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 Wed, Aug 5 1992 Date: Wed, 5 Aug 92 04:32:44 EDT Message-ID: 08-05 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Aug. 5, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TETHER EXPERIMENT HITS GLITCH: Atlantis' astronauts struggled Tuesday to unreel an experimental satellite on a tether designed to generate electricity in space. After two delays, the satellite gently moved 570 feet from the shuttle, then stopped. It was supposed to go out more than 12 miles. "We believe it could be a jam in the area of the reel motor," flight communicator Jeff Wisoff told the crew. (For more, see special Tether package below.) JAPAN THREATENED WITH SANCTIONS: The USA says Japan isn't keeping its pledge to buy more foreign semiconductors and hinted that if progress isn't made, trade sanctions could be imposed. U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills says Japan hasn't made sufficient progress on its August 1991 agreement to increase purchases of foreign computer chips to 20% of the Japanese market by the end of this year. HILLS SAYS SHARE REMAINS SAME: U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills says a two-month review of Japanese purchases showed the foreign share of its semiconductor market has remained flat at 14.6% since the third quarter of last year. Japan is one of the world's largest market for semiconductors, which are used as memory and calculating devices for electronic products such as VCRs and computers. DELL CUTS COLOR NOTEBOOK PRICES: Dell Computer Tuesday cut prices on its 325NS color notebook computer, the latest volley in the computer price cutting war. Prices on the 60MB hard drive model have been cut $250, to $2,799. The price of an 80MB model has been slashed $350, to $2,899. The 120MB model has also been cut $350, to $3,099. ATEX SOFTWARE WILL READ PHOTO: Eastman Kodak Co. said Tuesday that Atex Inc.'s Renaissance software soon will be able to read Photo CD images directly from Photo CD discs. The Photo CD system transfers photos to digital form on Photo CD discs. They can be viewed on TV using Kodak Photo CD players or on computers using CD-ROM XA multi-session drives. Renaissance software is a Macintosh-based color design tool. LASER BEAM POWER RECORD BROKEN: A French-U.S. team has reclaimed the title of making the most powerful laser beam, a zap of 55 trillion watts. That's 100 times the U.S. electrical generating capacity and tops the 30-trillion-watt pulse made last year at Osaka University. The record, set in Antibes, France, came from amplifying and compressing extremely short bursts of laser light. BORLAND ADDS PROGRAM EDITOR: Borland International Inc. says it is now shipping BRIEF 3.1 for DOS and OS:2. BRIEF 3.1 is an editor for professional programmers. Formerly sold by Solution Systems as two separate products, Borland will now offer and support both DOS and OS:2 operating systems in one package. For the next 90 days, Borland says it will offer BRIEF 3.1 for DOS and OS:2 for $99.95. PC BOARD USES ONE PORT: Brooktrout Technology has introduced a personal computer board that integrates data receipt and transmission, voice and fax on a single port. The TR114 fits into a Industry Standard Architecture personal computer bus slot. It will be sold on an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) basis by Centigram Communications and AT&T. Priced at $2,995, it will be available in September. PROXIM, RANGELAN MAKE DEAL: Proxim Inc. says it has signed an agreement with Tech Data to distribute its RangeLAN family of wireless LAN adapters for desktop and portable personal computers. The RangeLAN products to be distributed by Tech Data include RangeLAN:ISA ($495), a network interface card for desktop computers, and RangeLAN:LT ($595), an adapter card designed for Compaq's notebook computers. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON TETHER: CORD WILL GENERATE POWER: Atlantis astronauts unreeled a half-ton satellite on a thin string Tuesday night after battling glitches that almost scrubbed the main event of NASA's 49th shuttle mission. Scientists are interested in how the tether will interact with Earth's ionosphere. The cord is expected to generate up to 5,000 volts of electricity as Atlantis and the satellite sweep through Earth's magnetic field. MOTOR MALFUNCTIONS: The $376 million experiment that connects the space shuttle Atlantis to a satellite by a tether nearly failed during a first attempt to deploy the satellite from the top of a four-story tower in the shuttle's cargo bay. The satellite began swaying from side to side atop the tower when a motor designed to pull the tether off a reel malfunctioned. The attempt was scrubbed at 5:20 p.m. ET. MISSION MAY BE EXTENDED: Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center Friday, but NASA mission managers on Wednesday are expected to approve a one-day extension to the mission. The extra time would allow Atlantis' crew to perform an experiment on the effect of atomic oxygen on materials that could be used to build NASA's planned space station Freedom. (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