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July 18, 1998
News
- I’ve got lots of free stuff again today, including a
Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepads and more.
- Netscape introduced a new version of their Communicator
browser this week. Version 4.5, a beta of which can now be downloaded off of the
company’s web site, includes updated versions of their Netscape Navigator browser,
Netscape Messenger e-mail and news reader client and more. The big changes in the
Navigator browser include a new smart browsing feature that lets you simply type what
you’re looking for into the URL window. So, instead of having to know a particular
web site address or having to worry about first going to a search engine, you can simply
type in some key words into the address line and Navigator will automatically use the
search engine on its Netcenter web site to find appropriate sites. For example, if you
type in troubleshooting computers, you’ll actually find my Troubleshooting Guide page
on www.everythingcomputers.com. Another new "smart browsing" feature is a button
called "What’s Related" which provides a drop-down list of relates sites.
These links are generated via technology that Netscape licensed from Alexa. The new
version of the Messenger e-mail client includes a three-pane window arrangement for
previewing your e-mail messages and incorporates all the capabilities of Netscape
Collabra, which means you can also use Messenger to read and view newsgroups and other
bulletin-board-like content. As with previous versions of Communicator, version 4.5 is
free for anyone to download.
- Packard Bell NEC this week announced they’re getting
into the consumer notebook market with the introduction of two new NEC Ready brand
notebooks. The NEC Ready 220T features a 233 MHz mobile Pentium MMX processor, 12.1"
active matrix screen, 32 MB of RAM, 56K modem, and CD-ROM drive for $1,799. If you can
afford a bit more, the Ready 330T offers a 266 MHz mobile Pentium MMX processor, huge
13.3" active matrix screen, and the same memory, modem and CD for $2,299.
- A relatively new entrant to the world of PC vendors is trying
to stake its claim in the PC market by calling themselves one of (if not the) only PC
manufacturers designed specifically for the web. IDot, which you can find at www.idot.com,
offers all that you would expect from a PC company’s web site, including low system
prices and the ability to configure a system of your choosing. The company is also trying
to make a name by offering well-stocked systems at low prices. For example, they’re
offering a 400 MHz Pentium II desktop system with 128 MB of RAM and a 16.8 GB hard drive
(but no monitor) for just over $2,000. The 400BX2, which retails for $2,099, also includes
an 8 MB AGP graphics board, 32x CD-ROM, 56K modem, Altec-Lansing speakers and more.
- Speaking of graphics, Taiwanese chipset company Silicon
Integrated Systems, or SIS, this week introduced one of first PC chipsets that also
incorporates a graphics card into it. Look for many other companies to do this in the
future, including Intel. In fact, Intel is apparently planning to offer chipsets in
early-to-mid-1999 that incorporate the company’s speedy i740 graphics accelerator
chip that’s now being used in many of today’s new 3D graphics accelerators.
- Speaking of Intel and 1999, other things we can look forward
to next year include 500 and even 600 MHz versions of the Pentium II for desktops and up
to 366 MHz versions for notebooks. In addition, the company is planning a new set of
MMX-like instructions codenamed Katmai—and referred to by some as MMX 2—for
chips that launch around the first quarter of 1999. Another important difference is that
future Pentium IIs will apparently also have L2 cache built into the processor itself,
much like the old Pentium Pro processor. Ironically, the first new chip to have onboard L2
will be an upcoming version of their low-cost Celeron processor. Celerons codenamed
Mendocino and due out towards the end of this year will offer 128 K of L2 cache built into
the processor. Similar Pentium IIs slated for 1999 will have 256K or more of the fast
memory, which can have a dramatic impact on a chip’s overall performance.
- In Year 2000-related news, there was some good news this week
from Wall Street. According to news reports I read, several major brokerages ran some Y2K
tests that involved buying and selling securities with their current systems and they were
successful. Apparently there were some glitches, but they had to do with connectivity
issues, not date problems. Of course, this is just one small, but important,
industry’s tests, but it’s still encouraging.
- The other Y2K news is that Symantec plans to introduce a new
utility in the fall called Norton 2000 that will check for and fix any Year 2000-related
problems it finds on PCs. The product, which is expected to retail for $40, will be
available for Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and NT. Norton 2000 looks for BIOS problems, application
problems and file problems and will apparently be able to fix them, or provide pointers on
how to fix them, on its own. I’ll let you know more when I found out more myself, but
it sounds interesting.
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