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To: Mats Ericsson who wrote (4594)	1/30/1999 2:33:00 AM
From: Bill Zeman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Mats That's good advice, (Throw good money only after good money. Not good money after something..). Don't worry, I am still holding a lot of cash, although I have a decent position in IDTC, along with some March 22.5 calls. I have been watching IDTC for a couple of years. I have done a lot of DD. I am sure IDTC is a much better buy now than CYCH was a year ago at 38. Was CYCH at a price to book of 1.5? Did it have a strong core business, besides the internet hype stuff? Frankly IDTC is such a table pounding BUY right now that the only thing that keeps me from slamming all my recent SNDK proceeds into it is my principle of diversification. I don't wanna be too heavy in ANY THING! Nonetheless, thanx for your advice and your concern. It is always good to be tempered by others. Besides the extremely informative nature of this thread, I have for a long time enjoyed, (albeit mostly as a lurker) the congeniality of the posters as well as the sense of genuine care and concern I see here. Regards Bill Z (28 7/8)

To: Mats Ericsson who wrote (4594)	1/30/1999 8:12:00 AM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 60323

Mats and Thread, No one can predict the movement of SNDK in the next few months to weeks, however, there are several potential developments which could set it afire even if it smolders here in the mid-20's. I read two WSJ articles courtesy of my Dad who is visiting this week. One (1/22/99) was an article about the Rio! and it mentions that Microsoft is planning a release of an mp3 player. As far as I can tell the Rio! has been successful only because of timing. There is little barrier to entry and you can be certain that Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, Siemens, Casio... are going to step up to the plate. What would happen if Microsoft released an mp3 player bundled with some incredible software package for compressing and archiving mp3's, a year's membership to the Microsoft mp3 Collection On-Line (a site where upcoming, struggling artists can post their music for listening and downloading at $1.25 a selection), and an 16 MB CompactFlash card? Again, all theoretical, but Eli stated that there has been interest in both MMC and CF design-ins lately. The second article (1/25/99) mentioned Sony's dominance in the digital camera market. Their position has been that the consumer is after ease of use (floppy storage), not image resolution. It describes the great tangle of cables you need to have connected to the back of your PC to use any of the MYRIAD of storage alternatives such as CF and...um...let's see...uhhhh...SmartMedia. (Not really so many alternatives, actually!!!) Guess they forgot about all those people with laptops who know how to use a PCMCIA port. (Please note, the picture that accompanied the article demonstrates how one inserts the floppy disc backwards.) Basically, I think they underestimate the competence of the average consumer when it comes to connecting a parallel port device and loading a software program. Anyway, Sony is going to put the Memory Stick in the next Mavica. So much for ease of use. It will really be just an analog of CF or SmartMedia. Personally, I am going to look for CF as a common currency for removable storage. I will buy a Casiopeia or like device with a CF slot, a second digital camera with a CF slot, an mp3 player with a CF slot and a Lexmark printer with a CF slot. That way one can realize the hidden cost savings and upgrade capacity as new cards come out without fear of incompatibility. I also hope that the next Palm Pilot has a CF slot. If they wish these devices to be more than just an electronic address book they will need to have more functionality. A friend has a Newton and has downloaded a bunch of software over the net to help him with note taking. You could imagine putting Tetris on board so that you could play during a boring business meeting. I would be interested in a foreign language dictionary or the like. Soon these devices could also incorporate a second generation voice recording device or voice recognition software for dictations and, my greatest hope, software for an mp3 player with a stereo ear piece jack. That way you can combine the convenience of multiple devices into one powerful palm PC. I hope that the Microsoft CE OS is capable of handling more complex computations these applications require. I also hope that the GPS market comes alive and CF or MMC becomes the chosen standard. Imagine going out on a fishing expedition in the Pacific and downloading at the dock a map of an archipelago with all the fishing hot spots and nude beaches defined. These are the reasons I am excited about SNDK. Ausdauer