The Pentium II's proprietary slots could extend Intel's control over the PC architecture. That's bad for Intel's competitors. A Pentium-class processor rebels against current design trends with a vastly simplified microarchitecture. Better image sensors and CMOS devices will result in digital cameras that are more versatile and less expensive. It combines the Pentium Pro's architecture and MMX instructions into a package for low-cost systems.
New processors make possible the delivery of digital video through existing phone lines.
The new ST19 IC offers low-power logic for smartcards, plus mechanisms to safeguard their data. Embedded processors are waking up, and they're increasingly accessible and controllable by networks and the Internet. A new generation of multimedia processors is pushing image processing into more industrial applications. Digital Semiconductor's Alpha 21164PC delivers workstation-caliber performance to desktop PCs. A new library and API enable preemptive multitasking and multiprocessing on Mac OS systems.