Article Abstract:
Scientists of UK's General Electronic Co (GEC), in collaboration with 11 other European partners, are perfecting the use of ferroelectric liquid crystals, a new display screen technology that promises thin, high-resolution and energy saving screens that are portable enough to hang on a wall or use in travelling. In taming the new technology for commercial purposes, the researchers have to deal with trade-offs: the materials' complex properties are so interlocked that improving one feature, such as picture contrast, detracts from another feature, such as power-consumption. In 1993, Canon Inc of Japan promises to introduce the first desktop publishing system to use the technology; the computer will come with a 15-inch monochrome display. GEC's Marconi unit, in 1992, began using the technology for small, electronic price-displays that can be posted in supermarket shelves. GEC is the leader of a $7 million liquid-crystal research consortium funded in part by the European Community's Esprit research project.
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Article Abstract:
Inland Revenue, the tax agency of the United Kingdom, considers awarding a contract for computer processing services totalling $386 million to a private firm. This would be the largest computer service contract ever awarded in Europe, as well as the largest contract awarded by a public agency. Although no announcements have been made, other UK and continental European government agencies are expected to announce similar outsourcing contracts as a way of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Inland Revenue began the negotiation process by working with five multinational computer firms, and other companies are expected to join the contract competition. A representative from Inland Revenue says that the contract will be eventually awarded to a company with an international reputation and a strong presence in the UK.
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The Soviet Union long looked upon computer viruses as a strictly Western problem, but recently the Soviets have had to learn to deal with viruses on their systems as well. As the number of microcomputers has grown in the Soviet Union, the virus problem has kept pace. Since 1988, Soviet computer scientists have recorded 15 virus cases across the country. To make the matter potentially worse, the lack of copyright laws in the Soviet Union means that the type of copying that spreads the viruses is much more common. Computer researchers have developed anti-virus programs, and as many as 150 of these are circulating in the Soviet Union.
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