Apple Woos Home Multimedia Market

The Age

Tuesday November 8, 1994

TO adapt a thought from Paul Gallico: multimedia, like sex, promises to be rampant in the home. Indeed, none other than Paul Keating, who keeps a fistful of fingers on the public pulse, has virtually said so and has pledged support for the Australian CD-ROM industry.

Apple is among early visitors to this well and has launched three new multimedia hardware/software bundles as part of a major campaign aimed at the home market.

The three bundles are the $2845 Macintosh LC475 4/160 and CD300e Plus, the $3290 LC475 4/160, Stylewriter II and CD300e Plus, and the $3295 Macintosh LC575 5/250 with built-in CD-ROM drive. All three packages come loaded with over $600 worth of software and $673 worth of CDs.

The campaign is centred on a guidebook that leads the consumer on a tour through ``the Apple World of Multimedia". It was inserted in The Good Weekend last Saturday and is also available through Apple retail outlets.

For further information telephone Apple Computer Australia on (02)4528000.

TAKING a leaf out of Toshiba's book, NEC Australia has announced price cuts on a number of its portable PCs. The cuts on its lower-range Versa models are between 12 and 21 per cent but the biggest chop, percentage-wise, is from the SlimLine models, with the Mono/120 falling from $3586 to $2880 and the Mono/210 from $3980 to $3163.

The Mono/250 is down 13 per cent to $4852 and the TFT/340, down more than $1000 to $7085.

NEC has also announced a new line of modular multimedia notebooks, the Versa M series, offering two different processors, a 75MHz DX4 or 100MHz DX4 and four different displays. All models include 8MB RAM and 16-bit audio. Prices start at $8227, which buys the M/75D with 340MB hard drive and DSTN color display. The new notebooks will begin shipping by the middle of the month.

Phone NEC on (02)9302000 for further information.

System utilities.

MORE PC Tools is the name of a new utility program from Symantec, designed to improve the reliability and performance of both DOS and Windows systems. A major features is CrashGuard Pro, a two part system that helps prevent crashes and facilitates the recovery of data if a crash does occur. It monitors system resources, memory usage and disk space under Windows and warns users so they can shut down unnecessary applications and stabilise their system before a crash occurs.

Other features include DriveSpeed, a utility that increases IDE hard drive transfer speed, DriveCheck which unobtrusively checks a hard drive for problems periodically and System Information Pro, a tool that provides users with information about their system. More PC Tools is available now for $99. Registered users of PC Tools or The Norton Utilities can upgrade for $69.

For information phone Symantec on (02)8796577.

Exams on CD.

CD Rom & Multimedia Technologies has announced a new service, transferring all past exam papers on to CD-ROM. This gives students access to exam papers, without the risk of damaging or misplacing the master copies. It also makes it easier to keep track of exam papers.

Telephone CD Rom & Multimedia Technologies on (02)8999566 for more details.

Restaurant guide.

WILL it be Thai, Mexican or Indian tonight? That question will be easier to answer now with the release of a new computerised guide to Melbourne restaurants. Which? Restaurant, as the package is known, contains information on over 2400 Melbourne restaurants. Users can conduct searches based on cuisine, price, location and more. Once an eatery is chosen, the program displays its location on a map, as well all the details. The search area can be narrowed down by highlighting a particular area on the map (for example, to within six kilometres of Ivanhoe).

Which? Restaurant is available from newsagents for under $10. Sydney and Canberra editions are also available. Telephone Data Diction on (02)9014617 for further information.

Multimedia portable.

TEXAS Instruments has announced an addition to its 4000M line of multimedia notebook computers. The new model, to be known as the T4000M/75 is powered by a 75MHz DX4 processor and features a dual scan color display and 455MB hard drive. Multimedia facilities include a 16-bit SoundBlaster compatible sound card, internal speaker and microphone. An optional docking station provides the T4000M/75 with a battery-powered double speed CD-ROM. The T4000M/75 is priced at $6790, excluding tax. Telephone Texas Instruments on (02)9103100 for further information.

New C.

A NEW version of Borland's object-oriented C and C++ development system will arrive here next month. Borland C++ 4.5 has complete OLE automation as well as full 16 and 32 bit support. The high performance optimiser and code generator enables developers to build 32-bit applications faster and easier, according to the company. Prices are $795 for the full version, $250 for an upgrade version with on-line manuals or $335 for an upgrade with full documentation. Crossgrade pricing is $335 with on-line manuals and $435 with full documentation.

Telephone Borland on (02)9111000 for further information.

New printers.

TEKTRONIX has announced the Phaser 540 printer, which the company claims is the first photo-realistic desktop color laser. It can print at up to 600 dpi resolution and nearly four pages per minute in color mode or up to 14 pages per minute in monochrome. It will be available early in 1995. Prices have yet to be announced.

The company also announced the Phaser 140, a plain paper color bubble jet printer. It has a resolution of 360dpi and is aimed at small office users. The price is about $3000. For more information, telephone Tektronix on 008811177.

Color bubbles.

ALSO on the bubble-jet front, Canon Australia has released a new printer that is able to print in both color and black and white. The BJC-4000 has two snap-in ink cartridges, one for color printing and one for monochrome.

In high speed monochrome mode the BJC-4000 prints at 496 characters per second (about five ppm), while in high quality mode it prints at 456 characters per second. A new smoothing function enables print resolution of up to 720 by 360 dpi. In color mode it can print at up to 360 by 360 dpi. The BJC-2000 is available now at $995. For further information telephone Canon Australia on (02)8052000.

Translation software.

TECHFLOW has announced Trans-Linc Professional, a software package that enables users to translate words between any two installed languages. Features include a straight word translator, conjugator, root analyser and spell checker. Menus can be displayed in any installed language.

Five languages are available, including English, German, Spanish and French, with another 12 under development. Each language module contains over 40,000 words, 60,000 meanings and 130,000 translations.

Techflow is offering two base packs of Trans-Linc Professional, an English/French pack and an English/German pack. Each pack is priced at $245, and users can choose a free language module once they return the registration card. Additional dictionaries are available for $110 each. For information telephone Techflow on (02)9714311.

GDI price cut.

KEEN to consolidate its place in the GDI laser printer market, NEC has cut the price of its Silentwriter SuperScript 610 laser printer from about $1200 to below the magic $1000 mark. The printer is now $999.

The company has also released the MultiSync 4PG, a 29 inch multi- purpose presentation monitor which costs about $7000. Telephone NEC Home Electronics Australia on (02)9302000.

WHAT'S ON.

The Virtual Reality Association will hold a meeting upatairs at Cafe Bohemio, 354 Smith Street, Collingwood, on Wednesday 23 November at 6.30 pm. All are welcome. For further information telephone 818 3288 or 478 7383 YOU can fax details of upcoming conferences and user group meetings to Computer Age on (03)8665486.

Multimedia easier in Windows '95, MULTIMEDIA freaks frustrated by the difficulties often associated with running CD-ROM-based software will be pleased to hear about a new technology being included with Windows 95. This, to be known as AutoPlay, enables users to run CD-ROM-based software by simply inserting the disc into their CD-ROM drive.

In order for this to work, the software has to be AutoPlay enabled.

This is just a matter of the developer adding a text file called AUTORUN.INF to the root directory of the CD-ROM disk with the necessary instructions to execute when the disk is installed.

AutoPlay can also launch audio CD disks. When the user inserts an audio disk in the CD-ROM drive, Windows 95 will recognise the type of disk and launch a CD-ROM player applet that will be added with Windows 95. Users can even select their own playlist and order. Other features scheduled to appear when Windows 95 launches include a user interface with a new look, fast game animation, better video performance, a technology called WinToon for creating interactive cartoons, TrueSpeech voice data compression, and support for MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) digital video compression.