4th August 1999 Archive

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AMD's Sanders puts two fingers up to Intel

It's finger-lickin' good...

Pictured here is Jerry Sanders III, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, on the front page of Dresden Dialog, AMD's local Fab 30 newspaper. He is putting two fingers up at somebody, we're not sure who -- but we suspect it's probably Intel. This gesture, in the UK at least, is an impolite way of saying "go away" and is the equivalent …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 08:47
Taiwan blackout wreaks fab havoc

Pricing on DRAMs and TFTs set to rise

A seven-hour power black out in Taiwan last week meant a catastrophic and costly lack of silicon production for local manufacturers. That could mean a hike in the price of memory and further exacerbate the shortage of TFT panels for PC manufacturers, already hit by under-supply. The power down, which at first raised fears that …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 08:59
Motorola announces ‘revolution’ in IC lithography

Will break 0.1 mircon barrier "early in the next millennium". Wow...

Motorola has developed two techniques that can achieve feature sizes on integrated circuits below 100 nanometers using IC masks in both electron projection and extreme ultra-violet type lithography, the company announced yesterday. Motorola claims to have "demonstrated the capability of yielding" large area masks "capable of …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 09:54
AMD and its Dresden Sandpit: Part II

More copper nuggets from Mittel Europe

The good Doktor Hans Deppe, the AMD Geschaftsfuhrer at Fab 30, made it clear, straight away, that he wanted to be open about what the bunnies were doing at the factory. To that end, he said: "It's AMD's policy not to behave like Intel has -- we're very proud of what we've achieved so far." And he was pretty open, although …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 10:33
Iridium crisis nears

Motorola bullish about satphone company's survival, even as the banks close in for the kill

Motorola yesterday put on a brave face to stress that Iridium, the troubled satellite cellphone service, can survive -- even as it emerged one of Iridium's creditor's, Chase Manhattan Bank, is demanding repayment of an $800 million loan. Motorola is intimately tied to Iridium's fortunes -- it founded the now spun-off company, in …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 10:49
BOL UK gives away books – today

Free books, no catches -- no delivery charge either

Anyone out there fancy a freebie? Between 3:30pm and 5:30pm BST this afternoon (UK time) Books Online UK is giving away free books to all comers. The giveaway is being promoted as a celebration of the company's fist six months online, but it should have the handy knock-on effect of distracting attention from the better known …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 10:56
What was last month's DRAM price hike all about?

Analysis DRAM a-lam a ding-dong

July was a confusing month for those poor unfortunates whose lives revolve around the spinning top that is the DRAM market. Distributors saw prices drop in the first week, continuing the year's downward trend. They nestled at what felt like rock bottom, with everyone wondering just how low they could go. But this demoralising …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 10:58
Confusion reigns over Celeron 100MHz FSB

What is going on here?

A few days ago we published news that Intel would deploy a 100MHz front side bus (FSB) in Q3. (Story: Intel stops wavering on 100MHz Celeron FSB) That elicited a response from the Intel PR spinola department which puzzled us. It goes a lot like this:"Don't forget that currently 810 chipset DOES support 100MHz FSB because it's …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 11:00
Microworkz signs $300m ISP deal with AT&T

That's a heck of a lot of iToasters it needs to sell

Cut-price PC vendor Microworkz has signed up AT&T as its new ISP following the company's fall-out with its original Internet access provider, EarthLink. From 15 August, anyone who buys a Microworkz iToaster Net access device will get free access to the Internet -- or at least for the first 150 hours they're online each month. …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 11:13
Cyber war threat to UK set to explode

Businesses are ill equipped to fight off the online terrorist

Global cyber warfare is set to cost companies more than $20 billion this year as the threat of Internet generated attacks increases, according to London-based mi2g software. At a technical seminar scheduled to take place tonight, security experts will argue that more needs to be done to counter the growing corporate threat from …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 11:16
Barbie PC makes computing kids' stuff

There's even a Hot Wheels PC for all you butch boy racers

All you action men get ready out there, toy maker Mattel is launching the Barbie PC. The customised machines, manufactured by Canadian-based Patriot Computers, will also include a Hot Wheels PC for the boys. The silver Barbie PC comes with pink flower mouse, floral monitor and speakers. The Hot Wheels version is blue and gold …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 11:17
Who cares about video-conferencing?

Survey says: no one

Videoconferencing is set to simmer on the back burner for some time yet because it is not viewed as essential to business productivity. It is also seen as the preserve of the corporate elite, according to a survey conducted by Cahners In Stat Group (CIG). The rest of the mobile data market has entered a growth period, the …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 11:18
Channel gets £6.5m fillip from Compaq

PC behemoth adds weight to online marketing initiatives

Compaq is to pump an extra £6.5 million into ChannelPaq, its channel joint marketing scheme. Just when its resellers were starting to feel out in the cold, Compaq has moved to reassured the channel that it is not out of favour. It may be selling direct from September with its Presario range, but Compaq says it wants to see …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 12:14
AMD to intro non-legacy PC push

ISA sorta guessed it might

Chip manufacturer AMD will next year introduce a non-legacy PC initiative. That news emerged during a trip to AMD's Dresden fabrication ("fab") plant. The initiative, starting next year, is aimed at assisting motherboard manufacturers to produce boards devoid of legacy devices such as the ISA bus. Intel announced earlier this …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 12:47
Diamond launches ‘Celeron’ AGP card

Faster, cheaper video

Diamond Multimedia today rolled out its new Stealth III S540 Xtreme AGP graphics accelerator, based on the S3's Savage4 Xtreme chip and featuring the chip company's texture compression technology. The card will be sold at retail for less than $130.00 in the US, and begin shipping in September, the company said. It features 128- …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 14:33
Tech Data snaps up Globelle

Canadian presence set to double

Tech Data has completed its buy-out of Globelle Corporation, doubling its presence in Canada. The deal was completed through a merger of Globelle, Tech Data Canada and GLP Acquisition Corporation – an organisation created for the acquisition. The company will operate as Tech Data Canada. The distributor, which bought Computer …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 14:45
Is Intel pressuring mobo maker rumour returns

Speculation mounts to feverpitch as 10th of August looms

A veil of silence has descended over whether or not Intel has put pressure on Gigabyte and Asustek to slow down on their K7 motherboard activities. One rumour -- and we stress this is only one of the rumours -- is that Intel asked the Taiwanese firms to slow down on developing solutions for the up-and-coming Athlon. Another …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 15:17
3Com, others sued over Palm Pilot patent

Female-led company files suit over pen issue

Rhode Island firm TTools took legal action against 3Com, Ideo Product Development and Palm Computing for an alleged breach of patent. The company, which describes itself on its Web site as predominantly female-owned and led filed the suit on Monday. Tom Hazzard, TTools VP, said the company manufactures a range of three styli …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:05
Palm licenses Planet.com WAP browser

But for its licensees, not itself -- at least, not yet...

Palm has licensed Planet.com's WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) Web browser, but curiously the move appears to have been made more for the benefit of third-parties than itself. According to Palm, the deal was made to allow it to sub-license the browser to Palm platform licensees, in particular those taking the PDA technology …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:19
Scrap the Internet – it's bad for you

Norwegian newsgroup gathers just three messages of support

A little-used newsgroup that calls for the annihilation of the Internet has received a lyrical endorsement from a Net user in Norway. Arve Kirkevik said people should walk mountains instead of being hooked up to the Net. He also called for TV to be scrapped. He aired his feelings in the newsgroup alt.destroy.the.internet. "Ten …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:19
ISPA knocks UK e-commerce bill

Too much emphasis on encryption and not enough on e-commerce

The government's attempt to introduce e-commerce legislation has been branded as "overly complicated" by industry leaders in the UK. The Internet Services Providers Association (ISPA) -- the UK trade organisation for ISPs -- said too much emphasis was placed on policing the Net and not enough was being spent on e-commerce itself …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:21
EarthWeb snaps up Sysopt and CodeGuru

Says acquisitions will bring in advertisers

EarthWeb has forked out $12.4 million in cash and stock to acquire SysOpt.com and CodeGuru.com. CodeGuru.com is an online service for Windows developers and offers directories of technical resources and source code among other services. SysOpt.com is one of our favourite hardware review sites. Both acquisitions are reported to …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:22
Europe set to overshadow US for e-commerce

But only if the right players use the right technology in the right markets

Europe has the potential to overtake the US and become the largest Internet trading centre in the world, according to analysts at Fletcher Research. In a report published today, Fletcher claims that 121 million Europeans will be spending EUR17 billion (£11.3 billion) online by 2004. Net users in Germany and the UK will dominate …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:22
Compaq loses top slot in UK PC market

Dell takes the number one spot as Compaq's nightmare comes true

Dell sold more PCs than any other vendor in the UK in the second quarter, according to preliminary IDC figures. Which means the demon of direct sales stole the number one spot in the UK from under the nose of Compaq. The UK market grew almost 22 per cent against last year’s second quarter. Dell took 19 per cent of the market for …

Business 4 Aug 1999, 16:35