manufacturing

Apple's buying power relegates Samsung to distant second

Here's another category where Apple and Samsung go head to head: chip buying. And Apple's dominance is expanding rapidly.

Rip off the plastic, metal, and glass on any consumer device, and it's pretty much all chips. And if you're the No. 1 buyer of those chips, as Apple is, that means you hold a lot of sway over global chip manufacturing.

More sway than chip kingpin Samsung (which Apple, ironically, buys lots of chips from).

"It's well known that Apple has already conquered the smartphone and tablet segments -- but behind the scenes the … Read more

Microsoft's Surface is a 'design point,' says CEO

PC manufacturers shouldn't fear that the debut of Microsoft's flashy Surface tablet might shut them out of future device making for the company, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

During this week's Worldwide Partner Conference for Microsoft, Ballmer addressed the crowd and said Surface is the software makers' aim at creating a device heavily focused on design, according to All Things D.

Here's what he said:

Surface is just a design point. It will have a distinct place in what's a broad Windows ecosystem. And the importance of the thousands of partners that we have … Read more

Friday Poll: How important is it to buy U.S.-made tech?

The Fourth of July is coming up next week. It's a good time to take stock of where the country stands in the world of technology manufacturing.

We've been hearing quite a bit lately about how feasible (or not) it is to make tech products right here at home.

Manufacturing plants in Asia pretty much have the cell phone and gadget market cornered, but there are some blips on the U.S.-made tech radar. Google has managed to design and build the Nexus Q streaming media player in America.

Is this a sign of a reboot for technology manufacturing in America?… Read more

Lollipop Chainsaw cuts through normal video game stereotypes

Last summer's Shadows of the Damned was an overlooked triumph that excelled on multiple levels. Its style, humor, campy storyline, and overall originality easily made it one of the best games of 2011.

Developer Grasshopper Manufacture and Creative Director Suda 51 are back, once again challenging mainstream gaming archetypes by approaching things from a quirky and unique against-the-grain mentality. Lollipop Chainsaw also introduces a collaboration with filmmaker James Gunn ("Slither," "Dawn of the Dead" remake), that results in arguably the offbeat developer's most approachable game yet.

Lollipop Chainsaw might not have the best graphics and it's definitely a bit rough around the edges, but it's a welcome change of pace that instills some confidence in the gamer who is bored with cookie-cutter gaming stereotypes. … Read more

Apple wants to make products in U.S., but that's not so easy

Let's make the iPhone in the good ol' U. S. of A. Who's with me?

There are few Americans who don't like the idea of an all-American iPhone, iPad or MacBook. "Designed in California," sure -- but why not made there, too?

During the D: All Things Digital conference this week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook suggested that he wanted his celebrated tech company to make more components, and perhaps assemble them, here in the U.S.

But it's not that easy.

Cook knows it. As a longtime operations guy, there are probably few … Read more

Nokia happier to live on the edge when buying components

PARIS -- Overhauling Nokia hasn't just been a matter of slapping a new operating system on older mobile phone hardware.

In reality, the company had to rebuild its entire supply chain -- the vast network of business partners that build everything that makes up a phone. And a big part of the change: accepting more risk as the company tries to move back to the cutting edge of mobile phone technology.

"For us as a company, our risk appetite has increased a lot in the way we work," said Kari Kulojarvi, Nokia's senior vice president for … Read more

Without Apple, 'supply chain' shrinking, says analyst

Apple is so important to the group of companies that build tech-related electronics products that without Apple there would be negative growth, according to Citibank.

The tech electronics supply chain is barely showing year-to-year growth and would be in the red if it wasn't for Apple, according to a research note today from Citibank analyst Jim Suva.

The supply chain is an amorphous collection of manufacturers, many located in Asia.

In a subheading titled "Ex-Apple, the Tech Supply Chain is Still Not Growing Y/Y," Citibank said Apple is the linchpin for growth.

"Projected annual sales … Read more

Obama makes made-in-America pitch at N.Y. chip site

President Obama today made a campaign stop at a major chip research and manufacturing in hub in New York to reemphasize his made-in-America theme.

Obama visited the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany, State University of New York. CNSE is an education and research facility centered on nanotechnology.

The visit was intended to highlight "insourcing" and the connection between education, innovation, and manufacturing in supporting investment and bringing jobs back to the U.S.

The region is home to chipmakers IBM and Globalfoundries, the latter is in the final stages of constructing … Read more

MIT's web-spinning robot: Be very afraid?

Humanity seems hell bent on creating machines that will one day rise up and have no problem whatsoever hunting us all down.

If it's not some researcher conducting experiments in how robots can evolve behaviors such as cooperation and hunting (gulp), it's some misguided engineer developing spiderlike 'bots that will one day surely have no trouble outrunning humble little bipeds like ourselves.

And now we have a robot that can spin a web or a cocoon. … Read more