Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1983 May to 1994 June

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[***][6/7/88][***] IBM UNVEILS 7 NEW MICROS, CUTS PRICES ON SOME PS/2 MODELS SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- IBM has unleashed seven new models in the PS/2 series of microcomputers, including a super-fast, Intel 80386-based system, and has slashed prices on several other machines. All the new systems are shipping now except for the high-end Model 70 which is due for delivery in the third quarter of '88. IBM has also revealed it has applied for an unspecified number of patents on the new computers, which is expected to make it harder for manufacturers to copy or "clone" the machines. - The top-of-the-line PS/2 Model 70, based on the Intel 80386 chip, is the size of the older Model 50. But its claim to fame is a 25 MHz microprocessor, making it the speediest micro IBM has yet offered -- 1 1/2 times the speed of IBM's previous top-of-the-line machine, the floor-standing Model 80 386. The machine comes in three configurations which range from $6,000 to $11,295 and differ only in their clock speed and onboard memory capacities. - The Model 50 Z, an 80286-based system operating at 10 megahertz, offers no wait states and up to 35% greater processing performance than the older Model 50-021, IBM's most popular PS/2 machine. It costs $4,000 for a version with a 30 MB hard disk and $4,600 with a 60 MB drive. - Two new versions of IBM's lowest-end machines were also trotted out. Both based on the 8086, the Model 25 LS is designed to be a station on a Token Ring LAN. A second version comes with a 20 MB fixed disk drive. The prices are $2,139 and $2,484 respectively. IBM also announced price reductions ranging from 5 to 18% on Models 60 and 80. For instance, a Model 80-311, which was $14,000, is now $12,000. Asked by NEWSBYTES if the price reductions were due to increasing competition from PS/2 "clones," IBM spokesman Dick Gough said they were not related. "Our intention is to offer improved price and performance, in the 20 or 25% a year range." He added, "I haven't seen any clones shipped yet anyway." Analysts suggest IBM is also positioning its prices to compete with a wave of new 80386 machines based on the newest 80386-SX chip, code-named P9, due out from Intel June 21, according to NEWSBYTES sources. The 80386-SX, a slower, cheaper alternative to the 80386, is expected to be a 16-bit, rather than a 32-bit microprocessor. IBM says it is assured of a steady supply of memory chips for the new models despite an industry-wide DRAM shortage. That confidence is based on the firm's own chip-making capabilities -- up to 90% of the 1 megabit DRAMs available to IBM will be made at IBM's plant in Vermont, starting this summer, according to IBM officials. The corporation also announced it has shipped its 2 millionth PS/2 machine this month. [***][6/7/88][***] PAPERBACK SOFTWARE REORGANIZES *EXCLUSIVE* BERKELEY, Ca. (NB) -- Paperback Software is in the process of reorganizing to gain a "more competitive position" in the software industry, according to President Steve Cook. While details of the reorganization have yet to "ironed out," Cook told NEWSBYTES there might be layoffs among the staff of 30, but they would be of "very little significance." Cook has replaced Adam Osborne as president of Paperback Software, but Osborne remains CEO. Explaining to NEWSBYTES, Cook said he's been given the "green light" by Osborne to pursue his ideas for marketing the company products. Paperback Software, which is being sued by Lotus in a "look and feel" dispute over the similarity between Lotus 1-2-3 and Paperback's competing VP-Planner, is not in a financial crunch, according to Cook. The lawsuit, which is estimated to be costing tens of thousands of dollars a month, is being financed by Paperback Software's two insurance companies, not by Paperback itself. Paperback has sold "well over 100,000 " copies of VP-Planner ($99) and VP-Planner Plus ($180) since the product's introduction. Cook promised to have details of any further reorganization plans within a week. [***][6/7/88][***] BORLAND TO REINTRODUCE SPRINT SCOTTS VALLEY, Ca. (NB) -- Over a year and a half after its initial announcement, Borland plans to re-unveil Sprint: The Professional Word Processor at a June 6 press conference in New York at the Plaza Hotel. In February 1987 Borland announced Sprint would have a user- customizable interface and could take on the look and feel of either WordStar or WordPerfect immediately. He said future versions would have emulators for XyWrite, Volkswriter, and other popular word processing programs. The idea behind this "soft" user interface is to appeal to people who hate to learn new commands. Philippe Kahn, Borland chairman and chief executive officer, will be accompanied by Ben Rosen, partner, Alain Blancquart, managing director for Borland European Operations, and a "special guest vendor." It will be interesting to watch the latest incarnation of this word processing program given the current slate of lawsuits over look and feel software issues. [***][6/7/88][***] BUSHNELL REJOINS ATARI - CHIP SHORTAGE PROMPTS GAME PLAYING SUNNYVALE, Ca. (NB) -- Nolan Bushnell is returning to the company he founded to design video games for Atari game machines. The announcement, made at Bushnell's restaurant, The Lion and the Compass in Sunnyvale, is Bushnell's game plan for reviving his floundering Axlon Corporation, once a high-flyer in the toy business. Bushnell will design an unspecified number of video games exclusively for Atari 2600 and 7800 video game consoles. Bushnell will operate through Axlon, which will now be more of a research and development facility, earning royalties from the sale of game and toy technology. There are 24 employees, down from 80 two years ago. For its part, Atari will put a new emphasis on home entertainment software and games this year, vowing to launch 45 new titles by Christmas. Why the renewed interest in games? Not only do games represent a one billion dollar market, with two billion expected by the end of 1989, but software does not require DRAM and SRAM chips, in short supply now. The shortage has clearly put Atari's ambitious computer hardware plans on hold. Said Sam Tramiel, Atari president, "We will attack the U.S. computer market later this year....We don't have enough components today." [***][6/7/88][***] NEW MAC PROGRAMS CONFIRM MICROSOFT'S MAC COMMITTMENT SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- Microsoft has announced new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and File, and has vowed to continue writing software for the Apple Macintosh despite friction with the Cupertino, Ca. firm over a current software-related lawsuit. At a news conference here, Microsoft officers, including Chairman Bill Gates, unveiled Word 4.0, which now includes features found in many desktop publishing packages. Word 4.0, clearly with the most changes of all the products announced, now provides page preview, allows text to flow around objects or any bit-mapped image, offers customized commands, color, page reformatting, and other new features. It will be available in October for $395. These are the first major Macintosh program upgrades from Microsoft since Apple launched its suit, charging the firm violated Apple's copyright on the Macintosh visual interface in Presentation Manager, software being designed for rival IBM. Gates assured reporters of his commitment to Macintosh software, "Although we disagree with Apple in that lawsuit, it's not affecting what we're doing." [***][6/7/88][***] dBASE IV WILL BE LATE - MAYBE TORRANCE, Ca. (NB) -- It's official. The long-awaited successor to dBASE III may be awaited a bit longer -- but shouldn't be any later than September 30. That's the word from Ashton-Tate CEO Luther Nussbaum who addressed shareholders with news of a possible two month delay. But instead of calling it a delay, he said A-T has "extended the window of delivery from July 1 to September 30." Later Ed Esber, president, added that there are quite a few bugs to eradicate before the product can be shipped. Among those quick to respond was newsletter author Stewart Alsop, who said, "For a company that's trying to shed its Rodney Dangerfield image, it isn't doing itself any good by making it look like it just can't figure out when it will finish its primary product." [***][6/7/88][***] CYPRESS SPREADS THE WEALTH - KING MIDAS STYLE SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- Employees of Cypress Semiconductor taking part in the firm's profit sharing plan have received a bright, shiny token of the company's appreciation. Instead of the traditional checks, they received American Eagle pure gold coins, worth an estimated $450, and cash. The event was staged at a dramatic give-away in which Cypress President and CEO T.J. Rodgers was flanked by two Pinkerton security guards toting guns. He proclaimed, "The gold coins are being distributed not only to dramatize the size of this quarter's profit sharing payment but to give a symbolic gold medal to each employee on this winning Cypress team." Cypress, the nation's ninth largest chip maker in 1987, specializes in ultra-fast logic and memory chips. Profits are up 62% over last year to $4.3 million; sales are up 95% to $29.2 million. [***][6/7/88][***] BORLAND BUYS OUT MICROPRO FOUNDER NOVATO, Ca. (NB) -- Borland International has purchased the assets of Surpass Software Systems, the firm started by Micropro founder Seymour Rubenstein. Surpass, based in Novato, was started by Rubenstein last year and has only one product -- a spreadsheet called Surpass which has sold an estimated 5,000 copies since its debut earlier this year. Complete terms of the deal between Surpass and Borland were not disclosed but Rubenstein says in a published interview that he has been paid in cash and shares of Borland. The alliance comes as both firms fight to gain larger shares in the spreadsheet market. Said Rubenstein, "This has nothing to do with buying off a competitor. It has to do with the fact that there is a big competition out there in the form of Microsoft and Lotus, and Borland wanted to arm themselves against the competitive onslaught." For its part, Borland says Surpass was an impressive package and certain elements of the software will be integrated into future Borland products. Borland's offering in the spreadsheet arena is Quattro. Borland claims to have sold 100,000 copies of Quattro in only six months. [***][6/7/88][***] IN BRIEF -- ACIUS, Cupertino, Ca., has released TopGuys, a MiniFans 4th Dimension database of over 375 "influential" contacts in the Macintosh community. TopGuys includes press, industry contacts, and Apple contacts considered the top of the heap when it comes to getting word around about your idea/product. TopGuys sells for $95. ATARI, Sunnyvale, is shipping its CD-ROM drive in limited quantities. Also, Atari reports its FEDERATED GROUP store in Hollywood has quadrupled sales in the first two weeks that it's had an expanded computer section. HYPEREXPO AND STACKMART, San Francisco, is scheduled for June 11-12 at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium. The event is expected to attract HyperCard developers and HyperCard buyers and will offer two days of seminars ranging from the educational use of HyperCard to CD-ROM applications. To preregister as an exhibitor or sightseer, call 212-226-4141 (American Expositions). MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER PAUL ALLEN has slam-dunked a dream -- to own his own basketball team. Allen has purchased the Portland, Oregon Trail Blazers from investor Lawrence Weinberg. No word yet on whether he will move the team, or what else he has in mind. ORACLE, Belmont, Ca., Toshiba, Altos, and Priam are teaming up to sponsor a car in the Indy 500 this year. Driver Randy Lewis will get the financial fuel he needs from this technology alliance, a first for the Indy 500 and for all concerned. PACIFIC BELL, San Francisco, Ca., is offering its Project Victoria technology for license to others in the telecommunications industry. Banned by "regulatory and judicial uncertainties" from pursuing the technology themselves, Pac Bell believes the potential of the 7-in-one data and voice channels over a single phone line system is too important to be shelved. CONTACT: Scott Smith: 415/542-0597. SUPERMAC TECHNOLOGY, Mountain View, Ca., is shipping SpeedCard, a plug- in accelerator for the Macintosh SE. SuperMac says the $399 card doubles the speed of the Macintosh SE with a 16 megahertz 68000 processor and a 16K hardware RAM cache mounted on a plug-in card. [***][6/6/88][***] DELL, IBM ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT ON PS/2 CLONE ROYALTIES AUSTIN, TX (NB) -- Dell Computer has signed a license agreement with IBM regarding IBM patents on the PC and PS/2 lines. The agreement will let Dell make not only its existing PC clones, but the PS/2 Micro Channel clones it showed at Comdex in May. Dell will pay IBM royalty fees on both its PCs and PS/2 clones, including retroactive payments on PC clones made over the last few years. The move puts pressure on other clone-makers to pay up to Big Blue, which says it will ask all clone-makers for up to 1% of their revenues as royalties, and raise the price to 5% on the PS/2 line. [***][6/6/88][***] ZENITH ANNOUNCES OEM DEAL WITH HEWLETT-PACKARD ON ITS SPORTABLES GLENVIEW, IL (NB) -- Zenith will let Hewlett-Packard re-sell Zenith's new SupersPort 286 Model 20 laptop computer under the H-P label. The deal follows a number of cooperative efforts between the two companies involving peripherals, and cooperation on major accounts such as government contracts, including the IRS. The move is significant in light of the fact that H-P's LaserJet laser printer depends on printer engines from Canon of Japan. Now it has an equal relationship with an American partner. [***][6/6/88][***] THE PERILS OF FREE SPEECH -- U.S. WEST DOESN'T WANT THEM ENGLEWOOD, CO (NB) -- U.S. West officials said they were "willing to take the hit" in order to ban obscene messages from their 976 "dial it" lines. The company is demanding that all vendors of pre-recorded messages on its lines allow U.S. West to pre-screen the messages, and let it censor any it thinks are indecent. Pacific Telesis has taken a similar position, Bell Atlantic has indicated its willingness to do the same, and the issue is likely to be settled in court. Unspoken in all this is what happens once the Bells get the right to censor their lines. Will it be extended to computing -- will NEWSBYTES have to get permission of the phone company to operate? You can bet the "anti-pornography" (read anti-First Amendment) forces will try to do just that. And wait until they hear this. Two young (one 18, one 20) Marietta, Georgia men were charged on June 2 with raping a 13-year old girl they met on a 976 "chat" line. The 20 year old talked to the victim's friend often over the 976 line -- a detective said it was "about work, school -- normal stuff." In other RBOC news, Bell Atlantic announced it's ready to begin its gateway service trial, in which users in Middle Atlantic states can get onto The Source, CompuServe or other services more easily. BellSouth, which was due to start its gateway trial in June, is now talking about opening in July, but may not be ready to go until September. Rumors are the utility company's lawyers are holding things up. [***][6/6/88][***] V.42 FOLLIES -- ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COMING STANDARDS ATLANTA (NB) -- The new CCITT V.42 standards for error correction in fast modems are causing a lot of excitement among modem makers. An industry standard would make all modem makers equal because there would no longer be several standards, including the one based on the term "Hayes-compatible." Universal Data Systems, Huntsvillle, AL, a subsidiary of Motorola, is the latest firm to jump on the V.42 bandwagon. The company said last week it will support both the MNP and LAPM segments of the CCITT recommendation. Previously, Hayes publicly committed to V.42, and Racal-Milgo committed to it, adding that Hayes' current V-Series of modems *don't* meet it. (Hayes will offer upgrades so its V-Series of modems comply.) The only negative in all this publicity is that, until the V.42 recommendations are carved in silicon everywhere, problems of compatibility may arise. If you bought a fast modem (4,800 or 9,600 baud especially) early this year or last year, it may cause some problems for you next year or the year after. NEWSBYTES recommends you stay in touch with the manufacturer, send in that warrantee card, and stay friendly with your computer dealer. [***][6/6/88][***] 3M SAYS IT HAS A REPLACEMENT FOR YOUR COMPUTER'S FAN ST. PAUL, MN (NB) -- It's called Fluorinert. It's a liquid in a half-inch deep flexible pouch which can wick away heat from any electric circuit it's put next to, acting as a heat sink. While it can be added to existing circuits, a 3M spokesman emphasized it will be most impressive when used in new designs. Not only would use of Fluorinert replace the noisy fans inside most PCs, they could also make the whole machine smaller, since designers won't have to put a layer of free air between the case and the circuit boards. This one could revolutionize the building of computers if successful. [***][6/6/88][***] ED JUGE SEEKS CREDIBILITY ON THOR-CD -- WON'T GET IT HERE FORT WORTH, TX (NB) -- Ed Juge, Tandy's chief PR man, has been sending individual letters to the press, claiming the "Business Week" story shooting down Tandy's claims concerning its THOR-CD technology is itself full of holes. NEWSBYTES checked out that story, and confirmed each item in it separately, from independent analysts unaffiliated with "Business Week." Wrote Juge to NEWSBYTES, "BW's track record of factual errors on Tandy stories is sad." NEWSBYTES stands by its story and we assume the business weekly does too. CONTACT: Ed Juge, TANDY, (817)390-3300 [***][6/6/88][***] PECAN CHIPS CENTEL, Chicago, wants to buy United Telecom's cellular phone business, but the move is opposed by Asher Edelman and George Lindemann, investors who've bought 5.5% of Centel's stock. Edelman told the "Wall Street Journal" Centel is pursuing a "scorched-earth policy" to thwart a possible takeover. COMDISCO, Rosemont, IL, bought Recovery Operations Centres Limited of the United Kingdom. Both companies are in the computer recovery business, offering "disaster insurance" backed by working machines clients can use when their own machines go down in fire, floods, or other disasters. CROSSTALK, Roswell, GA, and SOFTKLONE, Tallahassee, FL, announced terms of the settlement of their 1986 "look and feel" dispute. Softklone Chairman Howard Huff claimed total victory. DCA, Alpharetta, GA, will introduce a micro-mainframe product called FT/Express this summer, offering transfer rates 5-12 times faster than IrmaLink, the software product it replaces. DR. COMPUTER, Irving, TX, launched Supporting Information Scheduler Version 2.1, a $130 product which lets users design schedules with hierarchies. GEORGIA TECH, Atlanta, is offering a system to build expert systems called GEST, which uses a "blackboard" architecture to let separate expert systems share information. SEMATECH, Austin, TX, named 5 schools as centers of excellence in basic computing research. The University of Arizona will look into contamination and defect control; the University of California, Berkeley will look at optical lithography, New Jersey schools led by the David Sarnoff Center will look into plasma etching; the University of New Mexico will look at metrology, and the Massachusetts Microelectronics Center will look into single wafer processing. Each will get $500,000-$1,500,000 per year from the research consortium. Four other schools, Florida, Rensselaer Polytechnic, North Carolina State, and Wisconsin, were identified for future grants. STERLING SOFTWARE, Dallas, has agreed to sell its contract programming, systems design, and professional services group in Atlanta. The group had 1987 revenues of $34 million. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, Austin, TX, opened The Texas Higher Education Network (Thenet), which links over 500 systems at universities around the state through a Cray X-MP/24 supercomputer. Packet switches with direct connections to Thenet are in Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Midland/Odessa and Tyler. [***][6/7/88][***] COPYRIGHT ACT PASSES LAST HURDLE OTTAWA (NB) -- Canada's new Copyright Act was passed in the Canadian Senate at the beginning of June and will probably receive Royal Assent this week. Once the Governor General has given that approval, which is essentially a formality, most of the new law will come into immediate effect, replacing the existing 65-year-old legislation which says nothing about computer software. Some parts of the new Act will require the setting up of committees and official proclamation before they take effect, government spokesman Michel Hetu told NEWSBYTES CANADA, but provisions relating to software will come into force immediately. [***][6/7/88][***] IBM CANADA ANNOUNCES NEW PS/2 MODELS, PRICE CUTS MARKHAM, Ont. (NB) -- Along with the rest of IBM worldwide, IBM Canada Ltd. announced on June 2 the PS/2 Model 70, new versions of the Model 25 and Model 50, and price cuts on existing models. Prices and availability are as follows: Old Price New Price Available ---------------------------------------------------- Model 25 $2,095.00 unchanged Model 30-002 $2,595.00 $2,525.00 Model 30-021 $3,495.00 unchanged Model 50-021 $5,495.00 $5,295.00 Model 50 Z-031 N/A $5,895.00 June Model 50 Z-061 N/A $6,795.00 June Model 60-041 $8,245.00 $7,795.00 Model 60-071 $9,795.00 $8,545.00 Model 70 386-E6 N/A $8,845.00 June Model 70 386-12 N/A $11,795.00 June Model 70 386-A2 N/A $16,645.00 Third Qtr. Model 80-041 $10,895.00 $10,345.00 Model 80-071 $13,195.00 $11,795.00 Model 80-111 $17,095.00 $13,595.00 Model 80-311 $21,795.00 $17,695.00 (All prices are suggested retail in Canadian dollars.) CONTACT: IBM CANADA LTD., 3500 Steeles Ave. E., Markham, Ont. L3R 2Z1, (416) 474-2111 [***][6/7/88][***] DEVELOPER OFFERS FREE TRIAL OF UNIX-DOS BRIDGE PRODUCT MARKHAM, Ont. (NB) -- If you've always wanted to sell a software developer what you thought of a product, here's your chance -- and it's not too late for the developer to do something about it. Genamation Inc. of Toronto is offering a limited number of copies of a new software product to computer users who use both the Unix and the MS-DOS operating system. Genamation's product, as yet unnamed, allows an MS-DOS computer to act as a Unix terminal. Unix applications can be made to pause at any point, Genamation says, then continued after running MS-DOS programs. The software also allows file transfer between the two operating systems. Users can a working copy of the software for a limited time, provided they agree to fill out a short questionnaire that the vendor says will help evaluate the market for the product. CONTACT: Jean Bolin, GENAMATION INC., 351 Steelcase Rd. W. Markham, Ont. L3R 3W1, (416) 475-9434 [***][6/7/88][***] DEFENCE PLANNERS FORGOT NETWORK, NEWSPAPER REPORTS HALIFAX (NB) -- Canadian Department of National Defence planners forgot to include an essential computerized communications system in the $18-million Maritime Command headquarters here, according to internal department records obtained by THE GLOBE AND MAIL in Toronto. The newspaper says the computerized data communications system was described in the documents as "essential to the protection of security of Canada," and the omission made it impossible to process information available to the Maritime commander and his staff. The C$1.11-million system was supposed to enable officers at the headquarters, which officially opened in November 1986, to share and exchange military data using computers. But because planners neglected to include it in plans for the six-story building, the system did not operate until June, 1987. When defence officials discovered the communications system had been left out, they scrambled to buy one, the nationally distributed daily newspaper reported. But it took them and the Department of Supply and Services, the federal government's purchasing arm, nine months to prepare and mail bidding documents to 13 companies that might supply the system. The contract was eventually awarded to Honeywell of Canada. The newspaper obtained documents relating to the error under the federal Freedom of Information Act. [***][6/7/88][***] AT&T, RYERSON POLYTECHNIC COLLABORATE ON GRAPHICS LAB TORONTO (NB) -- Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, has opened what it describes as the largest and most advanced educational microcomputer graphics lab in Canada. The lab is the result of a partnership between Ryerson's Faculty of Applied Arts and AT&T Canada Inc. of Markham, Ont. AT&T provided the college with 17 AT&T PC 6310 computers, each equipped with four megabytes of memory, a 20-megabyte hard disk and an 80287 math co-processor. AT&T also supplied one PC 6386 work group system. Most of the PCs are equipped with Targa graphics cards and one with an AT- Vista board, all from Truevision. Software from Truevision and Graphics Software Laboratories is also used. CONTACT: AT&T CANADA INC., 3850 Victoria Park Ave., Suite 800 Willowdale, Ont. M2H 3P7, (416) 499-9400 [***][6/7/88][***] SOFTWARE DEVELOPER IN WRONGFUL HIRING LAWSUIT OTTAWA (NB) -- Software developer Cognos Inc. has lost an unusual legal dispute with a former employee that could set a precedent in Canadian employment law. Douglas Queen sued Cognos because he left a secure job in Calgary to help develop a new accounting software package for the Ottawa software house, but the job for which he was hired never materialized and he was eventually dismissed. Queen argued the company was guilty of "negligent misrepresentation" in hiring him without being sure it needed his services. His case was upheld, and the court awarded him C$67,000 for misrepresentation and emotional stress. Cognos is appealing the decision. [***][6/7/88][***] EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM WOULD `LEARN' ROUTINE TASKS TORONTO (NB) -- Researchers at the University of Toronto are working on a program that records how a repetitive clerical job is performed and can then repeat the actions by itself. The university team hopes the program will allow office workers to automate their routine chores simply by walking a computer through them once. The program would then create its own routine to perform the same function. Prof. Fred Lochovsky, of the Computer Systems Research Institute and the U of T's Faculty of Management, believes office workers have the necessary knowledge to automate their jobs, lacking only the programming skills. A basic understanding of the computer and knowledge of a visual programming environment like that of the Apple Macintosh should be enough to use the program. [***][6/7/88][***] FINANCIAL BITS -- COLUMBIA COMPUTING SERVICES LTD., Vancouver, made a profit of C$20,000 in the three months ended March 31, down from C$231,000 in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to C$2.7 million from C$2.3 million. -- NORTHERN TELECOM INC., Mississauga, Ont., bought up 182,100 of its own common shares in April, according to records filed with the Ontario Securities Commission in Toronto. [***][6/7/88][***] BITS, EH? -- CROWNTEK BUSINESS CENTRES and C-I-L opened a second CFX Computer Solutions store in Barrie, Ont. Like the first CFX store in Stratford, Ont., the store is part of a joint venture to sell computer hardware and C-I-L's Agriventure software to local farmers. The stores also sell popular business software. -- EDMONTON TELEPHONES in Edmonton, Alberta is the latest Canadian telephone company to introduce talking yellow pages. Callers with touch-tone phones can now get weather forecasts, news, sports, TV and movie listings, business updates and summaries of the soap operas by dialing a special number and punching four-digit codes on the touch-tone keypad. -- THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, Waterloo, Ont., has named Dr. David M. Dilts as director of its Waterloo Centre for Integrated Manufacturing (WATCIM). -- ALTOS COMPUTER SYSTEMS, which has its Canadian headquarters in Toronto, opened a Montreal office to serve Quebec and the Maritime provinces. -- CORVUS SYSTEMS (CANADA) INC., Toronto, has appointed Maureen Catania to the post of general manager. [***][6/7/88][***] THE THIRD JAPAN-U.S. SEMICONDUCTOR CONFERENCE FALLS APART TOKYO (NB) -- The third Japan-U.S. semiconductor conference, which started at the beginning of this month, has come to a sudden halt. The Electronic Industry Association of Japan (EIAJ) and US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) had come to an agreement on international cooperation, including the establishment of a semiconductor roundtable between Japan, the U.S., and Europe, scheduled for this October. However, EIAJ and SIA have locked horns on whether to announce actual figures for semiconductor imports and exports to each country. SIA wants the figures on the table. The EIAJ believes such a figure should be determined based on the success of the cooperation. CONTACT: Electronic Industry Association of Japan, 3-2-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo [***][6/7/88][***] JAPANESE MAKERS READY TO END WORLDWIDE SHORTAGE OF SEMICONDUCTORS TOKYO (NB) -- Mitsubishi has announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Mitsubishi Semiconductor America (MSAI), has started production of 1 megabit dynamic RAM (1M DRAM) chips. Mitsubishi promises production of half million 1M DRAMs per month starting this summer. Mitsubishi has become the fourth company to produce 1M DRAMs overseas, following Toshiba, Hitachi, and NEC. Meanwhile, Toshiba is currently producing 4 million 1M DRAMs per month in Japan. Moreover, its monthly overseas production of 1M DRAMs has reached 400,000 due to expanded production facilities at its U.S. and West German subsidiaries. Toshiba has achieved the top spot in volume 1M DRAM production both in Japan and overseas. However, at present, Toshiba is not ready to produce 1M DRAMs in Malaysia. CONTACT: Mitsubishi, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100 Toshiba, Toshiba Bldg., 1-1-1 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105 [***][6/7/88][***] MITI TO SUPPLY PATENT INFO, OTHER DATA TO FOREIGNERS TOKYO (NB) -- In response to foreign criticism, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has pledged to make more Japanese databases, including patent records, available to foreign countries and interested parties and organizations. MITI promises to establish a translation facility in cooperation with Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in order to improve the translation of Japanese into other languages. This has been the major bottleneck in getting data out to those who request it, says MITI. The project will also provide research on the kinds of requests made by foreign governments. CONTACT: Ministry of International Trade and Industry, 1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo [***][6/7/88][***] DAT TALKS HIT ROADBLOCK TOKYO (NB) -- Top executives of Japanese audio technology firms have announced that their draft agreement concerning copy protection for digital audio tape (DAT) will not solve the copyright problem. A number of questions have arisen. For instance, copyright infringement can be defined as the minute a DAT recording of another recorded work is made. The European Community (EC) contends in its "Green paper" on DAT technology that DAT recorders should be equipped with equipment that prevents home taping. But Japanese firms tend to believe that to prevent home taping is a mistake and stymies technological progress. Rumor has it the draft agreement will pass anyway because it has the general support of the seven major audio equipment companies, including Matsushita, Hitachi, Toshiba, Sony, and Philips. The Japan- EC business roundtable on this matter is expected to be held as early as at the end of June. The conference will be attended by 10 Japanese and 6 European audio firms. CONTACT: Matsushita, 1006 Oaza-Monma, Monma-shi, Osaka 571 [***][6/7/88][***] AI RESEARCH HEATS UP TOKYO (NB) -- Artificial Intelligence (AI) research is increasing by leaps and bounds both in Japan and abroad. For example, the Masssachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is cooperating with major Japanese companies in research regarding the practical use of AI. The work is being coordinated by MIT's intelligent engineering system laboratory. Meanwhile, NEC Computer System, Tokyo, will do researches on AI systems in cooperation with Honeywell Bull of the U.S. and Bull of France. To start, researchers from the three companies will periodically exchange information about AI systems which each company has respectively developed. The next step will be to pool their resources and jointly develop AI projects. CONTACT: NEC Computer System, 4-4-2 Honcho, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo [***][6/7/88][***] COMPUTER SALES UP 12.5% TOKYO (NB) -- Eight major electronics firms have achieved a 12.5% increase in computer sales and have achieved a total sales profit of 5.878 trillion yen (or $49.7 billion) in fiscal '87. Particularly remarkable is the increasing profit from exports which accounts for 24.4% of the total profit and has reached 1.2016 trillion yen or $9.6 billion despite the strong value of the yen. Sales of the computer divisions of each company are as follows: FISCAL 1987 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Co. Name Domestic Export Total Sales ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fusjitsu 8,139.2 (12.7%) 1,772.4 (23.4%) 9,861.6 (14.5%) NEC 7,112.8 ( 9 %) 1,567.2 (35 %) 8,680 (12.5%) IBM Japan 5,947.2 (15.6%) 2,536.8 (34.7%) 8,484.8 (20.7%) Hitachi 5,274.4 (17 %) 1,157.6 ( 3 %) 6,432 (15 %) Toshiba 2,376 (13 %) 680 ( 9 %) 3,056 (12 %) Oki 1,232 ( 7 %) 288 (-10 %) 1,520 ( 3 %) Mitsubishi 1,008 ( 5 %) 320 (29 %) 1,328 (10 %) Unisis 1,340 (12.6%) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unit: $ million [***][6/7/88][***] PROGRAMMING BY WORD PROCESSOR TOKYO (NB) -- Japan Word Processor has developed software which can be programmed with a word processor. The program is written in a Japanese program description language, which can compile programming written in a word processor. When the word processor/program document is booted, the software will convert it to a program. The programming language is said to be easier than learning BASIC. The first appearance of this product will appear in Japan Word Processor's venture with Toshiba -- the two firms have refined the natural language programming software for Toshiba's RUPO word processor, the Jizairyu. Japan Word Processor will ship the language to value-added resellers in June and to software companies this fall. It will be priced at 30,000 yen or $240. Furthermore, the company will develop and release more programs for other companies' word processors. CONTACT: Japan Word Processor, 4-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo [***][6/7/88][***] MATSUSHITA, EXPECTED TO PRODUCE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTERS IN U.S. TOKYO (NB) -- Matsushita is expected to sign a contract with IBM to begin production of IBM PS/2 personal computers in the U.S. shortly, reports a Matsushita's spokesman. To start, a desktop version of the IBM PS/2 series will be produced in the newly-established production line at Matsushita Electric Illinois U.S. Matsushita is no stranger to working with IBM. The company has been providing PS/2 machines to IBM Japan on an OEM basis and has exported nearly-complete PS/2 systems (they don't have CPUs installed) to IBM in the U.S. However, the recent high value of the Japanese yen has prompted Matsushita to switch PS/2 production to the U.S. The Matsushita/IBM alliance is taken so seriously here that Matsushita has promised it will never produce a competing computer to IBM again -- namely its PC/AT-compatible computers are no longer being made. CONTACT: Matsushita, 1006 Oaza Monma, Monma-shi, Osaka 571 [***][6/7/88][***] << SUSHI BYTES >> CRAY RECEIVES AN ORDER OF SUPERCOMPUTERS FROM KOREA -- Cray Research, U.S., has succeeded in selling its supercomputers to Korea. The machines will be sent to Korean universities and research organizations between July and September and will be used for scientific studies. SEIKO-EPSON DEVELOPS COLOR LIQUID CRISTAL DISPLAY --Seiko-Epson has developed a color liquid crystal display (LCD) for a single matrix system. The color LCD can be used for personal computers, word processors, and also large screens of thin T.V. sets. IBM JAPAN INTRODUCES NEW WELFARE INFORMATION -- IBM Japan has started a new welfare system called "Family Care Dial," according to the Child Care Referral Service (CCRS) of IBM U.S. Since the company takes care of its employees equally, IBM Japan is aiming to reduce retirement of female employees. [***][6/7/88][***] IBM DOES NOT ANNOUNCE MODEL 40 - CRT CHANGES EXPECTED *EXCLUSIVE* HUSRLEY, UNITED KINGDOM N (NB) -- While IBM announced a host of new products in the PS/2 line, it did not announce a new laptop, otherwise known as the Model 40. NEWSBYTES has learned the reason may be because changes are planned in the laptop's display. Since the advent of two revolutionary systems, the French Goupil GOLF which uses a white plasma VGA- compatible screen, and the new Zenith Turbosport, IBM has been rethinking its screen design. Rumours here suggest that the new model 40 will be announced later in the year, probably at Comdex in Las Vegas, together with the Presentation Manager's final availability. According to IBM's representative here in Europe, Mr. Utley, "A laptop should be powerful enough to be able to handle more than one job at a time." He was responding to questions about the kind of laptop he thinks users would like (and IBM will offer). He then continued, "No I dont feel that a 386 chip in a laptop is too powerful," in reply to NEWSBYTES EUROPE's question on whether having a 386 chip in a laptop is too much power for the need. Thus, NEWSBYTES EUROPE is betting that the model 40, the long awaited laptop would be a 386 based system, with a plasma screen, or a Zenith-like screen. 2MB of RAM together with a 60MB hard disk would wrap-up this new product. Lets see..... [***][6/7/88][***] IBM DOES NOT ANNOUNCE DOS 3.4 - HERE ARE THE FACTS BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- IBM did not announce a new DOS, the version 3.4, and is keeping it under wraps for the time being. Microsoft DOS 3.4, in beta test at Microsoft, offers hard disk partition support up to 512MB, expanded memory support, and some new functions relating to network support. The product which will be available from the summer fixes some of the DOS 3.3 bugs, has better and faster hard disk support, and better screen performance. [***][6/7/88][***] EC ISSUES PAPER ON COPYRIGHT PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- The EC adopted a Green Paper on copyright which discusses the main problem areas in relation to operating an internal market (from 1992) without frontiers and explores possible solutions. Presenting the Green Paper, Lord Cockfield said, "Copyright legislation is undergoing a rapid and sometimes difficult transition period as we struggle to adapt concepts devised in the age of the messenger on horseback to the age of electronic transmission. Advances in technology are breaking down the traditional barriers between literary, scientific, musical and artistic works, both in terms of the products themselves and their exploitation and the necessary legal framework for their protection." There are currently three areas looked by the Green paper: commercial piracy, private copying and distribution. Commercial piracy has emerged as a serious problem for the industry and creative artists depending upon due respect of copyright for their living. For example, the EC cited in the paper that illegal video copies made for commercial reasons, outnumber legal copies in the market at present. Suggested solutions include better cooperation on an international scale, and an extension to the 1986 council regulation on prohibiting the release for free circulation of counterfeit goods to include goods infringing copyrights. In addition, the EC suggested that appropriate damages should be available to those whose interests have been damaged; injunctive relief to deal with offenders and confiscation of illicitly produced goods. Private copying, which even the EC considers to be rife, cannot nevertheless be quantified because there are many people who copy legally, that is they buy a record and make a cassette which they will use in their car. The EC also suggested that copying of material on digital tapes, which offer the same degree of performance as CDs, should be controlled by adopting certain measures during copy by such machines. Distribution which relates to the fact that exclusivity is not permitted by EC law, which if permitted would give rise to monopolistic practices, produces differences between member states concerning the area and the economic size of a distribution area. As far as piracy of software and electronic material is concerned, i.e. hardware and software, the EC is expected to ban the copy protection of software, because as long as it is used on a single system at a time, it does not breach any copyrights. [***][6/7/88][***] AEG DEVELOPS NEW CHIP-ON-GLASS LCD FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- AEG exhibited at the International Symposium on Automotive Technology a new vehicle instrument composed of chip-on-glass technology providing better reliability and performance. The drive integrated circuits are mounted on a separate board in conventional designs, which invites a large number of leads to the various display elements. Chip-on-glass (COG) technology applies these driving elements directly on the periphery of the glass plate. Automatic bonding is used for this procedure which allows light to illuminate the LCD segments from the back, as is commonly used by PC LCD displays. These displays are currently used by trucks in the US and are expected to hit the European market shortly, unless the Japanese, like Toshiba, get there first. [***][6/7/88][***] LATTICE ANNOUNCES ADA COMPILER FOR PCs LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (NB) -- Lattice, the company that had the first C Compiler for the IBM PC in 1981, announced a new Ada Compiler based on the Artek Ada compiler and will develop all the required features for validation by the US Defense Department. In addition, a new Ada Interpreter will also be available separately. This interpreter will be used as an introduction to Ada as well as being a very efficient development tool for Ada software. The company, which is convinced that Ada is the language of the future, will sell the interpreter for $100 and the Compiler for $750. No run-time licenses are envisaged. [***][6/7/88][***] EUROBITS... COMMODORE announced greater than expected sales for the third quarter of 1987 at $200 million. Profit for the same period edged up to $9.6 million while for the entire first three quarters, sales approached $650 million and net profit $26 million.... ...CABLE & WIRELESS sold 10 million shares in its 80% owned Hong Kong telecommunications company to China's Guangdong P&T. The sale represents a small amount to the 9.6 billion shares outstanding. The shares will be sold at less than the $6.8 Hong Kong price... ...CITIPRO (not related in any way to CITICORP) a data base managed by Stockholm's Intellecta BV will offer European travellers information on hotels, restaurants as well as rating them for the business traveller. In addition, the data base, which is a must in the rapidly changing travel information market, will also list airports and airlines flying in Europe. Currently, Copenhagen and Frankfurt get top honors, the latter for its shops, supermarkets, disco, movie theaters and (naturally ) its sex shop, not forgetting a branch of London's Harrods... ...SCHNEIDER looks at lower bid for Telemecanique, the latest move in a takeover battle that has been going on for a few months. Schneider offered $860 a share which values Telemecanique at around $1.2 billion... ...and finally, just for those of you who live by your cellphones, we tried to call a number during the train trip from Winchester to London after the IBM press conference and we could not get through after trying for one hour on two different phones. You see, when you need technology, it just fails. Mind you, we were only interested in the cricket scores.... [***][6/7/88][***] EDITORIAL.....June 7, 1988 COMPUTERS COME TO POLITICS by Dana Blankenhorn In high-tech, 4 years are an eternity. And so the politics of 1988 are as different from those of 1984 as a Tandy Model 100 is different from a DEC VAX. Four years ago, one of the more interesting subplots of the political season was the adoption by reporters of the Tandy Model 100. This theme was shown best in "The Boys on the Bus," a show about political reporters following Gary Hart. A Tandy M100 showed up early in the show and by the end reporters seemed more interested in it than the candidate. This year, every presidential candidate has a sophisticated computer system. Some had PCs, some LANs, and Pat Robertson's featured dumb terminals and a God-like mainframe. The most popular feature of the early campaign season was the Presidential Campaign Hotline, an online daily featuring news clippings from around the country and 250-word daily essays from the campaigns themselves. Al Gore made very public use of his Zenith laptop to write speeches, and even some Toshibas were quietly used to keep track of candidate scheduling. As with little machines, so with computers online. Four years ago, the TENS news team on POTS (Parti On The Source) was a rank curiosity. Mike Greenly, Sherwin Levinson and Diane Worthington spent as much time explaining their presence, and their technology, as they did gathering impressions of the Republican and Democratic Conventions. This year Gary Hart was the first to put his campaign resources online, in late 1987. He was helped by Unison founder Fred Dutton, a Hart supporter. Paul Simon followed a few months later, and Jesse Jackson was in it soon afterward. A conference on his candidacy perfectly mirrored the growing reaction of some voters, most notably Jews but Yuppies as well, to his campaign. Today voters can be treated to conferences both in favor of and opposed to Mike Dukakis, and if I belonged to every online network I'm sure I could find at least one conference on George Bush. The point is that these little machines, connected to bigger machines, have become as much a part of our political scene as stump speeches and press conferences. They're already making the campaign process faster, with reactions from newsmakers and feedback from voters moving faster than ever before. Will they make politics better? Depends on us. ---Dana Blankenhorn [***][6/7/88][***] PEROT GOES AFTER THE POST OFFICE WASHINGTON (NB) -- Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, founder of Electronic Data Systems Corp., has formed a new Washington firm, Perot Systems Corp., lured eight managers away from EDS, and landed a client: the U.S. Postal Service. Perot, who sold EDS to General Motors in 1984 and then tried and failed, to turn GM around, will get $500,000 from the Post Office for a three month study of five key operations. They are transportation, mail transportation equipment, telecommunications, delivery, and revenue protection. Then if Perot Systems can put its recommendations into effect, Perot's firm will share the cost savings with the Postal Service. When GM Chairman Roger Smith kicked Perot out of GM in 1986 (and paid him $700 million for his GM stock), the terms of the buy-out included a provision that Perot was forbidden to raid EDS for talent until June 1. On June 2, eight top performers, including three corporate vice presidents, from the EDS government service group resigned to join their former leader. EDS President and Chief Executive Lester Alberthal said of Perot's recruits, "They're good people, but they're not the senior officers of the company." It is unclear whether the resignations mark the beginning of a mass exodus of talent from EDS. [***][6/7/88][***] "I DID IT ALL FOR MASSDATA" QUINCY, Mass. (NB) -- Tex Hildreth, who along with his mother attempted suicide after his computer consulting business, Massdata Corp., collapsed, has been arraigned on larceny charges and sent to a state hospital for psychiatric observation. Hildreth was found dazed and bleeding in a Manchester, N.H. motel room with his mother. Both had tried to slash their wrists and take overdoses of non-prescription pills. Police said they found seven suicide notes left by Tex and Rose Hildreth. In one, Hildreth wrote, "Massdata was my life. Without it, when it died, then I died too." Hildreth entered an innocent plea to the larceny charge. So far Rockland Trust, which loaned him $400,000, and a Boston woman who loaned him $100,000 have filed suit against him. [***][6/7/88][***] LAPTOPS GATHER IN BIG APPLE NEW YORK (NB) -- Want to know how to computer from a phone booth? Or the etiquette of computing at the dinner table? Then Laptop 88, the first trade show devoted to the lovable, luggable laptop, was the place for you. Naturally, the featured speaker was Adam Osborne of Paperback Software, whose sewing-machine- sized Osborne computer (NEWSBYTES EAST used to be produced on one--Ed.) first introduced the concept of computer portability. According to conference producers Executive Computers, 1988 will see 630,000 battery-powered laptops sold. Laptops, the firm said, are the fastest growing and largest segment of the current computer industry, with manufacturers such as Sharp, Toshiba, Zenith, Dataview, Tandy, Samsung, Epson, NEC, Mitsubishi, and Z88 making major offerings. [***][6/7/88][***] PRODUCTIVITY DOWN DESPITE COMPUTERS WASHINGTON (NB) -- "Productivity growth in the U.S. economy has collapsed in recent years, and the size of the collapse has the dimensions of a crisis," is the conclusion of a recent report by the Brookings Institution. And the widespread use of computers at all levels of business doesn't seemed to have helped. "So far," says the report by Martin Baily and Alok Chakrabarti, "there has been little sign of the payoff to productivity among the industries buying computer equipment." Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that growth in output per hour of labor, the measure of productivity, fell from 3.3 percent in the years 1948 to 1965 to 1.4 percent in the years 1979 to 1986. Baily told a press conference that in the 1970s, corporate managers were "fat and happy. We screwed up in a lot of ways." The failure of computers to make much impact, he said, may be because many corporate executives lack computer skills and have failed to take advantage of what computers can do. "We're trying to do something with this stuff, but the productivity gains aren't showing up," he said. Baily recommends more money on applied and basic research, and extension of the federal tax credit for R&D. Also, there were some stellar performances during the 1980s. Productivity in the computer manufacturing industry has increased at a respectable 3.4 percent rate. [***][6/7/88][***] SOFTWARE SALES SOAR WASHINGTON (NB) -- First quarter retail sales of microcomputer software were up 50 percent to $938 million over the first quarter of 1987 when sales totaled $623 million. As a result, says the Software Publishers Association, 1988 is likely to a a "spectacular year." By far the largest portion of sales -- more than $700 million -- were of DOS programs. Macintosh software sales totaled $94 million, an 85 percent increase over last year. Sales of languages and utilities jumped 57 percent, productivity software grew by 53 percent, recreational software sales rose by 37 percent, and educational software sales slid up 22 percent. [***][6/7/88][***] DESKTOP PUBLISHING AIMED AT LAWYERS BUFFALO, N.Y. (NB) -- Barrister Information Systems Corp. has introduced a "document finishing system" that will allow law firms to typeset documents internally. The system includes a graphics monitor, a keyboard with a legal character set, a mouse, graphics printer, and an optional scanner. No details on price. CONTACT: Barrister Information Systems Corp., Buffalo N.Y., 716- 845-5010. [***][6/7/88][***] INSET SYSTEMS UPGRADES GRAPHICS UTILITY DANBURY, Conn. (NB) -- Inset Systems Inc. has upgraded its InSet graphics utility so that it prints graphics 16 times faster than its predecessor. ISI says scanned signatures and logos brought into an InSet format with the companion HiJaak product previously took 40 seconds to print on a LaserJet now take 11 seconds. High resolution CAD images that took 16 minutes to process and print now roll out in one minute. "The more complex the image," says ISI, "the more dramatic the time savings will be." CONTACT: Inset Systems Inc., 12 Mill Plain Road, Danbury CT, 06811 (203) 794-0396. [***][6/7/88][***] JUDGE OVERTURNS DIVERSION PENALTIES WASHINGTON (NB) -- Federal Appeals Court Judge Abner Mikva has rescinded stiff civil penalties levied against a California businessman accused of illegal shipments of computer gear to Czechoslovakia. Mikva ruled that the Commerce Department overstepped its authority when it rejected an administrative law judge's finding and slapped William Dart of Santa Clara, Calif., with a $150,000 fines and denied him export privileges for 15 years. Mikva scolded Commerce for tossing out the administrative law judge's dismissal of the charges against Dart without a hearing or even providing reasons for the action. The role of government, Mikva wrote, is to shelter "the individual citizen from the overweening power of a bureaucratic state." [***][6/7/88][***] SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CENTER AT WHEELING JESUIT COLLEGE WHEELING, W.Va. (NB) -- Wheeling Jesuit College plans to create a software development center on its campus, by offering talented programmers free room and board and free work space. The college will also provide the software mavens with marketing and management consulting services. The hope is that the software developers will then stay in Wheeling to form their businesses. The center will provide fully equipped meeting and teaching space for the developers to demo the software to customers and their own sales people. The college will also offer computer camps and career counseling to area students. The Rev. Thomas Acker, Wheeling Jesuit's president, says the school hopes to open the doors on the software center in the 1988-1989 academic year. [***][6/7/88][***] NEWS NIBBLES WANG LABORATORIES of Lowell, Mass., has announced a series of Open Systems Interconnection software. "As a founding member of the Corporation for Open Systems and OSINET, Wang is committed to increasing the number of communications products that are compatible with international OSI standards," said Wang's Paul Demko. TEMPEST TECHNOLOGIES INC. of Herndon, Va., reports profits doubled in the year ended March 31. The company said it earned $4.5 million (61 cents per share) on revenues of $26.2 million, compared to 1987 earnings of $18.7 million and profits of $2.6 million (38 cents per share). The company modifies computer equipment to meet the Pentagon's Tempest electronic emission standard. PROGRAMS IN MOTION of Wayland, Mass., has a new name. The company now is officially 1ST-CLASS EXPERT SYSTEMS INC., echoing the brand names of the company's expert system software for PCs and clones. COMPUTER FACTORY INC. of Elmsford, N.Y., says it expects sales will jump about 47 percent in 1988, to about $275 million from $187 million. The company operates 58 retail computer stores. [***][6/7/88][***] COMMODORE SHOW: AMIGA PRICE DOWN; MASSIVE AD CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCED London, UK (NB) -- Last week saw the eleventh official Commodore Computer Show held at the Novotel Exhibition Complex in London. NEWSBYTES UK attended the show, which brought with a surprise from Commodore UK... COMMODORE CUTS A500 AMIGA PRICE London, UK (NB) -- We got it wrong. Despite our best predictions, Commodore announced a #100 price cut - effective from last Friday - at the show. Price protection has been offered to Commodore's distributors, so everyone should be happy with the new #399-99 (including VAT) price tag on the A500. Everyone that is, except Atari, which has its 520 STFM on sale at about the same price. Atari hiked its price by #100 in March of this year, citing the much-publicised D-Ram chip shortage as the primary reason for the price rise. Commodore, on the other hand, has a number of long-term agreements on its DRAM chip supplies, so is cushioned against price rises. In parallel with the price cut, Commodore announced a #5 million advertising campaign to support its Amiga and PC ranges. The campaign will break in the UK media on the 1st of July. "This is just the beginning of a massive marketing investment by Commodore in the UK market this year. Our biggest ad campaign ever breaks in July and we shall be announcing further initiatives in September," said Dean Barrett, Commodore UK's marketing manager. [***][6/7/88][***] COMMODORE C64 SUMMER PACKAGE UNVEILED London, UK (NB) -- Whilst all eyes were on the A500 Amiga (see above story) Commodore also announced its #149-95 C64 summer package. The package centres around the new-style C64 with joystick and ZCon cassette unit and includes a variety of games software. CONTACT: COMMODORE (UK) LTD, Commodore House, The Switchback, Gardener Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 7XA. Tel: 0628-770088. [***][6/7/88][***] ARIADNE SOFTWARE: AAAE INTERFACE LAUNCHED London, UK (NB) -- Ariadne Software launched its AAAE (Ariadne Amiga Application Environment) package at the show. The #850 system (#500 for the Microtext authoring software, #350 for the hardware) allows any Amiga (A500, A1000 or A2000) to control a laser disk player or 90000 series U-Matic video recorder for interactive video display applications. AAAE allows frame by frame control of s suitable video source so that pictures can be mixed, edited and even chained together in real time. In an application shown to NEWSBYTES UK, the AAAE system chained together 10 frames of a video of a helicopter flying over water. The result appeared to be a continuous sequence of a flight over water. Then, at the press of a button, the helicopter video sequence flipped into normal play. No break or glitch was apparent, thanks to the system's Genlock capabilities. "We're already in discussions with a number of TV companies, not to mention training establishments," explained Hanifi Houbart of Ariadne. "The system has tremendous possibilities and effectively undercuts other video editing systems by a factor of ten or more," he added. CONTACT: ARIADNE SOFTWARE LTD, 273 Kensal Road, London W10 5DB. Tel: 01-960-0203. [***][6/7/88][***] KIND WORDS HITS THE UK London, UK (NB) -- The Disc Company, a US software house, is pitching for the UK and European market with Kind Words, a WYSIWYG word processor for the Amiga. Unusually for a #49-00 package, Kind Words includes several desktop publishing features, including the ability to manipulate colour images in 16 colours. From what NEWSBYTES UK could see of the package, it includes many of the functions of Amiga Wordperfect, yet at a fraction of the price. Considering that Kind Words sells for $99-95 in the US, where is has received rave reviews since its release late last year, the #49-00 UK price tag looks to offer good value for money. * UK distribution of Kind Words is handled by The Amiga Computer Centre in Scotland. The package is also distributed (at a similar price) in Sweden and Norway. Other European native language versions will be announced shortly. CONTACT: THE DISC COMPANY, 3 Rue Pelouze, 75008, Paris, France. Tel: (+33) 1-45-221515 & 1-45-220431 AMIGA COMPUTER CENTRE, 4 Hart Street Lane, Edinburgh EH1 3RN. Tel: 031-557-3260. [***][6/7/88][***] TRILOGIC LAUNCHES PRINT LINK London, UK (NB) -- Trilogic, the Commodore specialist software house, has launched Print Link, a #34-99 printer interface to allow Commodore 64/128 printers to be used with the Amiga. Included in the Print Link's specifications is a 64K printer buffer - not bad value for money. #10 extra buys you the Print Link 1B which includes an extra interface for dual connection of a serial and a parallel printer - handy for a quick draft and then a slow letter-quality printout, according to Graham Kelly, Trilogic's joint MD. "Thanks to our Print Links, upgrading to the Amiga is now a much cheaper process as Amiga owners can now make use of their old equipment," he said. CONTACT: TRILOGIC LIMITED, Unit 1, 253 New Works Road, Bradford, BD12 0QP. Tel: 0274-691115. [***][6/7/88][***] COLOURED DISKS - THE ULTIMATE HYPE? London, UK (NB) -- The most over-hyped press release of the show award goes to Centec Disk Supplies, for its press release on reversable coloured disks. "These disks are of the same high quality as our normal reversable disks but have coloured jackets. This makes the range complete, as we have always stocked coloured disks and reversable disks," said John Taylor at the opening of the Commodore Show. Yeah. Coloured disks. Coloured reversable disks. Wow. CONTACT: CENTEC DISK SUPPLIES, Unit 3, The Metro Centre, Bridge Road, Orpington, Kent, BR5 2BE. Tel: 0689-35353. [***][6/7/88][***] And now, the rest of the week's news... BT BOOKLET ON INTERNATIONAL DATA COMMUNICATIONS London, UK (NB) -- After years of hiding, BT's International Data Services has finally emerged into the light, and wants to tell everyone about its wide range of services. To publicise its services - which NEWSBYTES UK has been successfully using in 1983 - BTIDS is offering a free explanatory booklet to anyone calling a special toll-free number. The International Data Services Handbook represents one of the clearest and most concise guides to packet switching networks we've yet seen. Well worth a free telephone call. CONTACT: BRITISH TELECOM INTERNATIONAL DATA SERVICES, Holborn Centre, 120 Holborn, London EC1N 2TE. Tel: 01-492-2760 or 0800-400-435. [***][6/7/88][***] PRESTEL HIKES ITS CHARGES London, UK (NB) -- In a surprise move, Prestel, BT's value-added viewdata service, has announced swinging price increases on its services. With effect from 1 July, the majority of Prestel's quarterly subscription charges rise by an average of 20 per cent. Existing time-based charges (applicable during business hours) also rise to 7p (from 6p) a minute. What has angered many of Prestel's 85,000 users most of all however, is the introduction of a 1p/minute time charge during off-peak hours, where no charge was levied before. Previously, subscribers were required to pay only the cost of a local phone call to their nearest Prestel node. Micronet, the microcomputing information provider on Prestel, has secured a small benefit to its subscribers - free (no time charges) access to its 30,000 page database between Midnight and 8am every day. Even so, many subscribers are up in arms about the rises, since it effectively doubles their outlay per hour for off- peak usage of the system. Why has Prestel introduced its charges? NEWSBYTES UK surmises that the privatisation of BT, coupled with Oftel's determination that one section of a telecoms company (e.g. local telephone services) cannot subsidise another (e.g. Prestel), has resulted in Prestel having to make its subscribers pay for their use of the network. NEWSBYTES UK predicts that a lot of subscribers, including those of Micronet 800 and the home banking services, will leave Prestel as a result of the price rises. The majority of those that remain will almost certainly reduce their usage of the system to a minimum. OPINION: Prestel is still a flagship product for BT. Now nearly nine years old, the service is still only just making a profit. Oftel's determination, coupled with Prestel's astonishing price increases, will result in a major shake-out in the system's subscriber base. NEWSBYTES UK finds it difficult to see the system continuing as a viable business proposition, both for BT and in particular, its Information Providers. 1 July, 1988 could be a sad landmark in UK communications history. [***][6/7/88][***] TELEVOX GOES LIVE ON TELETEXT London, UK (NB) -- Ceefax and Oracle are the UK's teletext services. Using suitable equipment, the frames of data can be decoded from the normal TV signals and displayed on-screen. Unlike online systems however, teletext is one way - the user simply selects from a constantly cycling selection of 200/400 pages of information. McCallum Televox are hoping to change all that. Via a special parent page on Oracle, the UK's independent television station's teletext service, users can select a four digit sub-page unique to their session, and subsequently control the selection of pages transmitted to that sub-page over the phone using voice recognition techniques. This means that that teletext users can effectively gain access to as many pages of information they require. McCallum Televox hope to attract a large number of advertisers and information providers to the service over the coming months, and projects two million calls a year with around 4,500 pages of available data in the first year. * Televox is available to UK teletext users who access Channel 3 page 777 and press 'TP ON' followed by 3333. Detailed instructions are given when calling 0898-444-777, Televox's command line telephone number. CONTACT: MCCALLUM TELEVOX LIMITED, Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 4GG. Tel: 0223-863366. [***][6/7/88][***] +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + BRITBYTES - Bytes of news from around the UK... + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ADT (0734-591551) has signed a million pound distribution deal with TATUNG for the distribution of Tatung's range of monitors and PC compatibles in the UK. The deal gives Tatung access to the UK's business computer marketplace. CITIZEN EUROPE (0895-72621) has launched the PVG-1000, a hi-res (VGA/EGA/CGA) colour graphics board for PC-XT/AT compatibles. The #495 board will also work with IBM's PS/2 Model 30 and is capable of 1024x768 pixels in 16 colours, or 640x480 pixels with 256 colours. Software drivers for a variety of packages are bundled free of charge. COMDISCO has purchased RECOVERY OPERATIONS CENTRES LIMITED (ROC), a UK company specialising in disaster recovery systems for major computer users. ROC was formed in 1980 and services more than 400 clients in the UK. Comdisco will incorporate ROC in its worldwide disaster recovery operations. IBM (0705-694491) did what everyone expected last week, and announced a range of new PS/2 machine. Full details are given in this week's NEWSBYTES EUROPE. The MICROLINK electronic mail company (0625-878888) has launched Mortgage Desk, a mortgage comparison system which offers personal advice on mortgages and house conveyancing. Clydesdale Bank has selected TANDATA's Tm512 modems for use in linking each branch to the central bank headquarter's NCR Tower computer. The modems are currently being installed in an all of the Clydesdale Bank's 345 branches. SAGESOFT (091-284-7077) has expanded its business software training course programme to cope with at least 10,000 users over the next year. To date, the North-Eastern software house has trained more than 4,000 users of its software. Training costs range from #149 and range up #279 for a two-day course. Sagesoft has also reported sales of more than 2,000 units of its specialist Payroll software less than two months after the #150 package was launched. The sales are way beyond expectations, according to Sagesoft. [***][6/7/88][***] AND FINALLY: JUDGE PRAISES SOFTWARE PIRATE Magistrates fined a teenage software pirate more than #5,000 last week, whilst complimenting him on his "commendable enterprise." According to COMPUTER WEEKLY magazine, Jeffrey Batty, a 19-year- old from Clacton, pleaded guilty to 12 charges under the Copyright Act. Amazingly, Batty was also praised by the Bob Hay of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), who said that the defendant's software rental scheme "was an efficiently run operation." Batty is reported to have run a software rental company called Orion Software from his bedroom. Orion's major business was in hiring software to almost 400 customers.