Budget software producer Atlantis, based in the lost continent of Islington, has launched eight new Spectrum games for Christmas, all costing £1.99. The titles include Marie Celeste, a science-fiction graphic adventure, The Thinker, a block puzzle, and a Spectrum version of Atlantis' Commodore game, Connect Four.

The final chapter of the Imagine story will be written this week when the remains of the software house's assets come under thehammer. Up for bids will be a formidable array of micros - including 15 Sage systems, a Mac and a Lisa - and no fewer than 48 screens.

Cottage industry sounds like an attractive way of making a living, but don't hand in your notice yet. According to a report from the Low Pay Unit home computer workers are better paid than others in jobs like tailoring or toymaking, but much worse off than if they worked in an office. Individual rates vary between 10p and £13.75 an hour.

Business software specialist Systematics has re-written its accounting packages for the BBC Micro. Selling in pairs (Sales/Purchase Ledger, Stock Control/Invoicing), the software costs £89.

WHSmith has opened two more Business Computer Centres. The new stores are in Hounslow and Reading. Three more are planned to open next spring, with the intention of having 40 or 50 within four years.

Micronet 800 has gone on the air in Hong Kong and Scandinavia, and the operators of the viewdata service plan eventually to expand to Australia and the US.

Database Software, producer of the mini-priced Mini Office software, has made its £5.95 suit available to Spectrum owners. The Mini Office system, a modest collection of word processing, data handling, calculation and graphics, is said by Database to be outselling some games in some retailers' charts.

British Technology companies have pierced the Bamboo curtain in a $50 million deal to help China develop its computer and electronics industries. According to a member of the UK negotiating team, British sensitivity won the day where US and Japanese high pressure approaches failed.