Multitalented PC : Technology: Emerson Technologies hopes consumers will pay $1,800 for its multimedia computer, which combines TV, VCR and compact disc features.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what are television-like moving images and compact-disc-quality sound worth on a personal computer?
About $1,800, Chris Daly hopes. He is president of Emerson Technologies in Newport Beach and is betting that consumers will pay that much for a so-called multimedia computer with futuristic features that can turn it into a home entertainment system or interactive educational tool.
Like Daly, many in the computer industry are fascinated by the potential of multimedia computing--the incorporation of television, VCR and compact disc features in a personal computer--but not everyone agrees that the price and features available now are attractive enough to make such computers as commonplace in the home as TV sets.
“I don’t think the $2,000 range is low enough for a mass market item,” said Nick Arnett, president of Multimedia Computing Corp., a Santa Clara market researcher. “I can’t imagine this company (Emerson Technologies) will see explosive growth. The software has to come out and the hardware price has to drop.”
But Daly says that he isn’t getting carried away and that his IBM-compatible multimedia computer is several times cheaper than other comparable multimedia technology on the market.
Emerson Technologies, a 51%-owned subsidiary of audio electronics giant Emerson Radio Corp., with 61 employees in Orange County, has designed and engineered the multimedia computers for other manufacturers to sell under their own brand names, starting in April. The company has signed up seven firms so far, including Trac International in Atlanta.
The company has sold 100,000 of its first-generation computers under other brand names since August, 1989, Daly said. Developed over a decade at the expense of millions of dollars, Daly’s second-generation multimedia computers come with software combining visual and sound aids that are easy to use for the computer novice.
The firm’s first software application for the multimedia computers, called NowTeam, offers a glimpse into Daly’s vision of the technology.
When a person switches on the computer, he or she is greeted by the faces of 11 people, called “agents,” who represent different parts of the program. The user selects one of the agents, who then explains his function by “talking back” in preprogrammed audio responses.
“Lance,” for instance, has the stern look of a security chief and explains the security features of the computer. When one user requests that another person be granted certain access to the program, Lance responds with a grimace and says: “I hope you know what you’re doing!”
“People have emotions, and they can relate to this visually like a television show, not a computer,” said Alex Sill, vice president of marketing. “It’s a great way to learn.”
Daly’s team developed the NowTeam program’s “agents” by filming actors and actresses in a studio and then converting their voices and images to digital data.
While it may seem inevitable that researchers eventually would look for a way to marry the technologies of computers, compact discs and TV, it is easier said than done.
Daly began searching for a way a decade ago, after seeing a movie called “Looker.” In the 1981 movie, a fictional high-tech company hires actors and scans their images onto film. The images are then recast to do whatever the company wants them to do on film.
“I wondered how to make those scanned images a reality,” he said.
He decided that the emerging personal computer was the perfect medium. He came up with ideas for such a system and then tried unsuccessfully to talk investors and computer firms into developing the technology.
The PCs of the early 1980s, however, lacked the storage and graphics capability required to build the type of computer envisioned by Daly. Eventually, the industry developed compression technology, which boosted computers’ memory capacity to allow for the storage of video and voice sequences.
In January, 1989, Daly struck a deal with Emerson Radio Corp. to form a computer design and engineering company that was 49%-owned by Daly’s management team. Next, Emerson Technologies bought Technology Application Group, a small software company in Los Alamitos, and adapted its multimedia software to work on PCs.
Daly’s multimedia machines will face competition on a number of fronts. For instance, software powerhouse Microsoft Corp. will issue a multimedia program in 1991 as an extension for its popular Windows 3.0 software.
“My feeling is multimedia has a long way to go before it’s a mass market,” said Christine Comoford, a computer consultant with Kuvera Associates in Sausalito. “Who needs another operating environment that will try to compete with Microsoft?”
But Daly says anyone who buys an Emerson-designed computer could run the Microsoft hardware on it without a compatibility problem. As a result, he doesn’t consider the Microsoft alternative to be a competitor.
Besides word-processing and spreadsheet programs, Daly said the company is also working on software that will allow computer users to choose their own characters as “agents.”
“You could have Kim Basinger doing a calculation for you,” Daley suggested. “Or anyone else you fancy.”
Emerson’s Sill acknowledged that the firm has been unable to place its computers on the shelves of major retailers yet. He said discussions are under way with some large retailers, including the Arkansas-based Wal-Mart department store chain.
“We’ve come far in a short time, but this project didn’t start last year,” Daly said. “We have a 10-year head start on the competition. . . . That is a major advantage.”
MORE AGENTS THAN A SPIES’ CONVENTION
Emerson Technologies’ software is aimed at humanizing the personal computer by adding characters, called “agents,” who can speak in full-motion video segments to computer novices and help them learn how to use the computer. The screen below shows the array of menu options available when the computer is first turned on.
The user selects an agent from a menu of characters with a pointing device called a mouse.
The agent responds by describing his purpose and presenting the user with a menu of further options.
Julia, a calculator agent, can multiply numbers at the user’s request and speak the answer. Given an impossibly high number to calculate, she responds: “You’re kidding! I can’t count that high.”
In the future, Emerson Technologies plans to allow users to choose their own agents or have the agents speak languages besides English.
Source: Emerson Technologies
