It’s all about fashion and design at Dell now, as they talk about adding designers and selling off all their 11 factories. That brings the master of direct sales around to an Apple model. Analysts say the shift to notebooks clobbered Dell’s once-winning model based on custom-building desktops.

GO Dell Wants to Sell Off Factories

The Average Selling Price (ASP) of 3.5-inch internal Hard Disk Drives (HDD) in Q2 08 dropped 8%, according to data from researcher Context, covering distribution sales for France, Germany and the UK.

Prices drop from Euro 62.7 (excl. tax) in Q108, to Euro 57.6 in Q208 (see table on web site). The lowest peak was registered in May '08, with Euro 53, down from Euro 62 in April.

In the 2.5-inch internal HDD sector (where the ASP had been stable during Q2, Q3 and Q407, ranging between Euro 112 and Continue reading...

Justin Rattner, Intel CTO, looks ahead to the next 40 years and sees physical computers disappearing into the walls, autos, and homes.

Shades of Kurweil, he says instead of technology being an evolution over time, big revolutionary changes tend to happen in rapid “giant leaps”. He thinks the next major leap will be in the human interface with technology, with potential future breakthroughs in processing that would have the physical boxes of computers disappear into the fabric of our daily Continue reading...

Frustrated once more by Intel, CEO Hector Ruiz is forced to study AMD’s exit from businesses outside AMD’s core: microprocessors and graphics chips.

It’s ironic the company may have to cut the very escape routes they desire the most to retreat from a deadly-competitive universe ruled by the blue giant star, Intel.

While Intel wooed Apple, AMD chose to woo Dell, once a famously-exclusive Intel shop. When AMD stumbled in its counterattack to Intel’s new chip line, AMD’s Continue reading...

Apparently Nvidia Founder/CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is less scared of Intel technology than their PR machine. “Intel Inside” (where integrated-graphics silicon are inside most Intel chipsets) doesn’t bother him as much as “Intel Outside” (the pervasive image of Intel as the unstoppable Graphics Rambo).

 

Another day, another comment from an Intel technologist who predicted “consumers probably won't need discrete cards in the future,” provoked this response: Continue reading...

Green is in and one maker thinks it has the answer for all the laptops and MIDs out there. JJI Technologies showed at CeBIT a new material that’s economical, more than just RoHS and WEEE compliant, easy to assemble, and non-toxic even if it’s set on fire.

 PolyFR™ compound is a non-halogen flame retarded polypropylene compound designed for use in applications where UL-94 V-0 performance is required. It has outstanding low temperature impact strength, tensile properties and Continue reading...

Nanya, one of Taiwan's largest makers of DRAM chips in revenue terms, began discussions with Qimonda after signing a preliminary agreement earlier this month with Micron Technology Inc. to set up a JV to develop technology for making DRAM chips.   Go Inotera Panicking?

Dell, Asus and HP say there’s a shortage of laptop batteries, partly because of a recent fire at LG Chem, second biggest Korean battery maker. The fire has driven PC makers back to other makers including Sony (remember world’s largest product recall of tales of exploding batteries?) LG Chem expects the Ochang plant to start production again in three months.   Go LG Chem