Anyone who follows Intel closely knows that they don’t just pump out high end CPU’s, but they actually dedicate entire teams to “pie in the sky” ideas of what future technologies might look like. This could be anything from an x86 cluster of CPU’s to render video, or in this case, using your brain to control a computer. It may sound farfetched, but its something Intel and its researchers have been actively studying for sometime now.
After pulling a firmware upgrade for its X25-M consumer solid state drive last month due to user complaints, Intel indicated that it would be re-issuing the upgrade by the end of this month.
On a user support forum on the company's website, a representative from Intel's NAND Solutions Group said the company planned to re-release the firmware upgrade in order to fix an issue that users of the drive said crashed their drives.
The firmware upgrade, which was meant to optimize its SSD for Windows 7, was pulled only a day after its initial release
At the same time that Intel settled Advanced Micro Devices' antitrust lawsuit for $1.25 billion, the chipmaker settled another legal matter as well by hiring A. Douglas Melamed as its new top lawyer.
Melamed, who most recently worked as a partner at the law firm of WilmerHale, is expected to assume his new role this month, said a source familiar with the situation. Melamed has been based in Washington, D.C.
Intel Corp. will reveal more details about its next-generation Intel Atom platform for netbooks and nettops on the 21st of December ’09 and computers makers will launch actual systems powered by Intel Atom N450 and derivatives on the 4th of January 2010, just in time to show them on the Consumer Electronics Show.
“Intel is planning for a fast transition to Pine Trail. To generate excitement for the platform ahead of launch, Intel is planning a press release in late December publicly disclosing the details of the platform,” an Intel document seen by X-bit labs reads.
US computer chip giant Intel used illegal tactics which stopped consumers getting better products and lower prices, it has been alleged. The company has been accused of using "bribery and coercion" to keep a "stranglehold" on the microprocessor market.
The claims are made in an antitrust lawsuit filed by New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. He says Intel's actions unfairly restricted competitors and also "hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices."
Some Windows 7 users are complaining on an Apple discussion forum that they can't synch their iPhones to their new PCs.
The affected users -- there are 80 pages of people discussing the issue on the forum -- have discovered that in addition to running Windows 7, they are all using computers with the Intel P55 Express Chipset. Intel is investigating the issue and believes it is a BIOS or system configuration issue, but the company is still investigating, an Intel spokesman said.
Computer hardware modding contests are one of the ultimate expressions of the computer hobbyist, and Intel has thrown its hat in the ring.
To celebrate the Core i5 and i7, Intel is hosting its own modding competition, running from Oct. 5 until Nov. 16 in the U.S., Canada ( except Quebec), the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Japan.
There's a rumor about an Apple exclusivity on the Intel Xeon processor update. It would be used in the Mac Pro refresh and here's what's new:
6 Cores (12 threads), that's 50% more than current Xeons
12MB of cache (versus 8MB now)
32nm manufacturing (versus 45nm)
New Xeons will consume less power
AMD has accused Intel of tinkering with its GPU drivers to increase its benchmark test scores.
Futuremark's popular 3DMark benchmark testing software has strict guidelines for the graphics drivers it approves for use with 3DMark Vantage. These explicitly forbid optimisations that specifically target the 3DMark Vantage executable.
Basically the rules say that it is prohibited for the driver to detect the launch of the 3DMark Vantage executable and to alter, replace or override any quality parameters or parts of the benchmark workload based on the detection.
The big buzz word in technology these days is efficiency. And even the quarterly earnings conference calls aren’t immune from some change. Intel today altered the process a bit today when it issued its CFO’s summary of the company’s third quarter financials (PDF) ahead of the call, leaving more time for questions from analysts.
I have to admit that I thought Wall Street analysts would want to know more about the launch of Windows 7 in the fourth quarter and the holiday season. Instead, they want to know what’s up for 2010, which is fast becoming the Year of Recovery.
