Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Engel who wrote (43680)	1/2/1998 11:45:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Paul, Check out this story! I think you'll be proud to read he intends to go to MIT. (your almamada) This story should be on the front pages of every newspaper IMO. Instead what do we see, important news about the Kennedy's. Teen builds successful computer hardware web site Copyright c 1998 Nando.net Copyright c 1998 Scripps Howard RALEIGH, N.C. (January 2, 1998 3:24 p.m. EST nando.net) -- Last summer, a representative of a computer hardware company called MTech in California was making a business call in Raleigh when he realized that he was in the same area code as Anand Shimpi. The salesman was eager to meet Shimpi, whose Web page reviewing the latest computer hardware had a worldwide following. When he found a "Shimpi" in the phone book, he drove to the house and knocked on the door. A skinny, dark-haired 15-year-old kid opened the door and the salesman asked if Anand was home. The salesman almost fell over when the teen said, "I'm Anand." Since the Enloe High School sophomore posted Anand's Hardware Tech Page" in April, he has gotten used to this kind of reaction. Millions of people have visited Shimpi's page, making it one of the most popular sites of its kind on the Web. One online service that ranks sites -- WebSideStory -- says Shimpi's page is No. 3 in the world in the computer category, with more than 10,000 visits per day. Companies now send him products to review, hundreds of hard-core techies e-mail him each day and a handful of companies run ads on the site, helping Shimpi gross about $2,000 each month. All these responsibilities have led to some late nights as Shimpi tries to keep his fans up to date on the latest gadgets while trying to maintain a normal teenage lifestyle. "By agreeing to do a site like this, you're agreeing to keep people updated," Shimpi said. "It's not right to let people go for several days without an update. It's important that they have all the latest information." Computer technology is changing almost daily, and Shimpi considers it his duty to provide objective assessments amid the hype of a competitive hardware marketplace. "Due to popular demand," reads a note on the Web site from Shimpi to his tech-savvy audience, "I placed an order for a Matrox Millennium II AGP (4MB) card to benchmark against the PCI Millennium II I have here currently. I will receive it on Wednesday and I will try to have a review by Friday." Shimpi's testing lab is a tiny room in his parents' house off Lake Boone Trail in West Raleigh. In one corner is the computer he uses to update his Web page (www.anandtech.com). Near the door sits the computer where he runs his tests. Scattered around the room are several half-opened computers, their insides gutted and their wires spilling across the floor like strands of spaghetti. The rest of the room is dotted with the trappings of the average high-tech teen: a big-screen TV, the "Star Wars" trilogy on videotape and Quake II, the popular computer game, on the shelf. It's here where Shimpi spends hours at a time swapping out various computer components such as microprocessors and memory chips. He loads them onto motherboards -- those green panels inside the computer that are covered with mazes of circuits and microprocessors -- and then runs a series of software programs to measure their speed and reliability. The goal is to figure out which part will help the computer run better so techies can build their own souped-up versions. "It's much like a car," Shimpi said. "You can tweak it to get the performance you want the same way you can with a car. Of course, it's a bit more technical than a car." Shimpi got the idea for the page from reading several other hardware review sites, especially Tom's Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com). He started with a single review in April and things just snowballed. The site's traffic is so heavy now that he has to rent a separate computer at $300 each month to host his Web page. The numbers show just how popular the site has become. From the 36 people who read the first review, Shimpi's site has grown to more than 959,000 "hits" since Sept. 2. The folks who use the site and the companies that advertise there say that Shimpi has built up tremendous credibility among techies. Jon Lisbon, business development manager for Seattle-based TechWave, said he didn't even know Shimpi's age until contacted by a reporter. "I wouldn't fall off my chair, but that does surprise me," Lisbon said. "I didn't realize he was that young. But that does surprise me because it's a very professional site." Shimpi's dad is to blame for his son's computer obsession. Lal Shimpi, a native of India, is head of the computer science department at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh. While the family lived in New Hampshire, the elder Shimpi enrolled his son in a computer science class at age 7 and then helped him build his own computer five years ago. "He's done very well," Lal Shimpi said. "We're very proud of him." Anand Shimpi wants people to know that while he can sometimes work long hours to get new reviews done, he also leaves plenty of time for normal teen stuff like friends and pick-up basketball games. "What I don't like is the mask they put on people who like computers," Shimpi said. "Computers are probably the last thing I talk about when I meet someone." But all that doesn't keep him from planning for the future and thinking big. Though he could probably make a bundle now, the straight-A student wants to attend M.I.T. and -- like his father -- get a doctorate. Then he wants to work in a research lab for a computer company. Meantime, he's trying to figure out how he's going to handle the site's increasing popularity so he can keep it going as long as possible. "I push myself," Shimpi said. "If you don't keep on pushing yourself to go higher, you'll never achieve anything." anandtech.com By CHRIS O'BRIEN, Scripps Howard News Service

To: Paul Engel who wrote (43680)	1/3/1998 10:06:00 AM
From: dominoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

There is a very bullish article on SunMicrosystems in today's Barrons which attributes much of Sun's future potential to its new alliance w/Intel. Entitled "Rising Sun" the article indicates that Sun is poised for a rebound since its unexpected "coup, an alliance w/Intel. Suns Solaris o.s. will run on Merced due to hit the market in 1999. Quoting various money managers, the article includes such comments as: Until December 16, Sun and Intel were bitter enemies, now they are partners. This new development means that Intel is moving away from the world of desktop personal computing and repositioning itself as a vendor of higher-performance microprocessors that drive more powerful Unix computers. .... The margins in the server market are tempting for Intel: A Merced chip may sell for around $2000 while a Pentium II goes for only about $400... Re Solaris, the article indicates that NT can run only 4 four computers in tandem effectively, Dun's Solaris on the other hand, can handle 64 computers together. "We are going to move up to 128 and raise the bar on them again," claims Suns"s Edward Zander.... "Sun is picking up market share at the expense of the other Unix players," asserts Christine Chien, an analyst for 5 managers at Zurich Kemper. ... The article is replete with other analysts bullish remarks on Sun. Re Java: "So far, Java only accounts for about $130million of Sun's sales and perhaps no profits: a drop in the bucket for a company that posted $8.6 Billion in revenues and $762 million in earnings.." .. But things are starting to change....."Java's greatest success is in giving Sun the aura of a company that has got something no one else has got," says John B. Jones Jr ..with Salomon Smith Barney. "By the end of 1998 you'll see a new revenue stream for Java microprocessors as well as software."