BY STEPHEN MORTIMER, START CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Inside
Atari
Mead Ames-Klein has been named new president of Atari Corp., replacing
David Harris in that position. Harris' appointment, which was announced
in April's "News, Notes and Quotes," now appears to have been intended
as temporary only, until a permanent successor to Mike Morand could be
found. Ames-Klein comes from the Koala Springs beverage company and is
noted for his marketing skills (this is reminiscent of John Sculley coming
to Apple from Pepsi). Ames-Klein will oversee both Atari Computer (U.S.)
and the entertainment division.
Also riding the merry-go-round is Bob Thomas and Associates, which replaces Marken Communications as Atari's public relations firm. Their address and phone number are 228 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, 213/376-6978. Bob Thomas and Associates is a subsidiary of the San Francisco advertising firm Chiat/Day.
The good news from Atari is that the Laser Brain Epson-printer emulator has been released as freeware. Laser Brain is an improvement on the buggy Diablo emulator, which was incompatible with many software packages. Written by Germany's DMC, Laser Brain works with a monochrome system and multiple, user-installed fonts. Since it's freeware, Atari won't guarantee its compatibility or future upgrades.
Still waiting for release are MIDI-Tasking, Cookie Jar, Expandable Control Panel and the new GDOS that supports scaleable outline fonts.
Wireless Data Network
Motorola and IBM announced a new wireless data network that will give
portable computers across the country access to their fixed counterparts.
A Motorola terminal is needed to use the network, which is expected to
be fully operational later this year. You can either use the terminal as
if you were a remote site linked by telephone lines, or it can serve as
a modem for other computers, such as the Stacy or Portfolio. Atari has
reportedly demonstrated a system using the Motorola terminal's modem function.
Fat Bits
-
Advertisements for the Stacy, which received Class-B FCC certification
allowing non-consumer sales, appeared in the March issues of Keyboard
and Electronic Musician magazines (most recent issues at press time).
-
IBM and the West German conglomerate Siemens have agreed to jointly develop
the next generation of memory chips. Research on the 64-megabit chip will
take place at IBM's Advanced Semiconductor Technology Center in New York,
another facility in Vermont and in Munich. The companies plan to ship a
finished product by the mid-1990s.
- Calamus Outline, a $289.95 art package similar to the Mac's Adobe Illustrator, was released recently to an enthusiastic public. In order to establish Outline as the standard in illustration software, ISD bundled an Outline-to-Postscript conversion program with it.
ISD is now shipping Calamus Outline.
If you have a hot tip let us know at News, Notes & Quotes, START Magazine, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
European Report
BY DONALD MAPLE, REPORTING FROM WEST GERMANY
Racist Games Spread
Along with the resurgence of the extreme right in the political arena,
a disturbing number of racial and neo-Nazi computer games have spread throughout
Europe, especially in Germany and Great Britain. These games - "Concentration
Camp Manager", "The Anti-Turk Test" and "Paki-bashing" - can he found in
schools, where the youth seem to he titillated by the games' forbidden
nature and not fully aware of their implications. Some of these programs
are original and some mimic commercial software; obviously people have
spent a lot of time creating this "entertainment."
Computer Spies Convicted
German citizens Dirk Brzesinski, Peter Karl and Markus Hess were convicted
of espionage Feb. 15 for cracking American military computers and selling
their telephone numbers and access codes to the KGB. They received $54,500
for the secrets from their Soviet contact, "Serge." although Brzesinski
claims their main motivation was to help the Soviets raise their technology
to the level of the West. The three were sentenced to between 20 and 24
months in prison. The fourth member of the group, Karl Koch, allegedly
committed suicide before the trial by setting himself on fire in a forest
near Hannover. (Editor's Note: This was the group hunted by astronomer-turned-spycatcher
Clifford Stoll, who told his story in The Cuckoo's Egg, reviewed in the
February 1990 issue of START.)
Sex!
And now that I have your attention - a serious subject. The Organisation
Against Sexism In Software (OASIS) is a London-based group founded to fight
sexual stereotyping in software. For example, how many times have you seen
a game advertisement featuring a macho hero decorated with scantily clad
female-oids? Oasis is concerned with the attitudes that produce such work,
and how they apply to and affect both sexes. For more information and a
bimonthly magazine send a U.S. equivalent of five British pounds to:
Sandra Vogel, OASIS
3 Alden Court, Stanley Road
Wimbledon, London SW19 8RD
Great Britain
Computer Court
Great Britain's courts will soon automate their summonses, giving the
job to a 16MB Data General Eclipse computer. The system is expected to
send out an average of 3,000 letters per day, but is capable of generating
up to 10,000. The computer will handle only cases involving fixed amount
payments such as utility or credit card debts.
First Apples, Now Broccoli?
The Systems Exchange, a London-based computer company, announced plans
to build an "ecologically-sound" machine. The casing for this IBM-compatible
is made from a mix of polyurethane (vegetable oil) and coal ash and is
sold with a radiation-free monitor. Now that the technology is available,
will we soon see a "green" ST?