Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Thu, May 21 1992 Date: Thu, 21 May 92 05:20:57 EDT Message-ID: 05-21 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update May 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TWO ACCUSED OF CREATING VIRUS: Two Cornell University students, David Blumenthal, 20, and Mark Pilgrim, 19, have been accused of creating a computer virus. They face a maximum four years in prison for allegedly hiding the virus in three Macintosh computer games. Macintosh PCs across the USA, Great Britain and Japan were infected when users obtained the game through phone lines. The virus wiped out operating software. MICROSOFT WINDOWS SELLING WELL: Software giant Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday 3 million copies of its upgraded Windows 3.1 were shipped the first six weeks after it was introduced. That won't be good news to IBM. IBM recently unveiled its own operating system software, OS:2 2.0. Microsoft and IBM are locked in a battle over which software will become the standard operating system for the personal computer industry. NEGOTIATORS SAVE SEAWOLF: Congressional negotiators agreed on a $8.2 billion package of budget cuts Wednesday that will rescue the Seawolf submarine program from extinction. The budget cuts, first recommended by President Bush, will be voted on Thursday in the House. The legislation guarantees construction of a second Seawolf and sets aside $550 million for another, unspecified class of submarine. CONVERSION FUNDS CALLED FOR: New York Gov. Mario Cuomo Wednesday called for a "national strategy" to help states protect their already beleaguered defense industry from deeper cuts in military spending. Testifying before the House's Defense Policy Panel, Cuomo urged Congress to funnel "defense-conversion" money directly to states that have begun to help defense contractors move into commercial production. AUDIO VENTURE LAUNCHED: Compaq Computer Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Analog Devices Inc. Wednesday announced a joint hardware and software technology development effort to bring business-oriented audio capabilities to personal computing. The goal of the joint venture is to develop systems that allow computer users to exploit sound in their PC applications to make computing more productive. CORPORATE COMPUTING DUE OUT: Jonathan Sacks, publisher of Corporate Computing, says the magazine will debut June 5. It will carry 322 pages. Corporate Computing is the first magazine designed to provide top corporate managers with laboratory-based reviews and other information they need to re-engineer their company-wide information systems, Sacks says. DOCUCON GAINS NAVY CONTRACT: Docucon Inc. Wednesday said it has received an order worth $973,000 from the U.S. Navy to convert paper documents to computer-readable electronic images. The images will be used on a new computer based distribution and print-on-demand system to be implemented by the Navy. TYPEREADER IS INTRODUCED: ExperVision Inc. has introduced TypeReader, an optical character recognition software for Macintosh users. Expervision says the software recognizes entire documents - not just characters - accurately and automatically. It works directly with most popular scanners. It has a suggested retail price of $695 and will be available in June. INTELSAT-K LAUNCH DELAYED: The launch of the Intelsat-K, scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed. During pre-launch verification procedures for the Atlas IIA launch vehicle, General Dynamics discovered a engine fuel problem. A new launch date and time will be announced as soon as possible, General Dynamics says. The $102 million, 3-ton Intelsat-K is to transmit TV broadcasts, phone calls. NETWORK HELPS PREDICT WEATHER: A new network of 29 radars are giving weather forecasters and aviators unprecedented views of the winds that create storms, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said in announcing the system Wednesday. The network includes 29 stations in 16 states. The radars are tied into NOAA's Boulder office, which feeds information via satellite to centers throughout the USA. ARDIS, SERVICE SYSTEMS INK DEAL: ARDIS Co., which operates the ARDISNET nationwide wireless data net, has announced a joint project with Service Systems International Inc., a software developer. They will market S2000 Technet, which will allow companies to use wireless data technology in their field operations. APPLE MEMORY CAN HOLD A NOVEL: Memory in Apple computers has increased significantly since the original Apple I was introduced in 1976. That model had a memory of 4,000 bytes or about one business letter. The 1992 Apple Macintosh LCII has a memory of 4 million bytes, or one large novel. 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