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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JPM who wrote (46388)	10/20/1999 4:34:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50808

ESS Technology, Inc. Reports Third Quarter Increase in Profitability on Record Revenues .18 vs. -.18 last year .05 above consensus. (Consensus with one analyst? biz.yahoo.com biz.yahoo.com

To: JPM who wrote (46388)	10/20/1999 6:20:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

MSFT Venus in China............ eetimes.com Microsoft China rolls out Venus info appliance By Sunray Liu EE Times (10/20/99, 6:00 p.m. EDT) SHENZHEN, China — Microsoft Corp. and its Chinese partners have taken the wraps off Venus, a Windows CE-based information appliance that includes application software and a new Web site. The product, which is Microsoft's first foray into the Chinese PC market, is being introduced in cooperation with Microsoft China, that outfit's local partners and the China 3C Industrial Consortium, a government-industry group here promoting information appliance technology. China's Ministry of Information Industry predicted that by 2000 more than 4 million users will access the Internet using low-cost information appliances rather then more expensive PCs. The total is expected to increase to 50 million by 2003, MII estimated. The potentially huge market for information appliances has driven Microsoft's research efforts here. The huge number of TVs sold here along with the booming video CD and DVD player markets have attracted more than 30 local and overseas partners to Microsoft's Venus initiative, including OEMS, software vendors and Internet service providers (ISPs). Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and a handful of Chinese partners announced plans in March to develop a low-cost digital appliance for the Chinese market that will work with standard TV receivers. "The demand for Internet [access] is increasing rapidly in China," said Sean Zhang, managing director of Microsoft's China R&D Center. "However, the majority of Chinese cannot afford PCs because of limited income and educational background. This is where information appliances play a significant role." The design goal of the Venus initiative is to develop a low-cost platform that is easy to use. Applications would include providing Internet access along with running educational and entertainment software. Versatile Venus Venus devices will use a Windows user interface on a TV display along with a standard keyboard and mouse. Windows CE would also allow devices to run word processing, educational and entertainment software. DVD and video CD (VCD) titles would also run on the Venus system. So far, six Chinese OEMs, including Hair, Legend Group, Stone, TCL Group and Yuxing, are manufacturing the Venus information appliance for various markets. Prices range from $150 to $250. Legend (Beijing), the leading Chinese PC manufacturer, will produce a "living room PC" for the local market. Yuxing (Beijing) recently added Venus to its latest VCD and upcoming DVD players. Shanghai Video and Audio said it will launch a two-in-one information appliance TV machine based on Venus. Meanwhile, TCL (Huizhou, Canton Province), a leading TV producer, recently announced the shipment of a Venus set-top box for digital TV players. Volume production of the set tops is expected to begin at the end of October. "We plan to sell 3 million DTV players in the next year, and I estimate 30 percent [of our] customers will buy Venus computers," said Tomson Li, president of TCL Group. Using lower-resolution analog sets, some Venus and other info appliance suppliers suggested that independent software vendors could optimize their products for the Chinese TV display market. System integrators and ISPs, including Kodak, Bilingual and others, have already introduced products that are customized for the Venus device. Telecommunications carriers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will also offer discounts on Internet access rates to Venus users. Observers said price will be the key factor in the information appliance market. No OEMs have announced detailed prices for their products, but most said they would be priced under $300. Fast-changing component prices resulting from the Sept. 21 earthquake in Taiwan could complicate pricing strategies, however. Cost complaints Another sensitive issue here is royalties for Venus software. Chinese customers are increasingly complaining about Microsoft's higher royalties here, prompting company executives to defend their policies. "We offer the same conditions to all key partners," said an executive of Microsoft Greater China. The company's pricing strategy "is based on volume commitment," he said. "We also try to price Microsoft software under 10 percent of the total system cost." Microsoft also disclosed its road map for the Venus initiative. It repeated its pledge to develop and manufacture the appliance in China using local engineers. Microsoft China also plans to broaden its cooperation with local partners. Yuxing, for example, shared the design experience it garnered from the development of its 32-bit multimedia platform with Venus developers. Information appliances like Venus have received growing support from the Chinese government, which views them as a valuable educational tool. The Venus appliance will be the first product offered under the government-sponsored 3C Industrial Consortium, which encourages free market competition in the information appliance (IA) industry. "Chinese government and industry will create and offer an open and fair environment, and favorable policies for the IA industry," said Zhang Qi, director of the Ministry of Information Industry and of the 3C consortium. She predicted that other information appliance products based on the Chinese-developed Hopen and Bluebird operating systems would be introduced into the Chinese market soon. Both would serve as domestic competitors to Windows CE.

To: JPM who wrote (46388)	10/20/1999 9:24:00 PM
From: Susan Mueller	Respond to of 50808

I have owned cube also for over 4 years and this is the first time that it has not dropped after earnings of a positive nature such as this. I am amazed at this. The pattern has changed....so does anyone have any idea's other than maybe the old cube is getting to be more well known on the street? As in the past - you all know - November has always been a good month - hope this pattern continues. Susan

To: JPM who wrote (46388)	10/20/1999 9:24:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Sony boxes. NDS got the CA part. Cisco gets the cable modems, and data headend gear. What does Divicom get????????? digitalbroadcasting.com{2D6E22A0-8656-11D3-9A67-00A0C9C83AFB}&Bucket=HomeLatestHeadlines Cablevision Selects NDS for Conditional Access 10/20/99 New York City?s largest cable operator has tapped NDS (Newport Beach, CA) to provide conditional access technology for its new generation of Sony-branded digital set-tops. This collaboration marks NDS? first customer win for its conditional access (CA) technology in the US digital cable market. Cablevision, which has 3.4 million subscribers in the New York metro area, recently announced a billion-dollar deal to purchase digital set-top boxes from Sony (see Sony, Cablevision Team Up in Major Set-Top Deal). NDS will supply its Open VideoGuard conditional access services, including both hardware and software to be integrated at Cablevision?s delivery network center. Cablevision expects to launch the digital services in 2000. CA technology allows broadcasters and others to manage the distribution of their content by ensuring consumers view and use only what they pay for. CA allows broadcasters to offer flexible subscription tiers, tailor broadcasts by area, market segment or preference, and deliver video-on-demand and pay-per-view programming. NDS held onto its conditional access division when it sold other parts of its digital broadcast technology, including encoding, compression, and ENG to Norway?s Tandberg Television in September. NDS supplies conditional access technology to Madtritel in Spain, NTC in China, UK?s BskyB, and DirecTV in the US. Edited by Tom Butts