CHICAGO, IL -- "June 3, 1984 The day the future began" was Atari's buzzword at an exclusive press conference held on that date in the Westin Hotel. Hosted, by Bruce Entin, Atari PR, the press was pummeled with Atari-facts as to why the company was on the turn-around. Foremost is their new 7800 ProSystem (see our review, page 8).
The latest computer (originally to be called the 1450XLD, but as of this writing not officially christened) sports a built-in 352K disk drive with a data transfer nearly five times that of the 810. The new machine also includes an internal modem and speech synthesizer, and bundled with it comes yet-undetermined software. The "Atari grapevine" will be an in-house database and Q&A service for those purchasing the new machine.
![[MindLink product promo]](pictures/mindlink.jpg)
The new expansion box hooks up to the no-name machine or to the 600XL or 800XL, giving them 80 columns, a real-time clock and 128K of RAM, along with future upgrades, perhaps to run MS-DOS or CPM. The Atari MindLink picks up impulses from your forehead (you wear it like a high-tech headband), giving you limited hands-off control of on-screen objects or functions: i.e., playing Breakout without any hand controls. The Milestone series includes a letter and word tutor, as well as various other programs supporting the touch tablet and lightpen. Also included in the Milestones will be home health programs, such as a tutorial on CPR. This series is touted as "one of a kind in excellence and quality... to bring back the magic." Second in the AtariLab is the LightLab, containing over 100 experiments.
![[AtariLab product promo]](pictures/atarilab.jpg)
The Futuremaker series is an effort by Atari to show how computers can be used to "enhance education." This Is Ground Control and Through the Star Bridge are two first steps in this direction, both teaching astronomy and physics.
The recently-released Syn-Series developed by Synapse Software for Atari includes SynCalc, SynTrend and SynFile+ -- all outstanding programs integrated with AtariWriter. Yaacov Agam, the founder of kinetic art, has developed a program to assist in the interaction of creative technology and art using the computer.
The Lucasfilm games, Rescue on Fractalus and Ballblazer, promise new fun on the computer with super-enhanced graphics. All of this seems to point to the fact that Atari does indeed continue their interest in the home computer line, with some new fuel added to the fire. And lastly, Alan Alda will continue as Atari's spokesperson, with some dynamite new TV commercials promoting the Atari computer line as the best (but we've known that all along).