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Featured Pieces |
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Retailers hope for Christmas in July >>
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NASA's "Tweets" from Mars >>
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300 Dates in 24 Hours? No Sweat! >> |
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Barack Obama and Selma, Alabama >> [radio] |
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Selected Recent Clips |
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Feb
03
2010
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Apple’s iPad: trouble for Intel’s mobile push? |
When Apple Inc unveiled its iPad last month, one crucial detail almost got drowned out in the hoopla: the new tablet computer will be powered by an in-house chip called the A4.
While Apple likely will not market the chip publicly, analysts say the new processor underscores how rival chip designs may eventually win out over Intel Corp’s designs in the emergent hot category of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Intel says the first smartphones using its chips go on sale by 2010’s second half, as it tries to stake out a corner in the wireless market and replicate what it did for the formerly red-hot netbook category it now almost completely dominates.
But analysts point to an uphill battle against Nvidia Corp, Marvell and Qualcomm Inc, already making headway with cheaper, low-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings PLC.
“They (Intel) don’t have a track record in delivering these types of chips,” said Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang. “They haven’t been successful in the past, and they’re trying to get in.”
> read more . . .
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Jan
15
2010
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Intel earnings good for sector despite selloff |
Stellar results from Intel Corp could signal brighter tech earnings results in coming weeks, but analysts warn stocks themselves may be stuck in a short-term correction.
Intel shares fell more than 3 percent even after analysts from Credit Suisse, Raymond James and JMP Securities, among others, raised their price targets on the stock. JMP Securities and Thinkequity raised their ratings to “outperform” and “buy” respectively.
The broader market was down on Friday as losses from JP Morgan Chase & Co helped drag the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down 1.24 percent.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang expected a short-term correction for Intel and many other semiconductor stocks as Wall Street locks in profits after a solid fourth-quarter showing from the world’s largest chipmaker.
“Buy on the rumor, sell on the news,” he said, adding that semiconductor stocks have had a good run when put in the perspective of downgrades from both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch before Intel reported stellar earnings.
> read more . . .
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Jan
12
2010
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INTERVIEW-GlobalFoundries merging operations with Chartered-CEO |
GlobalFoundries plans to merge its operations with recently acquired Chartered Semiconductor, creating a single contract chipmaker with more than $2 billion of revenue to take on market leaders TSMC and UMC.
GlobalFoundries, a joint venture of Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Abu Dhabi-backed Advanced Technology Investment Co, is already beginning to work with suppliers and partners as one company, GlobalFoundries Chief Executive Doug Grose told Reuters in an interview.
> read more . . .
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Dec
04
2009
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Can Nvidia power through a fading product line? |
Graphics microchip maker Nvidia Corp is a company in transition.
The Santa Clara-based company halted development for one of its largest units in October, raising questions about whether the unit’s product sales would slowly tail off or sales would drop off a cliff.
And, if they did, could the company’s products in new market segments gain enough traction to make up the difference?
> read more . . .
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Dec
03
2009
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INTERVIEW – LSI hopes to surf consumer, smartphone wave |
The rapid proliferation of multimedia and Web-ready consumer devices such as smartphones is underpinning a gradual uptick in corporate spending and spurring growth for specialty chipmakers, the top executive at industry player LSI Corp said.
The company, which competes with the likes of Marvell Technology Group Ltd to make chips for computer servers and storage devices, wants to continue to hitch a ride on that wave of consumer devices by providing chips for network and data infrastructure, said Chief Executive Abhi Talwalkar.
“There’s richer content flowing through networks,” he said in an interview at LSI’s offices in Silicon Valley.
“Just the push of richer PDAs (handheld devices), and the growing mix of PDAs as a percentage of overall mobile subscribers — that in itself is driving tremendous requirements,” he added, referring to both network infrastructure and data storage for Internet-centric devices.
> read more . . .
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Nov
23
2009
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Brocade’s late earnings release raises eyebrows |
Brocade Communications Systems Inc (BRCD.O) has pushed its fourth-quarter earnings release to three hours after the close of market on Monday, an unusual move that surprised some analysts and investors.
> read more . . .
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Nov
14
2009
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INTERVIEW – Intel sees corporate PC recovery in 18 months |
Intel Corp’s chief financial officer said the chipmaker is on track to meet its fourth-quarter outlook and said a recovery in corporate spending on PCs could happen in the next 18 months.
“I think the ingredients are being put in place that will lead to a PC refresh cycle in large enterprises,” Stacy Smith told Reuters on Friday, adding that when the buying starts, it tends to include a lot of demand.
“The question is: is that the second half of 2010, is it 2011?” Smith, 47, said in an interview at Intel’s headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley. “I don’t think anybody can tell you they know the answer to that question.”
> read more . . .
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Nov
03
2009
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Intel, chip stocks slide after M.Stanley downgrade |
Shares of Intel Corp and other semiconductor makers slid on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley downgraded the sector, warning that inventory was creeping up and revenue growth could peak in early 2010.
Morgan Stanley, which downgraded bellwether Intel to equal-weight from overweight, cast a shadow over growing optimism among investors and executives that a revival in corporate and consumer spending would prop up chip sales.
The U.S. investment bank downgraded the U.S. semiconductor sector to cautious from attractive, saying expectations of a recovery and forecasts of above-seasonal growth may have already been factored into stock prices.
> read more . . .
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Oct
28
2009
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It may be BYOB as fewer firms plan holiday parties |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may have begun to recover in 2009, but holiday office parties are sinking even further into the dumps.
Fewer companies plan to break out the bubbly this season than in 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, according to a survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
Only 62 percent of about 100 companies that responded to the survey were planning holiday parties this year, down from 77 percent a year ago and 90 percent in 2007, as recession-era cuts extended from benefits and profit-sharing to Santa hats and disc jockeys.
“For companies that have recently announced layoffs or other significant cost-cutting measures, such as wage freezes, it would be difficult to justify, let alone get in the mood for a holiday party,” said John Challenger, the firm’s chief executive officer.
> read more . . .
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Oct
21
2009
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Like Windows 7, Vista got good reviews too |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – As Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 release approaches, early reviews are generally positive. But so were reviews for Windows Vista just before its launch.
In the months leading up to Windows 7’s release this Thursday, publications from ComputerWorld to the New York Times have written favorable assessments, praising, in particular, its increased speed and compatibility with older computers.
But Vista got high marks before its release as well, with writers back then praising a new visual design — and glossing over quirks that later became common gripes.
> read more . . .
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