Java Ring

                 McNealy Shows Off Java Ring
                 (08/28/97; 4:30 p.m. EDT)
                 By Steven Burke, Computer Reseller News

                 BURLINGTON, Mass. -- Sun Microsystems chief executive
                 Scott McNealy showed off a Java "smart ring" that can
                 automatically open doors, start a car, or call up a Web
                 page.

                 McNealy said the ring was made by Minneapolis-based
                 Josten, with a Java chip from Dallas Semiconductor
                 embedded in it.

                 "The ring costs like $60, and the chip is like a buck,"
                 said McNealy, who attended the groundbreaking of Sun's
                 new East Coast facility in Burlington, Mass., Thursday.

                 "You can reach for your car door and open it; put it on
                 the steering wheel and your car will start."

                 McNealy said the ring can transmit and receive signals
                 from up to 10 inches away. The ring is no "different than
                 a Java smart card," McNealy said. "It can do whatever a
                 smart card can do running Java applications."

                 McNealy, wearing a sport coat and denim shirt bearing the
                 slogan, "In a world without fences, who needs Gates?"
                 joked that the Microsoft ring "opens Windows, not doors."

                 He added that companies such as Nokia, Alcatel, Samsung,
                 and Nortel are building a wide variety of Java devices,
                 including phones and handheld computers.

                 "Windows is the alternative to Java on the network
                 client," McNealy said. "It is really Sparc-Solaris-Java
                 against Intel-Microsoft. We scale from ring to
                 supercomputer -- no viruses, no memory leaks, no porting,
                 write once, run everywhere, and zero administration."