x86

Sun Microsystems shares fall in afternoon trading

Sun Microsystems shares fell as low as about 13 percent Monday afternoon, steeper than the declines experienced by the broader markets. Investors, who are awaiting word on whether speculation of an IBM merger will become a reality, apparently were spooked, sending shares as low as $6.82 a share in afternoon trading.

Shares of Sun lost 59 cents to close at $7.24, down about 7.5 percent, Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, fell as low as about 4 percent to 7,437.59 during intra-day trading and the Nasdaq dipped about 4 percent to 1,484.98. … Read more

A 'post-x86 world'? Preposterous!

I honestly don't know whether Om Malik's blog site, GigaOM, is intended to be informative or merely entertaining. I pointed out a previous example of the overwrought rhetoric that permeates that site last September (in the context of Comcast's then-new usage cap policy), but generally, I try to ignore the nonsense there for the same reasons that I ignore talk radio.

But like it or not, GigaOM is widely read, and sometimes when a post there bears directly on a market that's important to me, I can't bear to let it go. This is one … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 924: Live smart die dumb

Riding an electric motorcycle can make you smarter, but as Molly points out, it can also kill you. So six to one, half a dozen to the other. We also can break you off a piece of that Ice Pod bar. As soon as someone sends us one. And Sweden is trying to send us some bandwidth. Thanks, Sweden!

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 924

Obama names IT change-agent Vivek Kundra as federal CIO http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1175

Sprint and Palm hosting Palm Pre Webcast on March 12 http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10188601-1.html… Read more

Venture firm picks up Transmeta chip patents

Updated at 10:45 p.m. PST with additional information about Intellectual Ventures

Intellectual Ventures has acquired the patent portfolio of Transmeta, an erstwhile supplier of low-power Intel-compatible x86 processors.

Intellectual Venture Funding, an affiliate of Intellectual Ventures, has picked up 140 U.S. patents and additional pending patent applications owned by Transmeta, which was acquired by privately held Novafora in November of last year.

The Transmeta technology will be used "through two distinct routes," according to an Intellectual Ventures' statement. Novafora will improve its own proprietary designs by using some of the technologies invented by Transmeta. And … Read more

Report: Via readying dual-core Atom rival

Updated on January 6 at 11:20 a.m. PST with correction about Nano 3000.

Dual-core Intel Atom rivals are in the works.

Via Technologies is planning a very low-power, dual-core Nano 3000 processor, according to Chinese-language Web site HKEPC.

Via's C7-M processor is used in Hewlett-Packard's 2133 Mini-Note, which preceded the crop of Netbooks based on the Atom CPU. Via processors, however, were subsequently eclipsed by Intel's Atom.

Advanced Micro Devices will target its low-power dual-core "Conesus" at the laptop market segment above Atom's Netbook-centric space.

Meanwhile, Freescale Semiconductor has indicated that it will bring out a very-low-power ARM chip … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 739: One tingly pinky

Microsoft finds that we're all in increasing RSI pain thanks to laptops and mobile devices ... which they continue to support with mobile versions of Windows. Um. Thanks for the info? Also today, the space station toilet is fixed, an iPhone patent filing lists some actual features, Comcast is up-front with some slightly reasonable sounding throttling plans, and Microsoft says it's not running a call-in "save XP petition," even though everyone is calling in asking them to save XP. That is just sad. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 739

Happy Birthday! X86 Turns 30 Years … Read more

Apple's latest chip gamble

Is Apple really that much of a chip hopper?

If Apple follows through and uses a chip designed by its latest acquisition, PA Semi, in a future product, the company will have made major bets on Power, x86, ARM, and Power again in just this decade. What, no love for SPARC or MIPS?

A PA Semi representative on Wednesday confirmed last night's news that Apple has paid $278 million for the low-power chip designer. Led by prominent chip designer Don Dobberpuhl, the two-and-a-half-year-old company makes chips for embedded devices based on IBM's Power instruction set.

So what might … Read more

Faster x86 chip for small notebooks coming

Via Technologies is shipping samples of the new Isaiah processor targeted at low-cost compact computers.

Via's current C7 processor is already used by Everex in its CloudBook, by OQO in the Model 02, and by Hewlett-Packard in thin-client computers and in certain models that the computer maker sells in China. Both the C7 and Isaiah are x86-compatible processors, meaning they can run the same software that Intel amd AMD chips do.

Samples of the Isaiah-architecture-based x86 chips are now being shipped "aggressively" to customers with a release timeframe of May-June, said Glenn Henry, CEO of Centaur Technology, … Read more

Intel's Otellini pledges growth from places new and old

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.--Intel CEO Paul Otellini sought to reassure major investors Wednesday that the world's largest chip maker is still poised for strong growth into new areas like mobile computers, and can maintain its current lead in PC technology.

Otellini reiterated much of Intel's pitch from the last six months that the world of handheld mobile computers and low-cost PCs can supplement the slowing-but-steady growth of the PC market. Intel is investing new products like its Atom processor and attempting to break into these new markets by reminding software developers and device makers that Intel's chips … Read more