January 3, 1994

Watching Orlando's Lucky 4,000 The big question for a promising technology is when, if ever, will it become more than a concept or a market-test. The crossover -- when technological potential becomes market phenomenon -- is what experts call an "inflection point" or (dare we use the term?) a "paradigm shift." The much-heralded information superhighway could be one. The project to watch begins in April in Orlando, led by Time Warner Entertainment. It will bring information technology and state-of-the-art entertainment -- such things as video-on-demand -- into 4,000 homes. Odds are that much of the reporting and commentary about it will be skeptical in tone, poking a hole in the digital balloon. But such a dose of questioning could be healthy, while not weeding out any serious new-media players. By Steve Lohr. C11 TV's Behind-the Screen Scramble Forget the 500 channels hype. Barry Diller, right, who spent most of the year trying to acquire Paramount, considers the notion mostly whimsy. For some time to come viewers will watch television pretty much as always -- specific programs on specific channels, available at specific times. What will change will be relationships between program producers and distributors. Paramount and Warner Brothers each want to create new networks because they expect CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox to produce more of their own programs and buy less from the studios. One result: more news-magazine programs as a hedge against a shortage of entertainment programming. By Bill Carter. C11 That's Patented? Computer software publishers were stunned when Compton's New Media received a patent for an information search technique used in multi-media databases. Published on compact disks, the databases provide information by combining text, color pictures, sound, animation and video on computer screens. Publishers are dismayed that the Government granted Compton's a virtual stranglehold. The Patent Office has backed off, at least for now, but calls are growing for fundamental changes in intellectual property laws. By John Markoff. C16 Waiting for Advertising to Rebound Ad-page Darwinism has thinned the magazine herd; the strong are well positioned. By Deirdre Carmody. C13 Hot Technologies to Watch in 1994 Times correspondents report on high tech goodies, from smart messages to ceramic superconductors. C14-15 Who's in Line to Get Hooked Up? Cable TV and telephone companies will spend vast sums upgrading networks. By Edmund L. Andrews. C17 First, Hire an A-List Star After enduring more duds than hits last year, Hollywood has bottom-line jitters. By Bernard Weinraub C18 Oh, the Fun of Working in Advertising It was a tempestuous year of rancorous change, more cutbacks and interlopers. By Stuart Elliott. C19.

Calling on New Yorkers to cast aside fears and doubts, Rudolph William Giuliani, a former Federal prosecutor who cracked two decades of Democratic dominance of City Hall, was inaugurated yesterday as the 107th Mayor of New York City and promised that his administration would usher in an era of innovation and revived confidence. "The era of fear has had a long enough reign," said Mr. Giuliani in a speech from the steps of City Hall. "The period of doubt has run its course. As of this moment, the expressions of cynicism -- New York is not governable, New York is not manageable, New York is not worth it -- all of these I declare politically incorrect. Let's not use them anymore." Addressing an audience of 5,000 gathered on a brilliant and crisp winter day, Mr. Giuliani pledged to "summon our courage to raise our hope and to build our confidence." Mr. Giuliani, the first Republican to be elected Mayor since 1966, also asked for a chance to demonstrate his ideas. "Don't let those who are so fearful of transformation stop the process before it begins, killing ideas by fear," he said.

Government troops battled hundreds of armed peasants today after the rebels seized this colonial city and three other southern Mexican towns just hours into the new year. The attacks, which the rebels said were timed to coincide with the effective date of the North American Free Trade Agreement, left 27 people dead, officials said. At least 30 more were killed in heavy fighting as the rebels began retreating into the forested hills with army troops in pursuit, the Defense Secretary said tonight.

Federated Department Stores, in a bold move to create the largest department store company in America, announced yesterday that it had bought a stake in a leading rival, R. H. Macy & Company. If Federated should succeed in taking control of Macy, which some analysts said yesterday that they doubted, it would bring together some of the best-known department stores in the country: Bloomingdale's, Abraham & Straus and Burdines of Federated, and Macy's, Bullock's and I. Magnin, owned by Macy.

Mutual Funds, C31. New York Stock Exchange, C35. Nasdaq, C38. Nasdaq Small Capitalization, C40. American Stock Exchange, C42. Closed-End Funds, C42. Active Stocks, C42. Tracking the Markets, C43.