LENOVO'S RORY READ JUMPS SHIPS TO BE AMD'S PRESIDENT AND CEO

AMD has finally found itself a permanent CEO. The company today named Rory P. Read to the post, also announcing that he'll serve as President and as a member of the board of directors. Read most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Lenovo, and spent 23 years serving in a variety of roles at IBM prior to that. He replaces AMD CFO Thomas Seifert (now returning to his original role), who had been serving as interim CEO since the departure of Dirk Meyer -- who himself only became CEO in 2008 when Hector Ruiz stepped down. For his part, Read says that he's "very pleased to be joining AMD at this important time in its history," and that "AMD is a true innovator and is uniquely positioned to lead the industry forward, delivering the next big thing both within the PC ecosystem and beyond."

RUMOR: XBOX 720 TO HAVE GRAPHICS ON PAR WITH AVATAR

Of the three major console manufacturers we only know when Nintendo is set to release its next generation console. The Wii U again looks to be going for something a bit different rather than pushing the enevelope in terms of processing power and graphical capabilities. However, the PS4 and Xbox 720 are expected to follow the same path as they always have: offering more processing power, better visuals, and more scope for involved gameplay and realistic experiences.

Although we don’t know when the next consoles from Sony and Microsoft will arive, AMD is starting to drop hints about the capabilities of the next Xbox.

AMD is thought to be providing the GPU(s) that will sit inside the Xbox 720, so it should be an authority on what it is capable of graphically at least. A comment made in the August issue of OXM by Neal Robison, director of ISV relationships for AMD, states that we should expect to be seeing visuals like Avatar. So that’s real-time renders of the quality seen in James Cameroon‘s movie as standard on the next Xbox.

Such a graphical jump is realistic when you consider the hardware the PS3 and Xbox 360 use today. We now see crisp HD graphics running on a 6-year-old processor and GPU combination. In the case of the 360, it runs a tri-core 3.2GHz PowerPC chip, where as today we commonly see 4, 6, 8, and even 12 cores processors in use running at similar speeds. GPU-wise, it only has a 500MHz ATI chip, and the system only carries 512MB RAM. Graphics cards today typically run above 800MHz and have 1-2GB of dedicated memory alongside 2-4GB of system memory.

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.”

IBM TO SUPPORT USB 3.0 AND THUNDERBOLT IN IVY BRIDGE IN 2012

Beijing, the Chinese capital, is the site of Intel's currently ongoing developer conference, which is where Kirk Skaugen, VP of the company's Architecture Group, assured the world that the promise for native USB 3.0 support in Intel chipsets will be fulfilled. Not this year, mind you, but it'll be with us in 2012 as part of the Ivy Bridge CPU refresh. That matches AMD's plans to support USB 3.0 in Fusion APUs, and was augmented with a strong word of endorsement from Skaugen about the connector's future. He urged developers to embrace USB 3.0 on an equal footing with Intel's proprietary Thunderbolt interconnect, describing the two technologies as "complementary."

RUMOR: DELL PLANNING TO BUY AMD

Rumor has it that Dell has been looking to buy chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). AMD has been having its clock cleaned for some time now by rival IBM. Senior executives have been fleeing left and right in the last month, with CEO Dirk Meyer departing back in January and COO Robert Rivet also running away from the beleaguered chipmaker last week.

Right now, CFO Thomas Seifert is acting as interim CEO at AMD, but he has asked that the promotion be temporary until a new CEO can be found.

“There is no management team there,” said Patrick Wang, an analyst at Wedbush Securities in New York. He then said there is a “far-reaching possibility” that the company is up for sale, according to “chatter.”

The purchase by Dell would put them in charge of its own manifest destiny, controlling the silicon of both the processors and GPUs that make up its machines.

AMD CEO RESIGNS

AMD CEO Dirk Meyer has resigned in what the company is a calling a "mutual agreement" between him and the Board of Directors. Interim CEO will be CFO Thomas Seifert, who has asked not to be considered as a candidate for the next chief. A search committee for the next CEO is currently being led by Board Chairman Bruce Claflin. The circumstances behind Meyer's departure remain a mystery. [Engadget]