Last updated:Tuesday, April 8, 1997, 8:30 a.m.
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Microsoft is buying WebTV.

Chips are the future in Taiwan, where the government figures more growth in the semiconductor industry will continue. That's a good thing, because there's a wafer pricing war raging in Taiwan.

Toshiba expects to introduce a DVD-RAM within a year. It would store the equivalent of 1,800 floppy discs and is rewritable.

A couple of tech stories from China: Net-related products are expected to be Microsoft's biggest sellers in China, the company said, although the market for closed intranets may grow quickly. Also, China steps toward network computers by signing a deal with Digital for joint production.

Compaq, Microsoft and Intel proposed a counter-vision of the future to broadcasters, seeking to influence what technical standards digital televisions will use so that TVs can become PC-like appliances.

Bill Gates today will outline Microsoft's battle plans to combat network-computer-type appliances by describing new "Windows terminals" which would be cheaper and less capable than the NetPC protocol Microsoft and Intel advanced in the past, as part of the anti-NC campaign.

Guerrilla war by modem: A former Burmese jungle figher has turned to the Net in his fight against the military government. He's in Ithaca, N.Y., but feels closest to friends in Rangoon.

Applied computing: Transponders are making life a little easier for the nation's long-haul truckers who use the devices to report in to state weigh stations and ports of entry without having to stop.

Hong Kong is now cracking down on unlicensed software. Pure speculation, but do you figure this has anything to do with its coming takeover by mainland China?

Dave Winer's Scripting News is worth the visit, a trusted computing source tells us. He's got e-mail from Woz on Rhapsody, Gates on Java, and fascinating riffs on all things related.

Windows dressing: Nasdaq has an image problem. Nobody can see the trading that goes on over computer screens. So the exchange has added an $8 million wall of 100 monitors to create the visual image of urgency.

Faster servers = faster browsing: At least, that's the hope of Compaq, which ays it has a new technology that delivers speedy Web content to business and home Internet users. No word on when this technology will be available.

Lock up the cookies: An Internet privacy coalition is asking the IETF to let consumers limit the use of cookies which track web usage via browsers and can be used to identify surfers. "We want the defaults set in such a way that no one can send you a cookie without you knowing it," said Marc Rotenberg, on different site. "We're against cookies that are secretive or a third-party use of cookies. If you agree to let one Web site use cookies in your interaction, we don't want other Web sites scarfing those cookies off of your system."

Compaq wants you to think "H-P, IBM, Compaq" when you hear its name or see its hardware. It's a hard road to travel but you have to start somewhere. Compaq is starting at a customer conference.

Corel has sold off its multimedia CD-ROM titles in order to concentrate on desktop apps, graphics and incorporating Java into its remaining software.

From Mercury Center:

Norton-Active-X bug puts PCs at risk
Older workers welcome at Milpitas high-tech firm
H-P aims for the top by 2000
Making the Net more disabled-friendly

Day in and day out, breaking news is consistently one of Mercury Center's most-hit pages. It's created by our (real, not virtual) editors who sift through the wires 19 hours a day. Starting last Friday, we're linking to the Associated Press web site, called "The Wire," with the idea that a staff can do more than a single editor on each shift, and AP can also put up more graphics, audio and video than we have time to do.

But what should become of our breaking news page? Our inclination is to focus it more strongly on technology and Silicon Valley-area news. But readers are the owners here. Let us know 1.) What you think of The Wire and 2.) What you want on the breaking news page in the future. Send your thoughts to feedback@sjmercury.com. Thanks in advance.