Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech,americast.usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Wed, Sep 16 1992 Date: Wed, 16 Sep 92 04:36:01 EDT Message-ID: 09-16 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Sept. 16, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network RESEARCH MUST BE REDIRECTED: With the Cold War dispatched to history books, federal research efforts must now turn to improving the well-being of ordinary citizens, a congressional report released Tuesday says. In response, Rep. George Brown, D-Calif., chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee that authored the study, has scheduled a hearing aimed at crafting a new research policy. (For more, see special Research package below.) TANDY TRIES NEW MARKETING DEAL: Tandy is testing a new way of selling computers at its Radio Shack stores. Instead of selling computer equipment such as monitors and printers as separate items, Tandy will bundle them together with software at one price. DELL TO USE IBM SYSTEM: Dell Computer Corp. said Tuesday it will install IBM's operating system, OS:2 2.0, on its personal computer systems beginning in October. The company will also install OS:2 services and OS:2 local area network products through its custom integration capabilities. In addition, Dell will offer the customer-installable, "shrink-wrapped" version of OS:2 2.0, to be marketed internationally. ENDEAVOUR TESTS CONTINUE: Eggs of two South African clawed frogs on shuttle Endeavour should hatch Wednesday, the first creature other than an insect to be fertilized and reproduced in space. In another experiment, tiny tadpoles darted, swam rapidly in circles or floated inside two flasks, movements scientists didn't expect. And 180 Oriental hornets appeared disorganized and were not building nests. GORE SUPPORTS OSPREY: Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., preached high-technology jobs in the shriveled oil patches of Oklahoma and Texas Tuesday, accusing the Bush administration of sending the region's economy into a tailspin. He also renewed the Democratic ticket's support of the controversial new V-22 Osprey helicopter-airplane, which the Bush administration has tried to kill for three years. DATA CENTER CLUSTER IS OUT: Pyramid Technology Corp. Tuesday announced the availability of its Data Center Cluster. It combines Oracle Corp.'s Oracle7 Cooperative Server with the Parallel Server option and Pyramid's MIServer platform. The combination allows users running applications on multiple Pyramid MIServers to access a single, shared Oracle database. Pricing starts at $20,000 per node. NEW DISK DRIVE BEING SHIPPED: Western Digital Corp. said Tuesday it has begun shipping production quantities of the first inch-high, two-platter, 340-megabyte, 3.5-inch disk drive. The Caviar AC2340 is targeted at 486-based personal computers. It has an enhanced power management system that reduces the drive's power consumption by 35% when operating in idle and standby modes. H-P WILL TRY TO CUT EXPENSES: Hewlett-Packard Co. will attempt to reverse its disappointing financial performance with a program to cut expenses, according to a regulatory filing made Tuesday. Divisional managers will have the option to close plants at Christmas for about one week, cut back on temporary workers, require workers to take one day off every two weeks or move workers from slow-growing to fast-growing businesses. CHIPCOM, IBM SIGN DEAL: Chipcom Corp. and IBM said Tuesday they have signed a definitive agreement to work together to develop, and market worldwide, products for local area computer networks. The two companies will collaborate on "multiprotocol intelligent hub" products. "Hub" products regulate local networks that connect and manage similar and dissimilar personal computers and workstations. CRAY, MOTOROLA SIGN AGREEMENT: Cray Research Inc. and Motorola's Application Specific Integrated Circuits Division Tuesday announced a multi-million dollar development partnership. The firms will work together to develop Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) to support product introductions into the next century. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON RESEARCH: LONG-TERM GOALS ARE SET: A congressional report, titled, "Report of the Task Force on the Health of Research," said long-term goals facing the science and technical community should include: Enhancing environmental protection; achieving national energy security; improving human health; increasing the productivity and profitability of high-tech industries; and educating future scientists. EFFORTS NEED TO BE REDIRECTED: "The fact is, we don't really know if the structure of the federal research system is ideally suited to address national objectives," Rep. George Brown, D-Calif. "Either we are not adequately using the knowledge that we already have or we are not sufficiently producing the knowledge that we actually need." POLICY HAS BEEN DISJOINTED: With the exception of defense-related research, boundaries among federal agencies, congressional committees and the academic community have historically prevented development of a national research policy, Brown said. "These boundaries have made it difficult to devise linkages between research that we perform, and the societal benefits we desire," Brown said. PROGRAMS NEED TO BE REVIEWED: The report also recommends finding ways to assess federal research programs to ensure they progress toward desired societal goals. "We have very few mechanisms for evaluating the success of the programs we fund. In fact, federal funding decisions are made almost entirely on the promise of success, rather than on proven performance," Brown said. (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