INTEL KILLS MEEGO, SWITCHES TO TIZAN

Intel announced on Wednesday that it will be shifting its efforts from MeeGo to the new “Tizen” mobile operating system recently announced by The Linux Foundation. The move is in line with reports from early September that suggested Intel would move on due to a lack of consumer enthusiasm surrounding the OS. Nokia launched the MeeGo-powered N9 this month but also announced in June that it was ditching the platform in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. “We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5,” Intel said in a blog post, explaining why it did not decide to evolve MeeGo. “Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been.” Intel also noted Tizen will support smartphones, tablets, netbooks, smart TVs and in-vehicle systems.

FUTURE ANDROID BUILDS TO SUPPORT INTEL PROCESSORS

During the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco on Tuesday, Google’s Android head Andy Rubin took the stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini and announced that future versions of Google’s Android operating system will be optimized to support Intel’s Atom processors. Intel has been glaringly absent from the smartphone space, which has been dominated by NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. “By optimizing the Android platform for Intel architecture, we bring a powerful new capability to market that will accelerate more industry adoption and choice, and bring exciting new products to market that harness the combined potential of Intel technology and the Android platform,” said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. “Combining Android with Intel’s low power smartphone roadmap opens up more opportunity for innovation and choice,” said Andy Rubin.

RUMOR: INTEL BAILING ON MEEGO

Intel plans to discontinue development of its MeeGo operating system for the time being due to a lack of enthusiasm for the platform, DigiTimes reported on Friday. Citing multiple anonymous industry sources, the report claims Intel will instead focus on “handset platforms to be paired with either Android or Windows Phone in 2012.” Nokia had initially been Intel’s premier partner on the MeeGo platform, but the company recently announced that it was dumping MeeGo in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. Nokia did unveil one MeeGo-powered phone this past June, the Nokia N9, but the Finnish vendor simultaneously confirmed that the N9 would be the first and only MeeGo smartphone Nokia produces.

In response to DigiTimes’ claims, Intel commented that it “remains committed to MeeGo and will continue to work with the community to develop and help meet the needs of customers and end users with open source.”

EXPLOSION AT INTEL ARIZONA PLANT INJURES SEVEN

Yesterday afternoon, a blast occurred at Intel's Arizona plant just outside Phoenix, injuring seven people with one suffering from severe burns. According to Phoenix Business Journal, the incident took place in a solvent waste treatment room at Fab 22 -- not far from Fab 32 which will be manufacturing 22nm chips -- but Intel Vice President Josh Walden assured us that "there was no damage or release of chemicals to the community," and production has already resumed in both facilities. The company is currently looking into the possible causes of this accident

INTEL POWERED SMARTPHONES COMING NEXT YEAR

According to Reuters, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini confirmed that smartphones powered by Intel’s Medfield mobile processor would land next year. Otellini also denied earlier rumors that Intel might include ARM technology in future chips. “There’s no advantage going in there, we’d be beholden to someone else, beholden to ARM. We’d pay royalties to them so it would lower the overall profits,” Otellini explained during Intel’s annual investor meeting in California.

Intel’s Atom processors have been used in tablets and netbooks, but the firm has been noticeably absent in the smartphone market, which has been dominated by ARM, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Samsung. “With Medfield we’re in the power envelope for phones … We’re working with several customers and we start to expect to see the revenue ramp toward the end of this year,” Intel’s CFO Stacy Smith said

APPLE UNVEILS NEW iMACS

Apple has updated its all-in-one desktop computer line, the iMac, with Intel’s latest processor family, Sandy Bridge, and improved specifications. Available in both 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, the new iMac can be configured with quad-core Sandy Bridge processors starting at 2.5 GHz and will come standard with AMD Radeon HD graphics cards, 4GB of RAM, and a 500MB or 1TB hard drive.

The computers will also include Apple’s new Thunderbolt I/O port for high-speed data transfers. “Starting at $1,199, the new iMac is up to 70 percent faster and new graphics deliver up to three times the performance of the previous generation,” reads the press release. “The iMac continues to feature its signature aluminum and glass design, gorgeous IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, SD card slot and comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.”

RUMOR: SANDY BRIDGE COMING TO iMACS NEXT WEEK

Apple as early as next week will deliver a much-needed refresh to its iMac line of all-in-one desktops, adopting Intel's newest family of Core processors and the latest in personal computing I/O technology, AppleInsider has learned.

More specifically, people familiar with the matter say Apple plans to introduce the new models on Tuesday, May 3, swapping out the systems' first-gen Core i processors and miniDisplay ports for second-generation Core i chips and the company's new high-speed Thunderbolt port. However, rumors that 2011 would see changes to the iMacs' display panel size and the inclusion of 6000-series AMD Radeon HD chips, could not be confirmed with any degree of certainty.

In the days leading up to major product launches, Apple routinely makes certain requests of its various operating segments to assure the rollout goes as smoothly as possible. This week saw several of those measures put into place, according to those same people, who've continually provided accurate information when it comes the Mac maker's future plans.

In addition, people familiar with the Cupertino-based company's retail operations confirmed to AppleInsider that a "visual night" is similarly slated for the early morning hours of May 3rd. "So it is highly likely that whatever new product that is going to be refreshed or introduced will be done on [that day]," one of those people said.

These visual nights see several Apple retail employees in each location work throughout the evening and early a.m. hours, making significant modifications to the product layouts on the showroom floors, often removing previous generation products in favor of newly introduced models.

For Apple, next week's launch will mark the first time the company has refreshed its flagship desktop line in over 9 months. It also comes at a crucial time for the iMac -- and Mac desktops in general -- which are rapidly approaching an all-time low when it comes to their share of the Mac's product mix.

As Apple slowly transitions into a full-fledge mobile company, desktops have seen their share of Mac shipments slip into a slow but inevitable decline, falling from more than 50% of the company's Mac product shipments in the first quarter of 2006 to just 26% of the total units Mac units shipped during the second fiscal quarter of 2011

APPLE TAKES HUGE HIT IN NASDAQ-100

NASDAQ on Tuesday announced that it will adjust the weighing of several companies in the NASDAQ-100 index to better reflect their market capitalizations. The NASDAQ-100 index is comprised of the 100 biggest non-financial stocks on the NASDAQ exchange. The adjustment, which will take place on May 2nd, is the first of its kind since 1998. Apple will take the biggest hit as its weighting will be adjusted down from 20.46% of the the index to 12.33%. The Cupertino-based company’s representation on the NASDAQ-100 is currently six times that of the No. 2 company, Microsoft, which will see its weight doubled on May 2nd. A total of 82 stocks will be adjusted downward while 18 companies including Microsoft, Google, Intel, Cisco and Oracle will get larger shares.

APPLE TO INTRODUCE NEW HIGH SPEED CONNECTION TECHNOLOGY

According to a source at CNet, Apple is expected to announce a new high-speed connection technology soon. Intel has been working on a technology called Light Peak for years and recently said the initial version would be based on copper, as practical realities dictate more conventional technology.

Apple is expected to adopt this technology in the near future--but likely use a name other than Light Peak, a source familiar with this aspect of Apple's plans said. Intel has said in the past that the first products using Light Peak should appear in the first half of 2011.
When Intel initially demonstrated Light Peak at its developer conference in 2009 it used a machine running Apple's Mac OS X.

It is not known if Light Peak will make it into the Macbook Pro refresh (rumored to be coming February 24th) or make its debut later.

Light Peak was originally touted by Intel as the holy grail of connector technology: a single replacement for the myriad cables that connect to monitors, external drives, scanners, printers, and anything else that plugs into a computer. But Intel--and Apple--may be targeting more specific connection protocols, at least initially.

Light Peak is significantly faster than even USB 3.0, carrying data at 10 gigabits per second in both directions simultaneously. Connection speeds will not be affected by the transition to copper, according to Intel.

Sony is also expected to be an early adopter of the technology.

LEAKED: APPLE MACBOOK PRO

9 to 5 Mac drew attention to the ad above this morning, which depicts a slim black MacBook Pro unlike anything currently available from Apple. The ad is for Intel’s new Core i5 processor, and this isn’t the first time Intel has let details of an unreleased Mac slip in one of its advertisements — the chip giant also ran ads discussing an unreleased MacBook Pro with a Core i5 processor in late January. Apple is expected to begin shipping new versions of its MacBook Pro laptop computer line in early March, though the company has not yet made any announcement regarding the refreshed models.

INTEL TO CONTINUE MEEGO DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT NOKIA

With Nokia's recent announcement that they would be moving to the Windows Phone 7 platform, many wondered what would happen to the MeeGo platform Nokia was developing in conjuction with Intel. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini spoke with Bloombergat Mobile World Congress to allay any fears of the demise of MeeGo.

Otellini said that he doesn't see that "Nokia changing its strategy changes the industry strategy," and added that "operators still look for an open, operator-friendly operating system." Otellini further went on to say on a panel discussion that he "understood" why Nokia made the decision it did, and even said that if he were in the same position he would have made "the same or a similar call." That doesn't mean he wasn't disappointed by it though

DEBIAN 6 "SQUEEZE" RELEASED

Debian, after 24 months of development, has released version 6.0 codenamed "Squeeze". Debian 6.0 includes the KDE Plasma Desktop and Applications, the GNOME, Xfce, and LXDE desktop environments as well as all kinds of server applications. It also features compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.2 of the LSB.

Debian can be run on nine architectures including Intel 32 and 64 bit PCs, PowerPC and Sun/Oracle SPARC.

Debian is a free operating system, developed by thousands of volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the Internet. To download Debian 6, click here.

DELL, MSI AND GIGABYTE PULL PRODUCTS DUE TO SANDY BRIDGE CHIPSET FLAW

Due to Intel's flawed Sandy Bridge chipset, Intel has projected a $300 million hit to its bottom line, and another $700 million to cover repairs and replacements. Intel is now estimating a round $1 billion loss in "missed sales and higher costs." Those missed sales will be coming directly from guys like MSI and Gigabyte, two of the major motherboard makers, who have stopped selling their Sandy Bridge-compatible models until Intel delivers untainted stock, and also Dell, who has nixed availability of its Alienware M17x R.3 gaming laptop. CNET did spot that HP and Dell were still selling laptops with the offending chipset in them yesterday, but we imagine both will get their online stores straightened out in due course. For its part, HP says it's pushing back a business notebook announcement due to this news, much like NEC has had to do. [Engadget]

INTELS PAYS NVIDIA $1.5B AND AGREES TO CROSS-LICENSE DEAL

Intel and NVidia have announced a new six-year cross-licensing deal that will see Intel paying NVIDIA a total of $1.5b over the next five years for access to NVIDIA's technology, while also giving NVIDIA a license to some of Intel's patents. The two companies have also agreed to drop all pending litigation, because you know, they're now friends who just exchanged a billion and half dollars. Crucially, Intel won't give up rights to x86, flash memory or "certain chipsets," so we don't really know if this agreement allows NVIDIA to produce integrated graphics for Sandy Bridge -- although most manufacturers are going with an Optimus-style discrete / integrated switchable arrangement that pairs Intel's on-die graphics with a discrete NVIDIA chip anyway, so we're not so sure it actually matters. We would love to see NVIDIA support Intel's Wireless Display 2.0 and the new Insider 1080p movie service, though -- and if these two coming closer together results in better Intel on-board graphics that can rival AMD Fusion, well, things will get very interesting indeed. [Engadget]

INTEL WANTED MICROSOFT TO CREATE A TABLET OS INSTEAD OF WP7

Word out of CES is that Intel execs revealed their true feelings about Windows 7 on tablets at an event last night. Apparently, they lobbied for Microsoft to make a more tablet-friendly OS. Microsoft said no.

In addition to pushing for a new tablet os from the Redmond, Wa company, he also expressed sentiments that Microsoft is taking too long to release a tablet optimized version of Windows. According to Cnet, here's what Tom Kilroy, Senior Vice President of Marketing, had to say:

Hey, we tried to get [Microsoft] to do a tablet OS (operating system) for a long time. Us, and others like Dell," said Tom Kilroy, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group, speaking to CNET at an Intel function last night.

Looks like we're not the only ones who think full-blown Win 7 on a tablet is a bad idea. [CNet]

RUMOR: iPAD 2 NEW FEATURES

We all know it it coming, but when and exactly what the iPad 2 will have has led to speculation and rumor. DigiTimes is reporting the iPad2's new features will include:

• Retina Display
• Thinner glass face to cut down on weight
• Front facing camera for Face Time
• 3-axis gyroscope
• USB connection port

It makes sense for the iPad2 to have Retina Display and we know a front facing camera was yanked from the current iPad just before it went into production, but the USB port is probably not going to happen.  Apple has indicated numerous times they want to leave USB and go with Light Peak, a technology they are developing with Intel. [DigiTimes]

RUMOR: APPLE TO BYPASS USB 3.0 AND USE LIGHT PEAK INSTEAD

CNET is report Apple will not be implementing USB 3.0, but instead will adopt IBM's new Light Peak technology. According to CNET's industry source, Light Peak is "now on track to appear in products in the first half of 2011—and likely earlier in the year than later." And if past reports are true, Apple could be among the first to incorporate it.

Light Peak offers transfer speeds of 10 gigabits per second both ways. It has been rumored that Apple conceived of the Light Peak idea and has been help IBM with development. Steve Jobs has already stated he doesn't see USB 3.0 taking off. Intel has said they will support USB 3.0, but their chips will probably not fully support it until at least 2012. [Gizmodo]

INTEL NEAR TO PURCHASE OF INFINEON

Intel is close to a purchase of Infineon Technologies wireless unit according to a Bloomberg report.  Infineon is the maker of the processors for the iPhone.  Intel is said to be offering $1.5 billion euros or about $1.91 billion dollars.

"Intel's big strategy is to be at the heart of computing everywhere" according to Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP Securities LLC in San Francisco.

Intel buying McAfee for $7.68 billion

Chip maker Intel has announced they are purchasing security software maker McAfee for $7.68 billion.  The $48/share price is a 60% premium over McAfee's Wednesday closing price of $29.93/share.

Intel, said security is now a fundamental component of online computing, but today's approach to security isn't adequate for the growing availability of internet connections on mobile phones, medical devices, ATMs, automobiles and elsewhere.  The industry needs a new approach that combines software, hardware and services to meet tomorrow's needs.