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 Thu, Mar 19 1992 Date: Thu, 19 Mar 92 05:57:39 EST Message-ID: 03-19 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update March 19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NEXT HIRES NEW EXECUTIVE: Workstation maker NeXT Computer hired a new executive to share the president's office with founder Steven Jobs. Peter van Cuylenburg, formerly a director at Cable and Wireless, a British phone company, has also been named chief operating officer. Jobs will share day-to-day management duties with van Cuylenburg. Jobs launched NeXT in 1988. FUTURE OF MAGLEV TRAIN IN DOUBT: Despite its potential to solve some of the nation's transportation problems, the future of magnetic levitation trains in the USA remains in doubt, a congressional panel was told Wednesday. It isn't clear if the futuristic trains will provide big cities with enough congestion relief to offset the enormous costs, said Edith Page of the Office of Technology Assessment. (For more, see special Train package below.) LOTUS OPENS RUSSIAN SUBSIDIARY: Lotus Development Corp. Wednesday announced the establishment of Lotus Development Russia, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Moscow. Lotus also announced the shipment of the Russian version of Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS, Version 2.3, a fully translated version of the world's most popular personal computer spreadsheet. Lotus began marketing its products in Russia in December, 1990. IBM TO OFFER HELP LINE: IBM, hoping to ease consumer dissatisfaction, said Wednesday it has opened a national customer service center to provide help over the phone. The toll-free customer line (1-800-PS2-2227) will handle complaints about PS-2s, and offer advice on how to use them and how to shop for an appropriate model. It will answer questions about OS-2, IBM's operating system software for PCs. HYBRID SOLAR CAR DEVELOPED: Japan's Sanyo Electric said Wednesday that it has developed a solar-powered car that can also run when there's little or no sun. However, Sanyo said it has no plans to sell the vehicle, saying it does not make cars. It is trying to interest auto companies in its technology, said spokesman Hiroyuki Okamoto. The car is powered by a combination of solar cells and an environmentally safe fuel cell. FUEL CHANGED INTO ELECTRICITY: Sanyo Electric's solar-powered car, which seats two and weighs about 880 pounds, can run for about two hours at a speed of 20 to 25 miles per hour on a sunny day, the company says. The car has rechargeable batteries to store electricity produced by its two power sources. Fuel cells convert the energy of fuels directly into electricity through a chemical reaction. ATLANTIS READY TO ROCKET: Preparations are on schedule at launch pad 39A for the planned Monday liftoff of the shuttle Atlantis on an eight-day space science mission, say NASA officials. A three-day countdown will begin at noon Friday, leading to a scheduled 8:01 a.m. EST liftoff Monday. Atlantis is scheduled to land on Kennedy Space Center's 15,000-foot-long runway at 6:08 a.m. March 31. VEHICLE LOCATION DEVICE DEBUTS: Coded Communications Wednesday introduced mobile data products designed to provide automatic vehicle location using a global positioning system. The LANMARC-5000 and LANMARC EASY-LINK were designed to put affordable, flexible vehicle tracking within reach of public safety, utility, courier and other fleet operators with as few as 10 vehicles, the firm says. SPRINT DEBUTS VOICE SERVICE: Sprint has added Productivity Plus, a new service, to its TeleMedia program. The new addition removes the need for users to buy voice processing equipment to support interactive voice response applications. Sprint will work with users to develop databases that run on Telemedia equipment. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON TRAIN: OTHER OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE: Instead of developing magnetic levitation trains, Edith Page of the Office of Technology Assessment said said some transportation problems could be solved quicker and with less money by upgrading existing railways to higher speeds. Maglev trains travel at speeds that can exceed 300 mph propelled above a guiderail by powerful superconducting magnets. PROGRAM NOT IN BUDGET: The future of maglev development seemed to be assured last year when Congress approved and President Bush signed the $151 billion 1991 surface transportation bill. The legislation authorized more than $700 million for an American-made maglev demonstration project to be running by 1999. But the project was thrown into question when Bush's fiscal year 1993 budget proposed no funding for it. SOME FUNDING EXPECTED: The Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee is attempting to weed through the conflicting positions to determine a level of funding for maglev. Page said past experience shows Congress likely will continue funding maglev development at some level. TILT-ROTOR AIRCRAFT AN OPTION: Rep. Lawrence Coughlin, R-Pa., suggested it might make more sense to spend federal dollars on the tilt-rotor aircraft that already are being tested rather than spend millions and wait years for the first maglev prototype to begin running. "We do believe that both of them are exciting technologies," Page said. (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