ST Report:26-May-95 #1121

From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/03/95-08:28:50 AM Z


From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report:26-May-95 #1121
Date: Sat Jun  3 08:28:50 1995




                            SILICON TIMES REPORT
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   May 26, 1995                                                  No. 1121
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 > 05/26/95 STR 1121  "The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!"
   """""""""""""""""
 - CPU Industry Report    - Frankie's Corner       - Wizard Revealed
 - Corel Office           - TCP/IP & CIS           - The WEB & HTML
 - Creative Schoolhouse   - QUAD DRIVE CD          - PSINet & Creative
 - E3 Reports             - People Talking         - Jaguar NewsBits

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 > From the Editor's Desk             "Saying it like it is!"
   """"""""""""""""""""""

      Memorial Day Weekend... a time to remember, a time to pray and a time
 to celebrate.  We can thankfully remember the monumental victories the
 members of our Armed Forced won to preserve the freedoms and liberties the
 citizens of this country continue to enjoy.  We can pray to the Lord
 begging that these battles never need be fought again and at the same
 time, offer thanks.  We do celebrate the holiday in solemn remembrance of
 those who bravely fought on the world's battlefields to preserve our way
 of life while forever paying homage to those who gave their lives in the
 fight for freedom and liberty for all.

      Please, if your celebrations include libations, appoint a designated
 driver.  May all of us long remember the real significance and meaning of
 the Memorial Day Weekend.


       


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  STReport's Staff                      DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
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                              Publisher -Editor
                             """"""""""""""""""
                              Ralph F. Mariano

                  Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor, Current Affairs


 Section Editors
 """""""""""""""
      PC SECTION     AMIGA SECTION       MAC SECTION    ATARI SECTION
      ----------     -------------       -----------    -------------
      R.D. Stevens   R. Niles            J. Deegan      D. P. Jacobson
      

 STReport Staff Editors:
 """""""""""""""""""""""

           Michael Arthur      John Deegan              Brad Martin
           John Szczepanik     Paul Guillot             Joseph Mirando
           Doyle Helms         Frank Sereno             John Duckworth
           Jeff Coe            Steve Keipe              Guillaume Brasseur
           Melanie Bell        Jay Levy                 Jeff Kovach
           Marty Mankins       Carl Prehn               Paul Charchian

 Contributing Correspondents:
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""
           Dominick J. Fontana Norman Boucher           Clemens Chin
           Eric Jerue          Ron Deal                 Mike Barnwell  
           Ed Westhusing       Glenwood Drake           Vernon W.Smith
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           Patrick Hudlow                               Tom Sherwin

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 > STR INDUSTRY REPORT                 LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS 
   """""""""""""""""""



                   Computer Products Update - CPU Report
                   ------------------------   ----------
                  Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
   
                                Issue #21
   
                    Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.



                  ******* General Computer News *******


                  >> Microsoft Nears Final Win95 Disk <<

    Microsoft Corp. apparently now is very near to having a "gold disk" -
 - the final version of a program sent to manufacturing -- of its much-
 anticipated Windows 95 operating system.
  
    Completion is "very close," general manager Brad Chase of Microsoft's 
 personal systems group commented as executives gathered in New York to 
 preview the system. "It's just fixing compatibility bugs ... both soft-
 ware and hardware."
  
    Chase is quoted as predicting Windows 95 will break every industry 
 sales record after its launch, still scheduled for Aug. 24.
  
    "It's all compatibility," group manager Russ Stockdale said, "to make 
 sure it works with the broadest base available. This is extremely close 
 to what we will ship."
  
    As noted, Windows 95 has a new user interface replacing its current 
 Program Manager icon where most user applications reside. The Win95 
 startup screen has new options:
  
    -:- My Computer.
    -:- Network Neighborhood.
    -:- Recycle Bin (where deleted documents are temporarily stored).
    -:- An Inbox.
    -:- A sign-up option for Microsoft's online service, The Microsoft 
        Network. The interface also can be customized to include, for 
        example, Shortcut files that are often used.

    Another feature is multitasking ability, through a task bar at the 
 bottom of the screen that tells users how many programs are running. 
 Users can click from one program to the next "like switching television 
 channels," Microsoft said.
  
    Noting earlier trade press reports of problems with this feature, 
 Chase said, "There were some bugs in multitasking and there was some 
 misreporting. The multitasking is much better than in Windows 3.1."
  
    Microsoft also plans to offer a program called Microsoft Plus, to 
 take advantage of higher powered PCs, including browser software called 
 Internet Explorer for using Internet's hypertexted World Wide Web area.
  
    Chase declined to specify Microsoft's advertising budget for the up-
 coming launch, saying only, "Windows 95 will be the largest product ever 
 launched in this industry."
  
  
                 >> Ziff Offers New Internet Magazine <<
  
    To go up against CMP Publications' NetGuide monthly and the new 
 Virtual City magazine Newsweek has announced, Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. 
 says it is launching a new quarterly to be called ZD Internet Life.
  
    Bill Machrone, ZD's vice president of technology and a columnist for 
 its PC Week weekly newspaper, will be editor-in-chief of the magazine.
  
    Machrone commented in a statement that other Ziff-Davis publications, 
 which include PC Magazine and Computer Life, experience a jump in sales 
 whenever the Internet is a cover story and, "while our existing 
 publications can't feature the net in every issue, that is Internet 
 Life's mission."
  
  
                   >> Time Warner Sets SD Operation <<
  
    Time Warner's Warner Music Group and Warner Home Video say they have 
 formed Advanced Media Operations, a manufacturing and marketing unit 
 that will pioneer the production of Super Density (SD) Optical Discs.

    The emerging format carries 270 minutes of video in the MPEG II 
 standard, as well as music, interactive games and other applications.
  
    The new unit will manufacture a line of discs for the consortium of 
 17 consumer electronics and entertainment firms known as the SD-
 Alliance. These firms have agreed to support the digital video disc 
 format originally developed by Toshiba and Time Warner.
  
  
                   >> Hyundai to Build Oregon Plant <<
  
    South Korea's Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. says it will 
 build a new semiconductor fabrication plan in Eugene, Oregon, to be in 
 operation by the end of 1998.
  
    Officials with Hyundai, which bought NCR Microelectronics from AT&T 
 earlier this year, say the plant will have the capacity to process 
 30,000 eight-inch wafers a month and will initially make 16MB and 64MB 
 memory chips.
  
    The U.S. was chosen for the company's first major overseas plant 
 because the market is the largest in the world and also has the most 
 advanced chip-making technology.
  
    Hyundai currently operates two chip fabrication plants in South 
 Korea, with another due for completion by the end of the year, when they 
 will have a combined capacity to process 55,000 eight-inch wafers a 
 month.
  
  
                  >> HP Offers Medical Handheld Unit <<
  
    The handheld Palmvue wireless mobile unit has been unveiled by 
 Hewlett-Packard Co. to allow doctors to see the vital signs of a patient 
 in an emergency so they could make a diagnosis without having to be at 
 the patient's side.
  
    Reports from HP's headquarters say PalmVue includes patient monitors, 
 its HP 200LX palmtop computer and existing paging technology to link 
 physicians outside the hospital to critical-care patients.
  
    The company said the system is available immediately and is priced at 
 less than $25,000. "The standard configuration includes one dispatch 
 station with modem, five HP palmtop computers pre-loaded with PalmVue 
 OmniCare critical-care application software, an HP LaserJet 4L printer, 
 training and installation."
  
    Also, HP said it will unveil PalmVue ECGstat this fall, an applic-
 ation which will allow cardiologists to receive and review a standard 
 12-lead ECG, a record of electrical activity of the heart, taken by an 
 HP cardiograph.
  
  
                    >> Microsoft Unveils Mac Titles <<
  
    Microsoft Corp. has unveiled several new multimedia titles for 
 Macintosh computers.
  
    The products include the Microsoft Encarta '95 multimedia encyclope-
 dia; the Microsoft Bookshelf '95 CD-ROM reference library; and 
 Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Explores, an interactive science 
 adventure series. Also in the line-up are The Ultimate Frank Lloyd 
 Wright, an investigation of the noted architect's life and work; 500 
 Nations, an exploration of Native American culture; Microsoft Wine 
 Guide; and Microsoft Ancient Lands, an examination of lost 
 civilizations.

    The titles are scheduled to become generally available between June 
 and this Fall at prices ranging from $39.95 to $99.95.
  
  
                    >> HP Cuts Notebook Prices 20% <<
  
    Hewlett-Packard has cut prices on its notebook computers by up to 
 20%. This brings the suggested retail price of its basic OmniBook 4000 
 model down to $2,418. The move aims to match price cuts by several 
 competitors.
  
    Reports say that HP launched its first notebook last fall, joining a 
 marketplace dominated by Apple, AST, Toshiba, Compaq and IBM. At the 
 time, HP said it wanted to innovate in areas where there was growth 
 potential, and that its research showed the small notebook market was 
 emerging as a major category.
  
    Hewlett-Packard's notebooks contain several innovations including an 
 instant-on, instant-off function that allows the user to turn the 
 computer off in the middle of a document and then turn it back on 
 without losing one's place.
  
    Company officials also said:
  
    -:- Has broadened its family of OmniBook 4000 notebook PCs to match 
        products offered by Toshiba and Compaq.
    -:- Is planning a major move into the field of easy-to-use digital 
        devices such as handheld communicators to marry the capabilities 
        of printers and notebook computers. (The firm says it wants to 
        introduce a $300 handheld organizer with telephone, fax and 
        printer features later this year.)
  
  
                    >> Brother Raises Printer Costs <<
  
    Prices on Brother International Corp.'s entire printer line and 
 accessories are being raised, an action the firm says is necessary 
 because of the weakening dollar against the Japanese yen.

    Reports from headquarters of Brother's Printer Products Division, 
 which offers laser, inkjet and dot matrix printers, say the price hikes 
 come eight months after the company announced its HL-600 printer series. 
 That has taken the Number Two market share position behind Hewlett-
 Packard Co.
  
  
                   >> New LCD Technology Makes Debut <<
  
    Polaroid Corp. and Motorola Inc. say they have developed a 
 holographic reflective material that can greatly improves the image 
 quality of liquid crystal displays (LCD) used in portable computers and 
 communications devices.
  
    The companies note that their Imagix holographic reflector material 
 improves image brightness and contrast by a factor of two or three and 
 eliminates image degradation due to glare. They add that Imagix has the 
 extra advantage of giving LCDs the appearance of having an internal 
 source of illumination.
  
    "We believe that this is a revolutionary technology for devices that 
 use liquid crystal displays and is an affordable feature in products 
 from watches to laptop computers," says Jeremy Jones, director of 
 Polaroid's industrial products group. "Several leading LCD 
 manufacturers, including Optrex, Seiko Epson, and Seiko Instruments, 
 have been qualified to incorporate this material into their displays." 
  
  
                     >> Apple, AT&T Team on Video <<
  
    Desktop video conferencing reportedly will be offered this summer by 
 a joint project of AT&T and Apple Computer.
  
    Reports say that AT&T will offer the service using Apple's QuickTime 
 Conferencing, which lets users of Macintosh computers share information, 
 video and sound with other Macs.
  
    Being able hold a video conference (or share documents) on a desktop 
 PC rather than a larger unit should make the much-hyped business grow 
 more rapidly -- and generate more income.
  
    Dataquest multimedia analyst Kathy Klotz says desktop video 
 conferencing is expected to generate $276 million in revenue worldwide 
 this year, and will grow to $1.04 billion by 1998.
  
    But watch out, Apple. Company is coming. Intel Corp. already has its 
 own desktop conferencing product, Proshare, which connects Windows-based 
 machines. MCI also offers desktop video conferencing.
  
   
                    >> Kasparov Beats the Computer <<
  
    In a rematch in Germany, world chess champion Garry Kasparov regained 
 some respect in cyberspace this week by defeating the computer that beat 
 him in September.
   
    The event, heavily promoted by Intel Corp., was held in the Cologne 
 studios of Westdeutsche Rundfunk, the regional radio and television 
 network.
  
    Intel says its processor can analyze more than 100,000 positions per 
 second.  Kasparov was under pressure in the first game but came back 
 after the computer, playing black, sacrificed a solid position to gain a 
 three-pawn advantage. The second game was a draw, giving Kasparov the 
 match victory.
  
    Last September in London, Kasparov lost his first clash against the 
 program, called the Premium Chess Genius 2, then could do no better than 
 a draw in a second game. The loss eliminated him from the Intel World 
 Chess Grand Prix, which had a $160,000 grand prize.
  
    In that match, humans held on to the bragging rights. The computer 
 later was defeated twice by India's Viswanathan Anand, who then lost in 
 a sudden-death playoff to Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk, another human.

                  _________________________________________


 > Frankie's Corner STR Feature
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""


 The Kids' Computing Corner
 --------------------------


                         Thinkin' Things Collection 2
                      Dual-format CD-ROM for IBM and Mac
                              ages six to twelve
                             estimated retail $42
                                    Edmark
                                 P.O. Box 3218
                            Redmond, WA 98073-3218
                              phone: 206-556-8484

  IBM Requirements                     Mac Requirements
  CPU:       386DX-25                  CPU:       Color Mac or higher
  Graphics:  256-color VGA             Graphics:  256 colors
  Hard disk: 3 megs                    Hard disk: n/a
  RAM:       4 megs                    Ram:       4 megs, 5 for SYS 7.5
  OS:        DOS                       OS:        System 6.0.7
  CD-rom:    Double-speed              CD-rom:    Double-speed
  Sound:     MPC compatible sound card
  Misc.:     a microphone is recommended


 By Frank Sereno

 In volume 10, issue 51 of Silicon Times, I reviewed the floppy diskette
 version of "Thinkin' Things Collection 2."  I still consider it one of the
 finer and more exciting educational programs that I have reviewed. 
 "Thinkin' Things 2" doesn't teach children by forcing them to memorize
 facts. It instead teaches them how to learn and think by allowing the
 children to explore fascinating musical and spatial environments.

 TT2 has five activities.  The Oranga Banga Band is an exploration of
 three-part rhythm.  The child can play a game in which he identifies the
 band member doing a part in a song by the Oranga Band.  The difficulty
 level gradually grows with the child's abilities or can be set manually. 
 The child can also compose original music.  These exercises will teach
 children rhythm, to read and write rhythm patterns and also enhancing
 auditory discrimination.

 Toony's Tunes allows children to compose and save original songs on unique
 xylophones.  Toony also offers a memory game in which the child must
 repeat the notes that Toony plays.  Difficulty will again increase as the
 child gains more skill.  Toony's Tunes will aid the development of
 auditory memory, listening skills and recognition of musical pitch.

 Frippletration is concentration with a twist.  Players can choose to play
 with audio or visual clues to build auditory or visual memory and
 discrimination.  The game is for one or two players.  The game will
 progress from sixteen cards to thirty-six to sixty-four.

 2-3D BLOX encourages three-dimensional visualization by having
 children work with a variety of rotating 3-D objects.  The child can use
 the rudimentary painting tools to create artwork which will be instantly
 mapped to the rotating shapes, create his own backdrops or he can use the
 stock items.  Children can make customized shapes by using a lathe tool. 
 Background music and text can be added to the 3-D masterpiece, which can
 be saved for later viewing.  The program even provides suggestions to aid
 creative thought.

 The final activity is Snake BLOX.  This activity allows children to layer
 background and foreground layers.  This creates a perception of depth when
 snakes are run under and over the various features.  Many tools are
 available to create background art.  Numerous background music tracks can
 be used to create a music video.  The Ideas section includes many designs
 that will fascinate and inspire the creativity in anyone.  Masterpieces
 can be saved for later viewing and editing.  This activity will enhance
 visual analysis and synthesis skills.

 TT2 features wonderful graphics and excellent sound.  The interface has
 full audible help and verbal encouragement in the first three activities. 
 In the BLOX activities, the child will use the intuitive point-and-click
 interface to the explore the many possibilities of creativity.  TT2 will
 entertain children (and adults) for many hours.  The educational value is
 excellent.  Priced at approximately $40, TT2 offers an outstanding
 combination of fun learning activities at a moderate price.

 Thinkin' Things 2 CD-ROM has one enhancement over the diskette version of
 the program.  Edmark Vice President Donna Stanger, an award-winning
 software designer, gives a video presentation to parents.  The
 presentation includes information on learning theories, the learning
 objectives of each Thinkin' Things activity, and offers suggestions for
 proper parental involvement in computer learning.  The information is very
 interesting and is beneficial to parent and child.

 The diskette and CD-ROM versions have the same retail price.  If your
 system has a CD-ROM drive, I recommend getting the CD-ROM version.  If you
 already have the diskette version, contact Edmark for details on costs to
 upgrade to the CD-ROM version.

                                    Ratings

                          Graphics ........... 9.0
                          Sound .............. 9.5
                          Interface .......... 9.0
                          Play Value ......... 9.5
                          Educational Value ..10.0
                          Bang for the Buck .. 9.5
                          Average ............ 9.41  

                                     ###

 I would like to express my condolences to the victims of the Oklahoma City
 terrorist attack.    

 To a small extent, all Americans are victims.  The image of the United
 States as a free, friendly and safe country has again been tarnished. 
 Over the past few years we have lost the freedom to walk the streets of
 many neighborhoods after dark.  In some cities, it is unsafe to sit on a
 front stoop or to frolic in a playground in broad daylight.  Children can
 longer trust a stranger to be friendly.  This attack makes it clear that
 no one is totally safe anywhere.

 An attack of this sort shows the evil and capriciousness of man.  But let
 us not give in to the fear and the evil.  Keep in mind that most likely
 only a handful of cowardly individuals were involved in this act of
 terror.  Instead, remember the hundreds of individuals who risked their
 safety to rescue the injured at the site.  That bravery and self-sacrifice
 is much more typical of the nature of man.  The good deeds of many do
 outweigh the evil deeds of a few.

 I would like remind everyone that there is one small sacrifice that most
 of us can make that can be of great importance to others.  If you are a
 healthy adult, please consider becoming a blood donor.  Donating blood
 takes about one-half hour, but that contribution can aid several lives. 
 Most hospitals and trauma units constantly face blood shortages.  Your
 donation can mean the difference between life and death.

 Thank you for reading.


           ______________________________________________________


 > Office Companion STR InfoFile
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""



              COREL CORPORATION SHIPS COREL CD OFFICE COMPANION
              =================================================


 Includes extensive libraries, business utilities, plus Internet and fax
 software

 Ottawa, Canada--May 24, 1995-- Corel Corporation has begun shipping Corel
 CD Office Companion for Windows 3.1 and 3.11.  Featuring business
 graphics, an Internet browser, fax communications, a Personal Information
 Manager (PIM), multimedia utilities and system diagnostic software, plus
 extensive font, clipart and reference libraries, Corel CD Office Companion
 is positioned as the perfect complement to any office suite.

 "Corel CD Office Companion is full of value-packed libraries and utilities
 and will serve as an indispensable partner for everyone with an office
 suite and a CD-ROM drive," said Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and chief
 executive officer of Corel Corporation. 

 Available now, Corel CD Office Companion carries a suggested retail price
 of $149 US/$199 CDN.  Corporate license pricing is also available.  For
 further details, please contact Mark Abdelnour at TEL: 613-728-0826 x1668. 
 Corel CD Office Companion will also have a new technical support plan. For
 additional information, see the support plan details that follow.

 Corel CD Office Companion includes the following components:
 ------------------------------------------------------------

 CorelFLOW 2.0
 -------------
      "Drag and Drop" business diagramming and flowcharting software that
 features 2000 predefined symbols, more than 30 connector styles, direct
 text and line editing, a customizable workspace and a built-in spell
 checker.

 Corel GALLERY 2
 ---------------
      A powerful multimedia file manager, featuring 15,000 clipart images,
 500 TrueType( fonts, 200 photos and 75 sound clips.  Also included are
 Corel CAPTURE, a flexible screen capture utility, and a TrueType( font
 manager that allows for the manipulation of custom font groups.

 Corel PLANNER
 -------------
      A Personal Information Manager that allows users to effortlessly
 organize and track their contacts, appointments, to-do's, activities,
 notes and more.  It features daily, weekly, monthly and yearly planning
 calendars, an integrated address book and contact manager, a dedicated
 notes section, plus goal and expense tracking capabilities. Corel's PIM is
 based on technology licensed from Time Systems Inc., of Phoenix, Arizona. 
 Time Systems, Inc. has 17 years of paper-based time management and two
 years of electronic time management experience.

 Corel BOOKCASE
 --------------
      Features electronic references including the Concise Columbia
 Electronic Encyclopedia, Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary, The
 Information Please( Almanac, The Information Please( Business Almanac, The
 Information Please( Sports Almanac and Simpson's Contemporary Quotations. 
 Corel BOOKCASE is based on technology licensed from Inso Corporation of
 Boston, Massachusetts.  Inso is the leading provider of multilingual
 software products that help people enhance the quality of their written
 communications, provide them with access to information from authoritative
 sources and make it easier for them to locate, retrieve and view
 information, regardless of format or structure.

 CorelFAX
 --------
      Fax communications software licensed from Mississauga-based 01
 Communique Laboratory, Inc. It includes an integrated phone book and
 allows users to fax directly from within any Windows application. 
 Highlights include delayed fax scheduling, the ability to send and receive
 faxes in the background, normal and broadcast faxing, and more.

 Corel Web Mosaic
 ----------------
      A Genuine Mosaic World Wide Web browser based on technology licensed
 from Spyglass, Inc.  Features include built-in JPEG and GIF viewers,
 direct support for AIFF and AU audio formats, and a hot list/history box
 to keep track of users' favorite Web sites.  Also includes the Internet
 e-mail capabilities of Eudora licensed from QUALCOMM, Inc.

 Additional utilities include:
 -----------------------------
 CD Audio:                plays audio CDs on a standard CD-ROM drive.
 CD Office Screen Saver:  create your personal screen saver using your
                          favorite photos.
 Wallpaper Flipper:       changes your wallpaper automatically every time
                          you start Windows.
 Wintune tm 2.0:          System diagnostic software from the editors of
                          WINDOWS( Magazine.
 WinDAT WAV File Editor:  allows users to record and edit sound clips.

 Corel CD Office Companion also features extensive libraries that include
 the following:

 15,000 clipart images from the Corel GALLERY 2 collection in CMX format.
 500 TrueType( fonts from the Corel GALLERY 2 collection.
 2000 symbols from the CorelFLOW 2 collection.
 75 sound clips from the Corel GALLERY 2 collection.
 200 BMP images for use as screen savers or in documents.
 700 standard business form letters for a variety of business
 correspondence needs.

 New Technical Support Plan for Corel CD Office Companion:
 ---------------------------------------------------------
 Corel will offer a free period of technical support on a toll line.  This
 warranty period is valid for 30 days after the customer places the first
 technical support call.  The toll line for Corel CD Office Companion
 support is 1-407-333-1967. When the initial 30 days of free support have
 expired, Corel offers the following options:

 a new annual plan on a toll-free line for $99 US. 
 individual calls at $25 US/$30 CDN.
 U.S. customers may call 1-900 896-8880 to access technical support
 personnel at a charge of  $2.00 per minute.

 Corel Corporation
 -----------------
 Incorporated in 1985, Corel Corporation is recognized internationally as
 an award-winning developer and marketer of PC graphics and SCSI software. 
 CorelDRAW, Corel's industry-leading graphics software, is available in
 over 17 languages and has won over 200 international awards from major
 trade publications.  Corel ships its products through a network of more
 than 160 distributors in 60 countries worldwide.  Corel is traded on the
 Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: COS) and the NASDAQ--National Market
 System (symbol: COSFF).

 *CorelFLOW 2 module in Corel CD Office Companion includes all the
 functionality of the standalone version of CorelFLOW, but has modified
 clipart and photo libraries.

 **Corel GALLERY 2 libraries included in Corel CD Office Companion have
 been altered in comparison to the standalone version.  Photos have been
 changed and reduced and video clips have been removed.

 All products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
 respective companies.  Corel is a registered trademark of Corel
 Corporation.  CorelDRAW, CorelFLOW and Corel GALLERY are trademarks of
 Corel Corporation.


                _____________________________________________


 > Internet & CIS STR InfoFile              TCP/IP & FTP Information
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""


                          CONNECTING TO COMPUSERVE
                             USING A CIM PRODUCT
                            THROUGH THE INTERNET


 So, you want to know how to login to CompuServe using a CIM product
 through the Internet?  Well, this is the file for you.  It describes how
 to login through a shell account and a TCP/IP connection.  Some quick
 definitions would probably be a good idea:

 Shell Account:
      A text-based account.  This type of account is typically
      accessed using a terminal emulation software package.
      They login to an Internet host by providing a User ID
      and password like they do when accessing CompuServe and
      are usually presented with a command prompt that looks
      like ">" or "$".

 TCP/IP Connection:
      A binary connection to the Internet.  Those accessing
      this type of account actually ARE an Internet Host - at
      least for a short time.  This type of connection is
      established by using PPP, SLIP, or sometimes a direct
      Ethernet connection.  CompuServe's Internet Dialer and
      WinSOCK are examples of this type of connection.

 See the notes at the end of this document for some of the common
 problems.

 Shell Account
 =============

 Logging in through a shell account is the same in all versions of CIM
 (WinCIM, DOSCIM, MacCIM, and OS2-CIM).  The main requirements for
 logging in through a shell account is an Internet Network script, and a
 Dial Type of Manual.  You can get the Internet Network script by
 downloading the current scripts from the CSSCRIPTS area.  The Manual
 dial type is available in WinCIM 1.2, DOSCIM 2.2, MacCIM 2.4, and all
 versions of OS2-CIM. It is possible to connect with earlier versions,
 but it is much more difficult.  Please upgrade to these
 minimum versions before attempting this type of connection.  It does not
 appear to be possible to connect in this manner with CSNav.


 1. Set the baud rate in the Connection settings to the baud rate that
    you wish to receive information from CompuServe (300, 1200,
    2400, 9600, or 14,400 - do NOT set it to any other baud rate - it
    will confuse the Internet script).

 2. Set the Network setting to "Internet"

 3. Set the Dial Type to Manual and select OK to save these settings.

 4. Select a GO command or other command that will connect you to
    CompuServe - a Manual Connect window will open up.

 5. Type any commands into the manual connect window that are necessary
    to connect you to your Internet provider. (i.e.: "ATDT" followed by
    the phone number to dial, type in your User ID, password, etc.).

 6. Connect to CompuServe using the telnet protocol.  Telnet must be
    setup to disable the escape sequence, and establish a binary (8-bit)
    connection.  A binary connection is also sometimes called "character
    mode"

    In many cases, this is done by using the command
      telnet -e "" compuserve.com
    however, not all versions of telnet support these command line
    parameters.  You will need to check your local telnet documentation,
    (on most systems this can be done by typing "man telnet" at a command
    prompt) or contact the Administrator of your Internet provider for
    details.

 7. When you receive the CompuServe "HOST NAME:" prompt, select the
    "Continue" button.  The Internet script should take over and finish
    the connection.

 8. You should now be connected to CompuServe through the Internet.


 TCP/IP Connection
 =================

 Establishing a connection to CompuServe using CIM using a TCP/IP
 connection is a bit more complicated, and because every operating
 system has a different way to communicate with this of connection, each
 of the CIM versions has a different procedure.  It is possible to
 connect to CompuServe through the Internet with WinCIM, CSNav, OS2-CIM
 and MacCIM, however, I know of no way to connect using a TCP/IP
 connection using DOSCIM (if you find a way to do this, please let me
 know).


 WinCIM TCP/IP Connection
 ------------------------

 Requirements:
     * Version 1.4 or above of WinCIM.  Earlier versions did not support
       this type of connection directly.  Those using earlier versions
       can connect using a tool called ComT which is available in the
       Internet Resources forum (GO INETRES).  A description of how to
       setup WinCIM for use with ComT is included in the ComT
       documentation.
     * An established Winsock compliant TCP/IP connection.

 1. Install the Winsock software as described in the documentation and
    establish a connection.

 2. Set the baud rate in the Session settings to the baud rate that
    you wish to receive information from CompuServe (300, 1200,
    2400, 9600, or 14,400 - do NOT set it to any other baud rate - it
    will confuse the Internet script).

 3. Set the Network setting to "Internet"

 4. For the Dial Type, select the "Direct" radio button.

 5. For the Connector setting select "WINSOCK"

 6. From the Connection Settings dialog select the "LAN..." button.

 7. On the WinSock Setting dialog, place "compuserve.com" in the box
    labeled "Host Name".  Except for extraordinary situations, you
    should not provide the Host IP Address.  They may optionally set a
    Connection Timeout.

 8. Select the "OK" button on the WinSock Settings screen.

 9. Select the "OK" button on the Session Settings screen.

 10.WinCIM is now setup to access CompuServe through the Internet. Simply
    select a GO command as if you were using a normal Modem connection.


 CSNav TCP/IP Connection
 ------------------------

 Requirements:
     * Version 1.1 or above of CSNav. (Earlier versions MAY work by using
       the same procedure for WinCIM listed above)
     * An established Winsock compliant TCP/IP connection.

 1. Install the Winsock software as described in the documentation and
    establish a connection.

 2. Set the baud rate in the Session settings to the baud rate that
    you wish to receive information from CompuServe (300, 1200,
    2400, 9600, or 14,400 - do NOT set it to any other baud rate - it
    will confuse the Internet script).

 3. Set the Network setting to "Internet"

 4. For the Dial Type, select the "Direct" radio button.

 5. For the Connector setting select "WINSOCK"

 6. From the Connection Settings dialog select the "LAN..." button.

 7. On the WinSock Setting dialog, place "compuserve.com" in the box
    labled "Host Name".  Except for extrordinary situations, the you
    should not provide the Host IP Address.  They may optionally set a
    Connection Timeout.

 8. Select the "OK" button on the WinSock Settings screen.

 9. Select the "OK" button on the Session Settings screen.

 10.CSNav is now setup to access CompuServe through the Internet. Simply
    run a script as if you were using a normal Modem connection


 MacCIM TCP/IP Connection
 -------------------------

 Requirements:
     * Version 2.3.1 or above of MacCIM.
     * A Macintosh Communications Toolbox tool installed for Telnet
       connections.
     * An established TCP/IP connection (usually using MacTCP).

 NOTE: The only tool that I am currently aware of and have tested
       with MacCIM is the TCPack Demo which is available in the
       MacCIM Support Forum.

 1. Install the Telnet tool in your Extensions folder by dragging it to
    the System Folder.

 2. Set the baud rate in the Connection settings to the baud rate that
    you wish to receive information from CompuServe (300, 1200,
    2400, 9600, or 14,400 - do NOT set it to any other baud rate - it
    will confuse the Internet script).

 3. Set the Network setting to "Internet"

 4. From the "Port" pulldown, select a telnet tool from the list.

 5. Select the "Configure" button in the lower right-hand corner of the
    Connection Settings dialog.  This will bring up the telnet tool's
    settings.

 6. Configure the telnet tool for a connection to "compuserve.com", and
    establish a binary (8-bit) connection, and disable escape sequences.
    Then select "OK" to save the telnet settings.

 7. Select "OK" on the Connection Settings screen to save these settings.

 8. Select a GO command or other command that will connect you to
    CompuServe.

 9. The telnet tool should connect you to CompuServe, and the Internet
    script will log you into CompuServe.

 CIM for OS/2 TCP/IP Connection
 ------------------------------

 Requirements:
     * Version 2.0 or above of CIM for OS/2.
     * Ray Gwinn's comm drivers for OS/2 with Vmodem.  Current versions
       of this driver are available in the SIO Support section of the
       OS/2 B Vendor Forum (GO OS2BVEN).
     * IBM's TCP/IP (for OS/2) version 2.0 with August 1994 CSD applied,
       or the IBM Internet Access Kit (IAK) supplied with OS/2 Warp.

 1. Install the SIO drivers as specified in the included SIO User's Guide
    (SIOUSER.TXT).  When setup for use with the Internet, this will create
    a virtual modem on one or  more commport.  Questions about
    installation should be referred to the SIO Support section of the
    OS/2 B Vendor Forum.

 2. Set the baud rate in the Session settings to the baud rate that
    you wish to receive information from CompuServe (300, 1200,
    2400, 9600, or 14,400 - do NOT set it to any other baud rate - it
    will confuse the Internet script).

 3. Set the Network setting to "Internet"

 4. For the Connector setting, select one of the virtual modem ports
    that were setup during the installation of the SIO driver. This
    will usually be COM3 or COM4.

 5. For the Phone number, enter " compuserve.com" (without the quotes).
    The space before "compuserve.com" IS important.

 6. Select the "Modem..." button.

 7. On the Modem Control Strings screen place

      ATZ^M

    in the Initialize string box.

 8. Select the "OK" button on the Modem Settings screen.

 9. Select the "OK" button on the Session Settings screen.

 10.Establish the TCP/IP connection using the Dialer included with the
    Internet Access Kit, or IBM's TCP/IP package.  Questions on how to do
    this should be referred to the OS/2 Support Forum (GO OS2SUP) or
    the Internet Resources forum (GO INETRES).

 11.From an OS/2 Command Prompt, startup the VMODEM program.  This is a
    background program that controls the redirection to the Internet, and
    displays status information.

 12.WinCIM is now setup to access CompuServe through the Internet. To
 Simply
    select a GO command as if you were using a normal Modem connection



 NOTES
 =====

 If you receive the error "Unable to Establish Protocol", chances are
 that a binary (8-bit) connection is not being established, or escape
 sequences are not being disabled.

 The default telnet connection is 7-bit, and some versions of telnet do
 not have an option to create an 8-bit connection. You will need to
 check your documentation and make sure that you can establish an 8-bit
 (also known as "character mode") connection to CompuServe.



 FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a tool for transferring files 
 on the Internet. 

      FTP uses a standard protocol for file transfer so that you can
 exchange files between two computers, no matter their make and type.  You
 can use FTP to receive files from a remote system or to send files to
 remote computers from your desktop. 

      When using the Internet, you are using a completely different
 physical network than the CompuServe network.  The CompuServe network is
 centralized and uniformly managed. The Internet is maintained
 independently at thousands of sites around the world. The reliability,
 availability and performance of resources accessed via the Internet are
 beyond CompuServe's control and are not warranted or supported  by
 CompuServe in any way.  If many people access a site at the same time,
 performance will  deteriorate.  Be prepared to wait for the remote system
 to respond to your requests if you are using it during periods of peak
 demand.  

      While you may use any version of the CompuServe Information Manager
 interface to access FTP you will need WinCIM V1.3 or higher, or MacCIM 
 V2.4 or higher to see the iconic buttons.  WinCIM 1.4 and MacCIM 3.0 (when
 available) are recommended. Be sure that the "show graphic menus" option
 is enabled in the SPECIAL PREFERENCES menu of your CIM software.
 This option is enabled by default.

      To use this service GO FTP and enter the name of the site you wish to
 access or choose from one of the sites on the menu.  Once you discover
 files you want to download, just mark the box next to the file name.  When
 you have marked all the files you want to download in one specific
 directory, select the download button.  You will be prompted for the
 location on your own computer where the files will be stored.

                   _______________________________________



 > BLIND FANATICS?? STR Spotlight   Destroying Your Constitutional Rights
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""



                      THE DEATH OF THE FOURTH AMENDMENT
                      =================================
                       EXCLUSIONARY REFORM ACT OF 1995
                              HOUSE BILL # 666
                       "LAWMAKING AT ITS VERY WORST!"


 by Ralph F. Mariano

      Friends, how deeply horrified were you when you watched the
 historical motion picture accounts; "The Holocaust" and "Schindler's
 List"??  Did you find it particularly upsetting to see those Gestapo
 (German Police) THUGS crashing and busting their way into people's homes
 with little or no respect for the rights of the inhabitants and owners of
 those homes?  How about the way in which the possessions of those folks
 was blatantly stolen and liquidated by either  the authorities or the
 individual officers with impunity?  

      Well now, then you might agree that the founders of this country had
 a good deal more "on the ball" than the simple times they lived in.  You
 see, they too, were experiencing the very same type of treatment at the
 hands of the King of England's Men.  Throughout the Colonies the British
 Troops would do the same thing in "handling the tax evading colonists". 
 While they didn't have the concentration camps with their ever present
 ovens or gas chambers the Nazi's will long be remembered for, the British
 Soldiers wantonly killed any colonist as a rebel for objecting to any type
 of unlawful search and/or seizure.  Another outrage of the time was
 "forced billeting".  The Brits would actually force a colonist to take a
 number of troops into his/her home to live without compensation to the
 colonist.
  
      I swore to myself some time ago that I would not get all fired up
 over wacky politics.  But I gotta tell you this one is one very dangerous
 and sinister package that's being rammed through the House and Senate by
 the "Egomaniacal, Ultra Conservative" action group within our respected
 law-making bodies of government.  Its the name OF THIS BILL..  It is so
 innocent sounding its almost impossible to believe just how dangerous it
 really is.

      Its called "EXCLUSIONARY REFORM ACT OF 1995" - HOUSE BILL # 666 

      Imagine that!  The House Bill number is ironically the same as the
 "Mark of the BEAST"!  Yes sir, this bill is at the heart of a very serious
 effort on the part of the "fanatics left in office" following the recent
 elections.  Could it be they are paying the nation back for having voted
 OUT all their "good buddies" thus effectively neutralizing the democratic
 grip on the country and its affairs?  Folks, if you treasure your family
 home and its security, make certain you ring the alarm bells in your
 Congress Critter's and Senate Thumper's offices.  Let them know loudly and
 clearly that this HR 666 belongs in the trash!  While at the same time
 reminding them that you are a registered voter.

      This Bill gives law enforcement officials of every level unilaterally
 unbridled Search and Seizure Powers.  No more having to answer to a court
 judge, no more having to justify a search warrant before its issued, no
 more search warrants and no more curtailment of illegally obtained
 "evidence" that can be ruled inadmissable to possibly protect the
 innocent.  Can you see it now??  We have seen the horror stories many
 times before but now.. if this bill passes, the horror stories are going
 to become far more plentiful and serious.  Just this past week the train
 cops in NYC had to "apologize" for wrongfully detaining and searching a
 passenger, because the passenger fit a "predesigned profile".  Can you
 imagine the abuse when there are no laws to slow down these abuses?  One
 can almost hear it now... "Vere iz you paperz??  Paperz pleaze!!  Being
 spoken loudly across America because of this crazed HR Bill # 666 and
 Exon's misguided campaign.  Save and preserve the power of the Fourth
 Amendment.  While its not perfect now, the direction Exon wants to take
 this country in is straight to hell in a hand basket.  Please don't let it
 happen.  Not so much for us.. but for our successors in generations yet to
 come.  They do not deserve this fetid can of Exon worms.
  
      This so-called, self righteous, "Clean up the Internet" campaign
 being led by Jim Exon Dem. Nebraska, is an absolute outrage that's easily
 comparable to almost every injustice perpetrated upon entire populations
 from The Inquisitions to The Nazi Pillages and Slaughter of Europe.  If
 this bill, HR #666, along with Exon's that literally GUTS the Fourth
 Amendment Passes... Sen Exon's name along with his "pack" will long be
 remembered along with many other infamous names in the history of the
 persecuted and downtrodden members of mankind.  If I'm not mistaken, part
 of the oath of office these "elected officials mutter and stutter" is to
 uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  Why
 are these same officials trying so hard to destroy the very foundations of
 our Great Nation?  The Bill of Rights and The Constitution!  Exon and his
 crew may not be aware of this, but the Internet is, without a doubt, the
 most powerful form of super fast communications the world has ever known. 
 We need each and every citizen of this country that's truly concerned
 about protecting the Bill of Rights, The Constitution and the Spirit of
 the Law the way our Founding Fathers intended it to be to make themselves
 loudly heard.  This business of giving the Government, Federal, State, and
 Local complete and unmitigated police powers of search and seizure is
 rediculous.  There is no National Emergency!  If there were, the President
 could easily declare Marshal Law and bring in the Military.

      These self-appointed "patriots" seemingly want to tear down not only
 the Internet and its communicative freedoms, but the basic foundations of
 our country through overbearing, Human Rights clobbering legislation.  In
 so doing, they will simultaneously cripple the US Constitution and your
 rights as citizen of this country.  No longer will our citizenship be
 something to be proud of.  Sen. Exon's name will be very easy to remember
 at the ballot box.  His name reminds one of another recent disaster of
 monstrous proportions. Valdez, Alaska..  Where another "Exxon" was
 directly involved in an equally grotesque exercise in horror.  

      The good Senator Exon ought to put as much, if not more of his
 zealot-like energy into CLEANING THEIR OWN HOUSE & SENATE!  Exon should be
 busy trying to nail PACKWOOD for abusing and molesting the women who have
 to work there for a living.  Exon ought to remember that those women
 violated by Packwood were all housewives and/or mothers.  He should be
 busy persuing the creeps that siphoned off millions from the Congressional
 Post Office.  Why is it that Old, "Danny Boy" Rostenkowsie <sp> is
 seemingly OFF the HOOK???  If John Q. Public were to pull some of the
 stunts Dan and his buddies are/were accused of they'd put the poor slob
 UNDER the JAIL.  Yet Rostenkowskie and his gang WALK and they all do so
 with a BIG FAT GOVERNMENT PENSION that we are all paying for.
  
      This being Memorial Day Weekend... a time when the Nation is
 remembering, praying for and paying homage to the millions of GI's who
 valiantly gave their lives in defense of this Nation's lofty Principles
 and Its Constitution.  A Constitution that, at one time or another, has
 been the envy of every other nation on Earth...  It is most fitting on
 this holiday to point out a few of the less than responsible actions
 undertaken by elected officials in our government who are trying to ruin
 this country and its freedoms by destroying its constitution.  Instead,
 they should be defending it as they swore to in their oath.  Stop them
 from trying to steal away your freedom in the name of "Justice". Certainly
 its not "Justice for All".  More like; "Injustice for All"!  God help us
 if they should succeed!

                     ___________________________________
   

 > THE WEB & CIS STR Spotlight
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""



                              H O M E P A G E S
                                    F O R
                           C O M P U S U R F E R S



 April 28, 1995

 by Benoit Marchal [100345,354]

 Keywords: homepage html page publishing url web www

 Now that CompuServe offers full Internet access, including the World Wide
 Web (WWW), more subscribers want to setup their own homepage and publish
 information to the ever growing Internet community.

 It is not really difficult to have your own page on the Web if you know
 the rules of the game. With surprisingly little investment you can achieve
 a real nice looking result.

 There are plenty of good reasons to publish on the Internet.  Whether to
 promote your business, your local association, or just for fun.

 It takes a book to cover Web publishing completely. In this introduction
 paper I'll show you where to start and point you to more information.
 Think of this paper as a road-map, I don't intend to cover every aspect of
 Web publishing but to provide enough guidance to get you on the right
 track.

 This paper was written for CompuServe users and covers Internet access
 from CompuServe.

 Currently all the Internet services available from CompuServe are clients,
 i.e. you access the Internet from CompuServe but you cannot publish.
 Theoretically you could install a server on your own computer and make it
 accessible through the PPP connection but it requires being on-line a 24
 hours/day and believe me, at $1.95/hour, you don't want to do that. Beside
 CIS assigns you a different address each time you log in.

 Probably one day CompuServe will rent Web space but in the meantime you'll
 have to go with another presence provider. CIS has all the tools you need
 to install and maintain your homepage on a third party system though.

 Here are the five steps to successfully setup a page:

 1. practice Internet access;
 2. surf the Web;
 3. write your page;
 4. sign with a presence provider on Internet;
 5. advertise your page.

 1. Practice Internet Access

 CIS offers two forms of access to the Internet.  Its Internet Made
 Easy(sm) program wraps selected Internet applications under the familiar
 CIM interface while All the Internet, All the Time(sm) offers direct
 connection to the Internet.

 With the exception of email, all the services available as part of
 Internet Made Easy are also available through the direct connection with
 appropriate software. At the time of writing, Web browsing is available
 through the direct connection only.

 All Internet services on CIS are available by GOing INTERNET.

 To setup and maintain your homepage you will use at least a Web browser,
 FTP and email. I suggest you become familiar with at least those services
 before going any further. It is not a bad idea to try other Internet
 applications like Telnet, Usenet, Gopher, IRC, etc.

 You can receive guidance on all aspects of Internet in the Internet New
 Users forum (GO INETFORUM).

 1.1. Web Browser

 Currently the WWW is available only through the direct connection.

 It does not really matter which Web browser you use but it is one of the
 primary tool of a Web author. So I encourage you to spend enough time
 learning how it works. You will use it to surf the Internet and to test
 your homepage.

 Apart from normal Web surfing try the following options:

 - load a page from disk (all Web browsers support this);

 - display source code and/or save it to disk. Some older
   browsers may not support this. Although not required, it is
   a nice feature to have. By the way to save source code with
   SPRY Mosaic (part of the free Internet Launcher toolkit),
   select File|Document Source... and then File|Save As from
   the source code window.

 In general, it will save you money if you learn how to view documents
 off-line.

 1.2. FTP

 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is Internet standard application to exchange
 files between computers.  You will use it to upload your page to your
 presence provider. From CIM, GO FTP.

 1.3. Email

 CompuServe mail has a gateway to the Internet.
 Use this format to send mail to Internet users:
    internet:user@domain

 For example, my address on another system is
 <benoit.marchal@ping.be>, from CIS it translates into:
    internet:benoit.marchal@ping.be

 Your CompuServe address for Internet users is:
    userid@compuserve.com
 where you replace the coma with a dot.

 E.g. my CompuServe address [100345,354] becomes
 <100345.354@compuserve.com> on the Internet. Mind the dot!

 Internet mail is surcharged (i.e. you pay to read it), make sure
 you accept surcharged mail.

 It is a good idea to leave your email address on your homepage
 for visitors to comment.
 Also some presence providers accept pages sent by email.

 2. Surf the Web

 The best place to learn about the Web is the Web itself.  Visit as many
 pages as possible to find ideas on how to present your information,
 practice with indexes and meta-indexes like Aliweb (Archie-like Indexing
 for the Web) available at:
  http://web.nexor.co.uk/aliweb/doc/aliweb.html, EINet Galaxy
 (http://www.einet.net/galaxy.html) and Yahoo
 (http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/welcome.html).

 Try to find pages with interests similar to yours, you will link to them
 from your page. Also some sites maintain lists of related resources. Most
 will be happy to link to your page once it is available.

 It is also a good time to start learning HMTL and URLs (Cf. section 3). 
 Don't be shy and whenever you see a nice looking page, view the code (if
 your browser supports it) or even better save it to disk for later
 examination. Try to understand how a particular effect is achieved.

 It is best to record your discoveries in a notebook. Write down
 interesting addresses, source code, etc. Record as much information as
 possible, you will need these notes later.

 If you are a regular user of Internet services on CIS, you may want to
 join the Internet Club for reduced access rates. If you surf more than 9
 hours/month, the Internet Club will save you money.

 To join The Internet Club GO INTERNET and choose Special Pricing - The 
 Internet Club.

 3. Write your Page

 Now it is time to write your own page.

 Web pages are written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) which is an
 application of SGML. HTML files are text files so you can create them with
 any word processor which saves as ASCII.  Windows Notepad suffices.

 Familiarize yourself with URL, a scheme to write addresses on the Web.
 Some knowledge of graphics file format (at least GIF) also helps.

 HTML is really easy to use. You simply mark elements in your text as being
 of a given type. As an illustration here is a very small page.

 <HTML>
 <HEAD><TITLE>Simple page</TITLE></HEAD>
 <BODY>
 This <EM>minimal</EM> example takes you to <A
 HREF="http://www.ping.be/~ping0049">my homepage</A>.
 </BODY>
 </HTML>

 <EM> and </EM> which surround the word 'minimal' mark it as emphasized.
 Typically, 'minimal' will be italicized by Web browsers.

 <A ...> and </A> mark 'my homepage' as an hyperlink, i.e. a link to
 another document. HREF specify its address in the form of an URL.

 Similarly, the whole document is surrounded with <HTML> and </HTML> to
 mark it as an HTML document. Easy isn't it? All you do is recognize
 elements in your text and mark them accordingly. HTML specifies valid tags
 and their relationships.

 You can copy this simple page into another file and open it with your
 browser. Note: some browser determines the type of a file based on their
 extension, they will only recognize an HTML file if it has the .htm or
 .html extension.

 For a comprehensive introduction to HTML refer to
 http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html.
 A guide of good practice is also available from
 http://www.willamette.edu/html-composition/strict-html.html.
 A guide to URLs is available from
 http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/url-primer.html.
 Also check
 http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Provider/Overview.html for
 general information on Web documents.
 For more on SGML, refer to my article at
 http://www.ping.be/~ping0049/sgml.html.

 You can preview your page as you write it with the Open Local File feature
 of your browser. It is a good idea to download at least another Web
 browser to further test your page.

 Remember you can start writing your page even before you have an account
 with an Internet provider but it is not a good idea to wait too long
 before putting it on-line. You'll learn a lot from early visitor comments
 so it is best to put your page on-line as soon as possible and later
 improve it.

 Try to organize your page for easy and convenient access to information
 but don't worry if your first attempt doesn't look great, things will
 improve with time and practice. Don't wait until you have something
 perfect! Unlike traditional publishing, Web publishing is real fast. It
 takes only a few minutes to replace an obsolete document so don't be shy
 and publish as soon as possible.

 It is a good practice to state clearly when your page is still under
 development and to date it as an help to potential visitors.

 If you write many pages download a specialized editor like HoTMetaL, Web
 Assistant or Microsoft Internet Assistant. Browse the Internet Resources
 forum libraries (GO INETRES).

 Although it is fun to write your page yourself, you can also request help
 from a specialized writer. I (and others) can help you writing Web pages.

 4. Sign with a Presence Provider on Internet

 You first homepage is now ready. It's time to put it on the
 Internet.

 Basically you have three solutions to obtain Web space:

 - you can sign with an access provider which include Web space
   in its package;

 - you can sign with a presence provider. Unlike access
   providers, presence providers only rent Web space (sometimes
   FTP and gopher too). You use CompuServe Internet access to
   maintain your page. Since they focus solely on Web publishing
   these sites are usually cheaper and/or deliver better
   services. There's a list of presence providers at 
   http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/leasing.html;

 - you can upload your page to the HomePage Provider which is
   free. HPP is at http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu//HomePage.
   As you can expect from a free service, the site is overcrowded
   but it is perfect for early testing.

 When selecting a presence provider test it: try to connect at various time
 of the day and night (this is global networking, daytime for you is night
 for another user). Try to contact current users and find how active is the
 site.  Remember a page nobody access is useless.

 The best choice depends on your page, the level of service you expect and
 how much you are willing to pay for it. E.g. some systems offer additional
 services like FTP server, mailing list server, etc. Others are cheap but
 sells limited space.  Be careful with some real cheap offers: with some
 provider you pay to update your page or you pay per access! This can be
 really costly in the long run.

 5. Advertise your Page

 Once your page is ready and running, advertise it. You want others to find
 it. Here are some techniques:

 - add your homepage URL to your signature;
 - add your page to indexes and meta-indexes;
 - visit those places in your notebook which relate to your page
   and see if you can't have a link added;
 - always remember to be polite when people comment your page. I
   know it has been hard work but others have the right to
   criticize. Listen to them, they may have a point.

 You will find more at:
 http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/gdr11/publish.html.

 Above everything experiment and have fun!

 As always I welcome comments and suggestions on this paper.
 ---------

 (C)opyright 1995, Benoit Marchal. You may freely redistribute this
 document in any form for educational and non-profit purposes provided you
 retain this copyright.

 Benoit Marchal is a computer scientist and freelance writer specialized in
 technology-related matters. Ben can be contacted on CompuServe at
 100345,354. His homepage is at http://www.ping.be/~ping0049.

                       _______________________________


 > SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT! STR Spotlight
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""


                            PURPOSE AND OPERATION
                                   OF THE
                             REGISTRATION WIZARD


      A recent trade publication article contained inaccuracies regarding
 the purpose and operation of the Registration Wizard, the on-line
 registration application in Windows 95.  The purpose of the Registration
 Wizard is to offer an electronic version of the paper-based Registration
 Card that traditionally comes with all Microsoft products.

      The Registration Wizard asks for similar information to that listed
 in the paper-based registration card, such as your hardware configuration
 and applications usage.  Just like with a traditional registration card,
 providing this information is optional.

      A customer using the Registration Wizard receives dialog prompts
 asking them whether they would like to send this information.  They must
 actively click 'send' for any information to be sent.

 There are lots of benefits to customers that provide this information -
 such as product update mailings and improved product support because the
 product support engineer can refer to your exact system configuration
 information on-line.  In the end, though, sending this information is
 optional and a conscious decision by the user.

 Microsoft traditionally does not make information gathered during the
 registration process available to third-parties.  If the customer chooses
 to send system and software information to Microsoft with the Registration
 Wizard, it is a one-way, one-time occurrence and takes place at the time
 the customer selects 'send.'



   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
         A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N

                  FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI

 For  a  limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent
 to  you  that  demonstrates  FARGO  Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY
 600dpi  24  bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed
 Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to:

                       STReport's Fargo Printout Offer
                                P.O. Box 6672
                      Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155

 Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet.  Its far superior
 to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as
 much.  Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words.  Send for this
 sample now.  Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please,
 allow at least a one week turn-around)

         A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

                                 
                            ___   ___    _____     _______
                           /___| /___|  /_____|  /_______/
                          /____|/____| /__/|__| /__/           
                         /_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/
                        /__/|____/|__|________|__/
                       /__/ |___/ |__|_/   |__|_/_____
                      /__/  |__/  |__|/    |__|______/
                  ________________________________________
                 /_______________________________________/

                           MAC/APPLE SECTION (II)
                           ======================
                         John Deegan, Editor (Temp)




 > Creative Technology NEWS STR InfoFile
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""



          Creative Announces Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x

            Best Selling Educational Kit is Upgraded to Include 
                          Quad-Speed CD-ROM Technology

 SINGAPORE -- May 23, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF)
 today announced Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x, the most recent
 addition to its expanding line of best-selling quad-speed multimedia kits. 
 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x takes the highly successful Digital
 Schoolhouse multimedia kit and combines it with leading edge quad-speed
 CD-ROM technology.  The consumer can now find industry standard Sound
 Blaster audio, plus quad-speed access to information and the strongest
 collection of educational titles available in the upgrade kit marketplace. 
 Creative has included targeted educational software titles with
 value-added technology to offer the most to the home multimedia market. 
 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x will be available at retail outlets
 in June for a projected price of $349.

 "Creative is committed to the introduction of new multimedia products that 
 incorporate the most recent advancements in technology and address the
 needs of the family multimedia market segment," said Arnold Waldstein,
 vice president of U.S. software and product marketing for Creative Labs,
 Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Creative Technology.  "Sound Blaster Digital
 Schoolhouse offers families an ideal multimedia solution, combining the
 most trusted brand name in multimedia, the latest in CD-ROM technology and
 a Sound Blaster compatible library of educational titles.  This product
 represents a great value for the home computer user."  

 Features of Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x
 ------------------------------------------------
 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x includes Creative's quad-speed IDE 
 CD-ROM drive, a wave table upgradeable Sound Blaster 16 audio card and
 stereo speakers, along with software titles from leading publishers.  The
 quad-speed drive provides a 600KB per second transfer rate, a better-than
 250ms access rate and compatibility with the Kodak Photo CD.  Its IDE
 interface is best suited to handle the high-speed transfer rates of
 quad-speed drives and allows users to obtain optimum performance of
 software titles.  In addition, the kit's Sound Blaster 16 card provides CD
 quality stereo sampling and playback and is upgradeable to wave table
 synthesis for real instrument sounds and digital sound effects. 

 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x's high-value software bundle features 
 six audio utility programs from Creative and the following educational 
 titles:

  T/Maker's Four Footed Friends
  T/Maker's Stradiwackius
  Davidson and Associates' Spell It 3         
  Davidson and Associates' The Cruncher
  Davidson and Associates' Kid Works 2   
  Electronic Arts' Peter Pan: A Story Painting Adventure
  Electronic Arts' Scooter's Magic Castle     
  Electronic Arts' Eagle Eye Mysteries: The Original
  Electronic Arts' Eagle Eye Mysteries In London
  Grolier Electronic Publishing's Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
  Knowledge Adventure's Speed
  Opcode Systems' Allie's Playhouse

 "Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x is perfect for parents who want to
 turn their computer into a multimedia school room to enhance their child's 
 learning experience," said Kim Federico, product marketing manager, 
 multimedia kits for Creative Labs, Inc.  "With this entertaining
 interactive environment, children of various ages can develop early
 computer skills while mastering subjects such as spelling, math, reading,
 history and science." 

 Creative's growing quad-speed multimedia kit line now includes Sound
 Blaster Multimedia Home 4x, Sound Blaster Discovery CD 4x, Digital
 Schoolhouse 4x and Blaster CD 4x.  From the full-featured Multimedia Home
 4x edutainment and productivity kit to the entry level Blaster CD 4x
 CD-ROM upgrade kit, Creative's quad-speed line serves a broad spectrum of
 consumer needs and interests.


              ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300 Expand 
                Creative's Communications Family of Products

          New Macintosh-Based Products Are Only To Offer Mac to PC 
                   Video Conferencing Over Regular Phone Lines

 SINGAPORE -- May 2, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq:CREAF) today 
 introduced ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300, the only desktop
 video conferencing products to support cross-platform connectivity between 
 Macintosh and PC computers over a regular telephone line.  ShareVision 
 Mac3000 is a complete desktop video conferencing solution for AV Macintosh 
 model users, providing simultaneous video, voice, application sharing,
 file transfers and interactive Whiteboards.  ShareVision Mac300 is a cost-
 effective alternative for AV users who already own a video camera.  In
 June, ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300 will be available from
 retailers and value added resellers (VARs) for an approximate price of
 $1,149 and $749 respectively.

 "Creative continues its role as an industry leader by offering the only 
 POTS-based (Plain Old Telephone System) cross-platform product on the 
 market," said Rich Sorkin, vice president, communications and business 
 products for Creative Labs, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Creative
 Technology, Ltd.  "With ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300,
 Creative has extended its communications family to meet increasing
 consumer demand for a cross-platform solution.  These products demonstrate
 Creative's ongoing commitment to providing productivity tools that fit the
 needs of both SOHO (small office/home office) and corporate users."

 ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300 provide simultaneous voice,
 video and data communications over one regular telephone line, when used
 with the Power Macintosh 7100 AV or 8100 AV or the Macintosh Quadra 840
 AV.  ShareVision Mac300 can also provide simultaneous voice and data
 functions when installed in any 68030 (or faster) Macintosh computer.

 ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300 include the NuBus ShareVision
 Mac Communication Card, an external V.34 28.8K bits per second data/fax
 modem, ShareVision software, a hands-free audio headset and all the
 necessary cables.  In addition, ShareVision Mac3000 also includes a color
 video camera with stand.  ShareVision Mac3000 and ShareVision Mac300 allow
 users to share applications and collaborate on documents, even if the
 application software is installed on only one user's system.  For example,
 both users can edit documents in word processing, data management,
 spreadsheet, presentation or graphics programs in real time through an
 analog telephone connection.  Users can also concurrently annotate
 documents or full-color snapshots using the built-in Whiteboard. 
 ShareVision products are programmable and upgradeable, enabling users to
 take advantage of emerging standards.

 "We're looking forward to selling the ShareVision Mac3000 and Mac300 
 products," said Jay Cohn, president of Vision Technology, a Northern 
 California reseller specializing in desktop video conferencing.  "We've
 been successful with both the ShareVision products for the PC, and the
 previous generation of ShareVision products for the Mac, ShareView.  Our
 clients are anxious to upgrade to the cross-platform video, voice and
 whiteboard capabilities of the Mac3000."

 Creative  introduced the first desktop video conferencing products for the
 Macintosh  computer,  ShareView 3000 and ShareView 300, in 1993.  In 1994,
 Creative  unveiled  its  two  PC-based  products,  ShareVision  PC3000 and
 ShareVision  PC300.  Since this introduction, these Macintosh and PC-based
 products  have  been  adopted by a wide range of users, including those in
 federal  agencies,  universities,  multinational corporations, product and
 packaging  design  firms,  creative  services  agencies and law firms.  In
 addition,  ShareVision PC3000 has received numerous awards for excellence,
 including  the  Winter  Consumer Electronics Show's Innovations '95 Award,
 Germany's  CeBit  Innovation '95 Award and France Telecom's Innovation '95
 "Best Multimedia Product" Award, among others.


             Creative Labs Launches Wave Blaster II-GamePak 
                           and Blaster CD 4x At E3

           New Products Expand Family of Wave Table Synthesis 
                      and Quad-Speed CD-ROM Offerings

 LOS ANGELES -- May 11, 1995 -- Creative Labs, Inc., the U.S. sales and 
 marketing subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd., today unveiled Wave
 Blaster II-GamePak and Blaster CD 4x at E3 (Electronic Entertainment
 Expo).  Wave Blaster II-GamePak extends Creative's family of wave table
 products, providing Sound Blaster 16 upgradeable audio card users with the
 next generation of Sound Blaster audio technology.  The product also
 includes four wave table ready games on a single CD-ROM.  Blaster CD 4x is
 an entry level addition to Creative's growing quad-speed line of
 multimedia kits, offering consumers an opportunity to upgrade to the
 latest CD-ROM technology for an attractive price.  It also features
 Grolier Electronic Publishing's award-winning encyclopedia.  Consumers
 will be able to find Wave Blaster II-GamePak in June, and Blaster CD 4x in
 May, at retail outlets for projected prices of $129.99 and $219.99,
 respectively.

  "Creative's Sound Blaster standard has played a key role in the
 electronic entertainment industry and we will further extend that standard
 to continually enhance consumers' multimedia experience with innovative
 products," said W.H. Sim, chairman and CEO of Creative Technology. "With
 Wave Blaster II-GamePak's high performance wave table synthesis
 capabilities, users who already own an upgradeable Sound Blaster 16 card
 can incorporate the next generation of Sound Blaster audio technology into
 their PC.  Blaster CD 4x, our entry level quad-speed CD-ROM kit, is
 another example of Creative's dedication to offering a full range of
 multimedia solutions." 

 Features of Wave Blaster II-GamePak
 -----------------------------------
 Wave Blaster II-GamePak is a solution for PC gamers and multimedia 
 enthusiasts who want to upgrade their 16-bit sound card for real
 instrument sounds and digital sound effects.  In addition, it includes
 GamePak, a single CD-ROM with four interactive wave-table titles,
 featuring: 

   id Software Inc.'s Doom, Episode 1 
   Interplay( Productions, Inc.'s Descent Destination Saturn
   id Software Inc.'s Heretic, Episode 1
   Blizzard Entertainment's WarCraft, Special Edition.  

 Wave Blaster II is a General MIDI, wave-table synthesis daughterboard for 
 Creative's upgradeable line of Sound Blaster 16 audio cards.  It uses E-mu 
 Systems' patented digital sample playback synthesis to provide 128 real 
 instrument sounds, 10 drum kits and 46 sound effects in 2MB of ROM.  Wave 
 Blaster II incorporates 32-note, 16 channel polyphony; supports General
 MIDI, Sound Canvas and MT-32 standards; and offers chorus, reverb and
 Q-Sound.  For serious musicians, Wave Blaster II can also be connected to
 Creative's award-winning Sound Blaster AWE32 for 64 note polyphony,
 allowing users to create rich orchestration with 64 simultaneous voices.

 Features of Blaster CD 4x
 -------------------------
 Blaster CD 4x is a cost-effective way for consumers to upgrade to
 quad-speed CD-ROM technology for enhanced software performance.  Blaster
 CD 4x's quad-speed CD-ROM drive includes an IDE interface card, enabling
 it to run on systems with or without audio boards.  The drive has a 600KB
 per second transfer rate and a better than 250ms access time; and it is
 multi-session, Kodak Photo CD-compatible.  In addition, Blaster CD 4x also
 features The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia from Grolier Electronic
 Publishing.

 "Both Wave Blaster II-GamePak and Blaster CD 4x demonstrate Creative's 
 responsiveness to consumers and our commitment to providing leading-edge 
 technology," said Arnold Waldstein, vice president of U.S. software and 
 product marketing for Creative Labs, Inc.  "Wave Blaster II-GamePak brings 
 consumers an upgrade option with all the advantages of Sound Blaster and 
 advanced wave effects, while Blaster CD 4x provides PC users with a way to 
 add high performance quad-speed CD-ROM technology to their systems for an 
 entry-level price." 



          Creative Announces Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x

            Best Selling Educational Kit is Upgraded to Include 
                          Quad-Speed CD-ROM Technology

 SINGAPORE -- May 23, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF)
 today announced Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x, the most recent
 addition to its expanding line of best-selling quad-speed multimedia kits. 
 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x takes the highly successful Digital
 Schoolhouse multimedia kit and combines it with leading edge quad-speed
 CD-ROM technology.  The consumer can now find industry standard Sound
 Blaster audio, plus quad-speed access to information and the strongest
 collection of educational titles available in the upgrade kit marketplace. 
 Creative has included targeted educational software titles with
 value-added technology to offer the most to the home multimedia market. 
 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x will be available at retail outlets
 in June for a projected price of $349.

 "Creative is committed to the introduction of new multimedia products that 
 incorporate the most recent advancements in technology and address the
 needs of the family multimedia market segment," said Arnold Waldstein,
 vice president of U.S. software and product marketing for Creative Labs,
 Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Creative Technology.  "Sound Blaster Digital
 Schoolhouse offers families an ideal multimedia solution, combining the
 most trusted brand name in multimedia, the latest in CD-ROM technology and
 a Sound Blaster compatible library of educational titles.  This product
 represents a great value for the home computer user."  

 Features of Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x
 ------------------------------------------------
 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x includes Creative's quad-speed IDE 
 CD-ROM drive, a wave table upgradeable Sound Blaster 16 audio card and
 stereo speakers, along with software titles from leading publishers.  The
 quad-speed drive provides a 600KB per second transfer rate, a better-than
 250ms access rate and compatibility with the Kodak Photo CD.  Its IDE
 interface is best suited to handle the high-speed transfer rates of
 quad-speed drives and allows users to obtain optimum performance of
 software titles.  In addition, the kit's Sound Blaster 16 card provides CD
 quality stereo sampling and playback and is upgradeable to wave table
 synthesis for real instrument sounds and digital sound effects. 

 Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x's high-value software bundle features 
 six audio utility programs from Creative and the following educational 
 titles:

  T/Maker's Four Footed Friends
  T/Maker's Stradiwackius
  Davidson and Associates' Spell It 3         
  Davidson and Associates' The Cruncher
  Davidson and Associates' Kid Works 2   
  Electronic Arts' Peter Pan: A Story Painting Adventure
  Electronic Arts' Scooter's Magic Castle     
  Electronic Arts' Eagle Eye Mysteries: The Original
  Electronic Arts' Eagle Eye Mysteries In London
  Grolier Electronic Publishing's Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
  Knowledge Adventure's Speed
  Opcode Systems' Allie's Playhouse

 "Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse 4x is perfect for parents who want to
 turn their computer into a multimedia school room to enhance their child's 
 learning experience," said Kim Federico, product marketing manager, 
 multimedia kits for Creative Labs, Inc.  "With this entertaining
 interactive environment, children of various ages can develop early
 computer skills while mastering subjects such as spelling, math, reading,
 history and science." 

 Creative's growing quad-speed multimedia kit line now includes Sound
 Blaster Multimedia Home 4x, Sound Blaster Discovery CD 4x, Digital
 Schoolhouse 4x and Blaster CD 4x.  From the full-featured Multimedia Home
 4x edutainment and productivity kit to the entry level Blaster CD 4x
 CD-ROM upgrade kit, Creative's quad-speed line serves a broad spectrum of
 consumer needs and interests.




             PSINet Provides Instant Internet Access to Creative 
                  Labs, Inc.'s Modem Blaster Products

           Partnership to Provide Customers with a Fast, Affordable 
                   High Performance Communications Solution

 HERNDON, VA & MILPITAS -- May 16, 1995 -- Creative Labs, Inc., the U.S. 
 subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF) and Performance 
 Systems International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSIX) today announced the bundling of 
 PSINet's InterRamp service with Creative's Modem Blaster( family of 
 communications products.  This partnership furthers Creative's commitment
 to serving the diverse communications needs of consumers.  With Modem
 Blaster 28.8 and Modem Blaster 14.4, users can gain instant affordable
 access to the Internet via "Instant InterRamp,"  PSINet's personal
 Internet access service.The agreement also enables PC users to browse the
 World Wide Web, send and receive files, participate in interactive forums
 and utilize a variety of information and resources found on the Internet.

 "This multimedia communications bundle signifies a dramatic change in 
 providing Internet access to the mass market, making it easier for home
 users and telecommuters to get connected to the worldwide web of
 networks," said Martin Schoffstall, senior vice president and chief
 technical officer at PSINet.  "Never before has it been easier for the PC
 user to get connected directly to the Internet and enjoy the power of
 running any open systems TCP/IP software."

 Creative's Modem Blaster 28.8 and Modem Blaster 14.4 are the only high 
 performance modem products -- in one complete package -- to enable PC
 users to browse the World Wide Web, utilize a variety of information and
 resources found on the Internet, play games modem-to-modem, send and
 receive e-mail, participate in  interactive on-line forums and take
 advantage of on-line services.  Creative's Modem Blaster products
 therefore offer the most affordable all-in-one modem solutions currently
 available.

 InterRamp is PSINet's personal connection to the Internet for the single
 user needing full power Internet access to run any, commercial or public
 domain, TCP/IP applications.  InterRamp users can connect directly to the
 world of networks at up to 28.8K bits per second for the fastest World
 Wide Web access available today.  InterRamp service is projected to be
 available in 120 cities in the U.S. by the end of 1995.  

 "With the introduction of its new communications family of products,
 Creative is redefining the way users interact on-line.  We are providing
 our customers with an affordable, all-in-one communications solution that
 provides everything users need to get on-line quickly and easily," said
 Richard Sorkin, vice president of communications products at Creative
 Labs, Inc.  "Creative's communications products are well positioned to
 serve the ever-growing universe of Internet-savvy PC users in both the
 SOHO and entertainment marketplaces."

 Modem Blaster 28.8 and Modem Blaster 14.4 are the first products to
 combine this broad range of functionality with the fast and affordable
 Internet access of InterRamp.  Priced at $219.99 and $99.99 respectively,
 Modem Blaster 28.8 and 14.4 bundles are currently available from Creative
 Labs, Inc.  The bundle price includes a 7-day free trial period for the
 InterRamp service.  Following the trial period, InterRamp will offer users
 a rate of $1 an hour for Internet access.

 PSINet is a leading provider of Internet access and integration services.  
 Internet access options range from modem dialup and ISDN for telecommuters 
 and small office LANs to dedicated high-speed circuits for corporate 
 connectivity.  PSINet defines industry standards and leads in
 technological innovation and new service development.  The company has its
 headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, with sales and field service offices
 across the US and in Tokyo, Japan.



              CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY REPORTS THIRD QUARTER RESULTS
              =================================================

 SINGAPORE --May 5, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF), the 
 leading provider of multimedia products for personal computers, today 
 announced financial results for the third quarter ended March 31, 1995.

 Sales for the third quarter of fiscal 1995 were $280.5 million compared
 with $181.2 million for the same quarter last year.  Sales for the nine
 months ended March 31, 1995, were $931.7 million compared to $477.5
 million for the comparable period last year.  

 Net income for the quarter was $11.2 million compared to $28.0 million for 
 the third quarter 1994.  Net income for the nine months ended March 31,
 1995, was $50.5 million compared to $82.2 million for the corresponding
 period of the prior year.  

 Earnings per share were $0.13 compared to $0.31 for the third quarter last 
 year.  Earnings per share for the nine months ended March  31, 1995 were 
 $0.56 compared to $0.93  for the corresponding period last year.

 Results for the nine months ended March 31, 1995, included a one-time
 charge of $7.0 million for the write off of in-process technology due to
 the acquisition of Digicom Systems, Inc.  Excluding this one-time charge,
 net income and earnings per share for the nine months ended March 31, 1995
 would have been $57.5 million or $0.64 per share, respectively.

 In commenting about Creative's third quarter results, W.H. Sim, chairman
 and CEO of Creative Technology, made the following statement: 
 "The multimedia market is expanding and making major headway in the OEM PC 
 market.  And multimedia technology is further growing to embrace 
 communications technology.  We believe Creative is the only company to 
 provide a full spectrum of multimedia communications products that covers 
 modems, audio-telephony and video conferencing products.  As a key player
 in the multimedia marketplace, we plan to expand our line of quad-speed
 upgrade kits and aggressively move forward into business communications,
 telephonic computing, interactive gaming and the OEM chipset market."

 CONTACT INFORMATION
 -------------------

 Theresa Pulido                          Lisa Kimura
 Creative Labs, Inc.                     Copithorne & Bellows
 (408) 428-6600, ext. 6416               (415) 284-5200, ext. 209


 Greg Peverill-Conti                     Karen Gordon
 GCI Jennings                            Copithorne & Bellows
 (415) 974-6200                          (415) 975-2215

 Christopher Callendar                   Theresa Pulido  
 PSINet                                  Creative Labs, Inc.     
 (703) 904-4100                          (408) 428-2329

 Patrick Verderico, CFO                  Susan Breshears
 Creative Labs, Inc.                     Copithorne & Bellows
 (408) 428-6600, ext. 6102               (415) 975-2216   


 Creative  Technology  Ltd.  develops, manufactures and markets a family of
 sound, video, software and telephony multimedia products for PCs under the
 B l a ster  family  name,  and  the  ShareVision  line  of  desktop  video
 conferencing  products  for  Macintoshes  and  PCs.    The company's Sound
 Blaster  sound  platform  enables  PCs  to  produce high-quality audio for
 entertainment,  educational,  music and productivity applications, and has
 been  accepted  as  the  industry  standard  sound  platform  for PC-based
 software.  

 Creative  Technology  Ltd.  was  incorporated  in  1983  and  is  based in
 Singapore.  Creative Technology's U.S. subsidiaries include Creative Labs,
 I n c .,  E-mu  Systems,  Inc.,  Digicom  Systems,  Inc.  and  ShareVision
 Technology,  Inc.    Creative  also  has  other subsidiaries in Australia,
 China,  Europe,  Japan,  Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.  The
 company's  stock  is  traded  on  Nasdaq under the symbol CREAF and on the
 Stock Exchange of Singapore.


 Sound  Blaster  is  a  registered  trademark  and  Sound  Blaster  Digital
 Schoolhouse,  Sound  Blaster  Discovery CD, Sound Blaster Multimedia Home,
 Blaster CD and Blaster are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd.  E-mu is
 a  registered  trademark  of  E-mu  Systems,  Inc.  and  ShareVision  is a
 registered  trademark  of ShareVision Technology, Inc.  All other products
 mentioned  herein are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby
 recognized as such.

                    _____________________________________


 > Gallup POLL STR FOCUS!      TRENDS OF HOME COMPUTER USERS
   """"""""""""""""""""""

   
          FIRST EPSON HOME TECHNOLOGY POLL BY GALLUP DETAILS
                     TRENDS OF HOME COMPUTER USERS

     Key Findings: Computing technology recognized as a magnet to
     family-wide home-based activities; Kids turning to equipment for
     school projects and entertainment; Home-based users want more
     power, color printers, CD-ROMs, scanners

     TORRANCE, Calif., April 17, 1995 -- A new computing poll,
     commissioned by EPSON from the Gallup Organization, provides
     valuable insight into the burgeoning home marketplace. The
     saturation of computer products in the business sector has
     manufacturers, like EPSON, looking for additional market share
     from home computer users.

     Research from the poll reflects home users' computer technology
     fears and usage patterns. Key findings of the EPSON Home
     Technology Poll by Gallup indicate that computing technology is
     recognized as a magnet to family-wide home-based activities, kids
     are turning to computer equipment for their school projects and
     entertainment, and home-based users want more powerful computers,
     color printers, CD-ROMs and scanners.


     BATTLING OBSOLESCENCE
     ---------------------     
     According to the poll, personal computing has penetrated over a
     third of U.S. homes (37 percent). The PC has infiltrated the
     family's work, play and learning habits.

     As households allow the PC to become an important tool in their
     lives, they fear most its becoming obsolete (31 percent). No other
     issue is as important, although cost runs a close second
     (27 percent).

     Those surveyed have owned their equipment for an average of 3.5
     years.  During ownership, respondents reported they must try to
     counter obsolescence.  Hence, 22 percent of the home users
     interviewed plan to upgrade their current PC this year, buy
     another PC for the home (16 percent), or purchase a CD-ROM
     (12 percent).

     The most interesting news for printer manufacturers is that 29
     percent of homes now operate a dot matrix printer, a machine that
     represents an opportunity for upgrade. In fact, one-fifth of home
     users plan to upgrade to a new printer in the next five years.

     Currently, 30 percent of homes have an ink jet or laser printer.
     One out of five users have a color-capable printer.

     HOW IS THE PC BEING USED IN THE HOME?
     -------------------------------------
     The PC in the home serves more than one master; the primary PC
     user is driven to the keyboard by professional necessity.
     One-quarter of a primary user's time at the home PC is spent on
     work brought home from the office. Those aged 35-54 are most
     likely to work at home. Education and entertainment are also
     frequent primary applications for the home PC (22.6 percent and
     18 percent, respectively). However, these activities are most
     likely among younger age groups, under 24 years old. Home
     finance receives less activity, about 13 percent of the PC's
     primary function.

     A few characteristics of the primary home PC user emerged from the
     poll. Males are more frequently the primary user (46 percent), and
     college graduates perform 50 percent of all home computing. While
     PC ownership is not exclusive at any income level, homes with an
     income of $45,000 or more own 60 percent of PCs.

     The home computer is a shared tool. A third of the time the PC is
     in use, secondary users are determining its purpose. Of this time,
     the type of user is equally divided among spouse, children and
     others in the home. The two most frequent uses by adults are work
     brought home from the job and entertainment. As expected, children
     are equally likely to use the PC for education and entertainment.

     When asked to describe the most creative output, newsletters/
     bulletins/flyers/pamphlets and greeting cards are cited most
     frequently (16 percent). However, specific projects mentioned are
     quite interesting. These include: Writing novels and other books,
     creating maps, producing a program for a daughter's wedding,
     preparing a home automation program, designing a boat, chronicling
     local history for a nonprofit organization, writing a magazine
     with color photos, creating artwork, regression analysis on
     greyhound racing, generating scientific graphics, creating
     invitations for baby brother's fifth birthday party and preparing
     an arrangement for an 18-piece jazz band.

     HOW DOES THE HOME USER GET STARTED AND STAY CURRENT?
     ----------------------------------------------------
     Professional necessity is again a key driver for getting started
     on a PC. A third of the poll participants started using PCs on the
     job. Slightly fewer started in school (28 percent), and 26 percent
     are self-taught or use books or manuals to start. The quality of
     documentation will continue to be important as users learn
     independently. Users are relying on the ease of the software or
     the manuals to reduce complexity for them.

     One interesting gender difference revealed by the survey was in
     the way people first learn PC skills. The survey showed the three
     most common ways to learn are on the job, in school or through
     self-teaching. Men are most likely to learn through self-teaching,
     while women are most likely to pick up their first PC skills on
     the job. Surprisingly, friends and family teach the user only 13
     percent of the time.

     Staying current in this quickly changing software and hardware
     market is most frequently accomplished by reading books and manuals
     (26 percent). One-quarter prefer to be self-taught (21 percent)
     while only 15 percent of education comes via word-of-mouth or other
     people.

     HOW DOES THE PC FIT IN THE HOME?
     --------------------------------
     As the PC becomes more integrated into the operation of the
     household, its size becomes a key buying feature. Sixty-nine
     percent of owners surveyed say this was important/very important
     to their purchase decision. Moreover, half of the owners acquired
     furniture especially designed to accommodate PC equipment.
     More households have a separate office in which the PC is placed
     (39 percent).  However, 10 percent use it in the master bedroom,
     10 percent in the living room and 10 percent in the family room.

     WHAT DO PEOPLE LIKE ABOUT THEIR PC?
     -----------------------------------
     Overwhelmingly, people like their PC because it saves time (21
     percent) and is easy to use (17 percent). These two benefits rate
     consistently as satisfying all types of users. Those surveyed
     cited the two most frustrating aspects of using a PC are their
     own lack of knowledge and their perception that PCs can be hard
     to use.

     PC users appear loyal to specific programs. When asked to identify
     a favorite feature or program, one-fourth easily replied with the
     name of a their preferred word processing software. This trend
     confirms the primary user's current goal of job-related work as the
     basic task of the home PC, with entertainment as a secondary task.

     WHERE DO PEOPLE GET THEIR PCS
     -----------------------------
     Three-quarters of PCs are new. Ten percent are second-hand,
     usually from friends or co-workers. Eleven percent are gifts,
     most frequently given by parents.

     Computer superstores were the preferred sales source, receiving
     23 percent of the new sales. These stores were followed closely
     by computer electronic stores (17 percent of sales). All others
     held 8 percent or less market share.

     METHODOLOGY
     -----------
     The Gallup Organization conducted these telephone interviews during
     the month of November 1994. This survey is based on 750 respondents
     who were randomly contacted throughout the United States. The
     standard error is plus or minus 3.7 percent.

     EPSON offers an extensive array of high-quality technology products
     including ink jet, laser and dot matrix printers; scanners;
     portable and desktop computers; PCMCIA products; and for the OEM
     market, a variety of component and electronic devices. Founded in
     1975, Epson America, Inc. is an affiliate of Seiko Epson
     Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of technology
     products that meet customer demands for increased functionality,
     compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency.

                             EPSON AMERICA INC.
                            20770 Madrona Avenue
                         Torrance, California 90503
                                310-782-0770
                      _________________________________



 > GOOD NEWS for HAYES! STR FOCUS!
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""



                  HAYES TO EXIT CHAPTER 11 BY FALL
                100 PERCENT PLAN PAYS CREDITORS IN FULL
                               
                               
      ATLANTA, GA, 16 May 1995 --  Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. on
 Monday, 15 May 1995, filed in Federal Bankruptcy Court its Chapter 11
 Plan of Reorganization which will lead to its exit from Chapter 11 in
 less than one year from the company's original bankruptcy filing.
  
      The plan provides for 100 percent payment of claims to creditors.
 When the plan is confirmed by the bankruptcy court, Hayes will pay
 creditors with valid claims the entire amount due within 40 to 60 days.
 In execution of the plan, Hayes will obtain approximately $60 million in
 new capital funding to be comprised of a combination of equity
 investments and new credit facilities.
  
      "We are working closely with our financial advisory team at
 Robinson-Humphrey to procure the funding to complete our plan," said
 Dennis C. Hayes, Chairman and CEO, Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.
 "This is great news for our creditors, our customers and our employees
 who have been a constant source of support."
  
      Creditors can contact Hayes by calling the Claims Processing
 Department at (404)840-9200.
  
      Best known as the leader in microcomputer modems, Hayes develops,
 supplies and supports computer communications equipment and software for
 personal computers and computer communications networks.  The company
 distributes its products through  a global network of authorized
 distributors, dealers, mass merchants, VARs, systems integrators and
 original equipment manufacturers.
  
 For further information please contact:
 --------------------------------------- 
                         Angela Hooper/Susan Merkel
                     Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.
                            Phone:  404/840-9200
                           Facsimile: 404/441-1238

               ______________________________________________


 > MORTIMER STR InfoFile
   """""""""""""""""""""



           LUCASARTS TAKES CHILDREN ON THE FLIGHT OF THEIR LIVES 
               IN MORTIMER AND THE RIDDLES OF THE MEDALLION, 
                   THE COMPANY'S FIRST GAME JUST FOR KIDS

      San Rafael, CA -- The day begins normally enough.  Sid and Sally are
 outside playing with the dog when the pooch chases a calico through a
 nearby hedge. When neither Scout nor Waffles emerges from the foliage, the
 kids crawl into the bushes in pursuit.  What they find is definitely not
 the neighbors' backyard.  Before them stand Scout and Waffles -- frozen in
 their tracks!  And towering high into the clouds stands a great mushroom
 -- with a door and windows!

      So begins the modern day fairy tale of Mortimer and the Riddles of
 the Medallion, LucasArts Entertainment Company's first game created
 especially for the early entertainment market.  Targeted to the 4-9 age
 group and appealing to both boys and girls, Mortimer combines action and
 discovery with a delightful story, marvelous characters and dazzling
 locales.  The game is planned for release in the first quarter of 1996 for
 the Windows and Macintosh CD-ROM platforms.

 Once Upon a Time ...
 --------------------
      The evil Lodius has stolen a magical medallion from his former
 mentor, the kindly Professor Lazlow (proprietor of the giant mushroom). 
 Because its magic was intended only for good deeds, the medallion exploded
 into pieces that scattered around the world -- but not before Lodius had
 used the medallion to steal all the power from the animals and turn them
 into statues.
  
      According to Professor Lazlow, there's only one hope if the animals
 are to be saved.  It's up to Sid and Sally and a very special (and very
 large) snail named Mortimer to unfreeze the animals and find all the
 pieces of the medallion before Lodius can cause any more trouble.  But
 they have to act quickly, because if the animals aren't freed within 24
 hours, they'll remain frozen forever.

      In the race to save the animals, children choose to be either Sid or
 Sally.  With one piece of the medallion they've already found, they hop
 into Mortimer's super-charged, deluxe shell of surprises.  The first
 surprise is that Mortimer's shell transforms into a cockpit and players
 suddenly are able to fly.

 Entertaining a New Market
 -------------------------
  
      Because LucasArts is best known for its adult-targeted action and
 adventure games, on the surface Mortimer may seem like a bit of a
 departure for the company.  But a compelling story with memorable
 characters and strong gameplay against a backdrop of stunning
 high-resolution graphics and engaging sound and music makes Mortimer a
 logical extension of the proven LucasArts' magic.

       "Most people know LucasArts because of its award-winning games like
 Rebel Assault and Sam & Max Hit the Road," said LucasArts President, Jack
 Sorensen.

      "Over the years, however, LucasArts has developed critically
 acclaimed educational multimedia programs for schools with partners like
 the National Geographic Society and the National Audubon Society. 
 Additionally, George Lucas is very committed to enhancing the lives of
 children through technology.  Based on this heritage, it's a natural that
 LucasArts enter the early entertainment market."

 A "Know"ble Deed
 ----------------
      "I've always wanted to develop a game that lets children have lots of
 fun and secretly teaches them something along the way," said Mortimer
 Project Leader Collette Michaud.  "In Mortimer, children discover all
 sorts of facts about a variety of animals, while actually flying through
 different environments."

      Sid, Sally and Mortimer's task is to travel to different areas of the
 world and free the animals that have been turned into statues.  Players
 fly through several locales, including the icy arctic, the wide savanna,
 the harsh desert and the wooded Timberland, in search of frozen animals. 
 As players zip around clouds and over mountains and tree tops, they must
 free the animals by zapping them back to life with the patented
 "Revitascope."  When an animal is saved, information about it is recorded
 in Mortimer's cockpit computer.

      After saving the animals in one area, Mortimer finds a gate that
 guards the next locale.  To pass, players must solve a riddle, the answer
 to which is the name of an animal that has been freed.  When players solve
 the riddle they get a shiny new piece of the medallion, bringing them one
 step closer to their goal.
   
      To help players solve the riddle, they can use the cockpit computer
 to see and "talk" to the animals they've saved.  All the animals -- each
 with its distinct and humorous personality -- will answer the questions,
 "What are you?," "How are you special?" and "Why are you unusual?" The
 answers will provide children with a variety of interesting facts about
 the animals.   Along the way, players encounter Lodius' minions -- salt
 shaker hornets, whoppin' poppers that spray popcorn and beasty bags that
 toss potato chips -- who try to slow Mortimer down with a snail's worst
 enemy:  salt.  Acting quickly, Mortimer can slime these no-gooders.  Once
 players have freed all the animals, solved all the riddles and gathered
 all the pieces of the medallion, they must face Lodius himself in the
 final confrontation.

 The Making of Mortimer
 ----------------------
      Giving players the ability to fly is one of the features that makes
 Mortimer so exciting.  Based on LucasArts' celebrated Rebel Assault
 engine, Mortimer's flight component lets children zoom through a virtual
 world where not even the sky seems to be the limit.

      All of the game's environments are rendered in 3-D.  The stunning
 results are fantastical worlds imbued with depth, light and shadows. 
 Mortimer, too, often is depicted in 3-D, allowing for just the right
 roundness in his shell and perfect amount of twinkle in his antennaed
 eyes.  The 3-D graphics are complimented by feature film-quality,
 high-resolution 2-D animation.  During interviews, children interact with
 anthropomorphic cartoon animals and get to view live-action video footage
 of the animals in their natural habitats.  Professional actors provide the
 voices of all of the characters in Mortimer, and the game features an
 all-digital, completely original soundtrack performed by children's
 songsters, The Bungee Jumpin' Cows.

 A Flying Snail?
 ---------------
      "Ever since I was five years old, I've fantasized about flying," said
 Collette.  "I think it's an ability every child wishes for at one time or
 another.  We may not be able to supply the wings, but Mortimer is the next
 best thing."

      So, the big question is, why a giant snail as the main character? 
 "When I was younger, I was always fascinated with snails and their shells
 and the endless mysteries the shell seemed to hold," said Collette.  "With
 all the possibilities a shell offered for weird stuff popping out, like
 wings and propellers, Mortimer couldn't be anything but a snail."

 About LucasArts
 ---------------
      LucasArts Entertainment Company develops and publishes interactive
 entertainment and educational software.  LucasArts is one of three Lucas
 companies.  Lucas Digital Ltd., comprised of Industrial Light & Magic and
 Skywalker Sound, is dedicated to serving the needs of the entertainment
 industry for visual effects and audio post-production.  Lucasfilm Ltd.
 includes George Lucas' feature film and television activities, as well as
 the business activities of the THX Group and Licensing.

 Mortimer Development Team
 -------------------------
 Project Leader, Co-designer        Collette Michaud
 Production Manager, Co-designer    Casey Donahue Ackley
 Lead Programmer, Co-designer       Gwen Musengwa
 Character Designer, Co-designer    Steve Purcell
 Lead Technical Programmer          Pat McCarthy
 Lead Artist                        Peter Chan
 Lead 3-D Artist                    Scott Baker


                     __________________________________

               
 > For a "Chuckle or Two" STR Feature
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""


 Suppose Edgar Allan Poe Had used a Computer:
 --------------------------------------------

  
 Author Unknown
  
  
                       Once upon a midnight dreary,
                         fingers cramped and vision bleary,  
                         System manuals piled high and
                         wasted paper on the floor, 
                         Longing for the warmth of bedsheets:
                         Still I sat there, doing spreadsheets:
                         Having reached the bottom line, 
                         I took a floppy from the drawer.
                         Typing with a steady hand, 
                         I then invoked the save command
                         But got instead a reprimand:
                         it read Abort, Retry, Ignore
         
                       Was this some occult illusion?
                         Some maniacal intrusion?
                         These were choices Solomon
                         himself had never faced before.
                         Carefully, I weighed the options.
                         These three ones seemed to be the top ones.
                         Clearly, I must now adopt one:
                         Choose Abort, Retry, Ignore..
   
                       With my fingers pale and trembling
                         Slowly toward the keyboard bending,
                         Longing for a happy ending,  
                         hoping all would be restored,
                         Praying for some guarantee  
                         Finally I pressed a key ---
                         But on the screen what did I see?
                         Again: Abort, Retry, Ignore.

                       I tried to catch the chips off-guard ----
                         I pressed again, but twice as hard
                         Luck was just not in the cards.
                         I saw what I had seen before.
                         Now I typed in desperation 
                         Typing random combinations 
                         Still there came the incarnation:
                         Choose:  Abort, Retry, Ignore
   
                       There I sat, distraught, exhausted 
                         by my own machine accosted 
                         Getting up I turned away 
                         and paced across the office floor, 
                         And then I saw an awful sight:
                         A bold and blinding flash of light--- 
                         A lightning bolt had cut the night 
                         and shook me to my core 
                         I saw the screen collapse and die:
                         No! No!, my database I cried 
                         I thought I heard a voice reply, 
                         You'll see your data NEVERMORE!

                       To this day I do not know 
                         The place which lost data goes 
                         I bet it goes to heaven where 
                         the angles have it stored.
                         But as far as productivity, well 
                         I fear that it goes straight to hell 
                         And that's the tale I have to tell 
                         Your Choice:  Abort, Retry, Ignore

                   _______________________________________


 > TIE FIGHTER STR InfoFile
   """"""""""""""""""""""""


                       TIE FIGHTER COLLECTOR'S CD-ROM 
                         BRINGS THE DARK SIDE TO CD

            LucasArts Title Features Dramatic New Campaign and  
        Enhanced Versions of TIE Fighter* and Defender of the Empire
      
      San Rafael, CA -- The dark side of the STAR WARS universe just became
 much more powerful with the addition of TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM,
 scheduled to release from LucasArts Entertainment Company in the fall of
 1995.

      Originally available for floppy disk, TIE Fighter CD includes
 significantly enhanced versions of the original disk-based games, TIE
 Fighter, and its first add-on campaign, Defender of the Empire, as well as
 a challenging new campaign.  Improvements include upgraded graphics,
 enhanced sound and more than 5,000 lines of studio-recorded dialogue.  TIE
 Fighter marked the first time in the history of the STAR WARS saga that
 the conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial Navy is portrayed
 from the perspective of the Empire.

      TIE Fighter CD's new campaign, available exclusively in the CD-ROM
 version, features 22 new missions, raising the total number of missions to
 104.  The new campaign includes three battles and four dramatic cut
 scenes.  As in the floppy disk version, TIE Fighter CD charges players to
 restore and enforce Imperial rule and defeat the Rebel insurgence.

      Players assume the role of a new Imperial Navy Academy recruit and
 put their lives on the line to realize Emperor Palpatine's mandate: 
 Restore law and order to the galaxy.  Similar in format to X-Wing, the
 game challenges new pilots to refine their skills in training courses and
 historical combat before engaging in a series of battles.  The complex and
 engaging plot serves as a backdrop for the battles, delivering a
 simulation rich in story.     

 Enhanced Graphics and Sound
 ---------------------------
      Created by the same team that was responsible for the development of
 X-Wing, TIE Fighter CD enhances the game's graphics by adding an upgraded 
 3-D opening and four new 3-D rendered cinematic cut scenes. 

      High-resolution graphics and animated special effects are featured in
 each of the game's flight combat sections as well as in the new cockpit
 art for the seven different crafts player's pilot.
        
      "As with X-Wing Collector's CD, we felt there were many similar
 things that we could do with TIE Fighter that would take advantage of the
 CD-ROM format," said designer Lawrence Holland.  "The CD technology gives
 us an opportunity to greatly improve the game's original sound and
 graphics and to add features that will enliven the overall experience for
 fans of STAR WARS games."    
   
      In addition to the improved graphics, TIE Fighter CD features
 digitally mastered studio-recorded voices and sound effects.  Newly
 recorded mission briefings and in-flight messages are included in the
 title as well.  As with the disk-based version of the game, TIE Fighter CD
 features LucasArts' proprietary iMUSE sound system.  iMUSE (Interactive
 Music and Sound Effects) composes music "on the fly" in response to the
 many choices available to players.

      TIE Fighter CD requires a 386 cpu or higher and 1 meg EMS to run low-
 resolution graphics.  For high-resolution graphics, a 486 cpu with a local
 bus video card or a Pentium with 8 megs of RAM is required.  A
 double-speed CD-ROM drive is recommended for optimum performance.

 About LucasArts
 ---------------

 L u casArts  Entertainment  Company  develops  and  publishes  interactive
 entertainment  and  educational software.  LucasArts is one of three Lucas
 companies.   Lucas Digital Ltd., comprised of Industrial Light & Magic and
 Skywalker  Sound,  is  dedicated to serving the needs of the entertainment
 industry  for  visual  effects  and audio post-production.  LucasFilm Ltd.
 includes  George Lucas' feature film and television activities, as well as
 the business activities of the THX Group and Licensing.

      

   **********************************************************************


                           ATARI/JAG SECTION (III)
                           =======================
                            Dana Jacobson, Editor


 > From the Atari Editor's Desk              "Saying it like it is!"
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""


      It's been rumored for a few months that one of the last surviving
 Atari magazines, Current Notes, was to cease publication after the
 May/June issue (out this week).  As of this writing, I haven't received
 my copy yet, but there have been some online comments regarding this
 prospect.  The bottom line is that Current Notes will be continuing,
 but not under the leadership of Joe Waters.  Joe has decided, for a
 number of personal reasons, to call it quits.  Joe, reportedly, offers
 an explanation in his final editorial.  His successor will be Howard
 Carson, probably best known for his leadership of the TAF Atari shows
 held in Toronto.

      I've been a reader of Current Notes as far back as I can remember.
 I remember it as one of a couple Atari magazines that was not one of
 those typical "glossies", but a magazine written by and for the typical
 Atari user.  It started out, like a number of Atari magazines, as a
 user group newsletter which continued to grow and eventually became a
 commercial venture.  However, through the years, it maintained its
 grassroots philosophy.

      Current Notes was one of the few Atari magazines that I read cover
 to cover, except for the 8-bit material which held no interest for me
 since I had never owned one.  People like J.D. Barnes, Frank Sommers,
 Dave Troy, Dave Small, Andrej Wrotniak, and others made using an Atari
 computer enjoyable.  I still remember the first time that I met
 J.D. Barnes at a WAACE show - this was the "Junkyard Pussycat"????
 Hardly...  But John was one of the nicest people that I had ever met at
 WAACE and from Current Notes.  So was Joe Waters and the rest of the
 staff.

      I think that the final WAACE show was truly the end of an era.  I
 also feel that, perhaps, that last show disheartened Joe a lot; and
 perhaps the enthusiasm for Current Notes started to wane from that
 point on.  Regardless, Joe and his wife Joyce, along with the present
 and past staff at Current Notes deserve only the best heartfelt praise
 for the work that they've done over the past years.  I am glad to have
 known many of the staff, past and present.  I'm also glad that I was
 able to be a part of Current Notes, having had a few reviews and
 articles appear in the magazine over the years.  Many articles and news
 bits from STReport have appeared in the magazine over the years; and I
 can still remember being the impetus for one of JD's columns one month,
 regarding a message that I had written on Delphi dealing with clip-art
 sources from Dover Books.  I also fondly remember a number of phone
 conversations with JD over the years regarding the Atari market, WAACE,
 Current Notes, STReport, and a host of other topics.  I even got the
 opportunity to visit the Pussycat's Junkyard one year while attending
 the final WAACE show - it was appropriately named (and I mean that in a
 nice way!).

      We've lost a lot of great friends over the years from Current
 Notes.  We've also gained a lot of new ones.  I wish all the best to
 Howard for the future.  I know that I'll continue to read Current Notes
 until the day comes when it won't be available any longer.  I hope that
 that day doesn't arrive for many years to come!

      To Joe Waters - thanks for all of your dedication over the years.
 You will be missed.  You've certainly earned a place in the Atari
 community's hall of fame.

      Until next time...


                 ___________________________________________



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          Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database.         


                     __________________________________


                   -/- Microsoft Drops Intuit Deal -/-


     Blaming a protracted legal fight needed to overcome U.S. Justice
 Department antitrust objections, Microsoft Corp has cancelled plans to
 buy financial software publisher Intuit Inc. for $2 billion, an
 all-stock deal announced last October.

     Microsoft officials are quoted by Martin Wolk of the Reuter News
 Service as saying a trial of the suit, followed by a possible appeal,
 could have prevented the company from completing the acquisition of
 Intuit until 1996.

     In a statement from his Redmond, Washington, offices, Microsoft
 Chairman Bill Gates said, "It's unfortunate that after such a broad
 government review the merger faced additional months of uncertainty in
 the courts. Progress towards realizing our goals could not wait until
 the government's lawsuit was resolved. It's time for Microsoft to put
 this matter behind us and move ahead."

     Meanwhile, Intuit Chairman Scott Cook said he was disappointed
 Microsoft had chosen not to continue fighting the suit, which he was
 convinced the two companies could have won. But he said Intuit is
 well-positioned to forge ahead as an independent company.

     Said Cook, "We saw the Microsoft opportunity as a really unique
 one. We don't see anything else out there like that. ... We have no
 interest -- none, zero, zip -- in a merger."

     At the Justice Department, antitrust chief Anne Bingaman told the
 wire service the government had been prepared to move quickly on
 evidence the merger would have been anti-competitive and harmful to
 consumers.

     As reported, the Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying
 Microsoft's acquisition of Intuit, maker of the market-leading Quicken
 program, would have given the software giant an unfair springboard into
 the emerging market in electronic commerce.

     In ending the deal, Microsoft says it has agreed to pay Intuit a
 merger termination fee of $46.25 million. Cook said that will more than
 offset the $4 million in legal and other expenses his Menlo Park,
 California, company has incurred.

     He declined comment on any potential future partnership between the
 two companies, but emphasized they were likely to be vigorous
 competitors. And he said he was happy that no confidential information
 had changed hands between the two companies during the months that the
 merger was pending.

     Wolk comments, "The termination of the merger agreement will mean
 renewed competition in the rapidly growing world of online banking and
 electronic commerce, with Microsoft sure to reinvigorate its efforts to
 turn its third-ranked Money personal-finance software package into a
 meaningful rival for Quicken."

     In a conference call with reporters and analysts, Gates said,
 "You'll see us not only in the personal finance but also in many other
 aspects pursuing the electronic commerce opportunity vigorously."

     Reuters notes analysts have said Microsoft would not be badly hurt
 if the merger fell through, but Intuit would have given the company a
 valuable "front end" application for its forthcoming Microsoft Network
 online service.



                -/- Comedy Central to Join CompuServe -/-


     You'll soon be able to get your comedy fix online when Comedy
 Central launches a new online area and forum on CompuServe early this
 summer, reports PRNewswire.

     In addition to being able to create your own cheap-but-not-tawdry
 laughs, the electronic version of Comedy Central will provide access to
 the cable network's hilarious programming library, talent, and exclusive
 comedy material. Skip the usual two drink minimum and use your PC to
 enjoy both aspiring and famous comics' material, create and exchange
 jokes with other viewers and comedian-wanabees, "interview" celebrities
 via conferencing, participate in polls that appear in Comedy Central
 programs, watch and/or download video clips of comedy acts, and preview
 the network's programming and scheduling information.

     In addition to the usual online features, Comedy Central will break
 ground online by enabling CompuServe members to create content, giving
 closet comedians a chance to strut their stuff. Also, by letting members
 access local comedy entertainment or information on their favorite stars,
 Comedy Central has created the very first cyber comedy club.

     Comedy Central, currently seen in more than 35 million U.S. homes,
 features more than 60 percent original programming, including the
 British smash hit "Absolutely Fabulous," the Peabody Award-winning
 "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and the CableACE Award-winning
 "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher." Comedy stars from the past,
 present, and future form an eclectic mix of original programming,
 stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, classic TV shows, and movies.



               -/- Rolling Stone Launches News Service -/-


     Rolling Stone magazine announced today it will launch a music news
 service on CompuServe this summer.

     The Associated Press reports that the publication will offer
 entertainment and political news, along with photos and music reviews
 with audio clips, although it does not plan to distribute the contents
 of its magazine electronically.

     "There are a multitude of things we will do that cannot be presented
 on a magazine page," said Bob Love, a senior editor of the magazine who
 will oversee the online service. "Our mission is to make the online
 editorial as innovative and dynamic as the magazine's."


                    _____________________________________


                               JAGUAR SECTION
                               ==============

 More E3 Reports!  CatNips!
 VR Specs!  And more!


 > From the Editor's Controller  -  Playin' it like it is!
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""  

      I have to admit that I'm one of those Atari users who run hot and
 cold regarding current events, specifically with the Jaguar and its
 current "state of affairs."  There are times when I feel that the company
 has finally got its "schtick" together; and at other times, I can't help
 but wonder what's going on in Sunnyvale.
  
     One of the press releases from/during the recent E3 show put me
 back into the "what's going on" mood.  It was the one that pertained to
 the "nearly 100 titles...by the end of the year."  That statement,
 apparently coming from Sam Tramiel, just struck a nerve with me,
 reminiscent of his 30-50 games by Christmas that he made last year, and
 was nowhere close to the mark.
  
     Here's the relevant portion of the press release, just to refresh
 your memories:

 SUNNYVALE, CA (May 11, 1995) -- Atari Corporation announces that there
 will be nearly 100 titles for its 64-bit Jaguar entertainment system by
 the end of the year. "We will have every kind of game that players want,
 from the best developers and publishers in the world," comments Atari
 President Sam Tramiel.

      I can rationalize a number of reasons for the above statements.
 Firstly, it was done at/for the E3 community - a show to attract and
 woo the dealers, developers, and game publishers.  This statement
 certainly sounds more attractive than one claiming 50 games by years
 end.  However, it's still only a figure.  How realistic is it?  Well,
 after last year's 30-50 games prediction which fell like a lead
 weight, I'm not too sure how realistic this nearly 100 games prediction
 really is.

      Just how well, or poorly, did the public react to this press
 release?  I haven't seen any reaction from those who participated at the
 show.  But, having heard many stories of how some dealers and stores
 are currently reacting about the Jaguar in general, especially now that
 the Saturn has arrived on the scene, I have to wonder how they might
 feel.  I do know that the online community is shocked to read such a
 statement.  Granted, the online community is only a small percentage of
 past, present, and potential customers; but I feel that they are some
 of the most knowledgeable.  These are the people who are apt to spread
 the word about the Jaguar and its potential.  They are also the same
 ones who could dissuade potential customers as a result of their
 experiences.

      Has Atari heard the story about the boy who cried wolf?, I read an
 online user's message asking the other day?  Atari has been making too
 many firm predictions that have gone totally awry the past year and a
 half.  I don't fault Atari for making predictions like these.  I want
 them to continue to do so.  However, I want them to make them and also
 make sure that enough of them are fulfilled so the customer base
 remains positive.  I don't expect Atari, or any company for that
 matter, to be able to manage every single prediction.  There are so
 many variables in the video games business that could go wrong; a
 realistic person knows this and can accept the fact that something can
 occur to delay a game and miss a release date.  Atari has to come
 through on a good many of its predictions, however.  Otherwise, no one
 is ever going to believe what's coming out of the home office.

      So, where do we stand with regard to these 100 games?  Well, as of
 this writing, there are 24 games available.  Looking over the brochure
 from E3 which lists the existing game titles and the current schedule
 of upcoming games, Atari is going to fall short of their 100.
 According to this schedule, there are 54 titles names, starting with
 Pinball Fantasies in June and ending with NBA Jam TE, in December.
 Adding these two figures, I come up with 78 games by year's end.  Will
 there be any titles coming out that Atari isn't aware of at the moment?
 Possibly, but certainly not more than a few.

      Will Atari have 100 game titles on the shelf by year's end?  I
 seriously doubt it, but it's certainly not impossible.  With their past
 track record, I think that Atari is going to be hard-pressed to have 50
 titles available by the end of the year.  I'll be happy if they have 50
 titles available; I'll be in heaven if they have close to 100!

      But, having the games available isn't necessarily going to be the
 end-all satisfaction for me personally.  What will make me feel even
 better is knowing that these games will be available nationwide, not
 just in a selected few target areas.  They also have to be available in
 many outlets.  There also has to be some marketing campaign to get Atari
 back on the map where it belongs.  Make people positively aware of
 Atari and the Jaguar!

      Is this happening?  Well, I do know that there will be a
 "campaign" to learn what's going on in the marketplace.  There will be
 a survey going out (I'm not sure if this is a public survey, or just a
 media-related one) to see what's happening at the TRUs.  I also know
 that the Jaguar will be featured in an upcoming Sears catalog.  I'm
 sure that there are other plans being staged, as well.

      So, if I might make a suggestion for Atari and its future
 statements: be realistic, be honest (not that I believe that they are
 being deliberately misleading), and follow through.  In doing so,
 you'll regain and maintain credibility and support, even when there's
 the occasional setback.

      Enough of my soapbox antics for one week.  Let me know how you
 feel about this topic, or any other comments that you might have.  By
 the way, we're still organizing your Jaguar-CD comments.  As soon as we
 have the numbers and comments put together, we'll make them available
 to you (and Atari).

      Until next time...

                _____________________________________________


 > Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile  -   What's currently available, what's
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""      coming out.

     Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     CAT #   TITLE                 MSRP      DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER

      J9000  Cybermorph           $59.99         Atari Corp.
      J9006  Evolution:Dino Dudes $49.99         Atari Corp.
      J9005  Raiden               $49.99     FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp.
      J9001  Trevor McFur/
             Crescent Galaxy      $49.99         Atari Corp.
      J9010  Tempest 2000         $59.95     Llamasoft/Atari Corp.
      J9028  Wolfenstein 3D       $69.95       id/Atari Corp.
      JA100  Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95          Telegames
      J9008  Alien vs. Predator   $69.99     Rebellion/Atari Corp.
      J9029  Doom                 $69.99        id/Atari Corp.
      J9036  Dragon: Bruce Lee    $59.99         Atari Corp.
      J9003  Club Drive           $59.99         Atari Corp.
      J9007  Checkered Flag       $69.99         Atari Corp.
      J9012  Kasumi Ninja         $69.99         Atari Corp.
      J9042  Zool 2               $59.99         Atari Corp
      J9020  Bubsy                $49.99         Atari Corp
      J9026  Iron Soldier         $59.99         Atari Corp
      J9060  Val D'Isere Skiing   $59.99         Atari Corp.
             Cannon Fodder        $69.99          Virgin
             Syndicate            $69.99           Ocean
             Troy Aikman Ftball   $69.99          Williams
             Theme Park           $69.99           Ocean
             Sensible Soccer                      Telegames
             Double Dragon V      $59.99          Williams
      J9009E Hover Strike         $59.99          Atari Corp.


      Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      CAT #   TITLE               MSRP          DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER

              Pinball Fantasies   $ 59.95         Computer West
              Super Burnout         TBD               Atari
              Air Cars              TBD        MidNite Entertainment
              Fight For Life        TBD               Atari
              Flashback             TBD             U.S. Gold
              Power Drive Rally     TBD                TWI
              Rayman                TBD              UBI Soft
              Ultra Vortex          TBD               Atari
              White Men Can't Jump  TBD               Atari
              Jaguar CD-ROM       $149.99             Atari

      Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      CAT #   TITLE               MSRP          MANUFACTURER

      J8001  Jaguar (complete)   $189.99        Atari Corp.
      J8001  Jaguar (no cart)    $159.99        Atari Corp.
      J8904  Composite Cable     $19.95      
      J8901  Controller/Joypad   $24.95         Atari Corp.
      J8905  S-Video Cable       $19.95
             CatBox              $69.95             ICD



 > Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile  -  The Latest Gaming News!
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

           Jaguar Virtual Reality - VR Headset Official Specs
           """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

  Head Mounted Display (HMD):
      Less than 1 pound. Two degrees of freedom (DOF) 
      tracking, stereo sound, and 52 degree horizontal by 40 
      degree vertical field of view. Uses a single 0.7" TFT 
      active matrix color LCD containing 104,000 pixels.
  
  Optical System:
      Custom-designed pupil projection with aspheric acrylic
      lenses, beam splitters, mirrors and thin film coatings.
      Large exit pupil size of 5mm x 14mm. Can be used by
      anyone with an interpupilliary distance between 45mm 
      and 70mm.
  
  Focus Adjustment:
      There is no need for focus adjustment because the 
      optical system is highly tolerant, projecting a 
      binocular image, aligned to infinity to both eyes.
  
  Tracking Systems:
      "V-Trak" is the fastest tracker ever developed for the 
      consumer market, with a sample rate of 250Hz and a 
      lagtime of only 4 milliseconds.
  
  Optional Joystick:
      Offers two of six degrees of freedom, allowing greater 
      control over movements in the virtual world. Jaguar VR 
      games can also be played with the standard Jaguar 
      controller.
  
  Docking Station:
      Houses "V-Trak" position sensing system, a joystick
      interface and high speed communications link to the
      Jaguar for transferring audio and visual tracking data.
  
  Atari has been in the video game business for over twenty 
  years. Today, Atari markets Jaguar, the only American made, 
  advanced 64-Bit entertainment system. Atari Corporation is 
  located in Sunnyvale, CA.
  
                                   ###




 > Jaguar Online STR InfoFile         Online Users Growl & Purr!
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""

   
                CATnips... Jaguar tidbits from Don Thomas
                """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                           ===================
                           E3: Supplemental...
                           ===================

 Soon after I finished my review of the Electronic Entertainment Expo
 (E3), I remembered other great things and people related to the show.
 For an overview of E3, see my CATnips from last evening. I think some
  of these other items are big news so I want to pass them on.
  
 For those of you looking for a dedicated Jaguar magazine, it's coming.
 _The Jaguar's Edge_ will premier as a bi-monthly in July. I met the
 publisher, John Marcotte, at E3 and he shared with me some of his
 exciting plans as well as some layouts. The first issues will be
 32 pages and printed on high-gloss stock. Distribution will be direct
 to the home through the mail and Toad Computers and Steve's Software
 will have copies as soon as they are rolled off the presses. John tells
 me that Pat Solomon from the Des Moines Register will become the
 Features Editor. In addition, Christian Svensson will be a feature
 writer. Other surprises are pending formal announcement.
  
 Early subscribers of _The Jaguar's Edge_ will find a $20 discount
 coupon on Telegames' "Brutal Sports Football" or "International
 Sensible Soccer" as a bonus. A one year subscription is just $15. For
 more information, contact the publisher through the internet:
 <jmarcott@mother.com>.
  
 Dave and Jennifer Troy stopped by at E3 and gave me fresh copies of
 their new color catalog. I like their catalog because it does an
 exceptional job to describe each item in terms I can understand. I
 also like it because they sell a lot of nifty Jaguar stuff as well as
 virtually anything for the Atari computer lines. The cover price of
 the catalog is $3, but I'll bet they can include one with most purchases. 
 For information, call 410/544-6943.
  
 Speaking of dealers stopping by, Steve's Software customers will be
 happy to know that Steve Kipker made his rounds at E3 too. Steve was
 anxious to get the stories behind all the new upcoming releases so he
 could share the news with his customers. For Steve's latest catalog,
 call 904/762-8370.
  
 Terry Grantham and Pete Mortimer, of Telegames, were at the show.
 They were showing off their newest Jaguar titles in the Atari booth
 and talking about their upcoming release schedule.
  
 John Skruch reminded me this morning that he also left E3 a little
 early on Thursday and Friday evenings to visit retailers and offer
 demos to customers. As a matter of fact, he took the Thea Relm Fighters
 along with him. On Thursday, John visited the Virgin Megastore in
 Hollywood.  One young birthday boy changed his mind from a CDi after 
 John pointed out the advantages of the Jaguar 64-bit system. The event
 was so crowded and successful that over 70 T-Shirts were given away in
 about 5 minutes.
  
 On Friday, May 12th, John took the TRF team to the Electronics Boutique
 in Lakewood. At both locations, John managed to "borrow" "Defender 2000"
 and "Thea Relm Fighter" flash ram carts direct off the E3 floor to
 show off to customers. He tells me "Val D'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding"
 and "Doom" were favorites among the titles he had to show that were
 already out for the Jaguar.
  
                              =============
                              Other news...
                              =============

 B&C Computers tells me they have "Krazy Ace Golf" now in stock for the
 Lynx. The price is $39.95. Their phone number is 408/986-9960.
  


 Intelligent Gamer E3 Report: Atari Brings Out a New Arsenal
 by Brian Osserman

                            Atari's Jaguar VR

      The VR helmet was clearly what Atari considered its big gun for E3:
 they had two Virtuality displays placed in prominent positions at the
 front of the booth, displays which were actually Virtuality's arcade
 hardware (PCs using Virtuality head-mounter displays and handle
 controllers) for a game called Zone Hunter. In Zone Hunter, you are in
 a 3-D polygon world and essentially moving through corridors (you can
 control speed of motion, but not direction) and shooting at enemies as
 they appear. Virtuality's hand controller -- with tracked motion and a
 button -- works nicely for aiming a gun, and the head-tracking and
 realistic aiming make up somewhat for the lack of interactivity.
 Although the demo was on Virtuality hardware and not shown for the
 Jaguar, Zone Hunter is being developed for the Jag VR system by
 Virtuality.

      But more interesting was a display of an early Jag VR prototype,
 which was open only to select members of the retail world and the
 press. Although it was a pretty early prototype, it was very functional,
 with the only major problem being a lack of proper eye focusing -- this
 will be remedied on production models. Additionally, the infrared
 tracking system means your head has only about 100 degrees in which to
 move left and right. Finally, the system is designed for use while
 sitting, and does not allow the user to walk around while using it
 (hence, game motion has to use a controller). That's it for the
 limitations.

      How is Atari planning to put out high quality VR headgear for $300?
 They have opted for monoscopic vision, which allows for the use of a
 single screen, with the view spliced into two eye views, each eye
 focused at infinity. Using one high-quality screen rather than two
 low-quality screens will decrease the cost and keep the resolution
 high (about 400 by 260), and simultaneously allow for very high quality
 head-tracking (over 200 Hz). So, what's the point of Virtual Reality
 without 3-D vision? Well, it is still much more immersive, taking up
 your entire view, allowing head-tracking, and providing quality
 surround sound. Moreover, the game on display showed another, totally
 unexpected advantage of using the VR helmet: the headtracking is almost
 as stable as a mouse for aiming.

      The game on display was VR Missile Command -- aka Missile Command
 3-D or Missile Command 2000. MC takes place in a 3-D polygon world in
 which your perspective is from a ground-level gun-base assigned to
 defend other bases and cities around it from missile attacks. The game
 allows you to control three different guns, each 120 degrees apart, for
 proper manipulation of the 360 degree world around you. Using the
 standard Jaguar controller with left and right on the pad switching
 between guns, and the buttons for firing, an aiming rectangle is fixed
 in the center of the screen, and you aim by moving your head to put
 incoming missiles in the center of the rectangle before shooting them
 down. Despite the lack of ocular focus and early stage of the game's
 development, this was a lot of fun to play, and aiming with your head
 turns out to be a real blast.

      Roughly a year ago, before Atari had finalized plans for the VR
 headset, they had some concerns about liability; if a customer fell
 and hurt themselves while walking around, they could potentially sue
 for large amounts of money. Clearly, restricting use of the headset to
 sitting will greatly diminish the risk, and the press release mentioned
 an automatic lockout device that ensured the user stayed seated by
 turning off the visuals when the user stands up. In talking with
 Atari's Bill Rehbock, it was explained to IG Online that, even more
 crucially, Virtuality has conducted a tremendous amount of testing and
 research on safety, and unlike other VR companies, was willing to show
 Atari the full results of the study. The studies made Atari much more
 comfortable with the idea of releasing a HMD, and subsequently made
 their decision of who to contract out the VR development to much easier.

      When asked about whether or not the VR headset is still on track
 for a Christmas release, Mr. Rehbock responded that Atari would be
 lucky to have it out by Christmas with both Zone Hunter and Missile
 Command ready, but he also stressed that he feels that if anyone can do
 it, Virtuality can. He emphasized that they have only been working on
 the prototypes and Missile Command demo for a couple months, and have
 done a tremendous amount in that time. Virtuality is, in fact,
 developing both Missile Command and Zone Hunter themselves. Are Atari
 or any third parties were working on games which utilize the Jaguar VR
 setup? Mr. Rehbock said that Atari is working on some titles which have
 yet to be announced, and are heavily recruiting third parties to
 develop for the VR setup, though as of yet there is nothing to announce.

      Finally, Mr. Rehbock said that Atari is aiming to release the
 VR helmet with the head-tracking device for about $300, with one or
 two pack-in games. A Virtuality rep also added that the hand controller
 used for Zone Hunter would probably not be included in the package, and
 we were told that multiple head-trackers can be linked to increase the
 units' tracking ability to a full 6 degrees of freedom.

                         Strategies for Success

      Mr. Rehbock also spent some time discussing Atari's strategies to
 become more successful in 1995. Strategies under development include
 new outlooks both in their position in the market and their pursuit of
 third-party developers, a subject Mr. Rehbock is in a particularly
 good position to discuss: in addition to his other tasks, he has been
 in charge of pursuing and signing on third party developers. First,
 Mr. Rehbock mentioned that Atari is taking a two-pronged approach to
 dealing with the lack of third-party support. First, they have stepped
 up efforts to produce quality in-house titles, with Hover Strike being
 one of the first products of this policy. Secondly, Atari is focusing
 on licensing software titles from third parties to develop in-house.
 This holds two major advantages; the third parties hold no risk, so are
 more likely to sign a contract, and the profit potential for Atari is
 much higher. When asked about third party announcements, Mr. Rehbock
 said that some major contracts were in the works and will hopefully be
 announced within the next couple weeks.

      When asked specifically about Electronic Arts and the deal rumored
 to have occurred at ECTS, he said that the reason there has been no
 press release is that the deal has not quite been finalized; the exact
 games it will involve have not been completely decided. He also said
 that he is actively pursuing a contract to get Descent for the Jaguar.

      Mr. Rehbock also discussed Atari's philosophy in dealing with the
 newer systems from Sony and Sega: admitting they were more powerful,
 he said that Atari will attempt to maximize the price difference by
 keeping the core Jaguar system as well-supported and competitive as
 possible. Major games will continue to be released for the system in
 the hopes that consumers will compare the core Jaguar and its price
 the other systems on the market, rather than comparing the Jaguar + CD
 and their price to the same systems. To strengthen this approach, Atari
 is hoping to eventually be able to lower the price of the core Jaguar
 system to $99, and plans for an integrated CD and Jaguar combined unit
 have now been dropped. He also stressed that the Jaguar will offer as
 much flexibility as possible; while allowing consumers to get a serious
 base console cheaply, it will also allow them to pick and choose
 between peripherals like the CD player, VR helmet, and Voice Modem, all
 of which will function independently of one another. He hopes that this
 philosophy can bring the Jaguar into the mainstream to stay.
 Additionally, Mr. Rehbock asked that IG Online mention that Atari is
 actively looking to hire new staff in every facet of game development,
 and anyone interested in working as a programmer, producer, artist,
 etc. should contact them immediately.

                        The Jaguar Control Pad 2

     Another prototype of a new Jaguar accessory on display was the
 8-button control pad. With a shape similar to the current Jaguar
 controllers, the most obvious difference in the new pad is the addition
 of three extra buttons, somewhat smaller and taller, above the old ABC
 buttons. These buttons seemed to map to 789 on the keypad, but it
 wasn't entirely apparent if this was the case -- also added were left
 and right triggers along the top, much like those on the Super Nintendo
 joypad, which were mapped from the 4 and 6 keys. The basic idea of the
 configuration is to give maximum support to six-button fighting games,
 while allowing more complex games to keep all the buttons relatively
 easily accessible in the triggers, buttons, and the 1235 keys. The only
 other obvious utilitarian difference is a slightly different control
 pad, which curves up around the thumb, favoring quick, precise
 movements. Such improvements seemed to improve every sort of motion
 except quick movement across the pad, which has now become a little
 more difficult than was the case with the original model.

     Bill Rehbock added that essentially all the aspects of the
 controller but the control pad itself have been finalized; they are
 aware of the joypad's problem in moving left to right and down to up,
 and are looking for a way to fix it. He expects the new controller
 to ship in July, with a price as close to $25 as possible.

                    The Jaguar Phylon Voice/Dat Modem

      A Jaguar peripheral conspicuous in its absence was the Voice Modem,
 which was originally slated to be finished in time to incorporate
 into Doom last year, and has disappeared from discussion as of
 recently. Mr. Rehbock claimed that the final model should be going to
 developers within a couple weeks, and that the majority of the delay
 was in making sure that the modem and headset with microphone were
 simple and robust enough to be used by the average mass market consumer.

     IG Online inquired whether all of the previously announced features
 (comes with headset and mike, error detection, and call waiting) were
 still incorporated, and he confirmed that they are. He also added that
 a new feature has been added: the modem can handle speaking either
 through digital or analog means, such that the modem can automatically
 switch between the use of a telephone or the headset for voice
 transmissions. Mr. Rehbock also said that the Voice Modem will
 probably be a Christmas product, noting that the only game well into
 development with definite plans to use the Voice Modem is 4-Play's
 Battlesphere.

                                Jaguar CD

     Finally, the impending release of the Jag CD unit was very clear
 at the Atari booth; there were 13 Jaguar CD titles in progress on
 display, many of them substantially through development. Atari is
 clearly quite committed to making sure that there are a reasonable
 number of titles ready for the release of the CD, having delayed it
 yet again to August, and promising there will be at least 5 games
 ready for release by that time. At this point, Atari's plans for the
 CD, although not yet definite, are to sell the $150 package with Jeff
 Minter's Virtual Light Machine built in (this is definite) and include
 Vid Grid, the Tempest 2000 soundtrack, and another pack-in game with
 the package. The last game has yet to be decided, but an
 Atari representative said that Atari wants to be sure to choose
 something with wide appeal.

      The obvious first question about the Jag CD is "what games will be
 available this year and when will we see them?"  Mr. Rehbock divided
 these titles into three waves: those that should be available on or
 about the roll-out of the drive in August, those that should be out
 two weeks to a month later, and those which should arrive by the end
 of the year. Although he admitted to having missed a few, he broke
 them down as follows:

      First batch: Defender 2000, Battlemorph, Blue Lightning, Dragon's
 Lair, Space Ace, Myst, Vid Grid, and Highlander, although Defender
 2000 might well fall into the second batch.  

      The rest of the second batch was: Demolition Man, Creature Shock,
 Robinson's Requiem, and Starlight Bowlarama, with Brain Dead 13, an
 animated game developed entirely by Readysoft, coming at the end of the
 second batch or the beginning of the third.

      The final batch consisted of: Varuna's Forces, Black Ice/White Noise,
 and possibly a couple other titles.  With titles such as Soulstar,
 Brett Hull Hockey, Primal Rage, and Thea Relm Fighters not on this
 list, Atari is looking to have 15-20 titles available for the Jag CD
 by the end of the year.

      With the Jaguar CD comes the question of memory cartridges.
 Mr. Rehbock explained that they are still playing with specifications,
 but are currently looking at a 128K cart to be sold separately at a
 price of as close to $20 as possible. He noted that even a large,
 complicated game should not need more than 32K per saved game, and
 most games require significantly less than that.

                                Software

 The Atari booth at E3 featured roughly 30 games in progress, along
 with a handful of games already available. Released game which were
 shown were: Tempest 2000, Brutal Sports Football, Alien vs. Predator,
 2 Dooms networked together (apparently without errors), Iron Soldier,
 Val D'Isere Skiing, and Hover Strike.

 The following cartridge games in progress were displayed, roughly in
 order of projected release date: Ultra Vortex, Pinball Fantasies,
 Rayman, Air Cars, Burnout, White Men Can't Jump, Power Drive Rally,
 Flashback, Ruiner*, Flip Out*, Skyhammer*, Fight For Life, Baldies*,
 Hover Hunter, Battlesphere, and Deathwatch*.

 The following CD games in progress were displayed, arranged similarly:
 Blue Lightning, Dragon's Lair, Vid Grid, Highlander, Battlemorph, Myst,
 Brett Hull Hockey*, Soulstar*, Defender 2000, Creature Shock, Varuna's
 Forces, Primal Rage, and Thea Relm Fighters. (The projected release
 dates of the games marked with "*" are guessed based on the level of
 completion of the demos displayed.)

 Additionally, the JagCD's Virtual Light Machine was on display, as was a
 Virtuality VR demo of Zone Hunter, a game which they will be developing
 for the Jag VR helmet, and Missile Command 3-D/VR/2000 inside an Atari
 conference room.

 The top games on display were undoubtedly Defender 2000, Hover Hunter,
 Battlesphere, and Rayman. Defender 2000 is Jeff Minter's re-make of the
 classic arcade shooter Defender, and was quite impressive though only the
 Defender Classic and Defender Plus modes were playing. Classic mode was
 just like the original arcade game, except for the constant 60 fps and
 option to configure the control pad to control acceleration and
 deceleration. Plus mode added new rendered bitmaps of the enemies,
 along with two very nice graphical effects: the mountains had an
 undulating brightly-colored pattern on them, and the lower portion of
 the sky was dominated by a beautiful aurora-type effect. Like Classic,
 Pulse mode was running at a steady 60 fps, and Jeff Minter is confident
 he will manage to keep the 2000 mode at the same framerate. Play-wise,
 the Plus version adds Lightning Lasers and 2 AI droids, both of which
 function to kill enemies and pick up falling humans and bring them back
 to your ship. The controls were incredibly responsive, and combined
 with the high framerate gave an almost surreal feel to the demo being
 shown. Aesthetically,  there were a few peculiarities: the boundaries
 of the mountains were still a solid straight line, which looked a
 little out of place, and the star field was single color (although the
 color did cycle) and scrolled flatly upward. However, these nits are
 simply fodder for 2000 mode. Jeff says that Defender 2000 versus
 Defender Plus will be very similar to Tempest 2000 versus Tempest Plus,
 so we can look forward to some truly incredible effects in the final
 version. 2000 mode will have some textured backgrounds, and the game
 area will be more than a single screen high. Other than these, we'll
 just have to wait and see the final version for ourselves. Jeff is
 aiming for a September release.

 Hover Hunter's graphics engine has been tweaked since its previous
 showing, with more anti-aliasing to make for a much smoother picture.
 For those who didn't already know, Hover Hunter is a high-speed
 hovertank game with Voxel space graphics similar to those of Comanche
 on the PC -- Hyper Image Productions uses a method called Displacement
 Texturing to achieve a very aesthetically pleasing graphical effect
 somewhere between Gouraud shading and texture-mapping. The demo also
 ran at a very high framerate, though the software was still very
 preliminary: sound effects were practically non-existent and enemies
 were literally non-existent. The controls, although a quick hack, were
 quite responsive. In single player mode, all there was to do was
 explore one of two available levels, firing at the trees that dotted
 the landscape. However, a 2-player mode was implemented, although it
 too was a quick hack: it crashed regularly, there was no player-player
 collision detection, and there was no way for either player to die.
 The final version will have at least 4-player networking, and Hover
 Hunter is looking very promising. Hyper Image is hoping for a late
 August to early September release.

 Battlesphere is coming along nicely. It is a space combat game which
 employs light-sourced, Gouraud shade graphics with some textures
 overlaid. The enemy graphics in the demo often looked a little too
 much like flat polygons, although this was highly dependent on the
 ship you were opposing -- in character select mode, the colors were
 vibrant and the shading was gorgeous. In-game graphics seemed somewhat
 sparse, but this was probably due mostly to the fact that the HUD has
 not yet been implemented, and there wasn't a whole lot around in the
 demo. The explosions are quite nice, with beautiful debris flying in
 all directions, although a few added bitmaps other than the main
 explosion bitmap would probably make them look even better. Finally,
 the framerate remained incredibly high throughout. Controls were smooth
 and responsive, although they did not allow for acceleration and
 deceleration or rolling while turning -- you needed, at this early
 stage, to hold a button or push a keypad number to access certain
 control features. There were two modes of play implemented:
 single-player target practice mode to practice destroying ships that
 didn't shoot back, and a two-player networked mode that allowed
 one-on-one dogfighting. Battlesphere's final version will include a
 large variety of single and multiplayer modes, and is intended to
 become more or less the king of networked games, allowing up to eight
 players to play against one another. 4Play, the team responsible for
 Battlesphere, are entirely part-time, but in an ideal world
 Battlesphere will be out in September. Ship interiors rendered in
 3-D Studio were one of the major highlights of the in-game graphics --
 they had a great alien feel with an Alien versus Predator type
 aesthetic.

 Rayman, the incredibly hyped up platform game by Ubisoft, is almost
 finished and it *looks* stunning. The animated graphics are very
 colorful, extremely well shaded, and unbelievably detailed. Sprites
 move very smoothly, including a number of "background" objects, such
 as butterflies which fly around the platforms. The stages I saw had
 three levels of parallax scrolling, with the background, the play area,
 and the foreground, although the ads Ubisoft was handing out said that
 some stages had five levels of parallax.

 So, what about the gameplay? Only 4 stages were on display, along with a
 couple secret ones that I missed when I gave it a try. Rayman's controls
 are responsive, and the interactivity seems good. There is at least one
 common instance of apparently non-moving objects actually being
 manipulable... but this is not a game for Sonic fans. Rayman moves at a
 very sedate pace, and seems to focus more on interaction, puzzle-solving,
 and exploration than on fast reflexes. Will there be enough depth to make
 up for the lack of speed? The stages on display were too short to give a
 definitive answer, but we should know for sure within a few weeks,
 when the finished game should be ready. Rayman is currently slated for
 a June release.

 The next tier of games on display varied from quite good to showing
 solid potential as next generation games. They were: Ultra Vortex,
 White Men Can't Jump, Skyhammer, Varuna's Forces, and Battlemorph.
 Ultra Vortex is the MK2-style fighting game by Beyond Games, the makers
 of Battlewheels. It was nearly done, and Beyond Games was displaying
 a nearly bug-free version on a large screen TV at the very edge of the
 booth. The graphics got mixed reactions from viewers; the artwork and
 character graphics were undeniably incredibly well done, and the
 costumes were original, but the game's smoothness was unquestionably far
 from ideal. While the framerate is now not much of an issue -- much of
 the parallax scrolling was eliminated to lower the load -- the smoothness
 is now limited mainlyby the number of frames of animation, which is
 unfortunately a little on the low side. There were a large number of
 backgrounds on display, at least three of them with their own
 fatalities (all pit variants). I'm pretty sure that a couple other
 stages have their own fatalities, also. The characters each had a
 pretty wide array of moves, and although none of them were innovative
 mechanically, the way they are executed is almost invariably very cool.
 We were told that each character has two fatalities, although we never
 saw more than one per character. Fatalities we did see were very well
 done: Buzzsaw extends a drill from his wrist and runs opponents through
 the stomach, Lucius grabs and electrocutes opponents, and then
 uppercuts them into two, and another character knocked his or her
 opponent's head off, which flies directly towards the screen.

 Most importantly, the controls were quick and responsive, along with a
 couple semi-innovative features like a double back-tap making your
 character hop quickly back. Moves were reasonably easy to execute with
 the proper timing, and Ultra Vortex seemed pretty well balanced. Also,
 Beyond Games has spent a lot of time on the enemy AI, and it shows.
 The enemies' actions are very unpredictable, and there was only one
 obvious serious weakness involving drawing uppercuts, and even that
 required just the right distance. Fans of Mortal Kombat should love
 Ultra Vortex, and it may appeal to others as well. Ultra Vortex should
 be available in mid-to-late June.

 White Men Can't Jump was also close to complete, and seemed to be a very
 solid all-around title. It is a two-on-two street basketball game based
 very loosely on the movie of the same name. The graphics were basically
 quite good, with a textured court and scaled sprites for players; the
 camera view changed nicely, and the player animation is pretty detailed.
 Unfortunately, the framerate was on the low end, taking away from what
 could have been an extremely impressive visual effect. Sound effects
 are nice, with a wide variety of digitized voices for every situation.

 WMCJ's gameplay had a good basic engine, with an easy but powerful
 control system, but the details were something of a letdown. The
 game's designers opted to go for something a little rougher than real
 life street ball, with no fouls called and punches a regular occurrence.
 This in itself wouldn't be much of a problem, but when someone makes
 a basket, the ball never really leaves play; only the other team is
 allowed to touch it, but once they do, either team can do what they
 want, except that the ball has to be cleared behind the 3-point line.
 This strange juxtaposition of lawlessness and specific rules would be
 confusing enough if they had made matters clear, but, for example, I'm
 pretty sure that one sample, saying "you didn't check it," was
 actually supposed to mean "you didn't clear it." So, as is, White Men
 Can't Jump is pretty confusing, although this sort of thing would be
 pretty easy to fix in the final few weeks they have to work on it.
 Finally, the new 4-player adapter was present and fully implemented,
 allowing each character to be played by a different person,
 reminiscent of NBA Jam. White Men Can't Jump should arrive in late
 June to early July, and will be packed in with the 4-player tap.

 Skyhammer was something of a surprise presence, but it was certainly a
 pleasant surprise. Developed by Rebellion, of Alien vs. Predator fame,
 Skyhammer is a texture-mapped action game that takes you through a city
 in some variety of flying crafts. The textured graphics look great; the
 textures are chosen nicely, and although the buildings are all
 orthogonal, the engine does allow for full 3D motion: looking up/down
 and banking are both implemented. The framerate was more problematic.
 While forward motion seemed pretty smooth, any variety turning was
 quite choppy. Hopefully, this is due to the fact that this is a
 relatively early demo. The (fully textured) enemies looked quite good.
 Other than choppiness, the only other immediate problem with the
 graphics was the short horizon, which could conceivably hamper
 gameplay somewhat. Controls were nice and responsive, allowing full
 range of motion. The gameplay wasn't very solidly implemented
 yet; you could only go around and shoot at enemies, but Skyhammer
 looks like it could be quite a hot title.

 Surprisingly enough, Varuna's Forces was only showing a demo of the
 introduction, character selection, and mission intro sequences. The
 FMV was nicely done, although not totally stunning. Character
 selection had some nice effects, especially the gratuitous texturing
 of the FMV of the character selected. Varuna's Forces is intended to
 be a fully immersive war-strategy-with-some-action game. You will
 control your squadron, giving them orders, seeing what they are doing,
 and hearing their reports of what's going on. Whenever you want to, you
 can "jump into" a character, at which point the game becomes more
 Doom-like; you control their motions with a textured, first-person
 viewpoint. It sounds like a great idea, but until we see some of the
 real game, we won't know for sure. According to an Accent Media,
 Varuna's Forces should be ready for the CD release in August, though
 Bill Rehbock claimed that it wouldn't be available for a month or two
 after that.

 Battlemorph had a playable demo (finally), and it seemed like roughly
 what one would expect out of Cybermorph II. The improvements obvious
 from the demo were all graphical: the horizon seemed a little longer,
 the Gouraud shading was smoother and less gaudy, the enemies and some
 objects and buildings were textured, and most importantly, the
 framerate was much higher. Most of Cybermorph remains in the sequel,
 including most, if not all of the weapons, and a kinder, gentler Skylar.
 An FMV intro now shows your Mothership in greater detail, and the intro
 has some very nice moments. Apparently gone is the pod collection on
 every level. Added are some new powerups (a more powerful radar, for
 instance), a map key (although not yet implemented in the demo), and
 underwater and tunnel sequences. The underwater sequences didn't seem
 to add much to the demo, other than a change of graphics. Tunnels were
 a little more interesting, with doors that needed to be opened and
 closed, or in some cases, opened and closed automatically -- careful
 timing helps you to get through. Both the water and the tunnels could
 add variety to the gameplay in the final version. The only obvious
 problem with the demo was that the aiming hadn't been changed much,
 and could still provide problems when it was necessary to fire off a
 stream of shots at a strange angle. It appears that nearly all that's
 left is to actually design the levels. Battlemorph should be available
 with the launch of the CD player in August.

 The next few games fall into the categories of "fun, but unimpressive,"
 or games that have potential but will need serious work. These are:
 Burnout, Power Drive Rally, Primal Rage, Fight For Life, Thea Relm
 Fighters, Brett Hull Hockey and Highlander.  Burnout is a simple,
 Hang-On type motorcycle racing game. It was on display in what looked
 like a nearly finished form. For sprite-based graphics, Burnout looks
 quite nice, with quite well-drawn (although obviously not digitized)
 sprites, moving in large numbers extremely quickly and smoothly across
 the screen. The controls respond quickly and effectively, and did not
 burden the game at all. However, if they don't include a two-player
 mode, it just won't be worth buying for those of us who get bored
 quickly racing against the computer. Burnout had no official release
 date, but looks like it should be out within one to two months.

 Power Drive Rally was also on display, and is in a situation similar to
 that of Burnout. It is sprite-based, with well-drawn and smoothly moving
 sprites, although where Burnout's viewpoint resembles Hang-On's, Power
 Drive Rally uses a Super Sprint type overhead view. The controls seemed a
 bit sluggish, but appropriate to the tracks on display. There is a
 computerized co-pilot who warns you out loud about oncoming turns, and
 ends up being extremely useful. According to the Time Warner
 Interactive press release, this will implement two-player play, which
 should make it somewhat more interesting than it would have been as a
 relatively slow-moving racing game. Also, there are a number of options
 to modify your car with money earned from races, so it should be a
 pretty good game for those who like car racing. According to the press
 release it will be available in June, but according to the general
 TWI list, it will be out in July.

 Primal Rage had a demo that was actually surprisingly far along. As
 far as I could tell, it ran through the entire out of game sequence
 just like the arcade, and the in-game graphics and gameplay seemed
 very similar to its arcade parent. The graphics and gameplay engines
 seemed to be well in place, although I have no idea if all the moves
 were in yet. Because this was still a relatively early demo, the
 decompression and loading time before a game was ridiculous--about
 2-3 minutes, so it spent most of its time with the controllers
 unplugged running through the introductory screens. It would appear
 that Primal Rage fans can expect a near-perfect conversion when it
 arrives in November.

 Fight For Life has been steadily improving since its near-disastrous
 demo at WCES. It is currently in the middle of texturing of the
 characters, with some looking quite nice and others looking somewhat
 silly, with a textured torso and blocky polygonal legs. Ultimately,
 many of the characters will be fully textured, and the final effect
 should be pretty good. FFL's backgrounds are pretty good-looking
 bitmaps and city skylines and the like, while the ground was made up
 of ugly, now-inappropriate Gouraud shaded polygons. If he can keep the
 framerate high enough, programmer Francois Yves Bertrand intends to
 texture the ground for the final version. There were a pretty wide
 variety of moves implemented, although some hadn't been put in at all,
 and others hadn't had the collision detection written yet. There were
 a variety of basic punches and kicks, along with a few grabs, throws
 and body slams. Instead of a block button, FFL had a dodge button that
 would try to dodge whatever attack was being made. Basically, the
 gameplay of the demo was very simplistic, with very little in the way of
 act-and-respond moves, and a lot of pounding on the keypad and hoping
 "gee, I hope that doesn't hit me." Also, the moves were pretty
 non-intuitive, with sweep and uppercut being rotate down to forward
 and kick or punch respectively. Francois expects to be working on it
 for at least another month before final testing, so it probably won't be
 available for at least two to four months.

 Thea Relm Fighters is Atari's answer to the MK series. To Atari's credit,
 they took the four best actors from MK II (leaving MK III with bad
 actors, incidentally): Ho Sung Pak, Daniel Pesina, Dr. Ahn, and Katalin
 Zamiar. The game will be out on CD, supposedly including more than
 20 characters, and Atari clearly expects it to be a huge hit, having
 arranged for the actors to come to E3 and do a martial arts
 exhibition. When asked what it was like to switch from Williams to
 Strata to Atari, Daniel Pesina (formerly Johnny Cage) responded
 pleasantly, "Atari definitely treats us better than Williams,"
 eliciting a supporting chuckle from one of the other martial artists
 present there.

 As always, reality intruded into the TRF debut. The demo was very
 preliminary, running on an EEPROM, and in a word, horrible. Characters
 looked reasonably good but moved unbearably jerkily. As far as I know,
 the demo was unplayable, and really actually worse than unimpressive.
 Thea Relm Fighters is scheduled for a 3rd quarter release, but with the
 amount of work they have to do, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see
 it delayed into at least the 4th quarter... or mid-96.

 Brett Hull Hockey had a playable demo showing, and seemed pretty far
 along: it's essentially a sprite based hockey game. The graphics
 looked pretty good, with well-drawn (or digitized) sprites moving
 very smoothly around the rink, which scrolled flatly, but there was an
 option to change views, which occurred smoothly, suggesting that the
 possibility of a dynamic viewpoint during play is quite feasible. The
 controls seemed pretty intuitive and responsive, and the players moved
 pretty well. Brett Hull could develop into quite a good hockey game,
 though it will be pretty much like most of the 16-bit hockey software
 we've seen to date.

 Highlander was displaying a pretty close to complete version, lacking
 only a number of enemies and objects to find and use. It is an
 action/adventure game in the spirit of Alone in the Dark, with static
 backgrounds and polygon characters. The backgrounds were nicely done,
 and the characters were reasonably detailed, although the bright
 colors made them really stand out from the background. The fighting
 engine was mostly in place, and allowed a couple defensive moves and a
 few different offensive moves. Nothing too exciting was my verdict,
 though Highlander became more interesting when you were being attacked
 from more than one side. The objects and puzzles were not yet in place,
 so it's hard to guess how involving the final game will be. However,
 the mechanics seem to be in place for a pretty solidly good game.
 Highlander should be available with the rollout of the CD in August.

 The final group of games is rather eclectic. Some were only showing FMV
 demos, others were quite limited in audience, and some were distinctly
 average or just plain bad. Soulstar was a surprise entry in this
 category. A shooter conversion by Core that is supposedly well on its
 way, for some reason it only had the FMV demo playing. The demo was
 pretty well rendered, but as usual, gave no info whatsoever about the
 game itself. I had been assuming it would be done in time for the
 CD's launch, but now I'm not so sure.

 Creature Shock, the conversion of the PC spooled graphics shooting
 gallery, was also only displaying an FMV demo, although this was at
 least a demo of the actual levels. The graphics seemed pretty good
 and smooth, although as with Soulstar, they didn't give much of an idea
 of what the final game will be like. Creature Shock should be out
 within a couple weeks to a month of the release of the CD player.

 Yet another unplayable demo -- not even FMV -- was the conversion of the
 Mac/PC game Myst. This consisted basically of a slideshow of the
 beautiful locations that make up the land that Myst takes place in. I
 would imagine that they should have no trouble making an essentially
 identical conversion with moderately improved graphics, for whatever
 that's worth. Myst should be available with the first wave of CD games
 in August.

 The final non-interactive totally FMV demo was something of a random
 surprise. Entitled Nerf Max Force, it played FMV showing a kid firing off
 nerf weapons at rendered enemy mechs, while a description of the game
 played.  No clue as to what this will be like ,or when it will come out.

 Moving on to the eccentric games, a puzzle game called Flip Out was on
 display and seemed pretty far along. Clearly targeted towards a younger
 audience, the point of the game is to rearrange tiles into a desired
 pattern by flipping them into the air, at which point they land wherever
 the next tile was flipped from. If a tile ever lands before the next
 one is flipped, it breaks, ending the game. Animated characters in the
 background and the general simplicity make it seem like a perfectly
 reasonable game for younger children.

 A game called Baldies certainly fits the eccentric label, although
 more in the way that Lemmings did. Perhaps best described as a cross
 between Powermonger and Cannon Fodder, Baldies is a humorous flat
 overhead game in which the point is to get your Baldies to build
 houses, reproduce, and create inventions to help them battle the evil
 people with hair. This seemed like the type of game that, if done
 right, could appeal to a certain number of people, but it will
 certainly never be a 64-bit extravaganza, either.

 Pinball Fantasies is the conversion of the computer pinball game of the
 same name, and seemed to be pretty straightforward pinball that's not
 likely to appeal to anyone other than serious pinball fans. Not being
 one, I didn't spend much time trying it out. It should be done and
 available pretty soon.

 Ruiner is another pinball game. Moderately more impressive than Pinball
 Fantasies, it is not likely to hold the attention of anyone who doesn't
 play pinball. It seemed pretty far along, so I'd expect to see it in the
 next couple months.

 Vid Grid looked very close to done. It is a simple rearrange-the-pieces
 of-the-puzzle game, with the twist that the puzzle is an FMV music video.
 The FMV was smooth, and the pieces moved just fine. This certainly isn't
 much of a game, and an Atari rep said they are considering packing it in
 with the Jag CD along with the Tempest 2000 soundtrack CD and a real
 pack-in game.

 Dragon's Lair had a fully playable demo display, and looked like, well,
 Dragon's Lair. Fans of the original should like this, while others will
 be annoyed at the scripted-ness of the actions and lack of
 interactivity. The animation was pretty good, but far from stunning.
 Dragon's Lair is essentially done and should be available in August
 when the CD comes out.

 Like Dragon's Lair, Flashback is a straight port of a now unimpressive
 game. Flashback is a cartridge game, and does not seem to have been
 incredibly improved over the original. It should be a decent, playable
 game with good animation and nice backgrounds, but it certainly won't
 blow anyone away with stunning, 64-bit graphics. It is well on its
 way, and I'd expect to see it within the next couple months.

 Deathwatch -- Deathwatch? (well, at least that's what it looked like on
 the EEPROM) was a simple, animated platform/shoot-em-up game. Animated
 colorfully but without any really incredible shading, it looked very
 16-bit, and played like a standard platform game. It could end up being
 a perfectly reasonable game, but is certainly nothing that couldn't
 have be [sic].

  The final version of Air Cars wason display. A networking action game
 by Midnite Software, it has been lambasted as one of the worst games
 being developed for the Jag. While a re-tooling of some of the graphics
 helped, they are still pretty bad; the Gouraud shaded landscapes look
 decent, but the objects are all ugly and badly formed, giving a very
 negative visual impression overall. For example, the smoke screens
 look like black globs rather than smoke screens. The controls also
 seemed pretty sluggish, although I didn't spend a lot of time trying
 them out. There are some good ideas in Air Cars: 8-player networking,
 enemies that retreat dropping smoke screens when damaged, and pretty
 good physics allowing jumping off of hills all work to the game's
 advantage, but I doubt they will be enough to offset the incredibly
 poor graphics and overall implementation. Air Cars should be shipping
 in June.

 Finally, Blue Lightning was showing a 95% finished version, and it was
 probably the overall worst game on display. Aside from some nice FMV
 demos, it had very little going for it in any department. Imagine the
 Lynx Blue Lightning with prettier bitmaps and more difficult controls,
 and that's basically what Blue Lightning is like. As you fly along in
 the plane, the flat hills give the impression of flying through a
 shooting gallery, and the controls are pretty imprecise and
 unenjoyable. This is almost done, and barring a much-needed major
 reworking, will be available with the CD player in August.

 All in all, there were few surprises at Atari's booth, and although
 there were a number of solid titles, Jaguar owners continue to be
 forced to play the waiting game. While some neat peripherals were on
 display, small release catalogs and lots of potential for future
 delays may well prevent even Atari's most innovative devices from
 reaching the hands of their hungry fans.

 -Brian Osserman



 Sb: Minter Update
 Fm: SYSOP*Jeff Kovach 74777,3071
 To: All

 From the Internet, Jeff Minter's latest update on Defender 2000:

 ----------

 D2K Thangs for May

 May 21:  Decoupled

 Sorry no updates for a while, but it's been kind of a hectic month.
 There were three trips to LA, two for the purposes of doing some Jaguar
 demonstrations in various shops in that area, and the third for E3.  In
 between those times I have been involved in the process of decoupling
 the Yakly abode from the apartment complex in Sunnyvale and
 re-establishing it in a far more appropriate place, out in the country
 where there are plenty of beasties and where blasting out some tunes
 llate at night won't result in the neighbours calling in the gentlemen
 with the handguns and the nightsticks to order me to turn it down.

 It certainly feels excellent to be in my own space again.  I'm much more
 adequately wired than I ever was back in Wales, with a good solid
 dialin to the Santa Cruz netcom node to get me on the Net, and thank
 God a line of sight to the DSS satellite (back in Wales we had no cable,
 crappy terrestrial reception of two out of the four UK channels (one of
 which was in Welsh), and the line of sight to the satellite went right
 through the hill behind my house)..

 I can now revert to my 'natural' work mode, which frequently involves
 late-night, CD-blasting, inspirational coding runs which just weren't
 possible in the old place.  One can't hack Jaguar late at night without
 loud music. It's not natural.  I'm certain I'll be more productive in
 this environment.

 I've even found a local - even if at 15 miles' distance it isn't that
 local. However, it's worth the drive as the Penny Farthing in Salinas
 is a proper British pub, with proper beer and excellent food. A man's
 got to have his local.  It's important.

 To revert to the subject, with all this going on I've done a relatively
 small amount to the game this time.  I've been going back through
 Classic and Plus while I wait for some artwork for 2K, fixing up odd
 little things that bugged me while I was playing the game at E3; I
 should soon be able to label those portions of the game as completely
 finished with.  I got one of the 6-button controllers from Atari, and
 I've implemented the Classic control mode from the arcade game, with
 Thrust and Reverse completely decoupled from the d-pad and exported to
 separate buttons.  On the new controller the left shoulder pad is used
 for Reverse, B is Thrust and A is Fire.  This gives your hands and
 fingers almost exactly the same tasks as on the coin-op controls - the
 left thumb controls up and down and the index finger Reverses, while
 the index and second finger on the right control Thrust and Fire
 respectively, leaving the right thumb to fall naturally on the Smart
 Bomb on C, as God and Eugene intended.

 Since those controls went in, I've been having a massive binge of
 Classic-playing.  It now feels *just* like the original game to play.
 It's a bit harder than the mode with thrust and reverse incorporated
 in the d-pad, but somehow it's just a lot more satisfying to play this
 way.  As I've said in newsgroup, Uncle Eugene knew exactly what he was
 doing, taking those controls off the joystick.  Classicdudes are gonna
 llove it.

 The easier mode will still be there as an option, 'coz of course not
 everyone will have a 6-button controller.  Although you *can* use that
 mode on a 3-button controller, as the L shoulder pad maps to 4 on the
 keypad - if you lay the controller flat on a surface and use the index
 and second fingers on the left hand to do up and down, the thumb falls
 on Reverse, even closer to the ordained button layout for Classic...

 Otherwise.... been tidying up.  Rez-in works properly.  Optimised a bit.
 Fixed the left hand edge clipping of pixelshatter coz of the A1 clip
 bug.  Corrected the dangle height for Humanoids under the ship in
 Classic mode.  Kinda stuff. Hey, it has to be done sometime and better
 now than in Final Test...

 This week, I look forward to trying out an idea for an unusual feedback
 effect, which the hardware may or may not allow, as I shall be asking
 it to do something unnatural once per scan line.  Sign off mentally on
 Plus and Classic; instigate Predator and Prey classes for the object
 handler; and I really must get cracking on some Easter Eggs.... oh, and
 I hope I shall get my desk from storage at Atari, as my llegs sometimes
 go to sleep while I'm sitting on the floor and typing.  I still need a
 bunch more furniture to fill this big house :)

  \
  (:-) - who is probably the last person on the planet to finally get his
 MTV
  /


              ________________________________________________


 > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine          The wires are a hummin'!
   """""""""""""""""""""""""""""
         
          
              
                            PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
                            =====================
             
              
 On CompuServe
 -------------
 compiled by
 Joe Mirando
 73637,2262



 Hello again folks.  Well, the days keep getting longer and warmer and it
 won't be long 'till we all start complaining about the heat and humidity
 (My New Year's resolution for this year was to bludgeon the first person
 that tells me "It's not the heat, it's the humidity").  Anyway, while
 Spring is still here in full bloom, so to speak, we mere mortals find
 that we have even less time than we had last Spring and spend half of
 the time that we DO have trying to figure out how to spend the other
 half.

 Thank goodness that I've got a CompuServe account.  CIS gives me a
 chance to look through all of the information that MIGHT interest me so
 that I can find the information that DOES interest me.  So, thanks to
 CompuServe, I have time to do more things.  Thanks guys!

 C'mon with me and I'll show you what I'm talking about...


 From the Atari Computing Forums
 ===============================

 Michel Vanhamme tells us:

   "I just did my first ftp session with NOS! The solution to my problem
   was quite simple, really. NOS was installed two folders deep on my HD,
   and apparently didn't like it. I moved my NOS folder to the root, et
   voila, everything suddenly worked!  Next thing I'll try is setting up
   the usenet reader.
   
   BTW, I got hold of a newer version of NOS, V0.42. I haven't tried it
   yet, but I will soon."

 Chris Roth tells Michel:

   "I didn't think of that, sorry: If you want to start NOS nested in a
   directory, you must start it with the parameter '-dc:\your\path' (f.e.
   '-dc:\nos').  However, if you want to run the newsreader (SNEWS) you
   have to set an environment variable to point to the right directory, so
   probably putting NOS on the root is the most easy but for me too messy
   way.
   
   Good luck with the installation of the newsreader SNEWS! It took me
   quite a time to get that thing running, unfortunately the GEM-based
   newsreader Oasis is still buggy and bombs in the configuration phase...
   
   The newer version of NOS (0.42) has some advantages over previous
   versions, as the author told me, and is smaller due to removal of
   unnecessary features. As a result, the newsreader isn't anymore
   integrated into NOS, but is a seperate program package (SNEWS).
   
   You can find all that internet related Atari stuff on the ftp site:
   ftp.demon.co.uk in the directory pub/atari/.  Now that you can ftp
   <grin>!"

 Michel tells Chris:

   "Well, NOS is in its folder, the folder is in the root. The only files
   in the root are startup.nos & dialer.pp0. But, agreed, it's not very
   neat.
   
   Concerning NNTP. Do you have addresses of news servers? I tried an
   NNTP session with news.demon.co.uk, and all I had was this message :
   "502 imp.demon.co.uk NNTP server can't talk to you.  Goodbye.  - NNTP
   Bad reply on banner (response was 502)" I don't know if this comes from
   the news server or from NOS."

 Chris replies:

   "...as for nntp, you have to configure news.compuserve.com to be your
   newsserver, since others (as you saw) won't talk to you.
   
   The bad banner error can be related to that. I once had it too when I
   tried to talk to the compuserve newsserver but never occured again."

 Michel tells Chris:

   "I was beginning to suspect something along those lines... I should
   have guessed that one can't use just any newsserver."

 John Montgomery posts:

   "I don't think this is the right place, but Compuserve's *find* says
   that Tiny Computers can be located here.  I want to ask them about my
   computer's configuration - ( a 486 PC ).
   
   Are they here, or, do you perchance know where they are?"

 Sysop Keith Joins tells John:

   "Tiny is a picture/graphics format on the Atari computer so that is why
 you were
   pointed here.  If this was the only location you got then I don't think
 that
   Tiny Computers is on-line."

 Lyle Raymond asks:

   "Is there any PD FAX software available (esp. here on Compuserve) that
   is compatible with class 1 modems?
   
   I've tried the BATFAX demo, but it only works with class 2."

 Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Lyle:

   "None that I know of. The only one that comes to mine is STraight Fax
   2.x which is a commercial product."

 Patrick Wong asks:

   "I know a 486 emulator isn't out for the ST but I've heard of a few 286
   emulators on the market.  How are they?  I was wondering if you could
   convert them to a 486.  Does anyone know if they contain real 286
   chips? There's a chip by Cyrix that turns any 286 into a 486 simply by
   removing it and plugging in a new chip.  One of my friends have one of
   those old Atari compatible PCs (I don't know if anyone remembers them)
   but he bought the chip, plug it in, just for fun and it worked!  He's
   running Windows on it and everything!  I was wondering would this work
   on the 286 emulators."

 Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Patrick:

   "I do not believe they work on the Atari 286 emulators."

 Patrick tells Albert:

   "Thanks Albert.  Oh well, that's really too bad.  Do you know if the
   emulators use 286 chips at all or do they use some other system?"

 Albert fills Patrick (and us) in:

   "There was AT-Speed and another one (I forget the name) which uses 286
   chips.  These worked on the normal ST series of computers. There is
   also one on the Falcon030 by Compo which is also a 286 chip based
   board.
   
   Compo is working on a 486 version currently.  No word on the date of
   release however."

 David West posts:

   "I need a good, inexpensive word processor for my classroom.  I
   currently own a 486, but once upon a time used a 130xe to write all my
   college research papers.  The 130xe still works fine, my kids use it
   for frogger and pole position.   My cousin donated his old 1040st for
   use in my classroom.  If anyone knows about available shareware for it
   please tell me.  All I have with the computer is a bunch of games.
   Also, can you download atari software with a pc, and somehow transform
   it to the atari format?  Any help or advise would be great.  Thanks in
   advance."

 Albert Dayes tells David:

   "You can format a 720K floppy disk on your PC and use it to move files
   between the PC and the Atari.  There are quite a few programs in the
   library. For a word processor there is ST-Writer ver 4.8 which is very
   similar to AtariWriter on the 8-bit Atari."

 Laurence Glazier asks for help:

   "A friend of mine who suffered a stroke a year ago and who's only
   undamaged ability is musical, composes music on the ST - inadvertantly
   he has deleted a file which I would like to recover for him. I can only
   find two utilities here - the 1986 one works only at mid-resolution,
   and the other one (the GOODIES accessory) keeps reporting ERROR 43.
   Would much appreciate be directed to a tool which will actually do the
   job, assuming that part of the disk is still intact."

 Terry Cano tells Laurence:

   "There's a program called UNDELETE that I'll send you E-mail it may
   work.  I have used it once 'believe."

 Peter Joseph replies to Terry:

   "Will you be my friend too? <grin>  Seriously, my brother did the same
   thing recently and I'm not sure he's gotten Disk Doctor to work or not.
   Appreciate it."

 Andreas Rosenberg tells us:

   "There is no secret in running an ST with a standard SVGA monitor. I
   simple soldered a cable with the right connectors on both sides and
   connected the three RGB inputs of the VGA monitor with the monochrome
   output of the ST. The connector for the ST must connect the monochrome
   sense pin with ground and that's all. I'm running the ST high
   resolution with my ADI 3E monitor for about 3 years without any
   trouble. You'll only need to have a look at the horizontal frequencies
   your SVGA monitor is able to manage. If you have a sync band around 36
   kHz it should work.
   
   To prevent misunderstanding: You will not get any higher resolutions
   by using a SVGA monitor. I simply wanted to have more room on my desk
   by making ONE monitor useable with both the ST and PC."

 Fred Zelders asks:

   "Does anybody have a GIF/TIF/BMP picture of the ATARI 1024 ST computer
   system?  I want to embed it into a WWW-page I am preparing."

 Albert Dayes tells Fred:

   "There should be some in degas format floating around. I remember
   seeing some a long time back. You could use GEM-VIEW to convert it GIF
   or TIFF to use on the WWW-page."

 Santiago Escuain asks Soft-Logic Publishing:

   "I am one of your registered users of PageStream 2.2 for ATARI. I have
   been working with a Mac for some years now due to the disastrous
   commercial policy of Atari in Spain (what a pity to loose such an
   excellent machine). However, I keep my old machine as PageStream is so
   flexible and useful for many tasks.  With PageStream I laid out not
   only small magazines, but a huge work in two 600+ page volumes (Charles
   Hodge of Princeton, Systematic Theology, which I also translated to
   Spanish). These volumes featured footnotes in every page, headers, and
   what-not.
   
   Now I hear you are planning to port PageStream to MAC. Great news. I
   have been browsing in your forum, and I see that we registered users
   will have a rebate.  May it be a very big rebate - pleeeze! ;-).
   
   Another big news is that you are going to tell us owners of previous
   versions as soon as it is done. Please refresh me in your data base,
   and tell me as soon as it is available!!"

 Over in the Atari Gaming Forum, when someone makes the mistake of
 saying that the Jaguar is really a 32 bit machine (for myself, I'm happy
 if they don't leave the "3" out of that statement), John Mathieson at
 Atari posts:

   "I really thought we had settled this 64-bit thing. We do not claim
   Jaguar is 64 bit because 32 + 32 makes 64. We claim it because Jaguar
   has a 64 bit bus and has 64 bit processors. If you really want to knock
   Jaguar call it 16-bit. After all it has a 68000. But then so does
   Saturn."

 The poster of the original message tells John:

   "Well I heard from a press release, that it had 2 32-bit processors.
   Is it really 64-bit?  Man I'm sorry."

 Sysop Jim Ness explains:

   "It's got 5 processors, ranging from a 16 bit to a couple of 64 bit.
   And a 64 bit bus connecting them.  With multiple processors tossing
   data around, the bus itself is probably the most important spec."

 Tony Talarico jumps in and posts:

   "WAIT A MINUTE! The 68000 is a -16-BIT- processor??!! Then how come when 
   you add two registers, you get a 32-bit result? Why are there 32-bit 
   loads and stores? And what about multiplies and divides?  Are you saying
   this because the 68000 only has a 16-bit data bus EXTERNALLY? Well,
   then, I guess that makes the 8088 an 8-bit processor! No, that can't be
   right, the Z-80 was DEFINITELY the king of the 8-bits. 8-{)
   
   As far as that 16-bit bus goes, the 68k will do 32-bit transfers a LOT
   faster than any TRUE 16-bit processor (i.e. the 8086). That's simply
   because it does 16-bit transfers on successive clock cycles. A 16-bit
   processor would need to process another instruction in between.
   
   Of course, I realize that you already know this. However, some people
   around here don't and might believe your statement that the 68k is only
   16-bit. They might not realize it has 8 full 32-bit general registers
   and a full 32-bit accumulator."

 Scott Sanders tells Tony:

   "The primary benchmark for what a system is in terms of 'bits' is the
   size of its data bus. The Jaguar has a 64-bit data bus. Three of the
   five processors in the system, the GPU, the Blitter, and the Object
   Processor have complete 64-bit access to this bus. They are, in fact
   the processors that _need_ 64-bit access.  The 68000 has 16-bit access
   to the data bus. Internally, it can manipulate data as wide as 32-bits
   but whenever a result is stored in memory, a 32-bit data word must be
   transferred in two steps, each 16-bits wide. The DSP has 32-bit access
   to the bus. Since it is almost always used for sound, that access is
   plenty. Enough to grab two 16-bit samples at a time.
   
   In all console systems, the bottleneck is almost always graphics. The
   Jaguar puts the power where it needs it the most."

 Randy Magruder tells Scott:

   "I beg to differ with you on this one.  A fair amount of programmers
   and engineers would define a system's bitness not by its bus but by the
   size of its registers. The 80386, 80486, and Pentium processors are
   considered 32-bit because they employ 32-bit registers and can perform
   32-bit multiplies of those thirty two bit registers in a single
   instruction.  On the other hand, the Jaguar's GPU will multiply two
   32-bit numbers yielding a 64 bit result, but does not directly multiply
   two 64-bit numbers.  In terms of throughput, I do consider the Jaguar
   64-bit if only because 64-bit quantities are generally not that usual
   in the high speed integer math used to transform matrices, shade and
   texture polygons, etc. The bus becomes an important indicator because
   its the means by which large amounts of graphics make their way through
   the system.  I've always considered the Jaguar a hybrid 64-bit system,
   but as far as games are concerned, because its 64-bit where it has to
   be, I don't mind Atari calling it 64-bit.
   
   However, to say unequivocally that the bus size alone determines the
   bitness of the system is, in my opinion, technically inaccurate.  Most
   would argue that a 64-bit ALU is the necessary missing component,
   though it becomes far more important in desktop operating systems like
   Windows NT, where some functions that return large numbers do so in a
   full 64-bit quantity.
   
    >> They are, in fact the processors that _need_ 64-bit access. >>

   Yes but how many instructions and registers does it take to multiply
   two 64-bit numbers?  How many does it take to multiply two 32-bit
   numbers?
   
   >> In all console systems, the bottleneck is almost always graphics.
   The Jaguar puts the power where it needs it the most. <<
   
   I agree with this in general, but I still think the Jaguar badly needs
   to run at a higher clockspeed...."

 Robert Reilly asks:

   "The Atari Bond is selling at about 51 cents on the dollar with a
   yield to maturity of over 17.7%. Is it a Good Buy? Is it backed by the
   good faith of the Tramiels .
   
   If the cd is due in August, I heard it was callable last year ,then
   January, then April, May, June. What is the remaining rate of interest
   and is it guaranteed by Atari. We know what that is worth, less. It is
   the only cd with a future at Atari the other cd just got wiped out by
   lack of interest and portfolio switching to Sega. Jag owners are
   selling their systems in droves, what will the cd attach to besides a
   Jag."

 Jeffery Norwood tells Robert:

   "Okay, first, I'm not the stock market guy (but I like regular stocks
   and options, and follow the mondestly)
   
   The Tramiels, no matter what anyone says, have great faith in their
   products.  However, Atari is off to a slow start, and the sudden (four
   months early) release of the Saturn shocked the world!  Atari has a
   promising future.  With a CD (disc, not bond) attatchment due out in
   July, and a Virtual Reality helmet late this year.  Atari seemingly
   forgets that although they have almost unmatchable hardware techinical
   stuff, they don't put it into the software.  It's like making a gas for
   a car, but there are no cars for it!!!  If this were BUY, SELL, or
   HOLD, I'd say HOLD."

 John Lange tells us:

   "About a year ago I bought the Jag on the day of its release. When I
   brought it home the only thing I got on my screen was a red screen with
   the Jaguar logo on it. It growled and that was about it. Now the same
   thing is happening again. If anyone has a clue to what this problem may
   be please respond."

 Bill Devonshire tells John:

   "Sometimes the red screen happens because you do not have the cart
   plugged in correctly (seated properly).  The worse case is that you
   have forced the cart into the slot and crushed one of the connector
   pins.  To fix that you have to send it back.  Get a bright light and
   look at your connector - if you see a shiny bit of metal at the bottom
   of the connector then it is probably a crushed pin.  Hopefully not!"


 Well folks, that's about all for this week.  Tune in again next week,
 same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
 when...

                             PEOPLE ARE TALKING


         """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""


                       STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
                       """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""

 > A "Quotable Quote"        A true "Sign of the Times" 
   """""""""""""""""     CLOSE OBSERVATION REVEALS TOO MUCH!



                    REMEMBER THE FEINSTEIN SENATE RACE??
                    ------------------------------------
      Where  the good Mayor of San Francisco won the election??  Oh how the
 loser  screamed  and  cried  foul.  Why he spent a little over $26,000,000
 dollars to wage a campaign against Feinstein is baffling.   With that kind
 of  money he and his family for generations to come would be able to enjoy
 life.    Anybody  care  to  guess  WHY anyone would spend $26 million on a
 campaign  to  become elected to the US Senate??  How many terms would this
 candidate  have  to  serve  before  earning  back  the  money spent on the
 campaign?

 Perhaps..
 ---------
 It really is true.. that one may cobb much more than that amount of money
 with little or no fear of detection and prosecution..  

                                              ...food for thought


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