Intel on Friday shook up its executive structure at both technical and formal levels. To reward Dadi Perlmutter's responsibility for the chip architecture group, he would be promoted to the spot of chief product officer to take up responsibilities given by newly full-time executive chairman Andy Bryant. He would still head up architecture, but would take on a wider responsibility.
We've had the opportunity to try Acer's Aspire S5, and we've come back pleasantly surprised so far. The magnesium and metal chassis, which is matte, feels good to the touch, is thin and light, and isn't cutting corners like some others. More importantly, the keyboard and trackpad are genuinely nice to use; it doesn't have the full suite of multi-touch gestures, but it's generally responsive, supports two-finger scrolling, and isn't too hard to properly right-click with the invisible buttons.
The UK's Packard Bell this week unveiled a redesigned oneTwo all-in-one desktop. It's now 65 percent thinner than its predecessor, though the numbers aren't available. It will be available in 21.5- and 23-inch screen sizes, both with a 1080p resolution and touch input.
Toshiba announced it will bring the DX735 All-in-One desktop computer to the US market. Like its smaller sibling the DX1215, the DX735 is intended for use as a media hub. The DX735 is built around a 23-inch backlit LED touchscreen capable of displaying full 1080p HD. A glossy black bezel frames the display. Onkyo speakers tuned by MaxxAudio 3 provide premium sound.
Custom gaming PC maker CyberPower is now letting customers Intel's build products powered by Intel's newly announced Z68 chipset. The chipset supports Intel's second-generation Core (Sandy Bridge) chips and uses new GPU virtualization technology. It also allows for SSD caching to speed up access to files on the hard drive.
Intel gave word on Wednesday that its upcoming Ivy Bridge processor design would be the first in the world to use new, ultra-dense 3D transistors. Nicknamed Tri-Gate, the designs would change the gates into 3D "fins" that regulate the current on all three sides, not just one. The design gets as much as 37 percent faster performance on a 22 nanometer chip at the same power or could chew just half the power at the same performance as a current-day, 32 nanometer chip.
Intel tried unsuccessfully to grab one of the cornerstone executives of HP's computer business, sources said early Monday. The chip designer had reportedly been looking to get Todd Bradley, HP's Executive VP for the Personal Systems Group that covers the PC business, for a "senior position" at Intel. The WSJ hadn't learned what that position was but understood Bradley had turned it down earlier in March.
A sharp-eyed customer as spotted several Gatewaydesktops with Intel's next-generation Core 2011 processors at a Future Shop in Vancouver. The desktops were equipped with Core i7 2600 and Core i5 2300 processors respectively, two of the 29 new desktop and mobile CPUs in the Sandy Bridge lineup. Several manufacturers were known to be shipping notebooks with the new processors, but this is the first sighting of Core 2011 desktops.
Microsoft tonight launched the public version of Silverlight 3, its animation and video plugin for the web. The rival to Flash is the company's first to use hardware graphics acceleration both for 3D and for offloading the work of decoding video from the main processor. Regardless of graphics power, the update is also the first to promise a near-seamless HD video experience: a "smooth streaming" technique that automatically lowers the bitrate to start playback immediately and quickly brings it back up to provide the maximum quality the connection allows.
Intel today said that company board chairman and former leader Craig Barrett will retire from the chipmaking firm at the company's next yearly shareholders meeting in May. The executive doesn't provide a reason for the exit but has been at Intel for about 35 years and was its chief executive between 1998 and 2005, guiding the company through the Pentium III and IV eras as well as its first mobile-specific processor, the Pentium M.
