espite a slight sequential decline in overall hard drive shipments in the first quarter of this year, Seagate managed to post solid gains and an increased market share, which now stands at 29%, according to market research firm iSuppli. Count in Maxtor's shipments, which Seagate recently acquired, and the company shipped four out of ten hard drives in the Q1.
Last week Intel announced that it would lay off 1,000 managers, but its job cutting may not be over. Donald MacDonald, vice president and general manager, told Ben Ames of IDG that the company is looking to cut some more redundant positions and added that, "Nothing is off the table."
Microsoft today announced that it enlisted the help of communication technology powerhouse Nortel to drive its "unified" communications platform forward.
Tiburon (CA) - At the upcoming Siggraph conference in Boston, the Khronos Group and OpenGL ARB plan to announce merger of the two groups. The union between the Khronos Group and the OpenGL ARB may come as little surprise to the people who know both organizations. And in fact, even for those who have not labored long in the vineyards of graphics, the news might just be chalked up as one more mysterious move by those equally mysterious standards bodies that periodically erupt with some agreement that affects the industry.
As Intel and AMD introduce next-generation platforms in the coming weeks and months, reduced prices for current generation CPUs will lead to increased purchasing budgets, so DRAM prices should stop their decline. This is part of iSuppli's near-term DRAM forecast today. There's also something interesting about a little thing called the "PlayStation Portable 2."
Earlier this week, market research firm Hitwise reported that the popularity of Myspace.com has surged past prominent position: In fact, Myspace.com for the first time fetched more market share than any other US website, including properties such as the main sites of Yahoo, Google or MSN.
Posted by Wolfgang Gruener and Scott M. Fulton, III
Santa Clara (CA) - An announcement did come from Intel today, but it wasn't the pleasant kind: The company is laying off about 1,000 managers, in a move spokesperson Chuck Malloy told TG Daily is intended "to improve communication flow and the decision-making process." Mulloy went on to say that only some of the managers selected for attrition have been notified, with the remainder expected to be told within the next few days.
Luxembourg - The European Union's Court of First Instance - the counterpart of the Federal Appeals Court in the US - has annulled a European Commission decision from July 2004 that enabled Sony Corp. and publishing giant Bertelsmann AG to spin off portions of their music divisions and merge them into the 50/50 joint venture known today as Sony BMG. While this does not undo the merger yet, it does cast its fate into extreme jeopardy.
In a not surprising, yet still puzzling, ruling this morning, the European Commission fined Microsoft $356.6 million (1.5 million euros per day) for what it described as the company's failure to "supply complete and accurate interface information which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers."
Infocus has announced their aptly named Work Big IN42 projector which boasts a quiet 32 decibel noise level and a bright 3500 lumens output, which is good enough for a fully-lit room. The projector has a recessed lens that protects it from accidental damage and can display at 1024 by 768 resolution.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm announced that Google has chosen the Ann Arbor area to establish a new sales and operations center for its Google's Adwords online advertising program.
Time Warner today said that it will be disclosing details about it plans for its AOL division after its second-quarter earnings conference, which is scheduled for 2 August.
Promoters of the HD DVD format are stepping up the battle against Blu-ray: A newly formed "North American HD DVD Promotional Group" announced that it will be launching a hefty marketing and advertising campaign to convince US consumers that HD DVD is "The Look and Sound of Perfect."
Microsoft announced that "nearly 1000 global independent software vendors (ISVs)" will offer a "range" when the new operating system will be launched early next year.
Grapevine (TX) - At a meeting with journalists, including TG Daily, at the site of the World Series of Video Games on Sunday afternoon, Dell Computer Chairman Michael Dell gave clear signals - while omitting any and all details - that his company will have more to say about expanding its relationship with CPU supplier AMD in the near future.
The European Commission meets on Monday to determine the amount of fines it's prepared to levy against Microsoft (a very short meeting, most believe), and again on Wednesday, most likely to impose these fines. It would seem the EC is in a rush to proclaim Microsoft guilty of not turning over material that an agreement with its independent trustee says is actually due the following week.
Friendster has been award a patent on social networking from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patent number 7,069,308 was filed three years ago by Friendster's founder Jonathan Abrams and was awarded on 27 June 2006.
