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Then you do not understand that companies put arbitration clauses in contracts. (to protect each other from excessive legal costs)
It is not odd at all, and done all the time.
Guess my 2 1/2 pick didn't pan out. Who knew?
They are not suing anybody...
Read "...announced it has filed a demand for arbitration against Eclipse by Fujitsu Ten"
Most companies put arbitration clauses in contracts to protect themselves from wasteful law suits.(who knows why Fply didn't have one with Trans World?)
The whole thing will be settled with little blood letting to both parties and limited cash to the esquires.
Expect both companies will have to give something before they can take.
Suggest you all brush up on arbitration if you care to discuss such subjects. I have seen a few confused posters today. ie cassy
The device received a great deal of praise, and proved extremely popular with the passengers
http://www.airlinenewsdesk.com/briefs/archive.asp?action=read&bid=101
Yesterday I heard a radio story on WTOP Radio 1500 Wash DC on the Digeplayer and how well passengers liked them and how chances are they would make it to the larger Airlines at some point.
Sorry guys no links
I think Alaska and Hawaiian (APS' pioneer users) are just the tip of the spear. We're engaged in discussions not only with the profitable low-cost carriers but with the established major airlines.
I think the possibilities are unlimited. Hotels, hospitals and cruise ships are all good potential markets.
The opinion of...
Sheldon Best
Age: 63
Education: Texas A&M University
Background: Began career in 1968 as United Airlines management trainee, quickly rose to become United CEO Eddie Carlson's top assistant and later vice president of West Coast operations. After stints with Continental Airlines, Air Cal, European aircraft maker Aerospatiale and aircraft leasing company Boullion Aviation, he worked with Aviation Partners Boeing to sell fuel-saving winglets for airliners and corporate jets.
In fact both Hawaiian Airlines and APS are our customers, and seeing such praise of one of our products from the people that market it is a great way to start a day.
THEN CUSTOMER PRAISE must be a recommendation
Gordon Locke, Sr. VP of Marketing & Sales with Hawaiian also commented, "This fits our product innovation strategy. During the test period we ran a comparison on these first 5 flights between the digEplayer and our standard in-flight system and the digEplayer outsold head-set sales by nearly 5 to 1."
OUTSOLD HEAD-SET SALES 5-1
NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!!!
Ken Clark, Manager of In-flight Training at APS states, "I have never seen anything like it, families of four had no problem paying for players for each members of their family. We even saw passengers returning home from the previous week, reserving players once again."
DigEplayer a Hit With Hawaiian Airlines
Wednesday March 31, 8:05 am ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040331/sfw044_1.html
Latest Use Proves Exciting View Into the Future of APS' Portable In-Flight Entertainment Device and Its Tremendous Value on the Transpacific Routes
TACOMA, Wash., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, March 21, Hawaiian Airlines and APS launched the digEplayer 5500, the worlds first completely self-contained, portable in flight entertainment system on the device's first transpacific flight from Seattle to Honolulu.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It was unbelievable watching the response from the passengers. When I worked the beverage cart with the Hawaiian flight attendant loaded with the digEplayers, we had 3 players running on top of the cart, showing a children's movie, Master and Commander, and music videos. It took us less than 15 minutes to sell out all 68 players we had available to rent," said Bill Boyer, Chairman and Founder of APS.
Ken Clark, Manager of In-flight Training at APS states, "I have never seen anything like it, families of four had no problem paying for players for each members of their family. We even saw passengers returning home from the previous week, reserving players once again."
Boyer and Clark flew nearly 20,000 miles in 6 days from Hawaii to the mainland, working alongside the hardworking Flight Attendants for Hawaiian Airlines. Boyer continued, "The flight attendants took to the digEplayers right away and we appreciate their enthusiasm and support for our player."
The system found its way to Hawaiian Airlines because of Luana Aiona, Mgr., Product & Systems Development Onboard Services, and her interest in the digEplayer after seeing it at the World Airline Entertainment Association conference in Seattle last September. Aiona said, "When I first saw the digEplayer on the second day of the conference I immediately realized the potential the digEplayer would have for us."
Gordon Locke, Sr. VP of Marketing & Sales with Hawaiian also commented, "This fits our product innovation strategy. During the test period we ran a comparison on these first 5 flights between the digEplayer and our standard in-flight system and the digEplayer outsold head-set sales by nearly 5 to 1."
Ms. Aiona went on to say, "The reaction from our passengers, crew members, pilots, ground personnel and Management staff has been overwhelmingly positive. I am convinced the players will be a big hit on our Honolulu-Sydney routes with the long flight times."
The digEplayer 5500 is the world's first portable, Video-On-Demand, In-flight entertainment system. The player can hold over 30 full length feature movies and 10 hours of dynamic music content available on demand for the airline passenger. The digEplayer is a cost efficient means for the airlines to provide a variety of entertainment options from first run movies and television shows to music videos and destination information. Ms Aiona added, "While we originally looked for an in-seat system, the digEplayer is a true AVOD system without the wiring, aircraft down time and weight!" Boyer continues, "Using the rental formula developed originally by APS, the payback period for carriers like Hawaiian Airlines can be less then 6 months."
APS is a privately held corporation from Tacoma, WA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: APS, Inc.
I think all of the objx/fply bag holders were last seen at this site...
http://www.investortoinvestor.com/
You may want to email Kathy and ask her when they plan to land someone as big as a Gateway
Could we get Application of the Year?
Find out March 25th...
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040323005...
Microsoft: Europe 'iPod Killer' Debut in 2nd Half of '04
Thu Mar 18, 4:30 AM ET - Reuters
By Bernhard Warner
LONDON (Reuters) - The first handheld gadgets to play music and movies on Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) "iPod killer" software will be available in Europe in the second half of 2004, the world's largest software company said on Thursday.
The gadgets will run on Microsoft's yet-to-be-unveiled Portable Media Center software in a direct assault on iPod, Apple Computer Inc.'s (NasdaqNM:AAPL - news) hot-selling digital music player.
Working with a host of manufacturing partners, Microsoft is introducing a device that plays movies and stores digital photos as well as songs in a bid to grab a share of the fast-growing digital media player market.
"We think this is going to be one of the hot devices for Christmas 2004," said James Bernard, product manager for Portable Media Center. The U.S. software giant has enlisted Creative Technology Ltd. (CREA.SI) and Korea's Reigncom Ltd.'s (060570.KQ) iRiver International unit to develop devices for the European market.
Microsoft said the Creative devices will be available in Sweden, the United Kingdom and Denmark first, retailing for between 550 euros and 599 euros ($678.50-$738.90) and 399 pounds and 449 pounds ($724-$814.70).
The product will be available in Germany, France, Italy and Spain to follow, but also by year-end, Microsoft said.
Price details and retail launch dates were not available for the iRiver device.
FATTER THAN THE IPOD
The Creative players will be sold with 20 gigabytes or 40 gigabytes of storage capacity, the latter would provide 175 hours of video playback or 10,000 songs, Microsoft said.
The devices play MP3 files as well as audio and video content recorded in Microsoft's digital format. The devices run on the Windows CE operating system.
The Creative player weighs in at 330 grams (11.5 ounces) -- roughly three times as thick as an iPod and roughly twice as long to accommodate its television-quality color screen. It has a USB port and comes with audio and video outputs cable to play media on a television or stereo hi-fi.
Microsoft will be up against Paris-based Archos Inc., one of the earliest entrants in the multi-media player market, and Dell Inc. (NasdaqNM:DELL - news) to grab a piece of a market that some analysts predict will not take off for a few more years when consumers become more accustomed to saving video content on their PCs.
"I don't think these devices will be changing the consumer electronics landscape in any way this year. By definition, they just don't have widespread appeal," said Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Jupiter Research in London.
But longer term, Microsoft is betting heavily on its strategy to create devices that plug into their computers from which they can store and access all their entertainment content.
Microsoft's Bernard envisaged a scenario where the owner of a Portable Media Center gadget would be able to store hours of their favorite music and movies on the device. They could then download from a news-oriented Web site a round-up of the day's news to watch on the train.
To that end, Microsoft is busy assembling media partners to provide content including movies, music videos and news. It has signed up music label EMI (EMI.L) and digital music outfit Napster (news - web sites) (NasdaqNM:ROXI - news).
Bernard said more media alliances will be announced closer to the launch date.
In case someone cares...
George Michael to put all future songs on Internet -- for free...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3499534.stm
George Michael shuns music industry
George Michael courted controversy with his single Shoot the Dog
Pop star George Michael is abandoning the music business to release his songs online for free instead.
The multi-millionaire singer said he will never make another album for sale in record shops because he does not need the cash and does not enjoy fame.
Fans will be given the option to make donations online in exchange for downloading the tracks, and the proceeds will be given to charity.
He is promoting his latest album, Patience, which he said is his last.
The 40-year-old star made his announcement during an interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1.
I'll hopefully be a happier man, giving my music and also doing something really positive with my music
George Michael
Speaking about his decision, he said: "I'm sure it's unprecedented, it's definitely unprecedented for someone who still sells records.
"I've been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money."
He added that he hoped people downloading his music would donate to his favourite charities.
'All the negativity'
Explaining his decision, the former Wham! frontman said: "It does two things - it takes the pressure off to have a collection of songs every so many years, which is what nearly killed me.
"I'm not pretending I won't be famous any more, but in the modern world if you take yourself out of the financial aspect of things, you're not making anybody any money, you're not losing anybody any money.
"Believe me, I'll be of very little interest to the press in a certain number of years.
"I'll hopefully be a happier man, giving my music and also doing something really positive with my music if people are generous enough to donate to the site. I'll remove myself from all that negativity."
The singer has had a rollercoaster of a career from the heady days as a heart-throb in Wham to his arrest for indecency in a Los Angeles public toilet in 1998.
Since becoming a solo star he has never been far from controversy, including his vilification for his single Shoot the Dog which was accompanied by a video showing Tony Blair as a poodle to George Bush.
His image as a teen heart-throb diminished when he revealed he was gay, but he has since been embraced by an older audience highlighted by the championing of his album Patience by BBC Radio 2.
Music swappers face home invasion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3545839.stm
A similar US law has led to lawsuits against pop-swappers
Rampant song swappers could have their homes raided and property seized under an EU law due to be voted on Tuesday.
The new law puts in place tough measures to deal with anyone who flouts intellectual property rights.
Critics say the law is too blunt as it applies the same penalties to both professional counterfeiters and consumers who swap pop songs online.
They are calling for the directive to be amended to make penalties more appropriate to what an offender does.
Property price
The final vote on the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive takes place in the European Parliament on 9 March.
Initially the law was drawn up to target the professional pirates, criminals and counterfeiters who make copies of everything from CDs to handbags.
But while being debated the directive was widened to cover any infringement of intellectual property.
The directive allows companies to raid homes, seize property and ask courts to freeze bank accounts to protect trademarks or intellectual property they believe are being abused or stolen.
Music firms might come knocking if you are swapping pop
Civil liberty and lobby groups fear that the music industry will also use the law to mount raids on the homes of people who swap songs via file-sharing systems such as Kazaa.
The incoming directive was compared to the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act by Andreas Dietl, director of EU Affairs for the European Digital Rights (EDRi) lobby group.
The Recording Industry Association of America has used the DMCA to bring lawsuits against file-swappers in the US and EDRi fears the same could now happen in European countries.
The European law has been shepherded through the European Parliament by MEP Janelly Fourtou, wife of Jean-Rene Fourtou who is boss of media giant Vivendi Universal.
"Under this law, your home is not quite your castle anymore," said Mr Dietl, "You will have to defend it quite aggressively."
Lobbyists also fear that the law could threaten press freedom in countries, such as Spain, which include confidential information in definitions of intellectual property.
The vote on the law could be close because more than 100 Euro-MPs have pledged support for amendments to the directive to make its penalties and the action firms can take more appropriate to who has committed an offence.
In November, the EU copyright directive came into force in the UK which put many things people are used to doing with music, such as copying tracks to an MP3 player, fell into a legal grey area.
They were number 25 and 26 on the list of top earners last week in theatres...
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movies/box_office.php?rank_id=472
I see Master and Commander got an 85% on the tomato-meter. Looks like the bashers can't call it a dog.
Bid/Ask going up early today...
.40 X .44
11% spread is criminal imho
If I had a clue I would have sold at .45 last week, bought back at .34 yesterday and would know what to do right now.
Very odd trading pattern imho
Not sure if something is up or something has been up/down/up
EDIG 0.41 +0.08 0.40 X 0.41 508,164 15:21:45
Guess the seller is gone. LOL
sorry got the year wrong...
File Description: Gateway DMP-X20 - 20GB Jukebox Firmware update
Revision: 2.3
Operating System: Microsoft(r) Windows(r) 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP
Driver Part Number: 9526915
Driver Date: 12/15/2003
Gateway firmware upgrade...
http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?st=pn¶m=7004768
Increases the maximum number of playlists to 4,000
If you pull up the "How to install box" it states the driver date was 12/15/04 which supports the fact e.Digital sent it to them a while ago.
ftp://ftp.gateway.com/pub/hardware_support/bios/mp3/9526915.txt
imho anyone with millions of options, is already well postioned to do well on the future business of this company.
Even the super rich don't put all their eggs in one basket.
You post like an investing amature.
imho you did. Now get up and move on and find another truck.
All statements from management from ANY company other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and should be treated as such.
imho Then you need to get someone to help you with your investing.
All statements from management from ANY company other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and should be treated as such.
If from man woman child computer newswire audiowire animal tea leaves etc
Predictions are never historical facts, never, never and never.
Anyone that thinks they are should not be in the market without help imho
you need to be able to sort that stuff out
I would agree... if you were not still posting.
You can't be objective if you are still attached imho.
It's only your opinion that you are attached.
My opinion says you are engaged.
All statements made... other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the businesses of the Company and the industries and markets in which the company operates. Those statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that will be difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements.
When your business objective is building relationships with odms and oems for branding of designed products in the ce marketplace. You learn to deal with quick starts and quick stops and changed plans and changed minds and changed marketing plans.
The Lawyers are only for the real big issues.
imho this is not one
I suggest anyone looking for a company with less risk yet high growth in the ce business look at someone like auo.
2-Aug-02 DIAZ, ALEX
Director 360,000 Purchase at $0.33 per share. $118,800
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=EDIG.OB
Wow Edig management must be really innovative to "devise methods"
I had no idea that this raising funds in the markets is such cutting edge stuff.
LOL
Perk: All Chicago flights will feature Alaska's new digEplayer in-flight entertainment system that offers a choice of films and TV shows.
http://www.oregonlive.com/travel/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/exclude/1076504843295141.xml
As great as that confirmation is, just think, it is very likely that you could get similar emails from 12 other airlines.
IFE is looking up.imho.eom
Margin at 18% very good news, since most of the revenue was product
Last Qtr was 12.3%
.eom
e.Digital Corporation Quarterly Conference Call
Scheduled to start Thu, Feb 12, 2004, 4:30 pm Eastern
http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/3/39323.html
STATE OF THE ART
For iPod, 6 Flavors of Flattery
By DAVID POGUE
VEN this early in the campaign, the battle for the popular vote is really heating up; the incumbent is being challenged by lesser-known candidates from all over the country. The winner will be the candidate with the best balance of new ideas and appealing looks - and battery life.
I am referring, of course, to the battle for supremacy among portable music players.
So far, Apple's iPod is by far the best seller among high-capacity players. You can't stand in a public place without seeing a pair of those telltale white earbud cords pass by; for once in its life, Apple gets to find out what it's like to be Microsoft. The iPod's success has spawned an entire industry of iPod cases, iPod accessories, iPod software - and now, inevitably, iPod imitators.
The rivals come from electronics makers (Samsung) and from fellow computer makers (Dell, Gateway), as well as from veteran music-player makers (Rio, Creative Labs, iRiver).
Most have the familiar iPod ingredients: a screen, a tiny hard drive and a rechargeable battery, all packed into a rectangular case and accompanied by earbuds. Most come with jukebox software that loads your collection of music files - which you've either downloaded or "ripped" from music CD's - onto the player over a U.S.B. 2.0 cable.
The other notable feature of these competitors is a marketing message that's either "just like the iPod, only cheaper" or "just like the iPod, only better."
Now, you're a busy person, so here's the gist: most of these rivals are cheaper - usually $100 less. But "better" is another story. The iPod is still smaller, more attractive and more thoughtfully designed than any of the upstarts.
It's also much more than just a music player. The iPod can also display your calendar and address book, serve as a text reader and alarm clock, help you pass the time with a suite of games, and so on. And that's before you tap into the universe of add-on shareware programs. (One intriguing example is iSpeak It for the Mac, which converts any text file, Web page or Microsoft Word document into a spoken-word soundtrack, using synthesized voices.)
Even so, certain audiences will prefer the iPod alternatives. For many people these days, "cheaper" is better than "better." Maybe you crave this bell or that whistle that the iPod lacks - a built-in FM radio, say, or a built-in microphone. Or maybe your Windows PC doesn't have Windows 2000 or XP - a requirement for iTunes, the iPod's companion software. (The iPod works with both Mac and Windows; most of the rivals are Windows-only.)
Furthermore, if you want to shop at one of those $1-a-song music Web sites, buying an iPod pretty much limits you to Apple's iTunes music store. (The Apple store's AAC files play only on the iPod. The other stores, like Napster and Musicmatch, deliver WMA files that work on any player except the iPod.) Of course, that's like being "forced" to drive a Lexus or "limited" to staying at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, but you get the point.
Finally, most of the iPods-in-training can run 13 to 16 hours per charge (manufacturers' estimates), compared with the iPod's eight. That may be important if you routinely commute from, say, New York to Tokyo, although bigger batteries add bulk.
If cost is your main concern, you'll find that the standout feature of Dell's cleanly designed, very easy-to-use DJ 15 player is its price: $250 for the 15-gigabyte model, $300 for the 20. For now, Dell is even offering an additional 10 percent off at dell.com. (The corresponding iPods cost $300 and $400.)
Unfortunately, the Dell feels half-baked, especially in comparison with the highly polished iPod. For example, it's the only player that falls silent when you try to fast-forward or rewind through a song. Incredibly, you can't make it play your entire music collection, beginning to end. And although it has a microphone for low-quality voice notes, the Dell offers no way to copy such recordings back to your PC for transcription or sending to friends. It's a feature in search of a purpose. (Dell says it will fix the latter two glitches later in a revamped player this March.)
Like the Dell, Gateway's 20-gigabyte DMP X20 ($300) is bigger and heavier than the iPod. It features the industry's biggest screen (2.5 inches diagonally); a microphone like the Dell's; and an FM radio, which is a logical and welcome enhancement to a music player. ("Yes, yes, I know 5,000 songs fit on here - but what am I supposed to listen to after that?")
The Gateway and the iPod are also the only players in this derby that can play digital "books on tape" from Audible.com.
But here again, some of these improvements over the iPod seem to have been designed more for the brochure than for the customer. Why on earth, for example, can't you record songs off the radio? (You can on the Samsung YP-910 GS player, and it's a great way to expand your music collection legally.) And to load up the Gateway, it's too bad you have to use plain old Windows Media Player, a clunky program not particularly suited to the task - and one with no integrated online music store.
The Samsung ($300), by contrast, was designed to sync with the Napster 2.0 $1-a-song service. Unfortunately, the Napster jukebox software is no iTunes; it offers, for example, no way to "rip" your CD's into audio files for loading onto your player.
When it comes to bonus features, the Samsung gets an A for effort. It can memorize 44 FM stations as presets; record from the radio; and, when you attach the included antenna stick, it can even "broadcast' its music to an unused FM frequency on your home or car stereo. (Alas, interference prevents this kind of transmitter from working very well, regardless of the player.)
Ultimately, though, the Samsung is just too eccentric. Its button layout is random and illogical, its plastic case feels cheap, and the large neon-blue lights that surround its control pad are just as tacky as those light-up frames people install on their license plates.
Speaking of vehicles, the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra is the sport-utility truck of MP3 players. At this moment, it's the only player available in a 60-gigabyte model ($400). That's enough to hold 900 hours of WMA-encoded music - an important point if you're selected for the first manned mission to Mars. (To make that prospect even more realistic, Creative Labs blessed this model with a removable battery, so you can pack a bunch of spares in your astro-luggage.)
Unfortunately, the Zen Xtra is truck-like in a bad way, too. At 4.4 by 3.0 by 0.9 inches and nearly half a pound, it fits in your hand like a romance novel dipped in lead. Yet for all that mass, it has no microphone, radio or Record button. And there's no Hold switch; to prevent the player from getting powered on accidentally in your purse or pocket, you have to burrow into a menu command.
Now, most of these machines fall short because their designers have tried to mimic the iPod without fully understanding its appeal. Two of the players, however, exhibit personalities and fresh approaches all their own.
One is the black metal-clad iPod-size iRiver iHP-i20. The price is the same as the iPod's ($400 for 20 gigabytes; a 40-gigabyte model costs $500). But you also get an FM radio, a superb built-in voice recorder (with a choice of recording quality and format), an external tie-clip-style mike and two line inputs for recording directly from, say, a CD player or tape deck. Like Apple, Dell, Gateway and Samsung, iRiver provides a wired remote that controls the player in your purse or pocket - but iRiver's remote has a little backlighted screen of its own that identifies the current song.
Any hard-drive-based player can double as an external hard drive for carrying everyday computer data around with you (photos, movies, e-mail, and so on), which gives it a huge advantage over other kinds of music players. The beauty of the iRiver (and the models from Apple, Samsung and Gateway) is that it shows up as a disk icon immediately when plugged into any PC. The other players require you to install special driver software first. Too bad if you've just arrived at the boardroom PC expecting to plug and play, say, your PowerPoint presentation.
The iRiver's crushing disappointment is that it was evidently designed by engineers, for engineers; its menus make the cockpit of a 767 look spartan. More alarming still, it comes with no jukebox software at all; you're expected to drag your music files onto it manually, in Windows Explorer. Techies will love this thing; mere mortals will be aghast.
Although the Rio Karma ($300 for 20 gigabytes) looks nothing like the iPod - it's a thick, brownie-like square - it comes the closest to recreating the iPod's magic. For example, Rio and Creative Labs are the only companies that bothered to duplicate what may be the single most defining and important feature of the iPod: auto-synching. When you connect the player to your PC, it updates itself to mirror the playlists and songs on your PC. That Dell, Gateway, Samsung and iRiver expect you to manage your music collection manually shows just how little they grasp the larger iPod concept.
To charge and load the Karma, you place it in an included docking station; like the iPod's dock, this one can also hook up to your home stereo when you're not on the go. The dock's Ethernet jack even lets you manage the Karma's contents from anywhere on your home or office network. There's no radio, microphone or other gadgetry-not even a remote. But as a dedicated music player, it's pure good Karma.
Apple could have been some character from Greek mythology: blessed with ingenious, culture-changing innovation yet cursed with seeing its ideas co-opted by rivals who wind up making all the money. In the iPod's case, though, none of the companies who lust for some of Apple's pie can deliver the elegance and convenience of Apple's music trinity: iPod, the iTunes software and the iTunes music store.
But if an iPod isn't for you, you could do worse than buying the Dell for its simplicity and economy, the iRiver for its super-geeky feature list or the Rio Karma for its excellent design and compact dimensions. In this election, at least, there can be more than one victor.
Intel Says Chip Speed Breakthrough Will Alter Cyberworld
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11 — Intel scientists say that they have made silicon chips that can switch light like electricity, blurring the line between computing and communications and presenting a vision of the digital future that will allow computers themselves to span cities or even the entire globe.
The invention demonstrates for the first time, Intel researchers said, that ultrahigh-speed fiberoptic equipment can be produced at personal computer industry prices. As the costs of communicating between computers and chips falls, the barrier to building fundamentally new kinds of computers not limited by physical distance should become a reality, experts said.
The advance, described in a paper to be published on Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, also suggests that Intel, as the world's largest chipmaker, may be able to develop the technology to move into new telecommunications markets.
It will free computer designers to think about the systems they create in new ways, making it possible to conceive of machines that are not located in a single physical place, according to scientists and industry executives. It will also make possible a new class of computing applications based on the possibility of transmitting high-definition video and images hundreds or even thousands of times faster than possible on today's Internet.
"Before, there were two worlds — computing and communications," said Alan Huang, a former Bell Labs physicist, who has founded the Terabit Corporation, an optical networking company in Menlo Park, Calif. "Now they will be the same and we will have powerful computers everywhere."
One potential application, he said, would be an interactive digital television system allowing viewers to watch a sporting event from multiple angles, moving the point of view at will while the game is being played. With only a limited number of digital cameras, it might be possible to synthesize a virtual moveable seat any place in the stadium. Such a feature exists currently in video games, but it is far beyond the capacity of today's digital television transmission systems.
Intel said the technical advance, in which the researchers use a component made from pure silicon to send data at speeds as much as 50 times faster than the previous switching record, is the first step toward building low-cost networks that will move data seamlessly between computers and within large computer systems.
"This opens up whole new areas for Intel," said Mario Paniccia, a an Intel physicist, who started the previously secret Intel research program to explore the possibility of using standard semiconductor parts to build optical networks. "We're trying to siliconize photonics."
The device Intel has built is the prototype of a high-speed silicon optical modulator that the company has now pushed above two billion bits per second at a lab near its headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif. The modulator makes it possible to switch off and on a tiny laser beam and direct it into an ultrathin glass fiber. Although the technical report in Nature focuses on the modulator, which is only one component of a networking system, Intel plans on demonstrating a working system transmitting a movie in high-definition television over a five-mile coil of fiberoptic cable next week at its annual Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
"If Intel and other semiconductor technology companies can develop silicon optically as successfully as they have electronically, then silicon is certainly set to grow in stature as an optical material," Graham Reed, a physicist at the University of Surrey, wrote in a commentary on the Intel paper in Nature. Dr. Reed is the holder of the previous 20-megabit silicon optical switching speed record that Intel shattered.
With this breakthrough, Intel researchers said, they have shown that it should be possible to build optical fiber communications systems using Intel's conventional chipmaking process without resorting to either the exotic materials or hand-assembly techniques that are now the standard in the fiberoptics networking industry.
I see one of our old digital music player investor/analyst/newsletter guru/board owner is getting out of the discussion. Didn't she team up with some radio show/analyst to try to discredit Edig and pump FPLY?
http://www.investortoinvestor.com/
Guess the Fply investors have lost their leader.
If anybody cares I sent Fullplay an email to see if they were in business and I got a "Undeliverable" return.
Not sure who is hosting this...
http://www.fullplaymedia.com