Apple

Updated 4 p.m. PDT with executive comments from Intel's conference call.

Intel's first-quarter earnings should go a long way toward reassuring the tech industry that the world is not coming to an end.

The chipmaker reported revenue of $9.7 billion, up 9 percent from the same period last year and a little better than Wall Street analysts were expecting. Net income was $1.4 billion, or 25 cents a share, in line with the company's revised expectations after realizing its flash memory business went in the tank for the quarter.

But in Intel's regular … Read more

Psystar is back online selling "white box" Macs with a few subtle changes, and one employee has already played the monopoly card.

As you might recall, Psystar's Web site was overwhelmed Monday after it was found to be selling cheap computers with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled. This caused quite the commotion, as Apple does not license its operating system to other hardware makers, and specifically prohibits (PDF) end users from installing Mac OS X on anything other than an "Apple labeled" computer.

Ars Technica noted that Psystar made several changes to its Web site … Read more

If you want to gauge the tech winds, follow Intel.

At least, that's the theory employed by economists trying to forecast the performance of the high-tech industry in uncertain times over the last two decades. The world's largest chipmaker is thought to be an early-warning sign of things to come; trouble ahead if Intel's in red.

We already know that the two companies were disappointed in their performance during the quarter. Back in March, Intel had already made the decision that plummeting flash memory prices would dent its earnings for the quarter. AMD waited a little longer, … Read more

Apple has acknowledged video problems with the latest shipment of MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

Early customers of the Penryn refresh of the Apple notebooks had complained of flickering images during a QuickTime video playback on MacBooks and MacBook Pros shipping with the latest version of Mac OS X Leopard, according to our colleagues over at MacFixIt. Several discussion threads have sprung up over on Apple's user forums, and some customers report that Apple has now acknowledged the problem and is working on a fix.

MacFixIt reports that fix should come with Mac OS X 10.5.3, currently in … Read more

An entrepreneurial Mac vendor has gone offline just hours after it was discovered selling Mac OS X Leopard desktops from a company not named Apple.

MacRumors.com, along with many others, noted one of those too-good-to-be-true deals from a company called Psystar on Sunday night and Monday morning. Psystar, until just now, had been offering $554 "Open Mac" desktops on its Web site with Intel processors, 2GB of memory, a DVD drive, and a copy of Mac OS X Leopard.

The thing is, Apple's software license for Leopard, and any version of Mac OS X, requires that … Read more

Updated throughout at 10:30am PT after speaking with AMD.

AMD's chief technology officer, Phil Hester, has resigned his post atop the company's engineering efforts.

According to a flash report from The Wall Street Journal, Hester will not be replaced. An AMD spokesman confirmed that Friday is Hester's last day with the company, and that he's "looking to do new things." A link to Hester's biography off AMD's executive Web page defaults back to the home page.

Hester came to AMD from IBM in September of 2005, when the chipmaker was flying … Read more

A tradition unlike any other: the 3G iPhone rumor on the Internet.

Today's rumor, courtesy of Daily Tech, actually has a fair amount of detail. According to what it heard from a little birdie, Apple plans to stick with the 8GB and 16GB options for the 3G iPhone, as well as the pricing for those models, and announce the new phones at the Worldwide Developers' Conference in early June.

The new iPhones, however, would be about 2.5 millimeters thinner than their predecessors, and have a slightly different exterior finish that's less "plasticky," according to Daily … Read more

More details about Nokia's upcoming Tube phone have surfaced, days after its existence leaked out at a developer conference.

Nokia's apparent answer to the iPhone will arrive in the second half of this year, according to Symbian Freak. A Nokia spokesman confirmed the timing to Computerworld but didn't offer any further details other than the obvious notion that the "Tube" will use Symbian's S60 operating system. Nokia owns a large stake in Symbian.

According to Symbian Freak, the Tube (real name TBD) will come with 3G, Wi-Fi, and GPS chips and use a screen … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Politicians like to joke that Social Security reform is considered the "third rail" of politics. In Apple's world, that rail belongs to security.

It's been a while since we examined the "state of Mac security," and with this week's RSA Conference in San Francisco, and last month's CanSecWest conference fresh in everyone's mind, it seemed like a decent time.

The topic is always a heated one, and it tends to bring out the usual Mac vs. PC bashing. But according to people I talked to this week here at RSA, … Read more