TechEye |  |
- PCs are back from the dead
- Egyptian blogger gets 15 years in clink
- AMD is split in two
- Facebook allows users to skip targeted adverts
- Intel finally loses battle to avoid AMD fine
| Posted: 13 Jun 2014 01:46 AM PDT It seems that PC sales are starting to increase and Intel has raised its outlook for the second quarter and the full year. Shares of Intel jumped more than four percent in extended trade as the chipmaker's improved forecast lifted hopes for a PC industry that been shrinking due to consumers' preferences for tablets and smartphones. Now Intel is expecting a second-quarter revenue of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Intel had previously forecast revenue of $13 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Previously Chipzilla had said that it would not get much dosh in the full year thanks to flat PC sales. Now it is saying that it expects "some" revenue growth for the full year. The Santa Clara, California company also raised the mid-point of its gross margin forecast range for the second quarter, which ends at the end of June, by one point to 64 percent. PC shipments have been falling for eight straight quarters through March, Intel's announcement means that the industry's decline has hit bottom, potentially giving Intel breathing room as it struggles to develop better processors for mobile and wearable devices. It is not clear what pulled PCs out of the doledrums. It is no doubt due to Microsoft's winding down of support in April for its Windows XP operating system. Corporations have duties to ensure their machines aren't vulnerable. But their machines are vulnerable to monopolies like Microsoft and Intel. Intel is expected to report its second-quarter results on July 15. |
| Egyptian blogger gets 15 years in clink Posted: 13 Jun 2014 01:44 AM PDT A prominent blogger, who was a key figure in Egypt's 2011 uprising has been sentenced to 15 years jail for organising a demonstration online. Alaa Abdel-Fatah has the honour of being arrested by each of Egypt's five leaders since Mubarak. He was one of the activists most associated with the 2011 uprising that briefly ended 60 years of autocratic rule, and was sentenced to 15 years in jail for allegedly organising a protest. According to Abdel-Fatah's sister, Mona Seif, also a prominent campaigner, he and another activist were sentenced in absentia after being barred from entering the courtroom then arrested and taken to prison by some of the officials who had earlier blocked his entrance. Seif wrote on Facebook that Abdel-Fatah was "waiting for the judge to give permission to the guards to allow them to enter the venue to attend their session, but instead someone from the prosecution went out and arrested them". The weird thing was that Abdel-Fatah had no role in the protest against military trials that he is accused of organising. It just seems that the military wanted him locked up. In April more than 20 policemen raided Abd El-Fattah's home, broke the door down, and proceeded to confiscate the family's computers and mobile phones. When Alaa asked to see the arrest warrant, the police beat him and his wife up. In prison there are several well-known revolutionary leaders including Mahienour el-Masry, who led protests against police violence in 2010 that set the stage for the 2011 uprising and Ahmed Maher, the co-founder of the 6 April youth movement who also inspired anti-Mubarak demonstrations Abd El Fattah was jailed under Mubarak, the military junta that succeeded him, and Adly Mansour, the interim president installed after the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi last summer. Under Morsi, Abd El Fattah escaped prison, but was placed under investigation. |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2014 01:42 AM PDT Designer of chips, AMD, has split itself into two groups and promoted two executives for the next phase of its cunning plan to make some cash. The company has struggled financially in recent years, with a loss in the most recent quarter after two consecutive quarters of modest profits. Under the restructuring, Lisa Su is being promoted to chief operating officer and is now seen as a number two to CEO Rory Read. She will head up the Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom Business Group. Su is currently senior vice president and general manager of global business units and will take on her new role July 1. Meanwhile the other division will be ruled by Scotsman John Byrne who has been named senior vice president and general manager of the new Computing and Graphics Business Group, which includes PC and tablet chips and graphics products. Byrne is currently AMD's chief sales officer. Restructurings are fairly dull but this one reduces focus on what is left of AMD's foundry operations. After selling its foundry operations to GlobalFoundries in 2009, AMD hired a team to fix the manufacturing problems. However AMD has claimed its manufacturing issued are a thing of the past and in April signed a new wafer-supply agreement with GlobalFoundries. Like many restructurings it is impossible to tell at this point if it has just meant that two senior executives have been given more power to allow the CEO to become a more distant figure and give him or her more time for golf. There have been no mention of redundancies or much in the way of mooted change. |
| Facebook allows users to skip targeted adverts Posted: 13 Jun 2014 01:40 AM PDT Social notworking site, Facebook, will allow users who are annoyed by the targeted ads that pop up in their News Feed to opt out of them. Facebook collects all kinds of information on its users and uses that information to serve up targeted ads and this worries people who find it a bit creepy to have a social network tracking their activity and then using that data to sell them products. Yesterday, Facebook announced that users will soon be able to opt out of that targeted ad system through controls in their Web browser and iOS and Android phones. Facebook will also show users what information they have collected about them and let them edit the kinds of ads they want to see. If someone is confused about why they are seeing an ad for P.F. Chang's, for example, they can simply click on "Why am I seeing this ad?" From there, they can see why they are seeing that particular advertisement and remove entire ad categories, like restaurants, from showing up in their News Feed. There is a catch, of course. The plan means that Facebook is expanding beyond its own social network to collect "information from some of the websites and apps you use". Google and many other companies do the same thing and opting out of the targeted ad system does not mean a user will see less ads, just that the ads will not be targeted. Facebook wants to boost its ad revenue by having fewer, but bigger ads on its website. |
| Intel finally loses battle to avoid AMD fine Posted: 13 Jun 2014 01:39 AM PDT Fashion bag maker Intel has finally lost its attempts to get its money back from a European antitrust case. Intel has never given up its attempts to challenge a record $1.43 billion fine that it was handed in 2009 for anticompetitive behaviour in Europe. Chipzilla paid the fine after it was levied by the European Commission five years ago, but it's been challenging it since on the grounds that it was too strong a punishment. Now Europe's second highest court disagreed, saying that Intel was lucky to get off so lightly, particularly in light of Intel taking advantage of its dominant position in the market. The Commission previously found that Intel had violated the EU's Antitrust Regulation by granting rebates to companies, including Dell, HP, and Lenovo, for acquiring all or nearly all of their chips from Intel. Intel also tried to halt competitor AMD from gaining ground by paying HP, Lenovo, and Acer to slow or stop the launch of products using AMD chips. In a statement, the European Commission said it was pleased with the court's ruling, calling the judgment significant because it justifies its strong pursuit against Intel's anticompetitive practices. Chipzilla is not quite so pleased and has hinted that it might even appeal. It said it would study the decision, evaluate our options and decide what to do next. It has 70 days to decide if it will have another crack at it. Goodness knows what will happen if Intel managed to win. AMD has already spent the money on saving its bottom line and would be in deep doo-doo if it had to pay anything back. Fortunately for AMD this court ruling makes that incredibly unlikely. |
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