Microsoft launches Windows Azure

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft on Monday announced a version of Windows that runs over the Internet from inside Microsoft's own data centers.

Dubbed Windows Azure, it's less a replacement for the operating system that runs on one's own PC than it is an alternative for developers, intended to let them write programs that live inside Microsoft's data centers as opposed to on the servers of a given business.

"It's a transformation of our software and a transformation of our strategy," said Ray Ozzie, a computing industry pioneer who now serves as Microsoft's chief software architect. (For a play-by-play account of Ozzie's speech, see "PDC 2008: Windows Azure live blog.")

























Ray Ozzie delivers his keynote address at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference.
(Credit: Robert Vamosi/CNET News)

Microsoft first outlined a shift to "Live Services" at an event in San Francisco in 2005. The company has released a few things piecemeal, such as Live Mesh, but Monday's announcement marked the first real discussion of how Microsoft's disparate Internet strategies fit together.

The announcements come at the start of Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference here. On Tuesday, Microsoft plans to go into more detail on Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, due out by about January 2010.

With the launch of Azure, Microsoft will find itself in competition with other providers of Internet storage and computing services including Amazon, Salesforce.com, and Rackspace.

Ozzie said he was tipping his cap to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for innovating the hosted computing model. Amazon "established a base-level design pattern, architecture models, and business models that we'll all learn from," he said.

Microsoft is making Windows Azure in preview form to developers, with a limited subset of the features that it plans to have in the product before its final release.

There weren't many details on how Microsoft will charge for Azure, saying it will be free during the preview period. Final pricing, Ozzie said, "will be competitive with the marketplace."

The company itself plans to offer businesses the option of running over the Internet the kinds of software that have traditionally run on a company's own servers. Microsoft already sells its Exchange corporate e-mail software in this way, but that is just the beginning, said Microsoft vice president Dave Thompson.

"All our enterprise software will be delivered as an online service as an option," Thompson said.

CNET News' Elinor Mills contributed to this report.

























Server and Tools senior VP Bob Muglia talks about the benefits to businesses of Windows Azure.
(Credit: Robert Vamosi/CNET News)












Microsoft's cloud computing team discusses how a common set of tools can be used for developing applications for traditional Windows as well as for Windows Azure.
(Credit: Robert Vamosi/CNET News)






Microsoft's Dave Thompson tells attendees at the Professional Developer Conference that all of the company's enterprise software will be offered as an online service over time.
(Credit: Robert Vamosi/CNET News)

























One of the biggest challenges in business software, whether it lives inside a company or is part of a hosted service, is making sure that only properly authorized employees have access to the data and applications. Microsoft discusses how its Federated Identity platform will work with the new hosted services.
(Credit: Robert Vamosi/CNET News)

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Windows 7: A better Vista?

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft on Tuesday offered up far more details on Windows 7, successor to the company's oft-maligned Windows Vista.

In particular, Microsoft is focused on improving the time it takes for Windows to start up and shut down. In addition to its own work, Microsoft has been working directly with computer makers to address all of the factors that affect system performance.

As far as other features, Windows 7 features support for multitouch input and a new taskbar that makes it easier to manage multiple open Windows.

"The focus is on making sure the things you do (today) are easier and that the things you always wanted to do are possible," Corporate Vice President Mike Nash said in an interview Monday. "There's a lot of work we've done to just make things easier and faster.

The early, prebeta version being handed out to developers at the Professional Developer Conference here has all of the programming interfaces that will be in the final version but only some of the planned features.

Several enthusiasts who have been checking out the new code for the past couple of days praised the stability of the release, particularly for an operating system, at this early stage.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has changed the way it approaches building early releases. In the past, Microsoft included features at various stages of development. With Windows 7, features are included in the main Windows build, only after they are fully baked.

Microsoft is clearly looking to leave a far different first impression than it did with Windows Vista, which made major changes under the hood and led to considerable incompatibilities. With Windows 7, Microsoft is not introducing any major changes to the Windows kernel and is keeping much of the other plumbing substantially similar to that of Vista.

The software maker has also tried to reduce some of Vista's other annoyances, such as the frequently criticized User Account Control feature, which some complained led to too many annoying dialog boxes. With Windows 7, users will be able to choose for themselves how often the system warns them of changes being made to their computer.

The next external release of Windows 7, a feature-complete public beta, is slated for early next year.

Nash wouldn't say whether the company plans more than one beta version before its final release. "We'll see how the first one goes," he said.

The company has said it will have the release out within three years of Vista's January 2007 mainstream release, however, CEO Steve Ballmer has said he wants Windows 7 out next year.

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Google Earth brings virtual tourism to iPhone

SAN FRANCISCO--Google already has customized some of its Web sites for display on the iPhone, but now the company also dived headlong onto Apple's highly regarded mobile phone with a full-fledge application, a handheld version of its Google Earth geographical software (download for Windows and Mac).

Google Earth lets people virtually fly around a 3D view of the world made from satellite and aerial imagery mapped onto the planet's mountains and valleys. The iPhone version reproduces this core experience, downloading imagery from Google's servers as the perspective shifts and dotting the map with landmarks, photos, and other information.

"The idea of having Earth on a mobile device is something people dreamed of back to the Keyhole days and before," said Peter Birch, Google Earth's product manager, referring to the satellite imagery company Google acquired in 2004. "This is the first opportunity we've had to be able to deliver a great experience."

Keyhole began its first version of what later became Google Earth in 2001, when computer horsepower and network capacity had not risen to their current levels. "A lot of that core engine can run on a device like this," Birch said.

The free software started becoming available through Apple's App store on Sunday (download here). (Update 7:50 p.m. PDT: Apparently Australian App Store users get the first crack at this software, but it should be spreading to other regions "soon," Google said.) It's a free download in 20 countries, running in all 18 languages the iPhone supports.

Surprising performance, good interface
I tried the application late last week and was impressed how well the iPhone version kept up with the performance, features, and usability of Google Earth for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux--at least, while using a Wi-Fi network connection. For example, your view of the world starts looking straight down, but you can tilt the view so terrain contours are visible, and generating that variable perspective takes some significant processing.


Search results, such as cafes in Trento, Italy, show as pushpins on the Google Earth view.
(Credit: Google)


What's most interesting to me, though, is that the iPhone's multitouch screen actually made using the application easier than the PC versions. Dragging a fingertip across the screen slides the view appropriately, of course. Two-finger pinch gestures not only zoom in and out, but also, by adding a little twirling rotary motion, steer the view's orientation in one direction or another.

Another nice feature: When the iPhone is tilted a certain angle out of horizontal, Google Earth reads data from the phone's accelerometer and adjusts your view accordingly, so you can look up into the sky. And it's integrated with the iPhone's ability to locate itself through GPS, Wi-Fi networks, and mobile phone towers.

The only things I didn't figure out on my own within a minute of use is that you can use a two-finger drag to tilt the perspective back--flight-simulator gamers might think of pulling the stick back to lift the nose of a virtual airplane--and that you also can zoom in and out with single-finger and two-finger double-tapping, respectively.

"One of the challenges we face with Google Earth is people aren't used to moving around in 3D, especially if you're moving around with a mouse," Birch said.

Touching the circular icon on the lower left of the screen moves the view to your current location, shown with a blue ring. The W icons indicate geotagged Wikipedia entries.
(Credit: Google)


It's a very intuitive interface, a notch more so than the mouse controls of the PC version--though I've heard Google Earth is much easier to grasp with a 3D controller such as Logitech's 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator. One intriguing possibility is that Google could bring this interface to multitouch-aware computers such as Apple's newer MacBook models.

"Macs have multitouch on them," Birch said. "That's something we could consider."

Just a curiosity?
So what exactly do you use Google Earth for?

Though you can search for specific addresses, Google Earth in general is more for exploring than for practical tasks such as navigation. There's no turn-by-turn directions and no map view showing street names, as on Google Maps, for example.

But there is some practical utility. The computer version of Google Earth can show many layers of information, including user-supplied ones on the Internet. The iPhone is more limited for now, with small blue squares indicating where you can see geotagged photos of a particular area that are stored on Google's Panoramio site and "W" icons indicating links to geotagged Wikipedia articles.

Also handy for folks whizzing around foreign cities in buses, taxies, rental cars, or trains, the iPhone app can show your changing location on a map.


Using the search tool gives a scrollable list of search results.
(Credit: Google)


Search + mapping = revenue
And where would a Google application be without search? The Google Earth iPhone application will show search results such as pizza restaurants as small red pushpins. Touching the pushpin will pop up a window with information such as a business's Web site and phone number.

And happily, like Safari but unlike most iPhone applications, Google Earth can use a horizontally oriented touch-screen keyboard, too.

Google Earth for iPhone has a small Webkit-based browser to show the specific information users click on, and the bare-bones browsing experience includes a link to the more fully featured Safari browser Apple builds into the iPhone. One handy trick: when you click the address of a business, the iPhone will intercept the command and show it on the Google Maps application so you can get directions. Personally, I'd prefer a more direct link to Google Maps, though.

And where would Google search be without Google advertising? There are now ads in Google Maps for desktop computers, and Google Earth for PCs shows "very limited" ads right now, Birch said, but currently there are no ads on the iPhone version of Google Earth, but Birch said Google is "definitely not" ruling it out.


Touching a blue square on the Google Earth interface brings up people's geographically tagged photos stored at Google's Panoramio site.
(Credit: Google)


"Within (Google's geographic products group) as a whole, we see advertising as a huge opportunity. Geographic mapping as a business for Google is a great opportunity. We wouln't be in it if we didn't see it as a major bottom-line contributor," Birch said. "We're absolutely looking at and experimenting with ads in Earth as well."

Google Earth is a little different from many Google products, though, because the company also sells premium versions of the software, so Google has alternate revenue sources.

Google Earth for Android?
Birch was cagey about what else will come of the software, but Google's Android operating system for mobile phones appears to be high on the list.

"We're huge fans of the iPhone. It's a fantastic platform and a great opportunity to show Google technology. We're equally excited about Android," Birch said. However, he added, "We have nothing to announce right now."

Adding other features available on the desktop version of Google Earth also is a possibility. There's no support for the 3D buildings Google Earth can show, for example, nor the ability to view KML (Keyhole Markup Language) data such as a guided city tour.

"There are a lot of things on the wish list," Birch said.

Even in its 1.0 incarnation, though, Google Earth for the iPhone should prove entertaining and useful for geography buffs or virtual tourists.

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Intel: solid-state drives boost battery life

Intel said Tuesday that solid-state drives can extend battery life up to 30 minutes compared to hard disk drives.

Add the speed advantage of solid state drives and that's two strikes against hard disks. Price parity--strike three--is still a ways off, however. That--and the fact that hard drives offer much larger capacities--will keep hard drives competitive next year.

For now, Intel is evangelizing the benefits of speed and power efficiency.

Most independent benchmarks show that solid state drives perform better than hard disk drives. In some cases, a lot better. That's a given now. One area, however, that isn't so clear cut is power efficiency. Intel tried to lay that argument to rest Tuesday in a conference call.























Intel claims that its SSD extends batter life about 30 minutes on a laptop
(Credit: Intel)

As a preface to the presentation, Knut Grimsrud, Intel fellow and director of storage architecture, made the often-overlooked point that one of the reasons Intel makes solid-state drives is "in order to realize the full value of Intel CPUs." In other words, systems that couple Intel processors with SSDs can deliver better performance overall and do it more efficiently.

In the portion of the presentation focused on power, Grimsrud first compared an Intel SSD with a 5400rpm and 7200rpm hard disk drive. He showed a slide claiming that Intel's SSD spends about 96 percent of its time in low-power states, while a hard drive spends only about 10 percent (see graphic).

Looking at why SSDs are power efficient, he explained that "they way we look at power efficiency is how much power does it takes to get a certain amount of work done."

"So, it's really measure of power per operation performed or operations performed per watt," he said.

While one chart showed an Intel solid state drive's "active power" falling between that of two competing solid-state drives, Grimsrud claimed that Intel's drives get more done in the active state than competitors' drives. "It's how much work are you getting done while you are energized," he said.






















Intel compared time spent in lower-power states between SSDs and HDDs
(Credit: Intel)

More specifically, how much power per I/O (input/output) operation is consumed. "That's really the metric for power efficiency," he said. "A very slow SSD that has low power is not necessarily more power efficient. It's just not getting work done at the same rate," according to Grimsrud.

In a real life scenario, Intel showed three systems: one using a hard disk drive, one using a competitor's SSD, and another an Intel SSD. Both the hard drive and competing SSD ran out of power in four hours, Intel claimed, while its SSD allowed the battery to last another 32 minutes, for about a 13 percent battery life extension.

"We're getting secondary savings that are compounding the benefits. Since the Intel SSD is higher performance than the hard drive, the rest of the system can also enter its lower-power state much more quickly than it otherwise would," he said.

Finally, Grimsrud mentioned the 24-hour battery life achieved by the HP EliteBook 6930p. He said that Intel's SSD contributed to this and that internal HP benchmarks show overall performance boosts of up to 57 percent on industry benchmarks, and data transfer rates almost six times faster than traditional hard disks.

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Nvidia can't shake MacBook, chipset unit rumors

Nvidia has become a Silicon Valley hot spot for rumors. One is tied to an analyst downgrade Monday, the other to the rumored Apple MacBook refresh.

An analyst rekindled speculation Monday that the world's largest graphics chip supplier would sell off its chipset business, while rumors persist that the company would play a larger role in an expected refresh of the Apple MacBook.


Nvidia graphic on its notebook home page
(Credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia shares fell Monday after a Pacific Crest analyst issued a negative report on the company's prospects. In the report, the analyst said "our checks confirm" that Nvidia will exit the chipset business next year.

Nvidia chipsets--sometimes referred to as MCPs--serve as supporting silicon for the company's graphics processors. In the past, Nvidia has denied that it will exit the chipset business.

The analyst also speculated that Nvidia will pre-announce negative results for the third quarter (ended October). Nvidia has been dogged by negative press and analyst reports after it disclosed issues with its processors and chipsets back in July.

If that wasn't enough, Pacific Crest said Nvidia may see share loss in the notebook market next year as a result of a future refresh of "Montevina" graphics silicon from Intel.

But not all is lost. On the upside, rumors persist that Nvidia will play a large role in an expected MacBook refresh this month. The latest rumor holds that Nvidia is showing off prototypes internally of upcoming MacBooks with new Nvidia silicon.

Some are even pointing to a graphic on the Nvidia notebook home page of a slim notebook design as a possible MacBook design--though a more plausible explanation is that it's simply generic artwork.

Apple uses Nvidia graphics chips in its high-end MacBook Pros, but the MacBook and MacBook Air use Intel integrated graphics silicon. One of the latter two could be recipients of new Nvidia graphics chips.

Nvidia would not comment on the rumors.

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Nvidia says chip faster, smaller than Intel graphics

Nvidia on Wednesday introduced its GeForce 9400M graphics chip, a direct threat to Intel's graphics silicon.

Apple's choice of the 9400M for its refreshed MacBook line heralds a much-needed infusion of competition in the market for mobile integrated graphics--a low-cost solution that is built into Intel chipsets. To date, Intel has dominated the market, with many of the top notebook vendors defaulting to Intel graphics in low-end models and ultraportables. Apple chose Intel graphics for previous versions of the MacBook and MacBook Air.


Nvidia claims the GeForce 9400M is smaller and faster than Intel's popular integrated graphics silicon
(Credit: Nvidia)

Not this time though. Apple did its homework and CEO Steve Jobs made a point Tuesday to cite the 9400M as a reason for better performance in the new MacBooks. You can bet that other PC makers are looking closely at the 9400M.

"Intel's technology is integrated throughout Apple's product line but we didn't win this particular design," Intel commented yesterday. Its newest graphics product is based on the G45 chipset.

The Apple announcement Tuesday is the "first in a string of announcements" coming from PC makers, said Bill Henry, director of notebook marketing at Nvidia. "Most of the top OEMs have designs in the works."

"It's ideal for getting really good graphics capability in 10-inch designs and 12-inch designs," Henry said, referring to small laptop designs that use screens sizes ranging from 10 to 12 inches. These are typically referred to as ultraportables.

Some important 9400M features include the integration of 16 streaming processors to boost game-playing performance and a technology called Hybird SLI, which allows Nvidia's integrated silicon to be paired with an external graphics card for more speed. (SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface.)

The 9400M can handle 30-frames-per-second frame rates in many games and supports Nvidia's PhysX technology for more realistic game playing.

From a PR perspective, Nvidia also made it clear Wednesday that the 9400M won't have any of the issues of past Nvidia mobile graphics. Some of Nvidia's mobile chips have had issues with weak die and packaging materials.

"We've updated the materials we're using to manufacture our chips," Henry said.

Nvidia also issued this statement: "Apple was fully aware of the issue during the MacBook development program, and they are satisfied that Nvidia has implemented corrective actions to ensure there will not be an issue in the future."

The chip is being manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on a 65-nanometer process.

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Graphics market on fire; AMD gains

The economy may be under water, but the graphics chip market is on fire.

The market for graphics processing units (GPUs) saw the biggest increase in third-quarter shipments in six years, according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR), as AMD gained in both the desktop and laptop segments.


Laptop graphics chip shipments soared by almost 40 percent quarter-to-quarter, as AMD gained
(Credit: Jon Peddie Research)

In the third quarter of 2008, more than 111 million GPUs were shipped, the market researcher said. During the same quarter last year, 91 million GPUs shipped, and 94 million units shipped in the previous quarter. That's an annual increase of 22.5 percent and a quarter-to-quarter increase of almost 18 percent, according to JPR.

In the overall market, Intel jumped from 33.4 percent in the third quarter of 2007 to 49.4 percent in the third quarter of this year, according to JPR. AMD saw year-to-year growth of 22.8 percent, while Nvidia lost 6.4 percent year-to-year.

For desktop GPUs, Intel increased its first place position to a 43.9 percent share, while Nvidia's position slipped to 32.6 percent, and AMD climbed to 20.3 percent, JPR said. Desktop GPUs saw an increase of 4.7 percent this quarter to 61.9 million units.

On the laptop front, Intel GPU shipments dropped one point to 56.2 percent, while Nvidia GPU shipments declined to 21.8 percent, and AMD jumped to 20.9 percent. Laptop graphics chips soared almost by 40 percent quarter-to-quarter to 49.4 million units, to claim 44.4 percent of the market, JPR reported.

Though the third quarter is typically up as PC makers place orders for chips for the holiday season, "this quarter was up more than any other for some time, and in spite of suggestions of a recession that started last Q4," said Jon Peddie, president of the Tiburon, Calif.-based firm.

Peddie cautions, however, that the doom-and-gloom scenarios may be having their effect on business and consumer spending plans and the fourth quarter could be flat (compared with the third quarter) this year.

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AMD talks more about chipmaking exit strategy

Advanced Micro Devices talked more about options for reducing its participation in a new manufacturing venture during its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. The chipmaker also offered more details on conversion to 45-nanometer processors.


Earlier this month, AMD announced that it was splitting into two companies: one for designing chips (AMD), the other for manufacturing them (The Foundry Company). The latter company will be owned approximately 56 percent by Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) and 44 percent by AMD.

During the conference call, AMD Chief Financial Officer Bob Rivet responded to a question from an analyst about an "exit strategy" for the foundry (manufacturing) side of the business by saying that AMD will "turn in more shares and ownership of the company" if necessary.
AMD 45-nanometer die
(Credit: AMD)

As Rivet put it, the foundry deal provides that "when a capital call is required for the foundry business, it allows us to either pay our fair share of that capital call or turn in more shares and ownership of the company...We'll make that determination at each point in time...There's a natural way to get out of it if we want to."

All of this--whether accounting is done on a consolidated or nonconsolidated basis--can get a little confusing for nonaccountants (and AMD even volunteered that it's "confusing") but Rivet put it this way. "Think of it this way: The Foundry Company piece of the bucket will have profits and losses...but they're all cashless. The cash generating machine of AMD is the AMD design product (company)."

Both Rivet and CEO Dirk Meyer also discussed AMD's conversion to 45-nanometer chips. "We'll be fully converted in first half of next year," said Meyer. Rivet added that it will be a "very fast ramp" to 45 nanometer chips. AMD is currently shipping processors based on 65-nanometer technology. Smaller geometries typically result in faster processors that use less power.

Speaking about AMD's 45-nanometer Shanghai server processor, Meyer said, "You'll see OEM (server) systems in the market this quarter," and added that AMD is "shipping the desktop variant this quarter and you'll see OEM systems in the market early next quarter."

Responding to a question about AMD's Netbook chip strategy and its response to Intel's Atom processor, Meyer said: "Clearly the Netbook is a new form factor and new market opportunity and one we're not participating in right now, today."

He said more details will come at an upcoming analyst meeting. "We do have strategies together with our OEMs for pushing solutions both down into smaller form factors and lower notebook price points."

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AMD reports smaller loss, better revenues

Advanced Micro Devices reported a much smaller loss for the third quarter and better-than-expected revenue.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker reported third-quarter 2008 revenue of $1.776 billion, including process technology license revenue of $191 million.

Revenue increased 32 percent compared to the second quarter of 2008 and 14 percent compared to the third quarter of 2007.


A positive surprise is the net loss, which was significantly smaller than expected. The company reported a net loss of $67 million, or 11 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a third-quarter loss of 40 cents per share on $1.48 billion in revenue. The company also reached operating profitability in the quarter.

Analysts were impressed by the numbers. "Even in a normal environment this would be a pretty remarkable achievement. In today's environment, it's extraordinary," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at investment bank Collins Stewart.

"Improved execution across all of our businesses," Robert J. Rivet, AMD's chief financial officer, said in a statement, "was punctuated by a refresh of our graphics product line-up, driving 55 percent sequential revenue growth and market share gains. In addition, customer adoption of our quad-core microprocessors was strong, with unit shipments increasing 46 percent sequentially."

In the second quarter of 2008, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.349 billion and a net loss of $1.189 billion. In the third quarter of 2007, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.558 billion and a net loss of $396 million.

Third-quarter 2008 gross margin was 51 percent, or 45 percent excluding process technology license revenue. This compares favorably to both the second-quarter 2008 non-GAAP gross margin of 37 percent, and the third-quarter 2007 gross margin of 41 percent.

"We achieved a significant milestone with the recent announcement of our Asset Smart strategy, which will transform both AMD and the industry," Dirk Meyer, AMD's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, AMD announced that it was splitting into two companies: one for designing chips (AMD), the other for manufacturing them (The Foundry Company). The capital-intensive business of manufacturing chips had been weighing on AMD as it reeled under a $5 billion debt load, partially due to its purchase of ATI Technologies in 2006.

The investment is expected to allow AMD to remain directly involved in chip manufacturing--crucial for competing with Intel.

AMD said it has secured $5.7 billion of "confirmed, pledged investment," with some of the money earmarked for a future manufacturing facility in Malta, N.Y. It will own part of the new manufacturing entity, and Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) will own the rest.

In addition, ATIC will commit a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6 billion in additional funds over the next five years for the upgrade and expansion of fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, and construction the Malta, N.Y., facility.

One of the largest investors, Mubadala Development, now owns 19.3 percent of AMD.

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Chip forecasts head south

Along with the economy, chip forecasts are heading south.

Following an outlook about weak chip industry capital spending from market researcher Gartner on Wednesday, iSuppli cut its 2008 IC revenue forecast to 3.5 percent from 4 percent on Thursday.


The memory chip industry is the canary in the coal mine. At least two memory chip manufacturers are on life support right now. Hynix, the world's second largest maker of memory, is trying to scare up cash by seeking buyers for a 36 percent stake in the company. The other ailing memory maker is Qimonda AG. Rumors have been rife that the manufacturing assets of the loss-ridden company will be snapped up.

Hynix and Qimonda won't get any help from the market in the coming months. Gartner said that the oversupply in memory, combined with a slowing consumer market, "gives little hope for an upside until 2010." Semiconductor industry capital spending is forecast to decline 25.7 percent in 2008--this would be the steepest decline since 2002--and another 12.8 percent in 2009, according to the market researcher.

The iSuppli report isn't any brighter. The outlook for memory revenue has been revised downward by 5.8 percentage points for 2008. iSuppli is citing the "credit crisis" as adversely affecting demand.

And let's not forget the Micron surprise on Thursday. The largest maker of memory chips in the U.S. said it would reduce its workforce 15 percent during the next two years. "Selling prices for NAND flash memory (are) significantly below manufacturing costs," Micron said in a statement.

SanDisk--the largest supplier of retail flash memory products--has problems of its own. It has become a buyout target as its stock price has steadily declined over the last 12 months.

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AMD deal triggers Intel license warning

Advanced Micro Device's new manufacturing venture may come with some old baggage.

After AMD announced on Tuesday that it would spin off its manufacturing assets to a new company partially owned by the Abu Dhabi government, Intel was quick to warn AMD about patent and cross-licensing concerns.

AMD will own part of the new manufacturing entity, for the time being to be called The Foundry Company, while Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) will own the rest (55.6 percent) and have equal voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company. The total investment is expected to come to approximately $8 billion.

Intel-AMD disputes are certainly not new. AMD sued Intel in 2005 alleging antitrust violations. But this time Intel has AMD in its sights.

At the moment, Intel is simply expressing concern about the deal, per the Patent Cross License Agreement between the two companies. (The two chipmakers have cross-licensing agreements that go back to 1976.)

The Agreement, which was signed in 2001 and expires in 2010, has restrictions related to the transfer of licenses and patents.

"We don't know enough yet. We have a lot of questions about how this deal is structured," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.

"According to the public statements they made in their press releases, they (ATIC) also have 50 percent voting rights. So we need to understand a lot more about it. We just have to do due diligence. Make sure that our IP (intellectual property) rights are protected."

AMD, for its part, believes the transaction is structured in a way that doesn't violate any agreements. "We are completely confident the structure of this transaction takes into account our cross-license agreements. Rest assured, we plan to continue respecting Intel's intellectual property rights, just as we expect them to respect ours," said AMD spokesman Drew Prairie.

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AMD finds 'fabless' alternative

The dramatic announcement by AMD Tuesday, which focuses on a new entity known for now as The Foundry Company, shows that there is another way to restructure that doesn't entail completely jettisoning manufacturing operations--referred to in the semiconductor industry as fabs or fabrication facilities.

"Real men have fabs." This quote attributed to former AMD CEO and Chairman Jerry Sanders has some import here. Though fabless concerns, such as Nvidia, have been held up as lean, mean chip-supplying machines that don't have the burden of funding costly manufacturing facilities, the downside is often ignored by Wall Street.

Going completely fabless separates the company from key process technologies that are needed to stay ahead. That's especially true in AMD's case, where the sole processor rival is chip behemoth Intel, which derives much of its strength by moving quickly from one chip manufacturing process to another. Going to a new manufacturing process typically results in faster, more power-efficient processors.




























This artist's rendering shows what AMD expects its New York facility to look like when it opens for business about three to four years from now.
(Credit: AMD)

Look no further than the state AMD finds itself in today. It is a generation behind Intel, which has been shipping chips based on the 45-nanometer process for almost year. AMD is currently struggling to get out its first generation of 45nm processors.

The newly created Foundry Company was described by AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer on Tuesday as a "brand-new and leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company." It will be run by Doug Grose, who will relinquish his current role as AMD's senior vice president of manufacturing operations to become CEO of The Foundry Company.

Two things will happen as a result of the backing by the Abu Dhabi-based investors. First, AMD, through the joint company Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC), will expand its current manufacturing facilities in Dresden, Germany, and transform this into a foundry company that also builds chips for other companies.

As part of this expansion, Dresden will bring in IBM's silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and so-called "bulk silicon" technologies. "We deepen and widen our relationship with IBM," AMD said Tuesday. "So we'll be able to take bulk and SOI together to the 22-nanometer generation and beyond." (The next generation of chips will be made on a 32-nanometer process, followed by 22-nanometer in the 2012 time frame.)























AMD's Fab 36 in Dresden will focus on IBM's silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and so-called "bulk silicon" technologies.
(Credit: AMD)

Second, AMD will move forward to build manufacturing facilities at the Luther Forest Technology Campus, near the town of Malta, N.Y. "At the earliest opportunity we will break ground on upstate New York and begin work on what we believe will be the most sophisticated manufacturing facility in the United States," AMD said.

The intention is to "bring that fab online in the late 2011, 2012 time frame," AMD said. "And further cementing that upstate New York corridor as one of the leading (areas) in the world for nanotechnology." The planned facility will provide 1,400 jobs for the region, according to AMD.

AMD may also expand beyond Dresden and New York. "Once we complete the Dresden expansion and build out upstate New York--and if commercially justified--we will consider the creation of research and manufacturing facilities in Abu Dhabi," said Grose.

Hector Ruiz--the current AMD chairman--will relinquish his role as AMD's executive chairman to become chairman of The Foundry Company.

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AMD to spin off manufacturing

On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices will announce a long-expected restructuring, according to sources familiar with the deal.

As expected, the No. 2 supplier of PC processors will split into two companies: one for designing chips, the other for manufacturing them. The capital-intensive business of manufacturing chips is weighing on AMD as it reels under a $5 billion debt load.

The investment is expected to allow AMD to remain directly involved in chip manufacturing--crucial for competing with Intel, which has used its manufacturing prowess to great advantage.

AMD would not comment Monday.

The company has secured about $5.7 billion of "confirmed, pledged investment," with some of the money earmarked for a future manufacturing facility in Malta, New York, according to sources.

AMD will own part of the new manufacturing entity, for the time being to be called The Foundry Company, while Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) will own the rest. One of the investors, Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co., invested approximately $622 million in AMD last November.

Mubadala already holds an 8.1 percent stake in AMD. Upon closing the deal, Mubadala will own 19.3 percent of AMD, according to sources.

ATIC--also based in Abu Dhabi--will have equal voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company and own 55.6 percent of the new entity. ATIC will invest an initial $2.1 billion, of which $1.4 billion will be invested directly in the new company and $700 million will be paid directly to AMD, according to sources close to the deal.

In addition, ATIC will commit a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6 billion in additional funds over the next five years for the upgrade and expansion of fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, and construction of a new facility in upstate New York, near the town of Malta.

Mubadala, for its part, will purchase 58 million newly issued AMD shares valued at $314 million and warrants for 30 million additional shares, giving it a total stake in AMD of approximately 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis, sources said.

Mubadala will also have the right to designate a representative for election as a member of the board of directors of AMD.

All of this is expected to greatly improve AMD's liquidity.

AMD CEO Dirk Meyer and other company executives are expected to make the announcement Tuesday.

The investment is characterized by one source as coming from investors with "a long-term vision, who want to help (AMD) scale the foundry operations to compete globally." A foundry is a manufacturing facility.

AMD has been laboring for months over details of the restructuring, which it has termed "Asset Smart." AMD Chief Financial Officer Bob Rivet said during AMD's second-quarter earnings conference call that Asset Smart would be "a major reformation of the company."

Also, at that time, AMD announced that Meyer would take over as CEO and Hector Ruiz would relinquish that post but remain as chairman to oversee AMD's transition to Asset Smart.

AMD already has a relationship with IBM in which AMD uses IBM's advanced test manufacturing facilities.

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Broadcom gets a discount on AMD's TV unit

Broadcom on Tuesday said that it completed the acquisition of Advanced Micro Devices' digital TV chip business--at a discount to the original price.

On August 25, the two companies announced a price for the unit of $192.8 million. But Broadcom now expects that AMD's digital TV business will have fourth-quarter revenue of between $15 million and $20 million, lower than previously expected, the Irvine, Calif.-based company said.

Accordingly, the price has been slashed to $141.5 million, about a 27 percent reduction from the original price.

Broadcom had said in August that AMD's DTV unit would strengthen its own digital TV system business by expanding the tier-one customer base. Broadcom offers digital chips for TVs, including digital TV system-on-chip solutions.

AMD sold the unit to Broadcom to become "leaner and more focused" as it faced a string of quarterly losses and needed to create a "business model to deliver sustainable profitability and leadership in core x86 computing and graphics businesses," the company said.

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AMD 'Shanghai' chip debuts at resellers

Advanced Micro Devices' first 45-nanometer chip, the Shanghai quad-core Opteron, has made its debut at resellers.


The officially unannounced Opteron 837X and 838X series processors are not cheap. Online reseller PC Connection lists the Opteron QC (quad-core) 8384 at $2,509. Another reseller, Buy.com lists the same processor at $2,240.

The 8384 is expected to run at 2.7GHz and draw 75 watts, relatively low power consumption for a quad-core server processor.

The 8385--same clock speed with a faster system bus--is offered for $2,509 at PC Connection.

Other processors listed include the 8382 (2.6GHz), 8380 (2.5GHz), and 8378 (2.4GHz), priced at $2,177, $1,768, and $1,360 respectively at PC Connection. Note that these prices will differ from official pricing from AMD.

The Shanghai Opteron 230X series includes the 2382 (2.6GHz) and 2380 (2.5GHz). These are priced at $1,019 and $814 respectively at PC Connnection.

Rollout of the chip is expected officially on November 13, according to industry sources.

AMD is hoping to make a much better impression with Shanghai. Its first quad-core chip, Barcelona, was rolled out in September 2007 to great fanfare only to be delayed a whopping eight months (or more, depending how the delay is calculated) due to production glitches and bugs. This gave Intel an opportunity to regain ground it had lost to AMD in the server chip market.

Shanghai is in full production right now, Pat Patla, general manager of AMD's server and workstation chip business said last month. The was confirmed during AMD's earnings conference call earlier this month.

Server vendors are expected to be shipping systems as early as this quarter. A Sun Microsystems spokesperson said Tuesday that it plans to offer Shanghai processors on its current x64 platforms running Barcelona. Systems using the new processors are targeted for the first quarter of 2009, the spokesperson said.

At the same clock frequency (speed), Shanghai will outperform Barcelona by about 20 percent, Patla said last month.

AMD is also boosting the size of the cache memory, which typically speeds performance, from 2 megabytes to 6 megabytes. Another speed improvement will come from increasing "instructions per clock."

Patla also said last month that AMD is "turning on HT3 (HyperTransport 3)"--a communication path between chips--and that partners will start to validate systems in the first quarter of next year with this technology.

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Starting from the education business

Many complained that to open a business opportunity is not there. This is a classic complaint that can not be with us again. Indeed, to start a business we can do with a variety of ways, one with the education that we have. Jerry Yang and David Filo, the founders of Yahoo start a business with education. They are students from Stanford University. Yahoo started from the back parking lots is now growing rapidly. Jerry Yang and David Filo started the business from small and simple. Jerry Yang describes the discovery that Yahoo is "an accident" when he and Filo tesisnya complete. Filo and that this launch Yahoo when they sit in the universities, before they complete studies. They start doing business with the listing several web sites that they like and write some software that allows a website to get other web sites that will be placed on a web portal called. At the time established in 1994, Terry's name Guide To The World Wide Web. When they know that their sites visited by people from 90 countries, spontaneously say "Yahoo" and finally the words that are used to name their company. In 1999, Yahoo reach star status. Net income in quadruplicate fourth quarter of 57.6 million dollars, while revenue jump from 91 million dollars into 201 million dollars. Now, Yahoo is the best portal in 2002.

Kiichiro Toyoda is the son of the founder of the company Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Co., which moves in the field of automatic loom. After completing engineering studies, he decided to start a business with the company to change the car into production and change the company name from Toyoda become Toyota in the year 1936. Kiichiro Toyoda became President of the company's Toyota until 1950. The first car made the Model AA Model and the Crown. Overseas offices established in Taiwan is first and then Saudi Arabia. Company starters began to produce forklift trucks (vessel / trailer), which made the number one company in the world in this market. Trucks entering the United States market of 1958 and 1965 the UK market. But the Model Crown failed to enter the United States, because the car is designed for the Japanese market, are not designed for the roads free of the constraints in the United States. Finally, Toyota Corolla make in 1968 and achieve success so that they can shift Volkswagen as the number one imported car in the United States. Even penetrate the heart of the city United States by cooperating with General Motors to Toyota in the U.S.. Camry is a car with tersukses sales in the United States in 1997. Toyota is now reaching the business to other sectors, namely financial services, telecommunications, housing, machinery navy, recreational boats, the distribution of parts and flight services. Now Toyota is the number three car maker in the world after General Motors and Ford. Yoyota have to sell 5 million vehicles per year.

Pierre Omidyar started the business with a degree in computer science. He was interested in developing the technology for different products and consumers love the idea that he can take the concept with all the way through the delivery of products to consumers, and their reaction shows and changing them. Internet gives you a place to do it, because you can publish software quickly, you can get a reaction from your customers quickly and know if Andapun quickly make mistakes, too. He thinks, how the auction in Paris of participants do not go to Paris, but in their homes or offices in each. Finally Omidyar founded on the Internet auction company with the name eBay in 1995. Before Omidyar founded eBay with i establish eSharp, which provide experience for Entrepreneurs. eBay is a company that relies on trust. Imagine! People want to pay what dilelangkan with only see an image only. Without trust this company will not run. Net income more than three times reached 1.35 million dollars in the third quarter of 1999, with sales increased to 58.5 million dollars. Number of conduct registration on the eBay site increased from 5.6 million to be 7.7 million compared with the previous quarter and increased 1.3 million dollars in the same period the previous year. Penjulan value of the goods on the web site jump from 195 million dollars into 741 million dollars. eBay auction is the best company in the Internet in 2002, the magazine version of Yahoo.

About what makes you great. What separates you and I made history as Entrepreneurs "said Anita Roddick. With the history of his love of the environment eventually make the concept of "natural", to make herb-pure ingredients, do not test on animals and friendly to the environment and indigenous population, where the herb-derived ingredients. With almost no advertising at all but with the publicity that is very passive, The Body Shop has become one of the legends of the world.

Ir. Ciputra start a business with the education field of architecture and properties, because it of Architecture faculty alumni ITB 1960. Ciputra now as the President Director of PT Ciputra Development (CD) and President Commissioner of PT Jaya Realty (JR) and the CEO off the public's best 1997 version Sembada Swa magazine.

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Four stars in the world of work

According to the Gallup Poll, using mathematics and interpolation roughly, the following conclusions. If there are 1,000 individuals is a "type-Columbian" explorers who receive all the credit that has economic value that they find and claim, let us assume that each of them has 10 members supporting cast around the world in them - 10 people which is very important that there would be no without economic miracle without them, the amount to be 10,000. We then multiplied by 10,000 builders big business again by 10 to determine roughly the size and number of its rainmakers that are needed to continue to support the growth of total U.S. GDP. Ten thousand multiplied by 10 (to account for and give credit to the dominance of employment in small-to medium-size companies, which make up about 70% of the U.S. labor force) together with 100,000. In other words, only 100,000 stars of various sizes to create unforecasted growth in the current state of the United States, a country 300000000 people.

Here is an important part of the leaders: 100,000 stars of this growth will have made anywhere they live. If they have to prepare all the shops in Sioux Falls, Kansas City, and Fargo, all that happens in the U.S. Midwest. If all these groups have been living in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, or, $ 10 trillion will magically appear in Brazil.

Math is simple. One star per $ 100 million from GDP growth.

If you want to ask how to improve significantly to GDP your city, we will say you must find and develop stars 10. And you must create the largest incubator of talent possible. You incubator is the energy and pipeline work for the future. This will take some time to see the results you want, but you will not get them if you do not start with the star 10. The only other alternative is to buy growth, as companies do, with the acquisition. Leaders of the company's acquisition vs. organic growth all the time problem, and they know that organic growth is the best long-term strategy for every community organizations or persons.

To get a better idea of how to identify the hatch and the stars, our team code characteristics of the several hundred extraordinary business success, political and nonprofit leaders. Only four or category code that is required to classify them all.

1) innovators

Innovators get ideas that create new products, new markets, the value of shares, and incubate thousands of jobs.

They are often beaten by their discovery while working by an organization - a hospital, government, a company - or most often during their university studies. They are as possible, however, to follow them through the discovery of outside organizations as the inside. In any case, the discovery created the next big wave energy to increase economic activities and some of the hatchery work.

What makes a star innovator not only their creative capacity, but they are also rare talent for innovation in all aspects of their lives. The brilliant ideas are often born from the search for solutions to difficult problems, and new innovations that can solve problems and realize the idea. However, they are not necessarily those who bring to the market.

2) Employers

Employers are most recognized as a super-salespeople or rainmakers. Employers are those who see the picture, realize the potential, describes the steps necessary to make the idea a reality, and then bring innovators together with supporters to form a new business. Employers make money in their career or a new idea, whether this new business or new initiatives in an organization. Employers that rare gift of optimism and determination, which is, and will probably remain, new resources, the most valuable in the world. Optimism and determination of the more valuable in the equation of creativity and innovation because they are rarer.

It is also important to recognize the "social entrepreneurs" in this category, because they are the same importance to building heat, the growth of the city. Social surges from the businessman to provide positive energy through philanthropies. The work carried out by this increase cultural city, and they always increase the welfare of the community. Enterprisers social This not only creates a better city, they are economic and organizational work machines hatchery.

3) superstar

Superstar is a pursuer of achievement is very rare that a creative, talented people in extraordinary art, entertainment or sports. They are known as writers, singers, musicians, artists, chefs, architects, actors, fashion designers, politicians, football players and basketball, etc.. Famous people (celebrities) the need category because they are valuable as a magnet for the city where they live and work. But mostly because they are the economic engine for themselves. They create a new energy economy through the big movies, books, concerts and sports championship. Things that they do, related business to promote them, causing them to obtain support continuously.

4) Super eaten

Innovator, Entrepreneurs, and the terandalkan superstars, whether they know it or not, they have a genius keamapuan developers. They seemed as Super Mentor. They are people who say, "You can make an idea for the company. I will be the investors for you. "Or," We need support from professors back the idea. Professor need laboratory in the city. "Or," Let's start youth programs are best for the country. "

There are several types of Super Mentor. Often they are "father-city," wealthy businessman who has a deep concern about their city. They can be leaders in higher education institutions or charitable or religious leader or a CEO. Sometimes they are only ordinary citizens who have a deep commitment to the place they live and have the ability to find and encourage talent that has not terasah. In any case, the Super Mentor has a distinctive to identify and develop young stars and with the strong guiding hand and lead them.

Super Mentor also has the capacity to provide support and broad participation in local initiatives that will not happen without support. The growth of the city's best and fastest in the world run in the informal, not-selected group of Super Mentor. They work outside the local government and meet regularly to determine strategies and activities to help the city and the community to win the competition.

One can state that these groups make a Super Mentor greater and more positive towards the city from conducting local government. They have many or more for access to money and influence people as the government leaders who run their jobs, and they have many advantages with speed and fewer obstacles. And they serve a critical function - they are a fire innovators and entrepreneurs.

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A profitable business

Value is the guidelines to act or behave that comes from within, in the form of the principles of how to live and make decisions.


Value, the first time are introduced by their parents in infancy and then added by teachers, religious belief, of association and the environment. Spiritual values, when this is the foundation of individual behavior is very important. Why it is important to know the value of an individual? Although this does not have a direct impact on behavior, values with a strong influence attitudes one. So the knowledge of the value system of an individual can give insight into the attitudes-attitudes.

With edge-known that the value of different people, managers can use the Rokeach Values Survey, the share value into two groups, namely the value of the instrument and the value of goals that can be used to assess the potential employee and whether the set of values they segaris with the dominant values of organization. Performance and satisfaction an employee will most likely be more mengaggap very important, imagery, clack bergantungan, and freedom will most likely be poor value conformity with an organization that organize the compliance of its employees. The manager will be more likely mengahargai, with a positive rate, and distributing benefits to employees in accordance with the organization, and employees will be more likely event if they perceive that they are appropriate. This is the defense of the management strive for the selection of new employees to find candidates who not only have the ability, experience and motivation, but also a system of values appropriate (compatible) with the value system of organization.

The manager should be interested in the attitudes employees because of their attitude to provide warning of potential problems and because attitudes affect behavior. Karyawanyang pride in and commitment to, for example, have come out and the level of absenteeism is lower. If managers want to stop the application and decreased attendance - especially among their employees productive - they will want to do things that will generate a positive working attitude, so write Stephen Robbins in organizational Behavior.

The company is guided by the value of proven success in the long term. Grameen Bank is a company that values with the vision of the world without poverty. Grameen Bank founded by Muhammad Yunus has only one purpose, namely to distribute credit for the poor in Bangladesh.

Values that put Muhammad Yunus to the employee or the staff to make Grameen Bank grew rapidly. First groups to help mothers are poor bamboo craftsman, has now helped 46,000 villages in Bangladesh. Moreover, if the business is guided by the value of worship to God, then the business will gain the most. "God loves those who easily in the sale, purchase, repayment and billing. He who gives to the people of the suspension of the (to pay the debt) or lead to, then God will menghisabnya with penghisaban light. Whoever receives the purchase back from those who deplore purchase, cancel, Allah (remove) admitted on the Day of Resurrection. "Heat dawn.

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Web Design Opportunity

If you’re in business today, a website is as important as an ad in the Yellow Pages. With a Web presence, you’ve got access to millions of potential customers around the world–it’s like rolling out a major advertising supplement, marketing brochure and mail order catalog in one easily updated package.

And all without printing, postage or phone costs! The problem is that for most people, designing a website is on a par with building your own TV set–a major mystery best left unexplored. But if you can unlock the secrets of HTML and you’ve got a flair for graphics and copywriting, then Website design could be the business for you. The advantages to this business are that it’s creative, you can start part-time on a minimal budget, and even if you don’t already know HTML, it’s not difficult to learn once you set your mind to it. And you can deal with clients in any geographic region without leaving your computer. You should have a good rapport with your computer and have mastered the basic skills to get around in cyberspace. You’ll also need a talent for graphics and copywriting because your goal for each client will be not only to get the website up and running but to design one that’s easy to navigate through, visually appealing, and clearly yet cleverly worded. Get started by designing a few sample sites to showcase your talents, and be sure to mix up your sample work to include e-commerce, information portal, and so on.
The Market

Your clients will be businesses–you can target everything from SOHOs to nonprofit organizations to professional associations to government agencies. Choose a geographic or specialty area to start with–say, small businesses in your community or real estate agencies–then send direct-mail pieces explaining the values of a website and your services. Put up your own website both to attract business and to serve as a sample of your work, and establish links with other internet sites so potential clients can find you through as many paths as possible.
Needed Equipment

As a Website designer, your most important tool will be, of course, your computer; make sure yours has a fast internet connection. You’ll also need a scanner (inexpensive is OK), Web page creation software, and a graphic design package. If your Web page software doesn’t have the oomph to upload files to the internet service provider, you’ll want a program to carry out this task.
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Atom chip demand redefining Intel

Intel is seeing solid results for the Atom processor--possibly giving the first significant evidence of Intel's likely future as a bigger provider of low-cost processors.


Intel confirmed on Tuesday that Atom is hot. CEO Paul Otellini said that Intel didn't meet demand in the third quarter and still can't meet demand. "We did not meed demand in Q3 for the product. We are up again substantially in the fourth quarter. Our expectation is that we will meet demand by the end of the year," Otellini said.

And many of the questions from analysts in Tuesday's earnings conference call revolved around Atom as it delivered $200 million in revenue to Intel in the quarter. "Between the microprocessor and the chipset, we did have a couple hundred million dollars of revenue from Atom in the third quarter," Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said. "We do expect that to grow rapidly in the fourth quarter."

What Intel appears to like most about Atom is what it calls "margin characteristics." In other words, it's a low-cost processor, but it yields better margins than typical inexpensive chips like the Celeron. "What we've seen in the third quarter is a very healthy product margin," Smith said.

"On a dollar basis it's equivalent to what we see in Celeron and on a product margin percent it's higher. So if you look at it relative to our low-end mainstream stack, it's generating nice product characteristics," Smith added.

Here's the question: if more and more consumers--particularly in places like China and India--opt for Netbooks with the Atom processor rather than traditional notebooks with standard Intel mobile processors, what kind of an impact will this have on Intel's profits?

Intel claims cannibalization of (higher-margin) mainstream mobile processors is not taking place. "To date we haven't seen any evidence of cannibalization. And believe me we're looking. It's something we watch very carefully," Otellini said. "And one of the best pieces of evidence that we have is the strength in the core mobile business independent of Atom," he added.

But tighter consumer budgets worldwide could push more people toward Netbooks. A Gartner report came out Tuesday that said third-quarter PC shipment growth was driven by sales of sub-$500 notebooks. Netbooks typically sell for less than $500.

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Share Button Party Blogger

Actually, the following buttons and banners Blogger Party 2008 and a banner in the party Photo Contest Blogger. Ever Blogger Party Photos Contestnya there. Yes folks, waiting pengumumannya of tomorrow. Welcome their party Blogger button.
I going to Blogger Party

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AMD Releases Its New Graphics Card

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Inc has launched its new ATI Radeon HD 4550 and ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics cards in market. The firm source revealed that both cards are based on the technology found in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series. The new launch cards support the latest DirectX 10.1 version for video games and superior HD multimedia capabilities.

Established in the year 1969, the $6 billion company AMD is headquartered at California. ATI Radeon HD 4550 and ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics cards expectedly would complete with its new Radeon HD 4000 series lineup. The new graphic cards have been launched targeting the customers who play video games and are expecting for a new Home Theater PC system.

Accordingly, the firm has priced the ATI Radeon HD 4550 at $39. However, the price will differ according to the memory of the card, e.g. 256 MB or 512 MB. Both the cards, i.e. the 4550 and 4350 are carrying 80 stream processors. With latest graphic cards, AMD is hopeful that Nvidia customers would start adding new and more features within a low-cost budget graphics card.

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Blogger Party Photo Contest

Blogger Party 2008 more closely, and as one of the activities welcoming the arena of national bloggers, photo contest will be held by the national scale, the party called Blogger Photo Contest. Photography contest is open to the public with no age category and does not limit the ability of photography participants. Amateur, professional or children advance it. And is open to U.S. citizens and foreign residents who live in Indonesia over the letter has permission set.
Besides, there is no limit on the type of camera. Pocket, and semi-pro DSLR are welcome, along taken in digital format

Blogger Party in 2008 due to the theme of 'blogging FOR SOCIETY' which showed the role of the Blogger of the surrounding community. It means the object and the image should reflect one of the criteria below:

1. Solidarity between the people and the social function
2. Solidarity and friendship between people, and people with the natural surroundings.
3. Activities such as humanitarian volunteers, the improvement of the environment or the activities of mutual cooperation.
4. Education can also include the training of the blogging community
5. Human interaction and relationships with technology and computers
6. Relations and the role of the family.
7. Activities that bergubungan with a sense of nationality and nationalism
8. Human interest

With the theme of "Blogging for Society", we hope that there are notes or record the image that shows a sense of concern, faithful flock, the optimism of life, the spirit of mutual cooperation, education, welfare and nationality.

More photos of the image that will be collected to determine the best photo images, other than compete prize from the sponsors, also in the exhibition to display the image at the top of Blogger Party 2008 event in Jakarta. This activity will trigger the growth of photo blog on the world blogsphere, as the alternative pewartaan idea - visually - to the community.

Thanks to the jury, which has given a commitment to help organize this photo contest. Deniek Sukarya, Jerry Aurum, Arbain Rambay, Oscar Motuloh and Dibyo Gahari. Ipul not forget Anwar on the hard work - Roro Jonggrang - to build a beautiful web design. Of course, we also appreciate Iqbal Prakasa and Antobilang about the help function as admin.

For all the information, instruction and ways of transmission photo can be read on the web Party official Blogger Photo Contest.
Welcome race!

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Required: Documentation Community Blogger

Blogger Party in 2008 have been increasingly close, but of course this event will not be flamboyant and exciting, if without support from friends in the community bloggers all over the country. So for this community some bloggers have kepeduliannya the surrounding environment with social activities or any other activities for the benefit of the public.

Consistent with the theme of the 2008 rally Blogger "Blogging for Society" of course, this also shows that bloggers have the commitment and enthusiasm to participate and to contribute directly to the community through the activities of real or through the media blog.

So to you who join the community in one of the bloggers from all over Indonesia and have documentation of the activities that you never do, go ahead send photos, video or other media in the form of a CD and send it to:

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Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty

Blog Action Day 2008 is today, 15 October 2008!

Blog Action Day in 2008, chose this issue in the campaign POVERTY, is an event / global campaign that tries to unify blogger, podcaster, to videocaster warned on the same day is today.

The aim is to increase awareness of the issues selected and trigger the occurrence of a global discussion.

Do not missed the opportunity to participate in this global action. Register now-you blog and get involved in this campaign, see what you can do, even if you only own.
The same, concrete action by the bloggers and other online activists, in the scope of smaller, namely Indonesia also we can do.

Platform and is already forumnya: Blogger Party 2008, how the forum later we also made our brainstorm session with trying mengkristalkan important issues that we can tackle together as a blogger and provide a significant contribution to the public, Thus, blogging for the society.

Save and note ideas that I have with each other in the head all the friends, discussed with friends in the community and we will be together, online and offline in the Blogger Party.

Or write a comment on this post can also. Want?

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Blog party

Today is Wednesday, October 22, 2008, arena party official declared Bloggers in 2008 to the public through a press conference held in Gd. BIP - Depkominfo RI at 2 in the afternoon, which was attended by around 44 journalists from 39 media print, online, TV, and radio.

In front of the media, as Abrams Blogger Party Chairman explained that in 2008 about the format of Blogger Party 2008 "Blogging for Society" which planned to be held on Saturday, November 22, 2008, at BPPT Building II, Level 3, Jl. MH Thamrin no. 8, Jakarta (opposite Hotel Sari Pan Pacific).

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Intel's Nehalem now officially Core i7

Intel's Nehalem now officially Core i7
Intel on Sunday quickly confirmed recent leaks with official word that its next-generation Nehalem processor architecture will be named Core i7. The move continues the Core name despite a major platform change and signals the new line's status as Intel's seventh major architecture since it began with the 8086 decades earlier. The highest-performing versions of the processor line will still add the Extreme Edition badge to reflect their extra features, which often include a speed multiplier unlock friendly to overclockers.

The first chips to bear the Core i7 name will be mainstream desktop parts meant for gamers and conventional systems; Intel doesn't allude to the expected 3.2GHz speed but has previously confirmed the new architecture's switch from a front side system bus to point-to-point connections between the processor and peripherals, an on-die memory controller, and Hyperthreading that can at times double the number of effective cores working on a given task at any one time.

Intel ships its first desktop Core i7 processors in the fall and will follow up with mobile equivalents in early 2009; workstation chips are expected to continue using the Xeon name.

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