User group Newsletter Editors: Utilize this content in your newsletter -- PLEASE ... reference The User Group Network UG Network Channel _ / _ NEWS_/ _ The Rumor Manager is looking for your rumors and tidbits... give him a post! ...or subscribe to RUMORS@lists.User-Groups.net 9905-15 The Rumor Manager What was the first computer to have memory storage and where was it developed? (Answer at end of column) I knew it was bound to happen, but it still caught me by surprise. Be Inc announce on 5/6 that they were going to have a IPO of $54 million in stock. They are raising funds to increase research and development and marketing. In their announcement they stated that they would probably be adding personnel (currently 94 employees). Your RM certainly wishes them well. Just doesn't like the 10% ownership by Intel. Be IPO... Fortune magazine also has an article about the Be IPO at http://cgi.pathfinder.com/fortune/technology/daily/ It talks about the fact that Jean Louis Gassee has been talking up Internet appliances and even hired the VP from Apple who was handling its OS licensing. (AOL is talking a lot about Internet Appliances too). So as an "Internet" company that loses money, the share price should double over night. **** Virtual PC to ship on G4? A new web site, (to me at least) http://www.thinksecret.com/ has said that Apple is considering acquiring Virtual PC and shipping it with the G4 machines after adding code that would make using Windows transparent to the end users. In other words, no install of the emulator, just go with it. That would be interesting to see. And I did mention last week, that reportedly Apple is looking for an acquisition. **** By the time you read this, it will be old news. But at the World Wide Developers conference, Steve Jobs made several announcements: New Powerbooks running at 333 and 400 MHz and featuring 5-hour battery life on a single battery. (So with the second battery, you will be able to fly most of the way to Tokyo from San Francisco and compute while doing so.) He also announced that Dragon Systems would be putting their speech recognition software on to the Mac by the end of the year. The other news was that by Memorial weekend, Sears would have iMacs in their stores. Guess they don't want Neiman Marcus to get ahead of them. **** Macintouch reported: Canon today announced the first Mac-compatible multifunction printer. Due in July, the $379 MultiPASS C635 features color printing, scanning and faxing. (see http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990510/ca_canon_c_1.html ) **** I guess Apple doesn't use enough Macs in its own offices: " Apple's estimate of its total external spending associated with Y2K issues has increased to $13.2 million " **** Xeros announced several new printers including: the DocuPrint NC60 Color Laser Printer, at ESP of $2,695that offers exclusive convenience features, superior color image quality, and the ability to interact with users via the Internet. The DocuPrint P8ex Personal Laser Printer, at $399, offers outstanding 1200 dpi, and the faster DocuPrint P1202 Personal Laser Printer at $699. The last two are Xerox' first in this class to offer both parallel and Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces. So, if they provide the right drivers, they will be usable on iMacs and other USB Macs. Since Macintouch reported this, I am assuming that Ric Ford knows that is happening. **** Some Interesting Figures AT&T paid $60 billion for MediaOne. That is $4,700 per subscriber. Seems like it will take awhile to make that back. Also Microsoft invested $5 Billion in AT&T (3% of the company) for the privilege of supplying CE set top boxes for 2.5 million homes. I calculate that at $2,000 per box. Of course if the stock goes up, or even stays even Microsoft will gets money back perhaps with a profit. Somehow I doubt that will see the kind of stock price improvement they got out of the $150 million investment in Apple. Also it might be harder for MS to dispose of $5 Billion worth of stock. **** The San Jose Mercury News reported on 5/12 that the Grateful Dead management has announced that their fans can place digitized recordings on the net and share with everyone. Kinda like when they let people bring tape players into the concert arenas. Wish Jerry was still around. **** Motorola is selling its PowerPC plants to a Texas investment group who will make the Phoenix plant their headquarters. Motorola will maintain an investment in the operation and will still be using PowerPC chips for embedded systems. **** Bill Farrell of ACGNJ reports: "Dell Computer every Sunday 1-4 EST will answer any and all computer questions at no charge. Its in support of the" On Computer Radio Show" Produced in Mill Valley (San Francisco) California. Yes, they, Dell will answer Mac Questions also. You can hear the Radio show on the Internet at oncomputers@msn.com/radio I have gave Dell some good questions and they stayed with me for 40 minutes. Of course the first thing they ask is your name and address. The phone # is 1800 677 0874 **** Answer: From the Guardian via the San Jose Mercury http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/082767.htm : "Britain led the world in computer technology. On May 6 1949 a pioneering computer called Edsac, designed and developed at Cambridge university, ran its first program. ... It was Edsac (electronic delay storage automatic computer), a computer designed to incorporate the stored program principle, that would provide the first systematic study of programming and the way computer work should be organized." Another result was the first book on computer programming in 1951. Edsac was used until 1959. Ten years of service is pretty good for a computer, wouldn't you say? **** Don't forget, the Rumor Manager invites you to use all or part of his column in your user group newsletter. Please let him know at rumormangr@aol.com, if possible send an electronic copy for my scrapbook. pau Subscribe to Rumors@lists.user-groups.net rumors-on@lists.user-groups.net The Rumor Manager is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between. Currently working with the Apple Corp of Dallas, the Dallas Mac Pack, Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth and TUMS (the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society) doing newsletter articles and the monthly CD-ROM Update. UG Network Channel _ / _ NEWS _ / _ UG Library _ / _ UG Bookshelf To Advertise or become a sponsor -- Contact Jennifer -- Press Releases for publication -- should be directed to: UGNN News Desk at: News-Editor@user-groups.net. Article Reprints -- User Group Network Affiliates may reprint articles as long as full credit is given. Other Non-profit or non-commercial publications should contact us. The UGNN cannot guarantee accuracy or timeliness of articles. Many have been forwarded to us by field correspondents, or press release services. All care is taken to assure the accuracy of URLs and email addresses. Some items may be 30 to 60 days old. The User Group Network is an affiliate of the News-Serve Network - inquiries: Publisher@news-serve.net . . . All commercial names herein, including publication, product, and company names are assumed to be the registered trademarks of their companies. UGN, UGNN, UGNet News, UG Idea Exchange, are all trademarks for The User Group Network, copyright 1997, all rights reserved. Copyright 1999, The User Group Network, http://www.user-groups.net/News-Service.