Desktop Briefs

Connectivity specialist TeleAdapt has launched a victim support scheme for business travellers facing the threat of notebook mugging. Developed with car rescue company Europ Assistance, the 24-hour LaptopAssist service will help organise a replacement from a local supplier or from the UK if a traveller's notebook is stolen. The company is also providing insurance for notebook computers. A year's insurance policy and membership of LaptopAssist will be provided free with all future purchases from TeleAdapt. Call (0181) 233 3161 or teleadapt@delphi.com.

Asymetrix is shipping a Java edition of its SuperCede development tool, which it claims will allow programs to be modified while they are running. Applications can be generated as both standard Java bytecode, and x86 code for Windows 95 and NT, including .exe files and DLLs. The tool, which is promised to suit developers already familiar with Visual Basic and Delphi, is bundled with Netscape's Internet Foundation Classes and ObjectSpace's Java Generic library of algorithms and containers. Call (01276) 34562 or visit www.asymetrix.com.

Cisco has introduced its port and address translation (PAT) feature to a series of routers aimed at small businesses and branch offices. PAT is a software feature which allows a single IP address to be assigned to an entire LAN, conserving IP addresses and reducing Internet service account charges. The feature will appear on the 760 and 770 series of four-port Ethernet hubs, which can be supplied with analogue telephone interfaces to allow standard telephones, fax machines and modems to share an ISDN basic rate line. Call (0181) 818 1400 or visit www.cisco.com.

UK reseller prices for around 1,000 computer-related products have been collated at the Web site www.streetprice.com. The site can be searched by manufacturer or product category, and lists product details alongside reseller prices and delivery and support details.

Micro Focus has extended its Revolve/2000 tool for year 2000 analysis to cover the PL/I language. The tool already covers Cobol, and an Assembler extension is currently in beta test. Micro Focus says Revolve/2000 automates data conversion tasks, such as inventory analysis, to determine which software components belong to an application, identification of faulty program logic and impact analysis. The latter will show the effects of a component change on an entire system, and this, claims Micro Focus, distinguishes its tool from others on the market. Call (01635) 32646 or visit www.microfocus.com for a free demonstration download.

Sony and Toshiba are vying with each other to deliver digital video disks (DVD) this spring. Toshiba said it will introduce what it claims to be the first PC implementation of a DVD drive around March, in a machine also fitted with a 200MHz Intel MMX chip and Mpeg video decompression software. Sony will release its drives to OEMs for sampling at the end of this month.

Digital has launched a series of NT workstations based on its fastest 64-bit Alpha processors, which run at 433MHz and 500MHz. The machines are promised to support workstation applications, such as AutoDesk and Bentley CAD, engineering software and SoftImage image processing software. Mainstream applications, such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, are also certified to run on the machines. Like the Intel-based NT workstations launched by Digital last September, the machines feature motherboards which can be removed or swapped by users. The Intel-based machines can be upgraded to run on Alpha motherboards. Call (01734) 868711 or visit www.digital.com.

The second of three licensed manufacturers of Imation's 120Mb floppy disk drive has reached volume production, signalling the entry of the device to the mass market. Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics (MKE) says that by the middle of the year it will be manufacturing 500,000 drive units every month. The drives can handle current 744Kb and 1.44Mb disks, and will transfer data from 120Mb disks five times faster than floppy drives. OR Technology is already shipping 200,000 drives each month and Mitsubishi will become the third supplier of the drives later this year. Compaq, which helped develop the standard, is offering the drives as an option for its DeskPro PCs.