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/1994/mar_apr_94/nb030494

Text File | 1994-03-12 | 105KB | 2,217 lines

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00001)

Texas Instruments Japan Cuts 200 Employees 03/04/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Texas Instruments Japan
reduced its headcount by 200 employees at the end of
1993 to weather an industry slump. However, TI Japan
also had record sales in 1993.

The 200 who left took advantage of a voluntary retirement plan
for employees who are 50 years old and over last year. Under the
plan, the employees received special retirement benefits.
The reduction of 200 people leaves Texas Instruments Japan
with about 5,300 employees.

Last year, Texas Instruments Japan claimed 180 billion yen
($1.8 billion) in sales for fiscal 1993.

Meanwhile, Texas Instruments Japan foresees Japan's semiconductor
market will grow 15 percent to $27 billion this year. This
is $3 billion more than in 1993. This growth rate is higher
than the European market, but is lower than that of the rest
of the world including the US and the Asia-Pacific
market. In the US, it is expected to increase 20 percent to
$30 billion, which is $5 billion more than in 1993. In the
Asia-Pacific market excluding Japan, it will reach $17 billion,
which is about a 20-percent increase over 1993, says TI.

In Europe, the chip market is expected to grow 15 percent to
$17 billion, which is $2 billion more than in 1993.
TI expects the economy will be still slow in Europe although
telecommunication may remain strong.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940304/Press Contact: Texas
Instruments Japan, [phone], Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00002)

Australia - Phone Company Upset Over CD-ROM Phone Books 03/04/94
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Australia's main carrier
Telecom has threatening to take legal action against companies it
claims are pirating Yellow and White Pages data. Telecom national
manager of directory solution, Brian Smith, said Telecom was
concerned that companies are taking printed phone books, rekeying
them in countries like the Philippines, and then selling the
database on CD-ROM.

He is particularly concerned that some of these products enabled
reverse searching of the phone book, something which Telecom
itself is not allowed to offer to clients. Smith was speaking
at the launch of a new version of Telecom Business Finder -
Telecom's own version of the Yellow Pages on CD-ROM. It
has 930,000 listings taken from 55 volumes of the book from
around Australia. It also has version 1.1 of Tracker software
from Softcode, with merge and purge facility and DDE links to
Accpac accounting software from Computer Associates. The bundle
retails for AUS$2199 (around US$1600).

(Computer Daily News and Paul Zucker/19940304)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00003)

Australia - Regional Hub In Telstra/Data General Deal 03/04/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Data General has
announced that Australia's main carrier Telstra (known in the
domestic market as Telecom) would provide a telecommunications hub to
support DG's activities in the South Asia-Pacific region.

The Minister for Communications and the Arts Michael Lee said at
the announcement that Data General's decision represented a
significant further step in positioning Australia as the preferred
location for headquarters in the region.

"Australia's business environment for regional service centers
is becoming increasingly attractive to large corporations seeking
greater access to markets in the Asia-Pacific region."
He added, "Not only do we have a competitive telecommunications
sector which offers innovative and sophisticated services, but we
have become increasingly strong in software design and application."

Data General and Telstra have developed the service to cover
Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, with
links to the US. It can be extended to other Asian centers as
necessary. DG's MD Philip Kerrigan said Telstra's comprehensive
presence in the region - a unique position among Asian carriers -
was a strong deciding factor in siting the hub in Sydney.

Sydney-based software development company McNamee Sutton and
Partners designed and developed the Masterpack software that DG
is using for its Field Data Communications Center. The software is
Unix-based and covers accounting, distribution, service, marketing,
production and contract management. It was developed in System
Builder. Kerrigan said that is likely to be adopted by DG's
other communication centers in Europe and the US.

(Paul Zucker/19940304/Contact: McNamee Sutton and Partners tel.
[phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00004)

Lotus Sells Realtime Financial Spreadsheet To Market Arts 03/04/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Lotus has
signed an agreement to sell its Lotus Realtime financial
spreadsheet and companion technologies to Market Arts, a software
developer and value-added reseller (VAR) specializing in financial
applications. The two companies expect to complete the deal by
March 31.

First introduced in 1990, Realtime is a graphical spreadsheet aimed
at securities traders, portfolio managers, and analysts in
commercial banks, brokerage houses, money management firms and
other trading organizations, who analyze real-time data to make
investment decisions.

The sale of Realtime to Market Arts reflects Lotus' current efforts
to concentrate its energies on workgroup and desktop computing,
according to Ed Gillis, Lotus' senior vice president for finance
and administration and CFO (chief financial officer).

"We believe the interest of Realtime customers will be served
better by an organization focused exclusively on the financial
services industry," he noted. "As a value-added reseller of
Realtime, Market Arts has demonstrated an excellent understanding
of what customers are trying to achieve by implementing Realtime
tools."

Barbara Cook, senior vice president of Market Arts' Realtime
Financial Products Group, said that demand for realtime technology
continues to experience strong growth in the financial industry.

"The integration of Realtime into our offerings of software,
customized application development, and consulting services will
allow us to provide customers with comprehensive resources to meet
their strategic needs," she maintained.

Market Arts delivers packaged and custom applications for
integrating, manipulating, and analyzing data pertaining to
international financial markets.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940303/Reader contacts: Lotus Development
Corporation, 617-577-8500; Market Arts Software Inc., 212-732-1222;
Press contacts: Bryan Simmons, Lotus, 617-693-1697; Barbara Cook,
Market Arts, 212-732-1222, extension 308)


(REVIEW)(APPLE)(SFO)(00005)

Review of - The Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector 03/04/94

Runs on: Macintosh, 4MB RAM, CD-ROM drive

From: Sanctuary Woods, 1124 Fort St., Victoria, BC, Canada V8V 3K8
[phone]

Price: $59.95

PUMA rating: 1.5 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by Naor Wallach

Summary: An adventure game that has you trying to retrieve Dracula's
Coffin. The game has several good ideas and has great graphics.
However, it has technical and gaming problems.

=======

REVIEW

=======

"The Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector and Yondo: The Vampire's
Coffin" is the first adventure in what is supposed to be a semi
tongue-in-cheek collection of graphical adventure games. One
controls the activities of two heroes. Victor Vector
is a human being who is long on brawn and low on brains. Yondo is his
Saint Bernard sidekick who specializes in making snide and sarcastic
remarks. The player is called the Archivist. Your name comes from
the fact that you are in the employ of a museum that collects
strange artifacts. In this game you control our two heroes in
their quest to recover Dracula's coffin from its resting place
and bring it to the museum.

The program's window looks like futuristic TV set with a series of
small buttons around a smaller screen. The main activities
happen within the screen, but the buttons that surround it
are to access a help sequence, a status indicator, summaries
of our two heroes, and offer ways of saving and restoring saved
games. Another button brings up an inventory of items that our
heroes carry, and there is also a set of navigational buttons.
Controlling the game is done with the mouse. No key presses are
necessary.

The game starts with an introductory scenario, then one moves
to a spooky country scene with a dilapidated village at one side and
an even more dilapidated castle at the other end. Listening in to the
conversation of our two heroes gives one a clue as to what needs to
happen next. So does the single line of text that describes the
scene.

The game is on CD-ROM to accommodate all the graphics --
these are richly done and clearly created by a very
talented artistic crew. There is also a series of
QuickTime clips.

In the course of performing this review, I found myself
frustrated, and finally angry. This program has a lot of
good ideas and clearly a lot of effort went into creating it.
However, there are several factors that make this program
practically unusable and not worth buying. You have already
read how impressed I was with the graphics. The sound track
and sound bites were also well done so obviously those have
nothing to do with my problems with this program. (I must admit
that the quality of the dialog leaves a lot to be desired).

These were the problems -- the program is buggy, slow, and
story flow is illogical. Let me cover these one at a time in
reverse order.

Program flow - when I play an adventure game, I'd like to believe
that the game is somewhat logically laid out. I'd like the assurance
that if I use a certain door to exit a room, that door will always
take me to a certain location. In this program, that does not appear
to be the case. On many occasions I've used the same door
only to be transported to a different location every time. This
makes it very difficult to know what to do next. Also, the
QuickTime clips did not seem to add anything to the storyline.

Slow speed - Most computer users get impatient with their machines at
some point. There never seems to be an operation that happens quickly
enough. However, that is hardly the excuse for this program. First,
when you start it up, expect to watch for about three minutes
as your screen seems to go psychedelic on you, then blank out, then
come back in various shades, and then go through that cycle again a
couple more times. Once you are actually playing, the soundtrack is
choppy as it reads more data from the disk. Certain scenes will
take forever to get started. Finally, when it's time to see a
QuickTime clip, better go for a cup of coffee. And lest you think
that this is just sour grapes from some poor schmo who is running
this program on a Macintosh Classic, be aware that I was using a
Centris 610 with a fast NEC CD-ROM drive. I suppose that if I had
enough hard disk space to accommodate the complete contents of the
CD-ROM, I wouldn't have had a problem.

Bugs - This is the final and most severe problem that I encountered.
On many occasions, the program would simply hang up on me. In some
cases, the sound would not play. In other cases, I would click on one
of the action buttons and strange things would cause the machine to
act in funny ways. A few times the program simply quit and I got
that most informative message "Application Has Unexpectedly
Terminated." Great.

And if all of the above is not enough, I had to return the first disc
since it did not work at all. The second disc that I received was
supposed to have numerous bug fixes over the initial version but
obviously still suffered from a myriad of problems.

In conclusion, Victor Vector and Yondo needs a lot more work before
it should be released as a commercial product. If you are looking to
try out your new CD-ROM drive find another product.

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

PUMA RATINGS

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

PERFORMANCE: 1 Very slow at times and full of bugs.

USEFULNESS: 1 As a game it has some good thoughts. However, getting
to actually play this beast is more trouble than its worth.

MANUAL: 1 There isn't one and it's needed.

AVAILABILITY: 3 The game is available since Sanctuary Woods has
signed a distribution agreement with Electronic Arts. However, the
company is difficult to reach and you will need to talk to the
technical support people very frequently. Needless to say, they do
not maintain a toll-free number for this.

(Naor Wallach/19931101)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(LAX)(00006)

Review of - Cardgrabber, 03/04/94

Runs on: 386 or higher IBM and compatible personal computers
(PCs) running Microsoft Windows 3.1.

From: Pacific Crest Technologies, 4000 MacArthur Blvd., Suite
6800, West Tower, Newport Beach, CA 92660, tel [phone], fax
714-261-6468, toll-free 800-870-3391

Price: $395

PUMA Rating: 3 (1 lowest, 4 highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Linda Rohrbough, 03/04/94

Summary: Cardgrabber is a perfect example of technology
specialization, and it has an elegant design, but the
optical character recognition technology falls short.

======

REVIEW

======

If you listen to analysts at high-tech trade shows talk about the
future, they'll tell you to expect more and more specialized
versions of technology we already have. For example, take a
radio. We don't have one all-purpose radio. Each of us, I'm sure,
has several radios, each suited to a different purpose. There's
the portable radio for emergencies, the digital radio in the car
with push buttons for our favorite stations, the radio in our
home stereo system, the radio in the Walkman, and ... well you
get the idea.

One of the first products to come along illustrating this type of
specialization is the Cardgrabber from Pacific Crest
Technologies. This is an optical scanner for the express purpose
of scanning business cards. A nifty little gizmo not much bigger
than a business card itself, the Cardreader connects to the
serial port of a personal computer running Microsoft Windows and
the idea is it inputs information from business cards into a
database, so you don't have to. Its makers would have you believe
you just insert a business card face down, and voila, in just
over eight seconds the information from the card is in a database,
ready to use.

Is it that easy? Unfortunately, no. Is it easier than doing the
same thing by hand? That one is a tough question, but if pressed,
I'd have to say yes. The unit itself uses optical character
recognition (OCR) technology, taking a digitized "picture" of the
card that gets stored away, and then attempting to "read" the
information on the card and place it in the correct fields in a
Microsoft Windows database.

The products software interface is an elegant one that takes all
of ten minutes to learn to use. In addition, the product's
designers have thought of nearly everything, including the
ability to scan and store those notes you took on the other side
of the card with the card they belong to.

The problem comes in where you'd expect to have problems, and
that's in the OCR. If you have a lot of very straight-forward,
plane-Jane business cards, you're set. This product will not only
scan them correctly most of the time, it'll put the data in the
right places in the fields. But if you have business cards with
lots of color, logos, and photos, you're going to be spending
some time entering or re-entering the data.

Some error correction is built-in. For example, if you scan a
card upside down, the software can turn it over before you ask it
to OCR the scanned image. It also saves the scanned images, which
means you can go back to the original if you give up and just
decide to scan cards without making sure the data is entered
right. Also, if the data is incorrectly entered in the wrong
field or the software didn't know what field to put it in, it's
easy to move with a point and click mouse operation to the
correct field.

But a Windows interface for a data entry program is cumbersome at
best, in my opinion, especially when there's something that needs
to be corrected. This is mostly because it takes time, squinting,
and painful precision get the cursor in the right place and to
move your hand back and forth from the keyboard to the mouse.

I could see myself falling quite rapidly into not attempting to
further recognize the cards and just scanning them, while I
maintain a "trip to the dentist" kind of guilt complex thinking
"what if I ever need to do a mailing?" The makers of the product
seem to have understood that might happen as well, so there's a
feature that allows you to view multiple cards on the screen in
groups of four, six, or sixteen. When you see the card you want,
you can double-click on it and view the single view of just that
card.

Of course, you can do all the things you would expect to be able
to do, such as importing and exporting the database data in all
the common formats, setting up categories and placing the cards
into one or more as they're scanned, and printing. In fact, you
can make your own Rolodex or Dayrunner pages.

The unit is also billed as something you can stick in a
suitcase and take to a trade show and I could see that easily. Be
prepared to use some disk space. It took 5 megabytes (MB) on my
laptop for starters and had gobbled up nearly 17 MB after I had
scanned the stack of cards I've been saving.

However, I think the best return on investment would come from
giving it to a secretary or someone paid hourly to do data entry
from business cards. That's where you'll recoup the dollars spent
on the unit the quickest.

So, it seems for now that you just can't escape doing some data
entry. But while Cardgrabber isn't perfect, Pacific Crest
certainly deserves credit for an excellent start on what could
become an office "appliance."

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

PUMA RATING

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

PERFORMANCE: 2.0 While the software and hardware is elegant, the
OCR is still lacking.

USEFULNESS: 2.0 Again, this one is iffy for me because there's so
much hand-work in entering more ornate business cards.

MANUAL: 4.0 An excellent job here. You'll be up and running in no
time.

AVAILABILITY: 4.0 The distribution network on this product appears
to be good. The company takes all major credit cards and has a
toll-free number. Also, Cardgrabber is available at
the introductory price of $349 until the end of March, company
officials said.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930326/Press Contact: Steve Leon, Technopolis
for Pacific Crest, tel [phone]; Pacific Crest Technologies,
tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact, Pacific Crest
Technologies, 800-870-3391/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MSP)(00007)

Newsbytes Seeks Public Comment 03/04/94
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Newsbytes
News Network is preparing a new promotional brochure to send
out to those interested in Newsbytes. We would like your
comments -- what is your opinion of our service? If we use
your comment, attributed to you, in our brochure, we would be
pleased to offer you a free Volume IV CD-ROM, which has
Newsbytes' complete archives, for your help.

One or two sentences about the quality of our publication,
how it benefits you in your job, or how it stands out from
other computer industry source reporting would be appreciated.
Please provide your full name and job title, as well as
a phone number we can contact you.

Please address your comment to [e-mail]
(Internet), NEWSBYTES1 (Applelink or Bix), WWOODS (MCI Mail),
72241,337 (Compuserve), or NEWSBYTES on America Online. Include
shipping address.

The Newsbytes CD-ROM is expected to ship this month.

(Wendy Woods/19940304)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00008)

Thinking Machines' Faster Supercomputer 03/04/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Thinking
Machines has unveiled the CM-5E, a parallel processing system
billed as outperforming competing supercomputers on industry
standard parallel benchmarks for 32-, 64-, and 128-node
configurations.

Thinking Machines' new supercomputer is an enhanced implementation
of the company's existing CM-5 system that makes use of the
SuperSPARC microprocessor, faster vector units, and an improved
network interface, officials said.

"We basically sped up all aspects of an application with the new
node: vector computations, scalar computations, and
communications. We are seeing speed-ups ranging from 25 percent to
100 percent on many applications," explained Dave Hartig, director
of the CM-5 product line.

Like the CM-5, the CM-5E is able to handle not just parallel
timesharing, but parallel I/O (input/output), according to the
company. Because the CM-5E is based on the CM-5, users can add CM-
5E nodes to their current systems.

In benchmark tests carried out at the NASA Ames Research Center,
the CM-5E outperformed IBM's SP1 system, the Cray T3D, Intel's
Paragon, and Kendall Square Research's KSR1, officials maintained.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940304/Reader contact: Thinking Machines
Corporation, 617-234-1000; Press contacts: Martha Keeley, Thinking
Machines, 617-234-5502; Erika Schutz, Mullen Public Relations for
Thinking Machines, 508-468-1155)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEN)(00009)

 ****Microsoft, TCI To Jointly Test Interactive Cable TV 03/04/94
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation has announced an agreement in principle with
TeleCommunications Inc (TCI) that calls for the two companies to
jointly test an interactive cable television system that uses
Microsoft software.

The two-phase test is intended to determine how well Microsoft's
software architecture works for interactive broadband networking on
TCI's upgraded digital interactive networks. Microsoft is also
developing software that will allow office equipment such as fax
machines, printers, copiers and computers to communicate.

The two companies say phase one will begin in the fourth quarter of
this year. It will link TCI and Microsoft employees in the greater
Seattle, Washington area in a test of the architecture and operating
system software. Phase two, scheduled for early 1995, will expand
the system to include a marketing test of interactive TV services
among TCI residential cable customers in the Seattle and Denver
areas.

TCI President John Malone says the tests represent the first step
in the development and deployment of equipment and software in the
company's lane on the much-touted information superhighway. "We
will be working with Microsoft to refine the technology and to learn
what our customers want from interactive television - what types of
service they prefer, how they use them and what features they find
helpful."

Microsoft is the computer software company that produces MS-DOS,
the operating system used in millions of personal computers as well
as Microsoft Windows, the graphical user interface that allows
computer users to perform many tasks with the click of a mouse in
place of the arcane commands formerly required on DOS-based systems.
As reported earlier by Newsbytes, Microsoft is also developing a
low-cost video server designed to deliver computerized video and
interactive programming.

TCI is the nation's largest cable system operator, serving customers
in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as well as
several foreign countries. Until recently TCI planned to merge with
Liberty Media Corporation, a Bell Atlantic Corporation affiliate. The
company has said it will spend $2 billion to upgrade its cable network
as it prepares to provide interactive services on the promised
500-channel cable system of the future.

(Jim Mallory/19940304/Press contact: Bob Thomson, Telecommunications
Inc, 303-267-5220 or Marty Taucher, Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080)


(EDITORIAL)(TELECOM)(DEN)(00010)

Editorial - The Info Superhighway, Potholes Or Autobahn? 03/04/94
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- By Jim
Mallory. Unless you live in a cave and eat berries and roots,
you've heard about the information superhighway the Clinton
administration is touting, but most of us probably don't know
where the on-ramps are, if there are any gas stations, or even
if it goes in the direction we want to go.

The image that comes to mind for most of us when we hear that
overworked term "information superhighway" (do you still say
"user friendly"?) is probably an invisible data network that
spreads across the nation much like the telephone circuits we
now take for granted, offering access to a nearly unlimited
number of television channels, electronic ordering of goods, and
electronic receipt of library books and newspapers that include
just the stories and pictures we are interested in. We will receive
those and other services on a personal computer or a giant wall
screen on which we will be able to view our favorite movies,
ordering them to be shown at a time convenient to us rather than
when the movie provider decides to show it.

We will be able to talk with a business colleague about a floor plan
or a schematic diagram of the latest electronic device while both
parties viewed the document simultaneously, listen to the
candidates present their views on local issues without the
expense of having to travel the land, do most of our banking
chores, and even vote.

If that's your image of the information superhighway, all those
things and a lot more are already possible or are being developed
or test marketed right now. The problem is the method of delivery,
the roadbed of the highway. Big and little players in the game are
scrambling for position in the multi-billion dollar industry of
information delivery, with companies as diverse as MCI and the
electric power companies vying for the right of way. Phone
companies have lots of money lying around, and faced with the
spectre of the public not being satisfied with just voice
communications, are rushing to carve out their place in the
market.

Like any highway, there have to be rules of the road, and Congress
is working to speed passage of telecommunications reform bills
that will allow competition between phone and cable companies to
provide all this information and entertainment. Of course highways
need traffic cops, so the FBI and the Justice Department are
already working on the legislation they want that would give
government investigators the power to tap into the information
being delivered to the consumer.

One proposal in the draft legislation would allow the FBI to require
the service provider to deliver the contents of messages and call
setup information to a remote government site, a concept that
invokes the image of Big Brother Is Watching all over again. That
promises a confrontation between law enforcement officials and
civil liberties advocates. Jerry Berman, executive director of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, told reporters recently that the
proposed law is a potential blueprint for an electronic surveillance
society.

Also a sticking point is a proposal to require that communications
equipment be designed to guarantee that investigators would
have access to it, and would impose heavy fines for non-
compliance. In some instances the government would have the
right to close the doors of a firm that fails to provide the
government with the "keys" the government gumshoes want. The
federal law enforcement agencies probably proposed those
requirements after they found out it is a lot harder to tap calls
made on cellular phones than it is on wired telephone systems.

That idea is likely to arouse the indignation of just about every
user. Remember the recent instance in which one of the well
known online computer services was discovered to be
programmed to make some changes to the hard disk of at least
some users? Talk about outrage! And what if the telemarketers
who now interrupt the sports event, your dinner, or the movie
you've been waiting for all week, find out how to cut into your
viewing choices uninvited?

There is already a limited electronic freeway system in place,
called the Internet. Originating as an experiment by the US
Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency
(DARPA) to support military research, today Internet is a collection
of computer networks that connect an estimated 15 million users
through fiber-optic cable, phone lines, microwave satellites and
other means. No longer the realm of scientists and researchers,
more and more private users are struggling up the on-ramps of
Internet. Unlike the telephone system, you don't just call up
Internet and ask to get a number, and a number of companies
known as regional providers have sprung up that make a living by
connecting the individual user or company to a national service
provider.

Internet and the proposed superhighway both pose at least one
similar problem, how to navigate on the system. Without help you
could end up "channel surfing" through hundreds of selections,
with as many as 500 television and information channels from
which to choose. Can you imagine the size of the TV Guide?

If you're an information junkie, or even a movie junkie, the
information superhighway Vice President Al Gore is talking about
as he travels around the country could be a boon. But for the
person who doesn't get past the sports pages of the newspaper
and visits the local library only occasionally - a surprisingly high
percentage of the population, according to research - is the
project just a solution looking for a problem?

(Jim Mallory/19940304)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00011)

US, Japan Calm After Super 301 Decision 03/04/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Both Washington and
Tokyo are using calm diplomatic language following President Bill
Clinton's executive order reinstating the Super 301 trade
retaliation program. Clinton's move was a further tightening of
the political screws in an attempt to pressure Japan into
concessions on US imports.

Neither side wants to see the latest move in the bilateral chess
match over trade between Japan and the US erupt into a full-
fledged trade war. Clinton went out of his way to call Prime
Minister Morihiro Hosokawa before signing the executive order, in
order to give his Japanese counterpart advance warning. The
conversation was "frank and forthright," Clinton said.

In signing the executive order, Clinton put his decision in the
context of past and ongoing multilateral and bilateral trade
talks. "This administration is committed to opening market for
high quality goods and services produced by competitive American
workers," Clinton said. "That was the goal of NAFTA, the GATT
negotiations, the [Asia-Pacific Economic Conference], the US-
Japan framework talks, and a number of other steps my
administration has taken."

The Japanese embassy in Washington put out a statement shortly
after Clinton's signing, saying the government, "in recognition
of the importance of smooth bilateral economic relations between
the two largest economies in the world on the development of the
global economy, and the responsibilities of both countries in
this regard, strongly hopes that the government of the United
States will take a constructive manner, and for its part,
recognizes the need for a restrained response."

Both Japan and South Korea objected to the Clinton action on the
grounds that it is a violation of the agreements reached in the
Uruguay Round of the GATT. Japan said it was concerned at
Washington's action "at a time when we have essentially agreed
upon these new international trade rules."

The Clinton move does nothing immediately. It begins a process,
starting with a review of trade practices and publication of a
list of countries and practices that are offensive. That could
come as early as the end of March.

Then, a negotiating process between the US and the targeted
countries begins. That will take another 18 months. Only after
that period expires is the US authorized to impose tariffs of
up to 100 percent on imports from the targeted countries.

Clinton's actions also have a domestic political component, as
does nearly everything in this administration. With 1994 a
political election year, the action could help shore up Democrats
running in blue collar and labor districts, where there is a
strong anti-Japan sentiment. Ford, for example, quickly put out a
statement saying the Clinton action "sends a strong and
appropriate message to any country whose business and trade
practices serve as barriers to US products."

(Kennedy Maize/19940304/Contacts: Embassy of Japan, tel 202-939-
6700, Al Chambers, Ford, 313-322-1524)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00012)

Baby Bells On The Internet 03/04/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- The MFJ Task Force,
an ad hoc committee of the several regional Bell operating
companies, which is working on telecommunications issues in
Washington, is now on the Internet.

According to Jeff Richards of the MFJ Task Force, the new
Internet server has already had traffic. "We will be running our
first statistics on use this week," Richards told Newsbytes.

Richards says the task force has a large number of documents
available over the Internet for those interested in
telecommunications and the current legislative activity in
Congress, including the task force's summaries of the Brooks-
Dingell (H.R. 3626) of Markey-Fields (H.R. 3636) bills. There are
also texts on distance-learning, telemedicine, jobs and other
issues related to the information superhighway.

The Baby Bells formed the MFJ Task Force to lobby on removing the
restrictions contained in Judge Harold Greene's 1982 decision
breaking up the AT&T system and the 1984 Cable Act. MFJ stands
for "Modified Final Judgment," Richards explained, the formal
name of the 1982 consent decree.

The regional Bell companies want to be able to enter the long
distance market and the manufacturing business, both barred by
the 1982 consent decree. They also want to be able to provide
cable television service, which is blocked by the 1984 law.
"Joining the Internet community represents another expression of
the Bill companies' commitment to building and using the
information superhighway," Richards said.

The MFJ server is "bell.com." It can be reached by "gophering" to
it. It is also listed in the Internet gopher list, "All the
Gophers in the World." For file downloads, the FTP site can be
reach by typing "FTP bell.com" and logging in as "anonymous."
Internet users can also send E-mail to "[e-mail]."

(Kennedy Maize/19940404/Contact: Jeff Richards, MFJ Task Force,
tel [phone])


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

FAA Fires Managers As Computer Contract Goes Sour 03/04/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Heads are rolling at
the Federal Aviation Administration after FAA Administrator David
Hinson concluded that a contract with Loral Federal Systems
(formerly IBM Federal Systems) to modernize the air traffic
control system has gone badly awry. The six-year-old contract
could be as much as $2.6 billion over budget and 31 months behind
schedule.

Hinson is firing the top managers of the project, the Advanced
Automation System, which could end up costing from $6.5 billion
to $7.3 billion. "This is unacceptable," he said in a statement.
"Immediate action is needed." Transportation Secretary Federico
Pena called the results of a study Hinson commissioned to examine
the project "appalling and unacceptable."

At New York City-based Loral, Gerard Corbett, vice president of
corporate communications, told Newsbytes, "We regard the FAA
administrator's actions as constructive. They are consistent with
Loral's point of view and interests."

FAA began laying out the system design in the early 1980s,
following the 1981 walkout by 11,400 air traffic controllers. The
idea was that greater automation would mean fewer workers and
allow more traffic while maintaining safety. IBM won the contract
for the job in 1988, with an estimated total cost of around $4
billion.

The backbone of the project is to phase out elderly mainframe
computers and replace them with more powerful desktop
workstations, linked together in one of the largest and most
complex networks in the world. But the FAA made repeated changes
in the design and the IBM software developed problems.

In late 1992, the FAA told IBM to start resolving problems
quickly or face the prospect of losing major portions of the
contract. Last December, incoming administrator Hinson ordered a
review of the contract, which found that the program was running
$1.2 billion over budget. Based on that, Hinson ordered a further
analysis, which concluded that another $1.4 billion in overruns
was possible on top of the original $1.2 billion.

So far, the FAA has spent $2.3 billion on the project. "Almost
all of that is useful hardware and software so we haven't wasted
any money at all," Hinson said.

(Kennedy Maize/10040404/Contact: Gerard Corbett, Loral, tel 212-
697-1105)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00014)

Voice Interface For WordPerfect In Works 03/04/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Today, talking to
your computer is usually a symptom of too many hours at the
keyboard. But Kolvox Communications Inc. is out to make it a
normal way of editing word processing documents. Working with
IBM, Kolvox is developing software that will let users of the
popular WordPerfect word processor control the software by
speaking.

Kolvox's VoiceCompanion for WordPerfect is not meant for
dictating text, President and Chief Executive Isaac Raichyk told
Newsbytes. Users will still type their words on the keyboard. But
instead of using function keys and pull-down menus for operations
such as moving paragraphs and deleting words, they will issue
spoken commands.

Raichyk said his company's system, which is meant to work with
WordPerfect for Windows, goes beyond voice-recognition tools that
simply activate existing menu selections or key combinations in
response to spoken commands. He said Kolvox has designed the
interface from the ground up for spoken commands. So, rather than
speaking a series of menu selections, a user will say something
like "cut two sentences" or "copy paragraph."

Novice users will be able to see a list of currently available
commands on the screen by saying "Voice Companion," he added.

VoiceCompanion will incorporate IBM's ICSS command and control
continuous speech recognition technology. According to Kolvox,
this technology lets users speak normally rather than requiring
distinct pauses between words.

The company hopes to ship VoiceCompanion for WordPerfect by
mid-year, and the selling price will probably be around $100,
Raichyk said. It has not been determined whether IBM as well as
Kolvox will sell the software, but Raichyk said Kolvox hopes to
have IBM sell the product.

Kolvox also sells voice-recognition products aimed at specific
markets, including LawTalk, OfficeTalk, and MedTalk.

(Grant Buckler/19940304/Press Contact: Isaac Raichyk, Kolvox
Communications, 416-322-9531, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00015)

Personnel Changes Roundup 03/04/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- This is a
regular feature, summarizing personnel changes at companies
not covered elsewhere by Newsbytes: Compaq Computer Corp.,
Aurum Software Inc., Easel Corp., Teknekron Communications
Systems Inc., The ASK Group Inc., Sierra Semiconductor,
Aldus Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., Applied Laser Systems,
Southwestern Bell Corp., Accolade, Dell Computer Corp.

Compaq Computer Corp., (713-374-0484), appointed former Texas
Instruments (TI) executive John W. White to the newly formed
position of vice president and chief information officer. White
will report directly to Eckhard Pfeiffer, Compaq president and
chief executive officer, and will oversees Compaq's worldwide
management information systems operations. At TI, he was most
recently president of the company's Information Technology Group.
He spent more than 28 years at TI

Aurum Software Inc. (408-562-6370), announced the appointment
of Tom McNeight to the position of president and chief executive
officer. McNeight joined Aurum from Dun & Bradstreet Software,
where he served as executive vice president of the Americas,
including the United States, Canada, and Latin America. While at
DBS, McNeight was in charge of all customer lifecycle management
operations in the Americas, DBS' largest and most profitable
operation.

Easel Corp. (617-221-2133), announced the appointment of three vice
presidents: Nathan Fineberg, vice president of sales; Kevin P. O'Brien,
vice president of finance; and Steven C. Schlesinger, vice president
of marketing. Fineberg will manage all of Easel Corp.'s Object Studio
and Enterprise Workbench US sales efforts. O'Brien will oversee
financial, accounting and manufacturing operations. He was promoted
from director of finance and joined the company in 1989 as corporate
controller. Schlesinger will manage Easel Corp.'s marketing
activities.

Network service company, Teknekron Communications Systems Inc.,
(510-649-3700) named Roland Williams as director of marketing
for the company's Personal Communications Group. Williams will
be responsible for business development in the wireless
communications and multimedia areas. Prior to joining TCSI,
Williams, 41, resided in Hong Kong, where he was chief operating
officer for NovAtel Communications Far East.

Business software developer, The ASK Group Inc., (408-562-8482),
announced the appointment of Gary B. Filler to the positions of
executive vice president of operations and chief financial officer.
Filler, 53, joins the ASK Group with more than 30 years' experience
in finance, operations and auditing. For 15 years he held a variety of
senior financial management positions at Xidex Corp. For most of
that period, he served within the office of the president as
executive vice president, chief financial officer and director.

Sierra Semiconductor, (408-263-9300), announced that Glenn C.
Jones has assumed the position of senior vice president, finance,
and chief financial officer for the company's worldwide
operations. Jones, 48, joins Sierra from Sybase Inc., where he was
vice president, strategic ventures. Previously, he was chief
financial officer and executive vice president and general manager
of Data Interpretation Systems at Metaphor Computer Systems.

Aldus Corp., (714-454-8056), appointed former Claris vice
president Bruce Chizen to lead its San Diego-based Aldus Consumer
Division (ACD) as vice president and general manager. Chizen
replaces Steve Cullen, who was recently promoted to vice president,
corporate marketing at Aldus in Seattle. Chizen, 38, will be
responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the ACD and
its products in the consumer marketplace. Prior to joining ACD,
Chizen served as vice president and general manager of Claris Clear
Choice, a publishing unit of Claris Corporation, where he guided the
creation of the Claris Clear Choice brand and its overall worldwide
business strategy.

Digital Equipment Corp., (508-496-9923) announced that Raymond
Weadock joined the company as vice president, national channels
for the United States operations of Digital's Personal Computer
Business Unit. Weadock, 41, is responsible for managing the
relationships with the PC Business Unit's US channel partners, as
well as directing and executing the US PC channels strategy. He will
report to Harold Copperman, vice president and general manager -
Americas for the Personal Computer Business, which is
headquartered in Stow, Mass. Before joining Digital, Weadock was
vice president of the distribution products group worldwide for
Conner Peripherals Corporation, where he also served as vice
president of America's distribution sales.

Applied Laser Systems, (503-776-7700) announced that it has
retained Dr. Lester Eastman, Ph.D., as the chairman of its new
Scientific Advisory Board, which is designed to provide research
and scientific support to all ALS subsidiary companies. Eastman
received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1957 and has since
been a faculty member of Electrical Engineering at Cornell
University where he has supervised over 85 Ph.D. graduates.

At Southwestern Bell Corp., (210-351-3990), Robert G. Pope,
vice chairman and a member of the board of directors announced
his intention to retire on March 31, 1994. Pope was with
Southwestern Bell for over 35 years. He is currently serving as
the president and chief executive officer of Southwestern Bell
Telephone Co.

Entertainment software publisher, Accolade, (408-985-1700),
announced the appointments of John Scheff, 38, to vice-president
of operations, and Brenden Maloof, 35, to vice-president of
international sales. John Scheff will report directly to Alan Miller,
president and chief executive officer of Accolade, and Brenden
Maloof will report to Robert Bonham, vice-president of sales.
Scheff is responsible for operating worldwide manufacturing of
all Accolade products. Maloof fills a newly created position
at Accolade where his charter is to grow international business
outside of North American and European territories, as well as to
develop new business opportunities worldwide. John Scheff was
with Logitech where he was director of strategic procurement.
Brenden Maloof spent the last six years in Tokyo, where he worked
as vice-president of international for Arrow Micro-Techs, Ricoh's
largest value-added distributor for ASIC (application specific
integrated circuit) chips.

Dell Computer Corp., (512-728-4100) announced that Kevin P.
McCabe, vice president and controller, resigned to accept a
position as chief financial officer for software company
Uniquest Inc.

(Ian Stokell/19940304)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00016)

Company Results Roundup 03/04/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- This is
a regular feature, summarizing company results not reported
elsewhere by Newsbytes: Sapiens International Corporation N.V.,
Andersen Consulting, Datapoint Corp., Micro Focus, Tekelec,
Datametrics Corp., Western Digital Corp., Dell Computer Corp.,
and Integrated Network Services Inc.

Software company, Sapiens International Corporation N.V.,
(919-677-8711), announced results for the fourth quarter and year
ended December 31, 1993. Revenues for the fourth quarter 1993
increased 23 percent to $22,861,000 from $18,641,000 in the fourth
quarter 1992. License revenues were $17,483,000, an increase of 28
percent over the same quarter last year. Gross profit for the quarter
increased 34 percent to $11,711,000 compared to $8,753,000 for the
same period last year.

Consulting company, Andersen Consulting, (312-507-5156), announced
worldwide net revenues of $2.88 billion for the year ended December
31, a six percent increase over 1992 revenues. Its US practice, which
reportedly generates half the organization's revenues, posted
net revenues of $1.41 billion, a 13 percent increase over 1992 net
revenues of $1.25 billion. Telecommunications, Andersen Consulting's
fastest-growing industry practice, grew at 24 percent to $238 million,
with consistent growth recorded worldwide. Approximately $1.47
billion in net revenues were attributable to client/server, up 36
percent from $1.08 billion in 1992. Business reengineering revenues
were $775 million, up from $700 million in 1992 -- an 11 percent
growth.

Networking and telephony company, Datapoint Corp., (210-593-7910),
reported net income of $0.5 million on revenue of $44.8 million for
the company's second quarter ended January 29, 1994. This compares
with net income of $2.0 million on revenue of $54.3 million for the
second quarter of the prior year. The company claims that the
decline in revenue during the second quarter of 1994 as compared
with the same period of the prior year was due partially to the
strength of the US dollar this year as compared to the same period
last year against the functional currencies of the company's
European subsidiaries. Revenue during the second quarter
of 1994 increased eight percent, or $3.1 million, from the first
quarter of 1994. The company had operating income of $2.0 million
during the second quarter of 1994 compared with operating income
of $3.7 million a year ago.

Micro Focus, (415-856-4161), said that in 1993, the company
increased its net revenues to $125.5 million from $118.6 million,
and income before income taxes of $32.5 million compared with $38.5
million in the prior year. Earnings per share went down to $1.52
compared with $1.80 in the prior year. In 1993 the company says it
spent $27.8 million on development compared with $23.9 million in
1992, of which 46 percent was capitalized this year compared with
47 percent in 1992. The company adds that development costs
capitalized as software product assets exceeded those amortized by
$3.7 million compared to $3.3 million in 1992.

Diagnostic and switching system supplier, Tekelec, (818-880-7921),
reported a net loss of $8,582,000, or $2.05 per share, for the fourth
quarter ended December 31, 1993, compared with net loss of
$8,799,000, or $2.14 per share, reported for the fourth quarter of
1992. The net loss for the quarter included a pretax charge of
$5,588,000 primarily to provide for the costs associated with a
15 percent workforce reduction, to write-off certain assets and
provide for costs related to the discontinuance of the company's
network monitoring business, and to "write off certain assets
related to a management information system" according to the
company. Revenues decreased by seven percent to $11,616,000,
compared with the $12,451,000 reported for the fourth quarter last
year. For the year ended December 31, 1993, the company reported
a net loss of $18,543,000, or $4.46 per share, compared with net
loss of $8,296,000, or $2.03 per share reported for 1992. Revenues
decreased by 19 percent to $46,856,000, from $58,090,000 for
the prior year.

Datametrics Corp., (818-341-2901), announced results for the first
quarter of fiscal 1994 ended January 30, 1994. Revenues for the
quarter increased to $5.6 million, compared with $5.3 million during
the first quarter of fiscal 1993. Net loss for the three-month period
was $242,000, or three cents per fully diluted share, compared
with last year's reported net income of $256,000, or four cents per
fully diluted share, before the cumulative effect of a change in
accounting principle.

Western Digital Corp., a designer and manufacturer of graphics
controllers and board-level products, hard disk drives, and
integrated circuits, announced that financial results for its third
fiscal quarter ending March 26, 1994, would be "significantly" above
current consensus Wall Street analyst expectations, which had
been in the range of $.28 to $.42 per share on revenue between
$353 million to $430 million. The company indicated that its
results will reflect strong quarter-to-quarter growth in revenue,
earnings per share and disk drive units shipped from its December
quarter, when Western Digital reported a net profit of $12.5
million, or $.32 cents per share, on revenue $371.1 million and disk
drive unit shipments of approximately 1.6 million. In the year-ago
March quarter, Western Digital reported net income of $1.6 million,
or $.05 per share, on revenue of $325.4 million and disk drive units
of approximately 1.2 million.

Dell Computer Corp., (512-728-4100), reported earnings
per common share of $.39 on sales of $743 million for the fourth
quarter ended January 30, 1994. For fiscal 1994, Dell reported a
loss of ($1.06) per common share on $2.87 billion in sales, which
were up 43 percent over sales in the previous fiscal year. At the
end of the fourth quarter, Dell had available cash and credit
facilities of $478 million. Worldwide sales in the fourth quarter
of fiscal 1994 were led by higher direct sales to corporate
customers. Corporate sales increased 33 percent over the fourth
quarter of the prior year and were up 26 percent sequentially.
Most of the company's revenue growth came from sales of its 486-
based desktop and workstation systems, which increased 40
percent to $596 million in the fourth quarter versus the
comparable, year-ago period. For the fiscal year, sales increased
43 percent to $2.87 billion, versus sales of $2.01 billion in fiscal
1993.

Data network integration company, Integrated Network Services
Inc., (604-687-7575), announced year end results for the period
ended December 31, 1993. Revenues for the year were $16.5
million, up 66 percent from the same period last year. Net income
for the year was $747,000 compared to a loss of $969,000 for the
same period last year. In the fourth quarter, revenues were
$5.1 million, up 83 percent from the same period the year before.
Net income for the quarter was $318,000 compared to a loss of
$285,000 for the same quarter last year.

(Ian Stokell/19940304)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00017)

Networking Roundup 03/04/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- This is
a regular Friday feature, summarizing networking news not
covered elsewhere by Newsbytes this week: FTP Software Inc.
and Novell, Relia Technologies, Legent Corp., Cray Communications,
Telebit Corp., and the Fibre Channel Systems Initiative.

FTP Software Inc., (508685-4000), claims that it is the first
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) provider
to enable users to run Novell's NetWare/IP on a non-Novell transport
stack. FTP says that its PC/TCP Network Software and DOS/Windows
enables PCs to share files and printers, access remote applications,
share resources with a range of computer systems, and run
distributed applications in client server environments. With PC/TCP,
users can access network resources throughout the globe, says the
company.

Relia Technologies, (408-399-4350), announced the addition of
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
(PCMCIA) Credit Card Adapters -- RT3140 Token Ring and
RE2100/RE2200 Ethernet -- to its Ethernet and Token Ring family
and STP RT3200 and UTP RT3210 8-port Multi-Station Access
Units (MSAUs). RT3140 Token Ring and RE2100/RE2200 Ethernet
adapters are compliant with PCMCIA Release 2.0 of the PCMCIA
specification, says the company. Relia's Credit Card Adapters can
be used with Type II PCMCIA slots and are claimed to offer high-
speed PCMCIA bus performance equal to that of full-sized ISA
adapters. RT3140 is compatible with IEEE 802.5 and IBM Token
Ring. RE2100/RE2200 are compatible with IEEE 802.3 10BaseT and
10Base2. The firm says that the new adapters have been tested to
work on popular notebooks from such vendors as Acer, AST, Dell,
IBM, NCR, and NEC. The RT3140 PCMCIA 16/4 UTP Token Ring
Adapter is priced at $575; the RE2100 PCMCIA Ethernet BNC
Adapter costs $245; and the RE2200 PCMCIA Ethernet 10BaseT
Adapter is priced at $235.

Software vendor Legent Corp., (703-708-3118) has completed its
merger with TeamOne Systems Inc., of Sunnyvale, California, with
TeamOne shareholders receiving 410,000 shares of Legent common
stock in a pooling-of-interests transaction. TeamOne Systems is a
developer of configuration management software for the Unix
market, and offers a product set called TeamTools, which is a
series of products and services that visually track, automate, and
manage the work flow of product development teams. Legent is a
supplier of software and services for the management of distributed
computing across an enterprise.

Cray Communications, (503-226-8240), has joined the Fast
Ethernet Alliance, a multivendor group focused on developing
specifications for 100 megabit-per-second (Mbps) CSMA/CD
(Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection) Ethernet
technology. The Fast Ethernet Alliance has submitted the
100Base-X and 4T+ wiring specifications to the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for inclusion in the
IEEE's 100Base-T standard for Fast Ethernet. The Fast Ethernet
Alliance now includes 33 members.

Dial-up remote LAN (local area network) access company Telebit
Corp., (408-745-3340) has shipped its 10,000th NetBlazer dial-up
router. The router was installed at a Wal-Mart store as part of
Retail Link, a nationwide supplier communication and inventory
network being implemented by Wal-Mart and its vendors. The
NetBlazer first shipped in early 1991 with the NetBlazer Classic
offering two to 26 dial-in lines. In January 1992, two successors
to the Classic were introduced: the NetBlazer ST, with two to 18
ports, and the NetBlazer 40, with two to 26 ports. Telebit
introduced a two-port version in mid-1993, the NetBlazer PN.

The Fibre Channel Systems Initiative (FCSI), a joint effort of
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun Microsystems Computer Corp., to
create supposed high-speed "on-ramps" to the digital information
highway, announced that it has completed its first set of profiles
targeted for developers of high-speed networking and mass-
storage products. FCSI announced in February 1993 its intentions
to create four Fibre Channel profiles in its first year. The FCSI now
says that all four profiles are complete and ready to be used.
Profiles are specification definitions developed from the
proposed ANSI Fibre Channel standard version 4.2 that enable the
development of Fibre Channel products supporting "open,
interoperable solutions," says the group.

(Ian Stokell/19940304)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00018)

Microsoft Has 9 New Products 03/04/94
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) - Microsoft Corporation
continues with its aggressive program to penetrate the home
computer market with the introduction of nine new products in its
Home line.

The new products, which were introduced at the recent Intermedia
Conference, include Microsoft Bookshelf 94, Ancient Lands, Dangerous
Creatures, Multimedia Strauss, the Best of Microsoft Entertainment
Pack, three Microsoft Golf Championship courses, and Microsoft
Complete Baseball.

Bookshelf is the annual update to Microsoft's multimedia reference
library on CD-ROM. One of the added features is Quickshelf, which
gives the user access to the reference library from within any
Windows or Macintosh application with a single click of the mouse.
You can also click on any word in Bookshelf for display of the word's
definition and a spoken pronunciation of the word. Bookshelf has a
suggested retail price of $99. If you are a licensed user of earlier
versions of Bookshelf you can send in the in-box rebate coupon and get
$30 back. The Mac version of Bookshelf is scheduled to ship in April,
while the Windows version will be available late this month.

Dangerous Creatures is an interactive educational product for ages
six and up that includes almost 1,000 articles about 250 of
nature's creatures. The program uses more than 100 full-motion,
narrated videos, hundreds of photographs and illustrations and lots
of sound effects, narrations and pronunciations. A tour through
nature is conducted by a naturalist with a sense of humor, an
adventuresome photographer, or a magical storyteller.

Ancient Lands is a tour through history for users age eight and
older. You explore the ancient worlds of Egypt, Greece, and Rome to
learn about the monuments, mysteries, people, politics, work and
play of those early civilizations. There are about 1,000 articles,
more than two dozen animated and video sequences and narration and
sound effects. There are also puzzles and matching games. Ancient
Lands for Windows is scheduled to ship in May and the Mac edition
should ship later this summer. The program has a suggested retail
price of $79.95.

Multimedia Strauss is the latest composer title to join the Home
line. Users can explore three of the composer's tone poems (Don
Juan, Death and Transfiguration, and Till Eugenspiegel). A full
recording of each piece, played by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted
by Lorin Maazel, is included, while an accompanying guide provides a
single-screen overview of all three compositions. There is also a
section that provides insight into Strauss' life, techniques, and the
influence he had on music. Strauss is scheduled to ship in May with a
$79.95 price tag.

The new Entertainment Pack, available now, combines the best of the
previous entertainment packs and will sell for $29.95. The new golf
course programs are add-ons to Microsoft Golf Multimedia and
Microsoft Golf for Windows. They include Pinehurst, Mauna Kea, and
Banff Springs. The programs sell for $29.95 each and are also
immediately available.

Research firm Channel Marketing recently estimated the use of
personal computers would increase eightfold by the end of the
decade, a booming market for home-use productivity and entertainment
software.

(Jim Mallory/19940304/Press contact: Christine Santucci, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080; Reader contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00019)

StrataCom Sets Up In Canada 03/04/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- StrataCom Inc., a
San Jose, California maker of networking technology, has
announced the creation of StrataCom Canada.

The company, which makes asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and
frame relay communications equipment, said its Canadian
headquarters is opening in Unionville, Ontario, on the outskirts
of Toronto, and James Grimes has been named country manager.
Grimes has held several sales and management positions at Gandalf
Canada.

The Canadian operation has two employees to begin with, Grimes
told Newsbytes, and the plan is to expand to four by summer.
StrataCom plans to open an office in Ottawa later this year to
handle growing business with the Canadian federal government, he
said.

Additional offices in Quebec and the west are likely in 1995,
according to company officials.

Increasing government business in this country and general
momentum in Canadian sales were major reasons for setting up a
Canadian operation, Grimes said. In the past, StrataCom has
served eastern Canada from its Chicago office and the west from
California.

Current Canadian customers include Unitel Communications Inc.,
Sun Life Assurance Co. Ltd., TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., Nova
Corp., and Canada Post Corp.

Grimes said StrataCom intends to involve itself in research and
development in Canada, probably not through setting up its own
R&D or manufacturing facilities here but likely through
co-operative ventures with universities or the private sector.
The company already contracts a Vancouver company, PMC Sierra
Inc., to manufacture chips for its products.

StrataCom's revenues from Canadian business in 1993 were about
C$5 million, according to the company, and officials hope to
double that figure in 1994.

(Grant Buckler/19940304/Press Contact: James Grimes, StrataCom
Canada, 905-415-8134, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00020)

NEPCON/West - Surface Mount Technology In PCBs To Rise 03/04/94
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Reports
distributed at the 1994 National Electronic Packaging and
Production Conference (NEPCON) held in Anaheim, California claim
the demand for surface mount technology (SMT) in printed circuit
boards (PCBs) for electronic devices will continue to climb.
Figures were also released by the Electronics Industries
Association (EIA) that electronics equipment and components sales
were up 7.8 percent in 1993.

The use of SMT only in PCBs is projected to rise to 33 percent in
1995 compared to current levels of 19 percent, according to a
survey done for Binghamton, New York-based Universal Instruments
by Electronic Packaging & Production Magazine. Through-hole only
PCBs are expected to decrease from current levels of 41 percent
to only 23 percent and mixed technology use could increase from
40 percent now to 45 percent in 1995.

Overall, the demand for electronic devices that use PCBs is also
expected to continue growing. Figures from 1993 from the EIA
showed electronics equipment, components, and related products
garnered sales of $310 billion in 1993, up from $287.6 billion in
1992. Component sales were up the most at 17 percent, while
computers and peripherals were up 14 percent, and the
telecommunications market was up 9.7 percent. However, other
communications devices showed a decline of 4 percent.

The EIA is boasting the gains foreshadow a resurgence of the US
electronics industry and that of the US economy as a whole.
However, officials from the electronics group have also said
slower growth in consumer electronics sales, in the neighborhood
of 4.4 percent, is expected in 1994 due mostly to the effect of
recent changes in US tax laws.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940304/Press Contact: Cynthia Upson,
Electronic Industries Association, tel [phone], fax 202-457-
4985; Universal Instruments, 607-779-7522)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00021)

Novell Adds UnixWare To CNE; Deals With NetFRAME/Horizons 03/04/94
PROVO, UTAH, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Novell has signed deals
involving networking technologies, and at the same time added an
elective UnixWare specialty track to its Certified NetWare Engineer
(CNE) certification program. Novell has licensed NetFRAME Systems'
NetFRAME Lock Manager, and entered a multimedia-oriented video
partnership with Horizons Technology Inc.

Novell's CNE program certifies that networking professionals
taking the series of tests have reached a certain level of expertise.

Newsbytes notes that the CNE process is set up so that engineers
need to pass a number of core tests on specific subjects, such as
Networking Technologies and NetWare service and support, and
their choice of "elective" subjects, such as NetWare 3.x System
Manager, Advanced System Manager, and NetWare for Macintosh.
The UnixWare subject has been added as an elective choice. Each
subject counts for a certain amount of points -- from two to
five -- and a set number of credits are required to become a CNE.

According to Novell, the addition of the UnixWare elective is in
support of the company's release of its UnixWare 1.1 operating
system. The company also says that the "UnixWare specialty track
will be useful as CNEs help customers rightsize applications and
data from legacy systems to their networks, or as they develop
networked applications for UnixWare application servers."

Novell says that CNE's who want to specialize in UnixWare are
required to obtain 19 CNE credits. In addition to 12 elective credits,
the UnixWare specialty track requires seven credits earned by
passing tests that are specific to Unix including: UnixWare
Installation and Configuration (2 credits), UnixWare System
Administration (3 credits), and UnixWare Advanced Administration
(2 credits). The Unix OS Fundamentals (2 credits) course and test
is "strongly recommended" as an elective by the company.

Meanwhile, Novell licensed NetFRAME System's Lock Manager
software, which allows multiple processors to work together on a
single application such as a database. The company says that it
"coordinates access to data, shuttles requests in a controlled
fashion, and verifies that no more than one processor tries to
update a data block at any given time."

NetFRAME's superservers start at $14,950 for a three processor
model, and are expandable to a 10 processor system with up to
240 gigabytes (GB) of mass storage.

The "partnership" with Horizons Technology Inc. (HTI) is designed
to provide customers and resellers with training, education and
technical expertise "necessary to design and implement networked
multimedia solutions in NetWare environments."

Horizons Technology's expertise lies in multimedia development
tools, applications, and video compression technology and services.
The two companies say they will jointly develop and execute a
series of educational and marketing programs "designed to help
customers determine the productivity gains that (Novell's new
networked multimedia software) NetWare Video 1.0 can deliver
to their organizations."

NetWare Video 1.0 is a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) that
reportedly allows multiple users to simultaneously store, manage,
and play compressed digital video and audio files from a standard
NetWare server while sharing the traditional NetWare benefits
such as file, print, and directory services.

Said Neil Ferris, vice president and general manager, Novell
Multimedia Division, "(Our customer's) next challenge is to more
clearly understand where multimedia fits in the networking and
organizational structure, and how it can be cost effectively
implemented in NetWare through applications that will deliver
the promised productivity."

According to the companies, initially, they will offer a series of
end-user technical seminars designed to answer such questions
as: how to design and configure a NetWare Video "solution;" how
to develop a multimedia application -- simply and cost effectively;
how to distinguish between multimedia applications that will
work and those that won't; how multimedia can be used to
communicate more effectively with employees and customers.

The free seminar series will be presented in 18 US cities from
March to May 1994.

The firm say they will also will also assist resellers and systems
integrators develop the "necessary market understanding and
technical expertise to meet the growing demand for this new
technology in their markets."

The video seminars will be from 9 am to noon local time, with
registration beginning at 8:30 am, in the following cities:
Washington DC, March 29; New York, NY, March 31; Boston, MA,
April 5; Toronto, Canada, April 7; Detroit MI, April 12; Chicago, IL,
April 14; Portland, OR, April 19; Seattle, WA, April 21; Atlanta,
GA, April 26; Dallas, TX, April 28; Orange County, CA, May 3; Los
Angeles, CA, May 5; San Francisco, CA, May 10; Sunnyvale, CA,
May 12; Minneapolis, MN, May 17; Kansas City, MO, May 19;
Philadelphia, PA, May 24; and Pittsburgh, PA, May 26.

(Ian Stokell/19940304/Press & Public Contact: Mark Dayton,
801-429-7126, Novell Inc; Lisa Fisher, 619-277-7100, Horizons
Technology Inc.)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00022)

NEPCON/West - "Slash and Burn" Downsizing Addressed 03/04/94
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- "Slash and burn"
downsizing is hurting productivity and won't save the American
Corporation, according to Dr. William and Kathleen Lundin. At the
1994 National Electronic Packaging and Production Conference
(NEPCON) held in Anaheim, California, 90 percent of the people in
an audience of 200 said they work for companies that have
downsized and they were seriously concerned about their own jobs.

The biggest thing a company loses is the trust of its workers,
which results in a loss of productivity. While downsizing helps
the bottom line right away, it can put serious and severe
pressure on those left in the company. According to the American
Management Association, only 34 percent of companies achieve the
productivity results they hope for from downsizing.

Often downsizing is done without regard for what each employee is
producing with a total lack of attention to what that employee is
responsible for or how their loss will effect the work that has
to be done afterward, the Lundins said.

In addition, upper management is often the most difficult to
convince that something is wrong. Dr. William Lundin, who with
his wife has authored The Healing Manager (Berrett-Koehler, 1993)
said: "The majority of upper management are unaffected by the
labor cuts, so their people live with leaders who are in denial
over the emotional terror and the cycle of mismanagement
continues."

However, the Lundins are not against downsizing. They believe it
can be done without losing the trust and the productivity of
those who are left to do the work. People build relationships and
emotional bonds with each other and trying to ignore those
emotional components doesn't work, according to the Lundins.
Before downsizing, management should look carefully at cuts,
opening up discussion with those who will be affected in order to
make better downsizing decisions and to build trust. Discussions
should continue after downsizing as well.

"Managers call us from around the country. They've tried
everything else and nothing works. They want the answer and here
it is; you must nurture survivors and help them disarm the
negative effects of anger and resentment," advised Kathleen
Lundin.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940304/Press Contact: Carey Lundin, Worklife,
tel [phone], fax [phone]/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00023)

PCS Equipment Already Coming to Market 03/04/94
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MARCH 4 (NB) -- A highlight
of this year's Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association
show is a spirited debate and roll-out of equipment for the new
personal communications services, or PCS, networks which will
become available next year.

The Federal Communications Commission says it plans to auction
frequencies for PCS, in the 1.8-2.2 GHz range, early next year.
Some will be offered on an unlicensed basis, for applications
like cordless phones and garage-door openers, as well as wireless
local area networks. But the total spectrum actually being
auctioned is far larger than the 50 MHz now used for all cellular
phone service providers. Since those providers are not being
prevented from entering the auctions -- in fact they're being
encouraged to use PCS to extend their competitive reach against
one another -- there is great interest in the equipment to be
used.

As with digital cellular itself, many of the arguments cover
compression systems called Time Division Multiple Access, or
TDMA, and Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA. TDMA divides a
calling channel into parts and sends digitized speech along each
discrete slice of spectrum. CDMA uses the entire channel to send
digital information. CDMA technology leader Qualcomm claims its
system offers 10 times the calling capacity of an analog system.
TDMA leader Interdigital Communications claims three times analog
capacity, but GM's Hughes unit has offered a system called
Enhanced TDMA which claims to offer 15 times the capacity of
analog.

Among the major equipment makers, Motorola is closely identified
with CDMA, Ericsson and Hughes with TDMA, although Hughes
recently won a big contract with BellSouth because its equipment
can go either way. Most analysts have long expected that CDMA
would become the technology of choice in PCS, but Ericsson came
to the CTIA show and disputed that notion, offering PCS equipment
that uses TDMA digital compression.

The company said its RBS 884 offers advanced diagnostic
capabilities and a compact design for PCS operators, and will
pave the way for future wireless video services. Ericsson also
promoted a pending standard called the Digital Control Channel
which it says will make new digital PCS features more feature-
rich and offer more operator control. It also pointed out that
its gear is ready now, while the CDMA gear won't be commercially
available for at least a year.

Tomas Isaksson, president of Ericsson Radio Systems, put it this
way in a press release. "Early adopters of TDMA digital cellular
technology will have a platform from which they can easily
incorporate new services and maintain a dominant position when
the competition increases later this year in the field of PCS."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940304/Press Contact: Ericsson, Lars Jonsteg,
212/685-4030)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00024)

 ****MacUSA Purchases Mirror Technologies Assets 03/04/94
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Suburban
Minneapolis-based Mirror Technologies has announced it has
signed an agreement to sell its trade name and other intangibles
to MacUSA.

The deal still requires shareholder approval, and is the final step
in the transition of the Mirror product line to MacUSA. Mirror is
in the process of ceasing current operations, according to its
president, Steve Schewe.

The two parties have set the value of the assets, which include
inventory and Mirror's trade name, at about $775,000.

Publicly traded Mirror Technologies has been a developer and marketer
of peripheral equipment for Apple Computer's Macintosh computer,
including large screen monitors, removable media drives, CD-ROM and
optical drives, and scanners, for nearly 10 years. MacUSA is a
privately held corporation that distributes computer hardware and
software for the Mac. Its Desktop Publishing division markets
high-end graphics, pre-press and imaging hardware and software
for Mac and IBM-compatible computers.

Mirror Technologies reported sales for the third quarter, which ended
December 31, 1993, of $2.27 million, about half what it reported for
the same period last year. The net loss for the period was $2.72
compared to a net loss of $2.19 million for the previous year's third
quarter.

(Jim Mallory/19940304/Press contact: Stephen Schewe, Mirror
Technologies, 612-633-4450)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00025)

TI Predicts '94 Chip Market To Grow To $91 Billion 03/04/94
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Texas Instruments told
financial analysts recently that it expects the worldwide
semiconductor market will grow 17 percent in 1994, reaching $491
billion by the end of the year.

The company says much of that growth will be in the Asia-Pacific
region, although the US market will also experience a healthy 1994,
up about $5 billion to $30 billion for the year. TI says most of
that will be for computers and communications equipment. The
automotive and industrial instrumentation market will also show
gradual improvement, says TI. Company spokesperson Robert Price told
Newsbytes the automotive industry growth is based on the high degree
of computerization found in new cars. "Cars have hundreds of chips
in them. Fuel injection, cruise control, ignition systems and digital
dashboards are all electronic now. It's growing by leaps and
bounds."

The semiconductor company also predicts that the US market will
continue its 1993 trend of out-performing the Japanese market. Last
year was the first time since 1985 that US companies did better
than their Japanese counterparts.

TI's forecast for Europe shows an increase of about 15 percent,
reaching $17 billion by year-end. The telecommunications segment
of the European market is expected to remain strong, but the overall
market will be held back by the sluggish economy in the area,
according to TI experts.

For years consumers have criticized American manufacturers - often
unfairly - for the lack of quality associated with their products,
and Price says that criticism was probably justified in the past but
thinks the trend has changed. "In the semiconductor industry, at
least at TI, quality is a critical part of our agenda. The consumer
demands it," says Price.

(Jim Mallory/19940304/Press contact: Robert Price, Texas
Instruments, 214-995-2355)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00026)

French Govt Confirms Plans To Issue Smart Card ID Cards 03/04/94
PARIS, FRANCE, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- The French government has
confirmed its plans to replace citizen's paper-based ID cards with
credit card-sized "smart card" ID cards.

According to Charles Pasqua, the French Interior Minister, the smart
ID cards have already been trialled in several regions of France and
will be phased in across the whole of the country by the end of next
year. The new cards are distinctive, Newsbytes notes, owing to their
blue color.

Initially, the cards can be read by anyone with a suitable card
reader and will include name, address and date of birth
information. Plans are in hand, however, to allow advanced card
readers to link to the French central database and automatically
update the card with new information, such as change of address
etc., as it becomes available.

According to Pasqua, the main reason for the introduction of the
cards was one of national security, as he noted that, since the
cards began their trials in 1988, more than 500,000 had been issued
and not one forgery had turned up. In comparison, out of three
million paper ID cards issued in 1992, around 10,000 were forged.

Visitors to France, Newsbytes understands, will shortly be
issued a computerized stamp, including a barcode readable tag
affixed to their passport. Visitors with "right to remain," (a
term applied to visitors staying longer than six months) will be
issued with the smart ID cards in due course.

Smart cards are all the rage in France at the moment, Newsbytes
notes. Almost all Visa cards issued by French banks are smart cards,
with the electronics supplied by Thomson CSF and other French
technology companies.

The cards contain details of recent transactions, as well as act
as an "electronic purse" for smaller value transactions using a
personal identification number (PIN) as authorization. "Purse
transactions" are usually separate from the card credit/debit
system, and, when the purse is empty, it can be reloaded from the
card at a suitable ATM or retailer terminal.

(Steve Gold/19940304)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00027)

UK - Southern Electric In Deal With IBM/Lotus 03/04/94
PORTSMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Southern
Electric, the first regional electricity companies in the Financial
Times Stock Exchange Top 100 (FTSE 100), has started to enhanced its
office system environment for its 1,500-odd office-based staff.

The new environment, the company claims, is based on OS/2 versions
of software from Lotus Development -- Ami Pro, cc:Mail, 1-2-3 and
Freelance Graphics -- with the majority of users using the packages
on their PS/VPs and Thinkpad computers.

"Since we had made a corporate decision to install a new
infrastructure of power PC networks in support of a range of new
applications, it followed that we want to exploit the superior
functionalities of local area network (LAN) based office systems,"
explained David Mengham, the Southern Electric director responsible
for office implementation.

"We looked at all the options available in the market and decided to
accept a joint proposal from IBM and Lotus, since this offers us the
best overall solution," he said.

The implementation is interesting, Newsbytes notes, as not only does
it mark a major liaison project between IBM and Lotus, but it also
shows that migration between DOS/Windows and OS/2 2.1 is possible on
a wide scale. The first few users are already "live" on the new
operating system and software, with others being moved across during
the next few months.

(Steve Gold/19940304/Press & Public Contact: IBM UK - Tel: +44-705-
561000; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00028)

 ****Apple's Geoport Demonstrated by VP Al Gore 03/04/94
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- The Geoport is
the new device announced by Apple Computer, Aox, and Analog
Devices for connecting personal computers (PCs) and telephones as
a part of the information superhighway. The device was
demonstrated by Vice-President Al Gore in conjunction with an
exhibition of information technologies held at the White House.

Aimed at the corporate market, the companies say the Geoport is
intended to be "plug-and-play" with a PC running any operating
system to any analog or digital telephone line.

The companies say for the information superhighway to become
reality, interoperability between computing and telephony
products is essential. Such interoperability would pave the way
for services such as multiple party video conferencing over the
digital telephone lines; document sharing with workgroups for
collaborative computing; fax/modem capability from any desktop
PC, even if connected to a digital line, without the need for
gateway services; integrated telephone dialing, answering, caller
identification (ID), voice, and electronic messaging services
from the desktop; high-speed transfer of images and documents
from scanners; and digital cameras or notebooks integrated with
the desktop PC.

The Geoport is predicted to bring these and other functions to
the desktop. The companies describe the Geoport as a high-speed
media communications computer interface supporting voice, data,
telephone control, audio, and video over any analog plain old
telephone service (POTS) or digital (PBX or ISDN) telephone line.

Apple Computer has been shipping the Geoport for the Macintosh
since August of last year in conjunction with its Quadra
audio/visual (AV) product line. The company also said it plans to
include the technology in its new PowerPC-based Macintosh
computers planned for introduction March 14.

Aox will license the Geoport from Apple, adding cross platform
capability, development tools, and certification services to PC,
PBX, and integrated circuit manufacturers. Analog Devices,
manufacturers of digital signal processor (DSP) chips, will work
with Aox to make the Geoport available on its DSP. The companies
have said they plan to support the Intel x86 microprocessor and
industry standard software environments, such as Microsoft's
Windows and IBM's OS/2.

The target year for the introduction of Geoport enabled products
from PBX and PC manufacturers is 1995, the companies said. Analog
Devices is predicting the availability of the Geoport will cause
an explosion in the market for business audio, sound card,
fax/modem, and video functionality. John Croteau, director of
strategy and planning for Analog Devices said: "The cost of
adding the silicon necessary to support Geoport into a PC product
will be insignificant at the systems level. With the tremendous
benefits it will provide, virtually every desktop PC will be a
target for Geoport enabled upgrades."

(Linda Rohrbough/19940304/Press Contact: Maureen O'Connell, Regis
McKenna for Apple Computer, tel [phone], fax [phone];
Al Haun, Analog Devices, 617-461-3263; Christine Hirschland, Aox,
617-884-1410/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00029)

Babylon 5 MM Encyclopedia From Compton's, Warner Bros 03/04/94
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Now that Star
Trek: The Next Generation will go into permanent reruns, one
contender to the throne, Babylon 5, is coming up strong. In an effort
to get the name beyond the tube and onto products, Warner Brothers
and Compton's NewMedia have announced "Babylon 5 -- The Universal
Encyclopedia."

The new multimedia, interactive compact disc read-only memory
based on the science fiction television series Babylon 5,
will divided into sections. "The Universe of Babylon
5" describes the ship and its inhabitants. "Aliens" is an
encyclopedic description of the alien's backgrounds and the
worlds they come from and the "Technology" section includes the
space station specifications along with tools and high tech gear.

"Special Effects" offers users a look at the visual effects
created by Foundation Imaging, which won an Emmy for its work on
the "Babylon 5" two-hour movie. Finally, a look at the production
involved in making the series is in the "Behind the Scenes"
portion.

A print version of the Babylon 5 Encyclopedia will also be
included with the CD-ROM and Compton's officials believe this is
the first time a book has been made from a CD-ROM. The title is
expected in the third quarter of this year for Windows or the
Macintosh, and pricing has not yet been announced.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940304/Press Contact: Pat Meier, Pat Meier
Associates PR, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Christina
Germscheid, Compton's NewMedia, 619-929-2500)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00030)

 ****Apple Announces "Second Generation Newton" 03/04/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- Apple has
announced the "second generation" of the Newton, along with an
upgrade program for original MessagePad owners, new "business
applications" for the Newton, and enhanced editions of the Newton
Toolkit and Newton Connection software.

The upgraded Newton is available in two versions, Apple officials
said in a press pre-briefing attended by Newsbytes in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.

The Newton MessagePad 110, which ships today at a price of $599,
features a protective lid, round telescopic pen, and narrower,
sleeker form factor, along with three times the amount of memory
available for data storage, longer battery life, a "fast recharge"
feature, improved handwriting recognition, and easier infrared
transfers, explained Kenneth R. Wirt, director of marketing for
Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) Division.

The Newton MessagePad 100, slated for release in April for $499,
offers the same ROM (read only memory)-based software features, but
in the form factor of the original Newton MessagePad.

Owners of the original MessagePad who wish to upgrade to the new
software functionality will be able to do so starting in April for
$99.

"In continuing to develop the Newton, we have really listened to
our customers," said Wirt at the press pre-briefing. Handwriting
recognition, the availability of applications for the Newton, and
wireless communications are among the areas that have received
special attention, he indicated.

"With the original MessagePad, we made the mistake of not providing
applications right away," acknowledged Wirt. Eager to use the
Newton immediately, but without applications to work with, early
buyers concentrated on using the machine for handwriting
recognition, and were often disappointed with the results, he
elaborated,

Nazila Alisti, product line manager, told reporters and analysts at
the pre-briefing that Apple has added letter-by-letter recognition,
the ability to correct word order in a phrase or sentence by
"tapping" with the pen, easier addition of new names to the
personal wordlist and Names File, and "deferred handwriting
recognition" -- the ability to enter handwriting into the system
and postpone the process of translating into text to an indefinite
point in the future.

Apple has also "fixed the bugs" in the original handwriting
recognition program, according to Wirt. Under questioning from the
reporters and analysts, he replied that the accuracy achieved
varies considerably from user to user, but has improved overall
only three to five percent.

"We haven't solved everyone's problems with handwriting
recognition, but we have improved the tools," he told the group.

At the same time, Apple has responded to the need for applications
with the planned availability this month of the first three "Newton
Solution" application packages: "Mobile Sales Manager,"
"Professional Idea Manager," and "Executive Productivity Manager"
plus an enhanced Newton developers toolkit.

Each of the "Newton Solution" application packages, developed by
Apple's StarCore software publishing and distribution group,
includes two applications aimed at either sales people, mobile
professionals, or business executives, as well as "The Jigsaw
Strategy Game," a game that challenges players to seize territories
and match designs on a grid; and "Notion: The List Manager for
Newton," which offers more than two dozen ready-to-use templates
for organizing, sorting, and sending "to do" activities, follow-up
instructions, and project information.

Because many Newton users are "frequent air travelers," the jigsaw
game has been designed for use by either one or two players, said
Wirt.

"The Newton Solution: Mobile Sales Manager" is meant to provide
sales professionals with tools to access quotas, price lists,
travel expenses, customer information, and other data. The package
offers 13 commonly used business formats, including expense
reports, sales invoice/order quotations, planning guides and
schedules for filling out in a meeting, and "GeoAssist," for
referencing toll-free numbers, local phone access numbers, and air,
auto and travel information on more than 100 cities.

"The Newton Solution: Professional Idea Manager" is aimed at
consultants, accountants, lawyers, small business owners, and other
professionals who routinely calculate, process and record data.
This package "floats," for easy access from other applications,
according to Wirt. The package includes "Dyno Notepad," an
outlining tool for capturing and organizing thoughts and personal
information in a variety of outline-formats and hierarchies, and
"Mobile Math," an application intended to integrate math functions
into Newton's Intelligent Assistance with more than 80 formulas.

"The Newton Solution: Executive Productivity Manager" is oriented
to users who make presentations regularly, and who want to call up
text and notes during speaking engagements. The package includes
"PresentPad," an application that provides speakers with
teleprompting information, pacing information, and slide cueing.
Also incorporated is "Economist World in Figures, which supplies
facts and figures on the economics, exports/imports, populations,
and trade of approximately 60 countries.

The four applications in each "solution" package are preloaded on
a 2-megabyte (MB) PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association) flash card. Priced at $199 each, the
cards also contain 800 kilobytes (KB) of additional storage space
for downloading and storing information as needed.

Users of the original MessagePad who upgrade to the Newton 110 will
receive the added software functionality of the "second generation"
MessagePad, along with a choice of two of the following Newton
software products: the Newton Connection Kit for Macintosh or
Windows; Dell Crossword Puzzles & Other Games on floppy diskette;
DrawPad on floppy diskette; or Dyno NotePad on floppy diskette.

Tony Espinoza, Newton tools product manager, told the group that
the new version of the object-oriented Newton Toolkit, now in beta,
and slated for delivery in April, will be based on Newton Book
Baker, a new tool for developing original "Newton books" as well as
adapting the large number of publications already available in
electronic form.

Kenneth R. Landau, director of business development for Cornet, a
sales and marketing systems consultant in Stroudsburg, PA, showed
a series of applications for sales and medical use that his company
is developing with the toolkit.

"We're trying to offer as many built-in features as we can," he
explained. A pharmaceutical sales application, for example, allows
salespeople to call doctors "automatically" by tapping on a phone
icon; to keep call records by hand listing the type of call and
matters discussed; and to track and count pharmaceutical inventory.

Also at the briefing, Espinoza outlined a new "open platform for
desktop connectivity" with directions that include direct
connectivity and synchronization with Windows as well as Macintosh
environments, remote connectivity, and links to multiple wired and
wireless networks, starting immediately with Ardis and RAM.

Newton Connection Kit Version 2.0, an upgrade that ships today,
adds the ability to import and export native files directly from
many commonly supported Macintosh applications, and to create, save
and modify industry standard text files for import and export, as
well as a "rich intermediate text file format" that supports all
"Newton information-enabling" cooperating desktop applications to
synchronize and exchange information with the Newton, according to
Espinoza.

Also today, RAM and Ardis both announced that they are working with
Apple to bring two-way wireless communications to the Newton. Both
companies cited "wireless NewtonMail," which would connect Newton
users over wireless wide area networks (WANs) to Apple's NewtonMail
host, as an example of the kind of wide area communications being
considered by Apple.

In addition, Digital Ocean announced plans to develop a wireless
local area network (LAN) for the MessagePad 110 to be based on the
company's Grouper 110MP, the successor to the Grouper 100MP, which
supports the original Newton. The Grouper 110MP will use Digital's
protocol and software technologies in conjunction with AT&T's
WaveLAN wireless LAN technology, officials said.

Aside from the handwriting recognition issue, questions raised at
the pre-briefing in Cambridge concerned the availability of and
demand for the new MessagePads. With the MessagePad 110 and 100,
Apple will try to provide enough machines to meet customer demand,
thereby avoiding another mistake made with the original MessagePad,
Wirt said.

Apple will also continue to emphasize sales in retail stores, he
told the journalists and analysts. The company has not yet sold
any Newtons for fleet use, but expects to do so in the future,
especially with the development of new vertical applications, he
suggested.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940304/Reader contact: Apple, 408-996-1010;
Press contacts: Jennie Shikashio, Regis McKenna for Apple, 408-
974-4104; Emma Bufton, Regis McKenna for Apple, 408-974-1856/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MSP)(00031)

Newsbytes Daily Summary 03/04/94
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 4 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:

1 -> Texas Instruments Japan Cuts 200 Employees 03/04/94 Texas
Instruments Japan  reduced its headcount by 200 employees at the end
of 1993 to weather an industry slump. However, TI Japan  also had
record sales in 1993.

2 -> Australia - Phone Company Upset Over CD-ROM Phone Books 03/04/94
Australia's main carrier  Telecom has threatening to take legal
action against companies it  claims are pirating Yellow and White
Pages data.

3 -> Australia - Regional Hub In Telstra/Data General Deal 03/04/94
Data General has announced that Australia's main carrier Telstra
(known in the  domestic market as Telecom) would provide a
telecommunications hub to  support DG's activities in the South
Asia-Pacific region.

4 -> Lotus Sells Realtime Financial Spreadsheet To Market Arts
03/04/94 Lotus has signed an agreement to sell its Lotus Realtime
financial spreadsheet and companion technologies to Market Arts, a
software developer and value-added reseller (VAR) specializing in
financial applications. The two companies expect to complete the deal
by March 31.

5 -> Review of - The Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector 03/04/94
Runs on: Macintosh, 4MB RAM, CD-ROM drive

6 -> Review of - Cardgrabber, 03/04/94 Runs on: 386 or higher IBM and
compatible personal computers (PCs) running Microsoft Windows 3.1.

7 -> Newsbytes Seeks Public Comment 03/04/94 Newsbytes News Network
is preparing a new promotional brochure to send out to those
interested in Newsbytes. We would like your comments -- what is your
opinion of our service?

8 -> Thinking Machines' Faster Supercomputer 03/04/94 Thinking
Machines has unveiled the CM-5E, a parallel processing system billed
as outperforming competing supercomputers on industry standard
parallel benchmarks for 32-, 64-, and 128-node configurations.

9 ->  ****Microsoft, TCI To Jointly Test Interactive Cable TV
03/04/94 Microsoft Corporation has announced an agreement in
principle with TeleCommunications Inc (TCI) that calls for the two
companies to jointly test an interactive cable television system that
uses Microsoft software.

10 -> Editorial - The Info Superhighway, Potholes Or Autobahn?
03/04/94 By Jim Mallory. Unless you live in a cave and eat berries
and roots,  you've heard about the information superhighway the
Clinton  administration is touting, but most of us probably don't
know  where the on-ramps are, if there are any gas stations, or even
if it goes in the direction we want to go.

11 -> US, Japan Calm After Super 301 Decision 03/04/94 Both
Washington and Tokyo are using calm diplomatic language following
President Bill Clinton's executive order reinstating the Super 301
trade retaliation program. Clinton's move was a further tightening of
the political screws in an attempt to pressure Japan into concessions
on US imports.

12 -> Baby Bells On The Internet 03/04/94 The MFJ Task Force, an ad
hoc committee of the several regional Bell operating companies, which
is working on telecommunications issues in Washington, is now on the
Internet.

13 -> FAA Fires Managers As Computer Contract Goes Sour 03/04/94
Heads are rolling at the Federal Aviation Administration after FAA
Administrator David Hinson concluded that a contract with Loral
Federal Systems (formerly IBM Federal Systems) to modernize the air
traffic control system has gone badly awry. The six-year-old contract
could be as much as $2.6 billion over budget and 31 months behind
schedule.

14 -> Voice Interface For WordPerfect In Works 03/04/94 Today,
talking to your computer is usually a symptom of too many hours at
the keyboard. But Kolvox Communications Inc. is out to make it a
normal way of editing word processing documents. Working with IBM,
Kolvox is developing software that will let users of the popular
WordPerfect word processor control the software by speaking.

15 -> Personnel Changes Roundup 03/04/94 This is a regular feature,
summarizing personnel changes at companies not covered elsewhere by
Newsbytes: Compaq Computer Corp., Aurum Software Inc., Easel Corp.,
Teknekron Communications  Systems Inc., The ASK Group Inc., Sierra
Semiconductor,  Aldus Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., Applied Laser
Systems, Southwestern Bell Corp., Accolade, Dell Computer Corp.

16 -> Company Results Roundup 03/04/94 This is  a regular feature,
summarizing company results not reported  elsewhere by Newsbytes:
Sapiens International Corporation N.V., Andersen Consulting,
Datapoint Corp., Micro Focus, Tekelec, Datametrics Corp., Western
Digital Corp., Dell Computer Corp., and Integrated Network Services
Inc.

17 -> Networking Roundup 03/04/94 This is a regular Friday feature,
summarizing networking news not  covered elsewhere by Newsbytes this
week: FTP Software Inc.  and Novell, Relia Technologies, Legent
Corp., Cray Communications,  Telebit Corp., and the Fibre Channel
Systems Initiative.

18 -> Microsoft Has 9 New Products 03/04/94 icrosoft Corporation
continues with its aggressive program to penetrate the home computer
market with the introduction of nine new products in its Home line.

19 -> StrataCom Sets Up In Canada 03/04/94 StrataCom Inc., a San
Jose, California maker of networking technology, has announced the
creation of StrataCom Canada.

20 -> NEPCON/West - Surface Mount Technology In PCBs To Rise 03/04/94
Reports distributed at the 1994 National Electronic Packaging and
Production Conference (NEPCON) held in Anaheim, California claim the
demand for surface mount technology (SMT) in printed circuit boards
(PCBs) for electronic devices will continue to climb. Figures were
also released by the Electronics Industries Association (EIA) that
electronics equipment and components sales were up 7.8 percent in
1993.

21 -> Novell Adds UnixWare To CNE; Deals With NetFRAME/Horizons
03/04/94 Novell has signed deals  involving networking technologies,
and at the same time added an  elective UnixWare specialty track to
its Certified NetWare Engineer  (CNE) certification program. Novell
has licensed NetFRAME Systems' NetFRAME Lock Manager, and entered a
multimedia-oriented video  partnership with Horizons Technology Inc.

22 -> NEPCON/West - "Slash and Burn" Downsizing Addressed 03/04/94
"Slash and burn" downsizing is hurting productivity and won't save
the American Corporation, according to Dr. William and Kathleen
Lundin. At the 1994 National Electronic Packaging and Production
Conference (NEPCON) held in Anaheim, California, 90 percent of the
people in an audience of 200 said they work for companies that have
downsized and they were seriously concerned about their own jobs.

23 -> PCS Equipment Already Coming to Market 03/04/94 A highlight  of
this year's Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association  show is
a spirited debate and roll-out of equipment for the new  personal
communications services, or PCS, networks which will  become
available next year.

24 ->  ****MacUSA Purchases Mirror Technologies Assets 03/04/94
Suburban Minneapolis-based Mirror Technologies has announced it has
signed an agreement to sell its trade name and other intangibles  to
MacUSA.

25 -> TI Predicts '94 Chip Market To Grow To $91 Billion 03/04/94
Texas Instruments told financial analysts recently that it expects
the worldwide semiconductor market will grow 17 percent in 1994,
reaching $491 billion by the end of the year.

26 -> French Govt Confirms Plans To Issue Smart Card ID Cards
03/04/94 The French government has confirmed its plans to replace
citizen's paper-based ID cards with credit card-sized "smart card" ID
cards.

27 -> UK - Southern Electric In Deal With IBM/Lotus 03/04/94 Southern
Electric, the first regional electricity companies in the Financial
Times Stock Exchange Top 100 (FTSE 100), has started to enhanced its
office system environment for its 1,500-odd office-based staff.

28 ->  ****Apple's Geoport Demonstrated by VP Al Gore 03/04/94 The
Geoport is the new device announced by Apple Computer, Aox, and
Analog Devices for connecting personal computers (PCs) and telephones
as a part of the information superhighway. The device was
demonstrated by Vice-President Al Gore in conjunction with an
exhibition of information technologies held at the White House.

29 -> Babylon 5 MM Encyclopedia From Compton's, Warner Bros 03/04/94
Now that Star Trek: The Next Generation will go into permanent
reruns, one  contender to the throne, Babylon 5, is coming up strong.
In an effort  to get the name beyond the tube and onto products,
Warner Brothers and Compton's NewMedia have announced "Babylon 5 --
The Universal Encyclopedia."

30 ->  ****Apple Announces "Second Generation Newton" 03/04/94 Apple
has announced the "second generation" of the Newton, along with an
upgrade program for original MessagePad owners, new "business
applications" for the Newton, and enhanced editions of the Newton
Toolkit and Newton Connection software.

(Wendy Woods/19940304)