Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Intel's (INTC) Worst Day: Why Didn't IBM Rat On Mr. Chips?

There may have been a time when Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) wanted to the next Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), at least in terms of earnings, market cap, and share of market. It has, in essence, followed in Redmond’s footsteps, at least with antitrust authorities.

Intel is becoming more embroiled by the month in charges that it used threats and kickbacks to keep PC and servers companies from doing business with its smaller competitor AMD (NYSE:AMD). AMD is close to ruin, though it is a matter of opinion whether its current state was caused by former CEO Hector Ruiz or Intel’s clandestine actions.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed antitrust charges against Intel Corp., alleging the company threatened computer makers and paid huge kickbacks to stop them from using competitors’ chips, according to The Wall Street Journal. Among the companies that Intel may have threatened are IBM (NYSE:IBM), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ).

Intel has already been fined in the amount of $1.56 billion by the EU for anti-competitive behavior. That judgement will almost certainly be appealed. The FTC is also looking at Intel’s past business practices.

Like Microsoft before it, Intel is faced with the potential of multiple actions which might include the Justice Department and regulators in other large developed nations with strict antitrust regulations, particularly Japan and South Korea.

The NYS announcement raises several important questions. The first is whether any of Intel’s customers can claim that they were damaged by not being able to do business with AMD which, for a time, had several chip products that were considered superior to Intel’s.

The second, and perhaps more pressing question, is why companies like IBM and HP, which are larger than Intel, would allow themselves to be bullied and bribed for a period that may have lasted for years. Is there a reason that the companies did not bring Intel’s actions to the attention of the Justice Department?

Where were the general counsels at IBM and HP when management needed them? Certainly not riding around in the yachts that Intel bought them

 

Friday, October 30, 2009

New Dell multi-touch monitor


Been looking for a new monitor ? excited about the new touch features in windows 7 ? (if your not cool enough to own a mac) well look no further.
Dell have released a new 21.5″ full 1080p, 16:9, multi-touch LCD. Boasting HDMI, USB, VGA, DVI, audio input and output a 2MP webcam and stereo microphones, this thing is ready for all your multimedia come video chatting needs right outta the box.
Costing $499 AUD it is a fairly competitive piece of kit.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

...Back?

HI GUYS.

I know — you’re probably asking the Whats and the Whys now. And I kinda anticipate a furious flurry of flying bricks in my direction. 8D

I’m gonna be honest with you to say it straight out that I was taking a break. That is, kinda like stepping out of the Arashi circle, the fandom circle, and the fangirling circle. To be EVEN MORE FRANK, I was in this episode of having my fangirling/interest waning to a dangerous non-existent level. It was when I started returning back to my all-time-since-I-could-always-remember loves — romance novels and writing original stories. Did you know that I actually haven’t really written and/or finished an original story? I have spent my entire writing lifespan on fanfiction! You have no idea how shocked I was when it dawned on me. So anyways, I was ‘re-discovering’ my old loves, working on my stories and also reading all those mushy romance novels. I kinda didn’t have any sort of contact with Arashi at all. I stopped listening to Arashi songs on my iPod and went back to my ol’ favourite American songs (not those generic trash, but indie/alternative country/alternative rock genre). I started going on the computer lesser and lesser, coming on only to play some online games (my usual way of stress-relieving, though mostly it’s a closet addiction lol), or idle internet-surfing, or researching for my school projects/assignments. My phone is screwed up so I don’t have access to any videos, PV or crack!vids or no. Even my Arashi goodies have all been stashed into a box next to my study desk! It’s as though my 2-year obsession with Arashi never existed.

BUT. Of course, it takes a long while of taking a break before I realise how much I still love my Stormy boys. Of course, I’m not as obsessed as before, but I still love them. I started putting up my old Arashi photos/posters around my study desk, and at times I’d flip through old magazines to read those pages on Arashi, and sometimes I’d switch my iPod playlist back to Arashi. In fact, the other day during a free period in school, I plugged in my iPod without knowing my brother had altered the settings to play all songs instead of a specific playlist. The first song that came up was Kitto Daijoubu! IT WAS SO AWESOME. I’ve always loved Kitto Daijoubu, but hearing the song again after so long almost made me cry because I SO FUCKING MISS LISTENING TO ARASHI’S UNASAHAMED BUBBLEGUM POP SONGS. I was grinning like an idiot during the entire song. AND, I was so fucking happy to know that I still like Arashi songs. If it were otherwise I’d be a lost cause, man.

Give me some time, and I’ll find my way back (:

So — other updates on my life:

  1. EXAMS ARE NEXT WEEK OMGAWSHWTF. And look at what I’m doing, in front of the computer. XD It’s exams for one whole week, before the last 2 weeks (or 1 week? I’m not sure, the school admin hasn’t confirmed anything wtf) of school and IT’S 2 MONTHS OF WELL-DESERVED HOLIDAYS, BAYBEH! I so need to get back on track with my life, man. 2009 has been such an eventful, screwed up year for me.
  2. I GOT A NEW PUPPY. Although, he isn’t so much of a puppy anymore. XD He’s (currently) 3 months old, the MOST ADORABLE BEAGLE IN THE WORLD, and he’s named Benji <3 He’s amazingly huge for his age, because we were told the litter he was born in had only 3 puppies (imagine all the nutrients fit for 10 puppies going into mere 3 puppies! D:), and assuming by his I’m-the-boss swagger, he’s probably the first out of the litter. XD He’s nosy, too curious, too eager, he slobbers so much, he’s unrelenting, he loves playing with/bullying my other dog Tinkles and my 3 cats (who love teasing him), he drinks too much water that his entire snout is in the water bowl… and he’s just so adoring of us all, and he’s so goddamn adorable to be alive. I don’t have pictures of the computer right now, sadly. I posted a few on my Facebook weeks ago, just because my friends were pestering me lol. I swear I’ll post up a million of them when I get the chance!
  3. HERE’S A HUMONGOUS UPDATE ON THE SOON-TO-BE-HALF-MIND LAPTOP. My dad and I have been eyeing on the Dell Studio 15 for some time, since it’s specs are pretty good considering the price is a bargain, before my dad started looking at the Dell XPS 16, just because it’s more of a game-inclined notebook and considering the awesome FPS/high-end games I’m planning to install. XD Then, my dad is also considering the Sony Vaio, as the price is only a few hundred ringgit more than the XPS yet its specs are of top-notch quality. I SO WANT THE VAIO! DDDDDD: The design is sooooo sleek and chic, and the functions are fantastic. The touchpad and keyboard function so effing smoothly (I tested it out at a Sony centre, mind), and look at the 8GB memory RAM <3 The GOOD news is that the laptops we’re looking for are all equipped with the new Windows 7 OS, which is our main priority, and hopefully by the time the school holidays arrive I’ll get the laptop!
  4. When I get my laptop, it’s gonna be a TOTAL revamp of everything computer and internet. I’m changing my e-mail address, closing down several accounts, starting new ones. Basically, starting afresh. I’m mostly doing this in a way of ‘getting rid of the baggage‘ and starting anew with the chance I got. Most of all, I’m sick of all the junk I’m getting in my Hotmail account, and I need to get new e-mails, separate accounts for separate purposes, and I’M SO ANTI-MICROSOFT NOW. Hotmail is crap, man. I’m so pro-Google now XD So anyways, those who are connected to my Hotmail e-mail, I’ll notify you when my default e-mail is changed.
  5. I actually have this piggy bank I call my Yukata Fund. 8D My friends and I decided, after Bon Odori, that we would save up a little from our allowance everyday so that we can afford to buy a yukata set next year (which costs around RM300++). But in recent weeks the Yukata Fund has been converted into a Holiday Trip Fund. XD I have been having doubts of buying a yukata. It’s really nice and awesome and all, but I don’t think I want to spend so much money on something which I can only wear yearly and only perhaps on one or two occasions like fangirl meetups. And my friends and I are planning a holiday trip to Penang, which is gonna be awesome because it’s 10 of us young ‘uns on a 3D2N trip up north with our teacher guiding us around since she’s a Penangite 8D BESIDES. I YEARN FOR THE SANDY BEACH MORE THAN CLOTHES ANYWAYS.
  6. I mentioned this earlier in the post — MY BELOVED PHONE IS BROKEN! T_T The screen is totally fucked up, in the sense that it goes static and often blacks out completely. The functions work fine, though. And I haven’t been able to get it fixed at a service centre because it opens during office hours only. D: So I gotta wait till the holidays to make the trip there. Geez. I’m now using my mom’s old crappy non-colour-screen phone. Texting is so much fun because the keypad is awesome 8D
  7. And the online game I mentioned earlier — it’s called Left 4 Dead. Think zombie apocalypse. Four survivors on a mission to find rescue. Awesome graphics. First Person Shooter mode. EPIC AWESOMENESS! <3 You should go on YouTube and watch the gameplay. I’m a self-confessed L4D addict! Zombie horror genre is my favourite, and this game totally converted me into a FPS player. I play almost every day when I get the chance on my brother’s computer lol. And yes I’M A CLOSET FEMALE GAMER! 8D And random fact: my in-game ID is Sakurai. Yes, as in Sakurai Sho <33333
  8. My bedroom has gone through major arrangement changes! Before this, my study desk was in a study room, which is technically a GAME ROOM since it has 3 computers that are always on and occupied. It’s so goddamn hard to concentrate on my homework with the games distracting me D: So I moved my desk up to my bedroom. My sister is fine with me doing anything (she’s only in the room to sleep and bathe, anyways, she spends the entire day on the computer in the ’study room’), as long as she got the bed with the frame, and I get the pull-out mattress XD But in exchange for that, I now have my own bookshelf (PACKED with all our collection of books, books, books, that I only have one miserable shelf to fit all my school books LOL), and my own desk. The room is officially my GROUND ZERO, and I have easy access to all my stuff. INCLUDING MY ARASHI COLLECTION XD But the arrangements aren’t done, yet. I need to do a major spring cleaning and it’s gonna have to be during the holidays. And we need a bunk bed, lol. When I’m done I’ll take pictures

That’s all I can remember of in regards to Life Updates. BTW, the main reason I actually came on my blog is actually THIS. Arashi has been featured in numerous local magazines in recent months, but Galaxie is the only one I read regularly (and the only English entertainment magazine so far to feature Arashi, lol?), and IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I SEE A HALF PAGE FEATURE OF ARASHI! I love my mom for totally randomly buying this issue for me <3 Serendipity is such a wonderful thing, no? And yes, judging from the way I squealed and flailed and read through the article 3 times, I AM NO LOST CAUSE. YET.

Oh, and a month before, a letter from a reader in Galaxie magazine mentioned Arashi. Firstly, I’M SO HAPPY IT TOOK THE GALAXIE TEAM JUST A MONTH TO RESPOND WITH THIS FEATURE ARTICLE. It took more than a year of pestering them before they finally feature Arashi (prior to this, they’ve feature Matsujun and Aiba, individually and separately). And secondly, KITTY/FIQA DID YOU WRITE THAT LETTER? XDDDDDDDD Because the reader was signed as ‘Kitty’ and I SWEAAAAAAAAAAR it’s you. XD

So anyways! That’s a long post to make up for the few months I was gone. I would like to remind those who posted comments on any posts that I DO READ THEM! I’m gonna go read them after this post is published, in fact. XD Any comment left by my blog readers are always welcomed and well-loved. I would normally say I’m reachable through e-mail, but since I’m so inactive… I’m practically unreachable. XD Just leave comments and whatnot, and I’ll read them sooner or later, but never never!

Tashii, OUT.

compare and contrast..

I just sat back on my home office chair and noticed something – the way I’d laid out my phone and laptop spoke volumes.. so I took a picture to show you…

My work laptop and phone

work

My personal laptop and phone

Home

Interesting, huh?

My work, which is very important in the scheme of things to both me and my company – if I can’t work well, then it costs lots of $$ – gives me the most basic phone I’ve ever seen and a base spec business laptop. Actually, I’m not complaining about the laptop, it might be basic, but it works fine, I just need a bigger harddisk – 50G these days for demos and virtual machines is waaay too small. The phone on the other hand, is embarrassing.

My home setup technically isnt that important (as in I don’t need it to pay the mortgage etc) – however it does keep me in touch with my kids on skype which is pretty important, and I also use it for my photography obsession to process photos and more recently, for writing children’s books. So, this largely non-essential use and I manage to have a hugely better spec machine (and oh so shiny too) than work. My phone is also muuuch better than my work phone and more appropriate (calendar/3G/email sync etc).

I’ve never had particularly good work laptops and I’ve always had to compromise in what I want to do -surely thats an oxymoron!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Tablet Android: Dell Streak

Dell ha lanzado un tablet basado en Android: Streak.

Dell Streak

Lo que se ve es un prototipo, por lo que aún está sujeto a cambios de diseño.

Tiene una pantalla táctil de 5 pulgadas de 800×400 píxeles, además de una batería de 1300mA, conectividad WiFi , Bluetooth y 3G. También cuenta con ranura de para tarjetas microSD y lleva la versión 2.0 de Android. Su cámara es de 5 Mpx.

Parace ser que Dell se ha planteado en serio competir con el tablet de Archos.

Fuente de la noticia

Monday, October 19, 2009

Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 8X DVD+-RW Dual Layer Drive

Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 8X DVD+-RW Dual Layer Drive Review


Check Price Now! Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 8X DVD+-RW Dual Layer Drive Feature
  • DVD-5, 9, 10, 18
  • DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD+R9 (Double layer)
  • 10 ~ 24X CD-ROM
  • 3 ~ 8X CAV (Single) DVD-ROM
  • 2.4 ~ 6X CAV (Dual Layer) DVD-ROM
Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 8X DVD+-RW Dual Layer Drive Overview

Dell 8X Slim DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive Inspiron 1100,1150,5100,5150 laptops.

Dell Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 8X DVD+-RW Dual Layer Drive Specifications

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 19, 2009 12:15:03

Friday, October 16, 2009

Help Support Foundation for Women

Today’s Featured Cause:
Foundation for Women – The Foundation for Women (FFW) serves impoverished women and those with disease by funding and creating microcredit programs locally and globally.

Save yourself some money with coupon codes and and support Foundation for Women by shopping with Donation Street. Today’s top money saving offers:

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