micron

iFixit: Apple locks down new MacBook Air

Similar to the past MacBook Air design, Apple's new Air is under lock and key--or five-point Security Torx screws, to be exact. So, users will have to defer to Apple for upgrades, according to iFixit's teardown of the Air.

"The new MacBook Air is an exercise of proprietary engineering. While you can easily access everything once you remove the proprietary screws, you can't really replace any component with an off-the-shelf part," according to iFixit, which dissassembled the 11.6-inch model.

And iFixit offers some advice for prospective buyers: "Unfortunately, like all previous MacBook Airs, … Read more

Hitachi-LG hybrid drive does away with HDD

On Tuesday, Hitachi-LG Data Storage announced a hybrid optical drive that can obviate the need for a traditional hard disk drive in thin laptop designs.

Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS) disclosed a second-generation Serial-ATA (SATA) 6.0-gigabit-per-second (Gbps)-based "hybrid drive" at Ceatec 2010, held this week in Makuhari Messe, Japan. The drive is meant to eliminate the need for a separate traditional (spinning) hard disk drive in laptops, allowing PC makers to bring out optical-drive-equipped systems with only one drive.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology also announced today that it is supplying 25-nanometer NAND flash chips for the drive. … Read more

Report: Oracle sues Micron over chip pricing

Oracle has sued Micron Technology, alleging the chipmaker overcharged Sun Microsystems for memory chips, according to a report.

Micron and other manufacturers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) "artificially inflated" the price of chips, according to an Oracle complaint filed Friday in federal court in San Jose, Calif., Bloomberg reported.

The Oracle suit is based on DRAM sales made to Sun. Oracle acquired Sun in January.

While other companies, such as Hynix Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics, are cited as "co-conspirators," they're not named as defendants.

The origin of the case goes back to a 2002 … Read more

Micron to buy Numonyx for $1.27 billion

Micron Technology is beefing up its flash memory chip portfolio by acquiring Numonyx, one the largest makers of flash in the world.

Micron and Numonyx said Tuesday that they have reached an agreement whereby Micron will acquire Numonyx in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.27 billion.

Numonyx was created by Intel and STMicroelectronics back in 2008 and combined Intel's NOR flash memory business and STMicro's NAND flash business.

Micron is the largest memory chip manufacturer in the U.S., and Geneva-based Numonyx is the world's largest supplier of NOR flash--which has different applications than NAND … Read more

Smartphones moving to fancier flash drives

Memory chip makers will offer more sophisticated flash drives for smartphones--technology that will be comparable to the solid-state drives found in laptops today.

Today's flash drives, which typically range up to 32GB in capacity in products like Apple's iPhone, often use relatively unsophisticated techniques for reading and writing data. In general, the technology is not very different from that used in basic cell phones or digital cameras, according to Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group.

But as smartphones--and possible future tablet devices--become more like personal computing devices and less like basic MP3 players, memory chip … Read more

BOL 1039: Look Timmy, PaPa's got WiFi in his chest

We started by reporting on the amazing technology that allows pacemakers to wirelessly transmit diagnostic info to a bedside device making the pacemaker safer and doctor visits shorter. But we found the most compelling fact the idea that this would be WiFi. Which we think should mean hotspots and a mesh network. It solves a lot of problems. Think about it. Also no Apple, Twitter or Google news today. Sorry. There is a robot story.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1039

Facebook buys FriendFeed http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10306560-36.html… Read more

Intel, Micron develop flash chips for USB drives

Updated at 9:10 a.m. PDT: adding analyst comments.

On Tuesday, Intel and Micron Technology announced the development of high-data-capacity flash memory technology for flash cards and USB drives.

And in a related announcement, Intel said Monday that it has validated a fix for its new 34-nanometer X25-M solid-state drive, which is based on similar flash memory technology. The bug affects users who set a BIOS drive password. That update is available here.

The two chipmakers, which partner in the manufacture of flash memory chips, said Tuesday that they have developed NAND flash memory capable of 3 bits per … Read more

Road Trip 2009 hits 4,000 miles in Glacier National Park

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont.--I'm kind of awestruck. For four years I've been doing CNET Road Trip projects, and every time I've hit a new thousand-mile milestone, I've stopped, photographed the odometer and the surroundings, and then blogged about the spot.

In almost every case, that new set of zeroes on the odometer has come at some nondescript location. There have been a couple cases where it happened near something incredible, but I'll be honest: I've cheated a little bit and, say, driven back and forth across a parking lot to have the milestone … Read more

A high-quality image projector on your smartphone?

BOISE, Idaho--Imagine you're on a camping trip with your family, and your kids are bored. They want to watch a movie, but you forgot your laptop at home. Hopeless? Not at all.

You pull out your fifth-generation iPhone--yes, this is a story about future technology--power it up, aim it at the wall of the tent, and start projecting their favorite film there.

This is one of the many potential promises of a new microdisplay technology from Displaytech, a recently acquired division of Boise-based Micron. Known as FLCOS, or fast liquid crystal on silicon, the technology is designed to make … Read more

Micron enters graphics memory business

Micron Technology is entering the graphics memory business, going up against heavyweights Samsung and Hynix.

Micron, which recently vaulted to the No. 3 spot in global sales of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), is now aiming at the market for DRAM chips used with graphics processors from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices' ATI graphics unit.

The market for DRAM used with graphics processors is about 4 percent of the bits shipped into the DRAM market, according to Micron. DRAM is typically used as the main memory in PCs. This type of DRAM is also referred to as Synchronous DRAM, or SDRAM.… Read more