European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Fax instead of newsprint by Mary Kuntz new Day for most people a newspaper is still something you buy at a newsstand read with your morning Coffee and yes we in admit it wrap fish in the next Day. But now a handful of newspapers in the United states Are experimenting with the new technology of the facsimile machine. Bearing High tech names with Peculiar capitalization such As fax paper fax summary and new Sfax the first Small scale tests and launches have already taken place. In an age when global communication can be accomplished at the flip of a switch the definition of Quot news Quot has changed dramatically. Fax news fits the pattern. Readers still get the five w s a who what where when and Why a but that s about All they get. Most tax papers Are one to four pages of summaries and headlines. The Selling Point of fax papers is they either give readers information the Day before it runs in the newspaper or permit fast delivery to Remote locations. Subscribers to fax paper. Published by the Hartford courant recently Learned from their one Page Quot executive digest Quot about Lech Walesa s speech to Congress the latest updates in a local murder trial and the next Day s weather forecast along with about 30 other bite size bits of information grouped by topics that include top news Quot Quot business Quot Quot Connecticut news Quot and  the one Page summary of tomorrow s stories slithers out of the fax machine by 4 30 . Five Days a week and costs $600 per year. The courant which is owned by times Mirror co., won t reveal How Many subscribers have signed up since it began transmissions last april. Not All of the interest in fax paper has come from subscribers. More than 100 newspapers have contacted courant editors including some from overseas to find out More about its experimental service. New Day editor Anthony Marro says his staff has studied the possibility of a fax delivered paper but has no plans for starting one at present. New Day is also owned by times Mirror. Like most of the other prototypes and products on the Market fax paper leans heavily toward business news. That s because at this Point most facsimile machines and hence most subscribers Are still in the office instead of the Home. But courant editors say anything that runs in the regular paper is fair game for fax paper. That includes courant exclusives even though some reporters worry that by sending them out at 4 30, they risk being scooped on their own stories by their competitors. Quot if it s a general Story  competitors have it anyway Quot said Bill Williams assistant to the publisher at the courant. Quot if it s an exclusive Story they probably would have to attribute it to the Hartford  no one expects fax papers to replace old fashioned newsprint soon. Quot it s a tool Quot said Donald Mazzella the consultant who helped the journal of Commerce the newspaper of International Trade set up its recently launched Dat fax. Quot it does t replace the journal of Commerce it augments  but some people wonder if a fax delivered summary can compete a either with other newspapers or other electronically delivered news services available through computer networks or radio or television. Quot it s not very often daily newspapers have news that by Early evening in t already known Quot said John Morton a newspaper analyst with Lynch Jones amp Ryan a Washington d.c., brokerage. Quot what newspapers offer is detail explanation and analysis. These Are not particular by suited to  the new York times which is putting the final touches on a four to six Page summary called time Sfax that will be transmitted daily to the far East starting next month knows that it can t offer its subscribers news that nobody else has. Quot what we bring is actually How the new York times is looking at the world on any Given Day Quot said Seymour Topping former managing editor of the times and director of editorial development. The first Page of time Sfax will reflect the front Page of the new York times in terms of size and play of stories although items will be Shorter. Elsewhere time Sfax will carry editorial comment and columnists As Well As a heavy dose of business news. The los Angeles times is taking a similar tack. Its four to six Page new Sfax is set to debut a week from sunday. But instead of transmitting to bastions of capitalism new Sfax is destined for Moscow. An almost total dearth of fax machines there Means the los Angeles times will have to fax a copy to a distributor there who will photocopy the pages and deliver them by car. At least at first this is a non commercial venture and there will be no charge to the limited list of subscribers. Quot we think there s an interest in news from the l a. Times Quot said Jeffrey s. Klein assistant to the publisher. Quot we think we provide excellent coverage of Europe and other issues they re interested  it s far too Early in the evolution of fax news for advertising to appear. Except for a Small and in time Sfax for the International Herald Tribune of which the new York times is a part owner none of these ventures carries ads. Virtually All however say they will look into the possibility As fax papers take hold. Newspapers around the United states will be watching these fledgling operations with a mixture of interest and scepticism. Quot we re excited about the creative opportunities but we re just being a Little More cautious Quot said Phil Fuhrer vice president of Gannett new Media the research and development Arm of Gannett co., which publishes Usa today and other newspapers. Gannett is studying the possibilities but so far has not figured out a fax product that makes sense. Fuhrer  with Remote control clutter by Ivan Berger new York times the first Remote control in any household is a Blessing and the second is a Joy but As these blessings mount they clutter up your Coffee table a and the one you want always seems to be under a newspaper or the cat. There Are also limits to the remoteness of most. Controls you can use them from across the room but not from around the Corner. But there Are ways to bypass these problems. One is to buy a roomful of audio and video equipment from one manufacturer. Most companies that can provide that roomful also make Remote controllers that will operate anything in their product line. The Remote transmitter May control All the system components directly or some master component such As an amplifier or receiver which is linked by wire to the other components. But few people buy entire systems at once. By the time controller clutter becomes a problem you Are Likely to have equipment and Remote controls from several manufacturers. At that Point the clutter cutters of Choice Are Remote controls that can mimic the commands of your other controllers. Some of these Multi Brand controllers come permanently reprogrammed Lor the makers own products but have additional memory a either programmable or reprogrammed a to carry the commands for components made by others. Models in which such Quot foreign language Quot memories Are reprogrammed such As Zenith s mbr3000 and the everything Remote by one for All Are easy to set up As Long As their commands match the ones in your equipment. Before buying make sure that All your equipment is on the Remote control manufacturer s compatibility list. Another kind of controller which you program yourself takes longer to set up but is More versatile because it can mimic virtually any other controller. Programming these Universal Remote controllers a often called urls or Quot learning Quot remotes a is simple but can be tedious. First put the old and new Remote controls together and aim the old one at a window panel of the Urc. Then switch the Universal controller into its learning Mode and press the buttons on both remotes that correspond to the command you Are programming a Quot volume up Quot for example. When a Light or other indicator on the Urc shows that the command has been Learned repeat the process for another command. This can be time consuming because while on average it takes about 10 seconds to program a command the Universal devices accept from about 50 to More than 300 commands. General electric introduced the first Urc s several years ago and fully or partly programmable Remote controls Are now available in the United states from Many other companies from about $50 to $250. The differences among the models lie mainly in the number of commands they can store and the ways they make them available. If you have a simple system with few components or elaborate controls you May be Able to find a Urc with one key Tor every function you desire. For More elaborate systems that might be impractical since keeping a controller s keys to a manageable number requires that each key perform several functions. Some models such As memo Rex s cp8 $120inkyo s rc-av20m $100 and Pioneer s a us $72 have Mode switches. So the fast Forward and rewind keys can control your videocassette recorder in one Mode and your cassette  or compact disk player in another. The second problem controlling your electronic equipment from other rooms also can be solved by buying All your equipment from one company. Bang amp Olufsen Bose Lux Man Mcintosh Meridian Renox and sound Stream All make sound systems that can be controlled from and heard in several rooms. But accessories Are also available that allow existing systems to be controlled from Distant rooms and to transmit audio and video signals Back to those rooms. The missing link by video link $60 and radio Shack s Archer Remote control extender $50 allow Remote control of components in other rooms. Similar systems for mounting in Walls Are available through professional installers. But distributing audio and video signals from room to room is More Complex although for audio it often suffices to run speaker lines from the system s main amplifier to other rooms. Many amplifiers have outputs for two or three pairs of speakers to simplify this. Fat cables should be used for Long runs to prevent signal losses. For video signals special equipment is required but it need not be expensive. Radio Shack s Archer multiple video distribution system $50 lets you Send up to three signals from the Antenna Cable and Var from one room to As Many As three others. The three signals Are transmitted on different channels so each television set can be tuned to any signal. The Archer Remote control extender can then be hooked up to the same Cable As the multiple video distribution system allowing one to both watch and control the living room Var from the bedroom. January 8,1990 stars and stripes a a a Page 15