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Show A Saturday, May 28, 1994 .The Daily Herald sample of iiaoits on technology rA j So what does a company do when it holds a press conference at a major trade show and only a dozen reporters show up? ; That was the problem confronting WordPerfect earlier this week in Atlanta at Spring COMDEX when it found a mostly empty auditorium as ittinveiled the latest version of its product, Office, now renamed Symmetry. Obviously a number of factors may have contributed to the low turnout of editorial types, including time of day, competing press conferences, and appropriateness of the show for promoting an product. But after talking to one editor whose publication was represented at the press conference, it was prob- - Comdex attendees see network growth gers that can transmit text to interactive televisions that can send live pictures from house to house, says Dennis Hayes, president and foun- By JAY HAMBURG Orlanod Sentinel To experts at the ATLANTA huge computer show here, the "information superhighway" is a der of Hayes Microcomputer Products, maker of modems and very misunderstood term. It's a creature born of hype from companies that stand to profit and of fear from people who don't realize that, in many ways, the highway already exists. Don't think of the information superhighway as a single communications pathway like the inter- puters. all users in the information superhighway," Hayes said during a seminar at Comdex, the twice yearly U.S. trade show that concluded Thursday. Don't look for a grand opening g on the electronic or highway, either, said David vice president of business development at CompuServe. "It's never going to be complet- ribbon-cuttin- East-bur- g and Aquarian gazettes. It was called the Offset Revolution. Wasatch Tech Watch ably more a case of "trying to force something to happen. The times, they are a changin' That phrase from a Bob Dylan song of yesteryear applies today to WordPerfect as it moves toward integration with its neighbor to the South Novell. '"'One of the changes already underway, is a total revamping of the design of WordPerfect's software boxes. Although the work is still in process, look for a lot of Novell red on the boxes. ."' Speaking of Novell and WordPerfect, look for a slightly modified 'Novell logo to become the logo of choice for WordPerfect, with the WordPerfect name printed on top of 'Novell's shark's tooth logo of red and white. Advance word on the LIT A 'v. - I, 1 year's completely sold-o- ut event soiree of 350 particiwas a two-da- y pants at the Homestead in Midway. mark For this year's 1 & 2 and for calendar Aug. your make plans to be at the Yarrow in iPurk City. UITA planners anticipate upward of 400 attendees this year and apparently the Yarrow is one of the few places not "in the city" 400-plu- s at one , capable of seating additional with three meeting time, rooms capable of holding 100 to 150 simultaneously. " Among the planned mam speakers are the publisher of a leading national computer weekly magazine, the head of a research organization, and an executive from one of the largest systems integrators in the world. of the MarkeAnd as ting Track, I can authoritatively state that one of planned sessions will focus on my first love publicity how to give editors what they tTeally want. world-renown- li er . 2 - ... r' ... high-tec- h billionaire's club recent report from industry rag . Computer Reseller News suggested .that the industry's rarefied billion-aire- 's club had lost two members. as to who the one Utahn . One guess 'leaving the list was? Yep. According to a review of I stock holdings from last year's club e. : members, Ray Noorda saw the 44 of his stock holdings plunge from the previous year. Not that Ray's looking for sympathy, mind jyou. In fact, he'd probably just as ''scon not have the publicity. ,A val-r,u- opens a new lane on the information highway viewing called "Press Movies." The company is just one of many trying to make getting access to the superhighway easier. with Cable consultant sees bumpy on ramp entry money. The system will let people AP Television Writer order movies and other - NEW ORLEANS Soon, your cable box will plug you into a delightful universe of e and interacservices, tive, of movies, music, video, voice and data on demand. Any day now, right? In March, Time Warner test of postponed a high-profiTV in the advanced two-wa- y Orlando from April to at least October, a sign that the building on-lin- le Maybe not. of advanced electronic Jeff Miller should know. He d works for New York Andersen Consulting, which is helping to assemble Time Warner's experimental Refinements are needed deep enough to pay for a network and it will take a long time for people to adapt to this new way of spending time and money. full-servi- "We have very significant cultural changes still to come," Miller said. "How do people spend their time? And how quickly will they change their behavior patterns?" As a strategic consultant, Miller aims to help Andersen's clients be prudent about the in pace of investment they make network. the Miller says even if one believes the industry's announcements that it will spend $100 million to wire the nation into full service, only about 30 percent of the country will reached by 1998. is is a challenge that far getting the full beyond goes service networks to work," he said. "The goal is to have the "This make 3 FOREIGN CAR & TRUCK SPECIALS 1973-8- Aloha. 6 CHEVY FULL SIZE TRUCK (Installed) 984-8- TOYOTA TRUCK OR 1986-9- NISSAN HARDBODY 1 989-9- TOYOTA TRUCK OR 1 Agencies. Early word has it that WordPerfect has selected West Coast agency BBDO for it's new groupware ac- -' count, with estimates placing the ii budget between $4 million to $6 ..million. .." Roy, Utah's Iomega has also been ,out looking for a new agency. No i word yet on its selection, but Salt Lake-base- d Dahlin Smith White has been agency of record since the late 80s. in pany said. M'ller concluded that consumers' pockets aren't Miller and his colleagues studied the economics of wiring the world that way. He contends there are a few speed bumps in the cable industry's p to such an information entertainment and superhighway. Sfl ex- box that will the computer-lik- e be attached to TV sets and the software that runs it, the com- Full Service Network cable system, scheduled to launch this year in Orlando, Fla. networks net- works will take longer than pected. City-base- full-servi- pro- grams and shop for goods and services through their TV sets. V: ., Firms select agencies the street has it that two of on Wprd leading computer industries r'have been shopping their multimil-- r ljbn dollar accounts for new ad AP Pholo Scientific-Atlant- a full-servi- The V ' . What happened was that a new offset technology, paper-plat- e short made printing, suddenly runs very cheap. For printing about five years, until the price of paper began its inexorable rise, there existed a window of robust opportunity for expression. What cranks could previously only afford on smudged mimeographs could now be printed pretty elegantly and pretty inexpensively. For $75, you could put out an entire issue. By SCOTT WILLIAMS Since its founding several years ago, the Utah Information Technologies Association has held an annual IT- ;Summit in the late summer. Last Newspapers About the time I graduated from college was a time of a great explosion of small, publications poetry magazines, political manifestos, hippy-dipp- y tracts hjt (Installed) PICK-U- P NO ANT. (Installed) (Installed) $89 $99 $129 $149 VALUABLE COUPON USE THIS COUPON .OUT FOR UP TO MOST INSURANCE OFF YOUR INSURANCE 'Rettrictiont . QUALITY CLASS apply DEDUCTIBLE 'Call tor detail INSURANCE COMPANY APPROVED puter and chief operating officer of Motorola Inc., said it will be up to companies like his to steer between industry hype and consumer fear. "This is the first industry created by press release," Galvin said, referring to the flood of publicity surrounding the electronic highway. While futuristic scenarios may seem totally irrelevant to everyday life in 1994, Galvin said the next wave of electronic services will find ways to fit seamlessly into people's lives. Even as people continue to fear computers as intimidating technologies and express aversion to the machines, the brains of the com In 1980, typical consumers might have had two such electronic devices in their daily lives. But by 1990, the number had risen to nearly 70, as "micro-controllerbecame embedded in microwave ovens, electronic games, television sets, telephones, security systems and cars, according to Motorola. s" "It is the users who w ill define what the information superhighway will be about," said Eastburn, the CompuServe executive. "It's the users' needs being fulfilled that will make it happen." unfold on Internet es Knight-Ridd- ;Politisyj I coaxial cable and fiber-opti- c links, all leading to personal computers and computerized telephones and televisions or some combination of the three. By MICHAEL FINLEY i David n, fiber-opti- E-zin- trssm ' der construction." For example, even as cable-Toperators prepare for a full spectrum of interactive services over c cable, fax machines have begun sending documents wirelessly, through cellular-phon- e networks. The superhighway will continue to be a mix of wireless, has the microprocessor found unobtrusive ways into the home. Christopher Galvin, president compa- ny provides information services through people's personal computers. "The global superhighway is really here. It's just under construction. Parts will always be unV "There's no single solution for state highway system, computer professionals say. electronic It's an network, made up of many different paths everything from pa ever-growin- software for com- communications ed," said Eastburn, whose Something like that is happening again today, only this time the revolution is dispensing with paper and ink altogether. It is a virtual publishing revolution, and its meare being dia, called distributed free on the Internet network of computer networks. A few weeks ago I talked about HOTT (Hot Off The Tree), one of these new I've since been made aware, nearly at gunpoint, of numerous other vehicles that can board. They are a checkered lot, ranging from the merely rude to the very, very crude. What stands out a brief description, sometimes in the editors' own politer ones, and words. Warning! This list also includes addresses. If you aren't don't let the mysterious UNIX directions I include here ("e-mail"FTP" and "Gopher") and the rest of the gibberish throw you. They are just different ways to find and communicate electronically with these entities. If you're already on the net and a topic piques your interest, feel free to drop the editor a line, and get on list. the "e-zine- ." net-ride- rs PRACTICAL ANARCHY ONLINE. Insert a bit of anarchy into everyday life. This Swedish how-t- o exutheir berance. These editors are bypassing all the conventional norms, is es may be the US News & World Report of the 21st century. You read it here first. FTP: etext. archive, umich.edu :pubPolitics avoiding all the costs and thumbing all their noses at their stuffier print compatriots. Here is a list of some of the Spunk. Online services cope with demands By MICHELLE VRANIZAN Orange County Register The dishes are done. The kids are in bed. An evening at the computer awaits. the You fire up the new 486 moone with the fancy, high-spee- d click on the icon for a dem popular online service, type in your password, wait for the modem to dial and ... busy. Redial. Busy. Five minutes later. Still busy. Aaaaahnhhh!! It's happening to you. It's happening to me. It's happening to online subscribers everywhere. Too many people with 9,600 or modems 14,400 trying to dial into the same online d services over too few high-spee- telephone lines. The problem developed quickly. Plummeting modem prices and a burgeoning home computer market created unexpected demand for online services. Companies such as America Online and phone carriers didn't add high-spee- d lines fast enough to keep up. As a result, America Online customer Jim Phillips, of La Habra, Calif., must compete with more than 700,000 other subscribers for one of 1 87 access lines that provide 9,600 bps service. "About the only time I can get on at 9,600 bps is after 8 in the morning or early afternoon," Phillips said. "Considering most local bulletin boards are (running) at 14,400 or higher it's almost like the (national services) are in the Stone Age when it comes to connect speeds," he said. Besides busy signals, the scarcilines means some ty of must pay toll or people charges to connect to the closest access phone number. Syd Wyncoop, of La Mirada, Calif., subscribes to CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy. He bought a 14,400 bps Digicom Scout modem a year ago but rarely uses the device's top speed because he would have to pay toll charges to call into CompuServe's 14,400 bps access line in Newport Beach.. Calif. "I've done that sometimes when high-spee- d long-distan- wanted to download files. Otherit doesn't pay," Wyncoop said. Companies are working to solve both problems. I wise, FCC says no further rate cuts sought By MICHAEL L. ROZANSKY Knight-Ridd- Newspapers - The most NEW ORLEANS vilified man in the world of cable television, Federal Communications Commission chairman Reed Hundt, came before industry leaders Tuesday on a peacekeeping mission, suggesting financial relief was in sight. Hundt said the FCC was not looking for further rate cuts and suggested in tone, if not in much detail, that the agency might ease proposed restrictions on future rates to encourage industry investment. The FCC and cable industry have estimated that the government's 17 percent rate rollbacks since September will cost the industry $3 billion of its $22 billion in annual revenue. Hundt reaffirmed the industry's critical role in the building of the information highway. And he told the industry representatives to stop whining about cable reregulation and accept the "un- welcome burden" of the new rules, which were developed by the FCC after passage of the 1992 cable act. "I'm not here to commiserate over your decline or eulogize at your wake," he said. "As far as I can tell, and I hope I'm not wrong, this industry is on the verge of a new dawn. It is going to enter new markets and create new markets and achieve new heights of growth." The topic of government regulation has cast a shadow across the cable industry's annual conference this week. "You have a right to your frustration and your anger," Decker Anstrom, president of the National Cable Television Association, told executives on Monday. "What Washington did to this industry was nothing less than a political caning." Cable operators lament that the cutbacks have hurt their ability to raise cash to rebuild their networks. That is vital, they say, if they are to offer new interactive services and hundreds of channels and compete with a host of competitors. The industry's concern extends not just to the rollbacks, but also to future rates. The FCC had proposed to limit future rate increases to the annual inflation rate minus 2 percentage points. The Village Wood Shoppe Unfinished Furniture & Decorative Stencils Bar Stool SALE! Many Styles, to Choose From! Starting at $29.99 KtxA '4 J?itf4t Selection o Teoyvxtive StencCU fat your 6oHe! ?nec StcttciUny Ae&yytu 6U, I Xd AO, StcttcdiMf done it t&e. ?hme4. d KuiA "mc aAow PvuuU Two Locations To Serve You: 1095 West 7800 South 418 North State at Gardner Historic Street Village inOrem Wed TnrHan 566 - 5227 224-220- 1 |