Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Fri, Apr 24 1992 Date: Fri, 24 Apr 92 05:26:46 EDT Message-ID: 04-24 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update April 24-26, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MULTILINGUAL SOFTWARE ON WAY: A small company that last year sold $4.2 million in computers to the then-Soviet Union soon plans to release what may be the world's first multilingual software system. The software, manufactured by Tenet Educational, is designed to interact with students on a number of subjects and languages. It will be able to change from language to language like a well-traveled translator. (For more, see special Multilingual package below.) NEW CHIP 67 TIMES FASTER: Intel's 586 microprocessor computer chip, due late this year, will be 67 times as fast as the 286. Intel says it will take a small company 4.3 hours to balance month-end books with the 586. The same task would take 12 days with a 286, 3.5 days with a 386 and 16 hours with a 486, Intel says. MARTIN MARIETTA TO CUT 3,600: Martin Marietta is likely to cut 3,600 jobs by the end of this year, about 6% of its workforce, because of cutbacks in military spending. Chairman and CEO Norman Augustine says the company's astronautics division in Denver may be the hardest hit, facing a loss of about 15% of its workforce. Martin Marietta employs 60,000 workers. FIRMS SEEK AX CONTRACT: TRW has teamed with Rockwell, GEC and ITT to pursue the communications, navigation and identification (CNI) avionics contract for the U.S. Navy's AX Advanced Strike Aircraft. The same team is developing CNI for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter. The AX will be an all-weather, day:night strike aircraft to operate from aircraft carriers and land bases. BRIDGESTONE AUTOMATES PLANT: Bridgestone Corp. says it has developed what it calls the world's first automated production system for manufacturing tires. It is being used in Bridgestone's Tochigi Plant in Japan. It uses advanced robot and computer network technology and is computer-controlled from the initial component materials preparation stage to the building process. SPRINT TO OPEN RUSSIAN DATA NET: Sprint Corp. says its Sprint Networks unit will build and operate what it bills as Russia's first nationwide public data network. The net will provide high-speed, local data communications among most major Russian cities and will enable Russian users to access SprintNet, which serves 108 countries. NAVAJO ALLEGEDLY GAVE BRIBES: Former Navajo tribal chairman Peter MacDonald's racketeering trial began Thursday. In opening arguments, assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Petti said MacDonald took bribes and kickbacks from computer company Navajo Technologies Inc., which was doing business on the reservation, in return for a $2.25 million loan from the tribe. He faces 32 counts of racketeering and other charges. CELLULAR DATA GETS LICENSE: Cellular Data Inc. has received an experimental license for 3-kHz data channels in the commercial radio spectrum allocated for air-to-ground communications. The Federal Communications Commission license allows Cellular Data to construct and operate networks of up to 100 base stations and 1,000 hand-held terminal devices within a 30-mile radius of Santa Clara, Calif., Philadelphia and Houston. MOTOROLA TO ADD PROTOCOL: Motorola Inc.'s Mobile Data Division in Vancouver, B.C., says it will add RAM Mobile Data's Mobiltex protocol to its family of wireless data modems and terminals. Until now, Motorola's RPM400I and RPM405I internal radio packet modems have supported only the proprietary protocol used in Motorola's own Ardis nationwide wireless data network. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON MULTILINGUAL: SYSTEM TESTED FOR YEAR: A Yonkers, N.Y., school district has been testing the first multilingual software system for the last year. The inventors plan to begin marketing their Scepter educational system - intended as an institutional computer tool - initially in English and German. Eventually, they hope to produce software fluent in French, Spanish, Italian and other languages. FIRM FOUNDED IN 1986: Tenet co-founder Carl Fredrick says much of the market for multilingual software will be in the European Community. He founded the firm in 1986 with Bill Altman. "As people become increasingly multilingual, it's anachronistic that computer software systems are not also multilingual," Fredrick says. FOREIGN LANGUAGE A PRIORITY: Frederick and Altman aren't alone in their conviction that multilingualism will be crucial in the future. "There is a heavier and heavier priority being placed on foreign language education and proficiency for competitive reasons," says Donald Sola, a Cornell University professor of linguistics who specializes in using computers to teach language. FOUNDERS HAVE HAD OTHER FIRMS: For Altman and Frederick, Tenet Educational represents the latest in a series of computer ventures. In 1979, Frederick founded the computer company Wolfdata, to produce equipment for information systems. Frederick sold his interest in Wolfdata in 1985 and used the money to bankroll a second company, Wolfbyte. There he designed advanced software for education and communications. (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. 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