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Now, PCs on just one chipWASHINGTON: The National Semiconductor Corporation has announced that it is ready to offer the first microprocessor...

Now, PCs on just one chip

WASHINGTON: The National Semiconductor Corporation has announced that it is ready to offer the first microprocessor that places most of the functions of a personal computer on a single chip. It would go into production by the end of the year. Such chips could drastically cut the price of personal computers (PC) by eliminating the need for PC-makers to include separate graphics, audio, video and communications software.

Of all the main PC functions, the chip would lack only memory. The New York Times quoted some analysts as saying that

they expected the new chip to sell for some 50 Dollars– roughly one third price of microprocessor chips now used in the lowest-priced PC’s.

Cloned calf dead

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PARIS: Marguerite, the first calf to be cloned in France, has died at about six weeks of age from an infected muscle tear, researchers announced yesterday. The calf was born on February 20, and was never presented in the flesh to journalists, in order to protect its health.The cloning, by the National Institute of Agronomic Research, was announced on March five. The calf died on Saturday night from an infection after it tore a muscle trying to get out of its pen.

Titanic to sail

JOHANNESBURG: The race to build a replica of the Titanic has heated up with a South African company saying it has secured the original plans of the ill-fated ship from its British builders. The replica would cross the Atlantic on the eve of the new millennium, using the same route taken by the luxury liner which sank in April 1912 killing 1,523 people, RMS Titanic Shipping Holdings director Sarel Gous told Reuters in an interview yesterday. That will be two years earlier than the voyage planned by White Star Line Ltd, a Swiss-US partnership looking to set sail with a rival replica to mark the 90th anniversary of the Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage.

Student’s hit list

OHIO: A US School student who had compiled a hit list targeting about ten fellow students and faculty was caught,expelled and is being investigated by police, the local school superintendent has said. “This was far from being a prank,” said Victor Cardenzana, superintendent of schools. “I took the neccesary precautions and now he is the community’s problem. When you are confronted with details not just a list but details of how, when, where and why people are on this list, you have to take it very seriously,” he told Reuters.