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muks writes "Here's an article on Tom's Hardware about IBM's Deskstar 75GXP. It has some good points on why we still need UltraATA/66 and faster IDE interfaces while hard drive transfer rates don't keep up. "

diehard writes: "Tom's Hardware has posted a set of benchmarks of NVidia cards running under Xfree86 4. They are pretty impressive - it looks like Linux has finally become truly viable for gaming."

EricFenderson writes: "AMD has released the K6-2+ and the K6-III+ for use in notebooks. It's made with a .18 micron process, has on-die cache, and has new power-saving technology called PowerNow. Reports say it's only being sold to companies integrating notebooks, but Tom's Hardware says it would be great as a system upgrade, and AMD should also be selling to retailers. Petition?" If you're nursing along a Socket 7 system especially, this series should be intriguing. The long-awaited notebook chip is noteworthy for having 32 power levels to choose from - maybe those all-day notebooks will really appear.

NoWhere Man writes: "Tom's Hardware has posted up their dealings with the new PIII 1.13GHz processor. Apparently without a special board with a new bios from Intel it will not even run correctly. Any motherboard that has not got the special micro code update for this very processor will ultimately fail. The review has some interesting facts about the processor as well."

NoWhere Man writes: "Tom's Hardware has posted up their dealings with the new PIII 1.13GHz processor. Apparently without a special board with a new bios from Intel it will not even run correctly. Any motherboard that has not got the special micro code update for this very processor will ultimately fail. The review has some interesting facts about the processor as well."

Updates on Tom's detective work, Kevin's touchy look-but-don't touch semi-citizen status, and last but not least a word from the elusive printman, here folded, spindled and mutilated for your edification.

Danke sehr, Herr Doktor Pabst! The sighs -- nay, screams! -- of disappointment rose like the wail of a cat in heat following the announcement that AMD's new chips would be clock-locked, nullifying the advantages of Abit's ultra-overclockable motherboard. Jonathan Dabian writes: "This is probably a little late for me to get the name postage on the front page, but Tom's Hardware posted a new story that is an update to the Monday Blurb where they revealed that the new AMD processors would be multiplier locked. In this new story, Tom Pabst reveals the information he has since pieced together about the connections on the top of the processor, and ideas on how to alter those laser etched connections. Overclocking on the Duron and Thunderbird isn't dead. All that's needed is an easy way to alter those connections."

How do you like your quasi-futuristic clothing, Mr. Mitnick? One of the many following the bizarre turns of the Kevin Mitnick saga, RadarRider writes: "According to the following article on MSNBC:' Reversing a previous decision, Kevin Mitnick?s probation officer has given the notorious computer intruder permission to lecture on hacking and cracking, work as a security consultant and write a column for a soon-to-be-launched e-commerce site.'"

Disallowing use of computers unless specially granted seems a fairly over-the-top punishment -- everything has embedded processors. I wonder if Kevin has to ask permission to use an infrared-type automatic toilet, or a programmable thermostat. Where's King Solomon when you need him?

Unca Steve, Unca Steve! Tell us a bedtime story, OK? Speaking of *ashback, gwernol writes: "There's a fascinating letter from Woz - one of the co-founders of Apple on his web page at woz.org. Its a candid glimpse into the early days of the computer world, including tales of hacking the world's first video games -Pong and Breakout - at Atari. See inside the mind of one of the truly great ones. Some interesting perspective on Steve Jobs, too."

(Hint: some of the same words you can't say on television are off-limits to mass-market video games, too!)

Now I can print up dozens of tasty eclaires under Linux! If you followed the recent story about modernizing UNIX printing standards, you may have caught the news that CUPS 1.1 has been released. Here's some more information from the horse's mouth. printman writes: "Nine months after the CUPS 1.0 release, we are proud the announce the birth of CUPS 1.1, with documentation nearly 500 pages long and distributions weighing in at around 4MB.

"What is CUPS", you ask? The Common UNIX Printing System ("CUPS") is an IPP-based printing system developed by Easy Software Products as a replacement for the aging and clunky Berkeley (LPD) and System V printing systems. CUPS provides all of the modern printing ammenities, including support for user-defined printers and options, non-PostScript printers, color management, and page accounting.

CUPS 1.1 continues our commitment to an open-sourced, IPP-based printing system for all UNIX's. The new release contains many of the functional enhancements that have been requested by our users, including:

1. New USB backend and backend device discovery.
2. Banner page support
3. Digest authentication
4. Directory service enhancements, including polling, relaying, and access control
5. Directory structure changes to conform to the FHS 2.0 standard used by most Linux distributions.
6. Documentation improvements and additions
7. Drivers for EPSON printers
8. Filters - new PostScript RIP based on GNU Ghostscript 5.50 core, new PDF filter based on Xpdf, new text filter supporting Unicode and bidirectional text
9. IPP/1.1 support
10. Job persistence & history
11. Licensing change - the CUPS API is now provided under the GNU LGPL
12. LPD client support
13. User-defined printers and options
14. Web administration interface

In addition we have contributed more new code to the SAMBA team to support CUPS printing "natively" via IPP, providing a faster, more reliable Windows printing experience.

Others have also been busy at work adding to CUPS. Besides our ESP Print Pro software, two new graphical interfaces have appeared for CUPS - KUPS is a KDE-based interface for CUPS, and XPP is a FLTK-based interface for CUPS.

On the driver front, Grant Taylor has come up with CUPS-o-matic, a PPD file generator and filter script for existing Ghostscript printer drivers, and the GIMP print plug-in developers are working towards "universal" drivers for GIMP, Ghostscript, and CUPS.

Finally, many Linux distributions are including (or planning to include) CUPS or ESP Print Pro. This should provide the final push to get printer manufacturers to support their printers under Linux and *BSD.

For more information on CUPS, go to: www.cups.org

And for bonus points ... Katsu Jin Ken writes: "Indrema has posted a new picture of their upcoming console on their front page." It's looking a lot svelter and sleeker than the old look, and like the finest computers everywhere, features a blue LED. (On the other hand, beware the rude no-exit site design.) Please, Indrema, make it so!

Updates on Tom's detective work, Kevin's touchy look-but-don't touch semi-citizen status, and last but not least a word from the elusive printman, here folded, spindled and mutilated for your edification.

Danke sehr, Herr Doktor Pabst! The sighs -- nay, screams! -- of disappointment rose like the wail of a cat in heat following the announcement that AMD's new chips would be clock-locked, nullifying the advantages of Abit's ultra-overclockable motherboard. Jonathan Dabian writes: "This is probably a little late for me to get the name postage on the front page, but Tom's Hardware posted a new story that is an update to the Monday Blurb where they revealed that the new AMD processors would be multiplier locked. In this new story, Tom Pabst reveals the information he has since pieced together about the connections on the top of the processor, and ideas on how to alter those laser etched connections. Overclocking on the Duron and Thunderbird isn't dead. All that's needed is an easy way to alter those connections."

How do you like your quasi-futuristic clothing, Mr. Mitnick? One of the many following the bizarre turns of the Kevin Mitnick saga, RadarRider writes: "According to the following article on MSNBC:' Reversing a previous decision, Kevin Mitnick?s probation officer has given the notorious computer intruder permission to lecture on hacking and cracking, work as a security consultant and write a column for a soon-to-be-launched e-commerce site.'"

Disallowing use of computers unless specially granted seems a fairly over-the-top punishment -- everything has embedded processors. I wonder if Kevin has to ask permission to use an infrared-type automatic toilet, or a programmable thermostat. Where's King Solomon when you need him?

Unca Steve, Unca Steve! Tell us a bedtime story, OK? Speaking of *ashback, gwernol writes: "There's a fascinating letter from Woz - one of the co-founders of Apple on his web page at woz.org. Its a candid glimpse into the early days of the computer world, including tales of hacking the world's first video games -Pong and Breakout - at Atari. See inside the mind of one of the truly great ones. Some interesting perspective on Steve Jobs, too."

(Hint: some of the same words you can't say on television are off-limits to mass-market video games, too!)

Now I can print up dozens of tasty eclaires under Linux! If you followed the recent story about modernizing UNIX printing standards, you may have caught the news that CUPS 1.1 has been released. Here's some more information from the horse's mouth. printman writes: "Nine months after the CUPS 1.0 release, we are proud the announce the birth of CUPS 1.1, with documentation nearly 500 pages long and distributions weighing in at around 4MB.

"What is CUPS", you ask? The Common UNIX Printing System ("CUPS") is an IPP-based printing system developed by Easy Software Products as a replacement for the aging and clunky Berkeley (LPD) and System V printing systems. CUPS provides all of the modern printing ammenities, including support for user-defined printers and options, non-PostScript printers, color management, and page accounting.

CUPS 1.1 continues our commitment to an open-sourced, IPP-based printing system for all UNIX's. The new release contains many of the functional enhancements that have been requested by our users, including:

1. New USB backend and backend device discovery.
2. Banner page support
3. Digest authentication
4. Directory service enhancements, including polling, relaying, and access control
5. Directory structure changes to conform to the FHS 2.0 standard used by most Linux distributions.
6. Documentation improvements and additions
7. Drivers for EPSON printers
8. Filters - new PostScript RIP based on GNU Ghostscript 5.50 core, new PDF filter based on Xpdf, new text filter supporting Unicode and bidirectional text
9. IPP/1.1 support
10. Job persistence & history
11. Licensing change - the CUPS API is now provided under the GNU LGPL
12. LPD client support
13. User-defined printers and options
14. Web administration interface

In addition we have contributed more new code to the SAMBA team to support CUPS printing "natively" via IPP, providing a faster, more reliable Windows printing experience.

Others have also been busy at work adding to CUPS. Besides our ESP Print Pro software, two new graphical interfaces have appeared for CUPS - KUPS is a KDE-based interface for CUPS, and XPP is a FLTK-based interface for CUPS.

On the driver front, Grant Taylor has come up with CUPS-o-matic, a PPD file generator and filter script for existing Ghostscript printer drivers, and the GIMP print plug-in developers are working towards "universal" drivers for GIMP, Ghostscript, and CUPS.

Finally, many Linux distributions are including (or planning to include) CUPS or ESP Print Pro. This should provide the final push to get printer manufacturers to support their printers under Linux and *BSD.

For more information on CUPS, go to: www.cups.org

And for bonus points ... Katsu Jin Ken writes: "Indrema has posted a new picture of their upcoming console on their front page." It's looking a lot svelter and sleeker than the old look, and like the finest computers everywhere, features a blue LED. (On the other hand, beware the rude no-exit site design.) Please, Indrema, make it so!

nerdusa writes: "The Overclocking Community got a decidedly unwelcome jolt with news today on THG that shipping versions of the TBird and Duron will be clock locked and that the Asus A7V is shipping without multiplier unlocking switches. United Overclockers, which had been eulogizing AMD for its recent poliicies, is "saddened" at having to eat its words. Overclockers are used to having their dreams dashed by reality, but this is a particularly cruel blow."

electricmonk writes: "Tom's Hardware has just posted their review of the Cyrix III. They benchmarked it against the older Cyrix designs, and a Celeron, and the Celeron beat the crap out of all of them. They aren't meant for desktops, however, so it really isn't a valid comparison. But it is very overclockable, and runs so cool that it can work without a fan. Quake III on an Internet appliance, anyone?"

electricmonk writes: "Tom's Hardware has just posted their review of the Cyrix III. They benchmarked it against the older Cyrix designs, and a Celeron, and the Celeron beat the crap out of all of them. They aren't meant for desktops, however, so it really isn't a valid comparison. But it is very overclockable, and runs so cool that it can work without a fan. Quake III on an Internet appliance, anyone?"

Blackbox writes "This site answers the age old question: "What do you get when you run 16 mobile phones in parallel?" The answer is of course a 150 kbit/s connection to the internet for your car! Check it out at:
The megacar or Tom's Hardware"

JellyBeansOnToastWithStrawberryJamonTop writes: "I noticed in Sharky Extreme and Tom's Hardware coverage of the AMD Duron processor that they both have details on the overclocking capabilities of the processor. Looks like the new Celeron 300A, eh?" It's cool to see that AMD has not locked out overclockers with their new chips. But where are the dual Athlon motherboards, please? Updated 3:19GMT by t: Apropos of overclocking, check out Feedmag's not-uninteresting take on overclocking culture.

macsen writes " Yet another company gives into Chipzilla's memory mongers, and it doesn't bode well. Hitachi appears to be going for an upfront settlement, and an agreement to drop litigation between the company and Rambus. Two companies in less than a week, and the Third Law of Thermodynamics begins to take hold. See what Tom's Hardware has to say." Check out a more informational original link. This is most ungood - see the first folding, as done by Toshiba last week.

maniack writes "The AMD Duron, the "Celeron-killer", has finally been released and lives up to the hype. According to these reviews from Ace's Hardware, Gamer's depot, Anandtech, and Tom's Hardware, the Duron thrashes the Celeron clock for clock and even hangs with the P3 in a lot of the benchmarks. Looks like AMD has another winner in the value market to go along with the Athlon."

p0rkmaster writes "Found a nugget in a Tom's Hardware Guide report from Computex in Taipei - FIC was showing off TransMeta Crusoe 'WebPads' " Interesting specs, but no comment on what OS it's running, or on the type of wireless LAN used. If it's Linux and 802.11, we may have a winner ...

homerj79 writes: "The good Dr. Thomas Pabst has posted his feelings towards Rambus, Inc. and why he, and his site, are so critical of the company. Here's a bit from the article I found interesting: 'When Intel 'decided' to go for Rambus technology some three years ago, it wasn't out of pure believe into technology and certainly not just 'for the good of its customers', but simply because they got an offer they couldn't refuse. Back then Rambus authorized a contingency warrant for 1 million shares of its stock to Intel, exercisable at only $10 a share, in case Chipzilla ships at least 20% of its chipsets with RDRAM-support in back-to-back quarters. As of today Intel could make some nifty 158 million dollars once it fulfills the goal.' It's a good read for people thinking about investing in RMBS. Something seemed fishy over at Rambus, and now I know what it is."

homerj79 writes: "The good Dr. Thomas Pabst has posted his feelings towards Rambus, Inc. and why he, and his site, are so critical of the company. Here's a bit from the article I found interesting: 'When Intel 'decided' to go for Rambus technology some three years ago, it wasn't out of pure believe into technology and certainly not just 'for the good of its customers', but simply because they got an offer they couldn't refuse. Back then Rambus authorized a contingency warrant for 1 million shares of its stock to Intel, exercisable at only $10 a share, in case Chipzilla ships at least 20% of its chipsets with RDRAM-support in back-to-back quarters. As of today Intel could make some nifty 158 million dollars once it fulfills the goal.' It's a good read for people thinking about investing in RMBS. Something seemed fishy over at Rambus, and now I know what it is."

retep writes: "32BitsOnline has a interesting article about how the new memory standard RAMBUS may go bust. Essentially a bunch of missteps with Intel's Camino chipset, high costs, the rise in popularity of alternative CPU's such as the Athlon and a lack of performance may prove its undoing. I remember a story in Wired just a year or two ago praising RAMBUS for its innovative tactics; look what's happened now."

nd writes: "Van Smith from Tom's Hardware has written a proposal that calls for open source benchmarking. He talks about the need for increasing the objectivity of benchmarking. The proposal is basically to develop a suite of open-source benchmarking tools and new methodologies. It's a rather dramatic column, as he discusses Transmeta, bias towards Intel, among other things. " Well, once you get through the inital umpteen pages of preamble, the generically named A Modest Proposal is the actual point. Interesting idea - but I shall weep for the passing of bogo-MIPs as the definitive measure of system performance. *grin*

nd writes: "Van Smith from Tom's Hardware has written a proposal that calls for open source benchmarking. He talks about the need for increasing the objectivity of benchmarking. The proposal is basically to develop a suite of open-source benchmarking tools and new methodologies. It's a rather dramatic column, as he discusses Transmeta, bias towards Intel, among other things. " Well, once you get through the inital umpteen pages of preamble, the generically named A Modest Proposal is the actual point. Interesting idea - but I shall weep for the passing of bogo-MIPs as the definitive measure of system performance. *grin*

Diox writes "A very insightful article was posted on ye old Tom's Hardware Guide about AMD's and Intel's strategies over this past year. " Good stuff as usual from Tom's.

NoWhere Man writes "Over at RB Computing (an AMD-only shop in Ottawa, Canada), they are distributing the AfterBurner, an Athlon Overclocking card, developped by Golden Fingers. It offers on-the-fly frequency and core voltage modifications, that is a reasonable alternative to building your own, as shown at Tom's Hardware Guide. "

Johan Jonasson writes "There's an excellent review of the ATI Rage Fury MAXX over at Tom's Hardware. For those unfamiliar with the product it's a monster graphics board with two Rage 128 PRO chips, each with isolated 32MBs of memory per chip which adds up to 64MB on one board. There's another review of the same board at Sharky Extreme. I've got to get me one of these. "

Syniq writes "The folks at Tom's Hardware had an interesting story about a new free utility from Intel that checks the frequency of your processor to let you know if that PIII-500 is actually a PIII-500 or a PII-300 over-clocked and relabeled by the retailer to snag a little extra cash. An interesting story, but is this really all that common? Has anyone personally experienced this from an actual company (i.e. Dell, Gateway, Compaq, etc) and not from MrSmiley on Ebay?"

Syniq writes "The folks at Tom's Hardware had an interesting story about a new free utility from Intel that checks the frequency of your processor to let you know if that PIII-500 is actually a PIII-500 or a PII-300 over-clocked and relabeled by the retailer to snag a little extra cash. An interesting story, but is this really all that common? Has anyone personally experienced this from an actual company (i.e. Dell, Gateway, Compaq, etc) and not from MrSmiley on Ebay?"

GenBradly writes " Tom's Hardware gives a review of Kryotech's newest model, the SuperG. They claim this new unit allows you to stablely overclock your Athlon to 1 GHz. Though the unit weighs 70 lbs, it's much quieter than previous [Kryotech] models, only slightly quieter than elevator music. It may be a bit expensive but I would do a lot for a 1 GHz computer." Lots of pictures, lots of specs, lots of tests.

SaDan writes "I checked out a comparison of the new Intel Coppermine processors and AMD's Athlon chips at Tom's Hardware Guide last night. It's kind of interesting, and I thought others would be curious about how Athlon stacks up against Intel's latest offering. "

~fly~ writes "Tom's has a detailed review with benchmarks of Nvidia's new GeForce256 'GPU'. " The synopsis: High expectations, but it appears to meet the demand.

Errant Knyght writes "Not sure if it is true, but if it is...I want one." The Tom's Hardware writeup seems believable; lots of specs, pictures, even ordering info. KryoTech, the company that makes it, puts a refrigeration unit under the PC case and cools the uP to -36 degrees C before it fires up the rest of the unit. Looks like fun.

Maz writes "According to Tom's Hardware guide Asus will release their K7 M/B at the end september. This response from Asus was attributed to the fact that "Asus received tons of mail from people enquiring about their Athlon-board." You can read the article and some of the replies from Asus for yourself. "

Maz writes "According to Tom's Hardware guide Asus will release their K7 M/B at the end september. This response from Asus was attributed to the fact that "Asus received tons of mail from people enquiring about their Athlon-board." You can read the article and some of the replies from Asus for yourself. "

ninjaz writes "Tom from Tom's Hardware has published his first Athlon Motherboard Reviews, where he states "I know for a fact that Asus has designed a highly excellent Athlon-motherboard" , which Asus has mysteriously deciding against selling. This amidst rumors of Intel threats of artificial BX chipset shortages. " You conspiracy nuts are gonna love this one. It does look fishy.

Since the NDA was lifted early this morning, several sites have released reviews of AMD's new Athlon chip (coming in 500, 550, 600, and 650MHz versions). The first was Bill Henning's CPUReview site. He reviewed the Athlon 600 and has several nice things to say about it. Next up is The Upgrade Center's review, and two more submitted by kimmo, the first at Ace's Hardware, and the second at AGN Hardware. Next, Magnetism submitted a link to Tom's review. Finally, as submitted by pmmay, the ZDNet review. To finish, an article at the SJ Mercury that discusses AMD's strategy for the chip market (thanks to Greg Miller for that one). Update: 08/09 12:31 by J : Thanks to The Evil Dwarf from Hell for links to the AMD Benchmark Page, which even has SPECint and SPECfp scores, and to an anonymous reader for the Ars Technica review.

Dylan Greene writes "Tom's Hardware has a quick blurb on a color head-mounted display from Daeyang E&C HMD which says the company will start shipping their SVGA HMD in Q1 2000. Details on the HMD are here." Darnit. I really need one of these, need, of course, being a relative thing.

An anonymous reader sent us a link to Ace's Hardware and suggests checking it out. The site looks pretty good- similar to Tom's Hardware, but with some other different stuff. Check it out.

peter royal writes "MegaCar is a high-class Brabus 5.8 outfitted with a 153kbit/s wireless internet connection. It is 16 9.6kbit/s GSM modems in parallel, with a Linux box acting at the router." Just when you thought you'd seen everything.

Christopher Thomas writes "Tom's Hardware Page has finally posted comprehensive benchmark results for the Intel's Pentium III and AMD's K6-3." The quick summary is that Intel must be experiencing deep fear right now- the most significant change from the P2 is the cost. Fortunately the rumors of the 1ghz P3s are flying fast and furious. If you can't beat 'em, up the clockspeed.

nuxx writes "Looks like Mr. Tom Pabst from Tom's Hardware Guide has some more info concerning the Pentium III including a tidbit about how the random number generator will work. " Interesting stuff about the ID tagging and stuff too.

nuxx writes "Looks like Mr. Tom Pabst from Tom's Hardware Guide has some more info concerning the Pentium III including a tidbit about how the random number generator will work. " Interesting stuff about the ID tagging and stuff too.

PianoMan8 writes "AMD has released thier K6-2's at 366, 380, and 400Mhz. The press release is here. Also, it appears that VIA and ALi will be making chipsets for the K7." Oh man that is cool. The 400MHz K6-2 has a faster core than other K6-2 chips. I can't wait for the K6-3 to come out so I can pop it in my K6-2 machine. Go AMD! Update: Diablo sent us a link to a Tom's Hardware Guide article which discusses these chips in a fair amount of depth.

El writes "Our old friend Thomas Pabst of Tom's Hardware Guide fame has just returned from Microprocessor Forum 98 convinced that AMDs new processors will beat Intel's in terms of absolute performance (it's easy to beat Intel in terms of price/performancd)."

Apparently the AMD K7 has been taped out and tested. This is cool since it uses the new point-to-point bus of Slot A. Hope Tom's Hardware tests one soon.

Intel is having a bad month. C't now reports over 500 re-labeled Pentium II chips have been found, including in channels Intel claimed secure. More worrying is that some remarked chips may be undetectable until the overclocked chip is damaged. More info is available here.. In particular the class action suit in Taiwan is worth reading. The announcement that Merced will be late caused Technology stocks to tumble yesterday. And today, news.com reports that the top FTC litigator is recommending that Intel be sued for alleged antitrust violations.

(Read more below)

Meanwhile, the competition is heating up. Newcomer Rise has demonstrated its new mP6 x86 processor, designed (like Centaur's) for the notebook market.

Interestingly, Centaur is abandonning its unipipe solution for its second generation Winchips, using 2 6-stage pipelines at up to 300Mhz. A third 12-stage pipe line architecture is planned, which will running at frequencies between 400 and 600Mhz, should improve performance by 80%. Centaur is also jumping onto the integration bandwagon, proposing its Winchip 2+NB which reduces board area (and costs) by combining the C6 core and a north-bridge on the same die.

AMD has released its K6-2, at a higher price, and with little OEM interest. However this chip is a screamer, profiting from being the first to use the new 100Mhz front side bus, and the new 3DNow! instructions. Centaur, Cyrix, and IBM also plan to deliver these features in their upcoming processors.

Finally, IBM has released a PR333 version of the Cyrix-designed 6x86 MX, which apparently partially gains its speed from a new type of chip-package. This comes as IBM revealed that it expects its Slot1 solution to be developed by Cyrix.

DX writes "I have been reading how Tom was taking a portion of his site to a subscriber system. People were not reacting well. Now the main page has a crazy password auth on it..." Cool site. Too bad, but web sites need to make money to survive (first hand experience here) and people hate banner ads with a passion (dozens of emails a week over here to prove that too) so some sites have no choice to go subscription-based. I won't do pay-for-access here, I hate them with a passion, but peoples opposition to banner ads drive sites to subscriptions. That blows- if the ~15 sites I visit daily went to subscriptions, I couldn't afford to subscribe to all of 'em. Besides, subscribing is a hassle... I want my clicks to go straight to a page without any registration or subscription hassles. I'll take a banner ad on a free page over a subscription any time. What do you guys think? Update Andrew Shugg wrote in to tell us that the old URLs are subscription based, but Tom's Hardware.com is going to remain free, also Tom has written A Letter addressing the fuss.

DX writes "I have been reading how Tom was taking a portion of his site to a subscriber system. People were not reacting well. Now the main page has a crazy password auth on it..." Cool site. Too bad, but web sites need to make money to survive (first hand experience here) and people hate banner ads with a passion (dozens of emails a week over here to prove that too) so some sites have no choice to go subscription-based. I won't do pay-for-access here, I hate them with a passion, but peoples opposition to banner ads drive sites to subscriptions. That blows- if the ~15 sites I visit daily went to subscriptions, I couldn't afford to subscribe to all of 'em. Besides, subscribing is a hassle... I want my clicks to go straight to a page without any registration or subscription hassles. I'll take a banner ad on a free page over a subscription any time. What do you guys think? Update Andrew Shugg wrote in to tell us that the old URLs are subscription based, but Tom's Hardware.com is going to remain free, also Tom has written A Letter addressing the fuss.

Keith Dart sent us a link to The Intel CPU Roadmap. From there you can keep track of the nine bazillion different CPUs Intel is going to be releasing in the future. Nice to see the next few years mapped out clearly.

I have made some predictions about future of the x86 market. Some interesting possibilities, many of them involving IBM. Read on... Thanks go to Phillip R. Janeke for his gracious contribution to this article.

Recent developments in the x86 market may lead to the decline of Intel's monopoly power in the market. The increasing success of its competitors, as well as financial turmoil at the company may lead to increased competition, heaper prices, a more segmented market, and the rise of IBM as a powerhouse in the fabrication industry.

Yesterday, Cyrix introduced the MII chip. I expect the chip, along with the AMD K6 will dominate the low and mid-end markets. With the introduction of the MII, Cyrix has finally introduced a chip that will hopefully exceed Intel's chips in both integer and floating point performance, and exceed the price/performance of any chip on the market.

The rise of the K6 has lead to the resurgence of AMD in the x86 market. With the K6 3D, hopefully to be introduced next month, AMD will introduce a set of MMX-like instructions that will NOT be supported by Intel. IDT will also support the extentions. These two chips may take away a sizeable portion of the mid-end market from Intel.

IDT is a vendor with an as-yet unforseeable future. The vendor has been relativley successful, signing a foundry agreement with IBM, as well as exceeding sales expectations. Will the unsophisticated C6+ chip be enough to let the chip designer retain control of the little market share they have in the low-end? Maybe.

But there is something all three vendors have in common: all have signed foundry agreements with IBM. By the end of the year, IBM will be able to manufacture any non-Intel x86 chip, and that will certainly help them gain a noticeable portion of the desktop computer market. What does this mean for Intel? Will it be simply relegated to the high-end? If so, how will it compete with non-x86 offerings from Digital, MIPS, and other vendors? The company will introduce Celeron today, a cache-less version of the Pentium II. The chip has already met with many industry critics, and walked away in shame. Performance of the 266MHz model is expected to be on par with a 233MHz version, and many OEMs have snubbed the chip for an AMD or Cyrix chip. Is Celeron too little too late?

Intel has also announced plans to lay off 3000 employees. This, combined with the Asian financial crisis has lead to long-term growth questions about the company. Will it be able to successfully dominate the low end, or will IBM and its partners sweep the company out of the market from under itself?