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To: J.S. who wrote (30970)	3/16/1998 3:14:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

Toshiba to roll out another DVD laptop, Gateway too... zdnet.com "According to sources, Toshiba will launch a new high-end 266MHz Tecra 780DVD, which will be configured with a 13.3-inch XGA resolution display, 64MB of RAM, an 8.1GB hard drive and a DVD-ROM drive. The unit will be available for about $5,500, the sources said. A Tecra 780CDM, which has the same features but without the DVD drive, will be available for a slightly lower price, they said." "Gateway, meanwhile, will bring out new models in its Solo notebook family. The North Sioux City, S.D., company will launch a Solo 9100LS configured with a 14.1-inch screen, 32MB of RAM, 4GB hard drive and DVD-ROM drive for about $4,500, sources said. A new 233MHz Solo 5100 with a 14.1-inch screen will start at less than $3,000, sources said."

To: J.S. who wrote (30970)	3/16/1998 3:17:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Media processors jockey for position in untested consumer markets techweb.cmp.com Excerpts from the article: <<Though they are not a fixture in today's PCs, by no means are media signal processors stagnating from a technology perspective. Companies such as Chromatic Research Inc. and Philips Trimedia group - which were among the first to tout the virtues of powerful DSP-like chips that offered the flexibility of processing multiple concurrent data streams - are still beating the media-processor drum, though their tune may have changed a bit. And DSP stalwarts like Texas Instruments are also talking up the role of media processors for future platforms even as startups quietly prepare to enter the fray.>> <<snip>> <<In the case of Chromatic, for instance, the company took almost a year to release its software modules for its first-generation Mpact processor. Philips Trimedia also failed to gain a solid foothold in PCs, falling victim to Microsoft's ill-fated Talisman project, which envisioned a 3-D graphics board equipped with a powerful media processor.>> <<snip>> <<Samsung, which canceled its program last year after encountering internal discord. Others, like Rockwell Semiconductor, which brags that its DSP expertise is one of the best-kept secrets in the industry, studied media processing but decided it wasn't worth the risk of challenging CPU-centric computing.>> <<snip>> <<... as media-processor companies were struggling to give OEMs a compelling reason to risk moving away from using a powerful and expensive CPU in combination with hardwired peripheral chips, Intel was cranking out faster CPUs with barely a hiccup.>> <<snip>> <<Karl Guttag, a fellow with TI's digital signal processing semiconductor group in Dallas, said he is "very optimistic about media processors," adding that in the next three years these processors will enable TVs to be the chief source of information and entertainment for consumers. He would not comment on whether TI, which has focused most of its high-end DSP development on its C60 line, was working on such a media processor.>> <<snip>> <<Equator Technologies Inc. (Campbell, Calif.), a startup that is expected to announce this year a media processor based on very long-instruction word (VLIW) technology, will likely emphasize the need for media processors as a means to handling the 18 specified HDTV formats.>>