Gawker
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rumormonger
Intel's Secret Geekfest to Kill the iPhone
Apple's got the iPhone. Google's got Android. Even Amazon has the Kindle. After flirting several times with the ooohs-and-aaaahs gadget business, Intel convened a brain trust last week to work on their own mobile phone. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Figaro: I'm willing to wager that this thing will flop. Intel just doesn't get consumer products and design. Every one of... 3 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
Jim Goldman's Bad Intel
CNBC, the cable business network, claims to have "policies and guidelines" that are "strictly followed." One of them appears to be presenting company flacks as secret "sources." Tech reporter Jim Goldman adheres to it religiously. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Drunken Economist: Another day of yelling heads on C-N-B-WWE, another Valleywag post. Seriously, tho', Owen, the other commenters have a point. Maybe it's... 3 Responses | Other threads
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Core i7
New Intel chip won't run the economy any faster
Intel launched its new Core i7 chip today. John Markoff's behind-the-scenes report in the Times is a good alternative to the technical-stats posts you can Google up anywhere. Intel — and several thousand miserable business reporters — want to spin Core i7 as as a sign of new hope for the tech industry's future. Truth is, there are three reasons Core i7 can't save us all: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by macbeach: One more item: 4) Users and businesses have finally figured out that their machines continually getting slower is a design flaw... more » | Other threads
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forecasts
Intel scraps sales forecast, but whatever
Intel changed its Q4 forecast from 3 percent growth to a 12 percent slump, with profitability likewise down. Forrester CEO George Colony personally blogged three reasons not to worry: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: Doesn't Intel own a chunk of VMWare? 1 Responses | Other threads
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Cash Is King
The 10 richest tech companies
Where's the debt crisis in Silicon Valley? The knock-on effects are all too real, but frozen credit markets have had little direct effect on business operations, aside from possibly scotching the debt-fueled sales of Alltel and Nextel. That's because technology companies are run by paranoid sorts who like to keep large cash reserves, in case some upstart renders their market obsolete. In good times, activist shareholders whinged about their parsimonious habits, but the cash hoarders are now sitting pretty — and could be set for acquisition binges. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by CaliforniaCajun: "Apple, $20.7 billion In the '90s, Apple almost ran out of money." It just ain't true. Even in the darkest days of... 2 Responses | Other threads
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earnings
Intel's good news: Not as bad off as AMD!
Intel's revenues for the most recent quarter were flat, but its profits were up 12 percent on expense cuts. (Read: layoffs!) Intel CEO Paul Otellini says the company expects to "outpace" its competition. Right: That would be AMD, the chipmaker which is trying to shed its chipmaking facilities. Outpacing AMD is like running a three-legged race against a double amputee. [WSJ]
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By Owen ThomasComment by Nekoni: If by three legged race you mean 2 people with a leg strapped together, surely the double amputee and his/her... more » | Other threads
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Entellium
How deep did Entellium's fraud go?
$50 million of venture capital down the drain. A fraudulent set of books, going back to 2004. How did this happen? Entellium, a Seattle-based software company, saw CEO Paul Johnston and CFO Parrish Jones resign, days before the two were charged with wire fraud. What no one has explained: How on earth were the two executives able to get away with overstating the company's revenues to investors by a factor of four? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ShwetaAntlion: I have no idea what Entellium was supposed to be doing. It does seem strange that each and everyone of... more » | Other threads
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events
Germans urge Californian independence with Cebit invitation
As a born Californio who proudly packs my "U.S. out of California" tee from Mule Design whenever I leave the state, it comes as no surprise that Cebit conference organizers have, for the first time, selected a state instead of a nation as a partner in the world's largest information technology conference and trade show. Like many Americans, I could use a few euros and some free healthcare right about now. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped by Intel yesterday to promote the relationship with his deutsche sprechen comrades. And while the conference is held in Hanover, I recommend stopping by Berlin, which I hear is cheap, kinky and open for business. The state and conference are even offering financial assistance for first-time attendees. California uber alles, indeed. -
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olpc
Venezuela orders 1 million cheap laptops for kids, but not from OLPC
In a deal worth more than $3 billion, Venezuela has agreed to purchase 1 million mini-laptops from Portugal. The Intel-designed Classmate laptops were licensed to Portugal for manufacturing and are similar to Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project that Intel once backed. The Venezuela contract is bigger than all OLPC orders combined from the past two years. [International Herald Tribune]
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Comment by GregKerr: Eh, 1M notebooks. $3bn deal. = $3K per notebook. Maybe they should have ordered OLPC's. G more » | Other threads
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mine is bigger
Intel says screw it, we're going for six cores
Just when you blew your IT budget on quad-core servers, Intel has a six-core Xeon 7400 processor that'll be available from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell starting September 15th. I'm a bit disappointed, because I was hoping they'd also boost the 7400's L3 cache to 32 megs. But that's just me.
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By Paul BoutinComment by WagCurious: Run perfmon on ANY PC these days and you'll see that most cores past the first one go unused. This... 1 Responses | Other threads
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lazy valleywag
Please share your semiconducted romances and microprocessed fears
Let's face it, the world of Web development and production is a glamorous sham. The real science is in semiconductors. That cute Ajax script kiddie with the asymmetrical haircut? Ask him to design a microprocessor cache bus. Learn a little ActionScript? Go ahead and try to get a job pinning Intel chips to nuclear reactor control systems or laser-guided bombs. Even if you're a C++ jock or MapReduce expert, your gonads shrink when an actual electronic engineer is in the room. It's okay, you can admit it. We will. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by frederic: awesome sign. truly embodies the average silicon valley programmer's contempt for graphic designers. 2 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Spies, killers, thieves, and coders: 10 engineers gone bad
When former Varian engineer Wayne Cox reached out his driver-side window to push the dying Oralia Puga Ramirez, 75, and Enedina Oliva, 70 off the hood of his car, a 1994 Infiniti, did he have to roll down his window first or was it already open? I wonder, because that's a detail that matters — a detail that delineates between confused and calculated cruelty. You're driving along, you hit someone by accident, your window's already open, you reach out to see if the person is OK, they aren't, so you freak out and drive away — that's callous and wrong, but not calculated. Hit someone you didn't see, see they're dying, press the button to send your power window down, wait the three or four seconds for the window to sink all the way, then reach out and push two dying people from the car's hood? That's callous, wrong and calculated — criminal in a way you'd only expect from an engineer. Or least from an engineer like the nine bad guys we list below: More » -
jackpot
Intel executives inside company's pension fund
Intel is one of several companies which have quietly converted their pension plans into vehicles for financing wealthy execs' deferred compensation. The majority of the tax-advantaged assets in Intel's pension plan are now dedicated not to providing pensions for the rank and file, but to paying IOUs issued to the chipmaker's most highly paid employees. The financial sleight-of-hand reportedly saved Intel $65 million in taxes in one year alone. Intel maintains that its practices — which in effect get taxpayers to help finance Intel's executive compensation — "feel consistent" with both the spirit and letter of the law that gives tax benefits for providing pensions. Our reaction: There's a Valley company which still offers a pension plan?
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By theodpComment by Troll_2.0: They must have been taking notes on how JimbHo takes lunch money from kids to finance his lifestyle of the... more » | Other threads
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hardware
Apple to get slightly less cozy with Intel
Since 2005, when Apple first announced plans to switch to Intel, the companies have been joined at the microchip. Intel even tweaked its chip designs, reducing the size of the circuitry surrounding a cutting-edge chip to accommodate the tight confines of Apple's new MacBook Air. But a new report suggests Apple is getting antsy about Intel. AppleInsider says that while Apple will continue to use Intel CPUs, it will start designing its own custom chipsets — the motherboards on which processors sit and which houses all the supporting silicon. Could this have anything to do with Apple's recent purchase of chip designer PA Semi? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by bjs: Maybe they are getting in bed with Nvidia (which also makes chipsets for Intel CPUs), perhaps for something like better... more » | Other threads
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earnings
Intel posts record $9.5 billion quarter
"Intel announced its second quarter results (PDF) today, with numbers that beat analyst expectations and set revenue records for the company. Total Q2 revenue for 2008 was $9.5 billion, with an operating income of $2.3 billion, net income of $1.6 billion, and earnings-per-share of 28 cents. Total revenue fell two percent from the first quarter's results, but improved nine percent year-on-year, while net income rose by 11 percent compared to Q1 2008, and 25 percent compared to Q2 2007." [Ars Technica] -
i feel gassy
Ex-Intel Chief Andy Grove Using Electric Cars To Achieve Relevance
Andy Grove, retired CEO of chipmaker Intel, apparently has grown bored of sailing the South Pacific and decided to insert himself into the debate over the future of transportation. A proponent of electric vehicles, Grove wrote, "The beauty of electric power is its ability to be produced through multiple sources...and its 'stickiness' — it can be transported only over land." This statement, showing Grove thinks AA batteries arrive from China over a distant land-bridge, tell us Andy may not have all the facts he needs. [Jalopnik]
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By Andrew StoyComment by SeanKHotay: I really like the idea of turbine-electric hybrids, especially in trucks and vans... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
Google, HP and others form League of Extraordinary Patent Holders
Tired of fielding lawsuits from patent trolls and scared of court injunctions like that faced by RIM which nearly shut down the company's BlackBerry service, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Verizon and Ericsson are among the companies rumored to be behind the formation of the Allied Security Trust. Ponying up $250,000 down payments and $5 million in escrow to make purchases, the trust seeks to buy patents before they fall into the hands of patent trolls. (That's the polite name the group's founders use for companies which seek to make money litigating infringers rather than by create products.) But the real bogeyman here is the rise of a possible patent troll to rule all patent trolls, Intellectual Ventures, which has close ties to Microsoft. More » -
microsoft
Intel says there's "no compelling case" to upgrade to Vista
Back when Vista launched, Microsoft predicted corporate clients would adopt the new operating system at twice the rate of its predecessor, Windows XP. Hasn't happened. Now even longtime Microsoft partner, chipmaker Intel, has decided to not upgrade its 80,000 employees to Microsoft Vista. An IT buyer at the company told the New York Times that, after "a lengthy analysis" Intel's "information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista." Instead, Intel will keep its employees on the same OS they've used since 2001, XP.
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Comment by Norcross: I'm sure the network admins, looking at updating 80,000+ workstations with legacy printer drivers are all breathing a little easier... more » | Other threads
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cleantech
Intel flips the switch on solar-cell startup SpectraWatt
With $50 million from Intel Capital, giant chipmaker Intel has created SpectraWatt, a startup which plans to mass-manufacture solar cells. Solar cells are based on the same semiconductor technology used to make microprocessors, so conceivably Intel can leverage its silicon manufacturing know-how to achieve bigger and more efficient solar-cell fabrication. [News.com] (Photo by Jalal HB) -
apple
Intel Atom to be used in new, larger iPhone
At a birthday party for chipmaker Intel held in Munich, Hannes Schwaderer, CEO of Intel Germany, confirmed that Apple will be using the company's new Atom processor in a future version of the iPhone. Iit won't be the iPhone that we've come to know and love, or the 3G model expected soon, but a new, larger version — possibly a rumored mini-tablet. Less pocketable than an iPhone, less useful than the MacBook Air. Let the Apple Newton jokes commence! Update: Intel has written in to say everyone's wrong! No larger iPhone with or with Intel Inside™.(Photo by Windell Oskay)
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By Jackson WestComment by isights: "Less pocketable than an iPhone, less useful than the MacBook Air." Can you say Kindle-killer? Portable DVD player killer? Dedicated game-gadget... more » | Other threads
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feuds
AMD accuses Intel of microprocessor payola
Struggling chipmaker AMD has added a new allegation to the company's antitrust complaint against rival chipmaker Intel. In a 108-page document filed in federal court, plaintiff AMD accused defendant Intel of paying manufacturers like Dell not to use AMD processors, citing internal emails and other documents which were turned over through the discovery process in the case. AMD has been struggling, having laid off thousands in the last few months. CEO Hector Ruiz, pictured here, is expected to make a major announcement today in Austin, Texas, possibly splitting up the company into separate chip-design and chip-fabrication businesses.
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By Jackson WestComment by sample032: @macbeach: It's more like keeping AMD nipping at Intel's ankles is good for consumers. more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Sprint, Clearwire work seven-way deal to create new wireless-broadband startup worth $12 billion
Clearwire, the wireless data company started by Seattle-area cell-phone billionaire Craig McCaw, will be recontsituted as a new company valued at $12 billion backed by primarily by Sprint, but also by cable providers Time Warner, Comcast and Bright House, chipmaker Intel and Web search behemoth Google. McCaw will continue as chairman of the board at Clearwire and Ben Wolff as CEO. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse agreed to give control to the pair as part of the deal, to ease concerns that Sprint's core wireless business would conflict as the new company's services began to compete for voice and data customers. Sprint has encountered numerous problems with deploying Intel-developed WiMax, and there's still the issue of whether the company will sell Nextel after a $35 billion acquisition in 2005 went south.
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By Jackson WestComment by thelifter: Now both companies can suck and half ass their operations more efficiently. more » | Other threads
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comebacks
AMD CEO's "Business Class" brand gambit
Is Hector Ruiz launching AMD into the business of making PCs? Not exactly. But after getting pummeled by Intel in 2007, the chipmaker wants to have more of a hand in designing them. It's no longer enough to sell chips, a field in which AMD excels technically; one must sell "chipsets" — entire ready-to-go packages of computing parts, including all the silicon a computer needs. Dell, HP, and others will actually manufacture AMD's new "Business Class" desktops and notebooks. More » -
apple
Intel lets Jobs play with its chips early, makes the other PC kids watch
Apple updated its iMacs today with a new processor from Intel that's not supposed to be available for another 45 days yet. It's not the first time Intel gave Steve Jobs first dibs. A year ago, new iMacs came out with an Intel 3.0-GHz quad-core processor that HP and Dell had to wait on.
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Comment by WhiteStar: It's an old overclocked processor, not a new one. Read engadget. more » | Other threads
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hardware
Steve Jobs buys PA Semi for a chip — a bargaining chip
Steve Jobs likes to say that Apple is the last company that makes "the whole widget." But it doesn't, not really. Sure, Apple makes software and designs hardware — but inside its gadgets are silicon brains from the likes of Samsung and Intel. Jobs is adept at bullying chipmakers for lower prices and faster delivery, but he can't order around their engineers like he does his own employees. That must rile him. Jobs's ego, therefore, is the best explanation for Apple's $278 million acquisition of PA Semi, a microprocessor design startup. But is Apple getting into the ruthlessly competitive semiconductor business? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wabewalker: Nobody else remembers Steve Jobs’s famous beach quote? “I want a computer factory that takes raw beach sand in one end... more » | Other threads
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explainer
Why does Intel think it's a Web 2.0 startup?
In an age when software rules, it's got to be tough to be stuck making hardware. Intel's Mash Maker is yet another "mashup" tool for connecting data from one website with tools on another, such as funneling addresses to Google Maps. Microsoft and Yahoo have similar products. Why is Intel, which makes chips, getting into such a profitless business? The "Intel Inside" advertising campaign convinced people to start asking what chip a PC runs on, but never persuaded them to care. A News.com reporter wangled this explanation from an Intel marketer: More » -
great moments in pr
Press release like it's 1999
"The next big thing in consumer gadgets will be the 'Internet in your pocket,'" according to Intel's announcement reported in the New York Times today. Where did I read that line nine years ago? Oh, right.
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By Paul BoutinComment by GammothBlog: I have looked into these MIDs quite a bit lately because I wanted them to be cool, but really, how... more » | Other threads
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wireless
Telecom says WiMax has "failed miserably"
Despite big-name backers like Intel and Sprint investing billions of dollars, WiMax still isn't available in the U.S. Perhaps that's a good thing. According to an Australian company that has actually rolled out the technology, it doesn't work. Buzz Broadband says WiMax "may not work," the tech has "failed miserably" and is "mired in opportunistic hype." Last September, Intel executive Sean Maloney said of his company's investment in WiMax, "Now we have to prove it was worth it." Good luck, Sean. -
intel
Blaming lower prices for flash memory, Intel dropped its gross profit-margin forecast for its first quarter. One the news, Intel shares fell 3 percent in after hours trading yesterday. [WSJ]
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Comment by bbucy: Ironic that Intel started out making memory and later moved to processors because they offered a better business opportunity. more » | Other threads
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vista
Vista Capable Laptops Sucked So Intel Could Dump Crappy Graphics Chips
The judge on the class action lawsuit against Microsoft for those Vista handi-capable stickers unsealed a bunch of super-juicy internal emails exchanged between Microsoft higher-ups (including Ballmer) on Vista's suckiness. They weren't oblivious to the fact that "Vista capable" machines were horrible—but they let it slide, according to exec John Kalkman:"To help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue to sell motherboards with 915 graphics embedded."
They even screwed HP to make Intel happy. [Gizmodo]
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Comment by TrevorAnnalis: I use Windows Vista Ultimate on a Dell Latitude D510 laptop with the intel 915 chipset. Vista works without a problem.... more » | Other threads
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the chart
2008 has not been kind to tech stocks, especially the Valley's leading lights.
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wireless
Intel is reviving ClearWire andSprint's failed WiMax partnership with a much-needed $2 billion investment. Intel has always been WiMax's biggest proponent, spending a ton of money on development and including the technology in its next laptop chip design. This is on top of the $5 billion that Sprint has promised to invest in WiMax over the next three years. [Gizmodo] -
rumormonger
Nvidia eyeing AMD acquisition?
Nvidia should think about buying chipmaker AMD to "rearchitect it," according to American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman. Translation: Kick out management, change its technology direction, and end AMD's perpetual Perils of Pauline drama. Both AMD and Intel have plans to integrate graphics functions into their microprocessors, rendering Nvidia's graphics cards superfluous. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang would be a good candidate to turn around AMD's fortunes, and "buying AMD propels nVidia into a formidable competitor for Intel," says Freedman. More »
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Comment by NewRider: Ugh. These rumors. Last month it was IBM, this month it's Nvidia. Who will it be next month? Apple?! more » | Other threads
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advertising
Nvidia to spend $30 million-plus on first consumer ad campaign
High-end graphics card maker Nvidia is making an ad push to make the brand as recognizable as Intel, which has spend millions on its "Intel Inside" ad campaign. Nvidia controls more than two-thirds of the market for desktop graphics cards but is facing competition from Intel and AMD, which bought graphics chipmaker ATI last year. Must be exciting for Nvidia marketing exec Dan Vivoli, who finally gets to spend some money after 10 years at the company: The ad campaign could cost as much as $30 million-$40 million, compared to a $353,000 spend in the first 9 months of 2007. -
intel
The European Commission raided Intel's Munich offices and several computer resellers in Germany today. Officials are investigating claims that Intel gives hardware manufacturers cash, rebates and discounts to use its chips instead of rival AMD's. [WSJ] -
wireless
Sprint Nextel has revived serious discussions with startup Clearwire to form a joint venture that would bring in funding from the likes of Intel, Google and Best Buy to build a high-speed wireless network using WiMax technology. [WSJ] -
100-word version
Tom Perkins on how Tom Perkins turned around HP
BusinessWeek's Spencer Ante has another interview outtake with former Hewlett-Packard board member and Kleiner Perkins cofounder Tom Perkins. In it, Perkins explains how he helped turn around HP. Here's the 100-word version of the harrowing tale of board committees, patent policies and microprocessors oh my! More »
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Comment by safetydance: Is it true that Danielle Steel was his beard for a while and he is now pursuing Peter Thiel in... more » | Other threads
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intel
New York investigates Intel for bullying
The state of New York is launching its own investigation into Intel's anticompetitive behavior, adding to a list including the European Commission and Korea, all egged on by chipmaking rival AMD. It's only natural for New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo to want in on the action. The accusations are similar to other investigations: penalizing computer makers who purchase non-Intel chips, improperly signing exclusive contracts, and cutting off competitors' access to distribution channels. In other words, conducting business a bit too effectively for rivals' tastes. Note that IBM's main chip-assembly plant is based in New York.
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