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(REVIEW)(IBM)(ATL)(00001)

Review of - Razzle Dazzle 3D, screen saver 06/24/94

Runs on: IBM ATs under MS-DOS, Windows or Windows-NT, with
sound cards, VGA graphics, and 550 kilobytes of free disk space.

From: Road Scholar Software, 2603 Augusta, Suite 1000, Houston,
Texas 77057, 713-266-7623; FAX: [phone]

Price: $49.95

PUMA rating: 1.2 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Dana Blankenhorn

Summary: An overdone screen saver which caused all kinds of
havoc on our test machine.

=======

REVIEW

=======

Screen savers should be simple. As they've moved from utilities
to entertainment, they've become more complex. In that
complexity, you can have problems. Razzle Dazzle 3D is an example
of that.

The images and sound of Razzle Dazzle are impressive. On our VGA
monitor we saw curves, circles, fractals, a real kaleidoscope.
There's also a self-composing music generator that makes a
true multimedia experience. I guess you could say this is
software a drug-user would love -- turn on the machine and let it
happen. Look, colors!

For a serious computer user, however, there are lots of hassles.
First, Razzle Dazzle divides itself into numerous files, and not
all of them are in a Razzle Dazzle sub-directory. Crucial files
are put into the Windows subdirectory. There is no "uninstall"
for the program, so if you get another screen saver you can't
play it without a lot of hassle. There is a "manual" mode that
supposedly lets you select an effect for display. But there's no
way to make a selection, and it's hard to get out of that mode.

There are also some benefits, like a "security" module that
can require use of a password to turn the screen saver function
off. Some publications have given this program strong reviews, so
maybe we're just being picky.

But within a week, I was more than angry at this program. I
finally got the help of a company representative to erase the
necessary files and get rid of the program. But there is no way
you can do this using the instructions that come with it.

If this weren't advertised as a screen saver, I wouldn't have as
many reservations with Razzle Dazzle as I have. It's entertaining
and innovative. But screen savers should be simple to load,
simple to use, and simple to discard. After wrestling with the
program, Razzle Dazzle lost on two of three falls.

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

PUMA RATINGS

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

PERFORMANCE: 1.0 Easy to load, tough to get rid of. And the
manual mode didn't work for me.

USEFULNESS: 1.5 As entertainment, Razzle Dazzle is fine. As a
screen saver, it's not so fine.

MANUAL: 1.0 The manual lacked crucial directions for getting rid
of the program.

AVAILABILITY: 4 Available at better computer bookstores and
superstores.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940413/Press Contact: Dan Janal, Janal
Communications, 510-831-0900; FAX: [phone])


(REVIEW)(IBM)(SFO)(00002)

Review of - Kid Cuts, 06/24/94

Runs on: MS-DOS machines with 640K of RAM, hard drive, printer,
and mouse required.

From: Broderbund, 500 Redwood Blvd., Novato, CA 94948; (415)
382-4700

Price: $39.95

PUMA rating: 3.75 (with 1 as lowest and 4 as highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Naor Wallach

Summary: This is a crafts program for children. Best use is when
there is nothing else to do in the house and you are looking for
something to do to keep the kids from going crazy.

=======

REVIEW

=======

Kid Cuts is an activity kit for kids that's intended to help them
use a computer in creating various craft projects. There are almost
36 different activities, and each one of those can be customized in
myriad ways to yield an almost limitless number of different things
to do.

Kid Cuts comes on either five 3.5" disks or three 5.25" disks.
Along with the disks, the box contains an Installation Guide,
Instruction sheet, a 44-page User's Guide, a pair of safety
scissors, and a flurry of registration cards and other offers
that Broderbund would like you to have. Although reading
the manual is not really needed to be able to use the program,
I recommend you do so anyway. There are several items
discussed in the manual that are not necessarily obvious
from just using the program. Discovering these things can
add to your enjoyment of the program.

Installation of the program is the usual laborious process of
swapping disks in and out of the drive as they are needed. However,
Broderbund's installation program is relatively painless and allows
you to do other things while it goes about its business.

The program is relatively straightforward. Once started, and
beyond the welcoming screen, you are shown the "project picker."
This is a screen which contains nine different, large, icons
for each of the different kinds of activities that you can do. The
different activities are labeled: Masks, Hats, Animals, Shapes,
Dolls, Puppets, Greeting Cards, Puzzles, and Rainy Day. Each of
these activities lead you to a second screen which contains four
choices. For instance, should you click on the Masks activity, the
next four icons will be different kinds of masks. I saw a cat face,
a butterfly, a tiger, and a medieval helmet. Selecting one
of those leads to the work area itself.

The work area is a painting program that allows you to modify some
of the elements of your creation. For instance, in the Tiger Mask,
you can choose from among six different styles of Tiger (from silly
to fiercely growling). You can then use the tools from the
accompanying tool bar to paint the mask's regions in different
colors, add stamps, text, or add your own doodling with a pencil or
a paint brush.

Once the mask is just right, you can the print your creation.
(Some of the projects require that you have a printer attached.)
If you have a color printer, then you can print out your
colorful creations. Lacking that, you can print the outline of your
work and then use crayons or other real life coloring tools to
finish the project in an appropriate manner.

Some of the more interesting tools available are the Wacky
Brushes. Ordinarily, the Wacky Brushes allow you to either add
certain unusual elements to the project, or modify it in some
unusual ways. But, there is an additional function that they can do.
By playing with the various modifier keys on your keyboard while
using the Wacky Brush, you may find that it does some totally
unexpected things. For instance, one of the Wacky Brushes available
is the Hand Brush. It places hand outlines wherever you click.
However, hold down the Alt key and the Hand Brush will place feet on
your pictures! Other such trickery abounds in this area and
Broderbund encourages you to experiment and see what you can find.

The Rainy Day area is one that picks projects at random from among
all the rest. The idea is that (on a rainy day) you would set the
kids in front of the computer and have them do whatever pops up.

I used this program by myself, and then brought over a gang of kids
to use it. First, all of the kids were anxious to use it,
but after a little bit of time, I noticed that they started
losing interest and turned to other pursuits. Since I had a
similar reaction, I started observing more closely what was
happening. My conclusion is that this program is rather limited.
For instance, one of the children (10 years old) wanted to
create a tiger mask that looked almost like one of those
present but with some unique twists of her own. The
program allows one to add items, but certain key parts of each
project are fixed and cannot be modified. Of course, the 10-year-old
wanted to change one of those fixed items! As soon as she figured
out that she could not do what she wanted, she lost interest in
the program.

Other children were hoping to be given more than four activity
choices within a project group.

I was also puzzled by the relatively slow performance of the
program. I ran this program on a 486-based machine at 33 MHz.
Other paint program operate reasonably fast on this machine.
However, Kid Cuts tended to crawl along at certain times
making me wonder what was going on.

Finally, you must have a printer to get full use of the program.
Without a printer attached, some of the projects cannot be done at
all.

My overall impression is that this program is a first attempt. I am
hopeful that Broderbund is planning to make out with a series of
modules that will expand the program's capabilities. If not, this
program is almost a one-shot deal.

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

PUMA RATINGS

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

PERFORMANCE: 3 Slow at times.

USEFULNESS: 3 Not enough to do.

MANUAL: 4

AVAILABILITY: 3 Available from mail order and software stores. The
company does not have a toll-free support number.

(Naor Wallach/19940525)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00003)

Japan - Computer News Briefs 06/24/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- In today's roundup of items
making news in Japan, LSI Logic, Sony Computer Entertainment
develop game machine CPU, Ichitaro sales top two million copies,
Toshiba plans to develop low-cost, fault-tolerant Unix server,
Hitachi to boost monthly production of HDDs to 1 million units.

LSI Logic, SONY Computer Entertainment develop game machine CPU

US semiconductor maker LSI Logic and Sony Computer
Entertainment (SCE) have jointly developed a CPU (central
processing unit) chip for use in the PlayStation game machine
SCE plans to release within the year. The CPU uses a 32-bit RISC
(reduced instruction-set computer) microprocessor based on
Silicon Graphics' MIPS architecture as its core and integrates
three-dimensional (3-D) geometry engine processor and an image
decompression processor on the same chip. The CPU achieves a
processing speed of 200 million instructions per second (MIPS).
LSI Logic will manufacture the chips at its Tokyo and Sacramento
plants and supply them to Sony. Nintendo, which plans to develop
a 64-bit game machine, will also use a MIPS architecture CPU in it.

Ichitaro sales top 2 million copies

Just Systems' sales of its best-selling Ichitaro Japanese
word-processing program have topped two million copies since
its predecessor jX Word Taro came out in February 1985. The
application, which has become a synonym for word-processing
software, is now up to Version 5 and comes in versions that run
on DOS/v, NEC PC-98 series, and all other major Japanese PCs. A
version for Windows 3.1 came out late last year. To mark the
sales achievement, the company will drastically reduce the
suggested retail prices of all the major versions to 25,000 yen
($243) and the price of its office suite package, which includes
a spreadsheet program, to 35,000 yen ($340). Only a total of
100,000 copies of the programs will be offered at the special
prices.

Toshiba plans to develop low-cost, fault-tolerant Unix server

Toshiba plans to develop, in 1995, a Unix server that can run
"continuously." To be developed in response to the increase in
demand for fault-tolerant servers as client-server systems
become more widespread, the server will use a symmetric
multi-processor construction and software and hardware methods
to provide fault-tolerant operation. As price has become an issue
for fault-tolerant LAN (local area network) servers, the company
will keep the price of the new product low. By using two CPUs
(central processing units), Toshiba intends to give it high
availability. Disk drives and other I/O (input/output) devices will
be shared, allowing quicker responses to malfunctions.

Hitachi to boost monthly production of HDDs to 1 million units

Hitachi will boost monthly production of hard disk drives at
the company's Odawara plant in Kanagawa Prefecture. Plans call
for doubling monthly output from the current 500,000 to one
million units. Hitachi is anticipating increased demand for 2.5-
and 1.8-inch HDDs (hard disk drives) for use in PCs and is aiming
to strengthen its production system in response to this. Hitachi is
increasing production capacity at the plant in anticipation of the
production startup in June, 1995, at its subsidiary in the
Philippines, which will be manufacturing small HDDs. Later,
Hitachi intends to switch to procuring small HDDs from specialty
makers.

(Terry Silveria/19940621)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00004)

Japan - Telecom News Briefs 06/24/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- In today's roundup of items
making news in Japan, the number of NTT's ISDN lines top 300,000
in early June, Sumitomo Electric to develop corporate PC network
by fiscal 1996, Deutsche Telekom & France Telecom looking to
jointly establish international communications service company
in Japan.

Number of NTT's ISDN lines tops 300,000 in early June

The number of NTT's ISDN (integrated services digital network)
lines topped 300,000 in early June, increasing by 50% over the
last year. ISDN service has been used in a growing number of
different ways, including multimedia, corporate teleconferencing
systems and POS (point-of-sale) systems geared toward
convenience stores, delivery by local ward offices of copies of
family registers, and page layout work at newspaper companies.
ISDN has also been used for PC communications services targeting
individuals. Even karaoke pubs have found a way to use ISDN
lines. With a new "karaoke data communications" service, data for
requested songs are immediately received over the lines.

Sumitomo Electric to develop corporate PC network by fiscal 1996

Sumitomo Electric plans to develop a corporate PC network by
fiscal 1996. The company has 11 domestic and about 60 overseas
sales subsidiaries and production plants, and connected its North
Carolina-based optical fiber production subsidiary Sumitomo
Electric Fiber Optics to its Japan headquarters last year.
Sumitomo will link its offices and plants in Asia between fiscal
1994 and 1995 and expand the network to its centers in Europe in
fiscal 1996. The number of PCs in use by the company worldwide
will be increased from the current 1,000 to 3,000.

Deutsche Telekom & France Telecom looking to jointly establish
international communications service company in Japan

The state-owned telecommunications companies of Germany and
France are considering jointly establishing an international
communications service company in Japan as early as 1995.
Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom would seek to develop
business amid deregulation in Japan's international telephone
service market, which currently is limited to three carriers. The
two firms are moving forward with joint venture plans in Europe
and the US, and would seek to make Japan the base for future
operations in Asia. Market entry by Europe's two leading carriers
would thrust Japan into an era of truly international competition
in the communications market.

(Terry Silveria/19940622)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEL)(00005)

India - Independent Telecom Authority Coming Soon 06/24/94
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- The Government proposes
to set up a regulatory authority to provide a "fair and level playing
field" for all service providers in telecommunications sector. The
entire exercise will be finalized within a month, says the Minister
of State for Communications, Sukh Ram.

The authority will be independent and would not be headed by
the director general or chairman of the Department of
Telecommunications, he said.

The minister has already visited Denmark and Sweden to study the
pattern of telecom authorities in those countries and proposes to
visit a few more.

While proposals to set up the regulatory body were made in a
telecom policy submitted to the cabinet, its implementation did
not find mention in the subsequent policy announcement made
before the Prime minister's visit to the United State recently.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19940624)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00006)

Australia - New Multimedia Sound Blaster Kits 06/24/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Creative Labs, maker
of the Sound Blaster products, is set to move into the corporate
marketplace with new offerings, including a low-cost
videoconferencing product and a multimedia kit for the
workplace.

Lou Schillaci, marketing manager for Creative in Australia told
Newsbytes that he is flying to headquarters in Singapore over the
weekend for the company launch. He said that to date multimedia
add-on packs went 85 percent to home and SOHO (small office,
home office) users, with only 15 percent going to corporate users.

"This new product will make a huge difference to that. We've spent
a lot of work finding out what users want and the way they like to
use multimedia in the workplace." he said.

The product is called Sound Blaster MultiMedia Office Kit, and
consists of a Sound blaster 16 sound card with advanced signal
processing (ASP), double speed CD-ROM drive, headphones,
microphone, Microsoft Encarta, Text Assist, Voice Assist, and
Windows sound system software. It also has a complete copy
of version 4.3 of Microsoft Office Professional and Peter Norton's
"Microsoft Office Professional Made Easy." The suggested retail
price in Australia will be $1,099 (around US$800)

Schillaci said the headphones were an obvious part of the product
as it was unacceptable for office workers to inflict their
computer's sounds on other people. Sound is an integral part of
the system, as the computer-based learning disks used it
extensively, and the Text Assist program can be used to read any
document.

"I use it all the time for proofing my word processing," said
Schillaci. "And the microphone is an important part too because
Voice Assist can be used to automate anything you do under
Windows. It doesn't do voice dictation yet, but watch this space
next year. We thought of using a telephone handset instead of a
microphone and headphones, but users found it impractical."

The next product is due for release in a couple of months.
ShareView is a point-to-point videoconferencing product. "It
works via POTS (Plain Old Telephone System)." explained
Schillaci. The product comes with a video card, color video
camera, microphone and fast modem. It provides a quarter
screen full-motion at around 15 frames-per-second. Users can
see each other, hear each other, and even use the same
application at either end, interactively.

"It's probably the most significant multimedia product ever
invented," he claimed. Pricing in Australia will be under $2,500
(around US$1800).

(Paul Zucker/19940624)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00007)

Apple Newton Launched In France 06/24/94
PARIS, FRANCE, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Apple Computer France has
formally launched the Apple Newton in France, almost a year after
unveiling the original specification unit elsewhere in Europe.

Apple France claims that the delay was caused by difficulties in
converting the Newton's operating system into French. French
industry watchers suggest that the real reason for the delay was
caused by the criticism the original Newton drew in the US soon
after its launch.

This "new" Newton is basically the same version as is sold in the
US, but with a French operating system.

According to Apple, by the end of this year, more than 50 French
software applications for the machine will have been released.
The Newton sells for FF5,490 in France.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940623)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00008)

Iona Unveils Orbix 2.1 For Windows, Ships In Beta 06/24/94
DUBLIN, IRELAND, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Iona Technologies has
released a beta version of its Orbix 1.2 for Microsoft Windows
3.1 object request broker package to a limited number of its
customers.

Orbix is Iona's implementation of the Object Management Group's
(OMG's) Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
specification, which the company claims unleashes the power of
distributed object technology. Volume shipments of the finalized
product will be available from the end of August onwards.

According to Iona, CORBA is well established as the leading open
"solution" that will deliver the distributed object-based applications
of the future. "With this latest release IONA has extended the scope
of CORBA technology from the server to the desktop," officials said.

Orbix 1.2 is already available across a wide variety of operating
systems including SunSoft Solaris and SunOS, Microsoft Windows
NT, Silicon Graphics IRIX, and HP/UX.

"Users of Windows applications are already familiar with OLE
(object linking and embedding) on the desktop. Orbix extends the
OLE paradigm across the entire enterprise. Our object request
broker now operates on the most popular desktop and server
platforms, enabling developers to build distributed solutions,
that cooperate across multiple machines and operating systems,
following an efficient and standards-based method," explained
Chris Horn, Iona's chairman.

Orbix 1.2 for Windows 3.is billed as being the "first true" CORBA
implementation for the Microsoft platform providing Windows to
Windows links as well as direct access to CORBA objects on Unix
and Windows NT. Iona claims that the package allows software
developers to create full 32-bit front-end applications.

According to Iona, Orbix for Windows 3.1 will interoperate with
SunSoft's implementation of CORBA, which is known as Project DOE.
In January of this year, Iona and SunSoft announced plans to deliver
fully compatible and interoperating CORBA products by the end of
1994. To cement that partnership Iona has sold a minority equity
stake in the company to SunSoft.

Over the next six months Iona says it will broaden the reach of
Orbix even further with versions of the object request broker for
AIX, OSF 1, and OS/2. IONA recently announced plans to integrate
Orbix with Isis Distributed Systems' reliable distributed
computing (RDC) technology.

(Steve Gold/19940623/Press & Reader Contact: Iona Technologies,
[phone]; Electronic-mail: [e-mail])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LON)(00009)

UK - SCO Enhances Corporate Services 06/24/94
WATFORD, ENGLAND, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- The Santa Cruz Operation
(SCO) has announced a range of new services that it claims have
been developed to meet the demands of corporate customers when
it comes to business-critical server applications.

According to SCO, the new services are designed to complement
the company's existing products and services, and include 24-hour
customer support, consultancy services, and custom engineering.

"Our goal is to make our customers' lives as easy as possible,"
explained David Taylor, SCO's director of services, who added that
the company has increased its presence in the major accounts
marketplace to top the 40 percent mark. "These customers need
services to ensure the smoothest path through their project life
cycles and assure success of their solution," he said.

SCO's new service offerings include: 24-hour support for business-
critical SCO servers; SCO Software Enhancement Services, which
is a service designed to make software upgrade budgeting easier;
SCO Consultancy Services, which provides major accounts with
on-site access to an experienced SCO engineer; and SCO Custom
Engineering, which allows modification to SCO's standard products
to be carried out to the customer's specifications.

SCO claims that, traditionally, "cradle to grave" support services
have been the domain of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
in the file of "proprietary solutions," while open systems products
have left a void as far as customers services are concerned.

The company says it intends to change that approach by offering the
customer the power to choose their service package and supplier. By
selecting "plug and play" services from a range of providers, SCO
claims that customers can keep control of their overall service
package.

(Steve Gold/19940623/Press & Reader Contact: SCO UK,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00010)

UK - Wall Data Announces Salsa Business Division 06/24/94
SOUTHALL, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Wall Data
has announced the formation of a new business division -- the
Salsa unit -- to bring Dr David Kroenke's Semantic Object Modeling
(SOM) technology to the marketplace.

Wall Data says that it has funded development of the database
software veteran's new project since August, 1992, and now that
product is starting to come to fruition, it intends to offer the
technology to end users.

According to Wall Data, the SOM technology allows professional
software developers, as well as end users, to structure data in
the language of their business, rather than the language of a
database application. This approach, the company claims, allows
users to more accurately specify their applications, as well as
increase development productivity.

Heading up the new division are several new staff for the company:
Eileen Hicke Gittens, is business unit manager, moving up internally
at Wall Data; Kris Kelsay, formerly Paradox group product manager
with Borland, is the division's marketing manager; while Dr. Kroenke
is the division's chief technologist.

Product from the new Salsa division of Wall Data should be available
by the end of the year. According to Archie Thomas, Wall Data's vice
president for Europe, business users find it difficult to effectively
use the power of today's computer systems.

"Wall Data has always been focused on bridging the gap between
end-users and technology. We have invested in the SOM technology
as a logical extension to our Rumba connectivity software -- with
Rumba software, we transparently connect end-users to enterprise
data. With SOM technology, we will help them effectively use data
through applications," he explained.

(Steve Gold/19940623/Press & Reader Contact: Susan Thorington,
Wall Data, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00011)

Motorola Mobile Division Buys $10M In HP Workstations 06/24/94
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- In support of a
corporation-wide objective to multiply "time-to-market" ten-fold,
Motorola's Land Mobile Products Sector has decided to upgrade from
its HP Apollo-based engineering system. It has ordered $10 million
in new HP 9000 Series 700 workstations, with an option to buy
$20 million more over the next two years.

The Motorola division, which produces analog and digital one-way
and two-way radio equipment, will use the initial slate of 600 HP
Model 712, Model 715, and Model 735 workstations for designing
and testing circuitry, embedded software and hardware, said Saul
Marcus, Motorola headquarter account manager at HP, in an
interview with Newsbytes.

Also, as part of the multimillion dollar deal, HP will provide
consulting, technical support, and training through its Open
Migration Program, along with software development and
network management tools, Marcus added.

The Land Mobile Products Sector aims its products at organizations
like police and fire departments, the Coast Guard, and security
companies, the account manager said. "Their products were used at
the Olympics in Norway last winter to track the activities of Nancy
(Kerrigan) and Tanya (Harding)," he illustrated.

The Schaumburg, Illinois-based division opted for the Series 700
after examining a variety of upgrade options from multiple vendors,
according to Marcus. The corporate objective the Motorola division
is pursuing is called "10X," he noted.

The RISC (reduced instruction-set computing)-based Series 700
workstations purchased in the deal will operate much faster than
the five- to ten-year-old CISC (complex instruction-set computing)-
based Apollos previously in place, and will ultimately lower the cost
of bringing products to market, according to Marcus. Through the
sophistication of the software they operate, the new machines will
also keep better track of defects, he contended.

"The systems we're offering today provide roughly twice the
performance of systems we were selling two years ago. So the
Series 700 workstations just purchased by Motorola could bring
'two-to-the-fifth power,' or 32 times, the performance of the
Apollos," he maintained.

Another key selling point for Motorola was HP's Open Migration
Program, which focuses on helping customers move to "open systems,"
he explained. "Migrating to 'open systems' is not a trivial matter.
But we convinced them that we can easily lead them into their next
generation of equipment."

Motorola, he added, is one of HP's 32 "global accounts," a list
that also includes the likes of AT&T, Citicorp, Hughes, and General
Motors. "These are accounts that are of a certain size, that do
business consistently with HP, and that do business with us in
more than one geographical region of the world."

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940623/Press Contacts: Tim Hurley, Hewlett-
Packard, 508-436-5042; Jim Barbagallo, Hewlett-Packard, 508-436-
5049; Pat Schod, Motorola, 708-576-6612; Reader Contact: Hewlett-
Packard, 415-857-1501)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00012)

Disney Characters Join Microsoft 06/24/94
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Mickey,
Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and other Disney characters will
soon be drawing paychecks from Microsoft Corporation.

The characters will be the basis for three new software
programs Microsoft will create that will integrate animation
licensed through Disney software. The programs will be
marketed under the Microsoft Home label.

The first program to reach the market will be "Mickey's Carnival,"
with users, expected to be children from four years of age up,
able to interact with the characters in a series of carnival ride
activities, puzzles and games.

"Mickey's Carnival" builds on the proven appeal of Disney characters
in our Disney software line. This entertainment product will let
kids interact in creative new ways and is sure to keep kids engaged
and having fun for hours," according to Marc Teren, VP of business
development for Disney Consumer Products. Mickey's Carnival is
scheduled to ship in the winter of 1994.

One of the other products will also be targeted at children, while
the third will be for teens and adults. Both are scheduled to ship
next year and will feature standard Disney characters as well as
some from Disney television and film offerings.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Newsbytes details of those
programs have not been worked out yet.

(Jim Mallory/19940623/Press contact: Deborah Caldwell,
Waggener Edstrom for Microsoft Corporation, 408-986-1140
or Debra Streicker, Disney Software, 818-543-4399; Reader
contact: Microsoft Corporation, 206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00013)

CES - Compton's Intros Multiple Products 06/24/94
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Starting with The
Complete Multimedia Bible, Compton's is displaying and introducing
a long list of its existing, revised and new CD titles at the Consumer
Electronics Show in Chicago.

They include: Doctors Book of Home Remedies; Let's Go: The Budget
Guide to Europe; version 3.0 of Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia
with narration by actor, Patrick Stewart; The Human Calculator;
the Berenstein Bears stories; Rescue the Scientists; and Zoo-Opolis.

Additionally, Compton's has announced its commitment to marketing
and development support for Intel's Pentium Processor and Indio
Video technology.

Early in the fourth quarter, it promises to introduce: Compton's
Interactive Encyclopedia; The Sporting News Basketball Guide; and
John Lennon: Imagine. Depending on system configuration, smooth
full-screen video will be highlighted.

Compton's also announced its first "Audio-ROM" which includes
audio and visual material licensed from the Rhino Records. Users may
listen to the audio hits, read biographies, view album covers and hear
audio interviews of particular artists. Compton's plans to launch Soul
Exploration: The 1960s and Rock Exploration: The 1960s. The soul
classics include "Dock of the Bay," "When a Man Loves a Woman,"
and other famous hits of the sixties.

The biggest hit for Compton's appears to be its new CD, Focus for
Success. Designed to help users face challenges in both school and
career situations, this CD develops communication skills,
concentration techniques and increased personal performance in
areas such as business, sports, creative endeavors, family relations
and educational environments. It is based on Robert M. Nideffer's
Attention Control Training System.

Stan Frank, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Compton's,
told Newsbytes, "We think people are interested in themselves and
in self-help and this title will both help them in working with
problems and work to make improvements of personal potential
across a broad base of social and business areas."

Frank continued "We are the visual studio for the 1990s and where
we see a consumer demand, we will use our technology to meet that
demand with extensive multimedia titles in whatever format we can.
If you think of what a bookstore is, we want to offer a similar broad-
range of topics which provide the user with video, text, audio and
graphics in an entertaining and educational way."

Compton's CD titles start at $29.95 and range to $149.95 for the
latest version of the encyclopedia. Many of its titles are available
for both the Mac and Windows platforms. It plans to produce its
new titles for both platforms. The company has announced it will
also produce and bundle its Interactive Encyclopedia with Phillips
new CDI Player.

(Patrick McKenna/19940623/Press Contact: Pat Meier, Pat Meier
Associates, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DAL)(00014)

AST & Creative Technology To Develop Telephony PCs 06/24/94
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Computer
manufacturer AST and multimedia add-on developer Creative
Technology have announced plans to work together to develop
integrated audio, telephony, and software multimedia products.

The idea is to turn the Irvine, California-headquartered
company's personal computers (PCs) into deluxe information and
communications centers, AST and Creative Technology said.

AST was already headed in that direction with its AST Works
software application that ships with some of its PCs. AST Works
is a telephony application that combines video help, productivity
tools, voice mail, and fax/modem capability into one product.

The two companies say they are not making specific product
announcements, but new products aimed at expanding AST's PC
telephony and video capabilities are on the drawing board.

AST said it chose Japan-headquartered Creative Technology
because the company currently leads in add-on sound products
with 60 percent of the sound board market. In addition, Creative
just announced a new line of video capture and conferencing
products.

Microsoft recently announced a cross-license agreement with
Creative Technology, under which it would license the Creative
hardware and Creative would license its software. As a result,
Microsoft also said it would be dropping production of its sound
hardware, introduced in October of 1992.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940623/Press Contact: Ann Dupuis, AST, tel
714-727-8858, fax [phone]; Steffanee Foster, Creative
Labs for Creative Technology, tel [phone] ext 6430)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00015)

UK - Gateway 2000 Intros Standard 3-Year Warranty 06/24/94
DUBLIN, IRELAND, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- The UK division of Gateway
2000 has announced it is extending its standard warranties on PC
hardware from one to three years. The change takes effect
immediately.

According to the company, the three year warranty is on
replacement parts and is in addition to the existing one-year
on-site "parts and labor" guarantee.

David Prais, European marketing manager with Gateway 2000,
claims that the new warranty arrangements have been introduced
to meet customer requests.

"By extending our warranty to three years and including monitors,
we're again demonstrating our commitment to the very best service
and support programs. Most of competitors charge extra for a three-
year warranty, which does cover monitors beyond a year. We don't
make our customers buy specific configurations or pay extra -- if
they buy a Gateway 2000 desktop or tower PC, they get this new
standard three-year warranty," he said.

Ted Waitt, Gateway 2000's chairman and chief executive officer
(CEO) with the US parent company, commented that the new European
warranty arrangements have been introduced after the company
worked closely with its suppliers.

"We've made sure the products incorporate into Gateway 2000
systems meet our requirements for a three-year warranty. We're
absolutely convinced of the quality of our components and this
conviction is represented by the new customer warranty," he said.

(Steve Gold/19940623/Press & Reader Contact: Gateway 2000,
tel [phone]; fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00016)

UK - ICL/Fujitsu To Collaborate On Multimedia 06/24/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- ICL has entered into a
strategic collaboration arrangement with Fujitsu to offer
advanced multimedia software packages on a worldwide basis.

The linkup between the two companies kicks off this week at the
Object World computer show in London, where three new packages --
IntelligentPad, ODB-II, and GraphicsPower for Windows -- are being
unveiled.

IntelligentPad is a visual application environment. The package is
being billed as "a new kind of development environment that allows
users of all types to create and customize multimedia applications."

The package reportedly has an "open" architecture. Applications
created with it are claimed to be portable between a wide variety
of platforms, including Windows, Apple Mac, Sun, and HP.

The company claims that ODB-II is the first object database with the
industrial strength to hold large quantities of high-value enterprise
information. Its strength, ICL asserts, is its flexibility -- the ease
of making changes to the database design as requirements evolve. The
package includes class libraries providing support for multimedia
information and for access to external databases.

Last, but not least, GraphicsPower for Windows is a family of tools
that ICL claims allow "quick and easy" development of interactive
graphics for end-user applications. Previously available only in Unix,
the company claims that the new Windows version brings the power
of structured graphics to the personal environment. The software
was jointly developed by ICL and Fujitsu and can be used to create
visual representations of complex data such as geographical
systems, network management and process control.

Announcing the new packages and the liaison between the two
companies, Tatsuzumi Furukawa, general manager of Fujitsu's
Middleware Business Group, said that Fujitsu has a long and
successful track record in producing high-quality middleware.

"The rapid growth in the new application areas such as multimedia
and management of complex data means that the market is quickly
embracing object technology to support high-value enterprise
information," he said.

Michael Kay, ICL Fellow in information management, explained that
the company has discovered that Fujitsu's approach to software
quality "leaves the US start-up companies way behind."

"For example, ICL had been looking at object database technologies
for some years now and even started developing our own at one stage.
However, ODB-11 is the first product we've seen that is clearly
designed to handle the needs of high-value information shared by a
large community of users. The market is itching for an object
database that scales up to this level," he said.

International pricing and availability of the new packages depends
on the site license and support requirements.

(Steve Gold/19940623/Press & Reader Contact: Graham Goulden,
ICL, [phone])


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

ELSA Intros New Graphics Cards 06/24/94
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- With the
graphical requirements for so many applications on the rise, the
market for graphics accelerators is increasing. Now the German
company, ELSA, has announced the Winner 1000Pro and Winner
2000Pro high-speed graphics boards for Windows, Windows NT,
Unix/X-Windows, OS/2, and NextStep.

The 1000Pro is available in two megabytes (MB) or 1MB DRAM
versions for either the VESA (Video Electronics Standards
Association) or PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) local bus,
at $329 or $229 respectively. It can achieve a variety of resolutions
up to 800 by 600 in "true color" mode, or 1208 by 1024 in 256 colors.

Speaking to Newsbytes, Uli Theissen, ELSA's product manager for
computer graphics, said, "The graphics market is changing so fast
and new products are constantly coming out on the market. One of
the advantages offered by ELSA is that each new product we
introduce is consistent with our entire line, so that customers
know that we protect their investment and support our products
throughout the line."

Theissen addressed the issue of integration of graphics acceleration
onto motherboards, saying: "Because of the cost and time involved in
making changes to a motherboard, by the time the product reached
the market, newer technology will have made the motherboards
graphics acceleration obsolete."

ELSA's Winner 2000Pro is the high-end product for power-users
who need display speed and accuracy, according to the company.
Desktop publishing, banking, imaging, and presentation professionals
are offered support up to 1,600 by 1,200 resolution with 16-bit
color at high refresh rates.

The company claims the 2000Pro to be the first high-end graphics
board compatible with the NextStep platform. Its VRAM (video RAM)
is based on S3-Vision964 chip technology  and is available in 4MB
and 2MB models, for $949 and $599 respectively. The 4MB model
can be equipped with a 200 megahertz color palette.

(Patrick McKenna/19940623/Press Contact: Kristine Smalley,
Technology Solutions, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MSP)(00018)

 ****CES - 3DO, Atari Fight Back 06/24/94
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- 3DO Corporation,
makers of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer System, and Atari,
with a 64-bit game machine called Jaguar, created booths at
CES that were designed to be louder, brighter, and bigger than
those of Nintendo and Sega, which hold the top spots in consumer
video gaming.

3DO, of Redwood City, California, now has 60 titles available for
its 3DO Multiplayer, with 160 more in development worldwide, in
contrast to earlier this year when there were just a handful. New
titles include: Shock Wave; Road Rash; Way of the Warrior; Off
World Interceptor; and Demolition Man, featuring Sylvester
Stallone, who was shot against a bluescreen for the action scenes
in the game. The color and cacophony of the 3DO display was meant
to dispel concerns about the company's future, and employees
projected an upbeat image.

Although Sony and Sega plan to unveil 32-bit game machines and
Nintendo promises a 64-bit unit next year, 3DO has a 32-bit game
machine now and company officers wasted no time making hay with
that fact.

"We have that technology today, not in the future," said director of
marketing, Janet Strauss, to Newsbytes, referring to the custom
chipset that generates photorealistic graphics, fluid animation,
CD-quality sound and fast interactivity. The system also features
a double-speed CD-ROM drive.

Although sales were slow when the units first went on
sale in the US last October, and in Japan in March, they are now
picking up speed, and 3DO projects that it will sell 150,000
3DO Multiplayers by year's end.

Matsushita is manufacturing the machines and selling them under
the Panasonic label. A European PAL version (as opposed to the
current NTSC (North American Television Standards Association)
signal version) is being readied for a fall, 1994 release. The unit
also accepts a variety of add-ons including modem, memory storage
cards, MPEG-1 (Motion Picture Experts Group) compression video
cartridges, expected to be available this year, and trackballs,
keyboards, flights sticks, and mice. The 3DO also plays audio CDs,
Photo CDs, and CD-ROMs.

The most popular game right now on the 3DO is John Madden Football,
she said, but the company does not have a hit as big as Super
Mario Brothers nor Sonic Hedgehog, titles which have made
Nintendo and Sega, respectively, forces to be reckoned with.

Regarding the price, which is stuck at $499, Strauss told Newsbytes
that the company has tried to reduce its costs, but that the
price cannot go any lower for now. "We are happy with the price,"
she said, adding that in the US, Panasonic is also bundling at least
two software titles with the unit, making it a better deal.

3DO has 10,000 retail outlets for the 3DO player in Japan and
3,000 in the US at this time.

Meanwhile, Atari Corporation of Sunnyvale, CA, may have had
the loudest booth on the show floor, as the company dominating the
entrance to the North Hall with displays of its Jaguar game machine.
This 64-bit unit, manufactured by IBM at its North Carolina plant,
is less expensive than 3DO's, costing $250, but has only five
software titles available. Two more are coming in July, and Atari
hopes for a total of 30 by December. About 150 developers have
been licensed to create Jaguar software and peripherals.

Introduced last November in Northern California and the New York
markets, the machine is now being launched nationwide and
overseas in the UK, Germany, and France.

Ron Beltramo, vice president of marketing, told Newsbytes that
some of the Jaguar's advantages over the competition are technical
at this point. The system architecture is 64-bit (compared to the
3DO's 32-bit architecture); it has a faster bus bandwidth, a faster
rendering speed, and more processors (five compared to four on the
3DO unit). However, a CD-ROM drive attachment, when available,
will cost another $200, bringing the cost perilously close to the
3DO unit. At this time, also, no CD-ROM titles are available for
the Jaguar, even if the drive was.

Atari anticipates sales of 250,000 to 300,000 Jaguars this year,
with most of the sales coming between August and November, 1994.
Beltramo declined to say how many Jaguars have been sold to date.

Atari has bet its future on the Jaguar, de-emphasizing its PC
business in favor of the lucrative game market. The company
plans to launch a major TV advertising campaign on MTV,
Nickelodeon, and other stations in the third and fourth quarters
of this year to build demand.

"Third-party developers are intrigued by the power of this
platform," he claimed. "Jaguar allows them to be the most
creative."

(Wendy Woods/19940624/Press Contact: Bill Rehbock, Atari,
408-745-2000; Diane Hunt, 3DO, tel [phone],
fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(MSP)(00019)

 ****CES - Wristwatch Doubles As Phone 06/24/94
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- The latest entrant
in the Dick Tracy emulation race is MicroTalk Technologies, which
promises to be the first out with a phone you can wear on your
wrist.

The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based MicroTalk, showed the TeleWatch
at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show, which incorporates a
cordless telephone, intercom, and wristwatch in one device. The
unit can receive and make calls within 300 feet of a base station,
but plans are to have a unit that will be a cellular phone in a year
or two.

The Telewatch is promised for shipping by Christmas, says
Barry Voroba, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the company. He
told Newsbytes that the unit will retail for $300. The FCC must
first approve the device for sale, however.

The tiny watch offers a 12-digit keyboard and a liquid crystal
display on which an entered number is displayed. The watch
measures 0.2-inches thick, 2.2-inches high and 1.6-inches long,
not counting the wristband. The sound from the phone is
emitted through a tiny speaker. Two batteries are provided,
allowing one to be charged while the other is in use. These
are rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries.

For its size, the unit is also feature-rich, offering a "hold"
button, security codes to restrict use, memory speed dial,
intercom functions, privacy scrambler circuit, battery low
indicator, and 10-channel operation.

Dr. Voroba, an entrepreneur, says he created the Telewatch
after successfully selling another invention, a soft hearing
aid, to Bauch and Lomb. This time, he says, he wants to be
the first to market a wristwatch phone, and believes he has
the winning combination of technology and design, to do so.

(Wendy Woods/19940624/Press Contact: Dr. Voroba,
Telewatch, tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

CES - EIA's Chairman Gives Industry Overview 06/24/94
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1994, JUN 24 (NB)- Jerry Kalov,
the board chairman of the Electronic Industries Association's
Consumer Electronic Group, painted an upbeat picture of the
industry's outlook at the show.

"To my mind, we'd be better served if we referred to the
business in a more appropriate term, which is 'evolutionary,' not
'revolutionary,'" said Kolov, who is president and chief executive
officer (CEO) of telephony and radio manufacturer Cobra
Electronics Corp. "It is evolving from a better understanding of
the consumer's needs, and a continuing improvement in our ability
to guide products to serve their needs."

Kalov then qualified his statements from both a marketing
and financial perspective.

"Last year was a strong year for us, with over $51 billion
in sales," he said. "In January, when we met in Las Vegas (at the
Winter '94 CES) I offered an outlook for this year, and I want to
update that outlook."

Kalov then got down to specifics. "We see our industry growing
over 9.5 percent this year to over $56 billion,"he said. "We expect
the electronics hardware and software markets to increase
nearly 26 percent."

Multimedia will be a major driver in the continuing growth
of the industry. "Multimedia has truly arrived," Kalov remarked.

He then cited a report by market research firm Link Resources
saying that although sales of multimedia software, hardware and
interactive services totalled $3.6 billion in 1993, the category
will grow by an average 40 percent annually from 1995.

Home information systems will grow at 15 percent, home and
portable audio about five percent, and accessories about ten
percent.

Kalov then implied that in regard to the industry's future, the
whole would be greater than the sum of its parts. "The consumer
electronics industry will grow to $60 billion in 1995, and we
are predicting a nine percent growth in 1996 and 1997 as current
embryonic categories become full-fledged, profitable markets."

Kalovthen shed perspective on the numbers. "Given the fact that
all this growth is taking place during a slow economic recovery,
we are extremely optimistic about the continued success of our
industry," he said.

Kalov then noted some of the embryonic technologies. "The
whole concept of electronic-mail will allow people to keep in
touch with their offices, friends, family, their loved ones,
virtually instantaneously at very low cost. CD-ROM is turning
out to be a whole new method of gathering reference materials.
The continuing-to-evolve electronics games industry is finding
new ways to wrap up thrills and excitement in a way that makes
early products like Pong and Pac-Man look like something more
suitable for Fred Flintstone than the twentieth century."

He also listed, "Video game programs with an unheard of 24
megabytes (MB) of memory, cartridges with 100MB of data."

To many in the consumer-electronics field, the onslaught of
new products may necessitate a sea change in how the industry
defines itself.

Kalov agreed.  "We used to say we were in the hi-fi and
television business. Now there are many different (capabilities).
Who cares what the definition is? Let's just keep trying to turn
out new and better products, using our electronic technology
that will grow with consumer desires."

(Russell Shaw/19940624)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DAL)(00021)

Home PC Buyers Largest Segment By 1996 06/24/94
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Thirty percent of the
personal computers (PCs) purchased in 1993 were by home users
and that number is expected to climb to 42 percent by the end of
1996, claims the Dallas, Texas-based market research group
Channel Marketing.

Multimedia and traditional business/accounting functions are
fueling the purchases, the group said in a report released at the
Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.

Many consumers are claimed to be as comfortable buying a PC as
they are a video cassette recorder (VCR) or a camcorder, so the PC
purchases are being made at stores that accommodate the need for
convenience, selection, price, and availability. Home and small
business purchases represent the largest growth segment in the
PC industry.

Home PC use continues to surge, as 34 percent of US households
already have a PC for a total of 36 million PCs in 33 million
households, according to the company. Channel Marketing previously
released a study asserting the number of PCs is expected to multiply
eight times by the year 2000.

PCs sold for home use amounted to nine million units in 1993 and
that number is expected to reach 19 million by 1996.

While the group says PCs purchased for the home are being used
for educational purposes, game playing, and traditional business
and accounting, other analysts are down-playing educational and
game software as the single motivation for the PC purchase.

Joeann Stahel, a senior research analyst with the market research
firm Computer Intelligence (CI)/Infocorp told Newsbytes computers
are not being bought specifically for "edutainment" -- not yet
anyway. It is the work-at-home type, who is either bringing home
work from the office or has a home-based business that is
currently spurring the momentum in PC sales, Stahel stated.

Channel Marketing says the home PC market is being fueled by the
anticipation of multimedia -- specifically the ability to
integrate voice, data, audio, and video when applications become
available. A proliferation of game and education software as well
as CD-ROM titles readily available at affordable prices have also
helped multimedia PC sales.

Small and medium businesses accounted for the largest market
share in 1993 at 35 percent. That market share is expected to
grow slightly to 36 percent by 1996, but Channel Marketing
expects the home market will dwarf all the other market
segments by then.

Analysts do agree the role that corporate and government PC
purchases play in the overall market is expected to decline. Channel
Marketing is predicting a decline to about 22 percent of the
overall market by 1996 from 1993 levels of 35 percent. However,
that does not mean the number of PCs purchased by government and
corporations will decline. "The pie is simply larger," Channel
Marketing representatives said.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940624/Press Contact: David Goldstein,
Channel Marketing, tel [phone] ext 214, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DAL)(00022)

 ****Sculley Freelancing At Kodak 06/24/94
ROCHESTER, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Once
considered for the chief executive officer (CEO) slot at Eastman
Kodak, former Apple Computer CEO John Sculley has been hired as
a freelance marketing advisor to look at Kodak's digital imaging
and brand marketing strategies. Sculley has been self-employed
since his last job as CEO of Spectrum Information Technologies.

Reports had been circulating about Sculley's involvement with
Kodak in conjunction with a claim that Kodak was trying to lure
back former imaging executive Don Strickland. Strickland left his
job as general manager and vice president of Kodak's Electronic
Imaging Platform Center to go to Apple Computer. But Kodak has
been looking for someone to head up its new Digital and Applied
Imaging business unit and Strickland was reportedly one of the
candidates for the job.

After being forced out at Apple Computer last summer, Sculley was
the focus of a campaign on the part of Kodak retailers to get him
into the CEO slot vacated by Kay Whitmore, who was asked by the
board of directors to step down. As one of the world's largest
users of Apple hardware, the retailers felt Sculley would be a
natural fit. However, George Fisher, the head of Motorola got the
job in October. Motorola makes the microprocessors for Apple
computers. That same month Sculley took the CEO slot at a
wireless communication hardware company, Spectrum Information
Technologies.

When high-profile Sculley took the CEO slot, problems became
public as the press looked into the company's financial affairs, as
well as the background of its executives. Sculley left Spectrum
abruptly in February just before arrests were made on charges of
mail fraud and conspiracy at the Paradigm Group, a company
closely aligned with Spectrum. Since then, Spectrum has had a
merry-go-round of leadership, with executives resigning after
as little as a week on the job.

Kodak has made it clear that Sculley is a consultant and is buying
25 percent of his time. Fisher said: "John and I have worked
closely together for the past ten years and I am a great admirer
of his marketing and brand-building skills. I am confident John
can help Kodak develop a more aggressive marketing approach."

In addition, Kodak was careful to list the former Pepsi and Apple
Computer CEO's accomplishments in marketing, some over 14 years
old. Sculley was named Advertising Man-of-the-Year by both
Advertising Age and Adweek magazines and was selected as
marketing CEO-of-the-Decade for the 1980s by the Financial News
Network.

Newsbytes attempted to contact Sculley in New York to ask who
his other clients are, but discovered he was traveling in Japan on
business. Kodak declined to comment as to whether or not that
travel was related to his work on its projects.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940624/Press Contact: Paul McAfee, Kodak,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00023)

Block Results Up, Thanks to CompuServe, But Stock Down 06/24/94
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Thanks to its
CompuServe unit, H&R Block said its net earnings rose 11 percent
for the year ending in April. But analysts downgraded the stock.

CompuServe was given credit for the good numbers by Block
President Thomas Bloch. The online service and packet network
business had pre-tax earnings of $102.3 million, up 38.2 percent
from a year earlier, on revenues of $429.8 million.

After taxes, the company earned $200.5 million. The company said
its CompuServe online service had 1.9 million members at the
end of the fiscal year, up 46 percent from a year earlier. And the
network division also showed strong gains, adding 123 new
accounts to end the year with 586.

The problems were in H&R Block Tax Services, which offers tax
preparation services to consumers and businesses. Its pre-tax
earnings rose just 3.9 percent, to $198.7 million, and the number
of customers served by the unit actually fell slightly, which
Block blamed on Canadian tax-law changes that resulted in fewer
tax returns with refunds.

As a result, analysts downgraded the stock. Dean Witter cut its
earnings estimates for next year by 20 cents per share due to
margin concerns. Kidder Peabody also downgraded the stock, which
fell about 5 percent in price on US exchanges after the results
were announced.

Other analysts noted that the stock is currently trading at over
20 times earnings, a much-higher multiple than the stock market's
average. That means any slowdown in CompuServe's earnings
momentum could drag the stock down further. With new
competition coming from Microsoft and Ziff, and with the Internet
soaking up new users every day, analysts question whether that is
possible.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940624/Press Contact: H&R Block Inc.,
816-753-6900)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00024)

Federal Express Changing Logo 06/24/94
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Federal Express,
which has come to dominate the overnight package-delivery
business thanks to its use of mobile computing technology, said
it will change its brand-name to FedEx in hopes of making more
headway in international markets and to save money.

Federal Express has in the last decade become the leading example
of how wireless computing can help a company grow. It equips its
drivers with bar-code readers tied to its own wireless data
network, which uses Specialized Mobile Radio frequencies. Package
numbers are tracked from pick-up, through sorting and delivery,
so customers can learn the status of any package instantly,
either by calling the company's operators on toll-free lines or,
more recently, using software on personal computers.

The company's success has been increasingly frustrating to United
Parcel Service Inc., which still dominates large package delivery
and freight-forwarding. UPS has greatly increased its spending on
automation, with new central computer systems and its own
wireless terminals, called "DIADs," which van operators carry on
their routes. But despite enormous effort by UPS to publicize
its technology efforts, Federal Express retains its reputation as
the industry's technology leader.

The new logo, which will start going onto new trucks and planes
immediately, consists of the words "FedEx" in block type using the
purple and red corporate colors, but on a white background. The
company will retain the name Federal Express Corp.

At a conference call to announce the change, spokesmen at first
refused to say how much the new colors would cost, but Chairman
Frederick Smith then elaborated. "It costs less than a single
TV commercial," he said. "And it's cheaper than our old livery,"
in part because the design is less complex, also in part because
white paint, which will now be the dominant color of the
company's trucks and planes, costs less than the purple paint now
used. He added that the words

"Federal Express" does not always trip lightly off foreign tongues --
reporters said that is especially true in the Pacific Rim which the
company is targeting for future growth. Smith estimates the
company will report sales of about $9 billion for the fiscal year
ending this past May, $2.7 billion of that for international sales.

New commercials, using the tag-line "The World on Time," and a
new 1-800-GO FEDEX" customer service line, will accompany the
changes, Smith added. The company, just 21-years old, now has
more than 100,000 employees and handles two million packages a
day in 187 countries, operating 458 aircraft and 31,000 vans.

Federal Express will use its new name and logo in a growing
market battle with United Parcel Service of Atlanta for the
worldwide freight business.

Smith said that, while the US is still the largest market for freight
delivery services, the international market is growing faster.
Federal Express will also use the new logo to get into larger
packages and time-sensitive, as opposed to overnight, deliveries.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940624/Press Contact: Federal Express Inc.,
Tom Martin, 901-395-3490)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(ATL)(00025)

Telecommunication Bills Move Ahead 06/24/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- The US House of
Representatives will vote next Tuesday on bills designed to
change the rules of the telecommunications industry.

The bills would dramatically reduce the power of Judge Harold
Greene, who oversees the 1982 decree breaking up the Bell system,
by writing new rules for a competitive marketplace into the law.
The bill would also represent a major overhaul of the 1934
Communications Act, which covers all the nation's communication
networks and is enforced by the Federal Communications
Commission.

The completion of the two bills followed long negotiations
between two House committee chairmen, Texas Democrat Jack
Brooks and Michigan Democrat John Dingell. The bill would create
rules to allow the regional Bell companies into cable television,
equipment manufacturing, and parts of the long distance market.
The bill would also allow cable television companies to get into
the telephone services business.

The Clinton Administration had hoped to complete action on the
legislation by March, and even dropped plans to offer its own
bills to speed the process. But the re-write was delayed by
arguments over terms of competition among the Bells, long
distance firms like AT&T, and cable companies. A bill less
favorable to Bell interests is still before the Senate, where
debate is still expected to be intense, and will begin next
month.

The bills would let the Bells immediately enter the cable market,
something only Bell Atlantic has now, thanks to a Virginia court
decision. But it would keep them out of long distance for now,
except for handling the long-distance end of wireless phone
calls and in-state long distance. Those permissions could still
be barred if the Justice Department decides it would restrain
competition. The Bells would also be allowed into manufacturing
immediately, and "domestic content" rules could quickly be
overturned by the courts.

Once both houses of Congress pass their versions of
telecommunication reform, they would still have to be reconciled
by a conference committee in September before going to a final
vote.

In other action impacting telecommunications, and possibly
computer software, the House voted 240-169, mainly along party
lines, against cutting $5.5 million from the budget of Justice
Department anti-trust chief Anne Bingaman.

The anti-trust budget was cut sharply in the 1980s, but
Republicans, led by New Mexico's Stephen Schiff, argued that
scarce funds would best spent fighting violent crime, noting that
total spending by US Attorneys in fiscal 1995 would not rise as
fast as the anti-trust budget.

Democrats, led by Edward Markey, pointed to the earlier cuts and
argued the anti-trust laws guarantee competition. Bingaman is
presently considering bringing action against Microsoft for
allegedly monopolizing computer software through its control
of the Windows operating environment, and a cut in her budget
might have forestalled that investigation.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940624/Press Contact: Federal Express Inc.,
Tom Martin, 901-395-3490)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00026)

Analysts Applaud AT&T-Unisource Deal 06/24/94
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Analysts
applauded AT&T's agreement to link with Unisource, a European
phone alliance among the Dutch, Swedish and Swiss
telecommunications carriers.

Under the agreement, Unisource becomes a member of WorldPartners,
an alliance aimed at handling the worldwide telecommunications
needs of global companies. WorldPartners was previously buoyed by
the decisions of Telecom New Zealand and Australia's Telstra to
link with it. KDD, and Singapore Telecom are also members of the
group.

Unisource also has service agreements with SITA, the global
travel network, billed as the largest private network in the
world, as well as cooperation agreements with Telefonica of Spain
and KDD of Japan. The agreement will allow WorldPartners to enter
the European market without AT&T having to build a new
infrastructure. Because Unisource is not investing directly in
AT&T, the company said, legal approval may not be needed for the
deal.

The announcement comes shortly after Sprint agreed to sell 20
percent of itself to France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, in a
bid to build a worldwide presence in voice and data
communications.

In a response to AT&T's announcement, Sprint said that AT&T
should now support its European alliances, which will require legal
approvals. The news also comes immediately after MCI's link with
British Telecom, under which BT bought 20 percent of MCI, was
approved by the US Justice Department.

Analysts praised the deal, noting that while AT&T has 60 percent
of the US long distance market, it only has five percent outside
the US, so it needs allies. The move also helps the European
companies in their bid to build a "global grid" that can compete
with similar efforts led by BT-MCI and Sprint-France Telecom-
Deutsche Telekom.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940624/Press Contact: Mike Granieri, AT&T,
908-221-7611; Diane Makovsky, Unisource, [phone];
Dianne Bernez, WorldPartners, 908-658-8794)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00027)

UK - High-Tech Fraud On The Increase 06/24/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- According to a report
from Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), the international
accounting company, fraud, and particularly high-tech fraud, is on
the rise in the UK.

Last year, the accounting firm estimates that fraud cost UK
companies more than UKP700 million, approximately 11 percent
up on the estimated 1992 figure, Newsbytes notes.

Speaking at its international conference on fraud and money-
laundering in London, officials with KPMG said that accounting and
related types of fraud had increased by around 300 percent over
the last five years. They added that many client companies have
reported having been a victim of fraud at some stage in the last
few years.

Launching a company publication entitled "Fighting Fraud," the
accounting firm said that the 1993 figure rose, despite the fact
that 1992's level of fraud was generally high owing to the Robert
Maxwell and BCCI affairs.

Speaking at the conference, David Smith, a senior fraud investigator,
said that even though the 1980s boom period had given way to
recession, this was no reason for companies to be complacent over
possible levels of fraud in their companies. "It's always a good time
for fraud," he said. "People will always want to get rich quick."

KPMG officials said that, mainly because of the falling cost of
technology, high-tech fraud, such as that involving state-of-the-art
photocopiers, is on the increase. The relatively low cost of a color
photocopier these days means that forging a complex document is now
relatively easy.

One of the biggest hurdles facing would-be fraudsters are the money
laundering regulations that affect cash transactions in the UK,
Newsbytes notes. These mandate that, if a customer pays in large
amounts of cash (typically UKP10,000 or more) into his/her account,
the transaction must be reported to the authorities.

In practice, KPMG officials noted, such transactions are not reported,
as fraudsters merely split large transactions down into several
smaller ones, each one being less than the laundering transaction
limit.

(Steve Gold/19940624/Press & Reader Contact: KPMG,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00028)

Romanian Cellular Network Readies For Expansion 06/24/94
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- Telefonica Romania has
announced the third phase of its national expansion plans for its
analog cellular phone network. At the same time, the company has
halved the monthly line rental to its network, admitting that the
high cost has been a factor holding back new subscribers to the
service.

The cellular network, which has been in operation for a little over
a year, has been restricted to the Bucharest area, mainly due to
governmental regulation rather than technical reasons.

According to officials with the company, next week will see around
60 percent of Romania covered by the network, now that the
government has given the thumbs up for the base stations to be
switched on. The bulk of the network is run on exchanges and base
stations supplied by Ericsson, the Swedish telecoms company.

According to Gabriel Petrescu, the company's technical manager, the
limited coverage and UKP30 monthly line rental has held back the
number of subscribers to the cellular network to around the 1,000
level. Petrescu said that he now intends to market the service in
earnest, hence the reduction in line rental for UKP15 a month.

Newsbytes notes that the average monthly wage for Romania outside
of the cities is around UKP20 a month, making the mobile network
one of the most expensive in the world in economic relative terms.
Nevertheless, the joint venture telecoms company is looking at signing
up several tens of thousands of new subscribers, mostly from new
businesses that are springing up in the wake of the demise of the old
communist government.

Ironically, much of the reason for launching a mobile phone network
in this post-Iron Curtain country, namely as an alternative to the
ancient telephone networks of the Eastern Bloc, has now disappeared,
as Telefonica has updated many of the city exchanges and is currently
embarking on a modernization project for many rural areas.

Despite this, Telefonica officials say that around 4,000 new
subscribers are expected to sign up for service in Bucharest,
mainly because of the reduction in line rental.

Telefonica Romania is a 50/50 joint venture company between
Romtelecom, the state owned telecoms company, and Telefonica
Espania, the Spanish telecoms company.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940624/Press & Reader Contact: Ericsson,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00029)

Xerox & Sun Create $500 Million Master Agreement 06/24/94
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- In
1987, Xerox and Sun Microsystems initiated a master agreement
which including both product and service sales and exchanges. That
seven-year agreement is now being revised to extend the
relationship for another five years and includes both SunSoft and
SunService, subsidiaries of Sun Microsystems.

Xerox says it has agreed to extend its use of Sun's SPARCstation
systems and embed SPARCengine boards in current and future
document products, as well as continuing to remarket Sun's
SPARCstation and SPARCserver. SunService will provide support
throughout the US for all Sun products at Xerox.

Speaking to Newsbytes, Judd Everhart, spokesperson for Xerox, said,
"We regard this as a very important agreement because of the
technology exchange which allows us to provide greater document
technology to our customers. Document Services Platform, our
software to enhance connectivity between printers and workstations
is a typical example of the benefits this type of agreement provides."

For its part, Sun will extend its use and resale of Xerox products and
services, including Sun resale of printers sourced from Xerox, the
continued sourcing of electronic sub-assemblies from Fuji Xerox in
Japan and the appointment of Xerox as an authorized service provider
by SunSoft.

Sun also agrees to the outsourcing of all Sun repro-graphics and
postal services in the San Francisco Bay Area to Xerox Business
Services.

The potential sales value of Sun products over the five-year contract
is valued at $500 million. According to Sun Microsystems, this
agreement continues a long-term working relationship that provides
both technological advances as well as document processing products.

(Patrick McKenna/19940623/Press Contact: Lisa Ganier,
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00030)

Russia Signs Trade Deal With European Commission 06/24/94
CORFU, GREECE, 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- After months of wrangling,
Russian and European Commission (EC) officials have agreed on a
trade agreement. While Russia gets certain trade guarantees, the
EC gets access to valuable non-EC produce without the need for
massive transport costs.

According to Boris Yeltsin, the Russian premier, the deal is the
result of several months of negotiations and is being called a
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Effectively, the deal gives
Russia free trade access to the EC and several countries under the
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) umbrella trading body.
"I think it is a truly great step towards the reunion of our
continent," he said.

Commenting on the deal, Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou,
the EC summit host and chairman, said: "I am convinced that our new
partnership agreement will contribute to the peace and prosperity
our peoples desire so much."

The deal effectively removes many of the tariff barriers that have
made trade with Russia economically non-viable, starving Russia of
much-needed external products and services, while forcing the EC to
continue stockpiling products which are surplus to the EC's needs.

The big question mark over the agreement is to what extent the free
trade arrangement with Russia will undermine the General Agreement
on Trade & Tariffs (GATT) that has been thrashed out between the
US and Europe.

Many of the quotas agreed under the GATT arrangement were based on
Russia being outside of the trading ring -- introducing Russia to the
mix, especially on the high-tech products front, could make some of
the GATT trade deals financially unworkable, Newsbytes notes.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940624/Press & Reader Contact: European
Commission, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00031)

Newsbytes Daily Summary 06/24/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JUN 24 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:

1 -> Review of - Razzle Dazzle 3D, screen saver 06/24/94 Runs on: IBM
ATs under MS-DOS, Windows or Windows-NT, with  sound cards, VGA
graphics, and 550 kilobytes of free disk space.

2 -> Review of - Kid Cuts, 06/24/94 Runs on: MS-DOS machines with
640K of RAM, hard drive, printer,  and mouse required.

3 -> Japan - Computer News Briefs 06/24/94 In today's roundup of
items making news in Japan, LSI Logic, Sony Computer Entertainment
develop game machine CPU, Ichitaro sales top two million copies,
Toshiba plans to develop low-cost, fault-tolerant Unix server,
Hitachi to boost monthly production of HDDs to 1 million units.

4 -> Japan - Telecom News Briefs 06/24/94 In today's roundup of items
making news in Japan, the number of NTT's ISDN lines top 300,000  in
early June, Sumitomo Electric to develop corporate PC network  by
fiscal 1996, Deutsche Telekom & France Telecom looking to  jointly
establish international communications service company  in Japan.

5 -> India - Independent Telecom Authority Coming Soon 06/24/94 The
Government proposes  to set up a regulatory authority to provide a
"fair and level playing  field" for all service providers in
telecommunications sector. The  entire exercise will be finalized
within a month, says the Minister  of State for Communications, Sukh
Ram.

6 -> Australia - New Multimedia Sound Blaster Kits 06/24/94 Creative
Labs, maker  of the Sound Blaster products, is set to move into the
corporate  marketplace with new offerings, including a low-cost
videoconferencing product and a multimedia kit for the  workplace.

7 -> Apple Newton Launched In France 06/24/94 Apple Computer France
has  formally launched the Apple Newton in France, almost a year
after  unveiling the original specification unit elsewhere in Europe.

8 -> Iona Unveils Orbix 2.1 For Windows, Ships In Beta 06/24/94 Iona
Technologies has  released a beta version of its Orbix 1.2 for
Microsoft Windows  3.1 object request broker package to a limited
number of its  customers.

9 -> UK - SCO Enhances Corporate Services 06/24/94 The Santa Cruz
Operation  (SCO) has announced a range of new services that it claims
have  been developed to meet the demands of corporate customers when
it comes to business-critical server applications.

10 -> UK - Wall Data Announces Salsa Business Division 06/24/94 Wall
Data  has announced the formation of a new business division -- the
Salsa unit -- to bring Dr David Kroenke's Semantic Object Modeling
(SOM) technology to the marketplace.

11 -> Motorola Mobile Division Buys $10M In HP Workstations 06/24/94
In support of a corporation-wide objective to multiply
"time-to-market" ten-fold, Motorola's Land Mobile Products Sector has
decided to upgrade from its HP Apollo-based engineering system. It
has ordered $10 million  in new HP 9000 Series 700 workstations, with
an option to buy  $20 million more over the next two years.

12 -> Disney Characters Join Microsoft 06/24/94 Mickey,  Minnie,
Goofy, Donald, Daisy and other Disney characters will soon be drawing
paychecks from Microsoft Corporation.

13 -> CES - Compton's Intros Multiple Products 06/24/94 Starting with
The  Complete Multimedia Bible, Compton's is displaying and
introducing  a long list of its existing, revised and new CD titles
at the Consumer  Electronics Show in Chicago.

14 -> AST & Creative Technology To Develop Telephony PCs 06/24/94
Computer manufacturer AST and multimedia add-on developer Creative
Technology have announced plans to work together to develop
integrated audio, telephony, and software multimedia products.

15 -> UK - Gateway 2000 Intros Standard 3-Year Warranty 06/24/94 The
UK division of Gateway  2000 has announced it is extending its
standard warranties on PC  hardware from one to three years. The
change takes effect  immediately.

16 -> UK - ICL/Fujitsu To Collaborate On Multimedia 06/24/94 ICL has
entered into a  strategic collaboration arrangement with Fujitsu to
offer advanced multimedia software packages on a worldwide basis.

17 -> ELSA Intros New Graphics Cards 06/24/94 With the graphical
requirements for so many applications on the rise, the market for
graphics accelerators is increasing. Now the German  company, ELSA,
has announced the Winner 1000Pro and Winner  2000Pro high-speed
graphics boards for Windows, Windows NT,  Unix/X-Windows, OS/2, and
NextStep.

18 ->  ****CES - 3DO, Atari Fight Back 06/24/94 3DO Corporation,
makers of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer System, and Atari, with a
64-bit game machine called Jaguar, created booths at CES that were
designed to be louder, brighter, and bigger than  those of Nintendo
and Sega, which hold the top spots in consumer  video gaming.

19 ->  ****CES - Wristwatch Doubles As Phone 06/24/94 The latest
entrant in the Dick Tracy emulation race is MicroTalk Technologies,
which promises to be the first out with a phone you can wear on your
wrist.

20 -> CES - EIA's Chairman Gives Industry Overview 06/24/94 erry
Kalov, the board chairman of the Electronic Industries Association's
Consumer Electronic Group, painted an upbeat picture of the
industry's outlook at the show.

21 -> Home PC Buyers Largest Segment By 1996 06/24/94 Thirty percent
of the  personal computers (PCs) purchased in 1993 were by home users
and that number is expected to climb to 42 percent by the end of
1996, claims the Dallas, Texas-based market research group  Channel
Marketing.

22 ->  ****Sculley Freelancing At Kodak 06/24/94 Once considered for
the chief executive officer (CEO) slot at Eastman Kodak, former Apple
Computer CEO John Sculley has been hired as  a freelance marketing
advisor to look at Kodak's digital imaging and brand marketing
strategies. Sculley has been self-employed since his last job as CEO
of Spectrum Information Technologies.

23 -> Block Results Up, Thanks to CompuServe, But Stock Down 06/24/94
Thanks to its  CompuServe unit, H&R Block said its net earnings rose
11 percent  for the year ending in April. But analysts downgraded the
stock.

24 -> Federal Express Changing Logo 06/24/94 Federal Express,  which
has come to dominate the overnight package-delivery  business thanks
to its use of mobile computing technology, said  it will change its
brand-name to FedEx in hopes of making more  headway in international
markets and to save money.

25 -> Telecommunication Bills Move Ahead 06/24/94 The US House of
Representatives will vote next Tuesday on bills designed to  change
the rules of the telecommunications industry.

26 -> Analysts Applaud AT&T-Unisource Deal 06/24/94 Analysts
applauded AT&T's agreement to link with Unisource, a European  phone
alliance among the Dutch, Swedish and Swiss  telecommunications
carriers.

27 -> UK - High-Tech Fraud On The Increase 06/24/94 According to a
report  from Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), the
international accounting company, fraud, and particularly high-tech
fraud, is on  the rise in the UK.

28 -> Romanian Cellular Network Readies For Expansion 06/24/94
Telefonica Romania has announced the third phase of its national
expansion plans for its analog cellular phone network. At the same
time, the company has halved the monthly line rental to its network,
admitting that the  high cost has been a factor holding back new
subscribers to the service.

29 -> Xerox & Sun Create $500 Million Master Agreement 06/24/94 In
1987, Xerox and Sun Microsystems initiated a master agreement  which
including both product and service sales and exchanges. That
seven-year agreement is now being revised to extend the  relationship
for another five years and includes both SunSoft and  SunService,
subsidiaries of Sun Microsystems.

30 -> Russia Signs Trade Deal With European Commission 06/24/94 After
months of wrangling,  Russian and European Commission (EC) officials
have agreed on a  trade agreement. While Russia gets certain trade
guarantees, the  EC gets access to valuable non-EC produce without
the need for  massive transport costs.

(Ian Stokell/19940624)