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 : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Scrutchins who wrote (17600)	9/5/1998 8:23:00 AM
From: soup	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213172

Of Apple, voice recognition, pen input and computers in China. via MacCentral by Dennis Sellers >Apparently, Apple has already done some intensive work on voice recognition and pen input for the Mac OS, two features we'd like to see in Mac OS X (see yesterday's story). The cover story for the ACM (Association for Computing) magazine, interactions, discusses the first native language input for the Chinese. The work is being done by - guess who? - Apple's Asian division. It uses a - guess what? - combination of voice recognition and pen input. (You can check out the "Interactions in Chinese: designing interfaces for Asian languages" article by Heiko Sacher, in interactions, Vol. V, No. 5, Sept./Oct. 1998, pages 28-38.) All other Chinese input methods use a western keyboard, which is foreign to most Chinese. The lack of an input method is being cited as a major obstacle to acceptance of computers in Asia. While one in three households in the US have a computer, only one in 20 households in Taiwan have a computer, and only one in 300 households in China have a computer. Interestingly, Singapore has the same household-computer ratio as the US. Apparently, the biggest difference between Singapore and Taiwan is that Singapore has English as the official language and Taiwan has Mandarin. So, Apple was working on voice input and pen recognition input methods for the Mac OS.< maccentral.com

To: Sam Scrutchins who wrote (17600)	9/5/1998 6:11:00 PM
From: HerbVic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213172

Sam, There are already industry pundits projecting double digit growth for IBM in 1999. Much of the projected growth is in anticipation of a gaping performance advantage of the PowerPC chips over the Pentiums. What I find to be most curious is this latest article of a virtual showdown between Intel and an IBM/Motorola/Compaq united front over the design specification for "information channel circuitry." (a rather vauge description of the area in dispute) Details of the specification are non-existent in the article, but knowing that complex circuit technology does not bloom overnight we MAY surmise that the companies would like to push copper and SOI technology onto the Pentium side of the industry as well. Or it could be that Compaq, IBM and Motorola don't like the Rambus specification, and is pushing their own. (Possible since Rambus is licensing their technology in anticipation of huge revenue gains) Such a push toward copper & SOI for Pentiuns would make sense. If the PowerPC blows away the Pentium now, think of how much damage to Wintel manufacturers there will be when there's a 600 mhz PowerMac laptop with extended battery life selling for the same price as today's top-o-the-line. Compaq, Motorola, and IBM are all chin deep in the manufacturing of products that may be obsoleted, if they allow Intel to continue down its primrose path toward the 300 mm wafer specification and shrinking line widths. It's showdown time in the world of chip design. Unless Intel is willing to pump money into the wafer fabrication industry to support its own aim, the time horizon for 1 ghz Pentiums could be pushed out to 2005, while 1 ghz PowerPCs may be available in late 2000. cnnfn.com Don't you just love it? HerbVic