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 Fri, Sep 25 1992 Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 04:37:05 EDT Message-ID: 09-25 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Sept. 25-27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NUCLEAR TEST BAN OK'D: The House Thursday night approved a nine-month U.S. nuclear testing moratorium and halt to all U.S. nuclear testing by Sept. 30, 1996. Sponsors attached it to a $22 billion energy appropriation bill containing $517 million for a giant atom-smasher Bush wants in hopes of forcing him to accept the nuclear test ban as well. The measure would prohibit U.S. testing unless others countries did so. DELL WON'T LOWER PRICES: Dell Computer Chairman Michael Dell says he sees no reason to lower personal computer prices further because demand is so strong. Dell says, "we are overwhelmed with demand." Dell, a mail-order PC maker, has been at the forefront of the current PC price-cutting war. Industry analysts say PC prices have fallen by at least one-third over the past year. PANASONIC UNVEILS NOTEBOOKS: Panasonic Communication and Systems Co. introduced three computer notebooks Thursday. The CF-480C has "active-matrix" color display. Prices start at $4,999. The CF-1000 features a detachable floppy disk drive that can be replaced with an additional battery. Prices start at $2,299. The CF-480, uses an Intel microprocessor and weighs about six pounds. The cost: $2,699. MICROSOFT PRODUCT CRITICIZED: The heads of two computer software standards bodies said Microsoft Corp.'s new software package threatens industry efforts to develop unified software. David Tory, of Open Systems Foundation and Roel Pieper of Unix Systems Labs said Microsoft's NT software undermines efforts to create software that operates on diverse platforms. The software links workstations to personal computers. VIRTUAL-REALITY CENTER PLANNED: Edison Brothers Entertainment Inc. has entered a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures to develop virtual-reality entertainment centers in shopping malls, based on Paramount's television series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Users will don the appropriate headgear that will enable them to move around and interact with characters. PLAYERS USE A JOY STICK: Users of Edison Brothers Entertainment Inc.'s virtual-reality entertainment centers will see an environment reminiscent of the Enterprise on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." By using a joy stick, players can explore strange new worlds in the company of Klingons and Vulcans. Edison plans to open the first of three futuristic arcades in St. Louis' Crestwood Plaza in November. JAPAN OPENS CHIP MARKET: The foreign share of Japan's semiconductor market increased to 16% in the second quarter of 1992 according to U.S. and Japanese government figures released Thursday. The total foreign market share is 1.4 percentage points higher than the 14.6% share calculated for the first quarter of 1992. CAERE CORP. GAINS PATENT: Caere Corp. said Thursday the U.S. Patent Office has awarded Caere patent No. 5,131,053 for its optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms. The patent covers various portions of the unique OCR process used by Caere in all its recognition products: OmniPage, OmniPage Professional, OmniPage Direct, Typist Plus Graphics and FaxMaster. WORDPERFECT GATEWAY ON WAY: WordPerfect Corp. Thursday said the WordPerfect Office Systems Network Architecture Distribution Services (SNADS) gateway will be available at the end of October. It will allow WordPerfect Office users to communicate with OfficeVision:MVS and OfficeVision AS:400 users. It has a retail of $5,995 and requires WordPerfect Office for DOS 3.1 and a minimum of one megabyte of memory. CENTURY BUYS SAN MARCOS: Century Telephone Enterprises Inc. and San Marcos Telephone Co. Inc., San Marcos, Texas, Thursday said they have reached a merger agreement. Century will acquire San Marcos in a combined stock and cash transaction. The transaction is valued between $80 and $83 million. The San Marcos firm operates an all-digital system serving 22,500 access lines to a population of 65,000. SPECTRUM HOLOBYTE GETS FUNDING: Spectrum HoloByte Inc., Thursday said it has received $4 million in equity funding to support product development in the interactive entertainment market. The funding came from a group, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, that includes Integral Partners and AT&T. "Spectrum HoloByte has the technology to become a leader in the industry," said Vinod Khosla of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. BELL LABS WINS AWARDS: Three inventions by AT&T Bell Laboratories scientists have been cited by R&D Magazine as among top innovations of 1991. They were: The near-field scanning optical microscope, which can be used to inspect integrated circuits; chemically amplified photoresist, which helps in making semiconductors; and a wrought copper alloy which offers promise in eliminating drinking-water problems. 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