Is GNET already working with Transmeta?
And are they (and/or their other "Broadband Partners" - CHTR, HSAC, RCNC), already beta-testing the mysterious "Crusoe" chip?
I have absolutely no way of knowing.
However, several things have piqued my curiosity lately, including two articles published in the Seattle Times on consecutive days this past week. And with the increasing "buzz" in recent months speculating on what the "super-secret" company Transmeta has been up to for the past five years (finally making a "public" announcement this past Wednesday). It all just makes me wonder, and I love to wonder.
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WARNING: What follows is some fairly "long" weekend ramblings of someone who had way too much time on their hands. Day-traders (or night-traders) reading this thread may want to skip to the next post.
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The following are a few snippets (in italics) from an article by Tom Quinlan of the San Jose Mercury News, published in the Seattle Times on January 18, 2000 (with a few comments by me), (I can't find the link yet):
The Crusoe chips ¥ designed for Internet-ready mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top boxes, and other devices ¥ are reputed to be fast, programmable in real time and extremely energy-efficient.
The Crusoe line is being touted on bulletin boards and chat rooms across cyberspace as the be-all replacement for everything from Intel's Pentium class processors and the Power PC chips that power Apple Computer's Macintosh to other processors used to power the Internet.
The frenzy of anticipation is fueled partly by the company's pedigree. Linux developer and founder, Linus Torvalds, is developing the company's software; the founder is communication chip pioneer David Ditzel formerly of Bell Labs and Sun Microsystems; and the company is backed by blue-chip investors such as Paul Allen and international financier George Soros.
Paul Allen, Heck, I recognize that name. Isn't he the same guy who is the largest stockholder in GNET (owning over 1/3 of the shares), in addition to having controlling interest in CHTR (4th largest cable company in the country), and with huge investments in HSAC and RCNC, not to mention having dozens of other major Internet and entertainment investments through his "Vulcan Investments" company. Do you suppose Paul's major investment position in this very privately held company (Transmeta) gives him perhaps just a very tiny bit of influence on the "what, where, when, who, and how" this chip comes to market? I only have one request for them, "Hold off the IPO guys, until the "Broadband Partners" have their train up and running full steam"!!! <g>
And also from the same article:
The biggest factor is Transmeta's patented "morphing" hardware and software technology that theoretically would enable the Crusoe line to mimic any existing processor design, and run all software.
Such a chip could lower the cost of developing TV set-top boxes and other products because a single programmable chip could let manufacturers build a handful of simple designs and then program them for multiple uses.
The chips would be suited for devices such as set-top boxes, dedicated Internet access devices, hand-held computers, and some laptop systems. Those markets now lack a single dominant processor design.
And a few snippets from another Seattle times article the following day on January 19, 2000: seattletimes.com
About one-third of Go2Net is owned by Vulcan Ventures, the holding company of billionaire Paul Allen. Go2Net is developing an interactive TV device that Horowitz said will be released this summer. It will likely be used first by some of the 6 million subscribers in the cable-TV operation Vulcan controls.
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In addition, those regular and dedicated GNET posters on this board will remember yet another wonderful Post #15867 by our own outstanding contributor to this thread, NotNeiderhoffer (BTW, who IS Neiderhoffer anyway?) on January 13th, reporting on a presentation he recently attended in New York, given by both GNET's President John Keister, and someone named Dino (whoever he is, undoubtedly someone from Ballard): Message 12556088
They are working on rolling out a wireless portal and we will soon be able to access SI over Palm 7's or the PDA's. This means access 27x7 and on the fly to get quotes, post messages or even make trades. Apparently, a few GNET employees are beta testing these devices as we speak. Cool.
As Bob Dylan first sang decades ago, "The times they are-a-changin." He sure got that right! But I'm not sure many of us realized just how much things would change, or how fast. . .and perhaps we still don't!
Cool new stuff is coming our way! Being invested in a company, which IMHO is extremely well-positioned right on the cutting edge of the Internet's future, feels pretty good to me. One suggestion, they might consider getting a few brilliant business minds together and perhaps figure out a "marketing" way to give FREE INTERNET ACCESS to anyone signing up for cable with Charter Communications. Think of the potential marketing campaign! People who have access to CHTR cable might start leaving the huge lumbering gorilla AOL/Time Warner (with their monthly fees) in droves, and it might really mess up THEIR "business plan." Everyone will want to have the really cool stuff that will be available through Charter's "single-service (wired or wireless) connection" (Internet access, e-mail, 100's of standard cable TV channels, video conferencing, telephony services, interactive TV, interactive 3-D video games, access of all personal & business financial information and services, hotel, travel, & restaurant reservations, research & directory information of all kinds, just-released movies on demand, e-commerce, etc...etc...etc...).
And when they log-on to the Internet, as was stated in a recent company press release on January 18th, guess what, "Go2Net will be the primary provider of the content, services, and technologies to the Broadband Partners." Just think about it. We'll need a business strategy to financially "slay the dragons." Look at the HyperMart model. Giving out FREE 10 MB wedsites is proving to be profitable, isn't it? Businesses are flocking to the site, signing up at a current pace of about 2000-3000 per day (currently around 800,000 members), and should be within a stone's throw of 1 MILLION by the next GNET shareholder's meeting on March 17th. Amazing! As Russell said last year, "It's the largest aggregation of businesses on the entire Web." (and that was when there were only 330,000 members, last November). The "Business-To-Business (B2B) e-commerce model had been an integral part of GNET's strategy and business plan since virtually the formation of the company, with many others coming to the party very late (and not carefully getting all their "ducks in a row"). It's been reported that B2B e-commerce "is ready to explode," from 43 billion/year in 1998 to 1.3 trillion by 2003. That's many times the projected increase of "Business-To-Consumer" (B2C) e-commerce in the coming years. If that turns out to be the case, then GNET's initial strategy and business plan is even more brilliant than many of us suspected.
As David McCourt (CEO and chairman of RCN) said, following the announcement of the formation of the "Broadband Partners" and Paul Allen's 1.65 billion investment in his company last year, "This broadband model is something you've never seen before..."
Now, try to picture an elderly couple (we'll call them Oscar and Maude) sitting in rocking chairs on their front porch as dawn is just beginning it's glow. Oscar hangs up two portable lightweight (and very thin) "wireless" screens on old hooks (where the "windscrews" used to go). Their cat jumps up on Maude's lap, as she starts a video-conference with her grandchildren on one screen, while opening the "family's personal website" to exchange their latest digital photos. The dog nuzzles Oscar's leg, bringing him "the remote" (of course) wireless keyboard (dogs are like that). Oscar starts buying stocks on one half of his split-screen, and starts watching "The Way We Were" and CNBC on the other half, while ordering latttes and poppy-seed muffins to be delivered (from Starbucks no doubt). All the while they're both throwing bread to the ducks coming up the steps, peanuts to the squirrels, and seeds to the birds on the railing. The sun continues to rise, and the clouds begin to form a really cool pattern. . .no wait. . .it's looks like they're forming a very familiar logo. No, it's couldn't be. Clouds can't do stuff like that, can they? And another group of clouds forms the words, FREE INTERNET ACCESS, and FREE E-MAIL. "No way," you say. "Can't ever make any 'profits' doing stuff like that"! Yeah, I guess you're right.
And again, as Russ said last year, "We live in exciting times"! Wow! He sure got that right! And IMO, this will be yet another very "exciting year" of these very "exciting times" we all live in. Heck, I'm pretty excited about what's coming our way, and hope all you GNET "longs" are also. As I always say, we'll have "Another day, another party." I'm sure if it!
But, as Dennis Miller usually ends,
"Just my opinion. . .I COULD BE WRONG."
So diversify (just a little bit)! <ggg>
Roger #49 :)))
Notsurewhererussgotthecoatheworeduringthecnninterview(buti'mworkingonit),andIdon'tthinkit'sJCrew |
