INDONESIAN ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY ADOPTS AUSTRALIAN O.S.
JAKARTA, INDONESIA, 1993 JUL 19 (NB) -- System Manager, the
Australian developed multi-user PC operating system, has been
adopted as the standard product for all 158 branches of the
Indonesian Electricity Authority. The package is produced by Datapac
Australasia.

Announcing the decision to go with System Manager, Datapac's
research and development director Martin Duursma said that the
package will be used to automate office procedures.

"It will allow administrative staff to share computer software
capacity that includes database, word processing and spreadsheets.
Because System Manager allows multi-tasking, users can ;hot-key'
between applications instantly. The head office uses modems to
connect with all the regional offices," he said.

Duursma added that the authority had previously had difficulty in
maintaining and training users with the previous local area network.
He claimed that System Manager was considerably easier as it
requires minimal training and maintenance over normal Dos, yet it
offers many other advantages such as security and remote access.

According to Duursma, 99 percent of the operators were trained in
using DOS, so moving to a different operating system was out of the
question. System Manager is a multi-tasking, multi-user DOS.

(Paul Zucker/19930719/Contact: Datapac Australasia on phone +61-2-
980 6888 or fax +61-2-980 6763)


 ****NEWTON MESSAGEPAD TO BE FOR SALE AT MACWORLD BOSTON
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 19 (NB) -- Apple is planning
a huge launch of several new products at Macworld Expo in Boston the
first week of June and the Newton will be the centerpiece, according
to Jon Swartz at Macweek. The first Newtons, called the Messagepad,
will be available in three configurations along with some new Quadra
desktop Macintoshes.

The Messagepad is the same Newton demonstrated at the Seybold
Digital World conference. It's the classic Newton everyone who has
any remote interest in personal digital assistants (PDAs) has
probably seen by now.

Macweek reports the unit will come in three models: one base model;
one with a modem; and one with a modem and the Newton Connection Pro
kit with software and cable for interchanging data between the
Messagepad and a Macintosh or IBM compatible personal computer (PC)
running Microsoft Windows.

Specific pricing for the Messagepads has not been announced by
Apple, but the street prices will be $699, $799, and $899
respectively, according to Macweek. Swartz said the price estimates
are based on the dealer quantity price plus a ten percent mark-up.

Consumer channels are already gearing up to sell the Messagepad and
any retailer who is carrying Macintosh hardware now will probably be
carrying the Newton Messagepad, including consumer electronics
stores such as Silo and Staples.

The first day of the Macworld show, Apple is expected to have the
Newtons available for sale on the show floor. Swartz said he
understood over 2,000 of the units were being readied for sale by
Apple and as many as 5,000 units could be available for sale during
the week of the Expo.

The Newton sales may be the answer to Apple's financial woes.
Macweek says its sources report Apple has ordered 60,000 units per
month from Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, who is manufacturing the
Newton. Sharp is planning its own Messagepad-like model and reports
from inside sources in retail chains such as Compusa are stores
expect the Newton to sell big. Compared to the $3,000 plus price tag
of the American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T)/EO PDA, the Newton's
under $1,000 price is attractive to consumers.

The Messagepad also has attractive animations as well, sure to
delight consumers. One is an animation of a cloud that "poofs" away
a mistake, while another animation is of a piece of paper wadded up
and tossed into an on-screen trash can when an electronic document
is deleted.

Newsbytes saw error messages several times in demonstrations of the
Messagepad at Digital World at the end of June, including once where
the unit had to be turned over and reset. However, Swartz told
Newsbytes the current reports from his sources boast the handwriting
recognition of the unit is superb and no problems have been seen.

Macweek also reported about a dozen software companies plan to
announced software products for the Messagepad, including On
Technology, Pastel Development, Great Plains Software, and Portfolio
Systems. Other products expected for announcement at Macworld
include the new Quadra Cyclone and Tempest. Apple sources said the
company will not comment on unannounced products, but did say
announcements will be forthcoming.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930719/Press Contact: Tricia Chan, Apple,
tel 408-974-3886, fax 408-967-5651; Jon Swartz, Macweek, 415-
243-3500)


DESKTOP DATA OFFERS NEWSEDGE FOR MAC
WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 21 (NB) -- Subscribers
to Desktop Data Inc.'s NewsEdge, a news filtering service, can now
tie their Apple Macintosh computers into the service.

Desktop Data has unveiled NewsEdge/Mac, Macintosh client software
to work with the NewsEdge service. It complements existing
offerings for Intel-based personal computers and workstations.

NewsEdge filters more than 100 news wires, alerting users to
stories that match their individual interest profiles. It also
maintains a full-text database of the most recent 250,000
stories on the user's server for quick searching.

The new Macintosh client software will allow a Mac to be hooked
up to a local area network with access to NewsEdge. Customers
still need a machine running the OS/2 operating system to act as
the server, said Marni Hoyle, a company spokeswoman.

Eventually, Hoyle added, the company plans to produce NewsEdge
server software for Apple computers, probably to run on the
company's upcoming PowerPC-based line of hardware.

Desktop Data has a number of customers whose operations include
Macintoshes along with other types of systems and who, to date,
have been unable to make NewsEdge available to their Mac users,
Hoyle said.

NewsEdge also supports Microsoft Windows, OS/2, DOS, and
Unix, and works with various electronic mail systems and Lotus
Development's Notes work-group software.

NewsEdge/Mac requires a Macintosh II-class computer with four
megabytes (MB) of memory and System 7. Initially TCP
(Transmission Control Protocol) network connections will be
supported. The OS/2-based server needs about one gigabyte (GB)
of disk storage to maintain the news database, Hoyle added.

NewsEdge is priced on an annual subscription basis beginning at
$20,000 for 10 users, with site license packages starting at 100
users. News wire fees are extra. Desktop Data claims to have more
than 13,000 users in major corporations, financial institutions,
and government agencies in the United States and Europe.

(Grant Buckler/19930721/Press Contact: Marni Hoyle, Desktop
Data, 617-890-0042)


RASTEROPS PRICE CUTS ON MAC DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCTS
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 21 (NB) -- Rasterops
says it is cutting the retail price of its digital video products -
Rasterops Editing Aces Suite and Moviepak - for the Macintosh and
Quadra line of computers. The move is an attempt to attract the
cost-conscious independent artist and consumer, the company said.

Rasterops representatives say price cuts by Apple on its
computer line are not forcing the company to lower prices, but
instead the goal is to be more competitive in the market.

The company is cutting the price of the NTSC version of the Editing
Aces Suite to $3,899 from $4,199 and the PAL version is down to
$4,099 from $4,399. The Moviepak daughter card is included in
the Editing Aces Suite, but Rasterops also sells the card
separately and has announced the new price is reduced fifty
percent to $999 from $1,999. The Moviepak card was offered with
Adobe Premiere, but users can now get Moviepak with or without
the software. With Adobe Premiere, the Moviepak is now $1,499.

The Editing Aces Suite includes: Mediatime, a 24-bit display
adapter with 16-bit stereo capabilities; Video Expander II, a
video encoder with genlock and red-green-blue (RGB) pass-
through capabilities; Adobe Premiere 3.0 video editing
software; and Moviepak.

The Moviepak card snaps onto Rasterops video display adapters to
enable users to record, edit, and playback Quicktime movies and
offers Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) compression/
decompression capability. Rasterops says it offers a modular
approach to its products to allow custom configuration by users
and so users can upgrade to new Rasterops products by simply
buying the particular new component.

The Editing Aces Suite requires a Centris 650, Macintosh II, or
Quadra-family computer running System 7 or later, 8 megabytes
(MB) of random access memory (RAM), and an 80MB hard disk
drive. The Movepak card requires a Rasterops 24STV, 24MxTV,
24XLTV, or Mediatime display adapter. The products are
available through the company's authorized dealers and come
with a three-year warranty, Rasterops added.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930721/Press Contact: Michele Janin,
Cunningham Communications for Rasterops, tel 408-982-0400, fax
408-982-0403; Customer Contact, Rasterops, 800-729-2656)