From...

November 17, 1998
Web posted at: 4:02 PM ET

by Glenn McDonald

(IDG) -- Notable news and debuts from Comdex Fall 1998:

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday introduced three versions of its AMD-K6-2 processor with 3DNow Technology, operating at speeds of 400, 380 and 366 MHz.

Corel unveiled a preview of the beta version of its latest office suite, WordPerfect Office 2000. The suite, expected to ship in the second quarter of 1999, will include four integrated applications: WordPerfect 9, Corel Presentations 9, Quattro Pro 9, and the personal information manager CorelCentral 9. No word yet on pricing.

Compaq announced a new line of broadband-ready Presario PCs with integrated 1.5MB Digital Subscriber Line modems. The Presario 5100c series starts at $1599 with the new 400-MHz AMD-K6-2 processor, 128MB of memory, a 8GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM drive, and a 17-inch monitor.

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Compaq also announced its new Triple Play broadband Internet access program, which offers customers a choice of three high-speed Net access options: cable modem, DSL, and satellite. Broadband availability is limited to areas with participating Internet service providers.

Similarly, Dell announced it will begin shipping a new line of Dimension PCs with factory-installed Cisco Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line modems for select U.S. West customers. Customers must be in a selected U.S. West coverage area and their ISP must support U.S. West ADSL. Dimension PCs with ADSL modems start at $1329 with a Intel Celeron-333 processor, 32MB of memory, a CD-ROM drive, and a 15-inch monitor.

Sharp Electronics unveiled its Mobilon TriPad PV-6000, a Windows CE-based computing device that can be used in three different operating positions: standard notebook (clamshell), pen tablet (slate), or easel mode. The TriPad comes with a full VGA color LCD screen and large keyboard; it should retail for approximately $999.

Sharp also debuted TelMail, a portable e-mail appliance for sending and receiving e-mail messages using a regular telephone. TelMail uses the PocketMail service from PocketScience, which charges a variable monthly fee. PocketMail also allows users to send faxes. TelMail will ship to retailers nationwide at the end of this month; pricing is not yet determined.

Memorex announced its new MaxxScan line of scanners: the $99 MaxxScan 3610, $149 MaxxScan 6120, and the $199 MaxxTouch 6150. The MaxxScan 6120 and 6150 scanners come integrated with both the USB and parallel port connections, and all models include Xerox TextBridge optical character recognition software.

Brother International introduced a new class of laser printer, fax, and multifunction products devices featuring 33.6-kbps fax transmission. The $999 MFC-7750 is a five-in-one multifunction center that also includes plain paper fax, printer, copier, scanner and PC fax features. The $899 IntelliFAX-3750 fax machine comes standard with 4MB of memory. Both products are scheduled to ship at the end of November.

Panasonic announced the new Toughbook 27, the latest addition to the company's line of ruggedized notebooks. The Toughbook comes standard with a Pentium MMX-266 processor, 512KB of L2 cache, a 4GB hard drive, and 32MB of RAM. The street price is $4499.

Imation launched version 3.0 of its high-capacity Imation SuperDisk Diskette with embedded data security technology. Available in early December, the product will be available in a three-pack for $49.99 and a ten-pack for $129.99.

Lernout & Hauspie introduced four new speech technology products: L&H Now You're Talking Deluxe, a collection of voice command utilities; L&H RealSpeak, a technology enabling human, natural sounding text-to-speech synthesis; L&H Kurzweil 3000 3.0, a speech-enabled PC-based reading system for learning disabled users; and L&H Talking MAX, a speech-enabled virtual pet for PCs.

Bausch & Lomb introduced the $295PC Magni-Viewer, an ergonomically designed "acrylic optical lens personal computer magnification system," which can magnify on-screen information 175 percent.

Finally, members of the USB Implementers Forum attempted a new world record at the show Monday by attaching more than 100 peripherals to a single PC via daisy-chained USB connections.