Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Wed, Mar 4 1992 Date: Wed, 4 Mar 92 05:50:52 EST Message-ID: 04-03 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update March 4, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network INTEL INTRODUCES PROCESSOR: Intel Corporation Tuesday introduced the Intel486 DX2 microprocessor. The firm says it will enable computer manufacturers to easily increase the speed of their existing Intel486 CPU-based systems. The new Intel486 DX2 processor incorporates new speed doubler technology which enables the microprocessor to operate twice as fast as surrounding components, Intel says. TANDY USING INTEL PROCESSOR: The new Intel486 DX2 microprocessor runs at 50 MHz while it interfaces with 25 MHz system technology. The 50-MHz version of the Intel486 DX2 CPU is available now in production volumes. It is priced at $550 each in 1,000-piece quantities. Also Tuesday, Tandy, Dell and WYSE Technology unveiled personal computers using the new Intel microprocessor. MICHELANGELO CAUSING PANIC: The Michelangelo virus, set to go off Friday and destroy the data in computers that have it, has started a panic among personal computer world. "We've had to hire six people in the past week just to handle the customer panic," says John McAfee, head of the Computer Industry Virus Association. In the USA, as many as 400,000 IBM-compatible PCs are believed to be infected. (For more, see special Panic package below.) CHRYSLER, WESTINGHOUSE MAKE DEAL: Chrysler Corp. Tuesday announced a joint venture with Westinghouse to develop speedier electric cars that can go farther on a single charge. Jean Mallebay-Vacquer, Chrysler general manager for special products engineering, says the joint venture is aimed at resolving some of the issues that have kept electric cars from the market. Among them are speed, range and cost. MICRO TECH MAKES ACQUISITION: Micro Technology Inc. Tuesday said it has completed its acquisition of SF2 Corp., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company which has developed fault tolerant disk array storage technology. SF2 currently has 24 patents pending or issued. MTI is a system-managed storage supplier of DEC-related solutions. AT&T TO USE VOICE RECOGNITION: AT&T says it will use computers that understand the human voice to handle collect calls, third number billing and calls using AT&T's calling card. AT&T says the new technology will hit Jacksonville, Fla., and Seattle, Wash., in June and will be used nationwide by early 1994. Bell Laboratories developed the technology that can hear and comprehend any caller's voice. FIRMS USING VIDOECONFERENCING: Videoconferencing, once an exclusive high-tech tool for Fortune 500 companies, is increasingly being used by small businesses. That has helped improve the potential for the videoconferencing market to grow. It had less than $200 million in annual sales in 1991. A recent report by Goldman Sachs securities analyst Mary C. Henry puts the market at $1 billion or more by 1995. GTE, HEWLETT-PACKARD SIGN DEAL: GTE Telephone Operations and Hewlett-Packard Co. Tuesday announced a three-year strategic agreement. HP will provide GTE approximately $100 million in computer products and services, a portion of which GTE will resell through its distribution arm, GTE Supply. Also under the deal, HP becomes one of GTE's strategic suppliers of client:server computing systems. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PANIC: 15% OF COMPUTERS INFECTED: In a poll released Monday, market-research firm Dataquest found that 15% of personal computers had been infected by the Michelangelo virus. It has popping up in businesses and laboratories from coast to coast. For example, Genentech - a biotech giant - found it in 10 PCs used for everything from record keeping to drug design. VIRUS SPREAD THROUGHOUT WORLD: The virus is not just a national problem. In Bonn, Germany, the government's top computer expert Tuesday urged ministries to install "killer programs" to destroy Michelangelo and preserve vital data. In Gladstone, Australia, computer-club members detected and eliminated 50 cases of the virus. BULGARIANS SEEN AS CULPRITS: Some experts say the recent proliferation of viruses has much to do with the fall of communism in eastern Europe, specifically Bulgaria. "Bulgaria wound up having some very talented programmers with no respect for copyrights," says Gene Spafford, of Purdue University. "They can't make a living there and haven't been hired by the West. So, they're taking revenge on the world." COMPANIES COULD GET SUED: Companies that have been shipped products with Michelangelo eventually could face customer lawsuits. That has left them incensed at the pranksters who develop viruses. "These are like the guys with the black spray paint, painting graffiti over works of art," says Chris Evans of DaVinci Systems, which accidentally shipped software contaminated with Michelangelo. (End of package.) Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM