Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. (ST-Report) -- Low and Mid-Level Mac's Have a Successful Christmas Season Because of their popularity, the prices for the low and mid-level Mac's climbed during the Christmas season. The two most popular choices were the Mac SE Model 40 and the Mac Plus. Prices on both climbed $50-$60 during the Christmas season due to their popularity. The Apple IIgs gained $45, while the Mac SE/30 jumped $100 in comparison to their pre-Christmas prices. -- Super Nintendo Nearing the 2 Million Mark According to Nintendo of America, the Super Nintendo Entertainment Sys- tem, in four months of retail sales, is set to break the 2 million unit mark. It is reported that Nintendo had set a goal of selling 2.2 million units this year and according to the company, "The Super NES will outsell all competitors close to 2-to-1 by the end of 1991,". -- Analysts Say Sega's Genesis Beat Nintendo in Christmas Sales Analyst John Taylor of L.H. Alton & Co said that Sega's $150 unit out- sold Nintendo's $190 unit by a 2-to-1 margin in the final week before Christmas. Sega said it sold 1.6 million Genesis systems this year and that the company was sold out of product just prior to Christmas after having to air ship extra units in from Japan to meet demand. Sega President Tom Kalinske estimates Genesis has 56% of the smaller 16- bit market now while Nintendo holds 31%. Some analysts feel that Nintendo made a mistake in not making the system compatible with the existing 8-bit game unit. -- Nintendo Gets Monopoly Parker Brothers' Monopoly has introduced a version for Nintendo's Game Boy system. It will be demonstrated Jan. 9 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The $29.99 game can be played by one to four people and the players can take on up to eight computer opponents, each with a different skill level. -- New Chip Speeds Battery Charging QuickSaver, a rapid charge battery controller chip from Integrated Cir- cuit Systems, is designed to recharge nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries safely in 20 minutes rather than a couple of hours. Nickel cadmium batteries are popular not only in portable computers but in cellular telephone, cordless power tools, and other devices. According to Integrated Circuit Systems, QuickSaver also enhances NiCad reliability, prolongs battery life, and ensures a full charge every time. -- "Stoned III" Virus Only on Novell 5.25" Disks According to a statement issued by Novell Inc., the "Stoned III" virus was accidently shipped on some of its Network Support Encyclopedia disks. The encyclopedia provides technical reference information directly to network service organizations on a subscription basis and is not resold through distribution channels. It is available on CD ROM, 5.25- and 3.5-inch disks. However, only the 5.25-inch disks were affected. -- Cray Computer Looses Initial Contract Due to Cray Computer Corporation missing a December 9th demonstration milestone, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory cancelled its order for the initial Cray 3 supercomputer with Cray Computer Company and excercised its option to buy a Cray C-90 from Cray Research Inc. Because of this action, Cray Computer Corp. will not realize the appr. $30 million revenue on this 1992 contract and will be seeking another purchaser. Cray Computer Corporation was spun off of Cray Research to develop the Cray 3 supercomputer with the parent company supplying the initial $98.6 million funding. -- For the Man that Has Everything, a $54,000 Clock Hewlett-Packard's (HP) new HP 5071A, a $54,000 atomic clock, is being heralded as the most precise time piece in the world. HP says the clock will only lose a single second in a time span of 1.6 million years. The new clock is not totally foolproof. HP estimates one failure every ten years, and only warranties the clock for five years. Atomic clocks provide the accuracy necessary for astronomy, the space program, radio and television signals, and communication companies. -- Healthline Settles with SPA After a surprise audit by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) on August 6th, Healthline Systems has agreed to pay a cash settlement to Lotus Development, Microsoft, Symantec, Wordperfect, and Wordstar International, all SPA members. Healthline also agreed to accept a consent decree barring illegal copying of copyrighted software. -- SPA Involved in Divorce Action After a divorce judge recently ruled that a man give copies of his soft- ware to his wife, the man contacted SPA for help in convincing the judge that this would be illegal, immoral, and unethical. SPA intervened and got the ruling vacated. However, the man is probably not too happy with the results, as the Judge changed his ruling so that the man had to turn over the originals of the software to his wife instead of the illegal copies. -- Computer Sales Revenues Dip; 1st Time Since 1983 Buying a new computer isn't as popular as it used to be. Sales dropped last year for the first time since 1983, according to a study released by the market research firm Dataquest. Price wars and the recession were blamed for the 7.8% drop in sales revenues. -- IBM Aims at Education Market with new PS/2 Model IBM has unveiled a PS/2 Model 25 SX personal computer designed for use as a teacher and student workstation. The computer, which will be available in April, features increased processing speed and memory, better graphics presentation and built-in networking capabilities. Prices range from $1,249 to $1,899, depending on configuration. -- NeXT Introduces NeXTstep 486 After three years of struggle, workstation maker NeXT Computer Inc is moving aggressively to link up to the mainstream computer market. The company headed by computer pioneer Steve Jobs unveiled the NeXTstep 486, advanced software that can be used by computers equipped with Intel Corp.'s newest and most powerful microprocessors. According to reports, the NeXTstep, which is the same system found in NeXT workstations, is object-oriented software that lets users build programs more quickly, block by block, instead of line by line. "NeXTstep 486 is a customer- driven product. Several of our key customers and many industry pundits strongly urged us to port NeXTstep," Jobs said. "This move extends the benefits of the industry- standard NeXTstep to the huge installed base of 486 users, and instantly explodes the potential market for NeXTstep applications." Admitting that one of NeXT's early problems was that not enough software developers were writing programs for what was seen as a limited market compared to PCs, Jobs said the number of third-party applications shipping programs to run on the NeXTstep operating system grew from 63 to 247 in 1991 and is expected to grow more with the Intel porting capability. The new software will be available in the second quarter of 1992. Jobs also disclosed that his privately held company's revenues rose in 1991 to $127 million from about $30 million in 1990. He would not discuss the firm's earnings. -- MicroSoft Profits Soar Microsoft Corp. profits rose 55% in the quarter ended Dec. 31 on stronger sales of the Windows operating system for personal computers. The company reported profit of $175.2 million, or 90 cents a share, on sales of $681.9 million in the second quarter of the company's fiscal year. Sales of Windows 3.0 have surpassed 9 million copies since that version went on the market May, 22, 1990. -- Logic Bomb Programmer Fined Michael John Lauffenburger, a 31-year-old programmer formerly with General Dynamics, pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to attempted computer tampering. He has been fined $5,000, handed three years' probation and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for attempting to sabotage computers with a "logic bomb" that prosecutors say could have erased national security data. According to reports, Lauffenburger set up the logic bomb, then resigned, intending to get hired on as high-priced consultant to help reconstruct the data lost from the billion-dollar Atlas Missile Space Program when the virus was unleashed. A co-worker accidentally discovered the rogue program in early May. It had been set to go off May 24. Investigators said at the time the bomb would have caused about $100,000 in damage to computer systems at the Kearny Mesa plant.