Athlon to hit Japan
Saturday, August 14, 1999 - 16:53 by kahthan

According to OWB, The boys in the land of the rising sun will soon have their hands on almighty Athlon. Wonder how long it will take to hit the rest of the world.

PSX2 in January
Saturday, August 14, 1999 - 16:47 by kahthan

Over at ZDNet : Financial analysts are predicting that Sony Corp.'s next-generation game machine, the PlayStation 2, will hit Japanese retail shelves on Jan. 23.The consoles will weigh in at a hefty price of 45,000 yen (U.S. $391), according to a Merrill Lynch report published this week.The report predicts initial shipments of the PlayStation 2 will climb to 400,000 units, with a total of 1 million consoles becoming available during the first three months of 2000.

If this baby does sport the features it does, then it well might be worth the price.Lets wait and see.

Cyrix CPU delay?
Saturday, August 14, 1999 - 16:44 by kahthan

Via Technologies’ acquisition of National Semiconductor’s Cyrix subsidiary may cause delays for shipping Via's newly acquired, next-generation microprocessor lines.The affected designs include Cyrix's M-III processor, code named Mojave, and a 6x86 derivative, known internally as Gobi. Originally scheduled to ship in the first half of 2000, the Mojave core could be delayed until next fall, according to an official at Cyrix's Richardson, Texas, facility.

Intel to push new PC133 standard
Saturday, August 14, 1999 - 16:43 by kahthan

Accordting to Techweb Intel is expected to endorse a new set of interface specifications for 133MHz SDRAM, creating a rival standard to the PC133 chips now coming onto the market.The new specs could include tighter timing parameters, according to sources at DRAM makers, PC manufacturers, and analyst firms.The sources say Intel will tweak the 133MHz specs to gain control of the new memory chips' qualification process. The move could also provide Intel with chip sets supporting 133MHz memory that outperform competing chip sets from Via Technologies and other rivals using current PC133 designs.

Psygnosis to include
Saturday, August 14, 1999 - 16:42 by kahthan

Psygnosis will address the violence in games issue with its forthcoming PC title, DRAKAN Order of the Flame.The game will include a "gore lockout" option that enables parents to restrict the level of graphic violence viewed by their children.Psygnosis hopes the inclusion of this password-protected violence reduction feature will allow adults to experience the full impact of the game while ensuring that parents have the ability to screen minors from the title’s violent content. In my opinion if people took a bit more interest in what their children did there would be fewer problems,i don't think making the PC game industry a scapegoat for some of society's fundamental problems would solve anything.

Windows 2000 soon ?
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 13:32 by kahthan

Looks like Windows 2000 might be shipping sometime soon.ZDNet sees the signs:

"Windows 2000 must be getting closer to shipping. The latest sign: Novell Inc. has begun beta testing its Windows 2000 client for NetWare servers...
Microsoft, for its part, has said it is on target to deliver Windows 2000 to manufacturing by the end of this year, meaning it will begin shipping commercially late this year, or more likely, early in 2000."

IBM breaks hard drive records
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 13:30 by kahthan

IBM has announced what it claims is the world's highest capacity notebook PC hard drive: the 25GB Travelstar 25GS.The drive -- which can hold the equivalent of 20 TV-quality movies – rotates at 5,400 rpm.IBM also will launch the 12GB Travelstar 12GN for ultra-portables and an 18GB drive for mainstream notebook users. HP boasts that the Travelstar 18GT holds the equivalent of the text printed on 18 pickup trucks full of paper.

SGI hands XFS file system to Linux community
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 12:55 by Nirudha

By releasing the XFS journaling file system to the Linux community SGI is giving Linux better file system recoverability from crashes and power outages. Linux can then join the ranks of BeOS and OS/2 in having a journaled file system.

The Register article

Compaq plan to offer a very cool trade-in scheme!
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 12:39 by Nirudha

Compaq plan want to give you trade in's for your Prasario PC's without actually taking your old Prasario back! Rather you just get the current value of your old computer deducted from the purchase price of a new Prasario!

For more details

Shareholders fight S3 and Diamond merger
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 12:36 by Nirudha

Feeling that their shares are being undervalued shareholders are to sue Diamond Multimedia. The stock acquisition is expected to be worth $200.8 million. Here's a bit from the article,

"The proposed acquisition, announced June 22, is intended to make S3 a competitor in the Internet appliance and home networking markets, S3 said in a statement. Shareholders of Diamond Multimedia, though, say the San Jose-based company is being unloaded "at bargain-basement prices."

CNET News.com article

FTC drop Intel monopoly case
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 12:33 by Nirudha

The Federal Trade Commision has decided, in a 3-1 vote, to drop charges of monopolistic tactics by Intel. The antitrust action was filed in June 1998 when it illegally threatened to withhold crucial product information and chip samples from Intergraph, Compaq, and Digital Equipment after the companies independently refused to license their respective technology to the chip giant.

LAVA! flows to the music
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 12:06 by Nirudha

People with SoundBlaster LIVE! cards (and soon for others too) can now download Creative Labs LAVA! audio visualisation technology. It stands for Live Audio Visual Animation. This technology is not just a music driven plugin but allows visual content to be created by an artist. The additional space consumed by these visualisations is quite small, in the order of 100 KB's.

Here's a bit of info on the system requirements for LAVA! from the site

"Any OPEN GL accelerated graphics card, for example, Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value.

Intel Pentium II 300, AMD K6-2 350 and above, 64 MB RAM for MP3 on Win95.

Intel Pentium II 233, AMD K6-2 266 and above, 32 MB RAM for MP3 on Win98.

Sound Blaster Live! (The standalone LAVA! player, available in mid-Fall '99, will run on any sound card.)"

The LAVA! site

Kryotech is taking orders for it's 800 Mhz Athlon
Thursday, August 12, 1999 - 10:08 by Nirudha

For a "cool" $2,200 you can get your very own sub-zero 800 Mhz Athlon system and casing from Kryotech. This is the same technology used to demo the Athlon at 1 Ghz by AMD.

What you get for this price is a bare-bones system of case motherboard and chip. You have to add the rest of the components yourself.

If you have a fat wallet and want the very best go order one right now and keep in mind I love a gift of one myself! Hey with something this good I HAVE to try!




Kryotech's Cool Athlon 800 page

Gateway snubs Athlon
Wednesday, August 11, 1999 - 14:44 by kahthan

According to the Register, Gateway has decided not to go the way of the Athlon. IMHO its a big mistake.

Gateway has done a U-turn over its plans to launch an Athlon-based PC.The world’s second largest direct selling PC vendor was tipped to build systems based on the Athlon, but two weeks ago mysteriously reversed its decision, according to Forbes.

Gateway described the move as "a pure business decision", which Forbes said meant Intel had waved a big discount carrot under Gateway’s nose, which the vendor obligingly ran after. This soft dollar deal, and big discounts on 600 MHz Pentium II chips, are believed to have swung Gateway’s decision in what was thought to be a $20 million package.The Forbes article added that AMD pricing was already starting crack under the weight of Intel’s cuts.