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Taiwan stocks hit 3-week closing high; TSMC gains

June 15, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

TAIPEI, June 14 (Reuters) – Taiwan stocks rose 1.2 percent to
a three-week closing high on Monday, with financials in the lead,
while chip maker TSMC (2330.TW) gained amid optimism over demand
for technology products.

Taiwan’s main TAIEX share index closed up 87.91
points at 7,387.40. The financial sub-index .TFNI gained 2.1
percent.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world’s
top contract chipmaker, rose 0.99 percent, lifting the
electronics sub-index .TELI 0.82 percent.

Some analysts said foreign investors were likely to buy more
local shares this week if U.S. stocks stabilised and sales of a
new generation of personal computers, mobile phones and other
high-tech gadgets continued to grow globally.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the past two trading
sessions. Their net selling in May had totalled T$127 billion
($3.92 billion), the highest monthly total in 2-½ years.
[ID:nTOE65305E]

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: chip maker, Foreign Investors, High Tech Gadgets, June 14, Mobile Phones, new generation, optimism, personal computers, reuters, share index, stabilised, Taipei, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, Taiwan stocks, Technology products, Trading Sessions, TSMC, Tw

HP refreshes PC lines, adds AMD chips

May 6, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co is rolling out a back-to-school lineup of notebook personal computers in what will be its largest single launch of laptops featuring processors from Advanced Micro Devices.

Technology

HP said it refreshed or overhauled its Envy, Pavilion and Mini netbook consumer lines, and ProBook enterprise PCs. They will go on sale later in May and June.

HP and other PC makers have increasingly focused on design as a way to differentiate their products, which are often comparable in performance.

HP, the world’s largest PC maker by a healthy margin, says it sells more than 2 notebooks per second.

The company said its designs emphasize etched metal finishes and “touchable” textures, and allow users to choose customized wallpaper from 12 artists.

“We took this opportunity to rethink and reevaluate what we’re doing in the design space,” said Stacy Wolff, director of notebook product design at HP.

HP launched new notebooks for its high-end Envy brand, with slot-load optical drives and back-lit keyboards, and cut the entry-level price to $999 from $1,299.

It also redesigned the entire Pavilion line and added optional AMD chips to a number of models. HP said AMD processors allow the company to provide consumers with more options and lower prices.

HP holds roughly 20 percent of the world’s PC market, and shipped more than 15 million PCs in the January-March period, according to industry tracker IDC.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: advanced micro devices, Amd Chips, Amd Processors, Back To School, Customized Wallpaper, Design Space, envy, Hewlett Packard Co, Hp Hp, Hp Notebooks, Keyboards, launch, Metal Finishes, New Notebooks, Optical Drives, Orlofsky, Pc Chips, personal computers, reuters, stacy

HP refreshes PC lines, adds AMD chips

May 6, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

SAN FRANCISCO, May 4 (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) is rolling out a back-to-school lineup of notebook personal computers in what will be its largest single launch of laptops featuring processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N).

HP said it refreshed or overhauled its Envy, Pavilion and Mini netbook consumer lines, and ProBook enterprise PCs. They will go on sale later in May and June.

HP and other PC makers have increasingly focused on design as a way to differentiate their products, which are often comparable in performance. [ID:nN18126991]

HP, the world’s largest PC maker by a healthy margin, says it sells more than 2 notebooks per second.

The company said its designs emphasize etched metal finishes and “touchable” textures, and allow users to choose customized wallpaper from 12 artists.

“We took this opportunity to rethink and reevaluate what we’re doing in the design space,” said Stacy Wolff, director of notebook product design at HP.

HP launched new notebooks for its high-end Envy brand, with slot-load optical drives and back-lit keyboards, and cut the entry-level price to $999 from $1,299.

It also redesigned the entire Pavilion line and added optional AMD chips to a number of models. HP said AMD processors allow the company to provide consumers with more options and lower prices.

HP holds roughly 20 percent of the world’s PC market, and shipped more than 15 million PCs in the January-March period, according to industry tracker IDC. (Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: advanced micro devices, AMD, Amd Chips, Amd Processors, Back To School, Customized Wallpaper, Design Space, envy, Hewlett Packard Co, Hp Hp, Hp Notebooks, hpq, launch, Metal Finishes, Optical Drives, Orlofsky, Pc Chips, personal computers, reuters, stacy

Developing nations will produce more e-waste than developed ones by 2016

April 29, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, April 29 (ANI): If a new research is to be believed, then developing countries will produce double the electronic waste (e-waste) of developed countries by 2016.

The study foresees in 2030 developing countries discarding 400 million – 700 million obsolete personal computers per year compared to 200 million – 300 million in developed countries.

Eric Williams and colleagues cite a dramatic increase in ownership of PCs and other electronic devices in both developed and developing countries.

At the same time, technological advances are shrinking the lifetime of consumer electronics products, so that people discard electronics products sooner than ever before.

That trend has led to global concern about environmentally safe ways of disposing of e-waste, which contains potentially toxic substances.

The scientists used a computer model to forecast global distribution of discarded PCs.

They concluded that consumers in developing countries would trash more computers than developed countries by 2016, with the trend continuing and escalating thereafter.

“Our central assertion is that the new structure of global e-waste generation discovered here, combined with economic and social considerations, call for a serious reconsideration of e-waste policy,” the report noted.

The study has been published in ACS” semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: acs, April 29, assertion, computer model, Consumer Electronics Products, Developed And Developing Countries, developed countries, developing nations, Dramatic Increase, electronic devices, electronic waste, Environmental Science Technology, Eric Williams, global concern, Global Distribution, personal computers, Social Considerations, Technological Advances, toxic substances, Waste Generation

Most Brit teens hack “for fun”!

March 19, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, March 19 (ANI): A new survey has found that one-fourth of British teens try to access their pals’ Facebook accounts.

The poll of 1150 under-19s showed that the most common way of access was by “cracking” each other”s passwords.

It was seen that about 50 percent of youngsters who accessed other accounts used their personal computers or those at school.

Teens said they mainly did it for fun while 21 percent confessed they wanted to cause trouble.

Twenty percent of those who admitted to hacking believed they could make money from it with 5 percent describing it as a career option.

The respondents taking part in the survey, commissioned by Tufin Technologies, maintained anonymity.

Seventy-eight percent knew hacking was not right.

“Playing around with computers and trying to understand the system can be leveraged for good and bad purposes,” the BBC quoted Reuven Harrison, co-founder of Tufin Technologies, as saying.

Harrison added: “There”s a fine line at which point it becomes something bad. Children don”t always understand where that line is.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: anonymity, bbc, british teens, career option, co-founder, fun, hack, Harrison Co, london march, march 19, new survey, pals, passwords, personal computers, poll, respondents, Reuven, School Teens, Seventy-eight, youngsters

Ultra-powerful laser makes silicon pump liquid uphill with no added energy

March 17, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, March 17 (ANI): Reports indicate that researchers at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics have used an ultra-powerful laser to make liquid flow vertically upward along a silicon surface, overcoming the pull of gravity, without pumps or other mechanical devices.

Professor Chunlei Guo and his assistant Anatoliy Vorobyev from the University of Rochester demonstrated that by carving intricate patterns in silicon with extremely short, high-powered laser bursts, they can get liquid to climb to the top of a silicon chip like it was being sucked through a straw.

Unlike a straw, though, there is no outside pressure pushing the liquid up; it rises on its own accord.

By creating nanometer-scale structures in silicon, Guo greatly increases the attraction that water molecules feel toward it.

The attraction, or hydrophile, of the silicon becomes so great, in fact, that it overcomes the strong bond that water molecules feel for other water molecules.

Thus, instead of sticking to each other, the water molecules climb over one another for a chance to be next to the silicon.

The water rushes up the surface at speeds of 3.5 cm per second.

Yet, the laser incisions are so precise and nondestructive that the surface feels smooth and unaltered to the touch.

According to Guo, this work could pave the way for novel cooling systems for computers that operate much more effectively, elegantly, and efficiently than currently available options.

“Heat is definitely the number one problem deterring the design of faster conventional processors,” said Michael Scott, a professor of computer science at the University.

So far, designers have not created liquid cooling systems that are cost-effective and energy efficient enough to become widely used in economical personal computers.

Although Guo’s discovery has not yet been incorporated into a prototype, he thinks that silicon that can pump its own coolant has the potential to contribute greatly to the design of future cooling systems. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Added Energy, Chunlei Guo, Conventional Processors, coolant, Hydrophile, incisions, Intricate Patterns, Laser Bursts, Liquid Cooling Systems, Liquid Flow, Mechanical Devices, Michael Scott, Own Accord, personal computers, scale structures, Silicon Chip, Silicon Surface, University of Rochester, Vorobyev, water molecules

China to require censor software on all PC’s

June 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

San Francisco/Beijing- China is demanding that all new personal computers sold in the country from July onwards include filtering software that blocks access to pornography and other “unhealthy information” on the internet, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported Monday.

The so-called Green Dam software will allow the government to continually update a list of banned websites and could represent a dramatic tightening of internet restrictions in a country that

already places severe limits on free speech on the web and elsewhere.

According to the reports, the requirement was issued last month by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The software is made by the China-based Jinui Computer System Engineering, whose owner Zhang Chenming was quoted by the New York Times as saying that concerns over censorship were overblown because the program could be uninstalled or temporarily turned off.

“A parent can still use this computer to go to porn,” he said.

The new regulations were posted Monday on the ministry’s website.

It is unclear whether computer makers will have to pre-load the program on to their machines or simply provide customers with a compact disc. Over 40 million computers were sold in last year China, where an estimated 300 million people regularly use the internet.

A spokeswoman for Hewlett-Packard, which is the largest US PC seller in China, told The Wall Street Journal that the company is “working with the government authorities and evaluating the best way to approach this. Obviously we will focus on delivering the best customer experience while ensuring that we meet necessary regulatory requirements.”

In addition to concerns over censorship, the software, which according to the company website has already been downloaded more than 3 million times, has also been criticized on technical grounds. The reports quoted experts as saying that it slowed computers down and often led to system crashes. (dpa)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: beijing china, censorship, Chenming, Compact Disc, Computer Makers, Computer System Engineering, Customer Experience, Dam Software, Filtering Software, Free Speech, government authorities, Green Dam, Internet Restrictions, Million Computers, million times, New York Times, personal computers, Regulatory Requirements, System Crashes, wall street journal

UPDATE 2-Worldwide PC sales fall 7.1 percent in Q1-IDC

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Q1 global PC shipments fall 7.1 percent

* U.S. shipments fall 3.1 percent

* HP expands global market share, takes U.S. lead (adds Gartner data, market size, quotes, byline)

By Gabriel Madway

SAN FRANCISCO, April 15 (Reuters) – Global shipments of personal computers slid 7.1 percent in the first quarter, industry tracker IDC said on Wednesday, although falling prices and the increasing popularity of netbooks helped keep sales from slipping even further.

In a break from the past, the PC market in the United States fared better than the larger global market with shipments falling just 3.1 percent, IDC said.

Separately, research firm Gartner said worldwide PC shipments fell 6.5 percent in the quarter–and were essentially flat in the U.S.

“The U.S. was surprisingly strong, it outperformed our forecast,” said IDC vice president Bob O’Donnell, calling the numbers a positive sign for the overall market.

“The fact that the U.S. outperformed the worldwide totals is I think somewhat hopeful.”

IDC also said the global result was slightly better than it had expected, and that PC demand has shown some resilience compared with the previous downturn.

It estimated the total global PC market in 2008 was $243 billion.

The firm expects more stable production over the coming quarters, with growth returning around the end of the year.

Gartner sounded a somewhat more pessimistic tone. Research director George Shiffler said there is evidence of restocking of inventory in the distribution channel, but that this should not be interpreted as a recovery in demand.

“It’s still unclear if the global PC market has hit the bottom,” he said in a release.

What is clear is that consumers’ move to low-cost laptops–including netbooks–is keeping PC shipments from slipping further. Netbooks shipments remain on track to double in 2009, IDC said.

Top PC maker Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) managed to grow overall shipments by 2.9 percent and increase its industry-leading global market share to 20.5 percent.

HP also claimed the top spot in the U.S. market from Dell (DELL.O), which had held that position since 1999, IDC said.

Dell continued to lose ground, with shipments diving 16.7 percent in the first quarter, hurt by weakness in the enterprise market.

Dell’s market share slipped to 13.6 percent, IDC said, good for second-place, while No. 3 Acer Inc (2353.TW) gained ground and increased its share to 11.6 percent.

But Gartner’s data showed Dell and Acer in a virtual tie for second place.

Lenovo (0992.HK) and Toshiba Corp (6502.T) rounded out the top five.

On Tuesday, Intel (INTC.O), the world’s largest chipmaker, said it saw signs that a bottom in the PC market had been reached, a hopeful indicator for the sector.

IDC’s O’Donnell said it was too early to say for sure if his firm’s numbers support Intel’s comments, but, “I think in some ways there’s a small bit of confirmation of that.” (Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Richard Chang, Leslie Gevirtz)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: byline, director george, Distribution Channel, downturn, First Quarter, Gartner, global market share, Global Pc Market, Global Shipments, Hewlett Packard Co, hpq, Laptops, personal computers, quarters, Research Director, resilience, reuters, Shiffler, Stable Production, Worldwide Pc Shipments

Worldwide PC sales fall 7.1 percent in Q1: IDC

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Global shipments of personal computers slid 7.1 percent in the first quarter, industry tracker IDC said on Wednesday, although falling prices and the increasing popularity of netbooks helped keep sales from slipping even further.