Can we look forward to an MSX machine from Oric? It's heartening to see ex-Imagine people in work again, and they turn up unexpectedly all over the place. Most of them, as far as we know, have found gainful employment in the software circuit. But some, using Imagine as a stepping stone, have risen higher. Bruce Everiss, for example, was out and about last week. Everiss, newly appointed managing director of Tansoft, was singing the praises of MSX, consumer electronics and inscrutable Japanese quality control to the rafters at Yamaha's Milton Keynes pied-a-terre last week.

The reason he was singing praises to the rafters was that there were so few journalists at Yamaha's CX-5 demo to sing to. But how come he was there in the first place? Alas, it isn't evidence of a joint venture between le popular micro maker and the Japanese manufacturer of 750cc four-stroke synthesisers. Everiss accepted an invitation to assist Yamaha in a consultancy capacity some months ago, and was fulfilling his commitment with Oric's assent.

Later the same day Jack Trameil was growling to the rafters as the hype behind Atari grows to avalanche proportions. He spoke of bilion dollar turnover for next wear, more new machines than you can shake a stick at, and success beckoning at every turn. It was hard to believe that Atari (thanks largely to Tramiel's activities at Commodore) almost went under earlier in the year, when it was losing(by his extiate) $10 million a month.

In gravelly tones he warmly damned MSX with faint praise - "I think it's a very nice machine," he intoned carefully. Tramiel's speech is difficult to reproduece on this page, particularly when a recent Atari press release still lurks in the back of your mind. This attributed a comment 'in broken English' to Tramiel's top man in Europe, Massimo Ruosi. It comes as a shock to learn that Tramiel also speaks in slightly fractured English, and in broken sentences to boot!

Finally, this week, two contenders for the Most Enterprising Micro Facelift of the Year. The final picture shows Total Business Sytems' remarkable acoustic covers - you need never be ashamed of a grubby micro again. Below is Versapak's clamp for illegally parked BBC systems, which doubes as an anti-theft device. Some day all micros will look like these.

Turkey Street. Stand by for the Turkey of the Year Awards, as PCN picks out the year's wooden spoon candidates.

Brain of Britain. We put Powertran's souped-up Cortex through its paces - with a little help from a soldering iron.

Draft Printer. CPA's 80-column workhorse works out in this full Pro-Test.

BBC 3D. Add another dimension to your BBC's soft copy with our free listing.

Animated Spectrum. Be your own Walt Disney with a routine to create animated sequences.

Poker-faced C64. Try your hand at Solitaire Poker on the Commodore 64.

Atari Stars. Two of the Atari's distinctive features come into focus in this program.