***QuickNews
3D Labs Goes Public!
3D Labs, the perennial leader in 3D silicon, yesterday announced its IPO
as registered with the SEC. 2,500,000 shares of common stock are being
made available, 2,145,833 of which are being sold by the Company and
354,167 of which are being sold by Selling Shareholders, with an
estimated initial offering price between $11 and $13. The co-managers of
the proposed underwriting group, from whom a prospectus may be obtained,
are Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (212)667-7000 and UBS Securities LLC
(212)821-4000.
www.3dlabs.com
Data call - COMDEX Preview
In the next issue of WAVE we will be profiling what to look for and where
at COMDEX. Please contact us so we can provide a complete pre-show 3D
alert. Wave contacts: (703)799-1010; FAX (703)360-2311; e-mail:
wave@fourthwave.com. WAVE will have complete COMDEX coverage after the
show.
Seybold's World Movers Conference Postponed
This week, SGI announced that the World Movers Conference, originally
scheduled for December 3 and 4 in San Francisco, will be postponed until
early 1997. According to SOFTBANK, the parent company of Seybold, the
postponement was not due to lack of attendance or interest, but instead
as they told WAVE, "[SGI] wanted to make sure they were ready. They felt
the conference was not yet up to the level they wanted." Although the new
date for the conference has not yet been decided, SOFTBANK told us that
the new dates would be announced within the next 3-4 weeks.
www.seyboldseminars.com/
Virtual Environments Conference
Due in part to the emergence of VRML, virtual environments on the
Internet has become an increasingly hot topic. The British Computer
Society Computer Graphics & Displays Group will be holding a conference
entitled "Virtual Environments on the Internet, WWW and Networks" from
April 15-17, 1997. The conference is being held at the National Museum of
Photography, Film & Television, UK. Those wishing to present a paper at
the conference (as well as possible publication in the follow-up book)
must have their abstracts in by November 1; papers selected for the
conference must be received by April 1. For more information check out:
graphics.ed.ac.uk/BCS_Displays
Veronis, Suhler & Associates Releases the 1996 Communications Industry
Forecast
The bible of communications industry market numbers including the online
and interactive digital media has been published. The categories covered
include: television, radio, subscription video, film, recorded music,
newspapers, books, magazines, business information services and
interactive digital media. For anyone wanting the complete spectrum of
market assessment data including tables with numbers this is the best
source in the industry. At $995 it is a bargain. (212)935-4990
www.vsacomm.com
More on Microsoft's Game Sampler 2
In response to questions about the availability of Microsoft's Game
Sampler 2 (reported in WAVE #610):
When: Available within the next couple of weeks
Where: Will be available on retail shelves or directly
from Microsoft
What: 20 playable game demos for upcoming games for
the Windows 95 platform
Cost: $9.95
Contact: 1-800-519-8531 to order or The Game Sampler 2
Website at:
www.microsoft.com/windows/games/sampler
Real 3D Receives First R3D/100 Silicon
Real 3D, a Lockheed Martin Company, has received its first R3D/100 chips
from fab. Although still in testing this chip is showing its capabilities
by running the popular "Dome City" demo in real time. It was this same
demo which gained Real 3D Byte Magazine's Best New Technology Award at
Spring COMDEX in Atlanta. The R3D/100 is a high end fully textured OpenGL
accelerator for the professional market. This chip is designed to satisfy
the needs for real time 3D which are not being met by any chip on the
market today. Real 3D will be showing this card and more at COMDEX.
www.real3d.com
Microsoft Licenses Interactive Music Technology
On Oct. 22, Microsoft announced that they had licensed Roland Corp's
Sound Canvas technology for inclusion in the next DirectX API and
ActiveX APIs (DirectMusic and ActiveMusic), Internet Explorer and the
MSN. The technology includes a collection of Sound Canvas instruments, GS
extensions to general MIDI and the Microsoft Synthesizer.
Roland: http://www.rolandus.com/ and http://www.edirol.com/
MIPS Announces Multimedia Extensions
At the Microprocessor Forum MIPS announced a set of Application Specific
Extensions to its core architecture. The multimedia instructions, MDMX,
provide new signal processing functions, which it describes as more
complete that Intel's MMX and Sun's VIS. Applications supported include:
MPEG2 decode, Motion JPEG and desktop video conferencing. These
extensions will first be available in the MIPS V series. Performance
benchmarks will be released in approximately 2 months. The announcement,
however, did not include schedules and this will come when MIPS announces
its roadmap for future products by the end of the year. Support for 3D
functions will be supported in the core logic of the MIPS V, and this
emphasis reflects the ownership of MIPS by Silicon Graphics.
www.mips.com
Wave Issue 9611 10/25/96 Article 1-01