Semiconductor Industry & Servers

Intel tests remote PC upgrades
Investor's Business Daily – Tue Sep 21, 6:45 pm ET

The giant chipmaker is considering selling Pentium processors in some low-end desktop computers that consumers can later choose to be upgraded to offer faster performance by paying an extra fee. Intel (NMS:INTC) said the program would enable people to easily upgrade their computers. While software makers frequently offer such upgrades, the move would be a first for a PC hardware maker. Intel rose 1.1% to 19.14. Full Story »
Intel's test: buy the PC, then pay for more speed
AP – Tue Sep 21, 3:32 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO - What if you bought a house and were told there's a secret rooftop deck you'll have to pay extra to access? If you're shopping for a personal computer this holiday season, you might get that kind of proposition from an unlikely source: Intel Corp., the world's biggest maker of personal computer processors. Full Story »
Intel Must Prove CPU Upgrade Is Worth the Cost
PC World – Tue Sep 21, 3:03 pm ET

Intel is testing a processor-upgrade program that may alienate the power users it hopes to attract. The Intel Upgrade Service pilot is a retail store offering that boosts the performance of select desktop PCs with the Pentium G6951 processor. Full Story »
AMD Pressures Intel With Inexpensive Desktop Chips
PC World – Tue Sep 21, 3:00 pm ET

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday announced inexpensive desktop microprocessors with up to six cores to put pricing pressure on rival Intel. Full Story »
Top 5 Web Font Design Trends to Follow
Mashable – Tue Sep 21, 10:13 am ET

This series is brought to you by the Intel AppUp(SM) Developer Program, which provides developers with everything they need to create and then sell their applications to millions of Intel Atom(TM) processor-based devices. Learn more here. The world of web fonts and web typography is exploding. After years of struggle, we're finally at a point where using real fonts on the web is a viable option. Full Story »
TSMC to Unveil 20nm Chips With FinFET Transistors at IEDM
PC World – Tue Sep 21, 4:50 am ET

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) may be showing off its vision for the future of chip manufacturing technologies beyond 20 nanometers when it unveils its latest research into FinFET transistors at a chip industry event later this year. Full Story »
Oracle Defies Skeptics With Sparc T3 Servers
PC World – Mon Sep 20, 8:00 pm ET

Oracle has announced new servers based on the Sparc T3 processor, a chip that began life at Sun Microsystems and which some said might never see the light of day. Full Story »
IBM buying Netezza for about $1.7 billion
AP – Mon Sep 20, 5:03 pm ET

AFP/DDP/File

NEW YORK - IBM Corp. said Monday it has agreed to pay $1.7 billion for Netezza Corp., a company that helps businesses sort through data on corporate servers. Full Story »
Intel's Annoying Pilot Program Offers Chip Upgrade for a Fee
PC World – Mon Sep 20, 2:22 pm ET

In a move that has train wreck written all over it, Intel has started a new pilot project that puts a DRM-style software lock on your computer's downgraded processor. All you have to do to unlock the full potential of your chip is cough up about an extra $50 on top of the computer's original cost. The new program, called the Intel Upgrade Service, appears to be in the early stages of development. Full Story »
Ellison sidesteps Hurd spat, shows servers instead
AP – Mon Sep 20, 6:53 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison steered clear Sunday of the brouhaha surrounding his most contentious new employee — Mark Hurd — but turned up the heat in his other latest troublemaking tactic: upsetting the long-standing order of the technology world with a plunge into selling computer servers. Full Story »
Intel launches Atom chips for smart TV and cars
Reuters – Tue Sep 14, 6:23 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp unveiled microprocessors for smart TVs and Web-connected cars on Tuesday and expanded an online store selling applications for netbooks built with its Atom chips. Full Story »
Intel Atom Chips Landing In More Embedded Wares
Investor's Business Daily – Tue Sep 14, 5:28 pm ET

Intel's (NMS:INTC) so-far unsuccessful drive to get its Atom chips into cell phones is crucial to its future, but it is selling more Atoms to makers of embedded devices. Full Story »
Atom Chips Focus on Tablets, Handhelds, Embedded Devices
PC Magazine – Tue Sep 14, 10:34 am ET

New Intel Atom chips aimed at tablets, the consumer electronics space, and embedded markets, as well as an upcoming Dell Inspiron Duo convertible tablet were among the highlights during the second part of Tuesday's Intel Developer Forum keynote. Full Story »
Intel investing $30 million in software companies
AP – Tue Sep 14, 8:56 am ET

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The investment arm of chip maker Intel is investing more than $30 million total into four different software developers. Full Story »
Sandy Bridge Processors Promise New Era of Mobile Computing
PC World – Tue Sep 14, 8:30 am ET

Intel used the 2010 Intel Developer Forum to unveil the Second Generation Intel Core Processor--codenamed "Sandy Bridge". The new line of processors provides Intel with a more powerful arsenal that can potentially run mobile devices and compete with the dominant ARM architecture. Full Story »
AMD Claims 'Zacate' Outperforms Intel Core i5
PC Magazine – Mon Sep 13, 7:14 pm ET

Advanced Micro Devices said Monday that its upcoming "Zacate" CPU-GPU Fusion chip would outperform an existing Intel Core i5, and offered two demonstrations to prove it. Full Story »
Intel, AMD Begin Showing Next-Generation Processors
NewsFactor – Mon Sep 13, 5:24 pm ET

Archrivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are revealing more details about their next-generation processors this week. On Monday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini described new CPU products based on a processor architecture called Sandy Bridge, and AMD is expected to show two new accelerated processing units (APUs) within the next few days. Full Story »
Intel Announces 2011 Shipping Date For Sandy Bridge
PC World – Mon Sep 13, 4:27 pm ET

Intel has announced that its new Sandy Bridge processors will begin shipping “in high volume” early next year. The long-awaited processor line, now renamed the Second-Generation Intel Core processor, was finally announced at the 2010 Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Full Story »