Readers of Rumor Central know it has always been El Gatos fondest wish to jump aboard a hot trend while its still cutting edge. So, naturally, the Kitty has been toying with the idea of changing his name to Spencer XP. And, why not? Obviously, the folks at AMD think its a good idea, too. The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip maker is planning to call its soon-to-be-released 1.5GHz processor the Athlon XP. Although the buzz seems to be that AMDs “XP” means “extra performance” and shouldnt be confused with Microsofts Windows XP, which supposedly stands for “experience,” it does strike the Kitty as an unusual coincidence.
AMD has historically had trouble coming up with original product tags. In 1999, a chip code-named Corvette reportedly caught the attention of lawyers from General Motors and was quickly labeled Palomino instead. When asked what his “XP” would stand for, His Hirsuteness just smirked and said, “Extra plush.”
A friend of the Furball claims Dells plans to jump into the Pocket PC pond next year may actually be a joint project with Korean technology company LG Electronics. The tattler claims hes heard the Austin, Texas, computer maker will introduce a unit built by LG sometime next year.
The Tawny Titan has also heard that Unisys and Payformance have formed an alliance to offer a patented technology, called PayBond, to help curb fraud, which is estimated to account for $18 billion to $20 billion in losses to the economy. Officials said that in the current economic climate, banks and e-commerce businesses cant afford to continually accept fraud losses as a cost of doing business. “As it stands now, my bank charges me just for walking up to the tellers window,” cackled the cash-strapped Kitty.
Spencer has noticed that folks are trying desperately to avoid using catch phrases or imagery that can be negatively associated with this months terrorist attacks. Intel might be making an internal name change in light of the events. The Kitty knew the company was planning some announcements around its LANDesk Management Suite, but a Tabby tattler claims that the code name for its recent endeavors may have been The Manhattan Project. “Unfortunately, marketing plans and advertisements that wouldnt have raised an eyebrow two weeks ago can now stir up ghastly reminders of the tragedy,” lamented the Lynx.
A geeky gaming pal alerted the gossipy Grimalkin to the fact that Activision has postponed the release of its new PlayStation game, “Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro.” The game, which is set in New York, reportedly features a final battle that takes place atop skyscrapers resembling the World Trade Center. Activisions plans to ship the game this week have been postponed. The company plans to make minor alterations to the game and expects to ship the product in time for the holiday season.
Lastly, the Kitty noted that Clear Channel, a company that runs more than 1,170 radio stations across the country, reportedly created a list of songs that it deems inappropriate for its DJs to play in light of the attacks. If the list, which has been circulated around the Internet, is real, the Puss pondered how Neil Diamonds “America” found its way on there. “I always thought that guy was up to something after I heard Shilo,” mused the Mouser.