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/1993/nb090393

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(CORRECTION)(IBM)(BOS)(00001)

Correction - PenExpo - Eo Is Targeted At "Frequent Travellers" 09/03/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Newsbytes wishes to
correct a typographical error which appeared in this story which
ran on our wire September 1. In the story's first line we reported
"'Eo Incorporated is aiming the Eo at "frequent travellers," a group
of executives and other white color professionals who are on the
road extensively, but who are not intensively computer literate.'"

In fact, the word "color" should be "collar." Newsbytes apologizes
for the error.

(Wendy Woods/19930903)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00002)

Australia - Borland Intros New Support Structure 09/03/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Borland in Australia,
while continuing free support for its products, has introduced
a three-tier system of paid service and support programs.
They are for the single, workgroup, and developer categories.

"While we are committed to continuing unlimited free interactive
support on current product versions, these new programs are
designed to give users, whatever their level, the kind of support
they need," Borland Managing Director Belinda Hanna told Newsbytes.
"Our aim is to provide the highest level of support while our
markets continue to grow rapidly."

Here is a brief description of the programs. For clarity, prices are
shown in approximate US$.

The Customer Connection Program covers all Borland products, costs
$33 per year, and offers a member 'Privilege' card; $17 discount
on upgrades (direct with Borland); Borland Connection Magazine;
toll-free support phone number; priority queuing on support calls;
monthly information packs with tips, techniques, and Borland and
third-party offers.

Technical Connection Program covers all products and costs $260.
It offers everything that Customer Connection does plus enrollees
get a regular tech disk with maintenance releases, workarounds,
and patches; and 20 "incidents of technical support" (which
apparently means assistance in writing and debugging code).

Developer Connection Program is product-specific, and as the name
suggests, is for the developer who uses Borland's many language and
application development products. It costs $470 for the first
product and $130 for each additional product. Features include
both of the above programs; a Developer Partner Program Binder
for the appropriate product (containing technical Q&A, developer
conference white papers, locking APIs and file formats, a
register of developers); marketing support (access to Borland
customers, mailing of developer registry, PR support for
products, quarterly developer's forums held in major capital
cities); and the Borland Knowledgebase CD.

Free technical support services include: a hotline phone
support system for interactive use, installation and
configuration; a bulletin board service; a faxback technical
support service. Development and programming services are
chargeable. These are defined as programming help, code-cutting
and debugging, and non-current product support. They are payable
by the incident - a ten-minute block costs $13. Customers will
be advised when a problem is chargeable and then have the option
of discontinuing the call before charges start. Regardless, no
charge is levied until the problem is solved.

Casually charged support is usually paid by credit card,
though blocks of five incidents can be bought for $50. The
Technical Connection membership includes 15 free incidents per
year (worth $150). Corporate users can also negotiate yearly
contracts for development support.

Note: All prices shown above are the approximate equivalent US dollar
amounts.

(Paul Zucker/19930902/Press contact: Belinda Hanna on phone +61-2-911
1000 or fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00003)

Australia - Laser Printer Breaks Price Barrier 09/03/93
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- An Australian
distributor has launched a laser printer at less than the
magic AUS$1000 (around US$665) price barrier. The tax-included
price is AUS$999.

And perhaps it is a little too good to be true, because there
is a catch. The C.Itoh PL4 is a strictly Windows-only laser
printer which uses the Windows GDI (graphical device interface)
and the computer's processor and memory to handle the printing.
That means one needs at least a 386 with 4M of RAM and
Windows 3.1 before one has any chance of making it deliver a
print.

The PL4 is 300dpi (dots per inch) and produces up to 4 pages
per minute. It weighs just under 5kg (11 lb).

Despite the limitations, Ben Wood, marketing manager of
distributor Pancorp, believes the price point sets the standard
in low-end lasers and expects to shift at least 15,000 units
over the 12 months, although availability will be tight for
the rest of this year.

(Computer Daily News and Paul Zucker/19930902)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00004)

Sample GSA Schedule Prices 09/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Whenever you hear
about government computer contracts being awarded there is almost
always talk of GSA Microcomputer Schedule prices, but people
outside the Washington beltway seldom have a good feel for just
what sort of prices their government is paying for computers and
software. Newsbytes has obtained some recent prices and is
presenting them here as an example of just what hardware costs
when purchased on these large-volume contracts.

It is important to remember that GSA Schedule products, often
referred to as items which are "on the schedule," can usually be
purchased in single or large quantities at the same price. They
are not always sold to the government at a lower cost than what
individuals would pay for them. The main reason federal
agencies buy off the schedule is because it includes standard
contract terms and prices so lengthy negotiations are not
required to purchase a single or small number of items.

Large standardized product purchases, such as the massive Desktop
IV Pentagon contract are negotiated for very specific hardware
and software configurations which will be ordered in very large
quantities. GSA Schedule listed products include items as small
as operating system and word processor upgrades.

Current GSA Schedule prices for some popular products are listed
below for comparison with store and mail order prices.

Mac PowerBook 180 4/80 $2,826.

Borland dBASE IV version 2.0 for MS-DOS $341.

Compaq Deskpro 66M 240/w $3,076.

Toshiba T4500 i486SX 20 MHz, 4 MB, 80 MB $1,769.

These prices are taken from a Government Technology Services
supplement to the August 30 Federal Computer Week. The Chantilly,
Virginia-based company is widely known as the cowinner of the
Desktop IV contract (along with Zenith Data Systems), but the
listed prices are GSA Schedule prices, not those offered under
Desktop IV.

(John McCormick/19930902/)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00005)

Remote PC Diagnostic Program For Repair Technicians 09/03/93
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Personal
computer repair technicians can waste time making extra
trips for parts, and customers hate paying for those trips.
That's why Micro 2000 says it has introduced Micro Scope
Client, an automated version of its Micro Scope operating
system independent diagnostic software easy enough for users to
run on the system themselves before a repair technician comes
out.

While remote diagnostic software is available that will operate
via a modem, Microscope representatives say most computers
aren't modem equipped, many that are do not have a compatible
communication package, and many repair problems won't allow for
download of the remote diagnostic program. As preventative
medicine, Microscope claims service technicians can offer Micro
Scope Client to their customers ahead of time as a money-saving
alternative to expensive return trips, especially since many
service organizations, such as TRW, charge for travel time as
well as service time.

Micro Scope Client is based on the company's newest version of
its PC diagnostic software, but can be operated by an
inexperienced user. Micro 2000 says the diagnostic Micro Scope
software is operating system-independent, meaning the computer
can boot from a Micro Scope diagnostic disk without access to
the operating system. Micro Scope has asserted the operating
system can occasionally offer misleading results when it acts
as an interpreter between diagnostic software and the PC, so
Micro Scope bypasses the operating system. This also means a PC
running any operating system, such as DOS, OS/2, Unix, Xenix,
etc., can still be diagnosed.

To operate Micro Scope Client, a user simply places the Micro
Scope Client disk in the computer's A drive, restarts the
system, and starts the software on its automated diagnostic
test suite. The software does the rest.

According to Micro 2000 representative Paul Buzby, one of three
scenarios is possible. The software won't boot, in which case
the technician knows to take the appropriate tools to diagnose
a "dead" PC. If the system boots and displays errors, the
technician looks up the errors and brings the appropriate
parts. If there are no errors, the technician knows there is
probably a software problem that may even be repaired by
directing the user over the telephone.

Micro Scope Client comes with a technician's manual that
includes not only the meaning of the error codes, but suggests
the possible problems and recommends to the technician what to
take along. Of course, Micro 2000 also recommends technicians
take along its previously release PC diagnostic products, Micro
Scope and the Post Probe.

Micro 2000 offers the Micro Scope Client software for $199
which includes ten copies of the software and one copy of the
45-page error code manual.

The company also recently introduced version 5.0 of its Micro
Scope PC diagnostic software. The software includes both 5.25-
inch and 3.5-inch diskettes, and three wrap plugs for testing
9-pin serial, 25-pin serial, and 25-pin parallel ports, and a
178-page manual with troubleshooting information and screen-by-
screen instructions. Priced at $499, Micro Scope 5.0 is
nearly twice the price of competing products, such as Checkit
Pro from Touchstone Software or QAPlus/fe from Diagsoft.

Micro 2000 also offers the Post Probe, a card used to diagnose
problems in a dead PC. POST stands for "power on self test," a
test all PCs perform on themselves when started. Micro 2000's
Post Probe works on all PCs, as it includes an adapter
for use with the IBM Micro Channel architecture. The card has
light emitting diodes (LEDs), a tri-state logic probe, and a
digital read-out for display of errors. A 280-page technical
manual includes the POST codes for a variety of basic
input/output systems (BIOS) from AMI, Award, Compaq, Hewlett-
Packard, IBM, IBM PS/2, Microid, Pheonix, and Quadtel. The Post
Probe is retail priced at $399.00.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930902/Press Contact: Paul Buzby, Micro
2000, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(REVIEW)(IBM)(ATL)(00006)

Review of Alpha4, Version 3 09/03/93

Runs on: PC-XT, PC-AT, PS-2, AND 100% compatibles with 640K RAM
using MS-DOS ver.2.1 or higher, and a VGA, EGA, CGA, or
Hercules-compatible monochrome monitor. Floppy disk and hard disk
with a minimum of 5 megabytes of free storage space required for
installation and program storage

From: Alpha Software Corp., 168 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington
MA 01803, 617-229-2924

Price: $495, upgrade price: $69.00

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

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: tbass HNDYPRSN, MCI:379-5378

Summary: Alpha4 Version 3 is a menu-driven relational database
program. A novice can install it and design a complex database by
spending just a little study time with the accompanying reference
and tutorial manuals.

======

REVIEW

======

Alpha4 is an easily installed database program complete with a
book-assisted tutorial that lets even the novice build a
database with a minimum of effort. If you want an address list,
inventory, and invoicing system designed to meet your own special
needs, this program and tutorial will let you build it.

The tutorial is a guide through the steps needed to create
and use a database system from the simplest flat file scenario to
much more complicated multiple relational databases. It takes a
little time and effort to design and properly use the more
complex systems, but the directions are all there.

Relational databases decrease the amount of repetitious data
input necessary to perform very complicated tasks. Alpha4 Version
3 sets up to receive data into such a complex form via menus. If
you can only think in flat-file terms, give Alpha4 an opportunity
to shift you into the relational world.

For example, you can set up a dBASE file that has your clients
or customers in it with a special ID field. Then set up another
dBASE file with your suppliers in their own ID fields. Next,
set up a third dBASE file with your inventory and prices, supply
on hand, and part ID fields. Finally set up a file with your
part descriptions in it and part ID fields just like those in
the inventory database. You can bring all the above together
into an invoicing system, report system, and inventory control
system.

Alpha4 Version 3 is compatible with most other delimited database
file structures, such as dBASE and PC-File. The program also
includes an importing and exporting conversion for information
from programs such as Lotus 1-2-3. The older Alpha4 versions
files need to be converted to work with Version 3, but
regular .dbf files work fine as they are.

Custom applications and menus are also designed from the Alpha4
Version 3's menu. This means that your database can be run with
some security and with a minimum of opportunity to damage the
database structure. You can easily limit the number of fields a
data entry person can access.

A network-compatible 2-user package of the program can be
purchased from most locations where the single user product is
sold.

The company's marketing strategy is to make upgrades
inexpensive, even if you're upgrading from a competitive program.
You can save money by buying an older, discounted, database
program, such as the Home Inventory program which I have seen for
$10. Then get the competitive upgrade price which, if you buy
directly from the company, is only $89.

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

PUMA RATING

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

PERFORMANCE: (4) Alpha4 Version 3 is easy to install and runs
fast. What more can you want? It is a well-designed product. Its
strong point is that it is easily used by new database users; on
the short side it takes a lot of steps to get there.

USEFULNESS: (4) Flexible relational databases are pricey, but you
can shop around for deals, as mentioned above.

MANUAL: (4) The manuals are great and the tutorial is easily
followed. You can learn a lot about databases from these manuals.

AVAILABILITY: (4) Can be had from most software retail
distributors both mail order and retail. EggHead Software,
800-344-4323, has it at a competitive upgrade price of $99.95, or
$94.95 for Cue Club customers. PC-Zone, 800-258-8088, markets it
for $349 for a straight price or $94 for a competitive upgrade.
Tiger, 800-888-4437, has the Version 3 competitive upgrade for
$79.99. Alpha Software Corp. has been promoting the upgrades at
$69 and the competitive upgrade at $89.

(tbass HNDYPRSN/19930813/Press Contact: Karen Reynolds, Alpha
Software, 800-451-1018 x-207)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(WAS)(00007)

Review of Loom Fantasy Adventure Computer Game 09/03/93

Runs on: IBM PC/AT (286 or higher), CD-ROM drive, MS-DOS or PC-
DOS 3.1 or higher, 640 K RAM, VGA graphics. Sound card not
required if CD-ROM drive has audio output

From: The Software Toolworks, 60 Leveroni Court, Novato, CA
94949. 415-883-3000 (Toolworks) or 800-STARWARS (LucasFilms)
voice, 415-456-4381 fax orders

Price: $99.95 list for the CD-ROM version reviewed here. IBM EGA,
Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh versions with less stunning sound
and graphics cost between $30 and $45

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

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Rick Bender

Summary: Loom is a fascinating journey into the distant past of
magic and mystery; the game works especially well for the
musically inclined but can be enjoyed by all who take the time to
explore.

======

REVIEW

======

Loom is a medieval fantasy game in which you, as the young
weaver's apprentice Bobbin Threadbare, must find the missing
elders of your weaving guild and save the world. Along the way
you explore the surrounding lands with your crooked distaff,
collecting four-letter sequences of musical notes, called
"drafts." These drafts manage the spells you need to get around
in the musical world of Loom.

The plot will engage sci-fi and fantasy aficionados as well as
students of Middle Age history, and this game features stereo
sound and detailed high-resolution graphics that show everything,
right down to the folds in the heap of undyed wool and the red
clam hearts in the seagull's breakfast. The colors in the sunset
are brilliant, as are the three-dimensional hills, forests, and
elders' tents through which you navigate Bobbin in the first of
256 screens.

I especially liked the voices on the CD-ROM version; some of the
character lines were quite amusing. "Hm...Must be the wrong
draft," mumbles Bobbin. And when you try to weave a draft on a
nonexistent object, Bobbin softly scolds, "It would help if you
would point at something first!" I chuckled to myself at these
cute little utterances while I was trying the game.

This is a complex game requiring a lot of patience with the
musical puzzles. It will take many hours for most players to make
any real headway in solving the various mysteries, but some parts
are just for fun and, of course, the puzzles may change the next
time you play.

After a couple of hours I was getting nowhere fast, because few
clues come with the game and I was getting lost in the musical
scales; however, if you are interested in spells, magic, and
fantasy, Loom will keep you in front of the monitor all day and
well into the night.

If you get really frustrated, there is always the optional $13
cluebook that provides a slew of hints for "puzzled" gamers.
Can't wait another minute, let alone for the mailman? Then just
call 1-900-740-JEDI for the automated hint line which costs 75-
cents per-minute and is only available for US callers.

Getting around in Loom is easy because the program lets you use a
mouse, joystick, or keyboard to move Bobbin and weave drafts. The
complexity is where it belongs -- in the puzzles and plot, not, as
with some games, learning your way around your own keyboard!

One of Loom's side benefits is the review in basic music one
gets, due to the fact that a musical scale from middle C to high
C is placed beneath the distaff (in the novice version) and
practice comes through trying to play "just the right draft!" If
you are musically literate (perhaps from already owning The
Toolworks' Miracle Piano System), you can go onto the expert
level.

Loom is a good example of multimedia with so much sound and image
enhancement that it actually comes on two CD-ROMs, although that
won't be any annoyance while playing because the entire game can
be played without changing discs.

The characters' voices are amusing and well-done, and the musical
is interesting. To really get you involved in the mystical
aspects of the story, Loom includes a 30-minute dramatic prelude
to the game which comes on the second CD-ROM.

Loom weaves a story which is complex and intricate, beautiful and
mysterious, and very hard to unravel, but this is a fantasy
adventure game, not arcade. It takes thought to win, not fast
reactions.

Although Loom is small "m" multimedia and provides excellent
sound and graphics, it is not MPC and this is a real advantage
because the program doesn't require a system that has Windows
installed and doesn't need an expensive add-on sound card because
it will play music right through your CD-ROM drive's headphone or
stereo amplifier output.

Because the designers used CD-ROM for the version we tested, they
had the luxury of enhancing the program with little concern for
storage space or the need to ship a couple of dozen floppies with
a game, and were therefore able to include sophisticated 256-
color 3-D graphics with very nice animation.

Those who have previously bought the $30 floppy version of Loom
can upgrade for $25.

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

PUMA RATING

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

PERFORMANCE: 4 Excellent sound and color with great animation.

USEFULNESS: 4 Highly entertaining and engaging game with puzzles
which will take many hours (or days) to solve.

AVAILABILITY: 4 This is a LucasArts, LucasFilm Games program
which is distributed by The Software Toolworks and supported by
LucasFilm Games, so Loom is widely available by mail order or
through software stores.

MANUAL: 4 The game requires almost no instructions, and the
manual is intended to be more entertaining than informative.

(Rick Bender and John McCormick/19930610/Press Contact: Tracy
Egan, The Software Toolworks, 415-883-3000 x 828, fax 415-883-
0298)


(EDITORIAL)(GOVT)(ATL)(00008)

Editorial - Economics, Politics and Technology 09/03/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- By Dana Blankenhorn.
Recently I got into a short debate online with a radio talk-show
host concerning the President's budget plan. He was convinced,
and was seeking to convince his radio audience, that this plan
will tank the economy and cause a recession next year. When I
pointed to rising stock and bond prices, he asserted there was
"nothing else" to invest in, and the rises were meaningless.

I was brought up short in the middle of the debate, however, upon
reading that the US is now a $7 trillion economy. On that, a
$100 billion/year plan will have no great impact. But if monetary
policymakers at the Federal Reserve have already sunk interest
rates to the basement with little impact, and fiscal policy will
by definition have little impact, what's behind this job-less
recovery?

Technology. All the stuff Newsbytes has been covering for 10
years is doing what its makers promised it would. And we have no
idea what to do about it.

Networked PCs have eliminated whole layers of managerial jobs,
people who used to pass information up the corporate ladder, or
back down. New input devices and relational databases have
eliminated the jobs of clerks and typists. Field computing
has linked factories to retail shelves so well that the amount
of net warehouse space in the US hasn't changed in a decade.

It's really just begun. We have barely started applying this
technology to government, to medicine, or to education. Lots
of jobs have yet to be eliminated.

It's going to get worse. Satellites let Indian engineers
update software at low cost. New fiber phone connections mean
Irish or Caribbean workers can support your products, at a
saving. We're finally becoming one world economy, and the fact is
what we call the middle-class is, in fact, a wealthy elite which
just happens to be concentrated in a few nations.

All attempts to roll this back seem doomed. Poor people know
where the jobs are and will endure any hardship to come here.
Tariffs won't keep out low-cost products from Mexico or China --
value always grabs markets.

What's a nation to do?

A growing number of Silicon Valley analysts, like T.J. Rodgers of
Cypress Semiconductor, say just leave it alone. Entrepreneurs
opposed to the idea of an "Industrial Policy" are lining up with
their Wall Street backers to stop President Clinton from trying
to make some sense of all this, and give it some direction.

If the world were one nation, I'd say they were right. But it's
not. It may be inevitable that the US economy will lose some
of its relative strength in the 21st century. The only question
is how much. Mexico, India, and China will rise, their middle-
classes will grow. Our middle-class, by contrast, has been
shrinking for 20 years. Their children work harder at school with
fewer tools, and will work harder on the job for less, than our
kids. The Invisible Hand, so beloved of Republican theorists, is
writing. And it's writing us off.

There are no quick and easy solutions to this. Leaving Silicon
Valley alone may help T.J. Rodgers become a billionaire, but it
won't help the US. Every economic motivation tells T.J. to move
his factories to the Far East, and to hire foreigners. When he
ignored those facts in the late 80s, his company got its clock
cleaned. He's admitted as much.

The fact is, there will be no low-skill jobs in the 21st Century
that will produce a middle-class life. If we're to maintain our
middle-class majority, then, we must have an industrial policy
based on two key elements. Our infrastructure -- electronic and
telephony as well as roads, sewers, airport connections --
must be second to none. We must be the low-cost market, in
other words. And our people must have a higher level of
skill than people anywhere else.

The first is easy and politically popular. Politicians love road,
sewer, and airport projects, as well as the Information
Superhighway concept. The second is much, much tougher. Not
only must our public schools become the best in
the world, but those schools must offer facilities which will
allow anyone, at any time, access to the education needed to get
their next job, and start their second, third, or fourth career.

The answer to that, in my view, will only be found in technology.
Specifically, the same client-server technology which has made
this a job-less recovery. We must scrap our 19th Century way of
teaching and our detailed curricula, in favor of motivation and
major projects. Every school desk must have access to all the
world's libraries, either on CD-ROM or through the global
Internet. And every adult, especially those "between jobs," must
be motivated to come into these new schools at night and gain new
skills.

Such a revolution won't happen by itself. The Invisible Hand will
only offer it to the few who can pay for it out of mommy and
daddy's pockets. The Invisible Hand wants our economy to fail,
putting most of our children in squalor and a chosen few locked
behind high walls, living in the manner of Third World elites, or
Kennedys. Only together, with the very Visible Hand of
government, can we hope to change it. The mechanism is over 150
years old -- it's called the public school system.

But, as I noted, that system is stuck in the 19th Century. It's
filled with middle managers, and conservative unions out mainly
to protect members' jobs and restrict entry to the profession.
These entrenched groups must be challenged and, if necessary,
overthrown.

Worse, our public debates on public education are 19th Century
debates. They're all about curriculum, about what we decide to
tell kids or not tell them. As though that had any meaning. It's
time to change the subject. Acquiring the knowledge and learning
tools needed to compete in the 21st century is the biggest issue
before the US, and it's time for technology companies to get
involved.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930830)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00009)

Toshiba Moves To DOS/V Group 09/03/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- The move to DOS/V has become
something of a stampede as Toshiba has become the latest PC
manufacturer to release a DOS/V system. Toshiba's
PC line has until now been based on Japanese MS-DOS.

Toshiba is currently selling the notebook-type Japanese J-3100
and its English equivalent, the T-3100 family. These PCs
were initially developed to support MS-DOS. They can operate
programs written for the DOS/V system, but are not completely
compatible. Some DOS/V programs won't run at all, or they
cannot operate printers.

Toshiba already released a PC with MS-DOS 5.0/V in
July. A DOS/V PC will follow it in October. It will
have a switch which changes it from a DOS/V to an MS-DOS
system. In this way, the firm will be able to support current
J-3100 users.

Toshiba's full support of DOS/V system is good news for IBM
Japan which now can expect more software to be developed
for DOS/V systems. IBM Japan has lobbied hard for this
moment. The company organized a DOS/V group called Open
Architecture Developers' Group and most PC makers in Japan
joined. Through this group, IBM Japan provides DOS/V technical
assistance and update information to encourage development
of DOS/V-compatible PCs and software.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930830/Press Contact: Toshiba, +81-3-
3457-2100, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00010)

Canon Color Fax Adaptor For Copiers 09/03/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Tokyo-based major office
equipment maker Canon has developed a fax machine adaptor for its
color copying machine that allows the machine to receive and
print color documents through a telephone line transmission.

The "Jet Fax Adaptor," when used with the Canon "Pixel Jet"
color copier, allows a color document, transmitted remotely,
to be printed.

The adaptor converts the color digital picture data to an ISDN
(integrated services digital network) signal, which is sent
and received via ISDN lines.

The price of this color fax adaptor is 600,000 yen ($6,000) and
the digital pictorial data processor costs 300,000 yen ($3,000).
The Pixel Jet color copying machine costs 800,000 yen ($8,000).
The total price will be 1.7 million yen ($17,000), which is
less expensive that dedicated color fax machines which can cost
up to 3 million yen ($30,000).

Canon has also been developing a regular color fax machine
but says the technology is still too costly.

Canon's color fax adaptor will be released on September 27.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930902/Press Contact: Canon, +81-3-
3348-2121, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00011)

New PCs From Seiko-Epson, Matsushita, Sony, Toshiba 09/03/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- New personal computers made
a debut this week in Japan. Seiko-Epson, Matsushita, Sony,
Toshiba and Personal Media offered up PCs with the latest
technology: Pentium chips, CD-ROMs, or the TRON operating
system.

Seiko-Epson's PC is equipped with Intel's 32-bit Pentium
processor and a 32-bit fast processing local bus called the
PCI. The PC is called the PC-486HX, and it is fully compatible
with NEC's best-selling PC-9801 family. The price is
relatively cheap at 398,000 yen ($3,980). There is even a
rock-bottom priced model with no bells and whistles for
158,000 yen ($1,580), which is less than half the price of
NEC's similarly configured model.

Also, Seiko-Epson released a multimedia kit to go with this
PC. It consists of a CD-ROM player and speaker unit.

Matsushita has also announced a CD-ROM-based multimedia personal
computer. The CD-ROM unit and memory IC card are build-in to
this PC, which is a DOS/V-based notebook-type personal computer
equipped with a TFT (thin film transistor)-type display. Both
the color and the monochrome versions are available. Pen-input
type versions are also available. Some 22 models will be
released in October ranging in price from 268,000 yen
($2,680) to 668,000 yen ($6,680).

Sony's new PCs are high-end versions of the firm's Quarter-L
PC. They have the super-fast SCSI-2 interface board,
which supports data transmission speeds up to a
whopping 10 megabytes per second. A 66-megahertz 80486DX2
processor and a 16-megabyte memory are also equipped.

Toshiba's new server PC has a 62-megahertz Pentium processor.
With NetWare 3.1J or Windows NT, the PC can connect up to
250 personal computers on a network.

Another new PC was released from Personal Media. This
personal computer is called the Denbougu 1B and it has the
multi-language operating system called B-TRON that was
originally designed by Ken Sakamura of Tokyo University.
The PC is also equipped with MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930902/Press Contact: Seiko-Epson,
 [phone], Matsushita, [phone], Fax, +81-3-3437-
2776, Toshiba, [phone], Fax, [phone], Sony, +81-3-
5448-2200, Fax, [phone], Personal Media, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00012)

New Inkjet Paper Uses Less Ink 09/03/93
WHEELING, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Micro Format Inc.,
recently announced a computer paper the company says is
specially formulated to capture the colored ink used in inkjet
printers, rather than let the ink soak into the paper. The
result is a more brightly colored image that uses less ink.

Called Super Color Inkjet Paper, the product contains a Super Color
shadow logo on the reverse side of each sheet so the user knows
which side goes up in the printer. Newsbytes tested the
paper on a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 500. Comparing a document
printed on the Super Color Paper with a product printed on
conventional bond paper, it was obvious the ink does not soak
in on the Super Color paper.

Printing a Microsoft Word-created document set at the lightest
setting gave us a very bright, dense image on Super Color
paper. The inkjet-printed samples provided Newsbytes
by Micro Format did show a discernible difference between
regular paper and Super Color paper. Super Color sells for
$18.95 per 150-sheet pack and $11.95 for a 50-sheet pack.

Micro Format also markets Banner Band, rolls of computer paper
designed to print banners on pastel, bold, and fluorescent colors,
and also computer paper in various copyrighted designs. Also
available are various textured, pastel-colored, and
parchment-type paper for laser printers. The company's
certificate paper is available for inkjet and laser printers
as well as photocopiers, and is manufactured with 50 percent
recycled paper and 10 percent post-consumer waste.

The bold color papers are a 50-percent recycled and 20-percent
post-consumer mix. Certificate paper is available in four colors,
and has a border.

Banner Band paper sells for $11.95 for a 45-foot roll and comes in
its own dispenser. Certificate paper sells for $7.50 per package in
single sheets or with perforations for tractor-feed printers.

(Jim Mallory/19930902/Press contact: Barbara Adler, EBS Public
Relations for Micro Format, 708-520-3394; Reader contact: Micro
Format Inc, 800-333-0549)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00013)

Westech Acquired By Integrated Process Equipment 09/03/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Integrated
Process Equipment Corp., (IPEC), says it has consummated its
acquisition of Westech Systems Inc.

IPEC designs and manufactures proprietary semiconductor wafer
processing equipment for integrated strip, etch and post-chemical
mechanical planarization (CMP) clean applications. Westech
manufactures precision wafer CMP systems increasingly used in
complex semiconductor device manufacture.

The companies expect combined revenues of about $37 - $40
million for the 1993 calendar year, and combined pretax
earnings of approximately $3.5 to $4.5 million.

In announcing the acquisition, Sanjeev Chitre, chairman of IPEC,
said, "IPEC and Westech both produce state-of-the-art products
and when taken together we believe we offer the best combination
of CMP systems and post-CMP clean applications for the
semiconductor industry."

IPEC says that the Westech business will be continued by a
wholly owned subsidiary of IPEC under the name Westech
Systems Inc., and that Dr. Don Jackson will continue as president.

The deal was originally structured as a purchase of assets.
However, that changed to the merger of Westech into a wholly
owned subsidiary of IPEC.

IPEC said that, in order to improve Westech's cash position
following the merger, the shareholders of Westech agreed to reduce
the amount of cash payable upon the merger from $4.5 million to
$900,000 and to increase their shares of IPEC common stock
received in the merger from $1.5 million to $4 million.

The equivalent of $6 million in shares of IPEC convertible preferred
stock is payable as an incentive based on increases in the revenues
of the Westech business during the three years following closing.

The companies say that the preferred stock is currently held in
escrow and will be returned to IPEC for cancellation if revenue
targets are not met. It is claimed to be possible for the
conversion rate to increase to as much as 15 to one if revenue
targets are exceeded.

Harold Baldauf, a principal stockholder of Westech, and his
sons will serve as consultants to IPEC over the next ten years.
Baldauf and Jackson were elected to IPEC's board of directors.

(Ian Stokell/19930903/Press Contact: Sanjeev Chitre,
408-436-2170, Integrated Process Equipment Corp.)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00014)

 ****Survey Finds Women Gaining On Men In IS Professions 09/03/93
FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- In the
traditionally male-dominated computer world, women are moving
in on the Information Systems (IS) side. While salaries are up
4 percent for both sexes, women are closing the gap and gaining
numbers in IS professions, according to newly released
findings.

In a survey of 1,239 computer professionals and managers, the
salary gap is narrowing to around 15 percent compared with 21
percent last year, according to Computerworld. Male IS managers
earned an average annual salary of $60,963 in 1993, compared
with $52,837 for their female counterparts.

However, the higher the position, the narrower the salary gap
and in some areas women were leading men salary-wise, the
survey pointed out. Male chief information officers (CIOs)
averaged $83,638 a year and female CIOs, $78,736, a 6.2 percent
difference. Male personal computer managers were 6.1 percent
lower paid on the average than women with an average annual
salary of $45,700 compared to $48,500 for women.

In addition, more women were moving into management with the
percentage of women in IS manager positions up from 37.5
percent in 1992 to 38.1 percent in 1993. In local area
management jobs the numbers are up to 42.9 percent compared to
1992's 31.6 percent, and 58 percent of communication
specialists managers are women compared to 45 percent last
year. About 65 percent of all IS professionals are men, the
survey found.

Computerworld's theory is that corporate downsizing breaks down the
"good-old-boy" network. As companies are forced to a smaller
staff to do the same functions, they simply have to choose the
best people for the job. In fact, the job market for really
good people is not particularly tight, Computerworld's Editor-
in-Chief Bill Laberis told Newsbytes.

The best IS job prospects are in the insurance industry, the
survey said. In addition, the strong regional areas of IS
salary growth were in the South in cities such as Atlanta,
Phoenix, and Dallas. Northern cities such as Baltimore, Denver,
New York, Minneapolis, and Northern California saw decreasing
IS salaries. However, three-fourths of the respondents reported
no change in the frequency of salary adjustment and two-thirds
said they thought salaries were no different elsewhere for the
same work. The average length of IS employment in a position
was reported to be 6 to 10 years.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930903/Press Contact: Catherine Marenghi,
Marenghi & Howlett, Wellesley, tel [phone], fax 617-239-
1580)


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

Hearing Set On Cable Reregulation 09/03/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- An angry Rep. Edward
Markey has set a hearing for next week on the cable reregulation
which has apparently set off a new round of rate hikes in the
industry.

After predictions by FCC Commissioner Ervin Duggan that most
rates would go down, cable executives announced new rates (which
they said were based on FCC benchmarks) which were often far in
excess of previous rates. In Atlanta, for instance, service that
formerly cost less than $30 will now cost over $33, which cable
executives blamed on the new law.

That wasn't supposed to happen. For months Congress and the FCC
have been claiming that, after a rate freeze which began in
April, cable rates would start declining. But cable executives
vowed publicly to stymie the intent of the legislation, and for
now they seem to have done so. Many operators claimed they were
adding additional "tiers" of popular satellite-delivered cable
channels, at higher prices, to make up for losses they claimed
they'd sustain on lower rents for cable converters and remote
control units.

While the FCC could change the benchmarks, that federal agency is
in fact terribly overworked right now, and that won't change soon.
The agency won a supplemental appropriation to hire 200 additional
people for cable re-regulation, and those people skipped vacations
and weekends to finish the benchmarks. They still have yet to
complete an alternate regulatory scheme based on the actual costs
of providing service, meant mainly for rural systems which have
to run more wire to serve fewer customers.

In an Atlanta speech, Duggan said that consumers would
be able to complain directly to the FCC about high rates, forcing
investigations. (This is accomplished by asking the FCC for a
Cable Request Form 329 at P.O. Box 18238, Washington, D.C. 20036.)
The FCC will have to handle each complaint individually, further
driving up its own costs. Duggan compared it to having the
Supreme Court look at individual police reports.

For now, everyone is pointing fingers, and the cable industry
hard-liners who promised to destroy the new law's effectiveness,
are pleased with their work. It remains to be seen, however,
whether Congress will be able to act again on cable considering
the large number of issues it must deal with this fall.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930902/Press Contact: Rep. Edward Markey,
202-224-121; FCC Press, 202-632-5050)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

NexTel Turns On Digital SMR Network In Southern Cal 09/03/93
RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- NexTel
Communications Inc., formerly known as Fleet Call, said it has
activated its digital mobile network in Southern California.

The network uses Motorola technology to digitize channels
formerly used for Specialized Mobile Radio, or SMR, services,
including calls between taxi fleets, ambulance drivers, and other
mobile workers to central offices. The Motorola technology
expands the capacity of the network by letting more callers in on
a single calling channel, and the topology of the network is
changed from a single antenna to a network of antennae, more like
cellular phone systems.

NexTel has been working to acquire SMR frequency licenses
nationwide and create roaming agreements with other licensed
operators, using the Motorola technology, so it can compete with
existing cellular phone operators.

President Brian McAuley said in a press statement that, in
addition to wireless phone service, his network also offers
wireless data services and paging. "No longer will customers be
required to carry two or three pieces of hardware," he said.
The company is also working with Northern Telecom on
integrated equipment to be used on its network."

Currently, only about 500 subscribers are using the Southern
California system during what NexTel calls an "optimization"
period, but others might call a beta test, due to last between
two and four months. Over the next few weeks, coverage will be
extended from the Los Angeles Basin, Riverside, and parts of
Orange and Ventura Counties to Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, and
the northern reaches of San Diego County. By early 1994, the
company hopes to be providing service practically statewide.

The company's expansion will be further fueled by an agreement to
buy most of American Mobile Systems Inc., a leading operator of
SMR frequency networks in Florida. The company also has licenses
in the Northeast, Midwest and Southwest.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930902/Press Contact: Walt Piecyk, NexTel,
201-438-1400)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00017)

Poland - Private Phone Exchange Project Underway 09/03/93
WARSAW, POLAND, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Making a long distance or
international phone calls from anywhere in Poland outside of Warsaw
is a very hit and miss affair, owing to the age of the telephone
exchanges. It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that the private
Polish/US joint venture company has announced plans to build a
completely private phone exchange.

RP Telecom, a joint venture company with several investors in Poland
and the US, will spend around $80 million on the 100,000-subscriber
exchange and its links into national and international networks.

If investor funds are available, the company plans to spend
around $2,000 million on private telecom facilities in towns and
cities throughout Poland. The aim is to establish a second network
of exchanges and inter-exchange links to run alongside the state-run
and over-stretched telecom network.

Newsbytes understands that Siemens of Germany, one of RP Telecom's
investors, will be supplying the bulk of the hardware for the
100,000-subscriber exchange in the city of Pila in Northwestern
Poland. The software for the exchange will be supplied by Sprint of
the US, another investor in the company.

Although RP Telecom is jointly owned by a number of companies, the
bulk of the investment in the company, particularly when it comes to
the cash required to build the exchange in Pila, is being funded by
the World Bank's commercial arm, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC).

With IFC funding, the new company plans to install at least
another eight exchanges of similar size around Poland, but
outside of Warsaw. As part of the deal, the IFC has taken a 15-
percent stake in RP Telecom.

(Steve Gold/19930902)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00018)

Tele And Nokia Form Joint Venture In Finland 09/03/93
HELSINKI, FINLAND, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Nokia Oy and Tele, two
telecom companies in Finland, have set up a joint venture
to service the domestic telephone hardware marketplace.

The company, which is a 50-50 venture between the two firms, has
started operations this week, Newsbytes understands. The reason for
the rapid ramp-up of operations is because Nokia Oy has transferred
most of its telephone exchange supply operations in Finland over to
the new company.

The idea behind this move is that Nokia Oy will divest itself of its
distribution and retail operations in Finland, allowing Nokia to
concentrate on the research and development side of its business, as
well its international sales operation.

Tele, meanwhile, is the Finnish state-controlled telecom firm
and, to date, has proved to be a highly conservative company.
Newsbytes understands that Nokia Oy was the catalyst in creating the
new company. Tele was brought in as it is one of Nokia's largest
customers, as well as a cross-supplier of technology.

(Steve Gold/19930902)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00019)

Unemployment Surge Shows US Economy Still Weak 09/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Shocking the credit
market with its implication that the US economic recovery is
much weaker than even the anemic growth which has been expected,
the most recent unemployment numbers drove the 30-year benchmark
US treasury bond to historic new yield lows under 6 percent and
early analysis shows that it may adversely affect business
expansion plans.

Wall Street analysts were expecting a moderate to strong increase
in the growth of service-sector jobs in this last report, but the
preliminary numbers show a plunge in non-farm payrolls of 39,000
jobs when the market was expecting an increase of nearly 150,000
jobs.

The actual unemployment rate as reported by the government is
still pegged at 6.7 percent, but many believe that the real
number, counting those who have given up and aren't even looking
for work anymore and those who work part time but who want full
time jobs, is actually well over 10 percent.

Another bad number for business this week was the leading
economic indicator number which was down 0.1 for July after a
barely noticeable uptick up 0.1 June. This week's purchasing
manager's consensus report showed that economy was contracting,
and the consensus report on consumer confidence was also down,
indicating a reluctance on the part of consumers to spend money.

A generally weak economy will directly impact both the computer
software and hardware industry because if companies aren't hiring
new workers then they don't need to purchase new computers for
those same workers.

Combined with overcapacity which is already causing a year-long
price war among PC makers, this weakening in the US economy
should lead to a continued shakeout in the industry.

(John McCormick/19930903/)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(MOW)(00020)

 ****Russia - Telecom Privatization Approved 09/03/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- The Russian State Property
Committee has just approved a plan to sell off the part of the
Rostelecom company, the largest monopoly provider of communication
services and the owner of the cable network.

The plan calls for 38% of the 2,234,376,000 rubles (approximately
US$2.2 million) worth of shares to be allocated to the State
Property Committee and to remain in its hands for the next three
years. 22% of the shares are to be sold through auction to the
highest bidders. 5% go to company managers, and almost 20% to
the company's workers.

The plan requires the company, after going public, to give
state and defense forces priority in the choice of communications
channels.

Rostelecom was formed in late 1992 to include 20 regional
communication companies located in major cities across Russia.
For a short time these firms enjoyed independence. The
Russian government provided them with shares in Intertelecom,
the owner and operator of trunk lines and TV translation channels.

Commersant newspaper analysts say investment in the company
is risky, as the struggle for an ownership is expected to
be long. Additional risks are from the location of subsidiaries in
various higher-than-average risk areas.

(Kirill Tchashchin/199302)


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

Windows NT Added To Pentagon SMC Contract 09/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Microsoft, in response
to what the company calls "demand" from federal computer users,
has added both the Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows NT
Advanced Server software to the Pentagon's Standard Multi-user
Computer contract which provides software and computer hardware
to the armed forces.

Windows NT, Microsoft's advanced operating system, is
intended to provide an upgrade path for MS-DOS and Windows users
into the 32-bit multi-user arena currently dominated by Unix.
Windows NT is expected to play a big role in helping business and
government MIS departments move single-user and networked MS-DOS
PC users up to a more sophisticated and powerful integrated
network environment while retaining most of the hardware,
software, and training investment which has already been made in
small computers.

Despite its power, Unix has faced a major problem in expanding
its presence in the market because many existing programs can't
be run well or at all on Unix-based systems and both businesses
and government agencies have been reluctant to dump their massive
investment in PC software and training.

NT offers many of the multi-user, multi-tasking advantages of
Unix while retaining near complete compatibility with existing
MS-DOS and Windows applications programs.

(John McCormick/19930903/Press Contact: Collins Hemingway,
Microsoft, 206-882-8080)


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

Microsoft Antitrust Probe Will Last Several Months 09/03/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- A Justice Department
official predicts the agency's investigation into possible antitrust
activities by Microsoft Corporation will probably take "several
months."

That's what Assistant Attorney General Anne Bingaman told the
British news service Reuters yesterday. It was the first indication
any government agency has given about the length of their inquiry.

The specific focus of the investigation is on the software
company's practice of offering discount prices on its MS-DOS
operating system, the heart of millions of personal computers,
to PC makers who pay a royalty for each machine they make.
Microsoft competitors have claimed that closes the operating
system market to potential competitors. Other companies have
also charged that Microsoft uses undocumented code to
make its own software such as word processing and spreadsheet
programs perform tasks that competitive programs can't do without
access to those undocumented calls.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Newsbytes Microsoft has no further
comment about the investigation other than to reiterate that it will
cooperate fully with Justice.

(Jim Mallory/19930903/Press and reader contact: Microsoft
Corporation, 206882-8080, 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00023)

Gateway 2000 Offers Credit Card 09/03/93
NORTH SIOUX CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Personal
computer maker Gateway 2000 said this week it will offer DuoLine
MasterCards beginning September 13, 1993.

Gateway said the applications, which are available to customers and
non-customers alike, are available by calling a special toll-free
number. The company will also place credit card applications in some
print media ads and with its newsletter.

The cards are being offered for personal use only and will be issued
in the name of an individual, not in the name of a company, Gateway
spokesperson Glynnis Gibson told Newsbytes. Dial National Bank in
Des Moines, Iowa will administer the program and issue the cards.
Gibson said the interest rate for customers who purchase Gateway
products is 12.9 percent and 13.9 percent for general use.

Asked why Gateway decided to offer the cards, Gibson told Newsbytes
"The people we see as benefiting from this are the people who need
to buy over time and go to stores that offer in-store credit.
With this card they can pay over time at a low interest rate and
not use up their general MasterCard credit line."

(Jim Mallory/19930903/Press contact: Glynnis Gibson, Gibson
Communications for Gateway 2000, 312-868-9400; Reader contact:
Gateway 2000, 605-232-2000 or 800-846-2000 for general information,
800-846-1781 for credit card application)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00024)

UK Survey - PC Shipments Up, Profit Down A Slowdown 09/03/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Context, the European market
research company, has reported that sales of PCs through indirect
channels rose by 29 percent to more than a million units in the 12
months to June of this year, when compared to the same period last
year.

According to the market research company, growth in the second
quarter of this year slumped, however, showing a reduction of four
percent after the first quarter's healthy 17 percent growth. These
figures compare to a 15 percent growth in the fourth quarter of last
year.

Sales by value, meanwhile, increased by only 2.6 percent over the
year. Context attributes this to PC vendors' struggle with the
effects of the current price war which it claims shows no sign of
slacking off.

"PC vendors are looking for volume. Pricing pressures mean that
everyone is trying to get their products out to all consumers
through as many channels as possible. Hardly a week passes without
some new channel initiative being announced. Compaq's recent
agreement with John Lewis (a leading high street department store)
is a prime example," commented Jeremy Davies, a senior partner with
Context.

Context's research shows that, while sales of 80486SX-based PCs have
increased from two percent of market last year to 15 percent this
year, 80386SX-based system sales have held up remarkably well,
showing a slight increase to 47 percent of unit sales during the
year to June 1993. This compares with 44.3 percent over the same
period last year.

According to Context's figures, Compaq is now the leader in PC sales
through indirect channels in the UK with 21.4 percent of total sales
in the 12 months to June of this year, tracked by IBM with 20.2
percent, Apple with 11.2 percent, Toshiba with 6.8 percent and
Olivetti with 4.6 percent.

Davies says that there are signs that the 80386SX processor is on
the way out of the PC marketplace. "Sales peaked at record levels
in February of this year, and the trend has been down since then,"
he said.

Sales of notebook PCs, meanwhile, have grown, but not as fast as
some PC vendors had predicted. Last year saw notebook PCs scooping
up 13 percent of total sales by volume, and by June of 1993, this
has risen to 17.8 percent.

The best selling PC in the UK was the IBM PS/1 2133, followed
by the Compaq Prolinea 3/25z and the Apple Mac LC II. The best
seller in the notebook stakes was the Compaq Contura 3/25.

(Steve Gold/19930903/Press & Public Contact: Context - Tel: 071-937-
3595; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00025)

UK - Cellnet Shuffles London Call Costs 09/03/93
LONDON, ENGLAND. 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Just weeks after Vodafone
announced plans to do away with the surcharge on London calls,
Cellnet has done likewise.

At the same time, it has offered to cut the cost of calls in the
London area (defined as within the M25 London orbital motorway) from
25 pence a minute to 20 pence a minute at peak times, but only if
the customer opts to pay a 100 percent surcharge (50 pence per
minute) on the standard rate on calls outside the London area.

Industry reaction to news of the new Citytime tariff, which costs
UKP 20 a month, compared to standard Primetime tariffs of UKP 25,
was one of interest, although most acknowledged that the scheme was
aimed purely at Londoners who do not venture outside the capital.
They also saw it as an attempt to spoil interest in the
Mercury One-2-One personal communications system (PCS) digital
phone system scheduled for launch next week.

As previously reported, the One-2-One system is a 1.8-gigahertz
(GHz) London-only digital mobile phone system being launched by
Mercury Communications, the UK arm of Cable & Wireless. One-2-One
has claimed that its tariffs will be around 20 percent cheaper than
those of Cellnet and Vodafone.

In parallel with the shuffles in Primetime cellular phone tariffs,
Cellnet has announced a 17.5 percent cut in the Lifetime
infrequent user rates. This now charges UKP 15 (including 17.5
percent tax) a month (instead of UKP 25 a month) in exchange for a
double rate for outgoing calls.

Announcing what amounts to a third tariff for Cellnet subscribers,
Stafford Taylor, the company's managing director, said: "For those
who make occasional use of their mobile phone, Lifetime now
represents the best value for money of any mobile phone service
across the UK."

(Steve Gold/19930903/Press & Public Contact: 0753-504000)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00026)

The Enabled Computer, ADA Expo '93 Speech, Part 4 09/03/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- By John McCormick.

Following is the last part of a four-part look at the full text
of John McCormick's talk at the Tuesday, July 27, 1993, ADA
Expo '93 held in Washington, DC. The final issue contains
contact information for products and services mentioned in the
talk.

The presentation was made to corporate and government MIS
department buyers and office managers and concerned the
difficulties encountered in finding adaptive technology and
evaluating these products for a business setting, especially when
they are needed to meet the requirements of the Americans with
Disabilities Act.

The following is a list of major sources of free or low-cost
adaptive technology assistance and product information. These
sources list actual products or provide detailed information, not
just ADA "checklists" or brochures containing general advice.

 > The Enabled Computer BBS, 814-277-6337, 14.4 Kbps access,
24-hour modem access. Lists thousands of products, carries
articles on enabling technology, and provides news reports on
latest products. (FREE)

 > Job Accommodation Network, 809 Allen Hall, Morgantown, WV
26506-6123. 800-526-7234 Accommodation Information, out of state
only/voice/TDD; 800-526-4698 (WV); 800-232-9675; 800-232-9675
(ADA Information Voice/TDD); 800-342-5526 JAN ADA Information BBS
(computer modem). Consulting service provides specific
product/procedure recommendations. (FREE)

 > REHABDATA, National Rehabilitation Information Center, 8455
Colesville Rd., Suite 935, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3319. 800-346-
2742 or 301-588-9284 (voice/TDD). Provides printed lists of
products meeting your needs as well as general guidelines for
building ramps and buying special technology. (FREE or low cost)

 > Trace Research and Development Center, S-151 Waisman Center,
1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705. Sells the inexpensive
Co-Net ABLEDATA CD-ROM with 20,000 plus product listings.
608-262-6966, voice, or 608-263-5408 (TDD). (Low cost)

 > GEnie (General Electric Information Services), 401 N.
Washington St., Rockville, MD 20850. 800-638-9636. GEnie carries
an active forum on enabling technology and the concerns of
disabled individuals. (Low cost)

 > Project Enable (JAN) BBS provides discussion forum for disabled
individuals and companies concerned with ADA compliance. 304-766-
7842 (modem). (FREE)

There are many other sources of assistance, some of which are
listed by the above listed services.

(John McCormick/19930730/)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00027)

 ****Pen Expo - Pen Hardware Diverging In 2 Directions 09/03/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Pen computers are
starting to diverge in the separate directions of PDAs (personal
digital assistants) and industry-specific vertical systems, said
officials of Toshiba, AST, Fujitsu, and AT&T, speaking this week
at PenExpo in Boston.

But more time must go by and more work must be done before the
mobile computers meet their full potential in either direction,
agreed members of the Pen Hardware Panel, which was moderated by
industry expert Andrew Seybold.

Up to now, the pen hardware market has seen "a lot of blue sky, and
a lot of hype," said Kurtis King, senior product manager, Computer
Systems Division, for Toshiba. "Sales forecasts have been
outlandish, and expectations have been set too high," he added.

Over the past five years, pen computers have shown to be
good at certain tasks, such as sophisticated data entry, electronic
signature capture, and electronic communications with host systems,
according to King.

"But there's also been a high failure rating. That's not pretty,
but it's the truth," he said. Pen hardware has been plagued by
unreliability, and battery life still isn't what it could be, he
explained. Ruggedness, wireless communications, and handwriting
recognition could also stand great improvement.

By the 1995 to 1996 time frame, though, pen computing will reach
maturity and become a "viable market," he predicted. At that point
will come the full divergence of PDAs and vertical systems.

Huge rollouts will occur in the vertical segments, with sales
exceeding those of notebook PCs, he said. Products will be
optimized for different markets, such as hospitals and truck
delivery. Unfortunately, however, many of the vendors that have
been "vertical pioneers" will be "out of business" by then, he
added.

Success in the vertical arena will require work on the part of
vendors and customers alike, he suggested. Vendors must adhere to
"nonflexible quality standards." They must also be willing to make
long-term commitments to their customers, and to forge strategic
partnerships. Having "deep pockets" will help.

For their part, customers must arrive at a detailed understanding
of the real requirements of their own end-users, said King. Many
potential end users, for instance, are not computer literate, he
noted.

Tom Humphries, general manager of vertical systems for AST,
concurred with King on the handwriting recognition factor.
"Handwriting recognition is not for pen computing right now, but
it's going to get better," he commented.

Interjected Andrew Seybold, "One of the things that you get into
right now with handwriting recognition is what you could call the
`frustration factor.'"

Humphries also pointed to other areas where progress should be
made. The pen itself should be enhanced to meet the "Bic factor,"
where the device is neither so large that it is clumsy and
uncomfortable, nor so small that it is easily lost and cramps the
hand of the user, he indicated.

The electrical coatings on digitizers should be improved for longer
wear and a less slick, more paper-like feel, he added. On its Grid
computers, AST is using replaceable overlays that fit on top of the
digitizers, protecting the digitizers and providing the user with
a sense of friction against the pen, he said.

Vendors are now beginning to produce desktop and wall-panel pen
displays, he noted. "The problem with the desktop displays,
though, is that there isn't any office furniture yet with recessed
areas to hold the displays," he remarked.

In the works for the future are flat panel color displays with
underlays for producing backlighting, distance effects, and
parallax effects, he asserted.

Speaking with Newsbytes afterward, another AST official said that
AST plans to continue to support vertical markets through Grid, but
also to place a strong emphasis on the horizontal PDA market
through its PenRight pen software.

AST expects that growth of the vertical segments will remain
"strong but steady," but that the PDA market will expand more
rapidly, said Bobbi Burns, director of sales and marketing, Pen
Software.

Fujitsu is strongly committed to the vertical segments, and to the
use of systems integration in field applications, said Ann Marie J.
McGee, director of strategic marketing, another speaker on the Pen
Hardware Panel.

To illustrate her point, McGee gave several examples of field
applications, including a system at Sealand in which Fujitsu's
PoquetPad computers are interfaced to a DEC VAX minicomputer.
Sealand is using the system to track its ocean freight cargo,
making sure that inventory reaches the right destinations, she
explained.

In another suite of applications, PocquetPad computers are being
integrated with Proxim's RangeLAN wireless LAN adapters and
Proxlink Radio Modules. El Conquistador, a restaurant in Puerto
Rico, is one customer that will be using such a system, according
to McGee.

For AT&T, on the other hand, personal communicators hold the key,
in the form of the Eo, said Harriet Donnelly, marketing director,
Consumer Products. In the past, PDAs have lacked the content and
communications capabilities needed by mobile professionals and
consumers.

The Eo already provides integrated cellular, voice and e-mail
communications, and PDAs from other vendors will have the same
capabilities in the future, she said. The multivendor personal
communicators will be able to communicate with each other by means
of TeleScript, an emerging "common language" for PDAs.

PDAs will become available in a variety of form factors, and
devices such as telephones, TV sets, and flat screen wall panels
will eventually take on the same features, predicted Donnelly.

The faxing of today will be replaced by paperless communications,
in which you can "write out a message on your personal
communicator, TV set, or telephone, and send it immediately to
someone else's personal communicator, TV set, or telephone."

Also in the future, intelligent agents will alleviate the current
"information overload" by "knowing what you're looking for, and
being able to go out, access databases, and find it," she said.

Even further into the future, by the year 2010, it will be possible
to send video communications wirelessly, she added. "Not all of
this will happen today or even tomorrow, but the AT&T Laboratories
are working on these kinds of technologies right now," she stated.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930903)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00028)

 ****PenExpo - Accurate Handwriting Recognition Not There Yet 09/03/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- If you're waiting
for a PC with the same handwriting recognition capabilities as a
human being, you could be waiting a long time, leading developers
in the field acknowledged this week during a panel at PenExpo.

But the companies are trying hard, and much progress is being made,
said Stepan Pachivov, Ph.D., president and CEO of ParaGraph
International, developers of the handwriting portion of the
Newton, and Jeff Dao, assistant vice president for sales and
marketing at Communication Intelligence Corporation (CIO).

Amy Wohl, panel moderator, began the discussion with a description
of her experiences with the handwriting recognition performance of
the Apple Newton. In an informal test of the Newton, in which she
gave the machine only "one chance" at recognizing each word, the
Newton's accuracy was only about 40 percent, she said.

The Newton did better with shorter words, and with numbers, Wohl
added. In response to a question from the audience, she replied
that she carried out a tutorial that comes with the Newton, but did
not carry out any other handwriting recognition training procedures
before conducting the test.

Apple, said Wohl, has been citing 80 percent accuracy for the
Newton. "We're not sure what (accuracy) people will find
acceptable. I'm certain that it's below 100 percent, but not below
90 percent," she commented.

Dao and Pachikov each explained the difficulties involved in
developing a handwriting recognition system, and what can be done
to overcome some of them.

"A handwriting recognizer is much more complex than any word
processor, spreadsheet or database," said Dao. Although, as
children, people learn the same basic handwriting styles, they tend
to distort these styles in individual ways. "I'll guarantee you
that French people and Californians write very differently," he
illustrated.

The distortion problem can become even more serious in mobile
applications, he added. "If you think people `distort' when
they're sitting at a desk, you should see what they do when they're
walking around taking inventory," he remarked.

One difficulty is that people do not space uniformly between
letters in a word, or between words in a sentence, said Dao.
Often, when people print, they will connect certain letters in a
word, but not the others, he added.

To help deal with these issues, CIC recently started building
"additional intelligence," in the form of "shape recognizers," into
its handwriting recognizer, he said. Right now, CIC's handwriting
recognizer works with printed handwriting only, as opposed to
cursive, he said.

"But we're still not there yet (with handwriting recognition)," he
admitted. "The systems are not performing as well as that lump of
flesh between your eyes."

In contrast, ParaGraph's handwriting recognizer are designed for
cursive as well as printed handwriting, said Pachikov. One major
problem, he noted, is the inability of current handwriting
recognition systems to deal with context.

To demonstrate what he meant, Pachikov mimicked a hand printed
e-mail message he had received that morning, and showed it on the
overhead projector. If you isolated one of the words from the rest
of the sentence, the word looked liked "MStead." But if you viewed
the word in the context of the sentence, it was clearly "Instead."

In developing the handwriting recognition system for the Newton,
ParaGraph presented a question to Apple, he said. "We asked
whether the handwriting recognition should be made to be 100
percent accurate for 70 percent of the people, or 70 percent
accurate for 100 percent of the people," he stated. Apple chose
the latter alternative for the initial Newton platform, he told the
audience.

On questioning from Newsbytes, Pachikov explained that while only
seven "features" or "parameters" are needed to recognize the
handwriting of 70 percent of the population, an additional 57 are
needed to recognize the handwriting of the other 30 percent of the
population.

The extra features consume more memory and thereby slow the speed
of handwriting recognition, he added. More RAM and greater
velocity help to "compensate" in the handwriting recognition
process, he maintained.

After the panel discussion, Dao told Newsbytes that Nestor Inc., is
now working on neural networking technology designed to address the
issue of context. If attached to the back end of a handwriting
recognition system, this kind of technology could be useful in
solving the problem, he told Newsbytes.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930903)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00029)

Northern Telecom Closing 2 Canadian Plants 09/03/93
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Northern Telecom
Ltd., will close plants in London, Ontario, and Amherst, Nova
Scotia, as part of a worldwide cost-cutting announced earlier
this summer. A total of 782 workers will be affected.

Northern Telecom announced it will close a plant in London that
employs 705 people and one in Amherst where 77 people work.

Manufacturing of three product lines will move from London to
other facilities, company spokeswoman Maureen O'Brien said. Vista
telephone sets will be built in Calgary, with some of the
plastics work turned over to an outside contractor. Making of
basic business phones will move to Toronto. The product
management, design and engineering of Northern's Millenium pay
phones will also move to Calgary, while support for these phones
will go to Toronto.

Millenium manufacturing is to shift to an unspecified location to
be announced early in 1994. That site might or might not be in
Canada, O'Brien said.

Northern had already cut 415 jobs at the London plant this
spring, blaming declining demand for some of its older
residential telephone sets.

The Amherst plant makes older telephones and components and the
work it does has been declining in recent years, she said.

Both plants will shut down by the end of 1994, O'Brien said. Many
employees at the two plants will lose their jobs, though O'Brien
said transfers to other Northern sites are possible for those who
want to move and have skills the company needs.

These cuts follow the earlier announcement that Northern will
close a repair facility in Montreal by early 1994. Fifteen jobs
will be lost in that move, O'Brien said, while the remaining 140
employees at the site will move to an existing location in nearby
Lachine, Quebec.

More cuts are still to come. Earlier this year Northern
announced, along with a US$1.03-billion second-quarter loss, that
it would cut some 5,200 jobs, or roughly nine percent of its work
force by the end of 1994. About 2,000 of those jobs will be lost
in Canada, the company said.

(Grant Buckler/19930903/Press Contact: Maureen O'Brien, Northern
Telecom, 416-238-7206)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00030)

NYNEX Buys Contel Northeast Cellular Interests 09/03/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- NYNEX bought out
cellular interests from Contel throughout the Northeast,
including at least one system outside its regular New York-New
England service area.

NYNEX Mobile gained a total of just 1.2 million potential
customers from the transactions, the financial terms of which
were not disclosed. When AT&T bought McCaw Cellular, it was
valued at over $200 per potential customer. Included are the
cities of Binghamton and Elmira, New York, Burlington, Vermont
and Manchester, New Hampshire, as well as minor interests in a
system around Poughkeepsie and in Orange County, New York. Rural
service areas, without major cities, were purchased in New
Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and -- most interesting --
Pennsylvania. But even in that case, the "wireline" franchise had
been held by Contel, according to Jim Gerace of NYNEX, so NYNEX
will be able to use the same MobiLink trademarks and roaming
agreements it's using throughout its main service area.

Contel won the interests because it ran the wired phones in
those areas when cellular licenses were given out. The company,
which was 90 percent acquired by GTE a few years ago, said it was
dedicated to a "strategic cluster" philosophy, and the
Northeast properties were thus too dispersed to keep. All this
is subject to approval by state and federal regulators, but no
problem is expected.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930903/Press Contact: Contel Cellular, Susan
Asher, 404-804-3800; NYNEX, Jim Gerace, 914/365-7712)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00031)

Bell Atlantic Name Change 09/03/93
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Following the
footsteps of US West and Ameritech, Bell Atlantic will rename
its operating units. Gone will be the names C&P Telephone,
Diamond States Telephone, New Jersey Bell and Pennsylvania Bell.
In will be the name Bell Atlantic, followed by the name of a
state.

The old corporate monikers are remnants of the Bell System, where
small operating units were created, all of which were a part of a
much larger AT&T. Those companies were recombined on the Bell
System's break-up in 1984 into seven regional companies, and for
years did business under their old names, just for different
parent companies.

US West quickly did away with units like Northwestern Bell,
switching to its new logo. Earlier this year, Ameritech
announced it would get rid of its five statewide units,
all of which have the "Bell" tag, in favor of a single
"Ameritech" identity. Now Bell Atlantic is following that trend.

Like US West, Bell Atlantic says using a single name will be more
efficient for advertising purposes. Ameritech made the change as
part of a broader reorganization, seeking to accept competition
in its local service areas in exchange for broad deregulation,
including the right to enter the long distance business.

The move is expected to spread nationwide as the regional Bells
face strong competitors, and try to clear up blurry identities.
In Bell Atlantic's region, for instance, many of its cellular
properties go against McCaw Cellular, which will rename them AT&T
after its deal to be acquired is consummated. When Bell Atlantic
offers cable television service, as it hopes, it will be
competing with Southwestern Bell. By putting everything it does
under one brand name, the company hopes for a clearer consumer
identification.

As part of the move, Bell Atlantic hired Landor Associates, an
expert in corporate identity, to redesign its logo, which is
currently just the name of the company and the old Bell symbol.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930903/Press Contact: Bell Atlantic, Larry
Plumb, 703-974-2814)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00032)

Southeast SMR Merger Moves Ahead 09/03/93
GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- Dial Page
Inc., Transit Communications Corp., and Advanced MobileComm of
North Carolina Inc., announced a definitive merger agreement to
create the third-largest SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio) network
in the US.

Specialized Mobile Radio channels were first given out in the
early 1980s. They were originally used by taxi fleets and
ambulance services, which erected a single antennae within
metropolitan areas to serve the frequency. But Federal Express
turned a large number of SMR licenses into a national digital
network, and a few years ago Motorola announced a system called
Enhanced SMR, which could turn the frequencies into the
functioning equivalent of digital cellular calling channels,
lacking only roaming.

Since then, there has been a major move by SMR licensees to
build networks of licenses and use the ESMR technology to
compete in the cellular market. NexTel, formerly Fleet Call, is
the largest of these operators, having just turned its Southern
California market on this week, in a "beta test" mode.

The combined entity here, Dial Page Inc., will be the third
largest operator of SMR channels in the US, after Motorola and
NexTel, with channels in markets holding over 30 million people.
The company will have over 260,000 customers in the Southeast
using over 4,000 channels, which will be transformed using
Motorola technology into an ESMR network serving Alabama, the
Carolinas, and parts of Florida. The merger is a tax-free
reorganization of interests.

The company will compete with NexTel once it buys American Mobile
Systems Inc., a leading operator of SMR frequency networks in
Florida.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930903/Press Contact: Thomas A. Grina, Dial
Page, 803-242-0234)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00033)

American Airlines Chooses Claircom For Airphones 09/03/93
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 3 (NB) -- GTE Airfone, which
dominated the airplane-ground telephony market in the 1980s and
is slowly moving toward digital technology in its systems, has
recently seen the US air industry slowly move away from it.
That move accelerated with a vengeance as a competitor, Claircom,
announced that American Airlines will take out the GTE Airfones
in its 650 planes and replace them with its digital AirOne
service.

While few in the industry will discuss it publicly, the issue
here is purely financial. Airlines win royalties on calls made
through phones on their airliners, and GTE is apparently getting
outbid by new players. Claircom Communications, owned by McCaw,
soon to be a part of AT&T, and General Motors' Hughes Network
Systems unit, are the biggest new players. Claircom's service is sold
under the name AirOne.

With a digital network, AirOne can offer fax and data services as
well as voice calls, which usually cost passengers about $2 per
minute. So in time will GTE's Airfone, and so will InFlight
Phone, a new company formed by Airfone's founder. But both are
apparently being outbid by Claircom, which in recent months won
the digital business of Alaska Air, Northwest, and Southwest
Airlines, none of which had previously had phones in their
planes. "In any contract like this there's always a revenue
sharing arrangement," explained Claircom spokesman Todd
Wolfenbarger to Newsbytes.

American, however, is a bigger deal, with 650 airliners, and
extensive international routes. Plus, American will take out one
vendor's phones, in this case GTE's, and replace them with
another vendor's, namely Claircom. USAir signed the first digital
telephone contract, with In-Flight Phone, and its 412 planes are
due to have the systems installed by the end of 1994. The In-
Flight system includes video screens on each seat-back that show
connecting flight information, weather and news, even some live
TV broadcasts.

Ironically, Airfone's founder had sold the company to GTE in the
early 80s and later left it, charging GTE was not investing in
the venture in order to limit its royalty exposure to him. When
he started InFlight, GTE sued over the "no-compete" clause in
the contract. Now, it appears, both are being out-bid.

Concluded Wolfenbarger, "There's a second generation in air-
ground communications going on now. All the systems are digital.
The entire industry is moving toward digital. So you'll see
carriers re-examine their arrangements."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930903/Press Contact: Todd Wolfenbarger,
Claircom, 206-828-1851)