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GOING HOLLYWOOD: Intel Corp., the Santa Clara semiconductor firm, announced last week that it will establish a multimedia lab at Creative Artists Agency, the Hollywood talent agency, to help create new programming for home personal computers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "New media is one of the fastest growing segments in the entertainment business today," said CAA President Richard Lovett. The multimedia lab - with "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of equipment - will be located at CAA's offices in Beverly Hills. It will be equipped with PCs and other multimedia equipment.

TOTAL RECALL?: Almost a month after its publisher announced a recall of the controversial SoftRAM95 software, the product was still being sold at several major computer, office supply and mail-order outlets, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Retailers offered a variety of reasons for the $30 package's continued availability, such as not knowing of the recall or only just learning of it in the past few days. SoftRAM95, which came out at the same time as Windows 95, flew off store shelves because it promised to increase a computer's random-access memory without having to add extra, expensive memory chips. In October, under fire from competitors and other critics, Syncronys acknowledged that SoftRAM95 was not increasing memory under Windows 95.

FOR THE KIDS: Fisher-Price Ready for School, a new CD-ROM intended for ages 3 to 6, is a perfect example of "guiltware" - programs intended to play on parental fears that little Johnny and Jane won't succeed in the 21st century if they don't spend prodigious amounts of time in front of a computer, San Jose Mercury News reviewer Mike Langberg writes. Guiltware can be recognized by its packaging; the box always exhorts parents to buy the product with dubious claims of delivering a competitive advantage. This particular piece of guiltware isn't all bad, however. Many children will find something to like in at least a few of the many activities in Ready for School. The disc, available for Windows and released by Davidson & Associates Inc., retails for about $49. Langberg's rating: 2-1/2 stars (out of 4).

WEB LINKS

ON-LINE CONSULTANT: Female business owners now can get information about programs and services offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration on the Internet. The agency's Women's Business Ownership home page includes background on the WBO office and details on programs and services. The address for the WBO home page is http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov.

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Photo (Color) Steve Case