Imagine a poker game where only billionaires can play. The pot they are playing for is worth billions, of course, and each player would risk all their winnings for fear of losing this grand pot...and for fear that missing this one pot could eventually mean losing the entire game.

That's not a bad analogy for the deal where Microsoft buys Skype. Others were sitting at the table, but Microsoft bluffed its way through and put in $8.5 billion to take the hand.

Microsoft's known to only grudging buy up companies, compared to, say, a Cisco that has acquisition in its culture. When Microsoft does buy, the company is so tough and so arrogant on terms that those deals can blow up. Remember the Yahoo fiasco.

Then there was the $6 billion acquisition of advertising firm aQuantive in 2007 where Redmond failed to find a role for the Razorfish division before anxiously selling it off. Microsoft still struggles to make a profit from online advertising.

And Danger, which lived up to its name, as far as Microsoft was concerned. Purchased for an estimated $500 million in 2008, Danger was the mobile tech company that produced Hiptop. Instead of a HTC-like success in mobile telephony, Microsoft turned it into the stillborn KIN phone...and now, not even relatives are looking for the Next-of-Kin.

So while the MicroSkype deal is signed...it still has to be consummated. Meanwhile, this deal is the biggest-ever Microsoft deal and exactly what did the conservative Microsoft buy?...

AMD's net income for Q1 2011 total $510m (up from the previous quarter's $375m and Q1 2010's $257m), with revenue totalling $1.16B (a 2% sequential decrease and 2% Y-o-Y increase).

The company says the results are thanks to strong demand for the first generation of its "Llano" Fusion APUs, aimed for the notebook market. Q1 2011 Fusion APU shipments total 3.9m-- making "roughly half" of the company's notebook shipments.

AMD's Computing Solutions segment meanwhile reports revenues decreasing by Continue reading...

Intel has many a reason to be jolly-- its revenue for Q1 2011 totals $12.9BN, a 25% Y-o-Y increase compared to Q1 2010. Analysts were predicting revenues of around $11.6BN for the quarter.

The company says such earnings are an all-time record for the company-- reaching double-digit annual revenue growth in all its major product segments and across all geographies. Intel now aims to achieve more than 20% annual revenue growth in total for this year.

When it comes to product segment group growth, Continue reading...

Apple sues Samsung-- claiming its Galaxy smartphones and tablets "slavishly" copy the iPhone and iPad.

The lawsuit continues, for 38 pages, alleging Samsung violates Apple's patents and trademarks due to its copying, well, everything off it-- from the look, product design and UI down to the packaging.

Samsung meanwhile releases its own statement, saying it will take counter-action against Apple-- who, in a worthy twist, is also one of Samsung's major buyers of semiconductors and display panels, Continue reading...

Samsung signs off its HDD business to Seagate for the price of $1.375BN-- a move reducing the HDD market to just 3 players (Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba).

Through the sale, Samsung will provide Seagate with its semiconductor products for use in its enterprise-class SSD and solid state hybrid products, while Samsung PCs will carry Seagate drives.

The move will also expand Seagate's consumer access to China and Southeast Asia, via Samsung's channels.

Samsung is one of the world's biggest Continue reading...

In a bid to "restructure" its consumer business Cisco starts making cuts-- first of which involves the closing down of its Flip business, without even considering putting the division on sale.

Some will recall Cisco's buying of the low-cost camera business back in 2009 for $590m, a period where the company was trying to build up its consumer business. No Cisco will be cleaning out its Flip inventory before killing the line entirely.

Analysts blame smartphones for Cisco's Flip-killing decision-- Continue reading...

Intel launches its tablet-specific processor, the Atom 7670, part of its "Oak Trail" platform.

The Atom 7670 processor is supposed to improve on performance (particularly on video playback and internet browsing) while not hitting too much on battery performance. It is designed to handle various operating systems, including Android, Meego and Windows.

Key to tablet OEMs is size-- with the new processor being 60% smaller than Intel's previous generations, while having a fanless design. It carries Continue reading...

Peratech announces a clear version of its Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC) material, saying it could either replace current resistive touchscreens or enchance capacitative screens.

The company says QTC Clear combines the best features of the 2 current touchscreen technologies-- resistive's pressure sensitivity and low power consumption with capacitative's multi-touch capabilities and higher sensitivity and accuracy.

QTC Clear technology consissts of a 6-8 micron thick layer sandwiched between Continue reading...