TOP 10 R.I.P. for the Two I's? 1. TMM A flying wedge of enabling technology is being introduced at Comdex under the auspices of the MTT Visions Group of Beverly Hills. Though four companies are involved in unveiling Visions' new electronic publishing consortium, UVC Corp. of Irvine, CA, will probably be the biggest wow with its TMM compression/decompression chip and software that the company believes is going to pound final nails in the coffins of both CD-I and DVI. Seven patents have been awarded to UVC for de/compression technology, which it claims can decompress video from a standard 286 PC with VGA in software, full screen, as 12-15 frames per second. UVC says its silicon version will be "extremely consumer priced," and available at the end of the first quarter of 1991. MTT Visions, (213) 278-9151; UVC Corp., (714) 261-5336. 2. GUIDES Apple Computer is out of the closet with results of its long-awaited Guides project, an agent-style interface for an information retrieval system. Team leader Tim Oren of Apple's Advanced Technology Group and interactivity specialists Brenda Laurel and Abbe Don created the agent interface using pre- programmed characters to help navigate and retrieve information from a multimedia database, and in the process built a "teachable" retrieval algorithm that lets users create their own agents, too. Not surprisingly under the circumstances, a video documentary of the project is already available and project leader Oren is the guy to bug if you want one. A summary report will be published, and Oren's collecting a mailing list for anyone interested in reprints. "Inquirers need to know that I don't have a support staff for this," he says, "so I will respond as soon as possible but not on a guaranteed schedule." Tim Oren, Apple Computer, MS 76-2C, 20525 Mariani Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014. Applelink: OREN1. Internet: oren@apple.com. 3. CONTINUOUS EDGE GRAPHICS This amazing chip by Edsun Laboratories in Waltham, MA, was pointed out to me by Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim at the recent ETRE conference in France. Edsun's CEG Digital-to-Analog converter not only provides true color (740,000 colors simultaneously) on a standard VGA monitor using an 8-bit full-custom chip that costs a measly $15, but it increases effective resolution from 640x480 to as much as 2048x1536. I bleat you not. Many are drooling over it (think of those nine million 286 machines out there, waiting to be multimediated), except for Compaq, which told Edsun founder Steve Edelson, "Our customers aren't interested in graphics." Yeah, and we can see why. Edsun Laboratories, (617) 647-9300. 4. AIDS The first title for ABC News Interactive's new "health" product line, called "Understanding Ourselves," will be shipping by the time you read this. An ugly rumor I heard about ABC's alleged abysmal sales ("they've only sold 70 discs") is wrong, according to executive producer David Bohrman. Just for example, "The Holy Land" is already being re-pressed, and the San Francisco Bay Area earthquake disc sold more than 2,000 copies. The AIDS disc, full of solid news footage as well as more didactic stuff from former Surgeon General Everett Koop, is already back-ordered -- mostly because of the new Florida law (prompted, Bohrman says, by the AIDS disc) that requires a laserdisc player in every school in the state. Next up in the health series are "Drugs and Substance Abuse" (finished) and "Teenage Sexuality" (half- edited). ABC News Interactive, (212) 887-4060. 5. VELLUM This remarkable computer-aided design software, which has been shipping for the Macintosh for about a year, was just ported to Windows 3.0. Though Ashlar's Numero Uno competitor is never specifically named in Ashlar's promotions, it is unmistakably AutoCAD -- and the comparisons between the two products should have sent a raft of Autodeskers hotfooting back to the engineering department, Jolt and Cheetos in hard. Sunnyvale, CA-based Ashlar boasts that Vellum is actually easier to use than using a paint or draw program, let along a CAD package, and if its tres amusant video is any proof even I could use it, and can't wait to try. Ashlar, (408) 746-3900. 6. PC VIDEO San Jose-based Chips & Technologies, which made its reputation on IBM PC- compatible chip sets, is entering the desktop video world with a new circuit called PC Video. Already designed into a board by New Media Graphics, the new device is supposed to "drastically reduce" the cost of real-time video windowing boards by putting all the control logic onto a single VLSI chip. C&T says the chip can cut costs to third parties as much as 70 percent, from $500 to $150. It is compatible with all input standards, including NTSC, PAL, SECAM, SVHS, and RGB, and supports scaling from 1/64th of original image size to an 800 percent zoom, video icons and the conversion of PAL to VGA- compatible displays. Sampling starts in December, and the chips cost $40 each in volume. Chips & Technologies, (408) 434-0600. 7. VISA 2000 Visa International has installed an advanced communications network, called Visa 2000, that's based on fiber optic transmission technology. This first bears mention because the San Francisco-based company is obviously taking a refreshingly long-term view of what's up next -- i.e., global telecom and "the growth of a global payments system"; and second, because Visa says it intends to use the fiber optic network for voice, video and image transmission as well as data. I predict the burgeoning of very interesting and perhaps scary new applications. Visa International, (415) 570-3200. 8. STRATEGIES This quarterly publication of the non-profit Strategies for Media Literacy is concerned with all aspects of media education, from how TV is made to how advertising "works." One of my favorite features is "Electronic Resources," listing videos which dissect and critique particularly manipulative images and films. The fall 1990 issue, for example, lists videotapes of every single television commercial broadcast by candidates in the 1988 election; the "deconstruction" of a candy bar ad, complete with commentary by the ad executive; and the "commercial" image of Mexicans as portrayed in the media by non-Mexicans. At $10 per year for teachers and $25 per year for institutions (or, one might expect, corporations), it's a steal. Strategies for Media Literacy, (415) 621-2911. 9. U.S. HISTORY ON CD-ROM This disc includes the full text of 107 books relating to U.S. history, plus more than 1,000 VGA images, tables, maps and photos, and is now shipping in volume. Larry Schiller, CEO of the Bureau, says, "Issues from the subtle to the shocking are covered in detail." Sounds like my kind of product. Included is the full text of the Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran Contra Affair, as well as the full text of the Watergate Nixon Tapes (from which the Bureau ascertained that the phrase "expletive deleted" came up 55 times). The disc is $395 and is compatible with all drives using Microsoft CD- ROM Extensions 2.0 or greater. Bureau of Electronic Publishing, (800) 828- 4766. 10. VIRTUAL REALITY: THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMPUTER/HUMAN INTERFACE With nary a mention of "electronic LSD" or blue lobsters, a $950 market study from Matrix Information Services covers topics ranging from U.S.-based university research to commercial research efforts in Europe and Asia. It also contains complete listings of VR systems labs in industry, university and the government. Matrix Information Services, (313) 559-1526.