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 Fri, May 29 1992 Date: Fri, 29 May 92 05:20:41 EDT Message-ID: 05-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update May 29-31, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network APPLE TO SHOW OFF NEWTON: Apple will introduce its new product, code-named Newton, Friday. Apple's Newton technology represents a new category of product, not a full-blown personal computer but far more sophisticated than a calculator or electronic datebooks such as Sharp's Wizard. "I think it's totally cool," says Pieter Hartsook, publisher of an Alameda, Calif., Macintosh newsletter who has seen Newton. (For more, see special Newton package below.) TECHNOLOGY PACT SIGNED: Energy Secretary James Watkins and a dozen chief executives of top U.S. high-tech companies signed a pact Thursday to let national labs easily and quickly share research with private industry. The agreement includes a model contract that settles such touchy issues as intellectual property rights. Before, negotiating contracts to share technology took an average 18 months. BISHOP ASSAILS MCDONNELL: Insisting that "unemployment is not an excuse to make war or the things of war," the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Louis has rapped a military contractor for threatening layoffs if it can't sell fighter jets abroad. McDonnell Douglas contends that if it can't sell 72 F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia for $5 billion, it may lay off 40,000 workers, including 7,000 of 31,000 in St. Louis. PHOTO CD SYSTEM UNVEILED: Starting next month, consumers can have their 35mm photographs developed and stored on gold-tinted compact discs and view those photos with a special CD player, on any television set. The Photo CD system, developed jointly by Eastman Kodak and Philips, does more than turn a television into a slide projector. The pictures are far richer and more detailed than normal TV images. IMAGES CAN BE MANIPULATED: The Photo CD system, unveiled Thursday, digitally stores information. That allows computers to manipulate the images, such as change contrast, the color of a person's eyes or even put a hat on someone's head. Kodak plans to release two players by August: The PCD 270 ($400) and PCD 870 ($650). Future Photo CDs will allow users to add music, narration, text and graphics. PATENT COUNTERCLAIMS FILED: Chips and Technologies Inc. has filed a series of counterclaims against Intel in the microprocessor and math co-processor patent lawsuit which was brought against Chips in February by Intel. In the counterclaims, Chips alleges Intel's 386SL microprocessor architecture relies on integrated memory controller techniques which violate a key Chips paged memory access memory patent. TANDY USE INTEL 486 PROCESSOR: Radio Shack is selling two Tandy notebook computers powered by one of the most advanced computer chips on the market. The 4800 HD and the 4860 HD notebooks, costing $2,999 and $3,499, will use Intel's 486 microprocessor chip. BELL, MOTOROLA DEAL ENDS: Bell Industries Inc. said Thursday its semiconductor distribution authorization deal with Motorola has not been renewed due to a decision by Motorola to resize its distribution network. The Motorola sales represented 7% of Bell Industries' corporate sales of semiconductors. Bell Industries manufactures products for the telecommunications, electronics and computer markets. VIDEOMAIL IS UNVEILED: VideoTelecom says it has unveiled its VideoMail product. The software, which works on VideoTelecom's videoconferencing systems, lets users create, store and send a one-minute video and audio message. It is a standard feature on the firm's MediaConferencing system. SNA CONNECT IS INTRODUCED: Cable & Wireless Communications Inc. has introduced SNA Connect. The service will enable customers to tie Systems Network Architecture sites into Cable & Wireless' network, allowing the carrier to take over end-to-end management of the facilities. It also allows the carrier to add or delete lines without taking the whole system down. MONORAIL SPURS DOUBTS: Top transit researchers and authorities say they have doubts about a monorail Congress has earmarked $35 million to construct. The city winning the building bid likely will have to buy project technology from Transyt Canada. That's the only company meeting specifications in legislation by Pennsylvania Republican Bud Shuster, whose daughter works for a company representing Transyt. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON NEWTON: NEWTON COMBINES TECHNOLOGY: Apple's Newton, to be available in 1993, combines just about every leading-edge technology found in today's phones, fax machines and personal computers. To communicate and send messages, Newton won't have to be near a phone. It has a built-in modem to transmit information over telephone lines or via radio waves. It is 6 inches wide and 8 inches long. The cost is expected to be about $700. NEWTON DESIGNED FOR MASSES: If Apple is successful, Newton will become the first computer device for the masses - computer-literate or not. There are roughly 80 million PCs being used worldwide, but many people still think they're a waste of money. Analysts say Apple's device, even more than its wildly successful Macintosh, will seduce even the most terrorized, technically ignorant PC buyer. DEVELOPMENT WAS JUST $5 MILLION: Despite the time and effort, analysts think Apple has spent just $5 million developing Newton. To gain market share and keep costs down, Apple is licensing its basic technology to Japan's Sharp Electronics, which will manufacture the first Newtons. It's teaming with Motorola, which is developing tiny credit-card-sized pagers for Newton and a worldwide communications network. NEWTON USES RISC TECHNOLOGY: Newton technology turned out to be less of an individual product and more of a broad technology. The technology, based on a super-fast computer-chip technology called reduced instruction-set computing, or RISC, lets Apple easily change Newton to run on various classes of computers. (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