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 Fri, Mar 20 1992 Date: Fri, 20 Mar 92 05:44:41 EST Message-ID: 03-20 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update March 20-22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network HEWLETT-PACKARD MAKES MOVE: Hewlett-Packard said Thursday it has bought a 5% stake in Convex Computers, a fast-growing maker of supercomputers. The agreement calls for the two companies to share technology. Investors showed their approval for the move by pushing H-P's stock up 2 1:4 points to $81 7:8, a new 52-week high. Convex's superfast computers could give H-P an edge over competitor Cray Research. AEROSPACE EMPLOYMENT DOWN 8%: The nation's aerospace industry, wounded by defense budget cuts and the recession, suffered its greatest employment losses in two decades last year, cutting jobs by 8%. The Aerospace Industries Association reported Thursday that industry employment fell by 106,000 jobs in 1991. Most of the job losses have been among production workers. (For more, see special Aerospace package below.) BROWN TO START EXCHANGE PROGRAM: Brown University of Providence, R.I., begins a new technology exchange program Friday. It will share its resources with regional manufacturers. For an annual charge of $5,000, companies will get access to library, forums and seminars, and get faculty's help in research. SINGING ROBOT TO DEBUT: University of Iowa speech pathology professor Dr. Ingo Titze will sing an operatic duet with a robot April 6 at UI's Clapp Recital Hall. Unlike digitally simulated human voices, Pavarobotti is modeled after the physics of human speech and is nearly indistinguishable from a human's. The demonstration also will include a video of Rich Little's voice box as he does impressions. GRID TO INTRODUCE PALMPAD: The Palmpad, a 2.8 pound pen personal computer by Grid Systems, can be strapped to the hand or worn on a belt. The PalmPad is aimed at workers workers that collect data and want to enter it in a computer with a pen-like device. Grid starts shipping the $2,895 wearable computer in May. RYATHEON CUTS 340 WORKERS: Defense contractor Raytheon, maker of the Patriot missile, laid off 340 workers in its missile systems division this week. Raytheon says it was forced to make cutbacks because the end of the Cold War has meant reduced defense spending. Raytheon, headquartered in Lexington, Mass., has 71,000 employees worldwide. FCC TO GIVE OUT HDTV LICENSES: The Federal Communications Commission plans to give 1,700 new TV licenses to TV stations as part of its program to encourage high-definition television, according to The Wall Street Journal. For each current license, a station owner would get one new one free. The new licenses would be intended for broadcasting special HDTV signals, but the stations could use them any way they wanted. ENABLE 4.5 DUE OUT: Enable has been upgraded with links to Higgins E-mail, calendaring and scheduling software; DOS and OS:2 single user and LAN support, and expanded import:export with top stand alone packages. Enable 4.5 will be available March 30. Features include easy setups for on-line databases and bulletin boards and the ability to generate modem tables. Suggested price is $795. FAX DIRECTORY AVAILABLE: A directory for corporations and information providers who are evaluating fax as an information delivery vehicle has been published by Marketfinders. Called the Enhanced Fax Directory and Buyer's Guide, it includes comparative data for making purchase decisions. For information, call 512-343-1295. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON AEROSPACE: JOBS BECOMING SCARCE: Since industry employment peaked in December 1989 at 1.33 million, aerospace manufacturers have cut one job in eight, The Aerospace Industries Association said. "It's been very tight," said Thomas Williams, communications manager at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems in Huntington Beach, Calif. DEFENSE CONTRACTORS HIT HARDEST: Across the industry, manufacturers that rely heavily on purchases by the Defense Department took the hardest hit. Producers of missile systems and other space vehicles purchased mainly by the Pentagon saw employment decline for the fourth straight year, with a loss of 32,000 employees, or 11.5% of their work force, the AIA reported. OFFICIALS WARN AGAINST CUTS: Industry officials pointed to the bad news as a warning against cutting defense too much. "Although there is a continuing shift of the industry's business mix from military to commercial, we believe there will be a tremendous negative impact on both the industry and the economy if additional defense cuts beyond the president's proposal ... are made," said AIA President Don Fuqua. CIVIL JET EMPLOYMENT UP: President Bush has proposed reducing Pentagon spending by $350 billion over the coming five years, but some members of Congress have pushed for more dramatic cuts in the defense budget. One bright spot in the AIA report came in the area of civil jet aircraft. Employment rose 3% in 1991 to a 23-year high of 120,200. (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. 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