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/nb042994

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(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00001)

 ****Dangerous, New Trojan Horse Virus Found On Internet 04/29/94
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- A new "Trojan
Horse" computer virus is on the Internet and is labeled with the
name of the fourth largest manufacturer of compact disc read-only
memory (CD-ROM) drives. Chinon America, Incorporated, the company
whose name has been improperly used on the rogue program, is
warning IBM and compatible personal computer (PC) users to beware
of the program known as "CD-IT.ZIP."

A Chinon CD-ROM drive user brought the program to the company's
attention after downloading it from a Baltimore, Maryland
Fidonet server. One of the clues that the virus, masquerading as
a utility program, wasn't on the up-and-up was that it purports "to
enable read/write to your CD-ROM drive," a physically impossible
task.

CD-IT is listed as authored by Joseph S. Shiner, couriered
by HDA, and copyrighted by Chinon Products. Chinon America told
Newsbytes it has no division by that name. Other clues were
obscenities in the documentation as well as a line indicating
that HDA stands for Haven't Decided a Name Yet.

David Cole, director of research and development for Chinon, told
Newsbytes that the company knows of no one who has actually been
infected by the program. Cole said the virus isn't particularly
clever or dynamic, but none of the virus software the company
tried was able to eradicate the rogue program. Chinon officials
declined to comment on what antivirus software programs were
used.

If CD-IT is actually run, it causes the computer to lock up,
forcing a reboot, and then stays in memory, corrupting critical
system files on the hard disk. Nothing but a high-level reformat
of the hard disk drive will eradicate the virus at this point, a
move that sacrifices all data on the drive. It will also corrupt
any network volumes available.

"We felt that it was our responsibility as a member of the
computing community to alert Internet users of this dangerous
virus that is being distributed with our name on it. Even though
we have nothing to do with the virus is it particularly
disturbing for us to think that many of our loyal customers could
be duped into believing that the software is ours," Cole
explained.

Chinon is encouraging anyone who might have information that
could lead to the arrest and prosecution of the parties
responsible for CD-IT to call the company at 310-533-0274.. In
addition, the company has notified the major distributors of
virus protection software, such as Symantec and McAfee Associates,
so they may update their programs to detect and eradicate CD-IT.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940429/Press Contact: Rolland Going, The
Terpin Group for Chinon, tel [phone], fax [phone];
Public Contact: Chinon, CD-IT Information, 310-533-0274)


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

Australia - Telecom Demo Embarrassment 04/29/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Australian carrier Telstra
(Telecom Australia) demonstrated a new service to journalists in
Sydney on Tuesday. At least, it tried to demonstrate it.

"It worked the last three times we tried it," said a doleful Telstra
executive as the telecommunications giant attempted to show off its
new Satcom-M digital voice-and-fax service at the event at its Sydney
headquarters. Some eight attempts to dial direct from the
demonstration to a gold mining drill team deep in the heart of
Western Australia all ended in failure - three engaged signals
and five long periods of silence.

Embarrassed Telstra executives called the whole thing off but
still reassured the press that a remote worker who antes up with
the necessary AUS$20,000 or so (around US$14,300) for one of the
new Satcom-M briefcase-sized terminals should be able to make
the connections without too much trouble.

The system, operating through the Inmarsat satellite system and a
large earth station near Perth, provides links for outback workers to
the public switched network and cellular mobile phones. Other Telstra
satellite services include Satcom-C (text and data), Satcom-B (digital
voice) and Iterra (multi-circuit voice, fax and data for major users),
but the corporation is expected to have new competition from second
carrier Optus in coming months.

The lads from Telstra had better luck demonstrating another new service
for the outback - Radphone Direct Dial. This is Australian-designed gear
which communicates via high frequency (HF) radio rather than
satellite. It enables the 30,000 outback HF radio users to direct-dial
virtually any telephone in Australia, ending the need for operators
and delays. This service developed from the famous Flying Doctor radio
service which in turn originally consisted of a network of "pedal
wireless" sets for which the outback station dwellers pedalled a
generator to power their radio sets. The service costs AUS$99 to
register and a monthly fee of AUS$45-60.

(David Frith and Computer Daily News/19940429)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00003)

Japan - MITI To Promote Internet Usage 04/29/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of Posts
& Telecommunication will set up an Internet Committee in May to
promote the use of the Internet in Japan and the Asia-Pacific
regions.

The Japanese Posts & Telecommunication Ministry's Internet
Committee eventually plans to set up an Asia-Pacific Network
Information Center and explore the possibility of financial support
from the Japan Network Information Center, which is currently
operating Internet in Japan.

Another big goal of the committee will be to improve the speed and
promote standards for Internet use. Many major personal
computer-based telecommunication networks including
Fujitsu's Nifty-Serve and NEC's PC-VAN have been providing
interconnection with Internet.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940428/Press Contact: Posts &
Telecommunication Ministry, Press Bureau, [phone], Fax,
 [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00004)

Japan - MPEG Alliance 04/29/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Sixty major electronics firms
have agreed to exchange technical and patent information on the
data compression technology called MPEG. MPEG is a data
compression and decompression technology for multimedia data.

The agreement was reached at MPEG/IPR meeting in the US. The
participating firms include such major companies as IBM, Sony,
Matsushita Electric, and Philips. Through the exchange
of patent information, the participating firms want to avoid
patent data infringement and speed up development of
MPEG-related technologies and products.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940428/Press Contact: Posts &
Telecommunication Ministry, Press Bureau, [phone], Fax,
 [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00005)

PRC Wins $75 Million FBI Fingerprint Contract 04/29/94
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- PRC of McLean, Va., has
won an eight-year, $75 million contract for a major component of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's new automated fingerprint
identification system. PRC will provide the identification tasking and
networking portion of the system.

"Through this contract, we're going to help the FBI store over 32
million fingerprints that are currently on paper, significantly
reducing the time it takes to search and retrieve a suspected
criminal's fingerprints," said Jim Leto, PRC president and chief
executive officer.

The new FBI fingerprint system will perform quick, accurate and
paperless matches of suspect fingerprints with those on file with the
FBI. It will also exchange criminal history records between state and
federal agencies using standard formats and defined information types.
State and local police forces will have access to the FBI fingerprint
network will access it through the FTS 2000 network, the federal
government's nationwide dedicated telephone system. The FBI system
will also adhere to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
fingerprint transmission standards.

PRC said that by the year 2000, it is likely that the system will
handle more than two million transactions. The fingerprint system is
also part of the FBI's effort to replace existing computer systems
across the agency and move staff, systems and operations out of the
Hoover Building in downtown Washington and to a new facility in
Clarksburg, W. Va.

PRC has considerable experience with applying high technology in the
criminal justice system. The company has installed computer-aided
dispatching system in eight of the 10 largest US cities. The company
employs about 6,800 people in more than 200 offices, and 1993 revenues
were $761 million.

(Kennedy Maize/1990429/Contact: Chuck Taylor, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WASH)(00006)

Cellular Service Comes To DC Subway 04/29/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Washington's workaholics
are cheering. They can now use their portable telephones while
underground in the subway system, locally known as Metro.

But there are some temporary limits. Phone calls are possible only on
the Orange Line between the center of the city and the Virginia suburb
of Arlington. That leaves out all the cellular jockeys in Maryland.
And here's another catch: you must be a Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems
subscriber.

Still, Metro is the only subway system in the nation where any kind of
cellular traffic possible, thanks to the metropolitan transit agency
and Bell Atlantic. By next year, Bell Atlantic officials said, the
service will be expanded considerably.

Bell Atlantic, telecommunications analysts, and Transportation
Secretary Federico Pena hailed the new service at a Washington press
conference as a milestone in the wireless telephone industry and
transportation. Cellular users in the Washington area have been
telling the industry they want to use their portable phone on the
Metro, outside on the pavement, and in airports, ball parks and the
like, Bell Atlantic said.

Bell Atlantic and Metro spent more than $4 million to install cellular
phone antennas in subway tunnels. Metro gets a piece of the activity
on the service, although the details of the deal were not disclosed.
Both Bell Atlantic Mobile and Cellular One Inc. are working to develop
systems that can be used anywhere in the country, aiming for "anytime,
anywhere communications," without waiting for the Federal
Communications Commission to allocate additional radio spectrum for
personal communications devices.

The Washington installation is not only the first in the US, but
only the third in the world, according to Bell Atlantic, after Hong
Kong and Singapore. Even major systems such as Germany's U-Bahn and
the fabled Paris Metro don't have cellular service.

(Kennedy Maize/19940429/Contact: Maria Papa, Hill and Knowlton, 212-
697-5600)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(HKG)(00007)

HKTel Offers Videoconferencing On PCs With Windows 04/29/94
TAI KOO SHING, HONG KONG, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- HK Telecom CSL has
added a new dimension to its VideoNet videoconferencing service with
the introduction of the PCS 100 - a simple upgrade kit that can
transform a standard Windows-equipped PC into a high-quality personal
videoconferencing system.

The latest product from US videoconferencing equipment manufacturer,
PictureTel, the PCS 100 comprises a video pickup designed to sit on
top of the PC monitor, a hands-free speakerphone, two add-on cards,
and some software.

Operating under Microsoft Windows, the system allows users to pull up
applications during their video meetings and share them with the
other parties involved, discussing, annotating and making changes,
all in real-time.

According to a spokesperson from HK Telecom CSL, the new PCS 100 is
expected to open a new segment of the videoconferencing market
in the territory contrasting those already available from its
Videonet service since 1992.

Offering the convenience of attending meetings without leaving
one's office, the PCS 100 can be used to communicate with
individuals on other desktop units or with groups of people
using larger meeting room systems.

Conforming to industry standard TSS H.320 specifications, the PCS 100
is compatible with all the other systems which Hongkong Telecom
markets under its VideoNet banner as well as any other system
that is also H.320 compliant.

Advances in hardware, software and the increasing availability and
affordability of switched dial-up network services have helped video-
conferencing to come of age as a communications medium. It is filling a
growing need in the global marketplace for a means of bringing together
widely distributed groups of people and enabling them to work
collaboratively. The obvious results of this are increased
cost-efficiency, improved productivity, faster and better informed
decisions and better management for businesses that have distributed
operations.

HK Telecom is confident that the desktop sector of the videoconferencing
market will increase dramatically in the next 2-3 years, eventually
becoming commonplace in most organizations and in the home. It is
anticipated that group-type video-conferencing systems will continue
to proliferate, appearing in the meeting rooms of most companies to
satisfy their local or international business needs.

"Hongkong Telecom CSL has been the PictureTel distributor in Hong Kong,
Macau and China since 1991 and in that short time has managed
to capture more than 60 percent of the market," said Spencer Chan,
director and general manager (Asia Region) for PictureTel.
"I am sure that the introduction of the PCS 100 in conjunction
with VideoNet will push that figure even higher."

(Keith Cameron 19940422 Press Contact: Caroline Chung, HK
Telecom CSL, 852 -803 6551)


(CORRECTION)(APPLE)(LAX)(00008)

Correction - Apple Trade-In Program 04/29/94
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- In the story
"Apple Trade-In Program Takes HP, Compaqs, IBM" that ran April
27, 1994, Newsbytes inadvertently left out the toll-free number
where users can locate Apple resellers who are participating in
the Apple Trade-in program. That number is 800-538-9696.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940429/Press Contact: Jayme Curtis, Apple
Computer, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact:
Apple, Reseller Locations, 800-538-9696)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(HKG)(00009)

 ****3Com Chief Says Data Nets Driving Asian Growth 04/29/94
CAUSEWAY BAY, HONG KONG, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- The development
of an information superhighway infrastructure in Hong Kong
and the rest of Asia will be a key driver of economic growth
in the early 21st Century, a meeting of the territory's largest
corporate telecommunications users was told today.

According to Eric Benhamou, chief executive of leading global
data networking company 3Com Corporation, the quality of
electronic interaction will become a critical success
factor in transacting business across the region.

Benhamou, who was speaking to the Hong Kong Telecommunication
Users Group (HKTUG), said that a web of high capacity, intelligent
data communication networks -- dubbed the information
superhighway -- will be the conduit for a vast amount of
business services. He stressed that the popular image of the
information superhighway as a means of delivering 500 channels
of television to the home was a distorted view of its potential.

"Although there will be a major impact on entertainment, all
the multimedia hype has obscured the fact that entertainment
is but one industry that stands to benefit from the development
of an advanced network infrastructure," said Benhamou.

"By leveraging the information superhighway, many types of
companies will be able to re-engineer their business to
provide dramatic improvements in internal processes and a
quantum leap in customer service. In the financial sector,
for example, the banks will be able to work far more intimately
with their customers, and for that matter with their customers'
customers.

"In the healthcare industry the network will tie together
hospitals, doctors' offices, medical research institutes,
pharmacies and insurers in ways which will make the practice
of medicine far more effective. Ultimately the information
superhighway will enable remote examination, treatment and
monitoring of patients."

The HKTUG meeting, which was also attended by telecom company
executives and government officials, learned that there is
a risk that Asia will fall behind North America over the
next few years, with potentially serious economic consequences.

"The existence of monolithic, usually state-owned
telecommunication monopolies in many Asian countries, and
significant competitive restrictions in others, will result
in under-investment in network infrastructure. This will slow
delivery of a new generation of content-rich communication
services," said Benhamou.

"Asian businesses need to do some hard lobbying of governments
across the region to ensure the message gets across that
national economic interest does not mean defending inefficient
national telecom monopolies. They also have to push existing
communication service providers to ensure their network
development plans intersect with the emerging information
superhighway standards."

As well as his corporate responsibilities, Benhamou chairs
the National Information Infrastructure (NII) Task Force of the
American Electronics Association, an organization representing
3,000 members of the fastest growing segments of the American
high technology sector. The NII Task Force is working to speed
the development of America's information superhighway by
providing an end-user perspective, and participating in
pilot programs that provide successful national role models.

(Keith Cameron 19940429 Press Contact: Roy Johnson, 3Com,
852-868 9111)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00010)

Canadian Debit Card System Expands 04/29/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- The Interac
Association, a group of Canadian banks and other financial
institutions, has expanded its Interac Direct Payment debit-card
system to the province of Ontario. The service, already available
in Quebec and Western Canada, is also to be expanded to the four
Atlantic Provinces shortly, the association said.

The service lets Canadians make purchases with the same cards
they use in automated teller machines. Since all Canada's big
banks and a number of smaller trust companies and Quebec's
caisses populaires are members of Interac, almost any bank card
in Canada will work in the system.

Interac tested the service in Ottawa and neighboring Hull,
Quebec, in 1990 and 1991, and then launched commercial service in
Quebec, British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories
in 1991, said spokespeople at a travelling road show with which
Interac is promoting the service to Ontario retailers. Since
then, service has also been extended to Alberta, Manitoba, and
Saskatchewan. It was officially launched in Ontario this week.
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and
Newfoundland are to follow soon.

To use the service, a customer presents his or her bank card to a
participating retailer. The cashier swipes the card through an
electronic card reader as with a credit card. In fact, a
spokeswoman said, existing credit card authorization devices that
the banks provide can be upgraded to handle the debit cards as
well. Then the customer takes a handheld keypad and enters a
personal identification number -- the same one punched into an
automated teller machine -- to authorize a transaction. The amount
of the transaction is transferred from the customer's account to
the retailer's.

Interac is promoting the service as a convenience for customers,
who won't have to carry cash or write checks. The convenience
will come at a cost in some cases, though, as participating banks
may charge a transaction fee for purchases made this way. The
Royal Bank of Canada, for instance, will charge 30 cents per
transaction. However, this fee may not apply with all types of
accounts and in some cases customers are allowed a certain number
of free transactions per month.

Using the debit card instead of a credit card will also mean the
customer pays right away instead of when the credit card
statement arrives at the end of the month.

For retailers, according to Interac spokespeople, the benefits
will include improved cash flow -- to the extent that debit cards
replace credit card transactions -- and a reduced need for cash
on the premises.

Retailers pay a monthly rental fee of C$30 to C$50 for the
terminal, plus a transaction fee of up to 30 cents, depending on
the individual retailer's arrangement with its bank.

According to Interac, about 19.75 million bank cards that can
work with the system have been issued in Canada. Close to 62,000
Interac Direct Payment terminals are already installed at nearly
46,000 merchant sites in provinces where the service has been
available for some time. More than 100 million transactions have
been processed at an average value of C$51.80 per transaction,
the association said.

The greatest activity to date has been in supermarkets, with
about 45 percent of the total.

(Grant Buckler/19940429/Press Contact: Fred Harris, Interac
Association, 416-362-8550)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00011)

Carrera 275MHz Processing Powered System 04/29/94
LAGUNA HILLS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Just when it
seems comfortable to be talking 60, 90 and 100 MHz (megahertz)
processing power with RISC (reduced instruction set computer)
and Pentium processors, Carrera is beginning to ship initial
volumes of Digital Equipment's Alpha AXP 21064A 275MHz chip
in a Cobra AXP 275 workstation.

The Cobra AXP 275 system is the latest addition to Carrera's
line of Cobra's AXP systems and is the first to incorporate
Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) 275MHz microprocessor
which was announced in September, 1993. This new system is
designed to meet the heavy requirements of power users of
operating systems such as Windows NT where multitasking and
multi-user demands are high.

According to Carrera, an application like MaxEDS, an electrical
CAD (computer-aided design) program, running on the Cobra AXP 275
system, typically runs four times the speed of a Pentium 60 MHz
system.

Speaking to Newsbytes, Rod Frye, chairman of Carrera, said,
"It has been reported that a 32-bit chip can handle only 45
seconds of uncompressed video; a 64-bit chip can handle 50
million hours. That kind of increase is monumental in the
computer industry. The 275 chip operates at a performance rate
of SPECint 170 compared to a Pentium chip operating at a 100
SPECint rate."

Carrera is offering a number of different system configurations
starting with a base system that offers 128-bit memory bus,
128-bit processor bus, two 32-bit PCI and three 16-bit ISA
expansion slots, PCI local bus Ethernet (10Mbits/sec) controller,
PCI local bus SCSI-2 (10MB/sec) controller, two asynchronous serial
ports, parallel port, 16MB RAM, 400-500MB hard disk, CD-ROM,
keyboard, mouse and IBM-compatible floppy disk for $7995.

Mike Warren, DEC marketing consulting, told Newsbytes, "Because of
the tremendous power differences, we are not trying to compete with
Intel or the Apple/Motorola/IBM chip manufacturers. We are instead
targeting power users in the CAD, CASE [computer-aided software
engineering] and technical publishing and imaging markets
and want to develop niches where are products can be highlighted.
There are already 600 applications written to or ported to the
Alpha environment."

When asked about the limits of DEC's power processing
development, Warren said, "We are already into the next
generation of processing products and plan to aggressively
develop and market them. By the end of 1994, we will be
making more announcements regarding these developments."

Currently, only two chips process integers at 64 bits at
a time. Besides DEC, Silicon Graphics also manufactures
such a chip. The current Pentium and PowerPC chips process
integers 32 bits at a time. When does such speed come to the
average desktop user? According to Rod Fry, "As prices of
existing technologies are lowered with the introduction of the
next generation of product, we see a continual advancement of
processing power for all users. We think sometime in 1995,
there will begin to be a growth of this kind of processing
power on the desktop."

(Patrick McKenna/19940429/Press Contact: Mike Kilroy, Les
Goldberg Public Relations, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00012)

Slumping Jostens Sales Reflect New School Computing Focus 04/29/94
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Integrated
learning systems, in which companies lease hardware and software
to schools for specific teaching tasks, was the chief growth area
for educational technology in the late 1980s. Now the pattern has
definitely changed, as shown by a market leader's latest earnings
release, and its reaction to it.

Jostens Inc., said it will cut 150 employees from its education
software unit following its announcement that earnings plunged
to $1.7 million from $4.5 million a year earlier. Worse, sales
also fell, to $158.7 million from $164.6 million. Results would
have been worse but for an after-tax gain of $11 million from the
sale of its sportswear business. The company warned of more bad
news to come, including an after-tax cost of $45-50 million in
its next fiscal quarter, and an after-tax charge of about $5
million to cover the layoffs.

The changes are the work of a new president, Robert C. Buhrmaster,
hired last June and elected CEO last month. In his statement, he
explicitly identified problems with Jostens Learning. Jostens
Learning sells complete systems to school districts based on
promises it could boost test results. These systems were
installed in computer "labs" which students would visit once a
week, for drills in basic skills. The company said it will
now sell software only, that runs on standard platforms.

In recent years, however, a new paradigm for computers in
education has emerged, in which computers are put directly
into classrooms and used throughout the day, with classes
broken into small groups which work together on projects.
Jostens Learning now wants to participate in that market as
well.

Buhrmaster's plan for Jostens Learning is to focus on the K-12
market, and develop software that runs on industry-standard
systems. Companies which concentrated in that area, like Davidson
& Associates and Broderbund, have prospered in recent quarters,
even when they de-emphasized sales to schools in favor of retail
sales to parents. As part of its new plan, Jostens Learning's new
CEO, Stan Sanderson, will exit the hardware business and rely on
third-party vendors for hardware service. That's where that $45-
$50 million charge will go.

"The decision is not move from integrated learning systems [ILS],
but to focus on the K-12 market with ILS systems and stand-alone
offerings," said spokesman Kevin Whalen. He added that the net
income of the company, before its restructuring last year, had
stood at $39 million, so the actual impact of the new charges on
Jostens' earnings won't be as devastating as they might appear at
first glance. "The company is strong financially. Our other lines
of business are profitable, and ahead on a year-over-year basis.
Our biggest issue has been addressing Jostens Learning."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940429/Press Contact: Kevin Whalen, Jostens,
612-830-3300)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00013)

Prentice Hall Units For Sale 04/29/94
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- As part of
efforts by parent Viacom to raise cash and acquire it, Paramount
Publishing will sell six publishing companies that do not
hold a leadership position. Four of the companies were
part of a planned deal with Information America Inc., of Atlanta
last year, under which Paramount would have acquired a 49 percent
stake in the smaller online services company.

The six operations being sold have aggregate revenues of just
about $100 million, against about $2 billion in sales for the
publishing group as a whole.

Paramount Publishing spokesman Andrew Giangola told Newsbytes the
company is looking to sell six units: Prentice Hall Legal and
Financial Services, Prentice Hall Professional Software, Manac,
Master Data Center, Prentice Hall Law & Business, and the map
company H.M. Gousha. Of those six, only the latter two were not
part of last year's proposed deal with Information America.

He added all this is part of a general reorganization in which
Paramount Publishing will concentrate on four sales channels:
education, consumer, international and the business, technical
and professional area, which includes its computer books. The
computer book unit, now renamed Macmillan Computer Publishing,
is based in Indianapolis and will now report to Scott Flanders,
along with the company's Library Reference and General Reference
operation.

A second wing of the group will consist of business,
training and health care operations, including Appleton
& Lange, the Bureau of Business Practice, the New York Institute
of Finance, Career and Personal Development and Jossey-Bass. The
new head of this unit is Martin Kenney, who had been acting
president of the Bureau of Business Practice.

Giangola emphasized to Newsbytes that the moves are really a
continuation of plans first launched in June 1993, when the
Information America deal was first announced. That deal
collapsed in the wake of the fight over Paramount between Viacom
and QVC Network, a battle eventually won by Viacom. Viacom,
however, is still trying to close the deal. It has a second
merger in the works with Blockbuster Entertainment, and
Blockbuster's cash could make the Paramount deal work without
further asset sales, but Blockbuster shareholders may not approve
that merger due to the falling value of Viacom shares.

Concerning the units to be sold, Giangola added, "We'll discuss
the divestiture to anyone who can give us the greatest value.
We're talking to anyone and everyone." This has Information
America's chief financial officer, Gene Ellis, considering his
company's options. "We're considering a lot of different things,
and that's one of them," he told Newsbytes, referring to an
acquisition of those units by Information America.

If Information America did make another run at the Paramount
properties, it could justify six months of spending which had to
be written off last year. "A lot of that was spent doing due
diligence. That due diligence work might have some continuing
validity. That would be a difference between us and other"
potential acquirers. But the currency used in Information
America's proposal last year was its own stock. That stock was
trading in the range of $4-5 per share last year, and it's now
trading at between $3-4 per share.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940429/Press Contact: Andrew Giangola,
Paramount Publishing, 212-698-7111; Gene Ellis, Information
America, 404-892-1800)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00014)

America Online Results Strong 04/29/94
VIENNA, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- America Online
reported another very strong quarter. It said it earned $1.824
million on sales of $29.188 million for the quarter ending in
March, more than double the same figures from a year earlier.

But the gains in revenues, 178 percent, trailed the growth in
subscribers, 191 percent. America Online had 712,000 subscribers
at the end of the quarter, against 245,000 subscribers at the
end of March, 1993. During the quarter the company had to buy a
lot of new equipment to make those new subscribers happy,
acknowledging some were having trouble signing-on during
peak evening hours.

In a press statement, President Steve Case said the company has
"made great progress" solving the capacity problem.

In other communications earnings news, both of General Motors'
technology units reported better results. GM's Hughes Electronics
division, which sells cellular phone equipment and makes
communication satellites, saw its earnings rise to $64 million
for the quarter, up 44 percent over a year earlier. Sales rose
12.8 percent, to $3.59 billion. Telecommunications sales alone
rose 29.7 percent, helped by increased satellite transponder
sales. The company is also a defense contractor and makes
electronic equipment for its parents' auto operations.

EDS, which runs data centers for major corporations including
GM, reported modest gains, with profits rising to $171.7 million,
up 13 percent, while revenues rose to $2.239 billion. Shares in
Hughes and EDS are traded separately from the parent company,
as Class H and Class E shares respectively.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940429/Press Contact: America Online, Lennert
J. Leader, 703-448-8700; General Motors, 313-556-5000)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00015)

First Dial-Up Picture And MPEG Video Clip Service 04/29/94
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- A start-up
called Opus Global Inc., has launched the Electronic Library, the
first dial-up picture and video clip service, using a proprietary
video server previously used by the military.

The system will offer still images and clips compressed using the
MPEG-1 system 24 hours a day from its mainframe, which is linked
via the MCI network. "The Electronic Library allows a client to
search our database and gain instant access to images, music, and
sound stored on our central system through phone lines via a Mac
or IBM PC -- in the comfort of his or her office," explained
marketing director, Carl Hartman.

Newsbytes also talked with Masih Madani, the company's director
of technical development. He identified a number of different
types of customers for the service, including TV producers,
makers of CD-ROMs, and ad agencies. He said the proprietary
hardware was chosen because existing systems from vendors like
Silicon Graphics just didn't offer the capacity he was looking
for.

"We can serve 300 people at once at T-1 speeds" of 1.544
million bits/second, he said. MPEG was chosen as the compression
technology, he added, because it can manage large amounts of
material and allows customers to preview selections before buying
them. He also added that the MCI links are not a barrier to
anything: "We can plug into anybody anywhere."

The present offerings consists of collections from stock footage
companies and leftover material from independent photographers,
he added, but the company is rapidly increasing the size of the
collection. The system should go online in about 60 days
following a beta test which is now taking place.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940429/Press Contact: Lanny Sher, for Opus
Global, 310-659-0380)


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

Online Service Helps Defense Contractors Go Civilian 04/29/94
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Telescan's Knowledge
Express unit closed a previously announced contract award with
the Department of Energy to create a new online service on
technology transfers.

The contract is worth about $2 million, and is renewable for one
year. As part of the award, Knowledge Express will offer
subsidized access to its service to up to 2,400 universities,
federal labs, and small defense contractors who are trying to
convert over to non-defense work. "We announced the initial award
under the competitive process earlier," explained Chairman David
Brown. "This is the final contract agreement to go forward, and
has more specificity. This will help the conversion of defense
contractors to non-defense work. That's the goal of the
underlying act" under which the contract was obtained.

The service will be hosted in Houston, along with other Knowledge
Express services like LES Online, for licensing executives, and
UC-Access, for the University of California.

Telescan also sent out a press release announcing the 1994
speaking tour of Ian Woodward, an expert on high growth stocks.
Brown said that the company is involved in the tour and will
conduct local advertising on its behalf, in hopes that investors
interested in Woodward's methods will use Telescan's service.

"Ian's well-known in momentum-based investing," explained Brown.
"It's a popular concept today, and he's a popular devotee. He's
developed an indicator called ERG, a combination of earnings,
price, and group momentum, which is available on our service. We
developed it at his suggestion. While he shows how it might be
done other ways, they'll see how much easier it is to execute
strategy" using the numbers on Telescan.

He added, "Ian had done a lot of publishing of this system on
Prodigy, and developed a following. They approached us to program
their system so their philosophies could be attained using the
system. So our ProSearch 4.0 included many of their reports."
Telescan also includes the complete text of Mr. Woodward's
newsletter.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940429/Press Contact: Telescan, Richard Ames,
713-952-1060)


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

Murdoch Buys Interactive Games Maker 04/29/94
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Media tycoon
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has purchased Kesmai Corp., a maker
of multiplayer games based in Virginia. The purchase was made
through Delphi Internet Services, an indirect News Corp.,
subsidiary.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. A spokeswoman for
Delphi told Newsbytes that Kesmai will remain a separate
subsidiary and no management changes or staff cuts are being
announced at present.

Kesmai's games include Air Warrior, MultiPlayer BattleTech,
Island of Kesmai, and Harpoon On-line. They let two or more
people participate from different locations. The company claims
to have been the first in the world to combine sound and graphics
with global communications through on online service.

Starting in May, Kesmai's games will be available for Delphi
users to play online. A subscriber in North America could play a
game with another subscriber in Europe, for instance, the
spokeswoman said.

News Corp. acquired Delphi, one of the major US online services
and the only one providing unabridged access to the Internet,
last October. The media firm's other interests include TV Guide,
Fox Broadcasting Co., Twentieth Century Fox, HarperCollins
Publishers, The Times of London newspapers, British Sky
Broadcasting, and Star Television.

(Grant Buckler/19940429/Press Contact: Marcia Horowitz, Howard J.
Rubenstein Associates for News Corp., 212-489-6900; Paula Mae
Schwartz, Schwartz Communications for Delphi, 617-431-0770)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00018)

Computervision Has A Ford In Its Future 04/29/94
BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- A Massachusetts
company says it has been awarded a $3 million contract by the Ford
Motor Company, and has named a new VP of worldwide sales.

Computervision Corporation says the Ford contract is for new design,
data management development, and manufacturing software for Ford's
Powertrain Division. By the end of the year as many as 700 Ford
engineers will be using the company's EDM engineering data
management software and an upgrade to its design automation
software CADDS 5 to enhance the design engineering process and
maximize the division's overall product development.

Ford's Powertrain Operations are responsible for the design and
manufacture of Ford auto and truck engines, transmissions, and
axles.

In addition to EDM, which tracks and updates project information
among various design teams, Ford will use Computervision's
Concurrent Assembly Mock-up (CAMU) software, online automatic
backup software, the CV-DORS component software toolkits and
additional software for numerical control and coordination of
measuring-machine functions.

Ford is also contracting for Computervision's consulting services
to help Powertrain Operations carry out its implementation
schedules. Ford says the software will help improve time-to-market
for new powertrains by as much as 50 percent.

Computervision has named Patrick Clark as vice president of
worldwide sales. Clark has worked for Eastman Kodak, General
Electric, Microcom Inc, and Attitash Software Inc. He succeeds
Gareth Evan, who has resigned for personal reasons to return to
the United Kingdom.

Jim Mallory/19940429/Press contact: Wayne George, Computervision
Corporation, 617-275-1800, ext 2443; Reader contact:Computervision
Corporation, 617-275-1800)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00019)

Compaq To Showcase Newest Systems at Networld/Interop 04/29/94
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Compaq Computer
Corporation says it will highlight its newest desktop, server and
portable computers at next month's Network/Interop trade show.

Making its first public debut will be the recently introduced
Compaq Deskpro XL product line. Also on display will be Compaq's
LTE Elite notebook computers and desktop expansion bases with
networking capabilities.

Showgoers will get to see a demonstration of Compaq's Proliant
4000 servers running Intel's recently announced 100 megahertz (MHz)
Pentium chip, the Prosignia VS servers designed for small
networks, the Prosignia systems, and the Prolinea mission-critical
systems that use one, two, or four processors.

Compaq will also demonstrate its Full-Spectrum Fault Management, a
proactive fault prevention, fault tolerance, and rapid recovery
system now built into all Compaq servers to monitor the system's
health. SmartStart, a CD-ROM-based process to provide consistent
configurations across Compaq servers, will be demonstrated.

Compaq recently announced that it has been awarded a General
Services Administration (GSA) contract for the 1994-1995 contract
period. All Compaq products except the Presario line are available
on the schedule. Earlier this month the company appointed H.
Donald Weatherson as vice president of government and education.
Weatherson is no stranger to government procurement. A Compaq
spokesperson told Newsbytes Weatherson is a retired US Navy Rear
Admiral and served as CEO of the Navy Exchange System. The company
has also added additional sales personnel in Washington, DC to
focus on federal sales.

Compaq recently obtained a contract to supply portable computers
to the US Army as part of Science Applications International
Corporation's $500 million Lightweight Computer Unit contract.

Networld/Interop opens its three-day run at the Las Vegas Convention
Center May 4th.

(Jim Mallory/19940429/Press contact: Mike Berman, Compaq Computer
Corporation, 713-374-0484)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00020)

SF Multimedia Group Holds "Killer Content" Seminar 04/28/94
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Multimedia
Development Group (MDG), beginning its second year with
more than 500 members, delivered its "Killer Content" seminar,
hosted by Pacific Bell.

With a distinguished panel of speakers, including Edward Saxon,
producer of "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia,"
Susan Margolis, author of "Fame," Tom Lombardo, executive vice
president of Whittle Communications, Scott Rosenfelt, producer of
"Home Alone" and "Mystic Pizza," Steve Peterman, executive producer
of "Murphy Brown," and Garry Hare, producer of "Escape From
CyberCity" and "ABC Presents the Palm Springs Open," MDG offered a
venue for the stimulation of creative ideas designed to lead
to successful and intelligent content in multimedia titles.

Roland Wolfram, executive director of Pacific Telesis Video
Services, and Hal Logan, general manager of Pacific Telesis
Electronic Publishing Services, served as moderators.

Besides the panel discussion, the evening consisted of a
small exhibition of multimedia titles including Critical Path,
Total Distortion, Morgan and A Kingdom of Women, a new title in
development authored by Christine Mathieu of Le Chido that
explores an 8th Century kingdom.

Perhaps best summarized by Garry Hare's comments, the
evening centered on, "If we have learned anything at all,
it is that we need to spend a lot more time before we turn the
machine on."

Realizing that the budgetary concerns often limit creative
exploration, the panel emphasized the need to assist individual
and group efforts for the creation of multimedia titles that
extend the level of content beyond that of the volumes of
titles now on the market.

Some current titles, such as "Myst," were applauded as moving
in the right direction, but the question of how to influence
developers and the market to expand with greater and deeper
content centered the discussions.

(Patrick McKenna/1994/Press Contact: Pat Meier, Pat Meier
Associates, tel, 415-957-5999)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00021)

Personnel Changes Roundup 04/29/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- This is a
regular feature summarizing company personnel changes not covered
elsewhere by Newsbytes: Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific, MECA
Software Inc., Microsoft Corp.

Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific has appointed Jim Sherriff as
general manager, Professional Services Organisation, Asia
Pacific. As such, he will be responsible for the company's
consulting activities in a region that stretches from Korea
to India and New Zealand. Sherriff spent the last two years
as general manager, workstations and channels for
Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific.

MECA Software Inc., (212-995-2200), has announced that Paul D.
Harrison has been named president of the company. Harrison, who
had been with MECA since 1990 as both its chief operating officer
and chief financial officer, will assume his new role immediately.
The company also announced that Daniel M. Schley, who has served
as the company's president and chief executive officer since 1987,
has been named to the newly created position of vice chairman.

Microsoft Corp., (800-426-9400), announced the promotion of
Gregory Maffei to the position of treasurer and John Connors to
that of corporate controller. Maffei and Connors will continue to
report to Michael Brown, vice president of finance. In addition,
the company announced the appointment of Carla Lewis to assistant
treasurer and Scotts Boggs to assistant corporate controller.

(Ian Stokell/19940429)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00022)

Networking Roundup 04/29/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- This is a
regular Friday feature, summarizing networking news not covered
elsewhere by Newsbytes: NetManage, Novell, Oracle, Fast
Ethernet Alliance, and National Semiconductor.

NetManage, (408-973-7171), has released Socket Wrencher, a new
Windows TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
stress testing tool. Socket Wrencher is reportedly being released
by NetManage for free distribution and will be posted on public
information servers. It will be widely available for performance
and stress testing new Windows TCP/IP implementations. Socket
Wrencher is a WinSock application that provides more than two
dozen different measures of protocol stack performance and
compatibility, according to the company. Socket Wrencher
reportedly tests a protocol stack independent of any particular
application such as FTP, Telnet, or NFS. Performance is tested
over TCP and UDP in both synchronous and asynchronous operation
and in both a send only and echo mode. In addition to performance,
Socket Wrencher provides a set of tests that characterize various
operating parameters of a WinSock based protocol stack such as
the maximum number of sockets that are available.

On the legal front leading network operating system (NOS) vendor
Novell Inc., (801-429-5804), announced it is filing lawsuits
against two companies for allegedly pirating or illegally upgrading
Novell's NetWare NOS software and reselling those upgrades as new
product. Between the two cases, Novell estimates the number of
illegal copies upgraded may reach the hundreds. In one lawsuit,
Novell alleges that Aqua Systems, a Novell authorized reseller
illegally upgraded Novel products on several occasions in direct
violation of their signed Novell upgrade agreement. The other
lawsuit charges that Digital Soft also illegally upgraded several
serial numbers more than once. According to the suit, single serial
numbers were repeatedly upgraded, resulting in at least 100 illegal
upgrades.

Oracle Corp., (415-506-6051), announced plans to provide Oracle7
Parallel Server on the new IBM System/390 Parallel Transaction Server.
According to the company, the release of the Oracle7 Parallel Server
is planned to coincide with the release of the new IBM processors.
This implementation of the Oracle7 Parallel Server reportedly exploits
the Parallel Sysplex Architecture of the IBM S/390 Parallel
Transaction Server by allowing multiple Oracle7 subsystems to share
a single database. The implementation of this shared database
capability is accomplished through the use of features provided
by IBM in its S/390 Coupling Facility, OpenEdition MVS/ESA SP Version
5.1, and CICS/ESA Version 4 along with features inherent in the
Oracle7 product, such as the Oracle Distributed Lock Manager, says
the company.

National Semiconductor, (408/721-6255), announced that its NWay
auto-sensing protocol for Ethernet networks has received prime
consideration from the IEEE 802.3 Task Force for inclusion in the
upcoming Fast Ethernet Standard. National's NWay auto-sensing
protocol is designed to alleviate the complexity associated with
operating heterogeneous 802.3 Ethernet-type networks, says the
company. NWay reportedly removes the need for hand-tweaking by MIS
(management information systems) professionals, making network
management easier. NWay allows Ethernet circuits to detect what
kind of transmission scheme and speed are being used by the
arriving Ethernet data. This allows Ethernet repeaters (hubs) to
properly configure and manage the data, says the company.

(Ian Stokell/19940429)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00023)

Company Results Roundup 04/29/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- This is a
regular feature, summarizing company financial results not
covered elsewhere by Newsbytes: Computervision Corp., Eastman
Kodak Company, Northern Telecom, Mentor Graphics Corporation,
Electronic Arts, Natural MicroSystems Corporation, CompUSA
Inc., Creative Technology Ltd., Quarterdeck Office Systems Inc.,
Symantec Corp., Xerox Corp., and Comshare Inc.

Computervision managed to post a small net income for its first
quarter. Profits were larger for camera film company Kodak
and telephone firm Northern Telecom. Mentor managed to post
income for the quarter, compared to a loss for the 1993 quarter
on about the same amount of revenue. Not surprisingly, game
company Electronic Arts posted a large increase in income.
Natural MicroSystem revenue was up quite a bit, and the company
managed a small income. However, computer superstore chain
CompUSA posted a net income for its third quarter, but a loss
for the nine months. Creative Technology posted good net income
for the quarter and the year to date, but Quarterdeck only managed
a loss on reduced sales. Other companies to turn previous losses
into gains were Symantec and Comshare, while document company
Xerox posted high income.

Computervision Corporation, (617-275-1800), announced a
profit for its first quarter ended April 3, 1994. For this year's
first quarter, Computervision achieved operating income of $11.5
million and net income of $0.5 million, or $0.01 per share, on
revenues of $148.8 million. For the year ago first quarter ended
April 4, 1993, which included not only software operations but
also the workstation resale business which the company has now
exited, Computervision had operating income of $3.5 million and
a net loss of $10.4 million, or $0.22 per share, on revenues of
$220.9 million.

Eastman Kodak Company, (716-724-5802), reported first quarter
sales of $3.59 billion and net earnings of $82 million, or $.25
per share, in addition to posting sharply improved operating
earnings. The 1994 first quarter sales were up 1% from $3.54
billion last year, while earnings from continuing operations,
before deducting an extraordinary item, were level with $94
million, or $.29 per share, a year ago. Said Kodak Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer George M. C. Fisher,
"Earnings from operations in Imaging, Information and Health
increased by 26%, growing from $294 million a year ago to $370
million this year."

Northern Telecom, (905-566-3178), reported results for
the first quarter 1994. Revenues were $US2.00 billion, up three
percent compared with $1.94 billion reported for the same period
in 1993. Net earnings applicable to common shares were $87 million,
or $.35 per share, compared with earnings of $74 million, or $.30
per share for the same period last year. Included in the first
quarter 1994 results was a one time net gain related to the
disposition of the fiber optic manufacturing facility in Saskatoon
of $72 million, or $.29 per share. Order input during the quarter
was $1.74 billion, compared with $1.84 billion a year earlier,
reflecting lower Bell Canada orders and the impact of the sale
of STC Submarine Systems somewhat offset by strong international
performance, said the company. Orders on hand at March 31, 1994,
were $3.93 billion, up 11 percent over the prior year. Research
and development expenses totaled $247 million, or 12.4 percent
of revenues, for the first quarter compared with $256 million,
or 13.2 percent, for the first quarter last year.

Mentor Graphics Corporation, (503-221-1551), announced that
worldwide revenues for the first quarter ending March 31, 1994
were $84,451,000, compared to $82,639,000 for the first quarter
of 1993. Earnings for the quarter were $3,792,000 ($.08 per share),
compared to a net loss of $4,298,000 ($.09 per share), for the
first quarter of 1993. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 1993
were $83,770,000. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 1993
was $29,555,000 ($.63 per share), and included a restructuring
charge of $24,800,000. Mentor designs, manufactures, markets and
distributes electronic design automation (EDA) software and
provides professional services supporting its customers' design
environments.

Software company Electronic Arts, (415-513-7742), announced
its operating results for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 1994.
Revenues were $107,158,000 compared to $86,581,000 for the fourth
quarter of the prior fiscal year, an increase of 24%. Net income
for the quarter was $11,276,000, an increase of 31% from the
$8,595,000 reported for the comparable period a year ago. Earnings
per share were $0.23 compared to $0.17 for the fourth quarter last
year. Revenues for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1994, were
$418,289,000 compared to $298,386,000 for the same period last
year, an increase of more than 40%. Net income for fiscal 1994 was
$44,737,000, an increase of 45% from the $30,858,000 reported for
the comparable period last year. Earnings per share were $0.90
compared to $0.65 reported for the year-ago period. The company
said that revenue growth in the March quarter was achieved
primarily as a result of strong growth in software sales for
CD-based platforms, such as the IBM PC and compatibles, the Sega
CD, and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and in Japan for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Revenues in North
America and Japan increased 26% and over 140%, respectively.
European revenues declined 13%, due to continued weakness in
the videogame cartridge market, while Australian revenues also
declined 12%.

Natural MicroSystems Corporation, (508-650-1365), reported net
income of $270,000 on a 40% increase in revenue for the first fiscal
quarter ended March 31, 1994. Revenues for the first quarter of 1994
were approximately $3,326,000 compared to $2,379,000 for the same
period of 1993. Net income rose to $270,000, or $0.12 per share,
compared to $41,000, or $0.02 per share in 1993. Weighted average
shares were 2,253,059 for 1994 versus 1,817,548 for 1993. The
company completed its initial public offering of 1,400,000 shares
on February 17, 1994. The firm is a developer of PC-based digital
signal processor voice processing applications.

Computer superstore retailer CompUSA Inc., (214-383-4404),
announced results for the fiscal 1994 third quarter and nine months
ended March 26, 1994. For the fiscal 1994 third quarter, net sales
increased 63.4 percent to $599.1 million from $366.5 million for
the fiscal 1993 third quarter ended March 27, 1993. Operating income
for the third quarter of fiscal 1994 increased 13.5 percent to $8.3
million from $7.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 1993. Net
income decreased 21.7 percent to $3.4 million, or 18 cents per share,
compared with $4.3 million, or 23 cents per share, in the prior year.
For the first nine months of fiscal 1994, net sales increased
64.8 percent to $1.573 billion from $954.5 million for the first
nine months of fiscal 1993. The net loss for the first nine months
of fiscal 1994 was $3.2 million, or 17 cents per share, compared
with net income of $8.5 million, or 47 cents per share, during the
same period of fiscal 1993. Operating results for the first nine
months of fiscal 1994 would have been net income of $2.9 million,
or 15 cents per share, after exclusion of a restructuring charge.

Multimedia product supplier Creative Technology Ltd.,
(408-428-6600), announced its third quarter financial results
for the quarter ended March 31, 1994. Sales for the third quarter
of fiscal 1994 were $181.2 million compared with $74.5 million
(+143%) for the same quarter last year. Sales for the nine months
ending March 31, 1994, were $477.5 million compared to $204.2
million (+134%) for the comparable period last year. Net income
for the quarter was $28.0 million compared to a loss of $5.6
million for the third quarter 1993. Net income for the nine months
ended March 31, 1994, was $82.2 million compared to $27.0 million
for the corresponding period of the prior year. Earnings per share
were $0.63 compared to a loss of $0.14 for the third quarter last
year. Earnings per share for the nine months ended March 31, 1994
were $1.86 compared to $0.67 for the corresponding period last year.
Results for the quarter and nine months ended March 31, 1993
included a one-time charge of $22 million for the write-off of
in-process technology due to the acquisition of E-mu Systems, Inc.
Excluding this one-time charge, net income and EPS for the quarter
and nine months ended March 31, 1993 would have been $16.4 million
or $0.40 per share, and $49.0 million or $1.21 per share, respectively.

Quarterdeck Office Systems Inc., (310-314-3232), reported net
sales of $7.3 million for its second fiscal quarter ended March 31,
1994, down from net sales in the second fiscal quarter a year
earlier of $10.3 million. The sales decline resulted in a net loss
of $1.6 million, or $0.08 per share, compared with net earnings in
the corresponding year-earlier period of $201,000, or $0.01 per share.
For the first half of its fiscal year, Quarterdeck recorded net
sales of $16.5 million vs. $22.4 million in fiscal 1993's first half.
The net loss for the current six-month period amounted to $2.3 million,
or $0.11 per share, contrasted to net earnings a year ago of $616,000,
or $0.03 per share. Quarterdeck attributed the sales decline for the
quarter primarily to reduced sales of its QEMM memory management
product resulting from the introduction by Microsoft of MS-DOS 6.2
in November 1993.

Symantec Corporation, (408-446-8884), announced its financial
results for the fourth fiscal quarter and fiscal year 1994, which
ended on April 1, 1994. For the quarter, the company reported
revenues of $69.9 million, an increase of 9% or $5.9 million
compared to the March 1993 quarter. Earnings per share were $0.23
compared with a loss of $0.28 per share in the March 1993 quarter.
Revenues for fiscal year 1994 were $267.7 million compared to
$257.5 million for fiscal year 1993. Income before non-recurring
charges of $33.6 million associated with acquisitions, restructuring
costs and settlement of class action lawsuits was $12.1 million, or
$0.39 per share. The net loss including these charges was $0.37 per
share. During fiscal year 1994, the company acquired Contact Software
International Inc. and Fifth Generations Systems Inc.

Income from Xerox Corporation's (203-968-3572), core document
processing business in the first quarter was $131 million, a 5
percent increase from $125 million a year ago. Excluding a one-time
$17 million tax credit in the first quarter of 1993, document
processing income was 21 percent higher in the 1994 first quarter.
Document processing primary earnings per share were $1.07 in the
first three months of 1994, compared with $1.12 in the corresponding
1993 quarter. Fully diluted earnings per share were $1.04 in the
first quarter against $1.08 in the 1993 period. Revenues from
the company's digital products grew 21 percent on a pre-currency
basis and represented 19 percent of total revenues. Black-and-white
copier revenues, which represented about two-thirds of document
processing revenues, increased 3 percent before currency over the
comparable 1993 period.

Comshare Incorporated, (313-769-6177), reported improved
earnings per share of 2 cents for its third quarter ended March 31,
1994. A year ago the company had reported a net loss of 63 cents
a share for the third quarter, including a 24 cent a share charge
for restructuring and staff reductions. Revenue for the third
quarter was $23.2 million, compared with $23.4 million in the same
quarter last year. Software license revenue during the quarter
increased 14 percent, to $9.2 million, over the third quarter of
1993. License revenue from the personal computer-based software
that comprises the client/server side of Comshare's business grew
58 percent, to $7.7 million, representing a record 84 percent of
the company's software license revenue during the quarter. This
growth was partially offset by a 53 percent decline, to $1.5
million, in mainframe and other software license revenue compared
with the same quarter last year. Overall revenue from personal
computer (PC) software (license and maintenance fees) increased
37 percent to $12.2 million, compared with $8.9 million for the
same quarter last year. PC software revenue from the company's
LAN-based EIS applications increased 147 percent over the same
quarter last year. PC software revenue also increased in the
company's other application specialties, with ARTHUR information
systems for retail merchandisers up 48 percent, and Commander
FDC and Budget financial systems up 24 percent, over the same
quarter last year.

(Ian Stokell/19940429)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00024)

Int'l Artists Rights Symposium In Los Angeles 04/29/94
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- The
International Artists Rights Symposium has been going on at
the Hotel Nikko in Los Angeles since Wednesday, and will
end today. The forum was intended to address legal, moral and
ethical concerns surrounding the protection of original
motion picture work and historic preservation.

A company spokesperson told Newsbytes that attendence was
"through invitation only."

Silicon Graphics is listed as a major sponsor of the
symposium which was designed to "encourage discussion and
awareness in the issues relating to technological advancements
in the film industry."

Newsbytes notes that computers, and especially graphics-oriented
workstations from such vendors as Silicon Graphics, are being
used increasingly to create and manipulate film images.

On the subject or artist rights, Harry Pforzheimer, director of
corporate communications at Silicon Graphics, said: "As we grow
more capable of fostering the creation of virtual characters and
enhanced realities, serious consideration must be paid to
protecting the integrity of original work. We must recognize the
collective interest in preserving what has come before us, with
a similar enthusiasm for what can conceivably be created in the
future."

Computer-generated special effects are used increasingly in film,
Newsbytes notes, because they are usually a great deal less
expensive than the real thing. But it is not just explosions and
morphing where they have found a niche. Even in television they
are used for cost-cutting. There are numerous examples on both
television and film, where a crowd scene is generated using
computers. A small group of "real" people can be duplicated
many-fold in order to give the impression of a large crowd. The
technique cuts down on the need for hordes of extras, and the
need for accompanying expensive costumes and accessories.

Silicon Graphics says that its industry partners, such as Industrial
Light & Magic, which created the dinosaurs for Steven Spielberg's
"Jurassic Park" on Silicon Graphics workstations, and Cinesite,
which used computers to restore the animated classic "Snow White"
to Disney's original specifications, have compelled technological
advancements that can be applied in other markets.

Said Gary Lauer, senior vice president of North American field
operations for Silicon Graphics and a featured speaker at the
symposium, "The entertainment industry now drives technological
advancements in the 1990s in much the same way that the
military provided impetus for technological developments in the
1960s."

He concluded: "As more creative work is performed digitally, and
a broader range of industries adopt computer-aided and
collaborative design methods, issues of the original creators'
rights will become ever more complex and important."

(Ian Stokell/19940429/Press Contact: Ashley Mooser,
415-390-2863, Silicon Graphics)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00025)

Microsoft Signs Independent Windows App Usability Tester 04/29/94
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 APR 28 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation has signed an agreement with a Swedish company to
provide testing of Windows-compatible applications.

The company says the testing, which will be based on an
established usability standard, will be done by Nomos Management
AB, a Stockholm company. It will evaluate the usability of
Windows-based applications from independent software developers,
consultants, and other sources. Microsoft says long-term
expectations for the program include a significant improvement in
information technology return on investment.

Microsoft already operates its own usability lab on its Redmond,
Washington campus. That lab was established in 1988, and puts
Microsoft products through usability testing throughout the entire
development phase.

Mark Simpson, Microsoft's Usability group manager, told Newsbytes
usability testing is done to collect empirical data about how
users interact with software. That information is used to guide
the development team as they create or revise software.

Microsoft tests both corporate and home users at their work site,
to see what kind of work they are doing with computers. It also
brings users in to its usability lab and asks them do the type of
tasks the software is designed to perform. "We feed that information
back to the product team so they can revise the design in-process,"
Simpson explained to Newsbytes.

Simpson said Microsoft also uses a "thinking aloud" technique that
has two users working together with a piece of software,
articulating what they are doing. "We learn a lot that way," he
says. The company also has two people work together to see if they
can figure out how to work with the software without any
instruction.

(Jim Mallory/19940429/Press contact: Beverley Flower, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080; Reader contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00026)

Tax Forms, Help Online By 2000 04/29/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 APR 28 (NB) -- Tax forms and
instructions will be available via your PC and people with simpler
returns won't even have to file a return by the year 2000.

"Millions of Americans will barely know that the filing season has
come and gone." That's the prediction of IRS Commissioner Margaret
Milner Richardson. She made her remarks on April 15th, the final day
to file this year's return or a request for extension, and
apparently the day she put her own Form 1040 in the mail.
Richardson said she hired a tax expert, apparently not her tax
attorney husband, to prepare her return.

"Virtually everything you will need for filing your returns in the
future can be available to you right from your home computer,"
Richardson told the National Press Club. She also said forms and
instructions will be available right up to the last minute by the
end of the century.

If you suffer from computer phobia and continue to file a paper
return, the IRS expects to have electronic scanning equipment to
handle those documents. "You will be able to call with a question
about your return right after you file it, while it's still fresh in
your mind instead of waiting two or three months for your return to
work its way through the system," says Richardson.

Many taxpayers will undoubtedly welcome the changes, as well the
post office. Its employees won't have to stand at the curb until
midnight each April 15th accepting returns by procrastinators. But
defenders of individual privacy may not be as happy.

Richardson says taxpayers who are used to filing forms 1040A and
1040EZ won't have to file any kind of return, since the IRS will
have all the information about their income and credits in its
computer and will just send a bill or issue a refund check
automatically. Refunds will be able to be deposited directly in
a taxpayer's bank account.

The commissioner is aware of the privacy issues its plan raises, and
says the agency is hiring a privacy advocate to ensure those
concerns are considered in designing new systems. "We won't tolerate
even one (IRS) employee who violates a taxpayer's right to privacy."

The IRS handles an estimated half-million calls for information on
the last day of the filing season, and says about 10 million
people drop their returns in a mailbox on that day. Another five to
six million mail requests for extension. If you ask for an
extension, that only extends the date your return has to be mailed.
The request form has to be accompanied by a check for 90 percent of
the tax you are expected to pay that year.

Richardson says the last minute rush is nothing new. In the first
year tax returns were required - 1914 - a front page story in the
New York Times talked about stragglers braving a blizzard to reach
the Bureau of Internal Revenue offices.

(Jim Mallory/19940429/Press contact: Internal Revenue Service,
202-622-5000)


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

 ****Where Are Multimedia Interfaces Moving? 04/29/94
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- What kinds of
"metaphors" should be used in hypermedia interfaces? How can
designers do a better job of creating multimedia interfaces that
"support the users' tasks?" These were a few of the questions
raised in "Designing Presentation in Multimedia Interfaces," a
session at CHI (Computer-Human Interaction) '94 that also featured
demos of a multimedia interface for city planning and "StarFire,"
a futuristic video by SunSoft.

The hypermedia interface should be based on an "organizational
metaphor," plus at least one "functional metaphor," recommended
Kaisa Vaananen of ZGDV - Computer Graphics Center. A "navigational
metaphor" is optional, she added, in a presentation on a paper, co-
written with Jens Schmidt, called "User Interfaces to Hypermedia -
How to Find Good Metaphors?"

"Organizational metaphors" give an "overall structure" to the
interface, Vaananen explained. A house, a library, a UFO
(unidentified flying object), and a fairy tale are some examples.

"Functional metaphors" have to do with "what you do when you get
there," according to the interface expert. The user might click on
windows to see inside the rooms of a house, or more elaborately,
take an elevator between floors of a library, stand between the
library shelves, take down books, and click on the tables of
contents to view the documents inside, she said.

In contrast, "navigational metaphors," such as the "guided tour" or
the historical metaphor, provide a framework for "how you get
there," she maintained.

In deciding which metaphors to use, designers should ask themselves
such questions as whether the metaphors will be "abstract" or
"concrete," whether the presentation should be 2-D (two-
dimensional), "2-and-a-half-D," or 3-D (three-dimensional), and
whether the metaphor itself will become a "distracting function."

Users sometimes find that, after an initial period of intrigue with
an interface, the metaphor actually "gets in the way" of a software
program, Vaananen elaborated.

Alistair Sutcliffe of the City University in London, another
speaker, told the audience that the current "intuitive" approach to
multimedia interface design does not always result in interfaces
that "support the users' tasks."

Sutcliffe then outlined a rules-based "demonstrator" approach,
based on "theoretical and empirical studies in empirical
psychology," that he developed in conjunction with City
University's Peter Faraday for use in Esprit's "Intuitive," a
program that is working on establishing "intelligent interfaces"
for multimedia databases.

Sutcliffe and Faraday used the "demonstrator" approach to develop
an emergency decision support system aimed at helping captains of
ships to manage hazards like fire, collision, and chemical
spillage. The decision support system that resulted from the design
process was then used and evaluated by ship captains.

The "demonstrator" model begins with a task analysis, which is
followed by a resource analysis, presentation scripting, media
selection, and finally, the selection of presentation techniques,
according to Sutcliffe.

The approach, he said, is meant to "provide appropriate information
for human decision-making," rather than to "automate the task per
se."

The ship captains' responses to the interface that came out of the
project was "favorable," reported Sutcliffe and Faraday, in a paper
on the project. The captains thought that the information and media
types selected were "appropriate." The use of video was "well
received."

Some of the ship captains, though, told the researchers that the
interface might contain too many "instructions and captions as well
as images showing directions," and expressed doubts "about whether
they would have time to consider all the data in a time critical
emergency."

Michael J. Shiffer of MIT showed the crowd a "geographically based"
multimedia interface he developed for use in city planning in
Washington, DC. Within the city planning process, he explained,
questions often arise over the actual impact of a "proposed
intervention" such as a new building.

The traditional approach to city planning is to "spread maps out on
a table," said Shiffer. "If they're lucky, they'll have photos."

Other computer-based approaches have been previously available for
city planning, such as predictive models and geographic information
systems (GIS), he noted. "But it is often difficult to use these,
especially in a group setting."

The interface designed by Shiffer lets users insert photos and
videos of the proposed intervention into the site where the
building will be located. Users can view the site from different
levels and angles on the street, see the effects of shade and the
four seasons of the year, take a "drive-by" of the site, or "fly"
over the site in an aerial view.

Users can also plot "before" and "after" street traffic on
graphical charts, and simulate the amount of added noise that will
be generated, by distance from the site.

In another demo, Bruce Tognazzini of SunSoft aired "StarFire," a
video demo designed to show SunSoft engineers the kind of interface
that might emerge for a real proposed computer system at SunSoft.

"StarFire" displays the use of advanced techniques like gestural
and speech interaction, wide-screen flat panel video displays,
real-time videoconferencing, and "smart" agents in a story based
around a product leader's development of a new luxury sports car
for a major auto manufacturer.

In a paper on "StarFire," Tognazzini writes that it was important
for the demo to show how these technologies would really be useful
to human beings. As a result, the heroine of the film, Julie, is
placed on a situation where she is "saved" by technology.

Near the end of the video, Julie's rival at the car company, Mike
sends a memo to the CEO of the firm claiming that Julie's car is
not ready, and suggesting that his new sedan should be moved up to
take the place of Julie's car for fall release in the company's
production schedule.

The CEO then calls an emergency meeting, and Julie has five hours
in which to put together a presentation for the board of directors.
At the conclusion of the presentation, Mike claims that luxury cars
only sell well during the summer months. As ammunition, he shows an
article from "AutoWeek" reporting a sales drop for a competing car
in the fall.

But Julie rises to the occasion, accessing a multimedia database to
instantly retrieve other articles indicating that the drop in sales
for the competing car resulted from the "Great Earthquake of 2004,"
rather than from cooler fall weather.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940429/Reader and Press Contact: Rosemary Wick
Stevens, CHI '94, 415-328-3600)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00028)

China Cracks Down On Pirate CDs 04/29/94
BEIJING, CHINA, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- China has cracked down on the
booming trade in pirate audio and computer CDs after pressure from
the West.

As the US government announced that the level of piracy in China
had reached unacceptable levels and trade sanctions were under
consideration, earlier this month Chinese police raided
more than 400 stores in five cities across the country.

In the much publicized raid campaign, officials said they had seized
more than 53,000 pirated CDs, 2,700 pirated cassette tapes and almost
100 forged laser discs. As a result of the seizures, Chinese officials
say that a number of raids on manufacturers are planned.

The police action was ordered by the ruling Communist Party, which
said pirates would be severely punished, the official Xinhua News
Agency said.

The order comes just weeks after the International Federation of
Phonographic Industry accused China of exporting tens of millions of
pirated audio and computer CDs to the West, so threatening to destroy
the world's legitimate CD industry. The group has asked the US and
European Union to pressure China to curb the illegal activity.

The US warned China last December that it was on a "priority
watch list" and could face trade sanctions for widespread
copyright and trademark violations, including CD piracy.

In just two years, the number of CD production lines in China has
gone from just one to more than 30, producing nearly 100 million
discs a year, according to the Chinese government. Since the
domestic market for discs, both audio and computer, is five
million a year, the remaining 95 million find their way abroad.

As a result of the crackdown, Chinese CD manufacturers must
now be approved by the State Office for Press and Publications.
Local governments have until the end of May to report to
Beijing on all unauthorized CD production lines in their
territories.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940429)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00029)

UK - Survey Shows Power Mac "Trouncing" Pentium 04/29/94
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- A new study claims
to have found that all three of Apple Computer's new Power Mac
computers can outrun a Pentium-based system which is running
Windows.

The study, which was completed by Ingram Laboratories, an independent
PC testing company, measured performance on 25 different "every day
tasks" including opening files, scrolling screens and spell checking.

"The results are conclusive: Power Mac systems beat Pentium processor
based systems, hands down. What's more, they're easier to use, cost
less and with SoftWindows software from Insignia Solutions, they can
run DOS and Windows as well as Mac applications," explained Ian Diery,
executive vice president and general manager of Apple's personal
computer division. "These results give DOS and Windows users
even more reason to consider switching to Mac."

According to Diery, the Ingram Labs study found: the
Apple Power Mac 8100/80 outperformed a 66 megahertz (MHz) Pentium
processor-based computer by an average of 54 percent;
the Apple Power Mac 7100/66 outperformed a 66MHz Pentium
processor-based PC by an average of 38 percent;
the Apple Power Mac 6100/60 outperformed a 66MHz Pentium
processor-based computer by an average of five percent and
beat a 60MHz Pentium processor-based computer by an average
of 24 percent.

Ingram ran a total of 25 tests incorporating four applications: Adobe
Photoshop, Aldus Freehand, Frame Technology Framemaker and Fractal
Design Painter. Aldus Freehand and Frame Technology Framemaker were
beta software versions for the Power Mac, Newsbytes notes.

Data from the Ingram study was combined with independent pricing
research to produce what Apple claims is confirmation that Power Mac
systems offer the best price/performance value in the mainstream PC
market today.

According to Apple, the data from these sources demonstrated that the
Power Mac offers customers significant price and performance
advantages over comparably equipped Pentium processor-based PCs from
several leading suppliers. The study cites the example of the Power
Mac 6100/60, which it claims is priced at least $1,000 less than a
compatible 60MHz Pentium processor-based PC, but is 24 percent faster
on the tasks measured.

(Steve Gold/19940429/Press & Public Contact: Apple Computer - Tel:
[phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00030)

UK - Gateway 2000 Launches New Pentium PCs 04/29/94
DUBLIN, IRELAND, 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- Gateway 2000 Europe has
announced two further additions to its Pentium range -- the P5-90 and
the P5-90 Executive. Both machines are based around the 90 megahertz
Pentium processor.

Both machines also include a double speed compact disc read-only
memory (CD-ROM) and 650-megabyte (MB) hard disk, as well as PCI
(personal computer interface) local bus graphics. Volume shipments
are expected next week.

"The Pentium market is one of our strongest areas and these machines
offer our customers even greater choice at the top of our range," said
David Pais, the company's European marketing manager, who added: "The
PCI Local Bus, combined with fast graphics cards and the 90MHz Pentium
processor will give users stunning performance at great value
prices."

The P5-90 Executive comes fully configured with 16MB of memory, a
double speed CD-ROM drive, PCI "fast" IDE interface and a 17-inch
color Crystalscan monitor. It also includes a 16-bit sound card with
premium speakers within its UKP 2,999 price tag. Software bundled with
the machine includes DOS 6.2, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and the
Microsoft Office suite of applications.

The P5-90, meanwhile, has a similar specification but with a 15-inch
color CrystalScan monitor within its UKP 2,499 price tag. In place of
Office, however, a choice of Microsoft or Borland's products are
offered.

(Steve Gold/19940429/Press & Public Contact: Gateway 2000 - Press
Contact - Text 100 - Tel: [phone]; Public Contact - Gateway
2000 - tel: [phone])


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

Newsbytes Daily Summary 04/29/94
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 29 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:

1 ->  ****Dangerous, New Trojan Horse Virus Found On Internet
04/29/94 A new "Trojan Horse" computer virus is on the Internet and
is labeled with the name of the fourth largest manufacturer of
compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) drives. Chinon America,
Incorporated, the company whose name has been improperly used on the
rogue program, is warning IBM and compatible personal computer (PC)
users to beware of the program known as "CD-IT.ZIP."

2 -> Australia - Telecom Demo Embarrassment 04/29/94 Australian
carrier Telstra  (Telecom Australia) demonstrated a new service to
journalists in  Sydney on Tuesday. At least, it tried to demonstrate
it.

3 -> Japan - MITI To Promote Internet Usage 04/29/94 The Japanese
Ministry of Posts & Telecommunication will set up an Internet
Committee in May to promote the use of the Internet in Japan and the
Asia-Pacific  regions.

4 -> Japan - MPEG Alliance 04/29/94 Sixty major electronics firms
have agreed to exchange technical and patent information on the  data
compression technology called MPEG. MPEG is a data  compression and
decompression technology for multimedia data.

5 -> PRC Wins $75 Million FBI Fingerprint Contract 04/29/94 PRC of
McLean, Va., has won an eight-year, $75 million contract for a major
component of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's new automated
fingerprint identification system. PRC will provide the
identification tasking and networking portion of the system.

6 -> Cellular Service Comes To DC Subway 04/29/94 Washington's
workaholics are cheering. They can now use their portable telephones
while underground in the subway system, locally known as Metro.

7 -> HKTel Offers Videoconferencing On PCs With Windows 04/29/94 HK
Telecom CSL has  added a new dimension to its VideoNet
videoconferencing service with  the introduction of the PCS 100 - a
simple upgrade kit that can  transform a standard Windows-equipped PC
into a high-quality personal  videoconferencing system.

8 -> Correction - Apple Trade-In Program 04/29/94 In the story "Apple
Trade-In Program Takes HP, Compaqs, IBM" that ran April 27, 1994,
Newsbytes inadvertently left out the toll-free number where users can
locate Apple resellers who are participating in the Apple Trade-in
program. That number is 800-538-9696.

9 ->  ****3Com Chief Says Data Nets Driving Asian Growth 04/29/94 The
development  of an information superhighway infrastructure in Hong
Kong  and the rest of Asia will be a key driver of economic growth
in the early 21st Century, a meeting of the territory's largest
corporate telecommunications users was told today.

10 -> Canadian Debit Card System Expands 04/29/94 The Interac
Association, a group of Canadian banks and other financial
institutions, has expanded its Interac Direct Payment debit-card
system to the province of Ontario. The service, already available in
Quebec and Western Canada, is also to be expanded to the four
Atlantic Provinces shortly, the association said.

11 -> Carrera 275MHz Processing Powered System 04/29/94 Just when it
seems comfortable to be talking 60, 90 and 100 MHz (megahertz)
processing power with RISC (reduced instruction set computer)  and
Pentium processors, Carrera is beginning to ship initial  volumes of
Digital Equipment's Alpha AXP 21064A 275MHz chip  in a Cobra AXP 275
workstation.

12 -> Slumping Jostens Sales Reflect New School Computing Focus
04/29/94 Integrated  learning systems, in which companies lease
hardware and software  to schools for specific teaching tasks, was
the chief growth area  for educational technology in the late 1980s.
Now the pattern has  definitely changed, as shown by a market
leader's latest earnings  release, and its reaction to it.

13 -> Prentice Hall Units For Sale 04/29/94 As part of  efforts by
parent Viacom to raise cash and acquire it, Paramount  Publishing
will sell six publishing companies that do not  hold a leadership
position. Four of the companies were  part of a planned deal with
Information America Inc., of Atlanta  last year, under which
Paramount would have acquired a 49 percent  stake in the smaller
online services company.

14 -> America Online Results Strong 04/29/94 America Online  reported
another very strong quarter. It said it earned $1.824  million on
sales of $29.188 million for the quarter ending in  March, more than
double the same figures from a year earlier.

15 -> First Dial-Up Picture And MPEG Video Clip Service 04/29/94 A
start-up  called Opus Global Inc., has launched the Electronic
Library, the  first dial-up picture and video clip service, using a
proprietary  video server previously used by the military.

16 -> Online Service Helps Defense Contractors Go Civilian 04/29/94
Telescan's Knowledge  Express unit closed a previously announced
contract award with  the Department of Energy to create a new online
service on  technology transfers.

17 -> Murdoch Buys Interactive Games Maker 04/29/94 Media tycoon
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has purchased Kesmai Corp., a maker of
multiplayer games based in Virginia. The purchase was made through
Delphi Internet Services, an indirect News Corp., subsidiary.

18 -> Computervision Has A Ford In Its Future 04/29/94 A
Massachusetts company says it has been awarded a $3 million contract
by the Ford Motor Company, and has named a new VP of worldwide sales.

19 -> Compaq To Showcase Newest Systems at Networld/Interop 04/29/94
Compaq Computer Corporation says it will highlight its newest
desktop, server and portable computers at next month's
Network/Interop trade show.

20 -> SF Multimedia Group Holds "Killer Content" Seminar 04/28/94
Multimedia  Development Group (MDG), beginning its second year with
more than 500 members, delivered its "Killer Content" seminar,
hosted by Pacific Bell.

21 -> Personnel Changes Roundup 04/29/94 This is a  regular feature
summarizing company personnel changes not covered elsewhere by
Newsbytes: Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific, MECA  Software Inc.,
Microsoft Corp.

22 -> Networking Roundup 04/29/94 This is a regular Friday feature,
summarizing networking news not covered elsewhere by Newsbytes:
NetManage, Novell, Oracle, Fast Ethernet Alliance, and National
Semiconductor.

23 -> Company Results Roundup 04/29/94 This is a  regular feature,
summarizing company financial results not covered elsewhere by
Newsbytes: Computervision Corp., Eastman  Kodak Company, Northern
Telecom, Mentor Graphics Corporation,  Electronic Arts, Natural
MicroSystems Corporation, CompUSA  Inc., Creative Technology Ltd.,
Quarterdeck Office Systems Inc.,  Symantec Corp., Xerox Corp., and
Comshare Inc.

24 -> Int'l Artists Rights Symposium In Los Angeles 04/29/94 The
International Artists Rights Symposium has been going on at  the
Hotel Nikko in Los Angeles since Wednesday, and will end today. The
forum was intended to address legal, moral and  ethical concerns
surrounding the protection of original  motion picture work and
historic preservation.

25 -> Microsoft Signs Independent Windows App Usability Tester
04/29/94 Microsoft Corporation has signed an agreement with a Swedish
company to provide testing of Windows-compatible applications.

26 -> Tax Forms, Help Online By 2000 04/29/94 Tax forms and
instructions will be available via your PC and people with simpler
returns won't even have to file a return by the year 2000.

27 ->  ****Where Are Multimedia Interfaces Moving? 04/29/94 What
kinds of "metaphors" should be used in hypermedia interfaces? How can
designers do a better job of creating multimedia interfaces that
"support the users' tasks?" These were a few of the questions raised
in "Designing Presentation in Multimedia Interfaces," a session at
CHI (Computer-Human Interaction) '94 that also featured demos of a
multimedia interface for city planning and "StarFire," a futuristic
video by SunSoft.

28 -> China Cracks Down On Pirate CDs 04/29/94 China has cracked down
on the booming trade in pirate audio and computer CDs after pressure
from  the West.

29 -> UK - Survey Shows Power Mac "Trouncing" Pentium 04/29/94 A new
study claims to have found that all three of Apple Computer's new
Power Mac  computers can outrun a Pentium-based system which is
running  Windows.

30 -> UK - Gateway 2000 Launches New Pentium PCs 04/29/94 Gateway
2000 Europe has announced two further additions to its Pentium range
-- the P5-90 and the P5-90 Executive. Both machines are based around
the 90 megahertz Pentium processor.

(Wendy Woods/19940429)