It's all in your Imagination; Apple is not on an expensive shopping trip
Subject: General Tech | March 22, 2016 - 02:39 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: apple, Imagination Technologies, rumours
Various sites have been abuzz this morning with rumours of Apple seeking to acquire the manufacturer of the PowerVR graphics chips they utilize, Imagination Technologies. Apple has now flatly denied this rumour; which means simply that they have denied that they are making an offer at this time. That makes sense regardless of the truth of the rumour, driving up the stock price makes the acquisition more expensive for Apple so a public denial makes financial sense whether they do plan to buy the company in the future.
It does make some sense to own your hardware provider and their patents, but it is not as advantageous as it once was. Many companies have found outsourcing their manufacturing to make more sense financially, preferring to buy out competitors to gain market share and patents instead. We will keep an eye out for any new developments but it does not seem likely that we will see a deal go through in the near future.
"From time to time, Apple talks with companies about potential acquisitions. We had some discussions with Imagination, but we do not plan to make an offer for the company at this time."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Andy Grove has passed on @ Intel
- TSMC likely to raise 2016 capex @ DigiTimes
- How To Test Solid State Drive Health with GNOME Disks @ Linux.com
- iOS 9.3 now available for iPhones and iPads with CarPlay and Night Shift updates @ The Inquirer
- iOS flaw exploited to decrypt iMessages, access iThing photos @ The Register
- Google slings critical patch at exploited Linux kernel root hole @ The Register
- Intel in 3D and virtual reality dash @ The Register
- OLEDs benefit from organic electron injection material @ Nanotechweb
- Smanos W020i WiFi Alarm System Review @ NikKTech
- 5 Wide and Tall Monitors with Hacked Bezels for Wall of Awesome @ Hack a Day
- Wine Makes It Possible To Run Vulkan Windows Programs On Linux @ Slashdot
- AIDA64 v5.70 released
Apollo Lake is coming next summer
Subject: General Tech | December 1, 2015 - 04:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Intel, apollo lake, 14nm, rumours
DigiTimes has heard rumours that Intel will be refreshing their processor lineup with Apollo Lake processors in June and August 2016, with devices powered by the new processors in October. This is rather good news considering how slowly new PC sales have been growing over the past year, it is nice to see that we will still have some new CPUs in the coming year. Details are rather scarce, the 14nm chips will come in dual and quad-core options and use the new Gen9 GPU which will support Ultra HD output. You can expect 6-10W TDP, these are very much mobile oriented chips.
"Seeing the trend, Intel is scheduled to mass produce its next-generation Apollo Lake-based processors in June-August 2016 with related entry-level PC products becoming available in the market in October 2016, according to sources from the upstream supply chain."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- After Twenty Years of Flash, Adobe Kills the Name @ Slashdot
- A Look At NVIDIA’s Standalone Iray Plugins & Iray Server @ Techgage
- Windows 10: Enterprise adoption rate seems a bit optimistic @ The Inquirer
- Belkin's N150 router is perfect for learning hacking skills – wait, what, it's in production? @ The Register
- VPN users menaced by port forwarding blunder @ The Register
- Microsoft takes PUPs behind the shed with gun in hand @ The Register
- TP-LINK Touch P5 AC1900 Wi-Fi Gigabit Router Review @ Madshrimps
- AK RACING Nitro Gaming Chair Review @ NikKTech
- Tech ARP Elephone Q Smartphone Giveaway
ECS getting out of the retail motherboard business?
Subject: General Tech | June 24, 2015 - 01:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ECS, motherboards, rumours
According to rumours DigiTimes has heard, ECS motherboards may no longer be sold by themselves and will only be found in OEM builds. With the slowdown in the DIY PC market, arguably caused in part by a lack of reasons to completely upgrade gaming systems, ECS may be withdrawing from the market. This bears to reason as their motherboard families have been much smaller than the competitions for a while now and you do not see much marketing for them on sites recently. It is always sad to see the marketplace shrink, hopefully this will give them the ability to focus more on their tablets and laptops and make those products more competitive; though that market is even tougher to succeed at than the motherboard business.
"Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has announced that it will no longer actively market own-brand DIY motherboards but will undertake ODM/OEM production if clients have demand, and this is the equivalent of a gradual withdrawal from the global own-brand DIY motherboard market, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Gigabyte Worldwide VP Henry Kao @ Kitguru
- Windows 10: Microsoft to enter 21st century with distribution via USB drive @ The Inquirer
- Car Hacking is 'Distressingly Easy' @ Slashdot
- Hackers exploit fresh PC hijack bug in Adobe Flash Player, the internet's screen door @ The Register
- Give us your software BlackBerry, we love it. The phones? Meh @ The Register
- The Tech ARP + Western Digital My Passport Wireless Contest
Another juicy rumour; Lenovo wants MSI's gaming laptops?
Subject: General Tech | May 15, 2015 - 01:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: rumours, msi, Lenovo
When you think of Lenovo laptops you tend to think of suits and office suites, not Cheetos and Red Bull but DigiTimes has heard tell that this could possibly change. With Acer, Asustek's ROG and Dell's Alienware lineups all seeing decent profits from the niche market of high end gaming laptops the rumour is that Lenovo would like in on some of that filthy lucre. DigiTimes' source posits that MSI's gaming laptop subdivision would be the obvious target for Lenovo. It is possible that this is all hot air but Lenovo is a huge company and could easily afford to buy a division of a competitor, if they were willing to sell.
"Micro-Star International (MSI) has been successful in selling gaming notebooks and Lenovo is interested in acquiring MSI's gaming notebook business unit, according to sources from supply chain makers. However, MSI has denied the reports."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Elementary OS Freya: Is This The Next Big Linux Distro? @ Linux.com
- The Internet of Things: a jumbled mess or a jumbled mess? @ The Register
- Candy Crush Saga preloaded on Windows 10 is the key to enterprise sales @ The Inquirer
- Hackaday Prize Entry: A $100 CT Scanner @ Hack a Day
- You cannot be cirrus: 51 percent of Americans think storms bork cloud computing @ The Inquirer
Godavari rumours abound
Subject: General Tech | April 27, 2015 - 01:04 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Summit Ridge, rumours, Godavari, Bristol Ridge, amd
This morning DigiTimes is reporting on a unconfirmed rumour that AMD's new APU, Godavari, will be arriving towards the end of May of this year. This goes along with the leak that WCCFtech reported on this weekend, they have information that the chip will be a Kaveri design with up to four Steamroller cores, a GCN 1.1 base GPU with up to 512 stream processors and a dual-channel DDR3 memory in an FM2+ socket. If their information is accurate you can expect to see models with 65W or 95W TDPs and boost clocks in the 4GHz range depending on the model. Also worth noting is the rumour that AMD has placed orders with ASMedia Technology for USB 3.1 controller ICs for release in September.
"AMD will launch Godavari series APUs at the end of May to compete with Intel's Broadwell and Skylake platforms, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Apple Watch RIPPED APART, its GUTS EXPOSED to hungry Vultures @ The Register
- Debian 8.0 'Jessie' arrives following Ubuntu 15.04 release @ The Inquirer
- SoftMaker eyes Microsoft with free office suite for Android tablets @ The Inquirer
- Grooveshark faces $750 MEELLION piracy payout @ The Register
- Tech ARP 2015 Mega Giveaway
It's Friday, lets speculate about the Galaxy S6
Subject: General Tech | February 20, 2015 - 12:40 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Samsung, galaxy s6, rumours
Gizmodo was kind enough to gather all the rumours and speculation about Samsung's unreleased phone into one article. We do know that Samsung has trademarked both Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, with the Edge expected to be a smaller Note 4 Edge perhaps with curves on both sides. For the interface they are expect to run their Touchwiz interface on top of Android Lollipop 5.0.2, with changes to the interface to make it much more like vanilla Android which will be very welcome if true. There is not a huge amount of information on the internals but what there is can be found in this rumour roundup.
"There are smartphones, and then there are smartphones. Phones that you pay attention to. Phones that are like whoa. The iPhone is one. Maybe the new Nexus. The Galaxy S3 was one. The S4 and the S5? Not so much. But the S6 looks poised to make a splash again. The S6 is looking serious."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Superfish: Lenovo ditches adware, but that doesn't fix SSL megavuln – researcher @ The Register
- IBM launches big data flash software-defined storage systems @ The Inquirer
- 3D TLC VIMMs could play Violin's music @ The Register
- SIM card security scare: Gemalto is investigating UK and US hack allegations @ The Inquirer
- Fixing Sega Cartridges With Old BIOS Chips @ Hack a Day
VIA is not dead yet; maybe?
Subject: General Tech | February 20, 2014 - 01:36 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: VIA, rumours
VIA, that once famous company which has petered out in the North American market is back in the news. According to DigiTimes they recently joined forces with a firm owned by the Chinese government and is now moving production over to new facilities. VIA has only 20% of this new joint venture which could signal the final end to their existence as a producer of x86 processors. The move could be influenced by Intel, who license both the PCIe and x86 technology to VIA but this is deemed unlikely as Intel would like to stay on the Chinese governments good side. The current Nano and V7 are Vista capable and appear in mobile devices in the AP region.
"VIA Technologies is rumored to have started shifting its x86 CPU technologies and related personnel to its newly formed IC design joint venture with a China government-owned investment firm, according to market watchers, adding that VIA recently notified clients that it will stop supplying x86 processors temporarily."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- SkyDrive is dead! All hail Microsoft OneDrive! Happy now, Uncle Rupe? @ The Register
- Microsoft cries out to UK government against open source @ The Inquirer
- Cisco's the new Tivo, pumps out 'DVR in the cloud' offering @ The Register