technology

Advanced Micro Devices' manufacturing spinoff got an all-clear from the U.S. government on Tuesday.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), part of the U.S. Treasury Department, gave the green light to AMD and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) to create The Foundry Company, the manufacturing operations that AMD spun off back in October.

CFIUS has also determined that "the proposed additional investment in AMD by Mubadala is not a covered transaction subject to CFIUS review," according to AMD.

ATIC will own 65.8 percent of The Foundry Company and AMD 34.… Read more

Before there was the Series60 (S60) 5th Edition, Symbian already had a touch-screen alternative through UIQ Technology's interface. This was famously used in some of Motorola's first 3G handsets and Sony Ericsson's business-oriented P-series. These days, you can still find UIQ in some Walkman phones and the G-series from the Japanese-Swedish phone manufacturer.

But ever since Sony Ericsson announced that it will be using Windows Mobile for its flagship Xperia X1 device in early 2008 (or will it?), the fate of UIQ has hung in the balance. Now, almost a year on, the inevitable has happened--UIQ Technology … Read more

Just a quick heads-up--

Because of the current tough economic times, the non-profit Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC) is auctioning off its collection of vintage computers, video-game systems, calculators, and other collectible electronics to fund its other operations, which include job-training programs and refurbishing more modern PCs, which it donates to schools, other non-profits, and disadvantaged individuals.

The ACCRC auction is being managed by the Vintage Computer Festival organization in multiple rounds. The second set of systems being auctioned is online now, with a deadline of noon (PST) on Jan. 5; more will follow. VCF proprietor Sellam Ismail says … Read more

Updated on January 6 at 11:20 a.m. PST with correction about Nano 3000.

Dual-core Intel Atom rivals are in the works.

Via Technologies is planning a very low-power, dual-core Nano 3000 processor, according to Chinese-language Web site HKEPC.

Via's C7-M processor is used in Hewlett-Packard's 2133 Mini-Note, which preceded the crop of Netbooks based on the Atom CPU. Via processors, however, were subsequently eclipsed by Intel's Atom.

Advanced Micro Devices will target its low-power dual-core "Conesus" at the laptop market segment above Atom's Netbook-centric space.

Meanwhile, Freescale Semiconductor has indicated that it will bring out a very-low-power ARM chip … Read more

On this week's installment of the Digital City, we discuss the Facebook koobface virus, PlayStation Home's launch, sleazy old '80s urban video game arcades, tech blog Gizmodo's cool NYC retro gadget gallery, our New Year's resolutions, and (seriously) Dance Dance Revolution: The Musical.

2009 may be the year of the Netbook. But there's a big if.

Here's the choice: Will consumers buy a thin, light, relatively fast $1,800 MacBook Air or a thin, light, ultrasmall, not-as-fast $450 Hewlett-Packard Mini 1000 Netbook? (Correction: the HP Mini 1000 configuration cited here was originally stated incorrectly as $700.)

If many people, fully aware of this choice, opt for a Netbook then we have the foundation of, at the very least, a rethinking of the pricey ultraportable.

At most, we have many more consumers buying into the Netbook concept--particularly if 3G broadband wireless comes … Read more

On this week's installment of the Digital City, we discuss faster Internet access coming to several major cities, where to find a Nintendo Wii, and how to safely buy (or sell) a U.S. Senate seat.

There was a time that we thought that open source was a happy band of code-literate hippies. That was before we actually paid attention to who was involved.

Years ago Boston Consulting Group did an analysis of open-source contributors (PDF), finding that 58 percent are experienced IT programmers and/or system administrators with an average of 11 years of industry experience. Few purple mohawks in that crowd.

It has ever been thus, a fact that Saugatuck Technology calls out in its new "Power, Speed and Assimilation: Open Source Changes the Industry, and the Industry Changes Open Source" (PDF) … Read more

Bad news for Hynix is translating into good news for the memory chip industry.

The world's second largest memory chipmaker will close its U.S. plant and slash production 30 percent, bringing relief to an industry plagued by glut.

This comes in the wake of a 30 percent cut in flash chip production at Toshiba and SanDisk announced Monday.

As part of this reduction in output, Hynix is expected to sell its U.S. production unit before the end of the year, according to a Reuters report citing a story in the Seoul Economic Daily on Thursday.

All of … Read more