INTEL TARGETS NEW TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Intel Corp., which has spent years improving on its basic chip design,
has decided that approach just won't cut it anymore. "Now we're at the
head of the class, and there's nothing left to copy," says the company's
chief operating officer. In response, Intel is shifting its focus,
assembling a team of top-notch scientists and engineers to do long-term,
original research on computer chip design. The group, called
Microcomputer Labs, will delve into projects ranging from 3-D graphics
to advanced software applications, working with researchers at top
universities, including Stanford, MIT, the University of California at
Berkeley and the University of North Carolina. "Our mission is to keep
the technology treadmill going," says the engineer heading up the new
effort, whose specialty is compiler technology. "We'll have to look at
the future applications for computers and how to create computer
architectures that can run them." (Wall Street Journal 26 Aug 96 B4)
NEW PLAN PROPOSED FOR GLOBAL DOMAIN REGISTRIES
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the organization charged
with assigning and coordinating Internet protocol parameters, is calling
for the creation of new registries located around the world to
administer up to 150 new international top-level domains. Currently,
Network Solutions Inc., under contract to the National Science
Foundation, administers domain names in the .com, .org, .edu, .net and
.gov top-level domains. The IANA's new plan will open the domain
registry business up to competition, says the plan's author. Up to 50
new registries could be in service by the end of January 1997. (BNA
Daily Report for Executives 26 Aug 96 A9)
BROWSER BATTLES, CONT.
Microsoft has responded to Netscape's allegations that it engages in
unfair, anticompetitive business practices in promoting use of its
Internet Explorer browser software. In a statement issued Aug. 22,
Microsoft refuted Netscape's contentions, point by point, summing up its
arguments by saying that Netscape's "suggestion that Microsoft is
somehow violating the antitrust laws" by incorporating "new features and
functionality (such as Internet Explorer and Internet Information
Server) ... is preposterous." Instead, it maintains that "Microsoft's
progress is the result of hard work, product improvement, mutually
beneficial partnerships and creative marketing." (BNA Daily Report for
Executives 26 Aug 96 A9)
EDUCATORS WANT MORE LEARNING, LESS FUN FROM ED SOFTWARE
Educational software is useful in the classroom, but "the business of
education is not entertainment, and teachers are keenly aware of this,"
says a research analyst at Simba Information Inc. "In schools - where
educators take their job descriptions extremely seriously - the novelty
of bells-and-whistles multimedia is wearing off rapidly." Educational
software sales, much of it purchased by parents for their children's use
at home, are booming, with numbers up 56% from last year, says the
Software Publishers Association. And much of the rise is attributable
to already established products such as Davidson & Associate's Math
Blaster, which has enjoyed 12 years of popularity. "You would never be
able to find an entertainment title like that," says a Davidson VP,
noting that educational products enjoy a longevity unheard of in the
video game industry. Entertainment software sales grew by only 6% last
year, according to the SPA. (Investor's Business Daily 27 August 96 A8)
HP ADOPTS WINTEL STANDARD FOR WORKSTATIONS
Hewlett-Packard's new line of workstation computers will support the
Wintel standard made popular by PCs running Microsoft Windows software
on Intel chips. This latest move means that HP will be marketing two
separate lines of workstations - one based on Wintel, and one supporting
the traditional Unix standard. Last May, HP introduced a family of
relatively low-cost servers based on the Wintel standard, a move away
from its earlier higher-priced systems that used in-house HP technology.
(Wall Street Journal 26 Aug 96 B6)
MCI AND NEXTWAVE TO PROVIDE WIRELESS SERVICES
MCI Communications and Nextwave Telecom have joined forces to provide
wireless services in most of the nation's largest cities by mid-1997.
MCI might also resell Nextwave's personal communications services (PCS)
as an alternative to regular telephone services. (New York Times 27 Aug
96 C3)
AT&T WANTS TO REACH OUT AND TOUCH YOU ON THE WEB
AT&T's "instant Answers" technology enables World Wide Web users to
request that the company sponsoring the Web site they're browsing give
them a call, by clicking on an icon labeled "Call me now." The move,
which is tied to an AT&T effort to boost its 800-number business, will
allow a sales agent on the Web to "push" any additional information
requested directly over the Web to the customer. Meanwhile, AT&T
WorldNet subscribers now can link up to America Online at a 20% discount
off regular AOL rates. (Wall Street Journal 27 Aug 96 A6)
MOONLIGHTING ON THE NET
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have concluded that idle PCs
could be leased out by their owners to remote users who might have
occasional need for a computer, but not want to buy one. "It seems
silly to invest lots of money to buy more computing power when all you
have to do is utilize what's already out there," says one researcher,
who cites the example of an accountant who has a one-time need to use
some graphics design capability. Technology already can support remote
control of PCs over the Internet, and the researchers say all that's
needed is some sort of system for leasing the machines and their
software, while keeping the computer owner's files private and secure.
(Investor's Business Daily 26 Aug 96 A6)
WORLDCOM BUYS MFS
WorldCom, the nation's fourth-largest long distance phone service
provider, is buying MFS Communications, the leading provider of
alternative local phone services to business customers; the move will
create the country's first fully integrated local and long-distance
telephone company since the Bell System was broken up in 1984. (New
York Times 27 Aug 96 C1)
BLIND AFFECTED BY SOFTWARE FLAWS
At the World Blind Union international assembly, lawyer and activist
David Lepofsky charged that developers fail to make software accessible
to those with vision impairments and said that point-and-click
technology is useless to those with vision impairments. (Toronto Globe
& Mail 27 Aug 96 A6)
KARPOV WINS ONLINE CHESS MARCH
In an open chess game on the Internet, Russian grandmaster Anatoly
Karpov defeated several hundred opponents in a game that lasted 65 moves
and four and a half hours. For each move, contestants had seven minutes
to indicate their response, and a computer calculated the most
frequently suggested response. < http://www.tele.fi/karpov/gameworl.htm
> (New York Times 27 Aug 96 B9)
NC VS. PC
Farzad Dibachi, whose company, Diba Inc. specializes in developing
inexpensive information appliances, says that network computers will
provide everything you need to access information, making PCs
unnecessary for many day-to-day tasks: "PCs won't go away. There will
be a differentiation between devices for creating and massaging data,
and ones for accessing information. If you don't need to create or
massage information, you don't need a PC." (Information Week 19 Aug 96 p12)
SCIENTISTS TOLD TO AVOID TECH-TALK
A directive from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council,
Canada's largest funding agency, tells scientists to explain their
projects in everyday language rather than technical jargon. The
directive responds to a member of Parliament's attacks on "frivolous
research," including the paternity of squirrels, the energetics of
hummingbirds, "information processing among pigeons," and "cubitus
interruptus locus in Drosophilia." (Toronto Globe & Mail 27 Aug 96 A1)