600 people using 1600 PCs and other computers have cracked a message encoded 17 years ago with a 129-digit RSA key. (Every three digits doubles the effort. 150- and 200-digit keys are now used.) A team at Bellcore with a MasPar SIMD system led the ad hoc cluster. Factoring the key required 100 quadrillion calculations, once estimated to require 40 quadrillion years. RSA paid off a $100 bet, although the offer had been withdrawn in 1985. Their message: "The magic words are squeamish ossifrage." [NYT, 4/27/94; EDUPAGE. Also Rory J. O'Connor, SJM, 4/27/94.]

Digital is introducing Alpha-based Unix servers for as little as $27K. A Windows NT version is just $19K. Previous machines in this class cost $50K. [SJM, 4/12/94.] A multiprocessor server based on 190 MHz Alpha AXP chips runs at 720 MFLOPS for just $60K. It can run Unix, VMS, and NT. [HPCwire, 4/12/94.]

Entry-level Pentium chips may drop from $675 to $370 next fall. [WSJ, 5/3/94. EDUPAGE.]

Nintendo's $250 Project Reality video-game player/communicator will be more powerful than a 1976 Cray I. Other companies will offer similar power. [NYT, 4/20/94. EDUPAGE.]

Interactive TV maker Frox Inc. (Milpitas) spent $43M before it shut down. At its peak, it had 100 employees. The designers and engineers scored scored a few technical successes, but refused to use any off-the-shelf parts. The planned $5K TV eventually came out at $30K, still full of bugs. "The academic people had no concept of how to do a product, and there was no one who understood how to run a business." Some say that there was just too much money. Perhaps the effort was just too early: today's multimedia PCs will do nearly as much. [Julie Pitta, Forbes, 5/9/94.]

Commodore has closed and is liquidating assets. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/30/94. EDUPAGE.] (And the Amiga?)