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Show The Salt Lake Tribune, Your Changing World Sunday, February 16, 19H6 F5 Videotex May Be Next Electronic Sensation in American Home By Edward Cor nish Q. Is videotex anything to get exit- ed about? A. Videotex will probably be the next big electronic sensation in the American home. Videotex is a generic term for a two-wa- electronic system that y makes information in computers easily available to the public, which in turn can act on that information using the same system. It's not really new. Neither was television back in 1950 when it sud denly began surging into But 10 years later most had succumbed to the ster. one-eye- U.S. U.S. do all kinds of things, such as getting homes. homes telephone numbers without calling the operator or buying things from department stores. What is holding back videotex in g the U.S. is the old dilemma. Users don't want to buy videotex as long as it costs a lot and won't do much for them. Suppliers of services dont want to invest in videotex if there aren't a lot of users to pay for it. mon- d Videotex may achieve a similar triumph in the next decade. So far, though, companies have lost fortunes in unsuccessful attempts to bring videotex to the masses. chicken-or-the-eg- European countries like Britain and France have achieved greater success with it. Today millions of Frenchmen have inexpensive terminals in their homes that allow them to But videotex is now beginning to solve this problem in much the same systems that allow them to get information on house sales and prices. Physicians are discovering they can get the latest news on new drugs via a medical videotex system. Lawyers can tap into a videotex system to learn the current status of highly complex and constantly changing state and federal laws. Business and professional people now using videotex at the office often find it convenient to use the system in their homes. Once they are set up at home, they will become Increasingly receptive for all the other services that videotex can bring into the that other new technologies solved it by identifying a few users who will pay a premium price for the new technology These early customers create a small market that can defray the initial costs of developing and popularizing the new technology. The financial industry, which demands extremely fast information on prices and is willing to pay for it, has s electronic news made the service the most profitable videotex venture to date. Real estate brokers are also discovering the advantages of videotex way - Dow-Jone- home. Home banking. Push a few keys on your videotex terminal (it could be your home computer) to check the balance of your bank accounts. Pay all your bills by issuing transfer orders to your bank. Funding Cuts to End Some Farm Reports By Don Kendall Associated Press WASHINGTON The crunch on federal spending will mean cutbacks in some of the Agriculture Department's crop and livestock reports, such as the elimination of seasonal monthly forecasts for hops, rye and flaxseed. Dozens of other statistical reports and surveys will be reduced or eliminated by the departments Statistical Reporting Service. Some are highly specialized or of interest mostly to commodity traders. which calls Overall, the agency itself the SRS provides the numbers that farmers, consumers, economists, traders, foreign buyers and many others use to make decisions affecting U.S. agriculture and the the economy. Basic farm policy decisions, for example, almost always take into consideration a wide range of information derived from SRS surveys and estimates. Global agricultural trade, U.S. exports and domestic use of commodities are other beneficiaries of the agencys work. William E. Kibler, administrator of the agency, said last week in announcing 'he cutbacks and changes that budgetary reasons were to blame and that the agency will direct remaining resources toward statistics maintaining in the more than 300 reports that it publishes each year. One big change, which has nothing to do with the federal budget, will be a switch in the beginning of the U.S. corn marketing year. For decades, the corn marketing year has been from Oct. 1 through the following Sept. 30. This year and thereafter it will begin on Sept. 1 and run through high-qualili- reports now slated for reduction or oblivion would be continued. There is another possibility. Cutbacks in surveys and reports have been tried before. Some have succeeded, but in a number of instances there was pressure successfully applied in Congress to have the reports restored. A report on mink pelt production was restored after it was scheduled for termination several years ago. Some livestock estimates, a horticultural survey, monthly milk production figures, and a report on cucumbers for pickles are other examples. Some of the budget-cuttinchanges now planned include the elimination of: Barley and oats quarterly inventory estimates for both on- - and stocks, and production forecasts in July and September. The August production forecast will be The Statistical Reporting Service, which includes the Crop Reporting Board, has to be reduced by more than $2.5 million. Overall, according to USDA budget documents, the agencys programs for the fiscal year that will end on Sept. 30 will be held to $56.4 million. Without the cuts, the SRS probably would have operated at the level of about $58.9 million, up slightly from fiscal $58.3 million in the 1984-8year. 5 The budget proposals sent to Congress earlier this month calls for SRS programs at a level of $59.9 million next fiscal year, which will allow for to improve two new initiatives major crop acreage and production and for improving the estimates analysis of survey information. According to the SRS plan, if private commodity organizations and state agencies provide the money, the g off-far- Software Setup Training CADD SAVE OVER 1500 With 1986 Sun Features Inc. Make it a colorful President's Day this year and saleabrate with us. Finally an affordable color system togivecrispcolor graphics. 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The issuance of the list comes at a time when the department has been under increasing pressure by consumer groups to make more information available to the public on insurance company conduct and pricing in California. In years past, the department had issued its report on complaint ratios only to the insurance companies. Department officials said Wednesday that they will release direct price comparisons between companies in the next few months. The complaint figures for the latest available year, 1984, show that among the five biggest sellers of personal auto insurance in the state, Farmers Insurance Exchange, with a ratio of .206 justified complaints per million dollars of premiums, had the worst record. 30814. Presidents Day Saleabration COMPLETE EPSON SYSTEM ly $1.3 billion. By Kenneth Reich Los Angelas Times For the first time in history, the California Department of Insurance READER NOTE: If you have a question about the future that you would like to see answered in this column, send it to Edward Cornish, P.O. Box 30369, Bethesda, Md. Long! r Aug. 31. Ray Hancock, deputy administrator of the agency, said in an interview that the change, which is required by recent legislation, will more accurately reflect harvest patterns. Increasingly, he said, more farmers are harvesting corn in September instead of October, the traditional beginning of harvest. A similar change was made for wheat some years ago when the start of the marketing year was changed from July 1 to June 1. Hancock said most of the cutbacks in reports are due to the Gramm-Rudma- n balanced-budge- t law which mandates a 4.3 percent reduction in federal spending for most USDA programs this fiscal year, a total of near- Instruction. Courses in business management, Spanish, statistics, history can come to your home on your video screen. And the class meets at your convenience in the middle of the night, if you wish. Texts, tests and private consultations with an instructor can all come via videotex. Research. You can look through back issues of the New York Times and other newspapers, check the contents of books and magazines and search sources in distant libraries by pushing a few keys. I believe that within 10 years millions of Americans will wonder how they ever managed without videotex. Farmers will be using it regularly to get the latest commodity prices. Homemakers will use it to check supermarket prices. Students will use it to take courses and research term pato pers. Even toddlers will use it tap out letters to grandma about their summer vacations. Sale Day That Lasts All Week 485-110- 7 272-357- 8 portation and hotel reservations without having to call a string of reservations clerks. Real estate. Shopping for a house? Just check the videotex system from time to time to see if a house is available that matches your specifications. Specialized news. You can call up cattle prices in Argentina, information about oceanography, the scores of even the most obscure sports events. A One Business Telephone Systems Operational Routines CALL: Income tax. Just answer the questions posed on your videotex screen, then push a few keys to have professionals calculate your taxes. H&R Block, the tax firm, has already plunged into videotex in a big way. Books. Videotex will make it possible to glance over selected pages from books you might like to buy, then easily order the ones you want. You also could read entire books on your video screen or have the text printed out for a fee. Shopping. Looking for a new toaster? All kinds of information on toasters can be called up on your video screen. Via the videotex system you can make your choice and pay for it by transferring funds from your bank to the seller. The toaster will be delivered to your door. Travel services. You will be able end-of-ye- ProTel Installation Buying although the stocks will be reported in September. Rye, all estimates of stocks and forecasts of production. Flaxseed, all production forecasts. Acreage estimates and yield and production estimates will be continued for both rye and flaxseed. Winter wheat production forecast in September, and the spring wheat production forecast in October. Hops, all production and stock estimates, including a stocks report scheduled for March 20. Comments from data users" regarding the cutbacks and changes in SRS reports can be sent to: Richard Allen, Director, Estimates Division, Statistical Reporting Room 5847-Service, USDA, Washington, D.C., 20250. MICROCOMPUTER PROBLEMS? Selection Sorghum and sunflower seed quarterly inventory stocks estimates, to check timetables and make trans- LOGAN: 851 North Main, 752-643- 2 South State, - 268-887- 7 EVANSTON: 96 Yellow Creek Road. 789-058- 0 ' M I TIME DEPOSITS It It FD!!2 Insured To $100,000 i investigators Department found li5 complaints against the company, collected $656.2 million in such premiums, were valid. .Each of the five biggest companies d5 more than $500 million a year in basiness. The best insurer among the top five, with a .074 ratio per million dollars in premiums, was the NorthCalifornia State ern California-baseAtito Association. jstate Farm, with a ratio of .090, recor'l; the Autohd the second-bes- t mobile Club of Southern California, with a ratio of .158, was third, and Allstate Insurance with a ratio of .187 wias fourth. 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