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SCMP Reporter

IN a move clearly aimed at encouraging the proliferation of PowerPC architecture among Taiwan's many PC manufacturers, IBM and Motorola's RISC processor division has jointly opened a PowerPC technical centre in Taipei.

  The centre will provide hardware, software and chipset support for manufacturers in the region - of which the bulk are in Taiwan. They currently produce about 70 per cent of the world's motherboards.

  Initially the centre will support the Taiwan New PC Consortium (TNPC) - an organisation that combines the resources of Motorola, IBM and 28 Taiwan-based PC manufacturers - for the development and promotion of PowerPC-based systems.

 GOOD news for local-language desktop publishers: Aldus last week announced the launch of the Chinese version of PageMaker 5.0 program for the Apple Macintosh.

  Chinese Pagemaker 5.0 supports a range of features specific to the Chinese language, including the vertical and horizontal composition of Chinese text.

   It works with both simplified and traditional Chinese characters.

  An added feature is that users can install either English, or the simplified or traditional Chinese user interface for the software.

  Aldus expects to ship the Chinese version for the Mac by the fourth quarter, and carry a suggested retail price of US$895.

   Registered buyers of the full retail version of the current PageMaker 4.5C get a complimentary upgrade.

  Registered users of earlier versions qualify for an upgrade kit for US$150.

 ALSO good news this week for anyone looking to buy a new super-portable subnotebook machine: Hewlett-Packard is due to launch a new version of its excellent OmniBook today.

  The new OmniBook 530, as it is called, boasts a faster processor (a 33Mhz 486) and has up to 130MB of storage via a PCMCIA Type III hard-drive, compared with 105 MB of the machine it replaces.

   The new OmniBook also has two PCMCIA slots compared with the single slot of its predecessor.

  The new machine also features a communications link that allows the OmniBook screen image to be projected on to a desktop PC monitor, thus solving the OmniBook's single biggest drawback - the poor quality of its non-backlit screen.

  The machines, which distinguish themselves in the market by being able to run for several hours on standard AA batteries, will carry a list price in the United States of US$1,799.

 THE innovative CD-ROM publisher Interoptica - formerly of Wan Chai - is no more, having been taken over by Take 2 Interactive of the United States.

  But the firm's former creative staff are keen to let the world know that they are still very much alive and kicking - and still producing CD-ROM's through their own new venture called The Black Box.

  Former Interoptica employees Rick Green and Jay Tindall have teamed up with multimedia music composer Ken Andruk to found The Black Box, which has set up headquarters in Times Square.

  The new firm, which says Asia is definitely its creative ''home'' but maintains that the US will be its largest sales market, has even teamed up with Interoptica's former San Fransisco marketing manager, who will distribute the product in America.

  The company estimates that the installed base of CD-ROM drives in Hong Kong has grown from about 1,000 in 1992 to more than 75,000 this year (though no source is given).



PowerPC centre in Taipei