2/22/99
BILL FERSTER’S VIDEOGRAPHICS NEWSWIRE
ISSUE 99-4
ABOUT THIS NEWSWIRE
Bill Ferster’s VideoGraphics NewsWire is published bi-weekly and summarizes the important events in the convergent worlds of multimedia, video, animation, chips, mass storage and computers.
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BUSINESS
---> E&S Sales and Earnings Up
Leading simulation and 3D supplier Evans and Sutherland (http://www.es.com) posted a gain of $3M on sales of $58M this quarter, as compared with a $2M loss on sales of $49M last year.
---> Things Turn Blue at Purple Moon
Interface and Design Pioneer Brenda Laurel’s company, Purple Moon (http://www.purple-moon.com/) has closed its doors. Earlier in the week, they laid off 10% of their staff and announced they were seeking an acquisition deal. The company had targeted the highly-competitive CDROM market by providing games designed with girls in mind, based on Laurel’s research while at Paul Allen funded "think tank" Interval.
---> DVD Sales Growing Fast
The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association ((http://www.cema.org) released sales figures that showed the rate of growth for DVD players handily outpaced VCR sales, although there are still orders of magnitude differences in the absolute volumes. 1M DVD units were sold in 1998, up from 350K in 1997, which compares with 18M VCRs sold, up from 17M the previous year.
TECHNOLOGY
---> Companies Pool FireWire Patents
Ostensibly responding to negative publicity to their intention to pursue their IEEE-1394 (FireWire) interface patents, Apple (http://www.apple.com) joined a coalition of manufacturers including Compaq, Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips, Sony and Toshiba to form a licensing pool for patents surrounding the new high-speed 1394 digital interface specification.
---> eMachines: A Good Out-Of-Box Experience
I had the pleasure of purchasing an eMachines (http://www.e4me.com) eTower300 Pentium computer for a client and have to say that it is an incredible value at $400. The system is well designed, made and marked. The only problem with it is that although there is an ATI-based AGP 3D chip on the motherboard, there is no way to add a different AGP card.
3D TECHNOLOGY
---> SGI Offers OpenGL GLX Source
Boosting the trend towards open source software, Silicon Graphics (http://www.sgi.com/software/opensource/glx) made the source code to their GLX OpenGL windowing library for use by the growing Linux software base. GLX makes it easy to add GUI elements that support 3D rendering by proving a layer that integrates OpenGL with X-Windows.
---> Sony Unveils New 128-bit Media Chip
Raising the ante in the console game marketplace, Sony (http://www.sel.sony.com/semi) announced a new 128-bit media processor chip presumably slated for the next-generation Sony PlayStation. The new chip integrates 2D, 3D and video codec functions far surpassing the current 32-bit chip currently within the unit.
---> Intergraph to Spin-Off 3D Chip Unit
CAD and computer maker Intergraph Computer Systems plans to spin-off its 3D graphics division which makes the highly acclaimed Intense3D rendering chips, supported on their high-performance Wildcat rendering cards. The new company will be called Intense3D (http://www.intense3d.com/vpr).
---> 3Dlabs Sampling Permedia3 3D Render Chip
Leading 3D chipmaker 3Dlabs (http://www.3dlabs.com) is shipping samples of its anxiously awaited new consumer 3D-render accelerator chip. The "Permedia3" is a 128-bit integrated 2d/3D renderer, which boasts 24-bit z-buffer, advanced texture memory management, video support, and high-speed bump and mip-mapping capabilities.
---> Web3D Consortium Floats X3D Proposal
The Web3D Consortium (http://www.web3d.com) (formerly the VRML Consortium) is trying to establish a new standard for making ubiquitous 3D available on the web. The "X3D" is defined with the XML standard and will feature a standardized 3D format and componentized methods for making high quality video available over the Internet.
BROADCAST / POST-PRODUCTION
---> Orad Virtual Sets Getting Takers
Virtual set maker Orad, whose unique visual grid approach to determining camera position permits the use of handheld cameras on virtual sets is gaining some acceptance in the industry, as evidenced by the flurry of press releases announcing new sites.
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SUBSCRIPTIONS
Bill Ferster’s VideoGraphics NewsWire is published weekly and summarizes the important events in the convergent worlds of multimedia, video, animation, chips, mass storage and computers.
The cost is $49 per quarter billed to your MasterCard, Visa or American Express card. You may cancel anytime you like for a pro-rated refund. I regret that the administrative billing overhead prohibits me from accepting checks and purchase orders. Corporate site licenses can be negotiated. Students, Schools and other educational facilities may receive the NewsWire at no charge.
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CYA DISCLAIMER: The preceding NewsWire represents my best efforts to gather the facts and the offering of my opinions. Although I try to describe the world as it appears me, I make no representations as to the accuracy of the reports within, which are gleaned from press releases, print and online magazines and the Inquisit Information Service.
