Gregory Sullivan
Gregory Sullivan
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Intel, the giant semiconductor manufacturer, is the darling of Wall Street today. It reported a 43% increase in 3rd quarter profits over last year's figures. It has also announced their intention to shed 2000 jobs, and investors like the idea of making more money with fewer people; shares of Intel surged 5% in before-stock-market-opening...
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Taiwan-based Asustek announced today a new laptop line, dubbed Eee PCs, that are directly aimed at both existing and developing markets. It's just a solid no-frills inexpensive unit for existing markets, aimed at casual users. In so-called developing markets Asustek expects to sell the computers to large educational and governmental buyers...
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California based Broadcom has released a new microprocessor for mobile phones, suitable for so-called 3G, or third generation mobile phone standards. Their "phone on a chip" incorporates the cellphone band, a radio receiver, an FM radio receiver, and is Bluetooth enabled too. Industry watchers say the chip is likely to give Broadcom a leg...
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Finnish phone giant Nokia is shipping their eagerly anticipated N95 handheld computer. It got a 2.8" display, and a nifty two way slide to expose a keypad for entering text if you slide it out one way, or controls for the media functions if you slide it out the other direction. Nifty. Boasting up to eight gigabytes of built-in memory, the...
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They don't actually say that. They have announced that "media stockpilers" can expect to find up to 4 Terabytes on a typical desktop, and 1 Terabyte on your average laptop by the end of this decade. They're presenting their method for cramming all those ones and zeros on a platter at the Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference...
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Google has been buying up so-called "dark fiber," fiber optic lines in place but unused that have the capacity to carry enormous amounts of information. There's been a great deal of speculation that Google intended to become a sort of newfangled Ma Bell telco. The truth just might be more interesting than that. Does Google intend...
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Video game behemoth Electronic Arts just got a little bigger. They've acquired two software studios, BioWare and Pandemic, for an industry record breaking $860 million. Although Electronic Arts is the number one video game publisher in the world, their offerings in the first person shooter/ role playing/action genre are a little ...
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Will Poole is tasked with leading Microsoft's push into emerging markets like China, South America, and Africa. His job is simple, really: Find Microsoft another billion computer users. He outlined his approach in a question and answer meeting, touching on interesting approaches to get technology to very poor and isolated places, including...
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Follow along closely, here. Gateway formally tendered a binding offer to acquire Packard Bell. At this point, you and three friends could afford to buy Packard Bell; a 75 percent stake in its holding company was only worth $41 million. But Gateway was just acquired by Taiwan based Acer for the very large sum, comparatively, of $710 million,...
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AMD has announced a price reduction for a bevy of its single and double core Athlon 64 processors for desktop computers. The discounts range from 5 to 28 percent. AMD has announced the price reductions in order to clear inventory in preparation for the upcoming launch of its Phenom CPUs, noted sources at motherboard makers. However,...
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This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has gone to two scientists who discovered "giant magnetoresistance." If that doesn't ring a bell, it should. It's the method used to read and write information on high density hard disks. Albert Fert of France and Peter Grunberg of Germany share the 1.5 million dollar prize, and get to hang the neat...
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Seagate announced yesterday that they're shipping their new 5400 PSD "Momentus" notebook hard drive, which incorporates 256 MB of flash memory with its conventional hard disk drive. It delivers commonly used information in a -- well, in a flash. That should help lower boot-up time and lower power consumption overall. Windows Vista operating...
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TiVo, makers of that marvelous television set-top digital video recorder, have inked a deal with Rhapsody to offer streaming digital music through your TV. TiVo has made similar deals to offer services to their subscribers with Amazon.com for movie downloads, and Yahoo for photo sharing. Rhapsody is considered one of the leading providers...
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Is your boss a jerk? Mine is. I'm self-employed. The king of all bad bosses has got to be Fairchild Semiconductor. It constantly drove bright, forward thinking tech pioneers out of the building. Their loss is all our gain. "Fairchildren" started Intel in 1968, for instance. And lots, lots more of the most important companies on earth.In...
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For those of you a little sketchy on the Periodic Table, Pb is lead. Because of well-intentioned bans on lead in all products, including solder for electronic components, a new problem has appeared: tin whiskers. Tin whiskers are tiny hairlike slivers that sprout from components and solder connections made from, or coated by tin. ...
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Microsoft and Toshiba today announced the formation of a consortium to hype advanced HD DVD interactive technology. They mentioned "interactivity and interoperability" and said they'd "maximize consumer satisfaction," among other things. Long story short: They want to sell you things while you're watching movies. Major Hollywood...
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According to Dave Cullinane, Chief Information Officer and Security Officer for eBay, online badguys are becoming more organized and sophisticated, and some development of malicious code is being funded and directed in advance like any normal project would be. And according to eBay's analysis of its online security situation, the vast...
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The RIAA has prevailed in its suit against a Minnesota woman, who they accused of uploading 1700 music files, for copyright infringement. The jury of twelve awarded the plaintiffs a whopping $222,000 dollars.The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought...
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The "Storm" worm computer virus/botnet/trojan horse/malware extravaganza got its name from its first method of transmission -- an e-mail attachment with the subject line: "230 dead as storm batters Europe." Since then it's used all sorts of clever ruses to get people to click on it and infect their machines. And unlike your typical worm,...
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Is Microsoft bored with making office software and operating systems? Seems that way. In May of 2007, it purchased online marketing firm aQuantive for $6 billion. Speaking at a media event in Paris yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlined a future for the company over the next decade to realize 25 percent of their revenues from online...
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It's a rumor from a blog with every third word misspelled, but this one seems to have legs. Microsoft appears to be preparing to either spin off or sell outright Bungie Studios, the developers of their fantastically successful Halo series of video games. Microsoft would retain the rights to any future versions of the Halo franchise, but Bungie...
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Electronics are supposed to make our lives easier and more pleasant. Gibson guitars have certainly made our lives more pleasant, at least if the proper person is playing them. Gibson decided to make life easier for the guitar player, too, by offering a new line of instruments that tune themselves automatically. Purists say it's cheating, but...
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