September 9th, 2011

Samsung Responds To More OS Acquisition Rumors: Nope, We’re Not Buying MeeGo Either

Samsung_Building

MeeGo is up in the air.

Nokia turned its back on MeeGo a while ago. Intel, meanwhile, promises to continue to support the open-source community, but reports claim that it has decided to temporarily suspend development of the platform. And so begins the rotation of a mighty rumor mill. → Read More

September 2nd, 2011

Report: Intel To Kill MeeGo Development “Temporarily”

intel-meego

It’s a tough environment out there for an OS. But a few have risen to the top of the food chain — most obviously iOS and Android. And at the very bottom, like an orphaned and endangered baby buffalo, sits MeeGo. Nokia has already fled from the burning platform, but now its only remaining parent, Intel, has reportedly decided to temporarily discontinue development of MeeGo. But for a platform… → Read More

August 30th, 2011

Intel Forms ‘Federal’ Business Unit To Sell Supercomputing Services To The U.S. Government

Intel

Intel is forming a brand new business unit today, called Intel Federal, to ‘better address new opportunities in working with the U.S. government.’ The new subsidiary will focus exclusively on selling and advising on computing services in the government.

Initially, Intel says Intel Federal will focus on the High Performance Computing segment, including work on exascale computing with the U.S. → Read More

i-heart-gauntlet
August 19th, 2011

IntelToComputerMakers:UltrabooksWillSaveYou

As I write this, I’m sitting in my office. Around me, there are nine computers — seven of them run Windows. I have three slates, too — only one is an iPad. Welcome to the Post-PC world outside of San Francisco where Microsoft is still top dog and Apple is a niche, but admittedly, influential player.

We may be in the post-PC era, but the Windows PC is far from dead. Apple is growing rapidly… → Read More

August 8th, 2011

Intel’s Havok Acquires 3D Game Engine Provider Trinigy

trinigy

Havok, a provider of interactive software solutions for the games, entertainment and simulation industries that was acquired by Intel back in 2007, this morning announced that it has purchased long-time partner Trinigy, a 3D game engine provider with offices in Germany; Austin, Texas (US) and Seoul (Korea).

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. → Read More

August 4th, 2011

New Intel Ultrabook Reference Models Could Undercut MacBook Air Significantly

feat1

When Intel launched its Ultrabook initiative, we were excited: a full-on PC notebook the size of a MacBook Air? Promises of Adamos and Series 9s danced before our eyes, sexy but overpriced. Could this new spec be the one that makes our Air-toting friends jealous?

Unfortunately, few ultrabooks have surfaced, and those that have aren’t really competing pricewise. And just today we hear that Apple… → Read More

July 27th, 2011

MacBook Air Killers? First Batch Of PC Ultrabooks To Carry An Ultra-Pricetag

ultrabook-5

Ultrabooks are supposed to be the PC’s answer to the MacBook Air. These notebooks are said to rock hardware platforms very similar to the Air’s but, you know, run Windows instead of OS X. The first crop from HP and Asus will likely hit during the fourth quarter of 2011 but won’t be Air-killers right away. They’re going to be too expensive. → Read More

July 19th, 2011

Intel Buys Semiconductor Company Fulcrum Microsystems

Fulcrum Microsystems Picture

Intel has announced the acquisition of fabless semiconductor company Fulcrum Microsystems. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011, are not being disclosed.

Fulcrum Microsystems designs Ethernet switch silicon for data center network providers. Fulcrum’s provide interconnect devices for storage, computing and networking backplane, and interconnect… → Read More

June 1st, 2011

Acer Plans Early Lead In Ultrabook Race, Aims For Q4 Launch

When the iPad first launched last year, the word “tablet” became mainstream, and just about every electronics manufacturer out there has thrown out its version of a slate, one of the most quickly-adopted forms of technology to date. After Intel’s recent announcement of a new thinner, lighter type of notebook, called the ultrabook, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a similar reaction out of… → Read More

May 31st, 2011

Intel Pitches New Category Of Thin And Light Laptops: "Ultrabooks"

Intel is using the yearly Computex Taipei exhibition in Taiwan as a platform to pitch a new category of laptops. Dubbed Ultrabooks, these devices are supposed to have three distinct features: they are thinner (less than 20mm/0.8 inches) and lighter than most existing laptops, and they should be priced below $1,000 in order to become mainstream. → Read More

May 18th, 2011

Why Is Apple Trademarking "Thunderbolt" Instead Of Intel?

A strange development on the Thunderbolt front. Intel’s new high-speed interface certainly made its big debut on Apple’s new MacBook Pros, but why would Apple be trademarking it if it’s Intel’s technology? → Read More

May 17th, 2011

Sony Bringing Thunderbolt To Notebooks With USB-Style Connector?

When Thunderbolt made its big debut back in February, we weren’t too surprised to find it take the shape of a DisplayPort connector. As Apple has been a big partner with Intel on the new interface and has always been a big promoter of DisplayPort, it made sense. But it was no guarantee that the rest of the industry would follow suit. And it seems Sony might be the first to change things up. → Read More

May 4th, 2011

Intel's 3D Transistors Promise Small Physical And Electrical Footprint

Intel has made an interesting advance in microprocessor technology after years of research, and it seems that 2011′s processors will be the first to feature 3D transistors and tri-gate technology. By optimizing the shape of the transistor at a nanometer level, Intel has made it possible to both reduce the size of individual transistors and improve their efficiency.

Now, it’s important to… → Read More

April 28th, 2011

Successor To Thunderbolt May Hit In 2015, Says Intel

The latest interface on the block, Thunderbolt, is barely on the market and there’s already talk of its replacement. It’s a good four years down the road, of course (companies like Intel have to think ahead), but there are already prototypes and Intel is already talking it up. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a cool code name yet, but they’ll fix that soon. → Read More

April 14th, 2011

Intel Calls USB 3.0 & Thunderbolt ‘Complementary,’ Will Support USB 3.0 in 2012

Intel now says it will support both its Thunderbolt interface, which first appeared on the recent MacBook Pro revision, and USB 3.0 sometime in 2012. Presumably if it supports USB 3.0 then it will support all previous versions of USB. → Read More

April 13th, 2011

Intel-Based Honeycomb Tablets On The Way This Fall?

Despite the fact that all the major players in the tablet business are using non-Intel hardware, the semiconductor giant isn’t about to give up. They got a black eye from ARM in this first bout, but according to Digitimes, they’re ready for round 2. → Read More

April 12th, 2011

Leaked Intel Roadmap Holds No Big Surprises

A few slides showing some of Intel’s plans for 2011 have leaked, but it’s nothing crazy. Intel doesn’t really do anything crazy, just tick-tocks its yearly advances, and 2011 is no different. Sandy Bridge will get a tweaked successor in the E series, which will allow more CPU cores and more graphics bandwidth. Then the next gen “Ivy Bridge” hits in 2012. Should you… → Read More

April 12th, 2011

MeeGo UI Upgrade Is An Improvement, But Is It Good Enough?

Right now the only serious player in tablets is Apple, followed at a great distance by Google and then by Microsoft. Intel’s MeeGo, which I expected to fade away after a rather poor showing at Mobile World Congress, has been given a puzzling upgrade, which NetbookNews got on video at a recent Intel event in Beijing. I say puzzling because it doesn’t look bad at all. → Read More

April 12th, 2011

Intel Hints At New Tablet Chip Named "Cloverview"

Cloverview is going to be the name of Intel’s next-generation Atom processors for tablets according to a hint dropped during a speech today at the Intel Developer Forum. → Read More

March 29th, 2011

Building A New PC? Intel's Motherboard Woes Have Been Resolved

I’m in the middle of building a new desktop computer, and for the last couple weeks have been frustrated by the recall of Intel’s new P67 (Sandy Bridge-supporting) motherboards, since those are exactly what value-conscious buyers like myself would be going for. Well, the wait is over — the replacements have arrived. It’s safe to build! → Read More

March 28th, 2011

Intel Lowers Prices And Doubles Capacity Of New SSDs

SSDs have been on my Amazon Wishlist for over a year now, but the prices have always been a little higher than my blogger’s salary allowed. The good news is that when new technology gets older, we enjoy very nice price cuts. This is no more obvious then here with the new third-generation SSD 320 Series from Intel. → Read More

March 14th, 2011

HP's Sandy Bridge Notebook Line Now Shipping

Intel’s Sandy Bridge platform got off to a rough start with a recall shortly after it launched, which then sent ripples through top-tier manufacturers who then had to delay or recall their wares. But everything is worked out now and the sun is beating down on the sandy bridges as HP starts shipping its first round of next-gen Intel notebooks. → Read More

March 14th, 2011

Intel Buys Egypt-Based SySDSoft To Boost Its 4G LTE Efforts

Intel, through stand-alone subsidiary Intel Mobile Communications, today announced that it has acquired most of the assets of SySDSoft, a Cairo, Egypt-based software company to accelerate its 4G LTE efforts.

The privately-held company develops embedded wireless systems. Intel says it will hire roughly 100 of SySDSoft’s electrical engineers and computer scientists. → Read More

March 12th, 2011

The Walled Garden Has Won

barbedwire

Ten days ago Google discovered that apparently innocuous Android apps were in fact infested with “DroidDream” malware that included an Android rootkit, with the apparent intent of creating a smartphone botnet. It infected more than a quarter of a million devices before Google intervened. The thriller writer in me immediately began to wonder what would happen if black hats built a wildly popular… → Read More

March 3rd, 2011

Apple, Google, Amazon, And Microsoft Make Up 4 Of The Top 10 Most Admired Companies

Every year, Fortune magazine (where I started out as a reporter) comes out with its list of the Most Admired Companies in the world. In truth, it doesn’t really change much from year to year. Apple, once again for the fourth year in a row, is No. 1, as it should be. The company single-handedly created an entirely new class of touch computing with the iPad last year, and is on it’s way to… → Read More

March 2nd, 2011

AMD Belittles Thunderbolt, Says It's Unnecessary

AMD certainly would benefit from minimizing Thunderbolt. If Thunderbolt were to catch on, AMD would likely have to purchase components from chief rival, Intel. AMD says that they support USB 3.0 and that Thunderbolt’s speed would be superfluous. → Read More

February 28th, 2011

Intel Announces New Solid-State Drives

Today, Intel announced a new line of solid-state drives: the Intel SSD 510 Series. The new drives operate over 6Gbps SATA to take advantage of Intel’s new higher speed SATA bus interface (like the new MBPs). Speeds are now up to 500MB per second and 315MB per second for reading and writing respectively. That’s a pretty serious upgrade from just a year ago. The two drives available now… → Read More

February 28th, 2011

Intel Closes $7.68 Billion McAfee Acquisition

Intel has officially completed its acquisition of security giant McAfee, according to a release issued today. Intel announced the $7.68 billion, all-cash deal last August.

According to the release, McAfee will continue developing and selling security products and services under its own brand and “first fruits of their strategic partnership” will be brought to market later in 2011. McAfee will… → Read More

February 24th, 2011

Apple Has Significant "Head Start" With Thunderbolt, But Not Exclusive

Intel’s new Thunderbolt interface, which made its debut this morning in an upgrade to Apple’s MacBook Pro line, may be effectively an Apple exclusive for quite some time, according to Intel. At their press release, held shortly after Apple’s update when live, Intel noted that the developer kit for the interface would be provided to other computer manufacturers this spring, and that they didn’t… → Read More

February 24th, 2011

What Is Thunderbolt And Will It Change Your Life?

Though you’re probably hearing about it for the first time now, Intel’s been working on a new interconnection technology for the last few years. “Light Peak”, as it was called up until it was rebranded “Thunderbolt” today, promises a new world of screaming-fast data transfers. The claims are spectacular: 10 gigabit per second transfers (both upload and download!), dual protocol support, and… → Read More