3rd June 1999 Archive
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Big cheese rolls at Big Q
A Rose by any other name
Top Compaq executive John Rose is to leave the company. The latest move is a further sign that all is not well at the Houston company. Rose was closely linked to Eckhard Pfeiffer, CEO of Compaq until his career at the firm was abruptly brought to a standstill by chairman of the board Ben Rosen. Rosen and two others are running …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 01:29
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733Mhz mobos out and about
Computex Mobos underline Intel roadmap
There is plenty of third party motherboard support for Intel 733MHz processors running with a front side bus (FSB) of 133MHz at the Computex show. FIC, and a spate of other Taiwanese firms are demoing boards at the show. The FIC 1stMainboard KA-6110 supports Pentium III 450-733MHz processors with support for both 100 and 133MHz …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 01:42
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K7 mobile to arrive next year
Computex So how about that then, Intel
Sources very close to AMD, in fact in their suite in room 2407 in the Grand Hyatt, said today that the K7 will be produced for notebooks next year. The microprocessor will be produced when the K7 moves to .18 micron technology, said the source. Currently, AMD is positioning the chip as a solution for the workstation and server …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 03:22
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Intel MX chipsets make Taipei appearance
Computex Notebooks sliding down Banister
Some Taiwanese manufacturers are showing notebooks using Intel 440MX chipsets. The mobile Celeron platform is codenamed Banister. Chicony is showing two models on its stand -- one, the MP993, supports clock speeds of up to 500MHz using a PPGA S370 socket and with a 14-inch LCD. It supports up to 256Mb of memory. The other …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 03:35
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AOL-Sun plan for ‘no MS content’ PC
MS on Trial And indeed, mightn't that be what AOL's doing now
Microsoft might have drawn some blood with internal Sun documentation yesterday, but the judge seemed to be having none of it. An internal Sun email of July 1998 produced by Microsoft's defence talked of a plan for an AOL PC, using Netscape, Java and Intel chip but "no Microsoft content." The judge may have been right - he cut …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 03:36
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Gates article contradicts MS lawyers – again
MS on Trial 'I agree with Bill' - DoJ lawyer's shock admission
As heartlessly and repeatedly predicted here, Bill Gates' public pronouncements are being turned against Microsoft by the DoJ in the resumed antitrust trial. Among yesterday's little Gates-related problems were a Newsweek article that seemed to rubbish appliances as competition for PCs, while Gates' claims of the sophistication …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 03:38
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Acer-TSMC deal draws closer
Computex Could be as much as 35 per cent
More details have emerged about the deal between Acer and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co(TSMC), revealed here yesterday. See Acer set to strike deal with TSMC. Morris Chang, chairman of TSMC, confirmed that both his company and Acer are in talks over an equity stake in the ailing chip division. TSMC may even take as much …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 03:48
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A-Trend marries 3dfx Voodoo3 to Slot One
Computex Colours board red to flag gaming interest
A-Trend Technology said today that it has introduced a Slot One motherboard which integrates the 3dfx Voodoo3 chip. The board supports the Pentium II and Pentium III platforms and processor speeds up to 550MHz, A-Trend said. The ATC6253M includes four PCI slots, and two ISA slots, and supports up to 512Mb of unbuffered …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 03:59
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Rise shows S370 Tiger
Computex And notebooks make first appearance
Sample versions of the Rise Socket 370 microprocessor were on display at the company's stand today. We've taken some snaps which we'll post when we get back to our ThinkPad later today. The processor, called the Tiger, has a 1.8 volt core, and will come supporting PC-100, PC-133 and PC-266 in the third quarter of this year, said …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 05:06
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IDT takes info appliance attitude
Computex And it's still looking to partner
IDT said today that the company was positioning its WinChip2 family as upgrade and information appliance engines. Steven Ellis, director of strategic marketing at IDT, said that chips, such as the Winchip2/200, compared favourably against products such as the Cyrix MediaGX. At the same time, he said IDT is positioning some of …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 05:13
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Where the heck's the FlexATX?
Computex Mobo makes no-show
A wall of 810 motherboards on Intel's stand at Computex was rivalled today only by a wall of silence on the FlexATX form factor. Earlier this year, senior VPs at Intel US, including Paul Otellini and Pat "Kicking" Gelsinger told The Register that sexy PC designs could appear as early as August. (Story: Intel FlexATX mobo to use …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 05:27
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K7 to get PC-133 support from VIA
Computex Golly Intel, that's another blow
Chipset company VIA is about to announce PC-133 support for AMD's K7, according to a major Taiwanese DRAm manufacturer. Rajit Shah, VP of worldwide sales and marketing, made the announcement at a press conference in Taiwan this afternoon. No-one from VIA or AMD was able to confirm or deny the report at press time. But we'll find …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 07:05
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Mosel Vitelic announces PC-133 support
Computex We learn all about Rambus "cache trashing" and low clock speeds
Taiwanese memory company Mosel Vitelic announced today that it would provide support for the PC-133 standard with 64Mbit and 128Mbit synchronous DRAMs. And the company furnished facts and figures about PC-133 vs Direct Rambus market share which appear to conclusively show that it will be the dominant technology. According to …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 07:18
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Intel outed on PC-133
Computex Look, we promise we won't write about PC-133 anymore today
Unnamed sources rather close to Intel today revealed the truth about PC-133, Direct Rambus, VIA and the rest. According to our extremely reliable source, Intel does have a plan to use PC-133 but is currently involved in an argy-bargy with VIA over the terms of its licence. Intel does not want VIA to release the PC-133 chipset …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 07:52
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Proxim picks up $10m boost from Motorola
Developing wireless products for home and small business users
Motorola has invested $10 million in wireless networking vendor Proxim as the two begin development work on a series of wireless Web products. A range of products aimed at home users and small businesses will be developed, based on the Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) standard. The HomeRF SWAP consortium consists of many …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 10:48
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PlayMedia settles MP3 suits
AOL intervention settles copyright infringement claims
PlayMedia yesterday settled its copyright infringement suit with Nullsoft, developer of the leading Windows-based MP3 player, WinAmp. Surprise, surprise, the announcement came a day after AOL said it was buying Nullsoft, so it's not hard to see where the motivation for the settlement comes from. The precise nature of the deal …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 10:49
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Shakedown coming in the UK Net market
Comment Could Freeserve be the target of an acquisition set to rock the industry?
Shares in Dixons Group continued their downward trend yesterday, returning the company to the same level it was more than three months ago. Its share price opened in London at £11.04 but fell back to £10.94 with just an hour to go until the Stock Exchange closed for business. In April, it climbed to more that £15 a share. So how …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 11:03
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Adobe to axe 250 jobs
Company to spend $15 million on redundancies to save $25 million
It's revenue up and staff count down at Adobe this week, as the graphics specialist announced plans to lay off nine per cent of its workforce -- 250 employees in all -- just after it said its upcoming second quarter results would sneak through a smidgeon higher than it had anticipated. The company said the bulk of the …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 11:06
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Too much communication is bad for you
Report says UK workers can't get any work done because the phone's always ringing
Another turgid report out today says UK office workers are inundated with 171 messages a day. It seems that if you don't get... 46 phone calls 27 emails 19 letters 15 pieces of internal mail 12 Postit notes 12 telephone messages written on scraps of paper 11 voice mails 11 faxes 9 mobile phone calls 5 pager messages 2 overnight …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 11:08
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Apple ponders own US retail chain
UK version seems to be working, at least
Speculation is mounting that Apple is planning to open a series of High Street stores across the US. The argument appears to centre on Gateway's claims that its stores generate about the same margins as online sales. That has suggested to Apple watchers that the company might well consider branching out in this direction. It's a …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 11:39
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Cyberstrike gets lift from AOL
World’s No 1 ISP joins forces with toll-free action group
AOL UK is using its considerable clout to promote Sunday's pan-European cyberstrike although it is stopping short of urging its members to take part in the militant action. The UK arm of the world's biggest service provider has also confirmed it has gained corporate membership of the Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications -- …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 11:56
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AOL UK urges Government to turn off Internet clock
Full text of open letter from David Phillips, president and managing director, AOL UK
Full text of open letter from David Phillips, president and managing director, AOL UK Turn OFF The Clock Imagine buying a season ticket for your local train service then having to pay the full fare on top of that for every train you caught? Or how about paying by the minute every time you watched TV - whatever the channel - on …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 11:59
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NEC may 'sell, merge or close' Packard Bell
Threat follows price bloodbath
NEC is threatening to pull the plug on Packard Bell, after its US subsidiary posted worse than expected losses in April and May. In an interview with Bloomberg News, NEC president Kouji , said: "If things don't work out in the end, there's nothing to do but get out." Nishigaki admitted his company will "sell, merge or close" PB …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 13:56
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Disney-sponsored mag votes Disney best Web site
Are these facts by any chance related?
Never let it be said cross-media partnerships aren't beneficial. Today we spotted a small, apparently unremarkable press release from Disney. Apparently, its premium subscription service, Disney Club Blast, part of its Disney.com site, has just been named best Web site by Family PC magazine. So far, so straightforward. Trouble …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 14:16
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ATI licenses MIPS CPU
Graphics specialist guns for set-top box market
Graphics card vendor ATI's plan to branch out beyond its traditional markets into the set-top box and Internet access device markets took a further step forward yesterday when the company said it has licensed MIPS' 64-bit CPU architecture. The deal is an unusual one in that ATI's acquisition of PC-on-a-chip developer Chromatic …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 14:53
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No free call trials, says LineOne MD
The link between ISPand a series of 0800 numbers is fast becoming a mystery
The MD of LineOne has denied that the British online service provider is actively engaged in trials for toll-free access to the Internet. Reacting to a story published yesterday, Ajay Chowdhury said he had no knowledge of any toll-free trials currently being held by LineOne. He did confirm that LineOne -- like many ISPs -- was …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 15:02
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Cyberstrike could fail on Sunday
Supporters admit there's no way of judging its impact
A leading member of a telecomms pressure group has said there is no way of telling whether next Sunday's Europe-wide Internet strike will be a success or not. Erol Ziya said that preparations for the 15-nation cyberstrike were well advanced and that the action had received "plenty of coverage" in the press. But he acknowledged …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 15:10
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Silicon jumps into bed with PR industry
intro
And we thought we were PR-friendly. Clearly we have some lessons to learn from Silicon's Graham Hayday, author of this astonishing letter. Dear PR execs, Just a quick note to say a big 'thank you' for all your support over the last 12 months or so. Silicon.com will be a year old on July 6, and things are going rather well. We …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 15:41
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Tell your friends – Imation product recall
Faulty power supply causes concern
Imation has admitted it still has some way to go before recalling all the iMac-ready versions of its LS120 SuperDisk which may have been affected by a faulty power cable. The storage vendor received a number of calls from customers reporting problems with faulty power supplies, with some complaining of over-heating and cracked …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 15:55
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Rise Tiger pix here – despite earthquake
We gottem first
The minor earthquake that caused the Imperial Intercontinental to wobble like a jelly ten minutes back has not prevented us filing the pix we promised. But after these, we're gonna go down to the bar and file the wailing Whitney Wall fotos later...with your permission...
Business 3 Jun 1999, 16:24
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NetBenefit IPO – will it float or sink
UK enthusiasm for Web stocks is yet to be proved
Investors will be watching tomorrow's flotation of NetBenefit with a great deal of interest as it should prove an acid test of the UK's appetite for Net stocks. While the love affair between Net stocks and the US is well documented, the UK's ardour is less apparent. The London-based Internet services company will be only the …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 16:26
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Wall of Intel Whitney mobos stand up
Computex Lots of people and tremors got in the way
As promised earlier, here is part of the wall of 810 Whitney third party motherboards Intel rolled out at the Computex show. ®
Business 3 Jun 1999, 17:25
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Quiet Period – Ellison mouths off again
Oracle can't divulge earnings but Big Lar can't resist boasting
You just can't keep a good man down. And you can't keep Larry Ellison quiet either. Big Lar said today that Oracle will boost spending on research, expand its sales force, but will also cut $1 billion in expenses over the next 18 months -- probably by axeing its consultancy operations. Oracle should be the "best partner" of the …
Business 3 Jun 1999, 18:15
