• AMD unveils Celeron basher
  Time: 02:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Leo Nelson

  AMD's rival for Celeron in the sub-$1,000 segement, previously codenamed Spitfire, has been badged Duron, which we are assured is derived from the Latin words for "to last" and "unit".

  Our research reveals the sordid truth: Duron was a composer who died of TB in 1716 after being accused by the Catholic Church for the decadence of Spanish music.

  "In choosing the AMD Duron product name, AMD wanted to convey the qualities that will prolong the life of the buyer's investment, specifically: dependability, reliability and stability," said Rob Herb, executive vice
  president at AMD, with nary a trace of marketingspeak. "The AMD Duron processor will be a workhorse without peer - invigorating AMD's competitive posture in the value market."

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• Hardware Roundup
  Time: 02:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Leo Nelson

  Tweak your PC system.

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• ATI Rage 6 info 'leaked'
  Time: 01:30P PST/ 4:30P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Corey Gouker

  As predicted, ATI will unveil the chip codenamed Rage 6 on Monday, and thanks to a stage-managed 'leak' to Reuters, we know a little bit more about it now.

  According to ATI, Rage 6 will feature 30 million transistors and be "twice as complex" as a Pentium III. It can churn out 30 million triangles per second, the company claimed. It will begin shipping in the summer.

  Our own ATI moles suggest it's also a 256-bit chip, though since that's what Nvidia and S3-Via are offering, perhaps that's a little obvious.

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• Car PCs – who needs 'em?
  Time: 01:30P PST/ 4:30P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Corey Gouker

  While Windows CE is in the news this week as a result of Microsoft's pocket PC marketing push, the mini operating system has another potentially huge target market that always appears to be on the back burner – the in car PC.

  A study made in November last year claimed that revenues from in car computing will rise from less than $40 million currently to more than $1.7 billion by 2004.

  Every few months or so for the last few years, someone from a company like Ford, GM, Intel, IBM and Microsoft has stood up and done a visionary presentation about how groovy it will be when we all have computers in our cars. Then it all goes quiet for another six months. The most recent was Ford CEO Jacques Nasser who told USA Today in January: "We will do nothing short of transforming our cars and our trucks into portals for the Internet"

  In car computing is one of those just over the horizon ideas that never seem to actually arrive. Of course, we've all had computers in our cars for years, looking after engine management, antilock brakes and performing diagnostics. A few rather tragic experiments with talking cars that told you when you were going too fast (the one I'm thinking of was in an Austin Maestro, one of the worst cars ever made and which therefore very rarely went fast enough to trigger the warning)

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• EDS takes wireless to the bank
  Time: 8:30P PST/ 11:30P EST News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Leo Nelson

  This week the services provider will announce a nationwide wireless banking service for Palm Inc.'s (Nasdaq: PALM) Palm VII handheld -- yet another example of the evolution of the PDA (personal digital assistant) from contact manager to viable business tool.

  EDS' Wireless Banking Solutions, which comprises new software from the Plano, Texas, company and various implementation services, will enable financial institutions to offer basic wireless banking services -- checking balances, paying bills and transferring money on a one-time or recurring basis -- to customers who own Palm VII devices.

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• Toshiba unveils ultra portable notebook
  Time: 8:30P PST/ 11:30P EST News Source: CNET Posted By: Leo Nelson

  The Portege 3440CT is based on a 500-MHz Pentium III processor and includes a 6GB hard drive and 64MB of memory. The laptop weighs 3.4 pounds and is priced at $2,499.

  Toshiba is currently the market leader for notebooks, closely competing with rival Compaq Computer for the top spot. The PC maker markets two other notebook brands, the Satellite and the Tecra, in addition to the Portege. Toshiba retained about 17 percent of the overall notebook market last year, according to market research firm International Data Corp.

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• AOL unveils Gateway-made Linux Net appliance
  Time: 10:30A PST/ 1:30P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Leo Nelson

  AOL's 'AOL Anywhere' strategy took a stride forward yesterday when the company unveiled the results of its $800 million investment in PC vendor Gateway: a line of co-branded Net access devices.

  Based on Linux and running AOL's new consumer-friendly Gecko Web browser - for a taster, take a look at Netscape Navigator 6 Preview Release 1, which the company yesterday made available for download - the machines will ship in a number of form factors, including a wireless Web pad, a desktop device and a "countertop" appliance for the kitchen (which sounds not unlike 3Com's upcoming Net appliance).

  AOL said the machines will feature instant access to the company's online service, so we assume the machines will each sport a built-in ADSL modem. So far, though, AOL has said nothing about the boxes' hardware specification, and with the focus clearly on the consumer electronics market, we don't expect them to make much of a song and dance about it.

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• AMD samples copper Athlons
  Time: 10:30A PST/ 1:30P EST News Source: Tom's Hardware Guide Posted By: Leo Nelson

  AMD has begun shipping samples of its first copper-based x86 microprocessors.

  Code-named Thunderbird, the upcoming Athlon chip with integrated Level 2 cache and copper interconnects is expected to ship by midyear. Company officials said the chip's clock speed won’t be revealed until June.

  Because of its low resistivity compared to conventional aluminum, copper interconnects offer a major boost in performance in high-end microprocessors and, more recently, in field-programmable gate arrays.

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• Hollywood tries to block DVD decoder -- again
  Time: 2:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Leo Nelson

  Seven major Hollywood studios filed a motion in New York federal court seeking to block a controversial Web site from posting links to other Web sites where users can download a program that decodes encrypted material on digital video disks.

  Full story

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• General Motors adds Net services to vehicles
  Time: 10:30A PST/ 1:30P EST News Source: CNET Posted By: Leo Nelson

  Beginning this fall, GM will offer "Personal Calling," a hands-free, voice-activated cell phone service, and "Virtual Advisor," which will read emails and other information, such as sports scores and stock quotes, from the Internet.

  Hardware for the two services will be included on all GM cars and trucks with OnStar communications service--currently available as an option or a standard feature on 30 of 54 GM vehicle brands sold in the United States.

  GM also will offer this fall, on the 2001 Cadillac Seville and DeVille luxury sedans, its voice-controlled Infotainment System, which integrates a color screen navigation system with radio, CD-ROM, Internet email access and voice memo recorder.

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• Optical IEEE 1394 does 100m in 400Mbps
  Time: 2:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Leo Nelson

  Japanese researchers have succeeded in getting IEEE 1394 (aka Fire Wire) to operate over optical links at full speed - and over much greater distances than has been previously possible.

  So far, attempts to get 1394 operating over optical links have sacrificed the data throughput rates for cable length. After all, extending 1394 beyond its metal cable length limit of 4.5m is what moving to optical is all about.

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• Hardware Roundup - The Mating of 1GHz Coppulates
  Time: 2:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Leo Nelson

  A run round the hardware track . . .

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• New Windows Media Player plays it all - except DVDs
  Time: 2:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: The Register Posted By: Leo Nelson

  A little bit of Windows Millennium Edition is available for download from those nice folks at Microsoft.

  Windows Media Player 7 is billed as being capable of doing everything you could ever want, including copying CDs to a hard disk, cataloguing your music collection and watching videos. This is obviously a new meaning of the word 'everything' as WMP7 can't play DVDs. And testers will need nerves of steel, too.

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• Cisco releases new high-capacity Internet router
  Time: 2:00P PST/ 5:00P EST News Source: CNET Posted By: Leo Nelson

  Cisco today began shipping a new, higher-capacity router that telecommunications carriers and Internet service providers can use to offer businesses T1 connections, high-speed Net access typically used by companies.

  Later this month, the networking giant will release a new router targeted at giving digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet access to small businesses and telecommuters. A router is a piece of hardware that ships Internet traffic from point to point on a network at high speeds.

  With the new products, Cisco is attempting to better compete against rivals Ericsson and Siemens in the corporate arena and 3Com and Nortel Networks' NetGear in the small business market.

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Read more of the past months news in our News Archive for February and March News.

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