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 Tue, Mar 24 1992 Date: Tue, 24 Mar 92 05:43:45 EST Message-ID: 03-24 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update March 24, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network FIELDS STARTS SOFTWARE GROUP: Mrs. Fields is moving out of the oven and into the computer business. The cookie maker announced in London Monday that Randall Fields has resigned as chairman and director to oversee the company's new business, Fields Software Group. The announcement was made in London because the company is publicly traded there. Mrs. Fields is privately held in the USA. (For more, see special Cookie package below.) MICROSOFT EXPECTED TO BRANCH OUT: Microsoft plans to make an announcement Tuesday which it says will affect people working with personal computer databases. Though Microsoft wouldn't give details, analysts expect the powerful software maker to say it is branching into a new software area, database management. ALLEGED DEAL MAY BE PROBED: Rep. John Coyners, D-Mich., has asked the Pentagon to investigate reports that the Defense Department secretly planned to bail McDonnell Douglas out of financial trouble in 1990. Defense officials allegedly gave hundreds of millions dollars to McDonnell without telling Congress. McDonnell Douglas officials say they are not aware of any bailout plan. TESTS TO BE ON COMPUTERS: College entrance exams may soon be taken on computers. The Educational Testing Service says its Graduate Record Examination (GRE) will be offered on a nationwide computer network for the first time Oct. 12. The paper version will still be available. ETS president Gregory R. Anrig said Monday the College Board may put the Scholastic Aptitude Test on computer as well. COMPUTERIZED VERSION COSTS $90: A computerized version of the Graduate Record Examination will be offered in 100 major metropolitan areas. The Educational Testing Service says the computer network will offer students greater flexibility of test dates and will be capable of giving students their scores immediately. The computerized GRE will cost $90. The paper-and-pencil version is $45. FUEL LEAK PROBLEM SOLVED: After a fuel leak forced NASA to scrub a Monday launch of the Atlantis space shuttle, everything seems to be in place for a Tuesday launch. The leaks, which were similar to those that grounded NASA's entire shuttle fleet for six months in 1990, were traced to seals in two 17-inch-wide pipelines that funnel fuel from the shuttle's external tank to the spaceship's three main engines. XEROX UNVEILS COMPUTER FAX: Xerox unveiled a software program Monday that lets people fax instructions to their personal computers. The $249.95 PaperWorks software uses Microsoft Windows operating software. By using a pen to mark boxes on a specially created form, which the users then fax to their PC, users can tell the PC to retrieve a file, copy it and fax it to the user or to someone else. HDTV TEST GOES WELL: General Instrument Corp. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's test of high-definition television went off without any major problems Monday. The historic transmission included reception both through traditional television broadcasting medium and over an existing cable television system. Dr. Jae Lim of MIT said, "Digital television is a working reality." OAG HAS HIGH-TECH PRODUCTS: The Maxwell Communications problems haven't stopped the firm from adding new products, most of them high-tech twists on Official Airline Guides information. FlightFax, for instance, gives users up-to-the-minute flight data via facsimile machines. FlightCall is a telephone flight-update service in several major cities. This week OAG will launch products aimed at government-travelers. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON COOKIE: ANALYSTS LIKE MOVE: Analysts applauded Mrs. Fields' move into the software business Monday. The company achieved phenomenal success with its cookies in the late 1970s. Now, its new software group stands to do the same. Mrs. Fields started selling software in 1990, 14 years after developing a program that tracked the progress of every ingredient at a given moment and monitored inventory and quality control. FIRM KNOWS FRANCHISE NEEDS: Mrs. Fields' software clients include its own stores; Burger King; National Pizza, Pizza Hut's largest franchisee; even some rival cookie makers. "They were the first to take it into the field," says Information Week Editor Jeff Rothfeder. "They understood early on the cohesive strategy needed in a franchise." EDGE WILL BE MAINTAINED: Debbi Fields conceived the idea to get into software, Rothfeder says, but her husband made it a success. Randall Fields' move suggests the firm plans to maintain its edge in the technology, Rothfeder says. Mrs. Fields has annual revenue of about $150 million. Its stock has dropped as the cookie business has softened. The company now operates about 800 stores. (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