4th August 2006 Archive

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World chip sales slip

June revenues down despite higher shipments

In the first half of 2006, some $118bn worth of semiconductors were sold. In H1 2005, the figure was $109bn, yielding a year-on-year increase of 8.3 per cent. The slight dips in revenues come despite a five per cent increase in unit shipments quarter on quarter, the SIA said. It's not hard to see the problem: price …

Bits 'n' Chips 4 Aug 2006, 08:49
Apple to bring Core 2 Duo to MacBook Pro this month?

Next-gen dual-core mobile processor comin

Expect Apple to upgrade its MacBook Pro to include Intel's mobile Core 2 Duo microprocessor - better known by its codename, 'Merom' - at the end of the month or early September, Mac buyers have been told. The claim comes from AppleInsider, which cites a source familiar with Apple's product plans. Said mole claimed Apple …

Mac 4 Aug 2006, 09:10
Apple may need to restate last 15 quarters

Stock options probe 'likely' to warrant restatements

Apple is "likely" to restate its financial results from 29 September 2002 onwards following the discovery of further evidence of "irregularities" concerning stock options granted between 1997 and 2001, the company warned yesterday. The Mac maker announced in June that it was commencing a third-party led independent …

Mac 4 Aug 2006, 09:44
HTC's 'Muse' music phone played out?

Rumours of death

HTC has knocked its 3G music phone, codenamed 'Muse', on the head, it has been alleged. The handset first surfaced in November 2005 as an HSDPA-equipped device with 4GB of built-in Flash memory for music storage. Well, if the "whisper of information from an insider" heard by PocketPC Thoughts this week is anything more than a …

Phones 4 Aug 2006, 09:49
Kinpo preps second-gen iDo smart phones

Eastern promise

Taiwanese gadget maker Kinpo launched its iDo smart-phone brand in July 2005 and is preparing a trio of new devices to supersede its launch product, the S600. One, dubbed Saturn, features a landscape-oriented QWERTY keyboard not unlike the one on the T-Mobile Sidekick III or the HTC TyTN. Saturn - aka the SP90 - incorporates …

Phones 4 Aug 2006, 10:30
Creative draws bead on iPod Nano with second-gen Neeon

Bigger screen, more capacity... er... shorter battery life

MP3 player maker Creative this week upgraded its Zen Neeon line of Flash-based digital music players with a second-generation product that sports a bigger display and more storage capacity but at the cost of a shorter battery life. The Neeon 2 has a 1.5in colour screen in place of the original's four-line, 128 x 64, two- …

Media players 4 Aug 2006, 11:12
Acer Ferrari 5000 dual-core AMD laptop

Review No driving licence needed, but only Tifosi need apply...

Acer's Ferrari-branded notebooks have always favoured AMD-made engines, and the very latest model, the 5000, features the latest Turion 64 X2 twin-core processor. This fifth-generation Ferrari laptop brings yet more features, as well as higher performance, but like the titular sportscars, you'll need quite deep pockets to be …

PCs 4 Aug 2006, 12:17
Orange SPV M31000 pops up on carrier's UK site

The M3000's successor is official

Orange's upcoming 3G, QWERTY-keyboard equipped smart phone, the SPV M31000, has appeared on the carrier's UK website, something its predecessor, the M3000, never managed. The new model is listed as 'coming soon', but alas there's no pricing information yet. Like the M3000, the M3100 comes from HTC's stable - it's also known …

Phones 4 Aug 2006, 14:21