John G. Spooner

Intel researchers are shedding some light on a potential new application for chip photonics: upping the performance of multicore processors. The processor giants research labs are exploring ways to use silicon photonics—on-chip components that use light to transmit data—to replace electrical interconnects using copper wiring and simultaneously speed up vital connections that move data into […]

The arrival of processors with baked-in virtualization stands to elevate everyday business servers, broadening their appeal, Dells server chief said Wednesday. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker highlighted virtualization, which allows a machine to be partitioned in order to run different software, and dual-core processors as agents that will help increase the performance of so-called […]

Transmeta Corp., which once captivated the PC industry with its Crusoe processor for notebooks, is repositioning itself as a journeyman technology provider for low-power chips, in an effort to stem its financial losses. Although the Santa Clara, Calif., company is still selling one Efficeon processor—Efficeon succeeded Crusoe—for notebooks and thin clients, it is remaking itself […]

Hewlett-Packard Co., five months after combining its PC and printing businesses, last week separated the two and appointed a new head to the PC unit. The Palo Alto, Calif., company appointed R. Todd Bradley as the new executive vice president of the Personal Systems Group. Bradley had served as CEO and president of handheld device […]

Notebook PC makers are beginning to make room for MIMO. Companies such as Dell Inc. and Gateway Inc. are eager to add MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) wireless networking technology to their systems. The technology, which is used by the forthcoming 802.11n wireless networking specification, promises to boost the bandwidth of local-area wireless networks using […]

Apple is phasing out its single-processor Power Mac G5, effectively shifting the desktop line to dual-processors. The desktops, which Apple Computer Inc. updated in April with dual 2GHz, dual 2.3GHz and dual 2.7GHz G5 processors, continue to sell at prices starting at $1,999. But the 1.8GHz Power Mac G5, which no longer appears in Apples […]

Worldwide PC shipments are expected to exceed previous projections over the next two years, rising on the wings of higher notebook shipments, falling average prices and strength in emerging markets, according to new forecasts. However, analysts say, even though unit shipments will grow, revenue increases will not keep up, leading to tough conditions for PC […]

Apple wont stand in the way of people who want to run Windows on its forthcoming Intel-processor Macs. But whether or not users will be able to run Windows directly on the machines is still a mystery. Apple Computer Inc. last week announced plans to begin selling computers based on Intel Corp. processors by June […]

A week after Apple Computer Inc. said it would shift from IBM PowerPC to Intel Corp. Pentium chips, delivering what some might see as a huge blow to IBM, its business as usual in East Fishkill, N.Y., the de facto headquarters of IBMs chip group. Although IBM, Apple and Motorola Inc. all once worked together […]

Hewlett-Packard Co., five months after combining its personal computer and printing businesses, on Monday separated the two and appointed a new head of the PC unit. The Palo Alto, Calif., company appointed R. Todd Bradley as the new executive vice president of the PSG (Personal Systems Group). Bradley, 46, had served as CEO and president […]

When it comes to computers, good service is getting harder to define. Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were neck-and-neck in customer satisfaction during the first quarter, shows a new study by TBR (Technology Business Research Inc.), of Hampton, N.H. The survey, released Friday, polled 648 IT managers at 422 companies in North America on their […]

IBM, having thrown open its Power chip architecture, is becoming the new pied piper for open-source chips. The companys chip group is now looking to create a specification for open, Power-based servers and is also moving to open Cell, the chip architecture it developed along with Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. The efforts build on […]