LOOKING BACK IN TIME
Fifteen years ago, Infoworld reviewed one of the hot new personal computers on the market. No, it wasn't the IBM PC or Macintosh. It was the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model III. The TRS-80 Model III operated at 1.8Mhz, and the model tested by Infoworld had 32KB of memory, two floppy disk drives and the display supported both upper and lower case characters! List price: $2,495. Just think of the computing power we can buy today for $2,495! (Source: Infoworld, 8/12/1996).

WHO'S MANAGING THE CONTENT OF THE FORTUNE 500's HOME PAGE?
45% of the 162 survey respondents said it is the Employee Communications Department. Information Technology accounted for 33%, Marketing 7%, Human Resources 2% and Other 13%. (Source: Infoworld, 8/19/1996).

INTERNET BROWSERS
Microsoft and Netscape have both recently released major updates to their respective Internet browsers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0 is free and runs under Windows95 or WindowsNT with versions for Windows 3.1 and the Macintosh expected by the end of the year. Netscape Navigator 3.0 is now available for sixteen different operating systems. Netscape 3.0 is priced at $49.95. The end of the Internet browser war in not expected soon. Netscape and Microsoft are planning to release beta versions of the next generation of browsers later this fall. (Source: Infoworld, 8/19/1996).

SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE
Supply chain software may not be getting the attention that the Internet browsers software does, but it is one of the hottest software products in the manufacturing world. What is it? Supply chain software is used to predict if there is a potential bottle neck in the production schedule caused by the inability to obtain the necessary raw material or components used in the production process. Currently the market for supply chain software is estimated at US$600 million and growing at 100% per year.

Companies using various versions of the supply chain software report significant benefits. Timpken credits the use of supply chain software for a 15% increase in steel production, Herman Miler reduced the time it took to deliver on orders by 20% and Selectron Corporation reduced the amount of time supplies were on hand by 20% to 25%. (Source: Wall Street Journal, 8/13/1996).

WEB SITES OF THE MONTH
In the spirit of the election year, I thought this month's selections should be the Web sites for the Clinton-Gore www.cg96.org and the Dole for President www.dole96.com campaigns. (Source: Wall Street Journal, 8/8/1996).
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Technology Tidbits is published monthly by Jerry Price, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
© 1996 Jerry W. Price

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