Thomson Newspapers purchased three shaftless presses from MAN Roland Inc. of Westmont, Ill., for its strategic-marketing groups in Louisiana and Wisconsin. The 70,000 copy-per-hour, eight-page UNISET 70 presses will provide "significant flexibility at the speed required to get a number of newspapers produced all at once," says Steve Strout, Thomson vice president of technology. "Multiple folders and ability to 'split' the press provide us with a range of configurations, as well as being able to put color where advertisers want it." In Lafayette, La., one eight-web, 32-couple pressline will produce The Daily Advertiser. The other two presses will be installed side-by-side at The Post-Crescent plant in Appleton, Wis., allowing them to be operated independently or as an integrated pressline using two independent 80-page 2:3:3 jaw folders.

Based on Adobe Systems Inc.'s PostScript Level 3, TurboRIP includes Portable Document Format support and supports a wide

	SNPA Print Quality Contest Winners The following awards were presented during the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association's Newspaper Operations Conference, held March 7-10 in Dallas. Overall Awards Over 100,000 circulation: 1. The Tampa Tribune 2. The Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Fla. 3. San Antonio Express-News 50,000-100,000 circulation: 1. The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette 2. The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. 3. Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal 25,000-50,000 circulation: 1. Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 2. The Galveston County Daily News, Galveston, Texas 3. The Odessa (Texas) American Under 25,000 circulation: 1. Palm Beach (Fla.) Daily News 2. Kerrville (Texas) Daily Times 3. Troy (Ohio) Daily News Letterpress: 1. Johnson City (Tenn.) Press 2. Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer-Times 3. The Star Press, Muncie, Ind. Best Process Color Over 100,000 circulation: 1. The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville 2. The Oregonian, Portland 3. St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times 50,000-100,000 circulation: 1. The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette 2. Savannah Morning News 3. The Greenville (S.C.) News 25,000-50,000 circulation: 1. The Galveston County Daily News, Galveston, Texas 2. Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail 3. Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo Under 25,000 circulation: 1. Troy (Ohio) Daily News 2. Athens (Ga.) Daily News 3. The Brazosport Facts, Clute, Texas Letterpress: 1. The Star Press, Muncie, Ind. 2. Journal Star, Peoria, Ill. 3. Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer-Times Black-and-White Halftones Over 100,000 circulation: 1. The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer 2. The Oregonian, Portland 3. San Antonio Express-News 50,000-100,000 circulation: 1. The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. 2. Winson-Salem (N.C.) Journal 3. Savannah Morning News 25,000-50,000 circulation: 1. Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail 2. The Anniston (Ala.) Star 3. Fort Pierce (Fla.) Tribune Under 25,000 circulation: 1. The Daily Home, Talladega, Ala. 2. Troy (Ohio) Daily News 3. Temple (Texas) Daily Telegram Letterpress: 1. Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer- Times 2. The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. 3. Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.

range of imagesetters. "It increases efficiency, simplifies production using PostScript 3, and paves the way for moving to PDF," says Larry Maas, Howard Publications' production director. "It provides more flexibility, continuous throughput, faster RIP times and a total stability we have not found in other RIPs."

Howard Publications has already standardized operations on the San Luis Obispo, Calif., supplier's CanOPI and uShare products, allowing a Unix computer to serve as an open pre-press interface and AppleShare file server.

Press Doctor Makes House Calls

There's a doctor in the house-or, more accurately, the pressroom. Described as a "cold-set printer's bible," the new version of US Ink's Press Doctor software is an interactive encyclopedia featuring answers to common and not-so-common printing problems, ranging from dot gain to ink-and-water balance. Using hyperlinks similar to those on the World Wide Web, information is indexed and cross-referenced for easy access.

Part of US Ink's RealColor customer-support program, the information reflects "the value of accumulating the experience and expertise of a variety of ink and newspaper professionals, synthesizing the information and then making it available to printers in an easy-to-use format," explains Dennis Cheeseman, director of customer service.

"Sometimes we forget what makes things work," adds J.R. Werkmeister, quality-assurance manager of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Press Doctor software reminds us to get back to basics and do things right. It's a real problem-solving tool."

Compatible with PC, Macintosh and Unix computers, the CD-ROM can be ordered directly from US Ink's Web site, www.usink.com.

K2 Killer? Quark Attempts Adobe Buyout

In late August, Adobe summarily rebuffed an acquisition offer from closely-held Quark. After making the private offer public and hinting at the possibility of a hostile takeover, Quark abruptly dropped its bid in mid-September. Quark execs explained they had wanted to pursue a friendly deal, but Adobe officials wouldn't even take their calls.

Quark had offered to acquire a significant portion of Adobe's common stock for cash at a premium above market price, then trading at 52-week lows. Citing "synergies, cost-savings and cross-marketing opportunities," Quark officials said the deal would "offer all of our customers a full range of software products and solutions, while continuing to be on the cutting edge of technological innovation."

Were the deal to have happened, K2 and PageMaker, Adobe's future and current competitors to Quark's XPress product, would have been divested "to one or more viable third parties," Quark said in a letter to Adobe's board. Observers suggested this would strip K2 of Adobe's cachet and marketing power, as well as its tight integration with such other Adobe products as Photoshop and Illustrator.

Hear No Evil

PowerAdz Corp. of Troy, N.Y., developer of CarCast Auto Marketplace, which has 38 media partners including The Dallas Morning News and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, will merge with online-aggregator AdQuest Classifieds of Waupaca, Wis. AdQuest has already served as PowerAdz' strategic-sales partner, and the two companies have also jointly provided services to Gazette Newspapers in Maryland and the Pottsville (Pa.) Republican.

"This combination gives us the critical mass necessary to successfully compete in the world of new media," says AdQuest Manager Lamont Rhoades.

TechNews Volume 4, Number 5: September/October 1998

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