European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page the stars and stripes computers tuesday january 11, 1994 chips n bits macintosh computer owners who want a bigger screen can no Hook up their macs to their televisions. A machines division of Superman technology inc., of Sunnyvale calif., introduced Pacolor graphics card that allows connection of most of the machines made by Apple computer inc to tvs. -. Called simply to the car connects any Mac la color classic most perform models and the quadra 605 directly with one Cable. It is designed for viewing compute compact discs or cd rooms corporate presentations and in class educational software. The suggested retail Price is $439. It is available immediately from computer superstores mail order firms and other retailers the company said. A machines said the device eliminates the Flicker often associated with computer based graphics show non to screens. " Citibank and Apple computer inc. Introduced joint Mastercard and visa credit cards that provide rebates on Apple products to customers. Analysts said the venture which links the nation s largest Bank card issuer with the second largest computer manufacturer was intended by Citibank to regain a larger share of the Market in the increasingly. Competitive credit , an for Apple to increase sales. The new card is also an example Ofa trend among Banks to offer credit cards in joint ventures with consumer products companies. Because these cards typically offer More Perks than Plain Vanilla credit cards they seem to whet Consumers appetites said Denise Gray an associate editor at credit card news a Chicago newsletter that tracks the Industry. The Citibank Apple credit cards carry a financing rate of 15.4 percent. A $20 annual fee will be waived for All new card members in the first year of the program. Consumers using these credit car scan earn a rebate of 2.5 percent on annual purchases up to $3,000 and 5percent on annual purchases above that amount the maximum total rebate is $500 a year and $1,500 Over a three year period. The rebates can be redeemed in amounts of $20 to the $1,500 maximum on Apple hardware software and peripherals. The United states is accusing Japan of reneging on its obligations under a \99\ treaty designed to increase Tokyo s use of imported computer chips. . Trade representative micke Kantor said that the Market share of foreign computer chips in Japan declined for a third consecutive Quarter and raises serious concerns regarding Japan s commitment to the treaty signed two years ago. The Trade dispute comes amid promises by japanese leaders to provide More Access to japanese markets for a variety of . Products from Rice and satellite technology to finished lumber. Semiconductors or chips Are the Silicon based electronic devices that store information and instructions in computer. They Are key to the manufacturer of a variety of electronic products from computers to televisions and toys. Foreign Access to the japanese Market for semiconductors is one of the most contentious issues in . Japanese relations. From wire reports keeping some government Institute develops a system to protect passwords by Deb Riechmann the associated press Gaithersburg my. The secret passwords Many people use each Day to Access their computers often Aren t so secret. R so Many people use something that is easily guessed their own names their addresses the names of their dogs said Chuck Dinkel a technician at the National Institute of standards and technology. Some people even will write Down the password on their computer or on a pad under their  the Institute a Branch of the com Merce department has adopted a new system that allows computers to generate passwords that Are easy to remember yet difficult to decode. Most password generating systems Force computer users to memorize a string of characters either hard to re member consonants or a combination of letters and numbers. The new system comes up with pass words that can be pronounced. Most however Are not dictionary words that hackers can easily identify by Cross checking the password with a computerized dictionary. A password that used to take a main Frame computer Days and Days to break today could be done in hours on a state of the Art personal computer Dinkel said. ". The Institute s new system which is a step above simple password generating methods could provide badly needed Protection for computer data until More sophisticated systems such As those that use fingerprints or credit card Type de vices become widely available. Here s How it works a person enters the old password such As the word sys tem into the computer. The word goes is. Peter Jaeger into an encoding device where numbers Are randomly assigned to each letter. The letters for example might be give the number five and they the number two and  program then randomly connects each number to a letter and starts to Gen Erate passwords following the general rules of the English language. The pro Gram will arrange consonants and vowels in such a Way that the word can be pronounced and therefore remembered. Some examples Are Alnio which can be pronounced ral Nee of Poggia pronounced pig gee a and Teryld pronounced  i agree that they Are More difficult to remember than the name of your dog or a Street address said Dinkel. If you Don t like the one generated you can ask it to generate another one that you feel More comfortable  the new Standard takes effect in March. Government agencies using pass word generators will have to adopt the new system or get a waiver. It is also available free to businesses interested in using the system for their own computers or incorporating it into software products. Jeffrey Hoffer an Indiana University business professor who studies computer Security notes that passwords Are just one method of protecting data in a com Puter. It is not the highest level of Security he said. Now we Are using devices that scan somebody s Retina or  Roy Alzua who Heads telecommunications Security for aerospace contractor Rockwell International corp. In Seal Beach calif., said the company is consid ering using the new password Generator either for its own computers or in products. The random password generators in use today have generated somewhat cryptic passwords that have a number of characters and numbers. They Are difficult to remember he said. But Alzua said that without Export licenses Rockwell and other companies that operate in different countries won t be Able to use the government s new pro Gram. The Institute s password system uses the data encryption Standard a method of encoding computer data which cannot be exported or used overseas without special permission. Microsoft growth May slow in 94 by John Markoff the new York times san Francisco last year was not a great year for Microsoft Stock. The Redmond wash., software powerhouse Rose above $92 during two months but ended tuesday at $80.50, up 37.5 cents. Indeed while Microsoft s chairman and co founder William h. Gates Iii and Melinda French were being married recently in Hawaii the company s Stock faltered again slightly after several analysts said they expected the company s remarkable 48 percent earnings growth rate for the last four years to slow in 1994. The company has been warning for some time that it would have trouble keeping up with past growth. Some analysts have said they expect Microsoft s earnings growth to be about 17 percent this year. That is truly impressive even by computer Industry Stan Dards but an indication that the software giant is going to have to adjust to the realities of life after hype growth. There is also at least one indication that Microsoft May be losing at least some software dominance. Late last month an Independent Market researcher in Milburn n.j., reported that for the first time in the last year Micro soft s retail sales volume in december slipped below the last 12 months average. In fact according to the researcher George Meier the company s Market share now stands at 20 percent its Low est share Ever for a december below its usual 23 percent and far Down from its Peak of 27 percent. But Meier said that despite the end of year dip it was too soon to sound the alarm about Microsoft whose business is characterized by spikes and valleys As products enter the Market. Often individual product cycles can distort sales averages particularly in a Market that is More and More frequently characterized by blockbusters that Start with shipments of hundreds of thousands or in the Case of is Dos 6, the operating system for Intel based personal computers even millions of copies. They were gangbusters with Microsoft office Meier said referring to the Inte grated package that combines word proc Essing spreadsheet and database Fea Tures. But office in t so big any More. They re Back Selling word and  in fact some analysts said that Micro soft s recent doldrums could Stem from the fact that a new version of Excel had entered production but was not yet generating Revenue in december. The com Pany said that it had received More than 300,000 orders for the product which is now being shipped to retailers. They never shipped Excel to manufacturing so there was no Revenue said David Readerman a san Francisco based analyst at Shearson Smith Barney. But i think they re going to make the numbers for the Quarter without Excel which is quite a testimony to the strength of the  indeed a slip in Microsoft Market share May have come from Large sales of multimedia Christmas products at the end of the year which expanded the entire software Market. Still Meier May be seeing evidence that 1994 May be a relatively Flat year for Microsoft. The next big financial turn will most Likely be the company s new version of its windows software internally dubbed Chicago which is expected i october. Microsoft has shipped 40 million co pies of windows although the company concedes its retail sales of the program have fallen to a trickle. Most of its copies of the program Are shipped by computer manufacturers bundled with new machines. If it does not prove a letdown Chicago which for the first time will fully integrate windows with the is Dos operating system and finally match most of the macintosh computer s features could bring in As much As $1 billion in Revenue. If it All comes together Well that would make 1995 a great time to invest in Microsoft