TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Sony Unveils Portable Multimedia Player: Sony Corp. unveiled a long-promised portable machine that plays multimedia compact discs mixing text, images and sound. Executives of such giants as IBM and Microsoft Corp. praised the industry’s first portable multimedia device as a way to greatly expand acceptance of the technology. But some analysts said Sony’s price--$1,000--is too steep for a consumer product. The Multimedia CD-ROM Player, which will be in stores in November, is the size of a hardback book and weighs two pounds. It contains a back-lit, flip-up screen and a keyboard, which lifts up to reveal a CD drive. The device includes a built-in speaker. The special CDs it plays contain such things as foreign-language instruction, reference books, entertainment and educational titles.