TOP 10
Season of Cooperation

by Denise Caruso

c. 1990 Media Letter

1. RIFF, MCI
Whether or not you like the baseline specs for the so-called "multimedia PC," 
made public with much fanfare at Microsoft's Multimedia Developers 
Conference in San Jose last month, you've got to applaud Big Green and IBM 
for at least publishing, free to all comers, a platform-independent set of specs 
for a common data format (Resource Interchange File Format, or RIFF) and 
applications programming interfaces (APIs) for controlling media devices 
(Media Control Interface, or MCI). Operators are standing by. Microsoft 
Multimedia Division, (206) 882-8080.

2. RANDOM ACCESS AUDIO
Digidesign's president Peter Gotcher promises this digital audio sourcebook, 
written by expert Dave Huber and edited by Gotcher, doesn't plug Digi's 
products but does cover the basics of digital sound for educators and users. It 
won't cost you but $4.95 to find out if he's telling the truth (and less if you're 
a music teacher looking for a text). Digidesign, (415) 688-0623.

3. PROXIMA CYCLOPS
Now here's an enabling technology: this "interactive pointer," which looks a 
little like a mini-harpoon gun, lets presenters working with live computer 
demos and/or presentations pull down all the menus, activate all the buttons 
and draw and select all the objects they want without having to gaze 
attentively at the computer. This "remote-control mouse" with its light-
emitting diode (LED) tip is part of the Cyclops system, which also includes an 
LCD projection panel display and a camera that tells the computer (Mac or 
IBM) the LED's position. Available Jan. 15, 1991, camera and pointer will cost 
$1,195; the monochrome LCD is $2,199, a color version is $4,795. Computer 
Accessories Corp., (619) 457-5500.

4. SANTA FE MEDIA MANAGER LAN
If you missed the Media Manager (sans LAN version) demo at the Seybold 
expo a few months ago, you may want to check into it. There are few 
multimedia databases in the first place, and even fewer optimized to operate 
in a networked environment. Media Manager LAN, driven by Borland's 
Paradox, lets you look at stills and/or vidclips in sequences, with audio, then 
display and/or append them to multiple terminals. Users are given the 
option to either append and view, or view and playback only, and the 
software is compatible with all major PC-based LANs, including Netware, 
Vines and LAN Manager. Cost is $895, and $150 per node. HSC Software, (213) 
392-8441.

5. VIDEOBAHN
Anyone who's been trying to "do" Mac-based multimedia for any length of 
time knows too well the limitations of NuBus. VideoBahn is a new set of 
hardware and software specs from Intelligent Resources (it just announced 
the Video Explorer video card) for a high-speed video communication bus. 
Using two 32-bit data highways, it allows bidirectional digital data transfer 
which can be adjusted to support most video timing standards. The specs are 
available free to anyone who manufactures a Macintosh NuBus card; third-
party products are already in the works. Intelligent Resources, (708) 705-9388.

6. MAC-DVI
Though the long-term benefits of DVI are still in question, it's good to see 
that people like New Video Corp. are working toward binary media file 
compatibility with PC-based systems, and MacDVI is its first step in that 
direction. New Video will announce the hardware-software product line 
based on Intel's DVI chipset in first quarter 1991, and will include other 
de/compression algorithms such as JPEG, RTV, and maybe even Road Pizza, 
Apple's software-based compression algorithm. Cost for the two-board set is 
expected to be about $3,000. New Video, (213) 396-4000.

7. DESKTOP VIDEO-VIDEO
It appears you have to use the technology to explain it in multimedia, and 
this peculiarly self-referential trend is made evident in the latest move by 
award-winning producer The Leland Company. Leland has just spun off a 
new firm called Communication Bridges to develop a series of professional-
level videos explaining desktop video production to the corporate world. 
Autodesk and NEC Technologies are already helping sponsor the series, to be 
released in January 1991. Communication Bridges, (415) 383-3333.

8. CLASSIC ART CDROM
Clip art fans who want to go beyond black and white line art can now get their 
paws on 24-bit full color images for the Macintosh (created with Quantel 
Paintbox) by TV broadcast graphic artists for G&G Design/Communications, 
in the business of providing same for more than a decade. A 120-image CD 
costs $499, which includes 35mm slides for easy print reproduction. The first 
disk contains "business" images; coming up are health and medicine, the 
environment, entertainment, travel and sports. G&G 
Design/Communications, (619) 431-7400.

9. BJP/DIRECT ACCESS
I can't vouch for the quality of Direct Access, but the idea is neat: a service 
which allocates a special cellular phone line for subscribers who need 
immediate answers to questions about building electronic multimedia 
presentations. Initial services are "file management anomalies with Director 
and Accelerator documents," sound techniques and MacroMind's Lingo 
scripting language questions. Later support will include Paracomp's 
FilmMaker and other hardware and software configurations. Bob Judd 
Productions, (603) 433-7008.

10. CD CORE WORKS
English lit junkie? "A definitive index" to more than 140,000 poems by 25,000 
poets, 26,000 essays, 4,000 short stories and 850 plays in the English language, 
this PC-driven CD costs $475 (single-purchase license can be used in libraries, 
schools, etc.) and includes all four of Roth Publishing's literary indexes. Used 
in conjunction with Roth's CoreFiche product, over a million pages of full-
text material are available. CD CoreWorks doesn't do dramatic readings yet, 
but maybe someday it will. Roth Publishing, (516) 466-3676