Mark Hachman

SAN FRANCISCO—Outgoing Intel Corp. CEO Craig Barrett told attendees of the Intel Developer Forum here Tuesday that R&D will continue to fuel a future generation of products. Barrett, who will step down from his chief executive position in May, described how fundamental research into computing elements like transistors can fuel new and unexpected directions. “The […]

For all of the fanfare surrounding dual-core processors, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. executives said its new chips wont be the crème de la crème of its desktop product line. Instead, that honor will be given to the existing Athlon FX, expected to still command the lofty premiums AMD currently charges. The disclosures came Wednesday as […]

Content protection company Macrovision Corp. plans to announce on Tuesday that it has developed a way to eliminate the vast majority of DVD copying. The technology, called “RipGuard DVD,” will be licensed to the companys partners—studios who are part of the Motion Picture Association of America, executives told ExtremeTech. RipGuard isnt foolproof, but the hope […]

Linare Corp. has released a branded notebook using its own Linux distribution for just $498. The notebook uses an AMD processor and a small amount of memory, which the notebook can apparently get away with by using the Linare Linux OS. The notebook follows the companys 2003 release of a desktop for under $200. Notebooks […]

Freescale Semiconductor said Wednesday that it is sampling its Mobile Extreme Convergence embedded cellular architecture to customers, potentially adding wireless capabilities to a variety of mobile devices. One of those customers is Motorola, Freescales former parent. Motorola enjoyed the strongest growth during the fourth quarter, thanks in part to its boutique Razr phone. Freescale originally […]

Challenging the trend toward digital rights management, former MP3.com chief and Linspire CEO Michael Robertson will re-enter the music world next week with MP3tunes, a service that promises music without DRM restrictions. The announcement will be made next week at Linspires Desktop Summit, where a new VOIP (voice-over-IP) company, SwitchVox, also will be launched. Robertsons […]

Advanced Micro Devices climbed to its best quarter in the past two years in terms of processor sales, an analyst said Monday. Analyst firm Mercury Research found that AMDs unit share of the microprocessor market reached 16.6 percent, its highest in eight quarters. Intel, meanwhile, saw its share drop from 83.7 percent a year ago […]

Broadcom Corp. has upgraded its integrated voice-over-IP chip to Gigabit Ethernet speeds, company officials said Monday. The BCM1103 component is designed to sit within a VOIP phone, routing and encrypting calls as well as data to and from the PC. Broadcoms previous chip used a 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection, a slower speed that is slowly […]

Hewlett-Packard Co. and Intergraph Corp. settled their differences Friday, with HP agreeing to pay $141 million to Intergraph to end a long-running patent dispute. HP will pay Huntsville, Ala.-based Intergraph $141 million by Jan. 28 to settle a dispute over the so-called “Clipper” patents, which has been the focus of disputes and later settlements with […]

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said Tuesday that it recorded a fourth-quarter loss as the company tried to pay down debt. Processor sales hit a record high. As expected, however, AMDs Memory Group suffered both an operating loss and a drop in revenues both sequentially and from a year ago. While AMD warned on Jan. 10 […]