Assorted news items from varous sources...

Last week's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) deal between the
US and the European Community is good news for U.S. software firms, which
control 75% of the world market. The agreement recognizes computer
programs as protected literary works and prohibits commercial rental of
software.

Citing widespread complaints and unspecified new information, the Patent
and Trademark Office recently said it will re-examine th epatent for
multimedia database access issued in August to San Diego-based Compton's
NewMedia. Competitors have petitioned for a review, claiming the patent
was wrongly issued. As evidence, prior art from Xerox and others dating
back to the 1960s was cited. Compton's had planned to license the
technology for the equivalent of one to three percent of net cash
receipts.

Only a month after introducing its first Pentium-based desktop systems,
Dell Computer rolled out its second wave of Pentium-based products. Aimed
at the "techno-critical" corporate customers who needs advanced features,
the OmniPlex 560 and 566 systems feature high-performance data throughput
and accelerated video and graphics. Prices range from $3,799 for a 60 MHz
model to $4,299 for a 66 MHz model; available now.

Compaq recently announced that it will withdraw from the printer business
during the first half of 1994. Existing Pagemarq products will continue to
ship, but future development will be stopped immediately.

The shared frame-buffer interconnect (SFBI) specification, to be published
before the end of the year, defines a method for combining full-motion
video, graphics, and other multimedia functions into one integrated
subsystem. As a result, full-motion video will appear on a PC platform in
a standardized, low-cost configuration. The specification, written by
engineers at ATI Technologies, Thornhill, Ontario, and Intel Corp, defines
a memory organization and arbitration protocol that allows video and
graphics to share one memory buffer, thus lowering overall system cost.
The SFBI specification also includes ATI's SynchroLink, a technique that
permits dedicated controllers in multimedia subsystems to communicate and
synchronize time-critical I/Os without intervention from the host CPU. The
memory bus specified by the SFBI runs independent of the system bus and
can handle uncompressed video data, which can be transferred at a rate of
20 Mbytes/sec.

The IBM PC Company resumed shipment of its ThinkPad 500 notebook recently.
The line was discontinued previously because of problems with lead
acid-based batteries. All new models will contain nickel metal
hydrive-based batteries. Owners of models containing the old battery will
receive two free nickel-based batteries.

A breakthrough in optical coatings has resulted in the development of a
plastic film that allows LCD flat panels used in notebook computers or
overhead projection displays to generate 3D images. The film works in
conjunction with simple passive-lens glasses and some proprietary software
that prepares the images. The 3D system, developed by VRex Inc can be
added to either a PC or Macintosh compatible LCD-based computer. A
3D-enhanced notebook computer was displayed at Comdex, selling for about
$500 more than a conventional off-the-shelf notebook.

A technical committee has been formed to develop an advanced graphics
interface. This should lower the cost and increase the availability of 2D
and 3D graphics hardware for entertainment, game, scientific
visualization, CAD and virtual-reality aplications. The interface, which
falls under the VESA umbrella, is called the VESA Advanced Graphics
Interface -- VAGI for short.

The Fuzzy Logic Designer from Byte Dynamics has been listed by EDN Magazine
as being one of the top 100 hot products for '93. The Fuzzy Logic Designer
is a CASE tool which helps software developers create specialized control
software. Users of the new design product include NASA Kennedy Space
Center, GE-Nuclear Energy, Sandia Laboratories, Hughs Aircraft, Chase
Manhattan Bank, and the John Hopkins Medical Institute. Byte Dynamics Inc,
1408 E. Olympic Ave, Spokane, WA 99216; 509-926-6011, 800-233-2983

PrairieSoft Inc has purchased five products from CE Software, including:
DiskTop, Alarming Events, In/Out, MockPackage + Utilities and Amazing
Paint. They'll be releasing a major upgrade for DiskTop (v4.5) in January
so watch for more details in the near future. PrairieSoft Inc, 1650 Fuller
Rd, PO Box 65820, West Des Moines, IA 50265; 515-225-3720,  fax
515-225-2422

PG Music announced PowerTracks Pro at the incredible price of $29. This is
a music sequencer/notation/printing program for Windows. A professional,
fully featured MIDI sequencing/notation/printing program with versions
included for Windows 3.1 and DOS. Also announced, The Jazz Guitarist -- a
music program containing a huge collection of over 60 Jazz Standards,
played on MIDI Guitar by top Jazz/Studio Guitarist Oliver Gannon.
On-screen guitar fretboard shows you exactly what guitar notes are being
played. Play in real time or step through the piece chord by chord.
Available for Windows, Macintosh and Atari. And, The Pianist -- a similar
program covering classical piano pieces performed by world-class concert
pianists. PG Music Inc, 2666 Elmwood Ave, Suite 111, Buffalo, NY 14222;
800-268-6272, 905-528-2368

New minor upgrade to Harvard Graphics DOS verion 3.07 due out in January
just adds support for a few more printers -- no big deal but a sign that
this package will not be abandonded as rumored. Despite some reports,
there is still an active DOS development team.

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