Intel's Chip: Too Much for Some

NEW YORK: Much is being made of the latest memory chip from those whizz-kids at Intel, unveiled to the world Wednesday. You know, the one that smashes through the innovation barrier known as Moore's Law, the one that promises to make memory technology obsolete every nine months instead of every eighteen which is the technological equivalent of running a two-minute mile. But does anyone really care? "The irony of this development," says TIME computer correspondent David Jackson, "is that consumers may not want or need it. As it stands now, the hottest new market in the industry is for cheap machines capable of doing simple tasks such as word processing and you don't need a faster chip to do that." So while the California chip-makers gleefully promote their power-packed product, they may face a less-than-enthusiastic response from a public that is all Intel-ed out.