The US microcomputer industry has a way of letting you know when you've been away. After two weeks in Yurp I found a two-feet deep drift of mail and magazines on my desk. An awful lot has happened.

The top story is that IBM may slash prices on the PC and PCjr by 20 to 30 per cent within six weeks. This prediction by industry analysts sent IBM's stock plunging $3 to its lowest point in a year at $105.25. To blame? Slackening demand, Apple Computer, and 'inventory channels choking with PCs'.

Equally portentous was the news that General Alexander Haig had been appointed to the Commodore board of directors. In explanation chairman Irving Gould said that because of Commodore's international position General Haig's "experience and reputation will be very helpful to us".

Meanwhile Commodore watchers reported more Commodore top execs jumping ship. The latest defactors are said to include Sam Tramiel (son of Jack), Tony Tokai (Commodore Japan), and long-term veteran Greg Pratt, who set up Commodore's purchase of MOS Technology, maker of the 6502 in all those 64s. Rumour has it that Jack Tramiel is setting up a new company stocked with trusted staffers from Commodore.

Then there was the news from Atari. At first it was gloomy - Warner's president Steve Ross announced at the annual meeting that layers of Atari middle management "and the resulting bureaucracy will be stripped away". Job losses rise towards 1,000, and the lay-offs conincide with reports that the Dutch giant MV Philips is interested in a stake in Atari - but Philips is said to be insistent upon a substantial trimming of the Atari payroll.

While the pink slips (translator's note: P45s) were in the works Atari announced the 7800 $150 video game machine. It also pledged a $100 keyboard to extend the system into an introductory 4K RAM home computer, expandable to 20K.

From Apple came various rumours: that MacFactory isn't performing as it should, though the Mac is setting sales records; that the next generation Apple machine will be based on 32-bit RISC architecture (Reduced Instruction Set) on Apple's own VLSI chip; that when the 16-bit 6502-compatible chip is fully ready from Western Digital, Apple will bring out the IIx, the ultimate update of its venerable best seller.

And while we're talking about the Apple II, there is an update on Mike Caro, self-proclaimed Mad Genius of Poker who wrote a poker program in Pascal for his Apple II and took it to the World Series Poker tables in Las Vegas. Playing a variant of seven-card stud with $100,000 or more on the table, Mad Mike's Apple was wiped out. Twice. The second time round it was routed by Doyle Brunson, the two-time World Poker Campion and the first man to win $1 million in tournament play. Brunson put all his chips on the first hand. The Apple called and lost.]

More ground-breaking news from Nevada came from the Gaming Control Board which approved for testing an advanced video gambling game called Gold Fever. It costs $3 to play and to control the animated prospector in search of gold. Winnings can be as high as $1,000.

This is the first game that Nevada has ever approved that doesn't feature the traditional gaming symbols of cards, dice and fruit. If Gold Fever passes the test, i.e. makes money and is cheat-proof, the gambling and casino worlds will doubtless resound to the hum of electronic gambling.

Which in the case of Vegas may come in the nick of time. Profits are way down due to the recession, the competition from Atlantic City, and the coming of age of the low-rolling 60s generation who have a negative attitude towards casino gambling and its attendant life-style. To survive, the casinos are trying to vault directly to the video game generation. George Drews, president of International Gaming Technology which makes Gold Fever, admits: "We'd like something for the video game generation but we know it will take something a lot more interesting than just the ordinary reel-type one-armed bandit."