At 11:52 AM 8/1/2002 -0700, Major Variola (ret) wrote:

TV makers may face mandate on digital receivers Wed Jul 31, 9:17 AM ET

In an effort to jump-start the languid rollout of digital TV, federal regulators next week are expected to require all new TV sets to include digital receivers by 2006, say people familiar with the matter.

TV makers say the mandate would boost the price of a TV by about $200, dampening sales. Broadcasters, who have pushed for such a rule, dispute the figure. <snip> http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=711&ncid=738&e=8&u=/usatoday/20020731/tc_usatoday/4320647

Lets see... they think they can require crap in TVs, in teleco equiptment... anyone still doubt they will try a power grab on the motherboard?

I think a key difference here is that many, perhaps millions, of consumers are comfortable with assembling their own PCs from components and tweaking SW. How many consumers assemble their own TV sets? Volume black markets in underground motherboards and cracking SW may create a viable resistance. Also, the market for new wizbang PCs may be quickly drying up cutting off ======================================= Intel Bets Farm on Moore's Law By Tom Murphy -- Electronic News, 7/26/2002 <http://email.electronicnews.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=eHzr0Ejxr10DbD0BpGu0AD> Intel Corp. will supply 3GHz Pentium 4 processors in time for the holiday season, accelerating the company's previously announced timetable by nearly a quarter. Despite trends that show consumers increasingly hunting for value-priced systems with lower-performance processors, Intel is more determined than ever to stay on the Moore's Law growth curve of doubling process speeds every 18 to 24 months. \Even Gordon Moore, creator of the industry-defining Moore's Law, believes the trend line for adopting faster semiconductors is showing signs of flattening. In spite of that, Intel keeps tweaking the efficiencies of its manufacturing processes, churning out higher-speed machines and introducing eye-opening technology improvements such as HyperThreading and 300mm wafer manufacturing. But Intel's agenda may run deeper than rapid adoption of the new chips. A 3GHz machine would give Intel a substantial lead on rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). And with each new speed grade Intel introduces, it is able to increase the pressure on AMD by dropping the price on lower-performing parts.