Toshiba

LA ROCHELLE, France -- The boats in the Whitbread Round the World Race have watched most of the globe pass under their hulls, but the final hours into this ancient port were among the most significant.As the nine boats completed their trek from Annapolis to La Rochelle, they did so by marking several milestones. The finish offered a first-ever top trophy for hard-luck team Toshiba, a surprise third for Chessie Racing, a best-ever fourth by the all-women's boat, EF Education, and what was expected to be a big enough boost to EF Language to seal its overall victory in the nine-leg Whitbread.

In the world of home entertainment, Sony took a big loss early on when its Betamax videotapes lost out to JVC's VHS versions, making yesterday's announcement by Blockbuster Inc. seem like slight vindication. The movie rental giant announced plans to stock 1,700 stores - including 21 in Maryland - with disks using Sony's newest technology, called Blu-ray. That's 1,450 more Blockbusters than will carry movies made in Toshiba's competing format, known as HD DVD. In vintage Beta-versus-VHS style, the two businesses have been duking it out over the title of next-generation home movie maker, with each racking up a list of big-name backers.

EF Education, the all-women's entry in the Whitbread Round the World Race, has filed a protest against U.S. boat Toshiba, accusing skipper Dennis Conner's boat of a right-of-way violation on the first night of Leg 7 from Fort Lauderdale to Baltimore.EF Education notified race headquarters and Toshiba of its intent to protest shortly after the alleged incident early Monday.Both boats were sailing downwind on starboard tacks about a half-mile apart, EF Education said, when Toshiba jibed to port and onto a collision course.

TOKYO - Microsoft and Toshiba said yesterday that they would work together to develop next-generation DVD players, heating up a race between competing technologies for DVDs. The companies aim to develop high-definition DVD players that would use software from Microsoft and hardware from Toshiba, the companies said. The agreement offers a potential leg up to Toshiba in its battle against a group led by Sony to define the format for the next generation of DVD players. Sony is championing the Blu-ray technology, with discs that have more capacity than the HD-DVD format that Toshiba is backing.

TOKYO - Microsoft and Toshiba said yesterday that they would work together to develop next-generation DVD players, heating up a race between competing technologies for DVDs. The companies aim to develop high-definition DVD players that would use software from Microsoft and hardware from Toshiba, the companies said. The agreement offers a potential leg up to Toshiba in its battle against a group led by Sony to define the format for the next generation of DVD players. Sony is championing the Blu-ray technology, with discs that have more capacity than the HD-DVD format that Toshiba is backing.

Sailing legend Dennis Conner was smacked with a hefty penalty in the Whitbread Round the World Race yesterday, a move that bumped his boat to last place in the latest leg of this nine-month contest.Testifying before an international jury for more than four hours, sailors from the all-women's team, EF Education, alleged Conner's Toshiba violated a rule guarding against collisions at sea."We did everything to avoid the collision, and they didn't do everything in the rules to avoid it," EF Education skipper Christine Guillou said of the incident, which happened more than a week ago on the first night of the leg from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Baltimore.

SAO SEBASTIAO, Brazil -- A five-man international jury yesterday disqualified the American yacht Toshiba, a prerace favorite in the Whitbread Round the World Race, from Leg 5 of the nine-leg 31,600-mile circumnavigation for "gross violation" of the rules.Toshiba, skippered by Briton Paul Standbridge, was found guilty of starting its engine to clear weeds from its propeller and breaking its drive-shaft seals without reporting the incident to the race committee.The disqualification from a leg was the first in the 25-year history of the Whitbread race.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Apple Computer and Japan's Toshiba announced plans yesterday to jointly create a new generation of computers, starting with a hand-held device that will be the first to use technology created in an Apple/IBM joint venture.The partnership with Toshiba will produce multimedia computers, which can display still photographs, sophisticated animation and video in addition to simple text and graphics.Instead of floppy disks, these machines will rely mainly on storage disks similar to CDs used to play stereo recordings.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Veteran skipper Chris Dickson, prerace favorite to win the Whitbread Round the World Race, resigned suddenly yesterday after finishing Leg 1 a disappointing sixth aboard Toshiba, the entry of Team Dennis Conner.An announcement from the team's San Diego headquarters said Dickson's resignation was provoked by "a difference of opinion on how the program should be run." It gave no further details. Dickson could not be contacted at his hotel here and was reported to be on safari.

International Business Machines' announcement yesterday that it will join Japan's Toshiba Corp. and Germany's Siemens AG to develop advanced computer chips demonstrates how nationalist competition is giving way to international alliances fueled by financial and technical necessities.As in another international venture announced yesterday -- a $700 million deal between Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices -- sharing costs was a key factor in the IBM-Toshiba-Siemens deal. The three companies together will spend about $1 billion to develop advanced semiconductors and manufacturing processes.

TRYING TO FIX a telephone these days is frustrating. First of all, the notion of repairing a telephone seems to strike many as an outdated concept. The popular method of dealing with a dead phone is to abandon it. That is what the clerk at Circuit City suggested this week when I tried to revive a troubled Toshiba cordless phone by giving it a new battery. That is also what the two Toshiba representatives implied when I talked with them on the so-called "customer service" line. They made me mad, but they might have been right.

Status: Day 2, Leg 9Standings:Boat .. .. .. .. .. .. ..Nautical miles to finish1. BrunelSunergy .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...102.42. Merit Cup .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .103.63. EF Language .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .103.84. Silk Cut .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..104.15. Toshiba .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 104.36. Swedish Match .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...104.77. Innovation Kvaerner .. .. .. .. .. .. ...104.78. Chessie Racing .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..107.29. EF Education .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .109.

LA ROCHELLE, France -- The boats in the Whitbread Round the World Race have watched most of the globe pass under their hulls, but the final hours into this ancient port were among the most significant.As the nine boats completed their trek from Annapolis to La Rochelle, they did so by marking several milestones. The finish offered a first-ever top trophy for hard-luck team Toshiba, a surprise third for Chessie Racing, a best-ever fourth by the all-women's boat, EF Education, and what was expected to be a big enough boost to EF Language to seal its overall victory in the nine-leg Whitbread.

LA ROCHELLE, France -- It will be fitting for this journey -- a trek across the pond that has proven to be anything but predictable.When the next-to-last leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race ends here today, surprise victors and teams long considered star-crossed are likely to be at the front of the pack.The nearly two-week trip from Annapolis to La Rochelle has been one of the wildest yet in this nine-leg, marathon sailing adventure around the globe.Battling for first are Toshiba and Silk Cut -- two hard-luck teams led by dueling British skippers.

When Toshiba finished the last leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race, the syndicate's chairman, Dennis Conner, waved triumphantly to the crowd as he sailed into Baltimore. After that, he spoke bluntly about the shortcomings of one of his rivals. Later, he packed Toshiba with corporate sponsors and set out to show off his boat.In typical Conner fashion, he acted like a winner.But in reality, his hard-luck boat was in the midst of some of its worst times yet. The day Conner arrived in Baltimore, his team was seventh overall in the nine-boat fleet.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Chessie Racing held onto fourth place overall in the Whitbread Round the World Race yesterday, crossing the finish line of Leg 6 with a school of flying fish by its side and rival U.S. team Toshiba in its wake.After 4,750 miles at sea, the competition for Chessie came down to a match race with Toshiba, a boat run by America's Cup big shot Dennis Conner. Chessie, the first Maryland boat to take part in the 31,600-mile international race, finished only three minutes ahead of its rival in the indigo waters off Florida.

SYDNEY, Australia - Swedish Match and U.S. entry Toshiba are racing neck and neck toward the rocky coast of New Zealand's North Island, clear leaders in the closing stages of the dramatic Leg 4 of the Whitbread Round the World Race.The Swedes have their royal blue bow in front, but just barely. Toshiba skipper Dennis Conner has demonstrated again that he remains, at 55, one of the world's great sailors. Having fluffed the start by three seconds, Conner had to endure the agony of a recall and watch his rivals sail away under spinnaker down Sydney Harbour.