December 3, 1992

A Federal judge today handed Advanced Micro Devices Inc. a significant setback, ruling that the Silicon Valley chip maker does not have the right to copy software embedded in the Intel Corporation's 486 microprocessor. Advanced Micro was scheduled to begin shipping this month its own version of the 486 chip -- now the processor of choice in most desktop machines. The company has recently been demonstrating computers based on its chip. Gaining Market Share The decision by Federal District Judge William A. Ingram also strengthens Intel's position in attempting to stop Advanced Micro from selling a compatible version of its 386 chip. Advanced Micro has been the most successful of a number of chip makers who have designed clones of the Intel microprocessors, taking market share away from Intel in the 386 business. In 1991 Advanced Micro shipped about 2 million 386 chips compared with 15.4 million for Intel, but Advanced Micro's sales are expected to triple this year, said Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research Inc., a San Jose, Calif. market research firm.

You are in Africa, but in no particular place. The drizzling rain forest says the latitude is tropical. But that grove of pendulous baobab trees, still adjusting to their new home just across the lagoon-sized swimming pool, implies savannah. The architecture is neither Luxor nor Marrakesh nor Kalahari game lodge, but something of each, only more so. You are a bit lost.

Otto G. Obermaier, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced yesterday that he would resign his post effective Feb. 1, permitting President-elect Bill Clinton to fill one of the most powerful and visible law-enforcement jobs in the country. His departure, coupled with the resignation of Andrew J. Maloney, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, marks an important power shift in law enforcement in the region and one of the most immediate and dramatic consequences for New York State of the changing of the guard in Washington.

Bruce Springsteen, who lamented in song about having "57 Channels (and Nothin' On)," didn't know the half of it. The nation's biggest cable television company said yesterday that as early as 1994 it would install technology that would ultimately let its customers receive as many as 500 channels. In the long run, this new digital technology is likely to greatly accelerate the marriage between computers and television, allowing customers to roam through video libraries hundreds of miles away.

Four of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council agreed tonight on a draft resolution authorizing the United States to lead an international military force to Somalia to protect the delivery of food and medicine to those at risk of death by starvation or disease. The proposed resolution is expected to be approved by the full 15-member Council on Thursday, and the first American troops could arrive in the eastern African country within days.