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Biglopedia | Appel, Intel, Processor, Oracle, Web, Google, Microsoft, Technology, Forex, Cameras, Politics, Entertainment, Get Latest News and Articals about Apple, Intel, Processers, Oracle, Web, Microsoft, Google and Digital Electonics Devices, Amd Processors

iCC304olors 300x190 iLuvs iPod Nano 5G Case Makes New Nanos Look Like a Real Camera You can always depend on iLuv to make snazzy new cases for the latest Appleproducts and now they have with their latest additions for the iPod Nano 5th generation.

The cases range from hard clear plastic to soft, but irregardless, they are all super stylish and the perfect new suit for your iPod Nano.

The designs are hip and trendy and will not only make your iPod Nano pop but protect it too. Some of the designs include the icc306 city series which has different cases for New York, London, Paris and Sydney.

Another series, the icc307, is covered in retro-style record players, headphones and speakers.  There is even the icc304 case designed as a camera to enhance the newest iPod Nano feature. The new iLuv cases for iPod Nano 5th gen retail anywhere from $19.99 to $24.99 respectively.

iCC306cities 300x300 iLuvs iPod Nano 5G Case Makes New Nanos Look Like a Real CameraiCC307colors 300x300 iLuvs iPod Nano 5G Case Makes New Nanos Look Like a Real Camera

Television housings, cathode ray tubes, computers, monitors, and other imported electronic waste items not salable at the Alaba Market in Lagos, Nigeria, are dumped in this nearby swamp.

Credit: Basel Action Network
A policy analysis published Thursday in the journal Science calls our attention to something it's much easier to turn away from: what happens to outdated computer monitors, cell phones that aren't smart enough, cables that once powered discarded laptops, even old calculators.

Much of this waste, which is largely a product of the developed world, ends up in the developing world, and the hazardous materials it contains accumulate in the food chain and in poor children's blood. In Africa, China, and India, markets for secondhand electronics are having a terrible impact. Children in Guiyu, China have high levels of lead in their blood and swamps in Nigeria overflow with discarded electronics.

So what can we do about it? The United States, one of the largest producers of electronic waste, is one of 23 member countries that has not ratified the United Nations' Basel Convention, which would regulate the movement of hazardous electronic materials across international borders.

A bill in the Senate (S. 1397) would authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to award grant money for recycling research and ask the National Institute of Standards and Technology to create a database of green electronic materials. According to the authors of the Science article, the European Union and the state of California both have complex and inconsistent waste policies, but we can still learn from them:
For example, Californians are willing to pay extra for "green" electronics products (e.g., containing fewer toxic substances, capable of being economically recycled) and to drive up to 8 miles to drop-off products for environmentally sensitive recycling. In addition, political mandates and economic incentives are key tools for engaging manufacturers,who will need to assume greater responsibility for designing electronic products that contain safer materials and are easily managed after consumers no longer want them.
However, the long-term solution, the authors suggest, is to change the way electronics are made in the first place:

Bart Gordon, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology, said that "we need our future engineers to understand that whatever they put together will eventually have to be taken apart."

Good news for all iPhone users out there is that GeoHotz is all set and ready to release the new Blacksn0w Unlock Tool to the masses.

All the testing has been done and according to him, it will work with any iPhone on the Firmware 3.1.2, even those with the 05.11.07 baseband.

He will be releasing the tool in a couple of hours which will then be available through the Blackra1n.app. Below are some of the instructions posted by GeoHotz on his blog for users who want to use Blacksn0w to unlock the iPhone. Only those with a iPhone 3G or a 3GS should attempt.

  1. Update the iPhone to Firmware 3.1.2 using iTunes.
  2. Download Blackra1n RC3 through this link.
  3. Run the app and click make it ra1n.
  4. After the iPhone reboot, run the blackra1n.app, tap on Sn0w and install blacksn0w.
For those who already have the blackra1n.app:
You will see Icy replaced by an option "ra1n". Install this to upgrade your app. After upgrading, run blackra1n.app again. You will see "sn0w". Install this, and enjoy your unlocked iPhone.
Note: GeoHotz plans to release the new Blackra1n RC3 at Noon EST. Blacksn0w will also be available at Cydia shortly after it's official release.

New: iPhone 3G and 3GS users on baseband 05.11.07 can now unlock their iPhone using Blacksnow!

blacksn0w2Its finally here! the unlock for the 05.11.07 baseband on the iPhone.Blacksn0w is now available to users and can be downloaded through Blackra1n RC3 which has been released by Geohotz.

Note: All those with Blackra1n.app RC1 and RC2 on their iPhone can tap to launch the app and click on ra1n, now replaced by 'Icy', to update to Blackra1n RC3.

Once updated, launch Blackra1n.app RC3 and tap on Sn0w to unlock the iPhone on baseband 05.11.07
And for the first-timers, all you have to do is Jailbreak the device using Blackra1n RC3 and then Unlock it using the Blacksn0w tool. Instructions have been provided here.

blackra1nRC3

Important : Only those who wish to unlock their iPhone with the baseband 05.11.07 should attempt to follow this hack. A tutorial for those who had Jailbroken using Pwnage but wish to unlock using Blacksn0w would be provided shortly.

gesture-thumbThe new Apple Magic Mouse introduced by Apple with the launch of the new iMac is definitely one amazing piece of hardware that let's a user perform multi-touch gestures using a mouse, like that on a trackpad.

But apart from providing an innovative experience, it leaves out on some of the very basic gestures for trackpads such as pinch to zoom and bloat.

MouseWizard, a simple utility for Mac OS X, fills up that gap by enhancing the capability of the Magic Mouse and adding more gestures to it. It can be easily customized to increase the productivity by enabling the Magic Mouse to do more than it is supposed to.

magicmouse

Not only does it allow you to use gestures such as pinch to zoom and bloat, but also features a 'coverup' gesture mode that makes your Mac go to sleep mode instantly. It is the ultimate companion for the Magic Mouse.

A trial version of the app can be downloaded and used for 30 days, it costs $2.50 for unlimited use.

The iPhone, released to the public last Friday, is one of the most hyped devices in memory. But is all the excitement justified?

John McCormick of Baseline suggests that the iPhone could blow the market for handheld rich Internet applications wide open, even though the iPhone was designed for the consumer rather than the enterprise market. Om Malik concurs, noting the significance of the built-in Safari browser that brings the full Web experience to mobile phones for the first time. Smart Mobs opines that mobile phones (not just the iPhone) represent a mass medium unto themselves that are revolutionizing the fundamental ways in which we communicate.

Want to prosecute people who are downloading files illegally? Well, if you fine them, you might be taking money out of the hands of your best customers, a new survey shows.

It's not the first such survey to come to this conclusion. However, it is the latest.

The study, published on Sunday by U.K. think tank Demos, surveyed 1,008 people aged between 18 and 50 last month. It found that those who admit to illegally downloading music spent an average of £77 a year on music, which is £33 more than those who claim that they never do so.

The British Phonographic Industry estimates that seven million U.K. users download files illegally annually, which will cost the industry £200 million this year. Assuming, however, that the survey held true, the extra £33 spent annually by each of those seven million would add up to £231 million. Hey, that's a profit of £31 million!

Seriously, the study also noted that lowering the price for legally downloaded music could result in a significant decrease in illegal downloads. The sweet spot would seem to be 45p per track. Currently, tracks on iTunes run between 59p and 99p; the survey indicated that sales could double at that price.

Naturally, the music industry wasn't too impressed with the survey. Recent proposals, include a "three strikes, you're out" policy which would terminate broadband service if consumers fail to respond to warning letters; the industry believes this will deter illegal downloaders.

Meanwhile, some, including Forrester Research, have a different view. Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research said, "The people who file-share are the ones who are interested in music. They use file-sharing as a discovery mechanism. We have a generation of young people who don't have any concept of music as a paid-for commodity. You need to have it at a price point you won't notice."

This same argument has been made for downloaders of other material, such as PC games; many say they download as a sort of "try and buy" method. In terms of this survey, 83% said they buy more music as a result, and 42% said they did so to "try before you buy."

Of course, this doesn't change the fact that illegal downloading is still stealing. It is evident, however, that many younger people just don't see it that way.

Remember the slotMusic format? That is a different way of deliveriing music, using microSD cards instead of CDs. With flash memory prices continuing to drop, it was only a matter of time until movies and DVDs would start being delivered the same way.

On Monday, Kingston and Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) announced a new delivery system for movies, on flash memory rather than optical media. Kingston, you might recall manufactures memory, SSDs, and flash memory, while PDE is a division of (what else) Paramount.

According to the press release, the movies will be supplied on Kingston media in as part of bundle packages and for sale. The first such movie, "Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen" is currently available at all OfficeMax stores for $29.99. Customers receive this movie on a 4 GB Kingston Data Traveler drive; there is extra space on the drive that can be used for personal storage.

It's unclear exactly how much storage is left on the drive, but users obviously shouldn't expect Blu-ray quality video. After all, a single-layer DVD is 4 GB in size; that is how most (ahem) ripped DVDs are burned by users.

Meanwhile, a dual-layer DVD is 8 GB. You can see, you are obviously losing quality, just vs. regular DVD. much less Blu-ray. One good thing is you can count on the drives themselves: Kingston Data Traveler drives have a five-year warranty and 24/7 tech support.


Inc. announced the expansion of its line-up of award-winning Pulse smartpens, a computer in a pen that digitally captures and syncs handwriting and audio together. Customers can now select a 4GB and 2GB model in a new, stylish titanium color. The 4GB model holds more than 400 hours of recorded audio and provides ample storage for consumers to add applications such as, entertainment, education and productivity tools to their smartpen when Livescribe launches its Application Store later this year. The 4GB Pulse smartpen has a retail price of $199.95 and the 2GB model is $169.95.

Also, released today is the Pro-Pack bundle, a new option for the business professional. The Pro-Pack includes the 4GB Pulse smartpen in an exclusive black color, an A5 size starter notebook, a premium leather carrying case, handwriting to text transcription software, and the new Pro Charging Cradle. This special bundle is initially available at Livescribe.com for $249.95. The Pro Charging Cradle has a stylish ink-well design and charges Pulse from an electrical outlet or computer.

To meet growing demand and provide greater purchase accessibility, Pulse can be found at several new retail outlets, including Best Buy, select Apple stores nationally and Apple.com. Starting in mid-November, the Pulse smartpen will be available at Staples stores nationwide. Pulse continues to be available at Target and Amazon.com.

“We are thrilled to have broadened not only our product line, but also our retail distribution to reach people wherever they shop for electronics. We know that many people like to see things in person before purchase and our new retail relationships with Best Buy, Apple and Staples will help demonstrate how Pulse can positively impact their lives professionally, academically and personally by never missing a word,” said Livescribe CMO Byron Connell.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

LG bliss phone reviewThe LG Bliss is a beautiful phone that comes packed with features to boost LG’s already dominant position in the touch screen market. It reminds us of the preciously launched LG Tritan, with the main differentiating features being the lack of keyboard and the lower resolution camera in the Bliss. The Bliss has customizable home screens, a number of multimedia features, GPs and EV-DO. Available for $99 with a two year service agreement and a mail-in rebate, it is quite a steal!

 

A fun touch-screen phone that comes packed with features. A great looking phone that delivers what it promises.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

A really slim and good looking phone that offers great call quality, along with a host of other features like GPS EV-DO, a 2.0 megapixel camera and HTML browser.

Razzle Dazzle:

The LG Bliss is a really slim phone, and the curved edges accentuate its profile. Measuring just 4.23 inches long by 0.47 inches thick, it is quite a looker. The only downside in the build of the phone being the cheap plastic feel that could have been done away with. You can get your Bliss in two color variants, white with a gold trim and black with a lime green trim.
The phone has a beautifully large 3-inch touch-screen with three keys positioned just below it. Supporting 262,000 colors at a 240×400 pixel resolution, it is quite an eye-candy. The screen is great in displaying vibrant images, text and a good saturation in colors. When the phone is either idle or locked, the handy screen shows the time, date, any notifications like missed calls, messages and the daily scheduler. Also existent is the power save mode, which can also be manually adjusted as per your requirements. The fonts and the menu styles are also customizable. This gives you a great hands-on feel and personalization.
The Bliss has four home screens, them being the Main home screen, the shortcuts screen, contacts screen and the multimedia screen. You can switch between these screens with either a horizontal swipe or by tapping navigation bar on the top of the display. There are four dedicated shortcut icons on each home screen for messaging, dialer, main menu and contacts. The Bliss has adopted and improved upon the Tritan and is equally impressive.
The appearance of the clock and the calendar can only be adjusted on the main-screen. For the other menus, you can change the wallpapers, align the icons, edit shortcuts or rearrange them to suit your needs.
The Touch-screen managed to hit the right chord with us, although there was a minor drawback. While the overall accuracy and the haptic feedback which vibrates the phone that denoted a touch input where great, the response time was a little sluggish. The vibrating feedback is also customizable in terms of strength, length, type and volume.
The messaging interface is similar to other touch-screen phones, and the Bliss offers you three modes of input. You can choose what suits you best from the number keypad which offers you ABC or the XT9 input modes, handwriting recognition and the QWERTY keyboard. The virtual keyboard is revealed when you rotate the phone to landscape mode. The keys are well placed, and are easily navigable. The screen magnifies the selected key once you tap it. A dedicated @ key for mailing as a bonus cookie that we quite liked!
Apart from the touch screen, the Bliss also has a multitude of dedicated keys. Located below the screen are three keys, one each for talk, clear/speakerphone, and end/power. The volume rocker is located on the left spine alongside a 2.5mm headset port. On the right side you will find the charger jack, screen lock key and the camera shutter release. The microSD card slot enables you to expand the virtual memory to 16Gb. The Bliss also has a proximity sensor which shuts off the display when your face is next to the phone, for example, when you are on a call. This helps you save battery.

Inside Dope:

The Bliss has a contact book of 1000 numbers. Under each contact you can save upto five contact numbers, two mail addresses, and a website URL. You can also add a memo note to each of the contacts. You can further dump these contacts in groups, assign one of 25 ring tones, or one of eight message tones. The phone also has a host of other features like the speaker phone, Multimedia messaging, alarm clock, a world clock, unit converter and a stop watch among lots more. One feature that we found interesting was a drawing panel application which you can use to sketch doodles and send to buddies if you like!
There are higher end functions like the GPS, HTML browser, Bluetooth streaming and USB mass storage that make this phone a great pick. Bliss comes packed with great call quality, a nice music player and RSS reader.
The 2.0 megapixel camera is quite average with sharp pictures but dull and muted colors. You can select from four resolutions, five white balance presets and color effects. There are other features like video in two qualities and lengths, among loads others like timers, fun modes etc.

Thumbs Down:

Cheap plastics hamper the appeal of the phone and the browser does not support Flash Lite.

Inside The Trunk:

  • Technology – CDMA 2000 1X
  • Band –  CDMA 2000 1X 1900/800
  • Phone Design- Candy bar
  • Caller ID- Yes
  • Additional Features- GPS, EV-DO and TTY compatibility

Nitty Gritty:

LG has churned out another winner with this phone. It is great to look at, feels good to use and comes packed with features. It is a great middle market phone that is better than its competition by miles. It is also priced cheaper than its competition. I would love to have the Bliss and probably you would too!

Barnes & Noble's nook hasn't even seen the light of day yet (it's pre-order only), and it's already embroiled in a lawsuit. In this case, Spring Design, which has its own e-book reader, is claiming B&N has used IP garnered from meetings with Spring Design in its nook.

The lawsuit addresses Spring Design's "Alex" e-book reader, which features two e-ink displays with capacitive touchscreens as well as the Google Android operating systems. This is all very similar to the nook.

Spring Design claims in their press release that they and Barnes and Noble had been meeting since the beginning of this year, with B&N noting very favorable impressions of the device. It seemed there was a possibility that B&N and Spring Design would work together on a device, but the nook emerged instead, without warning.

Here's what Spring Design said in an emailed press release:

Since the beginning of 2009 Spring and Barnes & Noble worked within a non-disclosure agreement, including many meetings, emails and conference calls with executives ranging up to the president of Barnes and Noble.com, discussing confidential information regarding the features, functionality and capabilities of Alex. Throughout, Barnes & Noble's marketing and technical executives extolled Alex's "innovative" features, never mentioning their use of those features until the public disclosure of the Nook.
Alex has been in development since 2006. It was (post-nook) recently announced, and its similarities to the nook were lost on none. It's unclear what effect this lawsuit will have on the impending launch of the nook, or on any such launch of the Alex, as well.

mobile phone key padThe number for Facebook in India is 9232232665. That may sound a bit complex but it’s actually very easy to remember because if you break it down, the last eight digits of the phone number would spell as ‘facebook’.
Therefore, you can simply dial 92facebook using the standard key pad of any mobile phone or landline phone and your message will reach Zuckerberg’s server.

What does this phone number spell?

When you are applying for a new phone number, the telecom company will almost always provide you with a series of numbers from where you can pick one of your choice.
Most people prefer to go with numerical patterns – like 3366 (double digits), 4567 (sequences), 2468 (even or odd combinations) – but there’s another option, you can try picking up numbers that spell something memorable like your name or a city or even a popular brand.
If you need help in finding memorable words, phrases or even abbreviations that may be hidden inside those complex phone numbers, some good online tools that can help you in the quest are available at phonetic.com, mbhs.edu, phonespell.com and dialABC.com.
They all work the same. You enter a phone number and the service will try to list all the different words and phrases that your phone number spells like. Some of the suggestions are obviously meaningless, but there might be a couple or so that are real or semi-real phrases.
You may use these services while short-listing a new phone number or even when you are looking for a more memorable representation of your existing phone number.
From 4004563 to GOOG-JOE
For instance, one on my landline numbers is 4004563 but a more memorable representation of the same number, that I only found through one of these services, is GOOG-Joe – most people know about GOOG-411 so GOOG-Joe is not that bad a choice.
Some of you may not feel very comfortable sharing your personal phone number on an external website but I think if you remove the area code and your country code, it should be fine. Or maybe you can split the telephone number into two parts before looking for words that your phone number spells like.

Before I begin with this tutorial, please note that the tutorial is only meant to work for those having the iPhone 3G currently at a 3.0 or 3.0.1 firmware, we shall attempt to update this to 3.1 using Pwnage Tool while preventing any baseband updates.
Another tutorial for those bearing an iPhone 2G is also on the way, so stay tuned. The following tutorial will only work on a Mac, but we will have something for Windows users out there soon too.
Please backup with iTunes before trying this. Here is how it goes:

unlockiphoneredsnow
  1. Grab and download the Pwnage Tool 3.1 for Mac OS X.
  2. Make sure to update to the latest iTunes 9 before attempting this unlock.
  3. Download the 3.1 Firmware for iPhone 3G and save it on your desktop.
  4. Run the Pwnage Tool 3.1 and select iPhone 3G and click next.
  5. Select the Firmware 3.1 with build iPhone1,2_3.1_7C144 and click next.
  6. Select 'Yes', click next and then select 'No', now the 'Building IPSW' has started.
  7. Once completed, select 'Yes' to the prompt and click next.
  8. Open iTunes and click Restore (while holding Option key) and select the newly created Custom 3.1 IPSW on desktop.
Voila! the iPhone 3G has now been successfully updated to 3.1 Firmware while preserving the baseband, now follow the steps on this article (starting from step-3) to unlock it with Ultrasnow.
Here is a direct link to download the iPhone 3.1 Firmware for iPhone 3G. In case it breaks, you always know how to look for and download the firmware from your friendly neighborhood torrent sites.
Note: This method will only and only work for the iPhone 3G, not for the iPhone 2G or the 3GS. Also please note that at no point are you supposed to 'Update' to a newer firmware in iTunes, only use 'Restore'. The method we used follows the Simple mode in PwnageTool 3.1.

Nokia E71x Smartphone
This recent update to the popular E71 rings in (pun intended) as the thinnest smartphone available. Featuring a slim, sleek, ergonomic design packed with advanced features,

According to a report published by c’t magazine, Intel is now aiming to launch Larrabee in a variety of flavors in 2010 and has scrapped the previous late 2009 plan. Intel’s Joseph Schultz made this comment during the opening of a visual computing research center in Saarbruecken, Germany. Spokesman Nick Knupffer confirmed the narrowed-down date, but declined to provide further comments.
Schultz also told c’t that it will be a “big challenge” to compete with Nvidia’s and AMD’s products and especially highlighted the power-efficiency achieved by AMD’s Radeon graphics cards.

Intel is very careful providing any information about its x86-based Larrabee. What we know, however, is that the device will be based on second-generation Pentium processor technology with the P54C core. The first Pentium core (P5, 800 nm, 60 and 66 MHz) was in development since 1989 and was introduced in 1993. The P54C was launched in 1994 with speeds up to 120 MHz, while the succeeding 350 nm P54CS reached 200 MHz. The 55C core (280 nm up to 233 MHz) followed in 1995 and was replaced with the Pentium II in 1997.

Larrabee is expected to come in multiple flavors with at least 8 cores at the low-end have at least 32 cores on the high-end. At a clock speed of 2 GHz, the 32-core version could be topping a theoretical maximum performance of 2 TFlops.

Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the world’s largest chip foundries, just announced a marketing collaboration involving Intel’s Atom processor. Atom is Intel’s effort to downsize its processor chips to fit into the realm of emerging smart devices below the Personal Computer space. TSMC will work closely with Intel to port some of the Atom processors to its own process and design flows. TSMC will also have the ability to do engineering on the chip to build customized versions for the large number of existing TSMC customers. However, Intel will have ownership of the final device and the customer, as Intel will be selling the custom designed chips that TSMC designs and builds in its foundry.

As PC sales wane, and their chip revenues along with them, Intel looks to additional sources for revenues. Consumer products represent a massive potential market, though at clearly lower margins and price points. But, Intel’s cost of operations makes it a supplier at too high a price to go after the cut-throat and highly price sensitive consumer market. And Intel is not set up for customized, System On Chip (SOC) solutions the market demands. Enter a partner that can bring all of this capability to Intel – TSMC.

This is a direct attack by Intel on competing processors, especially the ARM processor, which is trying to move upstream from the smart phone and embedded gadgets market it currently dominates, while Intel is trying to move downstream with Atom into this overlapping space. The battleground in the middle will be aggressive and likely bloody, with huge potential returns. And while Intel’s attack is primarily on ARM, it also has profound effect on other players – AMD, Qualcomm (Snapdragon), Nvidia, TI, and even Marvel to whom Intel sold off its own ARM-based processor (XScale).

Intel announced a technology partnership with Nokia that could potentially give the chip maker the breakthrough it has been looking for into the mobile market.

The companies said last night they would work together on a new class of mobile computing devices, but would not say when they would come to market or give details on the kind of wireless products they hoped to develop together.

Analysts saw the pact as strategically important for Intel in the long term because it gains the world's top cellphone maker as a potential client.

But given the lack of details, analysts said it could take one or two years for products to come to market, and it remained to be seen if they would find favour with consumers.

"Intel at least has its foot in the door. It's an important and strategic customer," said Gartner analyst Jon Erensen, who sees the partnership as a way for Intel to get into the market for advanced phones known as smartphones.

However, he added, "You're probably talking about something like 2011 before you get down to the power consumption and integration (levels) you'd need for that kind of device."

Analysts said the deal gives Intel a chance to take on leading cellphone chip makers Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments, a big Nokia supplier.

It could also mean stiffer competition for ARM Holdings , which supplies core cellphone processors to both Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, and whose customers rely in part on software from Wind River Systems.

Intel said earlier this month that it would buy Wind River, whose software speeds up and connects devices made by Samsung Electronics, Apple, Hewlett-Packard Co and Motorola.

Intel, whose microprocessors are found in eight out of 10 personal computers, already works with LG Electronics on mobile devices. The agreement with Finland's Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, is a bigger step.

Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini has said that the handheld, embedded and netbook markets would be as important for the company as the PC market in the near future.

Under the agreement, Intel will buy intellectual property from Nokia related to high-speed wireless technology. They also plan to collaborate on open-source mobile Linux software projects, which some analysts say will compete with Google's Android software in the netbook and mobile Internet device (MID) market.

Intel and Nokia said they aimed to define "a new mobile platform beyond today's smartphones, notebooks and netbooks" for hardware, software and mobile Internet services. They stressed the pact was about their technology collaboration and not about specific products.

INTEL (TICKER: INTC) and Nokia (NOK) announced a strategic alliance to develop Intel architecture-based mobile chips and open-source software. The goal appears to be creating open and standards-based technologies to explore new ideas and products in mobile computing and communications.

Collaborative efforts between the two companies will be centered around these three initiatives: definition of mobile chipset based on Intel architecture; development of open-source software infrastructure such as Nokia's Maemo and Intel's Moblin; and Intel licensing of Nokia's HSPA/3G modem internet protocol ...

INTEL LEADS the CPU market, full stop. More than ever, perhaps. So, why change its perfectly good branding then? After all, Core 2 - and Core 3, and so on - does sound better than Pentium, Hexium or Sexium, and definitely far better than Itanium, all names sounding like some evil Big Pharma drugs.

Aside from a lot of extra marketing and sales work, resulting in marketeers keeping their jobs in these tight times, there doesn't seem to be any real reason to rehash the branding just because of the Nehalem arrival.

The new chips, rather than being called say Core 3, got the brand new Core i7 moniker, in a way reminding us of the old P7 codename. Now, the dual-channel mainstream Nehalems will be called Core i5, and the low-end integrated-graphics parts might bear the burden of the Core i3 brand. And, just like the current i7 with the brand new three-digit product numbers instead of the old four-digit ones, you'll have an interesting time comparing chip models.

So, when you do your holiday system shopping later this year, you could, for instance, choose between the old Core i7 965, the new Core i7 960 or the brand new Core i5 XXX (I didn't say '860'). While all three are internally basically the same CPUs and run at a 3.2GHz clock, the differences will be there. The first one is the old 2008-launch part with unlocked multiplier but C0 stepping. The second one is to be the new part late this year, with locked multiplier but newer, more efficent D or even E stepping. And, finally, the last part will have two memory channels and the LGA1156 versus LGA1366 socket, but faster Turbo mode and of course cheaper P55-based mainboards. Love the confusion?

Many publications commented on the new branding approach, with mixed reactions. There is no clear connection to the old Core 2 branding, and even the product numbering was completely rehashed. Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9770 and Core i7 Extreme 965 cover the same market segment and run at the same default clock and, in fact, aren't that far apart in performance. But there's no correlation at all in the naming. The old Pentium, Pentium 2, Pentium 3 approach was, in this respect, more consistent.

Why not look at something like that, since Intel already went with this BMW-style numbering? The "7" series is the high end, the "5" series is the mainstream, and the "3" series is doing the basic work. An obligatory "X" could be added at the end of any Extreme part in the "7" and "5" series, to avoid having to use different basic numbers for otherwise same-clocked extreme and normal, that is, locked parts. A similar "L" could be added for the low power parts, and an "M" for the mobile parts. Plus, of course, a "G" for the graphics-enriched ones.

After all, at the Xeon front, that's the case already. The "W" parts are top bin workstation CPUs, the "X" parts are for high end servers, the "E" parts are the mainstream offerings, and the "L" parts are the low power workhorses for dense and green computing.

Then, there should be enough numbering in reserve to accommodate the 32nm 'Westmere' parts without changing the i7-i5-i3 sequence. Right now this scheme seems to be a bit tight for the i7 series as we'd only have the 980, 985, 990 and 995 numbers available before hitting the four digits, and that has to take care of the next 20 months at least. Aside from that, the possible i8-i6-i4 sequence could then be left for the Sandy Bridge and Haswell generations.

Talking about numbers, in Chinese, eight is a very lucky number, but four isn't. The last murdered Alpha CPU was codenamed EV8, but was supposed to be really called, umm, the 21464. So, maybe, let's skip any future 'i4' at the low end, eh?

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett will step down from his post in May, ending a 35-year stint at the world's No. 1 chipmaker, the company announced Friday.

Barrett, who joined Intel in 1974, also served as the chief executive of the company from 1998 through 2005.

"Intel became the world's largest and most successful semiconductor company in 1992 and has maintained that position ever since," said Barrett. "I'm extremely proud to have helped achieve that accomplishment."

Barrett said he was confident that Intel has the right management in place to continue its leadership in the chip making industry.

Jane Shaw, a board member since 1993, will replace Barrett as non-executive chairman in May.

Earlier this week, Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced that last quarter's profit tumbled 90% to $234 million, and reportedly told employees that he couldn't rule out the possibility that Intel might actually lose money in the current quarter. It would be the first time that's happened in more than 20 years.

The company also announced Wednesday that it will be cutting production at two U.S. silicon wafer facilities and closing three facilities in Asia, affecting between 5,000 and 6,000 workers.

Shares of Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) rose 3% in mid-afternoon trading, but the company's stock has lost more than 40% since August.