international
Battalion/Page
March 24,1982
Analyst: Drop in gas prices
due to conservation, Saudis
United Press International
LOS ANGELES — Retail
gasoline prices have taken
their biggest plunge in history
over the past two weeks be
cause of the world oil glut, an
industry survey shows.
“The ball is in our court,”
Lundberg said, adding mem
bers of OPEC “are scrambling
to undo the glut engineered”
by Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh
Ahmed Zaki Yamani.
An oil analyst, Dan Lund
berg, said Sunday in his
biweekly report that Saudi
Arabia has caused the price
drop by its policy of deliberate
overproduction.
By keeping prices relative
ly low and producing large
quantities, the oil-rich Saudis
have used their massive re
serves as leverage against
other OPEC producers, who
would prefer to cash in quick
ly on their less extensive re
serves.
OPEC oil ministers
announced agreement Satur
day to cut production and
lower some prices slightly in
an effort to end the oversupp
ly of oil on world markets.
The agreement was not ex
pected to have a measurable
impact on U.S. gas prices,
which have declined rapidly
in recent weeks.
Lundberg said a survey of
16,000 service stations around
the country showed retail gas
f rices nationwide averaged
1.216 per gallon, a dip of 4.3
cents “representing the shar
pest national decline for any
two- week period in history.”
He said American drivers
are conserving more than
ever — buying less gas be
cause the recession has forced
them to spend money “on
macaroni instead of gas.”
Salvadorian rebels
try to stop election
N
be
sc
New VDT allows ‘plain talk’
United Press International
NEW YORK — From the cou
ple who invented the best-selling
“Merlin” electronic game comes
a hand-held computer terminal
which allows individuals to com
municate with large central
computers in plain English.
The Telecomputer was de
signed to allow users to extract
information from a central com
puter or feed information into it
without having to know any
thing about computers or the
often-times complex language
they speak.
“Most people are computer-
illiterate and computer-
intimidated and you’re not
going to change the mind-set of
those people in this generation,”
said Jeffrey A. Rochlis, presi
dent of IXO Inc., the Culver
City, Calif., firm that produces
the terminals.
On that premise, Drs. Robert
and Holly Doyle — the husband-
wife team who invented “Mer
lin” and other Parker Brothers’
electronic games between 1977
and 1979 — conceived the Tele
computer system.
In an interview in New York,
Rochlis, founding president of
Mattel Electronics, described
the IXO system as “the data
equivalent of the telephone” —
making computer conversations
almost as easy as phone conver
sations.
The terminal, about the size
of a paperback book, has its own
automatic telephone dialer
which lets the user reach a host
computer by simply plugging
the unit into anv modular phone
jack.
With the device, “logging on”
to a central computer is simpli
fied and communicating with it
can be as easy as pressing a “yes”
or “no” button in response to a
question viewed on the termin
al’s one-line liquid crystal dis-
play. At most, it involves typing
out in plain English on the small
typewriter-style keyboard a re
sponse to the host computer’s
question.
There is even a “help” button
on the keyboard for when the
user is puzzled about what to do
next.
I he unit itself cannot auto
matically translate any compu
ter’s language into plain En
glish. Rather, as part of the total
system, IXO will help corporate
customers add the software (in
ternal data guiding the opera
tion of the computer) needed so
employees can communicate
with the central computer in
plain English.
Mark Plakias of Link Re
sources Corp., a research and
consulting firm specializing in
new technology products, be
lieves the IXO system is a break
through.
“What’s unique is that they’ve
developed a series of software
with standard English dialogue
to enable an individual to in
teract with the remote computer
using simple yes or no com
mands — and that is revolution
ary,” he said.
As for the marketing skills
crucial to the success of such new
products, Plakias notes that
“these people, such as Dr. Roch
lis, are proven successful marke
ters of new technology.”
But he says the price — which
runs $500 a unit down to $300
for quanities of 1,000 — is too
high and will have to drop.
I he initial marketing thrust
will be to companies which have
large central computers. Execu
tives could keep the terminal on
their desktops to access a variety
of data — and outside databases
as well. The unit is portable
enough so that a salesman could
take it on the road and get in
stant product information or
place orders directly to the host
computer.
The system has security saf e
guards to restrict what access a
user has to the computer files as
well as to protect, by use of pass
words, against unauthorized use
of a terminal.
Among optional accessories
will be a printer and a device to
connect the terminal to a televi
sion screen to display more in
formation.
Based on a simulation operat
ing from IXO’s computer, a user
one day would be able to do ev
erything from pay his bills and
do his banking to check stock
prices and execute orders and
make airline reservations.
United Press International
SAN SALVADOR, El Salva
dor — The army called off a
northern offensive against elu
sive guerrillas I uesday and re
bels dynamited 18 buses in the
capital in a drive to disrupt Sun
day’s elections.
Col. Dionisio Hernandez,
commander of the garrison in
the northern provincial capital
of Chalatenango, said Monday
the army had ended its sweep
against guerrillas entrenched
near the northern border.
He said the offensive,
spearheaded by Green Beret-
trained commandos, starred late
Saturday and was planned as a
48-hour blitz on the rebel posi
tion. The army deployed about
2,000 men in a two-pronged
pincer movement to try and trap
a major guerrilla camp in Las
Hueltas, just north of Chalate
nango.
Artillery and fixed-wing air
craft pounded positions around
the towns of Las Vueltas, Arca-
tao and Las Flores, about 40
miles northeast of San Salvador.
vador. Officials
The Popular Liberation
Forces, the most radical of five
Salvadoran guerrilla groups,
followed their usual practice of
withdrawing before superior
forces, area commanders said.
They have occupied some towns
in tlie area for the past decade.
Guerrillas dynamited 18
buses Monday around San Sal-
. at the qnB
main bus terminalsaidsenu |
cities in the east wassusp®
by owners fearing gueni
would burn their vehicles.
The rebels have blown#
burned 250 buses this yen'
have vowed to bring;
transportation to a haL,„_^
vent voting in the constit (/ol. 75 N
■lection Sunday iL. —
assembly el
Seventeen political B
were reported Monday,
ing the local head of the;;
military civil f iguardsmeiL
wife and six children who
shot and hacked to dead
machetes Sunday in a n
near San Miguel, 83 milesea
the capital.
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