Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Fri, Jun 26 1992 Date: Fri, 26 Jun 92 05:19:54 EDT Message-ID: 06-26 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update June 26-28, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network LOTUS' STOCK TUMBLES: Lotus Development stock fell almost 25% Thursday after the company said it would fall short of earnings expectations by about 25 cents a share. The company's main problem is eroding market share. Lotus' popular 1-2-3 spreadsheet that made it the darling of DOS systems hasn't made the same inroads in the graphics-based Windows world. Microsoft dominates the Windows market. COLUMBIA BLASTS OFF: Seven astronauts converted Columbia into a high-flying science laboratory Thursday after the longest scheduled shuttle mission ever was launched from Kennedy Space Center. Just three hours after the winged spaceship poked its way through cloudy Florida skies, Columbia payload commander Bonnie Dunbar floated into a Spacelab module tucked into the shuttle's cargo bay. (For more, see special Columbia package below.) TEST TRANSMITS AT 6.8 GIGABITS: AT&T researchers said Thursday they have sent data over a 520-mile land-based fiber cable at a rate of 6.8 billion bits per second. That comes just three weeks after they transmited 5 billion bits of data over fiber optics cables used in undersea networks. The transmission rate of 6.8 Gigabits is four times the rate used to move data in current fiber-optic telecommunications networks. ERBIUM USED IN LINES: AT&T researchers attributed a new transmission record of 6.8 Gigabits to the rare earth erbium. Erbium's atomic properties coincide perfectly with high-powered semiconductor laser technology required to send data through fiber systems. Scientists at AT&T Bell Laboratories interwove fiber optic cable with strands of erbium, a rare earth that's commonly found with europium. NORTHERN UNVEILS VISIT: Northern Telecom has announced a new videoconferencing product dubbed VISIT. It can transmit images as well as audio over Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintoshes. It costs about $3,900. The VISIT software requires a user to videoconference using a premium telephone service that switches data at 56 kilobits per second. IBM TO IDLE SOME OFFICES: IBM offices in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will be closed for one week starting Monday. IBM instituted the move last year, idling operations in the tri-state area during the week of Independence Day to save money. Many employees are expected to be on vacation anyway, since Friday, July 3, is a national holiday. MICROSOFT FILES SUIT: Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it has terminated its licensing agreement with Z-Nix Computer Inc. and brought suit against Z-Nix and three of its distributors. In papers filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Microsoft says it is suing Z-Nix for copyright and trademark infringement, as well as breach of License Agreement. T5 SHOCK TUNNEL IS DEDICATED: The T5 Shock Tunnel, one of the largest free-piston shock tunnels in the world, was officially dedicated Thursday during a ceremony held by the California Institute of Technology and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International Corp. The T5 Shock Tunnel is designed for developing hypersonic, air-breathing propulsion technology. The cost: $4.35 million. NORTHWEST TO BUY SIMULATOR: CAE Electronics Ltd., a subsidiary of CAE Industries Ltd., said it will build an Airbus A340 flight training device for Northwest Aerospace Training Corp. for $3 million. The device will be delivered to Northwest's training center near Minneapolis early in 1993, CAE said. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON COLUMBIA: SHUTTLE TO STAY UP 13 DAYS: The crew of the space shuttle Columbia will spend the next 13 days conducting science experiments around the clock in two shifts within the cramped, trailer-sized Spacelab module tucked into the shuttle's cargo bay. "We're going to find out whether those kids are really friends or not," said former astronaut Brewster Shaw, now deputy director of NASA's space shuttle program. 31 EXPERIMENTS WILL BE DONE: Connected to Columbia's crew cabin by a pressurized tunnel, the 23-foot Spacelab houses 31 experiments, some of which are expected to help medical researchers develop new drugs to fight AIDS. "Some of our experiments could be the key to start to break open the dam that's holding back progress in finding advances for curing this disease," said NASA program scientist Roger Crouch. MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS PLANNED: Besides the science experiments, the astronauts will be conducting a series of medical tests to help researchers gauge how the human body adapts to weightlessness and re-adapts to the forces of gravity back on Earth. The medical experiments are considered essential in planning longer shuttle flights or extended stays aboard NASA's planned space station Freedom. LONGER MISSIONS SAVE MONEY: The ability to fly longer shuttle missions is expected to help NASA prepare for lengthy stays aboard the planned space station. It also greatly increases the amount of scientific experiments that can be conducted on a single mission. It costs about $360 million to launch a shuttle. SHUTTLE BLASTS OFF ON TIME: The flight began with a 12:12 p.m. blast off Thursday. Enveloped in a 300-foot-tall cloud of smoke and steam, Columbia broke loose from its oceanside launch pad, then rolled on its back and thundered through cloudy skies. An eight-and-a-half-minute flight propelled Columbia to an orbit 184 miles above Earth and left the shuttle circling the planet at 17,500 mph. (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