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July 17, 1999
News
- I’m giving away three more copies of my new book, "Personal
Computer Secrets" today. In addition, don't forget the live radio
broadcast and book signing next week, that’s Saturday, July 24, at
the new Barnes & Noble bookstore in San Mateo, right near the
Hillsdale mall. You can find more information, including directions,
on my web site.
- Toshiba unveiled a new series of laptops during the past week,
including several that offer 400 MHz Pentium II and Celeron
processors. The Satelllite 4100XDVD and 4090SDVD, which are priced at
$2,799 and $2,399 respectively, both feature 14.1" screens, 64 MB
of RAM, 6.4 GB hard drives and built-in DVD-ROM drives. The more
expensive 4100XDVD is based on the 400 MHz mobile Pentium II and the
4090SDVD uses the 400 MHz Celeron. Each machine also includes a
built-in 56K modem. Toshiba’s new Satellite 2595 series, ranging in
price from $1,599 to 2,299, are all based on the 400 MHz Celeron and
include 64 MB of RAM and CD-ROM drives, as well as built-in 56K
modems. The Satellite 2060CDS and 2065CDS, which list for $1,399,
feature 12.1" screens and 32 MB of RAM.
- Former low-cost PC leader Packard Bell threw itself back into the
game with the introduction of a sub-$500 PC and sub-$1,000 Pentium
III-based computer. The $499 Packard Bell 883 (after a $75 rebate)
features a 366-MHz Celeron, 32MB of RAM, 32x CD-ROM and 4.3GB hard
drive. The $999 Packard Bell 8975 comes with a 450-MHz Pentium III,
64MB of RAM, and a 10.2GB hard drive. Neither system price includes a
monitor. Packard Bell’s parent company NEC also introduced three new
NEC Ready systems, several of which include rewritable CD-RW drives.
Prices for the new systems range from $799 to $1,299 and processors
range from a 433 MHz Celeron to a 450 MHz Pentium III. In addition,
each PC includes 64 or 96 GB of RAM, 8 or 10 GB hard drive, built-in
32X CD or multispeed DVD-ROM, 3D accelerated AGP-slot video card, and
a 56K modem.
- Pinnacle announced a new low-cost video editing card for PCs called
Studio PCTV. The $89 PCI plug-in card, which also has a $20
introductory rebate below that price, is designed for digitizing and
editing video that will stay on your PC or be used on the web. In
other words, while it has several types of video inputs, including
normal video, S-video and cable, it has no video outputs. The card,
which requires a Pentium 133 or higher and 32 MB of RAM, also comes
with a built-in TV tuner and includes the ability to record television
programs through that tuner. Bundled with the card are several
different software packages that let you edit the video, create
titles, edit the audio and publish your finished product on the web.
Files, which take up between 500 MB to 2 GB per hour of video, can be
saved in AVI, MPEG-1 or RealVideo formats for streaming over the web.
So, if you’ve been looking for a tool that will let you
inexpensively add video to your web site, this looks like it would be
a good choice.
- Amazon.com announced that they’ve ventured out beyond books, music
and videos this past week, with the addition of a Toy store and
Consumer Electronics as part of the site. It’s all part of Amazon’s
move to establish itself as the online commerce site and will
undoubtedly lead to increased competition and difficulty for other
online toy and electronics stores.
- Lexmark this week announced a new color inkjet printer, theZ31, as
well as price reductions on many of their existing models. The
dual-cartridge Z31 features 1,200 x 1,200 dpi, print speeds of up to 8
ppm for black-and-white pages and 3.5 ppm for color. In addition, the
Z31 is bundled with what the company calls a value software pack and
offers the option of using a photo cartridge for doing six-ink
photo-printing. Like other models in the line, the Z31 offers the
company’s Accu-Feed paper handling system, which is supposed to
prevent paper jams with any type of paper. The Z31 is scheduled to be
available in September with a retail price of $199, although it will
also have a $50 rebate, for a final cost of $149. As of this past
week, all of Lexmark’s printers now offer a $50 rebate. The
single-cartridge Z11 is now $49 after rebate, the dual-cartridge
Lexmark 3200, which also offers 1,200 dpi but slower print speeds than
the Z31, is $99 after rebate, the faster Z51 is now $199 after rebate
and the company’s photo printer, the Photo Jetprinter 5770 is now
$299 after rebate.
- Epson has added two new models to its line of digital cameras: the
$349 PhotoPC 650 and the $699 PhotoPC 800. The PhotoPC 650 is a one
megapixel camera, meaning it offers resolution of up to 1,152 x 854
pixels per image. It also offers a USB connection for transferring
images to a PC. It does this via a cradle into which you place just
the CompactFlash card that the camera uses for digital film. The
PhotoPC 650 can be used with optional wide-angle, telephoto and other
lenses and also offers a standard—but much slower—serial
connection for transferring images on the camera itself. If you want
the higher resolution of a 2.1 megapixel camera, then the PhotoPC 800
is probably a better choice. In addition to offering resolutions of up
to 1,600 x 1,200 or 1984 x 1488 pixels with Epson's HyPict image
enhancement technology, the PhotoPC features a tiny overall package
that weighs less than a pound. Interestingly, while it works with the
USB connection technology of the PhotoPC 650, it doesn’t ship with
the USB cradle, offering only the standard serial port connection
instead. Both cameras feature a color LCD for previewing your
pictures.
- Creative Labs WebCam 3 is the company’s new $79 USB camera for
Windows 98 (only) PCs. The redesigned camera offers resolution of up
to 640 x 480 with 24-bit color. In addition, it ups the frame rate to
30 fps at a resolution of 352 x 288 and 15 fps at 640 x 480. The
camera comes with a wide range of software, including tools for
capturing and editing still images, setting up a website webcam, and a
monitoring tool for recording suspicious activity around your PC.
- Microsoft, through its MSN online service, jumped into the Free PC
frenzy this past week with yet another deal that provides a free
computer in exchange for signing up for an extended service contract.
In Microsoft’s case, the company’s offering a free computer from a
company called Lan Plus if you sign up for a three-year agreement with
MSN at $17.99 a month. Frankly, that’s a lot cheaper than most other
choices, plus the PC it includes isn’t bad. The machine offers a 400
MHz AMD K6-2 processor, a 4GB hard drive, 64MB of RAM, a 40X CD-ROM
drive, and a 3Com 56K modem. Not surprisingly, it also includes
Windows 98 and Microsoft Plus 98 with antivirus software installed,
plus one year of warranty service, and one year of toll-free tech
support.
- In addition, AOL, who announced a similar deal last week, came up
with yet another incentive offer to get people to sign up for
long-term contracts. In a deal with IBM, AOL announced a $400 rebate
on either Aptiva PCs or iSeries ThinkPad notebooks if you agree to
sign with CompuServe for $21.95 a month for three years. You can get
the rebate through retails stores, including Best Buy, Circuit City
and CompUSA.
- Belkin is introducing a new USB-to-SCSI device specifically for
iMacs and G3 Macs at next week’s MacWorld Expo show in New York. The
$99 adapter plugs into those computers’ existing USB port and then
lets you use up to seven daisy-chained SCSI peripherals, just as you
can with a standard SCSI adapter. The USB-to-SCSI Adapter is
compatible with MacOS 8.5.1 and later and is sheduled to be released
in August.
- Compaq has an interesting new bundle for MP3 audio fans. Starting
now, anyone who buys a Compaq Presario 5000, 5600S, or 5700T series
computer will get a 32MB Rio PMP300 portable MP3 player in a teal
case, along with RioPort's Audio Manager software. The software lets
you both retrieve MP3 files over the web, organize them and transfer
them back and forth to the Rio. The 32 MB version of the Rio offers up
to hour of high-quality MP3 audio.
- Finally, starting this fall you’ll be able to buy postage online
via the US Postal Service. Working in conjunction with both Stamps.com
and eStamps, the USPS is gearing the service for small businesses who
do fairly frequent mailings, but can’t justify the purchase of a
postage machine. Using the system, which will work with most laser and
black-capable inkjet printers, you print out a postage meter-like
stamp as well as a special bar code onto an envelope. You’ll pay a
privilege for the convenience, however, typically about 10% of the
postage cost.
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