European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 09, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the star3 and stripes computers tuesday nov Ynte 9,1999 chips a computer program has been devised that will reply to requests put in regular English sentences its sponsors say. The new feature called freestyle will be available this month to 1,000 users of Mead data Central inc lexis nexis Dat Abanks the company announced monday. Instead of using the traditional Boolean search language individuals seeking information can simply ask the computer questions. If the questions do not contain enough information for the program to work on it asks for More. Say for example a lawyer wants information about a particular custody situation from lexis. The Boolean search command might look something like natural or biological w/10 Parent w/20 custody w/20 adopt w/5 child. Using freestyle the query would simply be when can biological parents regain custody of adopted children after an adoption this is aimed at the infrequent inexperienced Market said Rod Everhart president of Mead data Central. Freestyle will also be used by the experienced user As a crosscheck. The computer makes its own decision on the key words in the sentence provides the appropriate documents and communicates with the user in Complete sentences to refine the request if necessary said Yerhart. After the introduction the feature will gradually be expanded to All 360,000active users of the lexis nexis system. Compaq computer corp. Has started Selling 46 new Persona computers broadening a line aimed at Consumers and starting a new one for business customers. The third largest pc company is also reducing prices up to 29 percent on some existing models. Among the new models is a $2,800machine powered by the advanced pentium Chip from Intel corp. Compaq also has developed ways to automatically configure extra memory disk drives and other features in some of the new pcs. The new models include drives for programs that Are on compact disc an increasingly popular format because cd hold More data. Compaq had been criticized for not including the feature earlier. Prices of the new Presari machines Range from $1,650 to $2,100. Nasa said it is setting up an International computer network to ease communication Between . And. Russian scientists. By Jan. 1, the Nasa science internet will link 150 . Research Sites with Russia s space research Institute in Moscow and nine other russian space centers. Nasa officials in Mountain View calif., said the network will support 15 collaborative science programs in the first phase of the project. These will include research into life sciences and solar system exploration. An economic news weekly reports that Taiwan s production of notebook computers could hit 1 million units this year up 70 percent from 1992. The weekly. Business Taiwan says half year production of portable machines surpassed 500,000 units with a production value of $647 million. _. From wire reports putting you on the map places rated software helps users discover most liable areas by Ian Johnson the Baltimore Sun new York where would you live if your dream City had lots of Snow plenty of Public transportation and movie the aters galore armed with the computer version of the places rated almanac the inveterate Snowbird can punch in the information and find the answer Appleton Oshkosh Neenah in Wisconsin. While that bit of information May be Only useful to the Central Wisconsin chamber of Commerce the new computer software allows travellers and trivia buffs the Chance to rewrite the almanac famous ranking of cities or compare cities where they might like to live. Civic breast beaters can also see what it takes to make their City no. 1. The product combines the exhaustive data base of the Best Selling places rated almanac with software designed by phhcorp., the Hunt Valley  corporate relocation company. Phi. Which will earn a percentage of the software s sales also Hopes to Market the product tits corporate clients companies could use the software to help executives who might be transferring to another City. Three products Are for Sale the $20almanac, which is published by Par amount publishing in new York the Book and a simplified version of the soft Ware for $34.95 and the More sophisticated software which is sold separately from the Book by Paramount for $39.95.both versions of the Phi software must be used with Microsoft window Sand allow users to weight some factors More heavily or eliminate geographic re Gions when ranking cities. Haters of the District of Columbia for example could strike it from consideration to ensure that no Fluke would allow that City to appear on a ranking. The almanac uses 10 factors to deter mine which City in North America is most liable Cost of living jobs housing transportation education health care crime arts recreation and climate. While the simplified software anew these factors to be re weighted the advanced software allows the factors them selves to be redefined. For example not Only can the arts category be Given More weight but movie Heaters can be Given More weighting than theater or zoo hate scan strike them out entirely. Likewise the recreation Factor could be reconfigure for fans of National Parks. By making it interactive you can heroin on the information that s relevant to you. There s a lot of information in Chebook it s nearly a Telephone Book but the software just makes it easier to an Alyze said Robert Fulton vice president or Phi technology services which devel oped the software Over the summer. Despite those advantages the Book still has features not found in the software. I lists for example All the colleges and universities in a Region whereas the software Only gives the number. It also has vignettes and commentary on regions. Like the Book the software display graphs charts and maps. The software however allows them to be moved to a Tex document so that a research report on a City for example could show a color graph of that City s annual rain patterns. The software can also easily compare die with each other. With a Click of the mouse the Book original weightings can be restored along with the hotly debated rankings. The almanac ranks Cincinnati Seattle Philadelphia Toronto and Pittsburgh As the top five spots among 343 metropolitan areas. A different Way to do your will  press International buy will maker 5 if for no other Rea son than it will probably make your Law yer unhappy. Unhappy because will maker 5 is no something lawyers want you to have. The newest version of this nolo press soft Ware for pcs and windows is designed to let people make up their own wills living wills and final  that last clause makes sure your family knows what you want done after you leave this world such As whether or no you want to be cremated with the pc. In any event it s probably not something you want to think about. But it s some thing that you should think about. The software itself is pretty simple stuff. You fill in the Blanks and the screen tells you what to answer next. Atthe end a document pops out of your Printer that is a Legal expression of you feelings that will probably stand up in court. Except in Louisiana. Louisiana follows the Napoleonic tradition from France explained Ralph Warner publisher of Nola press in Ber Keley. Calif. There s just enough French in it to make it different from the rest of the United states. So rather than having exceptions All Over the place for Louisiana Laws we just put a notice on the cover that it s probably not a Good idea to use Millmaker in  will maker is designed for people whore Between their 30s and 60s, who have accumulated some property and who have other desires regarding their estates. It creates Basic documents for Basic needs the kind of documents that Are simple yet lucrative when crafted by lawyer. And you still might want to consider using a lawyer if you have Complex needs or if you re trying to make someone unhappy with your will. One of the Basic rules that we set i that if you re trying to disinherit a spouse or leave them a very Small share of you restate you can run into state Laws that cause problems said Warner. Some of them have Laws requiring you to leave a spouse a certain percentage of your prop erty. If you re going to leave your spouse 50 percent or More you re of. Other than that you have a right to leave your property to anyone you  he also warns that if someone in your family plans to claim you re not mentally competent or if someone in your family does t approve of your lifestyle you might have a probate Challenge. In a heavy duty situation where a contest Walil Cejay you d probably want to get some help. And if your estate is very Large $1million or More or you re very elderly you can afford to get some estate advice he said. That still leaves a lot of people with areal need for a product like will maker. Where this is really popular is people i their roid-30s to their late 60s. Especially if they have children he said. I can pretty much walk into a room Ata computer show or whatnot and know what people Are going to  said Warner. Surprisingly it usually does t have to do with property. People want to know what happens if they die As a single Parent or both parents die before the kids reach 18. People want to appoint a personal guardian. When they find that they can do that with we Raaker. That s a huge  will maker has been looked Over by atom of people including a lot of lawyers Warner said. If you use it to express you last wishes it will pretty much hold up in court i i 1 irn s ft7