Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 41

CF MONDAY Monday, December 25, 2006 Austin statesman.com Section Gadget fiends run up new rechargeables 1 r. PLUGGED IN SEMICONDUCTORS AMD puts veteran at top of long-range project lab Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has relocated veteran technology manager Rich Witek to Redmond, to set up an advanced laboratory in close proximity to Microsoft Corp. that will focus on long-term projects. Witek, an AMD corporate fellow and chief architectural officer, will run the Advanced Architecture and Technology Longer-lasting, pre-fueled batteries cost more, but demand for them is high By Emily Fredrix ASSCJOIATKIIPMiSS MADISON, Wis.

Batteries that can be recharged rather than tossed when the juice runs out are supposed to be more convenient. But for Wren Wright, they lose their power too quickly and unpredictably, sometimes leaving the shutterbug with no power for his digital camera. Now, major battery makers are recharging their offerings with models that promise to hold their power longer and don't have to be plugged in for hours before the first use. Wright, who's been trying out Ray-ovac's new batteries, is impressed. In the month since he snapped them into his camera, he hasn't had to recharge them.

"It's nice being able to just pop them in there," said Wright, an Athens, home remodeler who says-he's been using his camera frequently. Battery makers see potential in rechargeables, a small but steadily grov.lng part of the $3.5 billion-a-year battery industry. They're also improving the technology to address consumer complaints. Madison, Rayovac, the nation's third-biggest battery maker, is broadly launching its revamped rechargeables in a few weeks. The batteries, which are fully powered out of the box, are now available only at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

locations with a suggested retail price of $8.99 for a four pack of AA or AAA batteries. Chargers cost $9.99 to $19.99. The time spent recharging is a major complaint, said Sean Martin, a marketing division vice president at Rayovac, a unit of Atlanta-based Spectrum Brands Inc. "It's the inconvenience of 'I have to charge them before I can use them, and then every time I go back to use them. See BATTERIES, D3 MorryGash asswiatkdiukss The new Hybrid batteries from Rayovac are based on its regular rechargeables but are designed to last longer.

Lab to focus on developing potential AMD processor technologies that are more than five years away from becoming actual products. The lab is expected to grow to RichWitek 30 to 40 people including engineers with strong software backgrounds. "This forward-looking strategy underscores our commitment to consistent, ongoing innovation in design, software planning, system structures and chip architectures," said Phil Hester, AMD's chief technology officer. Witek is a veteran processor design leader previously who worked for the former Digital Equipment the PowerPC design effort in Austin and a company he co-founded, Alchemy Semiconductor. He joined AMD in 2003, when it bought Alchemy.

AMD sold the Alchemy product line of low-power chips to Raza Microelectronics Inc. in June. PC MAKERS Tablet company draws on second manufacturer Motion Computing Inc. has added a second manufacturer to help maintain a steady supply of its tablet PCs as it adds new models. The Austin company and Taiwan-based Asustek Inc.

announced the agreement last week, saying Asustek will begin building J- (if. A x. rr.r -2 products tor release next year. The companies did not re lease the financial terms of the deal. Asustek will build new prod Uura Skelding Tsuyoshi Kawahito is the president and lone permanent employee of Third Wire Productions.

Aerospace engineering degrees help him create realistic games. ucts, while Compal UNDER THE In a crowded gaming market, tiny Austin company makes its mark with niche flight simulator games By Lilly Rockwell AMIUIC STAFF Electronics will continue to manufacture Motion's current tablet PC lineup. Ultimately, production will be split roughly evenly between the two manufacturers. Compal was one of Motion's initial investors, and one of the Chinese company's sales executives sits on Motion's board. The relationship between the two companies will "remain intact," Motion said in a news release.

Got a beef with Dell? Go to Dell and tell about it Criticism of Dell customer service and products spread far and wide across the Internet this year. So, now the company is inviting customers to make their case good or bad on its own Web site. Dell.com has added product ratings and reviews, giving customers a chance to voice their praise or criticism of both its and other companies' computers and electronics. More and more, consumers looking to make online purchases are relying on customer feedback. The user-generated ratings have grown increasingly popular on e-com-merce sites such as Amazon.com and product-review sites such as ConsumerReview.com.

"As we build up more reviews, our hope is that it will help all our customers make more informed buying decisions based on customer feedback," Manish Mehta, Dell's, vice president for global e-com-merce, wrote on the company's Direct2DellWeblog. suyoshi Kawahito's bookshelf in his small West Lake Hills office tells his story. Books on game design and computer programming sit next to books on aviation history. Military strategy books rest near white binders filled with pilot manuals. And near the bottom sits the telltale yellow of "Small Business for Dummies." 1 -tmir Mm- nUwrvA the odds, Third Wire stands out for being able to establish a solid revenue stream.

Kawahito's games may sound obscure, but they have a devoted audience. Played by aviation enthusiasts and history buffs, his main clients are 25- to 40-year-old males, older than most computer gamers. He once got an e-mail from a 62-year-old asking to be a beta tester for his game. But he has never had a true hit. His most popular games sold about 100,000 copies worldwide.

He's a gamer more than a businessman, and he is shy about promoting him- '-self. He doesn't disclose revenue, but his games sell for about $30. "Flight simulation games bring in about $22.3 million each year, according to consumer market researcher NPD Group. Microsoft "Flight Simulator" is by far the most popular, consistently ranking in the top 20 of best-selling computer games. The overall PC games market is a $1 billion market.

About $11 billion are spent each year on video and portable games. A following of flight fanatics Kawahito's games are available through online stores and retail outlets such as Gamestop and Best Buy. His latest $ee FLIGHT, D3 Third Wire Productions President Tsuyoshi Kawahito Founded: 1999 Headquarters: Austin Games: 'First Eagles: Air War .1918 'Wings Over Europe: Cold War Gone Hot' 'Wings Over Vietnam' 'Strike Fighters Gold' 'First Flight The Wright Experience Flight Simulator' 'Strike Fighters: Project 1' Kawahito, 38, runs Third Wire Productions, a one-man game development studio in Austin that makes flight simulator combat games. His latest game, released this month and available online, is called "First Eagles: The Great Air War 1918." "That is a niche market within a niche market," said Chris Sherman, who used to run the annual Austin Game Conference. "It's very tough." Third Wire typifies the under-the-radar game development businesses that flourish in gaming cities.

Kawahito is unusual for surviving this long on his own in an industry that is tough for newcomes to crack. In Austin, there are about 50 computer and video game development companies. It is a shaky industry; game studios frequently shut down because of lack of funding. Given Items compiled from staff and wire reports. For updated stock quotes, go to statesman.combusiness.

Uneven upload, download speeds leave file sharers steaming INSIDE Happy new gear Did you and San ta get your wires a month for business-grade services that provide equal speeds upstream and downstream. YouTube's rapid rise in 2006 and Google Inc's November purchase of the video-sharing site for $1.76 billion "clearly points to symmetric traffic as being important," said John Cioffi, a Stanford engineering professor and pioneer in DSL technology. People are increasingly sharing among themselves, rather than See UPLOAD, D3 the Internet becomes truly interactive. Users are increasingly becoming contributors and not just consumers, sharing photos, video and, in Glat-felter's case, podcasts. In a nod to the trend of user-generated content, Time magazine recently named "You" everyone who has contributed as its Person of the Year.

Advertisements for cable and DSL services generally focus on download, not upload, speeds. Glatfelter, like other Internet content providers, is stuck unless he shells out hundreds of dollars "At 3 in the morning, that's really brutal" said Glatfelter, 21, who lives in Raleigh, N.C. "It's an extra 40 minutes, and you want to go to sleep." The information superhighway isn't truly equal in both directions. Cable and phone companies typically sell asymmetrical Internet services to households, reserving the bulk of the lanes for downloading movies and other files and leaving the shoulders for people to share, or upload, files with others. The imbalance makes less sense as By Anick Jesdanun ASSCX'lA'rKDITOXS NEW YORK Blame the Internet's legacy systems if Jay Glatfelter falls asleep Thursday mornings.

Co-host of an online audio show about the TV show "Lost," Glatfelter must wait about 40 minutes to finish posting his program to the Internet in the hours after ABC's Wednesday night broadcast. If he were downloading it as his listeners do, the same File would take only a few minutes over a cable modem. crossed? Grab that gift receipt and check out some of D2 the latest gadgetry..