already, Marriott Inc. has located a data
center in Frederick County to serve its headquarters in
Washington's Maryland suburbs. According to Date, the fiber optic
system was originally not scheduled in Frederick until 1989. But
a full-court press by Date's agency, and a ready clientel,
convinced Bell Atlantic officials to move up to installation
date.

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COMPUTER MUSEUM WANTS TO ADD SOFTWARE ARCHIVE
BOSTON (NB) -- Boston Computer Museum President Gwen Bell wants
to create a computer software archive. The museum has already
acquired a copy of the first version of Visicalc, and the source
code for the first interactive computer game, Space War, written
in 1961. People in industry considering new products, lawyers
researching legal wrangles and historians studying the
development and history of computers would find the archive
useful, says Bell, who hopes to have the archive underway by
June. The museum has commissioned a Pittsburgh consulting firm to
do a $30,000 feasibility study of the archive, focusing on the best way
to preserve software. "We don't know whether we should keep all
the disks, the printouts or programs, or even perhaps notebooks
people used while developing [the programs]," Bell said. "Since
no one has ever done this, the first thing is to determine the
best approach."

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DESIGNER TOOL TURNABOUT
NEW YORK (NB) -- Apple is using a $14.5 million Cray
supercomputer to develop its next generation of micro, Apple
Computer Inc. Chief Executive John Scully told security analysts
in December. According to the WALL STREET JOURNAL, when Cray CEO
John Rollwagen told founder and guru Seymour Cray over the
telephone how Apple was using its Cray, "There was a pause on the
other end of the line. And Seymour said, 'That's interesting,
because I'm designing the next Cray with an Apple.'"

[***][1/06/87][***]
NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION

   LOWELL, Mass. (NB) -- Wang Laboratories Inc. has picked up a
$57.9 million contract to supply office automation equipment to
the Tennessee Valley Authority. Wang said the one-year contract
with TVA has options for four one-year extensions.

   WASHINGTON (NB) -- International Business Machines Corp. has
picked up $377.8 million in Navy contracts, for combat systems
for attack submarines. Also, IBM has named Vincent Cook to be
assistant group executive in charge of the operations staff for
the IBM world trade Asia/Pacific group, in Tokyo. Cook has been
president of IBM's federal systems division. Gerald Ebker,
federal systems vice president, will succeed Cook as chief
purveyor of Big Blue's products to Uncle Sam.

   WASHINGTON (NB) -- Diana White, a management analyst with the
Washington Navy Yard, has won a free registration, worth $395,
for the Federal Office Systems Exposition and Conference (FOSE) in
March. The five-away was a promotion for FOSE by National Trade
Productions Inc.


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ATARI LASERPRINTER DUE?
LONDON, UK (NB) -- Informed sources close to Atari UK say that the
firm is gearing itself up to push into the desktop publishing arena
in the coming months. Previously the domain of the Apple Mac and
turbo-powered PC, desktop publishing is hot stuff in the UK, as the
first London Appleworld Expo revealed late last year.  Atari will
need to go some lengths, however, to penetrate the desktop market.

Based around the forthcoming 2 or 4Mb STs (scheduled for a March
release in the UK - see next story), the lynchpin of the system will
be a hi-res laserprinter, similar in specification to the Apple
laserwriter offering, but at around the 1,000 pound ($1,500) mark.
Throw in a budget hard disc and you're looking at a 2,500 pound
($3,750) price tag for the whole system - way under half what a
comparable Mac system will set you back.

Good old Jack Tramiel - pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap!  Whatever
will be next - optical disc technology?  Don't give him any ideas
anyone!

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UK ATARI CHIEF TALKS
LONDON, UK (NB) -- While the rest of the computer world slept, the
presses of POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY kept rolling over the Christmas
period, leading with a page four news story on the 1987 machines
from Atari. PCW has been talking to Atari UK's new(ish) MD Bob
Gleadow, who has confirmed an impending New Year price cut on the
the 520ST. Despite NEWSBYTES UK's revelations over dealers awaiting a
199 pound ($299) price tag for the machine, he has dismissed such a
low price tag as too low.

Gleadow did, however, reveal that the next major development (as far
as the UK is concerned) will be the introduction of the 2 and 4Mb
STs in March of this year.  Despite previous reports, these
machines will come as separate keyboard and cpu units - just like
the IBM PC, Amiga and Apple IIGS machines!

Also revealed in PCW are Atari's plans for the forthcoming Hanover
Fair in West Germany.  Gleadow says that Atari's long-awaited 68020
workstation will be unveiled, as well as a Unix-based add-on for
existing STs.  Most interesting of all, however, is his refusal to
talk about "a totally new machine" from Atari.  That's tantamount to
a confirmation of the machine's existence in NEWSBYTES UK's books!
(Watch this space).

CONTACT: POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY, 12-13 Little Newport Street,
         London WC2H 7PP.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][1/06/87][***]
LASER CHIPS GUIDE THE WAY
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND (NB) -- A group of British scientists, working
on a tight research budget, have built a computer that shows how
pulses of light from a miniature laser can replace conventional
electronic circuitry.

Publishing his results in the latest edition of NATURE magazine,
Professor Desmond Smith of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh paves
the way for future research into the actual design and development
of a light-based chip.  Such a chip would contain several hundred
thousand laser light switches which would perform the same function
as an and/or gate array in a conventional chip.  Using laser light
to represent the binary digits within the chip will, say many
experts, speed up chip processing time by a factor of several
hundred times.

As if 10Mhz PC AT's weren't fast enough already...

[***][1/06/87][***]
EMAIL MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND
LONDON, UK (NB) -- Christmas and New Year holidays, as well as being
a quiet period on the computer scene, are times when the TV gets
centre stage in many households.  This year's holidays were no
exception and saw the usual fare of TV specials rolled out by the
UK networks.

News Years Eve, however, saw a rock TV spectacular - The Whistle
Test - broadcast by the BBC.  Those watching could scarcely be aware
that without the benefits of electronic mail, the program might
never have been strung together in time - unless some senior BBC
executives spent a slice of their Christmas holidays working in the
office, that is.

NEWSBYTES UK reader Tom Corcoran, who produces Whistle Test,
along with several other prestigious modern music shows, fills us
in:  "You might be interested to know that the camera script for the live
Outside Broadcast on New Year's Eve (Kim Wilde from the Gold-diggers
club in Chippenham) was done by email.

Kim Wilde's manager is on Telecom Gold (the UK Dialcom affiliate),
so he emailed the lyrics of the songs she's doing over to us
together with a running order for the concert and details of the
band. Our sound engineer (at home in Putney) could meanwhile get
his own printout by accessing our mailbox with his computer.  Over
the holiday period it's the only way."

Tom's efforts went down down well.  According to reports, the
broadcast was well received and when NEWSBYTES UK watched it on
video (well it was New Year's Eve) found it highly entertaining
(Boogie Boogie).  Three cheers for email...

[***][1/06/87][***]
MODEL 102 REVISITED
SHEFFIELD, UK (NB) -- After last week's euphoria about the
Tandy/Radio Shack Model 102's onboard modem, the bad news is, it
doesn't autodial!

UK versions of the Tandy Model 100 never had an integral modem due
to British Telecom approval difficulties.  NEWSBYTES UK bought the
Model 102 on account of its 300 baud CCITT integral modem although
it now transpires that the British version was crippled at birth due
to BT regulations that forbid more than three modem redials per
hour.  Whilst the modem is useful, the lack of an autodial modem is
bad news.  Needless to say a letter has gone to Tandy UK's HQ -
we'll let you know how we get on.

Also confirmed this week is the price cut on the Tandy 3.5 inch
portable drive for the M100/102/200 series.  As of the week before
Christmas the official retail price in the US fell to $129 - down
$100 from its previous price.

The reason for the bargain binning?  You guessed it, the DV2 is on
the way.  Scheduled for a Spring '87 release, the new drive will
remain single-sided, but push discs to double-density format, rather
than go double-sided as we thought.

Yet another Tandy bad move?  Possibly.  Tandy technophiles inform us
that the double density format will be incompatible with the old DV1
system, which means hassle for software producers and users alike.
Two things can save the situation - (a) a change of heart on the
part of Tandy, or (b) a major drive operating system revision (a
tough task) for the drive units.

The good news is that our local Tandy store now have the modem cable
for our 102 in stock - two weeks after we emailed a friend in London
to go get one from a London store.  Biased?  Not so - NEWSBYTES UK
still thinks that the firm produce some of the *best* computers
going, and if they could get their act together...

CONTACT: TANDY UK LTD, Bilston Road, Wednesbury,
         West Midlands, WS10 7JN.

[***][1/06/87][***]
BELL-NORTHERN CLAIMS FASTEST GALLIUM ARSENIDE CHIP
OTTAWA (NB) --  Bell-Northern Research, the research organization
jointly owned by Bell Canada and Northern Telecom Ltd., says it
has developed the world's fastest gallium arsenide multiplier
chip.  The chip, which performs very fast arithmetic
calculations, was developed for use in digital signal processing
applications.  BNR says it can multiply two four-digit binary
numbers in a nanosecond (one billionth of a second).  This is
five to 10 times faster than commercial silicon chips can do the
job today, according to Bell-Northern.

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is considered the most promising material
for making integrated circuits that can operate much faster than
the fastest silicon devices.  The cost of GaAs has delayed its
widespread use, but it is becoming popular in high-speed
communications systems and some other applications.

CONTACT: Brian J. Smith, BELL-NORTHERN RESEARCH, P.O. Box 3511,
         Station C, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4H7, [phone]

[***][1/06/87][***]
CHIP CAN KEEP A SECRET
WATERLOO, Ont. (NB) -- A startup company being formed by three
professors and a graduate student at the University of Waterloo
here claims to have the fastest public-key encryption system yet.
Cryptech Inc. will market a chip that implements, in very-large-
scale integration (VLSI), a system that allows messages to be
encoded using one key and decoded using another.  The encoding
key can be made public so that it may be used by anyone wishing
to send a message to the person who holds the key for decoding
the messages.  Thus the system is known as public-key
cryptography.  Other systems for doing this exist, but the
Cryptech founders say their chip will be substantially faster
than any existing system.

The venture is being formed with the aid of the University of
Waterloo's commercial development office.  The chip is based on
work done by the founders at Waterloo, and the university will
receive royalties on sales of the chip.  The chips will be
manufactured by Calmos Systems, Inc., of Ottawa, and are expected
to be available by summer.  They will be marketed by Calmos and
by Cryptech.

CONTACT: Bob Nally, Commercial Development Officer,
         UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1,
         [phone], Ext. 4515

[***][1/06/87][***]
TALK IS GETTING CHEAPER
OTTAWA (NB) -- Some Canadians can get that long-distance feeling
for less as of last Thursday, and computer users can fire up
their modems with a little less fear of the monthly phone bill.
On January 1, Bell Canada, the phone company serving central
Canada, reduced its long-distance rates by 18 to 29 percent.  The
cost of a five-minute long-distance call between Montreal and
Toronto, for example, has fallen 28 percent to C$2.35.

Other telephone companies serving the rest of Canada have not yet
reduced their rates but some or all of them are expected to do so
during 1987.

[***][1/06/87][***]
PHONE COMPANIES FAIL IN BID TO BUY SATELLITE OPERATOR
OTTAWA (NB) -- Teleglobe Canada, the satellite communications
carrier that the Government of Canada is preparing to sell to the
private sector, won't be taken over by a consortium of telephone
companies.  The federal government has rejected a bid for
Teleglobe by Telecom Canada, the national consortium of phone
companies, saying it did not comply with the terms and conditions
for privatization of Teleglobe.

The deadline for bids on Teleglobe is January 9, and other
bidders believed to be in the running are large private companies
not currently in the telecommunications business.

[***][1/06/87][***]
HIGH-TECH DEFICIT CUT BY CHANGING DEFINITION
OTTAWA (NB) -- Statistics Canada has just decided that Canada's
deficit in high-technology trade in 1985 was only half what it
said before -- because the government agency changed its
definition of high technology.  By eliminating some types of
industrial machinery components, such as bulldozers and drill
bits, from its definition of high technology, StatsCan was able
to revise the 1985 deficit down from C$12 billion to C$4.8
billion.  However, the agency stressed that the change didn't
affect the rate of growth of the deficit or mean that Canada is
any better off than before.  The country has a trade surplus in
telecommunications equipment thanks to companies such as Northern
Telecom, but a growing deficit in office machinery and computers.

[***][1/06/87][***]
HIGH-TECH CENTRES TOLD TO HELP PAY THEIR WAY
TORONTO (NB) -- The seven Ontario high-technology centres set up
to promote the use of technology in this province's industry have
been asked to tighten their belts and try to find ways of paying
more of their bills themselves.  The provincial government has
told the centres to charge business and industry more money for
the consulting and educational services they offer so that
Ontario can cut their operating budgets.   The centres, scattered
around Ontario, are each devoted to one technological area,
including centres for robotics, microelectronics and CAD/CAM.

[***][1/06/87][***]
EXPERT SYSTEM WOULD HELP RUN REACTORS
HAMILTON, Ont. (NB) -- An expert system being developed at
McMaster University here might have told technicians at Chernobyl
that what they were doing was dangerous, one of its developers
says.  Quoted in the "Toronto Globe and Mail," Dr. Nicholas
Solntseff said the software, which contains the knowledge of
several nuclear engineers and physicists, "would have slapped the
operators on the hands."  The system analyses alarms set off in a
nuclear plant and determines their seriousness, as well as
recommending what should be done.  It runs on a high-powered
microcomputer donated to the university by Sperry Corp., now part
of Unisys Corp.


[***][1/06/87][***]
B U L L E T I N .....January 9, 1987

MACWORLD EXPO PACKS THEM IN
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- Some 25,000 people are expected to pack
this city's Moscone Center for the MacWorld Expo before it closes
on Saturday evening.  On opening day, the show floor was already
crowded with showgoers eyeing over 250 exhibits, the largest
number of any previous MacWorld Expo.  As John Sculley told a
morning press conference, "The big news is that third parties
have come back to Macintosh."  Indeed the proliferation of
mass storage products, desktop publishing applications, new
word processors, large format screens, scanners, and more,
represented a vigorous third party market for the three year
old machine.




[***][1/06/87][***]
B U L L E T I N .... January 9, 1987

APPLE CHIEF TALKS DESKTOP PUBLISHING
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- Prior to the opening of the MacWorld
Expo, Apple chairman John Sculley, accompanied by the chief
executives of Letraset, Adobe Systems, Aldus, and Microsoft,
held a press conference to discuss Apple's progress and future
plans in the area of desktop publishing.

"The big news is that third parties have come back to Macintosh,"
he said.  Noting that his favorite products at this show
included large format screens and scanners, Sculley boasted
of the Macintosh's head-start in the desktop publishing market
with products that have taken the lead in this explosive arena.
"I think the success of desktop publishing can dramatically
improve the fortunes of Apple from a technological standpoint."

Commenting on the competition facing the Macintosh from the
PC market, Sculley said, "It's important for Apple to co-exist
with a large base of installed machines.  The way to do that
is through connectivity.  It is in Apple's interest to have
applications that work in two different environments."

He said the generations of 8086, 8088, 80826 and 80836
machines (PCs) "do not have good graphics, or it's too expensive
to put together" the graphics capabilities that Apple's
68000 machines have.  "We started with graphics based
products."

Apple itself did not announce any new products at the show
but its booth on the floor featured 40 third-party developers
at 24 stations.

Sharing the spotlight with Sculley was Bill Gates of Microsoft
who discussed Microsoft Word Version 3.0, John Warnock of
Adobe Systems who unveiled Adobe Illustrator, a breakthrough
graphic design program, Paul Brainerd of Aldus who talked
about the new Pagemaker 2.0, and Roy Perry of Letraset who
announced an arrangement with Manhattan Graphics to market
the popular ReadySetGo 3.0 desktop publishing software as
well as future products from the company.

        -- W.W.

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B U L L E T I N  ... January 9, 1987

ADOBE UNVEILS FIRST END USER PRODUCT
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- Postscript-maker Adobe Systems has
unveiled a revolutionary new graphic design program called Adobe
Illustrator.  It is a high-level illustrator capable of
producing imagery previously available only on "$100,000 or
$200,000 illustration systems," according to President John
Warnock.  In Adobe Illustrator, the Postscript page description
language actually drives the screen, producing the most
finely detailed artwork ever made on a Macintosh.  The program
accepts input from any scanned image, allows it to be
"traced," adjusted, rotated, skewed, or otherwise manipulated.
Warnock disclosed that the New York Times used a beta version
late in December to illustrate a space shuttle story which
appeared in the paper.  Warnock says Illustrator, which will
be priced at $495, will ship in March, "come hell or high
water."

       --- W.W.