Nvidia Cuts Earnings Estimate

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: July 3, 2008 10:12AM
Author: Dale Shuck

In the videocard world Nvidia has reigned supreme, at least in the mind of many enthusiasts and gamers. But it seems the company has stumbled a bit of late and has cut its latest earnings estimates. Citing multiple causes, Nvidia announced yesterday that its second quarter earnings figures will be below its own estimates. Instead of expected revenue of $1.1 billion, analysts are now saying those numbers will be closer to $875 - $900 million. Contributing to the decline were delays in getting new product out the door, increased competition from AMD resulting in price cuts and the general economic downturn. Adding to the problems is an issue with some Nvidia chips used in notebooks which will result in a one-time charge of $150-$200 million to cover replacements and repair costs. Apparently there is an issue with the packaging material used in some of their chips that, combined with thermal issues common to notebooks, is causing the chips to fail at a higher than normal rate. Nvidia did not disclose which of its products were affected b this problem.

Intel Doesn't Embrace Vista

Category: Operating Systems, Manufacturers
Posted: July 2, 2008 03:46PM
Author: ClayMeow

Many users here at OCC have upgraded to Vista, but the corporate world is another story. Chip maker Intel has always had a strong relationship with Microsoft, but when it comes to upgrading its systems to Vista, the relationship ends there. Though the company has been testing and deploying Vista in certain departments, Intel has no plans on upgrading all its computers to Microsoft's newest operating system. According to an anonymous source, the company simply found "no compelling case for adopting Vista." Even as someone who uses and loves Vista, I can't exacly blame Intel for holding back.

FTC to Investigate Intel's Business Practices

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: June 6, 2008 09:17PM
Author: Dale Shuck

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing an investigation of Intel's business practices as part of a possible antitrust investigation. The FTC has subpoenaed both Intel and AMD as part of its investigation according to sources at both companies. Intel has stated it is cooperating with the FTC in the matter. This has got to be good news to AMD which is embroiled in a legal battle with Intel over what AMD see as unfair business practices. The announcement comes on the heels a a recent decision by South Korea where Intel was fined $25.5 for allegedly abusing its dominant market position. Intel is already facing a similar investigation by the European Commission regarding rebates and discounts offered to OEMs in an effort to freeze AMD out of the market.

Dispute Brewing Among Chip Makers Over USB 3.0 Specs

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: June 6, 2008 09:00PM
Author: Dale Shuck

In a case of what may turn out to be an ugly fight, Nvidia and AMD are chafing over Intel's control of the upcoming USB 3.0 technical specifications and what they see as a delay on Intel's part to turn over details in time for the rival chip makers to develop host controllers that will support the new USB 3.0 standard. The new standard will deliver 10 times the speed of the current USB 2.0 connection and Nvidia and AMD, among others, claim Intel will gain an unfair advantage over its rivals if it doesn't cough up some details soon. The situation is so dire that the pair is threatening to create its own competing version of the 3.0 standard. Intel counters what AMD and Nvidia are seeking goes beyond the USB 3.0 specification and into the hardware controller itself. If this spat isn't resolved soon the end result could be two incompatible standards with users ending up on the short end of the stick.

Microsoft Demonstrates Gesture Recognition UI

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: May 19, 2008 11:17AM
Author: Carl Dunham

Microsoft's dream of putting a Windows computer on every desk in every home has now changed to incorporate all surfaces of your home. This newfound dream is heavily dependent on Microsoft's gesture recognition user interface, this technology would allow your personal computer to take shape in the wall, table top, counters and even the ceiling. Microsoft hopes that eventually all surfaces will have the ability to incorporate an inexpensive screen that has the ability to visualize what you are doing and act accordingly to pre-programmed gestures. This would allow users to leisurely read through emails, edit documents, replace existing teaching tools such as chalkboards and white boards and even aid in a sleeker and more centralized entertainment area. Bill Gates demonstrated the technology at a presentation at the Microsoft CEO Summit 2008, the technology was shown last year but was heavily flawed at the time, as of now many of the bugs have been fixed. Lets just hope Microsoft doesn't try to "watch" us in the bedroom and bathroom.

Asus May Seek Legal Action Against Gigabyte

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: May 17, 2008 11:50AM
Author: ClayMeow

Anyone who has made it through grade school has heard the expression "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  But in the real world (the one that exists post-schooling), name-calling can have serious consequences; legal consequences.  Call it "defamation", call it "libel", or as Asus is doing, call it "disinformation".  Whatever you want to call it, the corporate world is not the playground of your childhood, and mere "words" go a lot further.  According to Asus, competitor Gigabyte held a press conference in which it said "completely misleading" information about Asus.  After investigating what was said at the press conference, Asus claims they uncovered sufficient information to show that Gigabyte used the press conference "to deliberately spread information that we consider both untrue and without credible verification."  Asus has not yet decided whether they will pursue legal action; time will tell.

AMD to Outsource CPU Production?

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: May 13, 2008 02:41PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

In an effort to return to profitability, AMD is rumored to have entered into an agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, where TSMC would start fabricating CPU's by the second half of this year. Also interesting here is that TSMC has allegedly already started fab-testing, in an effort to land a contract to produce AMD's upcoming Fusion CPU/GPU combo chip. Under this scenario, AMD would be able to reduce operating costs by selling off a good chunk of its manufacturing equipment - which would surely help the embattled chip-maker in its mission to retake a 30% worldwide market share in the first half of 2009.

Microsoft's Next Target - Your New Car

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: May 8, 2008 03:09PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

New car shoppers looking at a Hyundai or Kia vehicles will soon find that Microsoft has further penetrated the automotive entertainment market, hoping to build on the success of its SYNC technology partnership with Ford.  While details on the Hyundai or Kia systems are unavailable, industry insiders generally believe that many SYNC features will be incorporated - including across the board MP3 player compatibility, voice actuated music playback and Bluetooth-enabled cell phone functions, and "read free" text messaging support - which uses a female voice to read incoming text messages to the driver, a feature I fully endorse because it decreases the likelihood of accidents caused by motorists who just aren't paying attention to the road.  Expect to see this technology totally integrated into the Korea-based automakers' vehicles by 2010.

P45 Could Be Intel's Last Skt. 775 Chipset

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: May 2, 2008 05:50PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

With Nehalem clearly visible on the horizon, and true competition from AMD comfortably in the distance, at least one major motherboard manufacturer feels that the upcoming P45 chipset will spell the end of Intel's wildly successful Skt. 775.  Featuring FSB support up to 1600MHz, PCI-E 2.0 compatibility, and DDR3 memory speeds up to 1333MHz , P45 would certainly seem to be a fine note for 775 to end on, and it's also expected that P45 will enjoy a very long lifespan and a large market share.  As such, the source opines that motherboard manufacturers may go the extra mile in designing the boards, and the BIOS that commands them - meaning that P45 has every chance at becoming a chipset of legendary status among enthusiasts and mainstream consumers alike.

Hey, Ho, Ne-mo...Hey, Ho, Ne-mo

Intel and Cray Announce Partnership

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 28, 2008 02:09PM
Author: Dale Shuck

Intel and Cray announced a strategic alliance today where Cray will begin to incorporate Intel processors in future designs. Cray currently uses AMD processors and the new deal adds to the mounting pressure on an already troubled AMD. The deal with Intel calls for joint research and development between the two companies on high-performance computers over the next several years. A Cray spokesperson said his company would continue to offer systems using AMD's Opteron processors. AMD recently released upgraded processors in its Barcelona line of chips that fixed technical issues that had delayed release of some Cray systems. The two companies expect to collaborate on Cray's Cascade line of super-computers with the first systems arriving in the 2011-2012 time frame.

Sun Completes Acquisition of Semiconducter Firm Montalvo

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 25, 2008 08:46AM
Author: Dale Shuck

It looks like this is the week to acquire your own chip design firm. Following on the heels Apple's purchase of P.A. Semi earlier this week, Sun Microsystems announced yesterday it had completed the acquisition of little-known chip design firm Montalvo Systems of Santa Clara, California. Little information is available about Montalvo as it had been operating in silent mode until earlier this year. The firm's web site simply says "Montalvo Systems is a well funded fabless semiconductor startup funded by prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms." According earlier published reports, Montalvo was working on low-power chips for the X8 market. While Sun offers servers based on AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon processors, it is probably best-known for it own lineup of SPAR and UltraSPARC RISC-based processors. For this reason it wasn't immediately clear why Sun would be interested in a firm focused primarily on the X86 market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Apple's Profits Are Up; Mac Sales A Major Factor

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 23, 2008 06:09PM
Author: Ben Grantham

It's no secret that Apple have built up a very successful business since the return of Steve Jobs. It is of course that infamous portable media player the iPod that has driven much of this profit, yet the computers that Apple ships are claiming a large slice of the pie as well. The word is that the company's profits are up 36% for this quarter just gone, which in real money terms means a net profit of $1.05 billon. Apple managed to ship an impresive 2,289,000 Mac computers during this time, a considerable increase on the same quarter last year. iPods also continued to sell in volume, with 10,644,000 finding their way into consumers arms and you can add 1.7 million iPhones to that tally as well. Steve Jobs is no doubt happy about the earnings and who knows, maybe he can now afford a new outfit?

Apple Buys Boutique Chip Design Firm

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 23, 2008 07:59AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Apple seems to have surprised just about everyone today by purchasing P.A. Semi for $278 million. P.A. Semi doesn't manufacture its own chips, but instead specializes in the design of low power PowerPC processors. The firm's founder also has a background in the design of StrongARM processors akin to those currently employed in the iPhone and iPod Touch. Speculation is that any processors that come from this new relationship will be used in future iPhones and iPods and not desktops. This puts an end to some of the rumors that the next generation of iPhones would make use of Intel's Atom processor. With this purchase it also seems that Apple is committing to a two-platform strategy with one for mobile devices and another, Intel, for desktops and laptops.

Chairman Of Samsung Group Resigns On Tax Evasion Charges

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 22, 2008 01:01PM
Author: Ben Grantham

Lee Kun-hee won't be a familiar name (or face) to many, but up until very recently he was the chairman of the South Korean giant Samsung Group. Samsung's corporate head quarters were raided earlier this year on suspision that the company operated a large slush fund which was used for innapropriate means (such as bribing government officials). Lee Kun-hee announced his resignation from the position today, after being indicted for avoiding around $113 million in taxes. Other Samsung executives have also followed suit, including Lee Kun-hee's son Lee Jae-yong. What this will mean for the Samsung Group in general is yet to be seen, but I'm sure everyone knows that such scandals can't be good for business.

Seagate Files Lawsuit Against STEC

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 15, 2008 11:28AM
Author: Carl Dunham

Following the recent trend of legal battles and squabbles in the consumer electronics market, Seagate is adding its fists to the mix. Seagate CEO Bill Watkins stated last month that if sales of competitor SSD's (solid state drives) continued to climb his company would file lawsuits against the incriminating companies. True to his word Seagate has filed a lawsuit against STEC's SSD product lineup stating that it violated four Seagate held patents in terms of, error correction, memory-backup and storage interface. Watkins believes that in light of SSD popularity companies have been taking shortcuts to get their products out the door and in the process infringing on Seagate's intellectual property. Seagate claims that it has tried talking with these companies to have them legally license the patents but the companies refused, STEC claims that no such talks ever took place. I'll be adding this to the laundry list of other technological related lawsuits to keep an eye on in the coming months.

TwinMOS - a victim of the continuous DRAM price drops

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 12, 2008 05:12AM
Author: kingdingeling

Taiwan based memory manufacturer TwinMOS has become a victim of the continuous drop in DRAM prices. By April 15th, the company will have closed down as the Digitimes reports. In an effort to prevent this from happening, TwinMOS has tried to reorganize its structures to cut costs where possible, but they have also been looking for opportunities of aquisition. The employees of TwinMOS seem to be taken care of, as many are already, or will be, working for the flash memory maker Silicon-Power Computer. To establish a memory factory is not that expensive, however the ongoing costs are, which is the reason TwinMOS has to shut down. They will sadly not be the last company to break down with this trough of the DRAM industry, as industry analysts say.

NVIDIA Team With VIA For Low Cost Platform

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 10, 2008 06:10PM
Author: Ben Grantham

With Intel pushing out plenty of marketing material to support its new Atom processors, NVIDIA are teaming up with VIA to produce a low cost platform which offers several advantages over current Intel Celeron based platforms using the 945IGP and ICH4 chipset. Just a coincidence that NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang had criticisms for Intel's integrated graphics solutions earlier today then? Flamboyant company bosses aside, the NVIDIA / VIA platform claims to be "The World's Most Affordable Vista Premium PC", with support for Blu-Ray HD and DirectX 10 at a cost less than $45. Word is that VIA's new Isaiah chip is comparable in performance terms to Celeron-M or Pentium-M processors running at similar clock speeds. I guess that would be NVIDIA comparing a new platform to something that has been around for a while (surely they wouldn't want to mislead anyone!), with the real test being how the offering will stack up to Intel's upcoming Atom based equivalents. Either way, it seems that the bottom line is where the action has been recently.. recession anyone?

Hewlet-Packard Ships Infected USB Flash Drives

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 9, 2008 12:03PM
Author: Carl Dunham

Computer and peripheral manufacturer Hewlet-Packard recently released a number of USB flash drives containing malware that could allow someone to take over an infected system. The infected flash drives appear to be of the 256MB and 1GB variety and could contain W32.SillyFDC or W32.Fakerecy. Many of the flash drives shipped with Proliant servers manufactured by HP, HP's Software Security Response Team sent a warning to AusCERT providing a list of affected servers. To determine if you have an infected flash drive HP recommends plugging the device into a PC with an up to date antivirus as the PC should be protected by it... hopefully. HP believes that its infected USB flash drives will only affect a small amount of customers and will not escalate to a serious threat.

Suit filed by Ultra Products against many power supply manufacturers

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 9, 2008 08:43AM
Author: kingdingeling

Of all the power supply manufacturers that offer modular power supplies, there is apparently only one that is allowed to sell them, Ultra Products. They have the patent for this technology, but many other manufacturers have been selling their modular power supplies just as well. Ultra now filed a lawsuit against the whole bunch of them on April 4th in the Florida Middle District Court. You ask yourself who that whole bunch is, well it really is any manufacturer that sells modular power supplies: Antec, Channel Well, Corsair, Enhance, E-Power, SPI Electronic Group, FSP (Forton), Koolance, Mushkin, OCZ, Seasonic, Silverstone, Spire, Tagan, Thermaltake, Topower and Zalman. That's a long list to sue! Such a lawsuit would usually have caused quite a bit of publicity at least amongst the online community, but right now only a few sources, one being JonnyGURU, have posted anything about it. We will keep you up to date on the outcomes of this lawsuit.
Thanks to road-runner for tipping me off on this bit of news!

Livescribe and Shipments... don't compliment them too fast!

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 8, 2008 12:09PM
Author: kingdingeling

As we reported earlier on OCC (see "At least Livescribe keeps a shipping date as promised... barely!"), Livescribe told its customers that they would be shipping out the Pulse smartpen starting on the 31st of March. It seemed like the company finally made a promised shipping date, however there have been further delays. In an email that was sent around to those who pre-ordered, as well as in the official blog from Livescribe, they said that shipment would commence in 4-6 weeks, which is in fact far from the end of March. On the 31st, they posted a blog entry that stated they had accidentally sent out shipping confirmation emails, saying that the pens would be shipped out on April 7., however that had to be revoked. I hope that Livescribe gets these pens shipped out quickly, as they seem like an awesome tool for studying and working, but if it isn't available, it won't be able to help anybody.

Intel Boss Answers Questions

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 8, 2008 07:30AM
Author: Ben Grantham

If you can cast your mind back just over a week, you may remember that the BBC was giving readers the chance to ask Intel CEO Paul Otellini their own questions. A number of questions were selected and have now been published, along with Otellini's responses. As predicted, we don't learn an awful lot about the man himself (apart from the fact he uses both a Mac and a PC). The answers do give some insight into the mindset of the Intel boss and how he thinks things are going for the company, plus where he sees things going in the future (we've been talking about speech recognition for years now, surely). The interview is punctuated with the fact that Otellini believes Intel have changed the world for the better during the 34 years he has worked there. What do you think?

AMD to Cut Staff, Reduces Revenue Forecast

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: April 7, 2008 03:52PM
Author: Dale Shuck

AMD today announced plans to cut 10% of it's workforce in an effort to cut costs. The cuts are expected to affect 1,600 positions and be completed by the Q3 2008. Along with the announced job cuts, AMD also lowered its revenue forecast from $1.61 billion to $1.5 billion citing lower sales. While that's over 20% ahead of the same period a year earlier, AMD is still struggling and is running a string of five consecutive quarterly losses, largely attributable to its acquisition of graphics card manufacturer ATI in 2006. The latest quarterly results reflected a loss of $1.722 billion, of which $1.675 billion was related to the ATI purchase.

Intel Branded SSD Thoughts

Category: Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 3, 2008 06:06AM
Author: Ben Grantham

We know that Intal are planning on getting some high capacity SSDs out into the market sometime later this year, but now we have some comments from someone who has actually used one of Intel's upcoming drives. The fact that the feedback comes from an Intel company blog may mean a slightly cynical view could be taken, but if it is to be believed we should certainly be looking forward to the introduction of these could be hard drive killers. Knut Grimsrud, the guy leading the development team for the company's new high-performance solid-state drive was recently given the opportunity to put the technology through its paces on his own laptop. According to Grimsrud, he found himself surprised to be performing tasks which would usually bog his machine down with relative ease, and was disappointed when the time came to re-install his old hard drive. Genuine praise or clever marketing? I'll let you make your mind up on that one.

Lenovo's Intel Atom based Handheld shown at Intel Developer Forum

Category: Mobile, Manufacturers, General News
Posted: April 2, 2008 01:09PM
Author: kingdingeling

Mobile computing is becoming more and more popular amongst business men and other alike. Lenovo showed a handheld computer at CES Las Vegas this January, however it did not have a name yet. At the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, the IdeaPad U8, as it is called, was shown. As unveiled at CES, the small device runs Linux natively, can of course connect to the internet, can be used as a GPS device, plays music and takes photos. It uses the Intel Atom processor, features a touchscreen display and is targeted at consumers, as the name IdeaPad gives away (the name of Lenovo's new laptop lineup). As Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs as Intel calls them) are not that popular in the US or Europe, it is currently only available in China, but the Intel Atom technology might change that, as the devices keep getting smaller.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Category: Mobile, Manufacturers, Monitors, Prebuilts
Posted: April 2, 2008 12:35PM
Author: Carl Dunham

Apple is facing a lawsuit over its new MacBooks due to a discrepancy in its advertising. Apple has been marketing the MacBooks with the slogan "Millions of Colors", when in fact it is only a little over 250,000 colors. In order to cut costs with MacBooks apple opted to use a 6-bit LCD versus an 8-bit, if they had gone with the 8-bit they would have been in the clear. A similar case came up last year when a pair of MacBook owners filed a suit against Apple for similar reasons. Apple eventually reached a settlement with the pair last month bringing the case to a close. Apple is not the first manufacturer to have problems similar to this, many including Dell, Viewsonic, Samsung and others have had court related problems with the marketing of their LCD's.

Canon Lose Ground To Nikon In DSLR Market

Category: Manufacturers, Digital Photography/Video
Posted: April 2, 2008 10:59AM
Author: Ben Grantham

Canon have remained top dog in the camera game for some time now, at least in terms of market share (other measurements are open to interpretation). For example, in 2006 Canon held 46.7 percent of the DSLR market compared to 33 percent for Nikon. It would seem in the last year that gap closed considerably, with Canon selling 3.18 million SLR models and Nikon selling 2.98 million; shares of 42.7 percent and 40 percent respectively. So one would have to assumed Nikon is doing something right by consumers to narrow the margin by that much, with possibilities being the D300 and D3 at the higher end. Yet it is at the lower end of the DSLR market that the real numbers get shifted, and this is the market that Canon has been strong in previously. What is probably of more interest overall is that the SLR market is growing faster than that for compact cameras as prices are driven down and the compact market becomes saturated. As always, close competition is good for the consumer, so there is something to be happy about even if market share and seemingly meaningless numbers aren't your thing.

Intel Fleshes Out Atom Processor Lineup

Category: CPU's, Manufacturers
Posted: April 2, 2008 08:47AM
Author: Ben Grantham

Yesterday we saw Intel displaying some ultra portables based on Atom processors and today we see Intel adding five new processors to the Atom family. The new additions are all built on the 45nm process and range in speed from 800MHz to 1.86GHz, they also all feature 512KB of L2 cache. These Silverthorne based processors are squished onto a package roughly the size of a penny (13mm x 14mm) and are destined to find homes in what Intel refers to as Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) as well as GPS devices, portable video players and any other device you can think of that could make use of them. Prices range from $45 for the Z500 @ 800MHz, up to $160 for the Z540 @ 1.86GHz. Back up for these chips will come in the form of Intel's new System Controller Hub (SCH), which incorporates a number of useful features such as HD Audio, PCIe and USB plus WiFi, WiMAX, EV-DO and HSDPA capabilities. Also included is a graphics solution with support for hardware accelerated 720p and 1080i content. Part of the philosophy behind the Atom processor is getting Intel into new developing markets, but there seems to be enough potential here to offer useful products for well established markets as well.

Dell to Shut Down Austin Plant

Category: Manufacturers
Posted: March 31, 2008 04:39PM
Author: Dale Shuck

Dell announced it will shut down its desktop manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas as part of a plan to cut 8,800 jobs and shave $3 billion in annual costs over the next three years. Dell, once the leading PC maker, has lost market share and is now number two behind HP. Dell had previously announced the job cuts and has already reduced headcount by 3,200. Dell has faced increased competition and mounting pressure from investors as profits margins have eroded.

Chance To Ask Intel CEO Questions

Category: Manufacturers, General News
Posted: March 31, 2008 05:46AM
Author: Ben Grantham

It's not every day that you get the chance to put your own questions to the boss of a major company like Intel. The BBC technology site is giving anyone the chance to send in questions for Paul Otellini (the man in question), this week for an interview that will be conducted on Friday. Of course an opportunity like this comes with the rather large proviso that your question is good enough to get picked from the thousands of others, but it's worth a shot if you can think of something interesting. It could be the only chance we get to find out what Paul Otellini's favourite colour is (I'd hazard a guess at blue), or what he eats for breakfast. Somehow I suspect those important questions will go unanswered though.

Microsoft, Pretty in Pink?

Category: Operating Systems, Manufacturers, Software
Posted: March 28, 2008 03:47PM
Author: Carl Dunham

Ahhhh pink, you either look good in it or you look... well gay, but where does that leave Microsoft? In what must be a cry for attention, Microsoft is bundling (in Japan) Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Live OneCare in a box that would make Barbie jealous, sorry Ken. Now I am afraid to ask if this box has anything to do with Microsoft's marketing staffs sexuality or if they are just pushing Vista on Hello Kitty fans, but I will never be comfortable buying a Microsoft product in a hot pink box.