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 Mon, Oct 12 1992 Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 04:44:58 EDT Message-ID: 10-12 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Oct. 12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SMALLER HDTV DECODER DEVELOPED: Leading electronics maker Toshiba Corp. and U.S. semiconductor giant Motorola have jointly developed a decoder circuit for high-definition television sets that is one-quarter the size of existing decoders, the Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo reported Sunday. The circuit acts as a receiver for the HDTV signals. The circuit will allow much smaller HDTV sets to be made. LEGISLATION MAKES PIRACY FELONY: Nintendo of America Inc. praised Congress for passing legislation that would make software piracy and other copyright infringements felonies. The bill will be sent to President Bush before long. Under the measure, anyone who willfully infringes 10 or more copyrights within six months and reproduces or distributes copies worth $2,500 faces $250,000 fines and five years in prison. ADVANCED MICRO GAINS REVERSAL: A federal judge Friday reversed a motion by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Micro had sought to reverse a verdict that it can't use Intel Corp. software in one of its coprocessors (support chips). That means that for the moment - and perhaps permanently - Micro is not allowed to use Intel software in the chips. The judge has denied retrial in the case. Not all Micro chips were included. SYSTEM INDUSTRIES GETS ORDER: System Industries Inc. said Friday it has received its first order for it Reserve Component Automation System. The order for System Industries' disk, tape and optical storage subsystem is worth $1.1 million. System Industries is a major equipment supplier under the $1.6 billion contract which was officially awarded to Boeing Computer Services last January. CHANGES BEGIN AT DIGITAL: New Digital Equipment Corp. CEO Robert Palmer has already started making changes. William D. Strecker, the chief technology officer, assumes the additional position of vice president, engineering, which hasn't been filled for a decade. Richard Poulsen was named president of Digital Europe. Bobby Choonavala replaces Poulson as president of Digital General International Area. SEQUEL TO PROVIDE MAXTOR REPAIR: Maxtor Corp. said Friday it has sold the exclusive right to provide repair and service for its XT-8000E and XT-8000S 5.25-inch disk drive products to Sequel Inc. Under an agreement announced last March, Sequel had previously become the exclusive contractor to build those product lines for Maxtor. TELXON'S STOCKS SLIPS: Telxon Corp., a maker of hand-held computer systems, has lost about $101.8 million, or 34.8%, of its market value in two days on concerns about lower than expected earnings, Bloomberg Business News reports. Telxon is encountering pricing pressures in the U.S. from competing firms such as Symbol Technologies Inc., Norand Corp. and LXE Inc. Telxon also is faced with slowing sales in Europe. BILL WOULD FUND RESEARCH: Under provisions of the Energy Bill passed by Congress, the federal government would enter into research agreements with U.S. automakers to develop new car materials, lightweight auto parts and alternative fuels. It would also fund research to improve energy efficiency of auto air conditioning, heating, lighting and windows. TENN. TAKING FIBER OPTICS LEAD: Tennessee is ahead of the curve in its efforts to complete a landmark fiber optics network capable of delivering tremendous amounts of information over the telephone line more rapidly than is now possible throughout the state. The state's ground-breaking initiative is estimated to cost $400 million over 10 years and make obsolete the copper wire technology now used. NATIONAL PLAN HAS FAILED: Tennessee is putting in a $120 million fiber optic network. States are considered the lead players in creating a national fiber optics network, which supporters have tried but failed to get Congress to approve. But if Democratic candidate Bill Clinton wins the White House in November, the fight might not be over. Clinton supports building a national fiber optic network. MDPHONE TO HAVE ATLANTA BASE: MEDphone Corp. said Friday a hospital in Atlanta will serve as a base station for the company's MDphone System. Portable MDphone units allow doctors to correct a patient's heart rhythm remotely over a cellular phone link. A doctor at the hospital base station can monitor the heart rhythm of a heart attack victim and signal the portable unit to administer electrical shocks if necessary. GENERAL DATACOMM ADDS PRODUCTS: General DataComm Inc. has unveiled several new products, including the office communications Manager Transport Management System. It is designed to interconnect small, remote offices onto high capacity corporate backbone networks. It integrates local area networks, voice, FAX, data and video applications over common digital facilities. It is priced at less than $4,000. DIRECTTALK:2 DUE IN DECEMBER: IBM said it will begin shipping it DirectTalk:2 voice-processing application for the IBM CallPath computer-integrated telephone product Dec. 4. It automates the dissemination of information by giving callers telephone keypad access to information stored on computer database. The new version allows a computer to "talk" to callers, Computerworld reports. 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