Check 2000 PC by Alpha Omega Soft A program that purports to find and fix Y2K problems (by reporting on how data and software on your computer will be affected by the year 2000 changeover) has been released in Japan by Alpha Omega Soft. Check 2000 - developed by Greenwich Mean Time in England - comes in 3 flavors: Check 2000 Client Server (C/S version); Check 2000 PC Deluxe; and Check 2000 PC. The C/S and deluxe versions can check the contents of individual data, while the standard version only checks the application software. Retail price is ¥10,800 for the deluxe version and ¥8,800 for the standard version (the price for the C/S version depends on the number of licenses). Alpha Omega Soft, Ltd.: 03-5575-2201 Portege 7020CT by Toshiba Toshiba has released the new line of its mobile notebook computer, the Portege 7020CT. It is a successor to the Portege 7010CT with a better CPU (Pentium II 366MHz) and bigger display (13.3" TFT). Although small (297 x 241 x 23.5mm, 1.89kg), it has a 6.4GB hard disk, 64MB of SDRAM, and comes equipped with a V.90/K56 flex modem. A CD-ROM/DVD Network Dock is an option (DVD Network Dock is available only with an English OS). Retail price is ¥418,000 for the English Windows 98/95 version, and ¥428,000 for the Japanese Windows 98/95 version. Toshiba Direct PC: 0120-13-1100 New line of Kayak from HP Hewlett Packard Japan has released the new line of their workstation PC series, Kayak. There are four models in this lineup, and all carry the AccelGALAXY graphic accelerator to handle CAD or 3D animation. High-end models feature a 450 MHz Pentium II Xeon Processor, and Matrox Millennium G200 - high-speed 2D graphics software. The low-end model (XA 6/450 M10G ATA-128-AG) sells for ¥710,000. Prices for other models are: ¥998,000 (XA-s 6/450 MT M9100 SCSI-128-AG), ¥890,000 (XU 6/450X M9100/ 128-G200), and ¥1,240,000 (XU 6/450X M9100/128-AG). Hewlett Packard Japan: 03-3335-8333 Kore Waei! Office and Eibun Works from Catena Corp. Catena has released a new translation and multifunction software package, Kore Waei! Office. Besides a highly rated Japanese-English translation function, it has a database for sample sentences, English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionary, and a function to assist English sentence composition. All these features are included in Eibun Works, which Catena released at the same time, but this software does not have the translation function. There are 1,327 sample sentences, and you can search for sentences by categories or by keywords. The English-Japanese dictionary has about 90,000 words, and the Japanese-English has approximately 70,000 words. Composition assistance can be used through the grammar category or by keywords. Price for Kore Waei! Office is ¥17,800 and ¥11,000 for Eibun Works. Catena: 03-3615-4603   IBM PC 300GL IBM has released the new model of its corporate desktop PC. The new PC 300GL comes with either the Intel Celeron 300A MHz or the Celeron 333MHz processor. It has 32MB of memory, a 3.2GB hard disk, and a 32-speed CD-ROM. For better system management, UMA (Universal Management Agent) - the software that connects management utilities on the PC with management software from various companies - is included. It also features a 100Mbps Ethernet card, which enables remote power-supply management. This is the first corporate PC sold under the new open price system, but the IBM PC Direct price is ¥149,000 for the Celeron 300A MHz model, and ¥164,000 for the Celeron 333MHz model. Monitor is not included. IBM: 0120-04-1992 Back to the table of contents