Archive for January, 2010
AMD Posts First Profit in Three Years
The year 2009 was a busy but good one for AMD. The company won a huge victory when the European Antitrust Commission found Intel guilty of anticompetitive practices and fined the company $1.45 billion. Though AMD didn’t received a share of the fine, the case laid the foundations for a similar case in the United States. The FTC is still investigating Intel, but late last year, the company settled with AMD, resolving all legal disputes. The settlement saw Intel hand over $1.25 billion in damages and it was that money that helped AMD post its first profit in three years.
AMD yesterday posted a Q4 revenue of $1.65 billion, an increase of 18 percent compared to the previous quarter and 42 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Net income attributable to AMD common stockholders was $1.178 billion, or $1.52 per share. AMD reported an operating income of $1.288 billion.
Company Set to Launch MP3 Successor
MusicDNA is set to bring magic back to music.
Reuters is reporting that BACH Technology is working on the successor to the current MP3 format. Called MusicDNA, the digital music technology will feature additional content including lyrics, news updates, and images. The new format, which could help convince consumers to purchase music rather than leech torrent files, already received an official blessing from the original MP3 creator.
According to the report, MusicDNA is based on the MP3 format: consumers simply download the song to the PC and will receive the bonus content. While that may sound appealing, there’s a catch: music labels, bands or retail outlets can send updates to the music you have purchased and downloaded. This may be some type of DRM hidden behind new interviews, social network updates, or other news content.
But despite the added content, the songs will still play on any MP3 player, including Apple’s iPhone and iPod products. “What we are bringing back to the end user is the entire emotional experience of music,” Chief Executive Stefan Kohlmeyer told Reuters. “We think it got lost in the transition to the digital era. We think a beautiful piece of audio has been reduced to a number code. We want to enrich it again.”
Kohlmeyer said that a beta version of the new MusicDNA format will be available this Spring, with an expected commercial rollout by the end of the summer. BACH Technology is currently in talks with major record labels, and has already signed on partners across the globe.
Movie Avatar Viewers Going Into Pandora Withdrawl
Have you seen Avatar yet? It’s a remarkable piece of filmmaking and is quickly making James Cameron’s already sagging award shelf sag even further after the Golden Globes last weekend.
For several viewers, however, it seems that Avatar presented more than an excellent example of modern 3D filmmaking – it was a whole new world altogether and one that is being sorely missed when away from the silver screen.
This CNN story describes how some people have been going through depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing – and then leaving – the alien world of Pandora.
Fans posting on fan forum site Avatar Forums in a thread called “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” where users share their stories.
“That’s all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about ‘Avatar.’ I guess that helps. It’s so hard I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na’vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie,” a user named Elequin posted.
Another user offered the following advice: “Start living like Neytiri: in touch with nature, the environment, and not being greedy and wasteful. Pass on the burger, for something more healthy for you and less cruel to animals. Spend your time on this forum, or volunteering in your free time, instead of getting high or drinking, twiddling your thumbs, being apathetic and complaining about how bad the world is.”
Katrina Kaif signed opposite Akshay Kumar for Tees Maar Khan
he news that has been doing the rounds for sometime now is about the search for the heroine of Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder’s flick Tees Maar Khan. The film has been in news since its announcement. First it was Akshay replacing SRK as the lead, followed by the ‘namesake’ casting coup, wherein Akshaye Khanna was roped in for the film.
As far as the heroine for the film was concerned, the rumor mills went overboard with names that ranged from Sonam Kapoor to Deepika Padukone and likes. But, according to Bollywood Hungama‘s confirmed sources it is neither Sonam, nor Deepika, because it is Katrina Kaif! When we spoke to Shirish to confirm the news, all that he said was, “I cannot say anything right now. I can only speak about it in a couple of days.” Our source also went onto add that the trio of Akshay, Katrina and Farah have shot a cover page shoot for a daily (which is supposed to be out in a couple of days) to announce the coming on board of Katrina as Tees Maar Khan‘s leading lady.
With Katrina coming on board, expectations are bound to be sky-high about Tees Maar Khan, considering the hit track record that Akki-Katz have delivered in the past, like Namastey London, Welcome and Singh Is Kinng to name a few. What remains to be seen is that will Tees Maar Khan follow suit or will it create a new track record?
HP to Launch Laptops With Integrated Projectors
Rumor has it mini projectors will soon show up in HP notebooks.
Digitimes cites Monty Wong, vice president and manager of personal computing systems group at HP Taiwan, who says the company has plans to launch both tablets and notebooks PCs with integrated mini projectors.
Miniature projectors placed prominently at CES in 2009 and in 2010 and it seems HP has finally figured out a way to market them to consumers. HP is said to be considering placing the projector on top of the notebook screen, where the webcam is normally located. While integrating a mini projector into a notebook might seem like the perfect way to sneak them into consumer’s homes, Wong said the company first plans to launch several stand-alone mini-projector products as an introduction to the notebook-integrated designs.
According to Digitimes, the projector notebooks will be produced mainly by Quanta Computer.