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, Jul 17 1992 Date: Fri, 17 Jul 92 05:16:17 EDT Message-ID: 07-17 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update July 17-19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DIGITAL'S FOUNDER TO RETIRE: Computer pioneer Kenneth Olsen said Thursday he'll retire as head of Digital Equipment Corp., which he founded 35 years ago. The computer giant immediately named Robert Palmer, a Digital vice president of manufacturing, to succeed Olsen, 66, as president and CEO. Olsen's retirement takes effect Oct. 1. Digital is expected to announce heavy financial losses and deep job cuts next week. MOUSE SYSTEMS OFFERS CHEAPER PEN: People who are tired of typing into a personal computer and can't afford to buy a $6,000 pen-based PC might want to check out Mouse Systems' PenMate. The $349 product lets users write on a special pad that turns handwriting into a language the computer understands. The primary drawback is that, unlike portable pen-based PCs, this product is confined to the office desk. (For more, see special Pen package below.) PC MAKERS COULD HAVE ROUGH TIME: J.O. Patterson, head of Phoenix, an Atlanta-based money manager feels personal computer price wars "are only just getting started." He sees Compaq snaring big volume with its recently unveiled line of lower priced PCs. But he feels price wars and a big industry shakeout will produce losses in 1992 and 1993 for PC makers. AMERITECH TO SELL LASERLINK: Ameritech this month starts selling a new device that attaches to personal computer printers and lets people send or receive faxes without a fax machine. LaserLink, converts any IBM-compatible, HP LaserJet or HP DeskJet laser printer into a fax receiver, using a telephone line. LaserLink's basic fee costs $14.95 per month. Ameritech serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. REFRIGERATORS TO GET COMPUTERS: New refrigerators will contain microprocessors that will constantly monitor temperatures and make energy-saving adjustments. Refrigerator makers are scrambling to hop on the bandwagon, but are keeping quiet about developments. "It's a terribly sensitive issue," says General Electric's Jim Allen. "I really wouldn't be in a position to discuss it," says Frigidaire's Tony Evans. FIRMS COMPETING FOR $30M: A group of 23 utilities has launched the Super Efficient Refrigerator Program, or SERP. The program will award $30 million to the first company that develops and produces a refrigerator that does not use chlorofluorocarbons and is 25% to 50% more efficient than today's refrigerators. The money goes to only one company. Bids for SERP are due by October. MICROSOFT GIVES $1 MILLION: Microsoft Corp. has pledged $1 million to enrich computer science and engineering education at the University of Washington in Redmond, Wash. It will be used to endow a professorship, as well as to establish graduate student fellowships and undergraduate student scholarships in the department of computer science and engineering, part of the College of Engineering. MCDONNELL DOUGLAS GETS CONTRACT: McDonnell Douglas said Thursday it has been awarded a contract to produce a Laser Designator Rangefinder (LDRF) for the U.S. Army's Comanche light helicopter program. McDonnell Douglas will build three prototypes of the LDRF, a high energy laser. It uses hot diodes that operate at 85 degrees. The firm did not release how much the contract is worth. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS LOSES SUIT: Texas Instruments Thursday lost a lawsuit it had brought against Cypress Semiconductor, Cypress said. TI alleged test circuitry used in many of Cypress's programmable logic device products violated a TI patent. A Dallas jury ruled the patent was invalid because of a prior invention. ALPHA, PC POSITIVE MAKE DEAL: Alpha Microsystems said Thursday 29 of its service offices will provide warranty service for personal computers under a non-exclusive agreement with PC Positive Corp. PC Positive markets a PC products through consumer distribution warehouses nationwide. In the future, PC Positive plans to further expand this offering to include all Alpha service locations. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PEN: PENMATE IS FOR DESKTOP: Mouse System's PenMate costs just $349. That is significantly cheaper than pen-based PCs, which cost around $6,000. "The pen market has been a rather elitist market to date," says Mouse Systems president John Murphy. "But we believe the pen computing marketplace is not only a portable market but a desktop market. It's pen computing for the desktop." SYSTEMS TRY TO BE PORTABLE: Pen-based systems are the hottest segment of the PC industry right now, attracting millions of dollars in venture capital funding. But much of that money, says Murphy, is going into making the technology portable and lightweight, not to making it able to recognize handwriting. "This isn't rocket science," he says of PenMate. PENMATE RUNS ON MS:DOS: PenMate plugs into the serial port of any PC that runs the MS:DOS operating system. It requires Microsoft's Window 3.1 software; version 3.1 of DOS, and a PC powered by Intel's 286, 386 or 486 microprocessor. For now, Murphy says, PenMate won't run with Apple Macintosh PCs. (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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