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To: Lee who wrote (144559)	10/14/1999 8:34:00 AM
From: JRI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

OT 2 down/2 to go.....we may lose one in NY...but I am sticking with the Braves in 4/5...starting pitching simply too strong.. Man, just think if we had Galaraga, Lopez...geez.. The Yankees are NOT the Yankees of 1998..especially (starting) pitching...although Braves are not at full strength..I believe it is their year.. Lord knows they deserve it..they have clearly been the best team of the last 10 years (although Yankees strong 2nd)..

To: Lee who wrote (144559)	10/14/1999 6:48:00 PM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Buy your computers now before they become more expensive. RAM not ewe is the goat (chip offender). $$$ Chip Shortage Hikes Computer Prices By CLIFF EDWARDS AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Consumers expecting to see ever-lowering computer prices as they begin their holiday shopping may be in for a surprise. Manufacturers are beginning to pass on the higher costs of memory chips, known as RAM, to consumers, who have been seeking more and more powerful chips as they go after faster computers with the best graphics. Sixty-four megabytes of RAM - a typical amount of memory in a $1,000 computer - once sold for as low as $40. Now the same memory is retailing for about $100 and could reach $150 next month, analysts said Thursday. ''About 7 percent of the cost of desktop PCs is memory, and when a manufacturer sees that suddenly double, you can bet they're going to react,'' said Steve Cullen, principal memory analyst at In-Stat market research. ''Those days when (memory chip) prices were coming down, down, down are over.'' RAM is important to a computer because it stores information that a processor might need at another point, allowing a user and the computer to more rapidly switch back and forth between tasks for everything from screensavers to spreadsheets to games. Even the fastest processors are slow at performing multiple tasks without adequate RAM. Supplies in the last several months have been constrained for a variety of reasons. Manufacturers shuttered or sharply reduced production in many factories in the Far East last year after a 31/2-year glut caused prices to fall to a record low, and new supplies of a super-fast RAM chips with double the current greatest speed has been slowed by glitches. The most recent blow to the industry came with the 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan last month that either destroyed factories or threw sophisticated machines out of calibration, said analyst Sherry Garber at Semico Research Corp. Taiwan produces 12 percent to 15 percent of the world's RAM chips. Manufacturers, meantime, have been competing in the cutthroat industry by offering consumers computers with more and more memory at lower and lower prices. ''So you've gone from a situation where the supply-and-demand scenario was just about in balance to one where as much as 15 percent of world production is lost, at least for a week,'' said Cullen. ''That means computers will either be on stores shelves with less memory at the same prices, add-on memory will cost more - if its even available - or overall computer prices will be higher.'' Analyst Rob Enderle at research firm Giga Information Group also noted that prices of trendy new flat-screen computer panels, personal digital assistants and newer cellular phones also are likely to increase because of the Taiwan quake. ''The real effects of the quake are not going to be known for months, but Taiwan has become an important producer of all kinds of components for everything from actual computers to cars,'' Enderle said. ''The message for the consumer is that if they're looking at buying a low-cost machine, they'd better buy it pretty darn quick.'' The situation could get worse before it gets better. Worldwide sales of computer chips are expected to grow 14 percent to more than $155 billion in 1999, according to a forecast released Thursday by Dataquest, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based research unit of the Gartner Group consulting firm. The annual double-digit sales growth will continue through 2002, driven by a strong global economy, Dataquest said. Computer manufacturers in recent weeks have acknowledged the short-term outlook looks troublesome. Shoppers searching for add-on memory at Dell Computer Corp (Nasdaq:DELL - news).'s Web site were met this week with a message that memory add-ons are ''currently unavailable due to worldwide constraints.'' ''Which makes sense since (computer manufacturers) are taking all the memory they have so they can ship full systems,'' Garber said. ''Upgrades are going to be very difficult to get.'' Compaq Computer Corp (NYSE:CPQ - news). on Thursday warned retailers to expect delays on shipments of some products, and Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HWP - news). two weeks ago also said it expected delays and disruptions. Both companies blamed the earthquake.