APPLE’S MULTIMEDIA LAB IS CLOSING

An era will end in October when Apple Computer closes the doors to its world-famous and much emulated Multimedia Lab at 3220 Sacramento Street in San Francisco. For many years, the Multimedia Lab operated in secret, developing the technologies that Apple eventually trumpeted to a world skeptical about the benefits of interacting with digital video, sound, graphics and text.

The ranks at the lab began thinning more than a year ago, as the technologies it researched moved into development phases at Apple. Lab director Kristina Hooper Woolsey says all remaining lab staffers are “safe and sound” and moving into new territory, just like the technologies they helped develop.

CLINTON ENDORSES ‘CIVILIAN DARPA’

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton has proposed a new strategy to provide support for the development of innovative technologies in the United States. His plan calls for the creation of a new, nonmilitary agency modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Clinton outlined his plan for a “civilian DARPA” in a written statement to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. The agency would identify technologies capable of launching new growth industries or revitalizing traditional ones over the next two decades.

Funding would be given to companies researching and developing these key technologies. It would encourage and promote collaborative efforts of companies and research institutes, much as the Pentagon has done for the defense industry during the past 40 years.

Tax incentives figure prominently in the plan. Tax credit for R&D would become permanent. In addition, a new enterprise tax cut would benefit start-up businesses.

In his address to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Clinton expressed specific interest in creating a national information network. With more than half of the nation’s workforce employed in information-intensive industries, “we need a door-to-door fiber-optics system by the year 2015 — a link to every home, lab, classroom and business in America,” he said.

The United States Activities division of IEEE is distributing free copies of Clinton’s statement. For more information, contact Pender McCarter, IEEE-USA, 1828 L Street, NW, Suite 1202, Washington, DC 20036-5104; phone: (202) 785-0017, fax (202) 785-0835.

Clinton’s written statement, addressed to the IEEE, came in response to a questionnaire sent to the candidate and President George Bush regarding the U.S. technology policy. IEEE says it has not yet received a response from President Bush.

SING ALONG WITH JVC AND PHILLIPS

Hoping to give consumers a new reason to buy CD-data players, JVC (Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.) and Philips announced in June that they are developing a CD video standard incorporating MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) capability compression/decompression that is specifically designed for — grab onto your microphones — karaoke systems.

Karaoke, for the uninitiated, is the amazingly popular bar pastime of lip-synching to music videos that are subtitled with the lyrics of a song.

Lest you doubt the wisdom or need for such a CD standard, which is expected to be formalized by the end of the year, JVC and Philips both predict that the “karaoke field is expected as the most popular application for the CD with motion pictures” and that the new format will broaden the “use of karaoke not only in Japan but in the United States and Europe for home use as well as industrial use.”

The attributes of the new karaoke CD system include the capability to fit 74 minutes of digital video and stereo sound on a five-inch CD using the MPEG video and audio compression and decompression standard. C-Cube Microsystems of San Jose, CA, will be providing JVC with its CL450 MPEG chip, which handles video (but not audio) decompression, according to Rick Rasmussen, C-Cube vice president of marketing. JVC and Philips will be using their own implementation of MPEG audio compression in the system.

The karaoke discs, which include a separate data track for recording the basic karaoke data (titles and lyrics) along with digital video and audio, will be compatible with CD players and computer platforms and other consumer electronic display devices that support CD-IFMV, a full-motion CD-I video standard based specifically on MPEG.

Other features promised by the standard include the capability to search for specific music tracks, and support for subcode channels that will make it possible to record multilingual information, as well as other data.

To do its part to contribute to the popularization of the CD-based karaoke system, JVC said it will release an industrial karaoke system and software by the end of the year — which will make it one of the first products to market and implement both video and audio MPEG compression.

VIDEOLOGIC AND IBM WORKING ON SOMETHING ‘BIG’

The computer industry seems to be spending more time developing alliances than developing new products. In keeping with this trend, IBM has formed a joint development agreement to design products with the international multimedia company Videologic.

Videologic is known in the PC market for its work with full-motion video compression and decompression schemes as well as its 24-bit graphics accelerator boards.

Although both companies are keeping product details to themselves for now, they are promising to jointly develop and manufacture low-cost, modular videographics and multimedia products for the IBM PS/2s and other PC platforms for both OS/2 and Windows.

According to Kirke Curtis, Videologic’s general manager, the first product will be an add-in card, due out this fall. But not just any add-in card, he emphasizes. “This is not some sort of multimedia sideshow where we are being contracted to make the next M/Motion board,” Curtis said. “This [partnership] is going to stretch out over the next couple years. The gravity of the agreement is big.”

We probably won’t know just how big until the fall Comdex show in mid-November when it is likely the two companies will outline their product strategy. We can speculate, however, that the first card will come equipped with a DSP (digital signal processor) chip — or some form of silicon — on-board, making it possible to write acceleration routines for specific software programs or for specific applications such as video and audio compression/decompression and graphics handling including redraw and rendering.

SuperMac and Storm Technologies are already making a splash in the Mac market with this type of technology. SuperMac’s ThunderStorm board, which began to be shipped during the Boston Macworld conference in August, provides acceleration specifically for Adobe Photoshop.

EUROPE WANTS FIBER; U.S. FIRMS DELIVER

July saw a significant advance in the fiber-optic telecommunication infrastructures of France and Germany. In two separate agreements, PictureTel Corp. and Raynet Corp. have been selected to supply videoconferencing services and fiber-in-the-loop (FITL) installations.

France Cable and Radio (FCR), a subsidiary of the French telephone giant France Telecom, has ordered 100 dial-up videoconferencing C3000 codecs from Danvers, MA-based PictureTel Corp. The ISDN-compatible equipment will replace an existing high-bandwidth (2-megabit-per-second) videoconferencing network service.

The C-3000 codecs convert analog voice and video into digital code (and vice versa), allowing compression and decompression of the video and voice. The codecs will enable France Telecom to provide its customers with national and international video calls using the French Numeris (ISDN) digital network at 128 kilobits per second.

Another European communications heavyweight, Deutsche Bundespost (DBP) Telekom, is laying the groundwork for a fiber-optic telecommunications infrastructure in Germany. Menlo Park, CA-based Raynet, through its German subsidiary, Raynet GmbH, as well as Siemens, SEL (a unit of Alcatel) and PKI/ANT (a consortium led by Philips), have been selected for the first phase of fiber installation to approximately 200,000 households.

Raynet will install its LOC-2i FITL system to deliver telephone and optional cable TV service to approximately 48,500 households. Initial service will reach the eastern German cities of Brandenburg, Dresden-Cotta, Gera, Grevesmuehlen and Hoyerswerda.

Installation is slated to begin in early 1993 with all systems fully operational by December 1993. Second and third phase installations are planned for 1994 and 1995 and will bring the installation total in Germany to approximately 1.2 million active units.

KODAK’S PHOTOCD PLAYER GOES TO RETAIL

As promised by Kodak, PhotoCD players reached retail outlets by mid-1992. DOW Stereo/Video in San Diego, CA, began retail of the units, priced at $379 for a basic unit and $499 for an enhanced version, on July 30. Several additional retail outlets –– Nobody Beats the Whiz in New York, Lechemere outside of Boston, and Best Buys in Minneapolis –– will start selling the systems at comparable prices by mid- to late August.

Kodak is hoping consumers will be lured to the system by its capability to store one hundred 35mm photographic images on a PhotoCD and display these images on a television set. PhotoCD also supports the interleaving of audio, text and graphics, allowing a rudimentary amount of consumer editing of images with words, sound and graphics (see Vol. 1, No. 5, p. 18).

Two versions of the unit are being offered. The basic system includes a PhotoCD player, a remote control and a sample PhotoCD disc. The deluxe version also has a “2× tele” feature to enlarge screen images to twice their original size and an “expanded favorite picture selection” to store individual picture edits and selected viewing orders.

It’s too early to tell whether consumers will go for Kodak’s new technology. However, PhotoCD has already stirred interest in many corners of the business world, where customers like MCI were sold on PhotoCD’s ability to scan and play back large amounts of information economically on a single write-once CD-ROM (see Vol. 1, No. 8, p. 20).

With a recession in full swing, however, even Kodak’s relatively low retail list price and elegant technology might mean a bit of a wait for enthusiastic acceptance from the masses.

INTEL GOES FOR HAND-HELD WITH VLSI

Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of microprocessors, and VLSI Technology Inc. of Milpitas, CA, have shaken hands on a deal that will give form to chips for building Intel-based, hand-held computers — what Apple calls personal digital assistants and others have called personal information appliances and picocomputers. The Intel-VLSI chips, which are due in the second half of 1993, will be compatible with Intel’s current installed base of 100 million X86-based personal computers.

Why the interest in hand-held devices? A big potential market, according to the market researchers. SRI International of Menlo Park, CA, predicts the market for hand-held computers will grow to 17 million units per year by 1995.

Under the agreement, Intel is licensing its Intel ‘386 SL microprocessor core. VLSI will combine the Intel core with its library of personal computer Functional System Blocks (FSB) to create application-specific and customer-specific chips used in creating hand-held devices. Although the companies have not said what form the devices will take, they did say the communications-oriented devices will offer multiple interfaces, including pen, voice, mouse and keyboard-based input.

“An important use for hand-held systems will be to give users access to computer-based information anytime and anywhere,” said Andrew Grove, Intel president and CEO. “Therefore data and functional compatibility with the approximately 100 million personal computers based on the Intel X86 architecture will be essential.”

Grove also said that developers who have made software investments in the Intel architecture won’t be left out in the cold. “Much of this investment in tools and code can be easily re-used for the hand-held system environment.”

At the same time, Intel announced that it will acquire about $50 million (less than 20 percent) of VLSI common stock as part of a minority investment in the company. VLSI will market the chips for Intel, as well as manufacture, market and sell companion devices directly. “We realized that we needed the help of a company with VLSI’s customization capabilities in order to offer what our customers wanted,” Grove said. “We are making a substantial investment in VLSI to help provide the capital to take full advantage of the opportunities in this market segment.”

TV ANSWER AND SYNTELLECT TRY TO KICK-START INTERACTIVE TV

Hoping to kick-start the market for interactive television, Syntellect Inc. and TV Answer Inc. announced a new product development and marketing alliance in July that will combine their services to leverage off their customer bases and give rise to a new two-way TV system.

The deal creates Syntellect Answer Module, which will connect TV Answer’s interactive TV network with Syntellect’s interactive voice response (IVR) system. The Syntellect Answer System will be jointly marketed by the two companies, with all service and support activities managed by Syntellect.

The catch is that the two have not yet announced pricing or availability of the service. While Syntellect’s system is already installed at 6,000 customer sites, including banks, insurance companies, government agencies and educational institutions, TV Answer is still awaiting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. If FCC approval is granted as expected by the end of this year, its consumer service will not be up and running until mid-1993.

TV Answer is a wireless, two-way TV service. Like the cellular telephone network system, TV Answer uses radio waves to transmit signals via satellite between consumers and service providers. In addition to shopping, TV Answer lets you play along with game shows and sporting events, participate in news polls and interactive advertising, and do your banking over the tube. TV Answer already has deals with national direct marketing firms including JC Penny; 800 Flowers; CheckFree, a leading provider of electronic payment services; and Bose Music Express. The deals involve offering their products and services via the two-way transmission medium.

What Syntellect brings to the partnership is its installed base of 6,000 users who already receive interactive verbal feedback to their questions. Syntellect’s IVR system allows users, for example, to get bank account status information by calling an automated telephone attendant. Syntellect’s IVR system queries the service providers database, in this case a bank, and converts the information into a verbal response.

The new Syntellect Answer Module will combine TV Answer’s interactive system with a modified version of Syntellect’s INFOBOT IVR line of products. By working with TV Answer, Syntellect will be able to provide consumers with visual access to database information. If you ask to access personal bank data, for instance, the system will display that information on your TV screen.

Behind the scenes, your request is converted into a digital radio signal and beamed via satellite to the service provider. The TV Answer system handles the two-way transmission, while Syntellect’s technology will serve as the go-between for TV Answer and the service providers, managing the request for information from the service providers database and presenting it back to TV Answer to deliver to you.

How successful will such a system be? That depends in large part on whether TV Answer, with its partner Hewlett-Packard Co., is able to sell the 1.5 million units — what it calls interactive television appliances (ITAs) — that it anticipates during the first year of TV Answer’s service.

PCS PROJECT JOINS BELL LABS AND CABLELABS

As reported in past issues, CableLabs — the research clearinghouse for the cable TV industry — has been busy pooling a broad range of technical talents to explore new opportunities in the cable television system (see Vol. 1, Nos. 7, 8 and 11). In late June, AT&T Bell Labs and Arthur D. Little, Inc., signed contracts to conduct research into personal communication services (PCS) for CableLabs.

The project is examining the strengths of cable as a PCS transport medium, studying various aspects of personal communication technologies; determining the feasibility of integrating such services with existing cable offerings, such as pay-per-view; and analyzing the revenue-generating potential for a system integrating these services.

Bell Labs is working with CableLabs in cable field trials, providing information and technical counsel. Wireless communication is among the technologies of Bell Labs that are being explored.

Arthur D. Little, an international management and technology consulting firm, will be involved in all aspects of the project. It will furnish the analytical portion of the project. CableLabs member companies will receive their progress reports as well as a final report.

VIRTUAL REALITY AS VIDEOCONFERENCE

Virtual reality is moving out of the buzzword realm and into (dare we say it?) reality, as it’s embraced in an upcoming videoconference sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Virtual reality and other computer aids as training tools will be explored in “Emerging Technologies: Will Your Company Be Ready?” to be broadcast on September 30.

The broadcast is designed to give electrical engineers, technical managers, students and other experts working in the field a boost in visualizing the workplace of the future.

Leo Young, of the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering in the Pentagon, will lead the discussion. Young’s past work has included the development of the 1989, 1990 and 1991 Defense Critical Technologies Plans.

Young will be joined by three expert researchers. Richard Newton, from the University of California at Berkeley, will present his latest work on the application of computer modeling to the design of microelectronic circuits beyond today’s state-of-the-art custom chips.

Eugene Meieran, of Intel’s Manufacturing Systems Technology Group in Chandler, AZ, will discuss the use of computer-assisted manufacturing processes in the context of overall factory design and operation.

Michael Moshell, director of Visual Systems Laboratory at the Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida in Orlando, will present examples of computer-assisted visual applications, including interactive virtual reality. His presentation will examine the application of visualization technologies to testing real and theoretical capabilities, new doctrines in worldwide “war gaming,” or architecturally analogous civilian scenarios.

The videoconference, featuring one-way video and two-way audio, will be broadcast from 9 am to 12 noon Pacific time. IEEE estimates 150 to 200 sites will register for the event with 10 to 20 participants at each site. Site registration ranges from $50 per person for universities to $60 to $100 per person for corporations. Contact Judy Brady at (908) 562-3991 or fax (908) 981-8062.