ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill) (04/16/91)
I caught this in my local paper this past week. Interesting parts have been
reposted for your reading pleasure. Please note that anything inside of
brackets is my own words.
By Bart Ziegler
---------------
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Commodore International Ltd. is introducing a new interactive
home entertainment and education system that provides reference tools, games
and other features on an ordinary TV.
.........
The device also marks a comeback of sorts for Nolan Bushnell, the founder of
computer game pioneer Atari who nows works for Commodore.
.........
The machine can be hooked up to a computer printer and a VCR. That allows
students to use the reference programs to compile reports. They either could
be printed out on paper or stored on a videotape, which could be played in the
classroom, Dionne said.
..........
The program discs will cost an average of $50, which Dionne said is
comparable to the cost of video game cartridges. Up to 40 disc titles are
expected to be available in coming weeks, Dionne said, and many more later
this year.
..........
Mark Stahiman, an analyst with the Baltimore investment firm Alex Brown &
Sons, said he was impressed by the CDTV's capabilities and predicted it would
be a hit.
..........
"This couldn't come at a better time, with the 8-bit Nintendo console
business leveling off and with more and more parents worried that junior is
spending all his free time drop-kicking aliens," he said.
..........
Commodore's machine, which it demonstrated in January at a consumer
electronics show, will go on sale April 19 in Chicago, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose, Calif. By the end of June it will be
available in at least 25 of the nation's major markets, Dionne said.
..........
[My own note here...UseNet reports say that it has shipped to many more major
cities than this, so check with your local electronics dealer.]
..........
[Take note of the following Kevin...]
Though it is powered by computer chips made by the West Chester, Pa-based
Commodore, the machine is assembled in Japan by Matsushita, the maker of
Panasonic products, according to an industry source who spoke anonymously.
.........
Dionne said Commodore plans to license the technology to other electronics
companies to establish CDTV as a standard. That would put Commodore in
contention with the industry consortium.
..........
In addition to the home market, Dionne said the machine should find uses in
industrial training and retail point-of-sale displays. Though other CD-based
information products exist for these uses, they are far more expensive, he
said.
[END OF RE-PRINT]
Tom
--
Why purchase a MAC when an Amiga with the same CPU will run 99% of all
__ MAC software..and FASTER at that?! The same can be said of the IBM and
__/// Atari computers, and I can run those in a window. IBM's greatest sales
\XX/ tool is ignorance on the consumer's part. Only the Amiga! DEVO Anyone?kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) (04/16/91)
ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill) writes: > I caught this in my local paper this past week. Interesting parts have been reposted for your reading pleasure. Many thanks for posting! And <laughing> for the "Take Note Kevin" title. Us old farts do need help. So, I guess you expect a response? Well... okay, he says grudgingly... but I can't keep this up forever <g>... > The device also marks a comeback of sorts for Nolan Bushnell, Yah, no doubt that _is_ a main reason CDTV exists. Comeback time :-) :-). > The machine can be hooked up to a computer printer and a VCR. That allows > students to use the reference programs to compile reports. They either could > be printed out on paper or stored on a videotape, which could be played > in the classroom, Dionne said. Excellent! The standard printer port can indeed be very useful... especially if CBM brings out a cheap color printer, for example (and/or creates a disc with printer drivers, of which you'd store one on a personal RAM card. Do I have to think of everything? ;-) Still, ummm, the number of reference titles which can be used with a printer is kinda limited. Someone else already knocked down that VCR notion, btw. > The program discs will cost an average of $50, which Dionne said is > comparable to the cost of video game cartridges. Up to 40 disc titles are Same-same. > Mark Stahiman, an analyst with the Baltimore investment firm Alex Brown & > Sons, said he was impressed by the CDTV's capabilities and predicted it would HAHAHAHA! <wiping tears away> Sorry. Sorry. Not making fun of _you_, Tom. It's just that pro/con analysts are a dime a dozen for anything. > "This couldn't come at a better time, with the 8-bit Nintendo console > business leveling off and with more and more parents worried that junior is > spending all his free time drop-kicking aliens," he said. Oh, I can see the CBM ads now, can't you? Simply use a Toaster overlay to place CDTV on top of the C64 in the old ads of that little fat kid "losing out" on college because he only played games. Urg <gurgling noise as eyes roll up> And let's just hope CDTV ads don't ever run right next to a computer ad showing a kid playing games on his Amiga, eh? <muffled groan> > By the end of June it will be > available in at least 25 of the nation's major markets, Dionne said. <yawn>. Any store that carries A/V components at all will probably have CD-I players by the end of the year; but we'll see. > Though it is powered by computer chips made by the West Chester, Pa-based > Commodore, the machine is assembled in Japan by Matsushita, the maker of > Panasonic products, according to an industry source who spoke anonymously. Interesting! That means the profit argument people give for Commodore/CDTV, will work double (CD-I and CDTV) for Matsushita. Fascinating indeed. > Dionne said Commodore plans to license the technology to other electronics > companies to establish CDTV as a standard. That would put Commodore in > contention with the industry consortium. [ <<< !!! ] > ...... Wait. Sounds like an interesting paragraph was left out here? And who's left over outside the CD-I consortium to license CDTV? > In addition to the home market, Dionne said the machine should find uses in > industrial training and retail point-of-sale displays. No doubt. As mentioned before, CD-I players have been used thus for a year. Also the military uses them for medical aid on battlefields, and Renault has chosen them for global multilingual support of their dealers. > Though other CD-based information products exist for these uses, they are > far more expensive, he said. He, of course, meant today's computers with CDROM drives tacked on. > [from .sig] "IBM's greatest sales tool is ignorance on the consumer's part" Umm. I think you can guess what my related comment would be ;-). Many _sincere_ thanks, again. Enjoyed the heck out of the article, Tom! At your service, kevin <kdarling@catt.ncsu.edu>