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Cyrix Corp. will offer PC manufacturers an alternative to the Pentium processor next month when its next-generation 6x86 chips become available. Tatung Co. President W.S. Lin said his Taiwan-based company plans to buy the chip. IBM Corp., which is manufacturing the 6x86, could use it to power future Aptiva models. IBM PC Co. buys most of its chips from Intel Corp., but the firm has put 5x86 processors from Cyrix in some of its Aptiva PCs overseas. (Cyrix, 214/968-8302.) Focusing on its core business of hard-disk manufacturing, Western Digital Corp. will sell its disk-drive controller business to Adaptec Inc. along with its semiconductor foundry capacity for $45 million. The firm will sell its fiber-channel business, an interface that sends data between computers, to Vixel Corp. for an undisclosed sum. (Western Digital, 714/932-5000.) Apple Computer Inc. {AAPL} expects to report an operating loss for the current quarter that significantly exceeds the $69 million charge it took last quarter. The company has not divulged a projected loss. In a prepared statement, Apple denied rumors that it is in merger discussions with any company and said such speculation is contributing to the company's financial woes. In related news, the firm reduced prices on certain Performa and PowerPC units by up to 11 percent. The number of CD-ROMs containing on-line components is expected to more than double from 311 titles in 1995 to 720 by the end of 1996, according to market research firm InfoTech's Optical Publishing Industry Assessment. By the end of the century, researchers at the Vermont-based company predict the number of titles offering on-line access will rise to 6,500, despite the expected increase in broadband on-line access. (InfoTech, 802/763-2097.) The merger of the PC and TV has attracted interest from some big guns in the cable industry. The Intercast group, which is promoting a transport medium to send content to PCs equipped with TV cards using the vertical blanking interval, (see MMW, Oct. 23, 1995) is gaining support from Continental Cablevision Inc., General Instruments Corp. {GIC}, TCI Technology Ventures {TCOMA} and Time Warner Cable. At press time, the firms were expected to join the group. (Continental Cablevision, 617/854-3138; GI, 619/535-2599; Time Warner, 203/328- 0613.) Realizing some consumers want to access the Internet without on- line service packaging, CompuServe launched Sprynet, an Internet access that offers unlimited access for $19.95 a month and includes Spry's Mosaic browser and mail software. In other on-line news, America Online Inc. has passed the 5 million member mark and reported second quarter net income of $10.6 million. Providing PC manufacturers with more multimedia options, Vision Technologies introduced its Utopia high-end PCI motherboard. The unit incorporates SiS, a Triton-compatible chipset, and takes advantage of a shared memory buffer architecture developed by Intel Corp.. Utopia has MPEG video-playback capability as a standard feature and will accommodate Pentium processors ranging from 75 MHz to 180 MHz. (Vision Technologies, 619/603-0604.) Stratus Computer Inc. and InfoWorld will host Interact '96, a conference focusing on application development and electronic commerce in distributed computing that will take place on the World Wide Web at www.interact96.com on April 23-25. Attendees visiting the site will be able to use a personal navigator tool to select which sessions they want to bring to their desktop. (Stratus, 508/460-2715.)