Computer manufacturer MicroBoard Inc of Chiba, near Tokyo has developed a Compact Disk Interactive Authoring System, which runs on Philips NV’s compact disk software editing machines: it enables speech, images and characters to be merged in an editing and simulation system, and comes in two versions – Raiun for personal use and Raishin for studio use, the latter being usable on a Yamaha programmable desk system; tags for the two versions are $48,780 and $122,000 respectively.