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, Oct 14 1992 Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 04:48:25 EDT Message-ID: 10-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Oct. 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SEMICONDUCTOR ORDERS ARE UP: The semiconductor industry's book-to-bill ratio fell to 1.06 in September from a revised 1.09 in August, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Tuesday. Orders rose 0.9% to $1.65 billion in September from $1.63 billion in August. Bookings, which are based on a rolling three-month average, were 36.8% above year-earlier levels. Shipments rose 3.1% to $1.55 billion in August. LASER BEING USED IN SURGERY: Medical use of the laser's high-intensity light beam has rapidly spread across the country and across most specialties. There are more than 20,000 lasers, accounting for at least 5% of all surgical procedures. But with that growth has come unfounded claims, feeding on the public's desire for high-tech, "Star Wars" medicine. The false underlying message: A laser is always better. (For more, see special Laser package below.) DISNEY OPENS SPACE CENTER: A bit of Disney is touching down at NASA headquarters in Houston Friday, promising to give tourists a high-tech peek at the U.S. space program. It's called Space Center Houston - part museum, part world's fair pavilion, part theme park, all designed by Disney and featuring attractions like interactive flight simulators, anti-gravity floors and a theater linked live to a space shuttle. EXHIBITS SIMULATE SPACE LIFE: Visitors of Space Center Houston can land the space shuttle or deploy a satellite at one of 24 computerized simulators. Dominating the center's central hall: A full-sized space shuttle replica. Also look for: Five-story theater, seating 583, with a new film, "To Be an Astronaut;" original spacecraft, lunar rover and walk-in skylab trainer; and the largest collection of moon rocks on display. QUIET TRANSFORMER DEVELOPED: Connecticut-based Noise Cancellation Technologies Inc. said Tuesday it has signed a development contract with Manitoba Hydro utility to design the first power transformer quieted by patented active vibration control technology. The project is being developed by NCT and Active Acoustical Solutions Inc., a consulting engineering firm based in New York. NINTENDO, SONY TO TEAM UP: Nintendo and Sony are teaming up on the next generation of video game technology. Under an agreement announced Tuesday between the two Japanese firms, the electronics giant Sony Corp. and video game leader Nintendo Co. Ltd. will manufacture and market a new game system that will offer clearer pictures and more life-like action. CD-ROM WILL BE USED: Nintendo and Sony plan to combine Nintendo's Super NES home video game system with a CD-ROM drive. CD-ROM stands for compact disk, read-only memory. The agreement announced Tuesday also allows for Nintendo and Sony to license other companies to develop, manufacture and sell disc software, with all licensing activity going through Nintendo. ANTITRUST CASE SENT BACK: The Supreme Court Tuesday sent an antitrust decision back to a lower court. The high court sent back to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals the case of Virtual Maintenance Inc. vs. Prime Computer. The appeals court reversed a decision in favor of Virtual. Prime had a policy of tying software revisions to its hardware maintenance contracts. QUIET TRANSFORMER DEVELOPED: Connecticut-based Noise Cancellation Technologies Inc. said Tuesday it has signed a development contract with Manitoba Hydro utility to design the first power transformer quieted by patented active vibration control technology. The project is being developed by Noise Cancellation and Active Acoustical Solutions Inc., a consulting engineering firm based in New York. COLLEGE IS CERTIFYING INTERFACE: The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab says it has set up a certification program for Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) products, Communications Week reports. The lab, in Durham, N.H., also said it has found some minor problems with some of the FDDI and Simple Network Management Protocol products it has tested, but refused to identify the products. NEW ETHERNET HUB UNVEILED: MiLAN Technology Corp. has unveiled a nine-port Ethernet hub aimed at small work groups. The Micro Hub LE automatically isolates faulty nodes and reconnects them when the nodes are free of problems. It will be available in October and will cost $375, or $42 per port. SYSTEM TO LINK USA, S. AMERICA: AT&T said Tuesday it purchased a 25% stake in Americas-1, a $220 million undersea fiber-optic cable system that will connect telecommunications traffic between the USA, St. Thomas, Brazil, Trinidad and Venezuela. Terms of the purchase weren't disclosed. AT&T said it is one of 58 international telecommunications carriers that own the cable system. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON LASER: LASERS ARE JUST ANOTHER TOOL: Lasers have become important to the medical field, but are sometimes hyped to do more than they can. "The laser, as an instrument, is another tool. I would not want to be without it but, on the other hand, it is not a 100% necessary tool," said Dr. Martin Norton at the University of Michigan and on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee that evaluates lasers. LASER GOOD FOR SOME FIELDS: For general surgeons lasers have proved less than magical, with limited applications in the field. Particularly in such procedures as removal of gallbladders and hemorrhoids, some experts say the laser's value is oversold. But for ophthalmologists, the laser has produced remarkable benefits for thousands of patients with diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. LIGHT IS CONCENTRATED: Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The light generated from a laser is concentrated into a single, thin beam traveling in one direction. It differs from a light bulb, for instance, which is composed of different colors or wavelengths and diffused over a wide area. BEAM CUTS, HEAT SEALS: The combination of a laser's precise beam of light and intense destructive heat makes for a very powerful type of scalpel. While the beam cuts tissue, the heat seals off small blood vessels, minimizing blood loss. And the laser's precision limits damage to surrounding tissue. (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