Ashton-Tate's new versions of dBASE for the Mac and PC will share the look and feel of the DOS command line environment and will be 100% data and program compatible with each other

The Usenet rumor mill has been grinding the low-cost Mac into a fine flour. Evidently, some people have heard that Apple is striking a deal with Tandy, the computer name behind Radio Shack, either to build and market or just to build a low cost Mac

With all the hullabaloo about the Mac IIfx, there has been much discussion from jealous Plus and SE owners on how to bring their Macs up to speed and snuff

Although IBM has not made an official announcement, a front page article in PC WEEK reveals IBM's plans for an August-release, low-cost home computer. This system, if released promptly, could steer potential buyers toward IBM if Apple cannot come through with its promise of a low-cost Macintosh

In response to the burgeoning laptop market, WordPerfect is putting together a new word processor called LetterPerfect. LetterPerfect files will be 100% compatible with WordPerfect IBM 5.1 files (and theoretically with WordPerfect Mac 1.0.4 files, but we don't know exactly how that will work and WordPerfect Mac should be at release 2.0 before LetterPerfect comes out)

Global Village Communications has introduced a unique modem that attaches to the Mac's ADB ports like a keyboard or mouse. The $225 TelePort modem does not require a power supply and communicates at 300, 1200, and 2400 baud with class 5 MNP

A new screen from Reflection Technology has the physical dimensions of a sugar packet, but the viewing dimensions of a 12" monitor. The screen uses a headband to attach to your head and extends a few inches out from the headband in front of one of your eyes

Microlytics Inc. has come up with the perfect desk accessory for folks who know perfectly well what they want to say but cannot think of the word. The dictionary allows you to type in definitions and then tells you what words you might be thinking of

For anyone working on a IIci with After Dark, the screensaver from Berkeley Systems, you should upgrade to version 1.1c. The new version fixes a bug that causes crashes when the screensaver kicks in while DAs are open

In a blow to industry leader Microsoft, Lotus and Novell merged last week to form a corporation worth about $1.5 billion dollars. The merger does not affect the Macintosh market as directly as the PC market, because neither Lotus nor Novell has been a major player in the Macintosh market despite several abortive attempts by Lotus

ACIUS, the developer of 4th Dimension, announced a host of new programs in many sectors of the market. Included in the product announcement are 4D Write, 4D Calc, Graph 3D, 4D Draw, 4D Compiler Kit, 4D External Kit, 4D SQL Server, and 4D Connectivity Kit. All of the new products can be integrated tightly with 4D, and include the same sort of inter-application communication that Apple promises will be in System 7.0

Mobius Technologies has another option for SE owners who are running low on screen real estate and speed at the same time. The 15" full-page monitor is only 1-bit monochrome, but has a 78-Hz refresh rate and includes a 16 MHz 68000 accelerator card to double the speed of the SE

QMS announced a $49.95 ATM-like INIT called Font Freedom that provides smooth fonts on the screen and on QuickDraw printers. No benchmarks regarding speed were mentioned, but Font Freedom will ship with 24 typefaces in comparison to ATM's 13

Datadesk introduced the Switchboard, a new extended keyboard with a twistit has several modules which can be moved around and swapped in and out of the basic keyboard case

Carrier Current Technologies recently said that it would increase the speed of Carrier-Net, a network adapter for PC-compatibles that runs at 38,400 bits per second (bps) over standard electrical wiring